064

It’s snowing again in Sheng’an.

This time the snow is heavier than ever before.

Song Jin sat on the upper floor, looking down at the people holding umbrellas to block the snow.

No one can remember how many snows this is in Sheng'an.

Yang Chaoxue stared at their hurried backs indifferently.

"Song Jin, you are much smarter than I thought."

The almond-shaped eyes moved slightly.

Song Jin smiled and said, "The Concubine is overrated, not even one ten-thousandth of yours."

Yang Chaoxue looked at her calm face and was so angry that she felt choked up. "Did you deliberately bring Xu Guanlin here?"

Song Jin was puzzled: "What did the Concubine say?"

"The time you drank with Xu Guanlin at the tea stall."

Oh, that time.

It wasn't her who led him here that time. It was Xu Guanlin who discovered the clues and followed them himself.

Song Jin was too disdainful to explain all this to her, so he just let her mistakenly believe that it was his own doing.

"But didn't the Queen also poison me?"

Yang Chaoxue's expression was blank: "What kind of poison? Don't slander me!"

Song Jin slowly organized his words: "Then let me help the Concubine recall. A few months ago, the Seventh Prince met with me in private and deliberately exposed himself in front of me to make me alert. I did not drink the wine given by the Seventh Prince, but drank the tea made by the maid, which was exactly what you planned."

"You knew that the Marquis would stay in the East Palace for a while, so you changed the spices in the study and secretly told the Marquis about my meeting with the Seventh Prince. You were sure that he would come to see me, and the spices that the Marquis picked up in the study were the factors that triggered the toxins in my body. That wine house was bought by you a long time ago."

"What do you think, Madam Concubine, is what I said right or wrong?"

“…”

Yang Chaoxue lowered her eyelashes gently, "You guessed right."

A huge smile spread across her face and she giggled, her gorgeous nails folded over her legs.

"So what if you guessed it? Do you have evidence?" As if she knew Song Jin had no evidence, she became more and more presumptuous, "This poison has no antidote. It attacks once every three months. Counting the days, it's time for your poison to attack, right?"

"I remember that when the poison took effect, my body felt like it was being reshaped after being broken, my breathing became sluggish, and I felt like I was living a life worse than death."

Song Jin's eyes darkened slightly: "This is Beidi's poison!"

Yang Chaoxue lifted the hair from her ears and said, "Well, is that so? Who can provide evidence? Song Jin, ah Song Jin, I grew up in Sheng'an, I have seen all kinds of powerful methods. You want to fight me, you are simply overestimating yourself."

In his past and present lives combined, Song Jin didn't know much about her and had just witnessed her methods.

Admittedly, she is not as resourceful as Yang Chaoxue, but in terms of strategy, she may not be inferior to Yang Chaoxue.

"Oh, I almost forgot." Yang Chaoxue suddenly laughed meaningfully, "I heard that you went to the pearl farm? A thief broke into the pearl farm last night. Do you think the thief is still alive?"

Song Jin looked unhappy.

How did Yang Chaoxue know about the pearl farm?

Oh no! Shi An and the others are in danger!

Yang Chaoxue looked at her calmly, "Are you anxious?"

Song Jin couldn't help but frown: "Yang Chaoxue, why do you come to me for anything? What's the point of hurting innocent people? You always think about Xu Nanheng, but have you ever thought about whether he really cares about you? Did he say a word of concern to you after you gave birth?!"

Yang Chaoxue clenched her palms, "What does it have to do with you? You don't understand the relationship between me and Brother Nanheng!"

Song Jin didn't want to get entangled with her here, so he said nothing more and turned around, pulling Qing Wu to go and rescue people.

Behind him, Yang Chaoxue closed his eyes, his long curled eyelashes trembling constantly.

A tear fell from the corner of my eye.

*

It was snowing heavily, and in a remote corner of Sheng'an, the entire courtyard was covered with snow.

Warm blood flowed down, like a ferocious Yaksha crawling out from the ground. Corpses were lying all around, and traces of fighting could be seen everywhere.

Qing Wuxin walked into the yard timidly and hid behind Song Jin in fear.

"Madam...what happened here?"

Song Jin's eyelids twitched, "Shi An! Ah Wu!"

"Madam, we are here..."

A faint sound came from the wellhead.

The two men pushed away the huge rock pressing on the wellhead, and a strong smell of blood rushed out from the bottom of the well.

"Shi An, are you injured?"

At the bottom of the well, Shi An held the unconscious Ah Wu in his arms and stood up with great difficulty. His back was burning with pain, and he couldn't help but gasp.

"My dear, I'm not in any serious trouble... Save Wu first, she's been poisoned..."

Song Jin immediately looked around, pulled out a hemp rope and threw it down, "Shi An, hold on to the rope, Qing Wu and I will pull you up!"

Shi An took a deep breath, turned his right arm a few times, wrapped it around the rope, and held Awu tightly with his left hand.

The weight of an adult man plus the unconscious Ah Wu was definitely not something that the two of them could pull.

Shi An naturally understood this, and when the rope was pulled halfway, he pushed hard against the wall of the well with his right foot and used the force to fly up.

“Hmm!”

Shi An frowned, "Madam, take her back to see the doctor first."

Song Jin looked at him: "Shi An, are you really okay?"

The yard was filled with corpses and blood.

No matter how high Shi An's martial arts skills are, can he remain intact?

Shi An knew that he couldn't hide it from her, so he shook his head at her and said, "My dear, take Ah Wu back first. My injury is not serious for the time being, really."

Seeing that persuasion was useless, Song Jin sighed and told Qing Wu to find Zhan Lin.

The slave release document, it's time for her to fulfill her contract.

*

The Fifth Prince’s Mansion.

Zhao Wuan arrived as promised, but found the mansion empty.

Zhao Wuan became alert.

The crunching sound of stepping on the snow was extremely clear.

Xu Luo's yard is in the backyard.

Just as he was about to pass through the moon gate, Zhao Wuan saw Xu Luo walking barefoot in the snow.

At this time, the light snow was falling all over my head.

When Xu Luo saw him, he excitedly opened his arms and hugged him tightly.

"Master Zhao, it's really not easy for me to see you!"

Zhao Wuan lowered his eyebrows and rejected his intimate gesture.

"Fifth Prince."

"Come, come, come." Xu Luo was not annoyed and took his wrist. "I have made tea under the eaves. Lord Zhao, come and appreciate my tea art."

The two of them knelt and sat on the mat.

Xu Luo poured tea for him personally.

Zhao Wuan saw his red soles and asked, "Isn't your Highness cold?"

"Hmm?" Xu Luo raised his eyes slightly, "Is it cold? I think it's much warmer today."

Zhao Wuan frowned.

madman.

"Here, taste it."

Xu Luo handed over a cup of hot tea.

Zhao Wuan reached out to take it, and his fingertips curled up as if they had received an electric shock.

He looked at the other person's hand in confusion, which was already burned.

What a strange person.

"Fifth Prince, just speak frankly about what you want to say."

Xu Luo smiled calmly: "Lord Zhao is now the Minister of Rites. This speed of promotion is jaw-dropping. I admire Lord Zhao's talent and am willing to help him rise to a higher position!"

Zhao Wuan was silent.

Afterwards, he politely declined: "Thank you for your kindness, Your Highness. I have no other intentions now. I just want to work peacefully and steadily."

Xu Luosi had expected him to say this.

"Master Zhao, please don't be so hasty to reject me. I heard that Master Zhao is from Poer Village?"

He didn't even wait for Zhao Wuan to speak and continued talking on his own.

"That place is remote and desolate. For Lord Zhao to be able to get out of that place, he must have paid an unimaginable price. But I seem to have heard that Lord Zhao's parents were also from Sheng'an?"

Zhao Wuan's eyes turned cold.

"What does the Fifth Prince want to say?"

Xu Luo smiled, stood up and walked into the snow, looking down at the footprints he had left.

"Well, Master Zhao's background is so well hidden that he even fooled those who took the imperial examination. I was almost fooled. I remember that Master Zhao was upright and respected during his lifetime, but in the end he could not escape the traces of corruption."

Zhao Wuan's parents were the once-famous Grand Tutor Zhao of Sheng'an. Both the late emperor and Your Majesty were taught by Grand Tutor Zhao.

A wise ruler may benefit the world, but he cannot save his own teacher.

There was innumerable evidence of Grand Tutor Zhao's corruption, and everyone was blaming him. The emperor knew very well that Grand Tutor Zhao was framed, and he could not find any evidence to overturn his conviction.

In desperation, the emperor issued an imperial decree to confiscate the property and exile.

But who would have known that Tai Shi Zhao and his family were assassinated during their exile. The emperor learned the news that no one was spared.

Unexpectedly, several years later, Tai Shi Zhao's son would appear again.

Xu Luo stood in the snow, with flying snow falling all over his head. "Zhao Wuan, I can help you overturn the verdict."

Zhao Wuan stood up and bowed respectfully. "I don't know what your Highness said. If your Highness only wants to say this today, I'm sorry that I can't accompany you any longer--"

"Good afternoon, Zhao!" Xu Luo shouted at him angrily, "You are a coward. When Grand Tutor Zhao was framed, no one came to his aid. Now his son is unwilling to even help him overturn the verdict. How ridiculous!"

Zhao Wuan closed his eyes, his back still unsteady, "If we have different paths, we cannot plot against each other."

"Your Highness killed a living life just to deal with dissidents, and framed the Moon-Catching Tower. I cannot agree with this no matter what."

Xu Luo narrowed his eyes, "You also care about Zhaiyue Tower? I didn't think of this..."

He actually admitted this.

Zhao Wuan clenched his fists and said, "Your Highness, I will take my leave."

Having said that, he was about to leave.

Xu Luo looked at his back dimly, "Zhao Wu'an, once you step out of the Fifth Prince's Mansion, you will be my enemy, so think it through."

Zhao Wuan walked away without any hesitation.

In the empty courtyard, the snow was fluttering.

Xu Luo kicked the snow beneath his feet. The biting cold penetrated into his feet, but he seemed unaware of it.

muttering.

"It's not so warm anymore, my brother. You never thought that I'm no longer afraid of winter nights, right?"

After a while, he suddenly said coldly: "Kill him."

*

The sky gets dark quickly on winter nights.

When Zhao Wuan came, he did not call any followers, but walked back by himself holding his umbrella.

Darkness and silence gradually intruded behind him.

The street vendors on both sides had packed up their stalls and there was not a single person on the street.

Zhao Wuan suddenly realized that tonight was the winter solstice, no wonder there was a heavy snow.

It’s the winter solstice, time to eat dumplings.

Zhao Wuan vaguely recalled the past days when the whole family gathered together and talked and laughed happily.

Suddenly, a cold arrow shot towards him.

Zhao Wuan retreated hastily and the umbrella in his hand was shot away.

call out!

Arrows shot out from all directions, and Zhao Wuan couldn't dodge at all!

At the critical moment, a figure flashed out, and the long sword on his wrist turned rapidly, shooting down the incoming arrow.

The man took advantage of the gap, grabbed Zhao Wuan and fled.