Leng Ruo Li ignored the three women and walked towards the eunuch guarding the palace gate, stating her family's name before entering the imperial palace.
This was her first time entering the palace of Tian Wu Kingdom since she transmigrated.
The imperial palace here was quite similar to the Forbidden City in her modern era. It was a grand palace-style structure. The palace gate was composed of two large vermillion doors, and the palace roof, with its double eaves and golden-yellow glazed tiles, shone brilliantly under the setting sun.
As soon as she entered the palace gate, a young eunuch walked towards her.
“Is this the eldest daughter of General Leng’s manor?”
The young eunuch asked with a sharp, duck-like voice, his tone filled with disdain.
“Indeed!”
“Please follow me, the Empress has requested your presence!”
Leng Ruo Li knitted her brows tightly. Wasn't she supposed to attend a congratulatory banquet in the palace tonight? What was this all about now?
Leng Ruo Li really didn't want to go. Her eyelids twitched, and she had a bad feeling that the Empress’s summons was definitely not for something good. However, she couldn't refuse the Empress, so she could only play it by ear.
Leng Ruo Li followed the young eunuch, winding through countless palaces. The palace maids and eunuchs they passed became fewer and fewer. She suddenly felt that something was very wrong.
“Eunuch, where are you taking me? Is this the way to the Empress’s Fengqi Palace?” Leng Ruo Li asked, her face full of confusion.
“Just follow me, why so much nonsense?” the young eunuch replied impatiently. He quickened his pace, then turned and disappeared, leaving Leng Ruo Li behind.
This immediately made Leng Ruo Li realize that something was amiss. Just as she was about to turn back the way she came, a figure suddenly appeared and swiftly knocked her unconscious.
When Leng Ruo Li woke up again, she found herself locked in a dark dungeon. The entire space was filled with a musty, extremely unpleasant odor.
Damn it!
Who was so insidious to dare to ambush her? Once she got out, she would make whoever tried to harm her pay a heavy price.
At that moment, someone lit a torch, illuminating the entire dungeon.
A man in black, wearing a black ghost mask, walked in and stood outside her cell.
A cold glint flashed in Leng Ruo Li’s eyes as she stared at him with intense sharpness.
“Who are you? Why have you locked me up here?”
The man stared at her intently through his mask, and Leng Ruo Li couldn’t see the expression on his face.
Suddenly, the man burst into laughter.
“Hahaha–”
“The eldest daughter of the Leng family is indeed not foolish, but unfortunately, you won’t live much longer. You must die tonight.”
The man’s voice was rough and hoarse.
Leng Ruo Li suspected that the man had intentionally altered his voice with medicine.
Upon hearing the man’s words, Leng Ruo Li fell into deep thought. Who held such a deep hatred for her? Thinking about it, only a few people could be her enemies: the Liu mother and daughter, and Prince Qing.
But the eunuch just now summoned her in the Empress’s name. Could it be that this man before her was sent by the Empress to kill her?
But why would the Empress want to kill her? It seemed that ever since the original owner could remember, she had never met the Empress.
While she was pondering…
The man in the black ghost mask had people bring in several woven bamboo baskets.
“Eldest daughter of the Leng family, let my little darlings keep you company tonight.”
With that, he signaled to the masked subordinates behind him, who immediately understood his intention.
They opened the mouths of the bamboo baskets on the ground towards her cell. The man in the ghost mask then led his subordinates out of the dungeon. Soon, poisonous snakes – including bamboo vipers, mountain pythons, cobras, kraits, and copperheads, more than ten kinds – crawled out of these baskets, making her scalp tingle.
“Holy crap!”
“Damn it!”
Who was so vicious as to want to kill her with venomous snakes?
She wondered if her portable system still contained the snake venom antidote she had developed in her past life. If not, she would have to hide in her system space tonight to escape the snakes, otherwise, she wouldn't last long in this dungeon and would die.
Leng Ruo Li quickly sent her consciousness into her system space laboratory and searched it carefully. She found that the snake venom powder she had developed in her past life was still there.
She quickly took out the snake venom powder from the system space and sprinkled it all over her cell. Only then did she dare to breathe a sigh of relief, wondering if this snake venom powder would work on these ancient poisonous snakes.
Meanwhile, at Chaoyang Palace, where the Emperor was hosting the congratulatory banquet that evening.
Leng Jin Yu paced back and forth at the entrance of Chaoyang Palace. This afternoon, before discussing matters with the Emperor in the Imperial Study, he had instructed a young eunuch to personally welcome his Li’er at the palace gate and bring her directly to Chaoyang Palace.
But an hour had already passed, and he and the Emperor had finished their discussion, yet his Li’er had still not arrived at Chaoyang Palace.
Just then, the Liu mother and daughter, along with Ye Mei Qian and Shen Yue Jia, walked up to the entrance of Chaoyang Palace.
“Daddy, why are you standing here?”
Leng Ruo Shuang asked sweetly.
“Do you two know where Li’er has gone?” Leng Jin Yu asked anxiously.
“Daddy, older sister entered the palace before us, why hasn’t she arrived yet? Could it be that she forgot the way after not entering the palace for many years and got lost?” Leng Ruo Shuang kindly reminded him.
“Alright, you two go in first. I’ll take some people to look for her.” Saying this, he turned to call several eunuchs to help search.
Leng Ruo Shuang looked at Leng Jin Yu’s anxious expression and thought maliciously: it would be best if that little slut was never found. Then, General Leng’s manor would only have her as the eldest daughter, and she could replace Leng Ruo Li to marry Prince Qing, whom she had admired for many years. She felt happy just thinking about it.
However, just as Leng Jin Yu was frantically searching for her, Jun Mo Han approached him and said, “General Leng, don’t worry yet. Young Lady Leng is an adult (ancient women reach adulthood at sixteen), she won’t get lost so easily. I am more familiar with the palace situation, I will arrange for people to search other palaces for you.”
“Then I’ll have to trouble Your Highness Prince Leng.”
Leng Jin Yu said gratefully to Prince Leng. He had only recently returned to the capital and was not sure if his Li’er’s silly illness had completely recovered.
Steward Qi had mentioned in his reply letter that his Li’er was no longer silly, and in their conversation today, he noticed that Li’er’s speech and thoughts were very clear.
The only thing that worried him was that he feared Li’er might accidentally offend some noble personages in the palace, and then they would secretly harm his Li’er.
Meanwhile, Jun Mo Han immediately summoned over a dozen hidden guards and searched the entire imperial palace, but still couldn’t find Leng Ruo Li.
At this moment, Jun Mo Han suddenly thought of a place that everyone might overlook – the Cold Palace.
“Let’s go, everyone, follow me to the Cold Palace to search.”
As he spoke, Jun Mo Han led a few hidden guards and used their lightness skill, flying to the Cold Palace in a short while.
The Cold Palace was dark and eerie, and everything was dilapidated…
Ever since his father ascended the throne, he had ordered all the deposed consorts in the Cold Palace to be expelled from the palace. This place had been abandoned for over ten years and had lost all traces of human habitation, becoming completely empty.
Jun Mo Han led the search in the Cold Palace for a long time, but still couldn’t find Leng Ruo Li.
In the dungeon
After Leng Ruo Li knew that the group had left with confidence, she took a broom from her system space and pushed the unconscious poisonous snakes aside, clearing a safe path to the cell door.
She chuckled.
Damn it!
Do you think I’m someone you can trap?
Then, she took out the all-purpose key she had used last time from her system space. With a “click,” she opened the dungeon door and turned to walk out of the dungeon room, but got stuck.
Later, she finally discovered a switch on the dungeon wall. She gently nudged the oil lamp, and a door appeared on the wall. She turned and walked out of the dungeon.
“Damn it! I’ve finally gotten out of this godforsaken place.”
“Ghost mask, don’t let me find out who you are, otherwise…”
“Heh heh…”
Just as she was reveling in the joy of escaping danger, someone suddenly patted her shoulder from behind.
“Ah…”
Leng Ruo Li screamed in fright.
“Ugly woman, it’s me.”
“Jun Mo Han, scaring people will kill them, don’t you know that?”
Leng Ruo Li was so angry that she flew into a rage on the spot.