I Have a Way

Of course, You Lu knew. In the blink of an eye, he had dug up Xiao Anzi's ancestors for eighteen generations, not to mention who his master was.

"Guards, take this unruly servant away and give him twenty lashes, then throw him at the entrance of Hancui Palace."

He hadn't originally intended to oppose Consort Yi, at least not now, but since she had offended him, and he wasn't some saint who would forgive and forget.

After being flogged twenty times, Xiao Anzi was left barely alive. He could have been saved, but unfortunately, after being thrown at the entrance of Hancui Palace, Consort Yi, feeling guilty, dared not send anyone to rescue him, so he was dragged to his death.

"How dare you, you brat!"

Inside the Hancui Palace, Consort Yi's eyebrows were raised in anger, and her five fingers, painted with bright red nail polish, gripped the edge of the chaise longue tightly until her knuckles turned white.

Teacups were shattered all over the ground.

Her personal nanny, Granny Gui, stood behind her, patting her back to help her catch her breath.

Recalling Xiao Anzi's unseeing face in death, Granny Gui felt a chill run down her spine and advised, "Your Highness, please calm down. That bastard is so arrogant. Even if we don't send anyone to instigate him, he will still offend people. We just need to wait and see."

Consort Yi took a deep breath, her beautiful eyes filled with murderous intent. "I just can't swallow this. He injured Heng'er and indirectly caused my son to be confined to his quarters. If we don't punish him, he will take our mother and son even less seriously in the future."

"But he's currently in the Emperor's favor. Even for something as serious as beating a prince, His Majesty only punished him with three days of solitary confinement. If we confront him head-on, we'll likely suffer the same fate. Today's incident serves as a lesson; we lost both our wife and our army," said Granny Gui with deep concern.

The memory of Xiao Anzi's miserable state was still fresh in Consort Yi's mind. She couldn't help but feel a lingering fear and said angrily, "Let him be smug for a few more days."

To file a complaint with Emperor Wulong?

No way. If Emperor Wulong found out that she had planted spies in Yixin Palace, that would be a disaster. She could only swallow her anger today.

Emperor Wulong only heard about it afterward, but seeing that Consort Yi did not come to make a scene, he continued to pretend he did not know. He simply had someone spread the word that Xiao Anzi had been punished for breaking the rules and was supposed to be thrown out of the palace, but he escaped halfway and somehow climbed to the gate of Hancui Palace.

Consort Yi was also shrewd; she said that she hadn't left the palace all day and didn't know about this.

A matter that was not insignificant was thus glossed over. Those who had been eagerly waiting to see the show felt regretful, but they also had a better understanding of the situation—the seventh prince whom the emperor had just found was no ordinary person, and even Consort Yi had to avoid him.

Lu was too lazy to care about the undercurrents within the palace; all he wanted to do now was refine the Gu poison. Ever since he learned that the Empress possessed what he desired, he had been restless. Finally, when Emperor Wulong returned to Yixin Palace, he rushed up to him to curry favor.

"Father, are you tired?"

"Father, are you thirsty?"

"Father, are you hungry?"

She was serving tea and water, massaging shoulders and backs, and smiling sweeter than flowers.

Emperor Wulong guessed his little scheme, but pretended not to know and enjoyed his youngest son's filial piety without changing his expression.

Youlu, massaging her father's stiff shoulders, couldn't help but think to herself, "Father definitely has frozen shoulder; look how stiff his neck and shoulders are, it hurts my hand to massage them."

Pixiu innocently replied, "[It could also be muscles. Your father has quite a physique.]"

You Lu retorted, unconvinced: "I don't care, it's just frozen shoulder, maybe even cervical spondylosis. People like them who sit at their desks all day definitely have serious neck and shoulder problems."

After enjoying the silence for only a short while, Emperor Wulong heard the man's incoherent thoughts. His lips twitched, and he dared not let him continue. He pulled the man close and asked knowingly, "Why are you being so attentive? What kind of wicked scheme are you plotting now?"

Youlu chuckled and, without any hesitation, went straight to the point: "I want the Jade-Eyed Ice Toad that the Duke of Zhenguo gave to the Empress. Father, as great as you are, you must be able to help me get it, right?"

Emperor Wulong was amused by his shamelessness. "Is this all the sincerity you want for the Jade-Eyed Ice Toad? Do you know how precious that is?"

The deer pouted, thinking to itself: "How precious can it be compared to the attentive service of me, the Little Deer Immortal? This is my reward for serving you; if you don't want to give it to me, then give me back the service I just provided!"

He certainly wouldn't dare say that openly, but instead feigned innocence, saying, "I know, but given the relationship between Father and Empress, wouldn't this be a piece of cake for Father?"

Emperor Wulong choked. If he rejected this young man, wouldn't that mean his relationship with the Empress was very bad?

That won't do!

Emperor Wulong slammed his hand on the table and stood up, exclaiming, "What's so difficult about that! I'll be right back!"

Emperor Wulong stormed out of Yixin Palace, with deer cheering him on from behind: "Go, Father!"

A quarter of an hour later, Emperor Wulong returned, dejected, and locked himself in the palace.

Eunuch Kang quietly told Youlu, "Upon hearing that His Majesty had arrived, the Empress didn't even open the palace gates."

"Ah..." You Lu felt guilty, not expecting that the Empress's anger had not subsided.

His eyes darted around, and he stepped forward to pat the thick palace door, saying, "Father, don't be sad. I have a way to get you into the Phoenix Palace."

The palace doors swung open with a clang.

A dark and windy night is the perfect time for murder and arson.

Emperor Wulong tugged at the black veil covering his face, his expression ashen, and asked, "Your method is to break into Fengyi Palace at night?"

A deer peeked out from behind the palace wall and said dismissively, "Just tell me if we can get in or not."

Emperor Wulong's vision blurred; he shouldn't have believed this kid's nonsense!

As the patrolling guards walked away, Youlu pulled Emperor Wulong and leaped over the palace wall. As soon as they landed, a sharp whooshing sound came from the air, and a sharp red-tasseled spear came one after another.

You Lu instinctively dodged, and the red-tasseled spear barely grazed his forehead.

He thought to himself how close he had come to disaster, and pushed Emperor Wulong forward, whispering as they passed each other, "Father, I'm leaving this place to you."

He turned around and ran away.

Emperor Wulong gasped, stiffly turning around to see the Empress standing there, spear in hand, her martial arts uniform making her look dashing, staring coldly at him.

Following his memory, Youlu found his way to the Empress's bedchamber. Finding no one inside, he climbed through the window. He searched the room for the Ice Toad, but couldn't find it. Instead, he discovered the love letter that Emperor Wulong had written to the Empress.

Curious, he picked up a few letters and flipped through them, unable to resist commenting: "Wow~~~ So cheesy! I thought only modern people used words like 'kiss,' 'baby,' and 'darling,' but I didn't expect the ancients to use them too. This is truly eye-opening!"

"No, Father has no originality at all. He just repeats the same few old, tired love lines over and over again. My sister Empress is too easy to please."

He watched with great interest, completely forgetting his purpose in sneaking into the Phoenix Palace.

With a bang, the palace door was kicked open from the outside, and the Empress dragged Emperor Wulong step by step into the palace.

Yu Lu, who was laughing heartily while holding the love letter, said: "Uh..."

Is it too late for him to escape?