As he waited, Ke Tinghe fell asleep, snoring loudly.
The group of vengeful spirits huddled behind the artificial hill outside heard this and gritted their teeth in hatred: They never expected Ke Ting to be so cunning! He was actually pretending to be asleep! Thank goodness Protector Yu was wise! Otherwise, they would have truly fallen for his trick!
As dawn broke, the ghosts surrounding Chu Hongluan yawned incessantly.
I haven't been a normal human being in a long time; my eyelids are practically glued shut after a sleepless night.
Chu Hongluan figured that there probably wouldn't be any more ghosts appearing today, so she let them go home before the first rays of dawn.
"You don't need to come to Ke Tinghe's place anymore. I will handle it once I have gathered the rest of the people."
Chu Hongluan rubbed her throbbing temples and wearily gave the order:
"These next few days, gather intelligence according to the prey list. Three days later, look for me three miles south of the city outskirts. Remember, if you find me, do not act rashly. I will not stop you if you want to be martyrs, but if you ruin His Majesty's grand plan because of this, I will hold you accountable!"
"yes!"
After seeing off the evil spirits, Chu Hongluan relaxed her tense shoulders, pulled off her mask with one hand, leaned against the artificial hill, and pinched her brow.
As footsteps approached, Chu Hongluan knew it was Liu Jinghong without even opening her eyes.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I stayed up all night, and my brain feels a bit sluggish."
"Let me take you back to rest."
Chu Hongluan shook her head, straightened up, raised her eyelashes, and pointed her cold gaze directly at the tightly closed door of Ke Tinghe's bedroom.
She scoffed, strode over, and kicked the door open with a bang!
Kotinghe suddenly woke up! He grabbed the knife next to his pillow and sprang to his feet!
"Hey! You demon, take this! Ouch—my hand's gone numb—"
With a thud, the knife fell to the ground.
Chu Hongluan's eyebrows twitched violently: "I was busy outside all night with Prince Liu! And you were sleeping soundly!"
Ke Tinghe finally realized the situation, awkwardly touching his nose and stammering, "My fault, my fault..."
Chu Hongluan was too lazy to argue with him, so she pulled the two of them to sit down at the table and told them about her achievements last night.
As Ke Tinghe listened, his eyes widened even more: "In just one night, you successfully infiltrated the cult and became its leader?!"
Liu Jinghong simply smiled and waved her jade-bone fan: "Miss Chu is indeed extraordinary."
Who would have thought that this very fan had pierced the flesh and blood of the evil spirit last night, tearing it in two alive?
Seeing Chu Hongluan's gaze fall on his fan, Liu Jinghong's hand, which was waving the fan, instinctively stiffened.
"Prince Liu Xiaojun."
"you say."
"I'll have to trouble you to find a headquarters for the cult, preferably in a secluded location, so we can catch them like fish in a jar; in a remote place, so that innocent civilians won't be harmed when we start a fight. I think with Prince Liu's abilities, this request should be no problem for him."
"That's natural."
"Alright!" Chu Hongluan slammed her hand on the table and stood up. "Then if there's nothing else, everyone should wash up and go to bed."
Kotinghe: "?"
Chu Hongluan glanced at him and coldly snapped, "What are you looking at? You're asleep, but we're not."
......
Back at the Minister's residence, after washing up, she was just about to go to bed when Bitao started banging on the door.
"Miss, are you awake?"
"...Get to the point."
As soon as Chu Hongluan finished speaking, Bitao pushed open the door and entered, carrying something in her hands. She ran excitedly to the bedside.
"Miss! When I went out to buy something today, I found your jade pendant in the bushes by the wall outside Prince Mo's residence! It must have fallen off when you climbed over the wall that day! How could you not notice how important something like this was lost?"
The jade pendant lay quietly in Bitao's palm, its shape resembling a Tai Chi symbol missing a half of its time.
Chu Hongluan gazed at the jade pendant, trying hard to recall.
Oh, this jade pendant seems to be two pieces. It was given to me by the person who saved my life when I was a child.
When she was very young, she sneaked out of a palace banquet and played on the ice of the pond in the back garden.
But the ice in the south wasn't solid. The ice cracked, and she fell in. In an instant, she was so cold that she lost even the strength to struggle.
A young man in fine clothes jumped down and saved her.
She was already so cold that she was delirious, but she still remembered that she wanted to repay his kindness and kept asking for his name.
But the young master found him annoying, so he broke his jade pendant in two and gave her one half.
He said that if fate allows, he would see this jade pendant again in the future and then seek to repay his kindness.
But she never saw the young master again. She couldn't bear to wear the half jade pendant close to her body; she just kept it in her makeup box, treasuring it like a precious treasure.
Years later, while admiring a handsome man, she happened to see a thief trying to steal the purse from Prince Mo's waist. He caught the thief red-handed, and in the struggle, the purse accidentally fell to the ground.
Prince Mo's expression immediately changed. He carefully opened the purse, took out the contents and examined them thoroughly. Only after confirming that there was no damage did he send someone to take the thief to the authorities.
She could clearly see that the item in the purse was the other half of the jade pendant.
Perhaps Prince Mo was indeed quite handsome.
Then he thought of the life-saving grace he received years ago.
In a flash, she remembered an old saying: "A life-saving grace should be repaid with one's own body."
Then she begged and pleaded with her father to ask the emperor for a marriage decree.
But Prince Mo disliked her and felt annoyed whenever he saw her.
So that day, she actually went to recognize Prince Mo with the half-splinted jade pendant. The guards wouldn't let her in, so she climbed over the wall and happened to run into Prince Mo taking a bath.
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