Chapter 1 She's Got Problems

Zhang Yuanqing saw vigilance and hostility in the girl's eyes immediately. He didn't need the abilities of an Illusionist; it came from his experience of meeting countless people.

Their eyes met, and the Chu beauty, about fourteen or fifteen years old, suddenly lowered her head, knelt down with a thud, and shouted loudly:

"Welcome, Your Majesty!"

Her voice was tender and moving, but the tone was as imposing as Zhang Fei declaring, "Me too!"

This was no hunter's daughter; this was Zhang Fei's daughter! Zhang Yuanqing quickly reached out to help her up: "My dear consort, please rise. I came in haste and haven't eaten. It just so happens I can dine here with my beauty..."

Before he could finish, the Chu beauty leaned back, avoiding his touch.

Then, she quickly returned to her seat and declared loudly, "Your concubine will serve Your Majesty."

She piled several dishes of meat in front of Zhang Yuanqing and stuffed a chicken leg into his mouth.

"No need, no need..." Zhang Yuanqing dodged, saying, "Let the servants attend to it. My beauty, please help yourself."

The Chu beauty nodded and buried her head in her meal, her cheeks bulging like a hamster.

Zhang Yuanqing first gave the two guards a look, signaling them to take a few maids to ask questions. Then, under the maids' service, he ate slowly, occasionally turning his head to examine the girl beside him.

This Chu beauty was wearing a plum-red palace dress with a front opening, with a rosy face and delicate features. Although young, she was indeed a rare beauty in the making, looking about fifteen years old at most, though her actual age might be even younger.

She definitely had issues.

First, her appetite. No ordinary person could have such an exaggerated appetite. Second, her manners. Although she was the daughter of a hunter, she had been in the palace for days; she should have learned some etiquette. But with such table manners, even Zhang Fei was more refined than her.

Finally, she seemed very resistant to any physical contact with the emperor. A favored concubine should not have this attitude.

Zhang Yuanqing pondered for a moment and said:

"I heard that the Chu beauty came from a family of hunters. I wonder if you have any stories from the mountains to share?"

"No!" The Chu beauty denied it in one breath, then quickly added, "Your concubine was young and didn't follow my father hunting, so I don't know."

Zhang Yuanqing nodded. "Since you didn't follow your father hunting, then why did you ride into my hunting grounds that day?"

The Chu beauty couldn't answer for a moment, so she pretended to be silly and buried her head in her meal.

*Chu Meiren* doesn't seem too smart. She probably couldn't be a spy... Zhang Yuanqing continued, "Speaking of which, Chu beauty, you've been in the palace for several days now. I wonder if you miss your family? I can allow you to leave the palace today."

"I'm not going! I don't want to see them." The Chu beauty refused subconsciously, then saw His Majesty's stunned expression and quickly changed her words, saying:

"Your concubine wants to stay with Your Majesty and doesn't want to leave the palace."

That's not what it looked like when you were avoiding me just now! Zhang Yuanqing originally thought the little girl wasn't too smart and probably couldn't be a spy, but now he changed his mind again.

This girl was strange. Maybe she really was a spy.

So, Zhang Yuanqing asked a few more questions indirectly. In order not to alarm Chu Meiren, he asked about trivial matters and observations related to hunting.

As he asked, he suddenly realized something was wrong. The girl didn't know anything, and when she couldn't answer, she would lower her head to eat, pretending to be silly.

If you said she was a spy, how could there be such a stupid spy?

If you said she wasn't a spy, there were problems everywhere. You could find a lot of suspicious points even with your eyes closed.

Who is Chu Meiren? Zhang Yuanqing's heart stirred, and he had a guess.

The inherited memories were too brief, so she was ignorant. Also, Chu Meiren knew almost nothing about palace etiquette; her posture, eating habits, and language style were out of sync with this era.

A new question arose: If Chu Meiren was a *Lingjing Xingzhe*, who could it be?

Do I have such a stupid member in my Return of the Dead?

Zhang Yuanqing matched all the female members who entered this dungeon one by one, excluding Xiao Yuan, Guan Ya, and Little Aunt. That left Sun Miaomiao, Little Green Tea, and the Queen.

Although Sun Miaomiao was a bit simple-minded, she was actually very clever, a keyboard warrior with scheming. Not to mention Little Green Tea, who had more tricks than most adult women.

The Queen was also experienced.

It seems like there's no such stupid member in my Return of the Dead... Did an internal member of the White Tiger Garrison come in with me? That shouldn't be. With Little Fu's EQ, she wouldn't bring strangers into a familiar group.

Zhang Yuanqing's mind was active, constantly thinking. Unfortunately, he couldn't reveal information. Although the dungeon didn't explicitly state what the punishment would be for "exposing" information, in such a high-difficulty dungeon, you'd better follow the dungeon's mechanics.

Otherwise, a small mistake could destroy the whole team, leading to a wipeout.

After all, his role was a corrupt ruler, and the dungeon's name was A Doomed Monarch. His mistakes were different from those of ordinary characters.

After drinking a bowl of mutton soup, he had a guess in his mind. He looked at the Chu beauty beside him and smiled:

"My beauty, at your age, you should be learning the qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting, and learning to read. Tomorrow, I will have a great scholar come to teach you."

The Chu beauty's delicate face stiffened, and she blurted out reflexively, "I don't want to study, I don't want to study!"

The next second, her eyes changed slightly, and she pinched her throat and said, "It's not that your concubine doesn't love to study, it's just that I think studying will distract me, causing me to not be able to take good care of Your Majesty."

Zhang Yuanqing said "Oh" and asked in a relaxed tone, "My beauty, I forgot your name."

Chu Meiren was stunned, seeming not to understand.

"What is your name?" Zhang Yuanqing asked in plain language.

"Your concubine is called Chu Xiao'ao," Chu Meiren replied.

Zhang Yuanqing didn't speak any more and continued to eat. The Chu beauty beside him sat bolt upright, her face full of tension. The food in her mouth didn't taste good, and her eyes glanced at His Majesty from time to time, looking like a guilty thief.

Suddenly, Zhang Yuanqing asked, "What's your father's name?"

"Jiang..." Chu Meiren shuddered, answering reflexively, but then stopped abruptly. Her face changed drastically as she picked up a piece of ginger and stuffed it into her mouth, grinning foolishly:

"Ginger is really delicious, Your Majesty. My father is called Chu Laosi; he's the fourth child in the family."

How did she get into this dungeon? Why didn't Fu Qingyang tell me in advance! Zhang Yuanqing's face showed no abnormality, but he was extremely excited in his heart. He already knew who Chu Meiren was.

Jiang Jingwei!

If Chu Meiren was Jiang Jingwei, then everything unreasonable became reasonable, and everything stupid became a matter of course.

The age also matched.

With Jingwei here, even if I don't find the spy today, I won't be reduced to being fish on a chopping board. Hmm, I can't reveal my identity... Zhang Yuanqing got up with a flushed face and said:

"I'm done eating. Chu Meiren is intelligent and pure of heart. I like her very much. Come serve me tonight!"

After speaking, under Chu Meiren's astonished gaze, he ordered the servants, "Bring my Chu Meiren another roasted lamb."

Under the pulling and suggestive glances of the maids beside her, Chu Meiren hurriedly knelt down and said happily, "Thank you, thank you, Your Majesty..."

Leaving the three-story pavilion, Zhang Yuanqing got into the deer cart and continued forward. On the way, he listened to the guards' feedback. There were no problems with Chu Meiren's residence, at least they couldn't find any suspicious points. The maids and eunuchs also didn't notice anything unusual about her, except that she wasn't very smart and didn't understand etiquette.

The next target was Consort Wan.

That was the woman who was screaming in the flowers in the middle of the night.

The deer cart traveled for half an hour in the royal residence, which was like a fairyland, and stopped in front of a slightly dilapidated building. It was two stories high. Although it was also carved with beams and painted pillars, it wasn't exquisite enough, and the flowers and plants in the courtyard were sparse and ordinary.

Zhang Yuanqing opened the curtain and, with the help of the accompanying eunuch, landed on the ground, leading a group of people into the small courtyard.

There were only a few maids and eunuchs in the courtyard, and the former's appearance was also very ordinary.

Consort Wan doesn't seem to be very favored... Zhang Yuanqing was thinking when he saw an eunuch shout loudly:

"His Majesty has arrived!"

A few seconds later, heavy footsteps came from the building. Soon, the lattice door was pushed open with force, and a woman with broad shoulders and a round waist, about 1.75 meters tall, rushed out.

This woman had a round face, copper bell-like eyes, thick eyebrows and lips, and a masculine figure. She was truly a good man who could run horses on her arms and stand people on her fists.

Zhang Yuanqing was so shocked that he retreated.

The good man stopped nearby, bowed gracefully, and said in a muffled voice, "Your Majesty..."

"Wan, Consort Wan?!" Zhang Yuanqing's lips were trembling, and he thought to himself, wasn't it said that her eyebrows were newly painted moons, her hair was like floating clouds, and she was surprisingly beautiful? Who wrote the daily records? I want to cut off his head.

"Your Majesty, this concubine has been waiting day and night, and finally, I have waited for you." Consort Wan grabbed Zhang Yuanqing's hand.

Zhang Yuanqing struggled, but couldn't break free. He struggled again, but still couldn't break free, and shouted in fright: "Help, come and help me!"

Two guards and three eunuchs pounced on her and pinned Consort Wan to the ground.

Zhang Yuanqing, under the cover of two maids, fled back to the deer cart like a rabbit.

The wheels rumbled, and the deer cried. Zhang Yuanqing learned the situation during his escape. It turned out that there were two Consorts Wan in the harem. One of them was the one who sang loudly in the flowers recently and was favored by Zhao Shun, and was named Consort Wan after being favored.

This Zhao Shun had no advantages, but he was grateful. His reward for women was conferral.

So he conferred the title of Consort Wan to this good man, hoping that she could protect the peace of the harem.

So it was a misunderstanding. I said, Zhao Shun's character is not good, and his aesthetics cannot be blasphemed... Zhang Yuanqing was thinking when he suddenly saw the deer pulling the cart call out a few times anxiously, then speeded up and, in a burst of rapid sounds, rushed towards a pavilion not far away.

Zhang Yuanqing took a closer look and saw a few tender green branches inserted outside the pavilion, with water droplets on them.

The male deer couldn't wait to rush over and chewed wildly.

Zhang Yuanqing sniffed and heard a faint salty smell emanating from the branches.

Salt water? He became even more curious about that Consort Wan.

At this moment, a beautiful and ethereal voice came from the second floor. Looking in the direction of the sound, he saw a figure in a light-colored palace dress sitting next to the railing, wearing gorgeous hair ornaments.

After lunch, Fu Qingyang inspected the city's defense equipment and grain, surveyed the terrain around the city wall, checked the official granary, and hurried back to the commander's barracks.

He saw five teammates sitting silently in the room, their faces not looking good.

Seeing him return, Tianxia Guihuo said worriedly, "I looked around just now, and there are no women in the army. The female saints and dominators of the Return of the Dead should all be in the capital."

Xiahou Aotian's face was solemn: "There is even worse news. Hongji-ge is not in the army."

Ling Jun sighed and summarized, "The mindless ones are all over there, and the weak ones are also over there."

Fu Qingyang thought for a while and said, "Actually, Jiang Jingwei is also here. I didn't expect this to be a character dungeon."

Demon Eye Heavenly King slammed the table and stood up: "Immediately retreat to the capital."

"Don't panic. As long as we defend Linxia, the capital will not be in danger," Zhao Chenghuang comforted.

After saying that, a soldier came in a hurry, stopped at the door, and said loudly:

"Marshal, there is a secret report."

Fu Qingyang strode forward, took the note from the soldier, unfolded it, and his eyes narrowed slightly.

He looked at his companions and frowned:

"The secret report says that the Northern Dynasty sent an assassination squad to sneak into the capital. In addition, there may be spies lurking in the palace. Their goal is to assassinate the Southern Dynasty Emperor."

The Demon Eye Heavenly King, who had just sat down, slammed the table and stood up again: "Immediately retreat to the capital."

After speaking, another soldier came in a hurry:

"Marshal, the soldiers in the army suddenly have diarrhea and vomiting, suspected of poisoning."

Before Fu Qingyang could respond, the sound of drums came from the city wall, and the faint sound of shouting:

"Poisonous insects, all poisonous insects..."

(End of this chapter)