144. Braving the Imperial Mausoleum

Chen Rui was somewhat angry, but if he did not rely on Le Qianxue to save him, Yang Ning'er would certainly have butchered him.

He had no choice but to keep his mouth shut.

Yang Ning'er snorted. Haoyue was Zhan Lianjing's person; she had killed people in the imperial palace before and was quite arrogant. Naturally, Yang Ning'er was afraid that Haoyue might kill her.

At this point, Yang Ning'er already spoke up: "I don't even want that tael of silver anymore. You can just have this good-for-nothing."

Le Qianxue raised her eyebrows; she couldn't ask for anything better.

Only upon receiving Le Qianxue's command did Haoyue release Yang Ning'er.

Yang Ning'er said, "Don't think you can be so arrogant just because Prince Zhan is backing you. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince won't let you off, and neither will my father."

Le Qianxue smiled, unconcerned. Matters had already reached this point, and she couldn't be bothered to care about the expressions of Yu Guohan and Prime Minister Yang.

After Yang Ning'er left, Le Qianxue had someone draft a deed of indenture and made Chen Rui press his thumbprint on it.

"I won't do it," Chen Rui said.

Le Qianxue calmly replied, "I'm telling you, your life was saved by me. If you walk out of this place right now without me backing you up, Yang Ning'er will definitely kill you."

Chen Rui's face turned ashen, filled with deep regret. He never expected to be reduced to such a plight.

He pleaded, "Miss Le, I beg you to let me go."

"Let you go? I saw you kicking down the doors of other medical halls earlier, and you seemed quite pleased with yourself. You had the guts back then, why don't you have them now? Sign this deed of indenture and stay here to practice medicine. I won't short you on a single coin," Le Qianxue said.

Chen Rui was stunned, not expecting Le Qianxue's demand to be so simple.

Still finding it hard to believe, he asked, "Really?"

Haoyue said, "My master naturally keeps her word."

With that, Chen Rui finally signed the indenture and became the resident physician here.

After a whole day of such turmoil, Le Qianxue was tired. However, in just a single day, the commoner's medical hall had already made a name for itself.

By early evening, Zhan Lianjing had finally finished handling his official duties and came to pick up Le Qianxue.

After the two finished dinner, Zhan Lianjing learned about today's events and remarked, "Yang Ning'er is probably harboring a deep grudge, especially since Yu Guohan previously wanted to make you the Crown Princess."

"Why bother with her? I wouldn't pay her any mind anyway. Besides, with Mu Qingyu around, the two of them probably won't have much spare time," Le Qianxue said.

Zhan Lianjing raised an eyebrow. "What you just said actually gives me a good idea."

Le Qianxue was startled. "What idea?"

Zhan Lianjing replied, "You'll know in a couple of days."

Knowing that he always loved keeping people in suspense, Le Qianxue stopped asking further.

Shortly after, Le Qianxue brought up the matter of the imperial mausoleum, causing Zhan Lianjing to furrow his brows in disbelief.

"The old emperor has truly lost his mind," Zhan Lianjing said. "If the people of the world find out about this, the Yu imperial family will completely lose face."

Le Qianxue said, "The problem is that this concerns my mother. If she were truly buried alongside him, it would be a grave disrespect to her."

"Does General Le know?"

"I didn't dare tell him. He has always endured much, and sometimes his mood grows very gloomy because the emperor was the one who caused my mother's death. He wants to exact revenge, but is currently powerless. If he finds out about this, I'm afraid he won't be able to control himself."

"Then the best course of action right now is for you and me to go and retrieve your mother's corpse without letting General Le find out," Zhan Lianjing said.

Le Qianxue nodded. "That's what I was thinking too."

Zhan Lianjing said, "Then this matter should not be delayed. I'll have people scout ahead and make arrangements as soon as possible."

"I'm going too," Le Qianxue said with a solemn expression. "I must go. I will protect myself."

Zhan Lianjing was initially reluctant to let her take such a risk, but with her going, there would be one more person to look after, and she wouldn't have to fear any poisons.

He nodded. "Very well, that's settled."

Since Le Qianxue was going, her martial arts certainly couldn't be too poor. Zhan Lianjing casually taught her a set of sword techniques that flowed like moving clouds and flowing water, infinitely versatile.

Le Qianxue only managed to master thirty percent of it in a single night, but that was already quite good.

After preparing for two days, Zhan Lianjing had already figured out the situation inside the imperial mausoleum.

He informed Le Qianxue that they would head to the mausoleum that night. On that very day, news spread that the Crown Prince's concubine, Mu Qingyu, was pregnant.

Le Qianxue reacted immediately. Needless to say, this must have been Zhan Lianjing's doing. He was truly ruthless, making two women fight each other so that she could enjoy some peace and quiet. Yang Ning'er should no longer have the energy to bother her.

That night, Le Qianxue and Zhan Lianjing secretly slipped out of the city.

Zhan Lianjing also brought Haoyue and Zhuixing, both of whom possessed formidable martial arts skills.

It took some time to reach the imperial mausoleum. Traveling through the deep night dew, they stopped when they were within a kilometer of the site.

The imperial mausoleum housed the emperors and empresses of past dynasties. Once buried, the tombs were completely sealed. Only the late empress had been buried in the old emperor's mausoleum so far, and after the emperor lived out his days, he would be lifted inside and sealed up as well.

Therefore, the imperial mausoleum was guarded by troops who served by imperial decree.

Recently, the number of guards had increased significantly. If Le Qianxue hadn't mentioned it, Zhan Lianjing wouldn't have sent people to investigate, and indeed, security had become much stricter.

Despite the tight security, Zhan Lianjing had already made preparations. Taking advantage of the soldiers' shift change, he knocked out several guards, put on their uniforms, and sneaked inside.

Having obtained the map of the mausoleum, Zhan Lianjing examined it and said, "Most of the mausoleum has been renovated, but there are still craftsmen working through the night. We must move quickly before we are discovered."

The group moved swiftly. Although the mausoleum had many traps, since it hadn't been completely sealed yet, the mechanisms hadn't been activated.

"Halt!" A soldier commander up ahead stopped them. "What are you doing here? Why are you heading toward the main chamber?"

Zhan Lianjing was in the lead. They had already put on human-skin masks, making their appearances completely ordinary, and Le Qianxue was dressed in a eunuch's uniform. She raised her voice and said, "General, I was sent by Eunuch Chen. His Majesty had a dream about the late empress tonight and felt uneasy in his heart, so he sent me to offer sacrifices."

With that, she flashed a token, which was naturally fake, though it was barely distinguishable in the dim environment.

The soldier was somewhat slow-witted and didn't suspect anything, hastily saying, "So that's how it is. This way, Eunuch. I happen to be guarding the main chamber."

Hearing this, Le Qianxue was overjoyed and said, "Then I must trouble the General."

With someone leading the way, their path was completely unobstructed, and they had no fear of being stopped.

There were indeed many guards stationed throughout the mausoleum. Periodically, patrolling guards could be seen, their steady footsteps indicating that their martial arts skills were certainly not weak.

By this time, the main chamber was already close at hand, but a large number of soldiers were stationed there as well.

Zhan Lianjing whispered to her, "There are too many people."

Le Qianxue nodded slightly. Operating under these conditions was indeed inconvenient.

Zhuixing and Haoyue had already stopped near the mechanism controls. She and Zhan Lianjing walked up to the entrance of the main chamber. The guarding general glanced at her and demanded, "His Majesty sent you? Where is the token?"

Le Qianxue took it out, but the general merely glanced at it before throwing it to the ground. "This is a fake! Capture them!"

In an instant, Zhuixing and Haoyue triggered the mechanisms, causing a massive boulder to fall and block the passage.

Le Qianxue quickly scattered a cloud of medicinal powder, instantly subduing the guards. Zhan Lianjing began a fierce slaughter, cutting down several men with a single sweep of his sword.

How could these guards possibly be a match for Zhan Lianjing? In a short moment, aided by Haoyue and Zhuixing, the area was cleared.

Le Qianxue walked inside and saw that the main chamber was enormous, containing two outer coffins. One of them was already sealed, with a spirit tablet bearing the inscription "Empress Ronghui."

Zhan Lianjing asked, "Shall we open the coffin?"

Haoyue inquired, "Your Highness, more than ten years have passed. Will she still be recognizable?"

Zhan Lianjing nodded. "Yes."

At this point, Zhan Lianjing and Zhuixing worked together to push open the stone coffin.

The moment the stone coffin shifted even slightly, a strange sound echoed from the stone walls.

Le Qianxue quickly warned, "Wait! There might be a trap."

Zhan Lianjing looked around and realized that triggering the mechanism after moving the massive boulder was normal.

He instructed, "Zhuixing, keep watch."

Zhan Lianjing looked closely, then leaped into the air and swung his sword. Several decorative objects fell, accompanied by a shower of hidden arrows.

Le Qianxue paused, then watched as Zhan Lianjing struck out with his palm, directly prying open the lid of the stone coffin.

A wave of chilling frost instantly billowed out.

Both Haoyue and Le Qianxue shivered from the cold.

Simultaneously, the concealed mechanisms on the stone walls were triggered, and numerous crossbow bolts rained down. However, Zhuixing and Zhan Lianjing deflected them, keeping everyone safe for the moment.

Only then did Le Qianxue walk over. The interior of the stone coffin was lined with cold jade. Before she could even see the face of the corpse, she noticed that the hands showed no signs of decay whatsoever and were still fair and tender.

Le Qianxue was stunned. Could it be that the corpse hadn't decomposed because of the cold jade?

She stepped closer to get a clear look.

The person lying inside looked as if she were merely in a deep sleep; her skin remained smooth, and her facial features...

Even Haoyue was stunned, murmuring, "She looks quite a bit like Miss Le."

Zhan Lianjing glanced at her and said, "This is Tong Xianxian. Indeed, it is her."

A heavy tightness gripped Le Qianxue's chest. The old emperor had truly done such a thing; he was utterly despicable.

Even with only fragmented memories, she remembered that this was her mother.

Panting, she asked, "What should we do now?"

Zhan Lianjing replied, "The map indicates there is a secret passage leading out, specially left behind by the craftsmen. We will take the corpse and leave through there."

"Your Highness, did you know from the very beginning that Tong Xianxian's corpse wouldn't decompose?" Haoyue asked curiously.

...

(Tianjin)