"How dare you! You still dare to argue! Guards, drag them out and punish each of them with twenty strokes of the cane."
And just like that, the two guards were driven away without any explanation.
He still kept begging for mercy.
"Father-in-law, spare my life!"
"I'm innocent, Father-in-law."
In the end, after each of them had been severely punished with twenty strokes of the cane, they were still dragged back to the man who spoke in a soft voice.
The soft-spoken man finally spoke slowly, asking, "You two are really pig-brains, completely useless. How come you can't even keep an eye on a woman who can't even kill a chicken? Tell us in detail who went in to see her today."
“Speak, I will speak, I will tell you everything.”
The two guards, enduring excruciating pain from their injuries, were terrified and kept saying...
After the two of them supplemented each other's points, they finally gave a rather detailed account.
The man, who spoke in a soft voice, seemed to be beginning to have some doubts.
Then he turned his gaze back to his master, who remained silent and expressionless, hidden in the shadows behind a dense beaded curtain.
As soon as the two finished speaking, he scolded them: "You two good-for-nothings, you must have been fooled. The palace never sent anyone to the villa..."
Seeing the two men's blank and astonished expressions, the man pressed on, "What does that person look like? Have you searched him thoroughly? Is he still at the villa?"
One of the guards recalled for a moment and said in a low voice, "The man's appearance and accent... he doesn't seem to be from our Western Qin Kingdom. I have a feeling that he comes from a barbarian land like Northern Lie."
The other guard still finds it hard to believe, insisting: "But that person had a palace token. The servants checked it carefully, and the token was indeed genuine, which is why we let him in. At the time of the incident, we immediately ordered a search of every nook and cranny, but unfortunately…"
For a moment, even the furious man seemed to have nothing to say.
Enraged, he ordered, "How dare you two good-for-nothings! Stop trying to argue here! Men, drag these two away and throw them into jail. No one is to release them without my order!"
"Father-in-law, spare my life!"
"Father-in-law, spare my life!"
With another cry of pleas for mercy, the two men quickly disappeared completely!
After the two left, the room returned to silence.
At this moment, Emperor Jing, who had been hiding in the shadows behind the beaded curtain, slowly got up and walked out.
Upon seeing this, the man rushed over to help her up, saying, "It seems that this woman's death is definitely related to that man. However... those two idiots couldn't even remember what the man looked like. This servant deserves to die; it was my dereliction of duty in employing people."
Unexpectedly, the majestic face that was finally exposed to the candlelight suddenly spoke and demanded, "Take me over to see!"
The soft-spoken man was immediately startled and said, "Your Majesty, this is extremely inappropriate! She has already passed away. What if she offends Your Majesty?!"
Upon hearing this, Emperor Jing looked at the man's face. The man was startled and quickly replied, "Yes, Your Majesty, this servant will take you there immediately."
After passing through the corridor, I arrived at the gate of the courtyard where Yi Shangyun was, lit by lamplight.
Suddenly a cool breeze swept by, scattering the vibrant summer flowers in the courtyard. The soft-spoken man abruptly stopped in his tracks, hesitating once more.
A chill ran down his spine, so he timidly asked, "Your Majesty, are we really going to go in?"
Seeing his timid and frightened eyes, Emperor Jing glared at him fiercely and scolded, "You rootless wretch, utterly useless! Get out of here!"
Without thinking, he continued to step forward, crossed the threshold, and rushed inside.
The eunuch looked ahead, then glanced at the courtyard beside him. It was pitch black, empty, and completely deserted, extremely eerie and terrifying.
Finally, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and chase after them, calling out in a low voice, "Your Majesty, wait for this servant!"
Inside, the room was now brightly lit.
Beside the couch, illuminated by a bright candlelight, he gazed at Yun Anwen's calm face for a long time.
Emperor Jing asked in a deep voice, "Is this the woman you brought back from Lu County who openly opposed me and took the lead in combating desertification?"
The eunuch replied, "It is indeed this woman who is audacious and presumptuous, daring to challenge the might of Heaven."
He then asked, "But... Your Majesty, what should be done with this woman next?"
Unexpectedly, Emperor Jing stared at the woman's face for a long time before suddenly asking the eunuch beside him, "Don't you think this woman looks familiar? It's like I've seen her somewhere before?"
Upon hearing this, the eunuch cautiously took two tiny steps forward, hid behind Emperor Jing, and craned his neck to peer at him for a while.
He looked away and thought for a moment, but it seemed he couldn't recall anything.
So he turned his gaze to her again, looked at her for a while, and finally said, "Now that Your Majesty has mentioned it, I also feel that she looks somewhat familiar. But since I started recognizing people, I have always served Your Majesty in the palace and have never left the palace. Could it be... that this woman is also from the palace? Or perhaps she is the family member of some court official who has also come to the palace to pay her respects?"
Clearly, neither of them could make a final determination about his true identity.
Much later.
Unexpectedly, Emperor Jing suddenly asked, "Have you ever heard of a drug that allows one to feign death?"
Upon hearing this, the eunuch exclaimed in surprise, "What? A fake...a fake death potion?"
Emperor Jing then slowly shifted his gaze to the wooden box on the table beside him, which was now empty, and said, "This wooden box containing the pills is still here. It must have been specially delivered to her by that mysterious man. She took the pills only after he left, resulting in her current state of feigned death. Otherwise, how could she have stopped breathing the moment that man left?"
Upon hearing Emperor Jing say that the woman had faked her death, the eunuch dared to take two steps forward and carefully examine Yun Anjing's face on her clothes.
Apart from not breathing, his complexion was rosy, and he looked no different from a normal person who was asleep.
He immediately understood: "So, the man's scheming was ultimately aimed at rescuing this woman by faking her death."
At this point, the eunuch hurriedly asked, "So what should we do now? We don't know who this woman is, but she managed to survive a hurricane and sandstorm unscathed, even forcing back the extremely strong sandstorm in Lu County. If it weren't for that, we would have executed her on the spot in Lu County. Why would we have gone through all this trouble to bring her back from so far away and imprison her here!"
"Who exactly are you, and why do you possess such miraculous power?" Emperor Jing stared at Yi Shangyun's face, his heart filled with astonishment.
After a moment's thought, she said with absolute certainty, "Have someone call Zhang Zhiyuan to the villa so he can give her a thorough examination and make sure she wakes up. If everything is as we expect, that man will definitely come back to the villa."
He then made up his mind and said angrily, "Since that's the case, let's turn the tables on them and use this woman as bait to catch the fish on its own. I want to see who dares to play such a petty trick under my nose and challenge my authority. They really don't know what's good for them!"
The eunuch immediately chimed in, "This plan is excellent! Your Majesty is wise!"
Then Emperor Jing asked, "Do you know how the King of Qin is doing now?"
The eunuch thought for a moment and replied, "I heard that ever since he returned from Lu County, he seems to have been frightened by that hurricane and sandstorm, and he has been bedridden and unconscious ever since. Even the imperial physician Yue in the mansion has been at a loss for what to do about him for a long time."
Emperor Jing said angrily, "What a worthless life! Even that sandstorm couldn't take his life!"
After speaking, Emperor Jing pondered for a moment, and finally said, "Since he didn't die in Lu County, then send Zhang Zhiyuan to the Prince of Qin's residence to finish him off completely and prevent future troubles! For so many years, I've only hoped that he could find the lost descendants of the Guardian for me, but there's been no news at all. It seems that I've ultimately been mistaken. Since he's so useless, what use is there for me to keep him alive?"
Upon hearing this, the eunuch was struck dumb, as if by a bolt from the blue, and could hardly believe his ears.
He stared blankly at the emperor for a moment, then timidly asked again for confirmation: "Your Majesty, are you really determined to attack the Prince of Qin now? At present, of the four kingdoms of Lingkong, Dongning and Nan'an are still not under our control. Moreover, I have heard that both countries have long been eager to attack our Western Qin, but they have not yet made a move because they are afraid of the Prince of Qin's god-like bravery. If the Prince of Qin is really gone, war will surely break out again immediately. At that time, who will lead our Western Qin to fight?"
Emperor Jing pondered for a while, then said with great confidence, "I have my own plans for this matter. I will never allow anyone to restrain me or be manipulated by them."
Seeing that the man's resolve was already so firm, the eunuch, despite his many worries, seemed to have nothing more to say and thus fell silent.
Little did they know, Yi Shangyun had overheard their entire conversation.
The imperial decree was issued.
Zhang Zhiyuan received the news in the middle of the night at his residence.
"Knock knock knock..."
The steward hurriedly knocked on Zhang Zhiyuan's door and came to report: "My lord, a secret letter has been sent from the palace overnight!"
After a busy day, Zhang Zhiyuan was about to undress and go to bed when he heard the sound and hurriedly took the letter from the butler.
Over the years, he seemed to have gotten used to saying, "Which master is unwell this time, requiring me to rush to the palace overnight to treat them?"
The steward hesitated for a moment, then said, "Judging from the messenger's appearance and demeanor, it doesn't seem like any master has a sudden illness."
"It's not that any master has a sudden illness..."
Zhang Zhiyuan opened the letter in his hand with a puzzled expression...
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