The Return of the King: A Generation of Prodigies

Shen Tianjiao waited for Qiu Tong until late at night before finally seeing Qiu Tong come back.

"Master." Qiu Tong's eyes lit up when she came in. Looking at her expression, Shen Tianjiao knew that the question she wanted to know had been answered.

"Did you find out?" Shen Tianjiao handed Qiu Tong the summer-cooling tea that had been drying on the side. "Drink this summer-cooling tea, calm yourself down, and tell me slowly."

Qiu Tong smiled, raised her glass and drank it all in one gulp, then wiped the remaining tea from her mouth with her sleeve. Her behavior was too heroic and not at all like a girl's. However, Shen Tianjiao liked it very much.

Unlike her, who had to put on airs and wear a mask in front of others because of the restrictions of her status as queen, she could only show her most dignified and beautiful side to everyone, as if only in this way could she live up to her status as the queen of the central palace.

The longer she stayed in the palace, the more she felt like a puppet, losing the vitality and agility of a human being and being controlled by others without her control.

"Master, Hongying told us everything." Qiu Tong was so excited that she almost jumped up. Ever since Hongying was taken under control, Qiu Tong had really put in a lot of effort to pry out everything she knew from her mouth.

But although Hongying looks weak on the surface, she is actually very tough. We have tried all kinds of torture and all kinds of methods, but she just refuses to tell us everything she knows.

She was even more secretive about her master, and all she said were irrelevant and worthless things.

Qiu Tong was originally worried that if she wanted to travel with the caravan, she would have to stay away from the capital for a while. She was afraid that Hongying would cause trouble again, and all her previous efforts would be in vain.

Now that's good, she has nothing to worry about and can do her things with peace of mind.

"Have you told me everything?" Shen Tianjiao asked Qiu Tong in disbelief. She had witnessed with her own eyes how stubborn Hongying was before. How come she changed so suddenly?

"Why did she suddenly come to her senses? Didn't she refuse to tell anyone and would rather die to protect her master? " Hongying's change was so fast that Shen Tianjiao found it a little difficult to adapt.

"It's a mind-attack tactic, it's the mind-attack tactic used by Bai Yunchi." Qiu Tong smiled and shook her head, she couldn't help but complain in her heart, this little dandy is usually quite unreliable, but she didn't expect that he has so many ideas, and he can hit the target at the critical moment.

"Oh, it's Baiyunchi." Shen Tianjiao understood it all at once. The boy was not as simple as he looked.

"What kind of psychological trick did that guy use to break the defense of a woman with a heart as hard as stone? He couldn't be using the beauty trap, right?" Shen Tianjiao was so naughty that she even made fun of Bai Yunchi.

"Master." Qiu Tong put away the smile on her face and looked at Shen Tianjiao with helplessness and seriousness.

"Alright, alright, I was just joking." Shen Tianjiao put away her frivolous behavior, "Alright, now let's get down to business. What method did Bai Yunchi use to make her speak?"

"It's actually very simple. Bai Yunchi told her that her loyal master must have given up on her. Otherwise, how could no one come to rescue her after such a long time?"

"He also told her that he had seen many people like her. They were just adopted by others, given small favors, and then turned into tools in the hands of others. They were kept for use when they were useful and discarded when they were no longer useful."

"If she still refuses to repent, she's truly a fool. The person she's trying to protect with all her heart is actually just a heartless and ungrateful person who can use her for his own benefit and even abandon her at any time."

"He also said that General Bai had rescued some people in the past. Those people were adopted or abducted children. They were gathered together in one place and forced to learn how to kill. After they became top killers, they were used as tools for those people to profit."

"He asked Hongying to think carefully about whether it was worth it to suffer so much torture for such a person, or even sacrifice her life."

"Also tell Hongying that maybe she is not a homeless orphan, she was just abducted, and her parents, brothers and sisters are still waiting for her to return home."

"He also said that life actually has many choices. It doesn't matter if you made a mistake in the past. You just need to look back and make a new decision and do the right thing."

Qiu Tong looked up at Shen Tianjiao and said, "Then, Bai Yunchi and I went out together. He said he wanted to give Hongying some time to think."

"We've been waiting outside for over an hour. I thought it was hopeless and was about to feed her some more bone-eroding pills to force her to tell the truth."

"But Bai Yunchi stopped me. He said that it's difficult to change a person's mindset, and that it takes time and patience. Furthermore, handling things this way would be far more effective than forcing her, torturing her, or drugging her."

"I had no choice but to listen to him after his nagging. But I didn't expect that what he said would actually come true. Hongying was actually willing to cooperate."

Shen Tianjiao nodded and smiled. In fact, the reason here was not difficult to understand. Hongying looked like a stubborn person with a heart as hard as a rock, but she was also a weak woman after all.

She has been in the palace for so many years, and although she has many helpers around her, their relationships are limited to superiors and subordinates, or mutually beneficial relationships. No one is sincere to her, and of course she has no one to be sincere to.

In this environment, her master became extremely precious to her, so she wanted to protect the light in her heart.

But she has been locked up these days, suffering torture and grievances. When she is alone and helpless, she will appear a hundred times more fragile than usual, and the slightest external pressure can destroy her perseverance and faith.

Just at this time, Bai Yunchi took advantage of this opportunity and used a psychological strategy against her, specifically targeting the things she cared about most.

Hongying will gradually collapse in the face of the heartbreaking reality, and finally have to face up to the fact that she has been abandoned, and then have no choice but to choose to cooperate, so that she can at least leave herself a glimmer of hope.

I have to say that Bai Yunchi, this little dandy, understands the weaknesses of human nature.

"Well, you have taught your apprentice well. He has made great contributions today. As his master, please reward him well on my behalf."

Qiu Tong is usually too strict in disciplining Bai Yunchi. Although this is for Bai Yunchi's own good, if there is only strictness and no kindness, the relationship between the two will only stagnate.

Qiu Tong and Bai Yunchi are both people that Shen Tianjiao wants to use very important things. If they cannot establish absolute trust between them, they will not be able to become invincible swords.

So before Qiu Tong learned how to use both kindness and strictness, she, as the master, could only do it for her.

"What did she confess this time?" Shen Tianjiao felt slightly excited. Perhaps what Hongying confessed contained the answer she wanted.

"Master." Qiu Tong suddenly lowered her voice and leaned closer to Shen Tianjiao. "Shocking secret, those who are infected with the love poison will lose their fertility. This means that the emperor will never have children again."

Shen Tianjiao was not surprised at all when she heard this shocking secret, because she had already guessed it.

Just now she recalled carefully that the one who would succeed Li Rui as the next emperor of Yunli was not her Mu'er, nor Li Minghua, but Prince Su's grandson - Li Hao.

In the past, because she had no good impression of Li Rui, she had never paid attention to this period of history. She just remembered that the record of Li Rui's descendants in history books only had four words: few descendants.

This means that the love poison incident that happened in this life should have also happened in the previous life. Li Rui had few offspring because he was infected with the love poison.

Li Muyang was killed by Feng Yuanyuan before he reached adulthood, so he had no chance of becoming emperor. However, as to why Li Minghua did not become emperor in the end and what his final outcome was, there is no record in history books, as if this person did not exist at all.

Li Minghua was the son of a noble concubine. Even if he did not grow up safely, there should be no record of him because of his status.

If a person is not recorded in history books, then there is only one possibility, that is, everything about this person was deliberately erased.

As for the reason, we need to further study it.

But that reason is no longer important now. Shen Tianjiao has changed a lot of things in this new life.

Li Muyang, who should have been killed by Feng Yuanyuan, is still alive. In the near future, he will become the only legitimate heir with Li Rui's bloodline and replace Li Rui to ascend the throne as emperor.

This was enough for Shen Tianjiao. What she wanted was a wise ruler who could govern Yun Li well.

"She also revealed all the secret agents she had planted in the palace. We just need to quietly deal with all of them and replace them with our own people."

"Also, my master, there's something fishy about that Minister of Justice, Zhou Haibei, whom you asked me to investigate. He's not from Yunli at all. His father is from Xirong, but his mother was a slave of Beijie."

Qiu Tong hadn't even started investigating when someone brought up the truth. This was the first time.

"So, that Tian Qingqing shouldn't be from Yunli either." Shen Tianjiao thought about it now. The Tian Qingqing in her memory did look very different from the woman from Yunli. Carefully identifying her facial features, she did find some characteristics that only foreign women had.

"She didn't say this, but she probably really doesn't know about this kind of thing." These secret agents are all self-reliant and have their own tasks. It's not surprising that they don't know about many things.

"Ah!" Shen Tianjiao sighed. Where was the pure land left in Yunli Country these days? There were spies from the enemy country among the court officials, and there were also people planted by the enemy among the concubines. Even inside and outside the palace, who knew how many spies there were from the enemy country.

The Yunli Kingdom is now truly rotten from the very beginning, eaten away by termites and only remnants are left.

The road ahead is long and arduous, and her road to national prosperity is endless. She must speed up her pace and nip all uncontrollable factors in the bud.

"But there is one very bad thing. Hongying said that her master went to the Northern Frontier just to deal with the Marquis, but she didn't know how he would deal with her." Qiu Tong was so excited just now that she realized what was most important.

"What?" Shen Tianjiao knocked over the teacup in shock. "She went to Northern Xinjiang to deal with my father?"

Shen Tianjiao's heart was in a panic, and she lost all her usual composure.

"Master, don't panic. The Marquis should be back in a day or two. As long as the Marquis is back, there shouldn't be any major problems staying in the capital."

Qiu Tong hurriedly comforted Shen Tianjiao. She was glad that her master suddenly wanted her to interrogate Hongying today. She was even more glad that she had suddenly decided to drag Bai Yunchi over.

Otherwise, even if the Marquis returned to Beijing from the northern border, they would not know that someone had set up a trap to assassinate the Marquis.

Shen Tianjiao was so scared that she broke out in a cold sweat. She calmed down and thought about it carefully, then felt a little scared.

The Marquis of Zhenbei died of illness not long after his original body died. Others said that he died of an acute illness because he loved his daughter so much and was so sad about her death.

Now thinking about it, things may not be that simple. It is true that the Marquis of Zhenbei loves his daughter dearly, and Shen Tianjiao is the apple of his eye. He is like all the old fathers who love their daughters in the world, and he unconditionally dotes and tolerates Shen Tianjiao.

But as a veteran who had been through many battles, when he learned that his daughter had passed away, he should have guessed the real cause of her death.

Heartbroken, the first thing he should have thought of was to avenge his daughter and seek justice, which is in line with his character.

Moreover, Marquis Zhenbei has been practicing martial arts for many years, and his physical fitness is much better than that of ordinary people. How could he be so easily hit and suddenly die?

Today I learned that someone had already taken action against the Marquis of Zhenbei, and everything seemed to be explained.

I'm afraid that before the original body was killed, Hongying's master had already poisoned Zhenbei Hou. So under the stimulation of grief, the poison in his body may have taken effect prematurely, so he died so quickly.

Fortunately, fortunately, fortunately it is still not too late. Shen Tianjiao reached out and patted her chest. Fortunately, she knew the news in advance, so there is at least a chance to save it.

Although the original body ended up in a tragic death, and Marquis Zhenbei also had an unshirkable responsibility, but perhaps because she occupied the original body, Shen Tianjiao now only felt worried about Marquis Zhenbei and did not blame him at all.

"Qiutong, take your men out of the palace to welcome my father now. Be careful not to let anything happen to my father." Shen Tianjiao herself didn't realize that her voice was trembling when she gave Qiutong the order.

"Yes, Master, don't worry. Even if you don't want my life, I will definitely protect the Marquis."