Chapter 1082 No Dust at the Moment
The dagger in Ateli's palm flashed with a cold light, and suddenly she heard three partridge calls in the woods.
A subtle sound of breaking air passed by Jiang Xue's ears, and two hidden forces penetrated into her from her shoulder wells. The strength in her body instantly receded like a tide.
The last thing she saw was the black bird pattern embroidered on Ateli's cuffs, and her consciousness sank into the abyss of chaos.
Fu Dong's toes touched the dead branches and the remaining snow, but at the corner of the official road he ran into a bright yellow ceremonial guard.
The young emperor was not wearing a cloak with dragon pattern, but a black iron sword bestowed by the previous emperor was hung around his waist.
"Why would His Majesty leave the palace so late at night?"
"The lady-in-charge of the lamp beside the Queen Mother has delivered a secret letter."
Jiang Heng tightened the reins and glanced at Fu Dong's bloodstained sleeves: "Where is my aunt?"
"The other side has at least three hundred elite soldiers..."
Fu Dong clenched his whip tightly, and the taste of rust rose in his throat: "Half of the Phoenix Feather Guards are with you. I'm afraid the rest haven't received the letter from the flying eagle yet."
"No problem."
Jiang Heng sheathed his sword, the moonlight streaming down his dark brocade robe: "I had already mobilized the Imperial City Guards before leaving the city, and they should be ready to go by now."
He looked at the vague outline of the palace wall in the southwest corner, his fingertips unconsciously stroking the gilded patterns on the hilt of the sword.
Fu Dong clenched the dagger hidden in his sleeve, and sweat broke out on his palms.
She lowered her eyes to look at the bloodstains on the bluestone bricks, and finally swallowed back her words of dissuasion - the red coral beads hanging from the gilded hairpin trembled slightly in the night breeze, just like her troubled mood at the moment.
The ground was in a mess on the way back. A broken scimitar was stuck diagonally on the porch column, and arrows with Western patterns were scattered all over the ground.
Jiang Heng suddenly felt the soles of his boots were sticky. He looked down and saw blood flowing through the cracks in the rocks to his feet.
The seventeen-year-old young emperor staggered and held onto the broken wall, feeling a sour feeling in his throat. While he was retching against the wall, he caught a glimpse of the deep knife marks on the guard's neck that could be seen to the bone.
"The year my aunt first went to the battlefield..."
He wiped the water stains from the corners of his lips and said in a hoarse voice: "I'm afraid he is two years younger than me."
The cry of the night owl broke the silence, startling the broken moonlight all over the ground.
The leader of the secret guards silently presented the upper half of a blood-stained dark blue silk ribbon - that was the hair accessory that Jiang Xue usually wore.
At three quarters past midnight, the commander of the imperial guards, Su Lie, arrived at full speed with his cavalry.
The torches lit up half of the long street red. Jiang Heng took off the Panlong jade pendant from his waist and threw it in front of the horse: "If there is any unusual movement, dig three feet underground."
At dawn, birds started flying from the dense forest in the northwest suburbs, covering the sky.
Fu Dong reined in his restless warhorse, his eyes passing over the fresh sword marks on the broken treetops: "Your Majesty..."
She looked at the young emperor's clothes embroidered with the twelve chapters, which were stained with morning dew: "Your subjects must travel light and fast."
Jiang Heng's knuckles turned white as he gripped the reins.
The sound of the bell from a mountain temple ten miles away dispelled the mist, and he suddenly remembered the old scar across his wrist when his aunt stuffed the tiger talisman into his palm on his birthday last year.
The stone chamber was cold and gloomy. Jiang Xue leaned against the slippery stone wall and counted the sound of dripping water.
The fetus in her belly kicked suddenly, and she took the opportunity to put the tip of the gold hairpin into her sleeve.
The sound of iron chains colliding came from the corridor, and Feng Ziqing's figure holding a lamp was cast on the mottled wall, just like the night of confrontation on the city wall five years ago.
"How is the Princess?"
Ateli's silver ornaments jingled, and a cold light flashed on her fingertips: "In this game, we captured the general's flag first after all."
A faint fragrance floated in the air from the Imperial Garden. Jiang Xue leaned against a cool stone pillar, her cuffs with golden crabapple pattern soaked with night dew.
The malachite pendant on Ateli's earlobe flashed a faint light, and she forced the vermilion palace lantern into Feng Ziqing's palm: "Does the Queen Mother see your sincerity?"
She ended her voice with a unique foreign tactfulness: "Only one..."
Before she finished her words, Feng Ziqing's nails had already sunk deeply into the bamboo ribs of the lantern.
Jiang Xue looked at the nine-tailed phoenix hairpin dangling in the empress dowager's hair, and suddenly remembered the black iron gold needle that was lost from the Imperial Medical Office three days ago.
It turned out that the hidden weapon that was rumored to be able to seal a person's internal strength was now lurking in his meridians.
"I know what is important and what is not."
Feng Ziqing squeezed out words from between her teeth, and the satin shawl with Chaoxia makeup patterns fluttered in the night wind.
Ateli nodded with satisfaction, and when she turned around, the silver bell on her waist made a faint and repetitive sound on the bluestone slabs.
When the last trace of the bell sound dissipated in the depths of the plum forest, Feng Ziqing suddenly pinched Jiang Xue's jaw.
The pearls on the Queen Mother's armor hurt her: "Do you know what I hate most about you?"
There was poisonous hatred in her eyes: "Your life is worthless, yet you look so innocent!"
Jiang Xue looked at the flickering lights at the end of the corridor, and a bloody smell rose in her throat.
The words "another person" that Ateli said before she left kept lingering in my mind. If it was really Jiang Xiaowei...
She forced herself to suppress her surging thoughts and raised her eyes to meet the distorted face of the Queen Mother.
"What does the queen want?"
As soon as she finished speaking, Feng Ziqing burst into laughter crazily, and a few strands of messy hair were entangled in the golden hairpins on her temples.
"I want you to kneel down at the foot of the altar and watch me hold the imperial seal! I want you to see with your own eyes that Xiao Zhan's throne is stained with blood!"
The Queen Mother suddenly ripped off the coral beads on her wrist, and the bright red beads clattered onto the blue bricks: "But at this moment..."
She suddenly leaned close to Jiang Xue's ear, and the scent of sandalwood mixed with madness came to her face: "Let me show you a good show first."
The sound of the night watchman came from afar, and Jiang Xue's pupils suddenly shrank.
Suddenly, flames appeared in the southeast corner, and the panicked shouts of palace servants could be vaguely heard - that was clearly the direction of Qiuwuxuan where Jiang Xiaowei was temporarily staying.
Feng Ziqing admired her suddenly pale face, and stroked her sweaty forehead with her nail polish-stained fingertips:
"Don't worry. Once it's burned clean, I will personally send your good sister's ashes to Mobei."
The plum branches rustled in the wind, and Jiang Xue bit her tongue to stay awake.
There was a sound of clothes breaking through the air in the dark. She looked at the dark figure getting closer and closer behind Feng Ziqing, and suddenly raised her lips: "Madam, do you know how the mantis catches the cicada?"
Before she finished her words, a poisoned silver needle was already against the empress dowager's throat.
Huangfu Shang's sinister voice exploded in the night: "Empress Dowager, it's time to end it."
Jiang Xue lowered her eyes and adjusted her cuffs: "Nothing is absolute in this world. A seemingly impossible chess game often hides a way out."
"ha!"
The golden phoenix holding a pearl on Feng Ziqing's hairpin shook violently: "I underestimated your intelligence. Yes, Jiang Xiaowei is now..."
She suddenly kicked open the wooden box beside her, revealing a figure curled up inside.
There was a slight crisp sound from the joints of Jiang Xue's wrists.
As she expected, there was a third person hiding in the dark room.
The paranoid and crazy queen mother in front of him has already broken the bottom line of human ethics. He may still be able to use his bargaining chips to deal with it, but Jiang Xiaowei and her son...
We must not let the last bloodline of the Lan family die here!
The jade tiger talisman that Lan Feng had tied around her waist when they left flashed before her eyes. It still carried the chill of the frost and snow from the northern border.
Feng Ziqing approached the unconscious woman holding a silk palace lantern and put the celadon bottle close to her nose.
After a few coughs, Jiang Xiaowei woke up with her eyelashes trembling: "The Queen Mother, this is..."
"Yellow Spring Inn."
Feng Ziqing slapped him with her backhand, and sneered at the blood oozing from the corner of his mouth, "Are you worthy of calling me Queen Mother?"
Jiang Xiaowei protected her bulging belly and huddled back.
The man who once promised to take her to see the misty rain of Jiangnan has now pushed her into purgatory.
What's even more ironic is that she is carrying the blood of her enemy in her belly.
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