Chapter 259: Like a Fishbone Stuck in the Throat

"Your Highness!" Mr. Mo pushed aside the soldiers blocking his way and walked hurriedly, stumbling to the point of coming before King Liang.

"In that carriage..."

"Let him go."

"Is it Fu Yi?" Mr. Mo asked in a trembling voice.

King Liang didn't answer. He just looked at Cheng Nianying's departing back, then turned around abruptly and said, "Go and give her the horse."

The soldier stammered in response.

The subordinate who had just planned to launch a surprise attack to capture Fu Yi also returned to the King of Liang and said with a guilty look on his face, "I failed to do my job well and was unable to capture the thief."

King Liang looked at his hand and said, "She's holding back some strength."

The subordinate followed blankly and looked at his own hands.

Xiao He was truly remarkable. King Liang's face was filled with a complex expression of both pride and heartache. The more remarkable she was, the more it showed how much she had endured in Shao Qu Tower.

"Your Highness." Mr. Mo spoke again at this time, "That Miss Xiaohe just took action to protect Fu Yi, right? Her bias is so obvious..."

Mr. Mo didn't finish his words, but his meaning was clear.

He felt that Xiaohe had already stood with Fu Yi.

King Liang had a headache and felt uncomfortable.

He had just adopted her not long ago and hadn't had two days of good life with her, but he had already trapped Xiaohe in the middle.

She was naturally in a dilemma and was several times more troubled than him.

"Stop talking."

"Your Highness!"

"I have made it very clear to you, she is my own flesh and blood..." King Liang paused at this point.

If I hadn't had contact with Xiaohe before, even if we were blood relatives, we would have felt unfamiliar when we met again.

What's more, his subordinates and Xiaohe are just strangers.

King Liang turned his gaze away from them.

They were worried about him, but they didn't love Xiaohe too much because of him.

They probably thought that if he married and had a son in the future, it would be far better than Xiao He. Since Xiao He and Fu Yi were on the same side, they should give up when it was time to do so.

Thinking of this, King Liang felt even more heartbroken.

"Follow my orders and retreat!" King Liang's face darkened. "Everyone, retreat!"

*

After Cheng Nianying walked away, she didn't leave Imperial Capital immediately. Most of the gates in the city were still closed, and riding a horse would be too conspicuous. She tied the horse given by Prince Liang's men not far from the Prince's Mansion and then went to the Wei Mansion according to her memory.

After knocking on the door for a long time, it finally opened.

"What time is it now? Do you want to die?" Menzi shouted.

"I came to meet your girl."

Since returning to the Imperial Capital, Cheng Nianying had hardly had a single day of rest, especially after Fu Yi's "accident." Knowing that Fu Yi's fate had been planned from the beginning, and that his imprisonment was merely a formality, made her angry.

Now that I am leaving Beijing, I must come and see Wei Yanhua.

But the doorman said, "See my daughter? She no longer lives in the mansion."

Cheng Nianying's first reaction was that Wei Yanhua's uncles and aunts had come back and driven her away.

Then the doorman said, "The girl has gone to her uncle's house. I think she will live there for a long time from now on."

Wei Yanhua's uncle is a member of the Jiang family, but she doesn't know which way the Jiang family's door faces.

Cheng Nianying hurriedly asked what was going on.

The gatekeeper was in a hurry to close the door. After the news of Prince Ding's rebellion spread, who in the capital would not be afraid?

So he quickly told the Jiang family where they were and then closed the door.

"Oh, I forgot to say that not everyone can enter the Jiang family's door. ... But who in the city doesn't know the name of the Jiang family? She should know it too." The doorman hunched his shoulders, looked at the sky that was gradually getting darker, and hurried inside.

Cheng Nianying went to Jiang's house as he said, but this time she couldn't open the door no matter how hard she knocked.

Cheng Nianying was not angry. She knew that the atmosphere in Imperial Capital was tense right now, and the more powerful the family, the less likely they would dare to open the door easily.

It's not difficult for her.

She tiptoed and stepped over the wall by the stone lions at the door.

She walked around the Jiang family's house without anyone noticing.

"Miss, please be careful with your hands." The maid's voice rang out in the yard.

"I know." That was Wei Yanhua's cold response.

Cheng Nianying leaned on the wall and looked at her for a moment.

Wei Yanhua changed into a pink shirt. It was still a bit cold in the capital, so she put on a rippled fox fur coat.

She held a handkerchief in her palm and threaded the needle with the other hand.

Needlework looks like hard work.

But Cheng Nianying recognized the fox fur coat she was wearing and thought it must be expensive.

Cheng Nianying thought about it and felt that she should be living well, so she turned around and jumped off the wall.

"What's that sound?" Wei Yanhua looked up.

The maid looked around and said, "I didn't hear anything."

"Well, go see uncle later." Wei Yanhua raised her hand and said, "Give this to uncle."

She wanted to ask if there was any chance that Prince Danshuo could survive.

She wanted to know from him why the Princess of the County... died so suddenly. Why.

"Young lady?" the maid exclaimed.

Wei Yanhua only then realized that her fingertip was bleeding.

The maid hurried to get medicine for her. Wei Yanhua lowered her eyes and said, "It doesn't hurt." It was nothing compared to the pain she felt when the princess was burned by the fire when she rushed to save her mother.

…She missed her very much.

*

Cheng Nianying squatted at the foot of the wall, took out paper and charcoal from her arms, wrote a few strokes carefully, and then put them where they should be.

Looking up again, she saw that the city gate was about to close. Without wasting any more time, she rode away.

The next day.

A scream broke the silence of the palace.

The emperor is missing.

The eunuchs who usually served the emperor were sweating profusely as they hurriedly walked through every palace in the harem.

"Who were the people on duty yesterday?"

"How could you have lost your Majesty?"

The eunuch was scared, very scared.

The people on duty from the Palace Front Department and the Imperial Guard Department stood in front of them. Some of them knew what was going on, while some were confused.

Those who know will not say it, the emperor fell into the mechanism that he opened with his own hands.

Confused, knowing nothing.

They were all silent.

This silence quickly spread the eunuch's panic, and gradually even the ladies in the harem heard about it.

At the hour of Mao, the palace gates opened.

The court officials who were usually highly trusted by the emperor entered the palace first to discuss matters, while the other officials waited anxiously in the side hall for the court session.

"How is it? Have you searched everything?"

"I've looked."

"...This matter cannot be concealed. I'm afraid it will shake people's hearts."

"How could there be no news from the palace about His Majesty's disappearance?"

"I'm afraid someone in the palace has evil intentions! We must investigate! We must investigate thoroughly!"

"This matter is of course important, but it is equally important that the government remain stable."

"Indeed, since the Crown Prince passed away, Your Majesty has been slow to appoint a successor, resulting in no one being able to quell the chaos."

"Master Yin, you've been in and out of the Imperial Court quite a bit lately. Do you know if His Majesty has left any instructions?"

After hearing this, the ministers who were originally vying to speak all looked at Yin Huiyi.

However, Yin Huiyi didn't want to get involved in this mess.

The Yin family was powerful and had deep roots, far more powerful than the Cen family. To put it bluntly, even if dynasties changed, his Yin family wouldn't necessarily be harmed.

"I don't know." Yin Huiyi shook his head.

"Then, besides Scholar Yin, who is close to His Majesty these days..."

Yin Huiyi said, "I see that the Junior Secretary of the Dali Temple frequently comes and goes before the Emperor."

The others looked at each other and said, "He is too young. He was only ordered to investigate the case of Prince Danshuo. How can he be considered a close minister to the emperor?"

At this moment, someone laughed and said, "If we talk about the emperor's close ministers, no one can surpass the Prince of Danshuo."

The others couldn't help but look at each other again: "But Prince Danshuo is also involved in the case of Princess Zhaoning and Prince Ding..."

"Don't you know? The murderer who killed Princess Zhaoning has been found."

"What? Who? I've never heard of it."

"It is the one mentioned in the palace that day, the missing palace maid by the princess's side. Her name is Mu He."

"Please invite Prince Danshuo out first." Someone said, and then asked, "Do you have any objections?"

Whoever speaks out first with an objection at this time will become a thorn in Fu Yi's side.

Their eyes flickered, and they were determined to get rid of this difficult problem.

"What does Scholar Yin think?"

Yin Huiyi said, "Please invite all the princes into the palace."

"Master Yin's meaning..."

"I'm afraid someone will take advantage of the chaos and try to kill the heir to the throne."

"How dare you!"

Everyone present had their own thoughts, and after some discussion, in the end, few people really cared about the emperor's whereabouts.

But Yin Huiyi's suggestion was a good one. All the princes should be invited here to prevent anyone from taking any action on their own and starting a coup.

Soon, the door of the Dali Temple's cell opened.

Someone came up to Fu Yi and said respectfully, "Prince, the palace invites you to come forward and speak."

Fu Yi didn't stay here for long before he left again.

This time, it's aboveboard.

Fu Yi walked out of the gate and stood in the sunlight, but did not move immediately.

"Prince?" the coachman called out.

Fu Yi looked down at his hands.

There are no more persistent daily visits to the prison, and no more oil-paper bags or gourds hidden in the sleeves.

...There was no one to pick him up.

There really is something stuck in my heart... like a lump in my throat.