Chapter 3468 Extra Prince 7
Old Master Tang stared at him for a moment, then asked, "Eunuch Gu, who do you think would be the best person to investigate in the palace?"
"Of course it's the Empress." Gu Zhong said without hesitation: "The Empress is the master of the harem. Is there anyone more suitable than her?"
Old Master Tang nodded slightly, turned around and was about to leave when he suddenly turned back to look at Gu Zhong, "Eunuch Gu, do you have anything else to say?"
Gu Zhong paused and said, "I have served Your Majesty all my life, and I only care about Your Majesty in my heart and eyes. I don't know if I can walk out of the Dali Temple alive, but I still want to know good news from Your Majesty."
"If Minister Tang is kind enough, please allow our disciple to go and see His Majesty, and then come back to learn from me, so that we can rest assured."
Old Master Tang thought for a moment and nodded, "Okay."
So Gu Cai, who was imprisoned in another cell, was released. When he was dragged to the torture room to see Gu Zhong, he was terrified, "Godfather, godfather, what's wrong with you..."
Gu Zhong looked at him and said, "Why are you panicking? We are in the palace, and we have seen all kinds of storms and waves."
He said, "This is the first time I've been away from His Majesty for so long. Go back and see if Lord Zhou has revived His Majesty. Whether he has or not, please come and let me know so I can have peace of mind after you leave."
Gu Cai agreed with tears in his eyes and was dragged out.
As soon as Gu Cai left, Jia Qi came out from another place, turned his head to glance at Gu Zhong in the torture chamber, and sneered, "Isn't Prime Minister Tang afraid that letting the little devil into the mortal world will muddy the waters outside?"
Old Master Tang remained calm and said, "If you want to quickly ascertain the facts, torture alone won't do. Fishing in murky waters requires skill. With so many officials in the Dali Temple and the Ministry of Justice, they won't be easily deceived, right?"
"Does Prime Minister Tang really believe that he was wronged?"
Old Master Tang turned and walked away, his hands behind his back. "I don't believe it. I doubt everyone, including you."
He said, "I also believe everyone, including you. So I only look at the evidence."
On the surface, the existing evidence is very unfavorable to Gu Zhong, but Lord Tang is an expert in criminal cases and he also sees that a lot of the evidence here can be fabricated, and some things appeared too quickly and they obtained them too easily.
Jia Qi said nothing more and followed Lord Tang to the front hall, waiting for the leaders from various departments to come and interrogate the prisoner together.
Gu Cai was sent back to the palace.
It was already late at night when he returned to the palace, and the palace gates had been locked for a long time. However, because the emperor was seriously ill and the empress needed to keep in touch with the front hall at all times, an emergency passage was opened for people to enter and exit.
Unfortunately, Gu Cai's status was not high enough to allow him to use this passage, so he spent the middle of the night leaning against the palace gate. When the morning bell rang and the palace gate was unlocked, he tidied his clothes and hurriedly passed through the newly opened palace gate to the Taiji Hall.
Zhou Man woke up as soon as the bell rang. She turned her stiff neck, rubbed her arms and looked at the emperor on the bed. Seeing that he was still sleeping soundly, she reached out to feel his pulse and shook her head at Xiao Yuanzheng, who had also just woken up and was walking towards her.
Xiao Yuanzheng didn't believe it and stepped forward and called softly, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, it's time to get up."
The emperor didn't even frown.
Xiao Yuanzheng: "If you don't get up now, it will be too late to go to court."
Zhou Man immediately sat up straight on the couch and leaned over it to look carefully. "Look, did he frown?"
Xiao Yuanzheng looked carefully and was also surprised, "It seems to be true."
The two immediately continued their efforts. One of them said, "Your Majesty, listen, the morning bell has rung. If you don't get up now, you will be late for court."
One said, "All the officials are waiting for you. There are many memorials piled up on the desk."
The emperor's brows tightened. Zhou Man and Xiao Yuan were watching with great excitement. They said excitedly, "It works. Keep going. Keep going."
But no matter what they said next, the emperor just frowned and did not wake up. Even his brows slowly relaxed, and he was not as reactive as he was at the beginning.
Zhou Man and Xiao Yuanzheng slowly stopped and looked at him with regret, "Forget it, let him sleep for a while."
There was a noise outside, and a large palace maid hurried in, bowing and saying, "Master Zhou, Dean Xiao, Master Xiao Gu is here. Should we ask him to come in?"
Xiao Yuanzheng was puzzled, "What is he doing here?" And why should he report to him?
"It is Lord Daigu who has come to see His Majesty."
Zhou Man said, "Please invite him in."
Gu Cai came in with his head lowered. He had first returned to his room to change into clean clothes and comb his hair again. He looked quite energetic. He walked to the dragon bed, knelt down, and kowtowed to Xiao Yuanzheng Zhou Man. He whispered, "Prime Minister Tang, please allow me to enter the palace to see His Majesty on behalf of Lord Gu."
Xiao Yuan was frowning.
Zhou Man had already stepped aside and said, "Just look."
Xiao Yuanzheng and Gu Cai: ...
Gu Cai paused and raised his head, his eyes quickly scanning the bed, not daring to look directly at the emperor. His eyes mainly fell on Zhou Man, but he only glanced at him once before lowering his head. "Please tell me about His Majesty's condition, so that I can go back and report back and reassure you, Lord Gu."
Zhou Man sighed and said, "Not much has changed. He's still unconscious."
Gu Cai was a little anxious, "Is there no way for you to wake up His Majesty?"
Zhou Man and Xiao Yuanzheng looked at each other and realized that there was.
Not only does she have it, Xiao Yuanzheng also has it. If he really wants to wake up a sleeping person, it is possible as long as the other person is not a living dead.
But the cost of forcing the person to wake up is also high. It is not a matter of life and death. If the emperor is not awakened, the entire dynasty will be destroyed. How can they make such a gamble with the emperor's life?
This kind of acupuncture that can wake a person up but also kill him is called the life and death acupuncture. After one needle is inserted, the person wakes up, and when the needle is removed, the person dies soon after.
This is also one of the unspoken rules of the Imperial Medical Service: no life-threatening acupuncture will be used unless it is absolutely necessary.
So Zhou Man simply shook his head and said, "There is no good solution for now."
Gu Cai wiped his tears and started crying. Zhou Man saw the bloodstains on the back of his hand. She frowned slightly and simply stood up. "Your Majesty is still sleeping. You should go first."
After saying that, he walked out.
Gu Cai remembered the purpose of this trip and quickly got up and followed him out.
When they got outside, Gu Cai looked around nervously. Zhou Man said silently, "Don't look around. This isn't your first time working in the palace. You're more familiar with this Taiji Hall than I am. Now that the Empress is in charge, where can you hide? Just tell me what you want to say."
Really hiding will only arouse more suspicion.
Gu Cai fell to his knees and said, "Please, Master Zhou, save my godfather. He is truly wronged."
He wiped his tears and said, "My godfather and I did accept benefits from Lady Liu, but we only allowed her to meet His Majesty. Apart from that, we didn't do anything else."
Zhou Man was still confused and asked, "Who is Lady Liu? His Majesty has been ill for a while, and I've been watching over him the whole time. I haven't seen any beautiful women."
Apart from the empress, only a few high-ranking concubines such as the imperial concubine would come to see the emperor from time to time, but she was there most of the time, just sitting and chatting, talking about the children, and reminiscing about the past. Nothing much happened.
"It's not something that happened recently, it happened five years ago."
There was something wrong with the timeline last night. I looked back and saw that it skipped in the middle, so it should be five years.
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