At noon, the strong wind did not stop but became even more violent. Dust and sand were swept up into the sky, obscuring the sky.

Nanny Li pushed the door open and came in, rubbing her eyes while complaining, "Today's weather is really weird. It suddenly blew so hard, as if a demon had come. Sand got into my eyes just as I reached the door."

Yuan Xi was sitting opposite Xiao Zhixuan, playing the lute to kill time, but she seemed a little uneasy. She listened absentmindedly to Li Ma's complaints, but her thoughts were always firmly tied to that person: it's time for the sacrifice to begin, and I don't know if A'du is safe.

Xiao Zhixuan saw her worries and quickly comforted her: "Don't worry, sister-in-law, brother is such a smart man, no matter what happens, he will definitely find a way to deal with it."

Yuan Xi reluctantly raised the corners of her lips to respond, but her eyes were filled with deep anxiety. Li Ma deliberately wanted to distract her, so she sat down and said, "I went out to buy fabrics today, and guess what, the young lady who used to sell rouge and powder at the alley entrance turned into a young man. I went to ask the young man, but he was too shy to answer me. Tell me, did the young lady find a lover again?"

As she spoke, she covered her mouth and giggled. Yuan Xi slowly stopped what he was doing, frowned, and asked, "You said the stall owner at the entrance of the alley has changed?"

Nanny Li originally just wanted to chat a little to ease her worries, but when she saw the young lady's expression suddenly become serious, she felt a little uneasy and nodded quickly.

Yuan Xi's heart was beating fast, and she felt a little uneasy. She thought for a while, then suddenly stood up and said, "I'm going to be out for a while. You guys stay in the room and don't go out casually."

She walked quickly to the courtyard and called out softly to the roof using the method Xiao Du had taught her. Sure enough, a dark guard in black clothes and soft boots jumped down from the eaves, knelt down and saluted her, saying, "What do you want, Madam?"

Yuan Xi said anxiously: "Go out and see if there are many new faces outside. I suspect someone has set their sights on the Marquis' Mansion."

The secret guard's expression changed, and then he looked as if he wanted to say something but hesitated.

"You all know what happened?" Yuan Xi looked at his reaction and immediately reacted.

The secret guard sighed heavily, showing a guilty expression and said: "Before the Marquis left the mansion, he specifically told us to keep a close eye on the movements inside and outside the mansion. I found something wrong since this morning. There are many vendors outside the mansion that I have never seen before. They all look like martial artists. I even suspect that there are soldiers hiding in the shops outside. We thought about going out to find reinforcements, but none of the people we sent out to report the news came back. I was afraid that something might happen in the mansion, so I didn't dare to send anyone out. I had to let everyone stay here first and respond to any changes as needed."

Yuan Xi trembled, and her head suddenly felt a little dizzy. It turned out that what happened today was a trap that had been set long ago, but Adu...what should Adu do!

She clasped her hands together, tightly grasped her knuckles, and calmed herself down. No matter what happened to Xiao Du, she had to protect the people in the mansion first. Judging from the current situation, sitting and waiting for death was definitely not the best solution. She thought for a long time, and finally raised her head and said solemnly: "Listen, I will leave the mansion later, and none of you are allowed to follow me. You all stay in the mansion. If anything happens, you must take the old man, the second young master, and the young lady and escape even if you die."

The secret guard was stunned for a moment, then realized that she wanted to use herself as bait to lure away a group of officers and soldiers first, so that they would have more confidence to deal with the rest. He quickly raised his hand to stop her, saying, "Madam, you can't do that!"

Yuan Xi straightened her back, and said with a stern and firm look: "Now that the Marquis is not here, you can only obey me. No matter what, I am the wife of the Marquis' Mansion, and the princess personally appointed by the emperor. They dare not do anything to me. Your duty is to protect the people in the Marquis' Mansion. If they make any mistakes, you will be held responsible!"

The secret guard wanted to say something else, but was forced back by her intimidating gaze. He had to grit his teeth, hold back the grief and anger in his chest, and nodded heavily at Yuan Xi.

Yuan Xi breathed a sigh of relief, and then went back to her room and made an excuse to Xiao Zhixuan and Li Ma, saying that she had to go out to do something urgent, and insisted that no one follow her. She packed a small bag and secretly walked out of the corner door, deliberately looking around in the alley for a long time before hurriedly walking out.

Walking along the long street, Yuan Xi could feel the sound of footsteps behind her. She clutched the bag tightly in her hand and tried to suppress the tension in her heart. She didn't know how many people would follow her, but she was sure that they couldn't figure out her intentions for the time being, nor did they know who she would meet. For the sake of safety, they would definitely send people to follow her. As long as Xiao Du was fine, they would never dare to touch her casually, but...

She bit her lip and shook her head, throwing away the panic and weakness of that moment, and silently said in her heart: "A'Du...you must not be in any trouble, you must come back soon!"

At the same time, on the stone steps in front of the imperial mausoleum, Xiao Du turned and jumped, narrowly avoiding a sharp knife that was slashing towards him. But the situation around him was becoming more and more urgent. The black-clothed men were all agile and well-trained. They broke through the guards of the Yulin Guards in an orderly manner and pressed forward step by step. Xiao Du could tell at a glance that these were definitely not ordinary thieves, but where did they come from and what was their purpose? He was full of doubts and did not dare to give it a try.

While he was distracted and thinking, he was retreating step by step, when suddenly a sharp knife stabbed from his armpit. He had been staring at the oncoming attack and was not aware of it for a moment, almost letting the man succeed. Fortunately, he was experienced in fighting, and he quickly jumped up to avoid the fatal move, and then kicked the black-clothed man who was attacking from the front with his legs in the air.

However, before he could stand firmly on the ground, another sharp knife stabbed from behind. Xiao Du's heart tightened, and he was about to turn around to defend himself, but he heard a "ding" sound, and the hand holding the knife was cut off at the wrist. The owner of the hand screamed in pain, and before he could see clearly, he was stabbed through the heart and died on the spot.

Xiao Du turned around and saw Xia Qing's long sword stained with blood, his black hair blown high by the strong wind. He raised his eyebrows provocatively and said, "Marquis Xuanyuan, it turns out that you are just like this."

Xiao Du was too lazy to talk to him, he just snorted coldly, picked up the sharp knife on the ground and stood back towards Zhao Yan. He had already seen clearly that the Yulin Guards were all panicked and fighting bloody battles, which showed that they were not aware of the incident in advance. So whether it was to protect the emperor or to save his life, he was safest only by the emperor's side.

Zhao Yan was so frightened that his face turned pale and his body was covered in cold sweat, because the crown he wore for the ceremony had fallen to the ground in the chaos and no one knew where it had landed. Xiao Du turned around and said to him, "Your Majesty, what should we do now?" while repelling the black-clad men who kept rushing towards him.

Zhao Yan's eyes were still a little dazed, and he was still in a daze. Xiao Du tried to judge how real his expression was, when he suddenly heard a very thin and sharp whistling sound in the air. He had been fighting for many years, and even in the chaos of the soldiers, he could easily distinguish that this was the sound of arrows shooting through the air.

He was terrified and looked forward. As expected, he saw a cold light coming straight towards Zhao Yan. He shouted, "Your Majesty, be careful!" Zhao Yan was still in shock and stood there without knowing what to do. Seeing the cold light coming, Xiao Du almost subconsciously rushed towards him. The sharp arrow pierced his shoulder bone with a "puff" sound, but Zhao Yan blocked this fatal blow.

Hot blood splashed on his face, finally making Zhao Yan sober for a moment. He quickly reached out to support Xiao Du's staggering body, as if he had returned to the moment more than ten years ago when that man blocked the bear's claws for him. Xiao Du endured the severe pain in his shoulder and gritted his teeth and squeezed out two words to him: "Go!"

Xia Qing saw this scene from a distance, and was so anxious that his eyes were about to burst. He was worried about the emperor's safety, and quickly selected a few elite soldiers and ordered, "Quick! Send Jin to hide in the dense forest, and we will deal with it here."

The elite soldiers immediately responded and rushed to Zhao Yan's side, protecting him as they walked towards the dense forest. However, Zhao Yan grabbed Xiao Du's arm tightly and shouted, "Carry him with you." So one of the Yulin guards carried Xiao Du on his back, and they retreated while standing, and finally escaped into the dense forest.

Seeing that Zhao Yan was safe for the time being, Xia Qing stopped worrying and ordered the remaining Yulin Guards to form a formation and kill the rebels. For a while, there were shouts on the stone steps in front of the shrine, and the sound of weapons piercing flesh and blood kept ringing. The strong smell of blood lingered in the stele for a long time. Seeing that the black-clothed men were finally strangled, Xia Qing took a long breath, took off the armor that had been chopped to pieces and threw it aside, and sat on the stone steps, pointing to one of the black-clothed corpses that was still intact, and ordered: "Go and find out what it is."

A Yulin guard quickly followed the order and bent over to search the body. Suddenly, he touched a hard token and quickly took it out and presented it to Xia Qing. Xia Qing took the bronze token and saw a big "Xiao" character engraved on it...

At the same time, several Yulin guards escorted Zhao Yan and Xiao Du as they ran continuously into the dense forest. During the period, they lost a lot of manpower due to constantly dealing with the pursuers in black. Finally, when they entered the depths of the dense forest and confirmed that there were no pursuers at all, there were only two Yulin guards left.

One of them put Xiao Du on the ground breathlessly. Because he had to protect Xiao Du's safety, his body was covered with wounds and he was only half alive. The other one helped Zhao Yan sit down against a tree, then knelt down and said, "I am not able to protect you well. Is your Majesty injured?"

Zhao Yan leaned against a tree, breathing heavily, and suddenly said to the two Yulin guards, "I have something important to tell you. Come closer."

The two men did not suspect anything and hurriedly approached him respectfully. Suddenly, they smelled a strange fragrance and their heads suddenly felt numb. Before they could react, they felt a chill in their throats and died in an instant.

Xiao Du leaned against a big rock, holding the scissors on his shoulder, and looked coldly at the scene in front of him. He saw Zhao Yan took out a handkerchief to wipe the blood on his hands, and then looked at him meaningfully.

Xiao Du was about to speak when he suddenly had a surge of blood and qi and started coughing uncontrollably. Zhao Yan had a look of pity in his eyes and walked over to help him pull out the arrow, then tore off a piece of his clothes to bandage him up.

Xiao Du watched him do everything with a mocking look on his face, and finally said, "Mingcheng, you are indeed more cruel than I thought."

Zhao Yan sighed and said, "I think you understand everything. I don't need to explain anything more."

Xiao Du looked up at the last ray of light under the dark blue sky and said, "I think Xia Qing must have found evidence that I was the one who ordered the assassins, and is rushing to rescue me." His eyes were calm, as if he was talking about something that had nothing to do with him. He continued, "When they see the body of the Yulin Guard, they will kill me without hesitation for the sake of your majesty's safety. Then your majesty will find out who the assassins were. Just pretend to be the Xiao Family Army, and then frame Xia Qing'an for the crime of slandering a loyal and good person, and behead him. This way, the military power of the Yulin Guard can be taken back, and the Xia Family can be liquidated, and it would be best if Prime Minister Xia could be dragged into the water. And since I died at the hands of the Xia Family, and Your Majesty avenged me for the sake of justice, the Xiao Family Army has no reason to return to the capital. Therefore, Your Majesty's plan of killing two birds with one stone is really a brilliant one. "

He finished speaking in one breath and couldn't help coughing again. Zhao Yan patted his back gently to calm him down, and sighed: "That arrow was to reassure you, and to make Xia Qing believe that someone really wanted to harm me. It's just..."

Xiao Du's eyes were filled with more sarcasm, and he said, "You just didn't expect me to be so stupid as to block the arrow for you."

Zhao Yan felt so guilty when he saw his gaze that he could only lower his head and whisper, "They will be here soon. If you have any last wishes, I can help you fulfill them."

Xiao Du exhaled lightly and suddenly said, "Mingcheng, do you still remember what I said to you the last time I was in the capital before I went to the military for training?"

Zhao Yan was slightly startled, then he quickly remembered that it was a dusk, he sat side by side with him on the top of Zhongshan Mountain, Xiao Du was just a young man at that time, he had a lot of ambitions but had never seen the cruelty of the battlefield, he looked at the sunset slowly sinking into the mountains, and suddenly said: "Mingcheng, do you think I will really die on the battlefield, and even my body can only be buried in a foreign land?"

The young man beside him was feeling sad about the upcoming separation. When he heard this, he stared at him and said, "No! Don't worry, Chongjiang. If you really die for your country, I will personally bring your body back even if I find the ends of the earth!"

Time suddenly jumped back, and as he watched the last ray of sunset being gradually swallowed by the sky, Xiao Du's eyes gradually dimmed, and he said softly: "I didn't expect that in the end, you would still be the one to collect my body."

Zhao Yan's heart seemed to be hit hard. He clenched his fists tightly and finally said with his eyes closed: "Go, escape before they find you, and you will still be alive."

Xiao Du's eyes sank, and then he put on a bitter smile. He was seriously injured, so how could he escape the pursuit of the Yulin Army?

At this time, there was a rustling sound coming from the bushes in front of them, and someone shouted outside: "Your Majesty should be here, hurry!"