Chapter 201: Trouble

He clearly took the baby boy from Zhang Ze, happily delivered it to Consort Bai, how come he was still outside, holding a stone in his arms!

“You brought the child out? Did the Consort just give birth?” Zhang Ze grabbed him, questioning in a low voice, “Didn’t I say that those of you inside are not allowed to come out!”

Wang Degui’s ears buzzed, looking at Zhang Ze’s ferocious face under the lamplight, his voice trembling: “The Consort was very anxious, pretending to continue giving birth, worried that this child would be troublesome to keep around…”

So she asked him to take it out and give it to Zhang Ze to deal with quickly.

That’s what he did just now, how come…

Was it a dream?

Did he fall asleep?

How could he fall asleep!

Zhang Ze kicked him to the ground, looking around angrily. He was already on guard, so Hanliang Palace was heavily guarded, and no one except the chosen people was allowed to enter, and those who went out were not allowed to go back in.

Even the people who reported the news to the Emperor could only stand outside the hall and wait.

He didn’t expect Wang Degui to come out holding the child.

Is this a case of man proposes, God disposes?

……

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“What’s the big fuss!”

Bai Ying said weakly after listening to Zhang Ze’s narration.

“It’s better to let those evil spirits harm it. ”

It would have nothing to do with them, Zhang Ze understood Bai Ying’s meaning.

The Imperial Bell was hanging in Hanliang Palace, evil magic couldn’t penetrate it. Bai Ying didn’t want this baby girl, but she didn’t dare to do anything to it here, so she simply sent it out. If there really were evil spirits watching outside, it would be a good opportunity to borrow a knife to kill.

“Look, this one was sent out and snatched by them, and yours came in smoothly…” Bai Ying said, struggling to prop herself up, her eyes looking expectantly at Zhang Ze’s arms, “Let me see. ”

Forget it, the most important thing was the baby boy, Zhang Ze didn’t say anything more, and handed the child in his arms over.

Bai Ying took the baby boy, unwrapped the swaddling clothes to confirm, breathed a sigh of relief and fell back onto the bed, holding the child tightly in her arms.

“I will give birth to another baby boy for His Majesty in the future. ”

“Even if I can’t give birth, there are other consorts, I will let them give birth, they will definitely give birth to a baby boy. ”

“I will make that baby boy the Crown Prince, to inherit the Great Zhou dynasty. ”

“I don’t want to seize the Great Zhou dynasty, I just want to be the Empress, the Empress Dowager, someone above everyone else. ”

Bai Ying muttered to herself, Zhang Ze knew she was saying this to the Imperial Bell.

After all, it was about changing the royal bloodline.

After all, the Imperial Bell had shown its divine power before, protecting this heir.

Bai Ying was still a little apprehensive, afraid that the Imperial Bell would show some divine power again.

Zhang Ze raised his hand and looked around, he didn’t think there was anything to be afraid of.

The Imperial Bell did protect the Li family bloodline, but it only protected them from harm during pregnancy.

After birth, it wouldn’t care anymore, it wouldn’t say that because you are of the Li family bloodline, everything will be smooth sailing and worry-free.

Otherwise, how could the former Crown Prince die? That was the next Li family emperor announced to the world.

And other princes and princesses were also killed by Empress Jiang.

Empress Jiang was not of the Li family bloodline, she held power for ten years, what about the Imperial Bell? It didn’t ring day and night for ten years, did it? Zhang Ze sneered inwardly.

The Temple of the Holy Ancestor wanted to protect the Li family dynasty, but whether it could protect it or not was not up to it.

In his opinion, Empress Jiang didn’t do enough back then, she shouldn’t have left Prince Changyang for the Li family, giving those courtiers a chance to exploit, their ambitions still alive.

If Empress Jiang had used him at that time, he would definitely have helped her kill all the Li family descendants, or randomly let some prince give birth to a son and give him to Empress Jiang, Empress Jiang holding this Li family descendant hostage, her position would be secure.

What could this bullshit Imperial Bell do?

Zhang Ze turned to look at the stunned Wang Degui, and said lightly: “Hurry up and report the good news to His Majesty!”

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The night grew darker and darker, the cold and sleepiness grew stronger, the warmth brought by the supper and hot tea soup seemed to have dissipated in an instant.

The officials were getting more and more restless, but fortunately the Emperor in the funeral hall was also absent-minded, and didn’t care too much about the atmosphere inside and outside the hall.

An official was thinking of getting up and walking around, when suddenly a chill came from behind him, he couldn’t help but shiver, and hurriedly turned around to see a beautiful face approaching…

“Marquis Zhou’s Heir.” The official breathed a sigh of relief, muttering something about being startled, how did he come out so quietly? Then he remembered that he hadn’t seen him for a while, and hurriedly asked, “Where did you go?”

Zhou Jingyun had already sat down, looking very cold, wrapping his cloak tightly around himself, but also seeming very hot, his porcelain-white face flushed.

Hearing the question, he said in a low voice: “I sat in the washroom for a while, it’s warmer there. ”

The official couldn’t help but want to laugh, so Zhou Jingyun also knew how to take advantage of such a thing.

“Then I’ll go too.” He said softly, just as he was about to stand up, there came the sound of noisy footsteps mixed with the shouts of eunuchs.

“Your Majesty—great joy—”

Hearing this voice, the officials couldn’t help but stand up, and the Emperor rushed out of the funeral hall directly.

“How is it, how is it?”

Wang Degui thumped and knelt down at the bottom of the steps, shouting loudly: “Congratulations, Your Majesty, congratulations, Your Majesty, Consort Bai has given birth to a prince—”

As soon as these words came out, the Emperor immediately clapped his hands and laughed, “Good, good, good. ”

The surrounding officials and the consorts inside all bowed and congratulated.

“How is A’ying?” The Emperor asked again, without waiting for Wang Degui to speak, he strode out, “I’ll go and see. ”

Wang Degui got up and followed, “The Consort is fine, just crying from fear…”

“Alas, she’s actually very timid.” The Emperor said, his pace quickening.

Surrounded by eunuchs and imperial guards, the Emperor left in an instant.

The officials all stood there discussing, “That’s great. ” “It’s good that it’s a prince. ” “This is reassuring. ”

The consorts inside also stopped crying, “She gave birth to a prince. ” “She’s really lucky. ” “We can also share in her good luck. ”

Now that the Empress was dead, and the favored Consort Bai had just given birth and definitely couldn’t serve the Emperor, they had a chance to serve the Emperor, and with any luck, they might also get pregnant.

The funeral hall, inside and out, was swept clean of sadness and gloom, and laughter could be heard from time to time, no one cared that this was a funeral hall, whether the Empress was at peace or not.

Zhou Jingyun suddenly stood up.

The official who was laughing beside him looked at him.

“It’s almost dawn.” Zhou Jingyun said, “I’ll go back first. ”

After saying that, he bowed to everyone and turned to walk away.

The officials were stunned, he left as soon as the Emperor left? It seemed like he was keeping vigil for the Emperor to see.

But then they laughed wryly, of course keeping vigil was for the living to see.

Especially Zhou Jingyun.

After all, if he hadn’t forced the Emperor to investigate his wife’s fall from the building, the Censorate wouldn’t have had the chance to investigate the Yang family, and the Empress wouldn’t have died.

The Emperor must be feeling a little uncomfortable.

Zhou Jingyun coming to keep vigil at night was also a way of showing his sincerity.

Now that Consort Bai had given birth to a son, the Emperor was in a good mood, whether Zhou Jingyun kept vigil or not, the Emperor wouldn’t care anymore.

“This Zhou Jingyun is quite… decisive in his actions.” An official shook his head and commented.

To put it bluntly, he was opportunistic.

Judging from the time he had returned to the court, Marquis Zhou’s Heir was not as otherworldly as imagined, he also had many calculations, and his heart was ruthless enough.

They would have to re-evaluate this young official in the future.

✿✿✿

……

✿✿✿

Zhou Jingyun didn’t care what others thought about his sudden departure.

In fact, his head had been buzzing.

If it weren’t for the real feeling of holding a soft baby in his arms, he would really think he was dreaming.

The sudden appearance of Bai Li.

The newborn little princess was in his arms.

Zhang Ze and Bai Ying actually switched the little princess.

The people, and the things that happened, were all so unreal.

Zhou Jingyun couldn’t help but bite his lip, it hurt.

It was real.

Although it was like a dream, it was real.

He shouldn’t have doubted it, although meeting Bai Li, and being husband and wife with Bai Li, were all dreams manipulated by others, but every moment of every event between him and Bai Li was real.

Zhou Jingyun took a deep breath and looked down at his arms.

The baby was wrapped tightly and still sleeping.

Just now, in order to cover his tracks and return to the outside of the funeral hall, he was actually very nervous, afraid that the child would wake up and cry.

Fortunately, she didn’t wake up.

Fortunately, the news that Bai Ying had given birth to a baby boy came from there, drawing the Emperor away.

It was reasonable for him to leave now, it was just another reputation for being duplicitous.

Reputation didn’t matter.

As long as he could help Bai Li.

Bai Ying and Zhang Ze dared to do this, they must have made arrangements, Bai Li’s identity couldn’t be exposed, it was useless to expose the baby girl’s identity in public, and it would also cost Bai Li her life…

Zhou Jingyun hugged his arms tighter, looking towards the palace gate in front of him.

Entering the palace required identity verification and a simple body search, leaving the palace was simple.

Hopefully it was still simple.

He couldn’t withstand any search.

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When the Emperor rushed to Hanliang Palace, Zhang Ze was already standing outside the hall.

When he heard the Emperor’s laughter echoing from inside, the matter was settled.

Zhang Ze took a few more steps away, and asked the guards about the previous pregnant women, “Have they all been sent out immediately, whether dead or alive, keep them locked up in the prison. ”

The people around him responded in low voices, “Yes. ”

Hurried footsteps came from ahead, and a guard came over quickly: “Inspector General, a palace maid has lost her identification token. ”

It was indeed that palace maid, Zhang Ze sneered: “Search, even with evil magic, she’s still a living person. ” He assigned the two ritual specialists, “You two follow along separately. ”

The two ritual specialists responded, “Yes. ”

Zhang Ze thought for a moment and took the remaining ritual specialists with him.

“To the palace gate. ”

He would guard it himself, he must not let anyone escape.

The baby girl born to Bai Ying was in that person’s hands.

Although it was said that as long as the mother didn’t acknowledge it, the child’s identity would never be clear and wouldn’t pose a threat.

But things in this world were just in case.

It was a trouble after all, it must be eliminated.

Zhang Ze took a step forward, then turned around and instructed the guards.

“Also, inform…”

He originally wanted to say inform the four palace gates, no one was allowed to leave tonight, whether it was palace maids, eunuchs, or those officials keeping vigil.

But before he could finish his words, he saw a figure rushing out from the corner of his eye.

This person seemed to have been pushed out suddenly, his figure swayed, and then he steadied himself.

Who is it!

Zhang Ze subconsciously shouted.

A thought flashed through his mind that something was wrong, why didn’t he hear his own voice? Was he just shouting in his mind?

The guards in front of him were looking at him with focused expressions.

They didn’t see anything unusual about Zhang Ze’s expression, let alone an extra person on the road.

Not right!

He was pulled into an illusion again!

Zhang Ze’s gaze shifted again, and he saw one of the ritual specialists who had remained by his side.

Because the matter was over, and they were in Hanliang Palace, with the Imperial Bell guarding it, this ritual specialist had put away his tools, and at this moment his expression was dull…

Presumably the people around him were also trapped in the illusion at this moment.

And there was the Imperial Bell here!

This thief was so daring!

Silence all around, a woman’s voice rang out.

“Suddenly pushing me out, hey, you really summon me at will and dismiss me at will. ”

“I’m so lacking in imposing manner this way. ”

The voice seemed to be complaining.

Pushed out?

Not alone?

There really were accomplices!

Zhang Ze sneered inwardly, so what if it was an illusion, if they dared to come and kill him, did he dare not kill them?

In reality, relying on weapons and manpower, fighting was full of tricks, but in the illusion it was simpler, it was just a matter of courage.

He, Zhang Ze, had come this far step by step, what was there to be afraid of!

Zhang Ze turned his head and looked directly at the person who appeared in front of him.

His vision was dim, he could see that it was a woman, dressed as a palace maid…

Seeing him looking over, the palace maid straightened up and looked at him too.

Zhang Ze’s vision suddenly became clear, and he saw a bright face.

Fair skin, long eyebrows like distant mountains, eyes like autumn water with a hint of smoke, a high nose bridge, and cherry lips with a hint of a smile.

Zhang Ze only felt a boom, as if a bolt of lightning had struck him from the sky.

This was impossible!

This was impossible!

How could he see her!

Empress Jiang!

Zhang Ze only felt his legs go weak, his body swayed, and he knelt down on one knee.

Going back tomorrow, long journey by plane, can’t write, no update.

Typing on my phone these two days, lots of typos, thanks for pointing them out, I’ve corrected them all, you can re-download and read.