In the blink of an eye, more than ten days have passed. Tomorrow is the day Xuehan will be discharged from confinement. Zhulan and Zhou Shuren went to bed early. Zhou Shuren took a special leave to attend his granddaughter's full moon celebration.
I was half asleep when I heard knocks on the door and Qingxue's voice, "Master."
Zhulan woke up first and pushed Zhou Shuren who was still asleep, "Qingxue is looking for you, maybe the emperor wants to see you for something."
Zhou Shuren immediately perked up. Zhulan lit a candle and Zhou Shuren had already put on his clothes. He said, "I'll go out and take a look. It should be about the Rong family. You continue to sleep."
Zhulan also guessed so, "Okay, then you should be careful too."
Zhou Shuren had his hair tied up casually. When he saw Qingxue, Qingxue lowered her head and said, "Eunuch Liu is waiting for the master outside the mansion."
Zhou Shuren nodded and said, "You can go down."
Qingxue retreated quickly, but she couldn't help thinking in her heart. She had not received any new orders since she was exposed. She received another order half a month ago, which was to protect the master and the mistress.
Zhou Shuren got on the carriage. Only Eunuch Liu was there. Although the candlelight inside the carriage was dim, Zhou Shuren could still see clearly, "Eunuch Liu doesn't look very well."
Eunuch Liu hasn't had a good night's sleep for half a month. "I've been a little busy lately."
Zhou Shuren didn't ask any more questions. Recently, not to mention Eunuch Liu, even the Emperor was hard to see. The Crown Prince was there when the court went up, and the Crown Prince was still there when the court went down. Unless it was something important, the Crown Prince could not be seen easily.
The King of Liang has been in a bad mood recently, but the King of Chu has been very busy. He used to want to stay in the court every day, but I haven't seen the King of Chu for quite a while in the past half month.
The carriage stopped and Zhou Shuren got off. Rong Garden, he and his wife had guessed it right. They entered the garden, which was heavily guarded. When they arrived, Zhou Shuren was shocked. Was this going to build a mausoleum? The whole place had been dug up.
Zhou Shuren followed Eunuch Liu down the dug steps and walked down step by step. The huge stone door had already opened.
Zhou Shuren saw fresh bloodstains on the ground, and immediately understood that this was a trap.
As he walked further in, there was no bloodstain. However, Zhou Shuren noticed that there were keys inserted on some of the walls. He widened his eyes and realized that these were not keys to open the door, but keys to access the mechanism.
The passage was not long, and soon they saw the emperor and the prince. The emperor was holding a box in his hands. Zhou Shuren looked at it for a few more times. He had seen how much the emperor valued his life in recent years. He never touched unfamiliar things himself, but now he was holding it. It was obvious that the things inside were more important than his life.
Zhou Shuren greeted him, "Your Majesty."
The emperor was in a very good mood. "Shu Ren, get up quickly. I guessed it right. The Rong family's wealth has always been in the Rong family mansion. I really dug it out. It is said that the Rong family is rich enough to rival a country. It is absolutely true."
Zhou Shuren only saw the prince move a mechanism, and the door in front of him opened. Then his heart couldn't bear it. You know, several doors opened in succession, and they were full of gold. "This, this."
This is too much. The last time I saw them at the Zhang family’s mansion, they were just side dishes.
The emperor was already in a trance, his hands unconsciously clasped the box tightly, and said to Zhou Shuren: "You are also a member of the Rong family, so I will let you take a look. Later, I will seal this place up and rebury it, leaving a passage, until I find the descendants of the Rong family."
Zhou Shuren is so smart. The emperor asked him to be a witness. The emperor didn't take it. I don't know what to say. He wants to take the money and have a good reputation. "The emperor is wise."
The emperor was very thick-skinned. He nodded and looked at Zhou Shuren. If he had not been grateful for the way out his mother had left for him, he would have used a large amount of Rong family's money to rebel. With Zhou Shuren in front of him, he really hesitated to look for his uncle's descendants.
The emperor touched the box in his hand. He still had to find the person. If he couldn't find him, he would have to make arrangements before abdicating.
Zhou Shuren lowered his head. He felt the emperor was looking at him. The emperor's thoughts were hard to guess, so he might as well pretend to be stupid.
Half an hour later, the emperor was alone in his bedroom and opened the box again. Inside the box was a map, an overseas map with gold mines and some minerals marked on it, some of which were in other countries. The Rong family had so much gold, which was also shipped back from overseas.
The emperor touched the mark on the map and stared at his thin, dry hands for a long time without moving. Finally, he sighed, "I am old. If I were ten years younger."
The emperor's eyes were full of ambition. As for some small countries around him, he slowly put away the map. This was the most precious thing of the Rong family. He put it in a box. The emperor felt uneasy no matter where he put it. He wanted to burn it, but that wouldn't work. He was also afraid that if he got a disease, he would not explain it clearly and would let the prince down.
The next day, Zhulan didn't get a good rest. She kept waiting for Zhou Shuren to come back. The two chatted for a while before going to bed. After having breakfast, they had to go to Ningguo Mansion.
It was the full moon celebration of her granddaughter. Not only the Crown Princess came in person, but also the Princess of Qi and even the Princess of Chu came.
Xue Han was dumbfounded. She didn't care that her daughter took turns being held. She was a little panicked and asked in a low voice, "Mom, they didn't believe that my daughter is very lucky, what should I do?"
Zhulan looked at her daughter, who didn't know Rongchuan's background yet, and comforted her: "Don't worry, it's not because of the child's blessing."
Xue Han felt even more strange in her heart. If it wasn't because of the child, then who was it because of? She really didn't think she was so important that the Crown Princess came in person and gave her an expensive gift. Even the Princess of Qi gave her an expensive gift.
Princess Chu asked her second sister-in-law, "The gift from your second sister-in-law is too expensive."
Princess Qi was also confused, because this was a gift prepared by the prince, "Don't talk about me, why are you here too?"
Princess Chu thought that it was because her own prince asked her to follow Princess Qi, but the gifts from the Crown Princess and Princess Qi were expensive, so hers seemed embarrassing, and she was not very happy.
Yu was originally very jealous, but now after seeing the Crown Princess and others, the jealousy in her heart disappeared. The difference was so great that she couldn't even feel jealous.
Song was envious, because there was no such scene as today when her child was one month old. But in her heart, she attributed it to the good time when her child was born.
The Crown Princess was holding the child. This was the biological granddaughter of the Emperor and the Queen. The child had beautiful eyebrows and eyes, and had the best features of both parents, but her features resembled her mother a bit.
In the front yard, Rongchuan was entertaining the crown prince and several princes. Zhang Yang had been very low-key recently. When something important happened, he would not leave the house easily. Even to court he seldom went. This was the first time he left the house in recent days.
The King of Qi looked at Rongchuan on the left, then at Zhang Yang, and lowered his eyes. If Zhang Yang had not been such an important chess piece, Rongchuan should have returned to the royal family long ago.
The King of Chu asked in a low voice, "Why does the second brother keep looking at the fifth brother?"
The King of Qi smiled and said, "Old Five has started to keep a low profile. I haven't seen him for a long time so I took a closer look. Old Five seems to have gained a lot of weight."
The King of Chu sneered, "He has overdone it."
The King of Qi knew more and laughed too.
Inside the palace, the emperor told Shi Qing about the birthmark and said, "Send someone to check it out."
Shi Qing memorized the birthmark in his heart. His confidence showed on his face. "Yes, I will do it well and will never let the emperor down."
The Emperor: "Go ahead."