Chapter 914 Going Down the Mountain (1)

"Oh no!" Xie Jingxing suddenly turned around and ordered Mo Qing and the others, "You escort Madam out to the outer field. Tieyi, follow me."

Shen Miao asked, “Are you going to the inner court now?” The uneasy feeling in her heart grew stronger and stronger, to the point that Shen Miao almost had the urge to grab Xie Jingxing and not let him leave.

Xie Jingxing looked at her deeply, and for the first time, his eyes darkened: "The plan has changed."

Shen Miao clenched her fists, looked at him and said, “I’ll wait for you to come back.”

Xie Jingxing said nothing more. He turned his horse around, whipped it, and Tieyi followed closely behind him. The two of them gradually went away, and their figures could no longer be seen in the dust kicked up by the horses' hooves.

Shen Miao held the reins tightly as she sat on the horse's back. At this moment, she no longer had the mood to wander around the outer field alone. Mo Qing said, "Madam, let's go back."

Shen Miao nodded, and Mo Qing and a group of guards escorted Shen Miao away. Despite this, Shen Miao's heart was still beating wildly. She tried her best to calm herself down and carefully considered every detail of the matter.

Today's events seemed fraught with danger. Emperor Yongle's position within the Daliang court wasn't as secure as he'd imagined. The Lu family, led by their generals, seemed to harbor ulterior motives for rebellion. Most importantly, the Lu family appeared to have previously served the late emperor.

Could it be that there was some discord between the Yongle Emperor and the previous emperor? Just as some emperors were reluctant to pass the throne to a particular son, could it be that the Yongle Emperor's position was also ill-gotten, having been manipulated to such an extent that the previous emperor harbored a grudge and, even centuries after his death, laid a trap to one day bring him down?

Xie Jingxing and Emperor Yongle must have made some arrangements for this, but for some reason, before the signal was given, Emperor Yongle entered the inner court alone and headed up Hualuan Peak. This left only two possibilities: one, someone in the Imperial Guards coerced Emperor Yongle, forcing him to enter the inner court early. The other, this was Emperor Yongle's own idea; he must have made a decision without consulting Xie Jingxing.

Shen Miao felt that it should be the second one, because there were still some ministers and other people walking in the outer field. Even those who were hiding evil intentions in the imperial guards would not choose to take action here. They would definitely wait until Emperor Yongle entered the inner field and there was no one around before taking action.

But why did Emperor Yongle go in early, and what decision did he make to make Xie Jingxing so nervous? It seemed that Shen Miao had never seen such a serious expression on Xie Jingxing's face before.

She was walking drowsily along with her horse's pace, and happened to see an eagle flying in the sky and letting out a long cry. Her heart suddenly shuddered, and an unbelievable thought emerged in her mind.

However, she quickly rejected that thought. She shook her head and secretly touched her chest.

When they left the outer field, they immediately saw Madam Ji. Madam Ji had not gone hunting with Master Ji, but was waiting outside. Shen Miao didn't have many acquaintances in Longye, so she walked over to greet Madam Ji.

"How come the princess came out so early?" Madam Ji laughed. "I thought she would stay inside for a while. There are many foxes outside. Sometimes you're lucky enough to hunt a rare black fox and use its skin to make a scarf. It's warm and beautiful."

Shen Miao smiled faintly, "I just followed them in to join in the fun, I don't know how to hunt." She then looked at Madam Ji and said, "Madam, you don't have to call me Princess. We are relatives after all, so just call me Jiao Niang. I can also call Madam Aunt with a straight face."

Madam Ji was startled, then her smile became even warmer: "So Jingxing has already told you. In that case, I won't do anything fancy and will just call you Jiaoniang."