"Hey—"
Unlike the chaotic Liange City outside the Bian Palace, the Eastern Palace inside the Bian Palace was as quiet as death. There was hardly a trace of living breath.
"Hey—" The voice rang out again. A woman with willow-leaf eyebrows and half-exposed fragrant shoulders, wearing a bright red slitted ruqun dress, still had a fox fur hanging between her arms. She swayed her snake-like waist and walked with a charming and alluring gait.
"Oh? Not going to respond to me?" Liu Mei stopped in the courtyard. She crossed one arm over her chest and propped her chin with the other, smiling coquettishly. "What an annoying nephew."
"You think so too, Sen Ya?" Liu Mei turned to look at the man standing behind her.
That man was Sen Ya, Liu Mei's personal guard. He was a former member of the "Traceless" organization, the same as Yu Shuang and others. He was very agile and his strength was no less than Yu Shuang's. Generally speaking, it was very difficult for ordinary people to get close to him. But now, he seemed to have just experienced a fierce battle. There were several holes in his clothes, and there was even a bloody hole in his shoulder. Even though it had been bandaged, the blood was still oozing out.
"Boss..." Despite his serious injury, Sen Ya's voice remained low and steady. "Do you need me to go look for His Highness the Crown Prince?"
Liu Mei looked at him, gave a charming smile, and slowly walked up to him. She gently touched the wound on his arm with the pipe in her hand and said, "You're so badly injured. How could I have the heart to let you run errands again? That guy is inside the house."
As she said this, Liu Mei suddenly turned her head. As if she had expected it, her eyes stared directly at the palace door that had been wide open at some unknown time. There were no lights inside the door, and it was pitch-black. But faintly, one could see that in the middle of the palace, a young man was sitting on a table. At his feet, there were several servants in maid costumes lying in a mess.
At this moment, he was holding a maid by the neck with one hand raised high. The maid struggled desperately due to lack of oxygen. The young man seemed to find it a bit annoying. With a "tsk", he exerted force with his fingers and suddenly twisted the maid's neck.
Then, the maid's body was like a withered leaf falling in autumn, being mercilessly thrown at the young man's feet.
Liu Mei watched the scene inside the house with a smile. Because it was dim inside, she could only see a blurry shadow and couldn't see the person's appearance clearly. But she knew exactly who that person was.
She took a few steps forward. Seeming to find the smell of blood in the palace too strong, Liu Mei stopped when she was still a foot away from the palace. She slowly raised the pipe in her hand and took a slow puff.
In the curling smoke, Liu Mei's eyebrows were curved. With a charming voice, she said extremely cold-blooded words, "One... two... seven... With so many people trying to kill you, you're really lucky to be alive."
The young man inside the house slowly raised his head. His eyes were gloomy, and there was still a trace of blood on his cheek. It was Xia Chuli, who had been left in the Eastern Palace by Shen Qingfeng.
"Heh." Xia Chuli let out a cold laugh. "Auntie, I asked you to come and help me, not to watch the show. If I really had to wait for you, my body would be cold by now, wouldn't it?"
"Aren't you alive and well?" Liu Mei replied.
Xia Chuli didn't bother to talk to her and turned his head away.
"Were these all sent by the Queen of Qi?" Liu Mei propped her chin with the pipe and craned her neck to look forward. "Wow... Just by looking at their looks, they clearly aren't maids. It seems the Queen of Qi really wants you dead quickly. She actually let the killers use such a clumsy disguise method."
"Humph!" Xia Chuli snorted. "What about the thing I asked you to do?"
"Of course I did it." Liu Mei said, pointing at Sen Ya. "Don't you see that my guard is seriously injured?"
Xia Chuli looked up at Sen Ya's injury. After a while, he suddenly smiled wickedly. "Oh? So, you sent him to do it."
Liu Mei pursed her lips and looked at Xia Chuli without saying a word.
Xia Chuli patted his clothes with his hand, stood up, and walked next to Sen Ya. He sized him up and down and said, "What about the people arranged by Shen Qingfeng? Killed them?"
Sen Ya remained expressionless. "Killed them."
"How does it feel to kill your companions? Hmm?" Xia Chuli's smile became even more strange. He moved closer to Sen Ya.
"Traceless doesn't need companions." Sen Ya's voice was as cold as ice.
Xia Chuli paused for a moment and then suddenly burst out laughing maniacally. "Good! Good for not needing companions. Hahaha, I think so too. So I didn't show any mercy when I killed him!"
Xia Chuli didn't know what kind of stimulation he had suddenly received. In his words, his memory was a bit confused. He didn't even notice that he was still using the address of his previous life to refer to himself. But in Liu Mei's eyes, she just thought that he already felt confident about succeeding to the throne.
Liu Mei suddenly held the pipe horizontally and pressed it against Xia Chuli's chest. "Alright, little nephew. I've already helped you with this matter. You can handle the rest by yourself. I don't want to get involved in this mess."
Xia Chuli's smile suddenly stopped. He turned his head to look at Liu Mei. His eyes flickered, and he said with a smile, "Auntie, there's no such thing as helping someone halfway, is there?"
"The person outside Liange City has helped you enough, right? That thing is much more useful than my small Shifangzhai, isn't it?" Liu Mei sneered and slowly took another puff of smoke. "Don't worry. I won't help Shen Qingfeng. You don't need to tie me to your side and watch me."
Xia Chuli narrowed his eyes.
Liu Mei's smile grew wider. "How could I stab you in the back, little nephew? Didn't you say that we're like grasshoppers on the same rope?"
-
Not long after they had their intimate conversation, the Lu family army had already sorted out the Prince Cheng's Mansion. Shen Qingfeng stood beside Lu Yan, looking at the well-ordered Lu family army. He couldn't help but feel a sigh in his heart. Before, most of what he knew about Lu Yan's military leadership ability was from rumors. But now, he could personally feel the high degree of obedience and trust of the Lu family army in Lu Yan. This was something that few people could achieve.
Lu Yan held Shen Qingfeng's hand. He looked up at the stars and then turned to look at Shen Qingfeng. "It's almost time. When shall we set off?"
Shen Qingfeng nodded. "We'll set off after Gong Tan has finished handling things over there."
"Oh?" Lu Yan smiled and held Shen Qingfeng's hand even tighter. "I remember I only introduced Gong Tan to you. How did you get so familiar with using him?"
Shen Qingfeng winked playfully. "Make the best use of everything, you know? He's in the imperial guards and holds a deputy position. He's of great benefit to us."
After hearing this, Lu Yan felt a bit jealous. "Gong Tan is a very upright person. I've only been gone for less than a month. How did you persuade him to help you?"