Lan Yuanlong looked at Eunuch Cao and saw that his expression had become both tense and excited.

"General Lan, are you sure you saw it clearly? Is there really my personal seal on the box?" Eunuch Cao was indeed very interested in this pure gold box.

“It’s absolutely true. The Xiongnu didn’t know these were your belongings. They took everything they had stolen from the palace and checked them carefully for a long time. They definitely couldn’t have made a mistake,” General Lan said confidently.

But in reality, there was no pure gold box at all, and even the unreasonable demands of the Xiongnu were just made up by him.

The Great Xiao Kingdom is currently weak, and the old emperor is bedridden and unable to control the government. The entire court is controlled by a few eunuchs.

These cowards who bully the weak and fear the strong, how could they possibly confront the Xiongnu head-on? They can only be bullies within their own ranks, but when faced with external enemies, they still hand over their grain, cloth, and silver with both hands.

In this way, he could take the military pay and provisions issued by the court into his own name. With these things, he could contend with the Third Prince in the future and help Xiao Dongyang ascend the throne.

The reason this pure gold box attracted such great attention from Eunuch Cao was because of a little-known secret in the palace.

Before entering the palace, eunuchs had to undergo castration to remove their manhood. Of course, Eunuch Cao was no exception. However, there was an unwritten rule in the palace that eunuchs who had served in the palace for a certain number of years were allowed to redeem their manhood after leaving the palace by spending money.

After all, it is a man's private part, and the defect of this place has always been a source of great pain for eunuchs. Many eunuchs saved money so that they would have enough money in the future to redeem a part of their body, so that after they were buried, they could be placed in the coffin and buried together, and thus be considered a complete person after death.

Since becoming the head of the Eastern Depot, Eunuch Cao has wielded immense power and influence, and everyone in the dynasty wants to curry favor with him.

The same was true for the purification chamber. A craftsman was specially ordered to make a pure gold box. After consulting with Eunuch Cao, his personal seal was engraved on the box to indicate that it was his exclusive property. A part of Eunuch Cao's body was placed inside the box, and the craftsman was asked to seal it before giving it to Eunuch Cao.

Later, the Xiongnu from the northwest came to the Great Xiao Kingdom to pay tribute, bringing with them their youngest tenth prince. After causing a commotion in the palace, many concubines' residences and various palaces were robbed, and a great deal of things were stolen, including Eunuch Cao's pure gold box.

The emperor was furious and ordered a thorough investigation, but the investigation was dropped halfway through.

After all, the Xiongnu people in the northwest were fierce and powerful, and they would invade the Central Plains from time to time. The old emperor was also an incompetent ruler, and could only send princesses to marry foreign rulers and offer up the gold and silver treasures of his country.

The emperor feared that if the investigation continued, even if the murderer was found, it would be difficult to punish him, and he would instead be accused of being unpopular and incompetent.

The things that Eunuch Cao lost were extremely private, and he himself didn't want to make a fuss about it, so very few people knew about it.

However, the Lan family had cultivated deep roots in the court for many years, and they had spies planted in every household, including the Eastern Depot.

"General Lan, please make sure to appease the Xiongnu. The court will find another way," Eunuch Cao said urgently.

"I urge General Lan to return to the Northwest and guard the frontier. Could you perhaps retrieve my box from the Xiongnu?"

"Is this something very important?" Lan Yuanlong asked, feigning ignorance.

The eunuch was also seething with hatred. If General Lan didn't know what was in the box, how dare he bring his sister, Consort Lan, to the Golden Palace and shout that he wanted to see the Emperor?

Having spent so much time in the palace, everyone there had become shrewd. Eunuch Cao immediately understood what the Lan siblings wanted.

“His Majesty is seriously ill and indeed needs the Empress to attend to him. Then let Consort Lan go in to see His Majesty,” said Eunuch Cao.

Having received the answer he wanted, Lan Yuanlong no longer hesitated and readily agreed.

"I will set off immediately and depart soon to negotiate with the Xiongnu on the northwestern frontier. I will certainly not disappoint Eunuch Cao."

"But I also hope that Eunuch Cao will do more for our border soldiers in the court. We will entrust our food and clothing to Eunuch Cao." Lan Yuanlong spoke in a grand manner, but in fact, this plan was to kill two birds with one stone.

"Of course, of course, then I'll leave it to General Lan." Eunuch Cao replied with a smile.

Meanwhile, the guards in front of the Golden Palace had already received orders from Eunuch Cao.

"Your Highness, please." The guards stepped aside to make way for her.

Consort Lan wiped away the tears she had feigned from the corners of her eyes, picked up the food box she had just put down, and entered the Golden Palace.

"Your Majesty, I have come to see you," the concubine called softly as she approached the throne.

"Uh...uh..." At this moment, the emperor could no longer speak, and could only make gasping sounds as he tried to raise his limp, hanging hand.

Upon seeing this, Consort Lan disregarded her own manners and quickly went to the Emperor's side.

"Your Majesty, I personally made chicken soup for you. Please have some. Didn't you used to love it the most?"

As she spoke, she opened the food box and ladled out a small bowl of chicken soup from the clay pot.

She secretly placed a black pill from the pot into the bottom of the bowl.

She had long anticipated the Emperor's current situation. After all, if the Eastern Depot wanted to control the Emperor, they could tamper with his food and medicine. The Emperor's previous illness could have been cured slowly with long-term conditioning.

But after all that trouble caused by the Eastern Depot, even if treatment begins now, he probably only has a few years left to live.

She didn't feed the emperor any rare medicinal herbs, but rather the most common medicines for clearing heat, detoxifying, and removing blood stasis. The emperor was usually controlled by the Eastern Depot and fed too many tonics, which made it difficult for his qi and blood to dissipate.

The palace maids and eunuchs serving the emperor, having received orders from Eunuch Cao, all kept their heads down, not daring to look or listen inappropriately.

"You may all leave now," Consort Lan commanded.

"This... it's not that we disobeyed Consort Lan, but Eunuch Cao ordered us to serve her and not leave her side without permission," one of the young eunuchs replied, mustering his courage.

"I've learned a new secret technique that requires me to undress and massage His Majesty to help him recover soon." Consort Lan's face hardened, and she raised her voice to reprimand the eunuch who had just spoken, "What, do you want to see too!"

"This servant wouldn't dare." Upon hearing Consort Lan's angry rebuke, the young eunuch was so frightened that he knelt down on the ground with a thud.

"Since Eunuch Cao has agreed to let me in, you should all consider carefully whose advice you should take now!"

"Get out of here now!" Consort Lan scolded again.

"Yes, yes, this servant will take his leave now." The leading eunuch led the group of palace maids and eunuchs out of the room.