Then she tightly hugged Lin Wan: "Wan'er, you are lucky and blessed. If you hadn't followed others to run outside, you would have been able to keep the baby in your belly."

  Lin Wan just smiled lightly: "The emperor said it, compared to the venomous snake, the concubine is more afraid of those who flee for their lives like a swarm of bees. Running into the flower garden, if one is careful, they can still avoid the snake, but people are hard to avoid."

  It seems that she remembered something and said: "Since the concubine is fine, Your Majesty doesn't have to worry too much. Compared to the concubine, I just heard from the palace staff that Ye Guixi and several other concubines are nowhere to be found, it's better for Your Majesty to find them quickly."

  Tuoba Hong only then remembered this, fortunately, he had already sent attendants to look for her, at this time two eunuchs carried a stretcher over and said: "Zhang Yuanyi bumped her head and fainted on the ground."

  Doctor Kong felt the pulse of Zhang Wan'er and said, "There's nothing serious, just external injuries. Rest for a few days and she'll be fine." The attendants then carried Zhang Wan'er away again.

  "What about Ye Guiji? Haven't you found her?" asked Tuoba Hong in a deep voice.

  The attendants lowered their heads and remained silent.

  "Concubine saw Ye Guixi!" An Lingji suddenly said: "Just now, when Concubine rushed out, she saw Ye Guixi near the fake mountain, seemingly limping and walking with a stagger. Concubine was flustered and didn't pay attention to her, and afterwards didn't know what happened."

  Anling Princess was one of the few people who were unharmed. When she was young, her family was poor and she even went barefoot to plant rice seedlings, seeing leeches and water snakes, neither fearing snakes nor being physically healthy and running fast.

  Listening to Anlingji's words, Tuoba Hong immediately ordered: "Don't go quickly to find in the fake mountain!"

  Everyone in the palace had gone into the flower garden. Lin Wan pulled An Ling'er and asked quietly, "Have you really seen Ye Gui'er? Then did you see Zhao Shu'er?"

  An Lingji thought for a moment: "It seems like I've seen it before... Hmm, also near the fake mountain!"

  "Not only is Ye Guixi gone, but Zhao Shuxi has also disappeared." Lin Yu's voice was gloomy: "Now that Zhang Wanyi has been found, only the two of them are still missing. They both went missing at the same time, this is definitely not a coincidence. Do you remember it was Madam Zhao who suggested we come to see the night-blooming flower?"

  An Lingji nodded vigorously.

  "When you saw Ye Guixi, she was already injured. Now it's probably even worse." Lin Yuan's face showed worry: "Lingji, aren't you afraid of snakes? You should quickly go find Ye Guixi, if you drag on for too long, she'll likely be in a precarious situation."

  "Does Empress Hui want to save Ye Guixi?" An Lingji asked in surprise: "You have always had an old grudge against the Ye family..."

  Lin Yan smiled and glanced at her: "Compared to Ye Shi, I detest Tian Pin more, and Zhao Shi is Tian Pin's person." She stretched out her hand to smooth a strand of disheveled hair behind her ear: "Ling Ji, I'm helping you. Tonight's affair can't be separated from Zhao Shi, now that Zhao Shi has replaced He Shi in the emperor's favor, if you want to show your face in front of the emperor, you must first bring down Zhao Shi."

  Although An Lingji has defected, Lin Yuan still doesn't fully trust her. It's better not to tell her about the cooperation between himself and Ye Shi.

  An Lingji listened to Lin Wan's words and nodded: "Concubine will go now."

  She parted the flowers and slipped into the flower bed. Palace maids were catching snakes all around.

  An Ling's legs moved quickly, and there were no obstacles along the way, so she soon arrived at the fake mountain. She looked around based on her memory, and finally walked towards a corner of the palace wall.

  Unexpectedly, she saw two figures in this corner. Across the night, one person was lying on the ground, seemingly unconscious, and another person stood beside him.

  Anryeong hastily ran over and exclaimed: "Yegwigyeo, Josaekguye!"

  Zhao Shu-ji suddenly turned her head and stared at An Ling-ji in shock as she rushed towards her.

  Compared to Ye Guiji who was unconscious, Zhao Shuji stood calmly, only with a snake bite on her arm wrapped in a cloth strip, and no other wounds elsewhere.

  "Zhao Shu-ji, why are you still here! What about Ye Gui-ji?" An Ling-ji rushed over and grabbed Zhao Shu-ji's hand. When she saw the fainting Ye Gui-ji, she was suddenly frightened.

  Ye Guiji's chest had a large patch of bloodstains, and under the torn clothes, wounds with broken skin could be faintly seen.

  Anlingji was not afraid of snakes, but she could not help being afraid of blood. She screamed and loudly called out to the palace people searching around her.

  Those palace people were nearby, but none of them had ever seen Ye Shi before like An Lingji did, so they couldn't find him for the time being.

  Zhao Shu-ji suddenly pulled An-shi tight, wanting to cover her mouth. An-shi shook off one of her hands and tightly grasped Zhao's wrist with the other: "Shu-ji, this place isn't safe, I'll call someone right away, let's leave quickly."

  "Miss Gui!" Zhao Shu Gui was greatly alarmed. She had not expected An Shi to come through the flower garden looking for Ye Gui.

  In desperation, Zhao Shu-ji suddenly struggled to pull An Ling-ji: "Ling-ji, don't shout! You've startled these snakes, they'll become even more frenzied and come to bite us!"

  However, Anling Ji ignored him and continued to shout for help.

  The queen's words were not wrong, compared to snakes, humans are even more terrifying.

  Soon, the palace staff came from all directions. The palace lanterns illuminated this dark and dull corner, making it bright as day, and at the same time, they also illuminated Zhao Shu's snow-white face.

  Seeing Ye Guixi's miserable state, several palace maids cried out in surprise. Fortunately, the eunuchs were braver and carefully approached to examine her, one of them saying: "Quickly, quickly carry Young Master Guixi out, Young Master still has breath..."

  Ye Guiji was badly injured, and no one went to take care of Zhao Shujie. An Lingji still pulled Zhao Shujie, her face not revealing a hint: "Shujie, let's hurry up."

  Zhao Shu Ji had no choice, with so many people around her, she could only follow along. They soon exited the flower garden, where the Emperor and a group of consorts were waiting outside. Several eunuchs hastily lifted Ye Gui Ji out.

  Ye Guiji was not dead, but only had a breath left. Tuoba Hong took one look and got a fright, hastily ordering people to carry Ye into the nearest palace and summoning the imperial physician for treatment. Zhao Shuqi knelt down with tears all over her face, sobbing: "Concubine and Ye Guiji were both frightened...all around are snakes, we two were blocked inside and couldn't run out."

  "Shu Qi, have you been with Gui Qi all along? How did Gui Qi get hurt on her chest, was she bitten by a snake?" Taotao Hong's question was urgent, but had a hint of sternness.

  Zhao Shu Ji heard this and thought it was not good. She suppressed her panic, shook her head and said: "The concubine ran halfway before seeing the noble lady, at that time the noble lady had already fainted, there were no serving palace maids by her side." As she spoke, she reached out to wipe away tears: "The noble lady was badly injured, the wound on her chest seemed to have been caused by colliding with something sharp, it's unclear whether it was a snake bite or something else, the concubine isn't very clear either. The concubine didn't dare leave her behind, so she stayed by her side..."

  Tuoba Hong's expression softened upon hearing this, and he nodded: "Alright, you can go down first. We'll talk again when Guixi wakes up."

  One of the palace maids in front of her nodded again, and Zhang Wan'er, Ye Guixi, and Zhao Shuxi were all found. The consorts were now complete. However, several palace maids and eunuchs had not been found yet, but at this time, they were in a mess, and these lower-ranking servants would not receive attention.

  "Your Majesty and the sisters should return to the palace first." Jing Fei suggested in a soft voice: "Many of the concubines are injured, it's windy at night, and Your Majesty is also tired. As for thoroughly investigating the flower garden, we can choose some reliable palace staff to guard here and continue the investigation tomorrow, there's no rush."

  Tuoba Hong nodded upon hearing the words: "Empress Jing is right." He waved his hand and ordered: "Everyone disperse. The imperial physician will first go to treat Guifei and Huisheng, while the flower garden here will be left in charge of Empress Jing, who will strictly guard it and not allow anyone to enter or leave this place."

  The imperial concubines were already cold and tired, and after hearing this, they left the palace in twos and threes. Tuoba Hong held Lin's hand and said: "Just now, there was a report from the front court that Chudahai is seeking an audience with me outside. I won't be able to send you back tonight, so let An Gui lead a team of guards to escort you."

  Recently, the Emperor has been summoning his ministers at midnight to discuss ways to eliminate the rebellious party. Chu Da-kai is highly favored by the Emperor and often enters the palace to pay respects. Although Lin Yuan hopes that the Emperor will personally escort her, she does not dare to interfere with state affairs and says gently: "The concubine is of no importance, Your Majesty should return to Jianzhang Palace quickly, don't let Chancellor Chu wait anxiously."

  "Also, Your Majesty has had a long day, so be sure to get some rest tonight and don't overexert yourself."

  "I know. I will definitely come to see you tomorrow." Tuoba Hong stroked her forehead gently, got on the dragon sedan chair and bid farewell to her.

  The imperial concubines nearby helped the palace maids to disperse. Several people twisted their feet, fortunately the emperor ordered the palace staff to prepare sedan chairs.

  The Huayang Palace where Lin Wan lived and the Wanchun Palace of An Lingji were in the same direction, so they traveled together. An Gui led a dozen or so sword-bearing guards to escort them on either side, surrounding Lin Wan's sedan chair tightly, which was actually reassuring.

  An's status was not high enough to ride in a sedan chair, nor had she received the emperor's sympathy after her injury. She walked slowly beside Lin Yuan, chatting with him from time to time.

  It was late and the dew was heavy, even in summer, Lin Wan and An Shi both wrapped their outer garments tightly around them. After walking for a while, they vaguely saw a small sedan chair stopped at the entrance of the alley ahead.

  Lin Wan was slightly puzzled, and sent the palace staff to check. It turned out that it was Ren Guiren. The palace staff who reported back to Lin Wan said: "Ren Guiren fell in the flower garden, at first there was nothing wrong, but now she has severe abdominal pain. The palace maid next to Ren Guiren is taking care of her."

  "Ren is the first one to fall down, what a pity." An Lingji said lightly.

  Ren Gui people live in the Linzhu Palace side hall without a master, adjacent to Huayang Palace. Lin Yuan asked the palace staff who ran errands: "Do you think she's seriously injured?"

  "This servant is unclear. Just now this servant took a glance from afar and didn't go ask the palace maid beside Master Ren. Your Ladyship, shall this servant go again?"

  "It's not necessary." Lin Yu waved her hand: "One more thing is no better than one less thing. Ren Gui and I have a grudge, going would only bring trouble."

  An Ling entered the palace for several months and deeply knew that the palace was not a place to meddle in other people's business. She had no good feelings towards Ren Shi, who had bullied her with He Lian together before. She pulled Lin Wan's sleeve and said: "The princess is pregnant and needs to hurry back to the palace to check her pulse. Let's go around and avoid her. As for Ren Guiren, send a few servants to the Imperial Hospital to find an imperial doctor for her, and then go to inform the emperor, which can be considered as our utmost kindness."

  An Lingji didn't want to care about it at first, but since Guigong was present in the imperial palace, she couldn't be too cold and ruthless.

  Lin Yan nodded in agreement and casually instructed a few people to go and take care of it.