I am the villain in the book

An hour later, sounds of fighting suddenly erupted throughout the Great Feng Imperial Palace. However, these sounds came and went quickly, gradually subsiding in less than half an hour.

Over a hundred Imperial Guards were escorted to the Imperial Palace's secret prison. Simultaneously, dozens of interrogation experts arrived swiftly, commencing their interrogation work immediately.

An hour later, three thousand men, consisting of two thousand Imperial Guards, five hundred watchmen, and five hundred government runners, carrying Bai Youheng's portrait, left the city through the north gate, pursuing the latter's whereabouts throughout the night.

At the same time, two more teams of men left the city through the south gate, carrying secret decrees directly to the Jing'an and Yongjia prefectures, which were the locations of the Yu and Ding families.

An hour and a half later, Fengyuan City, after its commotion, returned to silence once more. The city gates, which had been ordered to be closed by Wei Changtian, were reopened, and the common people continued to evacuate the city.

From the hour of Zi (11 PM - 1 AM) to the hour of Yin (3 AM - 5 AM), the city closure lasted only two hours.

The people of Fengyuan naturally did not know what had happened, nor would they ponder the reasons behind it.

They might never have the opportunity to hear about everything that had just occurred.

But even if they did know, they would probably only treat it as gossip after dinner.

"The Empress having an affair with a general" was indeed exciting, but it was too distant from their own lives.

Compared to that, they probably cared more about whether they had a place to stay tonight, where they could sleep soundly.

In his previous life, Du Mu once used the line "A merchant girl knows nothing of a fallen nation's woes, still singing 'Backyard Flowers' across the river" to satirize the common people's apathy towards national affairs, thereby indirectly mocking the rulers' incompetence.

But in reality, humans are inherently "narrow-minded" creatures, often only caring deeply about what they possess.

The merchant girl singing "Backyard Flowers" doesn't care about the meaning of the lyrics in this decadent tune, only thinking about how much silver she can earn after the song is over.

The people trapped inside the city by Wei Changtian's city closure don't care about what the distant sound of horses' hooves means, only thinking about when they can leave the city.

As for those "benevolent" emperors and great figures, perhaps the reason they care so much about how the world is, is only because they have already regarded this "world" as something in their grasp.

Thinking about it this way, the essence of people's "ambitions" is actually no different.

The only difference is how much you possess.

The weight of a chicken in the heart of a tenant farmer is probably not much different from the weight of a city in the heart of an emperor.

And for Li Qi, Yu Pingjun was, in fact, just such a "chicken" to him.

Compared to a mere "city," he certainly cared more about the vast land of the Great Feng.

Therefore, when he truly calmed down, he had already stopped dwelling on whether he should have killed Yu Pingjun earlier.

Wei Changtian was right, she couldn't die yet.

However...

Standing upright in the dimly lit Tianlu Hall, Li Qi looked up at the crescent moon that had already set in the west, a look of pain once again surfacing on his face.

The height of summer had passed, early autumn was approaching, and the evening breeze was no longer as warm as before.

Clearly, everything was still unchanged during the day.

He was still in the Tianlu Hall reviewing memorials, and the gentle woman was still by his side, offering tea and grinding ink.

Alas.

Feeling human, everything comes to autumn, all shaking down.

The hour of Mao (5 AM - 7 AM).

When Wei Changtian and Chu Xianping returned to the Princess's residence with serious expressions, the sky was already slightly bright.

They had interrogated Ding Zhong and Yu Pingjun all night, but had not obtained any useful information.

The fact that Bai Youheng had already run away had long been extracted from the Imperial Guards guarding the secret passage, as for anything else...

Ding Zhong was unaware, while Yu Pingjun, who was aware, was insane, speaking incoherently. Even with Chu Xianping present, they still couldn't get any sense out of her.

Since they hadn't gotten anything out of them for the time being, Wei Changtian couldn't keep wasting time there.

So he prepared to return to rest for a while, and also to discuss countermeasures with Chu Xianping, before going back to continue the interrogation tonight.

"Brother Chu, do you think Yama might really not be dead?"

Sitting at the table, Wei Changtian rubbed his forehead and asked, "Otherwise, what is Bai Youheng trying to do by coming back this time?"

"From entering to leaving, it was only a little over an hour. I estimate he didn't even leave the Imperial Palace."

"If it was just to deliver a message or something, it shouldn't have been this troublesome."

"Yes."

Chu Xianping held a positive attitude towards Wei Changtian's guess: "Young Master, I also think Yama may not be dead."

"Yama originally couldn't leave the territory of Fengyuan City, but I estimate he could be taken out of the city by Bai Youheng."

"If not, Bai Youheng really had no need to enter the city at such great risk."

"As for where he wants to take Yama..."

Chu Xianping frowned, seemingly lost in thought.

Wei Changtian naturally wouldn't disturb his thinking, but someone outside the door didn't care about that.

"Young Master Wei, Young Master Chu, you're finally back!"

A graceful figure hurriedly ran along the bluestone path in the courtyard, it was Li Wutong, who hadn't slept all night.

Seeing this "daughter of the Empress" again after the incident of catching the affair, Wei Changtian's expression couldn't help but become somewhat complicated, and he didn't know whether to feel happy or sad for Li Wutong.

Thinking positively, Yu Pingjun was not really her birth mother.

Thinking negatively, Li Wutong herself didn't know.

Because he was busy interrogating people, Wei Changtian hadn't had time to ask Li Qi how to deal with Li Wutong, so for now, he had to temporarily conceal the events of tonight.

"Cough, Princess."

Waiting for Li Wutong to run up to him with "da da da" sounds, Wei Changtian casually joked, "Don't you sleep in the middle of the night?

"Middle of the night? It's clearly already morning."

Li Wutong muttered in a low voice, and then eagerly asked, "What happened last night? Why did several groups of people leave the city?

"Oh, we discovered Bai Youheng's trail yesterday."

Wei Changtian told half the truth: "So I went to talk to the Emperor about it and asked him to send people to chase after him."

"I see."

Li Wutong didn't know much about Bai Youheng's affairs, so she didn't ask any more questions now, nodded, and then blinked her eyes at Chu Xianping, looking like she wanted to say something but hesitated.

The latter knew that she had something to say to Wei Changtian alone, so he immediately excused himself and left with great tact.

Wei Changtian didn't stop him, only slowly said after Chu Xianping had walked far away: "Princess, I haven't slept all night, I'm a little tired."

"If you have something to say, say it quickly. I'm going to sleep after you're done."

"Oh, oh."

Seeing that Wei Changtian's face did have some fatigue, Li Wutong didn't act willfully.

Her face flushed red as she quickly took out an ugly sachet from her arms, quickly placed it in front of Wei Changtian, and then quickly took a few steps back, as if the sachet was a time bomb.

"."

???

Wait, do princesses all love to embroider sachets??

Even the embroidered characters are the same??

Looking at the crooked "Peace" characters on the small sachet, Wei Changtian subconsciously thought of the one Ning Yuke had given him before.

But that one had already been returned by him, as for this one...

"Did you embroider this?"

Picking up the sachet, Wei Changtian smacked his lips and said, "Isn't it a bit too ugly?"

"I, I..."

Unexpectedly, Li Wutong didn't become angry after hearing this great truth, but instead explained in a somewhat embarrassed voice, "It is a bit ugly."

"But I only learned for three days, it's already good enough that I could embroider it..."

"I, I'll embroider a better-looking one for you later..."

"Forget it."

Wei Changtian curled his lips: "This thing requires talent, you're not made of the right material."

"Who, who says I'm not!"

Hearing Wei Changtian's disbelief in her, Li Wutong immediately became anxious: "My mother was very good at needlework, I definitely can too."

"The robe on my body was newly made for me by my mother, I can also make one for you when I learn..."

"."

The voice went from loud to soft, and Li Wutong's last half sentence had almost reached the point of "silence is better than sound."

And Wei Changtian was stunned at this moment, but not because of the latter's "true confession."

He silently looked at the exquisite crimson dress robe on Li Wutong's body again, and suddenly shook his head and said:

"Change this clothes tomorrow."

"It doesn't suit you."