Looking at Tai'an from the full moon

Xiao Zuochen and the other two sat down, while Yunqiao and Yunbai stood aside.

"I thought Xiao Zuoming would let me guard the imperial mausoleum and keep me away from Tai'an City, so that he would be less of a threat. But I didn't expect that he would dare to keep me by his side. It's really unlike him."

"It's possible that he has capable people around him who can help him."

"Maybe~ For your own safety, you must leave the palace first! But I am a little worried. He feels that I am a threat, but he lets you leave the palace. This is very contradictory. I am worried that he will set an ambush outside the palace."

Liuli tilted her head and thought for two seconds, then shook her head.

"If he really wanted to kill us, he could have let us stay in the palace and treated us well, and then caught us all when we were less alert. But he came to warn you first. If he wanted to kill us again, wouldn't that alert the enemy?"

"Well, what you said makes sense, then you should leave the palace today." Yunqiao, Yunbai, you should go back to Wangyan City first and explain the situation to Mr. Tongying. It has been so long, and the new army should have been trained. Now Yunfeng and Yunqian are still injured and it is inconvenient to move, so let the other brothers take turns to look after them, just in case.

As for Yanluo, Xiao Zuoming's people had little contact with them and were not familiar with them yet, so they were asked to sneak to new locations. It was relatively safer without acquaintances. When I was trapped in the palace, I had to rely on them to pass on information. "

"Yes, Master! I'll come and inform the eldest sister."

After arranging the tasks for the guards and Yanluo, Xiao Zuochen looked at Liuli and Teng Sen.

"What are your plans then?"

Of course, Xiao Zuochen didn't mean to ignore the two of them, but he felt that Liuli should have her own ideas.

Liuli took out a rolled-up piece of kraft paper from her sleeve and rubbed it flat.

"This is...?"

"This is what Teng Sen found in the Queen's Palace."

As soon as Liuli finished explaining, Xiao Zuochen couldn't help but raise his eyebrows and look at Teng Sen. Although he didn't say anything else, Liuli, as a person of the new era, guessed what Xiao Zuochen was thinking.

"Don't think too much about it. He just went to look around in the Queen's Palace and found this map."

Xiao Zuochen shrugged, indicating that he didn't say anything. Teng Sen didn't explain and sat beside him with a nonchalant look on his face. Anyway, as long as Liuli believed him, it would be fine. However, Xiao Zuochen looked at him expressionlessly, as if he was thinking about something.

"This map shows the distribution of the entire imperial palace. I didn't find any clues when I first looked at it. But later I looked carefully and found that there were two rows of dotted lines in parallel in the palaces drawn on the maps of Dadian, Nanshufang and Fengqi Palace. You see..."

Liuli stretched out her hand and pointed at three locations on the map, and there were indeed dotted lines drawn on the map.

"I looked carefully. Although this dotted line is drawn in the three palaces, if you connect them along this dotted line..."

Liuli reached into her bosom and took something out. Teng Sen beside her took out a stick of burnt charcoal and handed it to her. Liuli took it and used one end of the charcoal to draw on the kraft paper, quickly connecting the dotted lines of the three palaces.

"...Look, the dotted lines at these three locations can be connected like this. Doesn't it look like a secret passage?"

"A secret passage connecting three rooms?"

Xiao Zuochen took a careful look and based on the layout in the diagram, it was possible that this secret passage did exist.

"If that's the case, then we can do something with this secret passage."

Liuli looked at him, not knowing what he was referring to.

"For example?"

"If Xiao Zuoming really wants to deal with me, we can use this secret passage to cause trouble for him. Even if he really wants to kill me, I can use this secret passage to escape."

Liuli nodded.

"It can indeed be used as a life-saving trump card, but it seems that this pass cannot lead to the outside of the palace. How about we go through it today? This way you can get familiar with it in advance, and we can also make arrangements in advance."

Xiao Zuochen looked at the sun outside.

"Okay, it's still early for the key to fall, let's go take a look together."

"Oh, there's one more thing we need to find out."

"Where is Concubine Yun being held now?"

......

Xiao Zuochen went to explore the secret passage with Liuli and others, and at this time in Yunyuan——

The ruins on Yunyuan had been cleared in just a few days. No buildings were built on it. Instead, a pear tree was planted. A deep pit was dug next to the pear tree, and iron bars were installed on top of the pit. Looking into the pit from above, it turned out that the pit looked like a passage, because the inside of the pit was neat and tidy, and it was tilted. But from above, it looked pitch black inside.

For some unknown reason, Xiao Zuoming actually came to Yunyuan.

At this moment, he stood at the door of the secret passage leading to the dim basement, seemed to think about something for a while, and then walked down slowly.

The room, which was originally empty, now had two wooden beds placed side by side. The room, which was originally dark due to the bloodstains, now had a ray of light coming in from above. The ray of light shone on the wooden bed, allowing people to see the person sitting on one of the beds in the dark - Bai Qingning.

Bai Qingning, who was resting with her eyes closed, heard footsteps outside the door and immediately opened her eyes wide. She was originally imprisoned in the Heavenly Prison with Concubine Yun, and Xiao Zuochen had visited them at that time. Yesterday morning, a group of masked men came in and took them away blindfolded, and then she and Concubine Yun were imprisoned in this place.

As the footsteps got closer, Bai Qingning opened his eyes wide and stared at the door.

"Squeak-"

Bai Qingning was stunned for a moment when she saw Xiao Zuoming. At that moment, she had only one thought in her mind -

How could it be him?

But it only took her a moment to figure out the key.

"Emperor Akihito?"

Xiao Zuoming also looked at Bai Qingning in disbelief, and then burst into laughter.

"As expected, no one knows me better than the Queen~"

Although he was locked up, Bai Qingning felt relieved when he saw that the other party was Emperor Mingren. After all, Emperor Mingren would not kill him as long as he could be useful to him.

"After all, we have lived together for so long, I can still recognize your habitual movements and expressions. Tell me, why did you transfer us here? Xiao Zuochen doesn't know, right? And you wanted to use Xiao Zuochen's body, so how did you become Xiao Zuoming's?"

Xiao Zuoming snorted coldly, with a look of disdain on his face.

"The Queen has asked so many questions. Which one should I answer first?"

Bai Qingning frowned, then rolled her eyes at him and ignored him. Xiao Zuoming also felt bored, so he walked to the side of the other bed and gently stroked the face of Concubine Yun who was lying on the bed.

"Let me explain it to you slowly, Queen~"