I became a stepmother and got rich with my cute baby.

At the foot of Jingcheng City, outside the military camp commander's tent.

Song Wanqing and Ji Huaichuan looked up at the majestic Mirror City from a safe and secluded corner. There was no one on the towering city walls, and there were no defensive military facilities under the city. Even the sentry posts that were usually stationed were empty.

Ji Huaichuan frowned, his face showing an uncontrollable solemnity: "Military Advisor, this Mirror City is so quiet that it's a bit eerie. There's not even any gatekeepers. Do you think the emperor will abandon the city and run away?"

"But this doesn't seem likely. A group of people escaped overnight, and they were royal nobles. How could there be no news at all?"

Song Wanqing looked relaxed, without a trace of panic on her delicate and beautiful face. She jokingly said, "Is this the Empty City Strategy? Or is it to lure the enemy into the city and catch the turtle in the jar? I didn't expect that people in this era already have this idea."

Seeing her relaxed and contented look, Ji Huaichuan knew that she had a plan, and couldn't help but ask curiously, "Can the empty city plan and catching the turtle in the jar mentioned by the military advisor solve this dilemma?"

"It's just that we know nothing about the situation in the city at the moment, so there will inevitably be errors in our judgment. How about I organize a death squad to go to the city to find out the truth?"

Song Wanqing shook his head: "Don't worry, I have a way to find out the real situation in the city without spending a single soldier."

Ji Huaichuan thought she was going to go into the city to investigate in person as she had done before, so he stared at her nervously and tried to stop her: "Military Advisor, you can't do that! I was already very sorry that you put yourself in danger because of the prince last time, so you absolutely can't do that this time."

With a determined look on his face, he said, "The military advisor was careless and didn't want his subordinate to go, so let me go! After all, I am a general of the army, and my status and ability are higher than others."

Song Wanqing interrupted Ji Huaichuan's heroic words with a smile in her eyes: "General Ji, don't worry, I won't go. I have a thing called a puppet. As the name suggests, it is made of wood. It can be recalled in time in times of crisis."

"I guess you have seen him. He was the one who led me back to the barracks when I was seriously injured. This time I plan to let him investigate."

After she finished speaking, a gleam of light flashed in her beautiful eyes, and she secretly called up the system panel.

"Tuanzi, how is the puppet's current state recovering?"

Song Wanqing answered seriously, "Mother, it has almost recovered and can be used again."

A tiny puppet appeared out of thin air in Song Wanqing's sleeve. She turned her wrist and pretended to take the puppet out of her sleeve. She cut her fingertips with a sharp dagger, and drops of bright red blood flowed out from her white and tender fingertips and dripped onto the puppet's forehead.

In a flash, an ordinary man appeared in the sight of Song Wanqing and Ji Huaichuan. He smiled at them in a simple and honest way, and his movements and behaviors were natural, and it was impossible to tell that he was not a human being.

Ji Huaichuan was so amazed by the magical scene before him that he was speechless. He looked at Song Wanqing with admiration: "Military Advisor, you really have a magical skill." He walked forward and looked at the puppet carefully. The puppet always maintained the simple smile of an ordinary person.

Immediately, the puppet man used his lightness skills to easily jump over the wall of Mirror City and entered the city.

Song Wanqing blinked her eyes, and the smile on her lips became a little forced. She looked confused and said to Naituanzi, "Tuanzi, what's going on? Where is the handsome, tall, and strong puppet that I spent all my money to buy?!"

"You'd better give me a proper explanation, otherwise I think we need to calm down for a while."

Milk ball innocently looked at the 5,000-word manual on the panel and said word by word: "Mother, didn't you read the manual? This puppet has no specific form. It will change its appearance according to different needs."

"I sent it a request to investigate the true situation of Mirror City, and it transformed into this face that is difficult to detect."

Song Wanqing smiled guiltily: "I have you, but the manual is so long and I've been so busy with these things lately, how can I have time to read it."

"Of course I knew he could change his form. I was just testing you."

Milk ball replied, not quite understanding, "So that's how it is."

Suddenly, a picture appeared on the system panel in Song Wanqing's sea of ​​consciousness.

Every household on the street had its doors and windows closed. Judging from the angle of view, the puppet man should have entered the central street of Mirror City, near the imperial palace, and was using the houses to observe the surrounding situation with his light skills.

A series of analytical data appeared next to the screen.

Milk ball: "Mother, there is nothing unusual in the city, but the area around the palace is heavily guarded."

Song Wanqing frowned slightly.

There were no casualties on the streets, but there was martial law around the palace. It seemed like someone had gotten ahead of them and forced the emperor to abdicate from the inside. If that person succeeded, all their efforts would have been in vain.

"Oh no, someone has taken the lead and is forcing the emperor to abdicate."

"Enter the city!"

Seeing a rare look of anxiety on Song Wanqing's face, Ji Huaichuan quickly gathered the soldiers and rushed to the palace at full speed. In just an incense stick of time, strangely enough, the soldiers guarding the palace did not stop them, and the group entered the palace unimpeded.

In the center of the palace, in the emperor's main hall, a tall and slender man covered in blood was standing with his back to them, holding a sharp sword against the emperor's neck. The veins on his hands were exposed, and it was obvious that he had restrained himself to the extreme.

Chu Jingning was standing next to the emperor. Her pretty face was pale with fear, and her princess dress was stained. She knelt on the ground, her body trembling, her eyes staring at the man holding the sword stubbornly, and she cried out in a piteous voice, "Please, don't hurt my father!"

"You have the military token in your hand, and my father has been captured by you. The whole world is within your grasp. Please spare my father's life!"

"I know he was not a good emperor and did not govern the country well, but he really tried his best."

She knelt forward, wanting to get to the emperor.

Cheng Qian remained silent, his dark eyes staring at the emperor, like an abyss. He moved the hand holding the sword, and a blood mark appeared on the emperor's neck: "Tell me, what did you do to the general's mansion back then?"

The emperor's eyes were dull, and he was frightened by his ferocious appearance. He looked at Chu Jingning, who was full of trust and filial piety towards him, and finally told the truth.

"All the crimes committed by the General's Mansion are false. Back then, the General's Mansion had great achievements and was in great glory. I always believed in the slander and let those officials who were jealous of the General's Mansion fabricate the facts and took the opportunity to destroy the General's Mansion."

"It's all my fault, my fault."