Since there are no more clues to be found in Jinhe Village, we have no choice but to head straight for the Underworld Moon Kingdom.
The group quickly arrived at Chessboard Peak. Zhang Ting, seeing the scenery, was reminded of the time she had spent with Qi Guze here. Her eyes involuntarily welled up with tears, and she naturally couldn't move her feet.
"Manager Xu, isn't your only wish to have me return to the Dark Moon Kingdom with you? Now that we've reached the territory of the Dark Moon Kingdom, please leave me here." Her words were sincere; she simply wanted to return to the place they had been before, to see Qi Guze one last time in her mind.
When feelings run deep, this is often the case; seeing anything related to him will remind you of him.
The scenes from before kept replaying in her mind, lingering for a long time.
"Alright." Xu Yuehuai also wanted to get rid of Zhang Ting as soon as possible, and seeing her like this, she was ready to go with the flow. However, Tie Xiong hurriedly came over and shook his head slightly at Xu Yuehuai.
He was naturally conveying Qi Guze's meaning. Xu Yuehuai was slightly taken aback, but quickly changed his words: "However, this place is sparsely populated, so you should walk a little further with us."
The images in Zhang Ting's mind vanished in an instant, shattering into countless pieces, leaving her with nothing at all.
She turned around instantly and shouted at Xu Yuehuai, "What exactly do you want from me?"
Upon hearing this, Xu Yuehuai smiled and gestured to the guards beside her to help her into the carriage.
Then he glanced at Qi Guze's carriage and muttered, "What a coincidence, I didn't know either."
Zhang Ting seemed to have completely lost hope in Xu Yuehuai, and didn't say anything the whole way. Naturally, Xu Yuehuai didn't take the initiative to talk to her either.
The city gate of the Underworld Moon Kingdom.
Maimaiti has been waiting here for several days. Judging by their stamina, Qi Guze and the others should have arrived yesterday, but they still haven't seen them today.
Just as he was wondering if he had waited in the wrong place, he saw several carriages from the Central Plains approaching in the distance. He smiled and led his guards over.
Tie Xiong wanted to make a move, but Xu Yuehuai stopped him.
"Lord Maimaiti, what brings you here?" Xu Yuehuai asked with a smile.
"Please forgive me, Manager Xu, I was just following orders to conduct a search," Maimaiti replied, waving his hand.
“We didn’t receive this kind of treatment last time we came,” Xu Yuehuai said as she dismounted from the carriage and walked to Maimaiti’s side.
"Things are different now, it's just a routine search, nothing serious," Maimaiti said evasively, then looked around suspiciously and asked, "Where is the Regent?"
“He…” Xu Yuehuai’s face fell upon hearing this, and she said with a sob in her voice, “He was burned to death.”
Upon hearing this, Maimaiti was immediately shocked and hurriedly asked for the reason.
Xu Yuehuai was too upset to speak. Tie Xiong hurriedly came up and told Maimaiti the whole story.
"It's truly a case of heaven being jealous of talent," Maimaiti said regretfully upon seeing this, but his expression revealed nothing of the sort; in fact, one could even discern a hint of joy in his eyes.
The guards returned at that moment to report: "Sir, everything is normal."
“Hmm,” Maimaiti nodded lightly, then turned to Xu Yuehuai and said, “Manager Xu, please accept my condolences. The deceased is gone, but the living must go on.”
After speaking, he stepped forward to check it himself. He didn't believe Qi Guze was really dead; seeing was believing.
"Sir..." the guard asked upon seeing this.
"Mind your own business," Maimaiti scolded and went ahead on his own.
...
Shaoqing, he returned to Xu Yuehuai's place and indeed did not find Qi Guze. There was only a person who was fast asleep inside. The person looked old and was definitely not Qi Guze. In addition, there was Zhang Ting, who was panicked when she saw him.
He then believed the news of Qi Guze's death, but still put on a fierce look and said, "Manager Xu, I'm being polite to you because we have a relationship, but you can't just blatantly hide criminals from my Mingyue Kingdom in your carriage, can you?"
"Criminal? What criminal?" Xu Yuehuai had calmed down by now and was completely confused by Maimaiti's words. She thought he had recognized Qi Guze's disguise and her heart jumped into her throat.
"Manager Xu, stop pretending to be ignorant. The woman in that carriage is a wanted criminal in my Mingyue Kingdom," Maimaiti said, pointing to Zhang Ting's carriage.
Upon hearing this, several guards went up and took the man away, but they were still wondering to themselves, "Who is this person?"
"May I ask, sir, which law of the Mingyue Kingdom has she violated?" Xu Yuehuai looked at Zhang Ting and then at Maimaiti, her mind full of questions.
While the two were talking, Tie Xiong secretly slipped away to Qi Gu Ze's side.
"This is something you, Manager Xu, shouldn't know. I was just following orders," Maimaiti said evasively, and then tried to take the man away.
However, Xu Yuehuai was not someone who could be easily fooled. She reached out and blocked Maimaiti's path, only to see Tie Xiong hurriedly walking over and nodding to her.
“Manager Xu, if you stop me, the situation will change. Don’t forget you are now in my Mingyue Kingdom,” Maimaiti said upon seeing this.
Having received Qi Guze's nod, Xu Yuehuai decisively withdrew her hand, watching helplessly as Maimaiti took the person away.
She was puzzled, wondering what Qi Guze meant and what would happen if they were plotting together.
On the other hand, Consort Min's downfall was so sudden that the harem was reshuffled. Consort Jia and Shen Yitang became the emperor's new favorites, and many court officials rushed to curry favor with them.
Lord Bai had originally intended to marry his daughter into the Shen family, but now he had no choice but to come directly to their door.
These days, the threshold of the Shen family's house has almost been worn down by people. Lord Shen thinks he has become an extraordinary person and doesn't take Lord Bai, who is on equal footing with him, seriously at all.
"Lord Bai, what brings you here today? You'd better get to the point quickly, or I'll have to go see someone else." His words were clearly laced with arrogance.
Lord Bai's face darkened immediately. Although his current situation was not as good as that of the other ministers, he was still an official appointed by the emperor himself. The fact that the other party spoke to him like that clearly showed that he was not taken seriously.
His attitude also turned cold: "Lord Shen, I'm here today for my daughter's marriage. Now that your son has reached marriageable age, our two families are on equal footing, so I suppose this marriage is..."
"Who is on equal footing with you?" Lord Shen immediately interrupted him.
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