When Long woke up in the morning, he felt at a loss for a moment. He looked at the bed and found his empress had already gone.
Shi Qingzhou…
Long pursed his lips and slowly sat up from the bed. Then, he sighed.
How could he sleep as a log? He didn’t even know when his empress left. Alas…
Long touched his heart. He felt that he heard something last night, but that should be a dream, right?
Somehow, it caused him a great deal of heartache.
Long stroked Shi’s pillow, which was beside him. It was cold as Shi had left for a long time, but it seemed that there was still Shi’s smell on it.
Long took the pillow and sniffed it. After a long time, he put the pillow down.
“In twenty days? Shi Qingzhou, you must keep your promise. Otherwise, I won’t let you go easily!”
After getting up, Long went to attend the morning meeting as usual. However, he felt a little different this day…
He didn’t feel helpless. Nor did he expect it.
Attending the morning meeting was just like a task for him, so he always felt helpless.
In the past, he expected that he would finish it soon, because he could have breakfast with Shi after that.
However, that person who would have breakfast with him had already gone. So he didn’t care when the meeting would be over.
Every day of the next ten days, Long would receive reports that made people panic.
At the places where Shi went, countless people were assassinated.
It had shocked the whole nation. Normally, the imperial court should be furious and arrest the murderer. However, the emperor’s response to this matter was hard to understand.
Two ministers who went too far were even punished.
They weren’t punished for some insignificant reasons. The emperor ordered the guards to investigate all the illegal things they had done since they became officials. Then, they were convicted.
In fact, these two ministers were just greedy and took bribes.
Not many officials could remain uncorrupted after working for so many years.
However, the two ministers were too active in this matter, so the emperor punished them to make clear his attitude. What happened to those two ministers told the others that the emperor must have known something about the bloody killings, or it was just the emperor who initiated it!
Shi was carrying out his plan on a large scale, so besides the ministers in the court, the common people were also shocked.
But no ordinary people were hurt in those areas.
Those who were assassinated didn’t do anything good in the past and most of them were from officials’ families.
In the nation, a lot of people were treated cruelly by officials.
So, it gladdened the people’s hearts and the panic among the masses turned into praise in the end!
Many rich businessmen were also killed.
In order to make more money, they even cooperated with Eastern Darkness. They didn’t keep a low profile, nor did they know what kindness meant.
Those rich businessmen often bullied the common people in the past.
So, when they were killed, a lot of people felt happy and applauded!
It was the most gratifying when it happened to corrupt officials. When those officials were killed, some local residents even shouted directly in the street, saying it was right to kill them!
In the past ten days, Shi and his men went to several cities and the evil people didn’t escape the bloodbath.
They also ran into trouble and fought against the assassins trained by Eastern Darkness for several times.
Luckily, the Shadow Guardians with Shi were all remarkable and two thousand guards were also following him secretly. So as long as there were not too many assassins, Shi and his men could always defeat them easily. Some assassins with great martial arts might be able to escape, but most of them would be killed!
Shi would occasionally catch some alive. Then, he would let Liu Suifeng use special means to force them and ask where their stronghold was.
After that, they would go to exterminate all the people at that place.
If some people refused to say, instead of wasting time, Long would directly kill them.
Long could receive the messages of killing from Shi every day. He also knew that Shi was getting further away from the imperial city…
This day, when Long was dealing with state affairs in the imperial study, a eunuch reported that Lady Shan came.
Lady Shan? Long raised his eyebrows.
Last time, this woman came with some information about Consort Rong. Shi also found several moles at Consort Rong’s place and killed them later.
It was weird that Lady Shan went to Consort Rong’s place at that time. Long didn’t believe that she was innocent.
However, the Shadow Guardians watched Lady Shan closely and found nothing suspicious.
So, maybe Lady Shan really didn’t do anything, or she knew how to hide things.
Long believed that it was the second case!
If Shi was in the palace, Long might go to meet her. At least he would know her intention.
But at present, Long was not interested in taking risks.
So, Long looked at the eunuch and said coldly, “I’m busy. Tell her to leave.”
“Yes.” The eunuch immediately left.
Long didn’t pay much attention to Lady Shan. If she was up to something, he would just deal with her later.
Standing out of the door, Lady Shan was livid. She didn’t dare to break in. If she was still favored by the emperor, she would certainly break into the imperial study. Given the emperor’s love for her at that time, she wouldn’t be punished.
However, the emperor didn’t like her anymore. If she broke in at this moment, she would end up in the cold palace!
So, Lady Shan could only leave.
Back to Zhaoyang Palace, Lady Shan shut herself up in her bedroom.
When she was about to throw the teacup angrily, a scarlet figure suddenly appeared.
Lady Shan froze with terror. Later, she lowered her head in fear and knelt down.
“Greetings, My Lord.”
“You may rise.” The voice was so cold that it didn’t seem to come out of a person’s mouth.
Even though Lady Shan had heard it several times in this period of time, the voice could still make her shudder with fear.
The scarlet figure really made her feel terrible.
“My Lord, I still haven’t seen the emperor.”
This answer did not seem surprising to the scarlet figure. He only said, “Then keep trying. You have ten days left.”
Lady Shan’s expression changed. “My Lord, I will try my best. Could you please give me the antidote?”
This time, the scarlet figure did not say anything, but disappeared in the bedroom.
Lady Shan was shocked and then her face became paler.
She was just an imperial concubine in the harem. She was just one of the emperor’s women.
However, two months ago, all her family members were poisoned, including herself. From then on, she knew that she had been controlled by others.
If the emperor still liked her, she could ask the emperor to use all the means to save her and her family.
However, she had been out of favor. The emperor only cared about his empress, Shi Qingzhou, at present.
Besides, those people had something in their hands.
That was the evidence that she killed several concubines in the harem! If the evidence was given to the emperor, she would surely be killed! So, she had no other choice!
Currently, she only hoped that those people could defeat Long. In that way, maybe she would still have a chance to survive…
Damn it! Damn it! Why did Long even refuse to see her? Damn it!
Lady Shan began to curse in her bedroom.
Long finished dealing with the memorials and went to Qiankun palace.
It was still too early for lunch. After arriving at Qiankun palace, Long sat down in the courtyard.
He thought of the night when Shi was practicing sword there before leaving.
Shi was no longer there, but looking at the yard, Long was lost in memory.
Long seemed to see that Shi was still there, practicing sword for him…
“Your Majesty, do you want to have lunch?” Liu Xiangyang came and asked softly.
Long looked up at him and nodded. “Well, deliver the food.”
“Yes!” Once Liu waved, the servants went to prepare lunch.
Since this day’s work had been finished, Long decided to go out for a walk…
Yes, he planned to take a walk out of the palace.
It was a special period, so Long didn’t want to attract more people’s attention. Ying Qiu and Ying Feng put on ordinary people’s clothes and followed him closely.
With those two men, Long wouldn’t need to worry about his safety.
However, what upset Long was… when he just got out, he received a message, saying Zhou Yu’er died!
That woman, Zhou Yu’er, died!