Love Lock

Chapter 172 In the end, there was no turning back.
Su Qi felt the temperature on the back of his hand suddenly rise, and the person's flushed cheeks were so close to his. His Adam's apple bobbed, and he subconsciously gripped that soft hand in return.

"Okay, okay..."

Before Su Qi could finish speaking, she felt her palm go empty. Han Lei had already pulled her hand away, covered her mouth, and chuckled softly. The charming look in her eyes became even more alluring with her smile. "Then it's settled. Both bottles belong to the General."

Footsteps suddenly came from outside the tent, and the gruff voice of the freshman captain pierced through the damp air after the rain: "Miss, the clouds have parted and the rain has stopped. Shall we set off?"

Han Lei turned to look outside the door. The sky had already broken through the clouds, and when she looked back again, the intoxication in her eyes had faded by three-tenths.

"We'll leave immediately."

These words were like a bucket of cold water poured over Su Qi's heart. He couldn't help but clench his fists, his nails digging deep into his palms. He had originally planned to take advantage of her while she was drunk...

"General."

Han Lei suddenly stood up, her light gauze skirt sweeping across the stool, bringing with it a fragrant breeze. "When I return from visiting my cousin in Jingzhou, I will definitely come to thank you again."

As she leaned forward, her earring swayed slightly, leaving a whispered promise in Su Qi's ear: "At that time, I will bring enough Drunken Immortal Wine from Jingzhou and have a long talk with the General all night long."

The last four words were like a feather tickling her eardrums, and Su Qi's blood rushed to her head.

When they came to their senses, they saw that Han Lei had already walked out of the council hall. The senior students quickly went forward to help Han Lei into the carriage.

The figure in pale yellow stumbled slightly as she boarded the carriage, the Wei family's mutton-fat jade pendant at her waist brushing against the carriage shaft, making a soft, tinkling sound.

The moment the carriage curtain fell, Han Lei's flushed face lost its smile, and she said solemnly, "Let's go quickly."

The whisper had barely faded when the freshmen and the others mounted their horses. The seniors quickly turned the carriage around and moved forward as well.

As the wheels slowly rolled, Han Lei lifted the car curtain again, smiling sweetly as she waved goodbye to Su Qi.

Looking at that pretty, slightly drunk face, Su Qi felt a little regretful, but thinking that she would have to come back, she still raised her hand to summon her personal guards to escort them out of the military camp.

"Oh! What a pity about this rain... Couldn't it have rained a little longer?"

Su Qi stared at the car disappearing at the end of the official road, slapped her forehead, and complained that the weather was not cooperating.

He turned and walked into the council chamber dejectedly, then sat back down at the table.

The image of Han Lei in the stream, wearing a red sundress, kept flashing through Su Qi's mind, haunting her and making her restless.

There were still many snacks left on the exquisite porcelain plate on the table. Su Qi ate a few bites haphazardly, and then her gaze fell on the brocade box that had not yet been opened.

I must say, this soy sauce-flavored liquor really does have an extraordinary taste. I only had a small pot of it just now, and I still wasn't satisfied.

Su Qi opened the brocade box and took out two small "hand grenades" to examine and play with them carefully.

As his fingertips brushed against the two delicate hand grenades, the coolness of the metal reminded him of the brief skin-to-skin contact they had just shared.

"This wine jug is quite a rare item..."

He chuckled and pulled the ring. With a soft "pop," the safety lever sprang open in an arc that resembled the smiling corner of someone's eye.

Su Qi held the grenade and poured wine into the glass, but no wine came out.

The moment he frowned and leaned closer to examine it, the blinding flames suddenly engulfed his vision.

"boom!"

As the violent explosion sent splinters flying from the wooden table, the blast wave also dislodged the safety pin from the second grenade in front of it.

Two consecutive explosions tore Su Qi's body apart, sending blood and flesh flying everywhere. The newly built council hall, though tall and spacious, still suffered varying degrees of damage.

Soldiers who were resting and chatting in their tents throughout the camp heard the explosion, which sounded like thunder, and rushed out of their tents to see what had happened.

The soldiers grabbed their weapons and quickly gathered at the site of the explosion.

The guards who had seen Han Lei and the others off were about to return to report when they heard a deafening noise as soon as they entered the camp.

He shuddered, and after determining the direction, he rushed forward.

When he discovered that the explosion had occurred in the council chamber, he was completely stunned by what he saw.

A large number of soldiers who had come out to see the heat had gathered outside the newly built council hall, and they all stood frozen in front of the mess on the ground.

Suddenly, the dome of the council chamber bulged up, and the carved wooden windows scattered like pieces of paper.

What happened?
General Su is still in the council chamber!

"Make way! Make way! Help the general!"

The guards were in a great hurry and quickly shouted as they pushed through the crowd to get inside.

When he rushed into the council chamber, he found it in complete disarray, with nothing intact.

The personal guard turned to the soldiers standing outside and shouted urgently, "What are you all standing there for? Go find the general!"

"General, general."

Then everyone began to search everywhere. Unfortunately, after searching the entire council hall, they only found half a broken finger inlaid with a jade thumb ring and some shattered corners of robes.

Needless to say, these things prove that Su Qi was blown up and her body was torn to pieces.

The entire Jingzhou camp was thrown into chaos, and no one knew what had happened.

Han Lei and her group had been gone from the military camp for quite some time, and Su Qi had been the only one in the council hall just now. Therefore, no one could possibly guess the cause of the explosion...

Meanwhile, Han Lei and the others were traveling on the official road to Jingzhou.

Hearing the explosion from afar, Han Lei, sitting in the carriage, simply curled the corners of her lips slightly.

She thought Su Qi might wait until she rested in the evening before having a leisurely drink by herself.

Unexpectedly, less than two miles from the military camp, Su Qi couldn't wait to pour himself a drink.

When Su Qi, a member of the Su family, was killed in the explosion, Han Lei remained calm and composed, as if it were nothing out of the ordinary. However, the brothers of the Big Character Team cheered.

Wow! It exploded so quickly?

"It's done, it's done. Let's see how the Su family can act now."

"We succeeded again!"

"Now he'll have enough to eat."

"I knew it! As long as the princess takes charge, you can rest assured."

"Your Highness, isn't this killing two birds with one stone? The Wei family is really in trouble this time."

"Hmph! You think the Wei family are all good people?"

"The Su family went even further. It was one thing to embezzle the pay of other military camps, but they even embezzled the pay of their own. They really don't treat their soldiers like human beings."

"That's right, Your Highness, didn't you see? Just now, those soldiers in the tent, when they heard that each soldier from Cangzhou could get two taels of silver, their eyes lit up."

"Now the imperial court should finally punish the Su family, right?"

……

The brothers of the Big Character Team were very excited, but they only turned around and glanced at the smoke rising from the Jingzhou camp in the distance, without stopping.

They were excited the whole way, chattering incessantly as they escorted Han Lei's carriage forward...

The Jingzhou military camp was in chaos because General Su Qi had been blown to pieces and was unable to take care of itself.

Even the capital city, hundreds of miles away, was still shrouded in gloom and despair.

Since the Marquis of Champion's mansion involved imperial relatives, the massacre of the entire family has left the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review and the Prefect of the Capital Prefecture extremely uneasy these past two days.

The two men would arrive at the yamen at dawn every day to report for duty, and would still be reviewing case files late into the night.

Under constant pressure from the Emperor and Empress, they had no choice but to post notices offering a reward of a thousand gold pieces to solicit clues from the public.

Whether the reward tactic worked or not, first, Liu, the garrison commander of the South Gate, came nervously to report that he had seen one of Prime Minister Wei's fat nephews hurriedly leaving the city with a group of guards on the night of the incident. Then, some citizens in the city found the remains of a parachute signal flare in a courtyard.

The nylon on the parachute, which was mostly burned, and the blackened metal wire support frame clearly weren't from the capital.

Coupled with the burn marks, both the Jingzhao Prefecture and the Dali Temple simultaneously concluded that these were definitely left by the murderer.

Inside the imperial study, the fragrance of ambergris wafted from the sandalwood desk.

The Empress, who had just returned to the palace after spending two days at the Marquis of Champion's residence, sat beside Emperor Jing, her face gloomy and her eyes red and swollen like peaches.

Princess Chang Le fainted several times from crying at the Marquis of Champion's residence and is currently resting there.

Emperor Jing listened to the report with a gloomy expression. His slender fingers tapped lightly on the armrest, each tap sending shivers down the spines of the two ministers kneeling below.

"interesting."

Emperor Jing examined the wreckage of the parachute signal flare in his hand, then suddenly chuckled, though his eyes held a chilling coldness.

"First, someone fled overnight, and then there were these burning remains. It seems that my Marquis of Champion was murdered in a carefully planned scheme."

As soon as she finished speaking, the teacup in the empress's hand fell to the ground with a "crash" and shattered into pieces.

The usually dignified First Lady now had bloodshot eyes, and her nails, painted with red nail polish, dug deeply into her palms.

"Your Majesty! This is clearly..."

"Your Majesty!" A eunuch's shrill voice interrupted the Empress, "Prime Minister Wei requests an audience!"

Chancellor Wei practically stumbled into the imperial study. This old minister, who always paid great attention to his demeanor, now had his official hat askew and his forehead covered in a fine layer of sweat.

Two days of the three-day deadline given by Emperor Jing have passed. Prime Minister Wei also sent a message by carrier pigeon overnight, informing all his family members of the tragedy that had occurred in the capital and urging them to come to the capital to cooperate with the investigation.

But before he could receive a reply, while he was at home scratching his head in anxiety, Emperor Jing issued an edict summoning him to the palace immediately.

He dared not delay and immediately rushed into the palace in a panic.

Just as he was about to bow, Emperor Jing coldly spoke: "Minister Wei, the guard at the South Gate said that on the night of the incident, your fat nephew led a group of guards out of the South Gate to Liangzhou. What do you say about that?"

Upon hearing this, Prime Minister Wei was struck dumb, and his knees buckled, causing him to kneel on the ground.

"Your Majesty is wise! This old minister has never sent any nephew to Liangzhou!"

Emperor Jing's voice grew even colder: "But he used the Wei family's jade pendant to leave the city."

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty. I'm innocent! This old minister truly knows nothing about this! Someone must be framing this old minister."

"Oh? Framed?"

The Empress, her face contorted with rage, slammed her hand on the table and stood up abruptly, causing her gilded hairpin to sway violently.

"Commander Liu saw it with his own eyes: your fat nephew was carrying the Wei family's jade pendant, claiming he was ordered by the Prime Minister to take the imperial physician to Liangzhou to treat your master's illness! If he wasn't from your Wei family, how would he know that your master lived in Liangzhou?"

"Miss!"

Upon hearing this, Prime Minister Wei was so frightened that he lost his mind. He kowtowed heavily, his white beard trembling incessantly.

"This old minister swears to Heaven that this is absolutely not true! Someone must have framed us! This old minister has already sent a message by carrier pigeon, summoning all members of the clan to the capital. Then we can confront each other face to face."

Prime Minister Wei felt he was being wronged to death.

It is true that his elder brother, the Grand Master, lived in Liangzhou, but he never sent anyone to Liangzhou, let alone knew anything about imperial physicians.

But his reply had not yet arrived. He knew nothing about anything.

Aside from protesting his innocence, he could find no other evidence to prove his innocence.

What he didn't know was that Han Lei and Xiao Zhengfei met at an inn, discussed their plans, and then went their separate ways.

Han Lei shuttled between the Brocade Embroidery Shop and the Mandarin Duck Hairpin Shop, busy with her business.

Meanwhile, the guards and the brothers of the Big Character Team scattered to the streets, secretly inquiring about various information about the Su and Wei families.

Even the clothes worn by the Wei family's guards were made on-site by a tailor shop after they had observed the area.

Seeing that Prime Minister Wei only kept crying out for justice and refusing to admit his guilt, Emperor Jing suddenly raised his hand, and the entire imperial study fell silent.

Emperor Jing slowly rose, the gold threads on his bright yellow dragon robe gleaming coldly in the candlelight.

He turned to look at the furious Empress beside him, then glared at the kneeling Prime Minister Wei, and exhaled a breath of stale air.

He was also in a difficult position.

These two people, one was his wife, and the other was his teacher and minister. Such a serious case had happened to them, and even he, the emperor, did not know how to handle it.

"A message sent by carrier pigeon?" Emperor Jing's voice was cold and tinged with helplessness. "Weren't you also sending messages by carrier pigeon? Prime Minister, this matter involves the Wei family, I think... you should avoid suspicion for now."

"Your Majesty! I'm innocent!"

Upon hearing this, Prime Minister Wei suddenly sat up straight, tears streaming down his face.

"This old minister sent a message by carrier pigeon, summoning all the members of the Wei clan to the capital. If it was indeed the work of the Wei family, this old minister... will surely personally deal with this wicked creature!"

Emperor Jing looked down at him, his gaze sharp as a knife: "No need. You only need to hand over the family genealogy, and I will make my own decision."

As he spoke, Emperor Jing looked outside and asked, "Where is the commander of the Imperial Guards?"

The commander of the Imperial Guards strode in from outside the hall, his hand resting on the sword at his waist.

"The end will be here."

Emperor Jing stared intently at the commander of the Imperial Guards. "With my imperial edict in hand, according to the family genealogy and address provided by Minister Wei, order the arrest of the entire Wei family..."

He paused, then said, word by word, "Bring them to me without missing a single one."

Emperor Jing emphasized the word "please." This was the only thing he could do for the Empress, who was grieving the loss of her loved ones.

When the commander of the Imperial Guards took the bright yellow silk cloth and stepped back, Prime Minister Wei finally couldn't hold on any longer and collapsed to the ground.

He gazed at the ornately decorated dome of the Imperial Study, and in a daze, it seemed as if he were seeing that summer afternoon ten years ago.

A young man in fine clothes held the Analects of Confucius and asked him for advice. Sunlight streamed through the window, casting dappled shadows on the prince's face.

"Teacher, governing with virtue is like the North Star..." The boy's clear voice still echoed in my ears.

Now, that boy has become an emperor who holds the power of life and death, while his former teacher has inexplicably become a prisoner.

"His Majesty……"

Prime Minister Wei's voice was hoarse as if tearing silk, "Your Majesty, please do justice for this old minister! This old minister has been wronged!"

Emperor Jing glanced at the Empress, his voice suddenly becoming sharp as a knife.

"This matter will be handled by the Court of Judicial Review. Since the Prime Minister has been wronged, I believe the Court of Judicial Review will clear your name."

Prime Minister Wei was struck dumb; he finally understood why Emperor Jing had specifically emphasized the word "please."

This is to give the Empress dignity, and also to give the Wei family the last bit of respect.

"This old minister... thanks Your Majesty for your grace."

Prime Minister Wei closed his eyes, unable to say anything more, and could only kowtow heavily, his forehead hitting the ground with a dull thud.

Emperor Jing turned his back and looked out the window at the setting sun. "Take him away."

As the guards stepped forward to support Prime Minister Wei, this once all-powerful prime minister suddenly began to hum a nursery rhyme softly.

That was a tune he composed to help the prince remember when he was teaching him to read.

Emperor Jing's back stiffened slightly, but he ultimately did not turn around.