"The enemy is in the dark while we are in the light. We can defend against it once, but we can't defend against it countless times. Only when we are in the dark and the enemy shows his face can we find out who poisoned us. Besides, since he has the intention to harm me, I have to give him a chance."
"Why didn't you tell me! Look at my dark circles!" The little emperor pointed to the corner of his eye, his joy turning to a hint of anger: "I was so scared I couldn't eat or sleep! You owe me!"
Song Ying lowered her head and kissed his lips, explaining, "I'm afraid Your Majesty will mess up the performance and be discovered by the other party."
"You should have told me! I was so worried!"
Song Ying hugged the man and apologized repeatedly, but he choked on his words and coughed violently. Nan Yu panicked and quickly helped the man catch his breath.
"Alright, alright, I don't blame you. Have you caught the murderer? I've had people investigate for so many days, but there's not a single clue."
It's as if the poison came out of nowhere.
We simply couldn't find the source.
"Head of the Imperial Medical Academy."
Nan Yu stared wide-eyed.
The medicine was prescribed by the Imperial Medical Academy. The imperial physicians were also afraid of dying and had been trying to find an antidote. As it turned out, the enemy had infiltrated their own ranks, and was even under their own leadership...
Have someone capture Xie Qi.
Xie Qi knew this day would come.
He was neither surprised nor afraid.
He was forced to stand before the emperor, and with a slight smirk, he said, "Your life is worthless. Do with it as you please."
He was quite straightforward.
Nan Yu didn't understand what grudge he had against Song Ying. "You two have never crossed paths before. Give me a reason."
Xie Qi smiled indifferently:
"Your Majesty's favoritism has caused dissatisfaction among the ministers. I am merely fulfilling my duty as a subject. I think that Song Shijun's term will be over in a few days. For the sake of the country, it is not a loss."
Nan Yu said in a deep voice: "Confess to the mastermind behind this, and I will spare your entire family from death!"
Xie Qi: "My master has passed away. I have been an orphan since childhood and have no relatives. Please help me find them. Perhaps I can be reunited with my ancestors. If Your Majesty is still not satisfied, you can dig up the corpses of the dead and whip them if you find them."
Nan Yu: ?
Xie Qi was too arrogant. Nan Yu generally did not kill, but harming Song Ying was the bottom line.
They threw the man into prison.
They tortured him to force him to reveal who was behind it all.
It's impossible that he didn't; the more arrogant he is, the more he seems like he's taking the blame.
When the concubine learned of this, he was panicked and at a loss. He heard that His Majesty wanted to have him executed at the Meridian Gate and his head hung for several days. He and Longqi had grown up together since childhood. Although it was not his intention to be forced into the palace by the Emperor, he was favored by him.
But he didn't regret it later.
However, Song Ying was too favored, and he couldn't stand it, so he went astray for a time.
It's his fault that he's harmed Longqi now.
Upon hearing that Long Qi's hand had been chopped off, the concubine was devastated. Long Qi, who was studying medicine, had said that his hands were more important than his life. Fearing that Long Qi would die, the concubine cried and begged to see Nan Yu.
Nan Yu suspected him, but she never expected it to actually be him.
It's no secret that Xie Qi got along well with the concubine before entering the palace, and given that the concubine had feelings for him, it's not hard to understand why he would ask Xie Qi for help.
"I know I was wrong, and I beg Your Majesty to forgive me."
The concubine kept kowtowing until his head was bleeding.
Nan Yu, who is usually soft-hearted, decided to punish them severely this time, ordering them to be executed. He wanted to make an example of them to deter others from acting recklessly.
All the male concubines in the harem were also sent out of the palace.
Although the concubine was still alive, there was nothing that could be done if Nan Yu didn't go.
The Empress Dowager was so angry that she fell ill and could no longer stay in the palace. She went to a temple to recuperate.
Song Ying was not poisoned. He would vomit all of Xie Qi's medicine afterward and then take the poison he had developed himself, which would also create the illusion of a weak pulse. Otherwise, he would be in the palace all day and would not have time to prepare the antidote.
Going to the Imperial Hospital to get it would require registration, which would alert the enemy.
He has his own antidote to his own poison.
If it weren't for the news brought back by the guard, Song Ying would probably have stayed with them for a few more days.
*
"Are you really going?"
"Your Majesty promised me that a ruler's word is law."
Nan Yu worriedly said, "Swords have no eyes. Wouldn't it be better if I had them captured alive after this is over?"
Song Ying touched the young emperor's face, then kissed his tightly pursed lips, and smiled, "Have you forgotten that I know martial arts, Your Majesty?"
“It will take you half a month to get there now, and with the war going on, it will take you almost a year to come back. I need someone to keep me company at night. Do you want me to sleep with them?”
The lamp wick looked aggrieved and pursed its lips.
Song Ying slept with Nan Yu every day, and got used to it so much that she forgot why.
He quickly said, "I'm not going, let Lin Xiao go."
Song Ying didn't go in the end. Nan Yu needed someone to accompany him that night. He didn't want to lose the big picture for a small gain. Time could change anything, so he felt more at ease staying by the young emperor's side.
After recovering from his injuries, Lin Xiao followed the expeditionary army to the frontier. By then, the territory had already been reclaimed, and their purpose was to occupy it.
A few tiny countries could be wiped out in a matter of minutes.
Upon seeing this, Jingguo hastily withdrew its troops. It wasn't that they couldn't fight, but rather that they shouldn't fight. If they did, it would only benefit Zhou. It was better to use a few small countries to provoke and annoy Chaoyu.
The Persians were afraid that Yasukuni would not support them.
I wanted to beg for mercy, surrender, offer compensation, and try every possible way to make amends, but it was all in vain.
Chao Yu's army gradually devoured Persian territory.
Persia had no choice but to fight a desperate battle, resulting in countless deaths and injuries.
Lin Xiao rescued the surviving members of the old master's family from the dungeon and sent a message back to the capital by carrier pigeon, wanting to know how to settle the old master. Song Ying asked Nan Yu for advice.
Nan Yu agreed to let them come to the capital.
So Lin Xiao found a group of soldiers to escort him.
He continued to fight. Although Lin Xiao was a Persian, he was also a bodyguard trained by the Yinglan clan for Song Ying. Bodyguards only have their masters in their eyes.
The entire Persian Empire was annexed by the Kingdom of Chaoyu.
The Persian king hanged himself in the palace an hour before his capture. The queen was shot with an arrow while struggling and died. The crown prince was captured, and the other princes were either arrested or killed.
Four months later, the small kingdom of Persia would cease to exist.
When the old man arrived in the capital, he was already at his last gasp. Seeing that his grandson was well, he had no regrets. Of the ninety-eight members of the Yinglan clan, only four remained: two granddaughters, General Yinglan, and his three sons.
Everything else is gone.
Song Ying's uncle was also cut off from his genitals. According to the idea of male lineage, the Yinglan family line has ended.
General Yinglan entrusted his descendants to Song Ying and revealed what he knew. He left five days later. The monarch's ruthlessness sent chills down one's spine.
The Persian prince was escorted to the capital.
Looking at his richly dressed elder brother, he knelt weeping at Song Ying's feet, "Brother, brother, save me! I don't want to die, brother..."
Song Ying kicked him away. Ever since he learned the truth, he had wanted to kill everyone in the Persian royal family, not to mention this younger brother he had hated since childhood!
"Everyone else is dead except you, Song Yiheng."
The crown prince sensed something was wrong with his tone, but all he wanted now was to live. He cried and begged, "Brother, brother, I don't know anything. Please save me. We share the same blood. Brother, I can give you the title of crown prince."
Song Ying sneered and played with the dagger.
"Persia is gone, let alone the position of crown prince, even the throne..." Squatting down, Song Ying patted the boy's cheek with the dagger, smiling, but her voice was exceptionally cold: "What use would I have for it?"
The crown prince panicked, "Brother..."
Song Ying took the knife and slashed it directly at his cheek. The crown prince cried out in pain and looked at Song Ying in horror. He tried to back away, but was held down by the guards. He could only shake his head tremblingly.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty..."
On the way back, Song Ying killed the man with a single blow.
He wouldn't leave himself a time bomb. Even if he couldn't amount to anything, there's always a chance of something going wrong, and only death can truly end it all.
After General Yinglan's death, Uncle Song Ying was devastated. He lost his family, his child, and he couldn't even be himself... He just drifted through life in a daze.
Song Ying settled them in and returned to the palace.
Without her male favorite, Song Ying had no more worries, and the two lived a peaceful life. Year after year passed, and they kept urging Nan Yu to have a child, thinking about the country and its people.
Nan Yu ignored him and stubbornly endured it until she turned thirty.
Chao Yu was able to get married at fifteen, while Nan Yu was still the emperor. It was really unreasonable that he had no children. When he was desperate, he came up with a bad idea: to find a prince and have him sleep with a concubine who was willing.
If she becomes pregnant, she should stay; she will still be a royal heir.
It's better than just adopting someone whose bloodline isn't pure.
But it was stopped by the system.
The risk factor is too high.
If that's the case, he might as well just establish the Crown Prince directly, or adopt a few children from the princes. Nan Yu thought that made sense. If Emperor Chao Yu ascended the throne, he would have killed off two of his brothers.
There are really no talented ones to be found.
Their children are no good either.
Even knowing that the emperor had this idea, he still harbored thoughts of forming cliques and engaging in corrupt practices, causing instability in the court and making Nan Yu feel uncomfortable every day.
Song Ying couldn't bear to see Nan Yu suffer injustice, so he secretly gathered a lot of evidence and had Nan Yu use it to bring down those people. The women were exiled, the men were imprisoned, and the servants were sold off.
The court was stable for a period of time afterward.
Five more years passed.
The Empress Dowager's hair turned white with worry.
The ministers had talked themselves hoarse.
I'll get you a stand-in.
Nan Yu hadn't heard the system voice for a long time, and when it suddenly appeared, he was stunned for a moment until Jin Wangba repeated it.
[We'll create a body double to replace you as emperor. You and Song Ying will leave the palace, but you can never come back. Why, host?]
Dry!
nod.
Song Ying had no idea what had happened.
I followed along in a daze for a long time without even thinking to ask.
After living away from home for half a year, he asked curiously, "Aren't you going back to the palace, Xiaoyu?"
In the bamboo-lined courtyard, Nan Yu leaned back in a rocking chair, a panda cub lying on her lap, gently stroking it with her hand. "I'm not going back. How about I spend my whole life traveling and playing with you?"
Song Ying smiled but was also puzzled: "The court officials don't care?"
The arrogant girl raised her head and said, "I have a brilliant plan. Are you willing to take it or not?"
Song Ying walked to the recliner, squatted down, and held the hand that was touching the panda cub. Looking at the person whose face was still the same, her heart couldn't help but flutter. She smiled and replied, "Yes, I'd love to."
Without the pressure, the two adopted several cats and a small yellow dog.
The panda mother always brings her cubs to beg for apples. Perhaps due to system protection, they don't hurt people. Nan Yu takes the opportunity to pet them a couple of times. Being under high pressure for a long time, it feels quite good to suddenly relax.
At least that's what the lamp wick thinks.
He crossed his legs and gazed leisurely at a field of swaying bamboo leaves in front of him.
A cup of tea, a glass of wine, and a close friend—that's enough.
(over)
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