Chapter 59 An unexpected "surprise"

When Di Renjie asked about her experience, Li Qingxia's face revealed deep fear and grievance.

"Last month in Chang'an, I was ordered to move, but I didn't expect to be attacked in Tianjie. They killed all the Yulin Guards and my maids, tied me up and stuffed me into the sedan chair. The next day, they stuffed another man into the sedan chair."

"I stayed in the sedan chair for more than ten days in a daze. When I got out of the sedan chair, I saw this cave."

Upon hearing this, Di Renjie sighed and gently consoled her: "My princess has been wronged. It seems that these villains regard you as a talisman."

Li Qingxia was still a little confused: "I still don't know what happened and where this place is."

Di Renjie smiled and continued to comfort her: "This is Youzhou. Let's leave here first. I will explain it to you slowly after we return. Yuan Fang, help the princess out."

Li Yuanfang quickly stepped forward and wanted to support Li Qingxia.

Li Qingxia suddenly changed her expression when facing Li Yuanfang and shook off his hand: "Don't touch me! I can walk by myself."

After embarrassing Li Yuanfang, Li Qingxia seemed to be very relieved and walked out with big strides.

Li Yuanfang was a little overwhelmed by Li Qingxia's sudden temper.

Zhao Ji watched Li Qingxia walk away, and said sarcastically, "What a savage and willful princess. I often meet Princess Taiping, but I've never seen someone as unreasonable as Princess Yiyang."

"Yeah, we saved her after all, but she didn't even say thank you. Instead, she put on airs." Li Yuanfang also couldn't stand Li Qingxia.

Di Renjie seemed to understand: "The princess has lived a life of luxury since she was a child, but this time she was caught and detained here for such a long time, it's normal for her to have a little temper."

Li Yuanfang still listened to Di Renjie's words. He didn't take it to heart after being persuaded. He asked, "Sir, since Princess Yiyang is still alive, who is dead?"

Di Renjie shook his head and said, "I don't know who died. But one thing is certain, she is Princess Yiyang. Her father, Prince Changle, and I have some friendship. I met her in the mansion a few years ago. At that time, she was only a teenager."

At this point, Di Renjie laughed again: "I didn't expect that searching the cave would actually lead to the discovery of the dead princess. This can be considered an unexpected gain."

Zhao Ji said sinisterly, "I always feel that there is something strange about the appearance of this princess."

"What's so strange?" Li Yuanfang asked.

"If the villain kept the princess near Chang'an, it would be fine. But outside Chang'an, I don't understand why the villain would keep such a burden as the princess and even keep her until now." Zhao Ji explained.

"Chengyuan! Don't talk nonsense!" Di Renjie said seriously.

"I am not speaking nonsense. If I were a bad person, I would never have kept the princess until now." Zhao Ji explained seriously.

"Chengyuan! How can you curse the Li Tang royal family like this!" Di Renjie was really angry.

Di Renjie was infinitely tolerant towards the Li Tang royal family.

"I have spoken out of turn, please forgive me, sir." Seeing that Di Renjie was angry, Zhao Ji quickly restrained himself.

Just at this moment, footsteps were heard outside, and Lu Dayou rushed in: "Sir, the missing villagers in the nearby villages have been found!"

Di Renjie temporarily let Zhao Ji go and asked Lu Dayou nervously, "Is he dead or alive?"

Lu Dayou said excitedly: "Alive!"

Di Renjie finally breathed a sigh of relief and smiled happily: "Great! Come on, take me to see my fellow villagers."

So Lu Dayou took Di Renjie and Li Yuanfang and walked out quickly.

However, Zhao Ji did not follow the three people out. He frowned and stood where he was.

Di Renjie has a special feeling for Li Tang, and he always looks at the people and things of the Li Tang royal family through a filter.

It would be more difficult to uncover Li Qingxia's true identity than to expose Hu Jinghui. It required solid evidence and the right timing. Thinking of this, Zhao Ji turned around and went to the cave where Li Qingxia had just walked out.

Inside was another residence, which was not as exquisitely decorated as Qingxiang Cottage and was barely habitable.

But this is actually reasonable. There is no need to be too elaborate when arranging accommodation for prisoners.

Zhao Ji looked at the bed and bedding again, and actually found signs that someone had slept there, with some hair on them.

There was even a basin of water in the room, which was still clean, and there was still water in the bowl on the table, which was obviously new.

This really shocked Zhao Ji. Hu Jinghui and Liu Jin both had flaws in their actions. Could it be that Li Qingxia was more skilled than them and was so meticulous?

"Is it really possible that we can't find any flaws in Li Qingxia? This shouldn't be the case..." Zhao Ji frowned, unwilling to believe this result.

Zhao Ji looked around the room. The bed, the quilt, the pillow, a stool, a low table, a basin, a towel, a rag, a broom... nothing seemed strange.

It was just that I didn’t see any clean clothes in the room, which was very strange. They must have all been cleared out.

"It's really an attempt to hide the truth. This is an attempt to conceal the true identity of the owner of the room."

After looking around, Zhao Ji seemed to be thinking about something. He casually turned over a corner of the bedclothes, and inside was a pair of unfinished shoes and some needles and thread.

Seeing these two things, Zhao Ji laughed: "It's her!"

After taking away the shoes and needle and thread and restoring the bedding, Zhao Ji felt refreshed and left the room.
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Zhao Ji strolled around somewhere unknown, then went to find Li Yuanfang and Di Renjie with a satisfied smile on his face.

Di Renjie was comforting the imprisoned people in a cave.

These people had been imprisoned for an unknown period of time, and there was a strong odor on their bodies, but Di Renjie seemed to be completely unnoticed and chatted and laughed with the people.

Zhao Ji saw this scene from afar and felt sincere admiration for Di Renjie.

Li Yuanfang appeared out of nowhere and patted Zhao Ji on the shoulder: "Chengyuan, where did you go just now? Why did you suddenly disappear?"

Zhao Ji was confident, and smiled at Li Yuanfang and said, "I'm going to prepare a 'surprise' for the Princess Yiyang."

Li Yuanfang misunderstood Zhao Ji's intention and consoled him, "Chengyuan, I don't think the Lord means to blame you. You don't have to try to please the Princess. Besides, in this remote place, where can you prepare a surprise?"

"Wait a minute, you wouldn't steal the treasures that His Majesty bestowed on the Turkic envoys and plan to give them to the princess, right?" Li Yuanfang suddenly opened his mouth and looked at Zhao Ji nervously.

Zhao Ji listened to Li Yuanfang's outrageous remarks and felt a little amused: "What the hell is this? Am I that kind of person? I said 'surprise', oh, forget it... When I have a chance to meet with the adults, I will explain what 'surprise' means."

As they spoke, Zhao Ji and Li Yuanfang walked towards Di Renjie and the people.

Di Renjie was talking to a dishevelled middle-aged man, who was Lu Dayou's friend, Erwang.

"You mean, the bad guys suddenly changed in the last few days?" Di Renjie asked with confusion.

Erwang said with a simple and honest face: "Yes, we only had a little food every day before, barely enough to keep from starving to death, and we were often beaten and scolded."

"In the past two days, a tall man came to see us. He looked like a leader. He asked his men to bring us a lot of food and water. Many people were dying of thirst and hunger, and it was he who saved everyone's lives."

"Okay, I understand. You can go down and have some rest." Di Renjie said warmly.

The guards sent Erwang away. Di Renjie stretched his muscles and a relieved smile appeared on his face.

Zhao Ji also heard Erwang's words, and came over and said, "Sir, the tall man the villagers are talking about is General Hu."

Di Renjie stroked his beard and sighed, "That's right. I never thought that by letting Jinghui go, I could indirectly save the lives of so many people. It's worth my hard work for him."

(End of this chapter)