The boss nodded, gently patted his shoulder, and said with a smile, "You've done very well. We must succeed this time, no failure allowed."
"After rescuing her, send Prince Liu back to Shuangyue City immediately and secretly, understand?"
"Yes."
Several subordinates around immediately replied.
Then, the boss reported to his superiors. A martial artist with sharp eyes looked into the distance and nodded.
"Very good, you all prepare yourselves. When Prince Liu emerges from that courtyard again and the surveillance personnel relax, immediately launch a fierce attack, understand?"
"Yes."
Everyone stood ready, then dispersed to avoid detection.
About an hour later, a large group of people emerged from the courtyard.
These were the guards watching over Prince Liu, Li Mengdie. After using their tools to dig up the soil Li Mengdie had requested, they brought the soil out.
"You all throw this soil over there, make sure to throw it far, understand?"
"Yes, Your Highness."
Li Mengdie directed the guards, and soon, they had all disposed of the soil.
Two Imperial Guards watching Li Mengdie exchanged glances. One of them smiled at Li Mengdie and said, "Your Highness Prince Liu, you wouldn't happen to have dug a lot of soil out of the courtyard, would you? Trying to dig a tunnel?"
Li Mengdie's heart skipped a beat. These seemingly dull-witted fellows had coincidentally hit upon her plan.
"What are you talking about? Do you think I'm that stupid, to try and escape under your strict surveillance?"
Li Mengdie pouted, looking at the Imperial Guard as if he were an idiot.
The Imperial Guard chuckled, "It's best if Your Highness Prince Liu doesn't have such thoughts. If you did, you'd have to consider all of us brothers here, none of whom are idle."
Li Mengdie snorted, "Are you threatening me?"
"Believe it or not, when Chu Chen comes again, I'll tell him you two have improper intentions towards me?"
The two Imperial Guards' expressions changed slightly at her words.
If Li Mengdie truly said that, it was highly likely that Prime Minister Chu would believe her.
"Your Highness Prince Liu, what are you trying to do? We have no enmity with you, why would you harm us?"
Li Mengdie scoffed, "The way you're looking at me now, and threatening me, that's how you're making an enemy of me."
The two Imperial Guards felt a bit helpless. "Your Highness Prince Liu, we don't know what you want us to do?"
Li Mengdie smiled slightly, a hint of triumph in her expression.
"It's simple. You don't need to follow me so closely. I'm alone, and I've never contacted the outside world. Isn't this a bit of a waste of effort?"
"I won't delay your matters, and you don't need to bother with me. Give me some space, understand?"
The two Imperial Guards exchanged glances, then sighed, "Your Highness Prince Liu, we can give you space. We'll maintain a distance of twenty zhang. How does that sound?"
"Fifty zhang."
Li Mengdie said with a cold smile, "Not only that, but when you're on guard at night, you must also be fifty zhang away. If anything happens, I'll come out and find you myself."
Upon hearing this, the two Imperial Guards immediately shook their heads. "Your Highness Prince Liu, absolutely not. How can we be so far from you? That would be dereliction of duty."
Li Mengdie heard this and immediately threw her head back defiantly, "Is that so? In that case, we'll just have to wait and see who's in charge."
"You continue to follow me like I'm a prisoner. I'll see how you deal with Chu Chen."
"Oh, and by the way, let me tell you, Chu Chen and I have already broken through the last layer of our relationship. Otherwise, why wouldn't he have killed me? Think about my importance to Chu Chen."
Hearing this, the two Imperial Guards were astonished. They hadn't expected Prince Liu to reveal such a thing to them.
However, upon reflection, it was quite possible.
"Your Highness Prince Liu, we truly don't want to be your adversaries. Since you want us to keep our distance, then fine, we'll do as you say."
The two Imperial Guards didn't want to fall out with Li Mengdie. Considering the situation, they felt they had the overall situation under control, so they decided to indulge Prince Liu.
A fifty-zhang radius was something they could manage.
Li Mengdie, outwardly calm, was inwardly overjoyed.
A distance of fifty zhang was definitely enough if someone came to rescue her.
Her only worry now was that no one would come to save her. If that were the case, all her preparations would be in vain.
"Look quickly, why are those people so far from Your Highness Prince Liu? Do we have anyone in that group?"
"No, I don't think so. Are they afraid of Your Highness Prince Liu, so they're avoiding her?"
"However, this is a good opportunity for us. Weren't we always worried about them having too many people and being strong? Now that we have such a good chance, we'll wait for their vigilance to drop, and then launch a surprise attack."
"As long as we can help His Highness escape smoothly, it will be easy for us to get away."
"You're right, sir."
"Let's make proper arrangements. These fellows are not weak; we must time our attack precisely."
Everyone became increasingly tense. Although they had planned for a long time, they became more cautious as the moment of execution approached.
Li Mengdie also looked around anxiously, but found nothing.
Could it be that no one was coming to save her?
She was truly unwilling to be confined like this by Chu Chen. She still had to return to fight for the throne; she wanted to be the next king of Yunyue Kingdom!
Why should Li Xinyue be the king? True kings fought their way to the throne, they didn't inherit it.
But Li Xinyue, that wretched girl, had Chu Chen assisting her, allowing her to win without effort.
As long as Chu Chen still cared about Li Xinyue, she had no chance to compete.
If she could escape this predicament, her only recourse would be those restless nobles.
But those fellows were not good people either. Even if they helped her ascend, Li Mengdie would not be able to comfortably hand over power to them.
However, these were matters for later. Her immediate concern was to leave this place!
Li Mengdie glanced at the two wooden statues fifty zhang away, one on the left and one on the right. Seeing her gaze, they both looked away.
At the same time, two hundred zhang away, a group of people had changed into clothing that closely matched the color of the grass in front of them.
This way, if they moved quickly, they might not be easily spotted.