Capital city.
Prince Rui's Palace.
The Great Zhou had a tradition that when a prince reached adulthood, he would be crowned a king and have a palace built outside. The Third Prince was crowned the King of Rui, and the King of Rui's Palace was his residence.
A carriage stopped in front of Prince Rui's mansion, and a thin young man walked down from it. The young man was dressed in gorgeous clothes and wore a jade crown on his head. He was tall and straight, with sword-like eyebrows and bright eyes, and his whole body exuded a gentle and elegant temperament.
This young man was Prince Rui Zhao Shu.
Another young man followed him, his confidant Deng Shuo.
Deng Shuo followed closely behind Prince Rui and entered the palace.
All the servants in the palace showed respectful expressions.
Prince Rui is the most friendly among all the princes, and is also known for his gentleness in the capital. However, the prince's authority is there, and no one dares to be disrespectful.
Prince Rui took Deng Shuo straight into the study. As soon as they entered, Deng Shuo quickly closed the door.
As soon as the door closed, Prince Rui's expression changed immediately.
The gentleness on his face disappeared, and he became cold and carried a murderous aura.
Gentleness is just his disguise. Only a few of his confidants know his true face.
Cold, cruel, and ambitious.
"Your Highness, the hairpin has been delivered to Miss Gu. You said it was made by you personally and Miss Gu likes it very much." Deng Shuo said.
The young lady of the Gu family had been lost since childhood, so the whole Gu family doted on this young lady who had been lost and found again. Whoever married the young lady of the Gu family would have the power of the entire General Gu Mansion, what a temptation.
Therefore, Prince Rui had long set his sights on this young lady, pretending to meet her by chance, then fell in love with her at first sight and pursued her madly.
This young lady has already fallen in love with Prince Rui under his crazy pursuit.
Prince Rui nodded, not caring much about her. He was obviously more concerned about something else: "Have you investigated the Wu family's affairs?"
"Your Highness, we've checked and found that Wu Yu is indeed the missing son of Lord Wu. Eight years ago, Wu Yu went to the border town on business and was attacked by the Huns. He was seriously injured and fell off a cliff. He was rescued by a farmer and lost his memory. After he recovered his memory, he returned to the capital." Deng Shuo said.
Prince Rui frowned, still feeling something was amiss: "If that's the case, why doesn't he just be a leisurely young marquis instead of running off to Qinghe County, a place with high mountains and far waters?"
"Aren't Lord Wu's ancestors from Qinghe County? My son is more ambitious than me, right? He wants to seek an official position, and it just so happens that the position of County Magistrate is vacant. The County Magistrate is second only to the County Governor, has real power, and the official position is not small." Deng Shuo said.
This explanation makes a lot of sense.
But he still wasn't willing to give up.
The Magistrate of Wen County was a piece of iron, and he refused to budge. He had tried his best to create a vacancy, but now someone else had taken his place. How could he accept this?
"Deng Shuo, go and do something." King Rui said.
King Rui whispered what he was to do.
Deng Shuo was shocked. He didn't expect the prince to be so cruel.
"Your Majesty, that was Lord Wu after all. He saved your Majesty's life. If they were harmed, your Majesty..."
King Rui kicked him.
Deng Shuo quickly knelt down, a layer of cold sweat breaking out on his back.
"Idiot!" Prince Rui cursed. "Were we responsible for their deaths? Couldn't it have been Old Six? Don't you know you can kill two birds with one stone?"
Deng Shuo kowtowed quickly: "I understand!"
…
On the official road, three carriages passed by hurriedly, surrounded by a dozen black-clad guards, galloping and raising a cloud of dust.
In one of the carriages, there was a man dressed in black. He had a handsome face, a high nose bridge, and deep facial features. He was resting with his eyes closed.
He tapped his fingers on his legs. His expression seemed calm, but the tapping of his fingers revealed his impatience.
Suddenly, the carriage slowed down and a man jumped into it.
"Master, there is a teahouse in front. Do you want to take a break?" The speaker was Han Yi.
The man in the carriage was Wei Qing, who used the alias Wu Yu.
Wei Qing opened his eyes. Although he wished he could reach Qinghe County the next moment to see his wife, he nodded when he thought of Lord Wu and Madam Wu in the carriage. They were old and it would be hard for them to travel.
The carriage stopped.
Wei Qing jumped down from the carriage and came to the middle carriage.
"Dad, Mom, let's take a rest before we go."
The curtain of the carriage was opened, and a middle-aged man with a serious face came down first. He looked to be about forty years old. He stretched out his hand and helped out a middle-aged woman with a slightly pale face and quite temperament from inside.
The three of them walked towards the teahouse.
The teahouse was very small, with only four tables. Wei Qing, Lord Wu, and Madam Wu sat at one table, and the rest of the people squeezed onto another table.
The owner of the teahouse greeted everyone warmly, first serving a pot of tea to Wei Qing's table, and then serving tea to other tables.
"How far is it from Qinghe County?" asked Lord Wu.
Wei Qing looked at the sunset in the sky, and the whole earth was dyed red by the sunset.
"If we rush for another night, we'll arrive tomorrow morning," Wei Qing said.
Lord Wu nodded and looked at Madam Wu: "Can you still hold on?"
Madam Wu was fixing her messy bun and nodded: "It's OK."
Lord Wu and Madam Wu were also looking forward to arriving in Qinghe County and settling down as soon as possible. They had lived in the capital all year round and seldom traveled far. It was really tiring for them to sit in a carriage for a month or so.
Wei Qing wanted to pour tea for Lord Wu, and Madam Wu was a little flattered: "I'll do it..."
Lord Wu held out his hand to stop her: "Let our son come."
There was a deep meaning in his words. Madam Wu nodded and quickly withdrew her hand.
Wei Qing poured three cups of tea. When he picked up the tea to drink, he suddenly felt something was wrong. He glanced around with sharp eyes and then looked at the owner of the teahouse.
I happened to meet the eyes of the teahouse owner, and there was something obviously wrong with his eyes.
Wei Qing's expression froze, and he dropped the teacup in his hand to the ground. With a wave of his hand, he also waved away the teacups of Lord Wu and Madam Wu. Seeing this, the other guards also hurriedly threw down their cups.
When the owner of the teahouse saw that he was exposed, his eyes suddenly flashed with ferocity and he took out a sword. At the same time, more than a dozen masked men in black jumped out from all sides and surrounded them in an instant.
"Han Yi, protect my parents." Wei Qing gave an order, and Han Yi beside him nodded.
Wei Qing drew the sword from his waist and charged into the group of men in black.
The two sides were originally evenly matched in numbers, but on Wei Qing's side, several people drank tea and lay on the ground. In terms of numbers, Wei Qing was at a disadvantage.
However, Wei Qing's skills were extremely sharp. Several black-clad assassins surrounded him, but his swordsmanship was not messy at all. Those black-clad assassins could not even get close to him.
Wei Qing found an opening and slashed the sword in his hand across the neck of one of the assassins. One person fell down, and the others began to panic.
Wei Qing swung his sword, and the remaining men in black all flew out and fell to the ground.
The remaining men in black were also subdued by the other guards.
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