The soldier who spoke at the head shuddered in his heart and hastily pricked up his ears as seemingly unmistakable cries came out of the King of Qin’s house.
The two men looked at each other and the lantern in their hands fell to the ground. One of them was about to shout when the other one quickly covered his mouth and gave him a gesture of silence.
The one covered instantly understood his intentions and nodded his head. The man let go of his hand and the two of them stared at the gate of the Qin Wang Mansion while slowly backing up, and after a few steps, they turned around and ran back to report.
In a moment, however, the soldiers who had been set up around the area were called over, hundreds of them, all armed with sharp blades, silently approaching the entrance of the Qinwang Mansion.
The door was locked.
One of them waved his hand, and the soldiers quickly dispersed, surrounding the palace in just a few moments, looking at the interior of the palace with vigilance.
In the night, a horse galloped up to the Prince of Ding’s residence, and the soldier on the horse jumped down and knocked on the gate.
Soon, the Duke of Ding came out of the palace fully dressed, giving his token to the soldier who had come to report the news, telling him to go to the Nine Cities Military Division and call for someone, while mounting his horse and heading straight for the side of the King of Qin’s palace.
Inside the Qinwang Mansion.
The burning paper was burnt out.
Gu Yi led a few people back along the road, and when he reached the wall he had entered, he leapt up the wall while crouching low, looking at the soldier holding a torch outside with the corners of his mouth slightly hooked, flying over like a ghost, slashing his palm on the soldier’s neck, hooking his foot around his limp body and gently placing it on the ground, waiting for Xiao Si and a few other servants to leap out, taking them with him and quickly disappearing into the night.
At the same time, the Duke of Ding had already arrived on horseback, and after flying off his horse, he walked briskly to the entrance of the King of Qin’s residence and tried to open the lock, but was stopped by the man who commanded these soldiers.
“Your Highness, we are few in number, so if we go in like this, if someone takes advantage of the opportunity to escape, I’m afraid we won’t be able to account for it to the Emperor.”
The Duke of State looked at him.
This man was the deputy commander of the forbidden guards, specially assigned to him by the emperor, both to help catch the descendants of the King of Qin’s House and to keep an eye on him.
“Fine, just listen to the deputy commander.”
With that, Duke Ding threw the key to him as well, turning back to sit on the steps of the royal residence.
The deputy commander reached out and took the key, gripping it firmly in his hand, and gave the palace an expressionless glance, then descended the two steps and stood underneath Duke Ding.
The Five Cities Soldiers and Horses came quickly, thousands of them, and the torches held high lit up the front door of the King’s Palace as if it were daylight.
The man at the head of the group waved his hand and the soldiers quickly dispersed. The man on the horse turned over and dismounted, came to the Duke of Ding and bowed, “Greetings, Duke of Ding.”
Duke Ding nodded slightly, rose, and was about to ask the deputy commander to open the door when a soldier darted over, “Commander, our man who was knocked unconscious was found over there.”
The deputy commander was startled, hurriedly and quickly went over to open the door, led the men inside, followed the direction where the weeds had fallen to the ground and pursued them all the way to the entrance of the main courtyard, looking at the pile of ashes, his face was ironic.
……
After Gu Yi returned home, he took off his night clothes and handed them to Xiao Si, laid down on his bed and covered himself with the quilt, and soon went to sleep. They slept until dawn, when they were woken up by a knock on the door from Grandma Song.
“Yi’er, it’s time to get up and eat.”
“Got it, Grandma.”
Grandma Song’s footsteps were far away, Gu Yi slowly sat up, stretched his back and squinted at the sunlight outside the window, feeling more brilliant than ever before.
……
The first thing you need to do is to get a good idea of what you are getting into.
The Emperor’s angry voice echoed in the hall, “Last time it was on the pavilion, this time it was in the main courtyard, what about next time? Shouldn’t the next time be to come and burn paper at the entrance of this palace of mine!”
Duke Ding knocked his head on the ground, “I have failed to meet the trust of Your Majesty, please forgive me.”
“Go home and don’t set foot outside the Ding Guo Gong’s residence without my order.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty, for your kindness.”
The Duke of Ding got up and slowly retreated.
The civil and military officials looked at him sympathetically, the emperor was clearly using this as an excuse.
“Duke of Qi!”
“I am here!”
“I order you to ……”
Duke Ding walked outside, raised his hand above his eyes and smiled slowly, before dropping his hand and walking down the steps in a steady step towards the entrance of the palace, a small eunuch caught up with him from behind, “Your Highness, the Noble Consort invites you to come over.”
Duke Ding’s voice was steady, “I have been ordered by His Majesty to return to the palace for reflection, so you can just tell Your Highness to put her mind at ease.”
“Yes.”
……
“Ah Yi’er, my in-laws mother wants to meet your uncle, have your people run a trip for grandma and go call him over.”
Grandma Song said as she gave Gu Yi a dish to eat.
“Okay.”
Gu Yi called out for Xiao Si to come over and ordered down.
A boy took his horse out of the house, turned up and headed for the city gate, but returned in two incense sticks.
“The soldiers are searching from house to house and the gates will not be opened for three days.”
After hearing this, Grandma Song was surprised. She instructed her family, “We should not go out indiscriminately for the next few days and stay honestly at home.”
Song Shu and Liu Cui Lan nodded their heads in panic.
For three days in a row, no one in the family went out. In the middle, a soldier knocked on the door and searched the house once.
On the fourth day, the soldiers withdrew from the streets and the doors of every house were opened, and people came out.
Grandma Song heard the commotion and opened the doors too, looking at the people on the street and breathing a sigh of relief.
Once again, she felt that the capital city was not good at all, not as good as the countryside, and urged Song Si, “Go to the Duke of Ding’s residence and ask when the wedding will be fixed. After the betrothal, we’ll go back early.”
Song Shu and Liu Cui Lan also urged, not having gone out for three days was suffocating them to death.
When Song Si arrived at the Duke of Ding’s residence, she realised that the Duke of Ding had been punished by the emperor and that it would be inappropriate to mention the engagement at this time, so she did not mention it.
At the same time, Gu Yi went to the Xu residence in a carriage.
In the past few days, Xu has been staying in her mother’s house, and Meng has been holding her hand even when she sleeps, lest she disappear again.
Song Wangyue, on the other hand, stayed with the old man, calling out to his great-grandfather, who never stopped smiling from morning to night.
Gu Yi got off the carriage.
The caretaker recognised him and knew he was here to see Song Wan Yue, so he happily led him to the old gentleman’s courtyard.
Song Wangyue was playing chess with the old gentleman, and the two of them were in the middle of a back-and-forth game.
The old gentleman’s hand stopped as he was about to drop the game, “What did you call me?”
“Grand great grandfather, I am the fiancé of the little girl, so naturally I have to call her as she does.”