Chapter 199 Death
The news that King Cheng had started an uprising outside the city of Huangzhou spread throughout the city of Yanjing overnight.

The people cursed King Cheng for his ruthlessness and cruelty. He had previously had an affair with the concubines in the palace, and now he was rebelling. It was obvious that he had been plotting rebellion for a long time. Although Huangzhou was not the capital of Yan, the people were still in a panic, fearing that King Cheng's troops would arrive at their doorstep one day. After all, except for the border of Xirong, Northern Yan had not fought for many years. People were afraid of war.

For a time, King Cheng became the target of everyone's condemnation.

Lipin's family, the Ji family, was also raided and beheaded because of Lipin's affair with King Cheng. On the day of the execution, many people went to watch, but no one sympathized with the Ji family. Instead, they were filled with resentment. King Cheng was so ambitious, and Lipin was so shameless. Some people also brought up Ji Shuran's story, saying that the Ji family was all the same, and none of them were good people.

Ji Yanlin probably never dreamed that Lipin, whom he had sent to the palace by all means and won countless honors for the Ji family, making the Ji family prosper in the past years, would do such a treasonous thing. It is said that when Lipin and Ji Yanlin met in prison, Ji Yanlin grabbed Lipin and asked her why she did this.

Lipin's answer was also intriguing. She said, "Father has already found a young girl to replace me, so I naturally have to make plans for the future. I have fought so hard for the Ji family. Father's current status is all due to my hard work in the palace. Now you see that I can't give birth to a prince and I'm useless. You are thinking about finding another chess piece, but you haven't asked me if I'm willing. Since the Ji family doesn't consider me, I naturally don't need to plan for the Ji family. Since we are a family, we naturally have to share the joys and sorrows. It's not reasonable for me to suffer alone while you enjoy the happiness. I'm not a living Bodhisattva Guanyin, who sacrifices myself for others. The nature of our Ji family is to drag others to be buried with us even if we die!"

These words showed no remorse at all. It was said that Ji Yanlin went mad at that time and wanted to kill Lipin. If the jailer had not stopped him, Lipin would have been beaten to death by Ji Yanlin at that time.

When the Ji family got into trouble, Jiang Yuanbai said nothing. Even so, his colleagues in the court still laughed at Jiang Yuanbai. After all, the Ji family was once Jiang Yuanbai's in-laws, so Jiang Yuanbai naturally endured it. King Cheng rebelled, Jiang Li disappeared, there were assassins in Yanjing City, and one thing after another followed, which had already made people exhausted.

In the palace, Concubine Liu was given a cup of poisoned wine.

The cold and desolate palace was nothing like her bedroom. There was not even a servant. Overnight, she fell from heaven to earth. Concubine Liu never thought that she would end up like this. In her and King Cheng's original plan, it was not like this. King Cheng would send someone to take her out of the palace before starting the rebellion. But the affair between Lipin and King Cheng was suddenly exposed, Lipin was arrested, the Ji family was confiscated, and King Cheng fled the city, all of which happened almost overnight.

King Cheng escaped but forgot his biological mother, leaving her alone in the palace to face the ill-intentioned Emperor Hong Xiao.

Concubine Liu originally thought that since she was a concubine, it was reasonable for Emperor Hong Xiao to do something too embarrassing. Perhaps Emperor Hong Xiao would think that she was valuable and keep her alive to threaten King Cheng. As long as she had a life, everything would be fine. When King Cheng killed that bastard and became the emperor himself, she would no longer be a concubine, but the queen mother.

She didn't become the queen when she was young, and now she can't even become the queen mother. Seeing that she is only one step away from what she wants, how can she fail at the last moment? She doesn't want it!
The poisonous wine in front of her was placed in an exquisite gold vessel, and the wine glass was carved and inlaid with tiny rubies, which was the gorgeousness that Concubine Liu always loved. If it were in the past, she would probably like this gold vessel very much, but today, she seemed to have seen the evil consequences of taking her life, and she kept backing away, shaking her head desperately, and had no shape at all.

"no, do not want……"

The eunuch repeated it for the third time: "Madam Concubine, please."

"No... I'm the Concubine... I can't die, you let the Emperor come to see me! I have something to say to him, he can't just kill me like this! I want to see the Emperor!"

The eunuch said impatiently, "It is impossible for His Majesty to see you, Madam, drink this glass of wine quickly so that I can report back."

Concubine Liu still didn't move, trying to avoid it, and even wanted to rush out and push open the door. The eunuch winked at the two young eunuchs beside him. The young eunuchs immediately held down Concubine Liu. Concubine Liu struggled desperately. She had been pampered in the palace for many years, so how could she break free? She was exhausted after a few attempts. The young eunuchs held down her hands and feet skillfully, and one of them pried open her teeth, and forced the pot of poison wine down her throat.

After the wine was poured down, the eunuch let go of her hand. Concubine Liu held her throat tightly and desperately reached into her mouth, trying to spit out the poisoned wine. Her clothes were all messed up, her hair was untied, her tears and snot were flowing together, and she no longer looked presentable.

She didn't care about anything else, just lying on the ground and holding her throat, as if this was the most important thing. However, as she held her throat, she began to vomit blood. Gradually, her body softened and she fell to the ground, her eyes wide open, her whole body twitched a few times, and she couldn't move.

Concubine Liu died.

The eunuch ordered the eunuch to clean the room and went out. In the garden not far away, the Queen Mother and Emperor Hong Xiao were talking.

The Queen Mother was copying scriptures in the Cining Palace most of the time, and only came out for a walk a few times. The palace was full of spring, and large red flowers were blooming. Emperor Hong Xiao had just come down from court and ran into the Queen Mother here, talking.

The eunuch who delivered the poisoned wine to Concubine Liu happened to come to report. After learning that Concubine Liu was dead, Emperor Hong Xiao nodded in agreement, and the eunuch withdrew.

The Queen Mother sighed.

"Are you feeling sorry for Concubine Liu, mother?" asked Emperor Hong Xiao.

The Queen Mother shook her head and said, "Too many people have died recently. I feel that things are not peaceful."

Starting with Princess Yongning, people started dying one after another, including Shen Yurong, Concubine Li, the Ji family, the assassins in Yanjing City, and now Concubine Liu. There are indeed quite a lot of them.

"They brought this upon themselves." Emperor Hong Xiao said calmly, "My mother is kindhearted, but she can't control others and brings them trouble."

The Queen Mother smiled. When she smiled, she was as graceful and gentle as when she was young. She asked, "Your Majesty, have you announced to the world that you have ordered the death of Concubine Liu?"

Emperor Hong Xiao said, "Yes."

"Prince Cheng did not move." The Queen Mother sighed, "After all, they are mother and son."

When Concubine Liu was sentenced to death, no one came to the palace to rescue her. Even King Cheng did not arrange chess pieces in the palace to rescue Concubine Liu from the palace immediately if the situation changed. However, nothing happened in the palace from the beginning to the end, from the moment when Emperor Hong Xiao was about to sentence Concubine Liu to death. I don't know if King Cheng missed this point, or if he didn't care about Concubine Liu's life or death at all. Now think about it, it's probably the latter. Because even if he missed it, if he was really a good son who cared about his mother, he would naturally find a way to make some noise, instead of letting Concubine Liu die like this.

Emperor Hong Xiao sighed, "Yes, they are mother and son after all."

The Queen Mother looked at Emperor Hong Xiao and said, "Your Majesty has been tired these days and should pay more attention to rest."

Emperor Hong Xiao said yes. They were also mother and son, and there was no friction between them on weekdays. However, Concubine Liu and Prince Cheng were mother and son, but they fled when disaster struck. The Queen Mother and Emperor Hong Xiao were not mother and son. If they encountered something one day, would they be as peaceful as they are now?
No one can predict.

The Queen Mother asked, "Your Majesty, I heard that King Cheng started an uprising at the gate of Huangzhou, and the general of the Wuwei Army rushed to rescue him. Is Yanjing... in danger?"

"Don't worry, mother," said Emperor Hong Xiao. "I have ordered General Zhaode to lead his troops back to the capital to defend the city and resist the enemy. If they travel day and night, they will definitely arrive before Prince Cheng goes to Yanjing."

"General Zhaode..." There was no expression on the Queen Mother's face. Her voice gradually became lower and no one knew what she meant.

Emperor Hong Xiao stopped talking. The wind blew up the leaves on the ground and floated them into the candy bar next to the garden. The water swirled and swallowed the leaf.

Never seen again.

……

At the Jiang family, Jiang Yuanbo received a letter.

The doorman handed the letter to Jiang Yuanbo and said, "Master, I took a nap at noon, and when I woke up, this letter was already in my arms. I didn't know who sent the letter, so I ran out to ask, but they said no one had entered the house. The letter is addressed to you... Master, would you like to open it and take a look first?"

Jiang Yuanping and Jiang Yuanbai were talking when the servant came in and stuffed a letter into their hands. They were a little surprised. In the past few days, Jiang Yuanbai had become much more haggard and had not changed his clothes. He stared at the letter in his hand suspiciously, thought about it, and opened it to read.

The letter was very short, with only a few lines. After reading it, Jiang Yuanbai had a complicated expression.

"Brother, what's written in the letter?" Jiang Yuanping asked.

"It's A-Li..." Jiang Yuanbai frowned and said, "A-Li is now in Huangzhou. King Cheng's people took her to Huangzhou and she was rescued by Duke Su. Now A-Li is with Duke Su."

"A Li has been found?" Jiang Yuanping was delighted at first. In the past few days, in order to find Jiang Li, Jiang Yuanbo almost searched the entire Yanjing City, but still returned without success. Everyone said that she was probably sent out of the city, but now if we go out of the city to find someone, we don't know which direction to go and how to find her. The hope is getting slimmer and slimmer. Now that we suddenly got the news that Jiang Li had been found, Jiang Yuanping naturally breathed a sigh of relief.

But then, he looked at Jiang Yuanbo strangely: "Saved by Duke Su? Why would Duke Su save Ah Li?"

"Maybe it was just a coincidence." Jiang Yuanbai frowned, "He has seen Ah Li."

"But brother," Jiang Yuanping was still puzzled, "Duke Su is not someone who likes to meddle in other people's affairs. Let alone A-Li, even the Jiang family has no relationship with us. Would he be so kind as to save A-Li?"

Jiang Yuanbo was also somewhat skeptical. Everyone in the court and the public knew what kind of person Ji Heng was. He was moody and unpredictable. As for kindness and soft-heartedness, it was impossible to associate them with Ji Heng. If Ji Heng saw others in trouble, the most likely thing was to stay out of it. Even if he and Jiang Yuanping were in trouble, I'm afraid Ji Heng would just watch the show from the side, let alone offer to help.

But that is exactly what is said in the letter.

Jiang Yuanbai couldn't help but think of the last time General Ji celebrated his birthday, he invited Jiang Li alone to the banquet. Although Jiang Li herself said she didn't know why, Jiang Yuanbai always felt that it was not that simple, and Jiang Li was hiding something from him.

But it was impossible to find out what the relationship between Ji Heng and Jiang Li was. Jiang Yuanbai ordered the servant outside, "Prepare the horses, and send someone to Huangzhou immediately to pick up the second young lady and bring her back home!"

"Brother," Jiang Yuanping held Jiang Yuanbo's hand: "No!"

"Why?" Jiang Yuanbai looked at him.

"Huangzhou is in chaos right now, and King Cheng's troops are still outside the city. If you go to pick her up at this time, I'm afraid you will end up making things worse. Since those people have kidnapped A-li, they are targeting her. If A-li appears in their sight, it will be dangerous. On the contrary, if you follow Duke Su, you and I both know Ji Heng's ability. Even if the entire Huangzhou falls, I'm afraid Ji Heng will be able to escape unscathed. It will be much safer for A-li to follow him than to follow others."

"I don't trust him." Jiang Yuanbai said, "Ji Heng's intentions are unpredictable. Who knows what he wants to do!"

"Brother," Jiang Yuanping said, "If he had wanted to do something, he wouldn't have saved Ah Li from King Cheng. Even if he wanted to use Ah Li to plot something, he would have saved Ah Li's life. Don't worry about it. Now that General Zhaode is about to return to the capital, you might as well see what our Jiang family should do next!"

(End of this chapter)