He was reading a secret letter.
This secret letter came from the capital, directly contacting him through the Grand Secretary. At this moment, the letter was lying on Qi Guze's lap. The Emperor was ill, suffering from a rare and difficult disease. The Imperial Medical Academy was secretly consulting with the Emperor.
The Emperor's intention is to keep his illness a secret from everyone.
But secrets can't be kept forever, and Qi Guze believed that it would be exposed sooner or later.
He had heard before that the current emperor was unwell. Eleven years ago, the current emperor went to Jiayuguan for peace talks, but encountered a group of fierce bandits who completely disregarded the dignity of the court and took the current emperor hostage.
Qi Guze arrived just in time and rescued the emperor.
The Emperor is extremely grateful to Qi Guze.
But after that, the current emperor developed a chronic illness. It's unclear whether it was from being frightened or because the fright triggered his underlying condition. In any case, the current emperor would often be absent-minded.
It was said to be an illness, but the officials of the Imperial Medical Academy couldn't figure out what was wrong with it.
It's not an illness, but the Emperor is in constant discomfort, and at his worst, he can't even attend the morning court session.
Qi Guze crumpled the secret letter and threw it into an incense burner. He watched as the flames gradually enveloped the paper and burned it to ashes. Only then did he say, "His Majesty is ill and has ordered me to find the Crown Prince immediately."
"But we have no leads."
"not necessarily."
Qi Guze pictured a face almost identical to the current emperor. "Have you investigated the mystery of Ah Qi's background?"
Tie Xiong naturally investigated this matter seriously and immediately said, "Aqi's parents are from Qingshui Village, which is a hundred and eight thousand miles away from the capital. His adoptive parents were merchants who sold small things like needles and thread. One year, his father was tricked into going to the mine, and later his mother died in depression."
"That's all?"
Qi Guze glanced at Tie Xiong with suspicion.
The latter remained silent for a long time. "These are his adoptive parents. As for his biological parents, no one has investigated this secret. In fact, I have tried to find out more from Ah Qi, but Ah Qi was very young when he was abandoned, and he himself does not know what his biological parents look like or what they do."
“His mother fell ill and died. From then on, all of Ah Qi’s secrets were taken to his grave by his mother.”
“No,” Qi Guze looked at Tie Xiong. “Logically speaking, when a person is on their deathbed, they should make arrangements for their affairs, at least letting A Qi know whose child they are.”
Tie Xiong fell silent.
After a long, long silence, Tie Xiong asked, "Is Your Majesty's condition serious?"
Qi Guze looked worried. He even wrote a letter to himself. How could it not be serious?
From Qi Guze's eyes and expression, Tie Xiong understood what was going on. "This humble general understands. Your Highness's meaning is that if the person..." He dared not say the rest.
Qi Guze, however, sighed, "For now, I'm afraid this is the only way. Perhaps His Majesty will be in good health when he's happy."
Is Tie Xiong hot?
Otherwise, why would he have so many beads of sweat the size of soybeans growing under his hairline?
Those beads of sweat just kept falling down in a flurry.
Imperial Capital.
Qiankun Hall.
The emperor looked worried and was restless lately.
Memories from eleven years ago flooded back. Although the wound had long since healed, the emperor's chest still ached intermittently, which intensified his anxiety to find the crown prince.
Fusheng brought in food, but the emperor was sickly.
"Six and a half years," the Emperor suddenly blurted out. Fu Sheng smiled but dared not respond. The Emperor continued, "Six years have passed, and there is still no news of him."
Fusheng has always been a nice guy.
Hearing the Emperor say this, the old eunuch said, "We will find it eventually. Your Highness is very capable in both civil and military affairs. Just wait and see. For now," the old eunuch pressed his wet eyes, "Your Majesty, you should take good care of yourself. If you recover, everything will be fine, and everyone in the world will be well too."
"I miss him. My illness is most likely caused by him."
Fu Sheng nodded and pulled the emperor's exposed arm back in. "Your Majesty, you must get better. Your recovery is a great blessing to the world, and this old servant is eternally grateful."
The Emperor closed his eyes slightly.
The scene from years ago immediately flashed through his mind.
At that time, the crown prince was only three years old. He was babbling and had an endearing, innocent appearance. He often made the emperor laugh heartily. One year, an assassin entered the palace, and everyone searched everywhere.
The assassin was quickly captured, and panic gripped the people.
But after the assassin was captured, a fire broke out in the palace. After everyone extinguished the fire, they found that the crown prince's wet nurse had been assassinated and the crown prince had disappeared. The emperor was furious.
They immediately ordered the imperial city sealed off and began their relentless search. However, six and a half years passed without finding a single clue about the crown prince, which was truly unbelievable.
The crown prince is now over ten years old.
The emperor was extremely anxious, but what could he do?
Fusheng served the emperor until he fell asleep, then carefully left.
Meanwhile, in Tonggu County, a thousand miles away from the capital, Xu Yuehuai and his group couldn't sleep. As dusk approached, Xu Yuehuai also felt something was amiss. No matter how he analyzed it, he felt that Jiang Qianqian had been abducted.
But there is no evidence now.
Zhou Wan has also returned.
Recently, Zhou Wan escaped death.
But because of Jiang Qianqian's matter, she would rather everyone focus their attention on Jiang Qianqian. Xu Yuehuai looked at A Qi, "Any clues?"
"What clues? I've searched everywhere, places we can and can't go, we've searched and inquired everywhere, but there's nothing."
"And you?" Xu Yuehuai asked Zhou Wan.
Zhou Wan felt as if her heart was being torn apart. Behind her seemingly calm demeanor lay a great deal of pain. "I've searched everywhere I could, but there's been no news at all."
"It seems we need to go to the authorities to handle this."
"yamen?"
In reality, ordinary people both respect and fear the government. Everything seems simple and can be accomplished in one fell swoop, but things go wrong as soon as they get to the government office.
They won't help the people willingly for no reason; even for trivial matters, they'll waste a lot of time.
"Does the government eat shit?" Ah Qi sneered.
“Ah,” Xu Yuehuai smiled in agreement, “The words may be rough, but the reasoning is sound, and that is indeed the case.”
Everyone went back to rest first.
The next day, they went out to search again.
Seeing Zhou Wan leave, Liu Cuiming followed her for a while. Finally, Liu Cuiming turned onto another road and followed her to Zhou's house again. Zhou Qing was idly playing with his concubine, and when he saw the servant bring Liu Cuiming in, he immediately stood up and asked, "You've brought her?"
"Not yet, but don't worry, sir. The man is yours no matter what. You promised me thirty taels of silver, so I can't go back on my word. After this job, I'm ready to fly away."
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