May this scumbag husband, who favored his concubine over his wife, rest in peace.

Upon hearing this, Princess Anping's brows relaxed slightly: "What you said makes sense."

Those secret guards are not the type to show mercy to women.

That's fine too. Let Wen Yuanshu suffer more before she dies, so that it won't be too easy for her.

Seeing that Princess Anping's expression had softened, the confidant breathed a sigh of relief: "Your Highness, why don't you rest for a while?"

Princess Anping glanced at the sky.

At this moment, the sky was beginning to lighten with the first hint of dawn.

“Never mind,” she said, “it won’t make a difference.”

"Yes."

The confidant then quietly stepped aside and waited with Princess Anping.

However, when the rooster crowed at dawn, the confidant went again, only to find that the guards had not yet returned.

"Not back yet?"

The confidant nodded, about to say something more, when the steward suddenly rushed in: "Your Highness, something terrible has happened in the capital!"

"Oh?" Princess Anping immediately forgot about the guards. "What important matter is it?"

"Last night, a lot of people died near Baishui Street!" the steward said. "I heard that someone saw the Embroidered Uniform Guard's fireworks, went over to take a look, and saw dead bodies everywhere. I don't know what happened, it was terrifying!"

This matter has now spread throughout the capital.

Strangely, neither the Embroidered Uniform Guard nor the Right Imperial Guard took any action.

The fact that this news spread so quickly is probably because someone pushed it from behind.

As soon as the steward finished speaking, Princess Anping's face drained of all color.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the confidant told the steward to leave.

Although the steward was also a close confidant of Princess Anping, he was unaware of the secret guards.

Seeing that Princess Anping looked unwell, and fearing to bring bad luck upon herself, the steward didn't dare to ask a single question and quickly withdrew.

As soon as the steward closed the door, the confidante turned around and was slapped across the face by Princess Anping: "Didn't you say they went out to have fun?!"

She trusted her confidant implicitly and waited all night, hoping to receive good news. Instead, she received the news that her entire army had been wiped out!

The confidante instinctively knelt on the ground, only then remembering to defend herself: "Your Highness, I was just guessing!"

She didn't see it with her own eyes; she just said that last night because she saw Princess Anping's pale face and wanted to comfort her.

"Useless!" Princess Anping gritted her teeth in anger. "All of you are useless! A bunch of useless trash!"

The trusted confidant knelt on the ground, not daring to even breathe.

Princess Anping couldn't care less about her at this moment.

All she wanted to know was what had happened last night.

How could more than a dozen bodyguards all be dead?!

Those were all heavily trained bodyguards, capable of taking on ten men each, and extremely skilled at teamwork. Who in the capital could possibly kill them all at once?!

She came home late last night and didn't hear anything about the Right Imperial Guards or the Embroidered Uniform Guards making any big moves!

Princess Anping had a sudden inspiration and remembered that she had seen Lu Chengyuan at the entrance of the girls' school when she left yesterday.

After thinking about it, she realized it was impossible.

Lu Chengyuan is only one person; it's impossible for him to do such a thing.

-

Meanwhile, Lu Chengyuan first went to the Embroidered Uniform Guard's office in the morning, and then went straight to the palace.

When the emperor saw him, he was quite surprised: "Minister Lu, why have you come so early?"

Lu Chengyuan first bowed before saying, "A major incident occurred in the capital last night. More than ten secret guards were lying in ambush on Baishui Street. I don't know what their purpose was."

"Oh?" The emperor's eyebrows twitched slightly. "More than ten secret guards?"

In fact, nowadays, almost every high-ranking family in the capital keeps secret guards.

These hidden forces are difficult to investigate, so although the emperor knew about them, he had no choice but to turn a blind eye.

However, the secret guards are all top-notch, selected from one in ten or even one in a hundred, so ordinary families can't afford to keep many. A dozen or so is already a considerable investment.