Yaocheng, midnight.

"Lao Bai! Lao Bai, wake up! Stop sleeping!" Lao Mu rushed into the room and pulled Lao Bai up from the bed. The table next to him was still piled with various medicinal materials and some semi-finished products.

Lao Bai looked at Lao Mu coldly, "What are you doing?"

"I saw a carriage entering the Prince Yue's Mansion from the back door!" Lao Mu looked excited, "It was a coincidence. I couldn't sleep tonight so I went to watch near the Prince Yue's Mansion! Although I didn't see anyone, our little girl might have In there!”

Lao Bai sat up straight and narrowed his eyes slightly, "Whether it is or not, it's time to get to know Situ Xie!"

"What do you think we should do? Send a message to Prince Yue's Mansion and make an appointment to replace someone outside the city tomorrow night?" Lao Mu frowned, "This is Situ Xie's territory after all. We must be careful. Our old bones are worthless, so don't hurt the little one. Girl!"

As he spoke, Lao Mu sighed, "I accepted her as my disciple, but I didn't teach her anything."

"Where on earth did that boy named Gu go?" Lao Bai hummed.

Lao Mu shook his head, "How do I know this? But you old man, don't worry about the love affairs of young people. Gu Ling is also my apprentice. If the little girl is caught, he must be more anxious than anyone else. Maybe he is now It’s also in Yaocheng!”

"Send a message to Situ Xie at midnight tomorrow at the birch forest by the Wolong River outside the city," Lao Bai said.

It is summer now, the warmest season in Liang Kingdom. Although the snow in Wolong Snow Mountain is still unmelted, the river outside the city is flowing, making it suitable to escape at any time.

"Have you been here before? I don't even know about the birch forest." Lao Mu muttered, without asking further questions, and started thinking about how to spread the news to the Yue Prince's Mansion.

Although at first when Lao Mu brought Lao Bai to Su Liang's house, Lao Bai was an unconscious drunk and Lao Mu was very sober. But now that he has quit drinking, Lao Bai has shown a stronger side, and although Lao Mu is always jealous He, in fact, mostly listens to him.

At dawn the next day, Situ Xie's carriage came out of the Prince of Yue's Mansion. Suddenly an old beggar appeared in the corner, holding a letter in his hand, "Your Highness, the Prince of Yue, we have news about the princess!"

The guard who was about to drive away the beggar heard Situ Xie's voice coming from the carriage. He opened the carriage curtain a crack and saw the letter in the old beggar's hand. He ordered it to be taken and rewarded with money.

Not long after, the old beggar walked for a while with a piece of silver in his pocket, looking around, and then ran into an alley like flying.

The guard opened the letter, followed Situ Xie's request, shook the paper, wiped it with his sleeve, and then handed it to him.

Learning from the previous lesson of Situ Jing's poisoning, Situ Xie carefully covered it with two layers of handkerchief to avoid direct contact between his skin and the letter paper, causing poisoning.

The handwriting in the letter was unfamiliar and scrawled. It said that I would be in the birch forest by the Wolong River at midnight tonight to exchange Su Liang for Situ Yao. If he didn't go or played tricks, he would collect Situ Yao's body.

After reading it, Situ Xie threw the letter and the handkerchief aside, with a gloomy look on his face. This was what he expected, because he had deliberately arranged the carriage in the middle of last night. If anyone was watching, he would have seen a carriage entering the house at that time. , and using the back door will definitely arouse suspicion.

After putting on a whole show, Situ Xie even specially asked Yuan Ying to leave the city secretly and come back in that car.

At the moment, what Situ Xie was thinking about was whether Gu Ling was in Yaocheng or not, and whether this letter had something to do with him? Or, as Mrs. Du Xianyue said, her senior brother Du Sheng was Su Liang's unknown master. Did you know that she came to rescue people after being captured?

Situ Xie thought about Lao Mu again. In the past few days, he recalled what happened to Su Liang and Gu Ling when they were in Yaocheng last year. He deeply suspected that the hidden weapon fan had something to do with them from the beginning, and Mu Yu's master had also long ago Just get to know them.

When he entered the palace and saw Situ Han, he was drafting a decree to restore Situ Jing's identity.

Situ Han didn't have a good look when he saw Situ Xie. He still hasn't seen his son Situ Jing, but he learned that his son was poisoned and blinded in the Yue Prince's Mansion.

"Uncle Huang is here again today, why?" Situ Han said coldly.

Situ Xie sat down and said, "I have important matters to discuss with the emperor. It concerns Qianguo and Yanguo."

When Situ Han heard this, he hummed and said, "Did the emperor's uncle also arrange other details and are you just planning to tell me now?"

Situ Xie shook his head, "It's Su Liang and Gu Ling's secret."

Situ Han stared, "What secret?"

"Actually, they have known each other for a long time." Situ Xie said.

Situ Han frowned, "What kind of secret is this?"

"I mean, they were together when Gu Ling was still a rebel," Situ Xie said.

Situ Han was stunned for a moment, "Seriously? What evidence does the emperor have?"

"There was a man named Liang who had been favored by Ning'er. After something happened to the Gu family, he followed Gu Ling for a while and knew a lot about him." Situ Xie said, mentioning Uncle Liang, Sujia Village, "Ningjing", Wen Number one scholar...

Situ Han heard half of it and looked at Situ Xie in disbelief, "Uncle Huang is saying that Gu Ling is the same Ning Jing who was with Su Liang before? They are deceiving the emperor!"

Situ Xie nodded, "No matter which country you are in, it is an extremely serious act of deceiving the emperor and neglecting your superiors. This matter was not leaked out originally because I still miss Gu Ling, but who knows that he has no affection at all. Now that things have happened, there is no need to keep secrets for him anymore! As long as Qianguo Duanmuyi knows that Su Liang and Gu Ling have been lying to him, I am afraid he will not continue to go against Liangguo for Su Liang and in vain for the overall interests of Qianguo! "

"Why did your uncle say this now?" Situ Han looked angry, "If you had told me earlier, Su Liang and Gu Ling would not have ruined your original plan and caused this situation!"

"I don't have the ability to predict the future." Situ Xie sighed. His original plan was for Situ Jing to gain a high position in the Qian Kingdom and gain access to the core of power through his relationship with Su Liang. In this way, he would "detonate" , the country of Qian will fall into a huge crisis.

Unfortunately, the major plan collapsed due to Situ Jing's momentary weakness, causing things to develop in an uncontrollable direction.

The reason why Situ Xie decided to "betray" Gu Ling at this time was because he knew very well that the so-called "secret" was somewhat "outdated" and there was no benefit in telling it before. "Ningjing" was dead, Su Liang and Gu Ling Things were done very carefully. If Situ Xie stood on the streets of Qian Kingdom's capital and shouted that Ning Jing, the original champion of Wen Dynasty, was actually Gu Ling pretending to be it, the people of Qian Kingdom would think he was crazy...

But even if it is "outdated", it may not be useless to the suspicious and seriously ill emperor.

Situ Xie didn't want ordinary people to know, he just wanted to pass the news to Duanmu Yi.

Situ Han suddenly sneered, "If Duanmu Yi believed it, then the Duke of Qin State of Qian State, the great Confucian family, and Xing Ji, who had been very close to Su Liang, would all be suspected of having known about it for a long time but deliberately concealing it to protect the son of a former rebel. Gu Ling! And Nian Jincheng, he is Gu Ling’s best friend, how could he not know anything! When the time comes, I want to see how Duanmu Yi can pretend that nothing happened!"

Situ Xie nodded, "Since the Emperor agrees, I will send someone to Qian Kingdom today."

"Okay." Situ Han nodded and listened to Situ Xie talk about the letter he received just after leaving the house.

"I have arranged for a woman to pretend to be Su Liang and go to the appointment tonight to see who she really is," Situ Xie said.

"Gu Ling should be here," Situ Han said.

Situ Xie thought thoughtfully, "Given how nervous he is towards Su Liang, he will definitely not do nothing, but whether he has really come to Yaocheng or not is not yet certain. We will know after tonight."

"Uncle Huang said, what else is going on in the Yan Kingdom?" Situ Han asked.

Situ Xie's expression became serious, "Your Majesty, I think the most urgent thing is to form an alliance with the Yan Kingdom!"

Situ Han was very angry when he heard this, "Why haven't we formed an alliance? So many times, when has Yan Kingdom been reliable?"

"The failures in the past not only taught us lessons, Yanguo also did not gain much benefit. After this time, the royal family of Yanguo should see how strong Qianguo has grown. Only by uniting can we destroy Qianguo in one fell swoop. , when joining forces is useless, it will be irreversible." Situ Xie looked solemn.

"Uncle Huang, do you think they will agree to form an alliance with the Yan Kingdom this time? Even if they agree, can you believe it?" Situ Han still couldn't trust the Yan Kingdom's royal family.

"Regardless of success or failure, try your best to win over us, otherwise the greater the conflict between us and Yan Kingdom, the more Qian Kingdom will be happy to see it. The overall situation is the most important, let's put aside the past grudges with Yan Kingdom for the time being." Situ Xie said.

Situ Han took a deep breath and said, "Okay. I will listen to your uncle on this matter. There will be a replacement tonight. If your uncle goes there in person, be careful."

…

Qi Jun has been in Yaocheng for two days. He disguised himself and stayed in an inconspicuous small inn.

He set out for the north on the day he received Nian Jincheng's second letter. He wanted to find Lao Mu and Lao Bai and tell them that Su Liang was neither in Liang Kingdom nor in Situ Xie's hands. He was afraid that they would be raped by Situ Xie for not knowing. Get it under control.

However, Qi Jun could not find Lao Mu and Lao Bai in the city in the past two days, and he did not dare to do anything rashly that might expose his identity and arouse suspicion, so he could only silently follow the movements of Prince Yue's palace.

Late that night, Qi Jun saw a carriage leaving the back door of Prince Yue's Mansion from a distance. He did not dare to get close, so he kept his distance and followed carefully.

The carriage stopped for a moment at the city gate, then the city gate opened quickly and drove out of the city.

As time approached, Qi Jun watched the carriage walk along the Wolong River for a while and entered the dense birch forest. He was afraid of being discovered, so he deliberately detoured and entered the forest from the other side.

As midnight approached, the bright moonlight shone in the forest.

The wheels drove across the ground, making a rustling sound, and then stopped. The sound of horse hooves disappeared, and no one spoke.

The sound of the piccolo suddenly broke the tranquility, coming from the river outside the birch forest, and then Lao Mu's voice sounded, "Situ Xie, if you want your granddaughter to live, bring Su Liang here!"

Qi Jun's expression froze when he heard the sound! He finally found Lao Mu, but it seemed that they had agreed to exchange hostages tonight, but Su Liang was not here. This must be a trap!

Thinking of this, Qi Jun could no longer wait and see what happened. He rushed out of the birch forest and shouted, "Senior Jin, it's me! The master is not in Yaocheng, retreat!"

Before he finished speaking, a dozen black shadows jumped out from around the carriage in the birch forest, half of them chasing Qi Jun, and the other half of them rushed to Lao Mu.

Lao Mu didn't expect to hear Qi Jun's voice suddenly, but Qi Jun's words made his expression change drastically. He cursed angrily, grabbed Situ Yao and blocked it in front of him, and drove away quickly in the boat!

There were masters chasing after him on the shore. When Lao Mu saw the fastest man in black rising from the shore and planning to board the boat, he simply threw the unconscious Situ Yao backward into the rushing river!

As expected, the man chose to jump in to save Situ Yao, which gave Lao Mu a chance to escape.

When the people behind caught up, the man in black had just fished Situ Yao out of the water, but Lao Mu had disappeared.

After the man in black fell into the water, his mask fell off, and it turned out to be Situ Xie himself.

The one who caught up next was Yuan Ying. She came to pretend to be Su Liang, because although Situ Xie had set up an ambush, for the sake of safety, she still planned to see the person first before talking to Situ Yao for fear of being injured.

However, Yuan Ying did not have the opportunity to "help" Situ Xie. She had already thought about alerting the other person when the situation was wrong, but she didn't expect someone to speak first. In this way, she had not revealed the secret that she did not know Su Liang and had a good relationship with her.

.

Yuan Ying helped Situ Xie revive Situ Yao. Except that she was a little weak, she was not injured or poisoned.

"Did Gu Ling arrest you?" Situ Xie asked.

Situ Yao shook his head, "I haven't seen my cousin... It was a tall, thin old man who caught me. I haven't seen anyone else..."

Situ Xie frowned, the tall and thin old man was the old man Mu he had seen in the palace before.

"Where do they live?" Situ Xie asked.

Situ Yao leaned on Situ Xie and shook her head feebly, "I don't know where that is..."

At this time, another wave of masters chasing Qi Jun came back, but had no results.

"Originally, my subordinates were able to catch that person, but suddenly another person appeared and rescued him." The leader said in a deep voice.

Situ Xie had a cold face and hugged Situ Yao, "Go back first!"

At least Situ Yao was rescued tonight. But now Situ Xie was thinking that the sudden appearance of Qi Jun shouting meant that everyone on Su Liang's side knew that she was not in Liang Kingdom or Yao City? Gu Ling did not show up tonight, so it must be

Because he also knew that Su Liang was not here! But Situ Jing said that Su Liang was under the control of his grandfather and could not escape! How did the people on her side know that she was not in Yaocheng? They only knew that she was not in Yaocheng.
To be continued...