Chapter 583 Situation
Yun Qingqing frowned and pinched her fingers a few times, her expression becoming serious.
Seeing her serious expression, Yan Ning couldn't help but ask:
"how?"
Yun Qingqing walked out and said:
"The life gate suddenly disappeared... It's a hundred feet southwest. Go and take a look."
Yan Ning followed her and headed southwest out of the palace. After he saw the surrounding scenery clearly, a hint of doubt flashed in his eyes.
"What's wrong?" Yun Qingqing noticed his emotions and turned to look at him.
Yan Ning was silent for a moment and said:
"A hundred feet to the southwest... it seems to be the Mingde Hall."
Yun Qingqing understood and nodded:
"Yes, that's exactly there."
Mingde Hall is the emperor's bedroom.
Yan Ning's duty is to guard the imperial palace and protect the emperor's safety, and he is most familiar with the terrain of the imperial palace.
He had been attacked before and was suddenly brought to the remote palace by the black fog. When he was inside the palace, he didn't know where he was, so he didn't realize it immediately when Yun Qingqing mentioned the direction.
But as soon as he went out and saw the surrounding environment clearly, he immediately realized that the emperor's bedroom was a hundred feet to the southwest.
Why was Lan Rui, a runaway palace maid, there?
While Yan Ning was preoccupied, the two of them had already arrived outside the gate of Mingde Hall.
Li Liangui was standing at the palace gate looking around, seemingly waiting for someone.
When he saw Yun Qingqing, he immediately put on a polite smile and walked forward and said:
"Oh, Princess, you are finally here. The Emperor and the Prince are waiting for you. I am here to welcome you in."
Yun Qingqing nodded and said:
"Commander Yan came with me, so there's no need for him to wait outside for instructions."
"Of course, Your Highness, please come in. Lord Yan, please come in." Li Liangui smiled, turned around and led the way to the inner hall.
After walking along the corridor for a while, they suddenly heard a commotion in the room ahead, along with the sound of things being broken and screams.
Li Liangui's face changed:
"What's going on? Not good, Your Majesty!"
He hurriedly took small steps and ran towards the emperor's room.
He hadn't taken two steps when Yun Qingqing and Yan Ning had already passed him and rushed into the room one after the other.
As soon as Yun Qingqing entered the room, she saw Xiao Changheng standing in front of the emperor, with black air swirling around his shoulders, his face pale, and his eyes filled with murderous intent as he stared at the palace maid who was lying motionless against the wall.
Seeing her appear, the emperor's panic-stricken expression slightly improved, and he said hurriedly:
"Chang Heng was injured by a sorcery, you should take a look at him!"
Yun Qingqing walked up quickly and frowned tightly when she saw the black air lingering around Xiao Changheng's shoulders.
She took out a jade bottle, poured out a pill, and handed it to Xiao Changheng's mouth: "Eat this."
Xiao Changheng paused slightly, but still opened his mouth and swallowed the pill as he was told.
Yun Qingqing took out another talisman and patted it on his shoulder.
After a while, the talisman made a crackling sound and suddenly turned black.
When the talisman turned completely black, Yun Qingqing took it off and took out a second talisman and slapped it on his shoulder.
The second talisman also quickly turned black. Yun Qingqing continued to do the same thing and used up three more talismans, finally completely clearing the black evil energy from Xiao Changheng's shoulder.
The emperor had been watching her every move nervously, and only when he saw that the black air had finally disappeared did he let out a long sigh.
Yun Qingqing turned her head to look at the wall, only to see the palace maid lying face down, motionless.
Yan Ning was about to go forward to check, but Yun Qingqing suddenly stopped him:
“Don’t touch!”
Yan Ning paused and immediately stepped back.
At almost the same time, a puff of black smoke emerged from the head of the fallen palace maid and rushed towards Yan Ning.
His face tensed and he was unable to dodge, but he saw a golden light flash before his eyes, dispersing the black smoke.
The golden light was originally a talisman. After dispersing the black smoke, it lost its original sharpness and floated down to the ground.
Yan Ning let out a breath he had been holding, and turned to look at Yun Qingqing, who was retracting her hand. A hint of gratitude flashed in his eyes:
"Thank you, Princess, for your help."
"Commander Yan, you're too polite." Yun Qingqing walked to the side of the palace maid, frowned and looked at her for a moment, then reached out and turned her over.
Sure enough, it was the missing Lan Rui.
The emperor was already frightened, and now his expression became even worse:
"How could it be her? Wasn't she already taken to the Ministry of Punishment? How did she escape?"
Lan Rui was the Queen's personal maid, so the Emperor naturally recognized her.
Yan Ning reported everything about his visit to the Ministry of Punishment, and the emperor's expression changed again:
"What! This is outrageous! They can't even keep a prisoner under guard, yet they let her break in and hurt my brother! That guard..."
The emperor is furious and is about to punish you.
Yun Qingqing spoke in time:
"Your Majesty, the person who let Lan Rui go had special means, as you just saw. You can't blame the guards."
When the emperor heard her say this and thought about what happened just now, he slowed down his tone:
"Hmm...yes, thanks to you, Qingqing, for your help. In your opinion, how should this matter be handled?"
Yun Qingqing did not answer immediately, but asked:
"Your Majesty, how did the Queen die?"
The emperor's face darkened upon hearing this, his expression was somewhat complicated and filled with resentment:
"Ms. Chen... committed suicide. I think she did it on purpose!"
Yun Qingqing frowned and said:
"Your Majesty, you know that someone has leaked what the Queen did, and now the whole street is rumored to be plotting treason."
The emperor said angrily:
"I've heard everything. It must have been done by Chen to get revenge on me! She's been in control of the harem for many years, so I think she still has spies in the palace!"
Yun Qingqing frowned slightly but did not express her opinion.
Xiao Changheng said:
"It's not necessarily revenge. She wants to save the Chen family."
The emperor's expression paused slightly, and he snorted coldly, but he did not refute. Instead, he asked Yun Qingqing:
"Qingqing, you said before that if the people knew about this, the country's fortune would decline. What's the situation now?"
Yun Qingqing thought for a moment and said:
“It has declined, but there is still room for recovery.”
"...I understand." The emperor sighed and said tiredly.
Yun Qingqing glanced at Xiao Changheng and knew that what he had just said was reasonable. She had not found any hidden secrets in the Queen's death through divination, and she knew that she had indeed committed suicide.
Logically speaking, the Queen's conspiracy to rebel was exposed. Even for the sake of the country's destiny, the Emperor would not punish her openly, but he would no longer tolerate her. It was only a matter of time before she "died of illness" in the deep palace.
Sooner or later, her family will be liquidated and convicted.
On the contrary, now, the queen died suddenly while in office, the Jingyang Bell rang, and rumors of the queen's rebellion spread throughout the city, and the country's fortune declined.
In order to save the country's fortune at this time, the only way to reverse the situation is to give the queen a grand funeral, send people to dispel the rumors to the whole city, and even reward the Chen family generously.
So Xiao Changheng said that the queen did this in order to save the Chen family.
However, Yun Qingqing took a look at Lan Rui's body by the wall and knew that there must be something else going on.
She instructed the imperial teacher who arrived later to protect the emperor. Xiao Changheng arranged other matters in the palace. The two left the palace, and the carriage from the palace came to pick them up.
The two got on the carriage. Yun Qingqing frowned the whole time and glanced at Xiao Changheng from time to time.
"...What's wrong?" Xiao Changheng asked, looking at her expression.
Yun Qingqing's gaze paused on his shoulder for a moment, frowning and saying:
"Why didn't you use the Black Jade Armor when you were attacked just now?"
Xiao Changheng was silent for a moment and said:
"It happened so suddenly that I couldn't react for a while."
Hearing him say this, Yun Qingqing frowned even more tightly.
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