Looking at Concubine Yang lying in front of him, Zhen Shicheng immediately said to Pan Hai who was standing by, "Quickly call the imperial physician!"
Whenever the emperor travels, he will naturally be accompanied by a doctor.
Pan Hai hesitated for a moment.
The matter between Concubine Yang and the Crown Prince must be kept a secret. No one else can know except for the few people who already know about it. Now please call Doctor Yu.
Seeing Pan Hai's hesitation, Zhen Shicheng said in a stern voice: "Eunuch Pan, there must be someone behind Concubine Yang. We can't let Concubine Yang get into trouble before we find out the reason!"
Pan Hai nodded and whispered, "Master Zhen, please step aside for a moment."
Zhen Shicheng was led back to Emperor Jingming by the eunuchs.
"Did you find out anything?" Emperor Jingming asked in a deep voice.
Zhen Shicheng clasped his fists and apologized: "I was just asking Concubine Yang when she suddenly fell to the ground, holding her chest..."
Emperor Jingming's eyes tightened and his expression became extremely ugly: "Did something happen to her?"
"Eunuch Pan has invited the imperial physician to come over. We will have to wait for the imperial physician to diagnose the situation before we know the truth."
Emperor Jingming immediately urged the eunuch to investigate.
Not long after, Pan Hai came back with a gloomy face: "Your Majesty, Concubine Yang is gone."
"What's going on?"
"The imperial physician said that Concubine Yang died of a sudden heart attack—"
Before Pan Hai could finish his words, Emperor Jingming slammed the table and said, "Bullshit!"
Pan Hai immediately fell silent.
The fact that the emperor was able to curse in the streets shows that he was extremely angry.
Emperor Jingming was indeed very angry, and besides being angry, he also felt a deep sense of powerlessness.
The dancer who was caught when the Fifteenth Princess got into trouble died of a sudden heart attack, and now Concubine Yang has also died of a sudden heart attack. Could it be that the women in the palace have contracted a contagious heart disease?
This is ridiculous!
Zhen Shicheng found Emperor Jingming's attitude strange, so he asked tentatively, "Your Majesty, do you think that Concubine Yang's cause of death was not the sudden heart disease diagnosed by the imperial physician?"
Emperor Jingming calmed down a bit, and after a little hesitation, he revealed the details of the family dinner in Changsheng Palace: "The dancer who killed the fifteenth princess suddenly died during the interrogation. The imperial physician examined her and found that she also died of a sudden heart disease."
Zhen Shicheng stroked his beard when he heard this.
"It would have been fine if it happened once, but two people involved in a murder case died of sudden heart disease in succession. This is too much of a coincidence." Emperor Jingming said with deep eyes.
Zhen Shicheng was silent for a moment.
Emperor Jingming looked at him and asked, "What do you think, Lord Zhen?"
Zhen Shicheng bowed to Emperor Jingming and said, "Your Majesty, two women in the palace who were involved in murder cases have died of sudden heart disease. This further verifies my guess."
"Are you saying there is someone behind Concubine Yang?"
Zhen Shicheng nodded: "That person is probably hiding in the harem, stirring up the darkness in someone's heart at any time, thus causing many troubles."
Emperor Jingming closed his eyes and said in a tired voice: "If this person really exists, it would be too scary."
It can not only stir up people's evil thoughts, but also control their life and death, and even understand the changes in celestial phenomena. How is such a method different from that of ghosts and gods?
Emperor Jingming felt like he was sitting on pins and needles when he thought that there might be such a person hiding in the harem.
"If there really is such a person, he must be found!"
Zhen Shicheng said nothing.
Since she was in the harem, he could do nothing.
Emperor Jingming obviously thought of this as well, and became even more depressed.
Zhen Shicheng is an expert at solving cases, but he is an outsider after all, and he cannot wander around in his harem.
Besides, if Zhen Shicheng was allowed to interrogate the concubines in the harem based on speculation without any real evidence, the Queen Mother would probably hit him with her cane.
When Emperor Jingming was feeling depressed, he suddenly thought of a person: Yu Jian.
The seventh brother has worked on many cases with Zhen Shicheng and he performed well in the Changsheng Palace before, so maybe he can be given a try.
This thought flashed through his mind, and Emperor Jingming began to worry about Concubine Yang's death.
It was snowing outside and the road down the mountain was slippery. We couldn't go back to the palace now. We would most likely have to stay overnight and wait until the weather cleared up the next day before setting off again.
In this case, it would be difficult for Pan Hai and others to hide the truth from the concubines they brought with them.
It seems we need to ask the Queen for help.
Emperor Jingming made up his mind and immediately went to where the empress was resting.
The palace was not big to begin with, and the courtyards where the concubines stayed were close to each other, so any disturbance would be easily noticed.
Seeing Emperor Jingming coming over at this time, the Queen already sensed that something was wrong.
She greeted him calmly: "Your Majesty——"
Emperor Jingming supported the empress and pulled her towards the couch.
"Have you heard about what happened today?"
The Queen hesitated for a moment and asked, "Is the Emperor talking about Prince An?"
There was a banquet in the front hall for all the officials and dignitaries. Although she was not present, how could she pretend to be deaf and dumb in such a big commotion?
Emperor Jingming did not answer, but looked into the empress's eyes and asked, "Empress, can I trust you?"
The queen was completely stunned.
There were so many implications in the emperor's words that she was confused for a moment.
After a moment of stunned silence, the queen suppressed her doubts and said, "The emperor and I are husband and wife, so I will always stand on his side."
Emperor Jingming nodded and whispered, "I have decided to depose the crown prince!"
The queen was a calm person, but her expression suddenly changed when she heard this, and her hands trembled violently: "Your Majesty?"
Was she hallucinating? The Emperor actually wanted to depose the Crown Prince!
Over the years, she watched with cold eyes as the princes grew up and gradually showed signs of becoming restless, but she just found it amusing.
It’s just that these princes can’t see clearly that in the emperor’s heart, no other child is more precious than the prince left by Empress Yuan.
He was the emperor's only legitimate son, and also the only bloodline between the emperor and his first wife.
The prince's status in the emperor's heart is unmatched.
But now, the emperor actually told her to depose the prince?
At this time, Emperor Jingming could no longer care about his face and gritted his teeth and said, "The Crown Prince and Concubine Yang are having an affair!"
The queen stood up suddenly, her face trembled, and then sat down again without saying a word.
The queen's silence did not mean that she was calm, but that she was so shocked that she had nothing to say.
After a long while, the Queen asked in a trembling voice, "How are Concubine Yang and the Crown Prince doing now?"
"The Crown Prince has been taken into custody by the Jinlin Guards and the Dongchang Guards. Concubine Yang died unexpectedly. I need the Empress' help. At least, I cannot let anyone know that Concubine Yang is gone before I return to the palace."
Not only did Concubine Yang's death need to be kept secret, the news that the Crown Prince had been deposed could not be spread either.
The temporary palace is different from the imperial palace. There are too many unstable aspects outside and one may fall into crisis if one is not careful.
Emperor Jingming quickly laid out some of his arrangements to the Empress.
After hearing the last part, the Queen said solemnly: "Don't worry, Your Majesty, leave Concubine Yang to me."
The ministers in the hall waited anxiously until it was getting dark, their buttocks were sore from sitting, and finally a eunuch came to deliver a message.
"Everyone, please disperse. The emperor has ordered that we stay at Cuiluo Mountain tonight."
The wind and snow outside had not stopped. The ministers were mentally prepared to stay overnight at Cuiluo Mountain, but they were not mentally prepared to disperse after waiting for such a long time.
"Eunuch, why did that Jinwu Guard kill Prince An?"
The eunuch looked at the person asking the question and said sternly, "Your Excellency, please stop asking. The Emperor hasn't gotten the answer yet, and he's in a bad mood."