The Evil Emperor's Favorite: The Sickly and Poisonous Concubine Goes Crazy

"This subordinate has met the princess."

Su Jingning saw that it was Ke Qu and nodded to her: "General Ke is here, no need to be polite."

Ke Qu walked to her side and tried again: "I didn't expect that Your Majesty is also proficient in the art of Yanjia?"

Su Jingning's eyes darkened for a moment, and he smiled faintly, without stopping the movement of his hands, and shook his head: "It can't be said to be proficient, I only know the basics."

Ke Qu looked at Su Jingning, with a hint of inquiry in her eyes. She knew very well that the art of Yanjia was profound and complex, and it was not something that could be mastered overnight. Moreover, the proficiency and confidence displayed by the man in front of her could not be described as "superficial".

She sent people to inquire about the details of the Su family's legitimate daughter. She was born into a noble family, but unfortunately she was a sickly child since she was young. Her family took good care of her and she was recuperating at her maternal grandfather's home in Jiangnan. She rarely appeared in public. During her time in the palace, soup and medicine were delivered to her courtyard every day without interruption. These were exactly the same as the rumors from the outside world.

But Kequ always felt that there was an indescribable sense of danger about the princess, which made her want to be on guard and suspicious. Moreover, she recently discovered that someone in the palace was sending letters out. Although she had no conclusive evidence, she always felt that this matter was related to Su Jingning.

Does the prince know about this?

She suppressed her suspicion and hostility and tried to look calm. She knew that she didn't have that status and couldn't easily show her dissatisfaction and suspicion towards Su Jingning.

"Your Majesty is so modest." Ke Qu said with a smile.

"To be able to master the essence of the Mountain River Crossbow in such a short time is not something that ordinary people can do."

Su Jingning smiled faintly and said nothing. She lowered her eyes and discussed in a low voice with the mecha master beside her. She seemed to be unaware of Ke Qu's temptation and hostility towards her.

It's not that she was unaware of Ke Qu's suspicion and hostility towards her. Ever since the first time she met Ke Qu, she could feel Ke Qu's hostility and targeting towards her. She thought she had concealed it well, but every time she looked at A Yan, her eyes were filled with obvious admiration. Did she really think she couldn't see it?

The reason why Su Jingning didn't care about her was, firstly, because she trusted A Yan, and Ke Qu was not a threat to her. Secondly, it was because of Ke Qu's father, who was the deputy general of the old prince. A Yan told her that in the battle with Bei Yan, the Beiyang army was besieged because they were outnumbered. General Ke could have survived, but for the sake of the old prince, he used himself as bait to lure away the Yan army, and finally died tragically under the Yan army's iron cavalry. After his death, he was hung under the city by the Yan army's commander to humiliate him.

Kequ's father had done a favor to the Beiyang Palace, and Kequ was the only descendant of the Ke family. She respected the old general, so as long as Kequ did not touch her bottom line, she could pretend not to know about these insignificant temptations and hostility from Kequ.

But she didn't expect Ke Qu to touch her bottom line so quickly.

The next morning, after Su Jingning and Gu Yan'an finished their breakfast, they prepared to go to the barracks together to check on the progress of the Shanhe Crossbow.

Then Mo You came in with Ke Qu and Yun Qing.

When they approached, she found that Yun Qing was holding his right wrist, with blood dripping from his fingertips. Ke Qu's face was pale and he looked badly injured.

"Yun Qing? What happened to your injury?"

There was undisguised hostility in her eyes as she looked at Su Jingning.

Su Jingning stood up, walked to Yun Qing's side, and lowered his eyes to check the wound on her hand. The white wrist was cut by a sharp blade, which looked a bit hideous. Su Jingning frowned reluctantly.

Yun Qing looked at Su Jingning with a somewhat aggrieved expression:

"My Queen..."

Su Jingning shook his head at her in a gentle voice:

"It's okay, let Yun Ya bandage your wound first."

She called out:

"Yun Ya, bring me some medicine."

Yun Ya had already learned that Yun Qing and Ke Qu had fought, and was brought to the princess and the prince by Commander Mo You. She quickly took the medicine box and went into the house.

Su Jingning glanced at Ke Qu behind Mo You. His eyes, which usually had a warm smile, seemed to be covered with a layer of frost, bringing a strong sense of oppression. Ke Qu was shocked and felt a little uneasy. He took a half step back.

Gu Yan'an frowned slightly, and his deep eyes passed over the two of them and looked at Mo You, which was chilling.

"what happened?"

Mo You replied, "My Lord, Princess, when I passed by the pear garden in the backyard, I noticed some movement there, so I went to investigate. I found that Miss Yunqing and Ah Qu, who were beside the princess, were fighting. When I tried to stop them, both of them were injured. After questioning, I learned that Ah Qu said... someone had been passing secret letters out of the mansion recently. She tracked them down for a few days and caught the person today. It was... Miss Yunqing."

Before Mo You finished speaking, Ke Qu knelt down and took out a piece of letter from his arms, and said, "Everything in the palace concerns the safety of the northern border. Now someone is so blatantly passing on information with ill intentions. Please investigate it strictly!"

Mo You handed the letter to Gu Yan'an, and when he lowered his eyes, he saw the wax seal on the letter, which was printed with a dark orchid. If he remembered correctly, it should be the mark of Mo Linyuan's Tianji Tower.

Ke Qu was so confused that he dared to secretly monitor the princess and even fought with her people.

Ke Qu looked at Gu Yan'an, hoping to see anger and suspicion towards Su Jingning on that delicate and enchanting face, but she was disappointed. He didn't even read the letter that she had snatched from Yun Qing.

The look he gave me was just a little colder, with displeasure and coldness in his eyes, and his voice was icy:

"You are spying on the princess? Who gave you the power?"

"Prince...Prince? I..." Ke Qu suppressed the fear in his heart and looked at Gu Yan'an in disbelief.

Su Jingning sat back next to Gu Yan'an, took the letter he had placed on the table, and opened it in front of Ke Qu.

Ke Qu looked at the expressions of the two and felt a chill in his heart. The prince knew that the princess was secretly passing secret messages to others!

Su Jingning lowered his eyes to look at the letter, surprise flashed in his eyes, then he frowned and handed the letter to Gu Yan'an.

She looked at Ke Qu's hostility towards her and chuckled softly, with coldness in her eyes:

"General Ke has been monitoring me for so many days. Didn't he realize that even Mo You and Liu Feng have no right to interfere with the information coming in and out of my courtyard? Besides, you can detect something, do you think the prince doesn't know?"

Ke Qu's face was pale and panic flashed in his eyes.

"If that's the case, why is the princess hiding it?"

Seeing that she still hadn't stopped her hostility towards him, Su Jingning showed a little more impatience on his face and said in a cold voice:

"Kequ, who are you to question me? A general in the Beiyang King's army? The daughter of the old prince's deputy general? Or a subordinate of the old prince? When is it your turn to ask what I want to do?"

Her questioning seemed to have defeated Ke Qu's persistence. Her eyes were red and she looked at Gu Yan'an with a helpless expression.

"Your Majesty, everything I did was for the sake of the palace and the Northern Frontier. I had no intention of offending the princess."

Gu Yan'an put down the letter in his hand, with a distant and indifferent look in his eyes, and ignored her explanation:

"Mo You, Ke Qu has violated the rules and interfered in the affairs of the palace, which is disrespectful to the princess. Take back the palace gate order from her, punish her with twenty strokes of the cane, and transfer her to Mo Lan City. She is not allowed to return to the city without the king's order."

"Yes."

Gu Yan'an's words cut off Ke Qu's last fantasy. He immediately collapsed to the ground, murmuring softly between his lips for a long time before he slowly squeezed out a few words.

"Your Majesty, please calm down. I will accept the punishment."

Molan City is the farthest station of the Beiyang Army and the farthest border city from Han City. Not only is it full of wind and sand and has a harsh environment, it is also often invaded by Beiyan. The prince wants to transfer her there, so he must not want to see her again.

Mo You agreed and was about to take him away to be punished, but was stopped by Su Jingning.

"Wait, she has internal injuries, so there is no need to blame her."

Mo You was stunned for a moment, looked at Gu Yan'an, and saw him nodded.

"Yes, princess."

Ke Qu didn't expect that she would plead for him. There was a flash of confusion in his eyes, but he didn't say anything else and followed Mo You away.

As soon as he went out, he could no longer hold on. His body swayed slightly and he almost fell down. Mo You held him up.

"Thank you."

Mo You had worked with her for many years, and seeing her face so pale, as if she had lost her soul, he couldn't bear it, so he said:

"You and I have worked together for many years. I know how you feel about the prince. I thought you had given up on this thought long ago, but I didn't expect you to be so stubborn. It was impossible for the prince to be with you, not to mention that he already has a princess. Do you know who the peace sutra that is constantly burned on the shrine in the prince's courtyard that no one is allowed to approach is for? And who is the blessing sutra that the prince personally copies and sends to Master Huihai every month for?"

There was a flash of shock in Ke Qu's eyes. After the prince came back from Jiangnan that year, he started to believe in Buddhism for some reason. He kept the Buddhist beads in his hand every day, and would copy scriptures and burn incense when he had free time. However, he only ever recited the Peace Sutra. As for whose peace he was praying for, no one in the palace knew.

"You mean... the princess?"

Mo You did not answer, which was considered as a tacit agreement. He continued:

"Do you think the princess really doesn't know about your surveillance and testing of her these days? Also, you fought with the people around her today, so you should know their strength. The princess is far more complicated than you think. It's not something you and I can be so presumptuous in front of her. The reason why she tolerated you many times is because she knows your identity and she thinks of General Ke's kindness to the palace."

The light in Ke Qu's eyes gradually dimmed and finally turned into a pool of stagnant water.

Mo You looked at her and sighed. He had said everything he needed to say. If she continued to be stubborn, there was nothing that could be done.

Inside the house, Su Jingning told Yun Qing to go downstairs and have a rest. The smile disappeared from her gentle and bright face. She looked at the letter with a gloomy expression.

The problem of Kequ was solved, but what was mentioned in the letter was a bit troublesome.

She looked at Gu Yan'an, her expression slightly serious:

"Ayan, the day before yesterday, Nanyue suddenly sent troops to Dazhou and captured two cities in just two days. The siege was so swift that my people suspected that someone had leaked the defense map of the southern border. What do you think about this?"

Gu Yan'an's eyes flashed with confusion and he shook his head:

"I personally retrieved the southern border defense map that the Queen Mother sent when she was plotting rebellion, and it has not been leaked. But without the defense map, it would have been impossible for Nanyue's troops to capture the two cities of Dazhou so quickly."

"But if something goes wrong with Da Zhou's own people, we won't know what will happen."

"There's a traitor in the southern border?" Su Jingning's eyebrows twitched, and he quickly thought about the main generals in the southern border, wondering who would be the one to betray the country.

But among the generals in the southern border that she was most familiar with in her previous life, none of them would commit treason and surrender to the enemy.

She felt vaguely uneasy. In her previous life, apart from banditry, there had been no other wars in South Vietnam. Why would South Vietnam suddenly send troops to attack the Great Zhou with such a swift attack?

"The military strength of Nanyue and Da Zhou is very different. They dared to send troops to Da Zhou, which means they have some confidence. But it is still unclear what it is. The news should have reached the Imperial Capital, so there is no need to worry."

Gu Yan'an saw the uneasiness hidden in her eyes, an expression he rarely saw on her. He squeezed her hand and comforted her softly.

Su Jingning came back to his senses and nodded, but the inexplicable uneasiness in his heart was difficult to suppress.

Not long after the last life, the war should have started in the Western Territory. Xiliang trained a group of wolf divisions. Facing the sudden and fierce wolf divisions, the Su family army fought desperately to protect the Western Territory of the Great Zhou Dynasty. As a result, the third uncle died in that battle. But now, the Xiliang Princess who led the Xiliang Wolf Division is still in the Imperial Capital, and the military power of the Western Territory has been handed over to the Crown Prince. The Su family army has also withdrawn from the Western Territory. The Su family is guarding the northern border, and the Su family should not be in trouble again.

But now that South Vietnam has suddenly risen up in rebellion, this has deviated from the trajectory of her previous life. It is hard for her not to wonder whether she has done something inadvertently and changed the original trajectory of things.

On the third day, news came from the southern border, along with the order to transfer the Su family army.

Two more cities were lost in the southern border. Not only that, Nanyue had somehow trained an elephant division, and their siege was unstoppable. The southern border army commander was killed in the battle, and tens of thousands of civilians were killed or injured.

His Majesty has issued a sacred order, ordering the Eastern Border Army and the Su Family Army to rush south to provide support.

Su Jingning looked at the letter with a pale face. She thought that as long as the Su family avoided the Western Territory, the course of things could be changed, but now it appeared in front of her in another way.

"Second sister! Second sister, I received a message..." Su Luoshu also received the news of the Su family army's transfer order, and hurried to say goodbye to Su Jingning. As soon as he entered the door, he saw Su Jingning looking at the letter in his hand with a bad look on his face.

"Second sister, are you okay? Why do you look so bad?"

Su Jingning came back to his senses, put away the letter, and smiled at Su Luoshu: "It's okay, did you receive the news too?"

"Well, second sister, His Majesty has ordered the Su family army to urgently move 100 miles south to support the southern border. Sixth brother ordered me to return to the army immediately. After saying goodbye to you, I will leave."

Su Jingning stood up and took out a small sandalwood box from the inner room. It was filled with a small box of golden carved hollow balls:

"This is a thunder bomb. It has saltpeter in it. It will explode when it encounters strong pressure. It is very powerful. If you encounter danger and there is no time to avoid it, throw it out. I only have so many of them now. Take them all and use them for self-defense."

These thunder bombs were given to her by Fifth Senior Brother for self-defense. She used some of them when she rescued A Yan in the East Territory that day, and now only these are left.

Su Luoshu picked up one of the small balls, her eyes shining. It was the first time she had seen such an exquisite thing. She wondered which master made it. If she had time, she would definitely ask her second sister where she found such a good thing.

She put the small wooden box away like a treasure, and then went forward to hug Su Jingning.

"Thank you, second sister."

Su Jingning patted her lightly:

"Ah Shu, be careful when you go to the southern border."