A mother knows her own child well. Lady Lu knew that Lu Yinxi would find a way to sneak out.
After all, the affection this child had for Shang Luoshu was something Lady Lu had failed to understand before. But after that birthday, she could guess what was going on.
So when she learned that her daughter had sneaked out of the mansion without permission, she wasn't surprised. It was easy to guess that she had most likely gone to see His Highness the King of Jing.
However, Lady Lu never expected that the next moment, she would receive news from the King of Jing's Mansion. The Fourth Miss and the King had been assassinated at the racecourse, and the Fourth Miss had fainted.
"Slap!"
The resounding slap left everyone in the room stunned. They all widened their eyes, thinking they were hallucinating.
Just now... did Lady Lu... strike the King?
"Your Highness the King of Jing, is this how you take care of my daughter?"
"Yesterday, the Regent wanted to adopt Xi'er as his god - daughter but failed. He will surely take action against you afterwards. This is something even a woman like me who stays in the inner chambers can think of. As the King of Jing, didn't you even anticipate this?"
"I'm sorry. I underestimated the enemy."
Shang Luoshu bent down towards Lady Lu, sincerely admitting his mistake.
He had anticipated that Shang Mozheng would take action, but he didn't expect him to be so impatient. He couldn't wait until the day after the birthday to act, not caring at all that Shang Luoshu might suspect him.
In fact, before going out today, the man had also prepared for the possibility of an attack. He had ordered Fang Qinhu and others to follow secretly. There had been no sign of trouble until they reached the racecourse.
It was not until Xi'er said she wanted to race horses that they rode away from the racecourse...
Not wanting to talk to the man who had almost caused her daughter to get hurt, Lady Lu turned to the mansion doctor to inquire about her daughter's condition.
As a witness to Lady Lu slapping the King of Jing, the doctor didn't dare to hide anything and quickly said, "Lady Lu, please rest assured. The Fourth Miss is fine. It's just that her old ailment may have flared up again."
Lu Yinxi had used the Spirit of Words once in the mansion. Her condition at that time was similar to now, so the doctor regarded it as an old ailment.
"Old ailment?"
Lady Lu's heart tightened. She naturally knew what her daughter's old ailment was. "Apart from that, does Xi'er have any external injuries?"
"Just now, I asked the Fourth Miss's maid to check. There are no external injuries."
After thinking for a while, he added, "The King protected the Fourth Miss very well. Even though he was shot by an arrow himself, he didn't let her get hurt at all."
Now it was Lady Lu who felt embarrassed. When she heard the news, she thought her daughter was injured, so she slapped Shang Luoshu without thinking.
She never expected that it was the King of Jing who had been injured.
Women from military - officer families have always been bold and responsible. If they are wrong, they admit it.
Taking a few steps towards Shang Luoshu, Lady Lu was about to kneel down to apologize, but the man stopped her directly.
"Madam, there's no need to apologize. If it weren't for me, Xi'er's old ailment wouldn't have flared up."
His voice was hoarse, as if there was a hint of choking. The redness at the corners of his eyes hadn't faded, which made Lady Lu startled.
Was this how he was because of Xi'er?
That night, in the Regent's Mansion
Shang Mozheng looked at the man kneeling on the ground, his expression cold and gloomy. "Since the whole army was wiped out, how dare you come back?"
Staring into the chilling gaze, the man summoned up his courage and said, "Your subordinate has important information to report to Your Highness."
"Let's hear it and see if it can save your worthless life."
Swallowing hard, the man seemed to recall some terrifying scene. It took him a while to slowly say,
"Your subordinate found... found that the Fourth Miss can... can use witchcraft!"
Then he vividly described what had happened at that time. If the situation had been different, Shang Mozheng would have thought he was listening to a storyteller.
"So you mean that because of a single word from the Fourth Miss, all the arrows fell to the ground and stopped attacking them?"
Thinking that his master believed his words, the man nodded firmly. "Exactly!" However, all he got in return was "Yang Li, kill him!"
Almost without giving the man any time to react, in the blink of an eye, the man in front of him had fallen.
Soon, several people came in from outside. Without looking or asking, they clearly intended to drag the body away. Only the bloodstains on the ground showed that a man had died here just now.
Now that the annoying thing was gone, Shang Mozheng felt a bit more comfortable.
Witchcraft? If that little girl really knew witchcraft, were the more than a decade of being bullied all fake?
That was why Shang Mozheng had gradually reduced his surveillance of her and later didn't take her seriously at all. He didn't expect that now, she was completely out of his control.
But it didn't matter. There would always be a chance to take her life.
"Yang Li, can we take action in Jiangnan?"
"Your Highness, rest assured. We can do it at any time."
"Good. I want the news to reach the capital within three days!"
Lu Yinxi was sure that the duration of the after - effects of the Spirit of Words was really getting longer.
Was it because she had used it too frequently? Pinching the corner of her clothes, she thought uncertainly.
But in her past life, even when she used it more frequently, this kind of situation didn't occur. So, what exactly went wrong?
While Lu Yinxi was worrying about the Spirit of Words, Shang Luoshu wasn't idle either, because there was an uprising in Yangxian, Jiangnan.
They carried the slogan "I am sick of the inequality between the rich and the poor. Now I will even it out for you all" and directly occupied Yangxian, imprisoning the local official.
If it weren't for the strange situation discovered by the neighboring town of Pingqiang, this news might not have reached the capital until today.
Because of this incident, Shang Luoze was really angry in the court.
Feng Zheng had led the army to the border. According to the reports from a few days ago, they had had several skirmishes with the Southern Chu, and both sides had their wins and losses.
So this army at the border couldn't be moved. The general to suppress the uprising could only be selected from the court.
Originally, this wasn't a big deal. There were other capable generals in the court besides Feng Zheng. But it was as if all the military officers had made an appointment. They all asked for leave and didn't come to court.
The reason they gave was all the same: they had eaten something unclean yesterday and couldn't get up today. How could it be such a coincidence that they all got food - poisoned yesterday?
Helplessly, Shang Luoze could only put this matter aside for the time being and decided to discuss it again the next day.
As a result, today, the military officials still didn't come to court. The emperor endured his anger and wanted to postpone it for another day. But unexpectedly, the Regent directly spoke up.
"Your Majesty, I think the matter of suppressing the uprising can't be delayed any longer. We should make a decision as soon as possible."
At this point, Shang Luoze was too lazy to play games with him. He immediately retorted sarcastically, "All the military officers in the court are ill. Uncle Regent, how do you think we should make a decision?"
Hearing this, Shang Mozheng first glanced in the direction of Shang Luoshu and then smiled. "Your Majesty, have you forgotten that the King of Jing was also a military officer once!"