Not to mention the palace eunuchs desperately trying to mentally prepare themselves, everyone in the Earl's mansion was sound asleep.
Wan'er, with her child and maids and nannies attending to her, rarely came out of the backyard.
In the front yard, Li Lao Er brought Mao Ge'er, and Mr. Wen and Liu Zhiheng also came over to chat and drink. When the party ended, it was too late, so they all stayed overnight.
Li Lao Er was half asleep when he suddenly heard Zheng He calling softly outside the door, "Lord, Lord, wake up!"
Li Lao Er suddenly sat up and asked, "What happened?"
"Lord, San Tiao is back!" Zheng He said, pushing open the door. The little fox darted inside in a flash.
Li Lao Er immediately picked up the little fox, and Zheng He quickly lit the candles on the table.
The little fox nestled pitifully in Li Lao Er's arms, raising her little paws to show how hard she had worked traveling at night.
Li Lao Er smiled, personally opened a small box, and took out a bag of chicken jerky.
The little fox was immediately delighted, jumped onto the table, stretched its neck, and scratched at the collar with its paws.
Li Lao Er quickly twisted the collar, and in a few moments, he took it off.
The little fox lay down, hugged the chicken jerky, and ate it with relish.
Li Lao Er took the scroll of paper from the collar, unfolded it, glanced at it, and his expression changed. He then whispered the order.
"Zheng He, go and invite Mr. Wen and Mr. Liu over, but don't disturb anyone."
"Yes, Lord." Zheng He didn't know what was going on, but he still quietly slipped out.
Before long, Mr. Wen and Liu Zhiheng, still half asleep, were invited over.
Mr. Wen is alright, but Liu Zhiheng drank too much earlier and is now holding his head, looking very uncomfortable.
As soon as he entered the house, Liu Zhiheng asked, "Lord, what happened? Can't we talk about it when it's light? My head is about to explode!"
Li Lao Er did not respond, but instructed Zheng He, "Guard the gate well, and no one is allowed to approach this room."
Zheng He nodded and quickly closed the door.
Mr. Wen and Liu Zhiheng looked surprised and doubtful upon seeing this.
Li Lao Er took out a hangover pill from a small box under the table, ate one himself, and then pushed it in front of Mr. Wen and Liu Zhiheng.
"This was made by the princess herself, and it's extremely effective at relieving hangovers. Eat it quickly; we have important matters to discuss, and you can't afford to be out of your mind."
Mr. Wen and Liu Zhiheng quickly took one and put it in their mouths.
Unable to bear the awkward silence in the room, Liu Zhiheng jokingly whispered, "The princess really dotes on you, her own second uncle, the most. She's never given us any hangover pills."
Li Lao Er waved his hand, "The medicinal materials are rare, so we only made a dozen or so in total."
After saying that, he pushed the page over and instructed the two of them, "Take a look, the princess had San Tiao send it back."
News from the palace?
Mr. Wen and Liu Zhiheng were both startled and quickly looked at it together.
As a result, the more they looked at each other, the paler their faces became.
"Is... is the new capital about to change?" Liu Zhiheng asked, his voice trembling.
Mr. Wen also took a deep breath and replied, "This matter is too important; no wonder the princess sent the message back overnight."
Li Lao Er nodded in agreement, "The princess is very clever. She probably noticed something was wrong a long time ago, otherwise she wouldn't have stayed in the palace all this time. I never expected such a big thing to happen."
"Why is the Imperial Concubine doing this? The Emperor only has one son, the Second Prince. If we wait a few more years, the Second Prince will eventually sit on that chair. What's the rush?" Liu Zhiheng scratched his hair, puzzled.
The Liu family is a century-old family with considerable wealth and connections.
But who doesn't want a peaceful life and prefers turmoil?
Especially during the transition of imperial power, every time was fraught with crisis and bloodshed!
Mr. Wen frowned and replied, "A thousand peaches on the tree are not as good as one peach in hand. No one can guarantee that there won't be any changes if you don't have a firm grasp on it."
"Now that the Marquis is on a northern expedition and the Empress Dowager is being suppressed and dares not make any rash moves, if the Emperor were to die at this time, the Second Prince would be immediately put on the throne."
"I must say, the timing was excellent."
Li Lao Er got up, paced around the room a few times, and said, "Now that the Emperor knows he has been tricked, the Consort will not be happy. We should keep a low profile at home and observe the situation."
Both Liu Zhiheng and Mr. Wen nodded.
Liu Zhiheng continued, "The Emperor has few children, so the Consort is unlikely to survive, but the Second Prince will certainly be fine. In fact, to save face for the Second Prince, we will have to pretend that everything is peaceful and let the Consort 'die of illness' after some time."
"In that case, we still cannot neglect the Second Prince. Even if we don't look at the present, we must pave the way for the future."
"Are you going to try to get in touch with the Second Prince?" Mr. Wen asked in surprise, trying to dissuade him. "Shouldn't we wait and see? After all, His Majesty is still in his prime."
"Moreover, the scheme was discovered in time, so the Emperor's health should not be seriously damaged. At least Tianwu will have ten more years of peaceful days..."
Liu Zhiheng replied helplessly, "It's not that our family is in a hurry or wants to steal the limelight. It's that all the prominent families in Xindu are making plans, and many have already taken action."
"Especially recently, the Consort has been favored, and the Emperor stays at Ronghua Palace every day. Almost everyone is guessing that the Empress will soon 'die of illness,' and the Consort will become the Empress. It would be a natural progression to make the Second Prince the Crown Prince."
"Leaving aside the others, as far as I know, the wives of six or seven families have already paid their respects at Ronghua Palace."
"A few days ago, the Second Prince wanted to learn music, and three great scholars recommended themselves to the Emperor one after another..."
"Under these circumstances, if our family does not make plans, we fear that when a new emperor ascends the throne, our Liu family will decline."
Mr. Wen frowned and suggested, "Go back tomorrow morning and discuss it with the old master. We should wait and see how the Consort fares after this incident. That will tell us the Emperor's attitude towards the Second Prince."
Liu Zhiheng knew that Mr. Wen was doing it for the good of the Liu family, so he nodded in agreement, "Okay, I will definitely discuss it with my father."
After saying that, he couldn't help but sigh, "Back then, Jiangbei was occupied by the barbarians, and we fled to Jiangnan and lived a peaceful life for more than ten years. Now, it seems that Jiangbei is about to be recovered by the Marquis, and there are troubles in the palace. It's simply impossible for people to live in peace."
"Alright, stop complaining." Mr. Wen was afraid that Liu Zhiheng was still drunk and not sober enough, so he instructed again, "This matter was sent out of the palace by the princess at great risk. You must not leave any trace and let others find out, so as to cause trouble for the princess. It is best to observe the situation and not get involved."
"Don't worry, I'm not stupid either." Liu Zhiheng waved his hand and laughed. "If we didn't know the inside story, that would be fine, but now that we know, who would still jump in? However, this world still belongs to the Second Prince. If the opportunity arises, we should still make our move!"
Li Lao Er had been listening in silence, but suddenly spoke up and asked, "Have you ever thought about it? The Emperor has few children; only the Third Princess and the Second Prince have grown up properly."
"Leaving aside the Third Princess, a woman's marriage has nothing to do with the succession to the throne."
"But the Second Prince is frail and not particularly intelligent, so why is the Emperor never in a hurry? Why doesn't he choose concubines or rush to have more princes?"
Liu Zhiheng and Mr. Wen were stunned for a moment, as if they were about to say something, but in the end their expressions changed!
Two updates today!
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