Li Zhishan, the commander of the imperial guards, was shocked when he learned that the Qixia Pavilion, the palace of Concubine Ling, was on fire. He hurriedly rushed to the scene with his confidant Zhao Yingfeng.
At this time, a maid named Caiping walked out of Yuchen Palace with a solemn expression. Li Zhishan and Zhao Ying met and hurried forward to greet them.
Caiping told Li Zhishan and Zhao Ying that Concubine Ling's mood has stabilized now, so she asked them not to worry.
Li Zhishan lowered his head and lowered his eyes and said: "It's okay, your Majesty. I'd like to trouble you to ask your Majesty if you have any other instructions. At the same time, please ask the girl to say hello to Ling Fei on behalf of the minister. What happened tonight was purely accidental, but it was a surprise to the Imperial Concubine. It’s just a minor mistake.”
Caiping responded and returned to the palace.
After a moment, she turned around and said, "Your Majesty asked your slave to tell Commander Li that you don't have to blame yourself for what happened tonight. You just need to send more manpower and take strict precautions in the future. Your Majesty is tired and has rested. Commander Li, please help yourself."
Li Zhishan raised his hand and said yes. After Caiping left, Li Zhishan arranged for Zhao Ying and others to take a closer look at the situation in Qixia Pavilion.
By this time the fire had been basically extinguished, and the once magnificent Qixia Pavilion, with its carved beams and painted columns, was now almost in ruins.
Li Zhishan ordered people to search bit by bit among the ruins, hoping to find some clues to gain a deeper understanding of the assassin's identity.
Two bodies in the rubble were also found. One of the two corpses should be that of Yuan Chao, and the other one should be that of the assassin, but they were burned beyond recognition and were too miserable to be identified.
Staring blankly at the two bodies that had been almost burned to charcoal in the ruins, Li Zhishan felt a chill instantly hit his heart from the soles of his feet.
Returning to his residence, Li Zhishan paced back and forth in the room while repeatedly thinking about what happened tonight. He felt confused in his heart: "Where did these two assassins come from? Are they the remnants of the Shangshu Mansion of the Ministry of Justice?" ?”
He told Zhao Ying, "Immediately mobilize manpower to strengthen the security in the palace to prevent something like this from happening again."
Zhao Ying said yes repeatedly.
"Moreover," he stopped suddenly, his deep eyes flashing, "arrange more people to help Zhou Shan, and ask him to come here to see me as soon as he comes back!"
"Yes, I will obey."...
Nearing the fifth watch, Zhou Shan finally came back step by step while everyone was waiting anxiously, with a look of despair on his face.
Li Zhishan looked him up and down with a bit of inquiry.
Zhou Shan's clothes were wrinkled and stained with blood; his hair was draped over his shoulders, looking a bit messy; his face was pale and haggard, with a listless expression; his eyes were dim and blurry, showing the exhaustion that could not be concealed. and decadence.
Looking at his miserable appearance, Li Zhishan immediately understood the outcome of tonight's arrest. He couldn't help but twitch his lips and said coldly: "Why did you come back so late? Where is the assassin you are chasing?"
Zhou Shan's eyelids drooped slightly, and he said in a hoarse voice: "That assassin was too cunning. My subordinates fought with him for most of the night, but in the end, he still escaped..."
Li Zhishan scolded: "There is nothing!"
The depths of Zhou Shan's obscure black eyes were filled with panic and confusion; he could only respond quietly without saying a word.
Li Zhishan glanced at him again and said, "By the way, there's something wrong with your voice. Are you injured?"
Zhou Shan looked frustrated and sighed: "When my subordinates were chasing the assassin, they were accidentally hit by some kind of poisonous gas and breathed some of it into their throats. Now they only feel a very stinging and uncomfortable feeling. Cough cough... "The more he talked, the sadder he became, and he couldn't help but cough violently.
"Actually, I can't blame you entirely for what happened tonight, because you tried your best." Li Zhishan sighed helplessly when he saw his miserable look.
"By the way," he changed the topic: "Do you know the origin of those two assassins? What is their purpose of breaking into the palace at night?"
Zhou Shan frowned a little at a loss, shook his head and said: "This... I don't know very well. Tonight, I was on duty with Mr. Yuan. When I passed by Qixia Pavilion, I heard something wrong inside, so I went inside to take a look.
"I saw two assassins intending to kidnap Ling Fei and had evil plans. My subordinates and Mr. Yuan fought hard with them. Although they killed one of the assassins, Mr. Yuan also died in the line of duty..." His voice was hoarse at this point. , I can’t say any more.
Li Zhishan subconsciously rubbed his aching temples with his hands, as if talking to Zhou Shan, or to himself: "Is it someone from the Shangshu Mansion of the Ministry of Punishment again? Since Lu Wenzheng was imprisoned, His subordinates all dream of standing up for him - by the way, what are the physical characteristics of the assassin you are chasing?"
Zhou Shan hesitated and said: "The night was too dark, and the man's face was covered, so my subordinates couldn't see clearly..."
Li Zhishan cursed "trash", then frowned and thought: "Tonight, although we are far apart, I still got a glimpse - I saw that man has strong hands, strange movements, and is extremely difficult to deal with. Could it be Ling Yun?"
"Isn't it?" Zhou Shan's heart throbbed unconsciously, and he blurted out: "Ling Yun's subordinates have seen him several times before. Although the assassin is masked, according to his subordinates, regardless of his body shape or behavior, It doesn’t look like him! Oh, by the way, Commander Li, do you think the two thieves tonight are organized by Tianxiao?"
Li Zhishan snorted and said, "Other people's dogs can guard the door, but our dogs can bite chickens!"
Zhou Shan's face froze and he didn't speak.
Li Zhishan's eyes, as deep as the cold night, were filled with a layer of gloom, and he said quietly: "There must be evidence for everything, not speculation. If the Holy Emperor asks about this matter tomorrow, just say that the assassin is a remnant of the Shangshu Palace of the Ministry of Punishment, and you will not need anything else. No matter, do you remember it?"
Zhou Shan was confused and didn't dare to ask any more questions, so he could only respond vaguely.
When we came out of Li Zhishan, the sky was already bright, and the light blue sky was still dimly inlaid with a few remaining stars.
Zhou Shan paid careful attention to the surrounding movements, and after making sure that no one was around, he gently knocked on the door knocker of Yuchen Palace.
Concubine Ling heard Xiuju's report and hurriedly invited her. Zhou Shan ducked into the courtyard and Xiu Jufu closed the courtyard door again.
Zhou Shan entered the inner palace and bowed his hands respectfully to the concubine Ling on the brocade couch.
Concubine Ling's eyelashes trembled lightly, her watery gaze stared into his deep and clear eyes without blinking, and she lowered her voice and said, "Is it really you, Brother Ling?"
"Zhou Shan" said in a deep voice, "It's me."
It turns out that Zhou Shan is Ling Yun in disguise. When the guards from the palace were about to arrive, Ling Yun was quick to think and came up with this trick to disguise the real thing from the fake one.
He and Du Zhenghai stripped off the clothes from Zhou Shan's corpse and switched them with Ling Yun's clothes; then they asked Mo Shuiling's master and servant to leave Qixia Pavilion, and then the two of them set fire to the curtains, tables and chairs of Qixia Pavilion, causing Qixia Signs of a fire in the pavilion.
After that, Du Zhenghai and Ling Yun left Qixia Pavilion one after another, bluffing and leaving the palace in a fake war chase.
Although Ling Yun was not disguised at that time, his clothes were all those of Zhou Shan.
Moreover, among Yuan Chao and Zhou Shan, he and Zhou Shan were relatively similar in stature; the night was dark and they were far apart. Who could see clearly and distinguish the authenticity in the confusion?
After Ling Yun and Du Zhenghai left the palace, they hurried back to the Miracle Doctor Villa. At that time, Sai Zhongjing and Lian Nanchun were anxiously waiting for news about them.
Famous doctors in the Lian family have been trained for generations, especially Sai Zhongjing, who is not only excellent in medical skills, but also extremely accomplished in the art of disguise.
So under Sai Zhongjing's superb disguise technique, Ling Yun's originally handsome and innocent face turned into Zhou Shan's dark complexion and unattractive appearance, and it was lifelike and breathtaking.
But there is still a thorny problem that needs to be solved, that is, the voices of Ling Yun and Zhou Shan are very different.
In fact, everyone had discussed this issue as a topic before Ling Yun went to the palace.
Sai Zhongjing and Lian Nanchun are both great experts in medicine. After some deliberation, they asked Ling Yun to take a drug that can make people's voices hoarse and even change their tone, called "Nine Transformations Magic Yiyin Pill".
Of course, this kind of medicine must be supplemented by profound internal strength.
In other words, after Ling Yun takes this medicine, he still needs to rely on his profound internal skills and compress his vocal cords to change his voice.
So when he was talking to Li Zhishan just now, he used his internal force to compress his vocal cords, making his voice hoarse and deep.
Zhou Shan was just a minor figure in the palace. Li Zhishan didn't care about him before. Ling Yun finally overcame Li Zhishan on the grounds that he was poisoned by an enemy and had his throat hurt...
At this time, Concubine Ling was naturally surprised and happy to see Ling Yun, and said in a trembling voice: "Is everything going well?"
Ling Yun nodded slightly.
Concubine Ling was relieved, her eyes filled with a blurry color, she raised her head and breathed out softly: "That's good..."
The dawn gently lifts the veil of night, emitting a dazzling light. The sunlight was filtered by the layers of royal gardens, and spread listlessly on the ground with mottled tree shadows, turning into a faint, round and gently swaying halo, a melancholy and broken scene.
Ling Yun came out of Yuchen Palace and returned to Zhou Shan's residence.
Regarding the general situation of Zhou Shan, Concubine Ling had just told him everything she knew in Yuchen Palace, so from now on, he is Zhou Shan in a complete sense, and every move, every word and deed he makes is also Zhou Shan's. .
He must pay attention and be careful in everything, and make no mistakes; otherwise, if he makes one wrong move, he will lose the whole game.
He sat in front of the desk, his eyes silently staring at the flickering candlelight on the desk, thinking about what happened last night, thinking about what Li Zhishan had just said to him in the study, and he couldn't help but frown. .
Regarding what happened tonight, before everything was clear, Li Zhishan was indiscriminately placing all the responsibilities on the heads of the Shangshufu of the Ministry of Punishment, and he also said such words, which further proves that Li Zhishan is by no means a good person.
From this, he remembered that a few days ago in the Tianlao, Li Zhishan's subordinates Yuan Chao, Zhou Shan, and Shen Hai conspired to poison the tea and set the Tianlao on fire. They would do anything to kill him and then kill him. situation;
He remembered the time when Li Ruiyun kidnapped him into the city to get the dragon, phoenix and jade talisman, and met Li Zhishan at the gate of the city. Li Zhishan's cold and distant reaction when he saw that he was being blatantly hijacked further confirmed Li Zhishan's ambition.
"If the emperor asks today about the assassination incident last night, how should I answer? Should I follow Li Zhishan's wishes, or..."
