Chapter 100 Blindness "Song Lang, you are really unpleasant..."
The Imperial Medical Bureau was located in the southwest corner. For nearly a month, the lights in the bureau had been on all day and night. Ever since the emperor was assassinated in the palace, all the imperial physicians, regardless of rank or experience, had been working until the dead of night, carrying bowls of painstakingly prepared medicines to the emperor's main hall day and night.
Tonight is the wedding day of Marquis Cangping and Princess Yunwei. Several doctors of higher ranks in the Imperial Medical Bureau have received invitations, but without the emperor's personal permission, no one dared to step out of the Imperial Medical Bureau. They just continued to huddle together to consider new prescriptions.
A month had passed, and by tonight, the doctors had finally figured out a feasible method. They hurriedly fetched the corresponding herbs and placed the medicine pots on the stove. Just as they were about to boil, a cloud of burnt smoke blew into their noses on the wind.
The heat wave swept away with the night wind, and everyone turned around to see tongues of fire licking towards them.
…
However, Song Xieqing watched Zhu Hao get on the carriage that had been prepared in advance. Only when the wheels flew into the depths of the long street did he straighten his messy and sticky clothes and carefully cover the red mark on his collarbone.
The cold wind blowing on his face gradually made his dizzy mind clear. Song Xieqing untied the brown horse in front of another carriage, jumped on the saddle, and galloped straight to the imperial city, with no intention of attending the banquet at the Li Mansion.
The palace gates had already been locked. The imperial guards naturally recognized the imperial tutor, but they did not dare to let him in rashly. They waited for the imperial tutor to show the jade order granted by the previous emperor, which allowed him to enter and leave the palace at any time, and then they opened the palace gates wide.
Song Xieqing just tried to recall everything Zhu Hao had just explained to him, and he became more and more anxious. However, the palace rules were very strict, and he had to follow them unless he had no other choice.
Unexpectedly, he fumbled around his collar again and again, but could not find the jade token made of fine gold.
Song Xieqing frowned, and couldn't help but recall the scenes in the room just now -
The woman seemed to be both coquettish and angry. After she finished speaking, she threw herself on him and sobbed non-stop. She was not polite and rolled over him, saying it was still early while tugging at his waist belt...
...He and she have not yet married, but she is so teasing and provoking him.
Song Xieqing grabbed her hands that were about to do something wrong, but she took advantage of the situation and turned over to sit on his waist. Song Xieqing felt his head buzzing and his thoughts scattered. He felt hot all over and his breathing became rapid. In his confused mind, he managed to let the woman break free from his shackles easily. Although they were covered with clothes, it was summer and the skirts were thin. Any movement under his body was painful for him.
She leaned over, bit his neck gently, and gradually moved down...
The stuffy throbbing broke through the confinement and could be felt clearly even through the clothes, along with a hint of awkward pleasure. He was in a dilemma and dared not move rashly.
Perhaps his reaction was too dull, even... almost boring. The woman stood up, straightened the collar of her shirt that had slipped to her shoulders, and simply pecked him on the cheek and said, "It's almost time, let's go."
"...Yeah." He fastened his half-undone waist belt and followed Zhu Hao out of the house in a daze. Seeing her calm and composed look, as if nothing had happened, like a heartless man who just picked up his belt and walked away after doing something, Song Xieqing inexplicably felt a sense of suffocation and suddenly pressed Zhu Hao into his arms.
After a long pause, he asked in a hoarse voice, "Next time?"
Song Xieqing didn't know whether she understood or not. He just saw the woman covering her lips with a smile and getting into the carriage without looking back.
As his thoughts gradually became confused, Song Xieqing stopped and stopped looking for Yu Ling.
He chuckled. How could he still have the jade token on him? That female thief had already stolen it along with his heart.
Song Xieqing hesitated on the spot and did not take out the jade order. A guard with a sword came forward and bowed. He was about to ask him in detail, but before he could open his mouth, a gust of wind blew against his tightly bound sleeves. When he came to his senses, the sword at his waist had been snatched away and stabbed in the chest, causing blood to gushed out.
The man's movements were astonishingly fast. Who could have imagined that the usually bookish Imperial Preceptor could possess such prowess? Consequently, none of the imperial guards were on guard.
There was a chaos of swords and sabers in front of the palace gate, and as the blood spread, it gradually became silent. Song Xieqing clenched the long sword in his hand. He deliberately restrained his strength, thinking that whoever fell to the ground would die or be injured. Finally, he pointed the tip of the sword at the last isolated guard in front of the palace gate.
The imperial guards held a bunch of flag flowers, intending to light them to attract more palace guards.
Right now, life and death are at stake, and what matters is speed.
When the situation became tense, they heard the sound of breaking air, and the imperial guard fell down, the arrow piercing his chest and lungs, killing him instantly.
Song Xieqing did not look back, but walked forward quickly and stepped on the half-burned flag flower to extinguish it.
A frivolous chuckle came from behind him, "Brother Song Lang, are we now in cahoots?"
Li Qingrang, still in his wedding attire, put away his fine bow and instructed the servants dressed as domestic servants on one side, "Clean up this place. Don't leave anyone alive."
He glanced at the one or two guards whose chests were still rising and falling, then returned his gaze to Song Xieqing and asked, "You have no objection, right? If we keep him alive, he'll be tortured and will definitely give us away under severe punishment. Now that we've dealt with him, we can push the blame onto Mei Lianqing."
After saying this, his tone turned calm: "Anyway... if we lose this time, my brother-in-law will not survive."
Song Xieqing lowered his eyes and responded calmly.
A rough count of the servants revealed that there were dozens of them. They all drew their swords quickly and decisively without any hesitation. If they were not privately hired assassins, they could only be old members of the Li family pretending to be servants.
The two of them said no more, mounted their horses together, and drove into the palace gate, until they passed through the second gate side by side. Li Qingrang suddenly reined in his horse and Song Xieqing also stopped.
There was a commotion in the palace. Perhaps someone had noticed the change at the palace gate, or perhaps... Mei Lianqing had started to take action.
Li Qingrang looked towards the Imperial Medical Bureau, then glanced at Song Xieqing, "The Imperial Preceptor is entering the palace tonight for..."
Song Xieqing's face remained calm as he replied, "Whatever the Marquis and Minister Mei are planning, I will do the same."
The meaning was clear as soon as these words were spoken. This person had already known the identity of Mei Lianqing, but Li Qingrang had no idea how. Mei Lianqing had once tried to win over Song Lang, so it wasn't surprising for him to know Mei Lianqing was planning a palace coup. It was even less surprising to him to guess it would happen tonight. After all, nearly half the court officials had been invited to the Li residence's wedding banquet and were still drunk. Furthermore, Mei Lianqing had just severed her brotherly relationship with A Yin, a scandal that had spread throughout Kyoto. And Li Qingrang was already pursuing A Yin's hand in marriage, inviting court officials to the wedding... There couldn't be a better time than tonight.
"That's different... You care about that person's life or death for Huaicheng. If he's alive, you'll help him. If he's dead... you can just turn to someone else..." Li Qingrang pulled the reins and said with a half-smile, "Well, but... at least for now, your goals are the same as ours, so you can be considered one of us."
Upon hearing this, Song Xieqing's usually indifferent expression turned into a smile. "One of our own? Lord Marquis, are you referring to... you and Mei Lianqing as our own people?"
He sneered in a rather ambiguous tone, "I've never seen so-called close friends scramble to conceal things and harbor such ulterior motives."
Li Qingrang's eyes darkened, "Song Lang, you are really unpleasant..."
"Do I need you to like me?"
He has Pianpian in love.
“…”
The night wind blew the conversation between the two away in the palace corridor. Song Xieqing was seen riding his horse eastward, while Li Qingrang shook his head and laughed, but he was heading towards the Imperial Medical Bureau.
Thinking back on the rumors circulating in the palace in recent days, as well as Jiang Zhi's recent abnormal behavior, at least for now, the Imperial Medical Bureau must be the place that this dog emperor values the most. If he wants to transfer the palace guards, there is no more appropriate way than burning down the Imperial Medical Bureau.
…
In the east, apart from the East Palace, there were a few small palaces and halls scattered around, mostly where young princes and princesses lived. Song Xieqing reined in his horse and stopped, but saw that the direction of the Imperial Medical Bureau was filled with thick smoke and the sound of chaotic footsteps was all rushing towards that place, but no one paid any attention to him.
At that time, there was not a single light in the neighboring palaces in the east. Even if the Imperial Medical Bureau was caught in a fire, why would there be no defenses here?
Song Xieqing originally wanted to protect the prince and princess first, and then go to the main hall.
The reason is simple, Pianpian said, all the descendants of the late emperor died in this palace coup, but there is no written record of the details in the history books.
Now he rode his horse over, but the house was empty.
A thought took root in Song Xieqing's heart and instantly grew into a green vine that was big enough to cover the sky and also blocked his eyes.
It was naturally good that she told him everything she knew, but he overlooked one point. Historical records have always been short and concise, making it difficult to get a full picture. Pianpian also said that she only knew the ending, but had no way of knowing the many twists and turns and details. Not to mention that historical records were written by people, and human hearts were unpredictable, so how could they not be tampered with?
When Song Xieqing suddenly heard about what was about to happen, he felt mixed emotions and his internal organs were burning. Before he could calm down, he was blinded by a thought and just followed Pianpian's so-called trajectory without carefully considering the key points.
Along the way, everything seemed to be going too smoothly, whether it was him or Li Qingrang. If his guess was correct, Mei Lianqing's journey would be even smoother.
And, Lan Yuan, he has communicated with Huanzhen a few days ago, and he also knows why this judge who was wanted by Qing State ten years ago is still alive. There is really no need to deceive him. Therefore, this fierce general who is rumored to be able to fight against a hundred people alone will definitely die for Jiang Zhi and do his bidding.
Song Xieqing no longer hesitated, immediately jumped on his horse and headed straight for Zhenggan Palace.
Looking down from the Observatory, Song Xieqing's galloping figure and the palace maids carrying buckets of water and setting up water dragons to put out the fire turned into a dot, and in the eyes of Jiang Zhi who was standing on the Observatory, they were just a star-like ant.
This building is the highest point in Ying Palace, and the night wind is the coldest and most biting.
The starry sky above the Imperial Medical Bureau was obscured by billowing smoke. Jiang Zhidan asked, "My so-called brothers...are you all satisfied with your meal and wine?"
Beside Jiang Zhi stood a burly man, shirtless. His full beard and the tiger-head tattoo on his arm added to his fierceness. This man was Lan Yuan. He reported, "Your Majesty, the prince and princess imprisoned in the West Palace three days ago have starved until today and have only just had a full meal. They should have been tied up and thrown into the fire of the Imperial Medical Bureau."
Hearing this, Jiang Zhi raised his lips.
He stared at the increasingly fierce fire under the observatory, vaguely recalling the second year after he returned to Yingdu. The eunuchs serving in the palace had been talking nonsense and despising him in private. As luck would have it, he heard every word of it. As luck would have it, his father would be moving to the temporary palace for hunting soon. What should he do?
Oh, burn them all, burn them all.
After all, he returned to the palace as the crown prince. Even if these lowly slaves looked down on him, they had to follow his lead and flatter him on the surface.
Jiang Zhi pretended to be unwell and summoned the slaves who had criticized and belittled him into his bedroom to serve him. He used aphrodisiac incense to knock them all out, and even calculated the dosage of the incense so that when the flames were about to engulf the palace, these slaves would wake up.
He witnessed a blissful experience on earth.
In his eyes were the terrified and twisted expressions of those people before they died. They were twisting their charred bodies on the ground like maggots. In his ears were the endless shrill ghost howls, and in his nose was the smell of roasted meat and fat.
After a moment of despair, Jiang Zhi suddenly realized that he was trapped in the fire.
He has not yet ascended the throne, and has not yet personally destroyed everything his father cares about. He can die, but not now.
Fortunately... Fortunately, A Lin came to find him.
It was obvious that this sister had only known him for a year, but she was willing to sacrifice herself and push him into the raging sea of fire.
Tongues of fire climbed up Jiang Lin inch by inch—
Why did she save him? What bargaining chip did he have that was worth her life in exchange? Or is there really someone in this world... so kind as to be willing to sacrifice themselves?
Jiang Zhi rolled and crawled out of the hall and called the palace servants to put out the fire in the palace. She was only breathing her last breath. Her once beautiful face was bitten by the fire and became hideous and terrifying. His stomach was churning and he almost retched, but because of her kindness in saving his life, he was willing to kneel in front of her and try to cry for her.
The younger sister opened her eyes weakly, her body probably dried by the raging fire. She couldn't cry, but could only tremble and touch his intact cheek, saying, "I'm glad that brother Azhi is okay..."
She said, Brother Azhi had suffered for five years in a foreign country, how could he suffer another accident?
More than five years?
He suddenly laughed softly, forcing back the tears that were about to burst out.
In a flash, he suddenly realized that everyone treated him well only because he had the same face, the same name, and the same status as Jiang Zhi. And the teacher? He wasn't his teacher, but Jiang Zhi's teacher. How could the teacher have ever truly recognized him? Besides, the teacher... the students he favored were always just big brothers, right?
But it is obvious that he is also his father's blood child, and Alin is also his blood sister.
Even so, he was abandoned by his parents since birth because having twins was considered an ominous sign.
Why did it have to be him? Why couldn't it be Jiang Zhi who was abandoned?
The night wind carried soot and brushed against his eyebrows, and he finally came out of the past.
To this day, the scenes of those years are still clearly imprinted in his mind. Now, seeing the fire snakes and black smoke covering the sky again, something in his heart seemed to be ignited, his blood began to boil and clamor, longing for more killing.
"Go ahead, kill every living thing." He looked down at the Imperial Medical Bureau, which was about to burn to ruins. "As for the fire, don't rush to put it out. Throw the officials involved tonight and their families into the flames... Oh, let them watch their wives and children burn to death first, and then it won't be too late to throw them into the fire..."
Lan Yuan agreed and turned to leave.
The king of a country, standing alone on the top of the Star Observatory, had just emerged from an old dream, only to be drowned in another in the blink of an eye.
He could no longer clearly recall how many years he had spent in the Qing Palace. He only remembered that during that period there were no clouds in the sky, no sun, only incessant rain.
He was delivering food to the prisoners on death row on behalf of a jailer who was on break. The man was naked and his skin was torn, except for the tiger head tattoo on his arm.
And he was also injured.
The food in the lunch box today is richer than usual. I guess it is the last meal for the people in prison.
He had been hungry for several days and could only drink some rice porridge at most. He took advantage of the fact that no one was around and secretly ate some food in the lunch box.
If he died, he would not want to starve to death. Even death row prisoners could have a full meal before going on their way, so why couldn't he?
The man imprisoned in the prison was called Lan Yuan. It was said that he was not from Qing, but a general of the Dara tribe. He fled to Daqing because of a crime and seized a lot of territory from Ying for Daqing with his bravery. His achievements were so great that they frightened the emperor. Now that the war was over, the old emperor was dying and the prince was young, so naturally he would not allow this man to survive.
Lan Yuan had never spoken to him before, but this time, as he passed the food from the lunch box through the small window, the man finally spoke with a thick foreign accent: "If you spare my life, I will be loyal to you alone for the rest of my life."
Ha, he is just a lowly slave, how could he possibly let someone go? He doesn't have the ability to do that.
The fact that he was still alive was a blessing from heaven, so how could he dare to seek happiness in such a dangerous situation?
He initially didn't want to pay attention, but the man continued, "If you help me, I will take back all the injuries, insults, and bullies that have been done to you."
...Is it really possible?
Those people... those people stole his food, stole his meager monthly copper coins, forced him to urinate, and humiliated him by licking his boots... Could he really get them all back?
"I-I don't have the key."
"A piece of dead branch slightly thinner than the keyhole will suffice."
He had been weak all his life, and handing the stick to the monster in the prison was the boldest thing he had ever done.
His hands trembled as he listened to the rustling noises within the cell. Regret welled up in his heart, filling his mouth and nose. Even if Lan Yuan could escape with a twig, the prison was heavily guarded by guards. How could Lan Yuan easily defeat them? What if this monster betrayed him...what would he do?
The twig was difficult to retrieve, so he had to run as fast as he could, just wanting to distance himself from the monster.
The corridor was deep and narrow, and there were footsteps approaching behind me, and there was more than one person.
The sound of footsteps stopped abruptly as a sharp arrow flew through the air, grazed his earlobe, and pierced into the crack in the ground in front of him, blocking his way.
He turned around tremblingly, and what caught his eye was a young man with a feminine appearance, dressed in brocade and with his hair loose. The red mole between his eyebrows was as bright as a drop of blood, and a snow fox was lazily coiled on his shoulder.
He vaguely remembered this man. This man had visited Lan Yuan in prison. The usually arrogant jailer treated this man with great respect and respectfully called him military advisor.
Could it be that... they have discovered that he was trying to release the death row prisoner, and now that they have dealt with Lan Yuan, is it his turn to deal with him?
Behind the young man stood a dense mass of sword-wielding attendants. He leisurely sheathed his bow, teasing the snow fox on his shoulder. He spoke in a leisurely tone, "Shuanzi, huh? Are you willing to make a deal with me? I promise you a life of luxury, and you... just have to do one thing."
He knocked his head open, completely ignoring the blood seeping into his eyes. He was thankful that he still had blood to shed. He knelt forward and said earnestly, "As long as I'm alive, as long as I have enough to eat... It doesn't matter... It doesn't matter if it's just one or two things..."
Zhenzhen laughed, and Yunxue lifted his chin, "Then, from now on, you will be called Jiang Zhi."
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