In another maid's room dozens of steps away from the dungeon, Zhao Xueying was wearing heavy shackles and was sitting on the edge of the bed with her head bowed. On the round stool in front of the dressing table, Li Jingshu sat facing the mirror, her eyes looking from the mirror to behind her.

The female prisoner resigned to her fate and sighed softly: "Zhang Zhongjie is gone."

Zhao Xueying didn't seem surprised. She just said "hmm" softly, bit her lip and said nothing.

After Li Jingshu came back from the river, she took a bath again and put on a brand new dress. At this time, her body was still emitting moisture and her hair was wet.

She sat in front of the dressing table, and while talking, she seemed to start dressing up seriously. Sometimes she used a comb to comb her hair, and sometimes she applied makeup and powder to her face.

Li Jingshu was originally one of the most outstanding beauties. Even if she was naked, she was still beautiful. After a little makeup, she immediately looked even more beautiful and charming, which made Zhao Xueying, who was sitting aside and watching, feel both envious and frustrated.

"I'm sorry." Li Jingshu noticed her expression and said with pity, "Originally, according to my wish, there was no need to shackle you, but the princess knew that your skills were too high, so there was no need to shackle you for fear of being sleepy.

Stay with you."

"It's okay." Zhao Xueying said quietly, "Even if you let me go, where can I go in this big world?"

As she spoke, she raised the shackles on her hands and looked at the dark red marks left by the heavy iron rings on her slender wrists. She also sighed: "I don't ask for forgiveness. If you have anything to say, just ask.

Just kill me, I...well, I have no complaints."

"Oh? Do you want to die so much?" Li Jingshu didn't rush to ask, "Don't you think about the child in your belly?"

Zhao Xueying shook her head: "I know that in your hearts, the master is full of evil. What's more, he is no longer here, and this child will suffer in vain even if he is born."

"You keep calling him master, do you really like him?" Li Jingshu frowned in confusion, "Even if he falls in love with everyone he sees and wishes he could have all the beauties in the world, he never really takes you to heart."

"Does it matter now whether I like it or not?" Zhao Xueying smiled bitterly, "I only know that in the years when I most longed for the attention of young men, he was the first one who was willing to get close to me, willing to listen to my concerns, and willing to care about me.

Someone who fulfills my little wishes and constantly brings me surprises.”

"Perhaps he is not sincere and just wants to use me." Zhao Xueying shook her head sadly, "But so what, no one else cares about me anyway, so it doesn't matter."

When she said this, she raised her eyes and looked at Li Jingshu's beautiful face reflected in the mirror, and said: "It's just that I was born ugly. If I were even half as beautiful as you, I might have a completely different fate."

Li Jingshu looked at the haggard Zhao Xueying, recalling her beautiful and innocent appearance in the past, and wanted to refute her. In fact, appearance is not the only criterion for a woman to gain attention, but thinking about it, she was not qualified to say this.

Then he held it back again.

"What about you?" she asked back, "Do you have a man in your heart that you want to get close to? You can't just surrender your body and mind to a man who treats you well, right?"

Zhao Xueying looked at her very strangely, and then said after a while: "You don't want to know the answer."

Li Jingshu sighed secretly because she had already guessed the answer.

From the first time Lan Qiao was brought to Tianlian Peak by Bai Xueyin, it caused ripples in Zhao Xueying's heart. This little junior sister had grown up in Tianlian Peak since she was a child. At the age of Huaichun, it was the first time she saw a young man of the right age.

man.

Although Lan Qiao is a good girl among people, her envy and even jealousy towards her senior sister Bai Xueyin only intensifies her desire for love.

And when Lan Qiao didn't show any special concern for her, her resentment gradually turned into disgust for herself, and even gave birth to something close to "self-destruction".

She knew clearly that Zhang Zhongjie was Lan Qiao's old enemy and that he was a devil who played with emotions, but she chose to hang out with him uncontrollably like a moth to a flame, not knowing if she wanted to prove something by doing so.

"I understand." Li Jingshu said softly, took out the "Hua Yuxi" mask from her arms, and put it on her face carefully.

Zhao Xueying's eyes widened and she stared dumbfounded for a long time before finally saying in frustration: "So you are Hua Yuxi."

"You don't know how many times Lan Qiao wanted to kill me before. Compared with you, when I agreed to be his slave in the capital, I really didn't know how humble I was." Li Jingshu finally inserted the hairpin and faced her.

She looked around in the mirror, added some blush and lip gloss, closed the lid of the powder box and said, "But women, only by loving themselves first can they get true and pure love."

"Okay, now tell me, who did Zhang Zhongjie meet before he brought you to Jiangpu?"

It was already the end of Xu when we came out of the courtyard of the Confucius family. Night covered the earth and only the bright moon hung high.

The river breeze blows slowly, making people feel a little cool even though it is midsummer.

Lan Qiao, Li Jingshu, Zhu Qingying and others took Zhao Xueying in their arms and returned to Hongyi House from Kong's house. As soon as they entered the door, they saw the main hall was brightly lit, and the shadows of figures showed through the window paper. It seemed that another guest was visiting.

Li Qi frowned slightly and was about to speak when the people inside seemed to hear the noise. An imposing young swordsman came out with a smile. It was Ling Yufei.

Then there was a series of footsteps, Feng Yeling, Bai Xueyin, Lan Feng and Ben Yali filed out of the hall, and Zhu Yuluo also followed them out with a smile.

"You guys..." Lan Qiao was startled for a moment and turned his questioning eyes to Lan Feng.

Lan Feng stretched out his hand toward Feng, Bai, and Ling, and then explained: "The three of them arrived at Longtan Camp in the evening. I told them what you wanted to do, but they were worried and insisted on coming.

You, I couldn’t persuade you, so I had no choice but to come with them.”

At a glance, Bai Xueyin saw the heavily shackled Zhao Xueying among the crowd, with a hesitant look on his face, as if he wanted to say hello to his junior sister, but considering the current relationship between the enemy and ourselves, he held back the thought.

Feng Yeling took a step forward, saluted Li Qi and He Jin first, then walked to Lan Qiao, stared at him and said: "Sister Xueyin returned to the camp after receiving the message, and I immediately handed over the military affairs to Meng Xiliang and Yun

He, together with her and Mr. Ling, came quickly. I met the Queen in Longtan, and Qing Huan told me that you were in Jiangpu, so I immediately chased after you. What you have to do this time is really big! "

Zhu Qingying was filled with joy when she first saw Feng Yeling, another childhood playmate she hadn't seen for many years, but when she heard her say something like this, she couldn't help but ask, "What big thing does Mr. Lan have to do?"

Li Jingshu knew that everyone must have a lot to talk about tonight, so she suggested: "Let's go in and talk."

Zhu Yuluo smiled and nodded: "I'll prepare tea for you to refresh yourself."

Everyone then returned to the main room, and Xiao Wuhen took Zhao Xueying back to the guest room for temporary custody.

Mother and daughter Zhu Yuluo and Li Jingshu worked together to cook fragrant tea for everyone, and everyone took their seats.

Since Lan Feng, Ling Yufei and others nominally belong to King Yan's forces, while Zhu Qingying is loyal to his brother Jianwen, although both parties know that they need to talk about something, they all look at each other for a while, and no one knows where to start.

.

Li Qi coughed lightly and turned to ask Li Jingshu: "What did the female assassin say? Who is the mastermind behind the Jiangpu assassination?"

"My father may not believe me." Li Jingshu sighed, "It's the second sister."

"Second sister." Li Qi didn't react for a moment, "Which second sister? You mean..."

There were so many people present, and there were many who were as confused as Li Qi. Li Jingshu started from the beginning, briefly telling the story of Liu Yueyao's fall into prostitution after Li Shanchang's case and later joining the Erqihui, and finally said: "

It stands to reason that since she is attached to Xu Huizu, she should only follow Xu Huizu's orders in everything. However, according to Xueying's confession, when she conveyed orders to Zhang Zhongjie last night, she did not mention that it was Xu Huizu's or the president's orders.

, his tone completely regarded himself as the person in charge, which has to be thought-provoking."

Among the people, Lan Feng's brain was the fastest. While others were still chewing on the meaning of Li Jingshu's words, he was the first to blurt out: "Did Liu Yueyao betray Xu Huizu? But isn't she very well-behaved? Even Xu Huizu

She was sent to the palace, and she obeyed without complaint."

Li Jingshu sighed: "Maybe it was because she entered the palace that she found another way to the peak of power."

Jie Jin pondered for a moment, then sighed: "If Zhao Xueying's confession is true, then Liu Yueyao's plan is really terrible. Assassinating Qingying is just her first step, and the next steps will be linked together, Your Majesty, and

Countless concubines and maids in the palace will be brutally killed, and in the end she will provoke a long-term struggle between the eastern and western regimes. I don’t know how many soldiers will die on the battlefield, and how many people will be displaced."

Zhu Qingying said sadly: "Sometimes I really don't understand. I thought it was a matter of black and white, but a third force emerged with great ambitions. On the one hand, it wanted to harm my brother and offer the city to King Yan, but on the other hand, it

I want to use the prince to control the world and engage in a long-term battle with King Yan. Alas, even if the capital is defended with all its strength, it may not be able to hold it for long, but there are still people who wish that the capital would fall faster."

"She has to do this," Li Jingshu said, "because once Sister Qingying really holds the capital, all her plans to seize power will come to nothing. With the capital stable, she will have to fall into a long-term harem.

In the middle of the battle, she had been in the palace for less than a year, and she was just a "beauty". If she didn't use the powerful "external force" of King Yan, how could it have taken ten or twenty years for her to seduce him with her sex alone?

Chance."

"But she is too cruel." Zhu Qingying seemed to still not believe Liu Yueyao's conspiracy, "Sending Zhang Zhongjie and the others to kill me is just the first step, because they are afraid that after I take charge of the city defense, I will be too lucky."

She defeated King Yan's Jingnan Army. Then she asked Cao Guogong, who had become a confidant, to present the city to King Yan. At the same time, she sent the new army controlled by Liu Jing and the Red Ghost Regiment under the command of Chang Hong to rush into the palace to kill the king and queen.

She snatched the prince, and then massacred other concubines and maids to ensure that the prince she snatched was the only possible heir to the emperor. Finally, she took advantage of the chaos to escape from the city, established a new court in Jingzhou, Bashu or Guanzhong, and then challenged King Yan

.What an insidious and sinister serial scheme!”

"Since ancient times, those who have ambitions for imperial power have generally been like this." Xie Jin sipped his tea and sighed, "Those who are not ruthless enough cannot achieve great things."

He seemed to be referring to something, and I don't know if he was alluding to Zhu Yuanzhang's murder of heroes after the founding of the country. Zhu Qingying said flatly: "We must report this matter to the emperor immediately, and we must not let her conspiracy succeed."

Lan Qiao stretched out his hand and pressed it softly, signaling her to be calm: "Didn't the princess just ask me if there was anything important to do? What I want to do is to rescue the emperor from the palace, and before King Yan enters the city,

Let Mr. Hongyi take him far away."

Lan Feng was afraid that Lan Qiao's words would cause unnecessary misunderstandings, so he explained it to him in detail, including all the difficulties he might encounter, and finally said: "The princess also does not want to see the emperor's 'death of the country', with the capital."

Live or die together?"

Lan Qiao's plan really surprised Zhu Qingying. According to her original guess, Lan Qiao was going to sneak into the capital to carry out some kind of conspiracy to make it easier for King Yan to occupy the capital.

But during Zhang Zhongjie's assassination incident, if Lan Qiao really wanted to help King Yan enter the capital, he only had to stand by and let Zhang Zhongjie get rid of her. At that time, the military power fell into the hands of Li Jinglong, and the capital was not yet in King Yan's possession.

Object?

Since he took action to eliminate the evil and told the plan frankly, it means that he did not lie about this matter.

"What good does this do to you?" Zhu Qingying asked puzzledly, "If you stand from the perspective of Brother Huang and King Yan, you and I are enemies rather than friends, why should you help us?"

Lan Qiao was hesitant, wondering whether he should admit to him frankly that he was doing this to protect Li Qi's loyalty. Lan Feng once again explained for him: "In the final analysis, the Erqi Society was obstructing the vassal reduction. Now Xu Huizu

After losing power, Liu Yueyao takes over the power of Erqihui, then she is our biggest enemy. Since we know that she has such ambitions, we must stop her."

Zhu Qingying blinked, as if he did not fully believe Lan Feng's words, so the latter went further: "Whether King Yan comes to the capital or Liu Yueyao's conspiracy succeeds, as long as the emperor is still in the palace, they will be the gateway to that place."

A stumbling block to the supreme position. Therefore, no matter which party it is, they will try their best to get rid of the emperor. The only chance for the emperor to survive is to cooperate with us. Please keep this in mind, Princess."

"But for such a big thing, I really don't know how to trust you." Zhu Qingying smiled helplessly, as if it was still difficult to make a decision.

This is when Li Jingshu came over, took one of Zhu Qingying's hands and said: "Actually, we are not only here to save the emperor, but also you, Sister Qingying. If they dare to kill the emperor, Sister Qingying must be on the must-kill list."

Come on, only by rescuing you out of the city before they succeed can we be safe."

Li Qi also said righteously: "The emperor's disaster is imminent. If the princess cannot cooperate with us sincerely, I am afraid that in the end we will only benefit that witch Liu Yueyao."

Zhu Qingying was finally someone who could pick up and let go. His eyes flashed and he nodded decisively.
Chapter completed!