Shi Muyuan's face darkened slightly as she nodded.
"Concubine Rui is truly hateful. How could she even scheme against a child?"
Cui Qizhou seemed to have heard a joke as he rolled his eyes.
"The Empress Dowager seems to think our Concubine Rui is too innocent. Is it not normal for her to do such a thing?"
She was being scolded again! This man had scolded her several times a day, but she could not say anything. She could only shut her mouth.
...
When the two returned to the yamen, they saw the official hurrying out.
"What happened?"
"Your Majesty, Concubine Rui was originally locked in the dungeon. However, she has suddenly disappeared. We cannot find her whereabouts."
Hearing that, Cui Qizhou strode inside.
"What are you all good for? You cannot be relied on at all."
The official wiped the sweat off his forehead. He was also very innocent. Everything was fine, but who would have thought that such a thing would suddenly happen?
However, now was not the time to argue.
The group arrived at the dungeon. The empty cell was completely empty.
Cui Qizhou was so angry that he kicked the old door next to him.
"Is this your dungeon? Even if there is a disaster in Jiangnan, the dungeon should not be so dilapidated, right?"
The official swallowed his saliva. He had only taken over this place some time ago. He was suffering in silence.
"National Teacher, what should we do now? Should we go and capture the person?"
"What can we do? Bring me back the two people. Interrogate them properly. If there are any problems this time, I will definitely not spare you."
He left with a wave of his sleeves. The Empress Dowager sighed and instructed, "The two people were encountered when we returned. They should have a secret about Concubine Rui. If you can figure out what happened this time, I will not blame you."
The official hurriedly knelt down to thank her.
As this matter was related to her life, Shi Muyuan directly stayed behind.
The interrogation began. The two people's faces were splashed with cold water, and they immediately woke up.
They tried to move their hands but found it useless. They looked at their surroundings and began to panic.
"What are you doing by arresting us? We did not do anything."
The official had a mountain on his head. He could no longer contain his emotions. He slapped them.
"Speak, what do you know? If you speak today, I will spare your lives. If you do not, then you can wait for death."
The two people saw that the person in front of them was wearing an official uniform. Their eyes quickly spun.
"Oh, my lord, we did not do anything. We just wanted to earn some money to spend. We did not do anything sorry to others."
"Humph, no one will believe you. If you do not speak, then do not blame me. Come, go and get my things."
When the words fell, a constable walked out with something in his hand.
That thing should be specially made. There were countless barbs on it. It made people shudder when they saw it.
One could imagine how painful it would be if it was struck on a person.
Li Da was the first to beg for mercy. He was most afraid of death.
"My lord, we were only following orders. We were paid to do things. How can this be blamed on us? It was all the fault of the person who gave us the order."
The official did not want to continue entangling with them. He pinched the top of the long strip and slowly approached.
"I only want to hear what I want to know. If you do not speak today, then try the power of this thing."
When the hand fell, Li Da was the one who was beaten the most. He immediately let out a scream.
"My lord, we really do not know anything."
"Heh, then do not blame me."
After that, there were several more hand movements. The two people could no longer contain themselves and begged for mercy.
"We will say it. We will say it. Concubine Rui's group gave us money and asked us to kidnap the Empress Dowager. As long as we can capture the Empress Dowager, we can get more money."
The official gasped. He snorted and asked someone to write down everything the two people said.
"You are sensible."
Holding the record, the official found the National Teacher.
"National Teacher, please take a look. This is what I just got from the two of them."
Cui Qizhou replied. His eyes swept across it. He was satisfied when he found the information he wanted.
"Alright, it has nothing to do with you. Leave."
"Yes."
When Shi Muyuan entered, she happened to see the official leave.
"How is it? Have you found Concubine Rui's whereabouts?"
"The two of them are somewhat useful. They followed Concubine Rui and knew a lot of things. Now, the place where she is hiding is where we are going."
The two looked at each other and immediately understood what the other was thinking.
The next day.
Cui Qizhou did not bring many people this time. He decided to go and investigate first. However, when he was about to leave, he found a very eye-catching figure in the team.
He raised his eyebrows and walked to the center of the crowd. He grabbed the Empress Dowager, who had quietly followed in.
"Empress Dowager, are you idle? I did not say that you can follow me. It is very dangerous there. If you have any problems, I will not be able to protect you."
Shi Muyuan knew that her identity had been exposed. She took off the veil on her face.
"This matter is related to me. I want to go and take a look myself."
"No. Have you forgotten what happened yesterday?"
At this moment, Shi Muyuan was embarrassed. Of course, she remembered that when she clapped her hands in approval yesterday, she did not notice the person behind her.
However, this was clearly two different things. After learning from this experience, she would definitely not make the same mistake.
"National Teacher is unparalleled in martial arts. He will definitely be able to protect me. Does National Teacher not believe in his own ability?"
Of course, he believed in his own ability, but it did not mean that he was willing to bring this woman along.
When he was about to continue rejecting her, Xiao Xiao stood out to help her master.
"National Teacher, do not worry. At the critical moment, this servant will definitely protect her master well. There will not be any more mistakes."
Helpless, Cui Qizhou could only follow this woman.
"I am saying it first. If anything happens to the Empress Dowager, it has nothing to do with me."
"Okay."
The group quietly left without attracting anyone's attention. At this moment, Concubine Rui was pacing in the dark room. The anxiety on her face was hard to ignore.
Finally, the person sitting on the chair was a little impatient.
"Concubine, rest assured. There will not be any problems. Moreover, I have already arranged everything outside. I can definitely make them come and not return."
"I will not be at ease until I see their corpses."