Chapter 52 Investigating the Mole
Before Desheng could finish speaking, Pei Yan smashed the teacup in his hand onto the ground!
Fragments and scalding hot tea splashed everywhere, even landing on Desheng's boots, scalding him so much that he shuddered and gritted his teeth, not daring to move.
Pei Yan suddenly stood up, the veins on his forehead throbbing as if they were about to explode.
"Excellent! Excellent Xie Sangning! Excellent legitimate daughter! Excellent! Absolutely excellent!"
"She's playing me for a fool! How dare she to toy with me like this!"
Pei Yan's voice was filled with rage: "To bring her into the palace, I went so far as to issue an imperial edict for a selection of concubines! How many court officials did I offend! Those old foxes, who knows how they were talking behind my back! And what did she send me in the end?"
"A sworn sister I just adopted, picked up from who-knows-where? And I have to accept her with a heavy heart! What does Xie Sangning take me for?! To be played with like a monkey?!"
Desheng, who was standing to the side, had already prostrated himself on the ground, pleading, "Your Majesty, please calm down! Your Majesty, please calm down!"
Pei Yan kicked him!
"Haha, calm down? Tell me, how do I calm down?"
Pei Yan suddenly burst into laughter!
He began to reassess Xie Sangning, no longer focusing solely on her qualifications, but also evaluating her intelligence and abilities.
"What a brilliant scheme, truly a brilliant scheme..."
"I really underestimated her... She gave that lowly servant the status of the legitimate daughter in advance, leaving me speechless and turning my selection of concubines into a joke, and making her Xie family a stepping stone to elevate a lowly servant."
As he was laughing, Pei Yan's face suddenly darkened, and his eyes were fixed on Desheng, who was kneeling on the ground with his head almost buried in the soil.
"Desheng, how do you think she knew in advance that I would definitely issue an edict to select a concubine? Hmm?"
Desheng shuddered and quickly looked up, saying, "Your Majesty! There are probably some of Miss Xie's people in this Imperial Study!"
Pei Yan closed his eyes. He didn't know what other surprises Xie Sangning had in store for him, but she actually had the ability to plant her own mole in the Imperial Study.
"check!"
"Investigate! Investigate thoroughly! I want to see who has the audacity to act as Xie Sangning's inside man!"
Desheng lay on the ground, his forehead pressed tightly against the ground, his body trembling slightly uncontrollably.
He looked terrified, as if he was frightened by the dragon's power.
I wasn't really scared; I was more nervous.
It's normal for the emperor to suspect there's a mole; otherwise, it's impossible to explain how Xie Sangning knew about the talent show, and even pinpointed the exact day.
But Desheng was surprised to find that there were other people from the young lady's faction around the emperor.
It turns out he wasn't the only one entrusted with this important task!
Because the news of the draft was not spread by Desheng.
By the time he was about to pass it on, the young lady already knew.
After all, he had to be by the emperor's side at all times, so he rarely had time to deliver messages.
So who exactly is this person?
The young lady is always meticulous in her actions, and single-line communication is an ironclad rule. Even if she knows about other companions, it is the young lady who notifies her.
No one knows exactly how many people the young lady has crammed into the palace, or whether she has turned the palace into a choke point.
He Desheng himself was the deepest thorn Xie Sangning had planted beside the emperor.
Oh no, that's just what he thought. There were even deeper nails hidden inside!
Desheng was a little jealous.
"Get out! Investigate this matter thoroughly for me!"
"Your servant obeys!"
Desheng suddenly raised his head, his old face filled with grief and loyalty, his voice trembling with sobs.
"Your Majesty, please calm your anger! Your health is of utmost importance! This servant will take care of it immediately! Even if we have to turn the Forbidden City upside down and dig three feet into the ground, we will definitely find this traitorous dog, skin him alive, and tear him apart! We will avenge Your Majesty!"
He kowtowed repeatedly, the sound echoing loudly, his performance so sincere and earnest, as if he hated the traitor to the core.
Desheng scrambled out of the Imperial Study.
Only when the heavy curtain of the Imperial Study fell behind him did he dare to straighten up, lean against the cold palace wall, and gasp for breath. He felt that the clothes on his back were soaked through and clung to his skin, icy cold.
He wiped the cold sweat and blood from his forehead.
An investigation? Absolutely necessary! And it must be a resounding success, one that satisfies the emperor!
But the results of the investigation... absolutely cannot be true!
He hurried back to his duty room in the palace.
As soon as the door closed, a young eunuch dressed in a dark blue eunuch's robe was already standing at attention in the room.
It was Decai, the apprentice whom Desheng had personally promoted.
De Cai's face was pale, as if he had been frightened.
“Master…” De Cai’s voice still trembled slightly, “Something…something happened…that little Quanzi who was in charge of sweeping in the Imperial Study…he…he…”
Desheng's eyebrows furrowed: "What's wrong with him? Tell me quickly!"
"He... hanged himself! Right... right behind the West Sixth Compound, in that dilapidated room next to the old warehouse!"
De Cai finished speaking in one breath, then lowered his head even further.
"What?!" Upon hearing this, Desheng's heart sank!
Could it be... could it be that Xiao Quanzi is the accomplice who delivered the message?
Having accomplished his mission, and knowing he was about to be exposed and couldn't escape it, he simply ended his own life.
A wave of regret washed over Desheng.
Ugh! He's obviously a greenhorn who hasn't been with the young lady for long! He's so impatient!
The young lady knows all the rules of Deshengmen!
Every time I need to deliver a message or carry out an order, the first rule is: survival! Come back alive and well for me! I've invested so much money in training you all, not so you could be useless after completing a single task. If you die, you've wasted my money! You idiots!
I guess this little Quanzi really thought he was all alone and had no other choice, so he took this desperate path.
What a silly child! Desheng felt a pang of pity.
"Let's go!" Desheng decided immediately. "Take your teacher there to take a look!"
He still held onto a sliver of hope: what if... what if he was still breathing?
Or at least see if we can find a way to give him a more dignified place, instead of letting this child's body be left to rot in the wilderness and dragged away by wild dogs.
De Cai nodded and replied "Yes," and quickly led the way.
The two walked quickly, their steps hurried, heading straight for that remote, godforsaken corner behind the Sixth Institute of the West.
Desheng stepped inside, his gaze sharp as an eagle, and instantly locked onto the small body hanging from the roof beam—it was Xiao Quanzi.
The young eunuch's body was stiff and straight, his toes barely off the ground, swaying precariously.
A broken stool with a missing leg lay on the ground.
Desheng didn't rush to tell someone to put it down. Instead, he took a few steps closer, squinted, and carefully examined Xiao Quanzi's neck.
The marks were deep in the flesh, purplish-black in color, and looked horrifying.
But Desheng, that old fox, had been working in the palace for decades; what kind of filthy things hadn't he seen?
He glanced at it and exclaimed "Huh!" in his mind.
Something's not right!
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