青春期撞上更年期第1部

It might be the Empress or Consort of Virtue in the Palace, but perhaps, neither of them had done that. It could be someone else who deliberately stirred up trouble and fanned the flames of disorder, pushing the imperial court and the Palace into chaos and even forcing the Emperor to subdue his son.

The previous scheme centered around the maple-leaf painting, but at present, every intrigue revolved around Shao Wanru.

Shao Wanru was crystal clear that if nothing happened to her, others would investigate this matter slowly and secretly. Even if others were suspicious of her, they couldn’t know the truth. The Duke Cheng’en’s Mansion would keep silent. Around this topic, the Empress Dowager and the Emperor would also maintain a wall of silence. As for Shao Wanru, she would undoubtedly button up her mouth.

But if anything happened to Shao Wanru, this matter couldn’t go into hiding. Then, it would cause earthshaking changes to the entire imperial court and even the whole situation. Both the court and the commonality would be in tumult. What was worse, new forces might suddenly come to the fore.

In her previous life, the incident started on the birthday of the Empress Dowager and ended with Prince Zhou’s rebellion. The trouble was over on the surface after Prince Zhou died.

Other things happening during this period were unknown to Shao Wanru. She seemed to have had only a limited view of the whole affair. Accidentally, she had fallen into the eye of the storm.

“Sir, now that things have come to this, I have an idea. What do you think of it?”

A group of people riding their horses was going on their trip in a hurry, galloping along the government-financed road at full speed. All of them were in black suits of light armor. At a glance, pedestrians on both roadsides knew they weren’t ordinary people and hurriedly jumped aside to dodge them.

Suddenly, one of them pulled sharply on the reins and stopped. Behind him, his followers did the same thing in unison.

They rested in the pavilion on the side of the road for the time being, and some surrounded the pavilion, not allowing any unrelated people to get close.

Chu Liuchen wore a dark cloak hanging loosely from his shoulders and a veil to keep out dust, revealing only his stunning eyes. With a fierce look in his blazing eyes, he appeared less refined and delicate at this time.

As he sat on a stone bench in the pavilion, a carrier pigeon fell from the sky and landed in the hands of a guard beside him. The guard skillfully took out a rolled-up letter under its feather and presented it respectfully to Chu Liuchen.

Chu Liuchen took it. After he browsed through it, his eyes turned cold and deep. He narrowed his eyes thoughtfully and asked for the writing brush and ink.

“Yes.” The guard hurriedly prepared the writing tools. Chu Liuchen stood up, held the writing brush, and thought for a moment before finishing a letter in one go.

After that, he took up the paper to see it and nodded.

When the ink dried up, the guard came over and folded the paper. Then he put it under the carrier pigeon’s wings and tossed it into the air. It spread its wings and disappeared eventually into the horizon.

“How long can we reach the capital city?” Chu Liuchen sat down again and asked.

“Before the Empress Dowager’s birthday.” The leader of the guards said with great respect. They left the carriages behind and hurried to the capital city on horses because they intended to catch up with the Empress Dowager’s birthday.

The carriages were far behind them, carrying the two princesses from the Xu State to the capital city. The one at the forefront belonged to Chu Liuchen, who was not there. Only Xiao Xuanzi was left to deal with the others in case anyone should find out that Chu Liuchen was gone.

Of course, even if either the two princesses from the Xu State, Qin Huaiyong, or Chu Qing found anything wrong, Chu Liuchen did not care at all. He only worried that someone would secretly hinder him from returning to the capital city quickly.

There were always accidents along their way back to the capital city — some people deliberately tried to stop him. So, he got rid of the carriage and rode a horse swiftly to the capital city like the wind.

“Master, did anything happen in the capital city?” Ancheng, the leader of his guards, asked. When Ancheng was little, he became an orphan and was picked up by Chu Liuchen from a pit of bodies. After that, he followed Chu Liuchen and served him heart and soul.

Something did happen in the capital city. The chief supervisor, the only one who knew Chu Liuchen was hurrying back, sent this carrier pigeon. They didn’t even reveal all the news to Shao Wanru for fear that someone would target her. It was best to keep this matter from her.

Unexpectedly, even so, some people started conspiring against her.

Whenever Chu Liuchen thought of Shao Wanru in danger, his eyes turned icy cold. Since they intended to mess with her, he decided to throw these people into turmoil. They didn’t want him to enter the capital city so fast, did they? In that case, he might as well cause an uproar among them first.

“No big deal. Let’s march faster and return to the capital city as soon as possible.” Chu Liuchen slightly squinted his eyes and smiled with an evil and chilling look.

“Master, are you feeling all right?” Ancheng, feeling worried about his health, asked softly. Even though his master was much better now, those who had accompanied him for a long time would still be anxious.

His master had depended on medicine for so many years. Did he fully recover?

“I’m in good condition!” Chu Liuchen said lightly. Gracefully, he stood up and strode to the horse outside the pavilion. After taking the reins from a guard, he pulled the reins and got on the horse. Then, the group of guards behind him also rode on their horses. With a swing of the horsewhip, they galloped forward.

Ancheng was on the first horse beside Chu Liuchen. With concern, he looked at Prince Chen on the horse before him and sighed in his heart. “Xiao Xuanzi is right. Our master will go to protect Princess Chen regardless of his health!”

He thought more highly of Princess Chen.

Even though Ancheng had always been strong, he could hardly bear this rapid march. Unlike him, Prince Chen had always been sick and weak. Even if he recovered at present, he was just as healthy as an ordinary person.

Ancheng gave the signal to a guard beside him. The guard nodded, got out of their team, and pressed ahead to find a place for refreshment. When there was a suitable place, they would persuade Prince Chen to have a good rest.

Ancheng took a few steps back and whispered to Qi Jue, who was on a horse near him, “Doctor Qi, our master’s health…”

Because of this hasty journey, Qi Jue was so exhausted that he didn’t even want to say a word. Impatiently, he waved his hand, puffing for breath, and said, “Don’t ask me. I’m whacked. His health is much better than mine. But if we go on like this, he can’t stand it, no matter how healthy he is. You’d better persuade him to rest early!”

Qi Jue felt that he suffered a great loss. Initially, he felt great following his master’s carriage because they would rest from time to time. But why would they suddenly leave the carriage and march in a hurry? Besides, he was asked to go with them. But he was just a doctor, not a guard. Why must he follow them? In fact, it didn’t matter whether they had him or not!

“That’s good. Take care, Doctor Qi!” Hearing that his master was in good health, Ancheng was relieved. Looking at Doctor Qi’s feeble look, he teased, “Doctor Qi, you’d better do some exercises. If you remain delicate in health, I’m afraid no woman wants to marry you!”

“Alas, what are you talking about!” said Qi Jue a little crossly after wiping the sweat off his face. He hated it the most when others talked about his marriage.

“Doctor Qi, take care. I have to go and see our master!” Ancheng laughed and left.

Chu Liuchen and his men covered their tracks and advanced rapidly to the capital city, which was beyond everyone’s expectations. At present, all these people were focused on the Prince Chen’s Mansion.

The chief supervisor received the message from the carrier pigeon in the evening. After sitting in the room for a while, he went to see Shao Wanru. After the two of them had a discussion, the chief supervisor returned to deal with affairs at the outer court. As usual, he handled most of the matters of the Prince Chen’s Mansion.

This chief supervisor stayed up late every day to do his work. Since he had made Xiao Xuanzi his heir, Xiao Xuanzi could usually share some of the burdens. As a result, when Xiao Xuanzi was away from the mansion with Chu Liuchen, he became especially busy.

Darkness was gathering. It was almost late spring, so the weather was getting hotter, and it got dark later. But even so, after the sunset, the light was fading rapidly. The night grew blacker.

In Shao Wanru’s inner court, the lights were still on, and she didn’t fall asleep. Under the lights, there seemed to be a few servant girls with her. Now and then, there were voices rising, which sounded clear in the night.

A man in black came out of nowhere and suddenly broke into the Prince Chen’s Mansion. After an arrow was shot at the figure showing up in the half-open window, women screamed, and some people shouted, “My Lady, My Lady!”

“Come here! Save Her Highness!”

“Anyone! Help!” A servant girl rushed out and cried aloud.

In the night, a man in black looked around blankly. The people he brought were still here and hadn’t taken action yet. How could someone go and shoot an arrow right into Princess Chen’s room?

But shouldn’t assassins use swords? Some people used arrows. Attacking in a big way was not a good sign. This place was connected to the imperial Palace, with its gate protected by guards sent by the Emperor. At first, they planned to get to work undetected, but was their plan ruined by others?

“Leave!” The leader in black ordered decisively. Whether Princess Chen was fine or not, they could not stay here any longer.

When they were on their way to leave by leaps, another group of men in black appeared on the opposite side. It seemed that they were about to walk away too. The two groups bumped into each other.

Both sides were stunned for a moment and began fighting. Anyway, the two parties working for different masters were not on the same side.

Many people were plotting against Princess Chen in secret. Since they had encountered each other, they could go ahead to strike.

As blades flashed coldly in the dark, blood splashed, and screams rang out continuously. They all exerted every ounce of their energy to eliminate the other side. Then they would flee from the scene as fast as they could. No one dared to stay here any longer. The whole city would be under martial law if the matter were blown up. The longer they stayed, the greater the risk of them being exposed. Who wouldn’t fight desperately?

Lots of crossbows aimlessly shot into the crowd. No one knew where they came from, and many people were injured under the indiscriminate attack.

Lights seemed to have come up in the outer court. From there, lots of people rushed over. These men in black belonging to different groups felt that serious trouble was imminent. In response, they helped each other to escape and killed those who were too severely wounded to go away. Immediately, all the men in black dispersed and ran for their lives separately.

The chief supervisor finally rushed over with guards.

Half of these guards were from the Prince Chen’s Mansion, and the other half were sent here by the Emperor.

Dead black-clad men were scattered inside and outside Princess Chen’s courtyard. The bloody scene astonished everyone.

The chief supervisor hurriedly stepped forward to knock on the courtyard door, but no one inside opened it. A guard jumped in from the wall and opened the door. There, they saw several servant girls and old maids serving in this place, but they felt weak all over and couldn’t move at all. After all, women in the inner court had never experienced this. They were so freaked out that their face paled. Their legs were so weak that they could hardly stand. Therefore, none of them could get on their feet to open the door.

The chief supervisor tore into the main room and said to the guard with a gloomy face, “Hurry up. Get doctors here.”