kingnovel Chapter 113: Divine Weapon
Chapter 113: Divine Weapon
The carriage went through the streets and alleys and headed straight out of the city.
After leaving the city gate, we walked for another half a day before reaching a barren mountain.
Two carriages had already been parked on the barren mountain. Beside the carriages stood a row of guards with swords, a few white-faced, beardless men, and a few maids.
Pei Yan saw Liu Xu was stunned and hurriedly explained:
"Don't be afraid, Xu'er. It's His Royal Highness Prince Jing and His Royal Highness the Imperial Concubine."
After saying that, he pulled Liu Xu to the front of the carriage and saluted.
The maid opened the curtain and the heavily made-up Concubine Wen sat inside. Seeing Liu Xu, she said softly:
"Get up, we are all family, no need to be so formal."
Prince Jing jumped down from the carriage next to him, looked Liu Xu up and down with his hands behind his back, and smiled at Pei Yan:
"Brother Yan, you are too stingy. Are you afraid of being seen by others by covering up the beauty like this?"
Pei Yan smiled and turned to Liu Xu and said:
"Xu'er, there's no one here, take off that damn hat."
Prince Jing smiled as he watched Liu Xu take off her veil. She was a fair-skinned, beautiful young lady, though of ordinary appearance. However, her cat-like eyes were truly stunning, and one look at her made it impossible to look away.
Prince Jing has seen countless beauties.
But these eyes were truly beautiful. On a man, they would be suave and dashing; on a woman, they would be full of autumn water and silently full of affection. They also made her whole person shine brightly.
Prince Jing's heart skipped a beat.
Concubine Wen coughed dryly, glanced at her son angrily, and said, "Yan'er, didn't you say that Concubine Liu was ready? Why don't you get started quickly?"
Liu Xu turned around and took a long box from the carriage. He opened the box, took out a stack of drawings from his arms, and began to study them carefully.
She is good at business, but she has never tried making arms.
But even if you haven't eaten pork, you have seen pigs run.
She can still copy the same thing.
She couldn't make a 98k or a sniper rifle, but she had been using hunting rifles since she was a child, and she had even mixed black powder with her father, a forest ranger. That was why she had the guts to accept the job.
It was easy for her to make a homemade gun.
But to be on the safe side, she deliberately drew the parts of the musket separately on dozens of drawings, disrupted the order, and drew each part in an extremely complicated manner.
Each component is made by a different craftsman.
In this world, no one can understand except her.
She assembled it quickly, holding her breath.
Prince Jing looked at Liu Xu, whose hands were wrapped in gauze, concentrating on assembling a bunch of strange-looking things together. He then solemnly took out some black powder from a box and poured it into the iron pipe. He then stuffed a steel ball wrapped in oilcloth into the pipe, and then took out a long iron rod to compact it.
After being busy for a long time, Liu Xu held up the musket and said:
"Your Majesty, Your Highness Prince Jing, the craftsman's skills are limited, and this is all I can do. Please cover your ears and look straight ahead."
A hundred steps away, someone had set up a target.
Liu Xu held the gun, held his breath and aimed.
She learned to use a gun from her father, a forest ranger, since she was young, and it was no problem for her to shoot a still life at a hundred paces away.
However, this was her first time making a musket, so she didn't know if it would work. If it exploded, she would be finished right there.
I was still very nervous, and my palms were hot and sweaty.
Wealth and wealth are found in danger.
She has always been well aware of this.
Pei Yan was also sweating.
Whether his future success would be achieved depended on this one move. He clenched his fists, held his breath, and stared intently at the catkins.
Under the sun, the catkins seemed to be covered with a halo, and their heroic appearance was a little dazzling to him.
Prince Jing was equally dazzling.
He looked at the rumored woman with interest.
Then Liu Xu lit a fuse, there was a loud bang, and a cloud of black smoke rolled past. Liu Xu was shocked by the recoil of the gun and took several steps back until he bumped into Prince Jing and was stopped.
Prince Jing supported her with his hands.
But she couldn't care less. All her energy was focused on the target in front of her. She didn't know how long it had passed before she heard the old eunuch in front of her, who was covering his ears, start shouting at the top of his lungs:
"Medium! In the middle!"
As he spoke, he ran up with the target in his arms. Everyone looked and saw that a black hole had been blasted out in the middle of the target by the steel ball.
Looking at the dark hole, Liu Xu suddenly laughed crazily. Earlier, she had looked sickly, but now she seemed like a completely different person, her eyes full of vitality and enthusiasm! Pei Yan felt his hair stand on end at the sight, as if he had never truly known this person beside him.
"Good! Good! Good!"
Prince Jing behind him shouted "good" three times, his ecstasy making his face look a little hideous.
"Congratulations, Your Highness. Congratulations, Your Highness. With this magical weapon, you will surely accomplish great things!"
Concubine Wen also breathed a sigh of relief, put down her hands that were covering her ears, and looked at Liu Xu with a look of approval.
Liu Xu turned around, knelt on the ground and bowed her head:
"Long live His Highness!"
Prince Jing looked at her thoughtfully, and suddenly said softly:
"This magical weapon is indeed powerful, but I don't know what consequences it will cause if it hits a person."
Liu Xu was shocked when she heard this. She looked up at Prince Jing in disbelief. Seeing the madness and fanaticism in his eyes, she was sure that what she heard was true. She quickly lowered her head and said:
"I, I haven't tried."
Prince Jing helped her up and said nonchalantly:
"Then you'll know after trying it."
As he said this, he waved his hand, and the guards behind him picked up a young eunuch and dragged him a hundred steps away to replace the target.
The young eunuch was shaking all over with fear, pissing and shitting. He looked at the guards who were drawing their swords and attacking him, but he didn't dare to say a word. He just knelt on the ground with a thud, crying, and closed his eyes resignedly.
Liu Xu's hand holding the musket was also shaking.
She was very excited about the success of the musket test, but now the excitement had been replaced by fear and tension.
She had hunted, but she had never killed anyone!
Looking at the living person in front of her, she wanted to light the fire several times but finally closed her eyes.
Prince Jing smiled sinisterly, walked behind her, covered her hands with his, also maintaining the posture of holding the gun, and lazily rested his chin on Liu Xu's neck, and whispered:
"Are you nervous?"
"Your Highness, I... I dare not!" Liu Xu almost gave up, but Prince Jing held her tightly so that she could not move at all.
"Aim like this, and then fire?"
Prince Jing followed suit, and when the musket was aimed at the young eunuch's chest, he pulled the trigger.
With a loud bang, the young eunuch opposite fell down, twitched a few times and then stopped moving. A pool of blood had appeared on the ground, and it seemed to be emitting heat in the sunlight.
"Hahahaha! Haha!"
Prince Jing snatched the musket from Liu Xu's stiff hand, looked back at her with interest, pulled Pei Yan into the carriage and drove away.
Only then did Concubine Wen slowly get off the carriage, personally pulled Liu Xu over and said softly:
"That's right! That's right! Yan'er has really married a good wife. Xu'er, you are not only Yan'er's lucky star, but also this palace and Prince Jing's lucky star. Come back to the palace with me and have a good talk."
Holding Concubine Wen's warm hand, Liu Xu's blood finally began to flow again. She forced a smile that was uglier than crying and followed Concubine Wen's footsteps.
After returning from the desolate mountain, Concubine Wen sent people to pick up Liu Xu and bring her to the palace for a chat almost every day. Rewards were sent to the Marquis' Mansion and carried to Piaoxiang Pavilion. For a time, Liu Xu was the most popular person in the Marquis' Mansion.
With the Imperial Concubine's obvious support, Liu Xu was able to walk freely in the Marquis's residence. Even Pei Yan stayed in Piaoxiang Pavilion every day and never mentioned going to Fangfei Pavilion again.
Concubine Wen even issued an imperial decree, reprimanding the Ninth Princess for her arrogance and harsh treatment of her concubine's son, which led to Ping'er's death by drowning, and ordered her to reflect on her mistakes behind closed doors.
He also sent a nanny from the palace to the Marquis's mansion to discipline her and asked her to copy the "Female Virtues" a thousand times.
Even the emperor refused to listen to her explanation and refused to see her behind closed doors.
The Ninth Princess was locked up in Fangfei Garden and was not allowed to leave. She smashed countless items in her room every day, and the hatred in her heart was still unresolved.
……
In the palace, Concubine Li also fell ill.
She lay on the bed with a haggard face, and said to Concubine Jiang who came to visit her:
"I'm sorry to bother you enough to come and see me."
Concubine Jiang said, "What are you talking about, Your Majesty? I should have come to pay my respects to Your Majesty. It seems to me that Your Majesty's illness has been going on for more than a day or two."
Concubine Li propped herself up and said:
"This is an old problem of mine. When I was young, I suffered two difficult childbirths that damaged my body. I finally gave birth to Wei'er and doted on her with all my heart, but in the end...ah..."
Before she got married, Li Wei was the ninth princess who was loved by everyone. But after she got married, her good days didn't last long, and she was filled with troubles.
Concubine Li felt sorry for her daughter and was depressed, and her old illness came back.
Seeing this, Concubine Jiang hurriedly comforted her, "The Ninth Princess is smart and clever. Although she is a little spoiled, I think she is a good child. I believe that she would not do such a thing as to mistreat a concubine's son and cause his death."
"I don't believe it either. But the facts are there. The Imperial Concubine has even issued an imperial decree to reprimand us. Wei'er, what you did was really too much."
Concubine Jiang frowned.
Although Concubine Wen was in charge of the harem, this was the Prince Consort's family affair. Even though she was his aunt, her meddling was a bit too much. Concubine Li, the biological mother, hadn't said anything!
Thinking of this, she comforted him, "Your Majesty, your children and grandchildren will have their own blessings. You should relax. If you become ill, how will you take care of the princess in the future?"
Upon hearing this, Concubine Li nodded and said, "What you said makes sense."
After saying this, he stood up and signaled the palace maid to bring the medicine.
Jiangpin took it and fed her herself, but after taking a spoonful, she frowned and sniffed it, then said calmly:
"This medicine is cold. Go and make another one."
The palace maid didn't suspect anything and left with the medicine.
When there was no one else in the room, Concubine Li asked suspiciously, "What's wrong?"