Chapter 560 - Chapter 560: I’ll Die Before Revealing Anything
Chapter 560: I’ll Die Before Revealing Anything
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
After a fierce battle in bed, the two of them fell asleep in each other’s arms. When Su Ying was in a sleepy stupor, she felt a slight shaking under the bed. She woke up abruptly. The moment she opened her eyes, Xiao Jin also woke up. “The earth dragon is turning!” Xiao Jin said softly. He pulled Su Ying out of the hall and rushed into the hall next door to carry the two soundly sleeping children out.
Su Ying handed the children over to Xiao Jin first.
“Go to the open space.” After saying that, she rushed to the rooms where the servants were resting and woke them up.
Fortunately, there weren’t many people serving in the Conjugal Phoenix Palace. In the blink of an eye, everyone was so frightened that they ran out. However, the tremors did not last long and soon stopped.
“Go and wake up the people in the various palaces. Tell them to come to the open space. Don’t sleep tonight,” Xiao Jin said to the eunuchs.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Mother, Mother?”
The two children were also woken up by the commotion.
Su Ying carried Ling and soothed her softly, “Don’t be afraid. Father and Mother are here.”
“Mother, what happened?” Ji appeared calmer, but the child had never experienced such a thing before so he was still terrified.
“It’s the earth dragon turning over. Father told you about it previously.”
Ji’s expression changed slightly. He remembered that the earth dragon turning over was a very terrible disaster.
On that night, many people in the capital city felt the earth tremble. After confirming in the morning that the tremors had temporarily ended, Xiao Jin changed into his dragon robe and prepared to deal with what happened the night before.
Su Ying had already checked the area with the earthquake detector yesterday. There were no earthquakes predicted for the capital city, yet trouble erupted at night.
However, the shaking last night did not seem like an earthquake but resembled an aftershock.
Su Ying told someone to keep an eye on the two children while she continued to check the area with the detector.
Xiao Jin also immediately sent people to the city to check on the situation. The shaking last night might not have done much damage to the palace buildings, but this might not be the case for many private houses or houses in the slums.
After repeated scanning, Su Ying confirmed that the capital city was indirectly affected. Only then did she allow the people in the palace to return to their respective posts.
As he could not be sure if the tremor in the capital city was caused by aftershocks elsewhere or was only contained within the capital city itself, Xiao Jin ordered messages to be sent to the various cities to inquire about the local situations to see if there were any problems.
The replies from cities all over the state were quickly sent back to the capital city. Only Kun City deep in the southwest did not send a message back for a long time.
It was not until three days later that the capital city received a letter from Kun City by carrier pigeon.
The earth dragon turned in Kun City, and the situation was very serious. They urgently needed assistance from the Imperial Court.
After receiving the message, Xiao Jin immediately gathered the ministers to come up with a strategy.
The door of the Imperial study remained closed for more than half a day. It was not until the sun was about to set that the ministers finally walked out of the Imperial study in one wave.
Xiao Jin instructed someone to send a message to the nearest city, telling them to go to Kun City to check on the extent of the disaster first and report back to the capital city on the situation from time to time. Then, they would send a professional rescue team there, followed closely by food supplies.
Xiao Jin did not sleep for several days and nights because of Kun City’s trouble. Based on the information sent back by the people who went to check on the place, the situation in Kun City was worse than he had imagined.
Kun City was located in the southwest. The climate there was rainy and humid. In addition, the area was mostly mountainous terrain so many houses were not built on stable ground. This earthquake caused many houses in the city to collapse, let alone those commoners’ houses that were supported by wood. Moreover, the earthquake happened in the middle of the night. The severity of the damage was obvious.
Su Ying had just lulled the two children to sleep. When she returned to the inner hall, she saw Xiao Jin sitting quietly under the lantern.
In just a few days, he had lost a lot of weight.
Su Ying frowned slightly and instructed Zhou Qing to go to the Imperial
Kitchen to get Hea Shouyi to cook a bowl of noodles. She didn’t need to ask to know that Xiao Jin must have gone without food again today.
“Still worrying about Kun City?”
Xiao Jin returned to his senses and slowly nodded. “Mm-hmm. The news has been streaming back. Thankfully, the people from the nearby cities have already gone to provide disaster relief. Everything will be fine.”
Su Ying held his hand and patted it gently. “Natural disasters are just like this, always catching people off guard. You’ve already done what you should have done.”
Xiao Jin’s brows were still tightly knitted. The news that came back said that the city walls of Kun City had collapsed. One could imagine how serious the shaking was. There were countless casualties, and those were all people of his Chu State…
Su Ying went around behind him and gently massaged his temples to help him relax. “Expunge the foul air in your body. You’ll get sick easily in your current state.”
Xiao Jin slowly closed his eyes as he listened to Su Ying’s words and exhaled a mouthful of turbid air.
After a few moments, he felt much better.
Su Ying didn’t participate too much in Kun City’s disaster. She could tell that Xiao Jin didn’t want her to worry too much. He was probably worried that she would go to Kun City on impulse. Thus, she didn’t ask him in detail since he didn’t say anything.
“Your Imperial Highness, the Ministry of Justice sent a message saying that they have already captured Li An.”
Su Ying, who was leaning against the soft cushion, slowly opened her eyes.
“Has he been interrogated?”
Zhou Qing nodded and replied, “Yes. This is his confession.”
Su Ying took the confession report and read it.
Judging from the contents of the confession, his words about fighting for justice for the Great General were similar to those from the General’s wife.
Li An also admitted that he had captured those children to threaten Hao Bailian, but there was no mention of where he had gotten the Fire Token.
Su Ying placed the confession report on the table. “Looks like I will have to interrogate him personally.”
Two hours later, Su Ying arrived at the Ministry of Justice’s prison.
The Minister of Justice personally led the way for Su Ying to a cell.
“Your Imperial Highness, that person is inside. Please be careful.”
Su Ying nodded slightly and walked into the cell.
Li An’s hands and feet were bound by iron chains. He only raised his head to glance at Su Ying when he heard the commotion.
Su Ying motioned for everyone to leave, leaving only her and Li An in the cell.
Su Ying looked down at him from her high vantage point and said icily, “How did you come into contact with the people from the Red Demon Sect?”
The words “Red Demon Sect” made Li An jerk his head up abruptly. “What Red Demon Sect? I don’t know.”
Su Ying let out a soft sigh. “Looks like you won’t learn until you have been taught a painful lesson. If you didn’t know about the Red Demon Sect, how did you get their Fire Token?”
Li An gritted his teeth. He looked like he didn’t intend to talk.
Su Ying didn’t have much patience today, so she went around to Li An’s back. Li An only felt a slight pain in the back of his neck, and by the time he realized what happened, the pain had quickly spread throughout his entire body.
“Argh!”
Li An screamed out in pain, but even so, he still didn’t talk immediately.
Su Ying stared icily at his face which was contorted with pain and her gaze grew increasingly more frosty.
Li An’s muscles in his whole body tensed up. He wanted to faint, but the more painful it was, the more alert he became. The torture went on back and forth for nearly a quarter of an hour, but he still gritted his teeth in silence. It was as if he would rather be tortured to death than reveal anything.
Su Ying’s eyes narrowed slightly. How interesting..