Chapter 130: Under house arrest?
After entering the palace, the carriage headed towards Hongning Palace where the emperor lived. When Jiang Lan pulled aside the curtain and looked outside, apart from the guards, there was no one walking around in the palace. It was extremely quiet.
The light from the palace lanterns shone on the quiet palace road, making it seem particularly long and distant, as if there was no end in sight. The guards stationed on both sides stood quietly in the gap between light and shadow, as solemn and majestic as sculptures.
"Madam, we are just ahead."
The carriage stopped outside the palace gate. Jiang Lan got off and followed the older eunuch inside. She saw that the main hall in front of her was brightly lit, but there was no sound at all. The silence made her feel uneasy.
There were guards guarding outside the door and a circle of guards surrounding the yard. Not even a fly could fly in or out.
When Jiang Lan came over, the eunuch announced outside the door, "Your Majesty, the wife of Marquis Jin'an has arrived."
Then Eunuch Liu came out and led Jiang Lan in. The hall was very quiet. The palace maids and eunuchs serving inside all lowered their heads, held their breath, and dared not make any sound.
A man stood in front of the dragon couch, with his hands behind his back.
Jiang Lan stopped for a moment, her expression becoming alert. She avoided the other person and looked towards the dragon bed, where she saw the emperor lying motionless, as if he had not yet woken up.
"Your Highness." Eunuch Liu bowed and saluted.
Prince Rui turned his eyes behind him and raised his hand. Eunuch Liu retreated first. When Prince Rui turned around, Jiang Lan withdrew her probing gaze and saluted him. Seeing that the other party was walking towards her, approaching step by step, Jiang Lan clenched her hands tighter, her expression defensive, and her nerves tense.
"You came at an inopportune moment. Father was awake for a while just now." Prince Rui stopped less than two steps away from her, observing her reaction with a curious look.
"I heard that His Majesty has summoned the Marquis back?" Jiang Lan asked tentatively.
Prince Rui leaned forward slightly, and Jiang Lan took a step back reflexively, a little panicked. Prince Rui curled the corners of his lips and said, "You can stay here tonight. When father wakes up, I will send someone to call you." He called Eunuch Liu over and asked him to take her downstairs to rest first. Eunuch Liu made a gesture of invitation to Jiang Lan, and Jiang Lan took her leave first.
After coming out, Jiang Lan tentatively asked Eunuch Liu about the emperor's situation. Now she was not sure which side Eunuch Liu was on.
"Your Majesty woke up for a while last night and ordered me to summon the Third Prince to the palace. If it weren't for the Third Prince's careful arrangements, I'm afraid the palace would have been in chaos long ago," Eunuch Liu said earnestly. "I only hope that Your Majesty can recover soon. I have no other requests."
Jiang Lan thought silently for a moment, then lowered her voice and asked, "Is your Majesty's condition serious?"
Eunuch Liu replied, "Thanks to the two old doctors, the situation has finally stabilized." At this point, Eunuch Liu sighed again, "But the two old doctors are not completely sure."
"Who are these two old doctors?" Jiang Lan asked.
Eunuch Liu replied, "They are Mr. Bai and Mr. Mo, who were invited from Jiangnan."
Jiang Lan had met Mr. Bai in the academy before and they had some friendship. She had never met Mr. Mo before, but since he could be mentioned on the same level as Mr. Bai, his medical skills must be very superb.
As he was speaking, Eunuch Liu took Jiang Lan to a side hall, asked her to rest there first, and then took his leave.
After closing the door, Jiang Lan poured a cup of tea and extinguished the incense in the incense burner to prevent anything else from being added inside. She then checked the house again to prevent anyone from hiding inside.
After checking everything, she walked over, quietly opened the door and looked out, and found two guards standing at the door, as if to prevent her from escaping.
Jiang Lan took a tentative step forward and was stopped by two guards.
"His Highness has ordered that no one is allowed to move around at will," said a guard.
Jiang Lan asked, "Except for the Third Prince, are the Fifth Prince and the Sixth Prince not in the palace?"
The two guards did not answer and stood at the door like two door gods.
Seeing that she couldn't get anything out of him, Jiang Lan went back to her room, brought a chair, sat at the door, and observed the situation in the main hall.
After about a quarter of an hour, Eunuch Liu came out and gave some instructions. A guard left and then the guard brought Mr. Bai and Mr. Mo over.
I wonder if His Majesty has woken up?
Jiang Lan wanted to go over and take a look, but as soon as she stood up, two guards blocked the door.
Afterwards, Eunuch Liu sent two old gentlemen out. Jiang Lan coughed to attract Eunuch Liu's attention. After Eunuch Liu came over, she asked if the emperor was awake. Eunuch Liu shook his head and asked her to rest first. Jiang Lan said she was not sleepy yet. Eunuch Liu didn't say anything else and took his leave first.
It was the middle of the night and Jiang Lan could no longer sit still. Her back and waist ached from sitting on the chair, so she decided to lie down on the couch for a while. After closing the door, she pushed the chair against the door, moved a vase and placed it on the chair, and then lay down on the couch, her eyes fixed on the door.
There was no unusual noise outside the door, and her vigilance gradually relaxed. She planned to close her eyes and take a nap to rest.
She fell asleep accidentally in a daze, and suddenly woke up. Seeing that the door was still closed and the vase on the chair was intact, she breathed a sigh of relief and was about to get up and walk around to wake herself up when she suddenly heard a slight strange noise. Her nerves tensed up again. She immediately got up and ran to the table to pick up the teapot on it, then quietly walked to the door and listened to the movement outside.
A knock on the door startled Jiang Lan.
"Who is it?" she asked bravely.
Eunuch Liu's voice came from outside the door, "It's your servant, Your Highness asks you to come through."
Jiang Lan thought that maybe the emperor had woken up, so she asked Eunuch Liu to wait for a moment. She put the teapot in her hand back on the table, put the vase back in its place, moved the chair away, and then opened the door and walked out.
After Eunuch Liu brought Jiang Lan over, he left first. Seeing that the emperor had not woken up, Jiang Lan was about to take her leave, but Prince Rui asked her to stay here.
Jiang Lan felt that the other party was really fickle. He asked her to leave before, and now he asked her to stay. Was he deliberately playing tricks on her?
"Why isn't the Queen here?" she suddenly asked.
"The Queen Mother is also ill." Prince Rui replied intriguingly.
Jiang Lan continued to ask, "What about His Royal Highness the Crown Prince?"
"Are you interrogating a prisoner?" King Rui said in a long tone, his eyes becoming sinister again. "Do you think you can act so recklessly in front of me?"
Jiang Lan stopped talking.
King Rui asked her to stand until almost dawn before letting her leave. When Jiang Lan came out, her legs were still a little numb. She raised her hand and pounded her legs. King Rui's voice lingered behind her again.
"Take her to the ink pond."
Prince Rui gave an order to his personal bodyguard Lu Ci, and Lu Ci left with Jiang Lan.
"Where is Mochi?" Jiang Lan asked on the way.
Lu Ci replied, "Madam, you'll know when you get there."
"Your Highness, are you going to put me under house arrest?" Jiang Lan sneered.
Lu Ci replied, "Madam, you're worrying too much."
Jiang Lan looked around and saw guards everywhere. The entire palace seemed like a prison.
It was only when she passed by the Imperial Garden that she saw the figures of palace servants moving around, but they were all in a hurry, with their heads down and not daring to raise them.
After walking for a while, the palace maids disappeared from sight.
The Mo Chi is located at the westernmost end of the palace, in a secluded location. If it weren't for the two big words "Mo Chi" written on the plaque at the door, Jiang Lan would have thought it was a cold palace.
There were two guards guarding the door, which was closed.
Lu Chi walked over and pushed open the door, gesturing to Jiang Lan to come in. She looked inside and saw that the yard was full of guards, like a cage.
"Is there anyone living here?"
"Madam, please go in first."
After entering, Lu Ci led her to a room in the back and asked her to stay there first, and someone would bring breakfast to her later.
After Lu Ci left, Jiang Lan walked around and was about to go to the backyard when she was stopped by two guards guarding the door.
"Is there anyone else living here?"
The two guards didn't answer. She raised her hands to her mouth and shouted inside, "Is anyone there?" The two guards were startled and drew their swords to scare her away. Jiang Lan asked them again who lived inside, but they still didn't tell her.
She waited at the door to see if anyone would come.
After a while, someone came over.
A young eunuch came over and looked at Jiang Lan with some surprise, then said to her, "Keep your voice down and don't disturb my master playing chess."
"Who is your master?" Jiang Lan asked curiously.
"Then who are you?" the young eunuch asked.
"I am the wife of Marquis Jin'an." Jiang Lan first gave her name.
The young eunuch asked curiously, "Then what are you doing here?"
"Don't ask so many questions." A guard scolded.
The young eunuch was so frightened that he ran away muttering to himself.
Jiang Lan stood there and thought silently for a while, then left.
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