The dagger went straight into Xiao Jingheng's chest,
but the blade seemed to be blocked by something and did not pierce in,
only deviating due to inertia and cutting open the skin on Xiao Jingheng's chest.
Blood instantly dyed Xiao Jingheng's night robe red in front of his chest,
he was half sober from the wine, and took the opportunity of Qu Yanran's momentary hesitation to kick her flying off the bed ten feet away.
Yao Consort was also screaming loudly,
"Come on! There's an assassin! Protect His Majesty quickly!"
The guards guarding outside rushed in one after another, and they all turned pale when they saw Xiao Jingheng injured.
At this moment, Qu Yanran could no longer pose any threat to Xiao Jingheng,
she ran quickly to the window, while Yao Consort, who was originally standing by, suddenly remembered to 'save the driver' at this moment.
She recklessly pounced on Qu Yanran and fought with her,
but was stabbed by Qu Yanran with a very deep cut on her palm.
By the time the guards chased to the window, Qu Yanran had already jumped out the window into the lake and disappeared without a trace.
The cabin was in chaos in an instant, Xiao Jingheng scolded angrily:
"Go after her! Leave her alive!"
The imperial physician who was attending hurried in and urgently treated Xiao Jingheng's wound,
Fortunately, his chest was only a superficial laceration, and there was no major problem, but Yao Consort's hand injury was serious, the wound was extremely deep and injured the tendons, and it took a lot of medical treatment.
But Yao Consort didn't care about her own situation at all, instead she asked Xiao Jingheng with red eyes,
"Your Majesty, are you alright?"
Xiao Jingheng frowned and glared at her, "Why were you hiding in the closet?"
Yao Consort stammered, "Your servant concubine...your servant concubine thought that Miss Qu looked suspicious, and she was also an outsider, your servant concubine was worried that she would do something improper to Your Majesty, so your servant concubine didn't care about the rules of imperial consorts and concubines. Please punish your servant concubine..."
What she said was half true and half false, anyone who heard it would know it was a lie,
but after all, she did merit in saving the emperor, so Xiao Jingheng did not investigate the matter further,
"Forget it, let the imperial doctor first treat your hand properly."
Today, all the guards who were responsible for patrolling on the ship were beaten with planks on the deck,
The provincial governor and the officials from Lin'an on the ship also kneeled all over the floor, shivering as they kowtowed to Xiao Jingheng and pleaded guilty.
Today's incident was extremely dangerous, and Xiao Jingheng was also furious,
"These women were all selected by you, how could an assassin sneak in?"
Then he looked at Jiang Deshun,
"You eunuch, how did you serve? You didn't even check the details of the people sent to the imperial court? How did she bring in that dagger?"
Xiao Jingheng became more and more emotional, and the wound on his chest that had just been bandaged was bleeding again, staining the gauze red,
"Everyone must be thoroughly investigated for today's incident! Who selected Miss Qu and who was responsible for bathing and dressing her, take all those involved and throw them into prison for torture, you must get the truth from their mouths!"
Seeing the ministers still kneeling in front of him, he scolded even more angrily,
"Still kneeling here? Get lost from my sight!"
After sending away a group of people, the ship began to stop at full speed towards the shore.
Xiao Jingheng lowered his eyes and looked at the dragon-patterned agate pendant that Song Zhao had given him during the Spring Festival, which he had just taken off.
There was a gap in the middle of the jade pendant, which had just blocked the fatal blow for him.
Thinking about it now, he was still frightened afterwards.
It made him inevitably think of the "fortune teller" Tan Yuezhi he had met in Suzhou,
Tan Yuezhi had spoken recklessly and predicted that he would encounter a catastrophe of bloodshed on this southern tour, but fortunately there would be a noble person to help him, which could turn danger into safety.
At that time, Xiao Jingheng thought it was a trick by an impostor Taoist priest, but now it seemed to have come true one by one.
He clutched the jade pendant in his hand and stroked it silently, thinking:
Could the noble person Tan Yuezhi said could help him turn danger into safety be Song Zhao?
*
In the second watch of the night,
Song Zhao, who was pregnant, had already rested in the Xianyou Concubine's Palace.
But because she was in the early stages of pregnancy, and it was the hot summer, she slept very lightly.
'Bang bang bang'
A few chaotic knocks on the door completely interrupted her peaceful sleep.
"Yun Shan, who is knocking on the door so late?"
Soon, she heard Rongyue's voice,
"Zhao'er!"
Just getting up, Yun Shan had already brought Rongyue into the inner bedroom.
Rongyue looked very flustered, and she was also sweaty, as if she had rushed over.
"Sister Rongyue? His Majesty permitted you to stay at your mother's house tonight, why did you come running in the middle of the night?"
"Zhao'er, something big happened!"
Rongyue sat on the edge of Song Zhao's couch, clenching her hand uneasily and said:
"His Majesty was assassinated!"
"What?"
Hearing this, Song Zhao was also shocked. Later, Rongyue told Song Zhao in detail about the thrilling scene on the ship, and said:
"His Majesty returned in great anger and dealt with many people. My father was also urgently summoned to meet His Majesty because of this. I heard that His Majesty was in great danger this time, but Yao Consort happened to be hiding in the closet on the ship for some reason, and she just happened to come across this scene, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise and saved His Majesty."
She breathed a long sigh of relief, and clenched Song Zhao's hand tighter,
"But the biggest contributor was not her, but you."
"Me?" Song Zhao wrinkled her eyebrows in puzzlement.
She didn't board the ship tonight, precisely because she knew the officials in Lin'an would definitely arrange local girls of marriageable age to serve Xiao Jingheng,
She didn't want to dampen Xiao Jingheng's mood, so she took the opportunity to do Yao Consort a favor.
Now Yao Consort has merit in saving the emperor, why is this matter still linked to her?
Seeing her confused, Rongyue explained in detail,
"Do you still remember the dragon-patterned agate pendant you gave His Majesty during the Spring Festival? His Majesty values his relationship with you and wears it every day. Today when that witch assassinated him and slashed at His Majesty's heart with a dagger, it was your jade pendant that blocked the fatal blow, so His Majesty was only slightly injured..."
Lowering her voice even more, "I remember you told me that in Suzhou, a fortune teller said that His Majesty would encounter a catastrophe of bloodshed on this southern tour, but because of the help of a noble person, he could turn danger into safety. Looking at it now, isn't that 'noble person' referring to you? So for you, this is also a good thing."
A good thing?
Rongyue thought it was good, but Song Zhao, hearing it, felt it was mysterious.
Song Zhao was not like others, who would simply feel grateful when gaining benefits.
Having crawled out of such a human hell since childhood, she naturally understood that her fate was in her own hands, not heaven's.
Song Zhao firmly believed that such fortuitous things would not fall from the sky for no reason.
Now Xiao Jingheng was assassinated, but all the benefits behind pointed to her, which made her even more vigilant.
She frowned and slowly raised her eyebrows to look at Rongyue, asking solemnly,
"Sister, do you believe in fortune telling?"
