Seeing that Su Yan seemed genuinely unaware of what had happened, Li Shen couldn't help but ask, "What have you been busy with these days?"
"As the head of the Supervisory Council, I am naturally in charge of investigating cases! The murderer who poisoned the Empress Dowager has already been caught, but I haven't had time to report to Your Highness yet."
Upon hearing this, Li Shen immediately became interested. "Who exactly is it?"
"I have investigated Xu Xingjian, the Imperial Physician. He is a member of the Dark Moon Pavilion. As for his true motive for the poisoning, it is still unclear."
"None of that matters anymore. The Xie family has now completely pinned the blame for the Empress Dowager's poisoning on the Empress, and I, the Crown Prince, have also been implicated. The court officials are now discussing removing me from my position as Crown Prince."
This morning, news of the Empress Dowager's death from poisoning spread throughout the streets and alleys, and of course, this was not the only rumor.
The Emperor was blindly filial. Despite being bedridden himself, upon hearing that his birth mother had been poisoned to death, and with the Imperial Noble Consort deliberately stirring things up, he was so enraged that he got out of bed and ordered a thorough investigation of the inner palace.
As expected, evidence of plotting against the Empress Dowager was found in the Empress's palace. The Empress was immediately stripped of her power to manage the six palaces and imprisoned in the Ministry of Justice for further judgment.
Li Shen went to plead for leniency, but he was also implicated in the emperor's anger and was imprisoned in the Eastern Palace, forced to reflect on his mistakes.
Now that the Xiao family has lost power, the Xie family naturally wants to take advantage of the situation and join forces with court officials to condemn the Crown Prince and the Empress.
Li Shen, who was imprisoned in the East Palace, realized that something was wrong, so he disguised himself and sneaked out of the East Palace to find Su Yan at the Dali Temple.
After listening, Su Yan more or less guessed that the Dark Moon Pavilion must have played a role in this.
After thinking it over, Su Yan told Li Shen everything that had happened recently.
Upon hearing this, Li Shen's expression instantly turned serious, and he said thoughtfully, "It seems that the Dark Moon Pavilion has no choice but to be eliminated."
"Your Highness, we have not yet seized the Dark Moon Pavilion's stronghold. If this continues, our situation will become very passive."
Li Shen nodded, agreeing with Su Yan's analysis. "Where's Xie Yu? I haven't seen Xie Yu."
Li Shen suddenly remembered that he had called Su Yan and Xie Yu.
After waiting for a long time, only Su Yan arrived.
"Your Highness, Imperial Physician Xie and Shen Yao went to the Ghost Market to investigate clues about the Dark Moon Pavilion."
Li Shen astutely caught the key point in Su Yan's words, "You suspect the ghost market?"
Su Yan nodded. "I went to the Ghost Market last time. It's a secluded place, not under the control of the government. Although there was no trace of the Dark Moon Pavilion last time, I must have received advance notice. But if I were the leader of the Dark Moon Pavilion, I would never give up such a well-hidden place."
Although Xu Xingjian was stubborn and refused to reveal the location of Dark Moon Pavilion no matter how much she pressed him, Su Yan guessed that it was probably related to the Ghost Market.
Li Shen thought Su Yan's analysis made a lot of sense. "Xu Xingjian's case should be handed over to the Ministry of Justice as soon as possible. I, the Crown Prince, do not want to suffer such an injustice."
"yes……"
After explaining some things to Su Yan, Li Shen left Dali Temple in a carriage, but did not head towards the East Palace.
After all, Li Shen's disguise this time was not for Su Yan, but for someone else.
To put it bluntly, Su Yan was just a decoy for him, deliberately misleading the enemy.
Su Yan prepared to go to the pharmacy to prepare some medicine for Xu Xingjian, since with Xu Xingjian's current physical condition, it was simply impossible for him to live until the matter was perfectly resolved.
Therefore, the most urgent task is to find a way to keep Xu Xingjian alive.
Upon arriving at the pharmacy, Su Yan was quite surprised to see her senior sister brewing medicine by the stove.
In her memory, her senior sister wished Xu Xingjian would die.
"Senior sister, what are you doing here?" Su Yan asked, looking at her with a puzzled expression.
Wang Ruofu stretched lazily, his eyes showing dark circles, and yawned with a sleepy look on his face, while he rested his chin on his hand and kept an eye on the medicine pot on the stove.
Wang Ruofu hadn't slept a wink since last night, so she naturally knew Xu Xingjian's current physical condition.
Although she wished he would die immediately, Wang Ruofu knew that Xu Xingjian could not die now, so she went to the pharmacy early in the morning to get medicine.
Seeing Su Yan walk to her side, Wang Ruofu lazily explained, "If Xu Xingjian is dead, how can I catch the real murderer who murdered my master?"
"Senior sister, I thought you were just hoping Xu Xingjian would pay for my father's life right now..."
"It is inevitable that Xu Xingjian will pay for his master's life, but capturing the mastermind behind the Dark Moon Pavilion is equally important. I can tell which is more important."
Su Yan smiled and was about to say something when suddenly the shouts of the yamen runners came from the doorway again.
“Lord Su, there is a little girl outside the door holding a token from Imperial Physician Xie, and she specifically asks to see you.”
Su Yan frowned, wondering why someone else was coming to see her.
But when Su Yan heard that Xie Yu's token was there, she realized something was wrong.
Everyone in the Supervisory Council never leaves their token, yet a little girl came to Xie Yu with Xie Yu's token, which suggests that Xie Yu may have encountered some kind of situation.
Upon hearing this, Su Yan quickly followed the constable away. After taking only a few steps, she suddenly remembered something, turned around, and looked at Wang Ruofu.
Wang Ruofu met her gaze and immediately understood what she was going to say. He smiled and waved to Su Yan, indicating that she could leave without worry. "Don't worry! Leave Xu Xingjian to me. I won't take his life now."
Upon hearing Wang Ruofu's words, Su Yan felt completely relieved and followed the constables to the entrance of the Dali Temple.
When Su Yan saw the seven or eight-year-old girl in front of her, she looked at her blankly and asked, "Little girl, did you come looking for me?"
Yunxi nodded. "That's right... My name is Yunxi."
Su Yan looked around and found the streets crowded with tourists, not a good place to talk, so she took Yunxi into the Surveillance Bureau.
Upon entering the study, Yunxi curiously surveyed the layout of the room. She had imagined that the so-called Surveillance Bureau would be as sinister and intimidating as depicted in TV dramas.
Unexpectedly, it was no different from an ordinary office. While it wasn't exactly shabby, it was certainly not luxurious or extravagant.
Su Yan frowned slightly as she watched Yun Xi curiously examine the layout of the room, and couldn't help but doubt her identity. "How...did you get Xie Yu's token?"
Seeing Su Yan's cautious demeanor, Yunxi guessed that she suspected her and decisively explained, "He's injured and can't leave the Ghost Market, so he asked me to fetch reinforcements to rescue him..."
"Save people? Save whom?"
Yunxi frowned, frantically recalling what Xie Yu had told her, "I think his name was something like Chen."
Upon hearing the surname, Su Yan's heart skipped a beat. She hadn't expected that what she had been afraid of would actually happen. Her voice trembled slightly as she asked, "Is it Shen Yao?"
"That's right, his name is Shen Yao. Lord Xie said that Shen Yao has been captured by the Dark Moon Pavilion and asked you to hurry up and rescue him, or it will be too late."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com