After transmigrating into a stepmother, I transformed my whole family to work on farming

Chapter 750 Assassination
The palace maid brought the queen's oral instructions, asking Gong Liangliao to come forward and say a few words during the half-time break of the game, so that the northern barbarians could appreciate the elegance of the great scholar of the prosperous country.

Gong Liangliao faced the platform, clasped his fists and accepted the offer.

The palace servant left a plate of golden Hami melon brought from the platform, stepped down from the stands, and went to the platform to report.

As soon as the people left, Gong Liangliao's forced smile immediately disappeared, and he pointed at the precious foreign tribute Hami melon and asked Qin Yao and Liu Ji to taste it.

"What kind of melon is this?" Liu Ji asked curiously. It has a green-yellow skin, golden orange flesh, and a strangely fragrant smell.

An Zi, as expected of someone from the Imperial Master's Mansion, was well-informed and answered, "This is a melon, a tribute from the Western Regions. The melon is as sweet as honey, so it is also called honey melon."

Seeing Liu Ji reaching out his hand, An Zi kindly reminded him: "The melon rind is inedible, Mr. Liu, remember not to eat it."

Liu Jibai glanced at him and said, "I can tell at a glance that this skin is so hard that it cannot be eaten. Do I need you to remind me?"

An Zi: "It was me who spoke too much."

Liu Ji was satisfied then. He snorted complacently, first picked up a piece of melon and held it in front of Qin Yao, then took another piece of melon and handed it to the teacher, and finally took one piece each for himself and An Zi.

While eating, he muttered, "Why is your Imperial Master still missing?"

An Zi took a bite of the melon and shouted “Oh!” along with the officials watching the game. Then he shook his head and said, “I don’t know.”

The game was halfway through, the drums sounded, and the Cuju players from both countries went off the field to rest for a quarter of an hour.

It's Gong Liangliao's turn to appear.

There was no need for anyone to control the situation. Gong Liangliao simply pushed his wheelchair to the front of the stands, and the noisy spectators in the stadium spontaneously quieted down and looked at Gong Liangliao.

Too many people want to know why he shows up and what he's going to do.

How could a person who should have completely disappeared from the capital city appear openly?

Is this what His Majesty meant?

What does His Majesty mean now?
Will His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's precarious position change?

How could the powerful princess allow Gong Liangliao to appear in such an occasion?
There are too many confusions and puzzles that need to be solved, making everyone's attention particularly urgent.

With so many pairs of eyes looking at him, and obscure gazes coming from the high platform, even though he was not the focus of everyone, Liu Ji, who was near the focus, still felt tremendous pressure.

The sound of swallowing saliva was heard in the stands, and Liu Ji couldn't even tell whether it was his own or An Zi's.

But Qin Yao beside him was still sitting calmly. After eating the honeydew melon, she took out a handkerchief and slowly wiped the juice from her fingertips.

Everything around her seemed to be blocked out by her, and the only thing in her sight was the thin old man sitting in a wooden wheelchair in front of her.

On the high platform, the emperor first asked Gong Liangliao if he had anything to say to everyone, and told him to speak out boldly and not to have any reservations.

Is this a hint? All the officials pondered in their hearts.

The prince looked at the emperor in surprise, walked to the edge of the platform, and stared at Gong Liangliao. His face showed no joy or happiness, nor any expectation.

However, Gong Liangliao did not mention anything about the eldest princess or the crown prince. He only said that the first half of the Cuju match was exciting but lacked the intensity of the competition.

These words obviously did not satisfy the emperor, so he deliberately mentioned that the two Cuju teams belonged to Prince Chan and the Crown Prince, and asked him which team he preferred.

It was obvious that he had to choose one.

Gong Liangliao smiled bitterly and said that he didn't know much about Cuju and would not make any random guesses.

At this time, the Holy Queen suddenly said, "The number of goals scored in the first half has just been counted. Someone, bring the statistics board to him so that the winner can be seen at a glance."

After a pause, he added with a smile: "Gong Liangliao is very good at numbers. You can recognize such a simple number, right?" Gong Liangliao lowered his head and nodded slightly, "Naturally, the obvious numbers can be distinguished, but the game of Cuju is only halfway through. The winner of the last game may not be able to maintain the winning chance in the next game. So I think it is meaningless to argue about who is better at this time!"

The Holy Queen smiled in surprise, "Gong Liangliao, you have changed. In the past, you would use your ingenious calculations in the first half to determine the outcome in advance."

Gong Liangliao's expression remained unchanged, and he said respectfully, "I am old, and I no longer have the energy to argue."

"Really?" The Saint Queen's voice suddenly rose, as if she was angry. "Since you are already weak and old, why don't you return to your hometown to spend your remaining years in peace?!"

Gong Liangliao lowered his eyes and chuckled at himself. He was speechless.

The whole place was silent, with countless eyes moving back and forth between the podium and Gong Liangliao.

An invisible pressure emanated from the platform, quickly spreading to the surroundings and covering the entire racecourse.

Those who were in the situation subconsciously held their breath, trembling with fear and not daring to make a sound.

I'm afraid that if I make the slightest sound, I'll become the next gun muzzle.

The prince looked anxious and seemed to want to say something but hesitated. However, he was afraid of his mother's dominance and was reluctant to open his mouth to beg for mercy on behalf of Gong Liangliao.

The eldest princess was standing beside him, her lips slightly raised as she looked at the prince with contempt in her eyes.

Perhaps stimulated by this contemptuous expression, the hesitant prince suddenly took a step forward and said earnestly:

"Mother, the master has been kind to me, but I couldn't bear to see you spend the rest of your life alone in the countryside, so I sent someone to invite you back to repay your kindness."

"If your Majesty thinks that my son's actions are inappropriate, I will send you to the manor to recuperate, and I will never let you set foot in Kyoto again in my lifetime!"

After saying this, he bowed deeply as if begging.

The queen's cold face softened a little, and she turned to look at the emperor beside her, as if she was going to agree to her son's request, showing an attitude of love and anger towards her son that made her feel helpless.

The eldest princess sneered and turned her head away from the crown prince, because she knew that her father, the emperor and her mother had always favored the crown prince and would definitely agree.

However, although this old man Gong Liangliao is hateful, he is also a foolish minister loyal to Sheng Kingdom. It is not impossible to spare his life.

At this time, the two eunuchs who came to deliver the score statistics board had come to the stands holding long wooden boards.

Just when the emperor felt sorry for the prince and was about to speak.

Something unexpected happened!

The two palace servants holding the signs suddenly threw the heavy and long wooden signs in their hands hard at the spectators on both sides.

An Zi was caught off guard and was knocked down hard by the wooden sign.

Liu Ji instinctively rolled off the chair to avoid the wooden sign, but he also fell to the ground.

The two palace servants threw away the wooden sign, took out two daggers from somewhere, and stabbed Gong Liangliao fiercely.

The distance was too close and the incident happened too suddenly. No one expected that a knife-wielding assassin would appear in a Cuju competition with such strict defenses.

The four expert guards from the Imperial Master's Mansion didn't react at all.

He could only watch helplessly as two sharp daggers, one towards Gong Liangliao's back and the other towards his neck, stabbed fiercely!

Liu Ji finally rolled over and stood up again. When he looked up, he saw this thrilling scene and exclaimed in horror:

"Teacher, get out of the way!"

But how could his teacher, an old man with crippled legs in a wheelchair, possibly escape?