Chapter 157: Maybe It Wasn’t The Third Prince Himself Who Forced The Palace Back Then?
Seeing that his attempts to stop him were ineffective, Mo Ziyuan had no choice but to follow behind him, stepping into the grass one step at a time.
The remaining few people glanced at each other, also following behind them. Before leaving, Zhou Qi instructed the guards to stay in the original spot watching Young Master Qian and the others on the ground who had just been “revived” with smelling salts.
Young Master Qian hurriedly hid among the guards, staring intently at the few people walking forward cautiously, his eyes flashing with various emotions and scheming looks. Zhou Qi, who was walking last, suddenly turned his head back and met Young Master Qian’s gaze directly. Young Master Qian quickly lowered his gaze and bowed his head.
Zhou Qi became secretly vigilant in his heart, and his steps became even more cautious.
Gao Yong, who was walking in front, suddenly stepped on something unknown, feeling his foot slip. His body involuntarily began to fall. He twisted his waist to turn his body half a circle, and was supported by Mo Ziyuan behind him before barely steadying himself.
At that moment, a rustling sound even more intense than before rang out. The thing previously hidden in the grass seemed startled and suddenly retreated backward, several times faster than when it came. Before they could react, it had already drilled into the depths of the forest under the cover of the grass, disappearing without a trace.
“Did you see it clearly? What exactly was it?” Having lost the target, the crowd didn’t stay in the grass any longer and returned to the road. Cui Shi immediately came up expectantly and asked.
Mo Ziyuan shook his head. “It was too dark, and that thing was almost the same color as the grass. I only saw it was a green strip-shaped thing. Whether it was a snake or something else, I really didn’t see clearly.”
“I didn’t see it clearly either. It ran too fast.” Gao Yong also said.
Zhou Qi, Meng Yixuan, and Fu Jing from behind also shook their heads together, indicating they hadn’t seen it. Cui Shi was thoroughly disappointed.
“Young Master Qian, we’re heading back to the Capital City now. We’re probably not on the same road as you, so let’s part ways here!” Looking at Young Master Qian hiding among the guards, Mo Ziyuan’s eyes darkened slightly, and he unceremoniously began to drive him away.
With him saying that, Young Master Qian really felt too embarrassed to say that his group was also going to the Capital City and wanted to stay in their team. He had no choice but to reluctantly walk to the middle of his crooked and tottering followers, fake-politely saluted them, and watched them leave.
Once he could no longer hear the sound of hoofbeats, he turned to a young man who was pale-faced and slumped on the ground. “How did it go? Did you find out? Is that little bastard really in the team?”
The young man was breaking out in cold sweat on his forehead and shook his head with difficulty. “They wouldn’t say anything, and the people arranged by the Third Prince weren’t in the team either. I really couldn’t find an opportunity to inquire.”
“Useless!” Young Master Qian angrily punched the tree next to him, shaking off quite a few leaves.
“Y-Young Master Qian, i-it’s coming again······” One of the followers suddenly stared blankly into the depths of the forest like he was possessed, his voice trembling with deep fear.
“What do you mean coming again······” Young Master Qian irritably scolded halfway, then suddenly understood his meaning. He quickly turned around and looked in the direction of his gaze, only to see the grass in the distance replaying the previous scene.
“Holy crap, what are you waiting for? Run!” One of them suddenly shouted loudly, then bolted toward the direction where Mo Ziyuan and the others had left.
With this one taking the lead, the others also reacted and ran madly with all their strength, including the young man who had been arranged by Young Master Qian to blend into the guard team to inquire about things. Even though he had little strength left, his two legs thrashed as fast as if they had a mind of their own.
The few people raced forward like in a sprint until they couldn’t muster any more strength and collapsed to the ground one after another, but their gazes unanimously turned toward the forest, and they tried to keep their breathing as light as possible.
Fortunately, this bout of mad running wasn’t useless; at least they no longer heard that frightening rustling sound.
Everyone was exhausted, but no one dared to sleep. They all kept their eyes wide open, staring at the grass deep in the forest.
“How about we take turns resting? I-I really can’t hold on anymore······” The previous young man said softly.
“Okay, then who rests first?” His suggestion was approved by everyone, but everyone wanted to rest in the first round. In the end, they couldn’t come to an agreement, and instead, it created quite a bit of resentment among the few people.
“Enough, stop arguing.” Young Master Qian rubbed his painfully aching forehead and pointed his index finger vaguely at a few of them. “You guard first. We’ll rest for a while, and you call us in the second half of the night to switch shifts with you.”
With his decision, everyone instantly quieted down. The few pointed at drooped their heads dejectedly and found places to sit, while the others sighed in relief and flopped to the ground carelessly, instantly falling asleep.
At this time, Mo Ziyuan and the others encountered another group of men in black. After finally annihilating them all, everyone realized that this group was much stronger than the previous ones. They had almost been sneaked into the carriage specially prepared for Your Highness by the men in black. If Zhou Qi hadn’t risked injuring one arm to kill that person, the news that Your Highness wasn’t in their team might have leaked.
“Heir,” a guard found Mo Ziyuan, “Earlier, Young Master Qian’s people approached this subordinate, probing around about who was in this horse carriage and asking where Chu Gongzi had gone. This subordinate brushed it off vaguely, but this subordinate feels he definitely didn’t believe it, or at least not completely.”
“Besides you, did they approach anyone else?” Mo Ziyuan felt inexplicably irritated, and his tone wasn’t pleasant.
“This subordinate didn’t notice. At the time, everyone was waiting to see what was in the grass, and this subordinate was too.”
“Repeat your entire conversation with them at the time.” After calling Gao Yong and the others to his side, Mo Ziyuan instructed this guard.
“Yes.” The guard repeated the conversation with that young man word for word.
“I should have guessed earlier. It’s said that the imperial merchant Qian family wants to enter officialdom. I always thought they would take the imperial examination route, but unexpectedly they took a different path and chose the merit of assisting the dragon.” Fu Jing said, “But hasn’t the Third Prince already died?”
Not to mention Fu Jing couldn’t figure it out, none of the people present could. They looked at each other for a moment, and it was Meng Yichen who said, “Maybe the one forcing the palace back then wasn’t the Third Prince himself?”
This sentence enlightened Mo Ziyuan like a splash of cold water. He had always felt that their victory had come too easily, that something was off, but he couldn’t pinpoint it and thought he was overthinking. So the Third Prince had actually played a body double trick?
“Oh no, then wouldn’t His Majesty be in great danger now? And Your Highness and the Xin’er siblings!” Mo Ziyuan’s expression changed abruptly.
“Let’s not delay any longer and hurry back to the Capital City!” Seeing this, Meng Yixuan proposed.
Everyone agreed and mounted their horses one after another, galloping toward the Capital City at the fastest speed.
