Chapter 110 Crisis
Consort Yu looked at the bowing guard and asked indifferently, "I remember you were the second place winner on the first day of the hunt. What was your name again?"
The young guard bowed and said, "Lin Chengfeng, the head of the cavalry, greets Your Highness, the Imperial Concubine."
"Lin Chengfeng." Consort Yu murmured the name softly, her expression playful.
Qiu Heng glanced at Qiu Meiren without making a sound.
Qiu Meiren kept her head down, her eyelids trembling slightly, but she didn't glance in Lin Chengfeng's direction.
Consort Yu's lazy voice rang out: "Chief Lin, raise your head and let me see you."
Lin Chengfeng was stunned for a moment upon hearing this, and then slowly looked up.
Consort Yu looked him over and nodded slightly: "He has a dignified appearance and is also excellent at riding and archery. He must be quite skilled at riding horses."
Lin Chengfeng quickly lowered his head and respectfully cupped his hands, saying, "Your Highness is too kind."
"Hehe, you people all love to flatter me." Consort Yu glanced at Qiu Heng and Consort Qiu, and curled her lips. "I have a beloved horse named Liehuo. It has a fiery temper and is not easy to take care of. I was having a headache over it when I met Commander Lin. I suppose it was fate."
Lin Chengfeng sensed something was amiss in those words and his expression tightened.
Consort Yu ignored Lin Chengfeng's reaction and said with a smile, "How about I invite Commander Lin to take care of my horses?"
Upon hearing this, the guards who had been keeping their heads down were all startled and glanced at Lin Chengfeng out of the corner of their eyes.
Qiu Heng heard a barely audible gasp coming from Qiu Meiren, who was right next to her.
After a moment of stunned silence, Lin Chengfeng immediately knelt down: "Chengfeng doesn't know how to raise horses, please, Your Highness, rescind your order."
Consort Yu raised her eyelids slightly: "Commander Lin, are you unwilling?"
Those who heard this sighed inwardly.
Who would be willing to send the son of a military family, a promising young captain in the Imperial Guard, to raise horses?
But this is the most favored concubine in the harem; she cannot be offended.
Lin Chengfeng is in trouble now.
“Chengfeng is indeed not good at raising horses. Your Majesty’s beloved horse is delicate, and it would be terrible if something were to happen to it. I beg Your Majesty to rescind your order.”
"Not good at raising horses? Your Imperial Guards and Horse Cavalry Division deal with horses all the time, how could you not be good at it?" Consort Yu sneered. "Is Chief Lin refusing me?"
"Chengfeng is mainly responsible for cavalry training in the Cavalry Command, and he really doesn't know anything else—"
"Hehe." Consort Yu laughed, her face as cold as frost. "I understand now. So you can't bear to part with the skin of the Imperial Guard, Ma Junsi. What, is it too much of a burden for you to raise horses for me?"
Lin Chengfeng bowed his head and clasped his hands, suppressing his anger and panic: "I beg Your Highness to rescind your decree."
What if I don't accept it?
Lin Chengfeng pressed his forehead to the ground and said, "I humbly request Your Highness, the Noble Consort."
"He won't listen to reason, so he'll have to suffer the consequences!" Consort Yu raised her eyebrows. "Guards, skin him alive!"
Several guards immediately surrounded Lin Chengfeng.
Qiu Meiren clasped her hands together and bit her lip tightly.
Lin Chengfeng raised his hand to the scabbard, trying his best to endure. But the guards who surrounded him showed no mercy. Four of them held him firmly, while the other two stripped off his armor.
"Why does Your Highness humiliate me like this?" Lin Chengfeng struggled, unable to bear it any longer, but could not break free.
"Behave yourself! You dare to disobey the Imperial Concubine's orders? Are you trying to rebel?" a guard shouted, pressing on his shoulder.
Lin Chengfeng's struggles grew even more intense: "Let me go, let me go!"
As the outer armor was torn open, something suddenly fell to the ground with a loud thud.
Lin Chengfeng's expression froze, and then he frantically tried to grab the things that had fallen to the ground.
"What is this?" A guard bent down, picked up the object, and unwrapped the handkerchief to reveal its true form.
Consort Yu spoke coldly: "Let me see what treasures Chief Lin keeps so carefully on his person."
Lin Chengfeng was pinned to the ground, staring in despair at the guards running towards Consort Yu, his whole being as still as if his soul had been ripped away.
"Your Majesty, it is a wooden doll."
"Bring it here."
A palace maidservant approached Consort Yu and presented her with the wooden doll.
"Oh, it's a little girl." Consort Yu used a handkerchief to cushion her hands, picked up the wooden doll and examined it carefully. Suddenly, her expression changed. "Why does this little girl look so familiar to me?"
A palace maid nearby glanced at it and exclaimed in surprise, covering her mouth, "It looks just like Consort Qiu!"
"Consort Qiu?" Consort Yu turned her head abruptly, looking at Consort Qiu who seemed to have been struck by lightning, her eyebrows raised high. "It really does look like her. Consort Qiu, tell me what's going on?"
"I—" Qiu Meiren staggered back a step and knelt down, "This concubine did not know..."
"You don't know? A wooden doll that looks exactly like you was hidden by a guard, and you say you know nothing?" Consort Yu's face darkened. "Guards, gag these adulterers and bring them before the Emperor to explain themselves!"
Consort Yu strode forward, followed by a large group of people.
Emperor Jingping, standing in the pavilion, instinctively smiled when he saw Consort Yu, but upon seeing her stern expression, his smile faded slightly: "My dear consort, what's wrong?"
"Bring them here!" With a command from Consort Yu, Lin Chengfeng and Consort Qiu, whose mouths were gagged, were pushed in front of Emperor Jingping.
Emperor Jingping's expression changed slightly: "This is—"
There were still some officials in the pavilion, and upon seeing this scene, they wished they could cover their faces and flee.
I was careless; there's this kind of risk even when accompanying someone driving!
Consort Yu held up the wooden doll in front of Emperor Jingping: "When I met this Commander Lin, I remembered that he was the second-place finisher in the first day of the hunt. I admired his talent and wanted him to work for me. Who knew that this man would be so ungrateful and dare to disobey my orders? When the guards were subduing him, something fell from his arms, and it turned out to be a wooden doll that looked just like Consort Qiu."
Emperor Jingping stared intently at the wooden doll, then at Consort Qiu kneeling on the ground.
“Raise your head,” he said, enunciating each word clearly.
Although he had been showing some favor to Consort Qiu these days, in his anger, Emperor Jingping couldn't even remember what Consort Qiu looked like.
Or rather, it's not that they can't remember, but rather that they are unwilling to believe from the bottom of their hearts that they have been cuckolded by a mere concubine.
Qiu Meiren remained motionless as a palace maid lifted her face by pinching her chin.
Emperor Jingping stared intently at Consort Qiu's face, then slammed his hand on the table: "You lowly servant, how dare you commit such a disgraceful act!"
"Ugh—" Lin Chengfeng struggled desperately with his mouth gagged.
He couldn't break free from those constraints, like a trapped beast at the end of its rope, its eyes bloodshot.
Emperor Jingping coldly looked at the young man he had admired not long ago and said in a deep voice, "Take the thing out of his mouth. I want to hear what he has to say!"
Immediately, guards went over and removed the cloth that was stuffed into Lin Chengfeng's mouth.
Having gained the freedom to speak, Lin Chengfeng took a deep breath and cried out in a sorrowful voice, "Your Majesty, this matter has nothing to do with Consort Qiu. It is this guilty subject who—"
"It's me," a clear and calm female voice rang out.
Countless eyes turned toward the source of the sound.
Xue Han, standing next to Xue Quan, couldn't help but change his expression.
Ah Heng!
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