"All I know is that he said he was a eunuch from the Jiangxi Palace named Youlai! He said that as long as I did this, his master could help me become the empress."
Consort Qi spoke a few more words in a daze.
[This eunuch is really good at making empty promises, but this matter seems more complicated than it appears! It's like a nested doll, one thing leads to another, it just keeps going on and on. And this eunuch isn't easy to investigate, because according to the usual procedures, he's probably already dead. If that's the case, then investigating him will be incredibly difficult! Hopefully, he's still alive!]
Li Xiaochen had already sent someone to find that eunuch friend.
"When did that eunuch give it to you? Where was it?"
Lin Yuxin thought for a moment and then asked.
"In the back garden, on the day the Crown Prince rebelled!"
Consort Qi spoke again.
Those present understood that day was indeed the best day to infiltrate, but what they didn't expect was that it was aimed at the Empress!
Lin Yuxin asked some more questions, but didn't get any useful information as she had hoped, so this lead was probably really going to go cold!
Lin Yuxin snapped her fingers, and Qi Pin snapped out of her daze. After a moment, she looked at Lin Yuxin with a hint of fear in her eyes. This woman must know sorcery!! Sorcery!
Consort Qi kept backing away, wanting to get as far away from Lin Yuxin as possible!
Lin Yuxin ignored her and instead looked at the Emperor, saying:
"Your Majesty, if that eunuch is not found, or is already dead, then these clues will be lost!"
Lin Yuxin was also helpless. After working hard for so long, she hadn't found anything and had only found two scapegoats! She also knew about a behind-the-scenes person with no clues. She felt like she had worked for nothing.
A short while later, the man Li Xiaochen sent returned and reported:
"Your Majesty, I did not find a eunuch named Youlai in the Jiangxi Palace. The steward of the Jiangxi Palace said that there was no such person at all! However, I found a corpse in the lotus pond in the Imperial Garden, dressed in eunuch's clothes."
The faces of everyone present were extremely grim; the lead had truly gone cold.
"I understand. Investigate this matter thoroughly. Since we know there are others involved, they will inevitably slip up sooner or later! These three will be dealt with according to the charges I previously leveled, stripped of their official positions in Hezhou City, and their entire clan will be exiled to the frontier! Take them away!"
The emperor, his face dark, gave the order. He knew he wouldn't find anything for the time being, and he felt a tightness in his chest. But he wasn't going to waste any more time. He ordered his men to drag the three people kneeling on the ground out and kill or imprison them if they needed to.
Hezhou City was where Consort Qi's father lived; he was a fourth-rank official!
"yes!"
Before long, the three people who had poisoned the body were taken away, crying and begging for mercy all the way, their cries echoing throughout the Kunning Palace.
The Emperor frowned and coldly shouted:
"Shut their mouths."
The soldiers moved quickly; each of the three men pulled out something from their bodies and stuffed it into the mouths of the three men.
The entire hall fell silent instantly, and the Emperor began to grow impatient. "You may all leave. I'd like to spend some more time with the Empress."
"yes!"
This time, the concubines truly bowed and left. After watching the drama for so long, and with another concubine being deposed, there was one less competitor among them, so the concubines were somewhat happy.
However, the thought that there were spies in the palace made everyone uneasy again. It seems that they should stay in their palaces as little as possible in the future. Otherwise, if they encounter spies and are not able to use them, and if they are found out, even the gods cannot save them. They may even be executed along with their entire family!
Lin Yuxin and Li Xiaochen also bowed and left. In the end, only the Empress Dowager, the Emperor, and Cheng Tinghao remained in the vast Kunning Palace to guard the Empress.
The Empress Dowager chatted with the Emperor for a while, but she was feeling unwell. She told the Emperor to take care of his health and then left.
The Emperor and Cheng Tinghao remained silent for a long time, staring at each other blankly.
In the end, it was the Emperor who spoke first, because he was afraid that if he didn't speak, the brat really wouldn't say a word to him.
How have your studies been going these past few days?
The Emperor looked at his son, who was sitting on the footstool by the bed, and asked.
"Very good, I have learned all the lessons that the Grand Tutor assigned to me!"
Cheng Tinghao looked at his unconscious mother and gave a curt reply.
His emotions are reserved only for Lin Yuxin. He might be gentle with his mother, but that doesn't mean he can be gentle with his father.
The Emperor looked at his cold and aloof appearance, which was exactly the same as that brat Li Xiaochen. He had thought that his son would gradually build up a family bond with them after returning, but judging from his cold and aloof appearance, he couldn't see any affection from the boy!
If it weren't for the blood relation, he estimated that this kid would have left the palace and gone straight to Lin Yuxin's residence.
He once doubted whether it was the right decision to let Lin Yuxin help him take care of the child. He learned to be quick-witted and sarcastic from Lin Yuxin, and even learned to be cold-faced from that brat Li Xiaochen. How could he still look like a six-year-old child?
If they had taken the child back when they first learned that the child was his and the Empress's, would they have been closer to them?
The Emperor is wronging Li Xiaochen by thinking that way. Cheng Tinghao's coldness is not only due to his personality, but also because of the teachings of Lin Yuxin's secret guard, Xueying!
Besides teaching him martial arts, Xueying also taught him not to show his emotions on his face, no matter what happened, so as not to give others a handle to use against him!
Over time, Cheng Tinghao really did develop this cold and aloof demeanor.
"That's good. But in the past six months, have you noticed anything unique about Lin Yuxin? Like that hypnosis technique just now! Have you ever seen it before?"
The Emperor nodded, paused for a moment, and then tentatively spoke.
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