On the way to the palace in a hurry, Xuyu's mind kept replaying the scene of her conversation with Yuwen Zhi this morning.
"The Pei guy is not as simple as you think." This is what he said when they met by chance before. She didn't pay attention to it at that time, but now looking back, Yuwen Zhi might not be wrong in just this sentence.
Perhaps because he had always wanted to seek revenge, he knew more about the Pei family than Chengping. According to Yuwen Zhi, the man behind Chen Sida and Feng Zhenping was Liu Ceye. Now they all hold high positions for their merits in following the emperor, and the Liu and Feng families have also become the backers of the crown prince and King Kang respectively.
"To be disrespectful, I don't know what the Saint was thinking. Why didn't he take advantage of the great opportunity of Prince Jingsheng's rebellion to wipe out the Pei family in one fell swoop and eliminate future troubles? Pei Ji is fine. He is in his seventies and eighties, and I think he won't live for many years. But the Pei family is different. Even if nothing happens now, if the Saint dies one day, no matter which of the two, the Prince or King Kang, succeeds to the throne, in my opinion, the Pei family will have no good days."
"Blood relatives are irreconcilable. This is an unsolvable problem. Even if Pei admits it, can Liu Ceye and Feng Zhenping rest assured? If it were me, I would just rebel. Rather than waiting for someone else to kill me first, I might as well draw my sword first. Don't worry about whether it will succeed or not. The important thing is to kill them first."
"Pei is not a fool, how could he not know this? So I advise you to stay away from him, lest you bring trouble upon yourself."
When Yuwen Zhi said these words, his tone was relaxed, even with a hint of gloating pleasure. However, Xuyu was secretly frightened. This feeling continued until she entered the palace, and the little palace eunuch told her that the old man was waiting for her.
"Old Master" was a respectful title given to Zhao Zhongfang by the people in the palace. Upon hearing this, Xuyu put away her worries and hurried to Ziyun Palace with the eunuch. When she arrived at the palace steps, she saw Zhao Zhongfang dragging his crippled leg and walking anxiously in the Taoist hall behind the gate, looking outside. When he saw her figure appear, he left the eunuch who was about to come up to support him and hurried towards Xuyu.
Xuyu hurried into the palace. Zhao Zhongfang ordered the palace eunuch to leave and led her to the back. When he heard her asking about the emperor's condition, he whispered with a worried look on his face, "Last night, after the princess left the palace, his majesty's illness recurred. I called the imperial physician and took medicine. He finally got a little better, but he didn't sleep all night. No matter how I persuaded him, he wouldn't listen. He just kept his eyes open waiting for news from the princess. He was relieved when he learned that the princess had returned in the morning. But the pain came back. He couldn't take food or medicine. I asked the imperial physician Hu to give him acupuncture to relieve the pain, but he wouldn't let me. He wanted to take pills again. I persuaded him to stay for the time being. Princess, go and see him."
Xuyu was extremely worried and regretful after hearing this.
If she hadn't lost control last night and barged into the palace to ask those questions, causing what happened later, Aye wouldn't have gotten sick to this extent.
She hurried to the outer hall and saw five or six imperial doctors gathered together, discussing the use of medicine in a low voice. Suddenly, she saw Zhao Zhongfang leading the young court painter in. They all looked at them with puzzled expressions.
Xuyu didn't care about all this. She walked past the crowd, opened the crystal curtain, and went straight into the temple.
This is the emperor's bedroom.