Yue Haoyun's eyes moistened as he looked at Zhou Dagan and asked excitedly, "Why is this ring in your hand?"

"My Lord, this ring was given to me by my master before he died."

Yue Haoyun was even more confused when he heard this, "Then how did your master get it?"

In fact, there was a sentence that Yue Haoyun almost blurted out, which was, could it be that your master stole it?

But just as he was about to say that, he changed his mind and thought that although Eunuch Su was a eunuch, he was a good person and would not do such a sneaky thing, so he swallowed the second half of the sentence.

"Originally, I didn't know either. In the second year after we were captured and made into Gu slaves, our master couldn't bear the torture of the Gu poison and was in danger of death." Zhou Dagan told the story.

"At that time, I was watching over my master. When I saw that he was in pain, I injected some internal energy into him to alleviate his pain."

"Suddenly one day in the middle of the night, Master quietly woke me up and handed me this ring."

"He said he had something concerning the country and the people that he wanted to tell me, and he told me not to tell anyone else unless it was absolutely necessary."

When Yue Haoyun heard the words "country and country", his whole body stiffened, as if all the blood in his body had frozen.

"It turns out that before the late emperor died, he secretly gave this jade ring to Master."

"The late emperor told Master that he regretted making the young third prince the crown prince. He wants to summon you to the palace and make you the crown prince instead!" Zhou Dagan's tone became excited when he said this, but he lowered his voice for fear of being heard.

Yue Haoyun's eyes widened in shock. He subconsciously reached out a hand and covered Zhou Dagan's mouth, saying word by word, "Do you know what you are saying?!"

"Tell me the truth. Where did you get this ring? And why did you make up this lie to deceive me?"

His voice was cold, revealing the majesty of a prince.

The reason he asked these questions was not because he wanted to doubt Zhou Dagan, but because he had been a prince for so many years and had become wary.

After all, it is a matter of national importance.

Zhou Dagan's eyes instantly turned red when he saw Yue Haoyun questioning him. He fell to his knees and cried, "Dagan is just an unknown eunuch in the palace. I don't have any accomplices, no purpose, and I'm not under anyone's orders."

"If I have to say I have a purpose, it is to fulfill my promise to Master and the conscience in my heart."

"I swear to heaven that everything I say is true. If you dare to deceive Your Highness, I will be struck by lightning!"

At this point, two lines of tears flowed down Zhou Dagan's cheeks.

When Yue Haoyun saw this, he felt like a huge stone had fallen from his heart. Now he could rest assured about what Zhou Dagan said.

He hurriedly helped Zhou Dagan up and said in a gentle tone, "Okay, I believe you."

"Then tell me, what happened next?"

Zhou Dagan wiped his tears and said, "Given the circumstances at the time, it was impossible for Master to bring the jade ring and go to the palace to look for you. So he found a reliable young eunuch from another place and wanted him to leave the palace to deliver the message."

"But before the young eunuch could leave the palace, the late emperor passed away."

"On the day the late emperor passed away, Master and a few of us were knocked unconscious and taken away."

Hearing this, Yue Haoyun's thoughts went back to the time when the late emperor was seriously ill.

Ever since the late emperor fell seriously ill, Zhu Ling, Han Lie and others have been staying by his side, and are very wary of anyone who wants to enter the palace to visit him.

Thinking of this, Yue Haoyun sighed and said, "Even if you have time to send a letter to me, it's not that easy to do."

"I'm afraid the eunuch who delivered the letter died before he even entered the palace."

Both of them were silent.

What Yue Haoyun said is the truth.

After a moment of silence, Yue Haoyun asked again, "Did your master tell you why the late emperor later regretted making the third prince the crown prince?"

Zhou Dagan's eyes were red as he said, "Your Highness, you don't know what kind of life the late emperor lived in his last month?!"

Yue Haoyun trembled all over and grabbed Zhou Dagan's shoulders, "Tell this king quickly."

"Ever since the late emperor became so ill that he couldn't get out of bed, he's been under house arrest by Zhu Ling... Even we, the eunuchs around the late emperor, have lost our freedom."

Upon hearing this, Yue Haoyun let out a long sigh.

The past is still vivid in my mind.

That year, the late emperor suddenly suffered a stroke, but he survived after being treated by the imperial physician.

At that time, the princes, princesses, and important officials of the court went to visit the late emperor.

At that time, although the late emperor was physically weak, his mind was still clear.

Later, news came from the palace that the late emperor's condition had worsened and he needed to recuperate quietly. He would stay at home for a period of time, and the morning court would be suspended. After that, memorials and government affairs would be handled by Prime Minister Han Lie.

As soon as this news came out, it caused an uproar, and some people secretly speculated that the late emperor had lost his personal freedom.

Yue Haoyun and other princes felt that something was wrong, so they wanted to go to the palace to see the late emperor and persuade him to revoke his decision in person. However, before they even entered the door of Yuhua Palace, they were driven out by the guards.

Zhu Ling came personally to tell them that the late emperor needed quiet time and would not see anyone.

In order to prove that she was not faking the imperial edict, she even took out a handwritten edict from the late emperor and showed it to them.

They looked carefully and found that it was indeed the handwriting of the late emperor.

Although they still had some doubts, they really had no other choice. If they forced their way in, it would be like breaking into the palace.

If they were charged with breaking into the palace and regicide, they really couldn't bear it.

Over the next month or so, the emperor's handwritten notes or imperial edicts were issued from time to time.

During this period, Yue Haoyun requested to see the late emperor many times, but the late emperor avoided him.

Later, the late emperor actually issued an imperial decree to send him to another province on a mission.

Yue Haoyun looked at the handwriting of the late emperor on the imperial edict and felt disheartened.

He knew that the late emperor preferred the third prince born to Zhu Ling to himself, but he never expected that the late emperor would be so wary of him.

In order to ensure that the third prince could succeed to the throne smoothly after his death, he actually transferred him to another province.

The very next day after this imperial edict was issued, news came that the late emperor had passed away.

Recalling this, Yue Haoyun felt a pang of sadness in his heart.

I actually blamed my father wrongly.

Could it be that my father had become a puppet in the last stage of his life?

"Then, what about those handwritten notes and imperial edicts that were passed down after the late emperor recovered from his illness? Was it the late emperor's intention?" Yue Haoyun blurted out when he thought of this.

Zhou Dagan gnashed his teeth and said, "Since the late emperor went into seclusion to recuperate, he hasn't issued a single imperial edict or handwritten order. Those were all forged by Han Lie!"