Chapter 45 Red Eagle 2 "Good morning, Your Highness."
The next morning, Zhu Song opened his eyes upon hearing a noise, and his gaze was fixed on Wen Fengxuan, who was lying on the bed not far away. Wen Fengxuan was very surprised to see him and sat up suddenly, "Sir?"
Zhu Song had guessed this would happen, so he wasn't surprised. He calmly replied, "Good morning, Your Highness."
Wen Fengxuan glanced around, frowning with a look of annoyance. "Did I do something last night?"
Zhu Song had already prepared an excuse. "No. It's just that His Highness was drunk, and I was worried, so I turned back."
"Oh, so that's how it is." Wen Fengxuan lowered his eyes and said nothing more, looking unhappy. Zhu Song sighed softly, "Your Highness, do you still want to leave the capital with me?"
Wen Fengxuan raised his eyes to look at him, "What do you mean, sir?"
Zhu Song said: "I want to hear your Highness's thoughts."
Wen Fengxuan replied, "Of course I really want to leave the capital with you, sir."
Zhu Song said, "It is indeed as Your Highness thought. I am indeed leaving the capital to investigate Yi Kangning. If Your Highness wishes to go with me, please agree to one condition."
Wen Fengxuan nodded and said, "Please speak, sir."
"I want Your Highness to stop drinking."
Wen Fengxuan's eyes flickered, a hint of doubt in his eyes. "Last night..."
Zhu Song stopped his wandering thoughts, "Last night was fine, but I'm worried there might be trouble in the future. I wonder if Your Highness would agree to this?"
Just as Wen Fengxuan was about to speak, Zhu Song changed his mind. "I think it's not appropriate for Your Highness to give up drinking. I'd like to change it to require that I be present if Your Highness wants to drink. What do you think?"
Wen Fengxuan agreed readily, "I promise, sir."
Even though Zhu Song had already anticipated this answer, he still felt happy when he heard Wen Fengxuan say it himself. "I will leave the capital in three days. I wonder how Your Highness will leave the capital?"
Wen Fengxuan said, "I have a plan. Your Excellency, don't worry. However, we cannot leave the capital together. We need to meet outside the city."
Zhu Song didn't ask any more questions, but simply said, "I'll be waiting for Your Highness at the Shili Pavilion outside the city in three days."
Wen Fengxuan said, "It's a deal."
Zhu Song also said: "It's a deal."
After a moment of silence, Zhu Song said, "It is not advisable to stay here for long. Your Highness should return early."
Wen Fengxuan nodded, then asked, "What about the adults?"
Zhu Song replied, "Ling Ye will come to pick me up, Your Highness, don't worry."
"Okay, then we'll see you in three days."
"See you in three days."
Not long after Wen Fengxuan left, Zhu Lingye's voice rang out quietly at the door, "Brother?"
Zhu Song closed his eyes and replied, "Come in."
The next moment, hurried footsteps approached, and Zhu Lingye asked in a low voice: "Why are you alone? Where is the prince?"
Zhu Song opened his eyes tiredly and looked at him. "Let's go back." He stretched out his hand to him and said, "Help me."
Zhu Lingye helped him walk out, and only after he got on the carriage did he anxiously ask, "Brother, did the prince have a reaction to the poison last night?"
Zhu Song hadn't figured out how to explain it to him yet, but he had already built the stairs himself. Zhu Song naturally went down the stairs, "Yeah."
"I knew it." Zhu Lingye felt a sense of pride as he understood everything, and then asked, "Then why are you going there? You don't know how to detoxify."
Zhu Song opened his mouth and said, "Xie Ningyuan didn't know what was going on, so he asked me to go back and see him. I knew it was the poison. After sending Xie Ningyuan away, I knocked the prince unconscious. After he slept for a night, the poison was temporarily suppressed."
Zhu Lingye was shocked, "That's it?"
Zhu Song asked, "What else? I don't know how to detoxify."
Zhu Lingye asked, "What if the poison attacks again?"
Zhu Song replied as a matter of course, "So, I thought about it all night and decided to trick His Highness into leaving the capital with me."
"Huh?" It's no exaggeration to say that Zhu Lingye's mouth could fit an egg at this moment, and it had to be the kind with double yolks. But he recovered in just a moment, "Didn't you refuse last night?"
Zhu Song glanced at him and replied calmly, "I changed my mind."
Zhu Lingye still didn't quite understand. "He's now the legitimate Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace. Does he really want to take the risk of leaving the capital with you?"
"He agreed."
Zhu Lingye was surprised for a moment before he asked, "He agreed. Can the Emperor agree?"
Zhu Song said: "I don't know."
Zhu Lingye was very confident, "The Emperor will definitely not agree."
Zhu Song hoped the Emperor wouldn't agree, but he felt that Wen Fengxuan's confident look meant he must have already figured out a plan. Thinking of this, Zhu Song couldn't help but purse his lips and smile. Stone-filled buns were simply rarer than ordinary ones.
Zhu Lingye looked at Zhu Song suspiciously, "What are you laughing at?"
Zhu Song didn't respond, but just said, "I plan to take you with me."
Zhu Lingye was of course willing to do this. "Okay, okay, I'll go to the palace today."
Zhu Song hadn't slept all night and was extremely sleepy. He yawned and said, "Okay, I'll take a nap. Call me when you get home."
Zhu Lingye nodded hurriedly, "Yeah."
Zhu Song had good food and drink at home and took the best medicine for three days. The wound was basically scarred and there was no need to change the dressing every day. Except that he couldn't use too much force, there was no serious problem.
Early in the morning of the third day, Zhu Song took Zhu Lingye and prepared to go out.
Before leaving, Meng Xiaohe stuffed dozens of amulets into his pockets and told him to take care of himself over and over again. Zhu Song and Zhu Lingye listened patiently, but Zhu Jingchen couldn't stand it any longer. "Alright, alright, we won't be gone for long. If you keep dawdling, it will be dark."
Meng Xiaohe said unhappily, "It's better not to go now that it's dark. It would be better if you could find the miracle doctor for your son. Then I wouldn't be so worried anymore."
Zhu Jingchen looked dissatisfied, "You won't worry if I go. What kind of words are you talking about?"
Zhu Song tried to smooth things over, "Mom just said she wasn't that worried, but she's still worried."
Zhu Lingye said, "Let's go."
Zhu Jingchen waved his hand, "Go early and come back early."
"That sounds like human language." Meng Xiaohe muttered, then took Zhu Song's hand and repeatedly reminded him, "Be sure to come back soon."
Zhu Song nodded, "Don't worry, I'll be back in two months at the latest if I can't find Su Li."
Meng Xiaohe's eyebrows were full of reluctance, "How about I go with you? I'm really worried about you two going together."
Zhu Jingchen simply took Meng Xiaohe's hand and said to Zhu Song, "Don't listen to your mother's nonsense. Let's go."
Zhu Song and Zhu Lingye turned and left, with Meng Xiaohe's furious voice behind them. The two smiled at each other, got into the carriage and left.
At the city gate, Zhu Lingye saw Gu Huaiyu and Qu Zhoubai from afar and greeted them loudly, "Brother Huaiyu, Brother Zhoubai."
The two men smiled and waved to him. When they came up, Zhu Lingye jumped out of the carriage. Zhu Song did not get out, but just lifted the curtain to look in. He said to the two men, "I've already given you these instructions for three days. Do you still have to come and see me off?"
Gu Huaiyu sighed pretentiously, "Ah, I'm just worried that someone might take the risk."
Zhu Lingye took over and said, "Don't worry, I will definitely support my brother."
Zhu Song said angrily, "What are you talking about, you little brat?" Then he said to the two of them, "Alright, go back. I'm leaving."
Gu Huaiyu also straightened his expression and said, "Write to us if you have anything."
Qu Zhoubai echoed, "That's right, keep in touch."
Zhu Song raised his chin and said, "Don't worry, you won't be idle when there's work to do."
Gu Huaiyu said: "Be careful on the road."
Qu Zhoubai said: "We are waiting for your good news in the capital."
"Um."
Being ignored, Zhu Lingye was a little unhappy. "Hey, talk to me. My brother is not the only one who's away on a long trip."
Qu Zhoubai smiled and punched him in the chest. Zhu Lingye was immediately happy. He hugged Qu Zhoubai and patted his back. Qu Zhoubai said, "Take care."
After letting go, Zhu Lingye looked at Gu Huaiyu and stretched out his hand to signal, "Brother Huaiyu."
Gu Huaiyu hugged him and patted his back a few times, "Have a safe trip." As he spoke, he caught Zhu Song's eye, let go of Zhu Lingye and said to him, "Come and hug me too?"
Zhu Song scoffed, "Boring."
Gu Huaiyu clenched his fist and placed it against the window. Zhu Song closed his eyes helplessly, then clenched his fist towards him.
"And me." Seeing this, Qu Zhoubai also clenched his fist and confronted him.
"Okay, let's go." Zhu Lingye got on the carriage, raised his chin at the two people standing side by side, and drove out of the city.
After walking for half a day, they arrived at the Shili Pavilion outside the city. Zhu Lingye walked around the deserted Shili Pavilion before saying to Zhu Song, "It's confirmed. There's no one there."
Zhu Song said: "No hurry."
The two waited from the scorching sun to the setting sun. Zhu Lingye was almost going crazy from being bitten by mosquitoes, but he still hadn't shown up. Zhu Lingye asked again, "Did they say how long we have to wait? If he doesn't show up, do we have to keep waiting?"
Zhu Song was so sure that Wen Fengxuan would come that he hadn't agreed on a maximum waiting time. But after waiting for so long, his patience was beginning to run out. "Go back at night and get some information."
Zhu Lingye frowned when he heard this, "No agreement?"
Zhu Song said: "No."
Mosquitoes were flying around, biting Zhu Lingye, who didn't want to stay here any longer, so he said, "Then I'll go back now."
Zhu Song got off the carriage, and Zhu Lingye rode away on his horse without a trace.
Zhu Song walked to the pavilion and sat down. As the sun set, the brilliant clouds on the horizon dyed the entire sky red, beautiful and stunning. Zhu Song leaned against a pillar to admire the scenery, and couldn't help but think of Wen Fengxuan. Although he couldn't say what the connection was, he just thought of Wen Fengxuan.
It was a summer wonder. The moon was already hanging in the sky before it got dark. Zhu Song looked at the moon covered in silver light and felt that the moonlight matched Wen Fengxuan very well.
Well, the first time I met Wen Fengxuan was under the witness of the moon.
Just think about it, he and Wen Fengxuan have only known each other for less than a month, and so many things have happened. Now they are going to leave Beijing together to investigate a case. It is really unbelievable.
The sky grew darker and darker, until only moonlight remained, bright white and gentle.
It would have been more pleasant if the mosquitoes hadn't bitten people. Just as Zhu Song was about to get into the carriage to avoid the mosquitoes, a speeding carriage appeared in his sight.
The carriage approached quickly. Xie Ningyuan jumped off and looked at the remaining carriage on the ground. He asked curiously, "Did Master Zhu's horse run away?"
Zhu Song said: "Ling Ye has returned to the city for something."
Xie Ningyuan asked: "Should we still wait for him?"
Zhu Song guessed, "He should be back soon."
Xie Ningyuan nodded, "I'll go tell the Master."
Zhu Song warned, "There are a lot of mosquitoes outside, tell him not to get out of the car."
"good."
Just as Xie Ningyuan returned to the carriage, the sound of galloping horses was heard again. Zhu Song looked up and saw that it was Zhu Lingye.
Zhu Lingye came hurriedly, threw away the reins at the Shili Pavilion, jumped off his horse, and walked quickly to Zhu Song. "Oh no! The prince has been poisoned and is dying."
Zhu Song frowned and turned his head to look at the carriage. Zhu Lingye followed his gaze and saw Xie Ningyuan. He asked in surprise, "Why are you here?"
Xie Ningyuan replied, "Sir, it's alright, let's go."
Zhu Songshi was worried, "I'll go and take a look." After saying that, he forcefully pushed Xie Ningyuan away and got on the carriage.
In the car, Wen Fengxuan leaned weakly against the carriage, his lips black, and a young man next to him was feeding him soup.
"Your Highness." His appearance reminded Zhu Song of the time when he ate oleander, with the same signs. While feeling worried, he also realized that his last departure from Beijing was also deliberate.
Wen Fengxuan opened his eyes, met Zhu Song's worried gaze, and said softly, "Don't worry, sir. I'm fine."
The man next to him also echoed, "Dr. Su still has some dragon bones left from last time. Young Master has already used them. He will be fine after a night's rest."
Although Zhu Song was full of doubts about Wen Fengxuan's weakness, he did not ask any more questions. He just said, "Have a good rest," and got off the carriage.
Zhu Song ordered, "There is a town five miles ahead. We will rest there tonight."
Xie Ningyuan nodded, "You guys go ahead, I'll follow the car."
Zhu Lingye responded and drove forward after Zhu Song got into the carriage.
After walking for 25 minutes, they arrived at the town and checked into the inn smoothly. Because Wen Fengxuan's appearance was too eye-catching, he wore a mask when he got off the car. The young man helped him into the inn. Zhu Song walked behind them. Looking at the young man's back, he felt that he was very familiar. He turned his head to look at Zhu Lingye.
Zhu Lingye followed his gaze and whispered, "He is your highness's attendant, Li Qiutong."
It turned out that he was Li Qiuting, and it was this word "li" that made Zhu Song realize who Li Qiuting's back looked like.
Su Li, exactly the same. But the similarity in their backs wasn't surprising either. When he and Zhu Lingye walked together, it was impossible to tell who was who from behind.
The night passed without a word, and Zhu Song woke up at dawn the next day. It was misty outside, and the air was very fresh. Zhu Song stood by the bed for a while to stretch his body, and then knocked on the door next door after hearing a noise.
Soon the door opened and Wen Fengxuan stood in the room. Although his face was still a little pale, his lips were no longer black. It seemed that the poison had been removed.
"morning."
Wen Fengxuan nodded in response and stepped aside to allow Zhu Song to walk in. The two sat down opposite each other. Wen Fengxuan poured Zhu Song a glass of water and said, "Ask whatever you want, sir."
Zhu Song said: "When you are out, Your Highness should just call me by my name."
Wen Fengxuan said, "If you don't mind, I can call you brother according to your age, okay?"
Zhu Song quickly waved his hands, "Your Highness, please excuse me."
Wen Fengxuan said, "Since Your Excellency minds, may I call you by your courtesy name?"
Zhu Song said, "Then I will call His Highness Young Master."
Wen Fengxuan nodded.
After the small talk, Zhu Song originally wanted to ask him why he chose such a dangerous method to leave the capital last time, but now he thought that he did not seem to be qualified to ask this question, so he turned to talk about his plan to leave the capital this time.
"Yi Kangning is from Ninglang County. I plan to go to Ninglang County first on this trip."
Wen Fengxuan said: "All listen to Yafeng."
It was obviously a very ordinary sentence, but Zhu Song felt that the two words "Yafeng" sounded so charming and elegant when spoken by Wen Fengxuan that it made people's ears numb.
Zhu Song coughed lightly to cover up his mistake. "There's no time to lose. Let's have breakfast and go."
Wen Fengxuan said: "Okay."
After breakfast, the group went to their respective carriages and headed for Ninglang County.
Ninglang County is in Qingzhou, a thousand miles away from Beijing. It took the group seven days to reach their destination.
After a tiring journey, they arrived in Ninglang County and had a good night's rest. The next morning, the group met in Wen Fengxuan's room. Zhu Song said, "When I arrived yesterday, I heard people in the lobby talking about the Jizhou dam case. As the person involved, Yi Kangning must be the center of discussion. Let's go out and about today. We're sure to get some useful information."
No one had any objection, and after breakfast, everyone went out.
Just as Zhu Song thought, the Jizhou case had a huge impact and people were talking about it everywhere on the streets. And in Ninglang County, as Yi Kangning's hometown, people were discussing him much more than Duan Zhenghong.
Zhu Song sat down at a small noodle stall. It was already past breakfast time and there were few customers at the stall.
When the boss saw Zhu Song sitting down, he greeted him warmly, "Hey, what would you like to eat?"
Zhu Song asked, "What is it?"
The boss introduced: "Soft whistle, spicy chicken, shredded pork, pickled cabbage."
Zhu Song said: "Come on, a soft whistle."
"Okay."
While I was waiting, another customer sat down. It was obvious that he was a regular customer. "Give me some spicy chicken noodles."
"Okay."
Zhu Song looked at the man and asked, "Brother, I heard people talking about Yi Kangning all the way into the city today. Who is this person?"
The man replied, "Oh, don't mention it. The corrupt official who left here was investigated a while ago, and the news only reached us yesterday."
Zhu Song was surprised. "How high of an official must he be to have the whole town talking about him?"
The man said, "This is the Governor of Jizhou. How high of an official is he?"
Zhu Song was even more surprised, and even lowered his voice, "Really? A governor from Ninglang?"
The man said, "What's so deceptive about this?"
Zhu Song said, "He has only been in office for a few years. I think Ninglang has not changed much in recent years. If he is really the governor from Ninglang, he will definitely give back to his hometown."
The man waved his hand and said, "Oh, don't tell me. He has been the governor of Jizhou for twenty years and has never returned once."
Zhu Song was curious, "Ah, why? Is it possible that his family treats him badly?"
The man's speech slowed down. "You can't say it's bad."
As he was talking, the boss came over with noodles, "Here are the noodles, enjoy yourselves."
After the boss put the noodles on the table, Zhu Song took out a piece of silver and said, "This brother, pay for it together."
The man was surprised and said, "Oh, how can this be so embarrassing."
Zhu Song smiled and said, "It's okay, meeting is fate."
The man also smiled and said, "It's fate."
The boss handed the change to Zhu Song and sat down beside him, chatting with them. "Yi Kangning was the only son in the family and was very much loved. When he was four, his father went to Suzhou to purchase goods. He couldn't bear to leave his father and insisted on going with him, so his father took him with him. However, on the way back, he encountered bandits and was not found until two years later. His family said that his personality changed drastically, and he probably started to hate his father from that time."
The guest continued, "He insisted on going, so you can't blame his father for that."
The boss said, "You can imagine what happened to him after he was captured by bandits. I heard that when he was found, he was as thin as a skeleton and couldn't speak."
The guest said, "If his family hadn't given up looking for him, he would have died out there long ago and could have even become an official. But now it seems that it would have been better for him to have died out there then."
Zhu Song added, "Regret is more valuable than medicine."
The guest said, "I regret it now. When we found it, the Yi family was so happy that they threw a huge banquet. It lasted for three days and three nights."
Zhu Song asked, "Is the Yi family so rich?"
The guest said, "I have a little money."
Zhu Song chatted for a while but didn't get any new news, so he finished his noodles and left. He walked around the street and got similar news, so he returned to the inn around noon.
Zhu Song was the first to come back. He ordered lunch to be sent to the room. After a while, everyone came back one after another.
Zhusong didn't feel hungry at all after eating all morning, while the others were just chatting and were so hungry that they started eating as soon as they came back without saying a word.
After dinner, everyone started to exchange news.
Everyone had similar information, only Li Qiuting and Yi Kangning's uncle had heard some additional news.
"His uncle said that the child they found back then actually didn't look like Yi Kangning at all."
Zhu Song asked, "No? Was he replaced by someone else?"
Zhu Song took out Yi Kangning's note, spread it on the table, and read it word by word.
'Bedtime Story
The little rabbit's home was very poor, with earthen walls that were drafty on all sides. Fortunately, he had many brothers and sisters, so they could huddle together for warmth.
The sun is so bright, why are they all gone? Only the little rabbit is left.
The little rabbit heard the eagle's cry and was so scared that it crawled into the snake's skin.
After walking a long, long way, it finally found shelter.
Oops, this isn't a forest.
The tiger opened its bloody mouth and there were words on its forehead: one, two.
Three hundred miles east of Jishan,
As he was reading, he suddenly pointed to one of the sentences, "The little rabbit heard the eagle's cry, and was so scared that it crawled into the snake's skin."
"The little rabbit crawled into the snake skin. Does this mean that he is no longer a little rabbit, but has become a snake? And does this also mean that Yi Kangning has replaced the real Yi Kangning?"
Everyone looked at each other, and Wen Fengxuan nodded and said affirmatively: "I think this should be the case. Otherwise, the previous explanation does not make sense. Yi Kangning is an only child and has no brothers or sisters at all."
Zhu Song understood immediately, "This thing is Yi Kangning's experience. The little rabbit refers to Yi Kangning himself. From the information we have, we can infer that this 'shelter' should be the capital, and 'a long, long way' refers to the scientific expedition."
Wen Fengxuan nodded. "'Oops, this isn't a forest,'" he said, referring to the fact that officialdom wasn't as easy as he had expected.
"Yes, Tiger should refer to a high-ranking official. But what does 'words on the forehead, one or two' mean?"
Zhu Lingye was finally able to join in the conversation, "Isn't there just one character '王' on the tiger's head? How can there be two characters? Could the '一' and '二' on it mean '王'?"
Zhu Song thought for a moment and rejected his statement. "The year he passed the imperial examination, the emperor had only been on the throne for three years, and he only had two sons, Prince Jin and Prince Xian. Not to mention that they hadn't even been crowned kings at the time. They were only three or four-year-old children, and there was no way they could be tigers with bloody mouths."
Zhu Lingye also felt that what he said made sense. How could a three or four-year-old prince who was still wetting the bed be a man-eating tiger?
Xie Ningyuan speculated, "Could it be because he was later crowned king that he was referred to this way?"
Wen Fengxuan immediately denied his guess, "Since it is written according to time, such confusion is impossible."
Zhu Song felt that what Wen Fengxuan said made sense, but since he couldn't deduce it now, he could only move forward.
"He also wrote about what happened in the past, which shows that the past was also very important."
"Ah!" Wen Fengxuan suddenly exclaimed in surprise. Everyone looked over. Wen Fengxuan pointed at the sentence 'Why are they all gone?' and said, "This is the only question in the whole article. Every question has an answer."
"This answer is the password." Zhu Song understood it immediately and gave Wen Fengxuan a thumbs up, "Great."
Wen Fengxuan smiled modestly, "It just suddenly occurred to me."
"Then let's go to Ganning Township now."
Forty-three years ago, this was the place where Yi Kangning was captured by bandits.
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