Chapter 214

Li Miao, holding Princess Si Rou, walked into the palace gate with Zhu Zai. After verifying their identities, they followed a young eunuch and walked toward the depths of the palace.

The Forbidden City covers nearly a thousand acres and is extremely vast. Halls stand in great numbers, and each hall has its specific use. Many times, officials who are well-versed in palace rules can roughly guess the Emperor's thoughts just by the location of their audience with the Emperor.

And the banquets held in the Forbidden City naturally have their own rules.

For example, the Fengtian Hall, Huagai Hall, and Jinshen Hall are mainly used for major ceremonies; banquets are generally held in these places only during the three major festivals of New Year's Day, the Winter Solstice, and the Longevity Festival, when officials gather and the imperial clan arrives, which is spectacular.

For example, the Wenhua Hall is generally used for imperial clan lectures or banquets after the classics, common when the Crown Prince or princes enter the palace to listen to government affairs.

And this family banquet is in the Qianqing Palace.

This is the Emperor's residence, and being able to participate in a banquet here is a way for the Emperor to show favor.

The clan members following Li Miao and Zhu Zai were not favored, and it was clearly their first time coming to the Qianqing Palace, so they were all flushed with excitement.

Li Miao laughed softly.

"Commander, look at those fools of your family behind you; they're still happy."

Zhu Zai glared at Li Miao.

"We are in the palace now, and there are eyes and ears everywhere. Restrain your temperament and don't talk nonsense."

"Fine, fine."

Li Miao smiled, then lowered his voice and said.

"Speaking of which, Commander, we have figured out the purpose of this family banquet; it is to set a trap for the Jianwen Emperor."

"But, there is one more thing, I don't know if you have thought about it."

Zhu Zai turned to look at Li Miao.

"What is it?"

"The Jianwen Emperor is not only your ancestor of eight generations, but also the Emperor's ancestor of eight generations."

"I don't know what evil art the Jianwen Emperor practiced, but he caught you Zhu family members and gnawed on you like pig's trotters; but it's not guaranteed that our Emperor doesn't have a taste for this too..."

Li Miao took Princess Si Rou's hand and pretended to take a bite, scaring the little girl into shrinking into Li Miao's arms.

Zhu Zai's face turned pale, and he hurriedly said in a low voice.

"Haven't you already found out that he was possessed by Ji Tianrui and used Gu insects to seize the Heaven-Man Realm?"

Li Miao spread his hands.

"I only found Gu insects in his grave; I didn't say Ji Tianrui definitely succeeded."

"Commander, what I told you is that the Emperor 'might' have been swapped, 'might'."

Li Miao said with a light laugh.

"And the Miao King's Gu insect doesn't really swap people. The person is still that person, and they remember everything they should remember; it's just that the things they care about have changed."

In the pupa room of the Miao border, Li Miao saw very clearly how Ge Puqi, who had been transformed into the Miao King by Gu insects, treated Yong Jie.

She still remembered the terms of endearment when she was with Yong Jie, and could easily act out the way she loved Yong Jie back then; she knew everything related to Yong Jie clearly.

She just—didn't care anymore.

There are countless people in Shuntian Prefecture who live by guessing the Emperor's thoughts, and the slightest change would be pondered over and over. If Ji Tianrui was the kind of possession where a soul travels, I fear he would have been discovered within three days.

"If the Emperor already knew about the Jianwen Emperor's evil art, even if he were swapped by Ji Tianrui, he would still remember it. If he weren't swapped, it goes without saying."

"It's not guaranteed that you are one of the main courses at this family banquet..."

Li Miao lowered his voice and said sinisterly.

"This guard of mine can't get into the Qianqing Palace. If the Emperor wants to eat you, I won't be able to save you in time..."

Zhu Zai shuddered abruptly and lowered his voice.

"Why didn't you say so earlier!?"

"I just thought of it too."

Li Miao said with a smile.

Zhu Zai knew Li Miao too well, and seeing his lazy appearance, he knew he was teasing him again. If he were really in danger, Li Miao wouldn't have such an indifferent attitude.

He stopped talking and just squinted at Li Miao.

Seeing that Zhu Zai had noticed, Li Miao stopped teasing the old man.

He reached out and handed Princess Si Rou to Zhu Zai, slowed his pace, and fell to the back of the clan members.

He stepped on the corners covered by shadows and the blind spots of the clan members' vision; this was also a school of light-body technique he created himself, called "Shadow-Covering Step."

Used at this time, not a single person discovered that he had already reached behind the crowd.

Li Miao picked among the few clan members, chose one of similar stature, and raised his finger to point at the side of his neck.

That person didn't make a sound, and his figure immediately went limp.

Li Miao stepped forward to catch him and raised his hand to press on that person's face.

In a moment, the bones and muscles of that person's face shifted, becoming Li Miao's current appearance. Li Miao wiped his own face and became his appearance.

Then he tore off the outer robe and swapped their clothes. Li Miao looked himself up and down and nodded with satisfaction.

He cleared his throat and shouted in surprise.

"Oh my, what happened to you!"

The crowd in front turned their heads at the sound, and seeing Li Miao supporting the man with an anxious face, they also gathered around one after another.

Zhu Zai walked over, reached out to pinch the man's pulse, and pretended to be checking him.

After a while, he stood up and said coldly.

"Hmph, this guard of mine is truly useless; he was actually so frightened by what just happened that his mind was disturbed, and he suffered a Qi deviation and fainted."

"This eunuch, I'll trouble you to find someone to send him back to my mansion."

The young eunuch nodded in agreement and called someone to carry him away.

The rest of the crowd then continued to walk toward the Qianqing Palace.

And Zhu Zai, using the excuse of "this guard of mine has caused you trouble," chatted with Li Miao for a few sentences and walked together again.

Li Miao took Princess Si Rou and said a few words in his original voice; although the little girl didn't know what was going on, hearing the familiar voice, she stopped struggling.

"How about it, Commander? Not afraid anymore, right?"

Li Miao said with a light laugh.

"Hmph!"

Zhu Zai snorted coldly.

"What about that clan member? It'll be trouble when he wakes up."

"Pah, we are the Embroidered Uniform Guard, after all."

Li Miao said.

"Find him something to do, lock him up for a few days, serve him good wine and food, and let him out when the matter is settled. I assume his relatives and friends wouldn't dare come to the Embroidered Uniform Guard to demand a person."

Zhu Zai let out a long sigh.

"Let it be so; it's not like this bit of trouble makes a difference."

As the two were talking, they finally arrived outside the Qianqing Palace.

Just as they entered the door, a young woman walked over quickly, looked around, and seeing Princess Si Rou in Li Miao's arms, tears welled up in her eyes.

"Sister!"

Seeing her, Princess Si Rou couldn't help but cry out as well.

Zhu Zai secretly poked Li Miao's waist and said in a low voice.

"Is this your lover?"

"One of them."

Li Miao also said in a low voice.

"Get to know her; in the future, when I walk the Jianghu, I'll have to trouble you to help me look after her."

(End of chapter)