There was less than an hour before sunrise. Shen Qingfeng checked the time. After receiving Gong Tan's signal, he and Lu Yan unanimously decided to set off early.
Yu Shuang walked up to Shen Qingfeng, leaned slightly and said, "My lord, His Highness the Prince of Yu..."
Shen Qingfeng was standing beside the horse with Lu Yan, about to set off. Hearing this, he glanced at Xia Yanhe, who was lying dying in the courtyard, and whispered, "Can he be saved?"
Yu Shuang shook her head slightly and said, "The arrow of the Marquis of Dingbei pierced through his chest. At present, the chances of survival are slim."
Lu Yan had his arm around Shen Qingfeng's waist. Hearing this, he snorted disdainfully.
Shen Qingfeng looked at Lu Yan helplessly, not knowing what to say for a moment. Although he hated Xia Yanhe and Xia Yonglin, Shen Qingfeng asked himself that he didn't want them to die. That was why he gave Xia Yonglin a way out when he met him in prison.
The past life was over. Shen Qingfeng didn't like unnecessary killings.
"Try your best to save him," Shen Qingfeng said. "Use the best medicinal materials and invite the best doctors in Lige City. After that, it's up to his fate."
Yu Shuang nodded and turned to make arrangements.
Lu Yan straightened Shen Qingfeng's body, made him look at himself, and held his shoulders with both hands. "Qingfeng, if you don't want to kill Xia Yanhe and Xia Yonglin, have you considered what will happen later?"
Shen Qingfeng took his hand and said with a gentle smile, "Are you worried that they will cause another civil unrest later?"
Lu Yan nodded and said, "When pulling out weeds, you must remove the roots. You should understand this truth. Do you have any plans?"
Shen Qingfeng said, "Don't worry. I'm going to exile them both to Hainan. It's far from Lige, sparsely populated, and close to the sea. Sending them there, at least they won't starve to death. But you know that most of the reason they were so aggressive was because of Qi Shuhuan and Qi Yan."
Lu Yan thought for a while and nodded. "You want Xia Chuli to be a wise king, so you can't kill them openly. What are you going to do?"
Shen Qingfeng smiled and said, "Don't worry. During the palace coup later, find an opportunity to poison them. When people ask later, just say they died suddenly. At that time, the Bian Palace will be so chaotic that no one will be able to find out."
"Ugh—!"
A heart - rending scream came from the cell. Qi Shuhuan's eyes were wide open, his pupils contracting and expanding rapidly. He was rolling on the ground in pain, constantly digging at his throat with both hands. But no matter how hard he tried, all he spat out from his stomach was some acid water, which couldn't relieve the excruciating pain at all.
"Don't waste your effort, Prime Minister," Xia Chuli was leaning against a wooden stake at the door of Qi Shuhuan's cell, playing with the empty small porcelain bottle in his hand.
"This is diluted lead - silver water. It's colorless, odorless, and melts in the mouth. Those who eat it—" Xia Chuli paused, showing a terrifying smile on his face. "Will surely die."
Hearing this, Qi Shuhuan's body trembled violently, and then he let out a heart - rending scream.
He no longer had the high - and - mighty look of the past. Xia Chuli coldly watched Qi Shuhuan, who was wearing prison clothes and rolling on the ground in pain. He felt indescribable pleasure in his heart. He stepped forward and kicked Qi Shuhuan in the stomach, laughing maniacally. "Painful? Desperate? My mother died because of this! Don't think I don't know how much trouble you've stirred up!"
Qi Shuhuan let out a sob and gasped for breath in pain. He no longer had the energy to think about how Xia Chuli knew about this. He felt as if his whole body was being trampled by thousands of horses. The air in his lungs was getting less and less, almost reaching the critical point.
"You... brute! ...Will not... die a good death!"
Xia Chuli raised his eyebrows. He looked down at Qi Shuhuan, who was curled up on the ground, as if looking at a dying dog. And this dog that had once bitten people was actually accusing the avenger here?
Hahaha! It was really ridiculous!
Xia Chuli's eyes were blood - red. In his previous life, Qi Shuhuan was forced to death by his words. Compared with this life, the pleasure of killing his enemy with his own hands was even more exciting.
He grinned like a madman. "I won't die a good death? Qi Shuhuan, we will both go to hell, the deepest eighteenth level of hell, and never be reborn! How about it? You go down first and pave the way for me?"
Xia Chuli's hands slowly reached for Qi Shuhuan's neck and slowly tightened. Qi Shuhuan was already on his last breath and had no strength to struggle. He was still muttering, "Even if I don't kill you, Shen Qingfeng will surely kill you. He is my man. Of course, I know him best. Hahaha... But rather than let him kill you, it's better for me to do it myself! Anyway, after today, anyway, after today..."
He didn't finish what he wanted to say, because Qi Shuhuan's body trembled violently, and then his head tilted, and he died before his words were finished.
In Lige City, the powerful and aged prime minister died quietly in the death row of the Discipline Gate.
Xia Chuli blinked his eyes indifferently, then loosened his hands, and Qi Shuhuan's lifeless body fell to the ground with a "plop".
A once - powerful official was gone, not even raising a speck of dust when he fell.
And Xia Chuli just walked away without even looking back.
He returned to the Eastern Palace. After looking around, he walked into his bedroom satisfactorily and quietly waited for the show to begin under Liu Mei's ambiguous gaze.
After a stick of incense, the door of the Eastern Palace was opened.
Shen Qingfeng, who pushed open the door, probably didn't know that what he pushed open was not a palace gate to welcome a wise king. Sitting in this Eastern Palace was something he was most reluctant to face and recall.
Shen Qingfeng didn't know that he had pushed open the cause and effect of his previous life, and pushed open another ending and a different path that he couldn't avoid.
At this moment when dawn was about to come, something that was changing subtly was slowly breaking and tearing.
"A Li?"
Shen Qingfeng sensed something was wrong. The deathly - still Eastern Palace was not what he had imagined. He didn't see Xia Chuli waiting for him as promised. The whole courtyard was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Even the busy maids and eunuchs were nowhere to be seen.
A sense of unease slowly rose in Shen Qingfeng's heart. He reached into his bosom, took out the firework, and tightly held it in his hand under his sleeve.
"A Li?"
Shen Qingfeng called out again, but the only response he got was boundless silence.
Yu Shuang and Xiangcheng, who were following Shen Qingfeng, looked at each other and saw unease in each other's eyes.
Because Xiangcheng's body had been nourished by lead - silver water, some of his body functions were different from ordinary people. His nose suddenly twitched, and he whispered sharply, "My lord! There's a smell of blood!"