Chapter 118 Chapter 118 Why Don’t You Die
After the confrontation at the flower viewing banquet, rumors about the King of Yi's rebellious intentions gradually spread. Fortunately, Nan Xu refuted the rumors on the spot, and the King of Yi promptly explained his loyalty as a minister, so the rumors did not cause any trouble.
King Yi retreated to his villa in the suburbs to recuperate. I heard that he was very ill this time.
When the rumor blew into the villa on the cold wind, Nan Xu was practicing archery in an open area behind the villa.
Yin Ruizhu kept examining the bow in Nan Xu's hand and asked Xiao Jing, who had come uninvited and was leaning against a tree nearby, "Take a look. Can you tell where it was made?"
Xiao Jing took a serious look and said coldly, "I'm not from the craftsman camp. Such a beautiful bow, you should ask an expert. Asking me? It's useless."
She casually picked up the fruit from the porcelain plate and threw it into her mouth, chewing it with relish. She was completely different from the way she was when she invited them to help at the flower-viewing banquet that day.
Yin Ruizhu scoffed at her attitude. When she reached for the dish again, she snatched it away and walked over to feed Nan Xu. "Take a break. This bow is handy, but its origins are unknown. What if," she whispered, covering her lips, "you completely offended King Yi that day, and he secretly had someone place this on your table in the outer room? If you use it, wouldn't that be playing right into his trap?"
"A trap? Using this to trap me? What's the point?" Nan Xu said with amusement, pointing at the arrows that had all missed their target. "Besides, this bow is indeed light and easy to use, but its accuracy..." She shook her head with regret, "It's not as good as the horn crossbow I used before. What a shame."
Just as she finished speaking, a figure suddenly flashed before her eyes. With a few "whoosh" sounds, several arrows accurately hit the crude bull's eye. Nan Xu felt a heavy weight on her hand, and then she realized that Xiao Jing had used the bow she had just obtained to break her so-called poor accuracy.
"It's not the bow that's not good, it's you, Miss Nan Er."
"Hey, Commander Xiao, no matter how much I eat, I can't stop you from talking."
Following Yin Ruizhu's words, Nan Xu drew her bow and shot an arrow at Xiao Jing. This time the arrow did not miss, and she knocked it to the ground one step away from Xiao Jing.
"Is what I said wrong?"
She leaned against the tree trunk with her arms crossed, her chest held high and her eyes looking heroic, like a sharp sword.
Nan Xu did not answer, but silently took out an arrow and put it on the bow. This time he aimed at her forehead. The arrow flew through the air, brushed against her temple and hit the tree trunk behind her.
Yin Ruizhu didn't expect Nan Xu to really dare to shoot. Looking at Xiao Jing with a sullen look in his eyes, he pulled out the arrow and walked towards him, hurriedly protecting Nan Xu.
"Commander Xiao, we can talk it over."
'bite'
The arrow was stuffed into the quiver. Xiao Jing didn't get as furious as she'd imagined. She stood in front of Yin Ruizhu, clasped her fists toward Nan Xu behind her, and said sincerely, "I was wrong that day for not explaining it in advance. There's no point in saying more now, but my promise still stands."
Seeing that she had no ill intentions, Yin Ruizhu relaxed and moved aside.
Nan Xu still pointed the bow in his hand at Xiao Jing and did not put it down.
"It's not that Commander Xiao didn't say it clearly, but Commander Xiao simply didn't want to say it. Commander Xiao is much more capable than I thought, as he was able to make King Yi willingly suffer the consequences of public opinion."
Xiao Jing pulled the corner of her mouth in understanding but did not refute.
"It's just each taking what they need. The King of Yi wants to use this to win over the people, and Lord Sima and I are using it to expose his evil intentions. The people from the Marquisate are in charge, and the Second Young Master is providing advice. If it weren't for the Second Miss Nan's final move, this plan would have already succeeded, and it would only need to be reported to the court to stir up rebellion in Shu."
She stared at Nan Xu quietly, a hint of admiration in her eyes. "Later, I realized that when I found the pharmacy and explained my purpose, Miss Nan Er must have been alerted. That's why she agreed without hesitation."
"But I can't understand how you dared to expose the King of Wings's intentions in such a short time, angering him and forcing him to take action, leading to Zhao Mingcheng to clean up the mess. Not only did you take out the Yong'an Marquisate, but even Nan Yiling was detained in public. Even if the King of Wings is sentenced to death in the future, the Second Young Master still has a chance to save his life."
Everything seems to be designed.
What if Zhao Mingcheng didn't attend the flower viewing banquet? What if he didn't try to dissuade Prince Yi from enduring? What if Prince Yi was determined to kill everyone present?
As a secret guard, she is not afraid of death. If she repays the emperor's grace with her death and proves that King Yi is plotting treason, the court will immediately send troops to avenge her and others.
Unfortunately, Nan Xu intervened, causing Zhao Mingcheng to react and King Yi to shrink back.
Their public opinions were superficial and could not make a big difference. They no longer had control over how the waves beneath the calm surface of the lake would become. They missed the opportunity. Xiao Jing admired them but also couldn't help but sigh with regret.
"Bang", the bowstring without an arrow was released, and the cold wind blew up the strands of hair at Xiao Jing's temples, as if the arrow had really passed through her forehead.
Nan Xu stared at her coldly for a moment, put away his bow, picked up his quiver, and passed by her.
Her silence was the best answer. Turning to look at the figure speeding away, Xiao Jing played with the leaves that had fallen on her palm and suddenly said loudly, "There's a letter from Kyoto saying that the maidservant beside you didn't survive the winter."
Nan Xu staggered a bit, but quickly recovered and disappeared.
Yin Ruizhu snorted coldly, picked up a few porcelain plates and chased after him.
Nan Xu walked fast and steadily, and Yin Ruizhu almost couldn't catch up.
"A Xu, don't be sad, Yu Ming is..."
"I knew it a long time ago. I'm not sad." She said word by word, her eyes staring straight ahead.
Yin Ruizhu felt bad and said, "Is what she said true? Since it's so dangerous, Ah Xu, you should leave."
Nan Xu paused, "Leave? Where to? Back to Kyoto? What's the point of going back now? If King Yi leads his troops eastward one day, am I going to stay in Kyoto and die?"
"Planning and strategizing is a man's job, Ah Xu!" She grabbed Nan Xu's sleeve and said earnestly, "Even Xiao Jing had to team up with Sima Xun and lure King Yi into the game with benefits. You and I are unarmed and powerless. You can gamble once, but can you gamble again?"
Seeing the worry in her eyes, Nan Xu reached out and pried open her clenched fingers, saying firmly, "How do you know I'm gambling? I won't act rashly unless there's something that's 90% sure."
"I am unarmed and powerless, but I believe in someone. Even though he and I are strangers now, even though I hate him for having a new love so quickly, I still believe in him."
Seeing the surprise in Yin Ruizhu's eyes, Nan Xu's eyes became more determined. "I don't know what he promised Big Brother that night, but on the stairs of the restaurant, I could tell from his words and expression that he had something to hide. Xiao Jing doesn't understand why I was so sure that Zhao Mingcheng would be there, but I just had a hunch that Zhao Mingcheng would not be absent. Even if I were to gamble, it would never be on the Wing King, the head of the Zhao family, but on him, Duan Wenpei."
She has slowly begun to accept the fact that he and Qin Hui are getting engaged, but putting aside love and other things, she would rather believe him this time than avoid him.
*
In the suburbs, someone knocked on the door of the villa.
After a while, someone came out to welcome Li Zhan and Jingyi in.
The two of them sat in the banquet hall for half a day before they waited for King Yi to come in, supported by someone.
After the three of them exchanged greetings, Jingyi went straight to the point and stated her purpose.
She was willing to help King Yi start an uprising, on the condition that King Yi must give her a position second only to the emperor.
Li Zhan glanced at her. This was different from what they said when they came.
King Yi took in the expressions of the two men, coughed twice, and smiled a little reluctantly.
"I don't know where my sister heard these rumors. I'm already so ill, how could I still have the mind to rebel? Stop joking."
Hearing his refusal, Jingyi didn't get angry, she just stretched out her fingers and made the number three.
Li Zhan was a little confused, but King Yi's face changed drastically.
"Royal sister, are you serious?"
Jingyi stroked her belly, feeling quite proud. "Of course, even though I'm a woman, I dared to enter Shu, so I naturally had more than just Zhao Huaijue as my bargaining chip. Now that Zhao Huaijue is dead, the Zhao family no longer has any dealings with me. After all, I think Brother Yi Wang is more reliable. After all, we share the same bloodline."
The initial surprise slowly faded, and King Yi stroked his chin, smiling playfully, "I am very curious. Now that he is my sister's brother, why did my sister go so far to find me?"
Jingyi also smiled, but the smile did not reach her eyes. "If he really treated me as his sister, he would not have thrown me into the cold palace for so many years. To him, the throne is more important than me."
"Prince Consort, don't you think so?"
Li Zhan glanced at her and said "Oh" without comment.
Seeing the obvious displeasure in Jingyi's expression, King Yi looked at Li Zhan meaningfully.
Just as the servants were escorting the two men out of the villa, someone around King Yi called Li Zhan and said that King Yi wanted to talk to him alone.
Jingyi looked at him suspiciously and got on the carriage first.
Li Zhan followed his servants to see King Yi. When he came out again, Jingyi was no longer outside the door. Looking at the empty suburbs, Li Zhan calmly asked for a horse from Biezhuang.
When we returned to the villa, it was already late.
When passing by Nanxu's house, Li Zhan stopped for a moment to look at the candlelight reflected on the window, and finally knocked on the door.
Ruyi came out and opened the door, asking him what was the matter. When she heard that he wanted to see Nanxu, she couldn't help but look back at the clepsydra in the room. Just as she was thinking of politely refusing, Nanxu in the room called someone in.
Ruyi opened the door and let the person in.
Nan Xu wrapped herself in her outer clothes and met him in the outer room.
"What's the matter? Tell me."
She held the hot water bottle, lowered her eyelashes and didn't want to look at him. Li Zhan felt a pain in his heart and wanted to go forward, but he held back.
"Nothing, I just wanted to see you."
Nan Xu frowned and called Ruyi to see the guest off.
"Don't you want to know where I'm going to get back so late?" He waved Ruyi away and stepped forward to stop her. "Jingyi and I went to the Yiwang Villa. Jingyi still has some bargaining chips in her hand. She wants to... "
"Xiao Jing told me that Yu Ming is dead." She stroked the carved patterns on the hot water bottle, her eyes dead. "Li Zhan, why don't you just die?"
Li Zhan took a step back and then another step back when she stared at him.
The fire in his eyes died down, and his resentment and confusion finally condensed into a pale, dark color.
He moved his lips and finally uttered only one word, "I'm sorry."
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