Chapter 49 - 3#
Who wouldn’t want to see the person they assisted ascend to the throne?
But if such a feat had to be paid for with a foreign invasion, it would make many people flinch.
This is a completely different matter.
After the advisors dispersed, Prince Rui looked at Huang Fu sitting in the corner and beckoned to him: “Fu’er, come here.”
Huang Fu silently got up and walked to Prince Rui’s side.
A few days ago, Huang Fu had just entered the residence. At that time, Prince Rui had gone to inspect the troops and was not in the residence. Today, he had specially rushed back, not only to deal with matters in the residence, but also to see Huang Fu.
The Huang Fu in his memory was a chubby little boy who loved to laugh. But the one standing before him now was a thin young man, his face so silent that there was not a single expression.
“Fu’er, just treat the residence as your home. If you have any problems, you can come to your uncle.” Prince Rui sighed, “If I’m not in the residence, go find the princess. She will take care of you.”
Huang Fu’s eyes moved slightly, and he said softly: “Uncle, are all my family members… gone?”
Prince Rui pursed his lips and said slowly: “Except for a few like Xiuniang who escaped with their lives, the others…”
Huang Fu’s expression twisted a little, with an inexplicable hatred. He closed his eyes and forced himself to suppress the emotions in his chest, saying hoarsely: “I know, uncle.”
After a pause, Huang Fu said again: “Uncle, I’m a little tired, so I’ll go back to rest first.”
Prince Rui naturally had no objection and immediately sent someone to take him back to rest.
After Huang Fu’s figure disappeared, Prince Rui leaned back in his chair, pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing.
After a long while, he said: “Send someone to keep an eye on Huang Fu and pay attention to his emotions.”
The chief secretary said softly: “Your Highness, are you worried about the young master…”
“He is too young. The sudden hatred may crush his mental defenses and make him do impulsive things. If he plans to leave the Prince’s residence, someone must follow him. Once he tries to leave the fief, knock him out and bring him back directly.” Prince Rui said decisively, “He is the only one left of the direct line. I can’t fail to protect even Huang Fu.”
“Yes.”
And outside the house, Huang Fu was numbly led by the palace servants towards his residence.
Along the way, Huang Fu was expressionless until he suddenly saw a person on the road.
It was A’xing.
Huang Fu’s face changed slightly, and he ran to A’xing in a few steps.
Seeing him, A’xing saluted coldly and was about to leave, but was stopped by Huang Fu, “You, can you teach me martial arts?”
A’xing was silent for a while: “My martial arts were learned later. They are crude skills, not worth looking at. The young master should ask the Prince to find you a famous teacher.”
Huang Fu shook his head eagerly. Seeing the palace servant still following behind, he waved his hand to make him step back a little, then whispered: “I, I don’t quite believe…” He didn’t finish, but A’xing already understood Huang Fu’s meaning.
After such a great change, Huang Fu didn’t even trust Prince Rui much.
The Huang family suffered such a great disaster, indeed for their own reasons. But in the final analysis, without the Empress Dowager’s divine stroke, the Huang family’s direct line would not have been exiled.
The Empress Dowager is Prince Rui’s mother.
Huang Qingtian initially was also thoroughly investigated because he strongly supported Prince Rui and moved military supplies.
All of this was related to Prince Rui.
Although Huang Fu knew that Prince Rui and his grandfather had a good relationship, and it was Prince Rui who sent people to save him, Huang Fu’s heart just couldn’t restrain this resentment.
This was also the reason why he dared not stay in front of Prince Rui for too long. Huang Fu was afraid that with one careless move, he would reveal his true thoughts.
As for A’xing…
Along the way, if it weren’t for A’xing’s several desperate rescues, Huang Fu would have long been dead. And he knew that A’xing was reticent and rarely communicated with others. Even among Prince Rui’s many advisors, he was the most maverick and didn’t interact much with others.
Perhaps because of this, Huang Fu had a different kind of trust in him than in others.
A’xing was silent for a while, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, but just took Huang Fu back to his own courtyard. His residence was not very lively. After entering the door, Huang Fu saw at a glance a dense pile of small wooden puppets placed on the windowsill.
They had different shapes and actions, very vivid and lively.
It’s just that none of them had faces carved on them.
Looking at those wooden puppets, Huang Fu could tell at a glance that it was a woman with a pair of children.
“Why is there no father?” Huang Fu asked, “Why are there no faces?”
A’xing looked at the wooden puppets under the windowsill and said softly: “Because the father is useless, because there is no face.”
It was he who had no face to see them.
…
The eighth day of the eighth month was the Autumn Banquet in the palace.
The Imperial Kitchen was busy early on, in full swing. And the Palace Maintenance Office, in these busy days, also acted as laborers, cleaning up the Imperial Garden.
The Autumn Banquet was a banquet held in the palace every year, which should have been hosted by the Empress. It’s just that Emperor Jingyuan didn’t have an Empress, so the person in charge every year had always been the Empress Dowager.
This year, the Empress Dowager fell ill and couldn’t get up, so this matter was handed over to Consort De.
The Palace Maintenance Office was busy, but Jingzhe had few things to do.
He was called by Jiang Jinming in the morning to settle accounts. When he finished, the others hadn’t come back yet, and the Chief Eunuch was still lazily staying in the room. For a while, Jingzhe had nothing to do.
Since he had nothing to do, he began to work on his two recent tasks.
One was Task Eight, to find out the cause of Nanny Ming’s death.
Jingzhe had already completed this task.
After all, Rong Jiu had already admitted very readily that this matter was related to him. If he still couldn’t complete it, Jingzhe would really be a fool.
After happily submitting the answer, Jingzhe received an evaluation of eighty points while completing the task.
Jingzhe: “Why only eighty points?”
Where did he miss?
Although it was better than the previous sixty points passing grade, Jingzhe thought this answer could get a perfect score.
[The direct cause of Nanny Ming’s death is indeed what the host just answered. It’s just that the host missed her indirect cause of death.]
Jingzhe frowned. Indirect cause of death?
Was it the reason she went out that day?
Jingzhe indeed didn’t know this answer yet. Since it was worth twenty points, it was indeed somewhat important. It’s just that to investigate this matter again, he had to start with Lidong.
He had no relationship with Lidong, and even had some resentment. If he acted rashly, he might alert the enemy.
Jingzhe put this matter aside and thought about Task Nine.
Compared to the definite answer of Task Eight, Task Nine was much more difficult, because Jingzhe still didn’t understand why Rong Jiu would say that the Emperor felt this matter was not important.
But regardless of whether it was important or not, Jingzhe still had some clues. He quickly answered, using his previous guess told to Rong Jiu as the answer.
Then, the judgment was sixty-five points.
Barely passed.
Jingzhe breathed a sigh of relief. He had no confidence in this task. Being able to pass and have no punishment was the best.
As for the score, he didn’t care.
He was really fed up with these crazy buffs.
[Task Ten: Find out Kangman’s secret.]
…This sudden task made Jingzhe grab a handful of his hair, not only because of the surprise attack of this task, but also because of this name.
Kangman.
He had just repeatedly exhorted Shien not to act rashly. Now it was his turn?
Jingzhe wanted to curse the system, but stopped himself.
He carefully thought about these few tasks. They were no longer the kind that made him “stop” something, but rather tried to make him “understand” something.
Jingzhe guessed that perhaps because the target of the initial task was Prince Rui, with Prince Rui’s ability, it was easy for him to know anything, so he could “do” something.
But Jingzhe, this host, compared to Prince Rui, simply didn’t have this kind of ability to display, so it was more inclined to let him “know” something.
It’s just that, knowing is knowing, but what’s the use of knowing so much for Jingzhe?
He was just a mere Jingzhe!
He wasn’t the Emperor, did he need to know so much? Knowing it, could he achieve the system’s grand goal?
Jingzhe was deeply skeptical.
Jingzhe sighed.
[The host has completed two tasks. The system has just completed its self-check. The replenished energy is enough for the system to make a small prediction.]
“What prediction?” Jingzhe didn’t understand, “Fortune-telling?”
[The system will receive different messages. When these subtle messages converge, they will collide into different situations and lead to different directions. For example, at today’s Autumn Banquet, there will be a poisoning incident, which will affect the Imperial Kitchen.]
Clang—
Jingzhe stood up abruptly, his eyes full of disbelief.
…Affect, the Imperial Kitchen?
Mingyu!
Jingzhe wished he could rush out the door, but he could only force himself to ask for leave from Jiang Jinming, saying he had something to go out for.
Jiang Jinming didn’t stop him and let him go casually.
When Jingzhe just went out, his steps were still steady, but after leaving the Palace Maintenance Office, he almost flew. If it weren’t for people on the road and the restrictions of palace rules, Jingzhe would definitely have run.
“You said poisoning, who is the poisoner? It affects the Imperial Kitchen because the poison is in the food?”
[Task Eleven: Stop the poisoner at the Autumn Banquet]
[Accept?]
[The host can choose whether to accept this task. This is a temporary task and can be declined. Failure has the same punishment as a normal task. Accepting the task will provide certain hints.]
Jingzhe didn’t care about the punishment anymore. Even for that little hint, he would definitely accept.
After Jingzhe accepted the task, the system prompted: [All food sent to the Imperial Garden, and then to the distribution and eating process, must be watched by someone.]
Jingzhe understood. This meant that the person who acted was not from the Imperial Kitchen. Otherwise, there was no need to take advantage of the gap. Just adding something during production would be an easy matter.
If it wasn’t done by one of their own, it would be easier to handle.
Jingzhe rushed to the outside of the Imperial Kitchen. At this moment, it was already so busy inside that their feet didn’t touch the ground.
Jingzhe’s appearance was not welcome.
At this juncture, anyone who came would be quite annoying. After all, it was so busy inside. Calling someone out again would just interfere with their work.
After the young eunuch reluctantly went to call someone, after a long while, Mingyu ran over.
He was sweating profusely, and his clothes were mostly wet, obviously from the fire.
Mingyu wiped his sweat, not showing an impatient expression, but rather some worry: “Jingzhe, what happened?” He knew Jingzhe’s temper. Knowing that he was busy, and still coming, there must be something important.
“Mingyu, do you believe me?”
“How could I not believe you?” Mingyu laughed involuntarily, “What do you take me for?”
“Then take me to see Director Zhu.”
Mingyu was slightly stunned, looked at Jingzhe, and said nothing, “Wait a moment.”
He didn’t wait for Jingzhe’s answer and turned back in.
Jingzhe waited outside the door.
His face looked expressionless, but in fact, he was anxious inside.
Actually, he could also tell Mingyu about this matter. Mingyu wouldn’t ask how he knew, but would only help him do it.
But Mingyu was just a young eunuch in this Imperial Kitchen. No matter how active he was, he couldn’t interfere in many matters. The only person who could speak…
Was Zhu Erxi.
He was the one in charge of the entire Imperial Kitchen.
This time, Mingyu went in for a longer time. When he came out, his apron had been changed. He led Jingzhe to the back.
“Director Zhu is resting.” Every time there was a big banquet, Zhu Erxi would stay in his room alone to recuperate. He would only appear in the Imperial Kitchen when the time came, “At this time, if you go to disturb him, his temper will be very bad.”
Mingyu told the truth.
Jingzhe smiled bitterly: “There are always reasons why I have to.”
It wasn’t the first time he had come to see Zhu Erxi. The path Mingyu led him on was also somewhat familiar.
Haolin and Sanshun were guarding outside the door.
Hearing their purpose, Haolin shook his head: “No, the Director doesn’t see outsiders at this time. Mingyu, you should know this rule.”
While they were talking, Sanshun had already turned and gone in. Haolin’s eyes widened, and he reached out to grab him, but couldn’t stop him at all. His action was a bit comical. Seeing that he couldn’t catch the person, he hurriedly followed him in.
Even though he was so anxious, seeing this scene, Jingzhe couldn’t help but lower his head and almost laugh out loud.
Mingyu was even less restrained, laughing heartily.