“It's not excessive. It's just what should be done,” Gao Quan sneered.
Hearing this, Su Qingwen nodded gently. Instead of looking for Hua Yueye, she went straight back to her palace. She intended to ask the system what would happen next, but unexpectedly, the system just said that the secrets of heaven must not be revealed, blocking all her words.
Furious, Su Qingwen didn't sleep well all night. At dawn, she could only drag her tired body to the palace gate.
She thought Gao Quan would be waiting there, but to her surprise, it was only Li Ruhua standing at the palace gate with her head down. She was staring at the top of her shoes, looking calm. No one knew what she was thinking. Anyway, she seemed deep in thought.
“What are you doing here?” Su Qingwen stepped forward with her arms folded, looking puzzled.
“Isn't it to wait for Concubine Xian?” Since the last incident, the relationship between Li Ruhua and Su Qingwen had not been as close as before. She raised her eyes and looked at Su Qingwen calmly before speaking.
“Why are you waiting for me?” Su Qingwen felt a bit confused and gave her a wary look.
“Didn't they say that the concubine should go to the ancestral temple? They need someone with strong yin energy. Although my yin energy is not as strong as yours, I'm still a woman with yin energy after all. If we go together, we can take care of each other,” Li Ruhua lowered her head slightly.
Hearing this, Su Qingwen sneered. She felt that Li Ruhua seemed to be mocking her. Then she tightened her fingers and said, “Fine. Since you want to go with me, it's okay. I just need someone to take care of me on the way.”
After leaving this sentence, she ignored Li Ruhua's reaction and stepped forward to get on the carriage.
Li Ruhua's face turned pale from being retorted by Su Qingwen. She frowned tightly and then snorted, following Su Qingwen.
The two of them were silent all the way, and the atmosphere was a bit awkward.
Suddenly, the carriage jolted. No one knew if it was because of the uneven road or something else. Su Qingwen's body rushed forward uncontrollably. She was about to jump out of the carriage door and fall. She originally planned to ask Li Ruhua to pull her, but Li Ruhua only cared about herself and didn't even bother to pay attention to her.
Helpless, Su Qingwen gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, thinking that it would be better to let the pain come more violently.
Unexpectedly, the pain she expected didn't come. She was stunned for a moment and felt that her body was in the air. But at this moment, someone suddenly caught her falling body.
Su Qingwen opened her eyes and saw a black - clothed man. No, it was a strong man who tightly grabbed one of her arms, pulled her up, and then placed her on the ground.
When her feet touched the ground, Su Qingwen finally breathed a sigh of relief. She patted her chest and looked up. She found that it was the King of Rui.
“Concubine Xian? Are you okay?” The King of Rui was sitting upright in a wheelchair, frowning tightly as if worried.
“I'm fine,” Su Qingwen gasped. Then she came to her senses and found a group of people looking like bandits not far away. Presumably, they wanted to rob them just now, but unexpectedly, they were just caught by the King of Rui.
“Come here! Quickly kill these ungrateful thieves. They actually committed crimes in broad daylight. Their guts are too big!” The King of Rui waved his hand, and there was a hint of killing intent in his eyes.
Su Qingwen immediately stepped back. After all, her current health was only 70%. If she didn't cherish her life, she might be tortured again.
Those bandits were extremely scared when they saw the guards brought by the King of Rui. They wanted to flee in all directions, but before they could even lift their legs, the highly - skilled guards surrounded them. Now, no one could escape.
The King of Rui was extremely ruthless. He directly ordered the bandits to be executed on the spot without even bothering to hesitate.
Looking at the bloody scene in front of her, Su Qingwen's face couldn't help but turn a bit pale, and she immediately turned her head away.
“Is Concubine Xian okay?” The King of Rui glanced at her and pretended to care, “These people are extremely evil and not worth sympathizing with at all, so you don't need to be sad for them.”
“I'm fine,” Su Qingwen waved her hand, not commenting on the King of Rui's words. She slowly straightened up and looked at the man in front of her, “Your Highness, why are you here?”
“I'm just out for a stroll in my spare time. I didn't expect to meet Concubine Xian. It's really fate. But why isn't the Emperor here this time?” As he said, the King of Rui looked around.
“Don't look anymore. Hua Yueye is busy dealing with state affairs and has no time to come out. I'm going out of the palace this time to pay respects to our ancestors in the ancestral temple,” Su Qingwen raised her eyes and shifted her gaze away from the King of Rui. Her mind was working fast. Something seemed wrong. Why was the King of Rui strolling around here? And this place was far from any village or town.
Could it be that this was not a “chance encounter” at all?
The more she thought about it, the more confused she became. Su Qingwen even felt a sense of foreboding.
“Your Highness, did you bring a lot of guards out this time?” Li Ruhua suddenly asked.
“As you can see, there are about a dozen of them. But they're not really guards. They're just some servants with better martial arts skills. As you can see, my legs are not convenient, so I need to bring more people with me,” the King of Rui explained. His words seemed reasonable.
“How about this? Why don't we go to the ancestral temple together? Both Concubine Xian and I are women, and there are no highly - skilled people to protect us. If something like what just happened occurs again, it would be so pitiful. Your Highness is kind - hearted and will surely help us, right?” Li Ruhua said with a smile. Her words were really reasonable and flawless.
Su Qingwen's mouth twitched violently. She really disliked this woman. What was the big deal? Why did they have to let the King of Rui go with them? She knew that the King of Rui was in the same group as Gao Quan, and his scheming was much deeper than Gao Quan's. If he turned against them, she would surely lose her life.
“Forget it. It's not good to trouble His Highness like this,” Su Qingwen refused tactfully.
“It's not a problem. Let's do it this way. I'll accompany you two there. It'll be good to have someone to look after each other on the way,” the King of Rui gave Li Ruhua a deep look and immediately agreed.
“Great,” the two of them looked at each other and smiled, as if they had reached an agreement right away.