Chapter 549: This dog's life isn't worth a penny!

Qingyangzi personally held the lamp, whispering: "Your Highness, that person is down below."

"Fortunately, the lady hit his vital point that day, allowing him to feign death and escape."

"They killed three, and that night they sent the person over."

"The person has been saved now, but he's not easy to fool."

Duan Rongshi: "Let's go, let's meet this heir of Marquis Weiwu."

They went down into the underground passage.

Qingyangzi walked in the lead.

Duan Rongshi brought up the rear.

Li Qinglo looked at both sides of the passage and saw that the walls were inscribed with Sanskrit Buddhist sutras; surely this passage was left behind by that eminent monk of old.

The heir of Marquis Weiwu lay in the innermost part.

In the pitch darkness a lamp suddenly appeared; he had been lying on the bed with a dead‑pan face, but upon seeing the light he abruptly turned his head and covered his face.

Until Duan Rongshi and the three of them walked past.

Duan Rongshi: "If you don't want to live anymore, I can let you perish here on your own."

Hearing that voice, the heir of Marquis Weiwu snapped his head around.

"Is it you?"

The heir of Marquis Weiwu, named Wei Zhaolie, had practiced martial arts since childhood at the border under Marquis Weiwu; he possessed extraordinary martial talent and was a rare fine general and genius of the Great Chu state.

Had it not been for the Marquis Weiwu manor being feared by the Chu emperor, he ought to have been a youthful general, a heaven‑favored prodigy.

His future was limitless, and he was also a hero who could one day succeed Marquis Weiwu in defending the home and country for Great Chu.

Unfortunately, a desperate counterattack utterly crushed him.

At this moment, Wei Zhaolie lay on the bed, utterly like a cripple.

His eyes were dull, and he refused to move.

"It's actually you who saved me."

"Why did you save me?"

"Aren't you just a dog in front of Zongzheng Langri?"

"And you, you two actually know each other? Ha, haha, hahaha..."

"Does the Chu emperor know, or not, that you two were actually in league?"

Duan Rongshi: "Whether he knows or not, what does it matter?"

"Now that I've saved your life, I can also treat you as merely a dog."

"If you still want to live, then struggle and get up on your own."

"If you don't want to live, then rot here."

"Just treat your dog's life as worthless."

Wei Zhaolie felt a flash of annoyance and hatred at being so humiliatingly berated.

"You!"

He lifted his head to look at Duan Rongshi.

"Then why are you helping a tyrant do evil?"

"You also saw that night how this dog‑emperor is daily cruel and inhumane."

"My father guarded the border for thirty years, yet he trampled him like an old shoe!"

"My father and I are willing to live and die in loyalty to Great Chu, but we refuse to serve this tyrant any longer!"

"If you save me, that shows you still have a shred of conscience—so why then help him kill my father and me!?"

Duan Rongshi: "I don't kill—would you have won that night if I hadn't?"

"You father and son were already impulsive."

"Originally, the Marquis Weiwu manor still had a chance to save most of the people, but you picked a bad moment to try a desperate all‑out fight."

"The result was that both jade and stone were burned together."

Wei Zhaolie's face turned as white as paper.

He thought of the endless stream of Imperial Forest Army troops behind the Chu emperor.

He thought of the archers who had long been hidden in his retinue.

He thought of how the Chu emperor, in order to shoot down his father, did not even spare the lives of his own two sons—such ruthlessness!

"It's me… it's all me."

"If it weren't for my impulsiveness that day, my father wouldn't have joined me in rising up in revolt..."

"It's me who killed our Wei clan's nine relations!!"

Wei Zhaolie hoarsely cried out in anguish: "I ought to be the one to die! Why won't you let me die——"

"Ha, hahaha..."

"What point is there in me alone living?"

"Ha, hahaha..."

"You all go."

"Just let me rot completely in this dark underground, like a pool of putrid mud—I deserve to die, I am the one who most deserves to die!!"

Li Qingluo: "If you die, what about your mother, your concubine‑born younger sister, and your younger brother—how will they fare?"

Wei Zhaolie's pupils clenched tightly.

He incredulously lifted his head to look at Li Qingluo.

"You, you, what did you say?"

Li Qingluo: "Your grandmother, to protect those three, sternly and resolutely set fire herself, burning herself and the whole courtyard."

"My people, I could only save this few."

"But after all, they are still hoping you can return alive to lead them out of the abyss."

"Lead them to rally again, to leave the last bloodline for your Wei family."

"If you die, they are as good as dead together with you."

Wei Zhaolie struggled to sit up, then suddenly rolled over and fell from the bed.

Qingyangzi still wanted to go forward to help him, but was shoved away by Wei Zhaolie himself.

He turned and bowed deeply to Li Qingluo and Duan Rongshi.

"If it's true, I, Wei Zhaolie, will repay you with my life."

"Just..."

He spoke, then holding his chest, slowly crawled up, lifted his head, looking weakly at the man and woman before him, his face filled with deep doubt.

"Why are you doing this?"

"What exactly do you want to get from me...?"

Duan Rongshi: "It's just a loyal and brave family; they shouldn't have received such an unjust fate."

"Wei Shaizi doesn't need to think so much."

"If you want to live, then struggle to survive on your own."

"If you want to take revenge, you must walk that path yourself."

After saying that, Duan Rongshi took Li Qingluo and left the underground passage.

Qingyangzi looked back deeply at Wei Zhaolie, then turned and followed.

After coming out, Duan Rongshi instructed Qingyangzi: "Watch him, don't let him really die."

"If he wants to leave, as long as he won't die again, let him go."

Qingyangzi: "Your Highness, do you intend to reuse this person in the future?"

Duan Rongshi: "No one will know about the future."

The next day, Li Qingluo and Duan Rongshi only returned to the city slowly after the city gate opened.

He didn't even return home before heading straight to the palace to attend court.

After another two days, Duan Rongshi set off together with Yang Qilang and Zhang Tingji, the three of them leaving Nan'an.

Duan Rongshi only brought Leng Dian and another guard from the Prince Su's mansion to serve as his attendants.

Zhui Yu was still nursing his injuries, so he was left behind in Nan'an this time.

In a flash, three months passed in the blink of an eye.

During this period, even the Spring Festival passed by cold and desolate.

No grandmother, no master, and not even Duan Rongshi.

Li Qingluo herself brought Zheng Mama, Que'er, the assassins, and the rest of the household, spending a not-so-lively New Year.

Fortunately, after the year passed, spring arrived.

Li Qingluo counted the days; tomorrow would be the March deadline.

Duan Rongshi and his party had not returned.

During this period, she had also only received three letters from him.

The last letter was still from half a month ago.

The time of writing was even a month earlier.

It seems their matter did not go smoothly.

He would certainly not really disturb the mother consort's tomb.

But how could he hide the truth from Yang Qilang and Zhang Tingji?

Li Qingluo also didn't know what he would end up doing.

That night, an imperial edict arrived at the Nan Gong Fu.

It was an edict summoning Li Qingluo to enter the palace.

"Lady Li, the Seventh Princess has recently fallen ill. His Majesty, hearing that you two are on good terms, wishes to invite you into the palace to keep the Seventh Princess company."

"Lady Li, please?"

Ha, what's with accompanying the princess?

Li Qingluo knew it was merely a pretext.

If Duan Rongshi's mission goes awry, the Chu Emperor, that madman, will surely take his wife—that is, me—as a hostage.

So this trip into the palace is certainly not a good thing.