The dark room was empty, and there was nowhere to sit, so I simply sat on the ground against the wall. After sitting down, I realized that my whole body ached, and it was a miracle that I had been able to hold on to it until now.

When lying on the ground, I thought that Concubine Lu would not really kill Ah Ping in order to balance and better hold power, Yuan'er has been named the crown prince, and is the only eldest son of Ah Ping, if Concubine Lu wants to keep her position, even if she does not protect Ah Ping, she will definitely protect Yuan'er.

Suddenly, I woke up in horror that the real purpose of Concubine Lu leaving Ah Ping was not to balance the government, but to support Yuan'er to ascend to the throne! Only when Yuan'er became the emperor could Concubine Lu be the real regent and become the driving force behind the government. Otherwise, if Ah Ping wakes up, it will inevitably be the opposite, and her "puppet" policy will not be able to continue.

It is certain that Ah Pingding was poisoned at the Mid-Autumn Festival Night Banquet, and when we left, she asked to keep Yuan'er, I am afraid that she already had a plan in her heart. Her plan couldn't have been in the middle of a thought, it must have been in place since she asked for the construction of the Buddhist hall.

Then the reason why she took me down and didn't imprison him was probably to blackmail Ah Ping, I am Ah Ping's weakness, and only by holding me can he compromise. It is equivalent to saying that Concubine Lu now has a double insurance in her hand, and it is inevitable that her Lu family will be autocratic for a while.

Later, he fell asleep because he was too tired and groggy, but he couldn't sleep well, and he could wake up at the slightest disturbance. It's as if the locked door suddenly opened, and I sat up almost immediately.

The room was dark, and I couldn't see who walked in from outside the door, and it didn't look like Concubine Lu.

The other party seemed to be discerning where I was, and after a pause, he locked this place and walked over, a bowl of food rested on the ground in front of me, and when the other party was silently about to leave, I called softly: "Liu Qing." ”

Having lived with her for more than a year, her walking pace and habits are familiar, so when she approached, she judged that it was her.

She paused, didn't look back, and didn't make a sound.

I leaned my back against the wall and looked up at her back, and asked softly, "Is there anything wrong with Ah Ping?" ”

There was a long silence, and when I thought I wouldn't get an answer, I heard her say, "I don't know, it's up to me to deal with it." ”

"Ah Ping was brought up by you." Liu Qing's feelings for Ah Ping were clear at a glance when he was in Ginkgo Village, Concubine Lu was in a high position, and she might be resentful of Ah Ping because of jealousy, but Liu Qing was different. Even if she is Concubine Lu's personal maidservant, she must be doing her best to take care of Ah Ping after she was raised by Concubine Lu. Even Ah Ping went to Ginkgo Village to guard filial piety for three years, and she followed her.

She didn't respond to me, strode towards the door, and when she was about to walk out of the door, I suddenly raised my voice and asked, "Looking at Ah Ping like that, won't your heart hurt?" Obviously, her body trembled, and she hesitated under her feet, only to see her holding the door frame with one hand and slowly turning around, "Xu Lan, do you know what you are doing wrong?" ”

I waited silently for her to speak, my eyes fixed on the place.

"You made a mistake in not abiding by the rules in this palace, maybe you are dedicated to the emperor, but you also let the emperor out of the rules, so that there is the current ending. I've been with my mother for decades, and she is kind to me and kind to me, so you don't have to incite me anymore, I won't betray my mother. The emperor has his own fixed number, and I can't change my mother's decision, you ......"

"At least," I snapped off her words, "don't let Ah Ping live without dignity." Liu Qing, I don't care who you are loyal to, who is kind to you, I only know that you have feelings for Ah Ping when I saw you in Ginkgo Village, you are really worried about him, and I only ask you to protect him and Yuan'er within your ability. ”

She was silent for a moment, and only said, "Yuan'er will be fine." He walked out of the door and locked it again.

Liu Qing's last sentence confirmed my previous guess, Yuan'er was indeed Concubine Lu's dependence. I don't know how much effect those words just now can have in Liu Qing's heart, maybe it is true as she said, she will never betray Concubine Lu, but as long as Concubine Lu decides to kill Ah Ping, she may still have a chance.

However, it is too slim to pin all hopes on Liu Qing, and the biggest possibility that this game can be turned around is only Uncle Mu who has not been convicted and Yan Qi, who has disappeared. Both of them are only loyal to Ah Ping, and it is impossible to let all this go, but they are afraid that they are weak and will not be able to fight against the Lu faction behind Concubine Lu.

It's pointless to think too much, and his eyes fell back on the bowl of rice on the ground, and he thought about it again and again, but he still didn't touch it.

It stands to reason that at this time, Concubine Lu doesn't need to poison my food to harm me, she wants to kill me, there are other ways to convict me, but I am still afraid. I was afraid that the poison or medicine in the meal would not be enough to kill me, but it made me live for a long time, and it became a means to blackmail Ah Ping.

Lying on the ground, he curled up and continued to fall asleep.

When I woke up again, my head was very heavy, and I felt that I heard the sound of ropes coming from my ears, and when I opened my eyes, it was dark and invisible. After a moment of silence, I realized that it was not a hallucination, it was really a sound coming from the corner of the wall. Because the eyes cannot see, the human brain will be able to discern things through the ears in a whimsical way, which will lead to fear. My scalp was hairy, and I was afraid that it was something like a rat or a snake, and the more I didn't want to listen, the more sensitive my ears became.

Finally, the sound didn't come this way, as if it had been lingering in place. This soothed me a little, and I sat up from the floor, intending to improvise. But suddenly the sound was gone, and the space fell silent, and I was about to listen to it again, when a dull sound startled me.

After that, I suddenly understood what was going on, and my eyes were fixed on the source of the sound without blinking, and a dark shadow appeared in the place.

I held my breath and heard the shadow mutter, "Is that wrong?" ”

Stunned inexplicably, this sneaky voice is not the first time I heard it, nor is it the second time, it has crossed paths many times, it is the little thief Chen Ergou in my Ginkgo Village who met him in the thief's den and was rescued by him. His last impression was the last time he went back to Ginkgo Village, he found that Ah Ping's father's coffin had been looted in the underground secret room, so he gritted his teeth at him, and Ah Ping was furious.

It could be said to be a coincidence in other places, but this is the palace, how could he possibly get in? You can't dig a secret passage from outside the Imperial City all the way into the Imperial City, and then just bump into me in the dark room, right? That's really "fate".

Mindfulness turned around, and suddenly I heard a soft voice from that place, and then I saw that the black shadow disappeared in a flash. I was stunned and left? But in the next moment, Chen Ergou bent down, and seemed to be whispering under the hole.

Someone down there? Chen Ergou didn't come alone?

I guessed that the sudden change did not come quickly, and I was shocked when I heard footsteps outside the door, but if someone came in outside, the hole that had just been dug would be discovered. At that time, I didn't even have time to think about it, and I rushed towards Chen Ergou's position without thinking about it, and bumped into someone in a panic, but then I was pulled and covered my mouth. At first, I thought it was Chen Ergou and I struggled hard, but a whisper suddenly came from behind my ears: "Xiaolan, don't make a sound." ”

Doubting his ears at the moment, how could it be Zhu Gaoxu? Hearing that he would definitely not struggle anymore, he was dragged down at a very fast speed, and his feet were pushed forward when he hit the ground. There was a smell of earth around, and the pit was dug so hastily that I almost had to climb against the wall of the cave, but with Zhu Gaoxu behind me and pushing forward on my feet, it wasn't too difficult to get up.

I was thinking about where Chen Ergou went? The space was small and pitch black, and he couldn't see the front of him, and his ears could only vaguely hear the breathing of the two people, and he didn't notice the voice of the third person. There was also the sound of footsteps outside the door of the dark room just now, which should have entered the door at this time, why didn't there be any movement to chase it? Could it be that the footsteps are just passing by?

Originally, the air in the pit was very thin, and I felt depressed when I crawled, but suddenly a breeze came to my face, which immediately lifted my spirits. Sure enough, after climbing some distance, I saw that the hole had grown larger, and I could already straighten up, and I could see the fire.

After the space became larger, the action was fast, but when I accelerated and climbed forward, it suddenly went dark in front of me, which frightened me, and Zhu Gaoxu didn't know what was going on, so he only urged behind: "Climb quickly." ”

I was still hesitating, and I noticed that there was light again, but I could faintly make out a figure there. "There's someone up ahead." handed over a message to Zhu Gaoxu, but he didn't know whether that figure was friend or foe. But listening to Zhu Gaoxu, he didn't think about it and said: "It's okay, it's Yan Qi." ”

Yan Qi? He's missing behind and is here to be seen? Although there was hesitation, but since Zhu Gaoxu said so, I no longer scruples to continue to move forward, in fact, after climbing for so long, I am actually a little out of strength, and my legs and feet are sore, and they are almost not my own. When I saw that the figure was really Yan Qi, my hanging heart finally landed.

When Yan Qi was helped up from the ground, his legs were weak, and he immediately supported me and whispered, "Get out of here first." ”

Zhu Gaoxu then followed, grabbed my other arm, and the two of them crossed me forward. Shocked by what he saw in front of him, if it was a hastily dug hole that could only crawl and crawl just now, then what he was walking at this moment was a dark passage that had existed for a long time. The height is high enough for us to walk, and the width is enough to walk three people side by side, and I just wanted to ask when I suddenly heard movement behind us. Turning around in surprise, he saw a short black shadow sneaking around, and immediately shouted: "Watch the back!" ”

Yan Qi and Zhu Gaoxu turned their heads at the same time, and could feel their muscles tense and relaxed, and then listened to Yan Qi: "It's okay, it's Chen Ergou." ”

The short black shadow immediately ran up to me and greeted me with a smile: "Big girl, let's meet again." ”

confirmed that it was Chen Ergou, and I was a little more relieved. I only heard Yan Qi ask: "How is the situation above?" Chen Ergou replied: "I threw a smoke bomb, so that the group of palace maids and eunuchs panicked, I easily set the fire again, at this time it is estimated that they are busy fighting the fire, and when the fire is extinguished, the hole dug before is also buried, and we will unknowingly replace the eldest girl." ”

I wondered, what does it mean to "God unknowingly swap me out"? Setting a fire would cause chaos at best, and once the fire was extinguished, a single check would tell that I had escaped. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration flashed in his mind, and he asked, "Who did you put in it?" ”

There was a sudden silence, which meant that I had guessed correctly. Yan Qi replied to me: "It's a female death row inmate in a prison, about the same size as you, and when the fire is extinguished, they will mistakenly recognize that corpse as you." ”

I was speechless. If it seems too hypocritical to say at this time that I shouldn't let someone else die for me, who wants to die if I can live, and Yan Qi and Zhu Gaoxu tried so hard to save me. But the thought of a life disappearing in the flames at this time made my heart feel like a haze was covered.