Inside the towering palace walls.
There were only two people in the imperial study, the current Holy Emperor and King Qin. After King Qin finished reporting, there was silence in the study.
The emperor's fingers tapped the table rhythmically, and the coldness in his eyes condensed into icicles bit by bit, as if they were about to burst out of the sky.
"Xiao! Jue!" The emperor spat out a name coldly, "He is not dead."
King Qin raised his head: "Eighteen years ago, he fled to Jizhou with his party members. The emperor's brother's people kept chasing him. In the end, he was forced to jump off the cliff with all his cronies. Thousands of imperial guards were under the cliff of Jizhou. After searching for three full years, we never found his body or anyone suspicious. We then concluded that he was dead... If he was really not dead, where had he been hiding for more than ten years? How did we get on the line with the He family, and when did we stand on the same boat, what should we do next..."
"The next step, of course, is to seize the kingdom." A sarcastic look appeared on the emperor's face, "He was born as a prince. Everyone around him told him since childhood that the Xiao family's kingdom was his kingdom. One day, he was deprived of his status as a prince. Then he went crazy..."
King Qin still remembered the scene when the prince was deposed that year. He was still very young, about three or four years old, didn't understand anything, and was playing around with his brothers.
Suddenly, the prince's brother lost his temper and chopped off the hand of a palace maid in public. Just as the emperor's father was passing by the garden, he became furious and punished the prince to be grounded and face the wall to reflect on his fault.
However, the prince did not feel at all that he had done anything wrong. During the period of confinement, in order to vent his inner dissatisfaction, he killed the four palace guards guarding the gate, and their blood flowed like a river.
At that time, the father realized that the prince was unkind and unworthy of being the emperor, so he deposed the prince without any hesitation.
After the prince was deposed, the East Palace became vacant. The concubines in the harem formed cliques in the previous dynasty in order to put their sons in power. The harem was in a state of chaos. From then on, the struggle for heir apparent began...
Because it was so tragic back then, the emperor's brother remembered his lesson and only focused on training the prince after he ascended the throne, so as not to let the tragedy of that year happen again.
Nowadays, the status of the East Palace is stable, the prince is benevolent, the prince is respectful, and no dirty things have happened.
But I didn't expect that the previous prince was still making trouble...
"Brother, I will destroy the He family first." King Qin said coldly, "The He family should be Xiao Jue's right-hand man. Cut off one of his arms and see how he can still fight for the country and the throne."
The emperor played with his fingers: "Even with the help of the He family, he can't take away my kingdom, but he can bring me a lot of trouble. When he came back, Duan Min died under his sword, I I don’t want to let something like this happen again, so—this time, we must eradicate it!”
"What does the emperor mean?"
"Please enter the urn."
King Qin understood what the emperor meant and his expression became serious.
After the night darkened, he came out of the imperial study.
As soon as he left the palace, his cronies came over to report: "Your Majesty, there is news."
King Qin was stunned: "What's the news?"
The confidant hurriedly said: "The person behind the kidnapping of Sui Shu and Miss Ruan has clues."
King Qin slapped his forehead. Because of Xiao Jue's matter, he actually forgot such an important matter.
He made a gesture, asking his confidant to continue speaking quickly.
"My subordinate followed the footprints. Because the snow was too heavy, it took a long time to find the footprints. Finally, I chased him to the entrance of a village in the south gate of the capital. My subordinate disguised himself as a vegetable seller and knocked on the door. He knocked for a long time. No one responded, and finally he forced his way in, only to see four men in black dying tragically in the yard. They all committed suicide by biting their tongues."
King Qin frowned: "Have you found any clues in Zhuangzi?"
The confidant shook his head: "It's just an ordinary farm. The owner of the village has farmed here for eighteen generations. There is nothing suspicious. Those four men in black probably chose a grave at random to confuse their vision and committed collective suicide... "
King Qin's expression became more solemn. It seemed that the person behind this was not a small role.
He said coldly: "Continue to investigate. If you have any clues, you must report to me as soon as possible."
The dawn of late winter comes later and later.
Cheng Wanwan was lying on the warm bed, unwilling to get up at all.
The sound of reading loudly could be heard from next door. It was Si Dan and Yu Zhan who were studying. These two children were working so hard that they got up and exercised before dawn, and then threw themselves into intense study. Throughout the day, except for eating and going out of the study room, the two children spent the rest of the time reading and writing. This was even harder than when she was preparing for the college entrance examination.
It was almost noon when Cheng Wanwan crawled out of bed.
She put on her clothes, put on her fox fur coat, held a hand warmer, and then walked out of the bedroom.
As soon as she came out, Mrs. Qi immediately asked the maid to bring in the warm food on the pot and wait for Cheng Wanwan to eat.
"After the lady came back yesterday, Old Liu left the house in the middle of the night." Mrs. Qi reported in a low voice, "The old slave asked Cheng Yi to follow him. Cheng Yi saw with his own eyes that Old Liu entered a courtyard in an alley in the south of the city. , and it took him half an hour to come out. This morning, I went to the street to inquire about the situation of the yard. The owner of the yard is named Wang and runs a tofu shop. There seems to be nothing suspicious about it. "
Cheng Wanwan put down her chopsticks and smiled.
The disappearance of her and Ruan Mingzhu caused a stir in the capital, and the He family must have heard about it, so they asked Lao Liu to go over and ask about the situation.
Originally, she was still struggling to find out the insider, but when she was kidnapped, the insider jumped out on her own, which saved her a lot of trouble.
Mrs. Qi said, "Are you looking for a reason to send Old Liu out?"
Cheng Wanwan shook his head: "If this insider is used well, he can do a lot of big things. Continue to reuse him and allow him to enter my yard without reporting."
She had read the background information of all the servants in the courtyard. This old Liu was a eunuch. When he was young, he served the nobleman in the palace. After the nobleman passed away, he became a moderate steward. He lived a very comfortable life in the palace. It was reasonable. It is said that the emperor rewarded the palace to a third-grade imperial wife. At his age, he could not be selected, but he became the temporary housekeeper of her courtyard.
The He family sent her carefully cultivated eunuchs, and there should be other spies in the palace.
From this point of view, the He family is playing a very big game.
I just don’t know how the current emperor is going to handle this matter.
Mrs. Qi called Lao Liu in, and Cheng Wanwan handed the Reading Pavilion account book to him with great trust, and said sincerely: "I am from the country, no one can compare with me in farming, but in terms of reading, I really I don’t quite understand. Old Liu, you came from the palace and are well-informed. From now on, together with Mrs. Qi, you will be my right-hand man. Can you handle the things I asked you to do? "
Old Liu quickly knelt down and kowtowed: "Thank you, Shuren, for your trust. I will definitely make the reading pavilion reach a higher level."
