Not long after the Fourth Prince passed away, the Fifth Prince fell ill. Concubine Peng De was terrified and stayed by the Fifth Prince's side all night. She sent someone to find Emperor Longqing before dawn.
When Emperor Longqing received the news, he rushed over from the Taiji Hall without stopping.
Because of the Fourth Prince's matter, although he did not stay overnight at Queen Fang's place, out of consideration for Queen Fang's feelings, although he was worried about Concubine Peng De and her son, he stayed in Lanyue Palace for a while before returning to Taiji Palace to rest.
Who knew that not long after he closed his eyes, he was awakened by the news that the fifth prince was ill.
He only had this one son now. When he heard that his son was ill, he was so anxious that he didn't even bother to put on clothes. He quickly boarded the dragon chariot and rushed straight to the Lanyue Palace.
The Fifth Prince looked pale, his cheeks were flushed, and he was whimpering restlessly in his sleep, seeming to be in great pain.
He sat on the edge of the bed and held the Fifth Prince's hand. Before he could say anything to Concubine Peng De, he immediately asked Gongfeng Kong to tell him about the Fifth Prince's condition.
Gongfeng Kong did not dare to neglect him and told him that the Fifth Prince first had persistent abdominal pain, then diarrhea, and later developed a high fever. Now he has taken medicine and fallen asleep.
Emperor Longqing frowned with a cold look, and after a moment he tucked the quilt in for him and asked him, "What's the reason? Do you know?"
Concubine Peng De held her son's hand tightly and refused to let go. After hearing this, she could no longer hold back and cried into the arms of Emperor Longqing: "Your Majesty, you have to make a decision for him! The imperial physician said that Xiaowu ate something unclean..."
The anger in Emperor Longqing's eyes almost burst out of his eyes. He turned his head to look at his son who was still breathing, calmed down and asked Kong Gongfeng calmly: "Did you eat something wrong? What did you eat wrong?"
Gongsheng Kong did not even dare to raise his head. He prostrated on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly. Then he mustered up the courage to swallow his saliva and said nervously: "Your Majesty, before you came, we have checked everything the prince ate last night and found that there was a slight amount of oleander powder in the pile of pea yellow..."
Oleander powder
Emperor Longqing sneered in his heart, and then his heart became anxious again.
Sure enough, after the Fourth Prince, he planned to attack his other son.
Thinking of this, I felt extremely angry again.
The case of the Fourth Prince has not been resolved yet and the murderer has not been found, and now the Fifth Prince has been poisoned.
What did these people think of his palace? And what did they think of him as the emperor
Now they even dare to commit crimes during the Fourth Prince’s sacrifice!
He quickly glanced at everyone in the hall, and then calmly told Eunuch An: "Please invite Third Young Master Lin."
Concubine Peng De was so frightened that her face turned blue. She knelt beside Emperor Longqing, but her knees were so weak that she couldn't straighten them up.
She was terrified at the thought that her son had almost died.
She cried so hard that Emperor Longqing had no chance to comfort her. He turned around and asked Kong Gongfeng, "How is the Fifth Prince doing now?"
Gongfeng Kong and Yuanpan Sun looked at each other, and then they came forward and saluted: "Your Majesty, the poison has been resolved. As long as we wait until the Fifth Prince no longer has a fever, the next thing will be easy."
Imperial physicians since ancient times have loved to prescribe prescriptions and say things that might help the patient, but this time, neither of them dared to say these things to fool Emperor Longqing, let alone to keep him on edge by saying something that might not necessarily help.
If they said one wrong word, they might lose their lives.
Emperor Longqing hummed, turned around and looked at the Fifth Prince, who was lying on the bed, sleeping restlessly. Feeling somewhat relieved, he reached out and touched his head, then watched him turn over uneasily before standing up.
Young Master Lin was already waiting outside the palace. Emperor Longqing had him summoned to the side hall and asked him directly, "Have you found any clues about the Fourth Prince's case?"
He has always trusted Young Master Lin, but this time Young Master Lin's efficiency was really low, so much so that those people dared to attack his other son again.
This was intolerable to him.
Young Master Lin had already guessed what had happened. He remained calm as always and said softly, "I am incompetent and am following up."
Emperor Longqing glanced at him, but he was not angry with him. He just sneered and said, "That's great. We can handle the two cases together."
He nodded towards Eunuch An.
Eunuch An immediately told Third Young Master Lin that the Fifth Prince had been poisoned by oleander powder, and at the end he said, "These people hiding in the palace are really making people sleepless and uneasy. It is hard to guard against them. The safety of His Majesty and the ladies cannot be guaranteed. The commander must pay attention to this."
In just a few days, they poisoned the Fifth Prince with the leopard's claws and then attacked him. These people were too bold.
Young Master Lin frowned, his eyes full of worry.
Shen Chen rarely had the opportunity to speak to him in private. When he heard that the fifth prince was also poisoned, he asked, "Do you suspect Chu Jingxing was also responsible?"
Young Master Lin hummed, and stood in the corridor with his hands behind his back, looking at the flowers and trees outside. With his back to Shen Chen, he couldn't see his face clearly, and said coldly: "Regarding the matter of the Fourth Prince, I found out that the leopard had been fed by a eunuch named Xiao Xiazi, but two days before the leopard got into trouble, Xiao Xiazi was taken away from this job because of illness..."
He turned around and looked at Shen Chen, emphasizing word by word: "This little Xia Zi is the little Xia Zi who came in and out of your Linjiang Palace before."
Shen Chen's expression also became solemn.
Chu Jingxing was able to establish so many connections in the palace, crisscrossing each other to form a complex web of relationships.
"This clue is broken again." Young Master Lin turned to face Shen Chen and looked into his eyes: "Because Xiao Xiazi died of illness, her body has been transported out of the palace and transported to a mass grave on the outskirts of the city."
This is basically the result when a young eunuch dies. If he has no relatives, he will just be thrown away on a rolled-up straw mat.
After Xiao Xiazi died, I didn't know where to start investigating.
"No matter how hard we tortured the eunuchs and maids around the Fifth Prince, they couldn't say anything." Third Young Master Lin paused and then said sarcastically, "The servants around the Fourth Prince... The rest all said they didn't know. There was also a wet nurse who was closest to the Fourth Prince, who also died with her master."
The clues were completely cut off.
Shen Chen grasped the key point very keenly: "Suicide?"
Lin Sanshai nodded.
"Who wouldn't cherish their own life?" Shen Chen frowned and tapped the windowsill with his fingers: "I remember that the fourth prince's nurse was indeed favored by the fourth prince and the queen. Just because of this, she wouldn't want to die, right?"