The Phoenix is Back - Chapter 217

Chapter 217 Who Set The Trap
At this moment, the Emperor had regained his senses from the fear that had just struck him. His gloomy gaze slowly slid past the two sons in front of him. One had a gloomy expression, and the other had a worried expression on his face.

“This lowly official greets His Majesty.” At this moment, the several imperial physicians who had rushed over saluted in unison.

The Emperor retracted his gaze and said, “When is it? What kind of courtesy is it? Quickly see who is injured.”

“Yes.” Hearing this, the few imperial physicians quickly dispersed.

Wu Qi was about to examine the Emperor when the Emperor frowned and stopped him, “I’m fine. Please take a look at the wound for King Qin.”

Chu Mu was stunned for a moment, and then he said, “Father Emperor, let Imperial Physician Wu examine you. Your son’s minor injury is not important.”

“What kind of small wound? How can it be called a small wound if so much blood has flowed out of it?” The Emperor said with a serious face.

Right at this critical moment, it was Chu Muzhi who held the sword that was stabbing at him with his bare hands. The Emperor still felt a lingering fear when he remembered it.

Chu Muzhi wanted to postpone it any longer, but at this moment, Imperial Concubine Shen’s voice suddenly sounded.

“Mu Zhi, this is the Emperor’s wish. You must not refuse. Besides, if it weren’t for you, the Emperor, Sister Yan, and I would not have escaped this calamity.”

Obviously, it wasn’t only Chu Zhu who came to rescue him, but Consort Shen didn’t say a word to the Crown Prince.

“Wu Imperial doctor, what are you still waiting for? Why don’t you bandage the wound for King Qin?” Imperial Concubine Yan raised her eyes and looked at Wu Qi.

Wu Qi regained his senses and said, “Yes, this lowly subject will obey the decree.” After saying that, he hurriedly walked towards Chu Muzhi.

“Your Majesty, there is a living person here.” At this moment, Gu An’s slightly excited voice suddenly sounded.

Very quickly, Gu An pressed the black-clothed assassin in front of the Emperor.

“Speak! Who ordered you to do this?” The Emperor stood up with a serious face.

The assassin slowly woke up. Seeing that the situation was not right, he wanted to bite the poison hidden in his mouth and commit suicide. However, Gu An managed to catch a living person. How could he die so easily? He immediately pinched his chin and reached out to pull out the poison hidden in his mouth. “It’s not that easy to die!” Speak! Who on earth ordered you to sneak into the palace? ”

The guards in the palace were so strict that if no one secretly helped them, they wouldn’t have been able to sneak in.

Chu Muzhi sneered when he saw that the assassin looked at death as if he were returning. He raised his foot and walked over, “Lord Gu, it seems that these assassins are corpses raised by the assassins. It would be delusional to ask him to confess to the people behind the scenes.”

Upon hearing Chu Muzhi’s words, Gu An couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows and open his mouth to say, “Your Highness, did you say that to make this lowly official give up on questioning the murderer behind the scenes?”

These words seemed to imply that Chu Muzhi was the murderer behind the scenes.

Sure enough, as soon as these words were spoken, the Emperor’s gaze towards Chu Muzhi became filled with something unclear.

“This prince is merely stating the truth. Lord Gu is too anxious to shift the responsibility onto this prince.” Chu Muzhi smiled coldly.

“Then what should I do according to His Highness Prince Qin’s opinion?” Gu An raised his eyebrows and said.

‘”Lord Gu really knows how to shirk responsibility. This king is merely giving Lord Gu a warning. I hope that Lord Gu will start investigating the people behind the scenes from elsewhere. But Lord Gu is fine. He might as well blame all of this on this king. Do you dare to say that this king is also in charge of the Dali Temple and the Imperial Guards?” Chu Muzhi retorted with a cold smile.

“You” Gu An couldn’t help but be stupefied. Seeing that the Emperor’s expression was getting gloomier and gloomier, his right eyelid suddenly jumped and he hurriedly saluted Chu Mu. “Your Highness, it was Xiaoguan who just made a mistake. Your Highness, please don’t take offense. I wonder … what is His Highness’ opinion of Qin?”

“How dare this king have any good ideas? This king only said one sentence, and almost provoked all sorts of coquettish people. What else would this king dare to say?” After Chu Muzhi finished speaking, he turned around and walked to the side to stand still.

Hearing Chu Muzhi’s words, the Emperor frowned slightly and the doubts in his heart disappeared.

The probability that the person behind this night’s assassination was the Qin King was not high. It was certain that the assassin was coming for him. If he succeeded, not only would he not receive any benefits, he would lose his control. He was afraid that the Crown Prince would immediately take action to eliminate him after he ascended the throne. Thinking like this, he felt that he had ignored the danger and the concern on his face and appeared very real just now. On the other hand, Gu An was too anxious to push all of this onto King Qin, which made people feel strange.

Being beaten up by Chu Muzhi’s words, Gu An’s face was filled with embarrassment. Just as he did not know how to step down, the Emperor started to suspect him. At this moment, Crown Prince Chu Yanzhi suddenly spoke.

“Isn’t it easy for someone to speak?” Chu Yanzhi glanced sideways at Chu Mu and coldly smiled. Then, he walked over to the assassin in black and fiercely stepped on the back of that person’s hand. He even ruthlessly ground it a few times.

“Ah” A miserable cry echoed in the hall.

A few cowardly concubines in the hall could not help but cry when they heard this voice, coupled with the shock they had just felt.

“Princess.” Bi Yun leaned behind Xiao Xiwei in fear.

This sound instantly caused Chu Yanzhi’s gaze to look over.

Xiao Xiwei raised her eyes and met Chu Yanzhi’s. Her watery eyes flashed a trace of darkness. Then, she turned her gaze to the three people on the throne.

Emperor, Consort Yan, Consort Shen.

With a single glance, Chu Yan immediately understood.

That’s right, this assassination was most likely planned by one of the three of them, in order to convict him of conspiracy to rebel. Even if he could not, Gu An would still be charged with unfavorable escort this time!

Thinking of this, Chu Yanzhi’s heart couldn’t help but tremble. A trace of ruthlessness flashed across his eyes, and he stepped on the assassin’s hand even harder. “What, are you still unwilling to say it? Someone, send for the people from the Punishment Department! Have them pull out all of his fingernails one by one and pour salt water on them. This palace would like to see how hard his bones are!” As he spoke, he abruptly moved his feet away.

“Crown Prince, tonight is New Year’s Eve. Isn’t it inappropriate for you to do this?” Chu Muzhi frowned and said somewhat unbearably.

Chu Yanzhi smiled coldly and raised his eyebrows. His sharp gaze swept towards Chu Muzhi, “Is Eighth Brother sympathizing with the assassin who assassinated Father Emperor?”

“What does Royal Brother mean? I just feel that New Year’s Eve is not easy to see!” After saying that, he turned around and bowed to the emperor on the throne. “Father, I don’t think we can figure out what happened tonight in a short while. Why don’t we ask the Dali Temple to suppress them for now and discuss it after the Lantern Festival? Do you think so?”

The Emperor frowned. Before he could speak, Chu Yanzhi’s voice could not wait to ring.

“Bloody? Is there still less blood flowing out of Zi Chen Palace tonight? If we don’t track down the real culprit in time, I’m afraid more blood will flow in the future!”

Seeing the stalemate between the two of them, especially the fury in Chu Yanzhi’s eyes and his insistence on investigating the murderer behind the scenes, the Emperor couldn’t help but feel a trace of suspicion. Could it be that it really wasn’t him?

For a moment, the Emperor felt that his heart was filled with suspicions. Immediately, his eyes couldn’t help but sink. He said coldly, “Since that’s the case, then let’s investigate. Tell the people from the Punishment Department.”

Everyone knew what would happen next, but in the current situation, no one dared to say anything about leaving.

The people from the Department of Punishment quickly came over.

The women were so scared that they didn’t dare to look away. Even Xiao Xiwei frowned and turned around.

The black-clothed assassin was already dying of pain. He raised his eyes to see the pliers in the hands of the Department of Punishment’s Tai Lin. When it was as white as paper, large drops of sweat fell from his forehead.

“Ah …”

A miserable voice rang out in Zi Chen Hall once again.

“Woo” Some of the women were so frightened that they couldn’t help but cry. Even Bi Yun’s face was pale from fright. She snuggled into Xiao Xiwei’s embrace and didn’t dare to move at all.

After pulling out a few fingernails, the man finally couldn’t help but shout, “I’ve done it, I’ve done it … I’ve done everything …”

Hearing this, Chu Yanzhi’s eyes suddenly lit up.

The weeping women stopped crying and turned their gazes back to the bloody assassin lying on the ground.

“Tell me, who ordered you to do this!” Chu Yan stepped forward and stared coldly at that person.

“Yes … yes …”

“Hurry up and tell me, who ordered you to do this!” Gu An asked impatiently.

The man held his bloody right hand and endured the pain before speaking for a long time. “Little … Little … I don’t know …”

“How could you not know! Are you fooling us!” Gu An couldn’t help but raise his foot and step on the person’s finger that had its nails pulled out.

“Ah …”

The assassin let out a miserable scream, then tilted his head and fell to the ground.

“What are you doing!” Chu Yan pushed Gu An away and immediately squatted down to probe the assassin’s breath. Seeing that he still had a trace of aura, his tense heart couldn’t help but relax slightly.

At this time, Gu An hurriedly stepped forward and said, “Crown Prince, is he still alive?”

As soon as he finished speaking, Chu Yan swept a ruthless gaze over.

Originally, he thought that after following the Emperor for so many years, his thoughts should have grown. Who would have thought that he would be such an incompetent and defeated fellow? If this assassin really died, wouldn’t it be just right for those people to spill sewage on his head?

When he touched the ruthlessness in Chu Yanzhi’s eyes, Gu An’s eyelids twitched. He hurriedly lowered his head and immediately retreated in embarrassment.

“Bring the wine and wake him up.” Chu Yanzhi coldly withdrew his gaze and said.

Soon, someone splashed the assassin awake with wine.

“Didn’t you say it? Could it be that you want someone to pull out the nails of your other hand?” Chu Yanzhi looked down at that person coldly.

“No … no …”

“Someone!”

“I said … I said … I really don’t know what happened. The mastermind behind the scenes … I’m just a death row inmate of the Dali Temple. Someone released me …” The assassin trembled as he finished speaking. He fainted in pain again.

“Good! Good! Good!” The Emperor, who had been silently staring at Chu Yanzhi’s interrogation, suddenly stood up.

The loud voice caused everyone’s faces to turn pale and they all knelt on the ground.

The emperor’s sinister eyes swept through the crowd, and with one last kick, he flipped over the table in front of him. His gloomy voice rang out in the spacious hall, “Someone, bring Qing Changlu of the Dali Temple over immediately!”

Chu Yanzhi’s eyes instantly surged with dark currents. How could Chang Lu be dragged into this? Could it be that this was also a trap? Thinking of this, he hurriedly looked at Xiao Xiwei.

At this moment, Xiao Xi’s slightly snow-white face also surged with disbelief. In fact, there was even a hint of unease in his eyes.

With a single glance, Chu Yanzhi’s heart suddenly sank.

Even she noticed that something was wrong. Could it be that he really fell into this bureau? However, who would be the one laying out the plan?

Emperor?

Consort Yan?

Consort Shen?

Or … Chu Muzhi?

Or …

They worked together to set this up …