At nightfall, Shen Yubai came to find her.
"All of you go down."
He whispered an order, and all the palace servants withdrew.
There were only two of them left in the spacious side hall.
Jiang Xiancao took the initiative to speak, "These are not coincidences, right?"
Shen Yubai's expression was unusually heavy. He nodded and said softly, "Second Miss Jiang disappeared in the Marquis Wenning's Mansion."
Jiang Xiancao's eyes trembled, and she lowered her voice, "Is it someone from Tianming Pavilion, or -"
Shen Yubai put his finger to his lips and shook his head gently.
Jiang Xiancao frowned slightly and understood and changed the subject:
"Who poisoned the Imperial Grandmother? I don't believe she fell ill on her own! Uncle, you must find the culprit!"
Outside the palace gate, a eunuch put his ear close to the crack of the door and eavesdropped on their conversation.
After he was sure that Jiang Xiancao was repeating the same few words over and over again, saying that she must find the murderer who poisoned the Queen Mother, he stood up straight and pretended to report as if he had just arrived:
"Your Highness Prince Zhan, Your Highness the Ninth Prince, the Emperor urgently summons you two to the Imperial Study."
…
Imperial study.
Emperor Yong looked at the girl kneeling on the ground, then looked at the Imperial Preceptor beside him with a look of doubt and uncertainty. "Is Imperial Preceptor saying that the one living inside this girl is the real Little Jiu'er?"
The Imperial Master was a handsome middle-aged monk, dressed in clean white monk's robes, with an otherworldly aura of a master.
He nodded slightly, chanted a Buddhist name, and then twisted the beads in his hand and said:
"Yes, she is the real Ninth Prince. The Ninth Prince who came to the palace to visit the Empress Dowager was just a shell of the Ninth Prince who was usurped."
When Emperor Yong heard such absurd words, his heart was in turmoil.
He was silent for a while, then looked at the Imperial Master and said:
"You said Prince Zhan already knew about this?"
The Imperial Preceptor nodded, clasping his hands together. "Not only did His Royal Highness Prince Zhan already know about this, he was also the one who orchestrated the transfer of the Ninth Prince's body."
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