allonlinenovel Chapter 364
Chapter 364
"Miss Cheng, isn't it obvious? I advise you to keep quiet for now!" Qingyue sighed, offering a kind reminder.Although Cheng Qingli was secretly annoyed, she had to admit that Li Zhiwei's intuition might be right this time; there was probably something genuinely wrong with that land deed.
Could the people targeting her be from Prince Lanhuai's Manor?
Or perhaps that secondary consort?
Soon, the sounds of a struggle echoed from outside the carriage.
"Stay inside the carriage and do not come out!" After giving this instruction, Qingyue darted outside.
She had not expected that those people would actually dare to make a move right at the palace gates.
After all, the palace gates were just a short distance away.
The mastermind was clearly driven to desperation, thus hurriedly sending assassins.
Sure enough, the guards on the nearby city wall spotted the commotion and quickly rushed over with reinforcements.
"Hurry up and protect the carriage! The Empress's own younger sister is inside," Qingyue ordered the approaching guards.
Hearing that it was the Miss of the Cheng family, several guards immediately joined the fray to protect the carriage.
The hidden guards of Prince Lanhuai's Manor were no match for the imperial guards. In no time at all, they were defeated.
Qingyue directly drove the carriage forward.
She left a few guards behind to deal with the two men in black.
"Who goes there?" Although the guards at the palace gate had seen the disturbance, they still stopped the carriage that suddenly rushed toward them.
"I came out in a hurry today and forgot to bring my waist token. I hope you can make an exception, brother," Cheng Qingli said, poking her head out of the carriage somewhat embarrassedly.
"Miss Cheng? Please come in." Recognizing Cheng Qingli, the guards quickly let her through.
After all, the Second Miss of the Cheng family was a frequent visitor to the palace.
Naturally, they did not dare to stop her.
Seeing this, Qingyue had not realized that Cheng Qingli had such great influence, practically enjoying unimpeded access within the imperial palace.
However, the most urgent matter was to get her to see the Emperor as quickly as possible. Otherwise, if those men in black, whose identities were still unknown, managed to snatch the item because they were too late, the loss would outweigh the gain.
When Cheng Qingli appeared in the imperial study, Zhu Jingchen was taken aback for a moment.
Although his sister-in-law often entered the palace to seek out the Empress, this was the first time she had come looking for him.
"Qingli is here!" Zhu Jingchen said with a smile, wondering inwardly if this little girl had come to him because she had run into some trouble.
"Emperor Brother-in-law," Cheng Qingli greeted, still somewhat afraid of the Emperor.
After all, when she saw the Empress, she could act as mischievously as she wanted, and her sister would always indulge her.
But the Emperor was a different story.
She was genuinely terrified that if she accidentally said the wrong thing, her head would be separated from her shoulders.
"Qingli, have you encountered some trouble? It is fine, just tell me, and I will stand up for you." Looking at Cheng Qingli's expression, Zhu Jingchen suddenly recalled how the Empress used to stomp her feet in anger because of this younger sister.
He was still curious; could it be that this girl had caused some major disaster this time?
"Emperor Brother-in-law, this is for you. You need to send someone to investigate it right away. Sister Li said there might be a problem with this manor." Cheng Qingli took the land deed for the manor out of her robes and handed it to Zhu Jingchen.
"Is Sister Li the daughter of Lord Li?" Zhu Jingchen took the thin piece of paper and examined it with curiosity.
However, as he looked at it, it seemed to be nothing more than an ordinary piece of paper. He really could not see anything wrong with it.
Besides, there were so many manors in the suburbs; they could not all have problems, right?
"Emperor Brother-in-law, I won this land deed from Secondary Consort Huo of Prince Lanhuai's Manor. I also won a land deed for a mountain peak along with it. I gave the mountain deed to Shopkeeper Xu, and I was originally going to give this one to Sister Li. However, Sister Li said there might be an issue with it and told me to have you send someone to investigate immediately." Cheng Qingli thought for a moment before telling the truth.
"The Huo family's?" Hearing this, Zhu Jingchen also felt something was amiss. After all, the Huo family's properties had been confiscated.
But for such a manor to be left behind, whether there was truly a problem or not, sending someone to take a look would not hurt.
"Jinyan, take some men to investigate and see if there are any secret rooms or the like," Zhu Jingchen instructed Jinyan, who was standing to the side.
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Jinyan took the item and left.
"You said you gave the land deed for the mountain peak to Shopkeeper Xu. Do you remember which mountain it was?" Zhu Jingchen looked back at Cheng Qingli and asked.
"That mountain is also in the suburbs. I think it is called Jade Rabbit Mountain," Cheng Qingli said after a moment's thought.
"I understand." Zhu Jingchen waved his hand, and soon a dark shadow flashed past.
It was Zhu Jingchen's hidden guard. He sent the guard to find Shopkeeper Xu, retrieve that land deed, and also dispatch someone to investigate if there was any problem with that mountain.
"Have you seen your sister yet?" Zhu Jingchen looked at Cheng Qingli and asked with a smile.
After all, this little girl had a very close relationship with the Empress.
He had often been envious of the bond between the two sisters.
His own relationships with his brothers and sisters were nowhere near as pure.
"Not yet. I will go see my sister right now. I beg to take my leave!" After Cheng Qingli finished speaking, she ran off as if she were fleeing.
"Am I really that frightening?" Watching Cheng Qingli run away like she was escaping, Zhu Jingchen touched his face with a hint of self-doubt.
"Your Majesty, Second Miss Cheng is perhaps just afraid that you will scold her for going to Jubao Pavilion," Eunuch Liu quickly chimed in from the side.
"You are right. What kind of place is Jubao Pavilion? How could this girl run off to a place like that to gamble?" Speaking of this, Zhu Jingchen felt he should have a good talk with the Empress. She was the Empress's sister, which meant she was his sister too.
Should not one protect their own sister well?
"Never mind. I will discuss this matter with the Empress later." Zhu Jingchen was also worried that if he went now, it might cause Li Zhiwei to harbor some grievances.
"Your Majesty, Commander Wei requests an audience," a young eunuch's voice rang out from outside the door.
"Send him in," Zhu Jingchen said calmly.
"Your humble subject, Wei Yan, pays his respects to Your Majesty. Long live, long live, long live the Emperor!" Wei Yan bowed to the Emperor.
"Does my beloved subject Wei have something to report?" Zhu Jingchen looked at Wei Yan with some confusion. After all, if nothing was wrong, he usually would not come to the imperial study to find him.
"Reporting to Your Majesty, we just captured two men in black attempting to assassinate Second Miss Cheng outside the palace gates."
Wei Yan did not waste any words and spoke directly.
"Qingli was just assassinated?" Zhu Jingchen asked, looking at Wei Yan in shock.
"Yes. However, Miss Cheng has already entered the palace by now and is presumably with Her Majesty the Empress. Your Majesty, may your subordinate ask Second Miss Cheng if something happened just now?" Wei Yan thought for a moment before stating his purpose truthfully.
"Go and invite the Empress and Second Miss Cheng over." Zhu Jingchen's face darkened.
This incident was clearly someone coming after that land deed.
It seemed there was indeed something fishy about that manor.
Otherwise, why would those people be in such a desperate hurry to commit murder right at the palace gates?