Chapter 37: Favor
Ji Changqing didn't know what she was thinking, and was confused by her pitying look.
The next day, during the court session, he walked to the corridor to look out into the distance during a break and overheard two old men who had just returned from the palace toilet whispering:
"I was so choked up just now. If Your Majesty had rested a quarter of an hour later, I would have peed myself."
"Did you get up early and have porridge?"
"Alas, I've been getting up a lot lately and haven't dared to drink water at night. I woke up at four in the morning, thirsty and hungry, so I asked someone to heat up two bowls of porridge for me. Who knew..."
"That's what happens when you get older. I need to see a doctor. I heard there's a doctor named Zhang in the west of the city who's very good at strengthening the kidneys."
…
Ji Changqing's breathing stopped.
He realized belatedly that Feng Qingsui was pitying him last night because he had weak kidneys and couldn't handle even a few more sips of soup.
With a "snap", something was broken by him.
The palace maid beside her was struck by lightning.
"Prime Minister, the Dragon Claw..."
Ji Changqing looked down and saw that he was holding a claw tip in his hand, and beside him was a dragon pillar with a claw missing.
“…”
He was silent for a moment, and then comforted the palace maid: "I will confess my crime to His Majesty."
The palace ladies were disheveled in the wind.
Is this a matter of confession?
This is the Panlong that has been guarding the palace gate for hundreds of years!
How can you just break someone's claws?
Hey, if Your Majesty knew, he would not take off this man’s official hat.
Unexpectedly, after Ji Changqing reported the misfortune he had caused, the emperor did not get angry, but instead joked, "Since you broke it off, I will leave it to you to repair it."
Ji Changqing agreed.
After the court session, he used some unknown method to put the claw tip back in place, and there was no visible trace of the break.
However, the court officials had a new understanding of his great favor.
"Let's just give him two less books in the future."
"I have to remind those evildoers at home that it's better to offend the Crown Prince than to offend Ji Changqing!"
"If this man didn't have a face like that of a Ji family member, I would have suspected that he was His Majesty's illegitimate son."
…
Feng Qingsui knew nothing about the little episode in the palace. When Ji Changqing broke the dragon claw, she was interrogating in the outer city.
The people on trial were naturally Hua Ling's adoptive parents.
These two men had just been knocked unconscious by Wuhua, had their hands and feet tied, and had their eyes blindfolded, and had just woken up.
"Where is the child?"
Feng Qingsui asked in a false voice.
The two of them asked in confusion, "What child?"
"The child you adopted."
The two men reacted: "The child is missing. We just reported the case to the police yesterday, but they still haven't found him. I wonder which beggar kidnapped him."
"These words are for you to fool others, not me. You took my money and hid the child. Do you think your life is too long?"
The two looked stunned.
Wuhua put the long knife on their necks.
The two men hurriedly said, "It's unfair. We did as you said and sent the child to the City God Temple and then returned home. Didn't you take the child away?"
"Which City God Temple was it sent to?"
"The one on Wuliu Street, the one you guys specified."
After the two of them finished talking, they felt a little strange. It was clearly the other party who set the location, so why were they asking them back?
Feng Qingsui didn't give them a chance to think, and asked several more questions. After that, he asked Wuhua to knock them out again.
Then we rushed to the City God Temple on Wuliu Street.
The temple was not big and had a layout similar to that of an ordinary courtyard house. The two searched inside and out but found nothing unusual.
It is estimated that this is just a disposable meeting place for the person who set up the trap.
The person who set up the scheme was very cautious. He never had any direct contact with the couple from beginning to end. He just took advantage of their desire to get something for nothing and used money secretly to coax them into going to the orphanage to adopt a child and send it to a designated location.
"Since the person behind this has such ability, why doesn't he just kidnap the children from the Salesian Home?"
Wuhua said in confusion.
"Maybe it's more secretive this way." Feng Qingsui replied.
Wuhua still couldn't figure it out: "It's not easy to kidnap children in the countryside and get discovered. Besides, they have silver and can buy them with silver."
"You have a point."
Feng Qingsui also began to think about it.
Suddenly I remembered what the couple of villains who adopted me said: "There is no such beauty in the countryside."
She didn't know what the other missing children looked like, she only knew that Hua Ling was fair-skinned and well-behaved, and was a beauty.
My heart sank involuntarily.
He has kidnapped so many children, all of whom are good-looking. It is obvious that these children will not have a good ending.
Who could have done this?
She was full of doubts and was distracted by them when she went to Rongchang Marquis' Mansion in the afternoon to accompany Wei for a walk.
"I feel a little sick in my stomach. I need to go to the toilet."
When they reached the edge of Moon Lake, Wei suddenly said.
Feng Qingsui nodded: "I'll wait for you here."
Wei walked away quickly with her maid.
Yue Lake was frozen over, a vast expanse of white. Feng Qingsui walked to the Nine-Curve Bridge, pondering things as he walked towards the center of the lake, and unknowingly reached the other side.
On the other side of the river is the guest house of Rongchang Marquis Mansion.
As soon as she stood still, two guards came out of the guest house and shouted expressionlessly, "No passing here."
Seeing that the two guards were not dressed like people from Rongchang Marquis Mansion, her eyes flashed.
"Sorry, I was just thinking about something and didn't expect to come here."
After explaining a few words, she turned and walked back.
At this time, Fang noticed that there was a servant standing in the southwest corner of Yuehu Lake. He was bending over to pick up the fish that jumped out of the ice hole and throwing them into a half-meter-high wooden barrel beside him.
As soon as they walked back to the lake, Wei came back with her maid.
"Sorry to have kept you waiting."
Feng Qingsui smiled slightly: "Are you feeling better?"
"It's okay." Wei's face was full of relief, as if she had just finished defecating. "Let's keep going."
Feng Qingsui said hello.
As they walked, he told her about what had just happened: "While waiting for you, I accidentally walked to the other side of the bridge. Suddenly, two guards with swords appeared. I was startled. I didn't expect that the guards in your guest house are even stricter than those in the main courtyard."
"Guards?" Wei was stunned at first, then she remembered something and smiled, "They should be the Crown Prince's men."
Feng Qingsui suddenly felt heavy-hearted.
"Is His Royal Highness the Crown Prince in the mansion?"
Wei nodded. "His Highness often comes to visit the old lady at the mansion, so the old lady naturally invites him to dinner. He has the habit of taking a nap after dinner, so a courtyard in the guest house is specially reserved for him."
"Your Highness the Crown Prince is truly a filial person."
Feng Qingsui praised him, but he felt more and more uneasy in his heart.
"That's right. Whenever there's fresh food in the palace, he never forgets to send a portion to the old lady. The old lady loves him much more than all the other grandchildren in the mansion."
As they were talking, the two of them walked to the southwest corner of Yuehu Lake.
The boy who picked up the fish had disappeared. The wind blew across the ice, bringing with it a slight smell of fish and corpses.
Feng Qingsui could tell that the stench was not from dead fish or shrimp, but from a rotting human body.
He said calmly, "Just now I saw someone picking up fish here. The fish was very fresh and wanted to jump out of the bucket. The people in the mansion are in for a treat."
Wei laughed out loud.
"That fish is not for us to eat, it's for the tiger raised by the prince."
He continued, "We used to eat fish from this lake, but ever since the prince got that tiger as a pet two years ago, he doesn't allow us to eat any fish, saying that all the fish belong to his tiger."
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