Jinghong Tower

Chapter 437 Fate
In front is the Laiyi Palace. When Emperor Yonghe was still in the palace, he would stay in the Laiyi Palace on the first and fifteenth day of every month.

However, because there was a secret passage in Laiyi Palace leading directly to the emperor's bedroom, Emperor Yonghe's favorite place to go was also Laiyi Palace. Even if it was not the first or fifteenth day of the month, he would come to the queen's place.

Although other concubines had complaints, since it was the Queen who lived in Laiyi Palace, they could only feel bad about it in their hearts, and even Jing Chongguang could not blame them.

Although Emperor Yonghe only used the Queen as an excuse to cover up the fact that he avoided sowing seeds, the Queen was willing to conceal it for him and never told anyone a word.

Of course, this was because the empress also had selfish motives. Emperor Yonghe had only one child, the prince, who was weak, but in his mother's heart, he was the best child in the world. What the empress least wanted to see was other children being born in the harem. Emperor Yonghe did not want to have children, but the empress was more than happy to do so. How could she tell this matter to anyone?

At least before Emperor Yonghe left, Jing Chongguang didn't know the secret in Laiyi Palace.

But now, the prince is in Laiyi Palace, which means that Jing Chongguang already knows the secret passage.

Countless thoughts flashed through his mind. With Jing Chongguang's identity, he would not search the Queen's bedroom even if Emperor Yonghe was gone. So the matter of this secret passage was not discovered by Jing Chongguang himself, but was revealed by the Queen herself.

why?
At this point, why would the queen do such a superfluous thing?

Is this good for her and the family behind her?

Suddenly, a thought became clear.

Mingming was stunned. Yes, the queen was pregnant!
Jing Chongguang promised the empress and the family behind her that after Emperor Yonghe left the palace, the imperial physician diagnosed that the empress was pregnant. Of course, the month of pregnancy must have matched, so it was definitely a dragon seed.

As long as Jing Chongguang stamps his seal to confirm, then this unborn child will be the next emperor of Later Zhou.

Of course, the queen was not pregnant, and Jing Chongguang tacitly agreed that the queen could secretly bring a child from her own family.

But as a price, the queen had to save Jing Chongguang's son.

In front of her was the palace wall of Laiyi Palace. She clearly did not go in. She turned around and flew towards the direction of Emperor Yonghe's bedroom!

Emperor Yonghe's bedroom was not the largest palace in the harem. On the contrary, it looked unremarkable from the outside and was no different from the palace of an ordinary concubine.

But this is also the place Mingming is most familiar with. She has lived here since she entered the palace.

The dog hole under the back wall was dug by her herself and hidden under a low flower tree. Emperor Yonghe took her in and out of this dog hole countless times.

Mingming walked over and sure enough, the dog hole was still there.

She got in without any effort. The palace was deserted and had not been cleaned for many days. The ground was covered with fallen flowers and leaves.

It seems that people in the palace no longer expect Emperor Yonghe to come back, otherwise why would they not even clean the courtyard of the sleeping palace.

When I looked around, I saw that the light was on in the gatehouse and there were shadowy figures, at least five or six people inside.

In the past, even when Emperor Yonghe was still alive, there were only two eunuchs in the gatehouse at most.

It's interesting, no one is cleaning the yard, but there are so many people in the gatehouse.

There was also someone in the west room of the main house. There was a dim light and a person was sitting under it.

I would rather kill the wrong person than let him go.

Mingming didn't hesitate any longer and rushed towards the window like an arrow.

Jing Chongguang sat cross-legged on a cushion. It was pitch black all around. This was the secret passage leading to Laiyi Palace.

As soon as he heard the noise coming from the pine courtyard, he entered the secret passage.

Back then, he was the one who decided to convert Prince Fu's Mansion into an imperial palace. He had seen the map of Prince Fu's Mansion and the map of the renovated imperial palace, on which two secret passages were clearly marked, leading to the outside of the mansion. However, he never expected that there was a third secret passage in this old palace, and that this secret passage did not lead to the outside of the mansion, but between courtyards.

No one knows why Prince Fu built such a secret passage.

But Jing Chongguang finally understood why Emperor Yonghe moved into this inconspicuous palace, and also finally understood why Emperor Yonghe always ran to the Queen's place. It was not because he and the Queen had a deep love for each other, but because Yigong could always return here without anyone noticing.

Jing Chongguang sneered repeatedly. This was the child he had raised, but it turned out that he had already become estranged from him without him realizing it.

For the first time in his life, he felt chilled.

I loved him so much that I abandoned my family and my reputation for him, but he treated me like this.

Fortunately, I still have a biological son.

Jing Chongguang clenched his hands on his knees into fists. If Emperor Yonghe was in front of him, he would definitely beat that kid up.

Screw the emperor and his ministers, Zhou Kun is his son and he is Zhou Kun’s father!
Although not biological.

He could not hear any noise outside in the secret passage, and before he came in, the news from Tingsongyuan had not been delivered yet. He did not know yet that the substitute in Tingsongyuan was dead, but he was sure that there was an assassin in the palace tonight!

Who sent this assassin?

Are they the four great families?
No, he had already promised the Queen that he would make the posthumous son she "gave birth to" the emperor. Even though the small court was in turmoil, the four great families would not let go of this opportunity.

So, who is it?

Jing Chongguang thought of the new force that appeared in the area of ​​the Nameless Island. At the beginning, all investigations on that force pointed to fishermen who had become pirates. However, as the ships used by that force became more and more sophisticated, Jing Chongguang gradually realized that those people could not be fishermen, they were most likely He Ran's people.

But these were just speculations. Before Jing Chongguang could confirm them, Emperor Yonghe disappeared, and then assassins entered his palace.

Now the assassin has come to the palace again. Once he is captured, he will devote all his energy to the Nameless Island.

Unfortunately, the navy of the Later Zhou Dynasty was not yet a force to be reckoned with, and it still needed to convince the four great families to use their navy for its own purposes.

Jing Chongguang thought about these things seriously and didn't take the assassination attempt seriously at all.

He was well prepared. No matter who sent the assassin, he would not be able to hurt him at all. At most, he would lose one or two substitutes.

Suddenly, his ears moved and there was wind coming from behind his ears. How could there be wind in the secret passage?

Jing Chongguang frowned slightly. Although he had lived a life of luxury over the years, he was a military general after all, and had started practicing martial arts since he could remember.

In a flash, he understood that this was not wind, but the sword wind caused by the sword being swung!
But it was too late. Before he could stand up, the sharp blade had already pierced his back.

Jing Chongguang subconsciously lowered his head to look. After being in the dark for a long time, his eyes had lost their ability to see. He saw a flash of cold light passing through his chest.

He is indeed a killer, one blow is fatal!

Strangely enough, he didn't feel any pain. Jing Chongguang opened his mouth. He wanted to ask if the person who wanted to kill him was He Ran, but his throat made a crackling sound and he couldn't utter a word.

Mingming drew his sword, and when it was pulled out, blood splattered.

Mingming swung the sword and cut off Jing Chongguang's head.

She picked up the head and looked at it, but unfortunately she couldn't see clearly and couldn't be sure whether this person was Jing Chongguang.

Just before she came in, she had killed a "Jing Chongguang". That was the second "Jing Chongguang" she killed tonight, and the one she was holding in her head now was the third one.

Although I couldn't be sure if this was the real thing, I felt in my heart that this one must be the real thing. Because the other two were exposed in the open, and only this one was hidden in the secret passage.

Although the Queen told Jing Chongguang the secret of the secret passage, it is thought that Jing Chongguang would not spread the secret, so the person in the secret passage should be Jing Chongguang himself.

Never mind. I’ve already killed three tonight. I’ll take this head out and we’ll know the truth by tomorrow at the latest.

Mingming thought about it and decided to go to Laiyi Palace. Jing Chongguang's son was still in Laiyi Palace. In order to cut the grass and wipe out the roots, she went to kill the brat with a knife.

She is a killer, she was and is a killer now, leaving no one alive, this is the rule she has always adhered to.

She heard from Emperor Yonghe that he had a separate room in Laiyi Palace, and the entrance to the secret passage was in that room.

Mingming walked forward along the secret passage and a door appeared in front of him. He pushed it, but it didn't move. Mingming felt around on the wall and found a protrusion. He pressed it and the door moved to both sides, revealing a bookshelf.

The bookshelf was filled with books. Mingming peeked out through the gap. The room was dark, there was no light, and no one was there.

Mingming moved the bookshelf away and walked out of the secret passage.

She walked to the door and listened carefully. She heard the faint sound of women talking outside. It was two palace maids complaining in a low voice.

"I don't know what happened outside. The queen didn't even let anyone go out to check."

"Shh, this is none of our business, so just ignore it."

"Do you think there might be an assassin?"

"How is it possible? His Majesty is not in the palace. Who would come to assassinate him?"

"What if they come to kill the child?"

"Stop talking."

Mingming narrowed his eyes, held the sword in one hand and the head in the other, and kicked the door open.

The two palace maids were startled and looked at her in horror, their mouths wide open, and they even forgot to call for help.

Mingming's eyes swept across the faces of the two people, and then he kicked open the door next door.

Two octagonal palace lanterns were lit in the room, with curtains hanging low, through which a woman could be vaguely seen sitting.

Mingming walked over and lifted the curtain with the tip of his sword, revealing the figure of the woman.

She was wearing a moon-white nightgown, her long hair fell to her waist, and her face without makeup looked a little haggard.

Although she was masked, revealing only a pair of cold star-like eyes, the queen's gaze paused on her face for only a moment, then slowly moved down, finally landing on the head she was holding in her hands.

"Is this the Regent?" Her voice was calm, without the fear that came from seeing the head.

"Maybe." Mingming said.

The queen nodded and said, "You came here so quickly, I guess you came from the secret passage. That's it, he must have hidden in the secret passage."

"Where is Prince Jing?" Mingming asked.

The corners of the queen's mouth curled up slightly, revealing an eerie smile. Mingming was stunned and was about to ask a question, but he saw the queen pull open the brocade quilt beside her.

"He's here."

Under the quilt was a small child, about three or four years old, but his face was ashen, and he didn't look like he was sleeping, but rather dead.

"You killed him?" Mingming looked at the queen in disbelief.

The queen deepened her smile, "Your Majesty hates Jing Chongguang the most. If I can't kill him, can I kill his son? Hahaha, I want to see, when Jing Chongguang sees his son is dead, will he kill me, or will he break his teeth and swallow his blood for the navy? It's a pity that Jing Chongguang died too, and I won't be able to see it, what a pity!"

The queen's laughter was shrill, like a ghost.

"Why?" She had clearly seen the queen before, but in her impression, the queen was dignified and graceful, with every move she made being dignified and elegant. She was completely different from the almost crazy woman in front of her.

"He killed my son and forced my husband away. I smothered his son to death. Why not? It turns out that killing people is not difficult at all. If I had known this, I should have brought his son into the palace earlier. Without a son, he would not have the heart to kill my child, and His Majesty would not have left. I would not have to raise someone else's son. I regret it so much. Why didn't I kill him earlier? Why didn't I?"

Mingming said nothing and turned and left.

Perhaps after tonight, without Jing Chongguang, the person who can make the final decision, the queen will not continue to pretend to be pregnant, and perhaps she can escape the fate of raising someone else's son.

But I clearly don’t know how Jing Chongguang killed the little prince. Hasn’t the little prince always been weak and sickly?

Could it be that Jing Chongguang felt that this frail prince was not worthy of inheriting the throne, so he killed the little prince?

The little prince did not die of illness, but was murdered like Prince Jing?
Mingming had just walked out of the Yi Palace when he ran into a group of guards head-on.

"The assassin is here, catch him!"

Mingming started to run, but the guards chased him closely, whistling.

More and more guards were running towards here. Mingming was running all the way towards the palace wall. Another group of guards were running towards the front. Mingming jumped onto a roof and disappeared into the night after a few jumps.

After jumping onto the palace wall, Mingming turned around and saw countless guards chasing after her. She tapped her toes lightly, leaped down, and ran as fast as she could as soon as she landed.

The water-gathering gate is in front of us. We will be safe after passing it.

Ruyan had been hiding in the tree. Under the moonlight, she saw a dark shadow running towards her from afar. It was Mingming!

Ruyan was overjoyed, jumped down from the tree and ran towards Mingming.

"Is it done?" Ruyan asked with a smile.

Mingming nodded and handed the head in his hand over: "Look who this is."

Ruyan took the head. She couldn't see clearly at night, but she could guess that it must be Jing Chongguang.

"Go, retreat!"

Ruyan pushed Mingming forward. Mingming looked behind him and his face suddenly changed. In the dark night, a crossbow arrow flew through the air!

Mingming didn't even think about it, he pushed Ruyan away and blocked the crossbow arrow with his body.
"Come on, hurry up!"

Ruyan wanted to pull her along, but Mingming used all his last bit of strength to push her away. She had a lot to say to Ruyan, but it was too late.

She wanted to tell Ruyan that when she came to Fuzhou, she had no intention of going back alive.

It is her destiny to die here, and she cannot see the light even when she is alive, but Ruyan can live happily in the sun.

She died, and no one in this world would remember Lan Ruo anymore.