. "
The matter of Emperor Tianwu being poisoned seemed to have reached a stalemate. Feng Yuheng was busy all night and went to sleep immediately after returning home. In the palace, the eunuch chief Wu Ying, who finally had time to return to his room, screamed at the top of his lungs as he looked at his robbed room.
All the palace people who heard it gathered around. They didn't understand why Wu Ying made such a cry at first, but once they entered the house, they understood everything. However, they understood everything, but also understood nothing. People stared blankly at this empty house, with question marks in their minds.
Wu Ying gnashed her teeth in hatred, and the first person she thought of was Zhang Yuan, so she asked loudly: "Who sent Zhang Yuan to the Criminal Slave Division today?"
Immediately two young eunuchs came forward and said, "It was delivered by us, but Zhang Yuan didn't take anything with him when he left. The bundle he had been carrying was torn open by us. There were dozens of taels of silver in it, and we stole all of it." As he spoke, he reluctantly took out the little silver he had robbed from Zhang Yuan in the morning from his sleeve pocket.
With him taking the lead, all the people who participated in the robbery had to follow suit and take out silver. But they only took out a few dozen taels, which was far from the whole room. So someone said, "Eunuch Wu, this matter may have nothing to do with Zhang Yuan. He is just one person, and he is injured. No matter how he steals, he can't steal so thoroughly. What's more, he can steal silver and banknotes, and he can hide them to some extent, but" he pointed around the room, "those exquisite ornaments are gone. Even if he wanted to steal, where could he hide them? This is a whole room full of them."
Indeed, the whole room was full of stuff, even the big box of jewels was gone. Wu Ying was so distressed that she almost fainted, but at the same time she also felt that this matter was full of weirdness. Who could move so many things away and do it so secretly?
Wu Ying was stunned and stood there not knowing what to do. But someone came up with a bold idea. He said, "Could it be that Zhang Yuan was a favorite of the emperor in the past? We all know how favored he was. I always feel that the emperor suddenly sent Zhang Yuan to the Criminal Slave Division. This is a bit strange. Eunuch Wu, do you think that the emperor regretted it later and couldn't save Concubine Yuan Shu's face, so he secretly helped Zhang Yuan collect these things? The emperor has secret guards around him, and we really can't find out what the secret guards want to do."
When he said this, Wu Ying was startled. It was possible. This analysis made sense. But if the emperor really did it, he had to find a chance to talk to Concubine Yuan Shu, and the Eighth Prince had to be on guard.
Life in the palace was boring, especially for the concubines, who had nothing to do except going to Jingci Palace every morning to pay respects to the empress. Now it was good, with an additional task to curry favor with Concubine Yuan Shu, but today Concubine Yuan Shu slept in the morning and was summoned by the emperor at noon. They had no place to curry favor with the emperor, so they went to the imperial garden in groups of three or five to appreciate the winter plum blossoms.
It was normal for the concubines to go to the garden, but the emperor did not summon Zirui today. The child felt bored in the palace alone, so he said to Yuerong, the maid who served him, "Why don't we go for a walk in the garden? It's winter and the concubines are probably staying in the palace to keep warm. They probably won't go there. Let's go for a walk. It's really too stuffy."
Yue Rong sighed, she was still young, and she couldn't stay in the courtyard all the time. She nodded, but still had some concerns, so she reminded him, "We can go, but we can't be gone for too long, we can come back in half an hour at most, otherwise it would be bad if the emperor summoned us and there was no one in the house. Besides, there are spies inside and outside the courtyard, and the news of our visit to the courtyard will soon be spread out, and it is possible that someone with ulterior motives will take advantage of it. Everyone in the palace is cunning, we have to be on guard."
Zirui nodded, "I know, let's go quickly and come back quickly. I don't know how long I will be stuck in the palace, so I need to get some fresh air."
Yue Rong couldn't persuade him, so she tidied his robe and put on a cloak for him. She then greeted the servants in the palace and told them to report to the Imperial Garden immediately if the Emperor summoned her. Then she took Zirui out of the palace.
Actually, Zirui didn't really want to play in the Imperial Garden. That place was for girls to play, and as a boy, why would he have nothing better to do than admire the wintersweets? He just wanted to walk out of this small courtyard, feel the atmosphere in the palace, and see if there were any obvious changes in the palace now that Concubine Yuan Shu and the Eighth Prince were in favor.
With this in mind, Yue Rong led him to the Imperial Garden. After careful observation along the way, he found that there were many more imperial guards patrolling the palace, and their clothes were not uniform. Some of them were obviously transferred from other places, not originally from the palace. The most terrible thing was that when those patrolling the palace saw him, they would give him a scrutinizing look. Although they didn't say anything, it was obvious that they were repelled.
Zi Rui was very careful all the way. Even when he arrived at the garden, he had no intention of appreciating the plum blossoms. Instead, he frowned when he saw the groups of concubines in front of him. He said, "Sister Yue Rong, it seems that I was wrong. It turns out that there are concubines willing to come out to stroll in the garden on such a cold day. Since there are concubines here, it is not appropriate for Zi Rui to go any further. Let's go back."
Yue Rong was relieved to see that he was so sensible, so she nodded repeatedly and pulled Zi Rui back. But a sharp-eyed concubine had already seen them and exclaimed in an exaggerated way: "Who is that? How could a man appear in the imperial garden?"
This shout startled the other sisters who came with them, and they all turned their heads to look at Zirui. These people were all from Concubine Yuan Shu's party, and they knew very well that Feng Zirui had entered the palace. Looking at this young boy, even if they didn't remember what Feng Zirui looked like, they could guess his identity at this moment. Once this identity was recognized, countless bad thoughts started to run through the minds of these concubines. Some of them shouted in the direction where Zirui left without even thinking: "Who is that person in front? Stop!"
Yue Rong felt a headache coming on. She had been in the palace for a long time and knew too well what it meant when the concubines spoke in this tone. She could not help but hold Zi Rui's hand tightly and reminded him in a low voice: "Young Master, be careful with your obedience. They are all on Concubine Yuan Shu's side."
Zirui nodded, turned around, and politely bowed to the front, then let go of Yuerong's hand and walked forward until he was three or four steps away from the concubines before stopping. Then he lifted his robe and knelt on the ground with Yuerong, saying, "I am Feng Zirui, the humble servant, and I pay my respects to all the ladies. I hope you will forgive me for disturbing you."
...
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
