nucmednet Chapter 232 Return to Chang'an
Chapter 232 Return to Chang'an
When the dust settled, the wreckage of the spacecraft cast a long shadow in the sunset. Wu Tao and Hu Bugui stood side by side in the wilderness, looking at the towering Chang'an city wall in the distance, with mixed feelings in their hearts.
"I'm back..." Wu Tao muttered to herself, her eyes slightly red. This familiar yet strange scene seemed like a long dream.
Hu Bugui gently held her in his arms, and a deep voice rang in her ears: "I'm glad you're back. We'll never be apart again."
However, at this moment, Chang'an City was shrouded in a strange atmosphere. The city gates that used to be bustling were now tightly closed, and soldiers patrolled back and forth on the city walls, creating a solemn atmosphere.
"What's going on? Why are the city gates closed?" Hu Bugui frowned, feeling a little uneasy.
As soon as he finished speaking, a gray pigeon flapped its wings and landed on the wreckage of the spacecraft. Hu Bugui was quick to grab the pigeon and untied a wax-sealed letter from its leg.
There was only one sentence written on the letter: There are undercurrents in the palace, please be careful!
It was just a short sentence, but it exploded in the ears of the two people like thunder. Wu Tao's face turned pale, and the uneasiness in her heart quickly spread. The palace, conspiracy... Could it be that something happened in Chang'an City during the time she was away?
"It seems that we came back at the right time." Hu Bugui crumpled the letter into a ball, and a cold light flashed in his deep eyes.
They decided to go into the city immediately to find out what was going on. However, when they arrived at the city gate, they were stopped by the guards.
"Who are you? Why did you trespass into Chang'an City?" The soldier held a spear and spoke in a cold tone.
"You are blind! This is His Majesty King Hu!" the guard accompanying him shouted angrily.
However, the soldier seemed not to have heard it and still blocked the city gate, saying in a tough tone: "Without the imperial decree, no one is allowed to enter the city!"
Hu Bugui's heart sank. It seemed that things were more complicated than he had imagined. He was about to speak, but was stopped by Wu Tao.
"Don't be impulsive, Bugui." Wu Tao lowered his voice, his eyes swept across the strict guards on the city wall, and he had a plan in mind. "I have a plan."
She took out a small cloth bag from her bosom and opened it, revealing all kinds of bottles and jars, as well as powders of various colors.
"Tao'er, this is..." Hu Bugui looked at her in confusion.
"Don't worry, this is the makeup technique I learned in modern times." Wu Tao winked at him, with a confident smile on her lips. "Don't worry, I promise I can take you into the city!"
As night fell, under the city wall, a young palace maid in coarse linen was mixing in the crowd, trying to get through. She lowered her head and nervously held the wooden sign in her hand, which clearly read "Laundry Bureau". The guard waved his hand impatiently, signaling her to hurry in.
And just as the maid turned around, a sly smile flashed across her lips...
As the night deepened, Wu Tao lowered her head and followed the crowd into the palace. The coarse linen clothes she wore pricked her skin, and she tightly grasped the wooden sign of "Laundry Bureau" in her hand, with a layer of fine beads of sweat oozing out of her palms.
Wu Tao took a deep breath, tried to suppress the tension in his heart, and groped his way to the laundry department according to the route he remembered. The towering palace walls divided the night sky into irregular shapes, and the occasional cries of crows made the palace seem even more eerie.
The laundry department was located in the northwest corner of the palace. It was usually very noisy with people coming and going, but at this moment it was unusually quiet. Wu Tao slowed down his pace and listened carefully. He could vaguely hear a few suppressed cries coming from the courtyard.
Her heart tightened, she walked quietly to the window and looked inside through the crack. She saw several palace maids huddled together, sobbing quietly, and one of them had a clear slap mark on her face.
"What happened?" Wu Tao was puzzled. Just as she was about to leave, she heard one of the palace maids whisper, "...The Queen... was banished to the cold palace..."
Wu Tao was shocked. The queen was banished to the cold palace? She had never heard of such a thing before she left. It seemed that during the time she was away, Chang'an City had indeed undergone earth-shaking changes.
She suppressed her shock and decided to try to blend in with the palace maids to get more information. She took a deep breath, tidied her messy hair, pretended to be tired, and pushed the door open and walked in.
"Oh, girl, why did you come just now? Don't you know how many clothes you have to wash today?" A fat nanny saw Wu Tao and immediately scolded her in a bad mood.
Wu Tao lowered her head and whispered, "Madam, please forgive me. I accidentally caught a cold today, so I am late."
"Cold? I think you are just being lazy!" The nanny obviously didn't believe her and was about to continue scolding her when she was stopped by another palace maid.
"Okay, okay, Madam Liu, please don't embarrass her. She looks so pale, I guess she's really not feeling well." The maid said, pulling Wu Tao aside and whispered, "Are you new here? What's your name?"
"My name is Taohong." Wu Tao made up a name casually, "What's your name, sister?"
"My name is Chunhua." The palace maid smiled and said, "Don't be afraid. Aunt Liu has that kind of temper. Don't take it to heart."
Wu Tao chatted with Chunhua casually while quietly trying to find out the news in the palace. From Chunhua, she learned that the queen was sent to the cold palace because she was accused of murdering the prince. And all this seemed to be related to the prime minister of the dynasty.
It was late at night, and the maids had all gone to bed, but Wu Tao tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep. She kept thinking about Chunhua's words in her mind, and she was full of doubts. How could the queen, who was gentle and virtuous, murder the prince? Could all this be a conspiracy of the prime minister?
Wu Tao decided to visit the queen in the cold palace first, perhaps she could get some clues from her. She got up quietly and groped her way towards the cold palace in the faint moonlight.
The cold palace was located in the most remote corner of the palace. It was cold, damp, and smelled musty. Wu Tao took a deep breath, mustered up his courage, walked to a dilapidated palace, and knocked on the door gently a few times.
"Who is it?" A weak voice came from inside.
Wu Tao lowered her voice and said, "Empress, it's me."
The door creaked open, and a haggard woman in plain clothes stood at the door. In the dim candlelight, Wu Tao recognized that she was the queen of the time.
"You are..." The queen looked at her puzzledly.
"My queen, I am..." Wu Tao was about to speak when she suddenly heard a series of footsteps. She was startled and quickly pulled the queen into the house and closed the door tightly.
"Shh!" Wu Tao signaled the queen to be quiet, then walked to the door, put his ear against it, and listened carefully to the noise outside.
The footsteps were getting closer and closer, and finally stopped outside the door. Wu Tao held his breath, his heart beating violently.
"Open the door!" A deep voice sounded outside the door, "I know you are here!" Wu Tao's heart tightened, and she clenched the dagger hidden in her sleeve. The queen covered her mouth in fear and silently asked what happened. Wu Tao shook her head, signaling her not to make a sound, and she carefully moved to the window and gently pushed open a gap.
Outside the window, the moonlight was dim. A tall figure stood at the door with his back to her. Her face could not be seen clearly, but judging from his upright posture and the jade pendant on his waist, he was definitely not an ordinary person.
"I know you're hiding in there, why bother hiding your head and showing your tail!" The man's voice was low and majestic, with an unquestionable momentum, "Come out if you know what's good for you, otherwise..."
He didn't finish, but the threat was obvious. Wu Tao's mind raced, and countless thoughts flashed through her mind. She couldn't go out. Once her identity was exposed, not only would her life be in danger, but the queen would also be implicated. But what could she do if she stayed here? The people outside had obviously discovered their whereabouts, and the encirclement would only get smaller and smaller...
Just when Wu Tao was in a dilemma, her eyes fell on a pile of miscellaneous items in the corner of the room. They were some old screens and boxes, which had not been cleaned for many years and had accumulated a thick layer of dust.
A bold idea emerged in her mind.
She motioned the queen to hide under the bed, and she quickly walked to the pile of sundries, pretending to frantically search for something, and deliberately said, "Where is my purse? Where is my purse?"
"What tricks are you playing?" The person outside the door had obviously lost his patience and strode in.
Wu Tao turned his back to him and quietly opened a small porcelain bottle that had been hidden in his hand for a long time. He pointed the mouth of the bottle at the pile of debris and then smashed the bottle into pieces.
With a crisp "bang", a pungent powder instantly spread out and the whole room was shrouded in choking smoke.
"Cough cough cough..." The person outside the door obviously did not expect this trick. He was caught off guard and inhaled the powder, and immediately started coughing violently.
Wu Tao took advantage of this opportunity, rushed to the door at lightning speed, opened the door, and ran out of the cold palace quickly under the cover of night.
She knew that this was only a temporary measure, and that the powder was just an ordinary drug, and its effect would not last long. She had to find a way to escape from the palace as soon as possible, otherwise, if she was caught by the pursuers, the consequences would be disastrous.
Wu Tao ran wildly all the way, his heart pounding like a drum, with only one thought in his mind: escape!
In a panic, she accidentally stumbled into a remote palace. The palace looked like it had been abandoned for many years, with weeds growing in the courtyard and the houses in a dilapidated state, exuding a gloomy atmosphere.
Wu Tao wanted to turn around and leave, but the moment she turned around, she found something unusual on the wall. It was a seemingly ordinary wall, but there were faintly visible scratches on it, like traces of some kind of mechanism.
Her heart moved. Could it be...
Without giving it any time to think, she placed her hand on the wall and pushed gently according to the method she remembered to open the mechanism.
Rumbling--
After a dull sound, the walls slowly moved to both sides, revealing a deep passage.
Wu Tao took a deep breath and walked in...
At the end of the passage was a spacious secret room. In the center of the secret room stood a huge table, piled with various files and books. Wu Tao flipped open a book and found that it contained some secrets that had happened in the palace in recent years, including the truth about the queen being slandered and evidence that the prime minister was secretly colluding with foreign enemies.
Wu Tao was overjoyed, this was truly God’s help!
She put the important files and books into her bag and turned to leave.
However, at this moment, a chaotic sound of footsteps suddenly came from the entrance of the secret room.
Wu Tao was shocked. Oh no, he’s been discovered!
She quickly put the bag on her back and ran deep into the secret room, hoping to find another exit.
However, the space in the secret room was limited, and she was soon forced into a corner with no way to escape.
"Don't hide, come out!" A cold voice echoed in the secret room, "Do you think you can escape?"
Wu Tao held the dagger tightly in his hand, his eyes determined, and a sneer appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"Really? Then let's give it a try!" The flames shot up into the sky, illuminating the night sky of Chang'an City as bright as day. Hu Bugui rode his horse and stood under the palace wall, looking at the flames in the distance, his brows furrowed, his eyes full of anxiety. He got the news that Wu Tao was trapped in the palace, and his life or death was uncertain.
"Your Highness, let's rush in!" Seeing that he was slow to move, the deputy general anxiously asked for orders.
Hu Bugui took a deep breath, suppressed the surging emotions in his heart, and said in a deep voice: "Pass the order down, attack with all your strength, and make sure to rescue the princess!"
"Yes!"
Amid the deafening sound of war drums, Hu Bugui led his army to rush towards the palace like a tiger descending from a mountain. Although the imperial guards guarding the palace were well-trained, they were still defeated by Hu Bugui's elite troops.
Deep inside the palace, Wu Tao was cornered. As she heard the sound of fighting getting closer, she couldn't help but feel a glimmer of hope. She knew that Hu Bugui had returned!
"Don't waste your energy, you can't escape!" An armored general approached with a fierce smile, the long sword in his hand flashing coldly, "Just surrender obediently, and you can suffer less physical pain!"
Wu Tao sneered, and instead of retreating, she advanced, stabbing the opponent with the dagger in her hand like a venomous snake spitting out its tongue. However, the opponent was a veteran who had been through many battles, and he easily dodged her attack and kicked her to the ground.
Wu Tao groaned, feeling a sharp pain in her chest, but she gritted her teeth and held back her voice. She struggled to get up, but found that the other party had already approached her, with the long sword in his hand pointing directly at her throat.
At this critical moment, a loud noise suddenly came from outside the palace, and then the entire ground began to shake violently.
"What's going on?" The general was also shocked by this sudden change and subconsciously turned his head to look outside the hall.
Wu Tao seized this opportunity, quickly got up from the ground, and threw a small cloth bag that he had hidden in his sleeve into the air with all his strength.
"boom!"
The cloth bag exploded in the air, flames splashed everywhere, accompanied by a pungent smell of sulfur, and the entire palace was shrouded in thick smoke.
"Cough cough cough..."
The thick smoke made it impossible to open one's eyes. The soldiers in the hall began to cough and their formation was thrown into chaos.
"kill!"
Amid the deafening shouts of killing, Hu Bugui led his men into the palace. He saw Wu Tao surrounded by thick smoke at a glance, and his heart suddenly tightened, and he rushed over desperately.
"Taotao!"
"Not return!"
Eye to eye, everything is said without words...
"Want to escape? That's not that easy!" A cold voice came from the thick smoke...