Chapter 155

"Just as Prince Jin has said, within half an hour, this Palace will surely find Prince Chaolan in the back garden!"

"Your Highness the Crown Prince, you truly value my ex-wife!" Dongfang Yan emphasized the two words "ex-wife."

"She has saved this Palace's life; this Palace will not be ungrateful!" Dongfang Qi coldly dropped this sentence and stepped into the back garden without the slightest hesitation. He was gambling with his position as Crown Prince and his own reputation, determined to protect her safety.

Dongfang Yan was suddenly stunned: What did he mean by that? "Do not be ungrateful"? Was he pointing at the mulberry tree while cursing the locust tree? Or did he feel his own behavior was very noble?

Dongfang Qi followed the small path of the back garden, walking and stopping along the way.

Finally, he stopped beside a flower bed and ordered, "Come here, dig!"

The guards behind him immediately rushed out and began digging downward regardless of anything else.

Seeing this, Li Xiu felt a jolt of terror: "They actually found the location of the underground space! It seems the Crown Prince really has some tricks up his sleeve; no wonder he dared to gamble his future!"

However, Li Xiu quickly calmed down. Even if they found it, so what? I can still easily move the people in that underground space away! This is the convenience of magic arts!

He quietly retreated from the crowd, and in a place where others could not see, he pinched his fingers to form a seal, finally shouting in a low voice: "Heaven and Earth reverse, shifting and unpredictable! Change!"

A cold, sinister smile curled his lips: Now just keep digging. I guarantee that apart from mud and stones, you won't dig up anything at all!

The guards had already dug more than half a person's depth, and indeed, they had dug up quite a lot of mud and stones.

Li Xiu stood with his hands behind his back, smugly saying, "Your Highness, do you need the people from the Guogong Mansion to help you? You've dug for a long time and only opened up this small patch; I'm afraid you won't be able to dig much in half an hour. With a few more people, we could dig a few more acres of land, and later we can just plant a peony garden and invite the Crown Prince to enjoy the flowers next year."

Dongfang Yan mocked, "If the Crown Prince loses this bet and resigns in disgrace, he won't be able to be called Crown Prince next year!"

Dongfang Qi ignored the others and just focused on watching the flower bed being dug deeper and deeper.

At this moment, under the watchful eyes of everyone, a guard dug a small locked box out of the soil and presented it to Dongfang Qi.

Dongfang Qi did not take it and said, "This Palace is only here to find someone. Any items dug up here belong to the Guogong Mansion. Give the item to Second Master Li."

Thus, the guard sent the box that had been dug up to Li Xiu.

Li Xiu took the box and still felt it was strange: "Who buried this here? Looking at the texture of the box, it should be fine rosewood. Could it be that a servant in the mansion had sticky fingers and stole something to bury here? Regardless of what it is, take it away first."

Before Li Xiu could hand the item to his subordinates, someone suddenly shouted, "Your Highness, it's really been found!"

Then, with a loud boom, the place being excavated suddenly collapsed downward, revealing a pitch-black hole.

Looking down from the opening, one could see that the space below was very large, like a cellar.

Two women were lying motionless below, seemingly having fallen into a coma.

The light fell, revealing their appearance; it was indeed Lin Qingyue and Hong Yao.

"Prince Chaolan, Chaolan!" Dongfang Qi lay by the hole and called out twice, but heard no response.

Dongfang Yan stepped forward quickly, wanting to check if it was Lin Qingyue inside. Just as he was about to lean his head in, he was bumped by Dongfang Qi, who was just rising, and fell to the ground.

Dongfang Qi snatched the shovel from the guard's hand and, after a few strokes, made the hole larger.

Seeing that the hole was large enough for a person to pass through, he dropped the shovel and jumped down.

"Yueyue!" In his anxiety, Dongfang Qi couldn't help but call out her nickname.

Lin Qingyue's eyes remained tightly closed, and her complexion was still somewhat pale.

Dongfang Qi's heart was tightly gripped: Wasn't it said there was nothing wrong? Why was she in a coma, and why did it look so serious?

At this moment, one of Lin Qingyue's eyes suddenly opened, but after an instant, it closed again.

Faking it?

Although the two had reached a tacit understanding through the Twin Resonance Talisman earlier and knew she would be fine, only when he held her in his arms did he feel completely relieved.

He didn't care about the separation of men and women; he held Lin Qingyue and leaped, jumping out of the pit that was at least two people high.

He ordered his guards, "There is one more person below, save her quickly!"

When Dongfang Yan saw Lin Qingyue being rescued, his first feeling was regret: It was so close to making the Crown Prince lose his position as heir; what a pity!

At the same time, he couldn't help but use his eyes to question Li Xiu: "Weren't you very confident? How did he find the person so easily?"

Li Xiu was completely bewildered at this moment:

How could my spatial magic fail? Logically speaking, nothing should have been diggable down there at all? Why weren't they transferred away?

And that fox demon, she had already lost her demon pill; even if she didn't die immediately, it would be impossible for her to turn back into human form. What on earth was going on?

Unfortunately, he forgot what it meant to have "heavens beyond heavens, and people beyond people"!

In his view, that obscure and difficult spatial magic, which he had spent many years researching, was simply not worth mentioning in Lin Qingyue's eyes.

By casually destroying the array eye, she could make his spatial magic fail, rendering it unable to move even a fraction.

Lin Qingyue woke up faintly in Dongfang Qi's arms and said in a tone of having survived a disaster, "It is fortunate that the Crown Prince came to save me, otherwise this Prince would surely have buried my bones in the Guogong Mansion today!"

Only then did Dongfang Yan remember to care about Lin Qingyue's safety, asking, "Qingyue, how do you feel? Where are you uncomfortable?"

Seeing her still nestled in Dongfang Qi's arms, a wave of jealousy immediately rose within him.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince, please show some self-respect. This Prince's Princess Consort should be cared for by this Prince himself!"

As he spoke, he reached out to hold Lin Qingyue, but Dongfang Qi dodged him by turning to the side: "She has already divorced you; you are the one who should show some self-respect!"

Lin Qingyue was preparing to get up from the Crown Prince's arms, but she heard Dongfang Qi say in her ear, "The play isn't over yet, cooperate!"

Thus, Lin Qingyue rolled her eyes and fainted again. She had quite a bit of acting talent.

Next, Dongfang Qi began to hold them accountable: "Prince Chaolan was properly escorting this Palace to the Guogong Mansion to visit the sick, so how could she be locked in an underground hole? The Li family should give an explanation, right? And Li Xiu, you should also fulfill the bet from just now and pay with your life!"

Li Xiu trembled all over, his legs shaking: "Your Highness, that was just a joke, a joke..."

Dongfang Qi said, "A gentleman's agreement is worth its weight in gold. You wouldn't want to break your promise just because you are from the Li family, would you?"

"What is going on? Cough, cough..." Accompanied by a series of coughs, Li Guogong was seen being carried into the back garden by a servant in a sedan chair.

He was feigning illness in bed and was not fit to show his face, but he had been secretly watching every move here.

Originally, he wanted to take this opportunity to give Dongfang Qi a hard time to avenge his son's death.

He didn't expect that not only did he fail to avenge his son, but he almost cost his younger brother his life as well.

Li Guogong could no longer lie down; he had to brazenly come out to clean up the mess while still pretending to be ill.