Starting with being handed over to the Imperial Concubine, building a family with a thousand-year hi

Meanwhile, in an inconspicuous room in the imperial kitchen, Yang Mao was pacing anxiously, his face filled with worry.

"Eunuch Yang, please take a seat and wait a moment!" A slightly overweight man in his twenties placed a cup of tea on the table and said irritably, "You're just wandering around here, you're making me dizzy!"

This middle-aged man was Hu Zhichun, the deputy chief steward of the Imperial Kitchen, and also a confidant of Yang Mao.

"Eunuch Hu, Li Mo has been gone for an hour now, why hasn't he returned yet?" Yang Mao stopped and asked with a worried expression. "Could something have happened to him?"

"No way!" Hu Zhichun said decisively. "Li Mo is at the Innate Realm, while Cheng Ping'an is at most at the peak of the Qi Refining Realm. Even if he manages to discover Li Mo in time, Li Mo can easily kill him!"

"Besides, Li Mo has a wide variety of martial arts skills and rich practical experience, while that kid named Cheng Ping'an is just a novice who hasn't even mastered a decent martial art!" Hu Zhichun said confidently. "The two of them are not even in the same league, so you can rest assured!"

Yang Mao nodded, somewhat calmer: "Yes! I worried too much!"

No wonder he was so nervous—the Imperial Kitchen was nearby, and if nothing unexpected happened, Li Mo should have already returned from his mission!

"Li Mo came to our Imperial Kitchen after he was punished. He inspected the area from the Imperial Kitchen all the way to the Library Pavilion, so he's very familiar with the layout. He shouldn't have been noticed along the way!" Seeing that Yang Mao was still a little worried, Hu Zhichun reassured him, "Li Mo should be fine. Unless some imperial guards discover his whereabouts beforehand, he'll definitely be safe!"

"That's true!" Yang Mao was completely relieved. Without further hesitation, he sat down and picked up his teacup to drink.

The two waited quietly, the atmosphere somewhat somber.

After an incense stick had burned, the sky gradually brightened.

Li Mo still hadn't returned; instead, a large group of powerful figures from the Martial Arts Hall arrived in a grand procession!

The leader was Huang Yuan from the Martial Arts Bureau, a true expert at the Innate Realm!

To the astonishment of Yang Mao and Hu Zhichun, the guards behind Huang Yuan were carrying a dead body!

The corpse was dressed in a black robe, and the mask on its face had been torn off, revealing an unfamiliar face. But Yang Mao and Hu Zhichun recognized it at a glance—it was Li Mo, the one they had sent to assassinate Cheng Ping'an!

What horrified them even more was that Li Mo had a bloody hole in both ears, clearly indicating that he had been killed with a single blow, and his death was gruesome.

"Eunuch Hu, Eunuch Yang, you two look exhausted. Did you not sleep all night?" Huang Yuan, a burly man, swept his sharp gaze over the two men and greeted them in a flat tone.

"No, no!" Hu Zhichun quickly waved his hands, forcing a smile. "Eunuch Yang and I just woke up. We probably didn't get enough rest, so we look a little pale!"

Yang Mao echoed his sentiment, but his heart was already filled with turmoil—Li Mo was dead! And he had died near the library!

Upon seeing Li Mo's dead body, the two men were horrified, knowing that things were about to go wrong.

However, having climbed to their current positions in the palace, they had long since developed the ability to remain calm in the face of adversity, and they did not show their inner panic.

Hu Zhichun and Yang Mao exchanged a glance, then Hu pointed to the corpse lying on the ground and asked with feigned surprise, "Eunuch Huang, isn't this Li Mo from our Imperial Kitchen? What happened to him? How did he end up like this?"

"What Eunuch Hu said is exactly what we've been wondering about!" Huang Yuan said in a deep voice. "When we found him, he was already in this state!"

"Where was he found?" Yang Mao couldn't help but ask, his voice a little hoarse.

"It's just ten meters away from the library, in a corner!" Huang Yuan first looked at Yang Mao, then changed the subject and asked directly, "Does Eunuch Yang know why Li Mo disguised himself as an assassin and went to the library?"

"I wonder what Chief Steward Huang's intentions are?" Yang Mao's heart tightened, and he said irritably, "Li Mo is just an ordinary guard in the Imperial Kitchen. How would I know what he's doing in the library!"

"Yesterday at noon, I personally witnessed Eunuch Yang clashing with Cheng Ping'an, a young eunuch in the study, in the Imperial Kitchen. Eunuch Yang even slapped Cheng Ping'an. Later, Li Mo, a martial arts expert from the Imperial Kitchen, disguised himself as an assassin and died near the library," Huang Yuan said slowly, his tone scrutinizing. "Eunuch Huang, are you saying that this matter is inextricably linked to me?"

Yang Mao's expression changed, and before Huang Yuan could finish speaking, he asked impatiently.

"Eunuch Huang, perhaps Li Mo never intended to go to the library at all. He was just on his way somewhere else and happened to be passing by when he was mistakenly killed!" Hu Zhichun quickly interjected. "Yes, maybe an assassin broke into the library, and Li Mo just happened to be there and got caught in the crossfire!"

Huang Yuan did not answer immediately, but looked at the two of them with a deep gaze, which made Yang Mao and Hu Zhichun increasingly uneasy.

Yang Mao and Hu Zhichun looked at Huang Yuan with "concern," waiting for his reply.

At this point, the two could only insist that Li Mo's death had nothing to do with them. As for whether Li Mo died before the assassination attempt or after leaving the library, they had no way of knowing and could only try their best to distance themselves from the matter.

"No assassins entered the library." Huang Yuan shook his head and said, "When we came, we made a special trip to the library to ask Eunuch Su and Cheng Ping'an, but they both said they knew nothing about it and didn't hear any unusual noises last night."

"So that's how it is!" Yang Mao felt both disappointed and secretly pleased.

Disappointingly, Li Mo failed to kill Cheng Ping'an and instead lost his own life; but secretly pleased, Su Mu and Cheng Ping'an did not notice anything amiss, which saved them a lot of trouble.

"Old Eunuch Yang, do you think it's possible that Li Mo originally planned to assassinate someone in the Library, but was discovered by a powerful figure in the palace as soon as he got close to the library and killed on the spot?" Huang Yuan said, resting his chin on his hand, as if deep in thought.

"Eunuch Huang, you must provide solid evidence for everything you do!" Yang Mao's heart tightened, and he coldly shouted, "You say Li Mo went to the library to assassinate me, then produce your proof! You say this matter is inseparable from me, you must also produce solid evidence! Without evidence, you cannot arbitrarily accuse people!"

"Evidence?" Huang Yuan smiled slightly, his eyes carrying a hint of meaning. "Although there is no conclusive evidence, there is no doubt that Li Mo is a member of the Imperial Kitchen! He was dressed in black, plotting treason in the palace, assassinating others. Doesn't your Imperial Kitchen bear any responsibility? If the Grand Master finds out about this, do you dare to ask him for proof?"

"This..." Both Yang Mao and Hu Zhichun showed expressions of horror.

They all knew that things in the palace always escalated quickly. Once the old eunuch Wei Zhongxian was alerted, even if they weren't directly involved, they would still be punished—after all, Li Mo was from the Imperial Kitchen, and as the managers of the Imperial Kitchen, they couldn't escape blame for what happened!