Dan Yue, Liu Shijun, and Xia Ye, unable to resist, were all knocked down by Qiao Ci with a single punch each.
"Qiao..." The Empress's eyes brightened as she saw Qiao Ci, but before she could finish speaking, Qiao Ci hoisted her up.
In Fengyi Palace, Xu Qingfeng, waiting anxiously, was restless, pacing back and forth and glancing outside.
Before long, a figure walked in. Qiao Ci placed the Empress, who was slung over her shoulder, onto the bed. "She's been poisoned, it's best to call the imperial physician quickly. Dan Yue and his group have also been tied up and are in Jiaoshu Palace. I'm going back. It's late, Dan Qing will be worried."
With that, she turned and left, disappearing without a trace.
Seeing her nonchalant departure, even Xu Qingfeng, who was worried about the Empress's health, couldn't help but be taken aback.
He sighed again at his younger son's discernment in choosing his consort, then quickly summoned the imperial physician. At the same time, he ordered Jiaoshu Palace to be surrounded, and everyone inside to be apprehended, to be dealt with after the Empress recovered.
"Aci, is Mother Emperor alright?" Dan Qing, unable to sleep, rushed to meet Qiao Ci upon her return.
"She won't die," Qiao Ci replied truthfully.
What kind of audacious words were these?
Dan Qing looked confused, "What does Aci mean?"
"She's been poisoned. If the imperial physician handles it properly, she might live for another ten or twenty years, but her health will be far from what it was," Qiao Ci explained, relaying the analysis from the little spoon.
She then proceeded to tell Dan Qing everything that had happened in the palace.
Dan Qing was extremely worried and wanted to return to the palace that very night to see his mother. Qiao Ci stopped him, "It's so late, they should be resting. Your mother is weak right now, don't disturb her. Tomorrow."
Dan Qing had no choice but to comply, but he slept poorly all night.
Qiao Ci, feeling sympathetic, took him to the palace early the next morning.
Overnight, everyone in the Liu and Qiao residences were thrown into prison, a charge of rebellion shocking the court.
To preserve the royal family's honor, the First Prince and Liu Shijun were secretly executed, while Qiao Shan and the elders of the Qiao family were to be beheaded three days later.
During the entire process of being apprehended, Qiao Wen was in a state of bewilderment.
Rebellion?
She wouldn't dare, even if she were given a thousand times the courage!
Besides, there was no justifiable cause.
It wasn't until Qiao Shan was brought into the prison, bound and gagged, that Lin Zi'ang and Wen Renxue rushed at her, accusing her wildly:
"Wasn't it foolproof? Now I have to be implicated too? Qiao Shan, how could you bear to do this? Was forcing me back to your side all along just dragging me into hell?"
"Qiao Shan, you useless piece of trash! You had such great ambition, and now look, we're all going to die together."
At this point, there was nothing to misunderstand. The instigator was Qiao Shan!
Qiao Wen lunged at her, "You beast! With your lowly bloodline, you dare to have such treasonous thoughts. I shouldn't have kept you back then; I should have let you die with your wretched slave parents! How dare you!"
Ma Zhuang was going insane. He grabbed Qiao Shan's hair, his sharp nails scratching her face and neck, "You are not my daughter at all, you are not! Don't think of implicating us, you ungrateful woman!"
Qiao Wen suddenly thought, yes, Qiao Shan wasn't her biological daughter at all. Perhaps she could escape this calamity?
She crawled to the prison bars and shouted loudly, "I want to see the Empress! I want to see the Empress! Qiao Shan is not my real daughter, my real daughter is Qiao Ci. Yes, Qiao Ci, I want to see her! Guards! Is anyone there?"
To her dismay, no one paid her any attention.
What family discipline! Treason and rebellion!
The Empress had already issued a decree; these people were clearly facing the death penalty!
The few people in the prison, having cursed themselves hoarse, all glared hatefully at Qiao Shan, who lay on the ground, unable to get up after being beaten.
Suddenly, Wen Renxue, who had been silent until then, darted to Qiao Shan's side, pressing down on her, opening her mouth, and biting the fragile neck, greedily swallowing.
Qiao Shan's piercing scream echoed throughout the prison, but everyone inside remained indifferent, even inwardly wishing Wen Renxue would be more brutal.
With her carotid artery severed, Qiao Shan struggled for a moment before falling still.
Wen Renxue licked the blood from her lips, "It's been so long since I tasted human blood, it's truly damnably delicious. Qiao Shan, you deserve to die! For making me look like this! Hahaha... you really deserve to die..."
Wen Renxue had gone mad.
Lin Zi'ang looked despairingly at the narrow prison window.
Everything was over...
Three days later, the entire Qiao family and the entire Liu family were dragged to the execution ground.
Even the thoroughly dead Qiao Shan was brought to the front and center, a perfect display of cruelty.
And this, this was the consequence of rebellion!
Qiao Wen and Ma Zhuang were filled with regret, their intestines twisting. They repeatedly begged to see Qiao Ci, asking her to save them, until someone stuffed rags into their mouths to quiet them.
Why hadn't they thought of this earlier? They didn't acknowledge her then, and now, on the brink of death, they wanted her to save them? How pathetic.
Furthermore, they had committed a crime punishable by extermination of the clan, like treason and rebellion. Asking Qiao Ci to plead for them was clearly an attempt to drag someone down with them in death.
At noon, the executioner eagerly beheaded them all for public display.
*
"Is this... me? I'm back?" Qiao Shan opened her eyes and found the scene before her both familiar and strange. The pain of being gnawed at her neck still lingered.
"I didn't die? That's great, hahaha! You wouldn't expect it, would you? This old lady is transmigrating back after death!" She jumped up excitedly, but due to staying up too late, she felt dizzy and fell headfirst onto the hard floor, hitting her head and drawing blood.
"What the hell bad luck!"
After bandaging her head, Qiao Shan's gaze shifted as she opened her computer.
Seeing the novel listed as "ongoing" and not yet finished, a wicked smile spread across her face. She painstakingly typed on the computer with one finger.
The novel was already a complete flop anyway, so it was perfect for revenge.
*
In this year, the Dan Kingdom experienced unprecedented hardship.
Frost in June, hail, continuous rain, volcanic eruptions, frequent earthquakes.
Strangely, other countries were all fine.
The Dan Kingdom seemed to have been forsaken by the gods.
The common people suffered immensely, and there was widespread discontent.
Dan Qing looked at the torrential rain outside and sighed repeatedly, "It's been raining for seven days now. Serious natural disasters have occurred in many places. What can be done about this?"
Qiao Ci looked at the distant void with an unreadable expression, her eyes flickering.
In her mind, the little spoon reported the situation: "After Qiao Shan died, she transmigrated back to modern times. She has completely messed up the novel under her name. Although this fictional world has already evolved into a small world on its own, the consciousness of the Heavenly Dao is still too immature and will inevitably be influenced by the author.
Because she changed the plot so drastically, it has caused chaos in the Heavenly Dao's consciousness here, making it unable to regulate itself, hence the numerous natural disasters.
At the same time, the Heavenly Dao is trying to convey its pain and struggle through these events... it is crying for help.
Host, if a solution is not found to stop this, this world will collapse and be destroyed very soon.
However, Qiao Shan is not in this world right now, and we can't stop her. What should we do? Little spoon is so worried!"
Qiao Ci raised an eyebrow, "Who said we can't stop her?"