I'll hug the villain's thigh first as a sign of respect (2)
"Wait!" Jiang Wanzhi was anxious. Without thinking, she took a step forward and said in a low voice, "I am Jiang Wanzhi from the Prime Minister's residence. I request an audience with Prince Heng. It is urgent!" She recklessly revealed her identity.
"Jiang from the Prime Minister's residence..." The gatekeeper was taken aback. He carefully examined Jiang Wanzhi's disheveled yet undeniably beautiful face under the lamplight. As if recalling some rumor, his expression changed slightly, and his tone became more cautious. "Please wait a moment, Miss. Allow me to report to Commander Yan!"
The observation window was closed. Jiang Wanzhi stood on the cold stone steps, the night wind blowing into her thin clothes, making her shiver, but it was nothing compared to the agony of waiting and the fear in her heart. Every second felt like an eternity.
After an unknown amount of time, the side door creaked open a crack. Behind it stood Yan Cheng.
He had clearly been hastily awakened, his outer robe casually draped over his shoulders, his face showing a hint of fatigue, but his eyes were sharp as an eagle's, scanning the disheveled Jiang Wanzhi from head to toe with scrutiny and a hint of barely perceptible surprise.
“Miss Jiang?” Yan Cheng’s voice was low and questioning. “What brings you here so late at night? His Highness…”
"Guard Yan!" Jiang Wanzhi cried out as if grasping at a straw, her voice trembling slightly with urgency. "Please take me to see His Highness! I have something extremely important to tell him, something that concerns our very survival! It's about Lin'an! It's about Prince Ming!"
Yan Cheng looked at the near-collapse anxiety and fear in her eyes, which seemed genuine. He frowned, hesitated for a moment, and then stepped aside, saying, "Miss Jiang, please come with me. His Highness... has not yet rested."
The palace was quiet, with only a few lanterns lit under the eaves, casting a dim light.
Yan Cheng walked briskly, and Jiang Wanzhi had to jog to keep up, her heart pounding in her chest. They passed through several courtyards before finally stopping in front of a heavily guarded compound. The gate opened silently, and Yan Cheng gestured for her to enter.
The main house in the courtyard was brightly lit, yet unusually quiet. Yan Cheng gently pushed open the door, and a warm scent of sandalwood mixed with a faint aroma of ink wafted out.
Jiang Wanzhi's heart was in her throat; she almost held her breath as she stepped inside.
Inside the study, Zongzheng Hengyu was not bedridden as she had imagined. Instead, he was wearing a black cloak with gold floral patterns and sitting behind a large rosewood desk.
Before him lay piles of files and secret reports, his face pale. One hand rested on his temple, while the other hand scribbled furiously on a memorial. The pen seemed to weigh a ton in his long, pale fingers.
Hearing footsteps, he slowly raised his eyes.
Time seemed to stand still.
His fingers tightened suddenly as he held the pen, the tip hovering above the report. A single drop of ink fell silently, spreading into a small, glaring black patch on the pristine white paper.
When his gaze fell upon Jiang Wanzhi, who was standing at the doorway, dressed in a coarse cloth dress covered in dust, with her hair disheveled and her face bearing traces of embarrassment, a faint, almost imperceptible ripple flashed across his deep, pool-like eyes.
She stood there, like a fledgling bird shivering from the cold after being soaked by a downpour. Her lips were bluish-purple from the cold and immense fear, and her body trembled uncontrollably, like a leaf falling in the cold wind.
But her eyes, though always bright and lively, also carried a chillingly lonely courage.
Zongzheng Hengyu suddenly stood up, and the heavy, dark cloak that still held his body heat was ripped off his shoulder!
In just a few steps, he was standing in front of Jiang Wanzhi!
His tall figure, bearing the weariness of working late into the night and an undeniable aura, instantly enveloped her.
Before Jiang Wanzhi could even gasp in surprise, she felt a warm sensation, a mixture of cool sandalwood fragrance and the man's body temperature, envelop her completely!
Zongzheng Hengyu's hands, with an almost forceful force, tightly wrapped the cloak, still warm from his body, around her shivering body!
The oversized cloak instantly enveloped her thin and disheveled figure, shielding her from the cold outside.
His warm body temperature seeped through her cold, coarse clothes and quickly penetrated her icy skin, bringing a chilling warmth.
"Yan Cheng!" His hoarse voice carried an undeniable command, yet his gaze remained fixed on Jiang Wanzhi's astonished and bewildered face. "Hot tea!"
Yan Cheng was clearly taken aback by His Highness's sudden action, but he reacted quickly and immediately withdrew silently. Almost in the blink of an eye, he returned with a steaming cup of tea and respectfully handed it to Jiang Wanzhi.
Zongzheng Hengyu's gaze finally shifted from her face, sweeping over the steaming cup of tea. His voice was low, yet held a hint of indescribable complexity: "Take it, to warm your hands."
The tone was no longer cold and distant as before, but rather a kind of firm concern.
Jiang Wanzhi was stunned by the sudden warmth and care, and subconsciously reached out her cold, trembling hands to hold the scalding hot teacup.
"Miss Jiang, your visit so late at night is...so unusual?" He paused slightly, his gaze sweeping over her mud-stained skirt and disheveled hair before settling on her face, which was filled with panic and determination. A faint, emotionless smile curved his thin lips. "What...instructions do you have?"
She didn't have time to sort out her thoughts or care about her current disheveled state. She looked up and stared directly into Zongzheng Hengyu's deep eyes, which were no longer just cold. Her voice trembled with fear as she spoke urgently.
"Your Highness! I overheard! It was in the bamboo grove outside the Prime Minister's residence, in the backyard, that Prince Ming and Su Yuyue were!"
Zongzheng Hengyu's gaze suddenly sharpened like a knife, and all his fatigue and weakness seemed to be suppressed in an instant.
He didn't interrupt her, but leaned forward slightly, his focused posture like that of a beast poised to pounce, all his senses concentrated on the woman who had brought him the news at all costs.
He saw the immense fear lingering in her eyes, a fear so real it was not feigned.
Jiang Wanzhi took a deep breath, trying to calm her wildly beating heart, and quickly condensed the thrilling conversation: "The Ming King admitted it! He was the one who ordered the Night Hawk Pavilion to carry out the assassination that night!" Her voice carried a hint of barely perceptible grievance and anger at being implicated.
"What else did he say?" His voice was low and hoarse, carrying an invisible pressure that urged her to continue.
"He said he wasn't afraid of a joint trial by the three judicial authorities; he had ways to turn evidence into false evidence!" Jiang Wanzhi's voice rose with excitement. "But he said the most urgent thing was to keep the people outside calm, especially the Northern Di! And then..."
Her voice was tinged with even deeper fear at what she was about to say, "Then he mentioned Lin'an City!"
"Lin'an?" Zongzheng Hengyu frowned, his eyes sharp as if trying to pierce her soul.
“Yes! He said…” Jiang Wanzhi’s voice trembled with anger, mimicking the sinister and mean tone of the Prince Ming, “If the water isn’t muddy, how can you catch fish? Since Ninth Prince wants to spread the fire to Lin’an, then I will make the fire burn even brighter for him! Let that pool of water be completely muddied! The bigger the better!”
"Your Highness! He's deliberately creating chaos! He's using the turmoil in Lin'an and even the border as a smokescreen to divert the court's attention so he can extricate himself from this predicament! He... he also said..."
Jiang Wanzhi's voice choked with anger and Ming Wang's indifferent remarks about human life: "He said that one general's success is built on the bones of ten thousand! He said that a few worthless lives are nothing! He is willing to cause chaos and suffering to the world just to get to that position! He is a madman! A complete villain!"
As Zongzheng Hengyu listened, the color drained completely from his face, and a storm was silently brewing and gathering in his deep eyes.
That wasn't simple anger, but a profound killing intent and icy chill capable of destroying the world.
His hands, resting on the table, were clenched so tightly that his knuckles cracked, as if he were about to crush the hard sandalwood in the next second!
Jiang Wanzhi clearly felt that almost tangible, destructive rage, which made her subconsciously wrap herself tighter in the cloak that still carried his body heat.
"And Su Yuyue!" she added hastily, her eyes revealing even deeper fear. "She obeys the Ming Prince's every word! The Ming Prince said that when he rules the world, he will promise her the position of Empress!"
The moment Jiang Wanzhi finished speaking!
Yan Cheng's figure reappeared at the desk in a flash. This time, what he held in his hands was not an ordinary secret report, but a long and narrow copper tube sealed with sealing wax and marked with three scarlet urgent marks!
His expression was more solemn than ever before, his voice low and urgent, carrying an iron-like chill: "Your Highness! Lin'an! Urgent dispatch! Three red feathers!"
The four characters “Three Red Feathers” resounded like a thunderclap!
Zongzheng Hengyu shifted his gaze from Jiang Wanzhi's face and abruptly stood up! He grabbed the copper tube from Yan Cheng's hand! He poured out the thin piece of paper from the copper tube and unfolded it.
In the candlelight, his profile was as hard and cold as an ice sculpture.
Jiang Wanzhi's heart sank to the bottom the moment she saw him pick up the secret report. She opened her mouth, but her throat was too dry to utter a sound. Lin'an City…the disturbance has begun? So quickly?!
Zongzheng Hengyu's gaze swept quickly across the secret report; the words on it seemed to confirm Jiang Wanzhi's worst suspicions. Hongling itself had already foreshadowed the worst possible outcome!
The Ming King's counterattack has begun! And in such a devastating and disastrous way!
Zongzheng Hengyu suddenly looked up and stared at Jiang Wanzhi again!
His gaze was as sharp as a drawn, deadly blade, carrying a resolute determination to cut through everything and an indescribable heaviness.
The intelligence brought by Jiang Wanzhi corroborated the urgent report from Hongling, completely exposing the Ming King's insane and despicable plot! It also made him instantly realize the perilous nature of the situation!
"Damn it! What a Zongzheng Mingchen! What a... scourge to the world!" His voice was low and hoarse to the extreme, each word seemed to be squeezed out from a bloodied throat, containing the power to destroy the world.
The murderous intent in that voice made the temperature in the entire study seem to drop to freezing point.
He snapped out of his reverie, no longer looking at the red-feathered bronze tube, his gaze fixed intently on Jiang Wanzhi. He hadn't expected... that she would trust him so much! To risk coming here in the dead of night, disguised!
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