Several guards dragged the head nanny away forcefully, and the coffin was slowly opened.
Everyone looked over and saw the Queen Mother lying quietly inside, her face pale and seemingly lifeless.
The emperor frowned and motioned for the imperial physician to come forward and take a look.
After a thorough examination, the imperial physician knelt and reported, "Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager is no longer breathing. She has indeed passed away."
Mu Li felt that things were not that simple. She walked forward and carefully observed the empress dowager's face.
"Master, stop looking at her. She is fake. Look at her hands." The little white fox in the space reminded.
Upon hearing this, Mu Li took the Queen Mother's hand and found that her palm was rough, her finger joints were swollen, and there were calluses on the base of her thumb. It was obvious that her hands were those of someone who had been doing hard labor for many years.
"Your Majesty, Prince, come and see!" Mu Li shouted.
"Li'er, what did you find?" the emperor came over and asked.
"Your Majesty, look at her hands." Mu Li pointed to the calluses on her hands and showed them to the emperor and Mo Xi.
"The Queen Mother lives a life of luxury, so how come her fingers are so rough and have calluses? It's obvious that she has the hands of someone who often does rough work." Mo Xi said in surprise.
"Hmph, what a good trick to escape by substituting one for another! Imperial physician, come and take a look!" His Majesty snorted coldly.
The imperial physician wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and stepped forward to observe.
"Look carefully, is this the empress dowager?" The emperor's eyes were cold and full of oppression.
The imperial physician observed the hands tremblingly, and then carefully examined the face of the "Empress Dowager". Finally, he found that there was something wrong with the skin behind the Empress Dowager's ears. He pulled it gently, and a human skin mask was held in his hand so gorgeously. An ordinary face appeared in the coffin.
The imperial physician fell to his knees and said, "Your Majesty, this is not the Queen Mother. I, this old minister, deserve death!"
"Come here, seal off the palace and search for me. Even if you have to dig three feet deep into the ground, you must find the empress dowager!" The emperor was furious!
At this moment, the Royal Guards came to report, "Your Majesty, Prince Shun has escaped!"
"What? Why don't you go find them for me?!" The emperor's rage intensified upon hearing the news of Prince Shun's escape. He turned to the guards around him and ordered, "Send more men. We must bring Prince Shun and the Queen Mother to justice!"
"yes!"
For a time, the atmosphere in the palace was tense and everyone felt insecure.
Mo Xi also personally brought a team of guards to carefully check every palace.
"Search this area carefully and don't miss any corner." Mo Xi ordered.
Mu Li was wondering who was the mastermind behind this series of events.
"Is there someone else behind this?" Mu Li wondered.
Mu Li joined the search team while thinking.
They searched every corner of the palace but could not find any trace of the Queen Mother or Prince Shun.
"Could these two people just disappear out of thin air?" Mo Xi frowned.
Mu Li suddenly thought: "Could there be a secret room or secret passage?"
When everyone heard this, they thought it made sense, so they began to pay attention to the suspicious things in the palace.
After a careful search, they finally found a secret mechanism behind a Buddha statue in a Buddhist hall in the Cining Palace.
Mo Xi carefully pressed the mechanism, and a secret door slowly opened.
"Be careful, there might be a trap." Mu Li warned.
Mo Xi nodded and walked into the secret passage first.
A fresh and pleasant scent wafted through the secret passage, and the torches on the walls danced happily.
"It looks like people often pass through here, and it's very clean!" Mu Li said, "But I don't know where it leads to?"
They walked forward cautiously, and suddenly heard footsteps coming from the front.
"Who?" Mo Xi shouted loudly.
The footsteps stopped abruptly, and the surroundings fell into dead silence.
Mu Li and Mo Xi looked at each other and continued to grope forward.
Not long after walking, I saw a figure flash by.
"Chase!" said Mo Xi.
They chased the figure in the secret passage for an unknown amount of time before finally losing sight of the target at a fork in the road.
"Which way should we go now?" Mu Li asked.
Mo Xi observed the passages on both sides and then ordered: "The princess and I will go to the left, and the others will go to the right passage to check."
"yes."
So Mo Xi and Mu Li continued to move forward along the passage on the left. At this moment, a voice came from the darkness: "Don't go any further, or you will all die!"
After hearing these threatening words, Mo Xi and Mu Li not only did not retreat, but became more determined to move forward.
"If you want to play tricks on me, come out if you dare!" Mo Xi shouted.
However, the only response he got was his own echo.
The two continued to move forward carefully, when suddenly, a rustling sound came from above their heads.
"Be careful!" Mo Xi pulled Mu Li to his side.
Countless poisonous arrows were shot down from overhead, and Mo Xi and Mu Li dodged quickly.
After finally dodging the poison arrows, a row of traps appeared in front of him, and the pits were filled with sharp wooden stakes.
"It seems like someone planned this carefully." Mu Li said.
Mo Xi looked around and found a few stones that could be used to build a bridge. The two of them carefully stepped over the trap.
Just when they thought the danger was over, a dark shadow attacked from behind.
Mo Xi reacted quickly, turning around and fighting with the black shadow.
Mu Li also hurried to help, and after a fierce fight, she finally subdued the black shadow.
Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a close confidant of Prince Shun.
"Tell me, where are Prince Shun and the Queen Mother?" Mo Xi asked angrily.
But the confidant kept silent.
Mo Xi was about to press further when Mu Li said, "Don't waste your energy. It's more important to find them first."
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