Don't Ask Where People Go After Time Travel

Chapter 1885 The Struggle
“Lady, the Prince has sent me to fetch you.” Meng Tingyang stood between Dugu Ming and Fang Zilan, neither of them speaking, and said to himself, “Last night, something happened at the Wen family, and Young Master Wen was seriously injured. The Lady kindly asked me to invite Miss Awan to treat him, but unexpectedly, I was detained at the Wen family and did not return all night. The Prince is very worried and asks the Lady to come back with me.”

"I'm not going back. I want to stay here with Miss Awan." Fang Zilan's expression was calm, but her tone revealed a stubbornness.

“Lady of the Heir Apparent…” Meng Tingyang began, seemingly wanting to persuade her again, but Fang Zilan interrupted him, “Miss Awan was ordered by Her Majesty the Empress to come from the capital to the southeast to treat me and the Heir Apparent. How can I abandon her?”

“Your Highness, now that everything has settled down and the Wen family is at peace, Miss Awan will not be in any danger even if she stays.” Meng Tingyang bowed to Fang Zilan. “Please, Your Highness, do not make things difficult for me. Please come back with me.”

"General Meng is right." Fang Chongzheng nodded slightly and echoed, "Lan'er, you are frail and won't be of much help if you stay with the Wen family. You'll only cause trouble. Perhaps..."

“I can’t be of much help if I go back to the Fang family; I’ll be lucky if I don’t cause any trouble.” Fang Zilan interrupted Fang Chongzheng without any politeness. “Father, people say that a married daughter is like water spilled from a cup, and that’s how people are. But you don’t have to push me to outsiders in everything, do you?”

"What are you saying, Madam Heir?" Meng Tingyang quickly smoothed things over, saying, "Lord Fang meant well, and besides, how can the Heir be considered an outsider?"

"General Meng, whose household are you from?" Fang Zilan glanced at Meng Tingyang with a half-smile. "Those who know might be fine, but those who don't might think you've switched allegiance to the Fang family."

Meng Tingyang was speechless, but Fang Zilan ignored his reaction and turned to Dugu Ming, saying, "Young General Dugu, have you caught the person? If you have, and want to know what happened, go and interrogate him yourself. Why ask me?"

"Your Highness, you are mistaken." The speaker was Xie Chen. He walked gracefully into the courtyard, greeted Fang Chongzheng and the others, and then went straight to Fang Zilan.

"I am in charge of the Southeast case. If General Dugu has arrested anyone, he should be handed over to me for disposal, not interrogated in private." Xie Chen's expression was serious, but Fang Zilan chuckled, "So Mr. Xie knows that you are in charge of the Southeast case. May I ask, Mr. Xie, what have you come to regarding it so far?"

Her question was blunt and rude, but Xie Chen remained calm. "The court session will be held tomorrow. If the young lady is willing, she is welcome to attend as an observer."

"Alright." Fang Zilan nodded in agreement, then looked at Dugu Ming and said, "Since Mr. Xie has spoken, what do you say, Young General Dugu?"

Dugu Ming's lips moved, but no sound came out. So Fang Zilan said, "If you want to know what happened last night, you might as well tell Mr. Xie everything you know."

"All of them?" Dugu Ming repeated the word, and Fang Zilan hummed in agreement. "Why not?"

Upon hearing this, Dugu Ming remained silent, while Meng Tingyang, standing to the side, stamped his feet anxiously. "Princess Consort, do you know that Dugu Linkai is escorting Dugu Huizhen and they're almost at the capital?"

"What does it have to do with me?" Fang Zilan didn't even frown, and said indifferently, "My father doesn't care about my elder sister who is far away in the palace, but you care about her."

“That’s not what I meant.” Meng Tingyang shook his head abruptly. “What I meant was that we’ve been lingering in the southeast for too long and we can’t delay any longer.”

"Is this your idea, or the Crown Prince's?" Fang Zilan's expression turned cold. "If it's the Crown Prince's idea, then let him go to the capital himself. I'll stay and wait for the outcome."

"But..." Meng Tingyang was about to say something more when a voice drowned him out, "Greetings, Lady Fang." Xiao Xuan'er hurried over and walked to Fang Zilan's side. She bowed to everyone with neither servility nor arrogance, and said, "It seems I've arrived at the wrong time?"

"Greetings, Your Majesty." Fang Zilan rose and bowed, her manner polite yet distant. Awan followed closely behind, also offering a bow.

Li Shengxuan gestured to the two that there was no need for formalities, then walked straight to Fang Zilan and said, "It's good that you're alright."

"Your Majesty won't ask?" Fang Zilan's face remained expressionless. Li Shengxuan nodded slightly. "Of course I will ask, but..."

He didn't continue, but Fang Zilan suddenly laughed, "Does Your Majesty not know where to begin, or is it that you don't know the depth of your question..."

Upon hearing this, Li Shengxuan coughed lightly, interrupting Fang Zilan's next words. He then dismissed all the soldiers who had come with him, and Awan also tactfully left along with them.

For a moment, only Fang Zilan and Li Shengxuan remained in the hall. She broke the silence first, saying, "I rescued Hongtai from the prison in Fengyu County, and then took him to Feiling Mountain to reunite with Honghe. Taking advantage of their unpreparedness, I killed them. I threw their bodies into the ravine. If Your Majesty does not believe me, you can send someone to find them."

She lied without batting an eye, while Li Shengxuan's expression remained inscrutable, as if he were weighing the credibility of her words. After a long while, he finally asked, "Where did Zhou Lang go?"

“I heard from Honghe that they hid after they discovered Zhou Lang leading his troops up the mountain,” Fang Zilan said meticulously. “After Zhou Lang’s search failed, he left only a small number of soldiers on the mountain to wait for them to come to him. As for himself, I guess he probably led his troops to besiege other mountain strongholds.”

Her words were all based on speculation from the scene she had encountered on the way up the mountain. The haphazardly laid corpses of bandits and outlaws, as well as the scattered corpses of soldiers, indicated that they had fought, but on a small scale.

It seems that the mountain bandits and outlaws took advantage of the terrain to kill Zhou Lang's soldiers left on Feiling Mountain one by one. However, the soldiers of the Southeast Camp, trained by Zhou Lang, were not as incompetent as those of the Jiangnan Camp. As a result, the two sides fought to the death, and neither side gained any advantage.

Speculation based on facts is never difficult; Fang Zilan could guess seven or eight parts of it, and Li Shengxuan certainly could too. He remained silent for a long time, but the doubts in his heart grew stronger, as if shrouded in dark clouds that never dissipated.

"Whether Your Majesty believes it or not, this is the truth." Fang Zilan spoke casually, but Li Shengxuan's expression turned cold. "Then what about the second-in-command of Feiling Mountain leading his troops to the Jiangnan camp?"

Fang Zilan clenched her fists, her face remaining impassive. "Does Your Majesty believe that the Second Master left because of me?"

Li Shengxuan looked down at Fang Zilan and said in a deep voice, "Isn't that right?" His voice was low and deep, with an indescribable sense of oppression.

Fang Zilan stood up and flicked her sleeve, saying, "If Your Majesty does not believe me, nothing I say will be of any use."

"Fang Zilan, who exactly are you?" Li Shengxuan stepped forward, almost forcing him to answer, "Why are there countless people protecting you, and countless others wanting your life?"