It was already late at night. It was already eye-catching for Mr. Kong to come late at night. If he left late at night, it would inevitably arouse suspicion. So Mrs. Wei asked him to just rest at home. If anyone asked about it the next day, he could say that Mr. Kong came to ask for advice about the previous matter of the Feng family, and also because he was looking after his daughter, he was resting at home as a guest.
Although Kong Gongfeng was promoted to court judge because of the Feng family's affairs, he did not return to the Imperial Hospital because his health had not recovered yet. If he came to the Wei family and wanted to make up an excuse, it would not arouse suspicion.
Although the Third Madam didn't know what happened, she knew something serious must have happened when she saw everyone was holding their breath and her father looked very bad. She didn't dare to ask a single question. She arranged a place for her father to stay and said hesitantly, "Dad..."
But Kong Gongfeng seemed to know what she was going to ask, and waved his hand to let her go: "Don't ask, it's nothing. Your old lady and Princess Shouning are both smart people. They will handle anything. Just be at peace and don't ask anything. Asking too much will not do you any good."
The more you know, the more mistakes you make.
It’s better not to know. If something really happens, maybe you can still have a chance of survival in order to avoid implicating too many people.
The third wife nodded with tears in her eyes, knowing that something really big had happened. After returning, she shook her head in panic at the third master.
The Third Master didn't know what happened. He held the Third Madam's hand and sighed softly, "Don't worry too much. Since Father-in-law is here to look for the old lady and An'an, it means that the matter has nothing to do with us. Just like what Father-in-law said, knowing more is not good. We should trust the old lady and An'an and wait for news calmly..."
On the other side, Shen Chen had to go back to Pingxi Marquis Mansion. In these troubled times, everyone's eyes were always on him. If he stayed at Wei's house, he would be too conspicuous, and it would also make it easier for people to have more bad associations about Kong Gongsheng's rush to Wei's house late at night.
After he said goodbye to Old Madam Wei, he calmly comforted Wei An who had sent him out: "No matter what happens, we can always deal with it. Don't be too nervous. I will go to the palace tomorrow. If the emperor is really in an emergency, as his nephew, I should serve him. No one can stop me... If there is anything, I will send a message to you."
Wei An had never encountered such a situation in his previous life. The king of a country was seriously ill, and it was very likely that the one who was trying to murder him was his concubine. Anyone who was accidentally involved would be torn to pieces.
She looked at Shen Chen holding her hand, and for some reason she suddenly felt relieved. She nodded heavily: "Be careful about everything. I will protect myself, and you too."
Shen Chen smiled, shook her hand again, and then turned and left.
It was already late at night when he returned to the Pingxi Marquis's mansion. Han Bo followed him in and asked as soon as he came in: "My Lord, what happened today? Why did you come back so late?"
Didn't he just go to say hello to Wei An and prepare to ask Emperor Longqing for a marriage the next day? How could he delay it until so late
Shen Chen did not answer but asked: "Is there any news sent out from the palace today?"
They have secret agents in the capital, and with the help of Concubine Lin Shufei, they have also established many secret lines in the palace over the years to prevent the affairs in the palace from being overturned one day.
If something happened to Emperor Longqing as Mr. Kong said, news would have leaked out of the palace anyway, so they could be prepared in advance.
Han Bo frowned in confusion: "In the palace..."
He thought about it and then shook his head with certainty: "There is no news sent out from the palace. But after you left, I received a letter from Xuesong."
As he spoke, he took the letter out of the tidied desk and handed it to Shen Chen: "It should be about Mr. Xie. I originally wanted to send it to Dingbei Marquis Mansion, but I thought you should be back soon, so I didn't do it."
Shen Chen hummed, took out the letter and read it without saying a word, then threw the letter on the table with a cold expression, sat on the chair for a long time without speaking.
What Xuesong said in the letter was very clear. The origin of the tea had been found out. It was escorted all the way from Wuyi Mountain to Jingxi.
Xuesong has also found out that many local people in the place where Xie Liangcheng disappeared said that they had indeed seen the escort team led by Xie Liangcheng, and later they seemed to have been kidnapped by people outside the pass.
People outside the Great Wall, that is, Tatars
Xuesong conducted undercover investigations for a long time before he discovered that the people from outside the Great Wall mentioned by the locals were sometimes not Tatars, but local horse thieves. They were notorious robbers who, in addition to stealing horses, also hired murderers for others.
Xuesong suspected that someone bribed them to kidnap Xie Liangcheng.
After a period of tracking and investigation, Xuesong made a conclusion in the letter that Xie Liangcheng's disappearance should be related to those who escaped from the Jin Wang Rebellion.
Shen Chen sighed deeply. He knew that many people involved in the Jin Wang Rebellion were Chu Jingxing's men.
In other words, to this day, the chess pieces that Chu Jingxing had originally deployed are still able to cause him trouble.
Emperor Longqing might be in danger now. If those forces knew about this, they would take the opportunity to expose the fact that the Xie family had opened a mine and colluded with the King of Chu, and then put the blame on Xie Liangcheng. Then he and Wei An would definitely be implicated.
Concubine Peng De and those people with ulterior motives will definitely use this incident to put them to death.
I thought there would be at least some peace and quiet for a while, but I didn't expect that I would encounter such a big storm in the blink of an eye. Shen Chen looked at Han Bo in front of him, and after a while he calmly told him: "Write a letter to Xuesong and tell him to continue investigating. If he finds any trace, he will act accordingly. If there is a chance, it is best to rescue Xie Liangcheng and catch those people at the same time."
Han Bo agreed, and seeing that he was in a bad mood, he stopped and asked him nervously, "My Lord, has something happened?"
Shen Chen did not hide it from him. He nodded and said, "When the sun rises, you will send a letter to Ping'an Marquis Mansion for me, and then send the letter to A Wu, asking him to make sure to send it to my father through a secret line."
Originally, in order to avoid Emperor Longqing's suspicion, Shen Chen and Chu Jingwu basically did not use other channels to send letters to Prince Linjiang, but now it is obviously no longer a concern.
Han Bo immediately knew that something big had happened. He looked at Shen Chen with a serious expression. After a long while, he agreed, said nothing more, and turned to leave.