Chapter 96 Trouble is coming
Zhong Min suddenly regretted her rashness. She had just spoken too much and expressed her thoughts without thinking much. It seemed that this made Xiao Mingzheng a little unhappy.
Indeed, a prince is a prince; how could he be compared to an ordinary commoner? Furthermore, Xiao Mingzheng was a man of great ambition. How could someone who did great things covet the comforts of mediocrity like a small figure like her? Perhaps, when she said this, people would think she was being sarcastic in disguise. If that were the case, she would have been looking for trouble and had shot herself in the foot.
"Your Highness, please forgive me. I was just impulsive. Please don't take my nonsense to heart." She subconsciously took two steps back, secretly reminding herself that she should be more careful with her words and actions in the future. After being together for a long time, it was normal for her to speak and act more casually. However, the other person was not the same person as her after all, so even if it was a habit, she had to treat it differently depending on the person she was dealing with.
"You're right." Xiao Mingzheng saw this and knew that his reaction had caused Zhong Min to misunderstand him. Seeing her take a few steps back, he took two steps forward to close the distance between them again and said, "Actually, I think so too, but..."
He paused, subconsciously reaching out to smooth down Zhong Min's messy bangs. Then, smiling, he said to her, "Everyone has their own destiny. My fate in this life has already been determined and cannot be changed. Whether it's good or bad, I can only continue to move forward step by step. If there is an afterlife, I hope to be a commoner like you said, staying away from conflicts and living a simple life."
This time it was Zhong Min's turn to be stunned. It was not because Xiao Mingzheng was naturally and intimately combing her hair. At this moment, she no longer had the extra thoughts to pay attention to anything else. What Xiao Mingzheng had just said really shocked her. She had never imagined that such a strong person would actually say such words.
She had always thought Xiao Mingzheng was a natural born king, but now it seemed that even a natural born king had his own unspoken frustrations. He had clearly said those few words with a smile, but Zhong Min subconsciously sensed a fleeting sadness in his eyes.
At that moment, Zhong Min's keen intuition told her that the man in front of her must be a person with a story that cannot be seen on the surface. Even though he was not very old, he grew up in an imperial family after all. How could the bitterness and tears in this story be known to outsiders?
"Let's go, the people from the palace are still waiting outside." Seeing Zhong Min staring at him in a daze with complicated eyes, Xiao Mingzheng didn't say anything else. After slightly seriousening his expression and returning to his usual demeanor, he took the lead and walked out.
Zhong Min finally came to his senses. Seeing this, he naturally had no time to think about it anymore and quickly followed.
Originally, Zhong Min could have not followed him into the palace, but Xiao Mingzheng did not bring any other maids with him except her, a nominal maid. In addition, the situation in the palace was complicated, and they were not confident in letting Xie Feng be responsible for all the defense work alone. Therefore, she naturally had to follow him into the palace.
The palace servants outside were indeed getting a little impatient waiting, but after seeing Xiao Mingzheng, no one dared to show any impatience anymore, and instead immediately put on an expression of attentiveness and respect.
Although Prince Mu rarely returned to the capital, his reputation was undeniably resounding. Not only was he now the king of Muzhou, commanding a significant military force, but even as a prince, he was considered the most gifted of the other princes. If Prince Mu's mother, Concubine Chun, hadn't died young, and if the Empress, now the Empress Dowager, hadn't schemed, Prince Mu might not have been the current Emperor's successor.
After Concubine Chun's death, Prince Mu was only nine years old. To have survived the brutal palace at such a young age and ultimately commanded a large army on his own, becoming the Prince he is today, would have been impossible without real ability. Therefore, regardless of who was in the capital, even those who had always been secretly hostile to Prince Mu, regardless of their personal interests, they all had some respect for Xiao Mingzheng.
Zhong Min naturally didn't know about this. Seeing that all the palace servants were fawning on Xiao Mingzheng, he thought that they had received some rewards and benefits from this side.
Without further delay, the group headed straight out, boarding the carriage sent by the palace to take them directly into the palace. The imperial palace was unlike any other place. Even a carriage sent by the palace could only drive as far as the Xuanyuan Gate, the closest gate to the emperor, before disembarking and walking. If it was Xiao Mingzheng's own carriage, he would have to disembark after entering the first palace gate.
After disembarking from the carriage, a specially prepared palace attendant immediately came forward to greet and lead the way. Zhong Min followed along for a while before the attendant stopped at another palace gate. According to protocol, Xiao Mingzheng would soon be meeting the emperor, so he would be accompanied by a designated attendant the rest of the way, and the other attendants did not need to accompany him. Zhong Min could no longer follow him into the palace and had to wait outside this gate. As for Xie Feng, he had been stopped at Xuanyuan Gate early in the morning.
These are the rules, Zhong Min naturally understands them, and he is not worried that the emperor will choose this time to take action against Xiao Mingzheng. After all, the emperor does not dare to take action openly at this time. If something happens in the palace, he cannot explain it to the world, and it will leave a handle. If it is used by other people with ulterior motives to launch a mutiny, it will be a loss.
Therefore, even if Xiao Mingzheng wanted to die, the emperor would find a way out and choose other indirect methods, and would definitely not leave any adverse effects on himself.
After Xiao Mingzheng entered, a little palace maid came over from nowhere and said that she would take Zhong Min to the tea room not far away to rest. Zhong Min didn't want to go at first, but the little palace maid said it twice in a very kind manner. Although she didn't force her to go, what she said was reasonable. According to common sense, it would seem too abnormal if Zhong Min didn't go.
Nodding, Zhong Min followed the little palace maid to another place, ready to rest and wait. The sun was getting higher, and there was no telling how long it would take Xiao Mingzheng to come out. Therefore, according to common sense, no one would refuse. After all, the people in the palace were only taking care of this for the sake of King Mu's face, and how could a servant not accept this favor?
The resting place was not far away. After the little palace maid brought Zhong Min there, she served her tea and left. Before leaving, she specifically reminded Zhong Min not to walk around, and that someone would come to notify her when King Mu was about to come out.
Zhong Min thanked the young palace maid and, seeing that the other person had left, sat down to rest. She saw the teacup on the table but didn't touch it. She wasn't thirsty to begin with, and besides, someone in her line of work was naturally much more cautious than the average person. She wouldn't touch anything unless she was absolutely sure, especially something she would eat or drink.
After sitting for a while, Zhong Min suddenly stood up and looked around with a wary look on her face, but without any specific purpose. She gradually felt that something was wrong, but she couldn't put her finger on what it was. She just felt that in this hot weather, no one had come into the tea room for rest and tea refills for so long. It was a little too quiet.
Although as a maid, it shouldn't stand to reason that anyone would do anything bad to her here, but her intuition has always been accurate, and there is no reason for her to feel uneasy for no reason.
As she looked around, she saw a figure flash by the door. Zhong Min quickly looked over, but before she could see who it was, the door to the tea room had already been closed. Then, a familiar figure suddenly stood three steps away from her.
After seeing the man clearly, Zhong Min's heart couldn't help but skip a beat. She secretly said, "Oh no!" It was such a mistake. How could he have forgotten his previous identity as the original owner?
"It's you!" she whispered, unable to suppress her shock. Although she had never seen his face before, she was completely certain that this tall, burly man with thick eyebrows and big eyes was the one who had left her a note and entered her room in the middle of the night to contact her when she was working at Mo Garden.
Later, this person also tried to enter the Prince Mu's Mansion to contact her, but because of her arrangement, the Prince Mu's Mansion's security system was very tight, and this person fled after being discovered. At that time, Xiao Mingzheng said that he already knew who this person was and told her not to worry, saying that he would handle it himself.
It seems that she really trusted Xiao Mingzheng too much. She didn't know how he handled it. Now this man is still alive and well. What she didn't expect was that today he stood in front of her without anyone noticing, as if it was arranged in advance.
It looked like she was in trouble again. That damn Xiao Mingzheng, knowing this man's identity, didn't clean up his mess and dared to bring her into the palace, putting her in danger. It was infuriating. This man had never had the chance to get close to her before, so it was obvious that he must have found out everything and arranged everything in advance.
She hadn't contacted this person in such a long time. If it were her, she would definitely suspect that something had gone wrong. After all, if it was the real Li Jin'er, no matter how difficult it was, she would have taken the initiative to find a way to pass on the message, rather than doing nothing like she did.
But she didn't know how much this person knew about her real situation. If he just took the opportunity to contact her because he couldn't contact her, then he might be able to fool her. But if this person knew that she was no longer working for them, but had defected to Xiao Mingzheng, then her situation would be very bad.
"If not me, who else could it be!" the man said expressionlessly, "Since you've made a new choice, you shouldn't set foot in the capital again!"
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