Chapter 478: Deceiving the King (Double Monthly Ticket Request)
It was late at night, the empty mansion was exceptionally quiet, and the moonlight became gentle.
After taking a shower, Xu Zhenguan stared at the "master bedroom". In just the time it took to take a shower, the simple and elegant doors and windows changed color.
The entire backyard was brightly lit, and even the uninhabited houses were illuminated by large red lanterns under the eaves, sweeping away the gloomy and desolate atmosphere.
On the windows of the house where the two were going to "stay", there were red paper wedding characters posted.
The candlelight shone through the window paper outside the house, and the word "囍" became bright and dazzling.
Xu Zhenguan opened her lips slightly, as if she understood something, her eyes suddenly became soft, and she walked into the house with light lotus steps.
In the bedroom, the air was filled with a faint scent of sandalwood, which was emitted from the burning of an exquisite incense burner in the corner.
The antique shelves in the house, which were filled with porcelain vases and jade articles, were decorated with candles.
Not only here, but also on the round table, on the small couch for resting... there were scattered red candles, the flickering candlelight illuminated the originally slightly dim bedroom as bright as day.
Zhao Duan changed into a loose robe and was standing beside the dining table, bending over, carefully lighting the last red candle.
He turned around and looked at the empress who pushed the door open and walked in. His eyes lit up and a smile appeared on his face:
"Your Majesty, you have returned just in time. I have found some aged wine hidden deep in the cellar of the mansion."
He had obviously bathed and washed himself, but he did not wash formally. Instead, he used the "Black Turtle Seal" to control the water and clean himself from head to toe.
Well, I even chewed a few fresh petals in my mouth!
"Did you... arrange these?" Xu Zhenguan asked softly with candlelight flickering in his bright eyes.
Following Zhao Duan's hand, I saw a jar of aged wine sealed in mud opened on the table. The aroma of the wine was rich and fragrant. There were no vegetables on the table, but wine vessels were laid out.
There were still red paper and scissors on the cabinet that had not been put away in time.
Zhao Duan smiled and said:
"Life is unpredictable, and this happened so hastily that the house isn't fully stocked. I'm sorry to trouble Your Majesty. Fortunately, although the country gentry took away some gold, silver, and jade, they left behind some fine wine. The last time we drank together was before the Fengshan ceremony, in the gardens of Jianning Prefecture."
Yes... That time, the king and his minister discussed the plan after the failure of promotion. Unexpectedly, their words came true. Driven by the situation, the world changed in the blink of an eye.
At that time...how could I have imagined that he would enter the world so soon? Xu Zhenguan's eyes were wandering, and he was a little distracted.
Perhaps it was as expected: after she took a shower and returned to the room, the scene of Zhao Duan pouncing on her impatiently did not happen.
Xu Zhenguan's tense body under her dress also relaxed.
And when I found that he was willing to spend time and effort to decorate the "new house", the slight annoyance in my heart was swept away.
What's more...
And wine.
Xu Zhenguan sat down at the table and watched Zhao Duan pour the clear and fragrant floral wine into the cup. As if trying to give herself courage, she suddenly picked up the wine jar, raised her white neck, and drank it all in one gulp!
A mouthful of wine slid into her mouth and tongue, and the empress's delicate and charming face became even more rosy after bathing.
It's not the wine that makes people drunk, it's the people themselves!
Zhao Duan laughed in silence, then simply drank a glass. The hot wine slid into his esophagus, and his whole body seemed to be hot.
How many times has this been the first time these two have been drinking together?
I can't remember.
I was deeply impressed three times. Once was on the roof of the Emperor's Tower in the capital, once was in the Yuanzu Hall in the palace, and once again... maybe it should be now.
At the Emperor's Tower, the Empress opened her heart.
When they were in the Yuanzu Temple, the two of them practiced briefly for one night and then took a step forward.
today.
It's not just the heart that's opened...
With complicated and unspeakable emotions in their hearts, the two of them sat at the table without saying a word and drank silently, as if they both wanted to use alcohol to dilute the last bit of tension.
However, how could ordinary flower wine, even if one drank a hundred jars, really make two worldly realm cultivators drunk?
Soon, the jar of wine was finished, and the looks the two people gave each other became a little ambiguous, as if they were connected by a thread.
Zhao Duan's mouth was dry and he rolled his eyes. He felt that as a man he should take the initiative: "Your Majesty, it's late, otherwise..."
“Plop!”
Before he could finish his words, Xu Zhenguan seemed to be really drunk. He dropped his head onto the table with his eyes closed, seemingly unconscious.
“…”
Zhao Duan was silent for a moment, thinking to himself, "Zhenbao, aren't you pretending a bit too much? Don't mention that your injury hasn't healed yet. I know how much you can drink."
Besides, my eyelashes are still trembling...
See through but don’t speak out.
Zhao Duan stood up and tried to push her with his hand: "Your Majesty?"
No response.
Well, it seems I have to take the initiative. However, I don’t know how to practice dual cultivation... Zhao Duan was thinking in his mind. He subconsciously tightened his belt, then stood up and walked to the side of the empress who was lying on the table pretending to be drunk.
He put his arms around the drunken empress and princess and picked her up. The moment he got hold of her, he could clearly feel the "drunk" empress's body stiffen, but she did not struggle.
It seems like an attitude of "let him do what he wants".
Zhao Duan held the empress in his arms, turned around, walked to the bed covered with bedding, and put her on the bed first.
Under the candlelight, on the soft brocade couch, she lay wearing a loose dress, revealing her charming curves.
Zhao Duan raised his eyes and first saw a pair of fair jade feet sticking out from under a silk skirt.
Because she had just bathed, she was not wearing any socks. Her feet were slender, with veins faintly visible under the skin. Her toes were round, each one like a jade bead. Her feet were exquisitely shaped and fascinating.
Immediately, his sight followed the curve of her legs upwards, but unfortunately, it was soon obscured by the hem of her skirt, just like a cloud of mist on the top of Mount Luo, blocking his sight and stretching across the peaks.
One can't help but want to disperse the clouds and mist, revealing the blue sky and bright sun, shining brightly and clear.
Zhenbao?
No...it should be a treasure...
Zhao Duan sighed inwardly, his eyes swept across the slender white goose neck and stopped at the empress's beautiful face.
She seemed to be very drunk, her cheeks flushed, and a layer of sweat on her forehead. Under the candlelight, her black hair spread out on the soft pillow, which was a beautiful sight.
"His Majesty?"
Zhao Duan called out softly and prepared to move forward.
The "drunk" Xu Zhenguan murmured: "Turn off the lights..."
Turn off the lights... Yes, there are too many red candles in the room... But Zhao Duan was a little unhappy. It was so dark that he couldn't see anything... He gritted his teeth and whispered:
"Don't worry, Your Majesty. No one nearby will see it."
After saying this, without waiting for Zhenbao to answer, he raised his hand, lowered the curtains of the bed, and jumped up.
Xu Zhenguan finally couldn't pretend anymore, he slightly opened his eyes and pushed her away with his hands softly, but without any dignity at all:
"Deng...you don't listen to me anymore?"
I listen to you under the bed, but I have my own ideas on the bed... Zhao Duan transformed into a dragon knight:
"The minister is trying to deceive the king!"
…
Boom!
Outside the house, rain clouds slowly floated across the sky, obscuring the bright moon. Accompanied by a rumble of thunder, a strong wind began to blow in the dark night.
In the endless flower fields, countless branches swayed and trembled, and petals were blown away by the strong wind.
The pitch-black sky was occasionally torn apart by lightning, accompanied by continuous heavy thunder, which covered up all sounds on the earth.
The thunder roared for a long time.
Suddenly, drizzles began to fall from the sky. The rain grew heavier and heavier, beating against the thousands of acres of flower fields, and the wind was suppressed by the rain and stopped.
In the darkness, the lights in the back house seemed to be the only remaining source of light in the world.
The man and woman in the house, immersed in each other's world, did not notice that above the house, there were two illusory "dragons" confronting each other.
One of them was huge but illusory, with scars all over it. It was the dragon energy that belonged to the crowned emperor and hovered on the top of the mountain during the Fengshan ceremony in Luoshan.
The other one was much smaller, but it was extremely solid and lifelike, and was very similar to the "dragon soul" sleeping in Zhao Duan's qi sea.
At this moment, accompanied by a dragon roar, the dragon soul plunged into the illusory dragon energy.
In an instant, the weather changed drastically, and this sudden and unexpected storm became more and more intense and violent.
…
More than half an hour later.
In the backyard, all the candles were extinguished and the room was in darkness.
Zhao Duan exhaled softly in the darkness, lying with his head tilted back, glancing out the window at the raindrops that were crackling and hitting the window paper recklessly.
During the intermission, the candlelight was finally extinguished by Xu Zhenguan's palm wind.
However, at this moment, the lightning that flashed from time to time outside the window frequently illuminated the room as bright as day.
"Your Majesty, how much of your cultivation has recovered?"
Zhao Duan asked softly. He clearly felt that he was unable to control the situation.
In the darkness, Xu Zhenguan lay on his side, his back to him, his eyes closed, as if feeling himself.
"My injuries have healed quite a bit, and my strength has returned to the level of the beginning of the world."
The empress opened her bright dark eyes and said with some surprise.
Her theoretical realm never declined, but due to her injuries, the strength she could exert had only barely reached the divine level.
Otherwise, they would not have been captured by Ouyang Ye and his troops without suffering much loss.
And with just one time, she recovered her combat power to the fullest, which was an outstanding result.
Zhao Duan turned around and leaned closer: "If it's the Beginning Realm, I'm afraid it's not enough."
"...Indeed." The Empress subconsciously agreed, and then her expression changed slightly:
"What do you want?"
Zhao Duan's liberated serfs sang:
"Listen to the dragon's roar!"
…
Another half hour passed.
The wind and rain outside the window stopped again, but the temperature inside was extremely high.
Zhao Duan rested for a while, feeling the changes in his body, and was also surprised:
"My realm has been completely stabilized. I can feel that I am not far from the middle level of the world."
Compared to improving Zhao Duan's cultivation, in the current situation, it seems more reasonable to focus all efforts on improving the empress.
Therefore, under the conscious guidance of the two.
Most of the power of the dragon soul is exerted on Xu Zhenguan.
But even so, Zhao Duan still couldn't get close to Yu Ze. Because he had just stepped into the worldly realm, his qi, which had not yet stabilized, was not only consolidated but also improved in just over an hour.
This is something that is absolutely impossible to achieve through any normal practice.
"No wonder old nun Prajna is always thinking about me. How cool is it to treat me like a furnace, a cauldron, and medicinal dregs?"
Zhao Duan sighed in his heart, turned his head to look at the empress who was facing him this time with her back to the window:
"Your Majesty, how far have you recovered?"
“…Middle-grade in the world.”
Zhao Duan was amazed and calculated silently in a low voice:
"Middle-grade to high-grade, high-grade to peak, peak to half-step, half-step to heaven..."
"What are you mumbling?" Xu Zhenguan didn't hear clearly, but her intuition told her that this little imperial guard was harboring evil intentions, so she shrank back vigilantly.
Keep your distance.
Zhao Duan pondered and said, "Your Majesty, have you ever heard of a palm technique that descends from the sky?"
As he said that, he fiercely pulled the bed sheet towards him...
"Huh?! Zhao Duan, how dare you!"
"My name is not Zhao Duan, my name tonight is Hang Dali!"
…
…
The same night.
In the Huai River, a black-sailed boat was sailing on the river, with a bow light hanging on a wooden pole at the bow.
An orange light shone from the lampshade, as if burning a hole in the curtain-like darkness.
The black-sailed boat was moored at the pier. About five or six people on the boat walked ashore and walked towards a house on the pier with a single lamp hanging at the door in the drizzle.
The leader was wearing a straw raincoat with a sword hanging from his waist. Under the raincoat was an official robe that had not been changed for many days.
The Grand Canal Governor Ning Zechen seemed to have lost some weight, but his aura was even sharper than before. He walked on the slightly muddy road and came to the wooden house.
Before he got close, he was stopped by someone hiding in the dark: "Someone come and report."
Ning Zechen took off the cap of his straw raincoat, revealing a resolute face covered with dark stubble.
"It's me."
"Please come in, Governor." The strong man in the army nodded in secret.
Ning Zechen left the people behind him outside the house and pushed the door open.
In the slightly shabby room, there was only an old wooden table with an oil lamp on it. There were figures sitting on the benches beside the table.
The position opposite the door belongs to Mochou.
This first female official, who was known as the "female prime minister" in public but was actually the empress's maid, looked haggard and her eyes were bloodshot.
On her right was Sun Lianying, the eunuch in charge of the White Horse Division with silver hair and sunken eyes, who was also the de facto leader of the eunuchs close to the empress.
On her right was the Minister of Rites who presided over the Fengshan Ceremony that day. His crimson official robe was stained with mud, and the black gauze hat on his head was long gone, making him look a little disheveled.
But more than that, there is a sense of sorrow that the country is about to fall and the country is about to perish.
The other people in the room were all civil and military officials who had participated in the Fengshan ceremony in the past.
"Governor Ning, what's the situation?" Mo Chou forced herself to cheer up when she saw Ning Zechen come in.
Ning Zechen clasped his hands in a very chivalrous manner and said:
"Fortunately, I have fulfilled my mission. Although the rebels are ferocious, the Canal Transport Office is my territory, which I have managed for many years. Although I cannot protect the canal, the canal troops of this section of the Huai River are still under my control. Now, according to the plan we agreed on previously, we are using gunpowder to detonate the rocks, and sending boats loaded with rocks to the river, and then sinking them...
This will ensure the shoal is blocked, preventing either the Prince of Huai'an or the Prince of Chen from leading their troops north through the canal."
The ministers in the room were shocked, and the Minister of Rites said happily:
"Governor Ning is truly a pillar of support for the Empire. Once we find His Majesty and suppress the rebels, I will definitely remember your great achievements."
Ning Zechen had long been desensitized to these scenes and turned to look at Mo Chou:
"Is there any news from His Majesty?"
Sun Lianying, who was nominally the White Horse Supervisor but actually controlled the power to dispatch the imperial guards, said solemnly:
"The latest intelligence reports indicate that Eunuch Hai has been held captive by Duan Shuiliu and his men. The generals leading the remaining troops are desperately trying to organize their forces and block the two rebel armies on the Jiancheng and Yunfu roads at checkpoints on the ground, preventing them from advancing northwards. They have no time to escape..."
After the Fengshan battle, Zhao Duan fled with the empress, leaving a group of ministers at a loss.
At that time, the group first tried their best to find the empress, trying to determine whether she was alive or dead. Later, after realizing that Zhao Duan had taken the empress away, they stopped searching.
At the same time, he learned that Prince Jing had started a rebellion.
The group had to split into several teams, with one group going to stop Prince Jing's troops from chasing the empress.
The other part, while returning to Beijing, tried their best to stabilize the local governments, ordering them to hold on, and at the same time finding ways to stop the rebels.
"In this case, wouldn't Your Majesty and Envoy Zhao be in danger?" Ning Zechen could not hide his anxiety.
Sun Lianying said, "With Zhao Duan's ability, no matter how dangerous the situation is, he will be able to turn it into a safe situation and successfully bring Your Majesty back to the capital."
The old official was full of blind confidence in Zhao Duan.
"Heh... Just because Zhao Duan is your subordinate, you are so blindly trusting? What time has it been? So many of us can't protect His Majesty, so how can we feel at ease with only him alone?" The Minister of Rites was in a bad mood and spoke harshly.
Sun Lianying glanced at him and said calmly:
"If you can't control your temper, you can go out and get some fresh air. If you lack confidence, you can go out and seek refuge with Xu Wen, who would be a good fence-sitter."
The Minister of Rites, caught off guard by the irony, was choked and said gloomily:
"I naturally hope that Your Majesty will be able to turn the bad situation into good fortune. I am just worried."
"Then why don't you go and protect His Majesty? Why let Envoy Zhao bear the pressure alone?" Ning Zechen added coldly.
"You..." The Minister of Rites was speechless after being confronted by the two. He turned to look at Mo Chou for help:
"Mo Zhaorong, you know I'm just too concerned..."
Mo Chou said calmly:
"I believe in Zhao Duan, too. He's accomplished so many things that could be called miracles, and I believe he can do it this time, too."
The Minister of Rites was stunned. He looked around at the three of them, then walked to the corner of the room in a huff, burying his hands in his sleeves and sulking.
“Unreasonable!”
He felt a little aggrieved. His words were unpleasant but also the truth. Yet, these three guys teamed up to target him.
Ning Zechen and Sun Lianying were too lazy to pay attention to this Shangshu who played a very limited role along the way and only represented the highest-ranking official in the team.
Start spreading out the map and discuss the next team's movements:
"We have limited military power, and our targets are too obvious. Instead of rescuing His Majesty, we are more likely to cause trouble for Him. Our most important task right now is to return to the capital as soon as possible and stabilize the situation."
"Now the Eight Princes are probably rebelling, and the news will soon reach the capital. By then, the news of His Majesty's disappearance or even death will spread like wildfire, and the capital will be in chaos.
We must return as quickly as possible to bring back the most accurate intelligence, so we can stabilize the situation and wait for His Majesty to return to the capital. Otherwise, if something happens in the capital, even if His Majesty returns, it will be too late.
"In fact... we have a concern. Maybe the capital is already unstable at this time. If His Majesty disappears, will Li Yanfu be at peace?"
Sun Lianying was worried, and Ning Zechen felt more and more depressed the more he listened.
He raised his head and looked at Mo Chou, who remained silent the entire time:
"Mo Zhaorong? What are you thinking about?"
Mo Chou stared blankly at the drizzle outside the door, and suddenly said:
"I wonder what His Majesty is doing now."
…
ps: Writing like this definitely doesn’t pass the line, right?
(End of this chapter)
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