Chapter 27 I never saw her clearly...
Li Funing lifted the curtain of the carriage, revealing a woman chained inside.
Perhaps the effect of the medicine had worn off, as they were huddled in the four corners of the carriage with their mouths gagged with cloth strips, their limbs covered in blood.
"God damn it!"
Song Youning had already walked away, but when she glanced back at this scene, she rushed back and kicked the old housekeeper in the stomach. "I told you not to resort to lynching, but I'll kick you to death!"
The kick was so powerful that the old butler rolled three times on the ground and hit a stone on the side of the road. Blood splattered on the spot, and everyone covered their faces with their hands.
Xiao Lin swung over with a piece of grass in his mouth and stepped on the old housekeeper's back again: "Old man, go back and tell your master..."
He paused, a sly smile flashing in his eyes, and glanced at Li Funing: "This truckload of goods was robbed by our Wuqi Gang. Our Wuqi Gang's second-in-command has always been a playboy. These women are your mistress's tribute to our second-in-command."
Li Funing, who was loosening the bracelets for the tied-up women, gave him a cold look. It was already this late and he still hadn't behaved himself?
The old butler, face down in the mud, suddenly raised his head upon hearing this, his sunken eyes nearly popping out. "No, no."
"Shut up!"
Song Youning's eyes narrowed, and he lashed the ground with the whip again. "If you say one more word, I will cut off your tongue and drink it with wine!"
Li Funing paused.
He suppressed his smile and walked to Song Youning's side: "Third brother is right, the Wuqi Gang has had many happy events recently, and they are in need of a wife."
"This sister is very pretty..."
"It's just right for my third brother..."
Song Youning glared at the two of them fiercely, "Have you two asked for their opinions?"
She kicked the old housekeeper on the butt again: "Why don't you get out of here!"
"Go back and tell your master that the leader of our Wuqi Gang is not to be trifled with. If you do it again... I will skin you alive!"
The old housekeeper ran away, crawling and tumbling, looking back frequently as he ran, as if there was an evil ghost following him to take his life.
When the hunched figure disappeared at the end of the official road, Xiao Lin finally couldn't help laughing out loud: "Hahaha... did you see the expression on that old man's face?"
“Alright, alright!”
Song Youning interrupted them with a wave of his hand and walked towards the women: "Don't be afraid, we were just trying to scare the old man. Someone will take you to a safe place later."
kaikai
As she was speaking, the guards behind her came back with three carriages. They bowed to her, then pulled aside the curtain and said to the group of women, "Girls, get in!"
Song Youning was about to take them to the car when a woman in green suddenly knelt down and kowtowed: "Thank you for your kindness! But..."
She bit her lip and said, "But Governor Zhou won't let this go. He has someone behind him..."
"I know, Master Chen."
Song Youning waved his hand nonchalantly, "Don't worry, that old man won't care."
Seeing her so confident, the woman lined up to get on the bus hesitantly.
Xiao Lin folded his arms and looked at her, suddenly feeling uneasy: "Your Highness, are you so sure?"
Song Youning smiled and said, "Master Chen's attention is now on me..."
"How can I care about their life or death..."
Song Youning stood beside the carriage, counting the girls who came on board one after another.
"seven……"
"eight……"
The dim light from the lantern on the carriage stretched her shadow very long, casting it obliquely on the dust on the road.
Just as the eighth woman was about to get on the bus, Song Youning suddenly stretched out her leg to stop her.
"Sister, wait a minute."
The woman froze and lowered her head, not daring to raise it.
Song Youning curled up the corners of her lips into a smile, and reached out to brush away the non-existent dust from her temples: "Sister, don't you recognize me so quickly?"
Her voice was as sweet as honey, but her eyes were ice-cold. "That's not how a sister treats her sister in a dungeon."
The woman suddenly looked up, revealing a pretty but pale face. Her lips trembled as she forced a smile: "The boss must have recognized the wrong person..."
"Yeah?"
Song Youning turned around and suddenly drew the dagger from her waist. "Sister, you don't recognize me, so how did you get my dagger? This dagger is a gift from the emperor. If an ordinary family keeps it privately...it's a capital crime."
The woman saw that the truth was revealed and she had become a useless person.
She suddenly pulled out a silver hairpin from her hair and pressed it against her swollen belly: "Don't come over! If I die, there will be two lives!"
Seeing that she was actually threatening her, Song Youning wanted to whip her with a long whip, but Xiao Lin caught the whip and said in a tense voice: "Your Highness, according to the rules of the martial arts world, pregnant women cannot be killed." Only then did Song Youning stop.
Su Wan sneered at the words, but the tip of her hairpin didn't loosen at all: "Master Xiao is still sensible."
She looked at Li Funing with resentment, "Mr. Li, when your father locked me up in the dungeon three years ago, he didn't care whether I was carrying his child or not!"
When these words were spoken, the three of them were struck by lightning. Li Funing looked at her in disbelief. Half of his face was shrouded in darkness, and his expression could not be seen.
"Prime Minister Li?"
Song Youning glanced at Li Funing.
Without saying anything, he suddenly raised his voice to warn Su Wan: "Don't talk nonsense before the matter is investigated clearly!"
"It's his father, the sanctimonious Prime Minister Li Xian."
Seeing that this woman refused to accept the toast and insisted on talking nonsense, Song Youning swung the whip, pulled out the long sword from Xiao Lin's body, pointed the tip of the sword at Su Wan's throat, and said with a fierce look: "If you say another word of nonsense, I will kill you!"
"I have evidence!"
Undeterred, Su Wan pulled out a jade pendant from her bosom. "This is a token of love given to me by Prime Minister Li himself! He was afraid that the truth would be revealed, so he sold me to a brothel! And I was saved by Governor Zhou, otherwise I would have died in that brothel long ago!"
"These are all masterpieces of the Li family!"
Xiao Lin took a breath and said in disbelief: "Li Funing, this jade pendant..."
"My father's."
Li Funing lowered his head: "But it's not..."
Su Wan interrupted him, completely ignoring his explanations, and became increasingly frantic: "Today I want everyone in the world to know what kind of person Prime Minister Li is!"
"Enough!" Song Youning interrupted harshly.
Su Wan suddenly shouted, "The Li family father and son are birds of a feather! This Li Funing pretended to be kind and saved us, but he was actually doing it for his father..."
In an instant, the sword light was as light as snow and stopped abruptly.
Su Wan widened her eyes and lowered her head in disbelief. A long sword had pierced her heart.
Song Youning held the sword against her chest, her tone icy and without hesitation: "I gave you a chance, but you didn't cherish it and repeatedly challenged my bottom line. So don't blame me for being rude."
"you..."
Blood foam overflowed from the corner of Su Wan's mouth, "Dare to kill the pregnant woman..."
Song Youning drew back the sword, and blood splattered on her skirt.
She waved her hand, tore off the piece of cloth stained with Su Wan's blood from her skirt, and threw it on the ground in disgust: "Why should I not dare?"
Song Youning frowned: "I still think you've soiled my clothes!"
The corpse fell to the ground with a thud, and its bulging belly was particularly conspicuous in the dust.
The scene was dead silent, with only the sound of blood dripping from the tip of the sword.
"Your Highness..."
Xiao Lin's hand was still hanging in the air, staring at her in disbelief, his voice dry, "She is still pregnant..."
"child?"
Song Youning raised her eyebrows and chuckled, dimples faintly visible at the corners of her mouth, but Xiao Lin felt a chill on his back.
The lights were dim in the night, as if covering her face with a thick fog.
"So what? I gave her a chance, but she chose to die. She even tried to get close to the Prime Minister. Killing her would be a stroke of luck."
The word "this palace" was like a slap in Xiao Lin's face.
Li Funing had never expected that Song Youning, who had always been delicate and gentle, would be so decisive and ruthless.
Su Wan's blood dripped down the sword, and dazzling red plum blossoms bloomed on the muddy road.
Song Youning slowly pulled back the sword, inserted it into the sword tube, and threw it to Xiao Lin: "I'll give it back to you!"
The almond-shaped eyes that were always filled with smiles were now as cold as a pond, without a trace of fluctuation.
"Lord Li, are you okay?" Song Youning looked up and down at Li Funing.
Her voice was still soft, even carrying a hint of girlish innocence, as if the sword that had just pierced her heart had not been her own. Li Funing subconsciously took a half step back, and this subtle movement made Song Youning's heart flutter.
"Your humble servant...I'm fine!" Li Funing opened his lips slightly.
Song Youning wanted to explain, but when the words came to his lips, he couldn't say anything.
"Forget it!" He simply gave up explaining and walked towards the carriage without looking back.
After walking a few steps, she suddenly stopped, turned around, and her two deep eyes rolled across his face twice.
"I've said that I'm not a child anymore. I can protect you. You don't need to be afraid of me!" After saying that, she left without looking back.
Li Funing looked at the receding figure, lost in thought.
Yes, maybe he never recognized her.
Song Youning's external image has always been that of a sweet, innocent, and heartless person, which even makes him forget that she is the future empress, so how could she be a fool who only knows how to eat, drink and have fun.
Li Funing unconsciously stroked the corner of his clothes and suddenly found that his hands were shaking.
At the Zhou Governor's Mansion, night.
"Wuqi Gang?!"
Governor Zhou looked at the old butler, whose face was bruised and bloodied, and whose forehead was covered in blood, and smashed the teacup in his hand: "You useless people!"
The old housekeeper knelt on the ground and kowtowed: "Master, please understand! The bandit leader said it himself, and he wants to make those people...take them as his own...take them as his own..."
He couldn't really say the word.
Governor Zhou's face was gloomy and uncertain. He suddenly stood up and paced back and forth: "This is the person that the Grand Tutor wants."
He stopped suddenly and said, "No, we have to report to the police..."
"Master, think twice! Aren't we officials? Who else can we report to?"
The old housekeeper hurriedly tried to dissuade him, "Besides, if this gets out of hand, our mission of transporting people to Bianjing will be in jeopardy... Losing people is a minor matter, but if people find out about you and the Grand Tutor..."
After hearing these words, Governor Zhou immediately lost his temper and sat back in his armchair dejectedly.
After thinking for a while, he waved his hand and said, "Prepare the sedan chair."
After an hour, the sedan stopped in front of a residence where people had gathered, and Governor Zhou knelt down in front of the man in black.
"Wuqi Gang?" The black-clad man's eyes gleamed beneath his mask. "Interesting... What's the origin of this Wuqi Gang?"
"I heard from people down there that this Wuqi Gang was organized by bandits from Tietou Mountain. They appear and disappear mysteriously, and I don't know how they appeared outside Lingnan City today."
Governor Zhou wiped his sweat and asked tentatively, "Sir, should we send someone to investigate..."
"What are you checking?"
The man in black's expression changed. "A few bandits robbed your goods, and you still have the nerve to bother your superiors?"
He suddenly lowered his voice and said, "There are more important things to do now. Don't bother the Grand Tutor with these trivial matters. Why don't you get out of here?"
"Yes, yes, yes!" Seeing that he had made such a big mistake and the Grand Tutor did not hold him accountable, Governor Zhou felt relieved.
Knowing that he was an eyesore staying here, he wisely packed up his bags and left.
After Governor Zhou retreated timidly, a masked Taoist suddenly appeared from behind the screen and said, "Sir, the Wuqi Gang..."
"Who cares if it's true or not."
The man in black stroked the bronze alchemy furnace standing beside him, "The most important thing now is to quickly let the princess succeed to the throne. Taking blood to make the elixir is the real business..."
He changed the subject: "I heard that the princess is currently in Lingnan?"
"Yes!" the Taoist bowed his head and said, "From what the Grand Tutor has said, we should bring the princess back to the capital as soon as possible to inherit the throne. Fortunately, this day is coming soon... But the princess has always been elusive, and the Grand Tutor doesn't know how to bring her back to the capital."
The man in black frowned, thought for a while, and then a smile of determination appeared on the corner of his mouth.
The next day, in the Golden Palace of the capital
Outside the hall, there was a drizzle and fog was gathering. Inside the hall, the court officials had solemn expressions.
"Your Majesty, I have something to report!" Grand Tutor Chen suddenly stepped out, his voice as loud as a bell.
Song Luoshu nodded slightly, raised his eyebrows and looked at him. Why was this old fox suddenly so active today? "Grand Master, please speak."
Grand Tutor Chen stroked his graying beard, suddenly turned to face the ministers, and said in a loud voice: "This old minister proposes that Princess Youning be made the Crown Princess!"
As soon as these words were spoken, the whole court was in an uproar.
The court officials were whispering and discussing among themselves.
You know, for so many years, it was this Grand Tutor who insisted in the court to make the son of the royal family the crown prince, and even threatened to retire and return home to force him to do so.
This led to the fact that although Song Youning was the crown princess, she had no official position and no real power in the court for many years. As the only legitimate princess of Dagan, she had no official position and no title.
"Are you serious, Grand Tutor?" A hint of surprise flashed in the emperor's eyes.
He bowed and said, "This old minister has given this careful consideration. Princess Youning is exceptionally intelligent and has a heart for the world. She is truly the perfect choice for the crown prince."
"Before, I was an old minister who was pedantic. Now I think about it, in ancient times, there was Fu Hao who assisted the King of Shang, and recently there was Empress Wu Zetian who ruled the country. Why can't a woman be the ruler?"
Song Luoshu suddenly felt something was wrong. Master Chen's attitude changed so quickly, there must be something fishy going on.
Song Luoshu pondered for a moment, then glanced at the ministers: "What do you think, my dear ministers?"
The Minister of Rites glanced at the Grand Tutor and immediately stepped out to agree, "Grand Tutor, your opinion is excellent! Her Highness is both virtuous and talented. I second your proposal!"
Immediately afterwards, officials from the Grand Tutor's party expressed their support.
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