Yao Biluo asked a palace maid to bring people in, and the maid obeyed and went to do so.
An eerie breeze drifted in like a gust of wind, bringing with it a chill. Yao Biluo couldn't help but sneeze, startling Jun Yilin, who quickly wrapped her tightly in the blanket.
Seeing Jun Yilin glaring at her, An Mei nonchalantly picked up some fruit from the table and ate it, saying, "Why are you being so precious? Don't spoil my nephew too much!"
Yao Biluo saw the person behind him, her face stern, and said, "You still have the nerve to come here? What exactly happened last time?"
The person who came was none other than Liu Yun, who had accidentally let go of what was likely Jun Yifeng. He had been tracking the escaped person around for some time now, and he looked weathered and his clothes were tattered.
Liu Yun retorted, unconvinced, "I was just careless for a moment. Who knew he was so cunning!"
Yao Biluo was furious and said, "If it were a battle between masters, one careless move could lead to total defeat and death in an instant. Would you be so careless then?"
Liu Yun stopped arguing back and just pouted without saying a word.
Seeing his defiant look, Yao Biluo coldly said, "According to the old rules, go and accept your punishment!"
Liu Yun cupped his hands and said, "Yes! However, there is something else I need to report."
Yao Biluo glared at An Mei, who was gloating, and said, "Speak!"
Liu Yun said, "I tracked that person all the way. Although he was cunning, he couldn't escape a skilled hunter—"
Yao Biluo interrupted his smugness: "Get to the point!"
Liu Yun was feeling smug when he was interrupted, and his words caught in his throat. He felt very uncomfortable, but he didn't dare to talk back. He just continued, "Yes, I found his trail on the road and followed it all the way here. I found that the trail disappeared outside the palace gate, which means that he may have sneaked into the palace."
Halfway through Liu Yun's speech, Yao Biluo had a bad feeling, and sure enough!
Jun Yilin's eyebrows furrowed, and he said, "We must strengthen the palace's security and find this person as soon as possible, otherwise there will be endless trouble."
Yao Biluo nodded in agreement.
Anmei put down the fruit in her mouth and said, "I will stay here every day during this period, and I will also arrange for all the experts in the building to drop their tasks and rush back. Don't worry, Fengyi Palace will be guarded like an iron barrel, and not even a mosquito will be able to fly in."
Seeing their serious expressions, Yao Biluo couldn't help but laugh: "It's not that serious. It's just one person. Is it really worth all this seriousness? Besides, he didn't sneak in for me!"
Seeing Jun Yilin staring at her seriously, Yao Biluo covered her mouth, not daring to laugh out loud, but still had a smile on her face.
Jun Yilin sighed and said, "Even if he didn't infiltrate the palace for you, he still had his own agenda. What I fear most is that you might be caught in the crossfire and get hurt. Besides, you're pregnant now, how can I not worry?" He then turned to Anmei and said, "You'll have to work hard these days!"
Dark Enchantress laughed nonchalantly, "This time I will never let anything happen to the Lord again! But I'm going to live here every day, so you're not allowed to be jealous!"
Jun Yilin smiled sinisterly: "Jealous? With you?"
Anmei felt a chill run down her spine and quickly waved her hand, "Oh, it was just a joke, don't be so serious!"
Yao Biluo covered her mouth, laughing so hard her whole body was shaking.
After a long pause, Jun Yilin asked, "Should we tell Jiang Yumin about this?"
Yao Biluo said, "We still have to tell him, after all, they are brothers."
Jiang Yumin made a mistake in a moment of confusion last time, and hopefully he won't do it again this time. However, if Jun Yifeng is caught, what should be done with him? Yao Biluo thought to herself.
Rumors have it that assassins have infiltrated the palace, so the guards have been working five shifts instead of three, and the number of guards has doubled. The Phoenix Palace, in particular, is the most important place to be guarded in the palace, and no one dares to be careless or risk their official position and life.
The Empress is pregnant, which means she could very well be the future Emperor! Everyone was on high alert. Judging by the guards' posture, even a mosquito flying by would probably be swatted to death outside the Phoenix Palace.
Yao Biluo yawned and said, "You guys are too tense. With so many people, how can you not catch one person?"
In the past few days, Anmei has indeed been staying by Yao Biluo's side every day, carefully checking everything she eats, wears, and uses, for fear that someone might tamper with it.
Hearing Yao Biluo's words, Anmei became serious for once: "It's easy to dodge a spear in the open, but hard to guard against an arrow in the dark! It's better to be careful."
Yao Biluo was somewhat surprised by his seriousness and stared at him intently.
Anmei felt a little embarrassed by her gaze and said with a grin, "What, suddenly realized I'm quite charming, huh! Regret not marrying me?"
Yao Bilu rolled her eyes and threw a pillow at her: "I thought you'd suddenly matured, but you're still so unreliable!"
Anmei caught the pillow and chuckled.
Upon hearing the news, Jiang Yumin rushed back from hundreds of miles away, travel-worn and exhausted.
Looking at Yao Biluo, who was lying in bed and looking increasingly plump, Jiang Yumian's eyes welled up with tears.
"Are you alright?" All the words I could want to say could be summed up in just these few.
Yao Biluo laughed: "What could be wrong with that? It's you who's been married. You haven't come to the palace to see me since you got married, nor have you sent me a single word. You've truly forgotten your mother after marrying a wife!"
Jiang Yumin forced a smile: "No way!"
Yao Biluo said, "It's been a while since I've seen you. I've been thinking about how you are. You seem to have lost some weight."
Jiang Yumin dared not look her in the eye and lowered her head to answer, "The Emperor sent me to garrison Youzhou. I train troops every day, so naturally I've lost weight."
“Even if you go to Youzhou, it’s only five or six days’ distance from the capital. You should come back often, with your wife. If you don’t get used to life there, you should come back!” Yao Biluo suggested.
“Youzhou is a strategically important military location, and the border has been quite unstable lately. The Emperor said he doesn’t trust anyone else to go! You—don’t worry about me, I’m fine,” Jiang Yumin said softly.
"Zhan Qing and Cheng Lin are about to become fathers, and I'm about to become a mother, but you haven't shown any signs of pregnancy yet. Don't tell me you're not satisfied with the wife you chose!" Yao Biluo grumbled.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Yumin suddenly raised her head, staring intently at Yao Biluo's belly, and murmured, "You're going to be a mother!"
Yao Biluo lowered her head and stroked her belly, smiling happily, and said softly, "Yes, it's been three months already."
A glint flashed in Jiang Yumin's eyes, and her smile was heartbreaking: "Very good, I'm going to be an uncle!"
Yao Biluo didn't notice his expression; she was only immersed in her joy.
☆、Twenty-three、The Ending
Looking at Yao Biluo's happy face, Jiang Yumian turned her head away and secretly wiped away the tears from the corner of her eyes.
"Your wife's name is Yunxiwu, right? How are you two? Do you get along well?" Yao Biluo asked with concern.
Jiang Yumin forced a smile, but her words were hesitant and slurred, "She's fine."
Since their marriage, Jiang Yumin has basically never seen his wife again, and he probably can't even describe what she looks like.
At the flower-viewing banquet, to put aside his own feelings and to reassure Yao Biluo, Jiang Yumin smiled brightly at the woman sitting beside him, and the woman was completely captivated. After the banquet, the woman swore to her family that she would marry no one but Jiang Yumin, which forced the lowly official Lord Yun to shamelessly and tremblingly go to Jiang Yumin's residence to inquire about the matter.
Unexpectedly, Jiang Yumin readily agreed to marry Miss Yun, which surprised Lord Yun. The generous dowry that followed left the entire Yun family speechless with astonishment. Such a high regard for Miss Yun made everyone in the Yun family sigh that Miss Yun had finally found her life partner.
Miss Yun, confident in her beauty, believed Jiang Yumin was captivated by her stunning looks and remained unfazed by the exceptionally generous dowry. However, after the marriage, Jiang Yumin never entered her room again, leaving Miss Yun utterly perplexed and too ashamed to speak of it to outsiders. Even her own family was unaware that Miss Yun remained a virgin to this day.
Jiang Yumin naturally wouldn't tell Yao Biluo these secrets, so Yao Biluo wasn't suspicious. She just urged Jiang Yumin to work harder and give her a nephew, to which Jiang Yumin only gave a vague reply.
Finally, when the topic of Jun Yifeng came up, Yao Biluo briefly explained the situation and then asked, "What do you think we should do about this?"
Jiang Yumian remained silent.
Since hearing the news, he had been traveling to the capital overnight. He had pondered many things along the way. He couldn't quite define his feelings for this brother who had suddenly appeared in his life. But ever since the brother had made him do those things he would regret for the rest of his life, he only felt deep hatred for Jun Yifeng!
After a long silence, Jiang Yumin finally spoke, "We should do what needs to be done, but let's spare his life!" In the end, the bond of blood made Jiang Yumin unable to bring herself to be cruel, especially since her mother still hoped that the two brothers could love each other and support one another before she passed away.
Yao Biluo was not surprised by his answer. She told him the solution she had been thinking about for many days: to cripple Jun Yifeng's martial arts, lock him in a secret room in the palace, and let him live a life of good food and drink.
Jiang Yumin listened without saying anything, only nodding in agreement.
"Haven't they caught him yet?" Jiang Yumin asked.
Yao Biluo said, "No, he is extremely familiar with the palace. Every time we almost discovered his whereabouts, he slipped away again."
"It seems we need to think of a way to make him walk right into our trap. Otherwise, this can't go on forever. What if he hurts you again someday?" Jiang Yumin pondered.
Yao Biluo felt a warmth in her heart when she saw that he still only cared about her.
"Leave this matter to me!" Jiang Yumin said.
Yao Biluo believed in his abilities. How could someone who could become famous in the martial arts world at the age of seventeen, leading a group of subordinates to develop and expand the assassin organization Fengxi Tower, making everyone in the martial arts world tremble with fear, be an incompetent person! However, asking him to devise a plan to capture his own brother was a bit too much to ask, so Yao Biluo hesitated and did not make a decision.
Jiang Yumin looked at her firmly and said, "Don't worry about anything else, just leave it to me."
Yao Biluo finally nodded in agreement.
The palace guards were well-organized under Jiang Yumin's command, although some of their orders were confusing. However, Lord Sikong said that they didn't need to understand them, they just needed to execute them!
Thus, an invisible net was quietly being woven, gradually covering the entire palace.
The eighth day of the twelfth lunar month is the traditional Laba Festival. Everyone happily sits together to eat Laba porridge, which is a mixture of rice, millet, mung beans, cowpeas, red beans, peanuts, dates, and other ingredients. It is not only beautiful in color but also tastes delicious.
Jun Yilin blew on the porridge in his hand to cool it down before handing it to Yao Biluo, but Yao Biluo was unimpressed and said, "It's not like I don't have hands. Doing this will only make people laugh at me!"
Jun Yilin said patiently, "Stop moving around. You're almost due, and you still won't behave!"
With her pregnant belly, Yao Biluo's movements were indeed somewhat inconvenient. She pouted and took the porridge to drink.
Jiang Yumin remained silent and drank her porridge without saying a word.
While drinking porridge, Anmei chatted and joked with several familiar palace maids and eunuchs, creating a lively scene.
A eunuch came in to report that Yao Bi, who was locked up in the Cold Palace, had gone mad with joy.
Yao Biluo was taken aback. How could she have suddenly gone mad? She asked about the situation carefully and felt something was wrong. She stood up, supporting her waist, and said, "I'll go take a look."
The servants nearby were so frightened that they scrambled to catch their breath, and Jun Yilin stood up and advised, "You're already so clumsy, you shouldn't go."
Yao Bile insisted, so Jun Yilin had no choice but to say, "Alright, we'll go together, but you're only allowed to stay put and not move around."
Seeing that Yao Biluo had agreed, Jun Yilin took the fox fur cloak, helped her tie it on, and the group went to the Cold Palace together.
As soon as they arrived at the entrance of the Cold Palace, Jiang Yumin reached out to stop them and said softly, "Let's go in through the back door."
Although no one understood why, seeing Jiang Yumin's solemn expression, they followed her in through the back door.
Upon entering the Cold Palace, they saw Yao Bile sitting quietly to the side, not appearing to be insane. Everyone was puzzled. Jiang Yumin stepped forward and coldly asked, "Is this your plan? Will he come?"
Yao Bile then noticed someone had come in. She turned to look at Jiang Yumin, and suddenly jumped up in fright, hiding in a corner, trembling all over, as if she had seen a ghost. She obediently said, "I did what we agreed on. I'm not sure if he will come or not."
Yao Bile became increasingly puzzled as she listened, and just as she was about to ask, Jiang Yumin said to Jun Yilin, "You all protect your sister well, he may be here soon."
Everyone here is smart; they understood immediately. It seems that Jiang Yumin and Yao Bile set up a trap to lure them into it!
Everyone hid in a secluded corner of another room, from which they could vaguely see the movements inside Yao Bile's room through the window. Jun Yilin and An Mei stood on either side of Yao Bile, while Jiang Yumin stood quietly to the side, waiting.
About the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the moon rose above the willow branches, and the door to the Cold Palace creaked open.
Jun Yilin quickly grasped Yao Bile's hand to remind her. Anmei and Jiang Yumin also heard it, and they all breathed softly.