Chapter 269 I woke up, and the weather had changed again.
Stepping out of the Qiao family's house, Ji Qingwu glimpsed the scene in the side room through the window.
Granny Li was playing shuttlecock with Qiuqiu.
I haven't seen the little girl for over ten days, and I feel like she's grown taller again.
When Jiujiu happened to see Ji Qingwu, she flew out of the house like a little swallow.
Ji Qingwu caught her as she lunged forward and picked her up.
Chiu Chiu asked cheerfully, "Mother, before you left you said you were going to find a big house for Chiu Chiu to live in. Have you found one yet?"
Ji Qingwu recalled the bold words he had spoken to the little maid before entering the palace.
She was silent for a moment, then said, "The big house caught fire, so the smaller one will have to make do for now."
Chiu Chiu noticed the change in Ji Qingwu's mood and said with her big, dark eyes, "As long as I'm with Mother, it doesn't matter where we live."
The day before the wedding.
There should have been many things to prepare, but Ji Qingwu didn't see herself as a woman about to get married.
She played with Qiuqiu for a while, then returned to Wutong Garden to loosen the soil and water the only seedling in the yard.
Finally, Ji Qingwu's strength was exhausted.
After so many twists and turns yesterday, and without a sleepless night, she was already exhausted, both physically and mentally.
But as long as she had a sliver of strength left, she couldn't control her mind, and scenes that caused her unbearable heartache would always surface.
Only by constantly doing something can she temporarily forget.
Ji Qingwu returned to the room, took off her clothes, lay down on the bed, and her eyes glistened with tears. She gently closed her heavy eyelids.
This sleep was not as difficult as I had expected.
On the contrary, she slept very deeply.
She had completely forgotten that she had previously drunk a sip of medicine laced with blood-tinged vine...
The effect of this medicine is to make you sleep for a whole day and night.
*
A dilapidated house on the outskirts of Lin'an.
A masked man pushed open a hidden compartment and entered a secret room hidden in the woodshed.
There are more than twenty luminous pearls underground, illuminating the dark place as if it were daytime.
The masked man said, "The Fourth Prince?"
Yuwen Tianqing quietly circled around from behind the shelf to the masked man's back, holding a dagger to his neck with his left hand.
The masked man said in alarm, "Fourth Prince, my master sent me here."
He took out a seal from his pocket, which was the token between Yuwen Tianqing and that person.
Yuwen Tianqing sheathed his sword and walked to the table to sit down.
He asked, "Why didn't your master come himself? Why did he send you? There are some things I can only discuss with him."
The masked man revealed his identity: "I am the steward of this household. You will be informed of everything concerning the master. Please trust me."
He further explained, "Because the Emperor's condition is not good and he will soon pass away, my lord has to take charge of the overall situation in the palace and has no time to come out and meet you."
Upon hearing the news that Emperor Wusu was about to die, Yuwen Tianqing's face lit up with uncontrollable elation.
"It really is true!"
He initially thought the news was a hoax, and before this man arrived, he hadn't fully believed it.
Although the main assassination attempt was focused on the Emperor of Beili, he did not place much hope on the success of the assassination. Therefore, he took a risk and led a few of his men to sneak into the palace.
The shaman of Xijin told Yuwen Tianqing that the emperor of Beili was destined to die without an heir. Killing his only son would be tantamount to strangling the fate of the Beili kingdom, and the two paths would lead to the same end.
However, Ji Qingwu saw through her poisoning plot, and the subsequent assassination attempt failed because this woman stalled for time.
But I never expected this...
The masked man said, "Master thought that kidnapping Consort Wei would be enough, but the Fourth Prince was farsighted and saw through everything."
Yuwen Tianqing laughed out loud and said smugly, "Even heroes can't escape the charms of a beautiful woman! This old saying is absolutely true."
She was both the cause of his downfall and his triumph!
Yuwen Tianqing twirled the dagger in his hand, his right palm still bearing the sword wound inflicted by Ji Qingwu.
"To be honest, I didn't understand it either; I just found it strange."
"The Emperor of Beili has always been averse to women, and there are even rumors that he is impotent. But why is it that only this Miss Ji has been able to get close to him, not only staying overnight in his palace, but also staying for a long time in the Qin Zheng Hall where the Emperor handles state affairs?"
"But if he has her in his heart, why would he let her stay outside the palace? Especially his distant behavior a few days ago, which is the most incomprehensible to me."
Yuwen Tianqing smiled wickedly, his gray-blue eyes now completely turned iron-gray.
"It's my habit to always have a backup plan. If I can't see through something, I need to be prepared. And that's exactly what happened."
The masked man nodded in admiration, "That was also due to the Fourth Prince's brilliant strategy. He specially found someone who resembled Ji Qingwu in figure and appearance, dressed her in the clothes she wore when she performed the dance, and the two horses appeared before the Emperor one after the other."
"Even from that distance, the Emperor couldn't tell whether the person tied behind Consort Wei's horse was her or not."
Yuwen Tianqing said regretfully, "It is my regret in this life that I did not see him put down his bow and arrow."
"That seemingly cold-blooded and omnipotent Emperor of Beili is actually a lovelorn man. It's so ironic."
The masked man said, "My master told me to tell you that after the Emperor's death, the new Emperor of Beili will be the four-year-old prince, and my master and General Wei Tinghui will jointly assist him."
Yuwen Tianqing said in surprise, "Would Wei Ting be willing to be subordinate to a child who is only a few years old? He was in the same military camp as the Emperor of Beili before, and the two of them had a real fight before Wei Ting was willing to submit to him. He is an arrogant person, which really surprises me."
The masked man said, "Wei Ting has made a solemn oath that he will never have any disloyal intentions."
Yuwen Tianqing said, "Wei Ting is an extremely troublesome and cunning man. With him in Beili, he is a great threat to Xijin. We must find a way to get rid of him."
"Tomorrow is Wei Ting's wedding day. Perhaps we can take advantage of the chaos to make our move."
Yuwen Tianqing became interested and asked, "Who is Wei Ting going to marry?"
The masked man said, "It's still that Fifth Miss Ji."
*
When Ji Qingwu woke up again, she felt a splitting headache. She lifted her eyelashes and then immediately closed them again.
The room was brightly lit by candlelight, so bright that she couldn't open her eyes at all.
It was noisy outside; there were sounds of bottles clashing, loud shouting, and even what sounded like opera singing and music, but all of it was far away from where she was.
A strong scent of perfume wafted from Ji Qingwu's nose. Her delicate nose twitched, and she immediately sneezed.
She realized that the fragrance was coming from her face.
Ji Qingwu's hand touched the thing beneath him, which felt particularly rough.
Her hand slipped under the slippery blanket and grabbed a handful of things, which, if she wasn't mistaken, were peanuts and red dates.
Ji Qingwu slowly opened her eyes a crack and saw her surroundings.
She was so startled that she sat up abruptly.
He covered his dizzy head and slowly sat up on the bed.
She remembered that it wasn't dark yet before she took her nap...
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