Chapter 61 - 2#
“…Concubine Kang is a spy?”
She grabbed the female official’s arm, momentarily increasing her strength and unconsciously scratching red marks on the official’s arm. The female official’s expression changed slightly, but she said nothing, quietly helping the Empress Dowager sit down.
After sitting down, the Empress Dowager let out a breath.
So, it was Concubine Kang.
The Empress Dowager wasn’t so foolish as to not notice someone digging a hole right under her nose.
It was just that after realizing their purpose, after much thought, she didn’t pursue it. Instead, she maintained a certain silent attitude.
Non-interference.
Even if investigated in the future, at most it would be said that the Empress Dowager was lax in her supervision. Bearing a few such charges was no big deal.
After all, although the Empress Dowager managed the harem.
But this world belonged to Emperor Jingyuan. If it wasn’t found out, wasn’t it Emperor Jingyuan’s problem?
However, after the poisoning case in the Imperial Garden, the Empress Dowager had vaguely guessed that the person behind it was Concubine Kang.
Now, combined with Emperor Jingyuan’s move, this was enough to show that Concubine Kang framed Concubine De not for power struggle, but to cover up her real purpose.
She wanted to transmit messages.
Yes, with the Empress Dowager currently keeping a low profile, if Concubine Kang wanted to make a move, it would be too obvious no matter what.
This was repairing the plank road openly while crossing the Wei River in secret.
Superficially targeting Concubine De, but actually having other intentions.
The Empress Dowager could discover it because Concubine Kang took advantage of her loopholes, right on her territory. Then how did Emperor Jingyuan find out?
However, the Empress Dowager didn’t delve into this matter.
Ever since Emperor Jingyuan sought out Zong Yuanxin, the Empress Dowager vaguely sensed that the current Emperor was completely different from the former Emperor Jingyuan.
If the former Emperor Jingyuan carried a kind of indifferent sluggishness; then the current Emperor Jingyuan was burning with a violent vitality.
The Empress Dowager glanced down and easily saw the letter on the table.
That was a letter sent by the old Princess Consort Jing.
It let the Empress Dowager know quite a few things.
After the Huang family lost power, because the person taking over as the head was Huang Changcun, all his requests for his wife to enter the palace were rejected by the Empress Dowager. But apart from the Huang family, the number of royal relatives entering the palace every year was not small.
As long as the Empress Dowager was still around for a day, Emperor Jingyuan couldn’t stop this matter.
Unless this madman really dared to kill her.
But in the Empress Dowager’s view, Emperor Jingyuan didn’t dare.
He was crazy, but not an irrational fanatic.
He could eliminate the Huang family because the Huang family were subjects, and also because the Empress Dowager herself handed over the leverage; but the position of Empress Dowager was like the position of the monarch, forged by laws and countless dignities.
Emperor Jingyuan could use etiquette and law to suppress Empress Dowager Huang from stepping into Cining Palace. But similarly, this etiquette and law also suppressed Emperor Jingyuan from committing unfilial acts.
Leaving aside other things, if Emperor Jingyuan really killed the Empress Dowager, it would definitely cause turmoil in the court.
The country would not be a country, and the law would not be a law.
Ruling the country with filial piety has always been the way. If Emperor Jingyuan happened to be an unfilial and unrighteous person, what face would he have to sit on the throne?
This throne was never sat on just by relying on his violent personality.
However, the Empress Dowager held in her hands evidence of Emperor Jingyuan’s unfilial piety.
That was the real, ironclad evidence.
…
“What is the range of your current ability?”
Jingzhe freed his hands to copy records on white paper.
The freshly ground ink emitted a somewhat strange smell. Jingzhe had smelled it carefully several times just now. It was a scent that was a bit pleasant but also a bit unpleasant.
[After you select a target, you can briefly query their relevant information, but it cannot be too detailed.]
[The number of times cannot be many. Within seven days, you can only query once.]
Jingzhe raised his eyebrows: “Then you’re not much use.”
A function that could only be used once every seven days. If he really wanted to investigate in detail, it would be life-threatening.
Even if it was just to rule out the suspicion of three or four people, how long would it take to finish checking?
Even though he disliked it, Jingzhe still had someone he wanted to check.
After thinking for a moment, Jingzhe said: “I want to check Emperor Jingyuan.”
The existence of the system, to some extent, could indeed save Jingzhe a lot of trouble.
[Cannot query.]
“Didn’t you say anyone is okay?”
[Emperor Jingyuan is the Emperor. The system’s current authority is not that high yet.]
Although Jingzhe was a bit disappointed, this wasn’t strange.
He thought for a moment: “Then I want to check Zong Yuanxin from the Imperial Hospital.”
[There are two Zong Yuanxins recorded in the Imperial Hospital. One is the Head of the Imperial Hospital, who only treats Emperor Jingyuan, has an eccentric temperament, and possesses brilliant medical skills. The other is an Imperial Physician in the Imperial Hospital, has an eccentric temperament, and possesses brilliant medical skills.]
Jingzhe fell silent.
He frowned: “Are these two people?”
Just listening to the system’s words, why did it look so much like copy and paste?
[There are indeed two identities, two identical names.]
Jingzhe rubbed his forehead. So, he really overthought it? But what a coincidence. In the Imperial Hospital, there were actually two people with the same name and surname?
So that Head was also called Zong Yuanxin.
It had to be said, if the result found wasn’t what the system said, the suspicion in Jingzhe’s heart would probably be even greater.
[What is the host suspecting?]
Jingzhe shook his head and said softly, “I’m not suspecting anything. It’s just that recently I always have a strange feeling, as if something has been missed…”
This subtle unease was always uncomfortable. But Jingzhe thought about it over and over again and hadn’t missed anything.
Then he could only carefully check all the factors that brought uneasiness.
Although the system was useless, at least it hadn’t deceived him until now.
If there were really two Zong Yuanxins, then probably, that momentary illusion was Jingzhe’s misunderstanding.
While thinking, Jingzhe had already finished copying effortlessly.
His handwriting was becoming better and better.
Working under Jiang Jinming, the more things he came into contact with, the more document-related matters came one after another. However, these things that Jiang Jinming found troublesome could just happen to be used by Jingzhe for practice.
Every transcription was an opportunity to practice writing.
Later, Rong Jiu gave him a lot of brushes, ink, and paper, but they were all too good. Jingzhe couldn’t bear to use them, so he asked Zheng Hong to buy a lot of cheap paper.
Just teaching others could only ensure Jingzhe didn’t forget that knowledge. Only by practicing constantly himself could he truly remember.
Now, Jingzhe could be considered to be able to write a good hand.
Although without a famous teacher’s guidance, his font was somewhat uninhibited, straightforward, and natural. But since he wasn’t taking the imperial examination, he just did whatever he liked.
After stopping writing, Jingzhe put the copied paper aside.
[Task Twelve: Prevent the Empress Dowager from exposing Emperor Jingyuan’s secret]
Just as Jingzhe was about to take the next sheet of paper, the sudden task made his movement stop.
Empress Dowager, Emperor Jingyuan. These two words appearing in the same sentence meant not much good, let alone followed closely by a secret.
The Emperor’s secret?
Although Jingzhe had tried to pry just now, he didn’t want to have any contact with a person like Emperor Jingyuan at all.
What could be called a secret was definitely not a good thing; what the Empress Dowager wanted to expose would definitely shake the imperial throne.
After all, Emperor Jingyuan and the Empress Dowager had different interests and conflicting goals.
Jingzhe couldn’t help but get a headache just thinking about it.
“Why does the Empress Dowager repeatedly try to strike at His Majesty?” Jingzhe muttered helplessly in his heart, “Even if she wants Prince Rui to ascend the throne, doesn’t she have to see the situation clearly?”
At least, in the past year, Emperor Jingyuan’s prestige among the people was not low.
For the Empress Dowager to easily topple Emperor Jingyuan, that was not an easy task.
Plus, what did the Empress Dowager have in her hands?
Soldiers and horses?
If the Huang family were still around, there might be a slight possibility. What about now? Prince Rui was thousands of miles away. Even if there was any movement in the capital, he wouldn’t be able to rush back in time!
If the Empress Dowager knew this clearly and still wanted to act, it could only mean that in her opinion, Emperor Jingyuan’s secret could heavily crush this newly established prestige…
What would it be?
Jingzhe swept through his mind and could only fixate on the late Emperor.
Could it be that before Emperor Jingyuan ascended the throne, he had done something to the late Emperor?
Thinking of this, Jingzhe somewhat regretted it.
The late Emperor was already dead and definitely not as restricted as Emperor Jingyuan. The query count used for Zong Yuanxin just now might as well have been used on the late Emperor, so he could know how the late Emperor actually died.
…
In front of Qianming Palace, a medicine boy carried a medicine chest and quickly followed behind Zong Yuanxin. He was a bit short and walked extremely fast.
Only in this way could he catch up with Zong Yuanxin’s pace.
Shi Lijun guarded outside the palace gate. Seeing Zong Yuanxin arrive, she finally revealed a small smile.
Zong Yuanxin nodded slightly to her and stepped into the palace gate.
Inside Qianming Palace, a faint fragrance was burning.
Unlike the specially made soothing incense before, the current incense was beneficial to Emperor Jingyuan’s body.
Emperor Jingyuan was resting with his eyes closed.
His slightly pale face was like the finest lines. Any workmanship excelling nature would find it hard to forge such a beautiful face.
Zong Yuanxin didn’t care about external appearances, but occasionally seeing Emperor Jingyuan’s face, he would also feel it was a waste and a pity.
This face, on anyone else, would be admired, but on Emperor Jingyuan, it would only make people keep a distance of three feet.
No one dared to appreciate this beauty.
This was the most venomous flower. Who dared to pick it?
But thinking carefully, if it were anyone else, without sufficient power, possessing such beauty would originally be a disaster.
A beautiful face would be a source of trouble anywhere.
Unable to possess enough strength, that face would only attract countless troubles.
Such thoughts only flashed through Zong Yuanxin’s mind. Immediately, when Emperor Jingyuan opened his eyes, his heart was completely filled only with the Emperor’s illness.
However, before that, Zong Yuanxin had to complain.
“Since when did the Imperial Hospital have two Zong Yuanxins?”
If he hadn’t been idle yesterday and checked the register of the Imperial Hospital, he wouldn’t have known that there was actually another Imperial Physician named “Zong Yuanxin” in the Imperial Hospital.
Emperor Jingyuan glanced at him, his expression indifferent, and said nothing.
Zong Yuanxin: “Your Majesty, you can’t be like this. This minister doesn’t want such a fake identity?”
“You don’t want it?” Emperor Jingyuan said coldly, “Then resign from the position of Head and become an ordinary Imperial Physician.”
Zong Yuanxin choked.
Although he didn’t like being the Head with nothing to do that much. But holding the position for nothing and having money fall from the sky, although he complained about boredom and didn’t love money that much, he wouldn’t push it away, okay!
Zong Yuanxin made a gesture of zipping his mouth, spoke no more, and lowered his head to feel Emperor Jingyuan’s pulse.
A quarter of an hour later, Zong Yuanxin finally breathed a sigh of relief.
“Fortunately, it’s quite smooth. Just consolidate for another month, and we can almost proceed to the next stage.”
It was also the most dangerous stage. After all, at this time, Emperor Jingyuan still had to control his temper.
Thinking of this, Zong Yuanxin unconsciously glanced at the expressionless Emperor.
He was slowly smoothing his cuffs. His upright demeanor and elegant movements were faultless no matter who looked at them.
Emperor Jingyuan possessed an innate talent. Throw him into a crowd, and he would naturally capture everyone’s attention.
His fingers were as clean as white jade.
Who could imagine that last night, it was such a pair of hands that effortlessly broke so many necks.
Crack—
That crisp sound was truly a wonderful movement.
Sometimes, Emperor Jingyuan killed people not necessarily because of a bad temper. It might also be because he liked it.
Emperor Jingyuan’s gaze swept across, grazing Zong Yuanxin who was still lingering on the side.
Zong Yuanxin chuckled: “Since Concubine Kang has been removed by Your Majesty, does Kang Man still need to live?”
Emperor Jingyuan said nonchalantly, “Who said We killed her?”
Zong Yuanxin was slightly surprised: “Your Majesty actually didn’t act?”
Emperor Jingyuan glanced at him impatiently and said coldly, “For someone like her, killing is useless. She doesn’t fear death anyway.”
But Aye San’s death directly crushed Concubine Kang.
Emperor Jingyuan either didn’t act, or if he did, he would definitely hit the sore spot.
He didn’t do meaningless things.
Forging Zong Yuanxin’s identity was like this, and forging Rong Jiu’s identity was even more so. It seemed like an indifferent move, but it was absolutely necessary.
Emperor Jingyuan was facing a beast with incomparable keenness.
A little alerting of the enemy would make it startled.
But who could blame the beast for being too sensitive?
One could only blame Emperor Jingyuan for acting too rashly. The countless troubles he naturally brought about were not so easily cleaned up.
Wasn’t this also the Emperor’s repeated probing?
Emperor Jingyuan stood up and said indifferently, “Live. Let him live as long as possible.”
As for Concubine Kang, a nearly half-mad spy was indeed useless in the harem.
However, she could still be used elsewhere.
Presumably, the Gaonan people who received this gift would be very, very happy.
Although a bit fragmented, at least the diplomatic mission was returned to them.
How great.
Compared to the number of Shanyou people, it was much, much more.
…
Zheng Hong’s body had long since recovered after a long period of recuperation. Even though many people tried to pry open his mouth after the incident, they still couldn’t know what happened to him after he left the palace.
Later, when Zheng Hong went out to do things, he never went there again.
He wasn’t an ungrateful person.
Having survived with difficulty, Zheng Hong didn’t want to waste his life.
On this day, Zheng Hong went out with Huli. When they returned, Huli had a grave expression, looking like he hadn’t received good news.