"Seeing that His Majesty and the Empress are benevolent and have not distanced themselves from the Commander, they have set their sights on the old minister. It is clear that they are targeting the old minister and the Commander. In this way, they can cause discord between us, the ruler and his minister."
"Your Majesty, the person behind this is truly despicable!"
As he spoke, he glanced at Song Ting again, his expression wary. At this moment, he truly couldn't figure out what this guy was up to, but he could only go along with it.
Anyway, as long as he gets through today's hurdle, he'll find a way to turn the tables and won't let that guy surnamed Song continue to be so smug.
This time, he was determined to eliminate them completely and leave no trace of these two menaces.
Song Ting didn't look at him, but instead rolled up one of her empty sleeves, gesturing to the emperor: "Your Majesty, please take a look."
"This is..." Chu Minghuan exclaimed in surprise, "A seven-petaled red lotus?"
On his empty left arm was a striking seven-petaled red lotus. The color was dyed with cinnabar, as vibrant as blood.
The three people present were familiar with this, as it was the symbol of the Red Lotus Cult, and every follower of the Red Lotus Cult would have such a symbol on their person.
"Well, I never imagined that this wicked monk was a spy for the Red Lotus Sect. No wonder he went to such lengths to frame me and Commander Song. He is truly vicious!"
To be honest, Zhang Bingzhi was unaware of the old monk's identity before this; otherwise, even if he had a hundred times more courage, he wouldn't have dared to collude with this person.
"Did the commander already know the identity of this evil monk?"
Song Ting's gaze swept lightly across his face, but she still did not respond.
"..." Zhang Bingzhi held back his anger.
Chu Minghuan put the letters back into the wooden box and nodded thoughtfully.
"It seems this wicked monk must be connected to the Red Lotus Sect," the young emperor said slowly. "I have always believed in the loyalty of my two ministers."
"Now is the time when we, as ruler and subject, need to work together with one heart and one mind. We must not let those with ulterior motives take advantage of us. Kongxing is dead, the Empress Dowager is unconscious, and with the events in Sishui Town, people are already in a state of panic."
"On our journey here, I and Imperial Physician Wang have heard many rumors, including that my ascension to the throne was illegitimate, which is why Heaven has sent down this punishment..."
These words were truly not to be spoken lightly. Even though they came from the emperor's own mouth, they still terrified Zhang Bingzhi, who knelt down in fear and trepidation.
"These are all just idle fabrications by ignorant people; Your Majesty need not take them to heart."
“I hope so too. Grand Secretary, Minister Song,” the young emperor’s gaze swept over the two of them, “Since this matter is related to the Red Lotus Sect, there may be an even bigger conspiracy behind it. I will entrust this matter to you to investigate and make sure you get to the bottom of it.”
"So many people in Sishui Town are waiting for me to give them justice. If the real culprit is not found in a day, I... will not be able to eat or sleep in peace."
The young emperor was a soft-hearted person, and as he spoke, he showed a reluctant expression and sighed several times.
Song Ting replied, "Your subject obeys the decree."
Zhang Bingzhi: "This old minister obeys the decree."
It was already past 5:45 PM when they came out of the cellar, and Huaiyue was having her dinner.
Song Ting was too busy to take care of Huaiyue's meals, so the task of supervising Huaiyue's meals fell to Xiao Wu. Knowing that he couldn't handle this young master Huaiyue, Xiao Wu dragged Qi Zhou along.
The two men stood on either side of Huaiyue, like guardians watching over her.
"Eating vegetarian again? You've been eating vegetarian for days now, your face is turning green." Chu Huaixu poked at a plate of vegetables in front of him with his chopsticks, looking unhappy. "I'm not a grass-eating rabbit. Eating this every day is tasteless. I'm not eating it."
Xiao Wu felt a chill run down his spine as soon as he heard him speak: "My goodness, this is a temple, where are you going to get meat to eat? Aren't you afraid that Buddha will be displeased?"
But it was absolutely unacceptable for Huaiyue to refuse to eat. If this master ate even a single bite less, their commander, who seemed to be under a spell, might just cut a piece of flesh off him and feed it to him.
No, that's not right. It's probably not his place to cut off flesh to feed a beauty. Given how much their adults care about Huaiyue, there's a 99% chance they won't let Huaiyue eat other people's flesh. If anyone is going to eat, it'll be his own.
"..." The more Xiao Wu thought about it, the more he felt that this might actually come true.
In ancient times, there was a holy monk who cut off his own flesh to feed an eagle; now, there is a commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard who cut off his own flesh to feed Huaiyue.
"Why don't you just have a bite? After you finish, I'll dance for you." For the sake of the adults, Xiao Wu was really going all out. "If that doesn't work, Qi Zhou and I will dance together. As long as you're happy."
Huaiyue, however, showed little interest: "I don't want to look. Your hands and feet are too clumsy, you're not pretty."
Xiao Wu: "..."
Xiao Wu: "…………"
Even Qi Zhou was suppressing a laugh.
Huaiyue smiled too. He rested his chin on one hand, slowly picked up two grains of rice with his chopsticks, but didn't eat them.
"Anyway, I want to eat meat. Don't tell me that Buddha will be unhappy. I don't know whether Buddha is happy or not, and I can't control Him, so He'd better not control me either."
“If we keep eating like this, I won’t be happy. If I’m unhappy, your commander won’t be happy either, so you can forget about being happy. You understand that, right?”
Qi Zhou's smile vanished: "..."
Xiao Wu: "..."
Xiao Wu: "I understand. It's like big fish eating small fish, and small fish eating shrimp. You are that big fish."
Huaiyue's eyes flickered with a smile. "Good that you understand. If you understand, then hurry up and get me some meat, right, Commander?"
Following his gaze, Xiao Wu spotted Song Ting standing not far away.
"grown ups."
"grown ups."
Song Ting said indifferently, "Go down."
Finally free from serving this tyrant, Xiao Wu felt like he'd been granted a pardon. He grabbed Qi Zhou's arm and ran off—serving this man was more terrifying than facing a hundred or eighty enemies.
"The food isn't to your liking?" Song Ting sat down to Chu Huaixu's right and served him some food with chopsticks.
The temple was already simple and quiet, and with so many things happening one after another, no one had the mind to put effort into the food.
Huai Xu pushed the bowls and plates far away, his beautiful phoenix eyes glancing at Song Ting: "What do you think?" He put his arm around Song Ting's arm, picked up his own bowl, scooped up a spoonful of tofu soup, and fed it to her. "I want to eat meat."
The tofu soup had no flavor at all; even Song Ting thought it was unpalatable, let alone Huai Xu, who was always picky about food.
During this time, Huaixu suffered because of him, and not only did he lose all the little weight he had managed to gain, but he also became much thinner. Song Ting was already heartbroken, and when she met the pitiful look that the other party deliberately showed, she was even more unable to resist.
After a moment's thought, he grabbed Huaixu's arm and gently pulled him up: "Let's go!"
"Where is Commander taking me?" Huai Xu followed his footsteps, unable to resist teasing him, "Why are you going off-track? Where are you planning to sell me off to?"
Song Ting replied mysteriously, "You'll know when we get there."
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