Qianqing Palace, in the back bedroom hall, is brightly lit at this time.
The air was almost stagnant, and one could even hear the sound of sweat dripping on the ground.
Li Dequan didn't have time to go to Gong's room, and this happened. When he heard that someone had poisoned Emperor Hongjing, the medicine bowl was brought in front of him, and Li Dequan knelt down with a plop.
No matter what the facts are about today's matter, it's impossible to find out who did it. None of the slaves working in the Qing Palace can escape. A few of the better ones can survive, and the bad ones have to be taken out for disposal.
Li Dequan was the first to bear the brunt. As the chief eunuch next to Emperor Hongjing, he was the first to be unable to escape, so it is no wonder that he was so frightened.
Sitting cross-legged on the dragon couch, Emperor Hongjing's complexion was difficult to discern, changing from cloudy to sunny, but anger was inevitable.
He is still alive and well, he can walk and move, and someone dares to kill him. If he can't move, his bones may be swallowed up.
"Check, let me check!"
No one dared to move, so Li Dequan got up from the ground and walked outside. Just two steps away, he was stopped by Emperor Hongjing.
"Block the news, go to my good sons and see if they are planning to kill me."
"yes."
The night is as cool as water, and the moon hangs high.
The light silver glow fell down, cut and distorted by the towering palace walls, and turned into gloom and darkness.
Normally, no one dared to walk in the palace at night when there was nothing to do. The age of this imperial palace is really too long, so many people died in every corner, and there are always rumors of hauntings, and no one dares to seek excitement for nothing.
Besides, people are not allowed to wander around at night in the palace, if caught, they will be turned into spies and assassins.
But today was also strange, the imperial guards ran back and forth several times, and some court ladies and eunuchs could hear footsteps outside while lying in the room.
We all know this is a big deal. But they all kept silent, fearing that disaster would come from the sky, they covered their heads tightly with the quilt, thinking it was just a dream.
Yao Niang ate a small bowl of noodles, feeling comfortable physically and mentally. Xiaobao was also full. Apart from eating half a bowl of noodles, he also picked two candied egg yolks from King Jin's bowl to eat. This egg yolk is really delicious, tender and smooth, with a natural sweetness, so although it is a bit fishy, Xiao Bao subconsciously ignores it.
He decided not to complain about why his mother didn't give him egg whites anymore, because the egg yolk is the best thing. Little Treasure, who was well fed, hiccupped a little, and looked at King Jin with a guilty look.
The unpalatable egg whites, the bad-tasting, tasteless egg whites were all eaten by the emperor.
He must be holding on, so he ate up a big bowl of noodles.
It was the first time that King Jin ate so much. The noodles were delicious, but the key was that he was hungry. I drank a lot of wine today, but I haven't eaten a single grain of rice.
Just when the family of three had finished eating noodles and was thinking about how to get rid of the food, there was a sudden sound of footsteps in the yard.
Faintly heard the creaking of the palace door, as well as voices and scolding, and after a while, these voices turned into footsteps and came straight to this side.
This is a separate small palace, divided into main hall and two side halls.
The main hall lived in the concubine Jin, and it is reasonable that the king of Jin also lived there, and the two side halls lived in Yaoniang Xiaobao and side concubine Xu and side concubine Liu.
The palace is naturally equipped with servants and eunuchs, but Yaoniang's side is useless, and Wangfei and the other two side concubines are also useless. They are not fools, so they naturally know that something serious must happen in the palace, and before the situation is clear, no one dares to make fun of their lives.
In the past, Concubine Jin and Concubine Xu and Concubine Liu envied Yaoniang for bringing two servants into the palace. Unlike them, because there is no one who can be trusted, they can't even drink saliva.
They also heard that the King of Jin was back, so they went straight to Concubine Su's side when they came back. They had been restless all night and their hearts were even more complicated. They were depressed and anxious when the palace gate opened, and suddenly many people came.
The leader was an eunuch, who came straight to the main hall, but unexpectedly missed. Under the guidance of Princess Jin, he came to the side hall.
An Shiyi went to open the door, and these people rushed in recklessly.
It's not so much recklessness as it is a kind of eagerness, eager to encounter something ulterior. Who would have thought that King Jin, a woman with a big belly, and a baby boy would sit around the kang table and eat noodles.
Eat noodle
Looking again at the noodle soup left in the soup bowl, the few vegetable leaves left in Xiaobao's picky eater bowl, and the egg yolk that he hadn't wiped off his mouth, the eunuch had a look of almost comical astonishment on his face.
King Jin took out his handkerchief and wiped Xiaobao's mouth, because the egg yolk on Xiaobao's mouth was really an eyesore.
"A group of ignorant slaves, do you know any rules?!"
The leading eunuch is also a capable person, immediately knelt down with a plop, pinched his throat and said: "Please also ask His Royal Highness Prince Jin to make amends. There are assassins in the palace. The Holy Majesty is worried about your highness's worries, so he ordered this servant to come and check. My servant It is also because of being too impatient that I forgot the rules for a while."
Seeing that the leaders all knelt down, the eunuchs behind and the guards who entered the room knelt down one after another.
King Jin snorted coldly, and asked, "Father is okay, but the assassin was caught?"
"If you go back to His Highness King Jin, the assassin caught one and ran away. If he hadn't run away, the servant would not have come here. Your Majesty is fine, you don't have to worry."
King Jin stood up, without saying a word, and motioned Fu Cheng to change his clothes.
"Your Highness, this is..."
"This king is going to see his father."
The eunuch hurriedly stopped him, and said with a smile on his face: "Your filial piety, the slave will give it to your majesty. It's dark and slippery, and the dew is deeper. If you bump into it wherever you bump, this little slave Life is not enough to compensate you. Your Majesty has long expected that His Royal Highness Prince Jin will be filial, and specifically told this servant so that you don't have to worry. You should rest earlier, and this servant will leave now."
The people who came in retreated like a tide, and the door closed again, leaving the room full of silence.
Yaoniang looked at Xiaobao, and then at King Jin, "Who are they?" She was really confused.
King Jin snorted coldly, then sneered, forget about the way he laughed, it made Yaoniang laugh so hard that her heart bleeds. She didn't think too much about it, she hugged Xiao Bao over, and the two of them planned to go to bed, leaving him to sit there alone and laugh.
King Jin was thinking about something, when he heard a rustling sound behind him, he turned his head and saw both the mother and son were under the covers, looking at him with their eyes open.
He suddenly felt that the things he was thinking were really boring, it didn't matter who he was or not, he might as well just wait for the follow-up. Then he also took off his outer robe, went to the couch and lay down.
At the same time, the same scene played out in the residences of King An, King Dai, and King Yong.
Without exception, they were all resting in their rooms, and all of them were resting in the concubine's room, so that all the eunuchs who were ordered to do errands returned without success.
King Yong's residence, after people left, King Yong ordered people to close the gate.
He turned to look at Princess Yong and asked, "Are we really doing nothing?"
Concubine Yong leaned on the imperial concubine's couch, with a lazy posture. During the day, all the regular princes and concubines had changed, and only wore bright red underwear, which showed her long-legged and slender figure.
Concubine Yong is taller than ordinary women, but she doesn't look bulky. She has a slender frame, neither fat nor thin. She loosened her hair in a bun and pulled it loosely behind her head, one or two strands fell from her temples, hanging on her fair cheeks, charming and seductive.
Compared with Concubine Yong, King Yong seemed much more anxious. There was faint blood in the eyeballs, and there was a bluish blotch on the forehead, which was knocked in the Qianqing Palace before, and he looked very embarrassed.
Unprecedented in embarrassment, King Yong never thought that one day he would fall into the hands of King Jin.
But he had nowhere to appeal for injustice. Could it be that Meng Huo was not one of his people who went to look for him? Meng Huoxian's words are all true, but part of them is false, that is, he was not arranged by King Yong to hide in the forbidden army, but King Jin.
King Yong just knew some secrets at the right time and planned to follow the trend. He didn't use it as a means to attack the prince, but it was incidental. It would be better if there was no one, anyway it was ordered by King Jin.
But he didn't expect that in this round, King Jin dug a hole for him to jump into, and threw him until his nose was bruised and his face was swollen. He still doesn't know what will happen tomorrow.
"Others are moving, but we won't move. Remember, just hold your hand and cry for grievances. Father is suspicious by nature. If he believes that you did it, there will be no such movement now. Look, why don't you just start again now?" Come on, someone wants to fish in troubled waters."
King Yong sat down on the imperial concubine's couch, "What do you think happened to Qianqing Palace?"
Princess Yong smiled nonchalantly, "It's not a trivial matter anyway, just wait until tomorrow to find out."
East Palace
After Empress Wei fainted, Zhao Zuo followed to Kunning Palace, but was persuaded by Li Dequan to come back.
Li Dequan said that the matter of the prince and the princess should not be leaked out. Now that the matter needs to be investigated, the emperor's grandson needs to come back to sit in charge.
This is indeed the truth, and it is also an abnormality. His imperial grandfather had never treated him like this before.
When Zhao Zuo came back, he found that his father and mother concubine were having a quarrel. At first, the prince beat the princess, but the princess just cried silently.
In the past, Zhao Zuo would have come forward to stop him anyway, and even helped his mother and concubine, but now he doesn't want to do anything, only one thought in his mind, he is finished.
The Eastern Palace lineage is over.
It would be fine if his father was alone, but something happened to his mother and concubine. Both the crown prince and the princess concubine stole people, one stole his father's concubine, and the other stole a guard.
And him, as their eldest son, this will become a stain on him that can never be washed away, and these stains are enough to stop him before the throne.
Zhao Zuo grew up in the deep palace since he was a child, he understands people's hearts and is better at playing with people's hearts.
If it was him, what would he do? He will make a big fuss, spread rumors everywhere, and make things out. At the same time, they will work hard on the other party's life experience, pouring dirty water on the other party that is not their own.
After all, the princess was arrested for stealing. Who knows if she has stolen before. People are always good at associating, and deliberately exaggerating some things they imagined.
It's time, even if he jumped into the Yellow River, he wouldn't be able to clean himself up. The imperial grandfather was also suspicious by nature, waiting for his fate, which is a disgrace to the royal family, would probably be imprisoned or died of illness.
What should he do
Behind the door, the prince and princess seemed to be tired, and finally stopped moving.
Zhao Zuo moved his stiff body, looked up at the bright moon in the sky, with his hands behind his back, his whole body was bleak: "Keep an eye on them."
A eunuch next to him bowed his head and said, "Yes."
The night breeze was cool, Zhao Zuo walked forward slowly, and did not let him hold the lamp, and the eunuchs who served around him followed from a distance.
The East Palace is very quiet, every night, the East Palace is so quiet. There was a sound of hurried footsteps, and Zhao Zuo raised his eyes to see that these people came to him quickly, with a bit of anxiety on their quiet faces.
"Your Highness." The visitor said, suppressing his throat, "Another accident happened. Our people in the Qianqing Palace sent a message that His Majesty was assassinated, and someone poisoned His Majesty."
Zhao Zuo's heart skipped a beat, "How is the emperor's grandfather?"
An uncontrollable joy came to my heart, if something happened to the emperor's grandfather, his father would still be the prince. But after thinking about it, if the emperor's grandfather really had something wrong tonight, the name of his own father who was so angry at the time would definitely be carried on his father's shoulders, and even the assassination and poisoning would be blamed on the Donggong lineage.
Because of such a thing, the East Palace lineage will inevitably lose power, and before losing power, it is conceivable to fight trapped beasts. What a vicious method!
"Your Majesty is fine."
Hearing this, Zhao Zuo breathed a sigh of relief, but also felt a faint sense of loss in his heart.
"It's fine," he said in his own voice.
"Your Majesty ordered people to go to the residences of several princes. As for whether the East Palace will come, I don't know for the time being."
Zhao Zuo nodded, and a light flashed in his eyes: "Tell him, you did a good job."
"yes."
There were faint and chaotic footsteps, getting closer and closer.
Zhao Zuo turned around and walked back. He walked very quickly, messing up his skirt and hair bun while walking, and even scratched his face cruelly.
The people from Qianqing Palace arrived soon, and saw the emperor's grandson standing in front of the prince's bedroom, full of dejection, describing a mess.
Her hair bun and skirt were messed up, and her face was injured, so how could she still see her grace and dignity before.
Qing Palace
Li Dequan said in a low voice: "...when we arrived, His Highness King Jin was eating noodles with His Highness Xiaobao and Concubine Su. His Highness Jin Wang used too much wine during the day, so he probably didn't eat anything. Leaving from Qianqing Palace, So I went to the imperial dining room, pulled Lao Tu up, and asked him to make a bowl of noodles. You know the imperial dining room in the palace. Your Highness is still young, so I probably haven’t had a few mouthfuls of hot food. The side concubine Su is big. belly...
"...His Royal Highness Prince Yong, and Concubine Yong have already rested...His Royal Highness Prince An also... As for the East Palace, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince started a fight with the Crown Princess after returning, and His Royal Highness even made a move. Go forward and pull, Taisun goes to pull, but I am hurt..."
Li Dequan rambled on a lot, but Hongjingdi just listened in silence.
After a while, Emperor Hongjing said: "In other words, none of my sons are suspected, and neither is the East Palace."
Li Dequan didn't dare to speak out, his forehead was covered with sweat, the sweat on his forehead hadn't dried up tonight.
Naturally, he knew that everyone was suspected, and the key point was that one couldn't speak without being suspected. It stands to reason that the Donggong side is the most suspect, but who knows if someone deliberately framed it, intentionally framed it.
Donggong was already so unlucky, it would not be unusual to throw another stone.
It's just that Li Dequan didn't dare to say these words, who knows what His Majesty was thinking. He has served by Emperor Hongjing's side all his life, and this is the first time he has seen His Majesty like this.
Like a trapped beast. It was still a ferocious beast with old age, cloudy eyes, blunt minions, and only bluffing.
It is old after all. If it was a few years ago, Li Dequan would have dared to say a few more words, but now he dare not say even if he is beaten to death.
Emperor Hongjing sneered twice, but remained silent, and the hall fell into a suffocating silence again.