Raiders of the Duke and Duchess

Chapter 924: Don’t take the rebels, take the prince

The footsteps were still far away, covered by the heavy rain. If one did not have extraordinary hearing, one would not have heard any of the footsteps.

There were only three people present with extraordinary hearing ability: Ji Wuyan, Ning Xiuyuan, and one... Lin Yi.

Even though Lin Yirong was laughing and cursing like crazy, he was actually paying attention to the movements outside. When footsteps sounded, his eyebrows twitched slightly, and his expression was quite amused, but he just hid it calmly and said in a mocking tone, "Tsk tsk tsk tsk, Your Highness, look, look, our Majesty doesn't arrest a traitor like me, but instead clamors to arrest you, the son who only wants 'fatherly love and filial piety'! What do you think of this!"

Li Yiwei was also dumbfounded. He knelt there and looked at the emperor, shaking his head and muttering in confusion, "Father... why?"

The emperor had a gloomy face and snorted coldly. He said nothing and gave no explanation.

The footsteps were getting closer, and Lin Yi was still laughing, "Why? It's because if your son wanted to, he could really join forces with the Bai family to kill the emperor and usurp the throne. If I, a traitor, wanted the throne, at most I could use this poisonous insect to control His Majesty and make him a puppet. He would still be the one sitting majestically on the throne... After weighing the pros and cons, who is the greater threat?"

Li Yiwei knelt there, his hands shaking, "Father, do you really think that I would kill the king and usurp the throne?"

The emperor leaned on the soft pillow, half-closed his eyes, and didn't speak. I don't know if he fell asleep. After a while, he hummed softly and said, "No one would not like the power to rule the world... If you really don't care, why bother to deal with the East Palace?"

Li Yiwei was startled, and smiled foolishly, as if he was crazy. He questioned every word, "Take the trouble to deal with the East Palace? Father, do you still think that it is your son who wants to deal with him, Li Yuqi? Your son is the legitimate son, the most legitimate heir to this dynasty. Even if your son is not content and is willing to hand over the position of the crown prince to others, you don't ask him if Li Yuqi can really sit there with peace of mind? Father, although your son knows that you are biased, it is only today that I know you are so biased... From the beginning to the end, it was him, Li Yuqi, who wanted your son's life. Can your son do nothing and let his neck be killed?"

The emperor's expression changed slightly, and he pursed his lips before saying, "I, I have never been partial. You are all my sons. How could I be partial..."

Before he finished speaking, Lin Yi sneered. As he laughed, he turned around and looked around, and then he realized that two people had disappeared from the room at some point - two people he had thought were insignificant. One was Shen Qian, who could only recite poems but was as timid as a mouse. When his wife died, he didn't even dare to avenge her and buried her in disgrace. There was also a strange old man. Lin Yi arrived late and didn't notice who he was. He just saw that he didn't have much ability and didn't pose any threat, so he didn't bother to pay attention to him.

Who would have thought that these two people were beyond his expectations. They were brave and had backbone. They not only left, but also called people over.

It was strange to say that there were still people who were truly loyal to such a king? Lin Yi was amused and smiled, but he didn't look at the emperor or Li Yiwei, only at Ji Wuyan, grinning.

If he was smiling strangely like usual, it would be normal, but now he was grinning with half of his jaw horribly exposed, and such an expression was really creepy. Ji Wuyan looked at him and smiled without frowning, as if the other person's beauty or ugliness had nothing to do with her.

He is also a weirdo. Lin Yi complained in his heart. He could hear footsteps entering the courtyard. Even the emperor had heard the footsteps and started shouting "Come here, come here". However, Lin Yi bowed to Ji Wuyan slowly and said, "Miss Ji, today is an emergency. I will leave this mother Gu with you... I will find an opportunity to visit your house in the next two days. Then you can return this mother Gu to me. How about that?"

There was a kind of "smiling" meaning in the strange expression, as if the two of them were very familiar and friendly.

Ji Wuyan suddenly raised his eyebrows, looked down at the small jar in his hand with interest, nodded with a smile, and even made a "please" gesture in a good mood, obviously responding to the other party's provocation - beneath the familiarity and friendliness in everyone's eyes, there were turbulent waves that only the two parties involved understood.

The guards finally arrived amid the emperor's exhausted calls. However, in the heavy rain and the chaotic situation, they couldn't even catch a corner of Lin Yi's clothes.

Ji Wuyan stood firmly holding the small jar in his hand, with no intention of chasing after him - after all, if Lin Yi wanted to escape, even if all of them put together, they would not be able to catch up with him, so there was no need to waste the energy.

Besides, didn't the other party issue a challenge? Two days... She could afford to wait.

The guards failed to catch the thief, and knelt down in fear to plead guilty. Unexpectedly, the emperor was merciful and just waved his hand to let people go to clean up the mess outside the door. After the guards left, the emperor turned to look at Li Yiwei. After a while, he sighed softly and turned to look at Ji Wuyan, "Miss Ji... From what Lin Yi said, what you are holding in your hand is the mother Gu. Now that the mother Gu is in your hand, can the Gu in my body be cured?"

Hearing this, everyone looked at Ji Wuyan.

Ji Wuyan held the small jar in both hands and stepped forward, bowed her head and presented it, shaking her head and saying, "Your Majesty, I am not well versed in this and do not know how to remove the poison. I cannot help Your Majesty with this problem. Please forgive me... This item is from Lin Yi's hand, and I am now offering it to Your Majesty."

The emperor was stunned. Just as he was about to ask, the imperial physician jumped up and pointed at Ji Wuyan and asked, "How is it possible? The thief said that you can save her! And this Gu is from your Ji family. Since you are the young master of the Ji family, how can you not cure it? I see that you just don't want to cure it!"

Ning Xiuyuan looked over suddenly and saw that the imperial physician choked. The fingertip that was pointing at Ji Wuyan dropped tremblingly. He lowered his head reluctantly and took half a step back.

However, these words had already been spoken, and the emperor had heard them and naturally took them to heart. He looked at Ji Wuyan with less kindness and asked, "Miss Ji, I also want to know, since this is something of the Ji family, why can't Master Ji unlock it? Is it because you can't unlock it, or do you not want to unlock it?"

Ji Wuyan knelt down calmly and said, "In reply to your majesty, there were indeed people in the Ji family who raised Gu in the early years. However, after my grandmother inherited the Ji family, she issued an express order to forbid everyone in the clan to raise Gu insects. Not long after that, my grandmother moved to the south of the Yangtze River with the legitimate descendants of the Ji family. I was born and raised in Jiangnan and have never been exposed to these things. Naturally, I don't know how to remove Gu. Your majesty, I am incompetent and can only rely on you imperial physicians." After saying this, she raised the small jar in her hand again.