The carriage slowly came to a stop. It was time to get off.
But Long Fei Ye and Han Yunxi didn't move. One had his head bowed, making it impossible to see his expression, while the other was expressionless as she stared out the window.
In the end, it was Han Yunxi who emerged first. She was about to jump off the carriage when Baili Mingxiang hastily stopped her. "Esteemed wangfei, Mingxiang will help you."
Han Yunxi didn't speak, but jumped off the carriage to avoid him. She wasn't some delicate flower, much less a sickly invalid. Why would she need someone to help her off the carriage?
The driver was helpless at the sight. In the past, esteemed wangfei had always been helped on and off the carriage by His Highness.
By now, Long Fei Ye had recovered his wits and silently got off the carriage. He glanced at Han Yunxi before walking towards the imperial study. Naturally, Han Yunxi followed him.
Baili Mingxiang didn't follow, but stood guard by the carriage with the driver.
Han Yunxi was clearly distracted, so she didn't notice that Baili Mingxiang wasn't following them. As she walked, she found it hard to keep up with Long Fei Ye. His legs were so long that she could take two steps with him. Only now did she realize that he'd purposely slowed down when he held her hand in the past.
Thinking up to here, she didn't chase after him, but walked at her usual pace. But Long Fei Ye didn't slow down at all, but picked up his pace instead. As a result, the distance between the two of them grew wider and wider.
As she watched Long Feiye walk further and further away, Han Yunxi's expression grew uglier and uglier. She almost turned to leave. With his attitude, he probably wouldn't even notice if she suddenly disappeared.
Damned Emperor Tianhui. It was enough to summon Long Fei Ye, but why did he summon her as well?
Sulking, Han Yunxi cursed Emperor Tianhui countless times in her heart. By the time she reached the door to the imperial study, Long Fei Ye had already been waiting for her with a taut face.
She still walked the remaining few steps quickly. However, as soon as she reached his side, he went straight into the house and left her with his back facing her.
Long Fei Ye!
Han Yunxi was so angry that she glared at him. Unfortunately, it was useless. He didn't have eyes on his back and couldn't see.
She walked in with large strides, looking like she was telling strangers not to come near and acquaintances not to disturb her. Her expression was really twice as ugly as Long Fei Ye's.
Emperor Tianhui disliked Long Fei Ye's cold face to begin with. Now that he saw Han Yunxi's expression, he assumed that this couple wasn't giving him any face and immediately grew gloomy.
This assassination attempt had nothing to do with him. What was the attitude of these two people?
"Come and have a seat. Yunxi, did you get a fright this time? "
Emperor Tianhui asked with concern as he walked towards the tea table. He hadn't summoned the Duke of Qin and his wife to question them, but simply wanted to chat.
"No," Han Yunxi answered straightforwardly.
Could she say that she was really frightened? Could she say that without Gu, she would've been shot to death by the arrows long ago? Could she really be frightened by the sight of Gu Qishao's battered back and bruised body?
She wasn't here to complain and make Emperor Tianhui laugh at her!
If Long Tianmo and Mu Qingwu hadn't escalated the situation to the point of "endangering the capital," Emperor Tianhui might even be thanking those crossbow archers!
"Did you get hurt?" Emperor Tianhui asked next.
"No!" Han Yunxi replied mildly.
Emperor Tianhui was about to ask some more questions, but Han Yunxi's curt reply made him unable to continue.
After sitting down, he made a gesture, and Long Fei Ye sat down across from him.
There were only two seats at the table in the imperial study, so Han Yunxi had nowhere to sit. Emperor Tianhui should've given her a seat, but he didn't say a word. Instead, he slowly steeped some tea.
Long Fei Ye didn't speak either, but Han Yunxi stood behind him like a servant girl. Her head and eyes were bowed, but her back was still ramrod straight.
Emperor Tianhui was about to pour some tea for Long Fei Ye when Long Fei Ye stopped him. "I don't dare. Chendi will do it."
His movements were a hundred times more elegant than Emperor Tianhui's. "Imperial brother didn't make a special trip to find chendi for tea, did you?"
He started the conversation without paying any attention to Han Yunxi standing on one side.
Emperor Tianhui glanced at Han Yunxi in astonishment. Could it be that the Duke of Qin had grown tired of this woman? Didn't he dote on her before? Is he just going to let her stand here and ignore her?
"Heheh, Zhen really did make a special trip to find you for tea. Ever since the black market gunpowder explosion, Zhen's ears haven't had a moment of peace, "Emperor Tianhui sighed with emotion.
"Imperial brother has worked hard for the country. It's been hard on you," Long Fei Ye said half-heartedly.
Emperor Tianhui sighed and asked, "Have you found any clues about those crossbow archers?"
"You'll have to ask the imperial guards to find out. Chendi is waiting for news too," Long Fei Ye pushed the blame away.
Emperor Tianhui suddenly lost his temper. "Those useless imperial guards, they can't even find the culprit when they're trying to catch a turtle in a jar! Zhen will give Mu Qingwu three days. If he doesn't find the culprit by then, Zhen will cripple him! "
Long Fei Ye remained silent for a while before he said, "You can't blame the young general. Chendi personally searched for an entire day without finding the culprit."
Emperor Tianhui was astonished by his words.
Aside from the empress dowager's birthday banquet, the Duke of Qin had never shown favoritism to any faction despite his overwhelming power. But today he was speaking up for Mu Qingwu?
He'd clearly stayed in the Duke of Qin's estate without making any moves over the past few days, so where did the search come from? Moreover, Mu Qingwu's subordinates had turned traitor and almost took Han Yunxi's life. Didn't that guy bear a grudge?
"Don't blame him? There's actually a traitor in the imperial guards. How serious is that? How can Zhen not blame him? "Emperor Tianhui slapped the table angrily.
Long Fei Ye didn't feel any pain or itch. "He has so many soldiers in his hands, so it's impossible to cover every single one of them. It's inevitable. If imperial brother wants to deal with him, he'll have to wait until this matter is over. Now's the time to use people. "
Emperor Tianhui's eyes flickered with complicated emotions. The Duke of Qin seemed to be aloof and neutral on the surface, but his words were clearly protecting Mu Qingwu.
Was there some secret between the Duke of Qin's estate and General Mu's estate?
Emperor Tianhui drank a few cups of tea before he spoke again. "You know what happened at the military depot last night, right?"
"How could gunpowder be so easy to get? As chendi sees it, this incident and that incident at the black market … aren't much different. "
Emperor Tianhui was more concerned about that than anything else. "What do you mean?" he asked anxiously.
"Only the armies of the two nations have access to gunpowder. General Mu wouldn't be stupid enough to light it up in front of his own house, right?" Long Fei Ye laughed lightly.
His words were obviously suspecting the Chu Clan.
Emperor Tianhui laughed coldly. "What if he was hiding it for himself and accidentally detonated it?"
"This …"
Long Fei Ye gave him a meaningful look, but stopped favoring the Mu Clan. "That's hard to say. Chendi was only guessing on the spur of the moment. As for the truth, it's still up to imperial brother to decide. "
But his previous words had already planted the seeds of doubt in Emperor Tianhui's heart.
General Mu's estate held one of Tianning's three largest military forces and commanded 100,000 imperial guards. It was only natural that they were loyal to Tianning, but who they were loyal to had always been a variable.
This was especially true after His Highness Duke of Qin's forces grew strong enough to contend against Emperor Tianhui's.
He seemed to be neutral on the surface, but was actually the most worrisome of all.
It wasn't until Emperor Tianhui reactivated the crown prince and united father and son against the Duke of Qin's estate that General Mu's stance became clear.
In front of the Duke of Qin, Emperor Tianhui wouldn't be on guard against his own son for now. He'd also included General Mu's estate in his own sphere of influence.
But now the imperial guards had changed sides, the crown prince was insinuating insinuations and squeezing out Noble Consort Chu, the military depot had exploded, and the Duke of Qin's attitude today … how could the paranoid Emperor Tianhui set his heart at ease?
What Long Fei Ye wanted was for Emperor Tianhui to grow suspicious of the Mu Clan and the crown prince!
After being reactivated, the crown prince had long harbored thoughts of rebelling and usurping the throne. But he'd always lacked the right opportunity to do so. Now was a good chance!
Of course, the crown prince was still too young and inexperienced to accomplish anything on his own. But things would be different if the Mu Clan had thoughts of rebellion as well. As long as the Mu Clan could harden their hearts to help the crown prince, the Chu Clan wouldn't be able to reap any benefits no matter what they did.
Long Fei Ye hadn't made a move this entire time, but he was still keeping track of the situation.
At this point, Emperor Tianhui didn't ask any more questions, but started chatting about other irrelevant topics. Long Fei Ye kept to himself as he replied, even nodding his head several times without saying a word.
As they chatted and drank tea, two hours passed by.
Han Yunxi's legs were sore from all the standing. She couldn't help but glance at Long Fei Ye multiple times, but Long Fei Ye seemed to have forgotten about her existence and completely ignored her.
Of course Emperor Tianhui remembered her existence. He gave her a meaningful look before having Eunuch Luo set up the chessboard. "Duke of Qin, you haven't exchanged pointers with Zhen in a long time. If you don't lose today, I won't let you go."
Who would dare to win a game of chess against the emperor?
But Long Fei Ye dared. He'd played chess countless times since he was young and had never lost a single match.
Long Fei Ye didn't speak, but the white and black chess pieces soon began to play against each other. Long Fei Ye's stance showed that he wasn't planning to lose. If he wasn't planning to lose, did that mean he wasn't planning to leave?
Han Yunxi kept her eyes lowered as she stared at the chessboard. She was alone in a world of silence.
This game of chess went on for a full four hours. By the time night fell, there was still no winner. Including the previous two hours, Han Yunxi had been standing for a total of six hours. Her calves had even gone numb.
In the end, an urgent report arrived, prompting Emperor Tianhui to stop the game. "Heheh, looks like Zhen has no choice but to let you go today."
"Chendi should take his leave as well," Long Fei Ye lazily rose to his feet.
He walked easily, but Han Yunxi's legs almost gave way as soon as she took a step. Still, she steadied herself. Her calves grew numb with each step, but she kept her back straight and her head held high as she followed him out.
Emperor Tianhui stared at their departing figures, filled with doubts.
He was trying to figure out what had happened between Long Fei Ye and Han Yunxi, but the current situation in the capital made him too preoccupied to think about it.
Just like before, Long Fei Ye was walking in front while Han Yunxi followed behind. But she was no longer looking at his back, but staring at the road with her head bowed.
She didn't know how long she'd been walking, but she only lifted her head when she reached the palace gates. Actually, she didn't like looking at his back because it gave her a sense of unfamiliarity.
But this time, she didn't even have time to look at Long Fei Ye's back, because Long Fei Ye had already boarded his carriage …
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