Shao Kefan put down a book he had reviewed and took a sip of the slave's newly brewed tea. Then he picked up the next book and just opened it when he suddenly heard a rush of footsteps outside the palace door.
He frowned slightly, put down the towel in his hand, and walked out of the study. The first of the people to come was Ji Chen. Several guards following him carried a shaking man to the center of the hall.
Seeing the king, the guards carefully put the person carrying them on the ground, then spread out, stood in alignment, lowered their heads slightly, waiting for the king to ask questions or to report the situation.
The person lying on the ground, with a purple face, convulsed hands and feet, and blurred eyes, was none other than Lou Zhongquan.
"Report to the king that I have been following Lou Zhongquan outside the Eagle Palace. I didn't want him to be attacked by a sneak attack. The other party was hiding in the dark and struck quickly. I don't know who did it."
After Ji Chen finished speaking, he took out a folded white cloth from his arms, with the outline of an object with a sharp short handle protruding from it. After opening it, it was a dart with blood stains still on it, staining the white cloth against the body of the dart.
All parts are red.
"This was pulled out from the right breast."
Shao Kefan glanced at the poisoned person on the ground indifferently, then took the dart with Bu Lianbu, lowered his head, and sniffed the dart with his nose, "This is probably facial erosion poison. Was his whole body red before?"
"Exactly." Jichen replied.
Shao Kefan threw the cloth and darts on the ground. A tongue of fire stretched out from his palm and licked the darts. In the blink of an eye, the darts and cloth disappeared without a trace, and even the ashes were burned away.
Ignoring Ji Chen's shocked gaze, Shao Kefan said quietly, "For people with poisonous facial features, their skin color will undergo five changes, first red, purple, blue, then orange, and black. Each time the color changes, the poisonous effect will be intensified."
, and gradually eroded to the internal organs, and finally, the whole body turned black, the heart fell off and died."
"Then King, please save him!" Ji Chen felt chilled in his heart and begged anxiously. However, when he saw the King looking at him in surprise, he suddenly remembered what was wrong: How could he become so kind?
And he was working next to such a ruthless person.
"You should step back first!" Shao Kefan said lightly to the standing guards.
Several people retreated respectfully.
After several people walked out of the door, Shao Kefan knelt down and stared at Lou Zhongquan with a complicated expression for a while before standing up, as if he was considering whether to save him or not.
Lou Zhongquan's body was still convulsing painfully, but the purple color on his body began to change to blue.
"Ha!" Shao Kefan sneered, "Zheng Xiaohan's move is so clever that I can't tell whether Zhong Quan is an enemy or a friend."
"Why?" Ji Chen asked puzzledly. Seeing the color on Lou Zhongquan's body, he couldn't help but feel nervous.
"If Lou Zhongquan is from the Eagle side and you are Zheng Xiaohan, what will you do if you see him being followed by people sent by Cang Teng?"
"I will... kill the person who is following him, because he may have discovered some important secret about Cang Teng and is eager to tell me. In order to know the secret, of course I have to kill the person on the other side." Ji Chen replied, but he was confused as to why.
The king wants to ask this.
Shao Kefan smiled and was satisfied with his answer.
"So, what if he is from Cang Teng's side?"
"Then, I will attack two people and target the fatal parts." Ji Chen said, feeling that Zheng Xiaohan's intention was strange. Zheng Xiaohan's dart flew into Lou Zhongquan's right chest.
She deliberately created conflicts and gave this matter multiple possibilities.
Lou Zhongquan's mouth moved desperately, trying to say something, but he couldn't even utter a vague word. He heard the entire conversation between Lord Cang Teng and Ji Chen, and Shao Kefan had no intention of hiding it from him.
His whole body had completely turned blue, and the pain was spreading from the outside to the inside, and even the strength of his spasms gradually diminished.
Shao Kefan glanced at the people on the ground again, weighing whether to stay or not.
Either he is a spy or he is not a spy, the two possibilities each account for half, and neither aspect can take advantage of it.
It would be too easy to let him die, but to explain to the outside world, he would be declared a spy.
But Lord Cang Teng was unwilling to kill a potentially loyal person by mistake.
"Zheng Xiaohan, Zheng Xiaohan!" Shao Kefan couldn't help but sigh, "I don't believe that I will suffer a loss in your hands."
"Then...Wang, will Lou Zhongquan be saved? If not, give him a good life." Ji Chen's hand subconsciously pulled out part of the sword.
Shao Kefan smiled unpredictably, stretched out his hand to hold the hilt of his sword, pressed it diagonally, and the sword was completely sheathed, "Save, if you don't save, I will lose."
"Ah..." Jichen didn't understand what the king meant, but then he felt that he understood a little bit, and it wasn't even ambiguous.
"Carry him into the secret room of the study." Shao Kefan raised his palm, moved his ring finger, and walked towards the study.
Ji Chen frowned, a hint of disgust quickly replaced by pity, picked up Lou Zhongquan, and followed Lord Cang Teng into the secret room.
Behind the bookcase, the door that was perfectly integrated with the wall closed silently after the two of them stepped in.
"Ah... Yan Erosion Poison!" Medicine Master Yang Zhangfeng exclaimed as he watched Ji Chen put Lou Zhongquan on the bed.
"Save him." Shao Kefan ordered in a low voice, and walked toward the door with a heavy heart. When he heard Ji Chen's footsteps, he turned around and said, "You stay inside. If he is well, bring him out to see me."
Ji Chen stopped and waited until the door opened and the figure in red came out, then he respectfully answered: "Yes."
Shao Kefan poured down a glass of wine, drank it all, poured it again, drank it again, and repeated it several times. He simply put the cup aside, picked up the jug and drank.
Two hours later, the door of the bookcase and the secret room opened at the same time, and Ji Chen and Lou Zhongquan walked out together. The difference was that Lou Zhongquan was breathing rapidly and looked excited, as if he had a lot to say.
Sure enough, he walked quickly to the king and asked angrily, "I, Lou Zhongquan, asked myself that I have always been loyal and have never done anything wrong to Cang Teng. Why does the king doubt me?"
"Really?" Shao Kefan sneered, "Then why do you always enter the Eagle alone? Although for the sake of confidentiality and flexibility, many knight strategists go to the Eagle to spy on intelligence without my permission, but I have their whereabouts anyway, and
You, relying on your superb Qinggong, are erratic and weird, and deliberately throw away my people time and time again."
He mentioned without hesitation that he sent people to follow all the people in the palace who went to Eagle. What should he avoid? If you are loyal, why should you be afraid of supervision? If you have second thoughts, you will die.
Lou Zhongquan was stunned, swallowed a mouthful of saliva, opened his mouth, wanted to say something but still couldn't make up his mind.
"It takes time to see people's hearts. You don't have to rush to prove how loyal you are. I-" Shao Kefan leaned slightly, "I will know sooner or later." Then he straightened up and walked around and said, "It's just that over the past year or so,
There are too many knights and counselors recruited into the palace, and most of them are very scheming, so you have to identify them one by one!"
"Zhong Quan will not disappoint the king." Apart from this sentence, Lou Zhongquan didn't know what to say, but his face was very sad.
"Zhong Quan, I still trust you...just go down." Shao Kefan sighed.
Trust? Lou Zhongquan was startled again. No wonder the monarch had already seen the clues, but was still reluctant to take action. Could it be that he saw that the beating heart in his chest was half red and half black?
He was so angry just now because that half of the red was not allowed to be denied, right?
"Wang, Lou Zhongquan went in the direction of the eagle again." An hour later, Ji Chen hurried to Qiming Palace to report.
"What?" Shao Kefan frowned and his tone quickly softened, as if he had long been accustomed to Lou Zhongquan going to Yingzhi.
"If you don't chase him, it will be difficult for you to catch up with him. Next time, I will follow him personally. Alas... in such a large country, the things at hand are always endless, and some things may slip through the cracks."
"Then..." Ji Chen asked doubtfully, "Is Lou Zhongquan a spy?"
As if he thought this question was a bit funny, a hint of laughter appeared on Shao Kefan's face, "It's hard to say! This person may be the breadwinner of two families. You know, swordsmen once wandered around the wilderness, in order to survive,
There are many people who are opportunistic, and since they are so well hidden, it will take a lot of effort to uncover one."
"Ah! Dinner for two families?" Jichen blurted out in surprise, not noticing that there were two words before it: maybe.
"The answer will come out sooner or later." Shao Kefan said quietly.
In the afternoon of the next day, Lou Zhongquan, who was covered in scars, walked into Qiming Palace carrying a black package. Shao Kefan's expression changed when he smelled the strong smell of blood, and he immediately sent his servants away.
"Bang" Lou Zhongquan fell to his knees due to lack of physical strength, but raised his head and stared at Lord Cang Teng resolutely, "Zhong Quan knows that his sins are serious and cannot be redeemed. However, everything is Zhong Quan's idea. Shui
Ming has always obeyed Zhong Quanyan and begged the king to let Shui Ming go."
After all, he got the answer! It was earlier than he expected. Shao Kefan smiled coldly, "You betrayed Cang Teng, and you just asked for it, so you don't have to worry about it? You also know the punishment I give to betrayers.
"
His gaze rested on the round package complicatedly. Is that a condition of exchange?
Unspeakable pain appeared on Lou Zhongquan's face. He opened the package without saying a word, and a head severed from the neck suddenly came into view: the third prince of the Eagle, Zheng Shuiyi.
What was cut off along with the head was the hair, which was scattered on the head in short lengths. The lifeless eyes were round and staring, unblinking.
For a moment, Shao Kefan was extremely shocked.
Zheng Shuiyi's martial arts is famous all over the world. Compared with him, Lou Zhongquan, who is the best in light kung fu, is much inferior. However, he can cut off his head.
What great thoughts can arise from loving someone!
In an instant, he changed his mind.
"I wanted to kill Yang Yongqing, but he happened to be away, so I picked the third prince who was the biggest threat to the king besides him and Zheng Xiaohan." Seeing that the king was so surprised that he was speechless for a while, Lou Zhongquan saw a glimmer of hope. Perhaps Shui Ming could
Live on!
"Haha." Shao Kefan leaned down slightly and stared at the head, with a cruel smile in his eyes, "Zheng Shuiyi's life is worth the lives of both of you."
Lou Zhongquan was shocked, but he was not sure what he heard. Is it possible? The previous traitors were either imprisoned or skinned. Lord Cang Teng watched the brutal torture.
But I heard the king continue to say, "If I give you another chance, what will you do."
Lou Zhongquan glanced at the monarch in shock, but found that he did not mean to joke.
For a moment, I couldn't express the shock in my heart, and I couldn't express the strong emotion.
"Thank you, King. Let Zhong Quan prove it with actions!" Lou Zhongquan no longer wanted to swear an oath. It was just a verbal thing. Besides, he had betrayed his promise before.
Only action can save him.
Shao Kefan walked into the study without saying a word. After Lou Zhongquan was stunned for a moment, he put the head into the package, carried it with his hands, then raised his body, stood up with difficulty, and staggered out of the hall.
.
Jian Xin! Today, because I was moved by love, I let go of two people who betrayed me.
Shao Kefan stood in front of the portrait with a look of despair on his face. The wine in his hand slowly poured out, moving from left to right, and a sloping transparent water line fell to the ground.