Warm medicine emits fragrance

Li Chenbi shielded Fan Liuer behind him, looked at Yan Qi, and asked, "How did you find out?"

When Yan Qi met Li Chenbi's face, he saw that Li Chenbi had committed such a grave mistake as deceiving the emperor, yet the man showed no fear whatsoever, remaining as calm as ever.

Yan Qi both loved and hated Li Chenbi's demeanor. He admired Li Chenbi's composure and ease in the face of adversity, and often wondered why Li Chenbi wasn't his son.

He also hated Li Chenbi for being like this, hated that he wasn't his son, and that's why he had to be on guard against him day and night, to prevent him from betraying him.

"You think you have everything under your control? Li Chenbi, nothing in this world is foolproof. Man proposes, God disposes. The wife of the assassin you bribed died unexpectedly. He lost all hope and betrayed you."

Li Chenbi didn't react much after hearing this.

The assassin was someone Li Chenbi specifically hired. He had a grudge against Yan Qi and was already determined to die. Li Chenbi used his wife's later years as a bargaining chip to get the assassin to work for him.

The poison he was given by the assassin was a kind of poison imported from overseas. A small dose would affect a couple's sex life and cause infertility within a month, and would also affect the doctor's judgment.

However, after a month, the toxicity gradually dissipates, and with the help of an antidote, the toxins can be cleared away without causing significant harm to the body.

The assassin who carried out the assassination outside the palace was also that same assassin. He led a group of people that Yan Qi wanted to kill, and Li Chenbi made a deal with them during the purge.

He protected their families in exchange for one assassination attempt.

These people were going to die anyway. They would have died even if they hadn't made a deal with Li Chenbi. Although they still couldn't escape death after making a deal with Li Chenbi, at least their families' livelihoods would be guaranteed.

But nothing in this world can escape the unexpected. Li Chenbi never expected that the assassin's family would suddenly die.

He had no choice but to accept his fate; there was nothing he could say.

He sighed and said, "Now that things have come to this, I can only say that I am unlucky. Deceiving the emperor is indeed a serious crime, but I beg Your Majesty to consider that I only wanted to take my wife back to Xingzhou and had no other intentions, so please do not blame my wife." As he spoke, he lifted his robe and knelt down.

Seeing this, Fan Liuer also knelt down and begged Yan Qi for mercy, "Your Majesty, we know we were wrong, but we just want to go back to Xingzhou and live the lives of ordinary people. Please forgive Li Chenbi this time, considering that my husband and I have worked hard even if we haven't made any great contributions."

Yan Qi looked down at the two people kneeling in front of him. These were the two people he both loved and hated.

He couldn't bring himself to kill them.

But if he just let it go like this, he wouldn't be able to stay angry.

After staring at the two of them for a long time, he pointed at Fan Liuer and asked, "Did he teach you?"

Before Fan Liuer could answer, Li Chenbi interrupted, "Yes."

Fan Liuer pursed her lips and did not refute.

Before she came, Li Chenbi had told her that the two of them had vastly different images in Yan Qi's mind. Yan Qi had a much better impression of her. If anything happened to them, she should put all the blame on Li Chenbi and protect her first. Afterwards, she could find a way to plead for them.

Yan Qi was even angrier, pointing at Li Chenbi and yelling, "You did all this by yourself, and you even dragged her into it? Are you even a man?"

"Such a wonderful wife, I'm so unlucky to have married you!"

"How can you face her for traveling all that way to the military camp to rescue you?"

"You heartless wretch! You have no sense of responsibility whatsoever. You wouldn't agree when I offered to send her back to Xingzhou. I knew it! You wanted to keep her around to scheme against me, didn't you!"

"Li Chenbi, you're using your own wife to plot against me, what kind of man are you?"

Yan Qi got more and more into cursing, and the couple remained silent, letting him continue.

As Yan Qi continued his tirade, his anger grew, and he found Li Chenbi increasingly unbearable to look at. He shouted outside, "Guards, drag Li Chenbi away and lock him in the dungeon!"

Fan Liuer finally reacted and hurriedly begged Yan Qi for mercy, "Your Majesty, his injuries haven't healed yet. Please have mercy on him this time. He will never dare to do it again. If you are really angry, I will go to jail in his place."

Yan Qi coldly stared at Fan Liuer. "He's the mastermind, and you're an accomplice. Do you think you can get away with this? Guards, take Fan Liuer to the Empress's palace and keep her under surveillance. She's not allowed to step out of her room without orders!"

Fan Liuer was genuinely flustered now. She looked at Li Chenbi, who gave her a reassuring look and told her not to worry.

Fan Liuer was still flustered, but not so anxious anymore.

After the two were taken away, Yanqiu arrived.

Yanqiu rushed over as soon as he received the news, but he still couldn't make it in time. By the time he arrived, Li Chenbi and Fan Liuer had already been taken away.

"Father!" He knelt on the ground, begging for mercy on behalf of Li Chenbi.

"If you dare to beg for their lives today, I will order their heads to be chopped off." With just one sentence, Yan Qi silenced Yan Qiu, preventing him from speaking any further.

Yan Qi felt a headache and a tightness in his chest. He flung his sleeves and left the study, heading to the Empress's palace.

Fan Liuer had already been sent to the Empress's palace and imprisoned. The Empress had only just heard about it and hadn't even had a chance to visit Fan Liuer after getting out of bed when Yan Qi arrived.

She hurriedly asked, "What happened? Why were they suddenly locked up?"

Facing the person he had cared about for over twenty years, Yan Qi's tone softened, and he briefly recounted how Li Chenbi and his wife had deceived him.

The Empress remained silent for a long time after hearing this before finally speaking: "I really didn't expect Fan Liu'er to be so bold."

Yan Qi snorted coldly, "That's right, they even dare to yell at me."

The Empress sighed. "So what do you plan to do with them? Although they deceived the Emperor, they just wanted to go home. It's not a big deal, is it?"

Yan Qi snorted coldly again, "In all your hearts, am I such a cold-blooded and ruthless person? Especially that Li Chenbi, he planned all this because he thought I was wary of him and afraid of him!"

The Empress paused for a moment, then spoke, "Isn't that so?"

Yan Qi was speechless for a moment, then retorted irritably, "Yes! I am wary of him, but I won't take his life. He just accepted the title I gave him and stayed quietly under my nose, couldn't he? Why did he have to cause such a fuss!"

The Empress sighed again, "I don't understand what you people are thinking, but I think Li Chenbi isn't the kind of person you think he is. If he really had such ambitions, I'm afraid you wouldn't have been able to sit on this throne so easily."

Yan Qi fell silent again. He understood the reasoning, but every time he saw Li Chenbi, he couldn't help but think that if such a smart person harbored ambitions to rise to power, he might not be able to defeat him.

Every time he had such a thought, he felt panicked.