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In Fengqi Hall, the last song ended, the dancers withdrew, and it was time for the tribute.

Gifts were presented from top to bottom, and the eunuchs would read out the gift list in a long voice as each gift was presented.

A palace maid brought a brocade box to the palace hall, and the eunuch said in a long voice: "Prince Qi presents a pair of jade ruyi!"

Prince Qi Bei Zhenqing stood up and said, "Your Majesty, I have chosen you as my ideal couple. May everything go smoothly for you, my Queen Mother!"

The Empress Dowager, who was sixty but didn't look old, was delighted, "Qing'er is so thoughtful!"

"The Yong'an Palace presents a pair of Lingxiaobi as a gift!"

"Ling Xiaobi?! They actually found Lingbi and Xiaobi together!" There was a commotion among the officials.

What is Lingxiaobi? Luo Yao looked at Bei Zhenting who was drinking beside him.

The people around him ignored him.

The eunuch continued to announce each gift in a drawn-out voice.

"Offering a gift from Imperial Censor Fu..."

"Where is the Prime Minister's gift? Why is it coming to the Censor?" Everyone whispered.

Jia Shen looked sternly at the servant behind him with a puzzled look. The servant shook his head... Jia Shen was so angry that he wanted to crush the wine glass.

"The Prime Minister's Mansion presents the twelve stars as a gift!" The eunuch's voice rang out, and all the officials were in an uproar.

"The Twelve Constellations? What are those?" an official asked puzzled.

"You don't even know this? That's the hottest cosmetics these days!"

Twelve people entered the hall carrying twelve boxes! With great fanfare and pomp, each box was opened, revealing its contents.

"Prime Minister Jia, what is this?" Bei Zhenming asked in a cold voice.

Zhu Shengyuan, standing by, broke into a sweat. Prime Minister Jia was too careless. He even dared to give the Queen Mother something like stars, twelve of them at that...

However, the Queen Mother, upon hearing the high-end and classy name of the Twelve Constellations and seeing the imposing aura, stood up immediately, extremely excited, "Prime Minister Jia, what is this? Tell me quickly!"

Prime Minister Jia, who had just been so angry that he wanted to crush the cup, stood in the hall with a smug look on his face and said, "I am a little late in preparing these twelve constellations. I beg the Queen Mother to forgive me!"

"Innocent, innocent! Tell me what the stars are!"

"This star is a cosmetic, its efficacy is a hundred times greater than those rouge and powder. If the Empress Dowager uses this star, her youthful beauty will surely remain forever!"

Luo Yao, who was standing nearby, was surprised when he heard about Xingchen Cosmetics. He was speechless when he heard Jia Xiang say that it could keep one's youth forever. How could it be so magical? It could only delay aging at best...

The Queen Mother was delighted when she heard what Prime Minister Jia said. "I like this gift! Give it to me!"

The Queen Mother said she liked it, so those ministers who wanted to find fault and say that besides the Queen Mother, many noble ladies were using Xingchen cosmetics had to shut up.

Then, the tribute arrived from the vassal state. The people of the Puro tribe of Heze State carried a huge red coral tree into the hall. The excitement in the hall reached its peak, and the ministers talked about it! Even Emperor Bei Zhenming stood up!

Such a huge red coral. You should know that a coral as small as a bean can be used as gold. This is a giant coral tree that is several centimeters taller than a human!

Good, good, good! Good son! Dad didn’t give you so much for nothing! Bei Zhenming was delighted.

Just as everyone was rejoicing, one of the two Proulo people who were holding Hong Shanhu suddenly let go, and the other one couldn't hold on at all. Seeing that Shanhu was about to fall, all the officials quickly reached out to support her, and one general and another flew over to steady her.

By the time everyone came to their senses, the Prou man who had let go had already rushed to the front of the hall. He was extremely skilled and fast. He flew forward, pulled out the dagger hidden in his boots, and aimed it at Bei Zhenming's face!

"Assassin! There is an assassin! Protect the king!" Zhu Shengyuan shouted!

Everyone had no time to react. Zhu Shengyuan quickly stood in front of the emperor. Seeing that the assassination failed, the assassin turned to attack Zhu Shengyuan. Zhu Shengyuan served the emperor and his martial arts skills were beyond doubt. He immediately fought with the assassin.

They fought in front of the palace. Both men were highly skilled in martial arts, and after a few moves, it was difficult to determine the winner. The guards who had previously protected the emperor stood aside, difficult to approach. Everyone watched nervously as Zhu Shengyuan and the assassin fought. In the chaos, no one noticed a flying needle heading straight for Bei Zhenming!

Bei Zhenqing was the first to react, but it was too late. His face was horrible, and he gritted his teeth before leaping forward. The flying needle was incredibly fast, piercing his right arm. Bei Zhenqing hissed in pain and fell to the ground with a loud bang.

Luo Yao was blocked by Bei Zhenting and saw nothing...

"Don't block me!" Luo Yao stretched his head to see what happened. Bei Zhenting winked at Li Qingyun and Zhang Jiji who were standing behind him. Zhang Jiji had covered Luo Xinchen's eyes since the incident, and the two quickly understood.

Li Qingyun stepped forward: "Princess, let's go..."

"Wait..." Luo Yao hadn't seen what happened yet, he wanted to see... but when he looked up, he saw Bei Zhenting's face was terribly dark, so he had to leave with Li Qingyun in disappointment.

In Qifeng Palace, Zhu Shengyuan finally subdued the assassin. The guards quickly took control of the scene, and the imperial physician also rushed over.

Bei Zhenming glanced at Bei Zhenqing, who was leaning weakly against the pillar in front of the hall with his right arm folded. A hint of doubt flashed in his eyes, which was then replaced by indifference.

Bei Zhenqing was still somewhat conscious. When the imperial physician came forward to take his pulse, Bei Zhenqing suddenly got angry for no apparent reason and pushed the imperial physician to the ground. Without even saying goodbye to Emperor Bei Zhenming, he limped out of the hall holding his right arm.

When everyone in Prince Qi's mansion saw their master leaving, they bowed to the emperor and hurried to follow.

All the officials were so frightened that they stood there in a daze. Prime Minister Jia was so frightened that he seemed to have lost his soul. He stood there trembling.

All the people under control of He Zeguo were frightened and were dragged out of the hall by the imperial guards, struggling and shouting that they were wronged.

The Queen was taken away under protection. The Queen Mother was terrified and refused to leave. Her lips trembled and she kept repeating Bei Zhenqing's nickname: "Qing'er... Qing'er..."

Bei Zhenming remained calm as he watched the banquet devolve into chaos. He quickly replayed every possible scenario in his mind, then calmly ordered Bei Zhenting to assist the Dali Temple in investigating the matter.

The carriage from the Yong'an Palace stopped at the palace gate. Luo Yao paced back and forth, occasionally glancing inside or entering or leaving the palace. The guards at the palace gate had tried to stop him several times, but they were already tired. He was the only one desperately trying to enter and leave the palace, so they let him do what he wanted...

Looking into the palace for the Nth time, Luo Yao finally saw an acquaintance, Bei Zhenqing.

Seeing Bei Zhenqing being supported and walked out from afar, he hurried in and asked, "Prince Qi, are you injured?"

Bei Zhenqing saw him force a smile and said, "You still remember our agreement..."

Ah, what agreement? Luo Yao didn't understand.

Bei Zhenqing drove the person who was supporting him away and said, "I want to say a few words to Princess Yong'an."

The servants tactfully left.

"I met you in the palace today because I have something to ask you." Bei Zhenqing's voice was very weak.

Luo Yao was a little worried about him and asked quickly: "What do you want to ask?"

"I happened to hear about the idea of digging a river and diverting a canal last time. I thought it made perfect sense. I never had the chance to ask you how you would solve the problem of digging through a mountain..."

"Fire..." The word "medicine" was stuck in his throat. Luo Yao remembered Bei Zhenting's words and quickly changed his words, saying anxiously, "That...that...Bei Zhenting didn't let me tell anyone. He said that telling others would be life-threatening..."

Luo Yao told the truth that Bei Zhenqing was a friend to him. Since Luo Yao couldn't tell anyone, he didn't hide it or lie, and directly used Bei Zhenting as a shield.

The light in Bei Zhenqing's eyes dimmed, "Is that so..." Bei Zhenqing paused: "He actually cares about you..."

"Don't worry about that bastard! You seem to be seriously injured!" Luo Yao was very anxious.

Bei Zhenqing looked at Luo Yao's anxious expression and smiled gently with some difficulty, "I'm fine. If that thing is really dangerous, then you should listen to him and don't tell anyone..."

"Of course, I still want to live a good life!" Luo Yao said carelessly.

Bei Zhenqing nodded, called the servants, and said goodbye to Luo Yao.

After watching Bei Zhenqing leave, Luo Yao stood there and paced back and forth.

Finally, Bei Zhenting came out.

"Hey! Why are you so slow? Do you know how many mosquitoes there are?" Luo Yao complained loudly from a distance.

Didn’t I ask Li Qingyun to take you and your brother away first... Bei Zhenting wanted to say something, but suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his stomach, which made him arch his back. He coughed violently and covered his mouth.

Luo Yao ran up and asked, "What's wrong with you?"

Bei Zhenting waved his hand, indicating that he was fine and not to worry about it. He coughed twice again, and blood flowed out from between his fingers.

Luo Yao was stunned, watching the tall man fall towards him. His limbs were stiff and he couldn't catch him. The two fell to the ground, and the back of his head hit the ground. He didn't feel any pain. Before he could think about what was going on, Luo Yao screamed in fear: "Li Qingyun! Li Qingyun! The prince is vomiting blood! Come quickly! Come quickly!"

Zhang Jiji was originally looking after Luo Xinchen in the carriage, while Li Qingyun was driving the carriage ready to leave at any time. Their orders were to send Luo Yao and Luo Xinchen back to the palace, because the princess insisted on waiting to watch the show, so they waited here.

Hearing Luo Yao's shouting, the two hurriedly got off the carriage and saw the prince and princess "sleeping" on the ground, with the prince lying on top of the princess. Before they had time to think about anything else, they both heard the prince vomiting blood!

The two men rushed forward and helped Bei Zhenting up. Luo Yao was nearly crushed to death. He climbed up and gasped, "I suspect the prince has been poisoned. You... one of you quickly go back and bring me the wine glasses and other things on the table between me and the prince. Also, report this to the emperor. Leave one of you to call the imperial physician!"

"I'll go over there, Zhang Ji, you go call the imperial physician!"

"Call the imperial physician? It's farther from here to the Imperial Hospital than to Qingxin Hall! Let's send him directly to Qingxin Hall to find Divine Doctor Ye!" Zhang Jiji rejected the idea of calling the imperial physician as quickly as a train cannon.

The medical skills of those imperial doctors are not as good as those of the prince’s good friend!

"Hurry up, hurry up!" Luo Yao urged frantically. He was like a bystander who was gloating over the tense atmosphere. He didn't have much real emotion in his heart, but he was inexplicably excited...

Li Qingyun flew away. Zhang Jiji tried to move Bei Zhenting, but couldn't move him at all... Seeing Luo Yao jumping up and down and giving orders, he couldn't help but say, "Princess, please help..."

Luo Yao looked at his hands, then at Bei Zhenting lying on the ground, and then at Zhang Jiji's pleading face, very reluctant. He tried touching Bei Zhenting a few times, but seeing no disgust, Luo Yao made up his mind to help Zhang Jiji.

Zhang Jiji raised his head, Luo Yao raised his foot, and the two of them lifted Bei Zhenting onto the carriage like they were lifting a New Year pig.

The carriage sped all the way and stopped at the gate of Qingxin Hall.

Zhang Jiji called out to Luo Yao to get out of the car, but no one answered after calling for a long time. He opened the curtain and saw that Luo Yao had fallen asleep on the prince's shoulder.

How can I still fall asleep at this time!

Zhang Jiji anxiously climbed onto the carriage, lifted the curtain and entered the carriage, shaking it frantically in an attempt to wake Luo Yao up, but after shaking for a long time, Luo Yao did not respond at all.

The servants of Qingxintang carried Luo Xinchen out of the carriage. Ye Qing got on the carriage and held Luo Yao's wrist, and found that Luo Yao was not asleep at all, but fainted from poisoning!

After taking Bei Zhenting's pulse again, they found that both of them were poisoned, and Bei Zhenting was poisoned more seriously, with injuries to his lungs, and his life was in danger!