The Forbidden Revenge
Chapter 19: The Intruder

Lu Yuan sneaked into the imperial palace when night had come. He was wearing all-black clothes that disguised him with the darkness of the night.

Since he had already very memorized the route and layout of the palace, it was easy for him to pass through the blind spot of the supervision of the patrolling imperial soldiers.

There was nothing else, Lu Yuan just wanted to take something from his aura. Although he could beg the Empress Dowager to give her permission to enter the Wende Hall, yet it would be very awkward and Lu Yuan also did not want to make his mother move too much.

This difficult path will be passed no matter how big the challenge. Lu Yuan had been determined from the beginning to avenge his death and expose the rottenness of the court's and Lu Zheng's rubbish, exposing it and making them accept unforgivable sanctions.

So as much as possible he would not involve his family anymore and push him into a difficult situation. He also did not want to create confusion for the Empress Dowager over all of her actions.

Wende Palace is heavily guarded. The soldiers patrolling there were more in number than anywhere else.

This was because while Lu Yuan was living as Emperor Yangle, his mother had been worrying about him the entire time and put many soldiers to guard him.

His goal was only to prevent outsiders from acting using the opportunity when Lu Yuan was off guard and let go of his identity for a moment every night.

After death, the guard may be even tighter because the Empress Dowager is suspicious of the tragic event. The Wende Hall had many important objects related to Lu Yuan and the country, so not just anyone could enter it.

Lu Yuan used the opportunity as the guard loosened to enter. In front of the palace door, he stood hesitantly. His outstretched hand grabbed the key set there, and his mind floated for several months before he died.

Wende Hall is where you spend all day. Wende Hall brought her memories to Li Jing, who was now already a skeleton.

The eunuch's head was so loyal and protected him. The pain of betrayal and unjust death made Lu Yuan again resolve.

“I have to go in,” he convinced himself.

Lu Yuan grabbed the hairpin from the Empress Dowager that had become a weapon to trap her. He used it as a key to open the lock. After the sound of ‘krek’ rang out, Lu Yuan immediately put away the padlock and opened the palace door.

He slipped and shut it down. For a moment, he was stunned staring at the interior of the Wende Hall which was still the same as before.

His work chair, his bookcase, his furniture, everything is still as neatly arranged as ever. Nothing has changed, nothing has shifted.

Unknowingly, he shed his tears. Withstanding all the pain from past lives, he walked to the back of the bookcase. Lu Yuan opened a drawer, lifted a few stacks of books from there to find a lock mechanism.

Once found, he pressed it down and a secret room appeared after the closet shifted to the right.

The secret room was filled with piles of documents containing reports of the crimes of corrupt ministers and rare objects belonging to him. Other than Li Jing, no one knew the location of the secret room.

Lu Yuan took out a box and took a plate from him. It was a golden tiger plate that served as the controller of the Cangwu Army, the most powerful military elite force possessed by the empire.

It was an object Lu Zheng had been trying to find, but it did not succeed in finding because only Lu Yuan and Li Jing alone knew where he kept it.

Li Jing was already dead, while Lu Yuan was physically dead as well. And so, unless Lu Zheng leveled the entire palace, until whenever he would never find it.

Lu Yuan was grateful that he was given a chance to live, so that he could take back the plate and make the existence of the Cangwu Army not in vain.

The three great armies of the empire – Shenwu, Huangyu, and Cangwu, were all elite military forces. Shenwu's forces are under the control of Marquis Yongping – Gong Zichen and have been tasked with protecting the border for many years.

Huangyu's army, its control is on General Gu – Gu Xiaoran and has inhabited the Jiulin military camp southwest of the capital. Meanwhile, the Cangwu Army was under Lu Yuan's control and could only be moved in an emergency.

Huangyu's army had the most number. However, all three armies are equally strong.

They would only be mobilized to protect the borders of the country, the capital, and also the imperial palace and spare the people from the danger of war. In the event of an attack, then these three troops would move as long as Lu Yuan commanded them.

The imperial army that guarded the palace, actually consisted of a mixture of the three armies. It's just that their identities are kept secret so they have a double identity.

His late father had already arranged it for Lu Yuan, but it was a pity that Lu Yuan had to die halfway through.

Lu Yuan kept the empty box and moved on to grab the other box. This time, he took out the golden jade seal that Lu Zheng was also looking for.

However, the existence of this jade seal did not seem to be taken away yet. He put it back in its place.

Suddenly, he heard a voice from out there.

“Infuser! Quickly find the intruder!”

As expected, the instincts of the imperial army soldiers were very sharp and meticulous. Lu Yuan knew it was time for him to come out and escape. Through the crack, he slipped out of the Wende Hall. Unfortunately, he was off guard and the soldiers saw him.

“That's him! Catch that intruder!”

A huge commotion occurred in the middle of the night. All the troops moved in pursuit of Lu Yuan. Even the Eastern Palace that Lu Zheng still inhabited did not escape the commotion either.

Lu Zheng was furious and had all the soldiers capture him alive or dead. His anger caused the soldiers to flee immediately.

Lu Yuan hid at some point. As the situation began to give him a chance, he jumped over the palace walls with his flying science.

However, he had to fall because the soldier who saw him slid an arrow and injured his right back. Lu Yuan immediately got up and fled even though blood started dripping from his wound.

At night, he was blind. Lu Yuan had trouble finding his way to the Prime Minister's residence. The soldier must have followed his blood trail and will soon find him.

Lu Yuan bet with the moon, tried his luck and ran towards the north. He arrived behind someone's residence, then jumped into the residence.

Fortunately there were no servants in the residence. There were only a few guards patrolling. Lu Yuan silently walked towards a building. Then, he went inside while enduring the pain and held back his wound so as not to seep blood again.

His presence made the owner of the building shocked.

“Wife?”

Lu Yuan was equally surprised. Holy hooch! The residence he infiltrated turned out to be the residence of Marquis Yongping!

“What happened?”

Gong Zichen approached him. He became panicked when he saw Lu Yuan's hands covered in blood. As he looked at it, it turned out that an arrow was stuck in his right back and became the source of that blood.

This girl...what has she done until she was harvested like a bird?

Lu Yuan doesn't have the energy to talk more, “Help me..”.

Before Gong Zichen spoke further, Lu Yuan had already fainted. His body was sustained by the man and he immediately led him towards the bed.

Gong Zichen half-turned it, he noticed the arrow pierced on his back and found it was the arrow of an imperial warrior.

This girl just slipped into the palace? Wh-wh-what for?

“Master! Is Mister not asleep?” Mo Yunfei shouted from outside.

“What's up?”

“Master, imperial soldiers are chasing an intruder. Should we help them?”

If the intruder in question was Lu Yuan, of course Gong Zichen would not help searching. It was tantamount to handing Lu Yuan over to the soldiers and meant Lu Yuan's escape was futile.

This girl painstakingly escaped and hid into her residence, Gong Zichen would naturally have to protect her!

“Let them work!”

“Good, Mr.”

After being sure Mo Yunfei left, Gong Zichen took out his medicinal equipment. Although he was a military officer, he understood medical science.

He had the imperial physician bloodline of a grandfather on his mother's side and he thought medical skills were important for the battlefield.

Lu Yuan slowly regained his consciousness. His eyes were twitching but he could still see objects vaguely.

He saw Gong Zichen open the medical box, then in a weak voice he said, “Gong Zichen..”.

Gong Zichen. His eyes were filled with panic. “I'm here. I'll help you deal with the wound first.”

Lu Yuan was very weak from running out of blood. He nodded and gave Gong Zichen permission to undress.

This is an emergency, so all restrictions are violated for safety's sake. Lu Yuan actually did not mind at all, but with his new identity, he should at least have a little concern about it.

Although he allowed the man to undress, Gong Zichen did nothing superfluous.

In short, he was not looking for an opportunity in narrowness. Gong Zichen was just carting clothes on the right side of Lu Yuan, which was directly related to the wound on his back.

When he saw the arrow stuck on Lu Yuan's right back skin, he was stunned. In addition to the arrows, there were some old scars covered in blood seepage.

It probably came from the torture he had received in the past. He hurriedly regained his senses, “I will pull out his arrow. It will probably hurt a lot.”

“Just do it,” Og Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan grabbed the blanket and bit the tip as the arrow stuck deep on his back was pulled out slowly.

From childhood, abstinence for him screamed in pain. He pretended to be tough when he felt his flesh like it was being torn apart by a sharp object.

Although Lu Yuan held him back, yet Gong Zichen knew clearly the girl was in a lot of pain. His body shook and his sweat poured out profusely.

Blood spurted out again, and Gong Zichen immediately suppressed it. After the bleeding stopped, he pulled the wound and sewed it up.

When he closed the wound, he was confused. The band should be made to rotate up to the left back and shoulders. But, Lu Yuan's clothes were only torn to the right.

Lu Yuan understood his confusion, he said, “I've allowed you to tear everything apart. Why are you still in doubt?”

“Ish, wife, even so, I must not disrespect you.”

“If you delay it, my wound will open again.”

“Then I won't hesitate any more.”

Suddenly Lu Yuan realized he had been played with. There was no energy to argue with him at this moment. He only resigned as Gong Zichen tore off all of his top clothes and bandaged his wounds with bandages.

He accidentally caught Gong Zichen's eyes that were directed towards something else. Lu Yuan silently smiled his small smile.

This guy likes to tease her all day, but at times like this, he has a lot of respect for her. He did not even dare to look towards his chest even though the area was covered in the rest of the covering cloth like underwear.

Even after finishing bandaging the wound, Gong Zichen did not dare to look at him directly.

“I'll get you a change of clothes and soup to calm you down. Wait here.”

After Gong Zichen came out, Lu Yuan pondered. He was almost caught this time and did not guarantee that he would get away later on.

The agenda is a lot and this is just the beginning. If he wanted to have a path, he would have to choose to rely on someone. He knew he could not do everything alone.

Gong Zichen's attitude towards him, the way he looked at him, treated him, as well as his respect, inevitably made Lu Yuan's heart touched.

Did he eventually falter and fail to maintain his tenacity? Should he start trusting Gong Zichen?