Chapter 15 Revenge: Zhao Liangxu tightened the belt around An He's neck...
Zhao Liangxu hissed, the stalemate was broken, but what followed was an even worse situation.
The cold glint of the sword silenced the shouts of a eunuch who was closest to the assassin; blood splattered all over the room.
Stimulated by the eunuch's shouts and the sight of blood, Li Ying couldn't help but yell, "Guards! There's an assassin! There's an assassin!"
Without a second thought, Zhao Liangxu threw the nearest thing at the assassin and overturned any shelf she could find, hoping to slow him down.
She snatched a larger piece of porcelain and held it in her hand, while with her other hand she tightly gripped Li Ying's collar, dragging the terrified Li Ying towards the inner hall.
The eunuch who knocked over the celadon slumped to the ground and crawled towards the inner palace on all fours.
He was already last, but Zhao Liangxu didn't have time to care about him.
She dragged Li Ying into the inner hall, covered his mouth, and shook her head.
Li Ying's eyes were already filled with tears of fear. She covered her mouth with her wide sleeve and nodded hurriedly.
As she nodded, she could no longer hold back her tears.
The inner palace had multiple rooms, and the assassins couldn't immediately tell which room Zhao Liangxu and her companion were hiding in.
Zhao Liangxu first ran to the wardrobe containing the emperor's court robes. After opening it, Li Ying wanted to crawl inside, but Zhao Liangxu stopped him.
Li Ying was puzzled, but Zhao Liangxu didn't say anything. She just pulled out half of a piece of clothing from the wardrobe and stuck it in the wardrobe door, leaving a small gap in the door.
Then Zhao Liangxu pulled Li Ying and hid behind a tall incense burner in the room.
The incense burner was large enough to just cover the two figures.
Li Ying huddled there, head bowed, sobbing.
The guards had already spotted the assassin and were fighting with him.
Some people cried out in alarm after being injured in the fight, while eunuchs who lagged behind screamed. The chaotic sounds mingled together, creating an unbearable cacophony.
Zhao Liangxu patted Li Ying, which startled him so much that he trembled all over.
Zhao Liangxu said to him in a voice so low it was almost inaudible, "Take this porcelain shard for self-defense. If anyone comes later, trip them up, and I'll subdue them."
Zhao Liangxu untied the belt from her waist, tested its elasticity, and then took off her outer robe and folded it up.
The outer robe could cover the assassin's face, and the belt could strangle his neck.
Li Ying stared blankly at Zhao Liangxu, wondering if this method would really work.
Zhao Liangxu noticed Li Ying's hesitation: "This is a last resort, but it's better than having no other way, isn't it? Once I've subdued him, you can just keep stabbing his vital points."
Zhao Liangxu showed no fear on her face, but a stern look appeared between her brows.
Li Ying trembled again, but unconsciously moved closer to Zhao Liangxu and grabbed her sleeve tightly.
Zhao Liangxu felt extremely unlucky. She had transmigrated to this world in such a state, and now, before she had even fully recovered, she was forced to participate in an assassination attempt, and she was the one who was caught in the crossfire.
This assassination attempt was sudden and full of suspicious points. The assassin chose to do it when she was in the palace with Li Ying, and An He happened to be away.
It's easy to suspect that Anhe is behind it.
But that's impossible.
No one could possibly be Anhe, because once Li Ying dies, if Anhe wants to continue being the emperor, he would have to put another emperor on the throne in a very short time, which is clearly a thankless task for him.
From the opposite perspective, this assassination attempt might have been specifically targeted at Anhe.
His Majesty was injured, and he cannot escape blame.
If His Majesty dies suddenly, and if he is well prepared, he might be able to control another prince to ascend the throne. Otherwise, the court officials will surely rise up against him. Taking advantage of this gap, those with ulterior motives will seize the opportunity, and those who dislike Anhe will be punished in a flash.
So, was this assassination attempt targeted at Anhe?
So who was the instigator?
A high-ranking official? Or...?
Many possibilities flashed through Zhao Liangxu's mind, but she knew almost nothing about the imperial court, so any further speculation was just speculation.
The outside gradually quieted down; no guards came in, and no one called for Li Ying.
The palace fell silent again.
"Has the assassin been subdued?"
Li Ying asked in a low voice.
Zhao Liangxu didn't know, but it was best not to go out for the time being.
Who knows how many assassins there are?
Zhao Liangxu and Li Ying continued to hide, but suddenly footsteps came from the outer hall.
Li Ying stared wide-eyed at Zhao Liangxu, then nervously swallowed.
The footsteps bypassed the deliberately overturned ornaments and kicked away the scattered porcelain shards.
The sound of the porcelain shards striking the ground made Li Ying's heart race with tension.
Zhao Liangxu tightened her grip on her belt.
The footsteps passed through several rooms before finally reaching the room where the two were hiding.
The footsteps were much clearer; judging from the voice, it was a man.
The sound of boots hitting the ground grew clearer and clearer as he stopped in front of the wardrobe that Zhao Liangxu had deliberately set up.
With a creak, the wardrobe was opened.
The owner of the footsteps let out a soft chuckle.
He began to explore the room again.
Zhao Liangxu nodded to Li Ying. As the man walked past the incense burner, Li Ying suddenly reached out and tripped him.
The man clearly hadn't expected anyone to trip him, and he stumbled, his robes billowing.
Zhao Liangxu saw the familiar dark red python robe reflected in her eyes.
Oh? This looks familiar.
So what?
Zhao Liangxu did not stop, but quickly threw her outer robe at the man's face and tightened her belt around his neck.
Although it is called a belt, it is not made of leather like modern belts, but of strips of cloth. The soft strips of cloth restrict a person's breathing.
The person in his arms struggled involuntarily, and the pain caused him to throw Zhao Liangxu to the ground along with him.
He hastily pulled off the outer robe covering his face, his hands weak, revealing only half of his excessively pale face. He painfully squeezed out a few words: "It's...me."
Li Ying was about to pounce on the other person and stab them with the porcelain shards, but she was stunned when she saw the familiar dark red python robe on the ground.
Li Ying stammered, then, regaining her senses, she stammered, "Zhao... Zhao Liangxu, he is Eunuch An, he is Eunuch An!"
Zhao Liangxu then loosened her grip, exhaled in surprise, and said, "So it's Eunuch An."
Anhe sat up, supporting himself on the ground with one hand and touching his neck with the other, breathing heavily.
He coughed several times before finally recovering.
Hearing Zhao Liangxu's hypocritical voice, he knew perfectly well that Zhao Liangxu was doing it on purpose.
He looked up at Zhao Liangxu's exaggerated expression of surprise, her red eyes still wet with tears from just pulling at her waist. He gritted his teeth and said, "Zhao Liangxu! You did this on purpose!"
His voice was even hoarse from being strangled so tightly. He suppressed his anger and asked, "Zhao Liangxu, do you want to die?"
Zhao Liangxu shook her head honestly and kindly helped An He up.
"Eunuch An, I really didn't know it was you."
Yeah, right.
She knew it was him as soon as she saw the clothes, but if she had the chance to avenge the choking incident from a few days ago, why not? She had to let him taste the same pain.
Zhao Liangxu's apologetic smile was seen as blatant provocation by An He.
An He shook off Zhao Liangxu's hand; he really wanted to order Zhao Liangxu to be killed.
Li Ying, who had been silent until now, said, "Eunuch An, Zhao Liangxu was indeed eager to save the emperor, so why don't we just let it go?"
Anhe suddenly turned to look at Li Ying, who quickly hid behind Zhao Liangxu, her hand unconsciously grabbing Zhao Liangxu's sleeve.
He was terrified by the assassin just now, and at this moment he trusted Zhao Liangxu the most.
Anhe felt like he had seen a ghost.
He stared at the two people in front of him, his face so gloomy it seemed like it was about to drip water.
He narrowed his eyes, then suddenly clapped his hands.
"Hehe, Zhao Liangxu, you're really something."
He dusted himself off, made a sarcastic remark to Zhao Liangxu, but ultimately didn't pursue the matter further.
Zhao Liangxu couldn't help but give An He a thumbs up in her heart for his patience.
He suppressed his emotions and said to Li Ying, "Your Majesty, the assassin has been captured alive. You must be frightened. I will take you to the side hall to rest."
Li Ying held onto Zhao Liangxu's sleeve tightly.
"Ah, Zhao Liangxu... naturally I'll go with you. Let's go."
As soon as the group walked outside the hall, they were surrounded by waiting palace maids and eunuchs.
Zhang Sheng noticed the ligature marks on An He's neck and asked in surprise, "Godfather, what happened...?"
Anhe waved his hand, saying it was nothing.
An old eunuch suddenly knelt down and cried out, "Your Majesty, it is this old servant's fault for failing to protect you properly and causing you to be frightened. This servant deserves to die, this servant deserves to die!"
The old eunuch slapped himself twice across the face with a loud thud, then wailed and cried.
"Your Majesty, let this old servant serve you to atone for your sins."
"Eunuch Wang, can't you see the favorite of His Majesty? Why are you getting in his way?"
Anhe stepped forward and blocked Wang Fu's path.
Wang Fu looked up and squinted, seeing Zhao Liangxu next to Li Ying.
Wang Fu was a eunuch who had served the emperor since the time of the late emperor. He was always good at speaking sweet words and knew how to flatter Li Ying.
“You should atone for your sins. I thought you were loyal and thorough in your work. I always had you serve His Majesty closely. But today’s assassin was let in by your men. Please explain this to me first, Eunuch Wang, before we talk about what happens next.”
Wang Fu was a fairly well-known eunuch. When he wasn't on duty, he would summon a few of his close eunuchs to the emperor's presence.
But who would have thought that such a pest would appear under his command? He wouldn't have enough heads to lose even if he had eight hundred.
If Anhe takes him away, he'll suffer terribly before he loses his head; he'll probably be worse off than dead.
He had wanted to ask His Majesty to plead for mercy, but His Majesty was clearly frightened today and just stayed by Zhao Liangxu's side, ignoring everything else.
In desperation, he cried out to An He, "Your Majesty, please forgive me! I really knew nothing about this!"
Nine thousand years old.
Who in the capital city doesn't know Anhe's current power and prestige? Everyone is used to calling him "Nine Thousand Years Old" in private.
It's fine to call him that when flattering Anhe, or even outside the palace, but to call him that in front of the legitimate Emperor? Has he gone mad?
For a moment, everyone was extremely quiet.
Wang Fu knew he had spoken recklessly and tried to make amends, but his mouth was covered and he was taken away.
Anhe looked around, and the palace servants all lowered their heads, not daring to look him in the eye. He coldly instructed them, "Wang Fu has spoken nonsense. Don't let his nonsense cloud your judgment. Just ignore it. Do you understand?"
The surrounding crowd readily agreed.
Li Ying made no comment, but An He stayed by her side and explained, "Your Majesty, what Wang Fu said just now was nonsense. Please don't take it to heart. Let us accompany you to the side hall to rest."
Li Ying nodded.
Upon arriving at the side hall, everyone else busied themselves preparing clean clothes and hot water for Li Ying's bath, while Zhao Liangxu and An He waited in another part of the side hall.
A note from the author:
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Our Zhao Liangxu is the kind of girl who doesn't like to suffer losses, huh? [question mark]
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