An Xin was furious. She had seen stubborn, willful, and eccentric people before, but she had never seen anyone so irrational and prone to outbursts of anger! What had she just said to her?!
"Stop right there!" An Xin threw down the broom and glared at him angrily. "Pile up the table before you leave!"
Yan Zhen glanced at An Xin, a disgruntled smile playing on her lips. An Xin snapped angrily, "You don't want to do it, huh? If you don't want to, then get out of here and don't ever show your face in front of me again!"
Yan Zhen turned around, walked to the stone table, raised his foot, and kicked away another table leg...
××× ×××
An Xin tossed the swept-up fallen leaves into the flower bed, then turned away, ignoring the people on the side, and picked up the table leg. The table leg was a bit heavy, but it wasn't difficult for An Xin to lift it. The stone table was simply set up to be close to nature.
An Xin put the stone down and then tried to lift the stone table, which was a bit difficult. Even though she was strong, her body hadn't been trained much. She had become lazy since coming into this world and hadn't practiced much. She couldn't lift it, which was a bit embarrassing.
Yan Zhen sidled up and was about to make a move when An Xin slapped her, deflecting the outstretched hand.
Yan Zhen's eyes narrowed as she said, "It hurts."
An Xin asked coldly, "Where does it hurt?!"
Yan Zhen said, "Feet."
An Xin: "..."
Yan Zhen smiled and was about to kiss her, but An Xin dodged.
Yan Zhen put his arm around her and said, "Don't be angry, it's my fault."
An Xin was furious, but his words made her lose her temper.
"Why should Xin'er and I be so formal? We're family, no need for thanks. There's no need to be distant, is there?"
An Xin raised an eyebrow: "We're family, what kind of closeness are you trying to establish, sir!?"
Yan Zhen leaned down and pecked her lips, saying, "Can you stop making a fuss? An Wan isn't among the corpses, so she must still be alive. Also, among the many dead bodies, we found people from Bei Mo. Xin'er, were you chased by them?"
An Xin was suddenly taken aback: "How did you know?"
Yan Zhen casually took out a hairpin, the very one he had given her, inlaid with a dust-repelling bead, but the bead was gone. "How did the people of Beimo target Xin'er? Those people are all assassins from the Beimo Ghost Gate, extremely powerful and ruthless. Once they target you, the consequences will be irreversible!"
An Xin's expression darkened slightly: "This might be a misunderstanding. I accidentally encountered them that day, and then I was inexplicably chased and killed. Moreover, the amount of information I obtained from their conversation was far too little." After carefully considering the information, it seemed that they were looking for a woman, and that woman must have something in common with her, leading them to mistake her for her. Apart from that, there was no other information to be found. However, when Bei Mo was mentioned, An Xin couldn't help but think of the man named Zuo Luo, the one who seemed to have crawled out of a hellish battlefield. Even just thinking about him made An Xin want to keep her at a distance.
Yan Zhen raised his hand, his fingertips stroking her smooth and delicate chin, but his eyes held a hint of inscrutable intent: "If they dare to touch Xin'er, I will have no choice but to kill them, whether they are ghosts or demons."
Oh no, I owe another thousand! I swear I'll make it all up in the next day or the day after!
Chapter Seventy-Eight Battle Qi
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The capital was in complete disarray, which also proved that what An Xin said in the Weiyang Palace was not an exaggeration. You should know that if the people of the capital could not escape on that day, the capital would really become a dead city!
The transportation of sea salt was put on the agenda, while An Xin accelerated the production of silkworm-woven garments. All affairs in the capital were handled by Jing Lan. This division of labor, though sometimes bumpy, was harmonious.
Several days later, the Heavenly Silk Robe was finally completed. Under An Xin's intimidation, the ten death row inmates had no choice but to wear this expensive but strangely shaped coat and were driven to the top of Broken Peak by An Xin.
The lake was calm. An Xin walked to the lakeside, looked at the dark center of the lake, and then sank a small stone with a string attached into the lake. The stone got stuck in one spot. An Xin tried another spot, and this time it was deeper. She then lifted the stone out and repeated this process.
Yan Zhen gently waved her folding fan, her posture was extremely beautiful, yet there was a hint of apprehension in her eyes towards the lake.
An Xin stood up and said, "The bottom of the lake is uneven. We need to go down to the bottom of the lake to find out the depth and whether there are volcanic rocks that produce poisonous gas hidden at the bottom..." An Xin paused and did not continue. There were many things she said that no one would necessarily understand. Rather than arousing suspicion, it was better to pretend to be mysterious.
The ten death row inmates trembled with fear, thinking to themselves that this woman was using them as human targets! She was playing with their lives!
As if she could see through their thoughts, An Xin said calmly, "Death row inmates have no right to talk about life and death. The silkworm robes I've given you are waterproof and prevent poison from being inhaled. If you can come out alive, I will plead with the Emperor to spare your lives. But if you die inside... be content. A painless death is much better than being beheaded!"
After he finished speaking, the faces of all ten death row inmates turned dark.
An Xin said calmly, "The lake is a hundred feet wide and fifty feet long. The bottom of the lake must be much larger than the surface. You ten people will each enter the water from ten different points, place the stones with the lines attached to them in the deepest part, and then you can come up." An Xin raised the corner of her lips, "It's very simple, isn't it?"
The ten death row inmates rolled their eyes. Jian Dan, get down there! But An Xin said something that really resonated with them: either way they were going to die, it was better than being beheaded. If they didn't die after going into the lake, they might have a chance to survive if they climbed back up.
Even death row inmates know that there is a way to survive if you put yourself in a life-or-death situation.
“Miss An, if we climb up here, will you really beg the Emperor to spare our lives?!” Zhang San said in a rough voice. After all, this was just a promise from An Xin. Besides, they were death row inmates who had killed people. Moreover, even if An Xin was the daughter of the Taicang magistrate, she couldn’t control the Emperor’s will.
An Xin smiled faintly and said, "You may not believe me, but you can't disbelieve the Right Prime Minister."
Zhang San and the others suddenly widened their eyes. The Right Chancellor?! This man, who was even more handsome than a woman, was actually the current Right Chancellor who held absolute power?!
They had the desire but not the courage to look; this exceptionally handsome man seemed approachable and easygoing, yet he always made them feel uneasy. 123456789
Yan Zhen said calmly, "I always keep my word. If you come out of the lake alive, I will not only spare your lives, but I will also reward each of you with a hundred taels of silver as a sign of my appreciation."
The group exchanged surprised glances. There was even a reward! People die for money, birds die for food, who doesn't like money!
Moreover, everyone in the world is saying that the Right Chancellor is the true ruler of this palace. The young emperor listens to him. Since he has spoken, what worries do they have?
An Xin glanced at the interested group and said calmly, "The Heavenly Silk Armor can only last for two hours at most. The tanks you're carrying on your backs only hold enough for half an hour, so you'll need to come up and replace the air tanks every half hour. Alright, enough talk, let's get in the water!"
This time, the death row inmates cooperated and entered the water from ten different points.
An Xin glanced at the Dust-Avoiding Pearl. The pearl, which had originally been radiant, now emitted a faint glow. An Xin frowned slightly, and as the lake surface rippled, poisonous gas seeped out...
Half an hour passed in a flash, but the lake remained completely still, and An Xin's expression turned slightly cold and somber.
Could it be that the Heavenly Silk Armor can't block those poisonous gases at all?! No, those poisonous gases only cause poisoning through respiration; skin contact wouldn't kill us. But half an hour has passed, and why is there not a single movement at the bottom of the lake?!
Could it be that they were all wiped out?!