Chapter 473
“Good! Let’s go!” Bai Qingyan looked coldly at King Liang and said to Lu Ping, “Leave two men, capture King Liang. Throw him back. Oh… if King Liang really dares to die, it doesn’t matter. Just say… he committed suicide out of guilt for insulting the Princess of Nandu!”
After speaking, Bai Qingyan helped Dong Tingzhen, who was leaning entirely against her, onto the carriage.
King Liang felt a chill down his spine at Bai Qingyan’s indifferent tone.
Seeing this, King Liang immediately turned and ran without saying a word.
“Chase!” Lu Ping ordered, and two guards immediately rushed out.
Bai Qingyan turned to look at Lu Ping. Lu Ping understood and nodded to Bai Qingyan, who then bent down and entered the carriage.
King Liang ran frantically, hearing footsteps closing in behind him. He turned and wildly slashed with a dagger, barely forcing back the two Bai family guards approaching him.
King Liang was sweating profusely. Since the day he was nearly killed on the long street, he had been severely weakened. Now, he was no match for the two guards.
As King Liang’s mind raced to find an escape route, a skilled swordsman suddenly leaped from the high eaves, his sword gleaming coldly. In an instant, the two Bai family guards who were just chasing King Liang fell to the ground.
The swordsman stood with his back to King Liang, sheathing his long sword.
“Who are you?!”
“A subordinate of the Ninth Prince of Yan. Ordered to protect King Liang once. My master once said, if King Liang needed help, I could save him once. After saving King Liang, I must tell him, this is the only time. Otherwise, my master will doubt King Liang’s ability as a suitable ally.” The man still faced away from King Liang and spoke leisurely, “King Liang, go ahead. I’ll handle this!”
Other than him, no one knew about the cooperation with the Ninth Prince of Yan. King Liang glanced at the fallen Bai family guards, and without doubting, he nodded and ran out of the alley.
Hearing King Liang’s footsteps disappear completely, the two guards on the ground immediately got up, grinning at the swordsman, “How was it? Did we act well?”
The swordsman raised his hand and patted their heads, saying, “Hurry up and go!”
The three quickly left the alley and rode to chase Bai Qingyan’s carriage.
After coming out of the alley, King Liang ran desperately to the Liang Mansion. He was panting heavily, leaning against a wall, clutching his wildly beating heart. He couldn’t help but recall Bai Qingyan’s words. If the Crown Prince entered the palace… putting the blame on him and marrying Liu Ruofu would truly be a loss!
So why couldn’t he turn the tables? Why couldn’t it be the Crown Prince who drugged Liu Ruofu, trying to force the only daughter of King Xian, and he… not knowing why, woke up next to Liu Ruofu!
He was an obedient son, extremely frightened. After sneaking out of Liu Ruofu’s maternal family, he hurried to inform his father, asking for his father’s decision. He feared that if the matter escalated… and Minister Chen found out, it would ruin the marriage his father granted him. He also feared that Dong Tingzhen would think he was heartless!
Having made up his mind, King Liang rushed to the Imperial Palace, looking disheveled and waited at the palace gate. Once the gate opened, he went to see the Emperor.
“Father, you must make justice for me! If Tingzhen knows, how heartbroken she’ll be? I can forego marrying Tingzhen, but I can’t let her think I’m a shameless person! Yesterday, I went to the Dong Mansion to ask Lord Dong not to trouble Tingzhen. On my way out, someone suddenly told me that the Crown Prince wanted to take the Princess of Nandu’s chastity and marry her! I thought that since our Jin Kingdom and Daliang were about to make peace, if the Crown Prince took the Princess of Nandu, it would give the Liang Kingdom an advantage. I hurried to the Crown Prince’s mansion, but as soon as I turned around, everything went black! When I woke up… I found the Princess of Nandu lying beside me. I was terrified! I didn’t know what to do, so I came to you for help!”
Looking at the sobbing King Liang, the Emperor’s heart sank. He looked down at King Liang, who was kneeling and clutching his clothes in fear. Gritting his teeth, he asked, “When you woke up, did you alarm anyone?”
On the way here, he had already thought it through. If he told the Emperor that he had alarmed someone before coming, the Emperor would definitely suspect his motives, thinking he intentionally alarmed others to frame the Crown Prince to benefit himself!
Moreover, if he involved Bai Qingyan, the Emperor would surely ask how he escaped from her. Could he possibly tell the Emperor that he was collaborating with the Ninth Prince of Yan?!
King Liang suddenly thought of Bai Qingyan’s faintly smiling face, involuntarily shivering!
“No, no! I didn’t dare to alarm anyone! I came directly to the palace! I truly don’t know how I ended up in the Princess of Nandu’s bed! Father… please save me! When I sneaked out of the Princess of Nandu’s maternal family… I didn’t alarm anyone either!”
“Sneaked out?” The Emperor frowned, “Are all the people at the Mansion dead? How did you sneak out?”
“I don’t know! When I woke up, the Princess of Nandu was beside me. Then I grabbed my clothes and ran…” As King Liang spoke, he also sensed something was wrong and looked up at the Emperor, “There were no servants guarding the night, and I didn’t encounter anyone on my way out…”
The Emperor’s mind was in chaos. He couldn’t help but recall the Crown Prince’s mention of Dong Qingyue holding military power yesterday.
The Emperor knew well how many people King Liang could mobilize. Especially since King Liang began making elixirs for him, the Emperor had thoroughly investigated everyone in the Liang Mansion. After all, the matter of alchemy… was too significant. He couldn’t let anyone know he, as the Emperor, violated ancestral teachings by dabbling in elixirs.
How could King Liang, without anyone to use, smoothly bypass the many guards, enter the Mansion, and sneak out without encountering anyone?
The Emperor looked down at the weeping King Liang, then raised his head and said to Gao Demao, “Go, summon the Crown Prince. I have something to ask!”
After finishing, the Emperor said to King Liang, “Go, wash your face! What kind of behavior is this, crying like this?”
Tears streaming down, King Liang pleaded, “Father, please, you must stop this from spreading. Tingzhen and I are already suffering enough! I can’t let Tingzhen hear about this!”
The Emperor patted King Liang’s head, “Go!”
The Crown Prince was changing clothes, preparing for the morning court, when someone came from the palace to summon him.
Old Fang was quite puzzled. If the Emperor had summoned the Crown Prince because King Liang and the Princess of Nandu were caught, why hadn’t the three people he sent out returned with the report?