Then, Zhong Dama and Zhong Shu, with smiles on their faces, invited Jun Mohan and Leng Ruoli to dinner.
Jun Mohan and Leng Ruoli did not stand on ceremony, picking up their chopsticks and starting to eat.
After dinner, Leng Ruoli suddenly said to Zhong Shu and Zhong Dama, "Uncle Zhong, Aunt Zhong, the Prince and I plan to stay at the manor for the night and return to the city tomorrow."
Upon hearing this, Zhong Shu happily replied, "Yes, yes, yes. Your Highness, Your Consort, I will immediately tidy up the master bedroom for you to rest."
However, when Zhong Dama heard that the Cold King and his Consort would be staying overnight, her smile froze.
Zhong Dama's expression was clearly visible to Leng Ruoli and Jun Mohan.
Heh—
The Cold King and his Consort sneered inwardly. The more Zhong Dama wanted them to leave the manor, the more they refused. They wanted to see what role Zhong Dama played in the matter of Dou Ban.
However, Zhong Dama's expression quickly returned to normal.
"It is rare for Your Highness and Your Consort to visit. You must stay for the night. This humble wife will go and prepare the master bedroom for you immediately," Zhong Dama also said enthusiastically.
With that, she pulled Zhong Shu out of the living room to make the beds for the Cold King and his Consort.
In the middle of the night, the moon was bright, and the night was cool. Moonlight shone through the half-open window. Outside, the cold moonlight cast upon the Lagerstroemia indica trees. A gust of night wind blew, causing the branches to rustle, their swaying shadows appearing to drift in water.
But at this moment, footsteps were heard outside the Cold King and his Consort's room.
"Your Highness, Your Consort, are you asleep?" Zhong Dama creepily approached the door of the Cold King and his Consort's room and whispered.
Hearing this, the Cold King and his Consort, who were lying in bed pretending to be asleep, exchanged a smile but did not answer Zhong Dama. They closed their eyes again and continued to feign sleep.
Zhong Dama, who did not receive a response from the Cold King and his Consort outside the door, continued to ask, "Your Highness, Your Consort, are you really asleep?"
Again, there was no response from the Cold King and his Consort's room.
A moment later, Zhong Dama's heart filled with joy. She quickly took out a small bamboo tube, as thick as a pair of chopsticks, from her sleeve and blew a puff of sleeping smoke into the Cold King and his Consort's room, attempting to knock them out.
But Leng Ruoli had already anticipated Zhong Dama's actions. When Zhong Dama broke the window paper with the small bamboo tube, Leng Ruoli quickly took out two small oxygen tanks from her space and put them on. The sleeping smoke Zhong Dama blew into their room could not knock them out at all.
However, after Zhong Dama blew the sleeping smoke into the Cold King and his Consort's room, a sinister smile crept up her lips. She turned and disappeared from the door of the Cold King and his Consort's room.
At the same time, she snorted in her heart, "Heh! I thought the Cold King, known as the emotionless god of death in Tianwu, was so formidable, but he was easily dealt with by me."
Hahaha…
Zhong Dama, using her qinggong to fly at her fastest speed towards the foot of the mountain where the Cold King and his Consort had admired the flowers, laughed heartily. With a hop of her toes, she leaped onto a branch of the Lagerstroemia indica tree, and then she was on the small mountain.
After Zhong Dama left, Leng Ruoli and Jun Mohan quickly sat up, walked out of the room, and hurriedly threw the two oxygen tanks they had taken out back into their space.
Then, they strode into Zhong Shu's room and found that Zhong Shu's room had also been filled with sleeping smoke. Zhong Shu had already inhaled the smoke and fallen into a deep sleep.
Leng Ruoli immediately took out a bottle of refreshing medicinal liquid from her sleeve and placed it under Zhong Shu's nose. After a moment of inhalation, Zhong Shu sneezed loudly and woke up. He opened his eyes, looking at the Cold King and his Consort in shock.
"Your Highness, Your Consort, why are you in my room? And where is my old woman? Where did she go?"
Zhong Shu reached out and touched beside him, finding it empty.
"Uncle Zhong, please calm down and listen to the Prince and me. After Zhong Dama knocked you out, she went to our room to blow sleeping smoke. She thought her plan had succeeded and flew away. But we were prepared, and she did not succeed in knocking us out, so we came to wake you up."
Leng Ruoli told Zhong Shu the truth.
Upon hearing this, Zhong Shu found Zhong Dama's actions incredibly baffling. He had been married to Zhong Dama for over twenty years, but he had never noticed any strange behavior from her. However, her actions tonight were truly inexplicable.
"Your Highness, Your Consort, my wife… sigh…"
Zhong Shu trailed off, unsure of what to say, as he knew nothing about Zhong Dama's affairs.
"Uncle Zhong, you don't need to explain anything now. We need to take you with us. But later, no matter what you see or hear, do not make a sound. Can you do that? Otherwise, you will bear the consequences!"
Leng Ruoli warned Zhong Shu in advance.
Upon hearing this, Zhong Shu wisely nodded, as he also wanted to know what his wife was up to.
"Alright then, Uncle Zhong, please follow us," Leng Ruoli said in a calm tone.
Subsequently, the Cold King and his Consort led Zhong Shu to the Lagerstroemia indica tree where they had played during the day.
Just then, from the mountain where Dou Ban had fallen that day, the shrill screams of a young boy were heard again: "Ah…"
Hearing this, Zhong Shu trembled all over. Their previous residence was quite far from this small mountain, so the screams from the mountain were not very clear.
Now that he was standing below this mountain, he could hear the child's screams clearly, which made his scalp tingle. He wondered who heartless person was abusing a child on the mountain.
The Cold King and his Consort frowned upon hearing the child's piercing screams.
Jun Mohan exchanged a look with Leng Ruoli. They stamped their feet and leaped up. Leng Ruoli flew onto the mountain, while Jun Mohan carried Zhong Shu and also flew onto the mountain.
After the three of them reached the summit, they discovered that this seemingly small hill was actually quite spacious.
Immediately, the three of them cautiously passed through a row of bamboo, and then, to their surprise, they found that behind this small bamboo grove was a stone mountain. At the foot of the stone mountain, there was a large cave entrance, guarded by two men in black.
"Go!"
"She has accomplices!" Leng Ruoli exclaimed in surprise.
Even Zhong Shu was shocked. He had lived at the foot of this hill for so many years, yet he had never discovered a stone cave on this mountain.
However, it was not entirely strange. He could not practice qinggong, and the people he interacted with were ordinary civilians who also could not use qinggong to fly up this hill to check the situation.
Moreover, this mountain faced the Lagerstroemia indica sea of flowers, and it was a sheer cliff face, so they dared not risk climbing up, unless they were like the Prince and Consort who knew qinggong and dared to take risks.
But his wife, after so many years of living with her, he had never discovered that she knew qinggong. Therefore, the person who abducted Dou Ban could not have been his wife.
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