Chapter 764 Calculated Everything
The bearers' steady steps made neat sounds on the bluestone slabs. The sounds were so regular that they sounded like the footsteps during military training in the barracks.
"Master, why are your hands so cold?" Cui Hua held her husband's slightly trembling hand.
Ran Mingxian suddenly came back to his senses and found that cold sweat had appeared on his palms.
He pulled his hand back calmly and wiped his forehead with his sleeve: "It's okay, but... the wind is a little chilly in this late autumn night."
As he turned and walked back to the mansion, he couldn't help but look back.
When the red sedan turned the corner, the moonlight just happened to shine on the waists of the sedan bearers, and there seemed to be some metal object there reflecting a cold light.
It's a scabbard! Ran Mingxian's heart skipped a beat and he almost cried out. Why would an ordinary sedan bearer wear a sword? His footsteps unconsciously stopped on the threshold, and his throat tightened.
"Master?" Cui Hua looked at her husband who suddenly froze in confusion.
"Oh...it's okay." Ran Mingxian laughed dryly, but almost tripped when he stepped over the threshold.
He held onto the door frame, thoughts swirling in his mind. Maybe... maybe these were the personal soldiers that Qi Jing had specially sent to protect him? After all, the capital has not been peaceful these days...
Yes, His Royal Highness Prince Jing is now the new king, and this self-comforting thought made him feel a little more at ease.
It was normal to send a few guards to welcome the bride. He remembered that when the Minister of War married his daughter last year, didn't he also use the military guards?
"Let's go to the study!" Ran Mingxian suddenly said to his attendant, then turned to Cui Hua and said, "Madam, please take a rest first. I still have some official documents to deal with."
Cui Hua opened his mouth and watched Ran Mingxian leave.
As soon as the study door was closed, Ran Mingxian immediately slumped down in the armchair.
The candle flame popped and sparked, startling him so much that he almost jumped up.
He stared at the dancing flames, but the scene he saw outside the palace gate this morning appeared in front of his eyes. The imperial guards were wearing the same standard swords on their waists.
"No..." he muttered to himself, grabbed the cold tea on the table and took a sip.
The tea had already gone cold, and the bitter taste made him shudder.
"No, King Jing has been planning for many years, and he has the support of the Black Feather Guards, so it shouldn't happen..."
Suddenly, there was a night watchman's sound outside the window. Ran Mingxian counted the sounds and found that it was already midnight.
According to etiquette, this time was already past the auspicious time for welcoming the bride. Thinking of something, he stood up suddenly, knocking over the teacup, and the brown tea soup spread on the official documents, looking very much like solidified blood.
"Someone come!" he shouted towards the door, his voice shrill and changed in pitch.
Seeing the housekeeper rushing in, he suppressed his emotions and asked, "Today... today, have those who came to welcome the bride delivered the invitation from Prince Jing's Mansion?"
The housekeeper was stunned: "My Lord, those people only said that they were following His Majesty's orders..."
Ran Mingxian's eyes went dark and he held onto the desk to avoid falling down.
Qi Jing had not yet ascended the throne, so where did the "Majesty's oral order" come from?
Unless...unless Qi Jing didn't succeed at all!
"Quick!" He grabbed the butler's collar.
"Immediately send someone to Prince Jing's mansion... no, go to the palace gate to get information! We need someone alive to report back!"
The butler was frightened by his ferocious expression and retreated.
Ran Mingxian sat back in his chair dejectedly, only then he realized that the clothes on his back were already wet. The moonlight filtered through the window lattice, casting shadows on the ground like prison bars.
He suddenly remembered what Qi Jing had said when he secretly summoned him two days ago: "Don't worry, Lord Ran. When the big thing is done, Huan'er will be the imperial concubine, and you will be the father-in-law of the emperor."
Under the candlelight, the prince's smile seemed too confident...
On the other side, the butler forced himself to leave the study, but he did not go out to inquire about the news at all.
He ran towards the place where the servants of the Ran family rested in a panic. After returning to his own courtyard, the housekeeper closed the door tightly and gasped heavily.
After calming his mind, the butler hurriedly packed up some valuables and took advantage of the night to carefully move towards the back door of the Ran Mansion.
But he underestimated the people outside. As soon as he walked out of the alley, a dark shadow appeared in front of him and blocked his way.
"Either go back or die immediately, your choice!"
The butler's face lost all color and he backed away repeatedly, holding his gold and silver jewelry.
The visitor looked at him jokingly and whispered, "The master said that as long as you appease Ran Mingxian, your family will not be implicated. You are making it very difficult for me to deal with this!"
The housekeeper thought about how he was taken away in the morning when he went to inquire about the news, but he saw the picture of his family in a room.
Several sons and grandsons still have a chance to survive...
The butler shuddered: "No, no, no... I'll go back now... now."
"Remember not to talk nonsense, otherwise..."
The butler threw the bag towards the black shadow as if he had released all his strength.
"I will do as your master says. Please show some leniency and hand these things over to my family."
The man in black didn't say anything. He picked up his things and watched the butler return to the Ran Mansion before returning to the dark.
The butler waited outside trembling for nearly half an hour before he dared to go back to the study to report.
"How about it?"
The housekeeper lowered his eyes and said, "I went to get the news myself, but the palace guards kept their mouths shut, so we don't know what's going on inside the palace. But I got news from someone nearby that the second prince has been demoted to a commoner, and the eldest prince will take the throne in three days!"
Ran Mingxian was stunned for a moment, and his tense spirit seemed to relax a little.
"The eldest prince... that should be His Royal Highness Prince Jing..."
The butler wiped the sweat from his forehead and didn't dare to answer.
"Always pay attention to the news outside and report any abnormalities."
"Yes, sir!"
The butler fled from the study, feeling completely helpless and in tears.
In the bridal sedan that had already reached Zhuque Street, Ran Huan was gently stroking the phoenix pattern embroidered in gold thread on the wedding dress with her nail polish-stained fingertips.
Every time the sedan chair bumped, the golden hairpins on her hair swayed, casting tiny shadows under the red veil.
"When we arrived at Prince Jing's Mansion..."
She bit her lip and smiled secretly, as if she could see herself wearing the imperial concubine's court dress and receiving the homage of officials.
For no reason, she suddenly thought of the scene when Ran Qingxuan got married. Although the process was also somewhat low-key, when she thought of Ran Qingxuan suffering in exile now, she tightened the handkerchief in her hand with pleasure.
On the top floor of the largest inn on Zhuque Street, Gu Yanchen pushed open the carved window and the moonlight poured in like flowing water.
Looking at the bridal sedan hurriedly passing by on the street, he turned to Ran Qingxuan who was adjusting her red hairpin in front of the mirror and said, "It's time. The bridal sedan of the Ran Mansion will soon arrive at the Jingwang Mansion."
Ran Qingxuan's fingertips paused slightly, and a face that seemed to be smiling but not smiling appeared in the bronze mirror.
"Don't rush me... I have to let my good sister have a sweet dream."
She picked up the bright yellow imperial edict on the table and rubbed her fingertips back and forth on the jade shaft.
"She plotted against me at the palace banquet and even instigated Ran Mingxian to imprison me. She and her mother fed me so many knockout drugs that... "
Ran Qingxuan stopped talking. The feelings of her original body made her feel suffocated. She didn't want to think too much and disturb her mind.
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