In the Zhenguan Hall of Taichu Palace, Wu Zetian sat tiredly in the side hall, lowering his head and pondering. Dozens of eunuchs and palace maids next to him dared not say much. Just now, the Mingtang and Heaven collapsed, causing panic in the hall.

At this time, the hall was terriblely silent, and everyone did not dare to let out any more, for fear of causing a murder.

At this time, a eunuch hurriedly walked up to the hall and knelt down to salute, "Report to Your Majesty, Li Zhen, the deputy commander of the Inner Guard, caught Xue Huaiyi at Houzai Gate, and now wait outside the hall!"

Wu Zetian sat up slowly, and her eyes shot with extremely hatred eyes, which was so cold that it made people feel heart-shaking, "Help me get up!"

The two palace maids quickly stepped forward and helped Wu Zetian up. Yan Shuang'er should have been the first to step forward, but at this time she was so scared that her legs could not stand straight. She sat behind the big pillar. Many people thought she was shocked by the collapse of Mingtang, but in fact, she was scared by Xue Huaiyi's arrest.

She didn't dare to see Xue Huaiyi at all. If Xue Huaiyi asks her for help or gives her her a gift, she will die.

Seeing the Lord being slowly helped out of the hall, she quickly stood up and ran to the depths of the inner palace.

At this time, Xue Huaiyi was pressed by the guards to kneel under the steps of the hall. His hands were tied up, and he was dejected and his head was lowered deeply. He did not dare to look at Wu Zetian, hoping that Wu Zetian could spare his life for the sake of serving her for so many years.

Wu Zetian slowly walked to the steps. In the distance, there were the completely collapsed Mingtang and heaven. The open fire was still not extinguished and thick smoke rolled.

Mingtang is a symbol of her power, but she was burned by this crazy bastard. At this time, she had no hatred or anger in her heart, but only an irresistible murderous intent.

"You are so brave!"

Wu Zetian pointed at Xue Huaiyi and shivered with anger, "You dare to burn my Mingtang, and you will not be able to pay for your crime if you die a hundred times!"

Xue Huaiyi climbed forward with her knees, but she was unable to speak, so she could only kowtow desperately. Wu Zetian was already as hard as iron at this time. Mingtang was burned and collapsed. Not only did her property suffer huge losses, but her throne was unstable. She could not explain to the ministers and officials at all.

Wu Zetian glanced at Xue Huaiyi in disgust, waved his hand, and said to Li Zhenling: "Take him to Mingtang and send him back!"

Xue Huaiyi was so scared that his face looked like a dirt and collapsed on the ground. Two inner guards grabbed his neck and dragged it towards Mingtang. Xue Huaiyi was so scared that she was limp and her tears and snot flowed down her eyes and nose.

Wu Zetian turned around and walked towards his imperial study room. He killed Xue Huaiyi, which was also an explanation to the court officials.

In front of the Mingtang, Li Zhen looked at Xue Huaiyi coldly, and the ten inner guard soldiers next to him were already standing with their batons, waiting for Li Zhen's orders.

Li Zhen walked forward and lowered his head to Xue Huaiyi and said coldly: "You must have a pure heart in life. If you didn't ambush me outside the city a few days ago, maybe I would have let you escape your life, but it's too late now, and you must pay the price for your stupidity."

Without waiting for Xue Huaiyi to beg again, Li Zhen stood up and gave an order: "Go on!"

Ten inner guard soldiers walked forward and put on sticks. Amid the wailing sounds, they beat Xue Huaiyi to death in front of the ruins of Mingtang.

The next day, Wu Zetian issued an edict to cover up the fire in Mingtang, pointing out that it was because the craftsmen were careless and burned the Mingtang. As for Xue Huaiyi's death, Wu Zetian did not mention a word in the edict.

But everyone knows that Mingtang was burned by Xue Huaiyi, and the news that Xue Huaiyi was killed by a stick spread like wildfire, spreading the city. The court officials took into account the face of Emperor Zetian, and no one dared to mention Xue Huaiyi in the memorial.

Despite this, Wu Zetian did not forget to deal with Xue Huaiyi's subsequent incident. She issued an order to distribute all the monks from White Horse Temple and the nuns from Linzhi Temple to Lingnan, and confiscate all the money and treasures accumulated in White Horse Temple as officials as resources to rebuild the Mingtang.

.........

At noon that day, in an elegant room in the Egret Restaurant, Shangguan Wan'er sat against Li Zhen with a spring breeze and wiped out her old enemy Xue Huaiyi. Shangguan Wan'er was in a very good mood and she was also grateful to Li Zhen.

Because of Li Zhen's arrival, Wei Tuan'er disappeared in just a few months, and now Xue Huaiyi was also killed by a stick. She no longer had enemies in the palace, and even her laughter showed sincere joy.

Shangguan Wan'er stretched out her slender jade hand and filled Li Zhen with a glass of wine, pursed her lips and said, "Do you know? I sacrificed to heaven yesterday."

"Why?" Li Zhen picked up the wine glass and asked with a smile.

"Because I thank God for fulfilling my wish, and I also thank God for sending you to me."

Perhaps because of the smell of wine, Shangguan Wan'er's face was covered with a faint blush. She smiled and raised her glass, "I'll toast you this glass of wine!"

The two of them looked at each other with understanding and drank the wine. Li Zhen joked again: "I have made such a contribution. How do Miss Wan'er plan to reward me?"

"Of course you will have a reward. The Master promised that those who caught Xue Huaiyi would be rewarded with one thousand taels of gold and promoted one level. The Master asked me to ask you, do you want to be promoted or promoted?"

"Is it appointing me as the commander of the inner guard?"

Shangguan Wan'er shook her head gently, "The commander of the inner guard involves Princess Taiping. She will not make this decision. She should be promoted to General of the Qianniu Guard."

"Miss Wan'er would like me to accept this position?"

Shangguan Wan'er lowered her head and pondered for a moment. She sighed softly, "Although I am willing to see you promote, I still hope you can stay. Once you leave, I am afraid I will lose my inner guard."

"Since Miss Wan'er wants me to stay, then I will stay."

Li Zhen smiled again and said, "Actually, it is even more difficult to get promoted. If I remember correctly, is it a viscount to be promoted to another level?"

"You remember correctly. Upgrading to the first level is the Viscount of Kaiguo County. From the fifth rank, you can get a high title in a short time, and I wonder how many people will be jealous of it."

At this time, Li Zhen remembered Princess Taiping again, that woman with ruthless means, she lost her last chance in front of Yingtian Gate. Will her next goal be aimed at her?

At this time, Shangguan Wan'er held his hand, stared at his slightly uneasy eyes with clear eyes, and said to him softly: "I know what you are worried about. Don't worry, with me here, the Lord will not force you because..."

She didn't say anything, but her eyes were lowered by the shyness in her heart. She avoided Li Zhen's flashing gaze and wanted to take back her hand, but Li Zhen held it tightly.

‘Because…’ neither of them said the following words, but they knew in their hearts what the unfinished words mean?

Shangguan Wan'er finally withdrew her hand. The room was very quiet, the atmosphere was subtle, and a little awkward.

At this moment, the bartender pushed the room away and brought a large plate of dishes to deliver the dishes, "This is the roast lamb leg from two places. You have all the dishes, please use it slowly!"

The bartender came in to break the delicate atmosphere of the room, and the room resumed its original chat and laughed. Li Zhen gave Shangguan Wan'er a glass of wine and said, "What are our plans for the next step?"

"The next step is to practice polo well and strive to win good results in the polo competition."

Shangguan Wan'er smiled lightly and said with a relaxed smile: "You are the leader of my polo team, don't forget."

"Abide by the orders of Shangguan Sheren!"

Shangguan Wan'er covered her mouth and chuckled. After a moment, she looked at Li Zhen and said, "But before practicing polo, I want to ask you to accompany me to Shanzhou."

Li Zhen was stunned for a moment and asked tentatively: "It's not a business?"

"It's my personal matter. I want to worship my grandfather. I'll have to protect me, can you?" Shangguan Wan'er's beautiful eyes stared at him.

Li Zhen nodded happily, "I would like to protect Miss Wan'er."

.........

Xue Huaiyi's execution was undoubtedly a major event that shocked the court. Although most court officials applauded Xue Huaiyi's death, some people were not very happy, and Wu Chengsi was undoubtedly one of them.

Wu Chengsi and Xue Huaiyi did not have much intersection. On the contrary, he was also resentful of Xue Huaiyi because the Wu family general was killed by Hu monk.

He was not very happy with Xue Huaiyi's death, not because of Xue Huaiyi's death, but because Shangguan Wan'er and Li Zhen became beneficiaries. Although he did not know that the relics case and the poisonous scripture case were planned by Shangguan Wan'er, he had always had disagreements with Shangguan Wan'er, and he also hated Li Zhen deeply.

Wu Chengsi has gradually recovered from the fear he had just released. He is unwilling to let his political life end, and he still hopes that he can make a comeback again.

Of course, he did not dare to ask his aunt Wu Zetian directly. After thinking about it, he could only ask Princess Taiping for help. Princess Taiping also showed his intention to win him over. Why didn’t he cooperate with Princess Taiping to find future developments?

While he was thinking, his daughter Wu Furong's voice came from outside the door, "Father, can I come in?"

"Come in!"

Wu Furong pushed the door and walked in, her face also seemed a little worried. She was deeply uneasy about Xue Huaiyi's death.

She knew very well that she and Xue Huaiyi had a deep relationship, not only a relationship between men and women, but also did a lot of things for Xue Huaiyi, such as providing a trainer with an attack on Shangguan Wan'er.

That incident was covered up because of Wei Tuaner's death, but what about Xue Huaiyi? Xue Huaiyi should have her loyalty in his hands. Once it is found out, will she be implicated? This incident made Wu Furong feel deeply uneasy.

"Father, I want to find my third uncle!"

The third uncle Wu Furong is talking about is Wu Sansi. This time, Wu Sansi and Prime Minister Su Wei Dao were fully responsible for the investigation of Baima Temple. Wu Furong felt that her token was probably in the hands of Wu Sansi.

Wu Chengsi didn't know what his daughter was thinking. He frowned, "What are you doing for him?"

Although Wu Chengsi and Wu Sansi are brothers of the same clan, they have been fighting secretly for many years. Both of them want to take charge of the Wu clan power and compete for the position of the prince, which makes the two of them full of disgust.

"My daughter is worried... Xue Huaiyi, I begged him to save his father."

Wu Furong said it vaguely, but Wu Chengsi still understood what his daughter meant.

Wu Chengsi pondered for a moment and said, "Wu Sansi won't help you unless I beg him. You don't know how much the price of begging him is. So that's it! You should ask Dingxiang first. If there is really any problem, you can ask Princess Taiping for help. I think she is looking forward to your visit."

Wu Furong felt that what her father said was reasonable, so she nodded and smiled: "Thank you, father, for reminding me, my daughter will go to find Dingxiang tomorrow morning."

...
Chapter completed!