Noble First Daughter-in-law

Chapter 1277 Fishing in troubled waters
Yuwen Cheng and Su Changjing led the Right Guards and hurried to the widest Zhuque Avenue in Chang'an City. At this time of day, Zhuque Avenue must be bustling with people and cars, and the shops and restaurants on both sides must be crowded with customers, making it very lively and prosperous.

But today, all these shops and restaurants have closed their doors, and there has been no sign of vehicles or pedestrians. Occasionally, one or two carriages or pedestrians pass by, but most of them are carrying luggage and parcels, and they look terrified as they want to leave the city, but are stopped and sent back.

The entire Chang'an city was filled with a sense of uneasiness and danger.

Yuwen Cheng held the reins in one hand and let the other hand hang by his side. He looked relaxed and at ease, without the nervousness of going out to fight the enemy. Su Changjing was puzzled: "Your Highness, we have to hurry over."

"No hurries,"

Yuwen Cheng sneered: "The one who should be anxious now should be the prince, not us."

Su Changjing's eyes lit up: "Oh?"

Yuwen Cheng said, "Whether it's Shang Shoufei who died, or Xiao Yuansui who came back to rebel, the Qianniu Guards they led were all guarding the Eastern Palace, which means they were all the prince's men. These people killed each other and rebelled against the emperor. Who will be held responsible for this in the end? Do I need to remind you?"

"...!"

Su Changjing immediately came back to his senses and smiled happily: "Your Highness, you are really a fortune teller!"

Yuwen Cheng laughed loudly twice, and then said, "It doesn't matter whether it's divine or not. Anyway, I have a crown prince who can take care of everything for me. If things get out of hand, father can depose him and I can get a bargain. As for the King of Qin - although I failed to drag him into the water this time, he is a useless chess piece that has been driven out of Chang'an."

"..."

"I should win this round!"

"Yes!"

Su Changjing also became excited at this moment, not only because he realized that they had won the game of chess, but also because he realized that as long as they won, the prince would fall. If the prince fell, the princess would completely lose her value, and they would no longer have to depend on her.

Su Changjing asked: "So, are we still going to kill Xiao Yuansui now?"

Yuwen Cheng's eyes turned cold: "We must kill Xiao Yuansui, but not right away. If the rebellion only makes one or two noises outside the city gate, it will not be very meaningful. We have to muddy the waters so that we can profit from it."

"So now we are going to--"

A cold light flashed in Yuwen Cheng's eyes: "Once he returns to Chang'an, we will take the opportunity to open the city gate for him!"

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In the Qin Palace, there were swords and knives everywhere, and the fighting was very strict.

As if he sensed the murderous aura outside, little Yuan Qian started crying non-stop since early morning. He didn't stop until his voice became hoarse. It was not until Shang Ruyi returned to the Prince of Qin's Mansion that he snuggled into his mother's warm and soft arms and gradually stopped crying.

Looking at the child's aggrieved face with tears on it, Shang Ruyi's heart softened.

She held the child in her arms and patted him gently to coax him to sleep, but the child could still feel the tension of the surrounding environment. Although he was tired of crying, he still refused to fall asleep. He stared at Shang Ruyi with his dark eyes wide open: "Pa, pa pa."

Shang Ruyi asked, "What's pa pa?"

Nanny Feng whispered at the side: "The young prince is probably a little scared."

Shang Ruyi frowned upon hearing this, and then said to the baby in his arms with a serious face: "You are the child of General Tiance and Madam Weifeng, how can you be afraid?"

"..."

"In the future, there may be many storms waiting for you. Are you afraid of this?"

"..."

"Don't be afraid!"

It was rare for her to speak so seriously to a child. Little Yuan Qian immediately opened his eyes wide and looked at her in shock and panic. Shang Ruyi said, "I kept you here this time so that you can learn. Don't let the slightest storm scare you."

Nanny Feng and Chang Wan looked at each other. Although they were both very nervous, they couldn't help laughing when they heard this.

After all, this was a rebellion. Who wouldn't be afraid of such a big turmoil? Besides, little Yuan Qian was so young that he could only barely understand some simple words, and couldn't understand more complicated words. How could he "learn" this?
But Shang Ruyi was still serious, as if he had thought of something and continued: "Of course, I want you to learn how your mother handles troubles, not how to rebel!"

Xiao Yuanqian blinked.

Just as the two people, one big and one small, were talking seriously and the other was listening ignorantly, there was a knock on the door. Tusheer hurried to open the door, only to see Shi Yuxin, who was fully armored and holding the sword at his waist, striding in.

"General Zhonglang, you are here."

As soon as she saw her, Shang Ruyi immediately threw the child to Nanny Feng, stood up and walked over. Shi Yuxin simply bowed to her, and Shang Ruyi immediately asked, "What's the situation outside?"

She was worried that someone might take advantage of the chaos to harm the women and children left behind in the Prince of Qin's Mansion, so she ordered people to close the door tightly and not allow anyone to enter without permission. However, she wanted to know the situation outside, so she asked Shi Yuxin to take people out to gather information and report back immediately if there was any situation.

Now that she is back, there must be new developments.

Shi Yuxin said: "The people I sent to the Crown Prince's Mansion just now reported back that the Crown Prince, the Crown Princess, and the King of Qi have all left."

"Have you all entered the palace?"

"No, the Crown Prince and Crown Princess were escorted into the palace by the Left Guards, but they walked very slowly, probably to buy time."

"What about the King of Qi?"

"Prince Qi and Su Changjing of the Right Guard went to Mingde Gate."

"them……?"

Shang Ruyi's eyes sparkled when he heard this: "They want to go to the city gate and stop Xiao Yuansui from entering the city?"

Shi Yuxin did not comment, and continued: "The emperor issued two more decrees on the way to the palace, ordering the Jinwu Guard and Yulin Guard to go out to protect the palace and set up defenses at several city gates."

Shang Ruyi frowned.

In other words, the emperor's men and the prince's men were sending troops to the city gate. This was normal, but she felt something was wrong.

Shang Ruyi asked, "What do you think?"

Shi Yu thought to himself, "The Emperor has ordered the Crown Prince, the Crown Princess, the Prince of Qi, and the Princess to enter the palace. The Princess has the illness of the young prince, so it can be delayed for a while, but the Crown Prince has no reason to delay, so the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess have already entered the palace."

"..."

"But King Qi, he went to the city gate and openly disobeyed the order."

"..."

"I'm afraid it's not that simple for him to do something against my will. I'm worried that he wants to kill people to silence them."

Shang Ruyi looked at her with burning eyes: "You mean, the emperor sent so many Jinwu guards to the city gate, maybe he wanted to capture Xiao Yuansui alive, but if Xiao Yuansui is alive and exposes their plan, then they are also traitors who rebelled against the emperor!" Shi Yu thought to himself: "Yes, so the King of Qi went there to destroy the evidence!"

"That makes sense,"

Shang Ruyi nodded, but her frown did not relax immediately. Instead, it became even tighter. Seeing her increasingly troubled look, Shi Yu thought to himself, "What is the princess still worried about?"

Shang Ruyi was silent for a while, then murmured, "I always feel that there is something wrong with this matter."

"wrong?"

After listening to her words, Shi Yuxin thought for a moment, and then said: "Although I have served the King of Qin for a short time, I have heard a lot of rumors about the King of Qi during my service in the Imperial Guards. He is a narrow-minded person who will take revenge for any slight. He is a -"

She didn't say the words "despicable villain", but Shang Ruyi nodded knowingly.

Shi Yuxin continued, "The previous melee between the Xiaowei Army and the Qianniu Guards has exposed the conflict between Su Changjing and the Crown Princess. And if the King of Qi is completely on the side of the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess, then he should also have a grudge against Su Changjing."

"..."

"But he actually went to Mingde Gate with Su Changjing. I find it a bit strange."

After hearing what she said, Shang Ruyi finally understood why she had been feeling something was wrong.

Yuwen Cheng and Su Changjing!
Although both of them belonged to the prince's camp, on the surface, they did not have much personal relationship. In fact, at this sensitive time when someone was rebelling and the emperor had already issued a clear order to let the prince and the prince of Qi enter the palace, he should not disobey the order. Even if he really wanted to kill Xiao Yuansui to silence him, he could have ordered the Xiaowei Army or the Zuo Qianniu Guard who had lost their commander to do it.

However, he actually went to Mingde Gate with Su Changjing...

Shang Ruyi murmured, "The two of them...we actually didn't realize it until now. The two of them may have been secretly colluding for a long time!"

Shi Yuxin was also surprised.

She whispered, "Princess, what you mean is that the King of Qi has thoughts behind the Crown Prince's back?"

Shang Ruyi glanced at her and said, "Even a chess piece like Xiao Yuansui has his own ideas. How can he, as a prince, not have any ideas of his own?"

Shi Yuxin fell silent. Obviously, she was thinking of her younger brother Shi Yutao.

The human heart is so hard to predict.

Shang Ruyi seemed to have completely figured out why the matter seemed to be proceeding according to their speculation from the very beginning, but it always seemed like there was a hand manipulating the development of things, and accidents kept happening. Now that he thought about it, it was the King of Qi. He had been planning for himself from the very beginning, so this matter was vaguely weird.

She sneered and said, "These brothers are more cunning than anyone else. Even though King Qi is young, he has never been a pushover."

After she said this, Shi Yuxin also understood: "So, if they kill Xiao Yuansui, then this rebellion will ultimately be just the prince's "lax rule", which will not affect the status of the prince of the East Palace."

Shang Ruyi nodded: "But this will not benefit the King of Qi."

"..."

"He has been jumping around in the name of the crown prince, and he must want to profit from it."

"..."

"And the current situation is that the more chaotic the situation is, the better it is for him."

"..."

"And how to make the situation worse—"

At this moment, Shi Yuxin's eyes widened: "If I were him, I would open the city gate and wait for Xiao Yuansui's men to rush into the city, which would definitely cause chaos in Chang'an! By that time——"

Shang Ruyi gasped when he heard this.

By then, there will be chaos in Chang'an City, and Yuwen Cheng can take the opportunity to send people to the Prince of Qin's Mansion to attack them. If he succeeds, he can frame everything on Xiao Yuansui!
After that...what was he going to do? In such a chaos, there were so many things he could do!
Shang Ruyi immediately said: "We have to stop him!"

After saying that, she led Shi Yuxin out.

But just as I reached the door, I heard my grandmother's sweet voice behind me: "Mom!"

"...!"

This call made her breathing heavy for a moment. She slowly turned around and saw that in Nanny Feng's arms, little Yuan Qian was opening his eyes with a pair of distinct black and white eyes, and his hands were also stretched out to her. Shi Yuxin's heart softened when she saw this scene, and she said softly: "Princess, why don't you let me handle this matter."

"..."

Shang Ruyi did not comment, but walked back to the bed. Xiao Yuanqian immediately reached out to grab her clothes. A satisfied smile appeared on his chubby face. He looked up at her, kicked his two strong legs and tried to climb into her arms, shouting, "Mom, hug me, hug me."

If it were any other time, Shang Ruyi would have bent down and held this precious little girl in his arms.

But today, she was indifferent. Although she walked back to the child, she did not hug him as usual. Instead, she reached out and gently stroked his chubby little face with her palm. Then she said to Nanny Feng, Chang Wan, and Tu She'er, "You stay in the mansion and take good care of Yuan Qian. There are heavy soldiers guarding here, so there will be no danger."

When everyone heard this, they all understood what she was going to do.

Wo Xue didn't wait for her instructions and walked to the door automatically, waiting to set off.

Although Xiao Yuanqian didn't quite understand what she said, he seemed to sense something. He grasped her clothes more anxiously, stretched out his hands and shouted anxiously: "Mom! Mom! Hold me!"

Shang Ruyi had no expression on his face, but he seemed to be being tortured invisibly, and his breathing was extremely heavy.

She reached out to hold her son's two little hands, squeezed them hard, and then pulled her clothes out of his hands. Yuan Qian suddenly became anxious and burst into tears: "Mom——"

Shang Ruyi took a deep breath and said in a deep voice: "Protect him!"

After saying that, he turned around and left without looking back.

The crying sound behind him kept stabbing him like a knife, but Shang Ruyi did not hesitate at all and walked out quickly. After a while, the crying of the child could no longer be heard.

Walking beside her and looking at her determined gaze, Shi Yuxin also felt shocked in her heart.

But she didn't say much. Instead, she thought for a while. When they had already reached the gate and there were cavalry waiting in front, she suddenly said, "There is one thing I want to remind the princess."

Shang Ruyi stopped and turned to look at her: "What's the matter?"

Shi Yuxin hesitated for a moment, but still said in a deep voice: "No matter what, we must stop the King of Qi from killing Xiao Yuansui. If it is absolutely necessary and Xiao Yuansui must be killed, it must be done by us, even if it is the princess."

Today I will combine two chapters into one.