As Qi Xiao lay down with Bairen in his arms at night, he was still dreaming.

Today was already the Qixi Festival. Bairen had been in the capital for a year. No matter how the power outside had changed and turned the world upside down during this year, Qi Xiao didn't find it surprising or strange. Only Bairen, even now Qi Xiao still couldn't react to the fact that Bairen would actually fall in love with him, and so wholeheartedly at that.

Looking at Bairen's sleeping face, Qi Xiao's heart was filled with tenderness. Bairen once said that he must have done great meritorious deeds in his previous life to meet Qi Xiao in this life. But Qi Xiao felt that this was said backwards. Meeting Bairen, and then having Bairen fall in love with him to this extent, was already using up all the luck of his eternal life.

Qi Xiao lowered his head and gently kissed Bairen's lips, his heart turning over and over. The coming year would definitely be the most turbulent year. Killing Qi Jing, slaughtering his followers, setting the court in order, and stabilizing the country, Qi Xiao was walking on a knife's edge every day, and couldn't be careless in the slightest.

Just now, Qi Xiao almost told Bairen his plan, but finally managed to hold back. In the end... he couldn't bear to let him worry.

Qi Xiao sighed lightly in his heart. Forget it, wait a little longer. When the arrow is on the string and must be released, he will send Bairen far away. Wait until he ascends the throne and stabilizes the country, then he will bring Bairen back.

However... based on Bairen's temperament, he will definitely be angry. As if sensing something in his dream, Bairen slightly frowned, seeming to wake up. Qi Xiao smiled faintly and patted his back in a familiar way. Before long, Bairen fell asleep again. Qi Xiao chuckled softly. It doesn't matter, Bairen has a good temper. At most he will make a scene with Qi Xiao, coaxing him a bit will be enough.

Qi Xiao also lay down. Perhaps it was because of Bairen's three wishes earlier, but Qi Xiao couldn't sleep at all. His mind was filled with thoughts and he didn't sleep well all night. In the early morning hours, there seemed to be movement outside.

Qi Xiao felt irritable and simply sat up, put on his clothes, took the lamp, and went out. He pushed open the door and said with a frown and a cold voice, "What exactly is going on? What's the commotion outside?!"

The few maids on night duty outside quickly knelt down to apologize. They had been guarding here the whole time, naturally they also didn't know what happened outside. A maid apologized and turned to go out to find the old mama at the door to open the courtyard gate and send someone to ask what happened outside. But before anyone could ask and return, they heard the cloud board at the second gate sound, no more, no less, a total of four times.

Suppressing the uneasiness in his heart, Qi Xiao said in a deep voice, "Call Jiang Deqing here."

Before long, Jiang Deqing hurriedly walked in from the west side of the corridor through the moon gate, arranging his clothes. Seeing Qi Xiao standing outside the door, he quickly came to pay his respects. Qi Xiao waved his hand, "Who passed away?"

Jiang Deqing's face turned pale and he knelt down on both knees, "News just came from outside the city, the King of Lingnan... the King of Lingnan has passed away."

Qi Xiao only felt a buzzing sound in his head. The wax on the lamp trembled, and drops of red wax scalded Qi Xiao's hand, but Qi Xiao seemed to have no sensation. Jiang Deqing also felt panicked and said in a trembling voice, "Now... the proper thing to do is to arrange for the young prince to return to the Lingnan Prince's Manor. This servant will go call Shunzi right away."

Qi Xiao steadied his mind and said in a deep voice, "Don't use my carriage. Find an ordinary flat-topped small carriage, have someone cover it with white cloth. If anyone asks, just say it's going to the Lingnan Prince's Manor to report the death... go quickly."

Jiang Deqing glanced inside and said in a low voice, "Young Prince..."

"I'll go tell the young prince." Qi Xiao took a deep breath, suppressing the anger in his heart, and said coldly, "Immediately send someone to investigate... investigate clearly for me, who is courting death!"

Jiang Deqing kept responding and turned to leave in a hurry.

Qi Xiao turned back into the room. Bairen was already awake in the inner room. Bairen sat on the bed, his face deathly pale, and said hoarsely, "Did I hear wrong? I heard the cloud board just now... it sounded four times..."

Qi Xiao walked into the inner room and put down the lamp. After a pause, he said in a low voice, "You didn't hear wrong, Bairen..."

Qi Xiao sat down beside Bairen and said after a pause, "The King of Lingnan has passed away, the news just came. You..."

Bairen frowned and looked up at Qi Xiao, saying in disbelief, "My royal father? Impossible..."

Qi Xiao's heart ached fiercely. No matter how the King of Lingnan treated Bairen before, in the end, they were father and son connected by blood. How could Bairen not be sad that his biological father suddenly passed away? Qi Xiao said in a low voice, "It's still not clear how he passed, don't be anxious first..."

Tears instantly rolled down from Bairen's eyes. He opened his mouth, and after a long time, said hoarsely, "He... was fine, how could he..."

Bairen looked at Qi Xiao like a lost little beast, tears falling non-stop. Qi Xiao's heart ached greatly. He pulled Bairen into his arms and coaxed softly, "Cry out loud, don't hold it in... Bairen, it's okay, it hasn't been investigated yet. I've already ordered it... we must get to the bottom of it. Bairen, we can't delay now. I received the news here, the palace must also know already. I'm afraid the palace has already sent people to your manor. You can't stay with me."

No matter what, Bairen couldn't receive the news of the former king's death from Qi Xiao's bed. Usually it didn't matter how presumptuous Qi Xiao was, but at this juncture, he absolutely couldn't let the Lingnan people know that Bairen received the news of the former king's death in his bed.

Qi Xiao kept kissing Bairen's forehead, his heart sinking. It was too sudden. Neither Bairen nor Qi Xiao had made any arrangements on the Lingnan side. If it went smoothly, Bairen would immediately ascend the throne. Appeasing the people's hearts was the first priority. If it didn't go smoothly... Qi Xiao didn't want to think too much before receiving definite news.

Bairen nodded with his eyes closed, tears flowing non-stop. He got up and changed into plain clothes, then turned and went out the door.

Qi Xiao was still worried after all. He had someone call Shunzi over and instructed him word by word, "You take a team of men over. No need to come back for now. The prince's manor is full of eyes and ears. Keep your eyes peeled and stay by the young master's side at all times, not a step away. If anything happens..."

Qi Xiao's voice instantly turned cold, "Better to kill ten thousand by mistake than to let a single one go. In any case, Bairen cannot come to the slightest harm, understand?"

Shunzi's heart trembled. He bowed and said, "Rest assured, Your Highness. If anything happens to the young master, this subordinate will present his head to you."

Qi Xiao let out a long sigh and patted Shunzi's shoulder, saying in a low voice, "Go. Persuade him to cry less and not skip meals."

After sending the person away, Qi Xiao quietly leaned by the window, lost in thought. Actually... sending the King of Lingnan to the afterlife, he had also thought about it before.

At that time, Wenyu had not yet gotten into trouble, and Kangtai's reputation was not yet ruined. Qi Xiao was worried that the King of Lingnan would suddenly find some pretext to request the Emperor to abolish the heir and establish a new one.

Qi Xiao feared that Bairen's position as the heir could not be preserved, so he thought that it would be better to cut through the mess quickly. Instead of waiting for the south to make a move, he would first take care of the King of Lingnan himself, allowing Bairen to succeed the throne earlier. But this was just a thought, and Qi Xiao had never mentioned it to anyone.

The first thing was that Qi Xiao could not guarantee that he could do it perfectly. If one day Bairen found out, with the revenge of killing his father in front of him, it would truly be over between Qi Xiao and Bairen. Secondly, Qi Xiao was not sure, not sure if Bairen would be the one to succeed the throne after the King of Lingnan's death.

Qi Xiao closed his eyes, blaming himself. Recently, he had been single-mindedly focused on the matter of poisoning and had not paid much attention to the south, being careless for a moment... and such a thing had happened.

Now... he could only hope that the King of Lingnan's life had truly run out, and the matter was not as unbearable as Qi Xiao had imagined...

Half an hour later, Jiang Deqing returned. Qi Xiao was still standing by the window, and he said coldly, "Did you find out clearly?"

Jiang Deqing nodded, turned around and instructed the little eunuch following him to go out and guard the door, while he himself entered the inner room and said in a low voice, "Your Highness... the situation has become a bit troublesome."

Qi Xiao said, "Speak."

"The people from the gambling house have withdrawn, so our information was a step late. The inside story was still found out by the people from Confucius Temple..."

Jiang Deqing's face turned pale as he lowered his voice and said, "The King of Lingnan indeed did not die a good death. It is said that on the day the King of Lingnan passed away, he had even discussed the matter of the summer harvest with the civil officials of Lingnan during the day. Because he had left the manor, many people saw the King of Lingnan, and his expression was no different from usual, not at all like the 'bedridden for many days' described by the people who sent the obituary.

"Secondly, in order to find out if the Queen's health was good, our people had frequent dealings with those few imperial physicians in the King of Lingnan's manor. They inquired later and found that although the King of Lingnan's liver fire was a bit excessive today, he had no major illness and absolutely no possibility of sudden death."

Qi Xiao's voice turned cold as he laughed coldly, "If it's not a natural disaster, then it's man-made."

"Yes." Jiang Deqing lowered his voice and said tremblingly, "Although there is no definite evidence yet, but... but it is said that after the incident, Concubine Xia kept stopping the civil officials and others from examining the body, saying it would desecrate the King's noble body and delay the King's early ascent to paradise.

"She also said that the deceased is gone, and even if they found out what illness it was, it would be useless. Indeed, in Lingnan, outsiders are not allowed to touch the corpse, saying it will disturb the deceased's peace and prevent them from leaving safely and soundly. But Your Highness... this is in the seventh month! If they keep blocking the examination of the corpse, the body will decay in no time, and it will be impossible to examine!"

Qi Xiao laughed coldly, his eyes full of viciousness, and said in a deep voice, "Can't you see it yet? She's not afraid at all. Since she dared to poison him, she has already made up her mind to go all in. The King of Lingnan is dead, the Queen has no one in her maiden family, and she has always been unable to speak. As for the Xia family, they have two sons and a daughter by their side, and the maiden family has controlled Lingnan's internal affairs for many years. Now she can do whatever she wants. Even if others examine the corpse and find out that she did it, so what? Can anyone control her?"

Hearing Qi Xiao's words, Jiang Deqing broke out in a cold sweat, his voice trembling, "Your Highness means... Concubine Xia wants to support the second young master to succeed the throne? Is she crazy? The second young master is no different from a eunuch now, how can he be worthy of the king's position? And without the Emperor's decree and the imperial seal, how can Wenyu succeed the throne?!"

Qi Xiao's voice turned cold, "Decree? Imperial seal? Hehe... they don't need those. If I guessed correctly, by now, Wenyu has already rebelled."

Jiang Deqing's legs went soft, and he almost fell to the ground. After a long while, he said in a hoarse voice, "They... they actually dare to..."

"What do they not dare to do?!" Qi Xiao's eyes turned red, looking particularly intimidating in the night, "Concubine Xia and Wenyu are very clear. It is impossible for them to succeed the throne smoothly. If they wait until Bairen takes the throne in the future, they definitely won't have a good end. So... they made the first move."

If it weren't for his frequent challenges, if it weren't for his insistence on teaching Wenyu a lesson, if it weren't for his determination to eliminate them... Concubine Xia and Wenyu would not have been driven to desperation and would not have rashly rebelled. Qi Xiao's heart was filled with mixed feelings. He grabbed the glazed bright cup by the window and smashed it on the ground!

Jiang Deqing was startled and hurriedly stepped forward to hug Qi Xiao's legs, timidly persuading, "Your Highness, calm your anger... even if it's like this, it doesn't matter. Concubine Xia is just a woman, and Wenyu is just a young prince. How many people can they mobilize? Even if they use all of Lingnan's power, can they defeat us? As long as the Emperor sends a few tens of thousands of soldiers, they can be..."

"It's not a matter of who wins or loses!" Qi Xiao's eyes were blood-red as he gritted his teeth and said hoarsely, "As long as they rebel, no matter who rebels, as long as they are from Lingnan! The Emperor can rightfully send troops and directly level Lingnan! The Emperor has wanted to weaken the vassal states for so many years, do you think he will easily give up this good opportunity? Under the pretext of quelling the rebellion, he will directly revoke the title of the King of Lingnan! As for Bairen... as the former heir, do you think the Emperor will let him off?"

Qi Xiao took a deep breath, his voice hoarse, "Moreover, the Queen is still in Lingnan now..."

Jiang Deqing collapsed to the ground in despair, unable to say anything more.