Suzhen grasped her hand in return: “A child? She’s old enough to bear any responsibility. How nice for her – always making trouble!”
Gu Shuangcheng’s expression suddenly changed slightly.
Lian Xin was furious. She wasn’t familiar with Li Zhaoting, held disgust toward Gu Shuangcheng, and even Chao Huang ignored her, watching helplessly as she was captured. She usually got along well with Quan Feitong, and though she knew Lian Yu and he were superficially harmonious but secretly at odds, there was still some friendship. Seeing Quan Feitong approach, she quickly said: “Chancellor Quan, you’ve come at the perfect time. Save me quickly and severely punish this dog official Huang.”
Quan Feitong nodded to show he understood, pondered briefly, then said: “Princess, you’ve been too unruly this time. Magistrate Huang is a court official appointed by the court – I cannot release you…”
“Does the Chancellor intend to kill her?”
Suzhen suddenly interrupted loudly. Lian Xin was already stunned into silence. Gu Shuangcheng was also shocked, eyes wide, but then heard Suzhen say softly: “Killing her would be good too. This kind of woman remaining in the world is a disaster.”
Lian Xin trembled, looking back at her. Finally, all the red in her eyes turned to gray. Her whole body shook, but she stared fixedly at Suzhen.
Suzhen knew that between her and Lian Xin, they probably couldn’t end well. That kind of hatred from Lian Xin was a desire for her death – she could read it in her eyes.
She seemed not to see it. Li Zhaoting and Chao Huang also seemed not to see it. But Huang Tianba waved his hand and sneered slightly: “Take her away.”
Gu Shuangcheng didn’t know why Suzhen would say Quan Feitong wanted to kill Lian Xin, but she felt Suzhen wasn’t necessarily making it up. Looking coldly at Suzhen, she immediately knelt down: “Brother Quan, please show mercy. Though the Princess may have acted impulsively, she certainly doesn’t deserve severe punishment. Moreover, she is of royal blood…”
Quan Feitong’s gaze was deep, then suddenly smiled. A murderous aura seeped out bit by bit from the corners of his eyes and brows as he looked at the two women: “One says kill, one says don’t kill. What should I do?”
As he spoke, he gave Huang Tianba a meaningful look. Huang Tianba understood and ordered people to take Lian Xin away.
Before leaving, Lian Xin only saw Gu Shuangcheng frowning tightly, looking at Quan Feitong with an extremely resolute expression: If Brother Quan insists on dealing with the Princess, please kill Agu first. She suddenly remembered those simple words: Time reveals a person’s heart.
Seeing Lian Xin had been taken away, Quan Feitong helped Gu Shuangcheng to her feet: “Zhaoting, take Shuangcheng back to rest. Look, with these assassins running rampant, don’t wander around at night.”
“Yes.” Li Zhaoting nodded without saying much.
“Brother Quan, Shuangcheng said long ago that she would never get involved in the struggle between you and… His Majesty. But the Princess is innocent – please don’t harm her. Can you promise me?”
Gu Shuangcheng simply refused to leave, wanting to plead for Lian Xin. Li Zhaoting’s brows furrowed slightly as he took her from Quan Feitong’s hands and forcibly led her away.
Suzhen stood motionless, quietly watching the two figures disappear into the distance. At this moment, with people scattered, only Quan Feitong and Chao Huang remained. Quan Feitong’s words came through the twilight: “You do understand my temperament, deliberately having Agu plead for mercy. If you had been the one pleading, I might have killed her immediately. But what’s the point when others can’t understand?”
Perhaps it was the deep courtyard and gathering dusk – Suzhen felt somewhat mesmerized listening. She wasn’t angry either, just looking at Quan Feitong. She saw him in white robes, worthy of the urgent evening wind – truly an immortal-like figure, yet ruthlessly cruel.
What’s the point? Her eyes became slightly dry, but she still slowly straightened her shoulders.
Afterward, she was still “invited” back to the room by Quan Feitong.
Though Quan Feitong had Li Zhaoting, Chao Huang, and Huang Tianba secretly plotting assassination and defense, he still hurried out again.
Before leaving, he said one sentence: Think clearly whether you want to be my friend or Lian Yu’s. Until you decide, no food.
That cold, chilling feeling crept up Suzhen’s entire spine.
Something was going to happen! Fortunately, that dead girl Lian Xin was temporarily safe.
She smiled bitterly.
By the end of the hour of Chen (7-9 PM), her stomach was growling with hunger. She almost jumped up to open the door and tell the guards outside that she surrendered and to quickly bring food.
She glared at the room that she had made completely chaotic that afternoon, then finally sat down again. By candlelight, she murmured softly: “When Heaven is about to confer a great responsibility on someone, it must first make his will suffer, make his sinews and bones toil, make his body suffer hunger, make his body suffer hunger… so hungry. Maybe I should just surrender first. A gentleman’s revenge is never too late, even after ten years…”
“Assassins have escaped into the master’s residence! Surround them and kill them – show no mercy!”
Just as she was struggling internally, she heard shouting from outside, piercing through all the night’s tranquility. She was so shocked she stood up again, seeing dancing thick firelight on the window screens – the light clearly came from the front courtyards.
Who was it this time?
Could it be…
Terrified, she thought no more and quickly opened the door. Several guards outside stopped her: “Please wait, guest!”
All had cold expressions – clearly well-trained. They were Quan Feitong’s personal guards with considerable martial arts skills. She couldn’t fight them and could only say: “I have urgent business with the Chancellor. Please take me to see him.”
“No. The Chancellor gave no orders for you to leave.” The leader replied coldly – the same person who had hit her at noon.
Suzhen thought: I should have reported this person to Quan Feitong earlier. Of course, Quan Feitong might not have cared.
“Then please go report to the Chancellor for me…”
“Guest, please go inside! If the Chancellor wants to see you, he’ll naturally come over.”
The guard’s eyes began showing impatience, his voice becoming harsh and cold.
In the front courtyard, voices rose in chaos. The deep blue, ink-like night sky seemed torn half open by this disturbance, with stars trembling slightly under the reflection of torches held by the crowd below.
“Most of them are injured. Intensify the attack, surround them from all sides, and make sure to kill them all.”
“Stop! Do you know who we are? I am the Ninth Prince, and over there is my Sixth Brother, the current Emperor. How dare you commit such insubordination…”
“Emperor? I’m your father! You’re clearly a group of rebels plotting to harm Magistrate Huang, yet you dare impersonate the Emperor to escape punishment… Do you know where His Majesty is? His Majesty is currently at Chuhe Prefecture overseeing the construction of the Heaven-Worshipping Tower. How could he appear out of nowhere at Minshan Prefecture’s prison? I see you’re clearly those prison-breaking criminals. Now that we’ve surrounded you, you’ve fled to Magistrate Huang’s residence and want to harm the master. According to Great Zhou law, this is a capital crime. Come, brothers, kill them!”
“Huang Tianba, you set traps in the prison long ago, making us fall into ambush and get injured. Tell your Ninth Master to come out immediately… See if I don’t chop you up – you’re committing rebellion!”
“Ninth Brother, stop talking! Quickly protect Sixth Brother and leave…”
Voices came through the sounds of fighting and fire. Even separated by a courtyard wall, Suzhen could hear everything clearly.
The situation over there must be terrible…
The first to speak was Lian Qin. The one who cut off his words seemed to be Yu Jinglun – right, this person was eloquent… Then Lian Jie interrupted his younger brother. The clever Seventh Prince understood – they had fallen into a trap. Lian Yu hadn’t spoken at all. Was he injured?
They had come tonight impersonating Huang Tianba’s name to interrogate the death row prisoners. They certainly didn’t bring many people… Quan Feitong and others couldn’t conveniently show themselves, so they had Yu Jinglun and Mao Hui lead the masters in the killing… Suzhen was so anxious she nearly lost half her soul. Seeing everyone’s cold, mocking faces, she slightly raised her eyebrows and pulled out a hairpin from her bosom. This was one of the small ornaments she had used when disguised as Zhu’er today. Without hesitation, she pressed it to her throat: “If I die, you probably won’t be able to explain to your superiors, right? I say we go find Chancellor Quan right now. Do you all understand?”
The opponents were obviously shocked. Several people looked at each other with embarrassed, iron-blue faces. Finally, the leader knew she wasn’t someone to mess with. His small eyes narrowed as he said hatefully: “Please!”
These people led Suzhen along another small path. When Suzhen arrived, she found herself in a tower in the main courtyard.
Indeed, Quan Feitong, Li Zhaoting, and Huang Tianba were all there… under the protection of several guards, standing upstairs watching the battle.
This place had high eaves and tiles, and they were in darkness. Below in the courtyard, dozens of elite masters held weapons, tightly surrounding the few people in the center, pressing in layer by layer to fight with them. The battle was extremely intense – sword light and blade shadows bright as silver dragons, airtight. Multiple figures moving back and forth instantly added new wounds to each other. Starlight, firelight, bloody sweetness… The “assassins” were too busy to defend themselves, already in a life-and-death struggle, with no way to spot their hidden location.
The tiger was in the high tower.
“Chancellor, the ‘guest’ threatened with death. This subordinate had no choice but to…”
Seeing several men look over, the guard reported anxiously to Quan Feitong.
Quan Feitong was different from ordinary people. He didn’t scold about “useless things” or such, but smiled at Suzhen, his eyes lazy yet clearly radiating brilliance: “I was just worrying that this good show lacked a good audience. Come, Huaisu, don’t you think this scene is quite wonderful?”
At this moment, two thoughts flashed through Suzhen’s mind. One was that perhaps, even if she spent her entire life, she could never get Lian Yu to overturn the Feng family case. If Lian Yu died, it would fulfill the principle of sons paying for fathers’ debts. The other thought contained only two words: sovereign and subject.
Lian Yu was the sovereign, she was the subject.
A subject cannot watch her Son of Heaven die.