Chapter 402 The Imperial Master’s Purpose
The information Zhao Yi got from Jiang Chao was limited. He only knew that Shen Qingtan left the capital with his guards to find Boss Qin, but he was not very clear about the details.
Boss Qin had already sent someone to ask Shen Qingtan for help last night, and Lieutenant General Sun rushed to provide support overnight. He would definitely not write another letter and send someone to deliver it to the palace.
Shen Qingtan would not fail to understand this logic, but he still took his men out of the city. It can be seen that this letter was not written by Boss Qin, but by someone else.
Zhao Yi could almost guess the content of the letter. It probably involved the safety of Boss Qin, and the token was the most powerful evidence.
Looking for someone without any clues is undoubtedly like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Zhao Yi spurred his horse and whipped it, and the warhorse galloped away.
Dark clouds covered the sun and bordered the end of the mountain road, as if they were going to swallow up the man and the horse.
When Jiang Chao saw this scene, his heart skipped a beat. He quickly jumped on his horse and chased back to the capital.
Zhao Yi searched aimlessly for Shen Qingtan along the official roads and mountain roads outside the city. None of the people who came to report to him brought any useful information.
Time passed by little by little, and Shen Qingtan's danger increased.
The general looked up at the dark sky. A loud rumble of thunder echoed, and he couldn't help but speak: "Your Highness, half a day has passed, and we haven't found the princess, nor have we found any clues. The sky is getting darker and darker, and I'm afraid it will rain heavily."
As he spoke, he turned his head to look at Zhao Yi who was standing next to the warhorse. His eyebrows were soaked in rain and mist, and revealed the chill of spring.
Along the way, Zhao Yi's face became increasingly gloomy and he became less and less talkative. It seemed as if he was suppressing his emotions, fearing that saying one more word would reveal his inner weaknesses.
Zhao Yi pretended not to hear anything, his gaze coldly fixed on Zhuangzi in front of him. He was about to send someone to search for him. If they still couldn't find him, he would return to the capital to look for the person he suspected.
At this time, the tightly closed door of the village opened.
A slender figure came out surrounded by guards and maids.
His gaze was so direct that the woman under the umbrella noticed it and looked over at him with a look of surprise: "Second Master, why are you here?"
As soon as she said this, Shen Qingtan felt that she had said the wrong thing, because she realized why Zhao Yi appeared here.
She was about to explain a few words when she saw Zhao Yi lost his usual composure and walked towards her quickly, looking at her intently, as if to see if she was hurt anywhere.
"Second Master, I..."
Before Shen Qingtan could finish her words, Zhao Yi hugged her tightly, so tightly that his fingers trembled: "Manman..."
It wasn't until I truly felt her presence that a deep sense of fear came over me.
He almost thought he was going to lose her.
Shen Qingtan sensed Zhao Yi's strong uneasiness and reached out to hug him. "I received a letter saying that Uncle Qin was in a house in the suburbs and asked me to go there in person to pick him up. It also included a token from Uncle Qin."
"Uncle Qin came to Northern Qi for me. I was worried he'd been captured, so I planned to rescue him. But I found a simple map inside the envelope. It showed a cave under the cliff behind the National Temple, as well as a secret passage in the back mountain."
"Every move we made was under his control. I was immediately distraught and didn't know what to do. I was afraid that if I didn't keep the appointment, he would expose our plan."
"When I was at my wit's end, I suddenly smelled a faint and special fragrance on the letter."
"This fragrance is very special. It's a kind of amber incense mixed with another spice, with a faint woody and bitter aroma. I've only smelled it in the couplets Yan Yi sent me. Because the fragrance is so special, I remember it very clearly."
"I suspect this person is the Imperial Tutor. If he is, I dare not act rashly, fearing that my cleverness will not escape his notice. My self-righteous behavior will only anger him."
"He has carefully planned every step to bring you to your current position. He hasn't yet achieved his goal, so he shouldn't let anything happen to us. That's why I came to the appointment with my guards. I want to see what the Imperial Master's purpose is in going to so much trouble to invite me here."
"When I left the city, I arranged for guards to deliver a letter to you and even marked the roadside. When we arrived at the mansion, we were apprehended and then brought to this manor."
"Although the Imperial Master didn't show up, he didn't make things difficult for me. He left two maids to serve me and tried his best to meet any requests. Only just now did he let me go."
When Shen Qingtan was being controlled, she guessed that the imperial teacher's target was Zhao Yi, and even suspected that the imperial teacher intended to use her to threaten Zhao Yi.
The moment this thought came to her mind, she rejected it. This was because the Imperial Preceptor knew that they were going to steal Princess Yizhen's bones today, and with this piece of information in his hands, it was enough to negotiate with Zhao Yi.
She could never guess the Imperial Master's purpose, until now, seeing Zhao Yi's panic and nervous expression, she vaguely realized that the Imperial Master was using her disappearance to force Zhao Yi to achieve some goal.
Shen Qingtan buried her face in his arms and said in a muffled voice, "I'm sorry for making you worry."
"The Imperial Tutor has absolute power in Northern Qi. No one can stop him from doing what he wants. He has a thousand ways to achieve his goals." Zhao Yi whispered, "You don't have to apologize to me. This matter was originally caused by me."
He did not meet the people sent by Shen Qingtan in the National Temple, nor did he find any marks she made on the ground. It was probably that the Imperial Master controlled the people and then cleaned up the marks on the ground.
The guards arranged by King Zhenbei for Shen Qingtan were all highly skilled in martial arts, but they were easily suppressed by the Emperor's men. This shows that the Emperor's strength is unfathomable.
The Imperial Master knew that he would steal the bones today, so instead of stopping him, he took care of the aftermath for him and let him take the bones away smoothly. When he thought his goal was achieved, he would give him a blow.
Apparently, the Imperial Master was not satisfied with this and set up a trap for Boss Qin, deliberately causing a landslide to prevent him from returning to the capital. He then used Shen Qingtan's concern for Boss Qin to lure her out of the city.
In case the bargaining chips were not enough, he used his safety to threaten Shen Qingtan, forcing her to go to the appointment and then hide her tracks.
The frustration of not being able to obtain the skeleton, the anger and powerlessness of being controlled by others, and the panic of losing Shen Qingtan made him realize a problem.
Without absolute power, he would not be able to successfully bring his mother's bones back to the Great Zhou, nor would he be able to protect the people around him.
From the moment he put on the clothes of the Northern Qi prince, he walked into the silk net woven for him by the imperial teacher.
As long as the Imperial Master doesn't let them return to the Great Zhou, their journey back home will be a long one.
Rather than returning home, he was more afraid of not being able to protect Shen Qingtan.
What the Imperial Master did today seemed to be a warning to him.
If there is a next time, Shen Qingtan will not come back safe and sound.
Zhao Yi didn't want to be controlled by others, nor did he want to be manipulated by others, and he didn't want to put Shen Qingtan in danger. If he wanted to get rid of all this, the only way was to take that position.
Thinking of this, Zhao Yi suddenly understood the true purpose of the imperial teacher.
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