Fire Captain

Princess Nihuang stayed in Zhengyang Palace for a short while before leaving. When she left, Princess Nihuang smiled at Chu Qiao and said, "The Imperial Concubine has invited me so kindly. I have no choice but to follow me to the Imperial Concubine's Zhaoren Palace."

Chu Qiao observed Princess Nihuang's expression and said, "Yes!"

As soon as Chu Qiao entered Zhaoren Palace, she realized something was wrong. Princess Nihuang had relaxed her vigilance, but Chu Qiao did not. Moreover, compared with the Queen's Zhengyang Palace, the Imperial Concubine's Zhaoren Palace made people feel uncomfortable as soon as they entered. Because of the previous experience, Chu Qiao believed in her feelings even more.

Similarly, Chu Qiao did not follow Princess Nihuang into the hall. As they were walking, Chu Qiao whispered in Princess Nihuang's ear, "Be careful!"

After hearing this, Princess Nihuang nodded slightly and stepped into the hall.

Chu Qiao stood guard at the door, listening carefully to the movements in the palace, while secretly observing the guards of Zhaoren Palace. She didn't know why she always felt like someone was watching her. At this time, a palace maid walked up to Chu Qiao and said, "My lord, your majesty and the princess haven't seen each other for a long time, so they must have talked for a long time. Why don't you follow me downstairs to rest for a while and have some tea?"

Chu Qiao said in a cold voice: "Thank you very much, sister. How dare I leave my post without the princess's order?"

The maid tried to persuade her again but Chu Qiao remained calm and unmoved, which made her more suspicious that there was something wrong with Zhaoren Palace. Finally, the maid had no choice but to leave.

Soon, Chu Qiao saw the prince entering the hall from the side door with a strange-looking man. It was obvious that the two of them came to avoid being seen. If Chu Qiao had not been paying close attention, she would not have noticed them.

Chu Qiao moved her feet slightly, and a moment later she heard Princess Nihuang shouting in the hall: "How dare you!" and then she shouted: "Ah Chu!"

Chu Qiao immediately avoided the obstruction of the eunuchs and palace maids and rushed into the palace. As soon as she entered the inner palace, she saw Princess Nihuang kneeling on the ground. The strange man who had just entered was supporting Princess Nihuang, but Princess Nihuang struggled to break free. Chu Qiao hurriedly stepped forward to support Princess Nihuang and said, "Princess!"

Princess Nihuang felt a surge of heat rising up, and her mind became more and more hazy. She felt Chu Qiao approaching and grabbed Chu Qiao's arm and said, "Let's go!"

“Okay!” Chu Qiao helped Princess Nihuang up and was about to walk out.

Seeing that their plan was going to fail, Concubine Yue and the Crown Prince at the side immediately said anxiously, "How dare you! Who are you? How dare you trespass into my Zhaoren Palace! Someone, come and take her down!... Sima Lei, why don't you help the princess up!"

The prince also said: "Ah, yes, yes... someone come quickly..."

Chu Qiao knew that the longer they delayed, the more trouble they would have to deal with when they sent someone over. Seeing that Sima Lei was about to move forward, Chu Qiao raised her foot and kicked him in the chest, causing Sima Lei to step back and fall to the ground. Chu Qiao put the princess on her shoulders, put her arm around her waist, and rushed out while whispering, "Princess! Princess? Are you okay?"

Princess Nihuang tried her best to stay awake and whispered, "It's okay..."

When Concubine Yue and the Crown Prince saw Chu Qiao rushing out with Princess Nihuang, they quickly chased after them and shouted, “Stop them!”

Chu Qiao helped the princess to the main hall entrance, and saw the courtyard filled with guards. Chu Qiao turned around and looked at Concubine Yue and said, "My Lady, since Chu Qiao is the princess's guard, she is not a weak person. If you insist on keeping the princess, please don't blame me for being rude."

Seeing this, Concubine Yue made up her mind and said, "Come here, there is an assassin holding the princess hostage, quickly capture him!"

Seeing the two of them coming out, the guards all drew their swords. In this case, Chu Qiao simply put one hand across her waist, and the Qingyu Sword jumped into her hand, and she rushed into the encirclement of the guards in an instant.

After a period of peaceful life, Chu Qiao felt that she had been much gentler in her attacks. If it were based on her previous temper, she would not have been able to leave any of these guards alive. Now, it was a good deal for them, as they only scratched their wrists and could not hold the knife for a while.

Chu Qiao was supporting the princess while fighting. She was not able to move well. Seeing more and more guards rushing in, it was difficult to escape. She tightened the Qingyu Sword in her hand and was about to kill without holding back when she saw Prince Jing rushing in. He knocked away the guards blocking him and rushed to the two of them and asked, "How is the princess?"

Chu Qiao said, “It’s not so good… Your Highness Prince Jing, you can’t stay here for long, you should fight quickly and decisively!” After saying that, she turned sideways and glanced at Concubine Yue and the Crown Prince behind her.

Prince Jing raised his head and glanced around, then said, "I know!" After that, he snatched the knife from the guard in front of him with a chop, flipped over and jumped into the air, appearing behind the prince in an instant, with the long knife in his hand across the prince's neck.

Concubine Yue was so frightened that she quickly shouted, "Xiao Jingyan, you are so brave."

Xiao Jingyan said arrogantly: "In the three armies, I often kill generals and seize commanders. Your Highness the Crown Prince is standing too close to me..."

The prince was weak and timid. He looked at Concubine Yue and shouted, "Mother... Mother, save me!"

The guards stopped their actions one after another. Seeing this, Chu Qiao held her sword and confronted the guards. From afar, she watched as Prince Jing held the Crown Prince hostage and negotiated with Concubine Yue. When everyone was at a stalemate, she suddenly heard a loud announcement from outside the door: "The Empress Dowager has arrived..."

Chu Qiao was relieved when she saw the Queen and the Grand Empress Dowager hurried in. It seemed that this hurdle had been passed, and the following matters were not something she should get involved in. Chu Qiao helped the Princess out of Zhaoren Palace, and saw Bai Ziyang standing not far away, waving at her.

After Bai Ziyang felt Princess Nihuang's pulse, he fed her a pill. After a while, he saw Princess Nihuang's eyes gradually brighten up, and he breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Not bad, luckily the detoxification pill I prepared worked!"

After that, Princess Nihuang, Prince Jing, Concubine Yue and the Crown Prince, as well as Prince Yu who arrived later, confronted the Emperor. During the confrontation, Concubine Yue tried to accuse Chu Qiao of wielding a sword in Zhaoren Palace in addition to defending herself, but was blocked by Princess Nihuang's words: "A Chu is loyal to her master, what crime has she committed?" In the end, Concubine Yue, the culprit, was demoted and the Crown Prince was reprimanded. The punishment was neither light nor heavy, but the Princess and Prince Jing knew that this was the greatest face the Emperor could give.

As for the daring Sima Lei, the emperor ordered his men to bring him here, but the response from Commander Meng was even more interesting. He said directly: I'm afraid he can only be carried here... Prince Mu went to take a look, and later, Sima Lei's leg was broken. The emperor said nothing and stripped him of his title and sent him into exile.

The princess and Prince Jing would be concerned about what happened next, but after the incident was over, the princess came to thank Chu Qiao. Bai Ziyang asked Chu Qiao how it felt to fight in the palace, and Chu Qiao said frankly: It felt great!

After a while had passed since this incident, when everything was calm, Mei Changsu spread the news that he would buy a house and move out of Xie Mansion. All of a sudden, there was movement from all sides, and many people wanted to give the house to Mei Changsu for free, especially Prince Yu, in addition to Princess Nihuang.

Mei Changsu looked at the deed in his hand and said, "Since the news that I want to buy a house spread, I have received so many deeds at once. There are still many kind-hearted people in this capital city! Isn't it?"

Fei Liu, who was concentrating on fiddling with the stove for fear that Mei Changsu would freeze, said, "No way!"

Mei Changsu smiled at Fei Liu, took out a land deed and said, "Look at this, this courtyard is called Lanyuan. The location is good and the price is fair. Go and check it out for Brother Su. If you like it, we can buy it!"

Feiliu took the deed and nodded seriously.

Bai Ziyang, who was doing nothing at the side, was holding a plate of snacks. He ate one himself and fed one to Chu Qiao. After hearing what Mei Changsu said, he said to Chu Qiao, "You are going to stir up trouble again!"

Chu Qiao pinched a piece of dessert and stuffed it into Bai Ziyang's mouth and said, "Even eating can't stop your mouth!"

Fei Liu was about to go out with the title deed when he suddenly noticed someone outside the door. He immediately looked at Mei Changsu, who said, "Go!"

Fei Liu threw down the title deed in his hand and flew away. Fortunately, Mei Changsu was quick, otherwise the ready-made title deed would have been burned to ashes... He shook his head helplessly.

The visitor was Xia Dong from the Xuan Jing Division. Xia Dong had a very good personal relationship with Princess Nihuang and was also very concerned about Princess Nihuang's martial arts competition to find a husband. It was only because she had been away on a mission before and now after returning to Beijing she heard that Mei Changsu had a very good relationship with the princess, so she came here to investigate the situation for her good sister. Bai Ziyang knew that when he met someone like Xia Dong who had an occupational disease, he would inevitably be questioned when he saw a stranger, so he took Chu Qiao away first.

Mei Changsu used an orchid garden to win the title of Minister of Revenue of the Crown Prince, which made Prince Yu overjoyed. Gifts were sent to Xuelu like water. Knowing that Mei Changsu had not yet chosen a house, he sent the deeds of several houses to him. Unfortunately, Mei Changsu declined them all and finally chose the house recommended by Meng Zhi.

Seeing that Mei Changsu's move was a foregone conclusion, some people could no longer sit still. A dark moon is a good night for murder, a high wind is a good day for arson...

A group of men in black sneaked into the Snow House at night, but were stopped by Fei Liu before they could get close. The men turned around and ran away, so Fei Liu naturally chased after them. However, he didn't expect that he had fallen into the enemy's trap. After Fei Liu left, another group of men in black rushed towards the Snow House.

I thought it wouldn't take much time to deal with a weak scholar, but I didn't expect that a team of people rushed into the room and didn't come out for a while. Not only did they not come out, but there was no sound either. The team of people guarding outside looked at each other and immediately rushed into the room. There was no sound again. At this time, Xiao Jingrui, who was attracted by the sound of Fei Liu's fight, rushed into the room and shouted, "Brother Su!"

"I'm here!" Mei Changsu walked over holding a candlestick.

With the help of candlelight, Xiao Jingrui saw a group of men in black lying in all directions in the room. It seemed that most of them were killed in one blow. Bai Ziyang was standing with his hands behind him, and Chu Qiao was wiping the blood from the tip of the sword with a handkerchief.

Xiao Jingrui asked: "Brother Su, are you okay?"

Mei Changsu said: "I'm fine!"

Xiao Jingrui finally breathed a sigh of relief and wanted to look at the body on the ground. Mei Changsu stopped him and said, "Forget it, you'd better not look at it."

Xiao Jingrui was stunned for a moment after hearing this, perhaps he understood what Mei Changsu meant, and said, "What's the difference between watching and not watching?"

In the end, Xiao Jingrui recognized that the killer was the guard beside Xie Yu. He finally knew how cruel his father, who seemed to be uninvolved in the party struggle, was and how cruel the truth was. Unfortunately, Xiao Jingrui didn't know that this might just be the beginning for him...

Bai Ziyang took Chu Qiao away, and let Mei Changsu do the comforting.

After the first snow in winter, Mei Changsu moved out of the Snow House in Xie's mansion and moved to the Su residence. Bai Ziyang naturally moved there with him because Mr. Su's treatment could not be stopped. The next day after moving there, the same assassination, the same person, and naturally the same failure... They may not know that the Su residence is a more difficult place to break into than the Snow House in Xie's mansion, because it is full of people from the Jiangzuo League. If it comes to competing for martial arts power, the Jiangzuo League has never been afraid of anyone in the territory of Daliang...