Discussing the crime was completely ridiculous, because it was the emperor's order, and he, the Night King, was the one who carried it out. Even if his attitude was too bad, he would not be convicted.
The Night King knew this, the Noble Consort knew this, and everyone was just being rude to each other in public.
When searching the palace just now, the imperial guards were very careful. Ci'an Palace was the highlight of the Night King, so he ordered that every corner must be checked clearly and absolutely no mistakes should be missed.
From the main hall to the side hall, and then to the bedroom; from the corridor to the pavilion and then to the garden, the imperial guards searched every place that could hide people, corpses, or severed limbs, as rigorously as if they were performing an autopsy.
None found yet.
The Night King stood beside the ancient well, deep in thought.
The noble concubine followed the search all the way, and Ah Fu was also released. The Night King slapped him twice casually as a punishment for his obstruction.
"Do you want to go down to the well and take a look? Go ahead!" The noble concubine said coldly when she saw him standing by the well.
The Night King turned around and looked at her. "My dear Concubine, there is something I don't understand. I hope you can help me solve this puzzle."
"Is there anything the Night King doesn't understand?" The noble concubine pulled her face and raised a cold smile, "Tell me."
The Night King approached her and looked down at her. "I was ordered to search the palace to track down the assassin. The concubines of the palaces all cooperated very well, fearing that the assassin was hiding in their palaces and would attack them. But the attitude of the Noble Concubine was completely opposite. The assassin stabbed the Noble Concubine first and then hid in the palace. Logically, when the emperor ordered a palace search, the Noble Concubine should be the most cooperative person. But why did the Noble Concubine try to stop it?"
The noble concubine was startled for a moment, then she laughed sinisterly, "The crime that the Night King has charged me with really caught me off guard. Did I stop the prince from searching for the assassin? I just didn't allow you to disturb the Empress Dowager's mourning hall. Disloyalty and unfilial behavior are serious crimes. I was also thinking about the prince. It was not easy for the prince to gain the emperor's attention and enter the palace to do his job. If he behaves improperly and loses his filial piety, it will be a real pity if he is punished by the emperor."
"That's it? But from what I've seen, the Noble Concubine doesn't seem to be worried at all that the assassin is still in the palace. My investigation has already been made public, and the assassins haven't been captured yet. Isn't the Noble Concubine worried that her safety is threatened?"
The Night King's sudden words made the noble concubine alert. She looked outside the corridor and saw Eunuch Lu standing on the stone steps at the end of the corridor. She didn't know when he arrived, but he obviously heard what the Night King said.
The noble concubine was slightly shocked. What was going on? It was just a palace search, why did the emperor send someone here
Moreover, she just learned that the Night King took people to search the palace, and no one from the emperor followed him.
Could it be that the emperor was suspicious of her? Logically speaking, that was not the case. The emperor should have suspected Xia Zian at this time. Xia Zian was also banned and had to hand over all his power and could only serve in Xiwei Palace.
Moreover, these days, when the emperor sent people from Xiwei Palace, he usually sent Eunuch Bao, but this time it was Eunuch Lu who came. Could it be that...
The noble concubine was terrified when she thought about it. It seemed that she must not let the Night King find the body today, otherwise, she didn't know what would be waiting for her.
She had a bad feeling in her heart that the Night King's large-scale operation this time was definitely not as simple as just finding the assassin.
"Your Majesty!" Seeing that she was suddenly uneasy and did not answer him, King Ye asked again, "Now that Eunuch Lu is here, it can be seen that the emperor attaches great importance to this matter. Are you sure you want me to search Ci'an Palace?"
The noble concubine could no longer say she disagreed. She reached out and stroked her hair, saying calmly, "The Night King is searching for assassins for my safety. How could I not agree?"
The Night King smiled, turned around and told his men to go down the well.
Because the ancient well is abandoned, there is no water-drawing device, so we can only temporarily use a rope to go down.
Two imperial guards went down one after another and came up a moment later, "Your Majesty, nothing was found at the bottom of the well."
The Night King was a little surprised this time. He had searched the Ci'an Palace from front to back. Logically, the best place to hide a body would be the well. He just found that this abandoned well had signs of being tampered with, so he concluded that the well was where the body was dumped.
But, no one found it
The Night King looked at the noble concubine, only to see that she tilted her face slightly and the corners of her lips were raised, as if there was a hint of mockery and contempt in her expression.
When the noble concubine saw the Night King looking at her, she said coldly: "The Night King might as well go down the well himself and take a closer look. If he doesn't check it carefully, the assassin might escape."
The Night King looked at the soaked soldiers going down the well and waved his hands, "I won't go down. It's winter, and you're going down the well to look for corpses. Are you crazy?"
The two guards who went down the well looked at each other, speechless.
The noble concubine sneered, "Then your highness has searched the entire Ci'an Palace, right? If so, then let's go. It's time for me to burn incense to the empress dowager. I hope the Night King still remembers that I am in mourning in Ci'an Palace. No one can be held responsible for disturbing the empress dowager's mourning hall."
After saying that, she looked at Eunuch Lu and said, "Eunuch Lu, don't you think so?"
Eunuch Lu smiled and said, "Of course. No matter what we do, we must not disturb the Empress Dowager's mourning hall."
The Night King was secretly wondering, how come they didn't find the bodies of the two assassins after searching the entire palace? Could it be that their speculation was wrong? Or did Sun Fang'er lie? Did only five assassins die instead of seven
"What do you think? If Your Majesty thinks there are still suspicious places, then search it again." The noble concubine snorted.
The Night King looked up and said, "What a good idea!" He didn't believe that the assassin wasn't here. Now that Eunuch Lu was here, it was unreasonable for him to suggest searching again. However, since the noble concubine had proposed it herself, he would have to climb up the pole.
The noble concubine had only said that, but she didn't expect that he would really search again, and didn't follow the routine at all. She was so angry that she was stunned, "Okay, search as much as you want. You couldn't find anything just now, and I don't believe you can find anything if you search again."
The Night King dispersed his men and searched Ci'an Palace again.
The noble concubine retreated to the side of Eunuch Lu and said sadly, "It's only been a few days since the late queen mother passed away. First there were assassins, and then there were repeated searches of the palace. Her spirit in heaven cannot rest in peace."
Eunuch Lu felt that this time King Ye was really acting out of control. The emperor ordered a search of the palace, but he seemed to have only searched other palaces casually. However, he did not search Ci'an Palace once and had to search it again.
Even if the assassin is still in this palace, he can't be hiding in Ci'an Palace anymore, right? The Regent is so wise, why did he recommend the idle prince Ye Wang to the emperor before leaving
He probably just knows how to fool around outside.
During the second palace search, the Night King made some discoveries.
It was not that the assassin was discovered, but that the noble concubine's attitude was abnormal.
He found that when he went to search other places, the noble concubine usually did not follow him, and even if she did, she would just watch from a distance. But when he returned to the garden, she would follow him closely and start to make things difficult for him.
He felt that the secret lay in the garden.
But we searched the ancient well, but found nothing. The rest of the garden was planted with flowers and plants. The pile of flower pots in the corner were there before, and it looked like they had never been moved...
No, the flowerpot has been moved, and there are traces of yellow mud on the left wall.
(End of this chapter)