"Greetings, young master." Qianmian's appearance has changed due to his bone-shrinking technique. Even though he became famous at a young age, he is now unrecognizable to people in the martial arts world.
Because of his ugly appearance, after entering the palace, the chief eunuch said that he was afraid of disturbing the noble people, so he arranged for him to be a lowly eunuch who emptied chamber pots.
Later, because he was quick and skillful, good at reading people's expressions, and knew how to "pay tribute" to the head eunuch, he was promoted from a lowly eunuch who emptied chamber pots to a minor steward in Yonghua Palace.
Yonghua Palace is next to the East Palace.
When Zhao Yunshu was forced to enter the palace to become empress, the Thousand Faces Clan wanted to send someone to accompany her. However, due to the strict rules of the royal family, all of Zhao Yunshu's connections in the martial arts world were severed.
The patriarch of the Thousand Faces family, Qian Shan, Qianmian's uncle, learned from various sources that Zhao Yunshu was not favored in the palace and that the emperor was very indifferent to her, but treated Zhao Yunshu's half-sister Zhao Yunwan differently.
After Zhao Yunshu's death, Qianshan received a message by carrier pigeon, saying that Zhao Yunshu had been poisoned and left behind a son who was left unprotected, and hoped that the Qianmian family could lend a helping hand.
After searching through his clan, Qian Shan chose Qian Mian, who had become famous at a young age and was already his biological son. Using the clan's secret method and elixirs, he entered the palace to become a eunuch.
The message sent by carrier pigeon is unknown, but Qianmian's journey to the palace went relatively smoothly.
The Emperor and Zhao Yunwan knew that Zhao Yunshu came from the Jianghu (江湖, the martial arts world) and must have many unknown methods. However, Zhao Yunshu was taught by the Qianji Sect to be upright and honest, and she disdained insidious methods.
It wasn't until she gave birth to Xiao Sheng that her health deteriorated, and the Emperor and Zhao Yunwan's long-term poisoning of Zhao Yunshu finally caused her to collapse.
From then on, Zhao Yunshu became the exclusive consort of Kunning Palace. Seeing that his eldest son had been born and his rule was secure, the emperor never looked at Zhao Yunshu again.
He turned a blind eye to Zhao Yunwan's actions in order to make up for the fact that she did not give birth to his eldest son.
Zhao Yunshu, who was pregnant, realized that she had been deeply poisoned. She used all her internal energy to protect the fetus in her womb. Her pregnancy was around the same time as Zhao Yunwan's. In order to protect her child, she gave the imperial physician a lot of gold and silver treasures to conceal the exact time of her pregnancy.
If she hadn't done this, Xiao Sheng probably wouldn't have been able to see this world.
As Empress, she was well aware of the importance of the eldest son to the royal family.
However, after giving birth to Xiao Sheng, her health deteriorated rapidly. Furthermore, the birth of her eldest son fueled Zhao Yunwan's hatred to its peak. Taking advantage of her weakened state, she gouged out her eyes.
Therefore, Zhao Yunshu never met Xiao Sheng, and Xiao Sheng never met his mother either. He only heard his mother's weak and feeble voice telling him to be a good person and live a good life.
Later, Zhao Yunwan couldn't bear to see Zhao Yunshu still barely clinging to life and talking to Xiao Sheng, so she pulled out Zhao Yunshu's tongue.
These were all things that a mysterious person told him little by little after he entered the palace.
It is likely that the message sent by carrier pigeon that Qianshan received back then was sent by this person.
However, Qianmian had no way of knowing who had sent him the message.
The last message was when Qianmian dragged Xiao Sheng to the Forbidden Palace and gave him a good scolding.
The letter specifically requested that Qianmian use various methods to help the Crown Prince appoint Li Ting as Grand Tutor.
Qianmian waited a long time before finally getting her chance when Xiao Sheng wandered around the palace alone.
There was something strange about this palace. Even though he had become famous in the martial arts world for his swordsmanship in his youth, he could not come and go freely in this palace.
He couldn't even get past the first palace wall.
However, once he entered the palace, he could move around freely without much trouble, but he still had to be careful.
Qianmian looked at Xiao Sheng, her thoughts drifting far away.
These past two days he's been observing Xiao Sheng and has discovered that the current Xiao Sheng is quite different from the rumors he'd heard before.
Based on the arrangements made by the Crown Prince before he left the palace today, Qianmian knew that the Crown Prince had begun to rebel.
"Thousand Faces, tonight I'm going to play the fool. Can you secretly leak this news to Kunning Palace for me?"
"In addition, I need you to secretly scout the way for me first." Xiao Sheng drew the path to the small garden of Kunning Palace and pointed it out to Qianmian.
Qianmian didn't understand what Xiao Sheng was going to do, and looked at the six-year-old child.
Seeing Xiao Sheng's expression, Qianmian was stunned. Such desolation should not have appeared on a child's face, but Qianmian clearly saw the vicissitudes on Xiao Sheng's face.
"Qianmian, someone, someone put opium into my food. Waaah, I'm so scared, I'm so scared of being controlled by opium!" Xiao Sheng burst into tears after saying that.
He had been holding back his tears at the Li family's house, not wanting Li Xingran to see him cry, but now, he couldn't hold back any longer. He was only six years old, and he longed to be in his mother's arms right now.
Although Xiao Sheng was a reckless and unruly man, he had heard from the palace servants about the potency of opium. When it took effect, it was almost like a maniac's attack, and when addicted, one would do the most outrageous things.
He didn't want to become that kind of despicable crown prince.
Qianmian naturally knew how dangerous opium was, but to use such a vicious method on a six-year-old child, how much did Zhao Yunwan hate the Crown Prince and Zhao Yunshu?
"Young master, how did you know that you were fed opium?" Over the past few years, after finishing his work, Qianmian would try every means to get close to Xiao Sheng, yet he didn't notice anything unusual!
"Today at the Grand Tutor's house, I met the most skilled doctor in the capital, and he diagnosed me. The Grand Tutor and the others said that for a six-year-old child like me, the only thing that could expose me to opium is food. I have no useful people around me, and my meals are all prepared by the kitchen. I, I, I am a picky eater, so the kitchen prepares a separate meal for me."
Qianmian understood.
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