After coming to the Hanlin Academy for a few days and watching the people around him not thinking about food or food all day long, focusing on studying knowledge, Gu Qicai understood what Rong Di said that day. Of course, there were a few people making jokes among them. They secretly gambled and drank all day long and stayed out all night. This was not strange to everyone, but for Gu Qi, it actually became an excellent cover.
But during this period, it was still impossible to get close to Yuan Zhe, and even meeting him was extremely difficult. Deliberately approaching him would only make him suspicious, which made Gu Qi worried.
"We have no choice but to start from Rong Di's side."
Gu Qi secretly thought about it, preparing to find some reason to look for Rong Di.
"Master Pei, there is a doctor Yan outside the palace who wants to see you." A small guard came over and said respectfully.
"Thank you, sir."
Jogging to the palace gate, I saw Yan Churong pacing back and forth with an anxious look on his face.
Gu Qi slowed down and called softly: "Doctor Yan."
"I..." He was about to say something, but suddenly stopped and stared directly behind Gu Qi.
"What?" Gu Qi was a little confused and looked back following his eyes...
"His Royal Highness King Zhe!"
At some point, Yuan Zhe stood behind him.
Gu Qi was startled and hurriedly knelt down to salute. Yan Churong behind him also knelt down.
"Get up." Yuan Zhe raised his hand. "I wonder why Dr. Yan came here?"
"The common people are here to deliver medicine to Master Pei." Yan Churong took out a small porcelain bottle from his sleeve: "It is used to nourish the body."
Yuan Zhe took the porcelain bottle from his hand, opened it, put it to his nose and smelled it.
The medicinal fragrance is overflowing, and there is a cooling sensation when you smell it.
Afterwards, Yuan Zhe covered the stopper and put it in Gu Qi's hand: "In that case, Mr. Pei will put it away. Don't let Dr. Yan down when he came to deliver the medicine."
"Your Highness is right." Gu Qi put the medicine bottle into his sleeve and bowed to Yan Churong: "Thank you, Doctor Yan."
The three of them stood at the entrance of the palace, speechless for a moment.
Yan Churong frowned and stood there with his head lowered, sweat dripping from his forehead.
Yuan Zhe put his hands behind his back, stared at Yan Churong and said, "Dr. Yan, is there anything else?"
Yan Churong closed his eyes and slowly exhaled: "It's okay, Mr. Pei, please take care of yourself."
"Take care of yourself", the tone seemed a bit serious.
Gu Qi was a little confused and looked up at Yan Churong, only to see that his hand holding the reins was trembling slightly, and he almost kicked off when he mounted the horse.
She is not a fool. Yan Churong came here this time obviously because he wanted to say something.
take care...
What does that mean?
"They've all left, what are you still looking at?"
Gu Qi was so frightened that her legs weakened, and then she remembered that Yuan Zhe was behind her!
"Your Majesty...Your Majesty. I, I'm going back first."
Yuan Zhe's face was expressionless and his eyes were dark, as if he had seen through Gu Qi.
Gu Qi swallowed nervously and stood there, not daring to move.
After a long while, I heard Yuan Zhe say: "Well, take care of yourself."
"I excuse myself."
Yuan Zhe's aura made her breathless, so she had to speed up her pace, trying to escape from the range of his eyes as soon as possible.
On the way back to the Hanlin Academy, I saw in front of the Imperial Study Room that the imperial army was intensively arranging arrangements. All the eunuchs and maids passing nearby were subject to interrogation.
Could it be that something big happened in the palace?
Gu Qi's curiosity was ignited, and she quietly followed a group of eunuchs and maids, walking slowly forward.
"Just when I passed by, the guard threatened me with a knife. He asked me which palace I was from and what I was doing here. It was so scary." A palace maid carrying a fruit plate rushed to the little eunuch next to her. Said.
The young eunuch lowered his voice and replied: "Don't mention it again. I heard that on the first day of Prince Zhenguo's return to the court, he went into the imperial study to discuss important matters with His Majesty. The two of them actually talked about it until dawn."
"What's the important matter that makes you so nervous?"
"I heard that before Prince Zhenguo came back, he captured a thief. The thief was actually a spy who had an affair with the Yun Kingdom!"
"Ah?" When the eunuch said this, the others all screamed.
Gu Qixin was startled and stepped lightly, trying not to let them notice.
"Keep your voice down!" The eunuch growled anxiously, and the people around him quickly shut up.
"What happened next?" The maid carrying the fruit plate asked quietly again.
"A list was found from the thief, and the list was full of spies planted in the prefectures. In the past few days, General Rong and General Zhao, the commander of the prefectures and prefectures, have dispatched soldiers and generals. They only waited for the order of His Majesty Zhu to take the people directly. !”
"Then what you mean is that the Zhu Ling approved by His Majesty is right here..."
"Shhhh! Don't talk nonsense! Let's just do our own thing and don't ask about others! Let's go quickly!" The eunuch quickened his pace, and the other palace maids and eunuchs hurriedly followed him and spread out around the corner.
When I arrived at the Hanlin Academy, I recalled what Yan Churong had done today. It seemed that he had received the same news in the Liu Mansion.
Now, Gu Qi couldn't sit still anymore.
She picked up the two books on the case and returned to her room. People around her saw that she was worried and thought she was worried about how to control the flood, so they didn't ask any more questions.
That night
Gu Qi was restless in the room. Did Yan Churong not want to get involved when he said "take care of yourself"?
But this matter is related to Yun Guo's secret chess. If he is on the list, he will eventually die.
Gu Qi calmed down and blew out the candle.
After waiting for about half a stick of incense, he put on his night clothes, took the dagger Han Zizheng gave him, and quietly left the Hanlin Academy.
The journey went smoothly. No palace maids or eunuchs were seen moving around. Only a few guards were patrolling. It seemed that most of them stayed in the royal study.
Jumping up to the outer wall of the royal study, he saw a group of guards guarding him.
"Meow~" Looking in the direction of the sound, it turned out to be a black cat standing on the wall.
Gu Qi suddenly came up with a plan. He slowly approached the black cat, held it in a trap, and used his dagger to dig out a piece of earth and stone from the wall. He smashed the earth and rocks against the wall of the corridor outside, making a sound.
"Who is it?" A group of guards ran out with knives.
Gu Qi let the cat go, and it jumped down and ran away in the other direction, causing the surrounding flowers and plants to make a rustling sound, and the guards guarding the imperial study quickly chased after it.
"Yeah, that's all."
Gu Qi jumped to the ground and ran into the imperial study room with the help of Qinggong.
It was pitch dark in the room and it was difficult to see the direction. After getting used to the dark environment, he could vaguely see a desk with a box on it through the moonlight.
She walked straight over and opened the box. There was a token inside and several pieces of paper underneath.
"You can't see clearly either."
Gu Qi murmured in a low voice, took out the fire seal from his waist, and picked up the token by the light. He saw that the black gold token was engraved with a golden and red red bird.
"Is this Zhu Ling?" After muttering to himself, he reached out to take out the paper in the box and take a look.
At this moment, a gust of wind blew in the darkness, the flames flickered, and a big hand grabbed it from the side!
Gu Qi stepped back and saw that the person coming was none other than the Prince of Zhenguo - Yuan Zhe!
"I've been waiting for you for a long time. Why don't I take off your veil so that we can get to know each other." Yuan Zhe looked at Gu Qi with a half-smile but not a smile. The moonlight illuminated half of his face, making him look extremely sinister.
Gu Qi's heart was beating wildly, and it became difficult to breathe!
It is not suitable to stay here for a long time. If the guard comes back, he will become a "turtle in the urn"!
Thinking of this, Gu Qi quickly moved to the right, but Yuan Zhe followed closely, staring at Gu Qi.
Gu Qi narrowed his eyes slightly, fearing that he could not clearly see Yuan Zhe's figure.
One foot away from me is the lamp stand.
The corners of her mouth raised, she made a feint and ran towards the light stand.
Yuan Zhe rushed over directly!
Right now!
Gu Qi pushed a row of lamp stands with force. Yuan Zhe instinctively dodged and temporarily focused on the fallen lamp stands.
Gu Qi used Qinggong to flash back to the case, ready to reach out and take out the paper in the box.
Unexpectedly, Yuan Zhe was so fast. He turned over, raised his foot and kicked Gu Qi's arm away!
Gu Qi became even more impatient and immediately started fighting with him, but she never thought that after only two or three rounds, she could no longer resist him.
He pressed forward step by step but did not kill anyone. He probably wanted to capture him alive.
Gu Qi realized that he could no longer fight head-on.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of the letter in the box.
Since you can't get it, why not take the opportunity to destroy it!
This time, Gu Qi jumped up and took the initiative to attack. After approaching Yuan Zhe, he took out a dagger with his left hand and stabbed him!
Yuan Zhe secretly rejoiced, this assassin is too stupid!
He directly followed the direction to capture Gu Qi, but he never thought that Gu Qi's free right hand would directly throw the Huozhezi...
The huozhezi ignited when it encountered the wind, and burned instantly when it fell into the box!
Yuan Zhe was shocked and saw the box ignited.
Gu Qi took the dagger with his right hand, turned around and slashed Yuan Zhe's arm!
Yuan Zhe let go of his hand in pain, and Gu Qi got out of his defense like a slippery fish.
When he was escaping, he met the guards coming back. Fortunately, he had good Qinggong skills and ran two corridors to throw away the guards.
Back at the Hanlin Academy, it was almost the fourth watch. Gu Qi took off her night clothes and lay on the bed, secretly rejoicing.
After a while, I vaguely heard a commotion outside.
"An assassin has entered the palace! People inside, come out quickly!" The guard slammed the door hard, and Gu Qigang's heart dropped again!
Gu Qi put on her coat and as soon as she opened the door, she was "invited" into the courtyard by the guards.
The courtyard was full of people from the Hanlin Academy. Everyone stood together, shivering.
"A thief broke into the Hanlin Academy, and they are going to be searched now!"
The commander of the imperial army waved his hand, and a group of guards came forward to surround Gu Qi and others, while another group went straight into the room to search.
Gu Qi's hands and feet were cold, but cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
The night clothes were thrown under the bed by me!
Seeing that the guards were about to search her room, her throat tightened and she almost screamed.
At this moment, a masked man jumped from the roof and ran straight into the crowd!
"Get out of the way! Otherwise I want him to die!" The man held a dagger and held Gu Qi hostage instantly!
When a group of literati and scholars saw this scene, they were so frightened that their legs weakened and they fled in all directions.
Seeing this, the guards rushed over and surrounded Gu Qi and the man.
"You can't escape, why don't you just surrender!"
The man dragged Gu Qi back to the outside of the Hanlin Academy. A group of guards held swords in front of them and did not dare to take a step forward.
He pushed Gu Qi forward suddenly, turned around and ran away.
Gu Qi fell forward helplessly. Suddenly, a flying arrow shot out!
The arrow grazed the side of Gu Qi's face and flew back!
With a "pop", Gu Qi fell to the ground.
Ignoring the pain on her face, she turned around and saw that the masked man had already fallen to the ground.
The guard stepped forward and helped Gu Qi up, making way for him.
She looked up and saw Yuan Zhe standing not far away, with a quiver on his back and a bow in one hand. The moonlight shone on his face, making it look particularly cold.
This was the first time she felt the terror of her opponent.
When Gu Qi came closer, Yuan Zhe saw the wounds on her face.
It seems more serious than imagined.
Yuan Zhe frowned: "Call Doctor Xu."
The guard obeyed the order and ran away. Yuan Zhe stepped forward slowly, held Gu Qi's arm with one hand, and helped her into the room.
The imperial doctor arrived, cleaned the blood on his face, and bandaged the wound, and then the group dispersed.
Gu Qi had no sleep all night, her whole body was cold, as if she had fallen into an ice cellar, and she did not feel the pain caused by the wound at all.
Inside the Imperial Study Room
"Your Highness, this subordinate neglected his duty and allowed the thief to almost escape. Please punish him!" The commander of the Imperial Army and all the guards knelt down one after another.
Yuan Zhe lit the candle slowly and said calmly: "Step back."
"Your injury..."
"It doesn't matter."
Yuan Zhe sat in front of the case and recalled that when he just shot, he deliberately missed the shot by two inches.
Unexpectedly, there was such a big cut, and the bright red wound made the face look even paler.
Gu Qi seemed to be frightened again, and she was stunned.
"well."
He sighed and looked at Zhu Ling in the box in a daze.
