Long tilted his head. “You’re good in every way… Qingzhou, you have more advantages than I can count.”
Shi burst into laughter. “You’ve got a glib tongue.”
The two of them talked for a while and Long had a better mood.
In the afternoon, Long and Shi secretly went to the local government, where they met the magistrate Mister Wang.
Mister Wang was instructed by Shi to lead his soldiers to Fenghuang Mountain that day.
He did not know that the emperor was there, but he knew Shi.
Long and Shi went there with the masks that would make them have a different face. Mister Wang could recognize Shi because of the identity certificate he was given.
After Mister Wang greeted him, Shi said, “Mister Wang, I came here this time to tell you some information about Tianyin post and I’ll need your cooperation.”
“Your Majesty, please,” Mister Wang immediately said.
Shi told Mister Wang in detail what he wanted him to say. After Mister Wang promised to do it properly, Long and Shi left.
When they were walking in the street, Shi said, “There are too many soldiers and horses here. I need to leave here for a few days to borrow some soldiers.”
Long sighed, but still nodded. “Well, it’s a pity that I finally came here, but have to be separated from you again. It’s really unpleasant. After the mastermind of this matter is dealt with, I’m afraid that I’m going to be a tyrant again.”
“How can you be called a tyrant if you protect your own country and people?” Shi smiled.
Long’s eyes brightened slightly after he heard the words. “So I can’t be called a tyrant…”
“Of course not,” Shi said firmly.
Long was satisfied with his empress’ words. Then, he allowed Shi to leave after having wonton soup with him at a stall on the street.
In fact, Shi also didn’t want to leave him, but he had no other choice. At the moment, of course state affairs were the most important.
After having the wonton soup, Long went back to the inn and received a message from the imperial palace brought by a carrier pigeon.
He hadn’t shown up for a few days. Although the daily official reports had been dealt with by others, there was already some doubt.
Doubt about what? Naturally, some people doubted that Long was not in the palace at present!
In addition, Shi hadn’t appeared for a few days, either. Plus the timing of the attempted assassination of the emperor… everyone was guessing that both the emperor and the empress were not in the palace!
A lot of people guessed like that and some people already took action.
In the harem, all the concubines, except Lady Shan and Lady Rou, had brought soup to visit the emperor who was supposed to have been injured. They hoped to see the emperor in person, but they were all stopped outside.
The concubines had made a move.
In addition, two ministers also requested an audience with the emperor because of various things, but they naturally got rejected. No one was allowed to meet with the emperor!
Just because all the people were turned down, there were more and more rumors in the court.
Especially at the moment, since the emperor had not recovered from the hand injury, the morning meeting was temporarily canceled.
The ministers just needed to submit the reports.
However, after they submitted the reports, they would still gather together, so there was already a lot of discussion in the court.
After reading the message, Long sneered and burned the note with a candle.
In the evening, Xu came to have dinner.
“Hmm? Where’s Elder Brother Shi? Why didn’t I see him?” Xu looked around the room, but didn’t see Shi, so he asked Long.
Long said, “He left for business. He’ll be away for two days.”
“What?” Xu blinked. “He’s left?”
“Yes. Do you have something to tell him?” Long asked.
Xu shook his head. “No, I was just asking.”
Long looked at him and said, “We’ve found the doctor and he’ll be taken to Tianyin post by a Shadow Guardian to check on Fang Shuoyang tonight.”
“Really?” Xu stood up at once. “Will there be any trouble?”
“Let’s give it a try. Don’t worry. The Shadow Guardian won’t force him. It’ll be good if he makes it. But if he fails, we’ll have to accept that.”
“Shouldn’t we ask about the situation there first? Fang Shuoyang hasn’t said anything.” Xu was innocent. He remembered everything that Shi said.
Long smiled. “Silly, shouldn’t you feel happy that we’re doing the two things at the same time?”
Xu scratched his head. “I’m just worried.”
Long found it hard to explain to this innocent kid. “Alright, let’s eat.”
“Oh.” Xu nodded obediently.
That night, Long slept alone on the big bed of the inn and felt… very uneasy.
When Shi was lying beside him, he had a completely different feeling. Really… Tsk.
Finally, he fell asleep. In the second half of the night, Long had a nightmare and woke up with a start.
Then, Long found that he was in a sweat, which made him feel very sad.
Most importantly, he didn’t know why, but he just felt… so insecure. He didn’t know the reason.
Then, Long frowned and said, “Guard.”
Soon, a Shadow Guardian appeared in the room. “Greetings, Your Majesty.”
“You may rise. Where did the empress get to now?” Long asked. Since he felt uneasy, naturally the first person he’d think of was his empress.
“It’s estimated that he should get to Songzhou now.”
Shi went to Songzhou to borrow troops and he accelerated the speed.
Considering the distance, he really should have arrived there.
Long slightly frowned. “Is there any news over there?”
“No,” the Shadow Guardian replied.
Long pressed his lips and waved. “Alright, you can leave.”
After the Shadow Guardian left, Long drank a glass of water and lay down again, but… he couldn’t fall asleep at all.
He sighed. Finally, Long said to the air, “When the Shadow Guardian who went to Sky Hermit Fort comes back, tell him to come to see me immediately.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
Long didn’t speak anymore and closed his eyes.
However, although he closed his eyes, he couldn’t fall asleep in any way, because his mind was clear. He was afraid that it would be difficult for him to get to sleep again that night.
Shi Qingzhou…
Murmuring the name in his heart, Long never thought he would fall in love with someone like that in the past.
When that really happened… he found that it did feel good. He hoped the disturbances could end soon so that he and his dear Qingzhou could live a simple and carefree life forever.
After about half an hour, a Shadow Guardian appeared again.
Long wasn’t asleep, so the Shadow Guardian who came back from Tianyin post went to report to him.
The Shadow Guardian got some information from Fang Shuoyang.
Fang Shuoyang discovered the secret of Fenghuang Mountain. Knowing that his father might be doing something rebellious, Fang Shuoyang went to argue with him. Then, Fang Qiuhua broke his legs in a rage and he had been locked up to present.
Zhou Huan, Fang Qiuhua’s wife, did not know what her husband had done.
The Shadow Guardian asked why Zhou Huan quarreled with Fang Qiuhua and the answer he got was that Zhou thought his husband had an affair outside. Fang Shuoyang didn’t deny, so they always fought.
However, it was obvious that Fang Qiuhua sometimes went to some mysterious place at night not for some women, but for rebellion!
Apart from that, Fang Shuoyang didn’t provide any other useful information.
But they’d already known the secret of Fenghuang Mountain.
Finally, Fang Shuoyang gave the Shadow Guardian a map of Tianyin post, as well as maps about secret mechanisms and secret chambers.
Fang Shuoyang said that his father deserved to be killed, but he hoped that the emperor would spare the innocent people in Tianyin post.
As for those people who worked with his father… Fang Shuoyang said that he would deal with them together.
In addition, he told the Shadow Guardian the names of all his trusted subordinates, who still didn’t know that he had been locked up secretly by his father. His mother didn’t know that, either.
Otherwise, he would never end up like this.
The Shadow Guardian recorded the names of all those people and took Fang Shuoyang’s keepsake.
Moreover, the doctor who was brought there also checked on Fang Shuoyang. The doctor said his legs should be treated within half a month. Otherwise, he would suffer lifelong disability.
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