Chapter 323: Chapter 324: The Emperor’s Fury

Hua Qingqing endured the pain and made her way to Hanzhang Hall.

By the time the Emperor saw her, she was drenched in sweat, her face ashen and pale as paper.

Anyone with eyes could see how terrible her condition was.

The Emperor immediately ordered for an Imperial Physician to be summoned.

He personally swept Hua Qingqing up into his arms, laid her gently on the bed, and soothed her in a gentle voice.

"Just lie down and rest. The Imperial Physician will be here soon."

Hua Qingqing gripped his hand tightly, crying as she pleaded.

"My sister has been taken by wicked people! I beg you to save her, please!"

The Emperor was astonished.

He turned to the nanny standing by his side and asked with a frown.

"How does Hua Jieyu know about Princess Consort Zhao’s abduction? Who told her?"

The nanny answered truthfully, "It was Lady Liang."

She then repeated everything Lady Liang had said earlier, word for word.

After hearing this, the Emperor flew into a rage.

Although Prince Zhao had been searching for her with great fanfare, causing a stir throughout the city, he had only publicly stated that Princess Consort Zhao was missing. He never mentioned an abduction, so outsiders shouldn’t have known she was actually kidnapped.

Yet Lady Liang was able to speak of it with such certainty.

’It’s obvious she knows something.’

Perhaps the abduction of Princess Consort Zhao was even connected to Lady Liang.

The Emperor ordered Wu Wang.

"Have someone arrest Lady Liang and hand her over to the Judicial Department... No, not the Judicial Department. I will interrogate her personally later!"

"Yes, Your Majesty." 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Wu Wang bowed his head and exited the room.

But as soon as he turned around, the respectful expression on his face vanished, replaced by deep dissatisfaction in his eyes.

’Lady Liang is such a fool. After doing something so wicked, not only did she fail to lie low, she actually jumped out and exposed herself.’

’Was she afraid people *wouldn’t* find out what she’d done?’

’She must be tired of living!’

’I just hope those people have taken Princess Consort Zhao far, far away, where the court’s men can’t find them.’

The carriage traveled for a very long time before finally stopping.

The driver opened the door and climbed into the carriage.

Inside were three burlap sacks. He dragged them out of the carriage one by one and threw them onto the ground.

Three men were already waiting by the roadside.

They looked extremely surprised to see three sacks.

One of them asked, "Why are there three?"

Hua Manman, who was inside one of the sacks, heard his voice and immediately noticed that his accent was a little strange.

The driver had completely lost his usual meek and honest demeanor. He frowned and said irritably.

"Let’s talk on the move."

So they each shouldered a burlap sack and strode deep into the mountain forest.

As they walked, the driver recounted the process of kidnapping Princess Consort Zhao.

In truth, he had only intended to kidnap Princess Consort Zhao. Si Yun and He Qiuwen were just extras.

If he hadn’t been afraid the two of them would reveal his whereabouts, he would have thrown them out along the way.

Hua Manman was awake the entire time.

She heard their entire conversation clearly.

The three men, aside from the driver, all spoke with a strange accent.

It wasn’t like a regional dialect, but more as if they weren’t used to speaking the official language of Great Zhou.

Hua Manman couldn’t help but think of Princess Longzhu.

Princess Longzhu’s accent was exactly the same as these three men’s.

’Could they be West Liang people too?’

After reaching their destination, the men threw the sacks to the ground.

Someone came forward, untied the rope on one of the sacks, and pulled it off.

Hua Manman finally saw the long-lost sunlight.

The light stung her eyes, but she forced them open, trying to get a clear look at her surroundings.

She seemed to be in a small courtyard. Chickens wandered about, dried persimmons hung from the eaves, a broom stood in a corner, and a few pieces of clothing were drying on a tree branch.

Everything looked just like an ordinary farmhouse.

However, when she got a clear look at the men standing before her, she knew this was no ordinary farmer’s home.

Among them, all except the driver had high-bridged noses, deep-set eyes, green pupils, and wheat-colored skin.

One look was all it took to know they were from Xiliang.

Si Yun and He Qiuwen were also awake.

They still didn’t know what had happened and stared blankly at the scene before them.

The driver pointed at Hua Manman and said.

"This is Princess Consort Zhao. I’ve brought her to you."

The West Liang men all turned to look at Hua Manman in unison.

One of them walked over to Hua Manman and squatted down.

He reached out, grabbed her chin, and forced her to look up.

The man’s gaze lingered on her beautiful face, his eyes filled with obvious lust.

He gave a lecherous smile. "Worthy of the woman who enchanted Prince Zhao. You really are beautiful. Look at this skin, whiter than milk. I wonder what it feels like to touch?"

As he spoke, he reached out to touch her face.

A deep, cold voice interrupted his action.

"Have you brought her?"

The lecherous man immediately retracted his hand, stood up, and turned to look at the tall man walking out of the house.

This man’s status was clearly very high. Upon seeing him, everyone present composed their expressions and bowed respectfully.

"Greetings, Young General!"

Hua Manman followed their gazes to look at the newcomer.

The man was wearing the commoner’s clothes of the Great Zhou Dynasty, but because he was so tall, even the coarse fabric seemed to give off the aura of clashing iron and charging warhorses.

But that wasn’t the main point. The main point was that his facial features bore a slight resemblance to Princess Longzhu’s!

Combined with the title everyone used to address him, his identity was all but confirmed—

Wasn’t this Xiao Hong of the Western Liang Country?!

Hua Manman only remembered this name thanks to *Palace Intrigue*.

In the original story, Xiao Hong didn’t have a large role, but he had a real knack for stirring up trouble.

In the Western Liang Country, he was known as the "Little War God."

Why was he called the "Little War God"?

Because while he was unbeatable within the Western Liang Country, he could not defeat Li Ji.

Li Ji was the true War God, so Xiao Hong could only be considered a "little" one.

Their titles alone revealed just how terrible their relationship was.

In the middle to late stages of the original story, after the Emperor of Great Zhou died and the princes began fighting amongst themselves for the throne, Xiao Hong seized the opportunity. He led his troops to invade Great Zhou’s borders, hoping to carve up its territory.

And in fact, he did manage to gain a huge advantage from the chaos.

At the time, the Great Zhou Dynasty was in such internal turmoil that no one could spare the effort to deal with Xiao Hong. The local government was willing but powerless, allowing Xiao Hong to conquer four cities in one fell swoop.

To reward his Xiliang soldiers, Xiao Hong allowed his men to rape and plunder the cities.

This directly led to the Great Zhou citizens within the cities being almost completely slaughtered.

It wasn’t until Li Ji took the position of Regent King and stabilized the court that he was finally free to deal with Xiao Hong.

Xiao Hong’s final fate was to be shot through the throat by one of Li Ji’s arrows. His head was cut off and hung from a flagpole to commemorate the innocent commoners who had died.