When Gu Yunxi ran out of the gate of divine prowess and rushed back to the Eastern Depot on a horse, Leng Qingtang was sitting in his room in the Southern Residence, holding a small enamel magnifying glass and looking at something carefully one inch away from the table.

Not long ago, the Eastern Depot and the Western Depot joined forces to extinguish the rebellion in Mount Yin, and after two days, Ming Lan sent someone to return the Kunhuang Island map to the Eastern Depot that they found from Gu Yunxi when she was caught by them.

After careful confirmation by the High Priest Yu Xuanji, it proved to be the fake map that Gu Yunxi retrieved from the Swift Tower.

So it could be seen that the Shenle Marquis Wan Li always believed that only the map in Lei Huan's hands was real, which was the best situation.

However, based on the great disparity in Wu Yong's dictation, the Eastern Depot did not dare to rashly take actions on the Wan Family before they got the scale and details of the private soldiers of Southern Jiang.

"It's almost March. Is it cold outside?"

Upon seeing Gu Yunxi, Leng Qingtang noticed her red cheeks and thought that she was pierced by the cold wind on her way back from the outside on the horse.

But when he touched her soft cheeks with his tender fingers, he clearly felt the scorching heat.

"What happened?"

Leng Qingtang was surprised and nervous, pressing his forehead against hers, thinking whether she had a fever or not.

Gu Yunxi turned her head uncomfortably and tore herself away from the Master's arms. At this moment, her mind was filled with Ming Lan's enchanting face with different expressions. His wicked and cold laughter echoed in her ears.

"Girl?"

Leng Qingtang looked at her in surprise, who then silently removed the soft leather armor on her body and took out the letter which Sun Shengsheng wrote to the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi carefully with both hands.

"Master, here you are. It's a letter Jieyu Sun wrote to Master Sun."

Leng Qingtang took it and saw the wax seal with drooping eyes, thinking for a while,

"Girl, according to the rules of the Eastern Depot, the official documents and letters sent by the secret guards must be reviewed by me first. Do you know that?"

He didn't intend to gauge the heart of a gentle man with his own mean measure, but it was the way the Eastern Depot had always acted.

Leng Qingtang and his subordinates would try their best to kill anything that might threaten the court and the interests of the Eastern Depot.

As for Gu Yunxi, her life, honor and disgrace had been firmly tied to the Eastern Depot since the day she joined the Eastern Depot. Now that the Master made an opinion, she would naturally not refuse.

Then the two of them gently used tools to broke the wax seal in front of the desk, took out the letter, and looked through it line by line.

After confirming that the matters mentioned in the letter were the same as those proposed by Gu Yunxi, they re-closed the letter, put it into the envelope, and sealed it with wax again.

Leng Qingtang summoned a guard and ordered him to arrange someone to send the letter to Southern Jiang in a hurry.

After that, when they were in the room alone, he took her into his arms and said with bright eyes,

"Girl, thank you for your hard work this time."

Seeing she was in a daze silently, he smiled, picked up the messy hair on her forehead with his white index finger, and asked,

"What are you thinking about? Why not talk with me?"

Gu Yunxi was stunned suddenly. She looked at the Master with anxious eyes,

"I met Ming Lan just now., when I was in the Palace."

Leng Qingtang raised his eyebrows whose warm smile suddenly stiffened. A sharp light flashed across his deep eyes,

"Did he trouble you again?"

"Master, I feel that he has recognized me!"

Leng Qingtang was surprised,

"Calm down. Why did you say that?"

Gu Yunxi then told the Master everything including her meeting with Ming Lan in the Palace and his strange behavior and words.

Leng Qingtang stayed silent for a long time. His eyes flickered faintly as cold as marble.

For a moment of contemplation while pacing, he raised his jaw slightly and muttered to himself,

"A few days ago, the Eastern Depot has been rigorously deployed to annihilate the rebels hiding near the imperial mausoleum of Mount Yin. At that time, all the forces of the Western Depot were gathered at Yangfangkou in the capital. They had no chance to contact the rebels logically. Could it be that Lord Hu revealed your identity to Ming Lan? But inferring from time, it is impossible!"

Gu Yunxi thought carefully and shook her head,

"If it had been the informant in the Palace who let out it, Ming Lan would have found me long time ago."

Leng Qingtang suddenly stopped and a startled gleam flashed across his eyes.

"By the way, the masked man did not escape that day alone. At that time, you stabbed him with a dagger. However, at the critical moment, a masked woman appeared and rescued him. Since then, the two have been missing."

"Woman?"

Gu Yunxi's heart sank badly with a shudder of horror.

At this moment, she actually thought of the mysterious woman who had appeared in the Palace late at night and had excellent ventriloquism.

"Master, will the two people who fled join forces with Ming Lan?"

Leng Qingtang stood still with his hands crossed behind his back, staring blankly at some certain place, shaking his head slowly.

He was the only person who had seen the real facial features of the masked man. Based on this, Leng Qingtang fully believed that it was impossible for that person to collude with Wan Family and the Western Depot.

When he returned to his senses, he saw the girl's little depressed face, so he stepped closer to comfort her,

"Stay in the Eastern Depot today. Don't go to the Palace. The Imperial Ceremony Office is well informed. I will send someone to ask Bingbi Liu about it when I'm free and we will get reliable information certainly."

Gu Yunxi had to obediently listened to the Master's arrangements. When it was time for lunch, she left the Master's room and went back to her room to change into casual clothes.

After Gu Yunxi left, Leng Qingtang stood in the room, thinking about something. His dark and deep eyes narrowed with cold light inside.

“Why did you ask for trouble?”

“Ming Lan, since the Imperial Ceremony Office wiped out your henchmen in the Palace, you had been half dead by then.”

“How dare you say that you were in love with my Yunxi? Since so, you would be a completely dead person then.”

...

Gu Yunyao was sent back to Jingyang Palace by Concubine Xu. As soon as she entered the Main Hall, her sad face with tears and her running makeup frightened Zhao An abruptly,

"Master... What's wrong with you?"

Zhao An's face turned pale, serving her with tea and being busy instructing the female slaves to fetch warm water to help the master clean her face.

Gu Yunyao's pink lips trembled and before she could speak, she burst into tears again, almost losing her breath.

Upon seeing this, Concubine Xu comforted her again.

"Sister, you can't cry like this. Now that you are pregnant, you can't be too emotional. Remember!"

Zhao An asked Song Qin in his shrill voice,

"Please! Tell me what happened to our master just now?"

Song Qin's beautiful face looked anxious and she was about to cry with grievances.

"Your Grace went to Jinli Lake just now and she met a female slave who new to the Palace and just being punished by the Imperial Noble Concubine in the waterside pavilion. She was not anyone else. She was ... She was just the little..."

Her sorrowful eyes gleamed with watery light. She stopped speaking after taking a quick look at Concubine Xu, not completing the title of "little master".

"Who was she? Just tell me!"

Zhao An was so anxious that he even stomped his feet.

"It's Yunxi! It's my Yunxi!"

Gu Yunyao said with certainty on the chair and then she cried bitterly again.

Concubine Xu sighed,

"It's my fault. I suggested visiting the garden since it was a good day, which caused so much trouble for you."

Gu Yunyao cried and said,

"How can I blame you, Sister? If I hadn't gone there with you, how could I know that my poor sister had been caught by the Western Depot and then sent to Yongning Palace to live a sorrowful life?"

"I'm so useless. I couldn't protect her in the Garden back then. She was abused in front of me just now, but I still couldn't protect her. I could only watch helplessly..."

Concubine Xu was on the verge of tears. She personally stepped forward to rub Gu Yunyao's back to comfort her.

"Sister, you shouldn't blame yourself. Everyone has his own fate. How can Yunxi blame you for that?"

Gu Yunyao wiped her face with her handkerchief, still sobbing,

"The moment the honor guards walked out of the waterside pavilion, Yunxi kept looking to me with sorrowful eyes. She was truly asking me for help. Sister, please give me some advice. How can I help my poor sister escape from the Imperial Noble Concubine?"

"This..."

Concubine Xu sat down with her thoughts in a mess.

Jinzhu suddenly thought of something and approached.

"Master, since the Imperial Noble Concubine throws her weight around, why not let Master Yu ask Empress Qian for help?"

Concubine Xu shook her head after a while,

"No. Today, the Imperial Noble Concubine said that the girl was sent into the Palace by the Commander-in-chief of the Western Depot, so she must have known her name already. And Sister Yu, Jieyu Jin, and Yunxi all had the same surname as the former chief maid in the Garden. Their names are very similar, which shows that they have a close relationship."

"The Imperial Noble Concubine knew Yunxi's details but she still pretended to do that in front of us. I am afraid that she is targeting at you. "

Gu Yunyao was in panic immediately. She grabbed Concubine Xu's hands and asked in shock,

"Sister, did you say that the Imperial Noble Concubine was just acting? Did she deliberately abuse Yun Xi in front of me?"

Concubine Xu nodded with her eyes drooping helplessly,

"I believe you have heard some rumors that Wan Yuyao hates your baby. Although the Palace won't get substantive evidence as long as Lin Zhangzheng, the Observatory Director, is not arrested, an empty hole won't invite the wind!"

"Since Wan Yuyao can't vent her resentment, she will punish Yunxi. But what if you go to Kunning Palace to beg Empress at this time? Not to mention that Empress Qian won't be willing to help a female slave, even if she refuses, Wan Yuyao will punish Yunxi harder after she knows that!"

Concubine Xu's analysis was eloquent and reasonable. Immediately, Gu Yunyao stiffened on the chair with crystal tears covering her face.

Concubine Xu comforted Gu Yunyao for another while until she calmed down somewhat. After that, Concubine Xu went back to Chuxiu Palace in a nervous mood.

Zhao An immediately instructed Song Qin to close the door of the Main Hall and helped Gu Yunyao step into the warm room.

When the curtains fell, Gu Yunyao buried her head into Zhao An's chest, feeling dejected.

Zhao An’s heart was broken to pieces by her sobbing. He completely ignored the rules and etiquette in the Palace, holding the heartbroken woman in his solid arms. He comforted her and dispelled her grievances with his warm body,

"Master, don't be sad. Master Xu is right. You are pregnant now, so you can't be too emotional. I will handle the rescue of the little master. Give me some time. I'll think of a perfect solution."

Gu Yunyao sighed with tears,

"I believe you most. But it's so urgent now. Wan Yuyao is so ruthless. I am afraid that Yunxi can't stand that for longer!"

Zhao An blinked and spoke tentatively after a moment of hesitation,

"Why don't I find some excuse to leave the Palace and tell it to Master Leng..."

"No!"

Gu Yunyao suddenly turned hostile. In an instant, the sadness on her delicate face faded away as if it had been wiped out by a violent wind. She then turned into terrible anger,

"I will never allow you to find him! We are both clear about his personality! If he hadn't made Yunxi go to Mansion of Ming in exchange for his life, how would my simple Yunxi be like this now?"

Zhao An put on a stiff face and after a while, he tried to comfort her in a soft voice,

"Master, even if Master Leng is too scheming, he has ever protected you in your pregnancy. Only by his power can we rescue the little master from the miserable situation as soon as possible..."

"I'm determined. You don't have to say it again!"

Gu Yunyao tore herself away from Zhao An's arms. Her beautiful eyes widened with blazing anger in them, and then she said in a stern voice,

"That year, Yunxi went to the Eastern Depot with Leng Qingtang and I was unable to stop her, so she was used by him. Today, I will rescue Yunxi without Leng Qingtang's help. I will take her back whatever the cost may be. I will keep her by my side so that no one can bully her any more..."

Zhao An choked when staring at Gu Yunyao who was overcome with endless sorrow again. His heart ached immediately. He walked forward to hold the woman in his arms, begging her，

"It's my fault. I will no longer try to ask Master Leng for help. I'll find a way by myself. Don't be angry, Your Grace."

Gu Yunyao nodded, suppressed her sad emotions, and leaned her head against the man's chest. She stroked his robe, instructing gently,

"Ask around about it tomorrow and find out what have happened since Yunxi entered the Palace. We'll make plans after you come back."

"I'll remember that, Your Grace."

Zhao An lowered his eyes, looking deeply at the beautiful woman with pink cheeks and watery eyes. His heart rippled. He leaned over and quickly kissed her on the forehead.