My wife has a secret

Chapter 141 The Girl in the Warehouse
Shen Shuangxu obviously understood what he meant. Her clear and bright eyes in the hood blinked and stayed on him for a while.

After completing all preparations, Xu Qing walked towards Kang Yuwen with his hands raised.

When he was about to reach the other person, two burly young men rushed out from the main hall, stepped forward, grabbed Xu Qing's arms, and pinned him to the ground like a prisoner.

Kang Yuwen also raised his arm and gave orders to the crossbowmen around him who were ready to fire.

The crossbowmen all released their bows and arrows, but fortunately Qin Shuying and the other person had quickly walked to the mountain gate. Qin Shuying, who was quick-eyed and quick-handed, took Shen Shuangxu and quickly got away from there.

"He really has a dark heart."

Xu Qing thought that Kang Yuwen would do something nasty after controlling him, but this man's actions did not show any signs, and there was no change in his expression, which caught him off guard.

However, Xu Qing, who fell into the hands of the other party, naturally would not be treated well by this arrogant prince. The other party turned around and kicked him several times, as if he wanted to vent all his dissatisfaction and violence in his heart.

"It's all your fault. You ruined my good deed! Good deed!"

Kang Yuwen stopped kicking panting only after he was tired.

He looked at Xu Qing, whose mouth was bleeding red, and his dissatisfaction was slightly alleviated.

"I am a noble prince, a descendant of a prince of a different surname appointed by the founding emperor of Da Qi. How come your Xu family was able to rise to power by relying on the beauty of a woman, and even control the entire Da Qi and drive me out of the capital?"

Kang Yuwen had a lot of complaints against Xu Qing. Ever since this person came to the capital, there had been some deviations from the plan, which eventually led to a tragic situation of making mistakes at every step and losing everything.

"Cough cough..."

Although Xu Qing's face was pressed to the ground and he felt unbearable pain in his abdomen, he smiled with some happiness.

After spitting out the thick blood in his mouth, Xu Qing laughed in a somewhat weak voice: "You have never grasped the situation in the palace. Do you really think that you can shake my aunt's position by joining forces with that puppet emperor?"

Kang Yuwen knew from the fact that the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry obeyed the orders of the Empress Dowager that no matter what he did that day, he would not be able to seize power in the palace.

Therefore, the violence he had just done to Xu Qing was actually a way of venting the resentment and frustration in his heart.

Now, hearing Xu Qing exposing his scars again, his expression froze, and his original indignation and anger disappeared, replaced by a disdainful sneer.

"Haha, a demon queen with inflated ambitions who wants to ascend the throne as a woman. It is in accordance with the will of heaven for me to kill her... and what do you know? The Holy Envoy told me personally that this world belongs to me."

Although Xu Qing's current condition is somewhat miserable, the condition of the Prince of Dongwan is obviously not like that of an ordinary person, and he has lost the calmness he had when he first met him.

Even though he was not as good at reading people's minds as Qin Shuying, he could still tell from the prince's words, manners and exaggerated actions that the Prince of Dongwan had reached a point of desperation and placed all his hopes on the White Lotus Sect.

It was not surprising that the White Lotus Sect was involved in the palace coup launched by the Prince of Dongwan. After all, there were obscure poems of the White Lotus Sect displayed in the Feishuang Palace of the little emperor.

Moreover, the "miracle" of thunder and fire in the Falun Temple was most likely the work of Envoy Chunsheng. Everything showed that the Prince of Dongwan had a close relationship with the White Lotus Sect.

"If the White Lotus Sect's people are really so powerful, why did you fail?"

Kang Yuwen has been convinced of the White Lotus's magical powers since Envoy Chunsheng demonstrated his thunder summoning technique a few days ago. Facing Xu Qing's words, he also responded with disdain: "The day on the oracle of the Holy Religion has not yet arrived, so the palace coup will naturally fail."

He did not allow Xu Qing to question him, and said firmly: "These things are actually the last test from heaven for me to take over the imperial power and ascend to the immortal path... As long as everything is accomplished, the era that belongs to me will come."

After Kang Yuwen said such arrogant and irrelevant words about cultivating immortals and becoming a god, Xu Qing knew that this man had been tamed by the White Lotus Sect and had become a devout believer, and his words and actions were no doubt like those of a madman.

However, what Xu Qing could not understand was that Kang Yuwen had a prominent family background since childhood, and after he became an adult, he relied on his unique personal charm to attract lords and nobles, and became the leader of the royalist party.

How could such a big man who had experienced many ups and downs and had no shortage of money and women believe in these vague lies of the White Lotus Sect?

"Take our 'Crown Prince' away."

The soldiers who received the order dragged Xu Qing to the backyard of the temple. These soldiers completely ignored Xu Qing's pace. After dragging his legs along the ground, they threw him into a warehouse where the monks stored grain.

There were some shabby haystacks here, with a half-open skylight at the end of the warehouse roof. The door was closed and bolted, and it was not much different from an ordinary prison.

However, what surprised Xu Qing was that besides himself, there were several young children locked up in the barn.

The ages of these children were all between eight and twelve. When they saw the personal soldiers holding Xu Qing hostage come in, they all huddled in a corner in fear.

"Just leave it here and come and check on him every once in a while."

After the two "monks" finished their conversation, they threw the tortured Xu Qing into the barn and closed the heavy door.

Fortunately, there was a thick layer of hay on the ground as a cushion, so Xu Qing's pain was not aggravated.

Because of these people's brutal behavior, Xu Qing's knees were torn due to long-term dragging, and blood was flowing on both sides of his calves.

But the strange thing is, perhaps because of the beating he received from the Prince of Dongwan before, his legs didn't feel much pain.

"elder brother……"

Xu Qing slowly raised his head and saw a dirty face of a girl. Although she was dressed simply, her face was pretty and cute, and she was a real beauty.

Especially the pair of bright eyes above the upturned nose, shaped like perfect almonds, with thick eyelashes trembling slightly like butterfly wings, which is very heart-warming.

"Brother, you look familiar, as if I've seen you somewhere before..."

Unlike the other children in the barn who were frightened and helpless, this girl's complexion and expression were obviously better. When she saw Xu Qing being thrown in, she dared to step forward to check his face and condition.

After noticing the blood on Xu Qing's legs and feet, the girl screamed and hurriedly dragged Xu Qing to the wall of the barn. She reached out and tore off some rags that were stuck to the bloody wounds.

"hiss……"

Xu Qing naturally knew the importance of wound infection and hygienic treatment.

But I really couldn't move my legs just now, so I planned to wait a while before getting up to deal with these things.

But what he didn't expect was that the smart girl he met in the barn actually knew all this and carefully tore off the relatively clean cloth strip on his sleeve and wrapped his knees.

The severe pain made Xu Qing unable to bother to ask about the girl's origins. After the pain from the wound gradually subsided and his mood calmed down a little, he looked up and thanked her.

"Thank you... who are you?"

The children huddled in the corner didn't dare to speak. Only the girl took over the conversation and answered Xu Qing's question.

"They are children that Falun Temple has seized from pilgrims under various pretexts."

Xu Qing frowned slightly. He could understand that the Prince of Dongwan was hiding in Falun Temple, but why did he use the name of the monks of Falun Temple to kidnap these underage children? Seeing that these children were both boys and girls, what did the Prince of Dongwan want to do with them? Did he want to use the children as hostages?

But my aunt doesn’t even care about the children of ministers, so how could she care about the lives of these young children?

Although he didn't understand the intention of the Prince of Dongwan, Xu Qing noticed the loophole in the girl's words.

The other party called them, and looking at the ages of all the children in the barn, this girl looked the oldest, about fifteen or sixteen years old.

"What about you?"

"I came here to investigate."

Although the girl looked a little downcast, her face was full of energy and she didn't look like she was captured at all.

"I heard in the capital that many people's children were missing one after another, so I followed the clues of the investigation and went up the mountain to Falun Temple, hoping to find out the truth about the theft of the children."

"and then?"

“I was caught just as I climbed over the wall.”

Xu Qing raised his eyebrows. He had thought that this girl had some abilities, but now it seemed that she was just a busybody who liked to investigate cases.

"What kind of look is this!"

The girl looked away from Xu Qing, and was very dissatisfied with his indifferent expression. She put her hands on her hips and said, "I just didn't expect these monks to stay up late at night and dig holes in the yard and repair things on the roof..."

When Xu Qing heard this, he realized that when the girl sneaked in, she might have encountered this group of soldiers setting a trap.

No wonder I was captured by the Prince of Dongwan. It seems that the other party has indeed prepared for this moment for a long time and has good intentions.

"Don't worry, my sister knows that I'm gone and will come to rescue me tonight. We will be safe then."

Xu Qing ignored the girl's confident look as she puffed out her chest.

In his opinion, the girl's abilities were insignificant, and the sister she was talking about was probably not much stronger either.

What's more, the Falun Temple is now heavily fortified, with crossbows and elite soldiers patrolling day and night.

Even if the girl's sister was a martial arts master with superb skills, she would probably be deterred by such defense and run away in shame.

Although he didn't take the girl's words seriously, Xu Qing became concerned about another issue.

"Who taught you those methods of bandaging wounds just now?"

“Since elementary school.”

The girl felt strange about Xu Qing's question, because she had lived in Huangling Pass since she was a child and had often seen her parents and sisters coming back with injuries when she was young.

Moreover, similar injuries often occurred during daily training in the military camp and the mansion, so she was already familiar with dealing with such matters.

But in Xu Qing's ears, these words meant the exact opposite.

It seems that this girl and her sister are serious people in the world. They have been struggling in the outside world since they were young, so they are often injured and need to be treated in this way.

After figuring this out, Xu Qing lost interest in continuing the conversation.

Although it was a bit selfish, my own life was the most important thing at the moment. These children were still young and couldn't be of much help. I could only wait until I escaped first and then think of a way to rescue them.

……

"Be patient, be patient..."

In the main hall, Kang Yuwen stretched out his five fingers towards the huge golden Buddha statue and turned his palms upside down.

In a trance, he suddenly felt as if the whole world was in the palm of his hand, with the illusion that clouds could appear with a flip of his hand and rain could fall with a flip of his hand.

"But how long can I endure this kind of life?"

Although Kang Yuwen had witnessed the magical powers of the White Lotus Sect and the ability of those people to appear and disappear at will, what benefit could he gain if he followed the order issued by the Holy Envoy and used Xu Qing to negotiate with the Demon Queen?
Moreover, in Kang Yuwen's impression, the Demon Queen is of the same kind as himself, both of them are ruthless people who are willing to accomplish great things without caring about trivial matters.

After all, in order to ascend to the throne, the other party had tried her best to stand out among the many concubines in the harem, won the favor of the late emperor, killed the late emperor, and supported a puppet emperor to ascend the throne.

But all this is not the end. Even this puppet little emperor is a stepping stone for the evil queen. Everything is prepared for her ambition.

How could such a person care about a nephew from his mother's side?

"Prince of Dongwan."

While Kang Yuwen was staring at the statue with his mind wavering, a ghostly figure suddenly appeared on the skylight of the hall.

The other person was wearing a large black hood and a strange mask. He walked down leisurely, took two steps from the skylight, squatted on the beam, and raised one foot in a black boot high.

"Kang Yuwen pays respect to Kaiyang Xingjun."

"The Prince of Dongwan, who is about to be canonized as an immortal, does not need to perform this great ceremony. Anyone whose name is on the Conferred God List will be equal to the Star Envoy during his lifetime in our Holy Church."

Kaiyang Star Lord spoke a few words with a smile on his face, but the sound he made was hoarse and strange, and sounded sharp and unpleasant to human ears.

"You are too polite, Lord Kaiyang. You are now directly under the command of Envoy Chunsheng, and will soon be canonized on the List of Conferred Gods... With your superb skills, I am afraid that your ranking on the Immortal List will be far higher than mine."

Kang Yuwen's attitude was extremely humble. Firstly, he had to rely on the White Lotus Sect for help as he had fallen from power. Secondly, the abilities of these star gods and holy envoys were truly unfathomable.

Take the Kaiyang Star Lord for example. The foot of the mountain is now blocked by imperial guards, and the entire temple has his own trusted soldiers deployed everywhere, setting up multiple crossbows and traps.

With such a tight defense, not even a fly from outside can fly in. How did Kaiyang Star Lord sneak in?
“Prince of Dongwan, the ranking on our sect’s Conferred God List is based on contribution, not ability… Even if you are an old woman with no strength, as long as you make corresponding contributions, you can be ranked at the top of the Conferred God List, and in the future you can call the shots in the Immortal Court and rule over all living beings.”

Kaiyang Star Lord finished muttering while shaking his head, then tilted his head and asked about the purpose of the trip.

"I heard that you have captured the man of destiny as requested by the Saint?"

"Yes, Her Highness the Saint is very good at predicting things. I have followed the instructions given by the Saint and captured Xu... no, the man of destiny. He is currently in the barn in the backyard, with several trusted men watching over him."

(End of this chapter)