Xiao Changning was amused by his words and allowed him to hold her hand. Murong Yao tightly grasped her cold little hand.
“You still say you’re not cold,” he said, looking at her rosy nose with concern.
She withdrew her hand and touched her face. “It’s fine.”
Murong Yao gazed at Xiao Changning’s sweet smile and said, “It’s getting late. Shall I have the meal served?”
“Alright,” she replied, placing a hand on her stomach.
Before long, a feast of delicacies was brought in.
During the meal, Murong Yao said, “With the New Year approaching, the various sacrificial affairs are complicated. I’m afraid I won’t have much free time in the coming days. How about…”
Before Murong Yao could finish, Xiao Changning interrupted, “State affairs come first. I won’t disturb Bixia.”
“How about I move to Weiyang Palace to accompany you? That way, neither will be neglected.”
Ignoring her, Murong Yao leaned in mischievously. “If I don’t see my beloved consort for a day, I feel uneasy, as if drained of all energy. It’s unbearable.”
“I need Changning by my side.”
Xiao Changning’s heart skipped a beat. If Murong Yao moved to Weiyang Palace, and if Xiao Anzi overheard state affairs, leading to a leak of secrets, wouldn’t Murong Yao have me skinned alive?
I haven’t rescued my mother yet. I refuse to be buried with them!
She picked up her bowl and chopsticks, stuffing food into her mouth as she evasively replied, “In that case, Bixia should move to the Empress’s Fengyi Palace.”
“The Empress is intelligent and virtuous. She will surely take good care of Bixia and serve as your confidante.”
Hearing this, Murong Yao’s expression darkened slightly. “Changning only knows how to push me away?”
She knew that Murong Yao, this burly “jealous pot,” was angry.
She gently coaxed him, “What kind of talk is that, Bixia?”
Murong Yao brightened up a little and picked up a piece of osmanthus fish for her. “Forget it. I’ll stay in the Imperial Study.”
“In a few days, the royal family will go to the imperial mausoleum for sacrifices. At that time, I will assign more guards to protect you. Be careful yourself.”
Xiao Changning obediently nodded.
In the deep of night, the palace servants had all fallen asleep. Only the sound of the night watch echoed through the quiet Gongdao.
Defei quietly opened the window and released a carrier pigeon.
The pigeon flew straight to the woods in the eastern suburbs outside the palace, where a man in black retrieved the secret letter from its leg.
At the same time, a group of men raided a nearby small village. The villagers, seeing the fierce-looking bandits, trembled in fear, not daring to resist.
“Help! Help!” A clear cry for help pierced the sky. Her father and brother rushed to her aid but were stabbed to death.
The girl stared at the blood on the ground and her fallen father and brother. “Father! Brother!”
The leader impatiently grabbed her chin and forced a kiss on her. “Hahaha, why cry?”
“Being chosen by me means good food and drink. Isn’t that better than farming?”
The girl was fierce and glared at him, cursing, “Bah! Shameless tyrant!”
The leader wasn’t angry. Instead, he laughed heartily. He liked this kind of defiant, spirited woman.
The girl tried to struggle, but he knocked her unconscious with a chop of his hand.
The leader, wearing a dark black mask, looked at the valuables and grain his men had looted, overjoyed.
At his command, the group mounted their horses and rode away.
Hooves churned up dust as commoners were plundered clean. The emperor was far away in the high heavens, and with bandits roaming everywhere, even the local authorities could do nothing. All they could do was wail helplessly.
A group of people had taken refuge in a cave in the eastern outskirts. Hidden beneath a cliff and covered with weeds, the cave was extremely well-concealed.
The leader glanced at the secret letter handed to him by an attendant and angrily smashed the wine bowl in his hand. “Murong Yao, no matter the cost, I will make you wish you were dead!”
He was originally Murong Hao, the Crown Prince of Beiyuan, now a loser in the struggle for the throne. He recalled the days when he lived in luxury, dressed in fine silks and served by beautiful women.
Looking back at these past few years, he felt like a rat scurrying across the street, despised by everyone. The thought made his lungs nearly burst with rage.
All of this was because of his younger brother, Murong Yao.
An attendant beside him poured a bowl of hot soup. “Master.”
He took it and drank it in one gulp, though a doubt still lingered in his mind. “Consort Xiao, a woman?”
“Can she really make Murong Yao willingly submit at my feet?”
“Master, I asked a friend in the palace. The emperor dotes on Consort Xiao immensely.”
The attendant looked at the secret letter and bowed as he spoke. “Perhaps this person isn’t lying to us.”
Murong Hao asked, “Have we found out who secretly sent us this message?”
The attendant shook his head. “A few days ago, our spy was discovered, and she saved him. This person is extremely mysterious. Her identity has always been a mystery.”
Murong Hao waved his hand dismissively. “As long as she can drag Murong Yao down from the throne, I don’t care who she is or what her motives are.”
“Forget it. Go to the imperial mausoleum and make the arrangements. We must ensure nothing goes wrong.”
The attendant acknowledged the order and withdrew, turning to walk deeper into the cave.
The two women trapped inside the cave heard his footsteps and instantly sat up in fright, clinging to each other and huddling in the corner, desperately trying to make themselves invisible.
Murong Hao embraced the beauty he had forcibly taken and forced a large bowl of strong liquor down her throat.
“Drink up, my beauty. Only then can we have some fun.”
The woman, her chin gripped tightly, couldn’t break free and could only let him pour the liquor into her mouth. The fiery liquid burned through her throat, making her cough violently.
Before her slap could land, Murong Hao caught her wrist, gripping it as if she were a small chick. “What’s the hurry, my beauty?”
“There will be plenty of time for you to struggle later.”
Murong Hao tied her to the stone bed, then retrieved a potent drug from a box hidden beneath the bed. He mixed it with water and forced it down her throat.
As he poured the water, he murmured, “Be good now. Don’t waste it.”
After a bowl of water, the woman on the stone bed could clearly feel her body heating up, as if she had a high fever. Her limbs grew weak and limp, and her mind gradually grew hazy.
Seeing her gradually lose consciousness, Murong Hao burst into wild laughter…
The two women in the corner trembled, their bodies shaking. Murong Hao’s methods had been used on them before. Recalling those scenes, they were still terrified.
The morning light streamed in through a small window in the stone cave, gradually moving with the sunrise until it fell upon the stone bed.
The two women handed her a coarse linen garment. “Here, take this.”
“I washed it just two days ago. It’s clean.”
The girl thanked them in a hoarse voice, then endured the pain as she put on the clothes.
“Where is this place, sisters?”
The two shook their heads; clearly, they had also been abducted. “Ever since we were brought into this cave, we haven’t been able to leave.”
The woman on the stone bed said, “My name is Xiaodie. What are yours?”
The two women looked at her in alarm, signaling for her to keep quiet.