Translator: Dj2203
Editor: Dj2203
Advance chapters available for patrons on Patreon. And a chapter can be sponsored by buying me a ko-fi.
Su Xi didn’t know when the assassination attempt in Yunzhou would happen, and she was worried that it might happen in the middle of the night when she was sleeping. And if she accidentally failed the mission and caused the emperor to die, then she would be finished.
So she told the cub in advance that she had drifted to some alleys in Yunzhou and discovered that someone was plotting to assassinate the emperor and told the cub to be careful.
Lu Huan watched her earnestly spout nonsense, saying she could walk through walls and kill little demons with a single punch, and found it amusing. But he suppressed a laugh and nodded seriously, “Well, thank you, Xiao Xi. I will certainly be careful about this.”
….
A few days later, the emperor arrived at the Yunzhou Palace, and the army followed closely behind. The army, weary from their journey, temporarily camped outside the city, while, according to the laws of the Yan Kingdom, the officials leading the army were to enter the city to meet the emperor.
So the emperor and several other officials held a banquet at the temporary palace to see off General Zhenyuan.
Previously, there had been a long-standing dispute over who should go to the North to quell the rebellion.
The Emperor originally favored the Second Prince, as he was low-key and honest. And because his mother came from a humble background, he had no connections in the court. It would be most suitable to entrust him with military power, and the Emperor could also take the opportunity to regain control of the Zhenyuan General’s military power and balance the situation in the court.
The Fifth Prince had been actively forming cliques and engaging in corrupt practices in court. Although the Emperor favored his mother, he disliked the prince. The prince was ambitious and enjoyed great popularity among the people. The Emperor feared he would threaten the Crown Prince’s position, therefore, military power was absolutely not to be entrusted to him.
But who would have thought that the second son was like a salted fish, falling ill as soon as he heard that he was going to the northern border. First, he was bedridden for three whole months due to an arrow wound. And after the grain and supplies for General Zhenyuan had been gathered, he claimed to have caught a cold and was ill again, thus delaying his departure once more.
The emperor intended to support him, but he was so utterly hopeless.
So the emperor was furious.
Ultimately, the task of quelling the rebellion in the north was thus entrusted to General Zhenyuan.
With military power in the hands of a man from another family like General Zhenyuan, the Emperor could not possibly feel at ease! Fortunately, General Zhenyuan had no sons and no successor, so even if he had any rebellious intentions, he would probably be powerless to do so.
The Emperor was making such plans, but he never expected that at the banquet in Yunzhou, he would notice that General Zhenyuan seemed to have a special interest in a cavalry captain.
There were thousands of civil and military officials in the court, with over a hundred of them holding the rank of third grade or higher. Naturally, the emperor couldn’t possibly remember every minor official. However, he did have a strong impression of this boy who was only sixteen years old.
Although he had only met him once a year ago at the Autumn Qiushan Hunting Banquet, he was deeply impressed and felt that he resembled an old friend. However, the emperor was slightly drunk at the time and assumed that he was just drunk and did not pay much attention.
Later, Grand Commandant Yun and General Zhenyuan successively recommended him, which slightly attracted the Emperor’s attention. Originally, the Emperor was bound to suspect that the two men wanted to place their own people in the court. However, because he had a good impression of the young man at the banquet that night, the Emperor actually agreed to it, since it was just a minor official of the fourth or fifth rank anyway.
But at the farewell banquet in Yunzhou today, the Emperor did not drink too much and remained perfectly sober. When he saw the young man again under the blazing sun, he was momentarily dazed, feeling that the young man’s appearance seemed to have some resemblance to that person— not in terms of facial features, but in certain subtle expressions that only the Emperor, who had spent every day with that person, could recognize.
But the emperor immediately laughed and said it must be his imagination. Who in the world doesn’t have two eyes and one nose? What’s so strange about some similarities?
This man was a concubine’s son from the Ning Wang’s household. After meeting that person in Yunzhou, he directly brought her into the palace and made her a concubine. That person wasted her years in the palace for him, withering away in the deep palace, never even seeing Ning Wang’s face.
Am I getting senile?
So during the meal, he couldn’t help but glance at the young man a few more times.
As a result, it was discovered that General Zhenyuan, the old fox, did not show anything, but several of his subordinates clearly treated the young man with more respect.
This showed that the young man, who had just been promoted to cavalry captain, held a high position in the army.
The fact that General Zhenyuan was consciously looking for a successor was not a good thing.
The emperor’s heart was filled with alarm bells, and he glanced at General Zhenyuan and the young man a few more times without showing any emotion.
Lu Huan naturally noticed the Emperor’s gaze. He could guess the Emperor’s thoughts, so he pretended to be nonchalant, lowered his head and drank his wine, trying his best to blend into the crowd.
However, when he toasted the emperor, his gaze lingered on the emperor’s features for an extra second.
Before hearing the Taoist nun’s account of his background, he naturally wouldn’t have imagined that he had any connection with the current emperor. However, after hearing it, although he didn’t believe it at all and thought the nun was making things up, he had to admit that his appearance seemed somewhat similar to the dignified and noble person at the banquet.
Lu Huan lowered his gaze, his brows furrowing slightly.
The banquet lasted from day to night, with toasts and laughter filling the air. Many officials became thoroughly drunk, and General Zhenyuan also drank a few cups. Lu Huan also had some but remained sober throughout.
The banquet mentioned in Mission Eleven, which would feature assassins, must be tonight’s event.
If he had notified the palace in advance to strengthen its security measures, it would have inevitably aroused suspicion. Therefore, Lu Huan did nothing but lower his dark eyes, stare at the wine glass in front of him, and quietly wait for the assassination to begin.
The identity of the assassin was also easy to guess.
The assassination attempt on the Second Prince during the Qiuyan Mountain hunt last time was not carried out by mobs, but this assassination attempt at the Yunzhou Palace must have been carried out by mobs.
Yunzhou was covered in snow year-round and was already close to the northern border. The people of the north were currently suffering and war was frequent. The emperor had actually chosen this time to come to the imperial palace. Although his purpose was to pay respects to the noble lady, in the eyes of the rebel army in the north, the emperor’s behavior was that of a tyrannical and incompetent ruler. Naturally, they could not swallow this insult and wanted to take advantage of the fact that the imperial palace was not as heavily guarded as the capital to seize the emperor in one fell swoop.
The question was, how to save him?
When Lu Huan entered the palace with General Zhenyuan and several other military officers, he roughly memorized the map of the palace.
With the emperor in the open and the assassins in the shadows, it was virtually impossible to expose them before they could act.
They could only wait for those people to take action.
Lu Huan analyzed in his mind how he would kill the emperor at the center of the palace amidst heavy guard. Surrounding the palace, defeating the guards, and then approaching the emperor was impossible. Even if the palace guards were outnumbered, the Zhenyuan Army was stationed outside Yunzhou, and a single signal flare would be enough to encircle and annihilate them. The only way was for some skilled individuals to disguise themselves, infiltrate the palace, and use a feint to seize the emperor’s head amidst the chaos.
In that case, something big would happen somewhere later, and they would have to lure the tiger away from the mountain.
Sure enough, in the latter half of the night, after all the officials had drunk their fill, a place called “Qinglan Garden” in the imperial palace suddenly burst into flames! All the officials stood up in panic, but the most nervous one was the Emperor. He immediately roared at the Imperial Guards, “What are you standing there for? Go and put out the fire! If Qinglan Garden is damaged, you will be punished!”
The commander of the Imperial Guards knew that the Qinglan Garden contained portraits of that noblewoman. If they couldn’t be rescued today, or if even half of them were burned, they feared they would lose their heads. So, in a panic, he hurriedly led his men to put out the fire.
The scene immediately descended into chaos.
The Emperor rushed to Qinglan Garden, followed closely by General Zhenyuan and others. Lu Huan thought to himself that this was the moment when those people would take advantage of the chaos to make their move.
Sure enough, the scene changed abruptly the next second! The man who had previously appeared to be the governor of Yunzhou suddenly pulled a stern face and, along with several guards beside the emperor, abruptly approached the emperor. They pulled needles and thread from their wrists. Although the needles and thread were ordinary, when held by two well-trained men at one end and the other at lightning speed, they could slice through flesh like mud, no less effective than any sharp blade. Swords and knives were not allowed at the banquet; this was the only weapon permitted.
The surrounding officials, including General Zhenyuan, were completely caught off guard. Their pupils constricted sharply, and they cried out for help: “Save the Emperor!”
If it hadn’t been anticipated, the perilous situation at that moment might have actually injured the emperor.
Fortunately, Lu Huan was prepared. He quickly picked up several broken beams and burning door frame sticks on the ground and threw them over.
The incredibly sharp thread was burned through by the torch before it even touched the emperor’s hair.
….
Su Xi hurried home from school. She wasn’t worried about not completing Mission Eleven, but rather about what might have happened to her son when he rescued the Emperor— that he might get hurt. However, to her utter surprise, as soon as she logged on, a message popped up on her screen: [Congratulations on completing Mission Eleven (Advanced): You rescued the Emperor during the assassination attempt in Yunzhou. This mission rewards you with +1000 gold coins and +15 points.]
“Finished so quickly? That’s amazing, little one!” Su Xi exclaimed with delight. At the same time, she noticed that the total points, which were 102 last time, had suddenly jumped to 127!
What happened? Su Xi was immediately stunned. Apart from the points gained from the task that was just completed, where did the other 10 points come from?! Even if the cub had been frantically annotating books and doing push-ups these past few days, it was impossible for him to suddenly have 10 extra points.
Su Xi was full of questions, wondering if the game system had glitched again, automatically completing some task and giving her ten extra points.
Regardless, the faster the points increased, the happier Su Xi was, because according to the nature of this game, there should be some kind of big gift package when the points reached 200.
When she found the cub at the palace, the disguised assassins had already been captured and were being interrogated by the Emperor himself. While the cub and General Zhenyuan and others stood to one side of the hall.
Su Xi thought to herself, “The cub bravely saved the Emperor once, which should have already made the Emperor look at him differently. But the cub doesn’t seem to have any intention of taking out the jade pendant so that the Emperor can see it and restore his identity.”
He must still be doubting the truthfulness of what the Taoist nun said.
But Su Xi, watching from the screen, knew that what the Taoist nun said couldn’t possibly be false.
The cub had no intention of regaining his status as the Ninth Prince, so Su Xi began to hesitate, wondering whether she should help the cub. She deliberately took out his jade pendant so that the Emperor could see it.
In the past, Su Xi would have followed the game’s mission to achieve the game’s ultimate goal: to help the protagonist ascend the throne. However, she could sense that her son seemed unwilling to participate in the struggle for the throne—
This put Su Xi in a difficult position.
The goal was important, but she was unwilling to go against her son’s wishes.
She hesitated for a while, looking at the child on the screen, then at the emperor, but in the end, she didn’t take it upon herself to deliberately drop the child’s jade pendant so that the emperor would find it.
But Su Xi hadn’t expected that blood ties were just such a strange thing. Even without the jade pendant as evidence, when Lu Huan saved the Emperor today, the Emperor held his breath for a moment. At that instant, it wasn’t because of the fear of the rope that was about to cut his neck, but because he saw a familiar shadow in Lu Huan more and more strongly.
The Emperor was somewhat distracted when interrogating the assassin, his gaze frequently falling on Lu Huan.
In the end, he even forgot to give the reward, and his expression was not very good. He then waved his hand and ordered someone to take the assassin back to the capital and hand him over to the Dali Temple for processing and then dismissed everyone.
Guys, ads are my only source of revenue, so please do not turn on the AdBlock when you are accessing this website…. Thank you, this would be a great help…
You can buy me a ko-fi and sponsor a chapter on: https://ko-fi.com/midnightrambles
Or become a Patron and access advance chapters on: https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=45665005
If you support me, I would be able to provide more chapters….
Previous • Table of Contents• Next