Mind Reading: The tyrant panicked after hearing the little princess's inner voice

There are many people busy at a banquet.

The secret guards would always pay attention to the safety of their master at ordinary times, but it is even more important during large banquets like this.

When there are too many people, good and bad people gather together, which is a good opportunity for villains to commit assassinations.

You need to be more careful than usual at this time.

The leader of the secret guards, Yan Bo, arranged the personnel for the Hundred Days Banquet and gave them a special training.

Yan Zhong, who had been sent away, was also brought back. He was responsible for protecting the princess and could not take it lightly.

He gave these men a good beating before letting them go.

He himself returned to his residence injured and exhausted.

Special training is not just talk. If you return without any injuries, it proves that you have not been trained enough.

It’s not surprising if a few people died. Two people died last time.

They were lucky both times and only suffered injuries but no casualties.

You don't always have this kind of luck, secret guards are consumables.

Elimination is happening all the time.

Even though each of them has been trained for a long time and selected from thousands of people.

They can't withstand those inhumane means.

But you have to bear it even if you can't bear it.

Yan Bo returned to his residence and heard a baby crying as soon as he walked in.

It was Yan Chu.

The emperor simply threw the concubine's illegitimate child to him, saying that he would be a secret guard in the future.

However, it was impossible to train a baby who was only a few months old, so Yan Bo was forced to learn how to take care of a child.

Yan Bo felt a headache because he came back late today because of special training.

It is normal for a child to be hungry, but his crying is not loud.

Children seem to be able to sensitively sense that the environment they are in is not safe.

Yan Bo went to the back, took out a bowl, and started milking the tied sheep.

It is impossible for a wet nurse to enter the secret guards' residence, and other secret guards, even if they are female, do not have the ability to breastfeed a baby.

The emperor simply threw the baby to him, and Yan Bo had no choice but to buy a ewe that had just given birth and use the goat's milk to feed the child.

The milky white goat milk quickly filled half a bowl.

He handed the milk over, and when the baby saw him, he seemed to know that he could drink milk and smiled happily.

The tears that hadn't shed were still hanging on the eyelashes, which was both funny and pitiful.

Secret guards are not allowed to have their own feelings, so he was only soft-hearted for a moment.

Just a moment.

Yan Bo went to another cabinet and took out a bottle.

He dripped two drops of medicine into the milk.

The baby can only tolerate two drops at most.

He put the bottle away.

This is medicine for the secret guards. It can stimulate people's potential and make them more successful in practicing martial arts.

But it will not be used by the powerful and wealthy, because it comes at the cost of one's lifespan and is extremely depleting of one's vitality.

He gave the baby the medicated milk with an expressionless face.

I hope he can survive the layers of screening by the secret guards and come to him alive.

Thinking of those bloody and cruel killings, he stood alone on the hill of corpses.

He was the only one who survived.

That was the first test.

For Yan Bo now, it is just a matter of swinging the sword a few times.

But it is a nightmare that he will never be able to erase.

The people who screened them let him out and congratulated him.

Congratulations, he survived and can enter the next round.

Yan Bo lowered his eyes and fed the baby who was drinking milk spoonful by spoonful.

He could not feel any compassion for the child; the chances of him surviving were too slim.

It is better to harden your heart now than to be unbearable in grief later.

At most, giving him something would give him a better chance of survival.

……

Outside the palace, Tong Huai'en was still busy with a bunch of tasks assigned to him by the emperor.

Xiangqiao sat next to her with nothing to do, so she picked up the ink block and started grinding it.

Circle after circle, the clear water on the inkstone gradually turns darker in color.

She hesitated and whispered, "Tong Lang, I won't go to this kind of party."

"You also know my origins..."

Tong Huai'en put down the book angrily and asked, "Who is gossiping in your ear again?"

Xiang Qiao pulled his sleeve and said, "No, no one in the mansion said it, but just because no one said it doesn't mean it's not true."

"Although you can bring your family to the palace banquet, you don't have to. You can go alone."

"It would be bad for you if I went."

Tong Huai'en found out, and she was worried that her background would affect his career.

"Qiao'er, a hero doesn't ask where he comes from. You are my wife."

"In the previous dynasty, there were also women from the Jiaofangsi who entered the palace as concubines. Your Majesty is not one of those old and pedantic people who only show off their knowledge."

"When he hires people, he doesn't care about your wife's background. He only cares about whether you can do practical things for him."

"So you don't have to worry about yourself being bad for me."

Xiangqiao was silent for a moment, and when she raised her eyes her eyes were already filled with tears.

"I'm not doing this entirely for you. You're busy with court affairs and don't participate in banquets between women."

"You don't know how bad their gossip is, you don't know how painful their contemptuous looks are, and you don't know how terrible their exclusion is."

"I tried. I tried to fit in with the life of an official's wife."

“I have tried very, very hard to accept it.”

"But I can't."

"Tong Lang, I can't do it."

"I don't want to accept their contempt anymore."

Xiangqiao finally spoke out when she saw how stunned he was.

She had kept these words in her heart for a long time.

She used to tell him everything, but gradually, things changed.

Now he is the third place in the imperial examination and a trusted minister of His Majesty.

He is young and holds a high position of power. If it weren't for her holding the position, there would be countless princes and nobles who would want him to be their son-in-law.

Even if she was around, even if he had been married before, as long as he was willing to divorce her and marry again, what kind of noble lady could he not marry?

Xiangqiao felt that the distance between her and him was getting bigger and bigger, as he walked along the road surrounded by flowers.

And she seemed to be still trapped in that brothel, just chasing his back.

In the past, he was a good-for-nothing scholar, and she was an otaku lady of lowly status but beautiful and wealthy.

They are leaning on each other.

But now she was completely dependent on him, like a dodder on a tree.

Not the same.

And how long can their relationship last despite such a huge difference in status?

No matter how many vows are made, can they surpass people's ever-growing ambitions?

When he finds out that she is just a burden, and when he finds out that marrying a lady from a wealthy family can help him, what will he choose?

And now, he is disappointed in her.

If she can't even face this little predicament, how can she be worthy of being the wife of an emperor's close minister?

Tong Huai'en held Xiangqiao's shoulders.

Blame him, he should have thought of it earlier. He thought that since he had gained face in front of His Majesty, no one would dare to disrespect his wife.

But there are always stupid people and those who are not afraid of death.

She must be very sad and must have endured it for a long time.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"What's the point of telling you? Do you want to come to my house and ask for an explanation just because someone said something insinuating about me?"

Tong Huai'en: "Why not?"

?

"But, but won't you make enemies everywhere?"

"Why should we become enemies with others just for a few words?"

"I...I'll go to the palace banquet with you. Don't be impulsive."

Xiang Qiao couldn't help but scold herself. Why did she let those women instigate her to become suspicious and not trust the person beside her?

His sincerity is of course beyond doubt.

Seeing her agreeing in such a hurry, Tong Huai'en laughed out loud, with the same youthful spirit as before.

If you ignore the thick dark circles under the eyes.

"For ordinary people, building good relationships with colleagues and superiors is indeed the most effective way to get along in official circles."

"It's hard to get promoted because no one above you remembers you."

He smiled confidently, "But don't forget, your husband has been noted down by the one at the top."

"It doesn't matter whether others like it or hate it."

"Besides..."

His smile faded. "Emperors have always been most wary of forming cliques for personal gain. If the power of court officials is too great, it will weaken the emperor's power."

"Many emperors in history books were controlled by powerful ministers. Although the current emperor appoints people based on their talents, compared to a person who has friends everywhere, a lonely minister is the sharpest knife for the emperor."