Gao Taibao was originally on an urgent mission to report back, rushing to the Jiuhua Palace, but unexpectedly just arrived halfway when he heard news coming from the Jiuhua Palace that the Imperial Concubine had been stabbed and gone missing, causing the Emperor to fly into a rage. He didnt dare delay any further, riding day and night at full gallop, finally arriving at the palace with all due haste.

  When he arrived, it had been almost three days since the imperial concubine went missing. Everyone in the palace was pale and trembling with fear. As Gao TaiBao walked through the central courtyard, he caught a whiff of bloody air coming from the side hall. He glanced over in that direction and saw a patch of bloodstain at the entrance of the side hall.

  As he entered the back hall, he saw Sima Jiaos body in a state of complete disarray, with bulging veins on his forehead and neck, and his eyes were covered in dense blood vessels. Gao Tai knew that he must have been enraged to the extreme, which is why he fell ill at this time.

  "He anxiously said: Your Majesty, but didnt you take your medicine?"

  Simar Jiao pressed his temples hard, "I ate yesterday."

  Gao Taibao was shocked. Since he had eaten the day before, why was he still in this state today? He thought for a moment and understood, so he carefully advised: "Your Majesty, you must not get angry and hurt yourself again. The imperial concubine will definitely be safe and sound. When the assembled troops arrive, even if they have to turn over the mountain, they will find the imperial concubine."

  "Shes probably no longer here."

  He looked at the blood-stained outer garment by his feet, and his eyes became even more menacing. He picked it up and threw it on the table, "It was found this morning under the mountain cliff, she was wearing it on the day she went missing."

  Theres a gaping hole on his clothes, clearly visible as an arrow wound. He must have been badly hurt, with blood almost soaking through his clothes. Even if he didnt die, he probably lost half his life.

  Looking at the bloodstains on his clothes, Sima Jiaos expression became even more terrifying. This kind of extreme anger that was suppressed and not released made people feel suffocated. Gao Taibao was also shocked, thinking to himself that Liao Guifei could actually make the Emperor so emotional, which far exceeded his initial expectations.

  Just to pass the time and indulge a little was fine, but now it seems theres a hint of "cherish" in it.

  Gao Taibais attitude became increasingly cautious, "Has Your Majesty already investigated who is behind this?"

  Simen Jiao did not speak, and handed him several confessions. Gao Taibao examined them carefully and found that the events of that day were actually a simultaneous attack by multiple parties, which led to the situation becoming what it was due to a combination of circumstances. The number of assassins from the CO side was the largest, and they were well-trained with the goal of killing people.

  There were also several palace people who were ordered to monitor the emperor and the noble concubine. They had no intention of killing the noble concubine, but on that day they saw the assassin kill, and the opportunity was too good to pass up, so they thought of taking advantage of the chaos to take the noble concubine away. In the end, two people took the noble concubine and escaped into the mountains, their bodies have been found, and the rest were caught and interrogated, but the mastermind behind the scenes was not revealed.

  Finally, there were over a dozen vagabonds who roamed the land doing evil. They too had been hired to kill but after lying in wait for some time in the forest, they failed to find an opportunity and eventually encountered a large group of masked assassins. Almost all of them were killed with only one or two escaping. It was said that the imperial concubine was taken away by one of these men.

  Gao Taibao thought for a moment, "These masked assassins are well-trained and even under torture would not reveal their master. They must be a group of trained death warriors."

  "As for those palace staff, being able to arrange informants around Your Majesty is also something not many people can do. As for the bandits in the back, their handwriting is quite rough, it seems like they got lucky by coincidence."

  Simar Jiao coldly said: "There is no need to investigate the assassin or the palace personnel."

  Gao Taibao saw that he was gloomy and his breathing was heavy, guessing that he must have had a grudge against these two groups.

  "Go and find those fugitives, no matter how many of them are left, I want to trample them into minced meat."

  Gao Taibao thought to himself, if the noble consort really had an accident this time, he feared that many more people would die. He recalled his original intention for coming to Jiuhua Palace and hastily added: "Your Majesty, I have another matter."

  "Say."

  "The people of Tu Prefecture have risen up in rebellion, and now they have become a considerable force. They have grown too powerful too quickly; there must be someone backing them. Your Majesty, do you think we should send troops to suppress them?"

  Simu Jiao put down his hand that was propping up his forehead, and suddenly let out a cold laugh. "No, just a few refugees are nothing to worry about, they wont amount to anything, and will soon become a scattered sand. Go, order the national troops to regroup, I want to attack Qin Nan Wang."

  Gao Taibao was startled again, "Your Majesty, the King of Qin Nan has been stationed in Yaozhou for generations. If he wants to start a war without any reason, he might as well rebel..."

  Simazhao burst out laughing, "I am a tyrannical ruler, and a tyrannical ruler doesnt need a reason to kill someone... You old thing who cant even live comfortably, whether you rebel or not, you will die anyway."

  Gao Taibao saw that he was in a state of madness and knew that this matter could not be turned around, so he simply took the imperial edict and carried out his duties. However, when he looked at the edict again, which mentioned both Qin Nanwang and Du Guogong leading troops, he couldnt help but think: Is the Emperors move aimed at Qin Nanwang or Du Guogong? Does the Emperor suspect that the assassination of the noble consort is related to Du Guogong, and did he anticipate that the turmoil in Tu Zhou was caused by Qin Nanwang, so he could no longer tolerate these two people?

  Is Your Majesty really not afraid of being forced by the two countries, or is it that Your Majesty is deliberately colluding with Qin Nan Wang? Or is Your Majesty forcing these two to rebel? The more Gao Taibao thought about it, the more puzzled he became, and his eyebrows furrowed tightly. After all, Your Majestys move was too impulsive, it seems that his illness was too severe, causing him to lose control of himself.

  After passing by a palace, he heard the sound of wailing and crying coming from inside. Gao Taibai stopped and asked the eunuch guarding the door, "Who are being held inside here?"

  The eunuch guarding the gate hastily replied: "Reporting to Taibao, they are several female palace attendants serving beside the noble consort."

  Gao Taibai slightly raised an eyebrow, "These people, Your Majesty didnt directly put them to death?"

  Eunuch said, "These several have been serving the imperial concubine for a good period of time and are usually favored by her. That day they were not following the imperial concubine either, so Your Majesty says to temporarily lock them up until the imperial concubine returns and can continue to serve."

  If the imperial concubine does not return, these people will probably be sacrificed together with those who plotted this affair.

  All this wind and rain, Liao Tingyan knew nothing about it. Since the day she fainted on the mountain path after meeting Chen Yun, she had not woken up again. The arrow wound on her shoulder had been treated, and she was dressed in new clothes and placed in a horse-drawn carriage, with a maid serving beside her, feeding her medicine and soup every day.

  Liao Tingyan was dazed and confused, but she woke up for a moment. However, as soon as she woke up, the servant gave her water to drink. Before long, Liao Tingyan felt dizzy again and couldnt help falling asleep once more.

  The horse carriage continued to head in the direction of Yaozhou, and because it looked ordinary on the outside, it didnt attract much attention. By the time Liao Tingyan finally woke up completely, she found that the horse carriage was already approaching the border between Gengzhou and Yaozhou. The river where she had lived for several years was located in Gengzhou, and she had passed through this road when she went to Luojing before, so she naturally remembered it.

  So what happened? Why did she feel like she had been out for a long time? Her whole body was stiff, and her head and arms hurt, probably from sleeping too long. She wasnt even fully awake yet, feeling groggy and disoriented, and it took her a while to figure out where she was.

  Then she was stunned. The male lead in the original novel saved her but didnt hand her over to the emperor, instead secretly taking her back home? What kind of operation is this?

  The maid who had taken care of Liao Tingyan for several days lifted the curtain of the carriage and saw that she was awake, revealing a somewhat unnatural smile. She brought over a cup of water, "Young lady is awake, have some water first."

  Liao Tingyan didnt buy it. Honestly, she just didnt understand politics and couldnt figure out the twists and turns of intrigue, but she wasnt an idiot either, she still had common sense and vigilance. How could she have been in a daze for so long? Its unbelievable that no one took care of her and gave her random medicine. She now thinks there must be some conspiracy behind this.

  Propping herself up with her arm and leaning against the carriage wall, Liao Tingyan stared at the servant woman, "Is Chen Yun here? I want to see him."

  After saying this, seeing that the servant woman didnt show any strange expression, Liao Tingyan knew she was right, and it was indeed Chen Yun who brought her here. Anyway, its impossible for anyone to be Sima Jiao, because this carriage is too hard and simple, making ones head ache.

  My wife doesnt seem like a particularly clever person. She kept urging Liao Tingyan to drink water, and did it so obviously that it only made people more suspicious.

  Liao Tingyan refused to drink, and the servant woman couldnt do anything about it, so she had to leave. Not long after, Liao Tingyan met Chen Yun.

  The original male lead still had a dignified and upright demeanor, gazing at her with a sincere and delighted smile. "Liao lady, youre really awake. Youve been injured so badly that youve been in a coma for days, its truly worrying."

  Liao Ting carefully sized him up, and for some reason, she felt that this original male lead was subtly different from the one she had met before. She recalled the time she saw Chen Yun on the mountain path again, how he had killed that man with a swift and decisive blow, unlike the first time they met when he had only knocked out the mountain bandit, this person had indeed changed.

  A bit like the male lead in the middle of the original novel who was decisive and ruthless. But what does all this have to do with her? No matter how she thinks about it, she shouldnt be here!

  "Cough cough, you should know my identity, how could you bring me here?" Liao Tingyan asked this question with a guess in her mind.

  Chen Yun sighed and said, "The current emperor is cruel and devoid of virtue. Now that heaven has sent down a warning to punish him, the people are following heavens will and rising up in revolt. The King of Qin Nan also wants to help the people overthrow the tyrants dictatorship. When the time comes, with one call, the rebel army will capture Luoyang, and the tyrants downfall is imminent. Lady Liao was originally forced into the palace, and now she shouldnt be implicated in the tyrants evil deeds either. I...I also cant bear to see her suffer such hardships, so I took the liberty of bringing her back."

  Liao Tingyan: "......" The male lead in the original work is really off, his eyes and speech are all sticky.

  Chen Yun waited for Liao Tingyans reaction, but found that she didnt have much of a reaction. If she was as disgusted with Sima Jiao as he had expected, she should be happy to escape his clutches upon hearing this, and on the other hand, if she liked Sima Jiao, she shouldnt be so calm after hearing this either.

  Liao Tingyans tone was calm: "Are you sending me back to He Xia now?"

  Chen Yun was taken aback, and smiled: "Of course not. After all, Sima Jiao has not been overthrown yet. If the young lady returns to He Xia now, he will surely send someone to look for her. Im afraid both the young lady and Liao Shike will get into trouble. Given his cruelty, nothing is impossible. For the young ladys sake, lets go to Yaozhou first and settle down quietly for a while. Dont worry, Ill take good care of you."

  Liao Tingyan couldnt help but think of the original plot at this point, it seems that in the original book, the female lead left because the male lead was going to marry Qin Wuyue, and was brought into the palace by the male supporting character. Now its the other way around, the female lead who was originally by the male supporting characters side is now by the male leads side.

  Chen Yun calculated that he could take advantage of these days to cultivate his feelings with the female lead, and it was just a matter of time before he won her over. Just as he thought this, a panel suddenly appeared in front of him, displaying a line of plot deviation prompts.

  "Hint: Sima Jiao takes the initiative to attack Qin Nanwang, and the plot shifts."

  This Sima Jiao really has a problem with his brain, now the timing is not ripe, how can he say fight and then fight! Chen Yun, who had just barely managed to turn the big and small plots around and was waiting for them to develop smoothly, scolded Sima Jiao in her heart.

  Chen Yun was so busy scolding others that he didnt notice Liao Tingyans momentary loss of composure.

  Liao Tingyan: What is that panel that suddenly appeared in front of the male lead from the original work?!