As he spoke, he groped along the nearby wall and pressed a switch.
The seamlessly joined stone wall suddenly split open, slowly revealing a narrow door.
Judging from the voices, it was Yan Xuan and Yan Gui who had brought people here.
But Yi Yuan didn't deny Lan Chu's words.
After all, the Mind - Reading Gu was truly a unique and rare treasure, and it had just recognized its master. Although he trusted Yan Xuan and Yan Gui, he couldn't be sure about the others they had brought.
Taking Yun Xi away was the best option.
Instructing Ling Yan to handle the following matters, Yi Yuan carefully picked up Yun Xi and followed Lan Chu into the narrow door.
The two walked in silence. After turning several corners, just as they reached the exit, they saw Emperor Zhaohuan standing with his hands behind his back. It seemed as if he had long anticipated that they would come out from here and was waiting for them.
Yi Yuan was stunned. Suddenly, he didn't know how to face Emperor Zhaohuan.
The person he had always regarded as his elder brother was actually his biological father!
Yi Yuan couldn't accept this fact for a while.
Even though the emperor had sent him to be raised by the old prince to protect him back then, Yi Yuan still felt a thorn in his heart.
However, Emperor Zhaohuan didn't say much to him. Instead, he looked at Lan Chu beside him.
"You're really still alive."
Lan Chu didn't even glance at him and led Yi Yuan towards the Chaogan Palace on her own.
As if he had expected this, Emperor Zhaohuan lifted his legs and followed directly:
"Lan Chu..."
"Shut up!"
Lan Chu seemed very impatient with Emperor Zhaohuan:
"Don't call my name! You're not qualified."
After a moment of silence, Emperor Zhaohuan seemed a bit helpless, but he really didn't touch her sore spot again. Instead, he said:
"How is Miss Yun? She seems to be seriously injured..."
Lan Chu suddenly stopped, turned around sharply, stared at Emperor Zhaohuan, and said in a cold and heartless voice:
"You don't have to have any thoughts about her. The Mind - Reading Gu has already recognized her as its master. Even if you take it out again, it won't work."
Yi Yuan's eyes turned sharp. Holding Yun Xi in his arms, he took a few cautious steps away from Emperor Zhaohuan.
Noticing Yi Yuan's expression, Emperor Zhaohuan shook his head and said:
"I don't have such thoughts. Lan Chu had some misunderstandings about me before, so..."
"Misunderstandings!?"
Lan Chu suddenly raised her voice:
"Do you dare to say that you sent people to secretly monitor Xiaoyuan not because you found out that there might be a Mind - Reading Gu on Yun Xi, and since you couldn't find the Drunken Gu Ring, you suspected Xiaoyuan?"
"Of course not!"
Emperor Zhaohuan flatly denied:
"I sent people to monitor Xiaoyuan because I discovered the trace of the Saint Master. I was afraid that the Saint Master would find out Xiaoyuan's background and do harm to him, so I sent people to protect him."
"What about that woman from the Shen family?"
Lan Chu's expression didn't soften at all. Her questioning words were still sharp:
"How long had elder sister been in the palace before you found that woman from the Shen family to be her substitute? Don't you have any idea in your heart? If you had insisted on stopping elder sister and taking her away to roam the world back then, how could elder sister have still entered the palace according to the Saint Master's order and finally died in the palace?!"
"You just couldn't let go of that position and the supreme power! So you just let elder sister enter the palace and watched the woman you claimed to love become your father's concubine, just so that she could whisper good words for you in front of the old emperor!"
"Yi Qu, don't act affectionate in front of me. I just find it disgusting."
Not bothering to entangle with Emperor Zhaohuan anymore, Lan Chu gave him a disgusted look and then turned around and left.
Emperor Zhaohuan stood there silently, neither defending himself nor following.
Yi Yuan also didn't say a word.
He just carried Yun Xi and followed Lan Chu's steps.
He didn't know about those past events, so he didn't make any comments.
He was more worried about his Xiaoxi.
He could feel that her breathing was getting weaker.
Fortunately, the Chaogan Palace wasn't too far away. At their speed, they arrived there in a short time.
Hun Yuan hadn't come back yet. Yi Yuan carefully placed Yun Xi on the couch in the side hall and looked at Lan Chu anxiously:
"Aunt, why does Xiaoxi seem to be in a worse and worse state?"
Lan Chu also frowned tightly. She walked to Yun Xi's side, held the hand where the Mind - Reading Gu had entered, and carefully felt her pulse for examination.
After a long time, she finally relaxed her eyebrows and said:
"The Mind - Reading Gu has been in her body for too long. It hasn't adapted yet after suddenly recognizing its master. There's no need to worry too much. However..."
Looking at Yi Yuan, who had just let out a sigh of relief but instantly became tense again because of the word "however", a trace of doting like looking at a child flashed in Lan Chu's eyes:
"I'm afraid she will sleep for a long time to unlock all the sealed memories."
"Sealed memories?"
Yi Yuan was puzzled:
"Does Xiaoxi have some memories sealed by someone?"
Nodding, Lan Chu turned to glance at Yun Xi on the bed. Naturally, she reached out to re - treat the wound on her heart and said:
"Do you still remember that she said she couldn't remember anything about her childhood, how she met Shen Zhou, or the memory of being taken away by Mo Tong?"
"These weren't accidents. Instead, the Saint Master and the others deliberately put in a kind of Memory Gu to make the selected children forget their identities and past events and obediently be the furnaces for the Mind - Reading Gu."
"This kind of Gu will make the person who is infected quickly forget the important people and events in their lives, and then forget who they are, what they have experienced, and where they come from. So this child, Xiaoxi, couldn't remember anything about her childhood at all and thought she was from the Ye family."
After carefully checking that the wound was okay, Lan Chu motioned for Yi Yuan to get the gauze for her and then continued:
"However, the memories won't disappear. They will always exist in the brain. Now her body has changed from a furnace to the master of the Gu. The Memory Gu is a small Gu and will be naturally broken. All those sealed memories will also be returned to her."
"Therefore, she may sleep for a relatively long time."
As long as she was okay.
Yi Yuan replied happily. Then he stole a glance at Lan Chu. There were many things he wanted to ask in his heart, but he didn't know how to start.
Lan Chu saw what was on his mind. After quickly bandaging Yun Xi's wound, she let out a long sigh and then said:
"Actually, back then, the matter between your mother and Yi Qu was a willing thing for both of them. If you really dig into it, you can't say who let down who."
"Elder sister's intention of approaching Yi Qu back then wasn't completely innocent. However, it was also true that Yi Qu wanted to use elder sister's beauty to fight for power. It could only be blamed on the tricks of fate. Two people with ulterior motives unexpectedly fell in love with each other."
"Elder sister's decision to go to the palace was mainly to divert the Saint Master's attention and protect you. But the fact that Yi Qu didn't stand up as a man and take on the responsibility of a father was also undeniable. After all, there were many ways to break the situation, but he just chose the way of letting elder sister 'accidentally meet' the former emperor and return to the palace."
Lan Chu's hoarse voice was as low as the sky on a cloudy day about to rain. She tucked in Yun Xi's quilt and said:
"Anyway, these were all their choices. It's my own business that I can't forgive him."
"You're the child of elder sister and him. Over the years, Yi Qu has also spent a lot of effort on you. Whether you regard him as an elder brother or a father, it's up to you to choose."
"As for Yun Xi, it's a debt that elder sister and I owe her. Back then, the Liu family and the Yun family, those Gu and those lives, even though elder sister and I didn't want it, in the end, there was still a bit of our doing at the source."
"This debt... can only be repaid by you."