"Then were Xia He and the others also putting on a show? With such a huge fire? How did they escape? Or... or did the princess intend to use their deaths to escape?"
When Jinlu finished speaking, his voice was already trembling.
The man who has always been carefree and fearless now dares not gamble whether that person is in the fire.
"Jinlu, don't panic. The prince said this because he is confident. Think about it carefully. The other maids around the princess are not here. Would he sacrifice only these two?"
"But……"
"Don't worry. If you really have doubts, I will accompany you to look for her in the ruins. She won't be there." Jinfu said comfortingly.
After Li Guanghan figured out that Qiao Si had left the palace, he sent others to look for him. However, by the time they went out to look, the city gates had been locked and there was no trace of Qiao Si.
Li Guanghan sat alone in the study of Prince Han's mansion, having not slept all night. During this sleepless night, he figured out many things.
Qiao Si is trapped in the palace and it is impossible for him to escape easily. There must be external support.
The most suspicious people are Zhao Chao and his mute wife.
In the past, I just thought that Zhao Chao had a kind heart and could be his helper, but I didn't expect that he would be involved with Qiao Si behind the scenes.
Li Guanghan sent people to search overnight for the past of Zhao Chao and his mute wife, and he really found a clue.
Zhao Chao had even gone so far as to offend the Xie family, a branch of his own family, for the sake of his mute wife. The news of Zhao Chao and Xie Qingyu's broken engagement had recently become a running joke in the capital. Xie Qingyu had already hinted that this mute woman was a descendant of the traitorous Jiang family, and it seemed her words were not groundless.
Li Guanghan knew that it was Jiang Xiaorao who secretly helped Qiao Si escape from the capital, so he also wanted to kill him.
Qiao Si was no longer a threat. Even if she left the capital for Haizhou, it would be too late. All the pieces were in place, and she could no longer control the situation alone.
Zhao Chao and Jiang Xiaorao might become variables, and he can't let them go.
When the first rays of morning sun shone into his study, Li Guanghan had already made his plans. He quietly watched the sunlight creep onto his desk, the light dispelling the darkness, but he had already sunk into depravity, and even the sunlight shining on him could not change him in the slightest.
…
Outside the capital, on a hundred-mile official road.
The carriage galloped non-stop towards the south.
The people driving the car were Qiuyue and Dongmei. They had taken a short rest at night and were now discussing their next plans.
After leaving the capital, the people from the Qiao Palace who were arranged by Qiao Si to stay at the farm outside the capital came out to greet him and accompanied him to Haizhou.
After surviving the disaster, Zhang You felt a strong sense of unreality.
She looked at Cui Liu who was swaying in the car, then looked at Qiao Si who was frowning with his head down, wondering what he was thinking about, and Jing Zhu who was silently massaging Qiao Si's temples gently. Only then did her violently beating heart calm down a little.
Zhang You didn't want to use those things again. Honestly, she knew people's hearts were unpredictable. They could use them to save people today, but someone else would copy them and harm them tomorrow.
But Prince Qiao's matter was urgent, so they had to resort to this last resort.
The explosion in Dingzhou that year had already attracted investigations from several parties, and the events in the capital could not be concealed for long.
The storm is coming.
They are afraid that they will never come back after leaving the capital this time.
The road ahead was uncertain, and Zhang You would be lying if she said she wasn't nervous. She'd been displaced along the way, and she'd questioned whether this was the right thing to do. Perhaps Qiao Si was right; some things couldn't be judged simply by right or wrong. Times had changed, and with a different context, Zhang You's actions might become a nightmare for others.
Therefore, Zhang You tried his best not to recall the past and only imagine the future.
After leaving the city, a spy from the chess department reported that Prince Qiao had dismissed his attendants after leaving for Haizhou, and there had been no further news. Qiao Si had a bad suspicion in his mind, and now he could only hurried on his way.
But some things cannot be changed by human power.
Even though they tried their best, they were still one step too late.
Two days later.
The swollen river water blocked the road ahead, and Qiao Si and his companions were blocked halfway and had to rest in a village on higher ground.
The mountains to the west, ravaged by days of rain, had erupted into flash floods, destroying many villages downstream that nestled close to the mountains and rivers. The rushing mud and water blocked their path.
The scouts from the chess club went ahead to explore the route and find a way to cross the river. When the news of crossing the river came back, the bad news also came.
As soon as Prince Qiao arrived in Haizhou, he was persecuted by the governor of Haizhou and killed by the bandits who occupied the mountains and became kings.
When the news came, two days had passed since Prince Qiao was murdered.
The day he died was the day Qiao Si took a gamble and escaped from Prince Han's Mansion.
Qiao Si didn't care about the flooding river, he hurried out and mounted his horse to rush forward.
Word of Prince Qiao's death had reached the capital a day earlier, and his body was about to be transported back. Qiao Si, unwilling to be used as a pawn even after his death, rode off to intercept him.
Zhang You and the others wanted to follow, but were stopped by Jing Zhu and Qiu Yue. Jing Zhu urgently instructed, "We're with the princess. We'll go ahead and you can follow!"
Without waiting for Zhang You and the others to say anything, the two of them rode away on their horses.
The figure hurried away and the sound of horse hooves gradually faded away.
Zhang You just felt that everything during this period was like a dream.
Floating and sinking, bizarre and strange.
Everything happened so suddenly.
Everyone left unexpectedly.
Along the way, Qiao Si was surprisingly quiet. I'm afraid she had already guessed Prince Qiao's plan.
Perhaps she had also hoped for that slim hope, so she took them away from the capital.
But it's too late...
Zhang You and the others did not waste any time. After hearing the news, they packed their luggage and set off in a hurry.
The carriage was large, and carrying all the supplies they needed, it was even more difficult to move on this cold and damp muddy road. The ruts slipped, and the horses' hooves sunk. Fortunately, with the help of the people from the chess club, they barely managed to cross this muddy road.
On the way to meet up with Qiao Si, Zhang You witnessed starving people and floating corpses along the way.
The flood raged, submerging farmland and villas, and cutting off the lives of the people.
There are always some people who are stubborn and want to survive, fighting for food and even becoming bandits. Along the way, they also encountered several waves of robbers, most of whom were local people who had no place to live and could only resort to robbery to get a bite to eat.
If they hadn't had the help of the chess club, they would have been unable to withstand the overwhelming force. Along the way, it was the chess club's members who helped them resist.
The supplies Li Guanghan had sent earlier never reached them. Looking at their appearance, Zhang You felt disgusted with their actions, yet also sympathized with them.
Heaven and earth are unkind and treat all things as straw dogs. Sages are unkind and treat the people as straw dogs.
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