"Come on!" Qin Huaiqiu was ready to fight to the death.
Almost in an instant, another figure suddenly leaped out from the treetops.
"My lord!" Nie Rong shouted. Then, with a tap of his toes on the tree trunk, he dashed out like an arrow from a bow, piercing through the chest of the first attacker with his sword!
"...Nie Rong!" Qin Huaiqiu, who had just escaped death, exclaimed in surprise. Looking at Nie Rong standing in front of him, he almost shed tears.
"My lord, are you alright?"
"I'm fine. Why are you here?" Qin Huaiqiu grabbed his sleeve and asked.
"Qin Lan sent a signal," Nie Rong replied. "I followed the signal here, but I didn't expect..." He paused and didn't continue. "We can talk about this later. I'll take care of them first."
"Take care of them?" The shadow in the woods laughed strangely. He never stepped out of the darkness. "What can an assassin of the Qin family do? You'll only be able to linger on for a while longer."
Nie Rong said in a deep voice, "Really? The imperial guards are only a hundred steps away. Do you think you can kill me within that time?"
"A mere assassin, yet so arrogant," the shadow snorted and reached out to give an order.
"Hu Yegaoer said the same thing back then," Nie Rong said, glaring at him.
Qin Huaiqiu was taken aback. He knew Hu Yegaoer, who was the eldest son of the Hu Ye Chanyu. Ten years ago, he was beheaded by Nie Rong under his horse, and his head was hung on the city wall of the Protectorate until it dried up.
So, these people were from Loulan?! Qin Huaiqiu's eyes widened.
The shadow suddenly stopped moving. He was silent for a while, then said with suppressed surprise and anger, "...You're Nie Rong?"
"That's right."
The shadow didn't say anything. He seemed to be trying to calm his anger. After a long silence, he waved his hand and said, "The Qin family is really a good dog of the Great Sheng. I'll spare your life this time. Next time we meet, I'll definitely take it!"
"Come if you dare."
"Humph." As soon as the shadow finished speaking, he and the others disappeared into the woods.
Seeing them go, Nie Rong quickly turned around and knelt on one knee in front of Qin Huaiqiu. "My lord, I'm late."
Qin Huaiqiu quickly helped him up and asked, "Are those people from Loulan?"
"Yes."
"How did you know?"
Nie Rong gritted his teeth and said tremblingly, "I... I found Qin Lan. She was captured by these people."
"What?!" Qin Huaiqiu exclaimed. "Where is Qin Lan now? How is she?"
"Don't worry, my lord. I've rescued Qin Lan and placed her in the Yushan Palace," Nie Rong replied. "This isn't the time to talk about this. I've led the imperial guards here. How is the emperor's injury?"
Thinking of this, Qin Huaiqiu quickly ran over and helped up Sikong Ting. Seeing that Sikong Ting was still unconscious, but fortunately, the fall just now didn't hit his wound. Qin Huaiqiu checked and sighed in relief. "It's okay. He won't die."
There were chaotic footsteps in the woods. It should be Liu Zhen leading the imperial guards. Qin Huaiqiu squinted his eyes and said, "Nie Rong, hide quickly. Then go to the Yushan Palace to find me later. And find a chance to inform my father about this as soon as possible."
"Yes, my lord." After Nie Rong said that, his figure flashed and disappeared into the night.
A moment later, Liu Zhen led the imperial guards to arrive late. The moment he saw the unconscious emperor, Liu Zhen slapped himself hard and almost committed suicide on the spot, but was stopped by his brothers.
Looking at Liu Zhen, Qin Huaiqiu was even more angry. He pointed at Liu Zhen and scolded him on the spot. He was almost about to draw his knife and cut him.
Liu Zhen didn't refute. He took Qin Huaiqiu's scolding silently. Then he immediately organized the imperial guards to search Fengquan Soup comprehensively. Since there was no imperial physician in the camp, Liu Zhen sent someone to rush the emperor back to the Yushan Palace on horseback.
The news that the emperor was seriously injured during the spring hunt quickly spread throughout the palace.
The concubines and officials all rushed to the main hall and knelt on the ground crying. The empress dowager even got up in the middle of the night and rushed directly to the emperor's bedside, crying with snot and tears. Several eunuchs couldn't pull her away.
Fortunately, the imperial physician Wang in the palace brought many people from the Imperial Medical Bureau with him during the spring hunt. Several imperial physicians were in a hurry. Finally, they managed to treat the emperor's injury amidst the cries in the room.
While there was chaos in the main hall, Qin Huaiqiu returned to his own palace after confirming that the emperor was out of danger.
Although Qin Lan was injured, fortunately, her injury was not serious, and she could already get out of bed and cook by herself.
The first thing Qin Huaiqiu did when he came back was to check Qin Lan up and down. Then he pulled Qin Lan and asked her all kinds of questions. Finally, he found out what had happened.
When he heard that Qin Lan had almost been insulted by those Loulan barbarians, Qin Huaiqiu was so angry that he directly smashed the teacup and cursed.
"Why are those Loulan people here?" Qin Huaiqiu calmed down a little, sat down, and frowned. "And according to what they said, they were targeting the Qin family?"
"I don't think so. I met those Loulan people in the capital when I was investigating the young lady. They were acting furtively and followed the emperor's spring hunt. I was afraid something would happen, so I continued to track them," Nie Rong replied. "Then they split into two groups. The ones who captured Qin Lan were one of the groups."
"So, their real target was to assassinate the emperor," Qin Huaiqiu said. "They just didn't expect me to come with the emperor. As a member of the Qin family, I beat them badly at the border back then, so they took the opportunity to take revenge."
Qin Lan said, "One group of them went to track the emperor, and the other group was near the Yushan Palace. After Nie Rong came, he originally wanted to capture two people to get some information, but unexpectedly, they committed suicide by taking poison."
Qin Huaiqiu asked, "So, all the people who captured you are dead?"
Qin Lan nodded.
"What about the bodies?"
"I disposed of them. Liu Zhen will find them later," Nie Rong thought for a while and said. "The group in the palace isn't very good at fighting. They should just be a surveillance or logistics force."
Qin Huaiqiu nodded and said, "Hmm... But why did they mistake Qin Lan for me? Since they've planned such an important operation as assassinating the emperor, why didn't they get their information right? And that shadow could immediately recognize you as a member of the Qin family after seeing you. That means the group chasing me in Fengquan Soup knew I was with Sikong Ting."
Qin Lan understood and said, "So, the two groups didn't share information before?"
"Yes," Qin Huaiqiu said. "As the logistics force of Loulan, they may not have received enough attention from the Loulan people. Even if we assume they went to the palace to kill me, compared to killing me, assassinating Sikong Ting is the top priority. And although the palace isn't heavily guarded, it's still well-defended. Sending just a few miscellaneous soldiers is completely impossible, so this assumption doesn't hold. So, their only purpose was to assassinate Sikong Ting, and I wasn't an option. If they really wanted to assassinate me, it was just because they knew I was on the spring hunt with Sikong Ting and could 'incidentally' kill me."
Nie Rong nodded in agreement. "So, the people who captured Qin Lan acted rashly on their own initiative."
"Yes. They were going to go back and claim credit for killing me. They got the information that 'I' was in the palace from somewhere," Qin Huaiqiu said.
"Then the question is," Qin Huaiqiu leaned back on the stool. He squinted his eyes, and a dangerous look appeared in them. "Who told them that 'I' was in the Yushan Palace?"
After hearing this, Qin Lan and Nie Rong almost immediately reacted. Qin Huaiqiu's analysis was right on the mark. Assuming that the group in the Yushan Palace only received orders to monitor or ensure the retreat in advance, they had no way of knowing the false information that Qin Huaiqiu was in the palace. At the same time, they couldn't have monitored it themselves because this information was false. So, there was only one possibility—
"Someone in the palace deliberately revealed it," Qin Huaiqiu said. He stared at the teacup in his hand, and his voice was low but sharp. "Someone wants to use the Loulan people to kill Qin Lan to teach me a lesson or—give me a warning."
Qin Lan covered her mouth and frowned. "Could it be... Concubine Shu?"
Qin Huaiqiu snorted and said angrily, "Concubine Shu... She does have a motive to do these things. If she succeeds, since she didn't really hurt me, I won't be able to produce any evidence. Maybe Qin Lan will just die, and I won't be able to do anything."
"If it's not her, I'll follow the clues and slowly find out who it is. But if Concubine Shu really did this, I'll make her pay the corresponding price," Qin Huaiqiu gritted his teeth and said.
Qin Lan pinched her chin and said uneasily, "Colluding with the Loulan people. If Concubine Shu did this, her whole family would be executed... She wouldn't dare, would she?"
"I also hope I'm wrong," Qin Huaiqiu sighed.
"Concubine Shu?" Nie Rong asked. "The daughter of the Minister of Rites, Liu Cheng?"
"Yes," Qin Lan nodded. "She has been targeting the young master ever since he entered the palace."
"Liu Cheng is not a good person. If the upper beam is not straight, the lower beam will be crooked. Now in the court, Liu Cheng has the most followers. Many times, he can even influence the emperor's decisions," Qin Huaiqiu said. "Half of the relief grain allocated to the Protectorate by the court was secretly embezzled by Liu Cheng and his people. Until now, my father hasn't been able to find evidence to impeach him."
"Then why doesn't the emperor get rid of him?" Qin Lan asked. "This is simply ruining the country and harming the people!"
Qin Huaiqiu shook his head and said, "It's a bit too much to say that he's ruining the country and harming the people. My father once said that although Liu Cheng is not a good person, he's still a loyal official. Although he's corrupt, the grain transported to the Protectorate by him back then could still ensure that everyone had something to eat. So, although he's a corrupt official, he's definitely not a treacherous official. The emperor knows this. The emperor just ascended the throne and needs a stable court. Liu Cheng has many followers. If there's a major purge because of this, the court will be unstable, and there may be changes. So, the emperor has been hesitant to take action."