Chapter 19 Renewal of Gratitude
"Don't tell me that you have any secret to immortality."
Shen Cong scoffed coldly, his narrow, phoenix-shaped eyes slanting upwards, carrying a sharp, murderous aura.
Li Nanke shook his head.
"Of course not. What Your Highness means by immortality is exactly what I write."
That was quite a sarcastic remark.
Shen Cong narrowed his eyes slightly, the tip of the sword in his hand trembled, and he suddenly pressed down.
"The last person who tried to fool me like this has already had his head chopped off by my own hand. You want to try it too?"
The cold tip of the sword slowly moved down from her cheek, gradually touching her neck.
He exuded a chilling killing intent, as if he could slit her throat at any moment.
Li Nanke gripped her skirt tightly, her palms sweating slightly.
Her heart pounded with fear, and she dared not try to fool him any longer.
"The Changsheng I wrote about is the eldest prince born to the current Emperor and Empress, and also the prince's nephew."
Six years ago, the eldest prince was lost in the war. I know that His Majesty and the Prince have been searching for the eldest prince all these years, but they have not found him yet.
"Your Highness might consider searching in the direction of Taizhou."
Although she was young, she spoke clearly and logically, without uttering a single stutter.
Shen Cong's gaze toward Li Nanke grew increasingly sharp.
Changsheng's full name was Shenxu. He was the only son of the emperor's elder brother and sister-in-law. Because he was weak at birth, he was given the nickname Changsheng.
This matter was not a secret in the court.
Six years ago, my father fell seriously ill, which led to the rebellion of the five princes.
The rebel army once stormed into the capital. At that time, the emperor's elder brother was still the crown prince. In the chaos, he led his father, mother, himself, and the wives and concubines of the crown prince's residence to leave the capital first.
At that time, the Crown Princess's sister-in-law led him and Changsheng to escape the pursuit of the rebel army.
In the chaos, Changsheng was lost and never heard from again.
Over the years, my elder brother has sent countless people to search for him, but none of them have been able to find Changsheng's whereabouts.
Now he actually heard about Changsheng's whereabouts from an eight-year-old girl.
Shen Cong tightened his grip on the soft sword slightly.
"Could it be that the Marquis of Anping's residence has been in contact with the rebels all these years?"
The sharp sword instantly sliced through Li Nanke's fair neck, causing her face to contort in pain, yet she dared not move.
“My family has no dealings with the rebels. Your Highness knows this. My grandfather only enjoys flowers and birds every day and doesn’t have any leisure work.”
Although my father had a sinecure, he never went to the government office. If my family had any dealings with the rebels, we should have been doing everything we could to climb the ranks in the court.
"Ha, you seem to have a very clear understanding of your whole family."
Li Nanke grinned, revealing her neat little teeth.
Erfeng whispered from the side, "Your Highness, I don't think she's lying. Everyone in the capital knows that the Marquis of Anping's family is just an insignificant, impoverished household in the court."
The title of marquis only went down to Li Mu's generation; after that, it would be downgraded. Li Mu even had someone sign in for him when he went to the government office.
"If the rebels hire them as informants, they won't get any information at all. Wouldn't they be furious?"
Although these words were meant to belittle the Marquis of Anping's household, Li Nanke knew they were pleading for her.
She looked at Erfeng gratefully.
Shen Cong snorted coldly, but the soft sword did not move an inch.
"If you weren't involved with the rebels, how would you know Changsheng's whereabouts?"
ah!
This is really hard to explain.
Even if he explained, King Xuan would never believe him.
Li Nanke blinked her grape-like eyes, looking pitiful yet incredibly sincere.
"This is my secret. The prince helped clear my father's name, and I told the prince what he wanted to know. I have already repaid the prince's kindness."
"If Your Highness wants to know my secret, that will require further payment for a favor."
"I've said before that I hate it when people try to negotiate. Are you trying to provoke me?"
"Nan Ke wouldn't dare. Even if the prince chopped off my head, I still couldn't say it."
Li Nanke's teeth chattered, so he simply closed his eyes, looking as if he were ready to die.
Shen Cong's pale face was no longer expressionless; a hint of cold anger, visible to the naked eye, appeared.
He exerted force with the sword in his hand once more.
Bright red blood dripped down the tip of the sword, pattering onto the floor.
The snow eagle, which was eating meat with its head down, probably smelled the blood and suddenly turned its head to look over.
Its big, wet eyes darted around, it let out a whimper, and suddenly lunged forward.
He suddenly tackled Li Nanke to the ground and rubbed his head against her.
Its pounce, however, allowed Li Nanke to dodge Shen Cong's soft sword.
Li Nanke snapped out of his shock, reached out and rubbed Xueying's head, then got up and knelt on the ground again.
Xueying also knelt down, imitating her posture.
The man and the dog, both looking up with equally wet, large eyes, were staring at Shen Cong.
Shen Cong was so angry that he laughed, a few muffled coughs escaped his throat, and dark red spots seeped between the fingers he held to his lips.
He was coughing up blood.
"Your Highness."
Erfeng was startled and quickly stepped forward to support him, looking anxious.
"I will go find the imperial physician immediately."
Shen Cong seemed completely unconcerned about coughing up blood. He took the handkerchief Er Feng handed him and casually wiped the blood off his hands.
Then he crumpled up the handkerchief and casually threw it at Xueying's head.
Snow Eagle let out a cry, shook its head, and the blood-stained handkerchief fell in front of Li Nanke.
She looked at the dark red bloodstains on the handkerchief, her delicate brows furrowing slightly.
In the dream, when Shen Cong bought her, she had already come of age.
When he first arrived at Shen Cong's side, he was vomiting blood.
She knew that Shen Cong was physically weak, but she didn't know that he had started coughing up blood when he was twelve years old.
I don't know if it's due to congenital weakness or...
The little brain turned around and saw Shen Cong raise his sword and pat Xue Ying's head mercilessly.
"You want to save her?"
"Woof woof!"
"Ha, you traitorous dog!"
"Woof woof!"
Shen Cong slowly stood up, his soft sword flashing as he swung it sharply at Xue Ying.
"No, no!"
Li Nanke exclaimed in surprise, and without thinking, her small body pounced on Xueying.
The tip of the sword grazed past her ear, and she trembled with fear, instinctively hugging Xueying tightly.
"Woof woof".
The cry of the snow eagle reached her ears, and she slowly came back to her senses from the shock.
He subconsciously reached up and touched his head.
Thankfully, his head was still resting on his neck.
Looking down, I saw a strand of soft hair drift down and land on the floor.
Li Nanke then felt his heart start beating again and quickly turned to look at Shen Cong.
Two shallow dimples appeared on her face as she said crisply:
"Thank you for sparing my life, Your Highness."
Shen Cong braced his sword against the ground with one hand, his pale face showing signs of panting, as if he were somewhat exhausted.
His body is really weak.
Li Nanke was thinking to himself when he suddenly heard Shen Cong snort coldly.
Where in Taizhou?
She was stunned for a moment before she realized what was happening.
"I can't be sure of the exact location, but the person should be in the south of Taizhou City."
"If the information you provide is incorrect, I will still kill you."
Shen Cong tossed the soft sword to Er Feng and turned to walk out the door.
Li Nanke breathed a slight sigh of relief.
In her dream, after being bought by Shen Cong, she was sent to Shen Xu, who had already been found, for some reason.
She spent three years by Shen Xu's side and heard Shen Xu tell her personally that she had lived in Taizhou when she was a child.
Judging by the time, it should be now, right?
Shen Cong stopped abruptly at the door, turned around, and looked at him with sharp eyes.
Then he pointed with his finger.
"you......"
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