Princess Zheng fell silent. It seemed strange that Emperor Longqing wanted to hold a ceremony to ask the gods for no reason. She was afraid that she would be implicated.
"An'an." She sighed, pulled Wei An to her side, and asked her sincerely: "Can you tell me the truth, is there something strange about this incident?"
She watched the maids come in and set the table, and her voice paused for a moment. When the maids had all left, leaving only a few personal servants, she lowered her voice and whispered, "I know that the reason His Majesty kept us in the palace this time was because of the Fourth Prince."
In fact, from the perspective of Emperor Longqing, it makes absolute sense to keep people.
After all, there are only a limited number of people who dare to plot against the Fourth Prince. Except for Prince Jin, who has no hostages left to threaten him, basically all those who pose a threat have been attacked by him.
This will greatly reduce the risk of those people escaping if something happens.
If they find out who is involved in the Fourth Prince's death, they will be arrested directly without making a sound.
Wei An knew that sometimes knowing nothing was the most terrifying thing, so he chose not to hide it from her. After thinking for a while, he said, "The death of the Fourth Prince was naturally not simple. Although it was said to the outside that a leopard killed the Fourth Prince, everyone who should know actually knew it. It was because the claws of the snow leopard were poisonous that the Fourth Prince died. Since someone poisoned him, there must be a murderer. The emperor summoned all the clan members to the palace and did not let them go out. It was said that it was convenient for the clan members and they did not have to go in and out of the palace. But in fact, it was just an excuse to detain everyone. He was suspicious, and the problem was among these clan members. After all, those who can reach into the palace can only suspect these close people."
Princess Zheng had thought of all these, and she nodded slowly.
Wei An then continued: "And now the Fifth Prince's incident has occurred..."
The fifth prince simply told others that he had caught a cold.
But everyone knew it was not that simple. After all, Concubine Peng De didn't even care about saving her face, and the Fourth Prince simply gave up everything and didn't even bother to come over for show.
"So Your Majesty is even more certain that the problem lies with us?" Princess Zheng was terrified, and then she lowered her voice and muttered softly, "But could it be that the two palaces are fighting each other because of the controversy over the succession?"
This is of course the first thought and suspicion that outsiders would have.
But for Emperor Longqing, he obviously would not be willing to believe that the dispute between his wives and concubines had reached such a point.
Besides, the Jinyiwei are not there just for show. They can definitely prove that it was not done by the two palaces.
Wei An raised his eyebrows, held Princess Zheng's hand, and patiently calmed her down. Then he said, "You don't have to worry too much. Others always have a purpose for what they do."
It was like killing the Fourth Prince in order to frame Concubine De, to intensify the fight, to stimulate Emperor Longqing's emotions, and to cause panic among the people and court officials.
And deliberately poisoned the fifth prince...
If it wasn't to frame Queen Fang, then it could only be something else.
As for what it is
Wei An forced a smile with an ambiguous meaning.
Before they could say anything else, the palace maids outside knocked on the door and reported that someone was summoning them to Fengyi Palace.
Generally speaking, women should not be allowed to be present on such a solemn occasion as asking the gods. Just like when Emperor Longqing wanted to communicate with the gods in heaven, it was the Taoist priests who burned the green poems, or at most his favored court officials who accompanied him. No one else was allowed to be involved, let alone women.
Now they are asked to go together, which seems strange no matter how you look at it.
Wei An helped Princess Zheng to the scene and solved the mystery - the reason they were there was because Taoist Yuan Yi said that he had cast a fortune and the fortune showed that the royal heirs had encountered accidents one after another because they had offended villains.
Wei An, who already had some guesses about the purpose of asking the gods this time, became even more certain of his thoughts. While others were not paying attention, he lightly put on his head and quickly glanced at everyone on the field.
Shen Chen and Chu Jingwu were standing together and happened to look at her. When he saw her looking up, he quickly exchanged glances with her and made lip movements.
When Wei An read out the word "careful", he knew what was going on.
Chu Jingwu was also whispering to Shen Chen: "Why are you mobilizing so many troops? Are you really going to ask the gods? What gods are you asking for no reason?"
As if to respond to his words, Emperor Longqing coughed, cleared his throat and said a few high-sounding words, and then said: "There have been many disturbances in the palace recently. The Taoist priest said that there are villains causing trouble, and we need to set up a Taoist temple to pray for blessings and eliminate disasters and exorcise evil spirits, so I asked you all to come and watch the ceremony."
Everyone held their breath and responded in unison.
Emperor Longqing nodded to Taoist Yuanyi.
Taoist Priest Yuanyi walked around the venue once before starting to perform the ritual.
He had been performing a ritual for the Fourth Prince before, and just after he put down the soul-calling flag, he started to exorcise evil spirits again, and he did it very skillfully. The whole process was so dazzling, but it was not boring at all.
The term "exorcising evil spirits" was too general. Everyone watched Taoist Yuan Yi gesture with trepidation. They stood there at a loss as to what to do, fearing that something might go wrong suddenly.
But as expected, what he wished for came true. For some reason, the talisman in Taoist Yuanyi's hand could not be lit.
Emperor Longqing frowned.
Everyone's heart was in their throat at that moment.
It was not until Yuan Yida shouted loudly and the talisman remained motionless that everyone began to panic.
Chu Jingwu lowered his head and muttered in a very low voice: "Playing tricks."
Taoist Priest Yuanyi frowned and asked, "Among all the distinguished people, is there anyone born in the year of the rat in April?"
It came as expected.
Princess Zheng looked at Wei An in surprise but with justifiable worry, and subconsciously clenched the hem of her clothes in her hands.
Having celebrated Wei An’s birthday last year, she was very familiar with Wei An’s birthday.
King Zheng also immediately turned around and looked over.
Wei An himself was the calmest and quickly nodded and admitted: "I was born in the Year of the Rat in early April."
"That's it." Taoist Yuanyi glanced at her, then turned back to look at Emperor Longqing: "This nobleman's birth date and horoscope are in conflict with yours, so it's not appropriate for them to get close."
All of a sudden she became the one who could defeat the Fifth Prince. Wei An stood there quietly without moving.
Emperor Longqing seemed a little surprised. He glanced at Prince Zheng and then asked Taoist Yuanyi, "Are our birth dates incompatible?"
Taoist Yuanyi nodded seriously and said, "Yes, this nobleman and the fifth prince have conflicting birthdays, so they should not get close to each other. Otherwise, at best, he will get sick, or at worst, he will lose his life."