The next day, Hongzhou got up early to wash up and, with his personal attendant, boarded the carriage that was waiting in front of the palace. After all, Hongli had come to persuade him to go to the palace the day before, and after hearing what Hongli had said, Hongzhou suddenly realized that it would be unbecoming of a prince of the Aisin Gioro family to be discouraged by unfounded things.
So, after getting everything ready, Hongzhou decided to go to the palace to take up his post.
Thus, life in the capital returned to its former tranquility.
On this day, as usual, Hongzhou went to the Ministry of Revenue for his shift and then returned home. He went straight to his study and, as soon as he sat down, he saw the letters from the past few days on his desk.
The words on one of the letters made Hongzhou's pupils tremble slightly. The handwriting on this letter was clearly from the same hand as the two letters that had previously caused him to lose his composure and become dejected.
Hongzhou frowned as he picked up the letter. Before he could even open it to read its contents, he immediately ordered his personal servant, "Go and summon the steward."
"Yes, I'll go right away." As soon as he finished speaking, he turned around and before he could even leave the study, he was called back by Huo Hongzhou. "Have the steward take the register of letters from the gatekeeper."
"Yes." As soon as he finished speaking, he hurriedly went to find the steward, who soon came running excitedly into the study.
"Your Highness, what brings you here?" It wasn't hard to tell that the steward was still a little out of breath. The prince must have something urgent to tell him, and the steward was also a little apprehensive.
"Who sent this letter?" Hongzhou asked calmly, but his words revealed a hint of urgency.
Upon hearing this, the steward slowly looked up at the letter in Hongzhou's hand. After a moment's thought, the steward said with certainty, "Your Highness, this old servant has never seen this letter before."
“Didn’t I order you to carefully record the origin of every letter?” Hongzhou gestured to the steward to check the register.
"This old servant carefully examined the letter before sending it, but did not see it, so it was not registered."
Hongzhou asked repeatedly, "Is it really not true?"
The steward said, "I personally deliver all letters from the prince, and I dare not be negligent in the slightest."
"Ever since the Prince gave the instructions, I've told the gatekeeper to register all letters and door stickers. This one definitely didn't have any."
Hongzhou sighed softly, his words filled with desolation, "Go down."
"Yes, this old servant takes his leave."
After the steward left, Hongzhou also ordered his personal servant to go outside and keep watch, leaving only Hongzhou in the study.
Hongzhou no longer concealed his feelings, his brows furrowed as he looked at the letter in his hand. He thought that the person who delivered this letter to his desk must be someone from his own household, otherwise why wasn't it registered at the gatehouse?
Hongzhou's alarm bells went off immediately. Was there someone hiding in the Prince He's mansion? Someone he didn't know?
Who has such great ability to secretly place this letter in their study? What is their purpose, and why do they send such letters repeatedly?
Why were these letters sent only after the Emperor's elder brother began his regency and the Emperor's father went to the Yuanmingyuan for recuperation?
Why would this person know so many details about royal secrets that even the abbot of Huangjue Temple was unaware of?
After some thought, Hongzhou finally calmed down. He began to suspect that someone was stirring up trouble between him and Hongli and had deliberately fabricated such a big lie, implying that he was not the Empress's son at all.
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