Chapter 118: a.s.sa.s.sination (II)

Translator: Storm in a Teacup

s.h.i.+ was always an honest man. He immediately went back to the study to fetch his sword.

Then, s.h.i.+ began to practice sword in the yard.

s.h.i.+’s swordplay was not graceful, but it contained great power. He always fought as a valiant warrior.

It was really intoxicating. Of course, that was what Long thought of his lover. In the eyes of others, it may not be the same…

Long watched s.h.i.+ finish a whole set of movements. When s.h.i.+ went back with the sword, Long couldn’t help but go forward and hold s.h.i.+ in his arms.

s.h.i.+ slightly raised his eyebrows and Long kissed his eyelids. The two of them embraced for a long time under the banyan tree, which was an extremely beautiful scene. When night wind blew, Long felt a little cold, so he went back with his arm around s.h.i.+’s waist.

Half a month later, a message came from the border that s.h.i.+ Qingshan dispatched troops and took over three cities in the north.

s.h.i.+ Qingshan did not send soldiers to occupy the three cities. Instead, he drove the residents to the center of the cities, and then set the cities on fire!

It was difficult to build a city, but it was so easy to burn it down.

Destruction always happened faster than construction.

Except for the wartime, the troops led by s.h.i.+ Qingshan never hurt a single resident in those three cities. After burning the cities, he sent the troops back.

Five days later, when Long presided over the morning meeting, some ministers accused s.h.i.+ Qingshan of being cruel and inhuman since he destroyed so many people’s home.

Long didn’t say a single word. After the ministers who criticized s.h.i.+ Qingshan finished their words, Long deprived those ministers of their power and said those people would be sent to the camp at the border to experience what it was like to be a soldier.

All the five ministers were shocked, but they were still sent to the border at last!

From then on, the court became silent.

No one dared to say anything about what happened at the border. Who wanted to experience the life on the battlefield as a soldier? It was no fun at all. Whoever did that was courting death!

After sending the five ministers away, Long immediately asked another five people to take office.

Among the five people, one was recommended by the left prime minister, one was a centrist, one was a royalist from s.h.i.+ Qingshan, one was recommended by the right prime minister, and one was trusted by s.h.i.+ Qingzhou.

The situation in the court changed again. Long went back to Qiankun Palace after the court meeting. It was said that most of the servants of the imperial palace knew that the emperor was in a bad mood that day!

So, all the people in the imperial palace were very scared. They were afraid that they might get into trouble.

If that happened… they would definitely suffer a lot!

The emperor was no longer like before. It was not easy to fool him!

However, that was only one side of the story.

In front of s.h.i.+, Long laughed happily. “Qingzhou, you really should’ve been there. Those ministers who I sent to the border were really shocked.” Long laughed out loud.

Looking at Long, who laughed so happily like a child had managed to play a prank on others, s.h.i.+ felt a little helpless.

“Is it that funny?” s.h.i.+ asked.

“Of course, it’s so funny. Their faces have turned livid! I’m not exaggerating, okay?”

s.h.i.+ touched Long’s chin. “Really?”

“Hmm?” Long looked at his empress in surprise.

No wonder he was so surprised. The reason was… it seemed that his empress had never “flirted” with him like that. What s.h.i.+ was doing at the moment… Was it flirting? His empress must be flirting with him!

So, Long was very surprised!

Seeing that Long was so surprised, s.h.i.+ slightly raised his eyebrows. “What’s wrong?”

“Ahem.” Long coughed violently. Then, he said, “No, nothing. It’s just that I never saw you like this. So I’m a little bit surprised.”

Long especially emphasized the three words “a little bit”.

s.h.i.+ puckered his lips and looked at Long with a smile. “What do you want to say, Your Majesty?”

“No! I don’t want to say anything!” Long said immediately.

s.h.i.+ didn’t want to care much about Long’s teasing, so he changed the topic. “Your Majesty, the five people you arranged can exert some influence and bring some changes to the court during this period.”

“Well, I also think so,” Long said with a smile, “The five people are from different parties, but in fact, most of them are on our side.”

s.h.i.+ nodded. “After many times of cleansing, now people in the court are much simpler than before.”

“But it’s not enough.” Long sighed.

s.h.i.+ smiled. “Your Majesty, you don’t have to worry too much. We should be happy to have obtained this.”

Long pinched the palm of s.h.i.+’s hand. When he was just about to say something, a Shadow Guardian suddenly came with a message, saying that it was from the Tianyin post. Long was very surprised and hurriedly took the message over.

“Hmm?” Long raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“What is it?” s.h.i.+ asked beside Long.

Long gave the note to s.h.i.+. After reading it, s.h.i.+ was also stunned. “Fang Shuoyang said that he found something in his father’s study and he’ll deliver it in person?”

“Well, he’ll come in person… So it must be something important. We also searched Tianyin post earlier, but we didn’t find anything, right?”

“After all, Tianyin post is very large. Although we searched it, we didn’t search every corner carefully. It’s normal that we didn’t find anything.”

Long sighed. “Well… Fang Shuoyang and Xu You will come here together this time… Alas, I always feel that something bad will happen.”

s.h.i.+ looked at Long. “Why do you say that?”

“Well…” Long pursed his lips and shook his head. “I don’t know. Just my intuition.”

s.h.i.+ was still a little confused.

Two days later, Long’s premonition came true.

Fang Shuoyang and Xu You were hunted by others on their way to the palace.

If they hadn’t brought a lot of guards with them from the Tianyin post, if the Shadow Guardians left by Long hadn’t asked other brothers nearby for help when they found things were weird, neither Fang nor Xu would survive the fierce battle!

Even though they had made a lot of preparations, the people from Tianyin post just won by a narrow margin. Fortunately, Fang and Xu were not injured.

Long was dealing with state affairs in the study when he received the news.

When the Shadow Guardian told him the news, Long was so angry that he almost tore the report in his hands!

Then, Long sent some Shadow Guardians there and also asked the major general Qiu Ming to lead his troops to pick Fang and Xu up.

After that, Long went back to Qiankun Palace with a gloomy face.

“Hmm? What’s wrong?” s.h.i.+ didn’t know what happened to Fang and Xu, so when he saw Long come back unhappily, he hurriedly asked.

Long pressed his lips together tightly. After Long told s.h.i.+ about the matter, s.h.i.+ frowned immediately.

“Have you sent someone to pick them up?”

“Yes, I’ve sent a lot of people there.” Long told s.h.i.+ his arrangements.

s.h.i.+ nodded. “Now that you’ve made the arrangements, then don’t worry.”

Long smiled bitterly. “I told you I had the intuition. Now it really happened.”

s.h.i.+ paused for a second, and then said helplessly, “You did nothing wrong.”

Long pulled s.h.i.+ in his arms and enjoyed the warmth of his lover’s body. He finally felt more relaxed and had a better mood.

s.h.i.+ just let Long hold him quietly.

After a long time, Long said, “Qingzhou, I’m so happy that you’re with me.”

s.h.i.+ turned his head. Looking at Long’s profile, s.h.i.+ smiled gently. “Yes, I’m here, so don’t worry too much.”

Long narrowed his eyes and kissed s.h.i.+’s eyelids. “Mhmm.”

The atmosphere became more intimate. After a long time, Long said, “It’s almost time for lunch, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Are you hungry?”

“Yes.” Long yawned lazily.

s.h.i.+ smiled and took Long to the hall…