“Wench… wench!” Cui Ji squeezed out these two words from between his teeth, raising the hand still holding the dagger to stab at Yunyi, wanting to kill her before the poisoned blood attacked his heart. Unfortunately, he had already missed the best opportunity. Before he could stab down, the dagger fell to the ground because he no longer had the strength to grip it.

Yunyi stood up, staring at him expressionlessly. If she had felt some guilt and regret when she accidentally killed Li Xuanba and Ah Jin in the past, then killing Cui Ji brought only satisfaction without a trace of regret. This person should have died long ago!

Just then, the voices of palace servants came from outside: “This servant greets General Pei.”

Pei Qiantong – what was he here for?

Before this thought was complete, the door was forcefully pushed open. Even Pei Qiantong was greatly shocked upon seeing the scene in the hall, especially after clearly seeing Cui Ji lying on the ground with his face covered in a layer of black. He was extremely astonished, “Young Master Cui, what is going on here?”

Due to blood loss and poisoning, the nearly unconscious Cui Ji heard Pei Qiantong’s words and barely gathered a trace of consciousness, pointing at Yunyi with a trembling voice: “It’s… it’s her. She poisoned me. Quickly go get… get the imperial physician!”

Pei Qiantong sneered inwardly. Because of the Du Ruhui matter, Cui Ji had given him plenty of cold looks, making him hold back a belly full of anger. Today could finally be considered revenge. Good, truly good!

At this time, the palace servants outside also saw this scene and became panicked and confused. Someone steadied themselves and said, “Quick, quickly go get the imperial physician, and also hurry to tell the Prime Minister about this. Quick!”

Ruyi and Jixiang took advantage of the eunuchs holding them being dazed to break free from their restraints and run to Yunyi’s side, nervously saying, “Princess, how are you? Are you all right?”

Yunyi didn’t speak, only stared blankly at the person standing behind Pei Qiantong. Every day since returning from Honghua Commandery, she would think of this person. For four years, not a day passed without thinking of him, not a day without missing him. But she had never imagined that someday she would actually see him again. This… was this a dream?

On the other side, Li Shimin also stared intently at this woman he didn’t know whether to hate or thank. Just as Du Ruhui had said, she looked exactly like Meixue. So this was her true appearance – no wonder when he had investigated extensively back then, he found no trace of disguise.

It was her who had caused the death of his beloved brother, who had caused the deaths of innocent people one after another. But it was also her who had saved him and his father, allowing them to safely leave Luoyang. His father had even been appointed as the Pacification Commissioner of Hedong, giving them time and opportunity to raise an army.

“No one is allowed to leave!” Pei Qiantong’s words made those palace servants stop in their tracks, looking at Pei Qiantong in confusion, not understanding what he meant. One palace servant boldly said, “General Pei, Young Master Cui has been poisoned. If we don’t promptly summon the imperial physician, I’m afraid his life will be in danger.”

Pei Qiantong glanced at the unconscious Cui Ji and said unhurriedly, “Of course we must summon the imperial physician. However, the Prime Minister has countless daily affairs and is extremely busy. We shouldn’t disturb him for now. This general will handle matters here.”

“But…” Before the palace servant could continue, Pei Qiantong said coldly, “What? Do you have objections to this general’s words?”

The palace servant’s heart trembled as he hurriedly said, “This servant wouldn’t dare. This servant will go summon the imperial physician right away.”

The palace servant had only taken a few steps when he hurriedly returned, saying in panic, “General, General Yuwen has brought many imperial guards this way. His expression looks very bad, and Guard Cui is also there. I don’t know if they learned that Young Master Cui had an accident, so they’re rushing over.”

Hearing this, Pei Qiantong’s expression changed abruptly. He quickly looked in the direction the servant pointed and indeed saw Yuwen Zhiji and Cui Yongzhong leading a large contingent of imperial guards rushing this way.

“Damn it, they woke up so quickly!” Pei Qiantong cursed under his breath and said, “Take her away immediately. I’ll hold them off here.”

Du Ruhui was the first to come to his senses, grabbing Yunyi and saying in a low voice, “Let’s go quickly!”

Cui Yongzhong saw Yunyi and the others leaving and hurriedly said, “General Yuwen, that’s Princess Jinyang – they’re trying to escape!”

“Chase them!” With Yuwen Zhiji’s command, those imperial guards hurriedly chased in the direction Yunyi and the others had gone. But just after chasing for a stretch of road, they were blocked by someone, and a stern shout reached their ears: “Stop!”

With Pei Qiantong’s shout, those imperial guards dared not act rashly and stopped in their tracks. Seeing this, Yuwen Zhiji shouted, “Are you all deaf? Chase them!”

“Don’t chase!” The two men held different positions, making it difficult for those imperial guards, not knowing whether they should chase or not.

Yuwen Zhiji stared at Pei Qiantong with a gloomy expression, “Brother Pei, why are you doing this?”

Pei Qiantong feigned ignorance and said, “What does General Yuwen mean by this?”

Yuwen Zhiji snorted lightly, “Du Ruhui is a criminal by imperial decree, yet you brought him into the palace. After Guard Cui discovered this, you knocked him and the gate guards unconscious. Now… you’re preparing to take Princess Jinyang away. Brother Pei, you’ve gone too far.”

Pei Qiantong had long found him distasteful, and hearing him lecture him now made him even more displeased. He said coldly, “I have my reasons for doing this. You need not interfere!”

Yuwen Zhiji’s expression turned cold. Just as he was about to speak, he suddenly heard a mournful cry, followed by Cui Yongzhong rushing out with a fierce expression, grabbing Pei Qiantong’s clothing and saying through gritted teeth, “It was you! You allowed Du Ruhui to kill the Young Master, didn’t you?!”

Yuwen Zhiji’s expression changed dramatically as he said in shock, “What are you saying? Young Master Cui… is dead?”

Cui Yongzhong said sorrowfully, “When I just went in, I saw the Young Master lying on the ground. When I went to check his breathing, he had already… stopped breathing.” Speaking thus, he pointed at Pei Qiantong and said hatefully, “You actually helped Du Ruhui harm the Young Master. The Cui family will fight you to the death!” Cui Yongzhong and Cui Ji had been master and servant for many years with extremely deep feelings. Seeing Cui Ji suddenly die an unnatural death, he was naturally overwhelmed with grief.

Pei Qiantong said with lowered eyes, “Don’t talk nonsense. When I went in, Young Master Cui was already lying on the ground. If you don’t believe it, you can ask those palace servants.” With that, he pointed to one of the palace servants, “You tell them!”

The palace servant said tremblingly, “Yes, this servant personally heard Young Master Cui say that it was… it was the Princess who poisoned Young Master Cui. At that time, he even had this servant go summon the imperial physician. Who would have thought… so quickly…”

“Yang Yunyi, I’m going to kill her!” Cui Yongzhong squeezed out these words from between his teeth. The next moment, he leaped up to chase after Yunyi and the others whose shadows could still be seen. But just as his foot touched the ground, someone tripped him, and he fell heavily to the ground. Ignoring the pain in his body, he stared at Pei Qiantong with bloodshot eyes and said sternly, “Pei Qiantong, do you really want to be enemies with the entire Cui family?!”

Pei Qiantong said coolly, “I have no intention of being enemies with the Cui family, but these people – no one is allowed to chase them!”

“Unless I die, I will definitely make them pay blood for blood!” With that, he chased again, but this time he was still blocked. However, the person blocking him had become Yuwen Zhiji. With this delay, Yunyi and the others, whose shadows could originally still be seen, had disappeared from sight. He was both angry and hateful, “General Yuwen, are you also planning to collude with Pei Qiantong and let Yang Yunyi and that rebel escape!”