"Your Grace, I can't understand what you mean." Gu Yunxi said.

Hearing that Noble Concubine Hui blamed her, Gu Yunxi felt aggrieved and frowned. With tears in her eyes, Gu Yunxi looked at the Emperor.

"Your Majesty, what I only hope is to recover from smallpox and to come back to the imperial harem to entertain you. The nigrum fruits that Lord Yue gave me were used up for treatment. Last night, I was itchy, so I went to the back of the temple to look for it." Gu Yunxi said.

Gu Yunxi added, "But I came across assassins. Luckily, thanks to God and His Majesty’s blessing, I survived. In order to see His Majesty, I suffered a lot. Your Grace, why do you be so aggressive and slander me in public when I just see His Majesty?"

Gu Yunxi pretended to be sad and said that while sobbing. As her tender body fell into the arms of Huanan Xin, he felt heartbroken.

Even though Gu Yunxi was slandered by Shi Yuanqing who was jealous of Gu Yunxi, Gu Yunxi was calm at that time. Her look showed her calmness, too.

She calmly told a big lie in public.

Gu Yunxi was assassinated by people sent by Shi’s Mansion on the day before yesterday. But just now, she said it happened last night.

Gu Yunxi and Huanan He survived after falling down the hill. She had predicted that no matter they fled, kept close, or stayed together in public, they would be accused of adultery by the Noble Concubine Hui. That was the reason why she did this.

They were accused of adultery. If Gu Yunxi told Huanan Xin that the assassination occurred on the day before yesterday, she could not explain where she was and what she did with Huanan He yesterday in public.

After suffering the heart-by-heart blood bond and the "Evilshield" for Huanan He, Gu Yunxi was cautious of those who wanted to hurt her and treated them relentlessly.

She could not say anything, which someone would take advantage of to make her be in trouble.

She knew that even if Noble Concubine Hui knew that she told a lie, Noble Concubine Hui would not tell the truth in public.

If Noble Concubine Hui told the truth about the date of the assassination, she would become the leader who sent someone to assassinate Gu Yunxi. She would not be stupid enough to do that.

Huanan Xin put one arm around Gu Yunxi's waist. Gu Yunxi's tears kept dropping, wetting the clothes on his chest.

Even though Gu Yunxi was sobbing, she was delicate and charming with her shoulders trembling. Seeing that, Huanan Xin became more heartbroken.

Huanan Xin lowered his head to see Gu Yunxi and held her chin, ignoring her blain-filled face. He said to her softly.

"Don't be afraid, Yunxi. Tell me what happened last night. Have you seen those assassins before?" Huanan Xin asked.

Gu Yunxi sniffed and said to Huanan Xin in a delicate voice.

"The nigrum fruits grow at the rocky cliff, so I together with eunuch Lei and Zhiqi came to the hill to find them. We didn't find the nigrum fruit but came across assassins. They were all dressed in nocturnal clothes and covered their faces with veils, so I couldn't recognize them."

"Luckily, Ninth Uncle came to the hill to fight against them. One of them pushed me off the cliff before escaping. And it was also Ninth Uncle who saved my life, so I could survive..."

While saying that, Gu Yunxi dropped tears.

Gu Yunxi turned away gently and frowned. But she was charming.

Huanan Xin said, "Yunxi, don't cry. Don't cry..."

Huanan Xin was almost heartbroken and hurriedly pulled out a yellow handkerchief to wipe away Gu Yunxi's tears.

Seeing that, other concubines felt unhappy.

Noble Concubine Hui stood next to the Emperor, watching Huanan Xin hug Gu Yunxi tightly. She was more jealous of Gu Yunxi.

Shi Yuanqing thought, "Such a b*tch! She has been married before and suffers from smallpox now. But she still has affairs with other men and dares to blatantly seduce the Emperor."

"And His Majesty is attracted to her. He ignores the infection of smallpox and he really doesn't care about his life!"

Noble Concubine Hui was even angrier, breathing sharply. There was anger on her delicate face. She widened her eyes that became red from anger. She was so angry that her eyes were about to pop out.

Noble Concubine Hui shouted, "It's nonsense!"

When Gu Yunxi paused, Noble Concubine Hui could not help interrupting Gu Yunxi.

Raising her long dress embroidered with plum blossoms, Noble Concubine Hui walked to the other side of Gu Yunxi and Huanan Xin and angrily pulled Gu Yunxi's tattered sleeves. Then she cursed Gu Yunxi.

She said angrily, "Wh*re! Don’t talk nonsense and get away from His Majesty's arms. You suffer from smallpox, which will infect His Majesty! How can you be so mean and approach His Majesty?"

Noble Concubine Hui was angry, so she tried her best to pull Gu Yunxi, who was weak, out of Huanan Xin's arms.

The silver-haired man was afraid that Gu Yunxi would get hurt, but he did not dare to help her.

"Your Majesty… Your Majesty..." Gu Yunxi said.

Gu Yunxi fell to the ground. She frowned because she felt pain. She bit her lips with her white teeth and sobbed.

Huanan Xin got angry and pointed at Noble Concubine Hui, shouting.

"Shi Yuanqing, stop it!"

Noble Concubine Hui frowned and knelt on the ground with her back straight. She looked up sadly and shouted.

"Your Majesty, you shouldn't believe her. She said that when she was assassinated, Lei and Zhiqi stayed with her. But they didn't tell the truth just now. You were deceived by her..." Noble Concubine Hui said in a loud voice.

Zhiqi looked down at the ground. She was thinking about how to explain it.

Zhiqi did not expect that Gu Yunxi went back to the temple suddenly.

"No matter what happened, my master didn't want to get us into trouble and was willing to take risks. We work for my master, so we have to help her." Zhiqi thought.

Thinking that, Zhiqi lowered her head and crawled closer to Huanan Xin. She said to him sadly in a loud voice.

"Your Majesty, Her Grace was wronged. Last night we didn't expect to encounter assassins, and the Ninth Prince coming to the temple also made us feel very strange. When Her Grace and His Highness fell off the hill, I was frightened. Because of their special identity, Lei and I didn't dare to tell the people in the temple what happened, which would make them be in a panic. So, we searched for them in the mountains all night. It was not until dawn that we found them."

"At that time, Your Majesty had almost reached the temple. I was worried that others would frame Her Grace for cheating on you, so I asked Her Grace to hide in the back hills. I planned to report to Your Majesty what happened at the right moment."

"Lei, Xiuyu, and I didn't tell Your Majesty the truth because we wanted to protect Her Grace. I hope Your Majesty will forgive us for concealing the fact!"

After saying that, the three kowtowed for a while.

Gu Yunxi managed to kneel down and said to Huanan Xin softly with tears in her eyes.

"Then His Highness was worried that Your Majesty would punish others for not finding me. So, His Highness came to Your Majesty to explain it." Gu Yunxi said.

"I was afraid to stay alone in the wilderness, so I tried to come back to the temple. Then I came across the guards of the Eastern Depot and they helped me to come to Your Majesty."

Others could easily understand what happened from what they said. It sounded reasonable.

Noble Concubine Hui could not argue with her. She glanced at Gu Yunxi and Zhiqi coldly and got angry.

Huanan Xin said nothing for a while. Then he wore a faint smile and looked at the silver-haired man significantly.

Huanan Xin said, "Ninth Uncle, tell me the reason. Why did you happen to be at the back of the temple when Yunxi was assassinated last night?"

The silver-haired man was calm and looked into Huanan Xin's eyes. He didn’t blink and replied to Huanan Xin positively.

"Your Majesty, last night a eunuch came to my mansion to tell me that you were drinking in the back mountains of Yonglu Temple. And you wanted me to accompany you."

"So, I hurried to reach the back hill of the temple. But, I didn't find you. I came across the assassins who wanted to kill Lady Yun. Then I had no choice but to protect Lady Yun. It must be a plot!"

Gu Yunxi always helped Lady-in-waiting Zhang, Zhang Ying, in the imperial harem. For Lady-in-waiting Zhang, Lady Yun was a good woman and was liked by the Emperor. So, she admired Gu Yunxi.

When other concubines talked about the relationship between Lady Yun and the Ninth Prince, Lady-in-waiting Zhang felt that sounded awful. She did not participate in the discussion.

Seeing that Gu Yunxi who she admired was blamed by Noble Concubine Hui, Lady-in-waiting Zhang also felt nervous.

After hearing what the Ninth Prince said, Zhang Ying was relieved quickly. Her eyes lit up. She realized that she could help Gu Yunxi. She said to Huanan Xin hurriedly.

"Your Majesty, someone deliberately asked Ninth Uncle to come into the mountains and caused this trouble. We must hurry to find the assassins and their leaders. Your Majesty, please think twice. Don't wrong Ninth Uncle and Sister Yun."

After finishing saying, Zhang Ying knelt on the ground.

Lady Ying, Lady Shu, and Meiren Jia who used to be good friends with Gu Yunxi also knelt and said to Huanan Xin together.

"Your Majesty, please think twice. Don't wrong Sister Yun."

"Your Majesty, please think twice!"

Commandery Princess Jingle was shocked and then she knelt to plead for the silver-haired man.

There came a sudden and abnormal silence.

Gu Yunxi glanced at the silver-haired man secretly and realized what happened.

She knew that this man was not her husband, Huanan He. He was Huanan He's brother, Gu Di.

When she woke up in the carriage and saw her husband wearing the robe of Gu Di, Gu Yunxi knew that Gu Di intended to pretend to be Huanan He and take the risk of assassinating the Emperor.

But then, whether he succeeded in the assassination or not, the monks of the temple and her men would be the first to be killed.

If she got a happy life but others were killed, she would not be happy.

So, Gu Yunxi asked her husband to hide out, and then she hurried to come back to the temple at the important moment.

Yue Xilou, Commander-in-chief of the Eastern Depot, said nothing all the time as he stood in the line of civil officials.

After hearing that the silver-haired man mentioned a eunuch, he suddenly thought something and was in a panic, trembling slightly.