Chapter 530: The Thousand-Year-Old (51)

King Qi was taken into custody with irrefutable evidence of his crimes. King Qi never expected that the beauty sent to him would be the Second Prince's consort. Why did the Second Prince have to come to Ghost City and then insist on investigating the Ghost Temple? All of King Qi's life's plans had been in vain.

When Prince Qi was captured, Liu Qing and his entourage panicked. Liu Qing initially wanted to beg for mercy, as this was the Second Prince, and he, a mere official, could not afford to offend him. However, he was already bound to these people and could not be separated from them at all.

His biggest regret now is that he was blinded by greed and cooperated with the Temple of Ghosts and Gods.

They had no choice but to fight with their backs against the wall. According to the other side, if they were captured, they would surely die. It would be better to find a way to survive, and the key to that way was the Second Prince.

The emperor couldn't possibly ignore the second prince; the lives of so many people might not be worth as much as the second prince.

So they decided to kidnap the second prince to threaten the emperor, and then flee to the border.

He handed a letter to Wen Wan and said, "Write it. The Second Prince should write whatever I say. Don't do anything else. We are all outlaws. I'm not sure what we can do. The Second Prince is so precious and doesn't want to die in this ghost town at such a young age."

Wen Yan: "..."

"OK."

She wrote it, and then the other person looked at Wen Wan's handwriting, which could only be described as extremely poor, and asked, "Did you do this on purpose?"

Wen Wan: "Of course I didn't do it on purpose. Don't you know my reputation for being ignorant and incompetent? Even the Grand Tutor scolded me for being neither good at literature nor martial arts, so this is why my handwriting is like this."

other side:"……"

Okay.

The message roughly stated that they should prepare enough carriages for them, and that once they reached the border, they would naturally return the Second Prince safely. They should not try to stop them, otherwise the Prince would be killed.

The other party agreed.

So the group set off.

Xiao Cui and Wen Wan were in one carriage, and Liu Qing was also in one of the carriages.

Looking at Liu Qing, Wen Wan saw that he was no longer the aloof and dignified local official he once was. He looked extremely disheveled, with large, round dark circles under his eyes, clearly indicating that he hadn't slept well for a long time.

"You still have family, are you really not going to care?"

Liu Qing: "I have already taken my family with me."

Wen Wan chuckled, "Why do you think your family was taken away with them? Do you think he would take so many burdens with him when he escaped? I told you they would follow, but I think your family has probably already been killed or captured."

The other party clearly didn't believe it; they were in the same boat and would never do such a thing. "What nonsense are you talking about? Do you want me to help you escape? Second Prince, give up on that idea; it's impossible."

Believe it or not, I have nothing to lose anyway.

Aren't you afraid we'll kill you?

Wen Wan: "Do you dare? Do you think there's really no one around here? You've definitely been followed at all times. The only reason you're still alive is because I'm still alive. If I die, believe it or not, you'll be riddled with bullets immediately."

Liu Qing: "..."

I'm hungry.

Liu Qing quickly sent someone to fetch some supplies. Wen Wan didn't mind, sharing some with Xiao Cui before eating herself. She even handed a steamed bun to Liu Qing, asking, "Want some? You haven't eaten in a long time, have you?"

Liu Qing took the steamed bun.

"I just don't understand you people! You study hard for ten years, pass the imperial examination, and become such a high-ranking official with a substantial annual salary. Why do you have to do such heinous things? You've killed so many innocent people. Haven't you ever dreamed that they begged you for help?"

Liu Qing looked at Wen Wan and said, "Someone like you, who was born with wealth, status, and power that others can only dream of, naturally doesn't understand how much we have to pay to live a good life."

"There's nothing I can do. Reincarnation isn't something I can choose. You can only hope to be reborn into a better life next time."

Liu Qing: "..."

Wen Wan ate her steamed bun, and after finishing, she leaned back and fell asleep. The carriage wasn't slow, but it was still quite comfortable.

Liu Qing also fell asleep quickly.

However, unlike Wen Wan who was pretending to sleep, Liu Qing quickly fell into a deep sleep, after all, he had a rather unpleasant nightmare.

He dreamt that his whole family was left in a ghost town, and then he was ordered to execute them all.

He also dreamt that all those people he had ignored or even condoned, who had caused his deaths, came back to life, grabbing him by the neck and saying, "Give us back our lives, Liu Qing, give us back our lives, Liu Qing..."

I was so frightened that I immediately woke up, and my whole body was covered in sweat.

Wen Wan asked with a smile, "Lord Liu had a nightmare. What did you dream about? As the saying goes, what you think about during the day, you dream about at night. Don't worry, anyway, you're going to have an unhappy life from now on."

"Your Highness is joking. I didn't dream about anything."

However, in the days that followed, Liu Qing would have the same recurring dream whenever he fell asleep: in the dream, his wife and several children were headless, their heads were being held in his hands, and they cried out, "Husband, save me."

"Father, why didn't you take us with you? It hurts so much!"

"Father..."

"Liu Qing, you corrupt official! You colluded with the Ghost God Temple, causing my wrongful death. I will not let you go; I will make you pay with your life."

Liu Qing was always startled awake.

The first time might have been a coincidence, the second time might have been something you thought about during the day and dreamed about at night.

He asked the people at the Ghost Temple where his family was, but they kept making excuses. Liu Qing sensed something was wrong and started arguing, "Where exactly have you put my wife and the others?"

"Lord Liu, do you want to die? Women are nothing. When you get to the Kingdom of Poluo, you can marry as many as you want, and have as many children as you want."

"So you mean you didn't take them with you?"

"Lord Liu, use your brain! We're trying to escape, how can we get away if we take them with us?"

The two sides started fighting, but Liu Qing was quickly subdued and then imprisoned with Wen Wan again.

Wen Wan found it somewhat amusing to see Liu Qing's bruised and swollen face. "Lord Liu, where did you fall down? How did you get so badly injured? Should we put some medicine on it?"

"Your Highness."

Liu Qing immediately knelt down before Wen Wan, "What are you doing, Lord Liu?"

"Please, Your Highness, save my family's lives. They are all innocent. They have no idea what I did, so I beg Your Highness to save them."

Wen Yan: "..."

"It seems I guessed right. Your family is still in the ghost city. They never intended to take your family with them. You were deceived. I told you before that if you surrendered, you would die, but I would protect your whole family. But you just wouldn't listen! Now I have no choice. Even if you escape, your family will still die. It's a pity. I heard that Lord Liu's youngest son is still an infant, not even weaned yet, and he has to leave this world to face death. It's really too cruel."