A life of two souls traveling through time

Chapter 167: Eventually, we will become enemies

In the study room of Prince Xian's mansion in Fengling City, Li Xu looked at the imperial edict in his hand and sneered:

Recently, the late emperor has appeared in my dreams and I have been unable to sleep at night. I often think about the past and the brotherly love between me and my younger brother. Therefore, I have summoned Prince Xian to return to the capital so that the brothers can be reunited and my concern for my younger brother can be relieved.

My royal brother, oh my royal brother, in order to capture me, you have learned to say such insincere words?

"Your Highness, the governor of Yuanzhou found the body of the messenger at the bottom of the cliff, but it had been bitten to pieces by wild beasts." Chen Ming at the window replied to Li Xu.

"Well, have those robbers been dealt with?" Li Xu put away the imperial edict in his hand, turned back to the desk and continued asking.

"Leave no one behind and wait for the governor of Yuanzhou to collect the bodies."

"I hope my royal brother hasn't reacted yet, so we can delay this a little while longer." Li Xu sighed as he looked at the roll of bright yellow cloth in front of him.

"But the robbers robbed and killed the messenger. Such a major event will definitely shock the court and the public. At that time, your Highness's actions in this western border will probably also attract attention."

"If you really can't hide it, then you can only..." Before Li Xu could finish his words, the door of the study was suddenly pushed open. Seeing this, Chen Ming hurriedly climbed out the window and left. Then, Shangguan Jiuyi rushed in with an angry face.

"Your Highness, please forgive me. Young Master Shangguan insisted on forcing his way in, and Hua Lan failed to stop him." Hua Lan, who followed in, hurriedly knelt in front of Li Xu. It was not that he failed to stop him, but that Young Master Shangguan had designed to get him out of the way. By the time he reacted, it was too late.

"He's so smart, who can stop him?" Li Xu guessed it naturally, smiled, and then said: "You go down."

"Yes." Hua Lan breathed a sigh of relief that the prince did not blame him.

"Why do you want to kill the messenger at this time? Do you know that doing so will only make the situation worse?" After Hua Lan left, Shangguan Jiuyi questioned in a deep voice.

"There is no other way. My royal brother is eager to capture me, so I can only take a risky move." Li Xu, who was sitting in front of the desk, sighed helplessly. The changes happened too quickly and were gradually out of his control, but the arrow had been drawn, and even if it caused civil unrest in Langgong, he would not surrender to Ning Xi.

"Your Majesty wants to arrest you? What does that mean? Has your crime been exposed? The messenger is here for you?" Shangguan Jiuyi suddenly realized something and stared at Li Xu with his peach blossom eyes, looking nervously.

"I will have someone send you back to Xuan'an City tomorrow. Remember, you promised me that no matter what happens in the future, you would do your best to protect Yingyan and Luoying." Li Xu stood up with a smile and walked to Shangguan Jiuyi, patted his not-so-broad shoulder, and answered the question irrelevantly.

"No need, I'll go back by myself!" Shangguan Jiuyi glanced at Li Xu, sighed, turned around and left.

In the imperial palace of Xuan'an City, Emperor Lang Ning Xi was anxiously wandering in the meeting hall, and from time to time he asked the Grand Commandant Lu Shi beside him: "My dear, it has been ten days since the imperial edict was sent out of the capital? How come there is no news at all?"

"Yes, according to the normal distance, the imperial edict should have reached the western border long ago, but there has been no movement over there." Lu Shi also frowned, looking worried.

"Your Majesty, the governor of Yuanzhou has submitted a report." At this time, Eunuch Lu entered the hall holding a memorial and said respectfully.

Ning Xi was not in the mood to read the report at the moment, so she winked at the general beside her. Lu Shi understood and took the report from Eunuch Lu and read it.

"Oh my God!" Lu Shi was so shocked that his face changed drastically. He knelt down in front of Ning Xi and replied excitedly: "Your Majesty, the messenger encountered robbers on the way to Yuanzhou and fell off a cliff with the imperial edict. Now the remains of the messenger have been found, but the imperial edict is missing!"

Eunuch Lu, who was standing behind Lu Shi, was also frightened when he heard this and quickly knelt down.

"How ridiculous!" Ning Xi was furious when he heard it. He hurriedly snatched the memorial from Lu Shi's hand and looked at it. His face turned furious and murderous intent appeared in his scarlet eyes. The memorial was almost broken in his hand.

"This is really ridiculous. How dare a small robber be so bold as to rob the imperial official!" The emperor was furious. Lu Shi, who was kneeling on the ground, was trembling with fear and hurriedly agreed.

"My messenger fell off a cliff along with the imperial edict before he even entered the western border. What was he doing as the prefect of Yuanzhou? He was discovered three days later? My royal dignity has been humiliated like this, I will never let him off easily!" Lu Shi's agreement made Ning Xi even more furious, and she raised her arm and threw the memorial in her hand several feet away.

"Your Majesty, please calm down. This incident happened too suddenly and strangely. We have to wait for the governor of Yuanzhou to catch the robbers and interrogate them first, and then we can punish them one by one." Seeing that the emperor wanted to punish the governor of Yuanzhou immediately, Lu Shi hurriedly spoke to persuade him.

"Strange? Are you saying that the robbers are not just after money?" Ning Xi frowned and looked at Lu Shi with a gloomy face.

Lu Shi did not answer immediately, but glanced cautiously at Eunuch Lu who was still kneeling silently on the ground behind him.

"You go down." Ning Xi said to Eunuch Lu in a deep voice.

After Eunuch Lu left the hall, Lu Shi stood up and walked to Ning Xi's side and whispered, "Your Majesty, since ancient times, robbers have not robbed officials. Robbery is equivalent to rebellion. There has never been a precedent of mountain bandits robbing officials in our Lang Kingdom, not to mention that the person who went out this time was an official sent directly by the royal family."

"My dear, what you mean is that someone is pretending to be a robber and robbing money as a cover, aiming to steal the imperial edict?" Ning Xi calmed down a little at this time, but his face was still gloomy.

"It's possible, Your Majesty. I'm worried that the fact that Your Majesty knew about Prince Xian's rebellion has been leaked, and the robber might be Prince Xian's men." Lu Shi looked vigilantly outside the quiet palace, then whispered in Ning Xi's ear.

Ning Xi narrowed her eyes and felt cold all over. Not many people knew about this. Who leaked it to Li Xu? The Crown Prince?

Crown Prince Ying Yan had just finished his homework and sent the Crown Prince's Tutor out of the Crown Prince's Mansion. He was about to return to the study when he saw Ning Xi, dressed in a dragon robe, striding towards him angrily from afar.

"Your son..."

"Snapped!"

As Ying Yan stepped forward to pay his respects, he was slapped to the ground by his father, and the palace servants behind him turned pale with fright.

"You rebellious son, are you going to follow your uncle to rebel against me?" Ning Xi pointed at Ying Yan on the ground and cursed with an angry look on her face.

"What does your Majesty mean? I don't understand." A blood mark appeared on Ying Yan's fair left cheek. He struggled to get up and knelt in front of his father, raising his stubborn and aggrieved eyes to look directly at Ning Xi.

"You..." Ning Xi raised her hand again in anger, but she couldn't bear to see the red mark on her son's left cheek. She was so angry that she had to shake her sleeves. After dismissing the people around her, she continued to ask coldly: "Let me ask you, have you communicated with your uncle recently?"

"No."

"Then have you told others about your uncle's rebellion?"

"I have only told Prime Minister Lu." Ying Yan did not dare to hide anything and answered truthfully.

"Have you only told the Prime Minister?" Ning Xi knew that her son was not good at lying. Looking at his calm face, the anger in her heart slowly subsided.

Although Prime Minister Lu Xiang was dissatisfied with him, he was a conservative after all and firmly followed the order of seniority. If Li Xu rebelled, he would definitely stand on his side, so it was impossible for him to collude with Li Xu.

"Yes." Ying Yan confirmed.

"Get up." Although the doubt was still unresolved, Ning Xi felt relieved as long as it was not her son, and her attitude softened a lot.

"Father, what happened?" Ying Yan stood up and asked nervously. He felt uneasy in his heart because his father was so angry and asked about his uncle.

"Your uncle and I will eventually become enemies." Ning Xi did not reply to her son. She just sighed, turned around and left.