After being reborn, her aloof ex-husband and her crazy deceased husband got into a fight.

When Gongsun Yi saw Gongsun Rui suddenly stand up, he was greatly alarmed. Seeing the soldiers who had been suppressing him silently retreat to the side, alarm bells rang in his mind, and he had a bad feeling.

With a clang, he drew his sword from his waist and swung it toward Gongsun Yi's neck.

Suddenly, with a loud "bang," the golden plate in the eunuch's hand was overturned, and coincidentally, all the jade cups on the plate smashed onto Gongsun Yi's wrist.

Gongsun Yi felt a numbness in his hand, and with a "bang," the longsword slipped from his grasp and fell to the ground.

Gan Cai'er finally realized something was wrong. The eunuch's features and figure seemed familiar, as if she had seen him somewhere before. Upon closer inspection, she discovered that the eunuch was actually Lu Qingning in disguise!

"Kill! Kill them all for me!!" Gongsun Yi roared furiously.

"Whoever kills one person will be rewarded with a thousand pieces of gold! Whoever kills Gongsun Rui will be rewarded with ten thousand pieces of gold and granted the title of Marquis of Ping'an!"

As soon as Gongsun Yi uttered these words, swords flashed in the hall, their cold light gleaming as they slashed at the heads of the kneeling crowd. Everyone screamed and scattered in all directions, fleeing for their lives in a panic.

However, before the soldiers could behead anyone, a volley of arrows suddenly rained down from above the hall, densely packed like locusts.

The soldiers in the hall fell like broken halberds, seven out of ten of them perished.

After a volley of arrows, hundreds of black-armored guards leaped down from the beams of the main hall like a tidal wave, wielding sharp swords and slashing at the remaining soldiers.

The Xuanying Guards of the Duke of Wei's mansion have arrived.

Gan Cai'er, dragging Du Ke with her left hand and Yao Ji with her right, hid behind a large pillar. Seeing this, she breathed a sigh of relief. She knew that she would be able to leave the Golden Palace alive today.

In the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the Xuanying Guards, with overwhelming superiority, killed all the rebels in the hall, leaving not a single survivor.

Meng Yu flicked the blood off his longsword, walked up to Gongsun Rui who was being protected by Lu Qingning and the others, and knelt down on one knee to pay his respects.

"Your subject Meng Yu has arrived late to save Your Majesty. Please forgive me."

"General Meng, please rise quickly." Gongsun Rui stepped forward to help Meng Yu up.

"The rebellion was quelled thanks to the meticulous planning of the General and the Crown Prince. What crime have they committed? Once the situation is stable, I will reward them handsomely."

Meng Yu didn't stand on ceremony and stood up directly with Gongsun Rui's help. He glanced around the hall and then locked his gaze on Gan Cai'er. He grinned and walked towards her.

Gan Cai'er silently hid behind the pillar again.

Gongsun Yi slumped to the ground, his face ashen, knowing his fate was sealed. He couldn't understand how things had come to this; where had things gone wrong?

They were on a winning streak, with a bright future ahead.

Gongsun Rui stopped in front of him: "Everyone in this hall is a pillar of our dynasty. Your Majesty, you actually dared to order their execution!"

In fact, Gongsun Rui did not initially intend to kill all these people. He gathered the important officials together only to kill a group of those who were at odds with him, so as to intimidate a group of neutral ones and make it easier for him to ascend the throne.

But just now, he noticed something was wrong; everything seemed to be spiraling out of control. He didn't know where things had gone wrong, and it was impossible to proceed according to the original plan. Therefore, he could only decide to kill a thousand innocent people rather than let one guilty person go free!

As for the important officials in the court, there are countless learned men in the world; we can choose them when the time comes!

Therefore, in a short while, he made the decision to kill them all. However, he did not expect that he would have no chance of winning at all.

"Brother, do you know why you were defeated?" Gongsun Rui looked down at him.

"However, I was momentarily careless, which allowed you, a petty person, to gain power!" Gongsun Yi said in a vicious voice.

"Brother, have you ever heard the saying 'Those who do many unrighteous deeds will surely perish' and 'Those who lose the Way will find little support'?"

As soon as Gongsun Rui finished speaking, two people slowly walked in through the entrance of the main hall. One was dressed in a green official robe, and the other was dressed in a light brown round-necked robe.

Gan Cai'er was overjoyed to see him; the man in the green official robes was none other than Lan Tingzhou! How wonderful, everyone was safe and sound.

Lan Tingzhou glanced over and saw Gan Cai'er, but when he saw Meng Yu standing not far from her, his expression darkened.

"Your Highness, it's been a few days. How have you been?"

The middle-aged scholar, dressed in a light brown robe, walked up to Gongsun Yi and stood in front of him.

Gongsun Yi's eyes widened in shock as he pointed at the middle-aged scholar and roared, "Fan Sui! You scoundrel! You betrayed me?! You treacherous, disloyal dog!!!"

That middle-aged scholar was none other than Fan Sui, the chief strategist of the Regent's Palace!

Fan Sui smiled slightly: "Your Highness has a good eye. My childhood name is indeed Er Gou (Second Dog)."

"Your Highness, do you still remember Fan Family Village from thirty years ago?"

Gongsun Yi frowned and looked at him silently.

Fan Sui was born in Fanjiacun Village on the outskirts of Beijing. He was the second oldest of three brothers and two sisters. His family owned several acres of peach orchards and made a living by selling peaches. They were not wealthy, but they were doing alright. He loved reading from a young age and was a natural scholar, so his father sent him to the school in town.

The Fan family lived a peaceful and happy life until one day, Gongsun Yi passed through Fan Family Village and had a conflict with Fan Family Elder.

The cause of the conflict was simple: Fan Jia Dalang was selling peaches, and Gongsun Yi, seeing that his business was doing well, suddenly became interested and had his men bring over a few to try. However, he found that they were not sweet enough, so he kicked over Fan Jia Dalang's stall with his horse's hoof.

Fan Jia Dalang was furious and went forward to argue with him. However, he offended Gongsun Yi with one of his words and was whipped by him.

Seeing that the other party was unreasonable yet arrogant, Fan Jia Dalang knew that he was a nobleman from the capital city whom he could not afford to offend, so he covered his head and hid. But in doing so, he somehow startled Gongsun Yi's horse, causing Gongsun Yi to fall from its back.

This has caused a huge mess.

When Fan Sui received the news and rushed home, all that remained of his house were charred ruins and the remains of his parents, brothers, and sisters, each with broken leg bones.

The village chief said that his elder brother caused the nobleman to fall off his horse, so the nobleman's guards burned down his house and then beat his family members to death.

Even though he recounted the past, Fan Sui knew from Gongsun Yi's silent expression that he remembered nothing.

For Gongsun Yi, it was nothing more than a trivial matter that happened during a day outing. Countless people had died because of offending him, so why should an old farmer from the countryside care about it?

For Fan Sui, however, it meant the loss of all his closest relatives and the collapse of his entire family. In just ten days, he personally buried six members of the Fan family.

"The peaches my dad grew were especially sweet, but unfortunately, we can never eat them again."

He spent thirty years on the path of revenge.

"Your Majesty, I want one of his legs. I want to place it before the graves of my parents, brothers, and sisters to comfort their spirits in heaven."

Gongsun Yi suddenly looked up at the sky and laughed wildly.

"Hahaha, the victor is king and the loser is villain! Although I have fallen here today, I do not wish to leave alone. I must have someone to accompany me on the road to the underworld!"

Those around Gongsun Yi felt a chill run down their spines. The Xuanying Guards standing beside him instantly moved, pinning him firmly to the ground, rendering him immobile. Unexpectedly, a wisp of purple smoke rose from the tips of his shoes, growing thicker and thicker, carrying a strange fragrance.

"Escort!"

"Hold your breath! Cover your mouth and nose, be careful, the smoke is poisonous, get out of here quickly!"

......

Chaos erupted in the main hall once again as everyone rushed out. Although the Xuan Ying Guards swiftly dislocated Gongsun Yi's leg, rendering him immobile, they could not stop the wisps of purple smoke from spreading.

Gongsun Yi's face was obscured by the thick smoke, making it difficult to see clearly. Consequently, no one noticed the eerie and fierce smile on his face.

"Water can extinguish smoke, throw him into the Taiping vat in front of the palace!" someone shouted.

However, no one answered Gongsun Yi's call. The Xuanying Guards who had been holding him down earlier were now limp and lifeless on the ground.

Gongsun Yi took out a handful of small beads from his pocket, threw them, and more than a dozen thunderbolts exploded instantly in the hall, filling the entire space with smoke.

"what!!"

"Ouch!!"

My legs~~~~

"My eyes, I can't see anymore~~~"

"Quick, quick, help this old man up!"

Cries of pain and screams immediately rose and fell, never ceasing.

All of this happened in the blink of an eye, from Gongsun Yi's loud laughter to the billowing poisonous smoke and the explosion of the thunderbolt.

Several figures rushed towards Gongsun Yi.

Upon seeing this, Gongsun Yi hurriedly pulled out a small and exquisite crossbow from his sleeve and pulled the trigger in the direction he remembered.

More than a dozen short arrows gleaming with a purplish-black light shot out!

As soon as the purple poisonous smoke rose, Meng Yu rushed to Gan Cai'er's side, grabbed her waist, and tried to pull her away from the main hall. He tried to lightly touch the ground with his feet... well, he couldn't leap up.

He looked down and saw Gan Cai'er holding Du Ke in her left hand and Yao Ji in her right. His forehead twitched twice. He snatched Du Ke away and quickly said, "The smoke is poisonous. Cover your mouth and nose and rush out with me."

Gan Cai'er nodded, took out a handkerchief, and was about to tie it to Yao Ji's face when she heard Yao Ji's weak voice: "Madam Lan, I can hold my breath, let's go quickly."

Yao Ji was now fully conscious, though her head was still a little dizzy. She had barely finished speaking, and before she and Gan Cai'er could take a step forward, a series of crackling sounds erupted in the hall, followed by flames and billowing smoke. In an instant, everything was filled with smoke, making it difficult to see even two steps ahead.

"Go!" Meng Yu shouted, grabbing Gan Cai'er by the back of her collar and rushing out.

Meng Yu was dragging three people along, which greatly affected his speed. He had only taken two steps when he suddenly heard the sound of an arrow whistling through the air behind him.

Meng Yu was a veteran of countless battles, and he could tell from the sound alone that it was a hidden arrow fired from a repeating crossbow!

The repeating crossbow has strong penetrating power and a high hit rate. At close range, it is almost always a one-hit kill, and even armor cannot stop it.

In the blink of an eye, Meng Yu almost didn't think twice and directly tackled Gan Cai'er to the ground!

Gan Cai'er's head slammed heavily against the floor tiles, and she felt dizzy and saw stars. Amidst the smoke and strange fragrance filling the room, she felt increasingly breathless and her limbs went weak.

After an unknown amount of time, Gan Cai'er's drowsy mind gradually cleared. She found herself pinned down by Meng Yu, unable to move, and unable to see anything except his black light armor. She smelled the strong stench of blood emanating from him, and saw streams of blood flowing from his body...

Gan Cai'er's heart almost stopped at that moment. She pulled her hand away and gently nudged Meng Yu, her voice trembling as she called out, "Ah Yu, Ah Yu~~~"

Just then, Xiao Hong's heart-wrenching cries suddenly rang out from not far away.

"Young Master!!!!"

Gan Cai'er's heart skipped a beat. She struggled to peek out from Meng Yu's embrace and saw Lan Tingzhou lying quietly behind Meng Yu. Three or four sharp arrows were stuck in his back, and his light green official robes were soaked with blood.

Gan Cai'er suddenly felt dizzy and fainted.