Chapter 28 You actually managed to coax him back! ...

Seventeen stared at the bright moon for a long time without speaking. As he stared, he seemed to see His Majesty in a daze.

Brother Yue and His Majesty... their eyes are practically identical, even brothers wouldn't have eyes so similar...

Mingyue hesitated for a long time, thinking and thinking, before finally managing to squeeze out a dry, "I didn't tell you because I was afraid you'd worry..."

But Seventeen remained silent, just staring at him.

Mingyue felt guilty under his gaze, and made up her mind that it was better to confess now than to lie to him later.

But then Seventeen turned to leave, and Mingyue's heart skipped a beat. She hurriedly grabbed him and asked urgently, "Where are you going?"

"Let's go back to Yejing for a visit."

Mingyue's eyes widened. If Seventeen went back now, all she would see was an empty dragon bed and Yuanfu all alone. It would be even harder for her to explain later.

"What use would you be if you went back? There are many famous doctors in Yejing, not to mention the imperial physicians in the palace. His Majesty will be fine."

As soon as he finished speaking, Mingyue regretted it. He had never been so flustered before, and the scales in his heart were swaying back and forth.

On one hand, they were saying, "Tell Seventeen! Be honest now, it's better than having misunderstandings later. After all, you didn't mean to hide it, did you?"

On the other hand, they are desperately refusing, saying, "You can't say it now! Have you forgotten your plan? You're only seventeen. If you accidentally reveal any flaws and others find out, your entire plan will be ruined!"

Mingyue swayed violently, his emotions telling him he couldn't keep it from Seventeen like this, but he also worried about what would happen if Seventeen exposed his identity to others.

After thinking it over, he still didn't say anything.

If he turns back, he can still be appeased. But if his identity is exposed, it will inevitably alert the enemy, making it even more difficult to root out the old party.

Upon hearing Mingyue's words, Seventeen fell silent. Mingyue was so afraid that the child might have been hurt by her words that she heard him let out a soft sigh.

“Brother Yue is right. It seems that there is no use for me to go back. Besides, His Majesty has Eunuch Yuanfu by his side. He is much more reliable than me.”

Upon hearing this, Mingyue wondered why the child seemed to be belittling himself, and quickly explained, "I wasn't talking about you, but His Majesty's mission for us is to safely escort the Prince back to Jiangnan. If we go back now, the Prince will be alone, and we won't be able to explain ourselves if something happens."

Seventeen turned around, sat down in the chair, thought for a moment, and said, "Brother Yue is right. I was just too concerned and confused."

Seeing this, Mingyue breathed a sigh of relief and sat down next to Seventeen, saying, "We discovered this matter of the master by chance. If we can handle it well, wouldn't that be relieving His Majesty's burden?"

"Yes, I wonder when we'll be able to get to Jiangnan."

Seventeen glanced outside and saw that night had fallen. Darkness enveloped the small town at the foot of Yejing, while the imperial city, standing in the distance, remained completely unaware of the treacherous intentions of this place.

"Once this matter concerning the master is resolved, we can set off."

Mingyue smiled, her eyebrows curving upwards. Seventeen was momentarily stunned. Mingyue's eyes were so similar to His Majesty's.

"Sigh, I have no idea who this suddenly appearing master is. I still don't understand him."

Seventeen lay on the table complaining, and Mingyue smiled and asked him, "What don't you understand?"

"How exactly did this master appear? What is his purpose? And why is he targeting Li Yan and Yuan Man?"

After a moment of contemplation, Mingyue said, "It can be determined that the person behind this master is related to the old party, but it is still unknown which side he belongs to."

Seventeen had heard a little about the old party, after all, His Majesty never avoided talking about these things without mentioning him, which clearly showed that he regarded Seventeen as one of his own.

"What do you mean by 'which side'? Aren't the old party the former crown prince's party? I think I heard His Majesty say something like that before."

Seventeen looked at Mingyue with confusion, not understanding why the old party was divided into several factions. Were so many people coveting His Majesty's throne?

"No, actually there are two factions of the old party. The ones who attacked the prince some time ago were probably the former princeling faction that you know."

"Huh?" Seventeen was a little dumbfounded. He had always thought that His Majesty's only opponents were the former Crown Prince's faction. How come there was another wave?

"To be precise, we can no longer call them the former princelings; we should call them the princes' party."

Seeing Seventeen's bewildered expression, Mingyue couldn't resist poking his cheek.

When the child first came to my side, his face was very thin and he looked quite weak. Although I knew he was good at light-body skills, I didn't really feel it.

Only after leaving Yejing together did he truly understand that Seventeen's lightness skill was indeed outstanding.

And because I fed him well, Seventeen's little face visibly became rounder, not fat, but even cuter.

Seventeen wasn't angry at being poked in the face. He tilted his head and thought for a while before saying, "Is it because they want to win over Your Highness?"

"Yes, this group was initially led by the former crown prince, but after the former crown prince passed away, they turned their attention to the prince."

"I don't understand, His Majesty is also a prince, why do they insist on replacing him?"

Mingyue's lips curled up, a hint of mockery in her eyes: "Who knows?"

Seventeen frowned, puzzled: "Then why did Brother Yue guess that this group was the ones who assassinated His Highness? If His Highness was really killed by them, wouldn't all our efforts be in vain?"

Mingyue smiled, about to say something, when he heard a gurgling sound. He looked at Seventeen's stomach, who was covering it somewhat embarrassedly and didn't say anything.

"We've been so busy we forgot to eat. I'll go order some food."

Mingyue got up and went out, but came back up shortly after.

"Brother Yue, you haven't finished speaking yet."

Clearly, Seventeen was more concerned about the old party than about being hungry, as it was his first time encountering such treacherous matters, and he was inevitably curious.

Mingyue didn't mind. No one was listening in, so telling Seventeen wouldn't hurt. He was never afraid of those hiding behind the scenes.

"If you were Your Highness, and after you were turned by someone, your elder brother, the Emperor, assigned you two guards ostensibly to take care of you but actually to monitor you, would you be happy?"

Seventeen thought for a moment, then shook his head: "It's definitely not going to be pleasant. Isn't this blatant suspicion?"

"What if you were to encounter another assassination attempt on your way back, and the assassins were suspected to be the emperor's secret guards? What would you think then?"

"Hmm... These assassins must have been sent by my brother. Their purpose might be to have two guards protect me in order to gain his trust, or they might want to get rid of me on the way to prevent future troubles."

Mingyue sighed softly: "No matter which possibility it is, you will think of the emperor, let alone the prince who is already dissatisfied with His Majesty?"

Only then did Seventeen realize that this was an attempt to sow discord between His Majesty and His Highness. If His Highness really did what they thought, then this matter would become a thorn in His Highness's heart. Every time he saw His Majesty, he would think of this matter, and since he could not personally question him, he would definitely become more and more dissatisfied with him.

"Fortunately, Your Highness is not that kind of person."

"Unfortunately, they were unaware that the guards' tokens had been changed long ago, but they were different from the old ones, so they hadn't noticed it until now."

After saying that, Mingyue reached out and hooked the token around Seventeen's neck. The token was pulled out and instantly turned cold by the temperature, but it quickly fell back onto Seventeen's neck.

The cool touch made Seventeen shiver involuntarily. He stuffed the token back into his clothes and asked, "They miscalculated."

"Well, as for this master, I currently feel that it was done by a different group of people."

"Who are these other groups?"

Just then, the waiter knocked on the door with the dishes. Mingyue stopped talking and only continued after all the food had been served.

He casually placed a piece of food on Seventeen's plate, which she accepted readily.

Looking at his composed demeanor, Mingyue felt a strange sensation in her heart. She lowered her head and chuckled softly before continuing to explain to the curious Seventeen.

"We don't know the specifics of the other party yet. All we know is that they are a group that split off from the former princelings, and it seems that there is some conflict between the two groups."

This surprised Seventeen: "Shouldn't their goal be to bring His Majesty down? Why would they have a conflict?"

Mingyue shook her head: "I don't know. It might be related to their purpose. Perhaps this time we can learn some information about this group of people from the Master's line."

Seventeen thought for a moment, and after eating a few bites of food, her stomach felt full and warm, and her mind seemed to become a little more agile.

"Hey, Yue-ge, do you think His Majesty's serious illness this time might also be part of the plan?"

Seventeen didn't know why he suddenly had this idea, but based on his understanding of His Majesty, it seemed unlikely that he would fall ill so easily, let alone be poisoned.

Mingyue was slightly taken aback, not expecting that Seventeen would think of this. After thinking for a while, she didn't say anything too certain: "I'm not very sure either. Only His Majesty and His Highness know about this matter. However, based on my understanding of His Majesty, this matter is definitely not a simple case of serious illness."

"Why didn't Brother Yue tell me directly before? I was worried for nothing."

Seventeen complained, but his expression didn't seem to take it seriously. He knew in his heart that Brother Yue only knew the basics of this, so how could he explain it to him?

"It was Yue-ge's fault, I apologize to you."

Seventeen chuckled, and the atmosphere between the two was harmonious. However, Mingyue suddenly turned her head and glanced outside the door.

Who's outside?

"Ahem, it is I, the King."

Long Zhaoming pushed open the door and swaggered in, scolding, "Well, Little Seventeen and Mingyue were secretly eating alone, why didn't they invite me?"

He turned to look at Mingyue, his eyes conveying a clear message: You actually managed to appease her! Then why didn't you comfort me when my mother scolded me when I was little?

Mingyue looked at him speechlessly, her eyes clearly displaying the word: Get lost.

Unaware of the secret exchange between the two brothers, Seventeen quickly stood up and apologized, "I'm sorry, it was Seventeen who didn't think things through. Your Highness, please sit down as well."

Although Mingyue also stood up with Seventeen, the daggers in her eyes were so sharp they could have chopped Long Zhaoming into mincemeat, the meaning of which was quite obvious.

Long Zhaoming trembled slightly and quickly said, "Hey, you're too kind, Little Seventeen. I was just joking. There's no need to take it so seriously."

After saying that, he turned around and called the waiter to add a few more good dishes.

"When 05 comes back, we might be able to connect everything."

Mingyue nodded and said, "Yes, no matter which group they are, their starting point is the former Crown Prince. In other words, the death of Consort Ling may also be related to him."

Seventeen recalled the delicate and frail appearance of Consort Ling in her mind, and a slight doubt arose in her heart: The former crown prince was Consort Ling's child, could all these things really be related to Consort Ling?