Chapter 170 (Chapter 170) - The Second Son's Desperate Measures...
This alley is mostly lined with shops, so it's quite congested and cluttered with a lot of miscellaneous items.
As Qi Chengming looked up, he saw the high railing break, and shattered stones, wood chips, and sharp fragments of flowerpots scattered and fell in all directions.
"Protect His Highness!!" Xiao Chengzi cried out, slamming Qi Chengming to the ground.
Gan Tang was quick-witted and had noticed the abnormality earlier, but she was a step too slow. She quickly snatched the large amount of fabric from the embroiderer's hands and threw it over her head.
The soft, thick layers of fabric caught the sharp fragments and heavy objects, making a tearing sound.
The two rolled around in a ball under the pile of cloth on the ground.
"Your Highness! Your Highness, are you alright?!" "How am I—"
Qi Chengming looked at Xiao Chengzi with concern and annoyance: "I'm fine, why are you being so honest? Are you hurt?"
It was all a scheme, and who knows how many of his men are lying in ambush around here, just waiting to arrest him.
The situation will only be alarming but ultimately harmless.
Even if he were hit, as long as his health bar wasn't empty, he wouldn't be in any serious condition.
Xiao Chengzi startled him.
"Your Highness, I'm so glad you're alright." Xiao Chengzi listened to the concern with embarrassment, struggled to his feet, touched the blood on his forehead, and felt no regret whatsoever.
He couldn't let anything happen to His Highness.
Back in the palace, he hadn't shared the prince's burdens, and he never wanted to relive that feeling again.
With Gan Tang's help, Qi Chengming got up, parted the layers of cloth covering his body, and looked around in confusion.
The traveler nodded solemnly to him, his eyes still filled with lingering anger.
Qi Chengming also saw on the infrastructure system page that some of his personnel were getting further and further away, indicating that they were converging to arrest people.
There was definitely something wrong with the noise we just heard.
Qi Chengming believed he hadn't misread anything. Even if a flowerpot had fallen, it wouldn't have made that kind of noise or broken beforehand. The scene just now clearly showed that someone had attacked the flowerpot with a slingshot or similar weapon, causing it to explode and fall.
...Someone has taken the bait.
"His Highness is injured! Quickly take him back to the ship to see the imperial physician!" Xiao Chengzi, having recovered his senses, proceeded according to the plan. Ignoring the cut on his forehead, he announced loudly.
Qi Chengming clutched his heart, then, realizing something was wrong, clutched his head, listlessly half-closing his eyes as Gan Tang and Xiao Chengzi helped him up, and they hurriedly returned under the protection of the Imperial Guards.
It looked as if he had been attacked and fallen into a coma.
Chaos erupted on the ship; lights were lit, and the commotion lasted for a long time.
The old imperial physician was terrified when he heard this.
His Majesty instructed him to take good care of the Second Prince's health. He had anticipated that things might not go smoothly along the way, but he did not expect the turmoil to start so quickly!
He walked quickly with a heavy heart, took the pulse and prescribed medicine, and only then did he breathe a sigh of relief and calm down.
Fortunately, His Highness only suffered some scratches and did not injure his head or face. At most, he needs to calm down and stabilize his physical condition.
It was a stroke of luck amidst misfortune... I survived.
But the second prince, lying on his sickbed, couldn't swallow this insult. While the old imperial physician was taking his pulse, the commander of the imperial guards on the ship hurried over to report:
"Your Highness, although the situation was chaotic and there were many people, my subordinates still managed to do our mission well and arrested dozens of suspicious individuals. Further interrogation and investigation are still needed to clarify the details."
"Fine, fine." The second prince sneered. The usually mild-mannered young man now looked intently at the old imperial physician and said in an unquestionable tone,
"Spread the word that I was attacked and seriously injured, and that I am still unconscious. We have also captured a suspicious person. Our ship is temporarily leaderless, so we need to speed up our journey to the capital."
That was a trap.
If the person behind the scenes gets impatient, they will only be forced to take more actions.
The old imperial physician was His Majesty's man, and he should have been perfectly at ease, but seeing the young prince's pale and angry face, and those unquestionable eyes looking over, he hesitated.
The old imperial physician hesitated for only a moment before bowing his head and replying, "Yes, Your Highness has injured the top of your head and is unconscious. His condition is still uncertain. I will prescribe some medicine to stabilize your injury... These next few days will be extremely dangerous."
"Go and brew the medicine," Qi Chengming said calmly.
The matter of his poisoning disappeared after it reached the capital. No one knew what Emperor Hongren meant, but now that this last chance had blown up, it would be unreasonable not to deal with it.
Qi Chengming's whole ordeal was all about finding out who the mastermind was and taking them down hard first!
The people of Beijing should take this as a warning.
Things went exactly as Qi Chengming had predicted.
Although the ship tried to conceal it, the commotion caused by the Imperial Guards that day was considerable, and they had arrested about twenty locals, so it was impossible to hide it from them...
Something terrible has happened!
Prince Rui has been attacked!
Before the matter could escalate, the fleet encountered rain after only a day's journey.
The water was shrouded in mist and rain, reducing visibility on the fleet to almost nothing, and it was deep into the night...
Several ships silently caught up with them.
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Author's Note: I'm feeling so unwell I can barely breathe. I'll try my best to update today, then I'll take another break... Sorry for the short chapter.
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