He claimed he didn't touch Maggie, but in reality, Maggie was pregnant with his child.
After all, the palace was heavily guarded, and Ma Ji was determined to have Lu Xingjian, so it was unlikely that she would have a secret rendezvous with another man.
As for whether Lu Xingjian would lie to her?
Su Wanwan put this question aside for the time being.
In any case, Lu Xingjian should be more anxious than her, and there's no point in her overthinking.
Su Wanwan returned to Kunning Palace, where He Jin of Xixin Division was waiting anxiously.
Seeing Su Wanwan return, his tense expression relaxed slightly.
"Your Majesty, I have important matters to report." He Jin looked solemnly at the palace servants attending to him in the hall.
Su Wanwan frowned and dismissed all the palace servants except He Ying from the main hall.
"Your Majesty previously instructed me to investigate the matter of the Hami envoy writing about Yi Huxian, and I have made some progress."
Su Wanwan perked up. "Tell me slowly."
"The leader of Hami Kingdom was enfeoffed as the King of Zhongshun during the reign of Emperor Taizong, and it has always been a vassal state of our Daliang."
"The former Prince Zhongshun, Shanba, was controlled and bullied by Governor Xie Yihuxian, and was captured and detained in Turpan."
"Three years ago, Shanba passed away. Xie Yihu Xian helped Shanba's son, Baiya, ascend the throne."
"In fact, the entire Hami Kingdom is under the control of Yi Huxian."
"This time, Xie Yihu Xian came to the capital under the pretext of paying tribute, but he did not come with the interpreter in charge of foreign affairs from the Court of State Ceremonies. Instead, he took the border town's official documents and went directly to the capital."
He Jin paused, his expression turning somewhat grave:
"It is said that Miss Ma of Yongshou Palace is the granddaughter of Xie Yihu Xian."
"With her acting as matchmaker, Xie Yihu Xian was able to meet the Emperor directly without even being informed by the Court of State Ceremonies."
Su Wanwan's expression grew increasingly serious, but her heart suddenly ached for no apparent reason.
Maggie's identity and abilities were far greater than she had anticipated.
The affairs of Yongshou Palace were all handled directly by people arranged by Lu Xingjian.
She had no idea.
If it weren't for the head of the food service department mentioning, intentionally or unintentionally, that Maggie had a poor appetite, she would have been completely unaware of the situation at Yongshou Palace.
If Lu Xingjian wanted to lie to her or deceive her, she wouldn't even be able to verify it.
"Does the Court of State Ceremonial know about the visit of Xie Yihu Xian?" she asked weakly.
He Jin lowered his head: "This servant does not know."
Su Wanwan remained silent for a moment, then ordered, "This matter ends here."
He Jin's eyes flickered, and he replied, "Yes."
"but……"
Seeing that He Jin seemed hesitant to speak, Su Wanwan said, "Just say what you have to say."
“Early yesterday morning, the eunuchs from the Xixin Division were delivering red charcoal to the palace when they saw someone dressed in eunuch attire hurriedly leaving the palace through the Shenwu Gate, acting suspiciously.”
"That man was carrying the Yongshou Palace waist token. Later, when the young eunuch was delivering charcoal to the Honglu Temple, he glimpsed that the man had changed into the clothes of a noble young master and was arguing with several people of different ethnicities outside the Honglu Temple."
He Jin paused, his face tense: "The Semu people call him Little Prince."
The words "Little Prince" made Su Wanwan's pupils shrink sharply.
In the Great Liang Dynasty, only the kings of vassal states were granted the title of "King," while all other members of the royal family received the title of "Prince."
In the capital, the only person who can be called a prince is Rong Wang Lu Youting, who is currently under house arrest.
This person, who could enter and leave the palace as a eunuch and also befriend people of different ethnicities, must have considerable influence.
The princes who were enfeoffed were bound by the ancestral precepts of the Ming Dynasty, and were not even allowed to leave the city, let alone enter the capital on their own.
"Have you looked carefully?" Su Wanwan asked He Jin again to confirm.
He Jin was quite certain: "That person's accent has a slight Shanxi accent, he is handsome and dashing, and unforgettable. He won't be mistaken for someone else."
He Jin took out a portrait and presented it: "This is a portrait of that person."
He Ying took the portrait and unfolded it. Su Wanwan glanced at it and frowned.
The person in the portrait... has eyebrows and eyes that somewhat resemble Lu Xingjian.
Su Wanwan sensed the conspiracy at play.
Su Wanwan looked at He Jin approvingly: "Manager He is very thoughtful. Send someone to keep a close eye on things."
She paused for a moment, then added, "If you need any support, just let me know."
He Jin, full of energy and high spirits, declared: "This servant will certainly not fail Your Majesty's trust!"
After He Jin left, Su Wanwan closed her eyes wearily.
Things were far more complicated than she had imagined.
If a prince from a vassal state wanted to seize imperial power, then the fact that Ma Ji was pregnant would make sense.
Ma Ji's family lived in Xuanfu, but her brother worked in Datong, so it was normal for them to have dealings with Jin.
It's not surprising that you know a few dashing princes and the like.
When Su Wanwan opened her eyes again, a glint of light flashed in them: "Go to Yongshou Palace."
The palace servants serving at Yongshou Palace knelt on the ground.
Ma Ji has been taken away by Empress Dowager Zhang and is resting in Cikang Palace to prepare for childbirth.
Su Wanwan looked at each of these people one by one, but did not see anyone who resembled the person in the portrait.
"Are all the palace servants here?" Su Wanwan asked.
"No, that's not it. The court musician Wu Qijun was sent out of the palace by Miss Ma to purchase musical instruments, and he has not yet returned to the palace," a palace servant reported.
Su Wanwan remained calm and simply had portraits of the palace servants of Yongshou Palace drawn.
As for Wu Jun's absence, a general description was given based on the palace servants' account.
With just one glance, she confirmed that the actor Wu Jun was the "Little Prince" that He had mentioned.
That day, Su Wanwan had Heying lead a group to investigate all the regional princes in Shanxi and Datong, but they did not find any useful clues.
On the contrary, it was discovered that there were already several thousand members of the Shanxi imperial clan.
Finding someone is like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Su Wanwan was not surprised.
Back when she was helping Zhou with his memorials, she had seen a memorial from the Ministry of Revenue stating that the royal family in Shanxi had multiplied too much and needed to be restrained.
According to the ancestral system of the Great Liang Dynasty, the emperor's sons enjoyed the salary of a prince, with an annual salary of 10,000 shi (a unit of grain).
A prince can only have one son to inherit the title of prince, while his other sons are enfeoffed as princes of the second rank, with an annual stipend of two thousand shi (a unit of grain).
Besides the eldest son, who could inherit the title of Prince, the other sons of the Prince were appointed as Generals of the State, with an annual stipend of 1,000 shi (a unit of grain).
By the same token, all of the General of the State's sons other than his eldest son could be appointed as Assistant Generals of the State, with an annual stipend of 800 shi (a unit of grain).
In addition, there were generals such as Fengguo General, Zhenguo Lieutenant, Fuguo Lieutenant, and Fengguo Lieutenant, whose annual stipends decreased from 800 shi to 100 shi in turn.
During the reign of Emperor Taizu, there were only three princely residences in Shanxi: the Jin Prince's Residence in Taiyuan, the Dai Prince's Residence in Datong, and the Shen Prince's Residence in Luzhou.
For more than a century, the population of the Shanxi imperial clans has expanded rapidly, becoming a major burden on the imperial court.
The population of the Shanxi imperial clan was more abundant than that of other provinces.
Leaving aside others, Prince Qingcheng, who was born out of the Prince of Jin's family, had 94 children and 163 grandchildren. The stipends of just one prince's family exceeded 100,000 shi.
The total annual expenditure of the Shanxi imperial princes and nobles reached 1.8 million shi (a unit of dry measure).
In comparison, the annual amount of tax grain retained in the entire Shanxi province was only 1.5 million shi (a unit of dry measure).
In other words, the princes and nobles of Shanxi alone could exhaust the tax grain reserves in Shanxi, and tax grain had to be transferred from other provinces to make up for it.
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