"Judge Zhang..."
Upon hearing the sound, Zhang Zhiyuan's heart, which had just settled down, jumped up again, and he quickly tilted his head to look in the direction from which the sound came.
"Who is it...?"
"Who is calling me?"
Using the dim light from a street lamp at night, Zhang Zhiyuan slowly approached.
Upon seeing that it was Cheng Liang, Xuan Yuanhan's deputy general, who had called out to him, he exclaimed in surprise, "So it's General Cheng!"
Zhang Zhiyuan looked up at the sky; it was already past midnight. He asked, "It's so late already, General Cheng. Why are you here?"
Cheng Liang simply said to himself, "Judge Zhang, may I have a word with you in private?"
"Shall we talk in private?" Zhang Zhiyuan repeated Cheng Liang's request.
He secretly pondered, "I've only just stepped out of the palace gates, and I've already aroused Emperor Jing's suspicion. If I turn around now and someone sees me meeting with people from the Prince of Qin's residence, and then it gets back to the palace, I'm afraid it will cause all sorts of trouble!"
Upon realizing this, Zhang Zhiyuan hurriedly tried to refuse, saying, "General Cheng, please forgive me, but I still have important matters at home that require my attention. I'm afraid I cannot accompany you at this time..."
Before he could finish speaking, Cheng Liang saw through his concerns and interrupted him, saying, "Judge Zhang, there is no need to worry. Tonight, my men will be on duty for the rest of your journey back to your residence. No one will know that you and I met tonight."
"This..." Zhang Zhiyuan still wanted to refuse.
But Cheng Liang insisted on asking him to leave: "Your Honor, please!"
Finally, Zhang Zhiyuan sighed helplessly and reluctantly took a step.
The two turned a corner at the street corner, and a tall carriage appeared before Zhang Zhiyuan's eyes.
Upon seeing this, Zhang Zhiyuan stopped in his tracks, thinking to himself, "Isn't this Prince Qin Xuanyuan Han's carriage? Why is it stopped here? And the people inside..."
He then carefully recalled the events of the day when he took Xuanyuan Han's pulse and the words he had whispered in his ear, and exclaimed in astonishment, "Could it be... could it be that the King of Qin has really woken up?"
For a moment, I felt a mix of surprise and fear, a very complex feeling.
Just as he was still lost in his thoughts, he suddenly heard Cheng Liang say in his ear, "Judge Zhang, please get in the carriage. Thank you for visiting the Prince of Qin's residence. The roads are difficult to travel at night, so I will personally escort you back to your residence!"
"No...no, no, no...I dare not, how could I dare ride in His Highness Prince Qin's carriage? My residence is only half an hour's journey from here, this is absolutely unacceptable..."
As he spoke, he was so frightened that he backed away repeatedly, trying to run away.
But just as he was about to turn around, a cold, sharp voice suddenly came from inside the carriage: "Zhang Zhiyuan..."
Upon hearing the sound, Zhang Zhiyuan instinctively felt his heart skip a beat.
Then, staring straight ahead, he whispered in surprise, "That voice...it's...he really...he's really awake..."
At this moment, Cheng Liang invited him again, saying, "Judge Zhang, please get in the car!"
At that moment, Zhang Zhiyuan felt that his legs were no longer under his control. His heart wanted to escape the scene, but his legs turned back on their own.
Then, he slowly stepped forward and cautiously boarded the carriage.
As soon as Cheng Liang lifted the car door curtain, Zhang Zhiyuan froze on the spot upon seeing the face that was all too familiar to him.
He was astonished to find that she had appeared in front of him unharmed.
That expression was no less astonished than someone who had seen a ghost.
After a long while, Zhang Zhiyuan finally came to his senses and bowed to him, saying, "Your humble servant greets Your Highness, the Prince of Qin!"
Xuan Yuanhan's face remained as cold as ever. He glanced at the couch on one side of the carriage and said in a deep voice, "Sit!"
Zhang Zhiyuan then quickly stepped forward and entered the car, sitting down where Xuan Yuanhan had just been looking.
At this moment, the carriage began to slowly move along the wide road.
Seeing that Xuan Yuanhan had awakened, Zhang Zhiyuan's heart finally sank completely.
For a while, the two people in the car remained silent, neither of them speaking.
After a moment's thought, Zhang Zhiyuan decided to break the awkward silence by asking, "When did Your Highness Prince Qin wake up? Do you feel any discomfort anywhere?"
Xuan Yuanhan said coldly, "I woke up not long after the Imperial Physician left the palace!"
Clearly sensing the hidden meaning in his words, Zhang Zhiyuan feigned an explanation, saying, "Oh... I was indeed ordered to visit the Prince of Qin's residence today. However, because the Dowager Consort Chun is very protective of His Highness and wary of outsiders, she wouldn't allow me to get close to him no matter what. Therefore, I had no choice but to lie and resort to this tactic!"
Consort Chun was unaware, but Xuan Yuanhan certainly knew that he was there to visit the sick by imperial decree. Otherwise, how could he have dared to go to the Prince of Qin's residence alone without any scruples?
Just now, he deliberately parked the carriage a little further away here, asking Cheng Liang to invite him over for a meeting. But he kept making excuses and refusing to come over. His every move and word betrayed him.
Therefore, Xuanyuan Han, who saw through everything, disdained to waste any more words with him and pressed him directly, saying, "Since that's the case, why didn't Physician Zhang take my life as ordered? I believe that with Physician Zhang's current medical skills, even if my mother were to be watching closely, it wouldn't affect your ability to take my life!"
Upon hearing this, Zhang Zhiyuan hurriedly rose and knelt before him, saying, "Your Highness, please forgive me, this humble subject dares not..."
Xuanyuan Han gave him a deep look and said, "I will only ask you one question, and you must answer it truthfully."
"This... I wonder what Your Highness wishes to ask?" At this moment, Zhang Zhiyuan had already guessed what question Xuanyuan Han wanted to ask him.
"Where is my queen now?" Sure enough, this was the question that Xuanyuan Han had.
After a pause, Zhang Zhiyuan feigned ignorance again and said, "Your Highness, what do you mean by that? Why would Your Highness ask me this question? Shouldn't Your Highness be at the Prince of Qin's residence?"
Seeing that Zhang Zhiyuan had changed his tune and denied what he had said to him during the day, Xuan Yuanhan was also surprised by his answer.
He then warned him again: "Zhang Zhiyuan, I only say what I mean once. Are you sure this is the answer you're giving me? I advise you to think carefully before you answer. If you lie, the news that I am still unconscious will spread throughout the palace by tomorrow morning."
Zhang Zhiyuan thought about it carefully and concluded that Xuanyuan Han would not do that.
Even if he did that, it would do him no good. If Emperor Jing punished him and his entire family suffered, Xuan Yuanhan would still not get the answer he wanted.
He then asked in return, "Is Your Highness not at the palace? I'm constantly shuttling between home and the palace, and it's been quite a while since I've seen Your Highness! I wonder how Your Highness is doing lately?"
Even when threatened, Zhang Zhiyuan refused to admit anything or reveal any information about Yi Shangyun.
For a moment, Xuan Yuanhan was at a loss as to what to do with him, and secretly clenched his fists.
Just then, the carriage slowly came to a stop in front of Zhang Zhiyuan's house.
Zhang Zhiyuan stood up and thanked Xuan Yuanhan, saying, "Thank you very much, Your Highness Prince Qin, for tonight!"
Cheng Liang lifted the carriage curtain from the outside, and Zhang Zhiyuan lifted the corner of his robe and got out of the carriage, standing in front of the door to watch Xuan Yuanhan and his servant leave.
The carriage slowly drove back towards the Prince of Qin's residence. Cheng Liang looked out the window with a dejected expression and asked, "Your Highness, Zhang Zhiyuan won't say anything. What should we do next? I wonder how the Princess Consort is doing now?"
Xuanyuan Han closed his eyes to rest, and after a moment of thought, he ordered, "Send someone to keep an eye on Jin Zhiyuan."
Cheng Liang accepted the order and replied, "Yes!"
Xuan Yuanhan was absolutely certain in his heart: "Zhang Zhiyuan, he must know where Yun'er is, he must know. Yun'er, I will find you, wait for me."
At this moment, the Western Qin imperial palace was brightly lit everywhere.
Yi Shangyun remained unconscious on the bed.
Emperor Jing paced back and forth in the hall with his hands behind his back. Finally, he quietly approached the bedside, looked at her face, and sighed anxiously and helplessly.
Seeing that it was getting late, they prepared to leave.
He then instructed the maids serving in the palace: "You must all serve this young lady carefully. If anything happens to her, I will take your lives!"
Upon hearing this, the maids trembled and knelt down on the ground, saying in unison, "We understand!"
After taking one last deep look at him, Emperor Jing turned and left.
That night.
In the dead of night, a dazzling bolt of lightning suddenly streaked across the sky, followed by a series of rumbling claps of thunder.
In the blink of an eye, a torrential downpour began, pouring down in one fell swoop.
Suddenly, a dazzling purple light descended from the sky. Even in the pitch-black night, one could still see the purple light slowly gathering, eventually forming a shape resembling a seven-colored phoenix.
It hovers high in the night sky, standing tall and proud.
After a while, it suddenly looked down, as if searching for something.
Soon, as if it had locked onto its target, it instantly spread its magnificent phoenix wings, let out a long cry, and then swooped down into a palace.
Then it disappeared without a trace.
At that moment, the wind stopped, the rain stopped, and the thunder and lightning ceased outside...
This scene was witnessed by Cheng Liang and his servant, who were forced to take shelter from the rain in a restaurant not far from the palace.
Cheng Liang pointed incredulously towards the palace and said, "Your Highness, look!"
As for what was truly happening before his eyes, Xuan Yuanhan stood by the railing, feeling shocked and incredulous, saying, "There really is a phantom of a phoenix in this world."
At this moment, Cheng Liang suddenly seemed to remember something and murmured, "I remember when Your Highness first sent me to investigate the Princess Consort, there were rumors in the city about this phoenix phantom, saying that the Princess Consort was awakened because of the appearance of a phoenix phantom. Could it be..."
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