Disguised as a man, she became the biggest villain in the book.

Chapter 201 Four months have passed

Inside the palace

As usual, Chen Xianlin closed her eyes and rested leisurely on a bench in the Imperial Garden.

Just then, a palace maid rushed over in a panic and whispered a few words in Chen Xianlin's ear. Upon hearing this, Chen Xianlin suddenly opened her eyes, her gaze filled with disbelief and anger.

"What did you say?" Chen Xianlin asked in astonishment.

The palace maid was startled and quickly knelt down to kowtow, answering tremblingly, "Your Highness, this is absolutely true. After His Majesty finished his meal at Consort Wan's palace, for some reason, he suddenly thought of Consort Jiang. Consort Jiang has now been released from the Cold Palace!"

Chen Xianlin's face was terribly gloomy as she pressed on, "Was there anyone else present with the Emperor at the time?"

"This servant...this servant is not very clear, but His Majesty thought of Consort Jiang not long after he finished his meal at Consort Wan's place and left," the palace maid stammered.

"Consort Wan? She has never liked competing for favor, so why is she suddenly involved with Consort Jiang?" Chen Xianlin asked, her brows furrowed in confusion.

The palace maid shook her head nervously, her voice filled with fear: "I don't know the specifics either!"

After listening to these words, Chen Xianlin pondered for a while, thinking to herself: The Lin family is a faction of the imperial power. If the Lin family wants to strengthen its own power, it is not impossible to win over other officials. But Consort Jiang no longer has the power of her family. Why would Lin Wanwan help her? What benefits would Lin Wanwan gain from helping Consort Jiang?

Chen Xianlin was completely baffled. She thought about it for a while but still couldn't figure out why Lin Wanwan suddenly started helping Consort Jiang!

Just then, Chen Xianlin seemed to suddenly remember something and said, "Leave some news to the Lin family, saying that Consort Wan helped Consort Jiang get out of the Cold Palace, and also pass on a message to my cousin, saying that my cousin misses her a bit!"

After saying this, Chen Xianlin revealed a sinister smile.

Upon hearing Chen Xianlin's order, the palace maid immediately nodded to indicate that she understood, and then quickly left.

Chen Xianlin watched the palace maid's departing figure, a cold glint flashing in her eyes.

..............

Jiang Cairen successfully regained the emperor's favor, and Zheng Luoqi immediately received the news. Zheng Luoqi also knew that Lin Wanwan had helped Jiang Cairen regain the emperor's favor.

The reason Lin Wanwan agreed to help Jiang Cairen was indeed because of Lin Qianning.

To confirm whether what the palace maid beside Consort Jiang had said to her was true or false, Lin Wanwan summoned Madam Lin to the palace under the pretext of feeling unwell.

After Madam Lin entered the palace, Lin Wanwan inquired about Lin Qianning. Madam Lin told her that Lord Lin indeed intended to marry Lin Qianning to the Cui family and had already reached an agreement with them. Upon hearing this news, Lin Wanwan's heart sank to the bottom; she realized that what the palace maid had said was true.

Faced with reality, Lin Wanwan felt immense pain and helplessness. She understood that she was not yet capable of stopping her father's decision, and that her younger sister, Lin Qianning, would become the next victim of the family's interests.

After careful consideration, Lin Wanwan made a deal with Madam Lin: she would become Empress within a year, and in exchange, her younger sister Lin Qianning would be free to decide her own marriage, with no one allowed to interfere.

Mrs. Lin said she would pass on the matter to Lin Changsheng, and then withdrew.

Lin Wanwan remembered what Jiang Cairen had said and finally agreed to cooperate with her.

Consort Jiang promised that once Lin Wanwan helped her escape the Cold Palace, she would fully support Lin Wanwan in ascending to the throne.

Once Lin Wanwan ascends to the position of Empress and possesses sufficient power, she will be able to find Lin Qianning a good marriage and free her from the entanglement of the Cui family.

Jiang Cai Ren has actually started cooperating with Lin Wan Wan. Zheng Luo Qi thinks it's a good move. As long as the position of Empress doesn't fall to Chen Xian Lin, everything will be fine.

............

More than four months have passed since the war with Beirong began, and Zheng Luoqi still hasn't found Tuoba Yanran's whereabouts.

Four months have passed and there has been no news of Tuoba Yanran returning to Beirong. That means Tuoba Yanran is still in Daxia, but no one knows where she is hiding in Daxia.

The frontier? Zheng Luoqi thought it wasn't impossible. The frontier could be crossed by the Northern Rong. What if Tuoba Yanran wanted to infiltrate a refugee camp or a military camp?

The more Zheng Luoqi thought about it, the more likely it seemed. If Tuoba Yanran really did infiltrate the military camp, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Zheng Luoqi thought about it more and more and felt it was possible. She immediately wrote a letter to Pei Wenyu, telling him that Tuoba Yanran might be hiding in the military camp and that he should be on high alert. After all, it was a big deal for Pei Wenyu to not act rashly about an enemy spy hiding in our military camp.

Even if Pei Wenyu was very unhappy with Zheng Luoqi, he would still be on guard after receiving the message.

Just to be on the safe side, Zheng Luoqi went to the palace to tell Xue Huaiyu about the matter and asked Xue Huaiyu to issue an order to the troops on the frontier to carefully investigate any suspicious persons in the military camps.

In the military camps on the frontier

Not long after, just as Pei Wenyu received Zheng Luoqi's letter, General Pei also received an imperial decree from Xue Huaiyu.

Xue Huaiyu informed General Pei that Tuoba Yanran might be in the military camp, and ordered them to thoroughly investigate whether any Northern Rong people had infiltrated the camp. Upon receiving the order, the Pei family's military camp immediately sprang into action, beginning a search that very day.

At this very moment, Tuoba Yanran was disguised as a man and mingled among a soldier. She had originally planned to take advantage of the chaos to escape back to Beirong, but because she was constantly wanted by Zheng Luoqi, who had too many spies, Tuoba Yanran dared not show herself easily.

When Tuoba Yanran finally arrived at the frontier after overcoming numerous hardships, war had already broken out there.

At this moment, the guards everywhere were even more stringent than before, and Tuoba Yanran dared not wander off at all. Just as she was at a loss, she happened to arrive during the Great Xia's conscription.

At that time, Tuoba Yanran was wandering around and was rescued by a family who had a mentally challenged son. The couple saw that Tuoba Yanran was beautiful and forcibly took her, wanting her to become their son's wife.

Tuoba Yanran showed no mercy, killing them all, seizing the household registration of the fool's son, dressing him in men's clothing, and then joining the army.

So Tuoba Yanran is indeed in the military camp right now. She is extremely flustered and is carefully thinking about how to escape the inspection.

After much deliberation, Tuoba Yanran decided that she should leave the military camp as soon as possible. So she planned to sneak away under the cover of darkness at night. She had been in the military camp for more than two months and had already figured out most of the places there.

There were guards everywhere, and the defenses were tight, so escaping would not be easy. The only place with fewer guards was a river not far from the military camp.

Under the cover of night, Tuoba Yanran said she was going to the river to wash up. The other soldiers in the same camp as Tuoba Yanran were already used to it. Tuoba Yanran always chose to go to the river to bathe by herself at night and never wanted to bathe with her brothers.

At first, when those people asked Tuoba Yanran why she didn't stay with them, she told them that she liked men. This scared the other soldiers so much that they kept their distance from her and didn't dare to get close to her. They also stopped asking why she didn't want to stay with them.