I became the tyrant's only belief.

Chapter 272 Scored twice
Soon, the sound of a cane being struck came from outside the door. Perhaps because her mouth was gagged, no screams of pain were heard from Cai Luoyu.

The house was quiet.

Chu Liuzheng and Granny Qi knelt side by side.

Xiao Jingfan glared at Chu Liuzheng: "Aren't you getting up?"

Chu Liuzheng hesitated for a moment, then knelt even more upright: "This servant has important matters to report, please dismiss your attendants, Your Majesty."

Important matter?

While secretly guessing what important matter it was, Xiao Jingfan ordered the others to leave.

Zhou Yuande led his men out, and a eunuch came to escort Granny Qi away.

Granny Qi obediently stood up.

[Strange, why is Granny Qi, this little boss, so obedient? Isn't she putting up any resistance?]

Chu Liuzheng turned his head to look and just happened to see a flash of cold light between Qi Mama's lips.

"Your Majesty, be careful!" Without thinking, she lunged at the emperor and tackled him to the bed.

At the same time, a dark blue poison needle grazed Chu Liuzheng's back, severing a strand of hair, and struck the diamond-shaped window behind him.

A dark figure flashed out and swiftly dislocated Granny Qi's limbs, but it was too late.

Granny Qi's eyes were wide open, and black blood was spilling from the corner of her lips. She had already died.

On the couch, Xiao Jingfan's head hit the hard wood when Chu Liuzheng pounced on him, causing a buzzing sound in his head and a feeling of a lump forming.

He pushed the person on top of him, intending to get Chu Liuzheng up, but unexpectedly Chu Liuzheng did not react at all.

"Chu Liuzheng?"

Chu Liuzheng still did not react.

Xiao Shiyi discarded Granny Qi's corpse and went forward to pull the two of them up from the bed.

"My lord, this young lady has fainted."

Xiao Jingfan turned his head to look and saw that Chu Liuzheng's eyes were closed and he was unconscious.

He frowned slightly: "What's wrong with her?"

"His clothes were torn by a poisoned needle." Xiao Shiyi grabbed Chu Liuzheng's wrist and checked his pulse. "He was wearing thick clothes, so the needle didn't touch his skin. He wasn't poisoned."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Jingfan felt slightly relieved and picked the person up to place them on the bed in the inner room.

When he came out, eunuchs and palace maids were kneeling on the ground. Zhou Yuande cried so hard that his fat face was contorted: "This servant is useless and has frightened His Majesty."

Xiao Shiyi also knelt down to plead guilty: "Your subordinate arrived late to save the emperor, please punish me, sir."

He never expected that Granny Qi would have the ability to hide poison needles in his mouth. If Chu Liuzheng hadn't discovered it in time, His Majesty would already be poisoned.

Judging from the way Granny Qi died from the poison, it must have been a deadly poison that killed instantly upon contact with blood.

Thinking of this, Xiao Shiyi broke out in a cold sweat, a rare occurrence for him. He raised his palm, ready to shatter his heart meridian and atone for his sins with his death.

"Alright." Xiao Jingfan stopped him, rubbing his temples with a headache. "I'm keeping your life alive because I still have a use for you. Go back to the camp and receive your punishment."

"Thank you for your grace, my lord." Xiao Shiyi kowtowed, got up and used a handkerchief to remove the poisoned needle from the diamond-shaped window. In a flash, he disappeared from the spot.

Of course, he only hid in the shadows; he had to wait for the person changing shifts before leaving.

"Get up, everyone." Xiao Jingfan waved his hand and said to Zhou Yuande, "Go see if the imperial physician has arrived yet."

Zhou Yuande wiped away his tears with his sleeve, accepted the order, and left.

In the courtyard, Cai Luoyu lay on a bench, mumbling even though her mouth was gagged. Her voice was muffled and stuck in her throat, sounding like she was crying.

Zhou Yuande reached out and pulled the cloth out of her mouth.

A maniacal laugh immediately burst forth: "Hahaha!!! Dead! They're all dead!! Good riddance!!"

"You dog emperor!! You fake emperor, your throne was stolen, I won't...uh...uh...uh!!!"

Zhou Yuande was so frightened that he turned pale. He immediately stuffed the cloth back into her hands and winked at the two eunuchs who were carrying out the execution.

The two eunuchs understood and raised the board to continue the beating. Zhou Yuande, meanwhile, picked up his whisk and walked out.

He had thought that Cai Baolin would be more sensible when facing death and would at least tell him something, but it turned out to be all nonsense, so there was no need to keep him alive.

Moments later, Cai Luoyu, having endured thirty strokes of the cane, was carried to the Cold Palace. His back, buttocks, and legs were covered in blood and gore, and he was nearly lifeless.

Zhou Yuande led Physician Zhuang into the room and stood behind the screen to watch Physician Zhuang take Chu Liuzheng's pulse.

Physician Zhuang frowned slightly and had two palace maids help Chu Liuzheng up.

He had a palace maid brush aside the hair at the back of Chu Liuzheng's neck and peeked inside.

The area was red and swollen, a truly pitiful sight.

That's incredibly ruthless.

Physician Zhuang sighed, instructed the palace maid to put Chu Liuzheng back on the bed, checked his pulse again, and then left with his medicine box.

"Your Majesty, the young lady inside has a wound on the back of her neck, likely caused by a severe blow. She may have aggravated the injury just now, which is why she has fallen unconscious."

Are you injured?

Xiao Jingfan asked in surprise, "Is he alright?"

"The injury is on the back of the neck, and I dare not make a definitive diagnosis," Physician Zhuang said truthfully. "I will first prescribe some internal and external medicines for that young lady, and then conduct a more thorough examination after she wakes up tomorrow morning."

Xiao Jingfan nodded and instructed Xiao Anzi to go with him to the Imperial Hospital to get the medicine.

Zhou Yuande then arranged for a sedan chair to be prepared so that Chu Liuzheng could be carried back to the side room of the Yangxin Hall to recuperate.

Xia Qiaoru was extremely anxious, her eyes were swollen from crying. Now, seeing the person who was fine just moments before being carried back unconscious, the tears she had just stopped started flowing again.

She hastily wiped it away, and the two old women carrying her said, "Slow down, be gentle."

The two maids had been instructed beforehand to be very quiet and careful as they placed Chu Liuzheng on the bed.

Xia Qiaoru pulled Xiao Anzi aside and asked, "Eunuch An, what happened to Liu Zheng?"

"Miss Liu Zheng suffered terribly. She was kidnapped by Cai Baolin, who wanted to brand her with red charcoal." Xiao Anzi said, still feeling lingering fear. If they had arrived any later, who knows what would have happened to her.

He silently chanted a Buddhist prayer, just like his master, and handed the ointment to Xia Qiaoru: "Miss Liu Zheng has an injury on the back of her neck. This ointment was given to her by Physician Zhuang. It relieves pain and reduces swelling. Please remember to apply it to Miss Liu Zheng."

"Okay." Xia Qiaoru hurriedly took it, and then heard Xiao Anzi say, "Someone from the pharmacy will come to deliver the medicine in a little while, so you must be careful to feed it to the young lady."

Xia Qiaoru nodded: "I've noted it all down, thank you, Father-in-law."

Xiao Anzi smiled politely at her: "I'm going back to report. Please wait, Miss. If Miss Liuzheng is unwell, please feel free to summon the imperial physician."

Xia Qiaoru agreed, watched him leave, and then went to fetch hot water to help Chu Liuzheng wipe his body.

Seeing the redness and swelling on the back of her neck and the bruises on her chin, I felt like biting Cai Luoyu to death.

She sniffed to hold back her tears, then opened the box and applied medicine to Chu Liuzheng.

To prevent her from pressing on her injury, we deliberately turned her over so she could sleep on her side.

Just as I finished tidying up, Xiaxia brought over the medicine that she had prepared.

He glanced at the person on the bed through the gauze curtain and whispered to Xia Qiaoru, "Xiao Yunzi and I have been keeping an eye on things, so don't worry about drinking."

"Thank you for your help." Xia Qiaoru was about to ask him to help Chu Liuzheng up and feed him the medicine when there was a knock on the door.

Xiazi went to open the door, and it was Siyue who came.

"I heard from Chenxing that Sister Liuzheng was injured, so I came to see her." Siyue entered the room and saw Xia Qiaoru holding a bowl of medicine. She said, "I'm good at feeding medicine. You help me hold her while I feed her."

"Thank you." Xia Qiaoru handed her the medicine bowl and said to Xia Xiazi, "It's getting late. You should go back and report. Liu Zheng can stay here with me and Siyue."

"I'll take the bowl with me after you've given me the medicine," Xia Xiazi said. "I'll bring it back tomorrow too."

Xia Qiaoru had momentarily forgotten about that and nodded, "That makes sense."

Leaving aside the matter of administering medicine, on the other side, the imperial carriage stopped at the entrance of Jingming Hall.

The hall was brightly lit.

Xiao Jingfan looked up at the plaque of Jingming Hall, then stepped inside.