Old Man Miao suddenly turned around.
His somewhat weathered face instantly made Zhao Shuning feel a bit nervous.
"Sir?"
Old Man Miao snatched the lantern with the night pearl from her and walked forward by the light.
He kept his head down.
Not saying a word.
Zhao Shuning found it rather puzzling.
But she could only obediently follow.
After walking for some time.
Old Man Miao finally couldn't hold it in any longer.
Once again, without any warning, he turned around.
Zhao Shuning was so startled that she stopped in her tracks.
"Sir, what's wrong?"
"Miss, you're not from Cangwu Country, so naturally you don't understand the affairs here. Yes, this place, Jiangning, isn't that great, and I didn't manage to get into the Imperial Hospital as I wished. But this has nothing to do with the current king. He's just one person. You don't know what the king has been through all these years, so you have no right to question him like this."
The old man said a lot in one breath.
Zhao Shuning let out a sigh of relief.
She said, "Sir, were you silent all this time just because you were angry about this?"
The temper that Old Man Miao had just managed to calm down flared up again because of Zhao Shuning's words. He turned around angrily and strode towards the mountain path.
Zhao Shuning followed.
She was nimble and could naturally keep up with Old Man Miao. She was just worried that the old man had such a fiery temper and the mountain path was so rough. What if he accidentally tripped and fell?
Fortunately, although Old Man Miao was a bit old, his physical skills were still quite good. It was obvious that he was very familiar with this mountain path.
The people of Cangwu Country.
Actually, they were all grateful to their king, Gu Zhiruo.
The king was a cultivator and had a feminine appearance on a male body. He had suffered a lot of grievances since childhood and had been wandering outside.
Fortunately, he was rescued by a noble person and learned a lot of skills before coming back.
It was originally thought.
After Gu Zhiruo came back, he and his elder brother, Gu Liang, should have supported each other.
But the King of Cheng was obviously not a pushover.
After Gu Zhiruo came back, on the surface, he was obedient, but secretly, he had colluded with many ministers and wanted to kill Gu Zhiruo.
Fortunately.
Because of his feminine appearance and weak body since childhood, the King of Cheng always thought he was frail. He thought that even if he was a cultivator, he should pose no threat to him.
But fortunately.
Over the years.
Gu Zhiruo had been playing the fool to catch the wily.
He had already set up all the plans, just waiting for the King of Cheng to start a rebellion and attack his mansion. Only after he got a legitimate reason could he smoothly wipe out the King of Cheng.
Old Man Miao kept muttering in front.
But his voice wasn't that soft like ordinary muttering.
It seemed as if he was deliberately saying it to Zhao Shuning.
Zhao Shuning smiled behind him. She knew all these things. When she picked up Gu Zhiruo, although he was weak, because of his extremely delicate appearance, Zhao Shuning had almost thought he was a girl.
Although Gu Zhiruo looked delicate.
But his character was malleable.
He could calmly observe the situation and secretly make plans. He was worthy of the lessons she had asked Buran to give them all those years.
"Your king has really had a hard time."
Hearing this.
The expression on Old Man Miao's face who was leading the way softened a bit.
He became even more interested.
Then he continued, "Our king is a kind person. At that time, in order to consolidate the court and make the remaining followers of the King of Cheng give up, he announced to everyone that he had beheaded the King of Cheng and hung his body outside the city and in the mass grave."
"Later—"
"Later you found out that your king didn't kill Gu Liang at all. Out of consideration for family affection, he just broke his legs, severed his hand tendons, and sent him to a place far away from the capital. He also entrusted someone to take care of him all the time."
"Miss, how do you know about the affairs of Cangwu Country?"
Zhao Shuning said, "Sir, you don't need to worry about how I know. I may know more about your king than you do. But I still don't understand. Why do you respect the king of Cangwu Country so much? Why do you have such deep feelings for him?"
Hearing this.
Old Man Miao sighed.
He said earnestly, "Alas—Miss, you don't know. The king has been kind to me."
This was beyond Zhao Shuning's expectation.
Old Man Miao continued.
"Miss may not know that on the night when the King of Cheng attacked the city, the people of Jiangning were also under the attack of artillery fire. If there had been no reinforcements, all the people in the city would surely have perished."
On this point.
Zhao Shuning really didn't know.
"At that time, the king could have given up Jiangning and focused on resisting the returning King of Cheng. But he couldn't bear to abandon the tens of thousands of people in Jiangning. He said to everyone that if the King of Cheng became the emperor, only he himself would die. But if he couldn't bear to give up the vast territory of Cangwu Country and abandoned the lives of the people in this city because of himself, then even if he sat on the throne, he wouldn't be at peace."
"Are you saying that on the night when the King of Cheng attacked, Gu Zhiruo, cough cough cough—your king of Cangwu Country was in Jiangning?"
"The king just passed by Jiangning on the way, but he still stopped. If it weren't for a high - ranking monk who appeared later, I'm afraid the throne of Cangwu Country would have already changed hands."
Zhao Shuning knew about the high - ranking monk.
She had heard Xingchen mention it before.
When the King of Cheng was about to break into the city, a high - ranking monk came under the moon. Wherever he went, the people of Cangwu Country all submitted. With his kingly demeanor, he alone blocked all the rebel troops outside the city.
It turned out.
Back then, Gu Zhiruo was taken advantage of by the King of Cheng because of the tens of thousands of people in Jiangning.
So now.
Even though the people of Jiangning were being manipulated by the governor, Yang Hun, they didn't blame Gu Zhiruo in their hearts.
It was reasonable for Gu Zhiruo to make such a decision.
If he were really a cold - blooded person, she probably wouldn't have saved him back then.
"Miss, we're here."
Zhao Shuning's train of thought.
Quickly returned to reality because of this sentence.
She looked up.
In front of them.
There was a low - lying cave.
Outside the cave, vines were overgrown, and there were also a lot of spider webs on them.
No wonder Old Man Miao didn't agree when Zhao Shuning wanted to fly over with him before. If they had flown over, it would have been very difficult to find such a small cave.
Although it was hot today.
But when approaching the cave.
Zhao Shuning still felt a strong smell of dampness.
"Miss, although the entrance of the cave is a bit small, the space inside is actually quite large. But there are many injured people inside. You should be careful where you step when you go in later."
Zhao Shuning nodded.
"But judging from your clothes, Miss, you probably haven't been to such a dirty place before. How about you wait outside for a while? I'll go in and ask someone to carry out the person who was injured some time ago."
As Old Man Miao's words fell,
Zhao Shuning had already bent down. Her right foot.
Had already stepped into the cave.