Chapter 115.1: Absolute Counterattack! (1)
Ji Lun looked down, and only then did he realize he wasn’t wearing any clothes– no wonder he had felt a bit cold.
He hurriedly sat up and put on his clothes, and then Du Yunhan dragged him out.
“Father, don’t be in such a hurry. General Ji has been unconscious for so many days, at the very least he should eat something before going out. Otherwise, he’ll pass out from hunger.”
“There’s no time to prepare food for him now!” Du Yunhan said anxiously.
“Father, Liuxia has already had the kitchen prepare some food. One bowl of porridge– it’ll be quick,” Du Xiaoli said.
Just then, Ji Lun’s stomach growled. A servant brought in food.
“Just drink it first.” Du Yunhan said, “Hurry!”
Although Ji Lun didn’t know what was going on, he saw that Du Yunhan had come here so late and there wasn’t even time to eat, so he knew something serious must have happened. He quickly finished the porridge in a few bites, set down the bowl, and said, “Let’s go.”
Ji Liuxia saw that Du Xiaoli was going with Du Yunhan and the others, so she ran after them and said, “I’m coming too.”
Ji Lun knew how much martial arts Ji Liuxia had. He glared at her and said, “You’re not going anywhere. Stay home.”
“No, I’m going too,” Ji Liuxia glared back at Ji Lun, “Xiaoli is going, I want to go too.”
“The situation tonight is special. You should stay at home. If you go and distract the General, that would be troublesome,” Du Xiaoli said.
Ji Liuxia wanted to point out that Xiaoli was going too, but then she remembered that her own martial arts skills were much weaker, so she just pouted and said nothing.
“Let’s go.” Du Yunhan said, “I’ll explain the current situation to you on the way.”
“Okay…”
In the palace, Han Mingze took the Empress Dowager and the others on a tour through the palace, visiting several halls.
“Stop!” Han Minghong shouted. He stepped forward and pointed his sword at Han Mingze, saying, “If you try any more tricks, I’ll use this to pierce your heart!”
Han Mingze looked at the murderous intent in Han Minghong’s eyes and knew he couldn’t stall for any longer. He said, “I’m taking you there, aren’t I? If you keep blocking me, it’ll be dawn soon!”
Han Minghong sheathed his sword, walked over to Han Mingze, and pushed him, saying, “Hurry up!”
The Empress Dowager followed behind the entire time, silently watching Han Minghong and Han Mingze.
Han Mingze led Han Minghong and the others slowly toward the Cold Palace. As the surroundings grew increasingly remote, they recognized that this was the path leading to the Cold Palace.
“Han Mingze, if you try any tricks, I really will stab you to death with my sword!” Han Minghong threatened.
“What tricks have I played?” Han Mingze asked slowly.
“This is clearly the path to the Cold Palace. Are you planning to take us there to find the jade seal?” Han Minghong demanded.
“Yes, this Emperor is planning to take you to the Cold Palace to find the jade seal,” Han Mingze nodded seriously.
“You still say you’re not tricking us? How could the jade seal possibly be in the Cold Palace?” Han Minghong said.
“Why can’t the jade seal be in the Cold Palace?” Han Mingze asked in return.
“You’re asking for it…”
“Enough!” The Empress Dowager scolded from behind, “Let’s go to the Cold Palace.”
The Empress Dowager's expression was very grim. Perhaps she was angry at herself for not having thought of the jade seal being in the Cold Palace all this time. Perhaps she was also furious that the Empress had defied her wishes and sided with the Emperor.
But she had forgotten– the Empress had never been on her side to begin with!
“Didn't she betray you? Why would you still trust her, entrusting such an important item to her care?” As they walked, the Empress Dowager finally voiced her doubts.
Who was she? After learning that the jade seal was in the Cold Palace, she immediately knew it was with the Empress. But she couldn’t understand why Han Mingze, who clearly knew the Empress had betrayed him, still entrusted the jade seal to her care.
Han Mingze smiled, saying, “Because this Emperor trusts her and knows she wouldn’t betray this Emperor.”
“But she did do something to betray you– she revealed your intel to us. If we hadn’t known your situation clearly, how could we have known about your hidden forces and so easily subdued your men and imprisoned you?” The Empress Dowager said, “Your failure this time can largely be attributed to her. Don’t you know that?”
“This Emperor knows,” Han Mingze said indifferently.
“You know, yet you still entrusted the jade seal to her?” The Empress Dowager asked.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Han Mingze folded his arms behind his back and said, “The parasite in Imperial Grandmother's body was put there by you, wasn't it? But it was later removed by Anle. At that time, we already knew that anyone capable of planting a parasite in Imperial Grandmother must have a significant background.”
“If you didn’t bring up that old woman, I would have forgotten about her,” the Empress Dowager said. “She was detoxified by Anle?”
“Yes.”
“This Empress Dowager knew she couldn’t be left alive. Since coming here, she’s caused us nothing but trouble.” The Empress Dowager said, “Since sending people to assassinate her didn’t work, if this Empress Dowager had known she’d be this troublesome, this Empress Dowager would have sent more people back then. That’s right, did she tell you that it was this Empress Dowager that cursed her?”
“No,” Han Mingze replied. “She merely reminded this Emperor that if the mastermind could cast a curse on the Imperial Grandmother, they could certainly do the same to others. Therefore, this Emperor always needed to be vigilant for any unusual behavior. When the Empress began frequently entering and exiting the Imperial Study, this Emperor took notice.”
“Then why didn’t you arrest her?” the Empress Dowager asked. “Instead, you let her pass messages to us. You had to have known that those messages were of the utmost importance.”
“That’s right, they were all very important messages: how many guards are usually around me, how often the guards in the Imperial Study change shifts, and how many hidden forces this Emperor has that you don’t know about,” Han Mingze listed pieces of intel, one by one.
“Why?”
MoonWhisperer, skyrise's Thoughts
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