"Go tell your captain that our Grand Tutor, Miss Gu, and young Master Yan have returned."
Outside the carriage where Ouyang Qinglin sat among the three carriages, a subordinate dressed in black Xuanyi spoke coldly to the city guards.
"What? The Grand Tutor? Grand Tutor Ouyang? And... and Miss Gu, Gu Qianying? And young Master Yan? Yan Kuan?"
"This... these people are all wanted criminals of the court! Yet they've returned so brazenly and conspicuously in broad daylight! These people... are too audacious!"
"Indeed, look, their portraits are still posted on the streets!"
Amidst the crowd, a stir began. Many onlookers had gathered.
The soldiers standing at the city gate were all stunned.
Who could have imagined that the court's wanted criminals, whom their Emperor had ordered to be apprehended, would all return on their own?
"What are you waiting for? Hurry and report to the captain, quickly!
The leader of the city guards kicked a subordinate beside him, who then hurried into the city.
The remaining soldiers dared not slacken in the slightest. They all held their long sabers, pointing them at the three carriages.
The three subordinates driving the carriages and those inside remained calm. No one spoke until the captain, with over a dozen subordinates, rushed over.
Gu Qianying, Ouyang Qinglin, and Yan Kuan alighted from their carriages.
The three stood before the crowd.
In the distance, Duan Xifeng, Gu Yi, and a hundred men in green, who had been following the trio, had already blended into the crowd.
Upon seeing the true faces of Gu Qianying and Yan Kuan, the gate captain Li Tao believed that these two "god-level" wanted criminals were indeed incredibly bold!
"Guards, arrest them all."
Li Tao gave the order, and the surrounding soldiers stepped forward. However, at this moment, they dared not truly lay hands on Gu Qianying and the others.
After all, setting aside Yan Kuan, the Deputy Minister of the Dali Temple, Gu Qianying and Ouyang Qinglin were a formidable pair. One was the Grand Tutor Ouyang Qinglin, known for his ruthless methods and disregard for life, while the other was the vicious female demon, Gu Qianying, whose heart was as black as coal for slaughtering her own kin. Who would dare provoke such individuals?
Lu Zhu and Ouyang Qinglin's subordinates took a step forward without drawing their swords, causing the soldiers to retreat several steps in fear.
Captain Li Tao cursed his cowardly subordinates, but he himself did not dare to step forward, waiting for reinforcements.
At this moment,
The sixth-rank official, Magistrate Yao, holding his cap, hurried over with a group of subordinates. He had also ordered his men to bring two prisoner carts.
The superiors had issued an order: whoever apprehended a major court criminal was to promptly escort them to the palace and hand them over to the Crown Prince... no, to the newly enthroned Emperor for judgment.
However, a moment later, Magistrate Yao, who had come to arrest them with great fanfare, looked at the prisoner carts, which had been split open by several swords, and fell into a dilemma. His expression was as unsightly as a palette.
Were all court criminals so arrogant nowadays?
"What are you gawking at? Our esteemed Grand Tutor and Miss Gu are here. Why don't you quickly kneel and welcome them!" Ouyang Qinglin's subordinate, Daoying, looked down upon the assembled crowd.
Magistrate Yao and the city gate captain, along with the others, wanted to spit. "What? Kneel and welcome them? Are you kidding? Gu Qianying and these people are wanted criminals! You expect us to kneel to two wanted criminals!" How could that be possible?
It was they who should be kneeling to these wanted criminals!
He was a sixth-rank magistrate! Magistrate Yao thought to himself.
The city gate captain thought the same!
But in the next second...
"We pay our respects to the Grand Tutor, we pay our respects to Miss Gu."
Magistrate Yao and his men all knelt.
The onlookers also knelt.
Gu Qianying cast a cold glance at everyone and casually tossed her waist token to Lu Zhu for safekeeping.
There was only one waist token, engraved with the character "Qi." This was given to her by the scumbag Nan Rongqi in her previous life.
At the time, she hadn't felt this item was of any use. After all, she was often by the scumbag Nan Rongqi's side, and everyone around knew her and treated her with respect, so she naturally had no need for this waist token.
Thus, she buried the waist token in a place she had almost forgotten. On the way back to the capital, she found it by chance. After all, it was an item from her past life, and she hadn't held out much hope. But unexpectedly, the thing was still hidden there.
It was strange, but if she had a waist token to use, why wouldn't she?
With the appearance of Nan Rongqi's waist token, it was as if they were meeting the Emperor himself.
Ouyang Qinglin glanced at the waist token engraved with "Qi" that Gu Qianying had given to Lu Zhu. A glint flashed in his devilishly charming eyes, but he said nothing.
Magistrate Yao, who had originally intended to arrest Gu Qianying and the others as wanted criminals and escort them to the palace in prisoner carts to meet the Emperor, thereby earning merit and awaiting the Emperor's reward, could now only invite Gu Qianying and the others to the palace.
Yes! Invited.
Comfortable carriages were arranged, and good food and wine were served.
The city gate captain, who had wanted to parade the wanted criminals through the streets on horseback, and Magistrate Yao, who had wanted to leisurely enjoy wine in a sedan chair, could now only follow outside the carriages, serving them cautiously.
Occasionally, a few melon seed shells flew out of the carriages and hit them in the face.
At this moment,
In the Imperial Palace, within Zhongning Palace, the residence of the Grand Empress Dowager, a grand drama was unfolding.
"Grand Empress Dowager, look, the three beasts in the iron cage are drooling with greed. They haven't eaten for three days. If we send them delicious food now, I believe they will eat very happily."
Princess Jingning, Nangong Zhen'er, dressed in a yellow Bixia robe embroidered with phoenix patterns and a pink Hongyan skirt, after eating a grape served by her personal maid, turned to the Grand Empress Dowager sitting in the main seat. Her voice was soft, but her words were cruel. The Lishui Zimomo Jinbuyao on her head swayed slightly with her movements.
The Grand Empress Dowager wore a golden phoenix robe, and the jewelry she wore was as precious as could be, outshining Empress Meng, who sat to her left, dressed in a grand red court robe, deliberately dressed up.
However, Concubine Shu, Gu Mingyue, who was seated beside her, dressed in a white dress with only a few golden butterflies embroidered on the hem, her pure appearance was much more pleasing to the eye.
Gu Mingyue had now changed her face. Her beautiful eyes were flowing, her cheeks were rosy with a smile, and her words were unspoken. She was no longer the reckless and brainless person she was before. That day in the prison, Han Shi, fearing she would drag Han Shi down, had hired assassins to kill her. Fortunately, someone had saved her, taken her back to Xiuyi Pavilion, and had her face reshaped and cultivated, with the aim of replacing the top courtesan of Xiuyi Pavilion in the future, seducing court officials and princes, and extracting money and important information from them.
Through the recommendations of several ministers, she finally caught the eye of the newly enthroned Emperor Nan Rongqi.
Knowing Nan Rongqi's preferences, she entered the palace under the new identity of Xiuyi Pavilion's top courtesan, Yun Qiao'er, and gradually rose from a beauty of status to the current Concubine Shu.
Her appearance before the Grand Empress Dowager today was also because the latter enjoyed her osmanthus cakes.
However, no one knew that the osmanthus cakes contained special ingredients that made the Grand Empress Dowager very fond of them and unable to quit.
At this moment, in the center of the hall, the three beasts confined in the iron cage let out roaring cries, causing the iron cage to shake violently.
It turned out that they saw two old wet nurses dragging "food" covered in blood towards them.
If one looked closely, the two "food" items covered in blood were actually wriggling...
"Have they been properly trained?"
The Grand Empress Dowager, seated in the main seat, looked with great interest at the two slowly "wriggling" figures.
Concubine Shu wiped her mouth. After her personal maid presented the prepared osmanthus cakes, she held them up and approached the Grand Empress Dowager, serving her a small piece before slowly speaking, "This maidservant Cai Xia is very stubborn. She hasn't revealed any useful information. However, that little slut Meng Qier next to her, after suffering some minor injuries, has loosened her tongue. Grand Empress Dowager, I never expected that this little slut Meng Qier is someone from Gu Qianying's side?"