"Evil Flower Peony Chapter 96 Scapegoat"

  "Summer glared at her with a bad temper, 'What's wrong with me! You come whenever you want, who can stop you!' Her eyes involuntarily looked towards the direction of the door again, and she frowned slightly with some anxiety. 'This Long Xiaosi is also like this, others have no news, he doesn't even send me a message!'"

  "Miss, you must be tired too, have a cup of tea and take a break!" Feng Liu persisted in persuading.

  "Alright!" Xia Tian sat back in his chair dejectedly and took a big gulp.

  "Tian Er," Ninth Madame hurried in, her face full of joy, "Good news, good news! Your father has sent word that the Third Prince has been released without charges and is probably back at the manor by now."

  "Really!" Xia Tian suddenly jumped up from his chair, "Quickly, Feng Luan, let's go back immediately."

  "Fourth sister, it's really great!" Xia Xue also followed with excitement.

  "Yes." Feng Liu secretly glanced at the teacup that had been knocked over by Xia Tian onto the table, and the remaining tea slowly flowed out. Her mouth corners slightly twitched, and for a moment, she couldn't tell whether to be happy or sad.

  "Yuan Longchun, the Marquis of Jing, is a heartless and ruthless person who has no respect for his elders. He has cruelly harmed his own brothers and his crimes are unforgivable. However, considering that his mother, Empress Zhuang, has served me for many years with utmost humility and kindness, I am unable to bring myself to execute him. Therefore, I hereby order Yuan Longchun to return to his fiefdom immediately and never be allowed to enter the capital again. Let this be known!"

  Yuan Longchun knelt on the ground, his temples bulging with blue veins, his fists clenched and crackling. The gentlewoman of Jing Hou and his many concubines had long since cried until their faces were disheveled and they could no longer speak through their tears.

  "His Majesty's edict is here!" The eunuch who delivered the imperial decree handed it forward.

  "Hmph!" With a loud crash, Yuan Longchuan jumped up and snatched the imperial edict, turning his head to shout angrily: "What are you crying about? This marquis is not dead yet!"

  A burst of sobbing, Princess Jing hurriedly wiped away her tears, and the other concubines did not dare to cry out loud again, only softly whimpering.

  "The slave withdraws." The eunuch hastily transmitted the imperial edict and left, knowing that if this fourth prince was dissatisfied and took it out on him, even if he died, it would be a pointless death.

  "Fourth younger sister." Zhao Yang's eldest princess also had tears on her face as she came out from the back hall, "Don't worry, your aunt will not let you leave the capital in vain!"

  Yuan Longchun's mouth crooked, laughing sinisterly: "The Marquis will definitely come back, and when that time comes, the Marquis will make everyone in the world kneel at the Marquis' feet!"

  The Ling Wang Fu suffered damage, and Emperor Zhao Qing ordered the allocation of silver from the national treasury for repairs, instructing that it be done to perfection. Originally, he wanted to keep Yuan Longqiao in the palace to recover from his injuries, but was refused by him. Although he had learned from Qing Meng that everything was fine with Xia Tian, he couldn't help but worry about her.

  Zhan Jing was taken into the palace along with Yuan Longqiao on that day, and Yuan Longqiao was thrown into the Ministry of Justice's great prison. He too was detained. Once released, he didn't even bother to tend to his wounds before coming to beg for forgiveness.

  In the pavilion, Yuan Longqiao was half-reclining and half-sitting on the bed, with his eyes slightly closed to nourish his spirit.

  "Your Highness, it's all because I failed to protect you properly. Please punish me severely." Zhan Jing knelt stubbornly in front of the bed and refused to get up no matter what.

  Yuan Longqiao opened his eyes with some helplessness, "This matter is not your fault. If it weren't for this king's willingness to follow them, no matter how many people there were, they wouldn't have been able to lock this king up in the great prison, so you don't need to blame yourself."

  "Your Highness is willing? I don't understand."

  "You don't have to understand. Go and rest your injuries, I'm tired too." With that, he closed his eyes again.

  Zhan Jing thought for a moment and saw that Yuan Longqiao was really tired, so he quietly retreated.

  His two ribs were aching, and the wounds on his body, although re-applied with Qingming's green jade ointment, still felt burning pain. Zhou Song was guarding outside the door, he had specifically instructed that no one was allowed to disturb him, he just wanted to wait quietly. Would she come back tonight? Or, stay at the Protector General's mansion?

  That night, he received an imperial edict summoning him to the palace. He vaguely sensed that something was amiss and decided to use himself as bait to uncover the enemy who had been hiding behind the scenes. However, he did not expect the enemy to be so cunning. Although he managed to expose Zhang De Shun and Zhen Fei, he knew they were just pawns in someone else's hands. As for banishing Yuan Long Chun back to his fief and eliminating his eligibility to contend for the throne, it was simply a matter of going with the flow. He knew that the person who set fire to the Ministry of Justice prison was not him, and he also knew that someone wanted to use his own hands to get rid of him. But Yuan Long Chun was too stupid, too vicious, and too arrogant, and besides, he had also made a move on Xiao Tian, which was also one of the main reasons he decided to eliminate him.

  Xiao Tian, as soon as he thought of her, he couldn't help but feel a lingering fear. Although he had expected that she shouldn't be in any danger, when he returned to the mansion and saw the chaotic scene before him, he felt every pore on his body open up.

  If anything happened to her... He closed his eyes and leaned against the pillow, still feeling uneasy in his heart.

  "Is Xiaosan inside?"

  "In."

  Yuan Long's heart skipped a beat, and he turned his head to look over.

  In the summer, she pushed open the door and hastily walked around the screen. On the bed, someone was half-reclining and half-sitting up, with a brocade quilt covering their chest. Their two hands were placed outside the quilt, their hair was not tied up, and their black hair partially covered their pale face. He had originally closed his eyes, but when he heard the sound, he looked over at her.

  That one glance, contained the depth of mountains and rivers, the movement of wind and clouds, as if a profound whirlpool that made her involuntarily sink into it. Her heart felt stifled, her feet suddenly became heavy like a thousand pounds, she could only stare blankly at him, unable to move.

  He noticed that her complexion was a bit off, and Yuan Long couldn't help but reach out his hand, softly calling out her name: "Xiao Tian!"

  Everything in front of me became dazzling and dim, as if I had entered a fantasy world. The suffocating feeling in my chest grew stronger, and I couldn't help but slightly open my mouth to continue breathing. In my ears, his voice echoed with an empty valley echo, and the hand he stretched out was also faintly visible. Uncontrollably, she let out a light laugh, and she also reached out her hand to him, her feet swaying unsteadily like a drunkard without any rhythm.

  Yuan Longqiao was shocked, his heart hanging for her, almost forgetting to breathe. Alas, his body was heavy, and he could only stretch out his hand with force.

  Closer, closer... The tips of their fingers were getting closer and closer.

  In the summer, she felt a sudden sweetness in her throat. Before she could even think about what was happening to herself, it was as if the TV program had suddenly stopped broadcasting and everything in front of her eyes went black, leaving her knowing nothing.

  What is meant by "a foot apart, yet a thousand miles away"! The two people were clearly only one step away from each other, but they just couldn't grasp each other. Yuan Longqiao looked at Xia Tian's lips with a bright red stain in horror, watching as she fell to the ground.

  "Little Tian!" he roared, pouncing on her without care. Thud! He rolled off the bed, his blood rushing up, his eyes rolling back, and his wound colliding with his ribs, causing him to almost pass out from pain.

  Summer fell silently beside him, he couldn't see her face, nor could he feel her breathing. "Little... Little Tian!" He didn't even have the strength to lift his fingers, let alone move his body. Cold sweat dripped from his forehead, his breath was intermittent, he wanted to shout for someone to come in but was completely powerless.

  "Little... little Tian! Little... Tian!" His voice trembled uncontrollably. An unprecedented, enormous fear had taken hold of him, leaving him powerless, helpless, terrified, and frantic... Tears streamed down his face, bitter and sorrowful. If anything happened to her... It was a pain like this - as if his soul had been hollowed out, his heart and lungs ripped out!