Chapter 1020

Unable to Find Anything

Ever since Wu Ying had been made the head eunuch, he had taken over Zhang Yuan’s room as if it was his own. He acted very naturally in taking over all of the wealth and items that had already been in Zhang Yuan’s room. Because of this, Wu Ying had enjoyed many nights of sweet dreams. It had to be known that these were things that he could never earn in his lifetime! It could be seen just how much the Emperor loved Zhang Yuan.

But in the end, he was someone who lived in the palace. He could not leave the palace as he pleased, nor could he casually allow people to take things out of the palace. There were rules in place for such things. He could make use of the items and wealth in the palace, and it was not impossible to transport these things out, but at the very least, he needed to stabilize his position. He needed to have everyone acknowledge his position first to make things easier to do. That was why all of Zhang Yuan’s things were left as they were, not a single thing missing.

Feng Yuheng did not hold back in the slightest, nor was she afraid of being suspected. She completely emptied the room. If it was not for her finding it a pain, she even considered taking away the tables and chairs. Even with things like this, the current scene would ensure that Wu Ying would be left frightened half to death when he returned. This matter would definitely need to be investigated, but it would be a fruitless investigation.

She was very satisfied with the outcome and left with a clap of her hands. She followed Zhang Yuan to the department of guilty servants. She saw Zhang Yuan be handed over to the department of guilty servants. She also watched the one in charge of the department throw Zhang Yuan into the room furthest north that also housed four others before following them in.

At this hour, aside from the newly-arrived Zhang Yuan, all of the other guilty servants were already outside and working. Even Zhang Yuan was merely given time to come in and change the uniform for those in the department of guilty servants. After changing, he immediately went out to work. Hearing that he had 200 sets of clothing to wash and five large tanks of water to fill, Feng Yuheng entered and looked at the large tanks. She figured that only two of the large tanks could be filled over the course of an entire day without any rest. Filling five tanks was truly just making things difficult for people.

Zhang Yuan was on the verge of despair, as he looked at this cold, dirty, and quite disgusting room. Heaving a heavy sigh, he began to change his clothes. Feng Yuheng made her appearance before he began changing his clothes then gently covered his mouth, saying: “Don’t make a sound. It’s me.”

Zhang Yuan really felt that this Princess Yu was a goddess. She had entered without making a single sound. It had to be known that there were many sets of eyes in the department of guilty servants. In just this one courtyard, there were many servants at work. How exactly did Princess Yu get in?

Of course, he knew that the secrets of the masters could not be inquired about, nor should he try to figure them out. He just nodded and expressed that he understood who she was. He would not make any loud noises, thus Feng Yuheng let him go. She then pulled out a small pouch of silver and banknotes and stuffed them into his hands. He then heard Feng Yuheng said: “This was all stolen from Wu Ying’s room. It should be what you had saved from before, right? Don’t worry, I have snuck out all of your things and placed them in a safe place. If you want them, I can bring them out for you at any time. Or if there comes a day when you are able to get out of this predicament, your room can be returned to the way that it was before. But you are currently in this place, and it’s not convenient to leave you too much money. Keep this bit, for now, to make do. Give the one in charge a banknote worth a large sum. At the very least, that will save you the need to fill the five tanks of water.”

Zhang Yuan looked at these things, and tears began to stream down his face. He wanted to drop to his knees and kowtow to Feng Yuheng; however, he was stopped by her. Feng Yuheng shook her head and said: “Now is not the time for courtesy. Staying alive is most important. This includes the people living in this room. They also need to be given a bit to make their lives a little bit better. At present, Father Emperor has come down with a strange illness, and that is what brought about this large change. We are all thinking of ways to let him quickly recover. If you lose your life during this time, when the day that Father Emperor wakes up, I fear that he will end up becoming furious over you.”

Zhang Yuan wiped away his tears and thought about that old emperor who was without conscience, and more tears began to flow.

Feng Yuheng had no desire to speak too much with this eunuch. Leaving behind the money, she left in a blur. Zhang Yuan felt his vision blur. In the time that he spent rubbing his eyes, he could no longer see Princess Yu. In his mind, he sighed and thought that she really was too good. She was just like the hidden guards at the Emperor’s side who spent all day hidden. Thinking about what Feng Yuheng had said about the old emperor falling ill, and he could not help but become worried.

Leaving the department of guilty servants, Feng Yuheng did not directly leave the palace. At present, it was already the daytime, and she heard the servants talk about how the Emperor was already in Heavenly Hall to attend morning court. Thinking about it, he must not have exhausted himself the previous night, as he still had the energy to attend court. Thus she changed direction and headed in the direction of Cun Shan Palace.

Imperial Concubine Li had already been investigated, and Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu needed to be investigated. If there really was someone raising a gu, she felt that this person would most likely be hidden in Cun Shan Palace. Although she still did not know how to deal with a gu practitioner, even if she found one, she might not be able to do anything to them. She could not even capture them on the spot. At the very least, she needed to gain a bit more of an understanding before coming up with another method.

However, her thoughts were a little too optimistic. Despite being practically certain, when she arrived at Cun Shan Palace, she fell at the final hurdle.

There were no outsiders in Cun Shan Palace!

This was to say that she had not found a single suspicious person nor suspicious thing in the entirety of Cun Shan Palace, including the main and side halls. Cun Shan Palace was so clean that not a single fault could be found with it. All of the palace servants were normal, and they were all people who had been working in the palace before. She could be absolutely certain that there was nothing suspicious. But this was strange! The Emperor had been afflicted by a gu, and his personality had undergone a drastic change. The ones to benefit the most were Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu and the eighth prince. If Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu’s place was clean, could it be that the person who did it was in the Sheng Palace?

That was even more impossible! If that person really was in the Sheng Palace, the eighth prince could not possibly have come so close to losing his head on the execution grounds. If that person wanted to act, they would have done it much earlier. They could not possibly have waited until something was about to happen to Xuan Tianmo; moreover, Xuan Tianmo had been locked up inside the condemned cell during that time. He was completely unable to communicate with the outside world.

Feng Yuheng felt that there was something strange about this, thus she simply decided to stay and wait for Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu’s return. She wanted to see what sort of things she would do in the palace.

Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu had returned from Zhao He Hall and did not make Feng Yuheng wait for very long. But she did not do anything out of the ordinary. After returning, she took a bath and changed clothes. After this, she lay down on her bed and had two palace maids massage her entire body. While enjoying this, she said: “My entire body hurts. His Majesty really is exactly the same as he was over twenty years earlier!”

The two palace maids were also very accommodating, going along with what Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu had said: “There’s also no difference between Your Highness now and twenty years earlier. You are both young and beautiful. It would be strange if His Majesty didn’t like you! This is His Majesty favoring Your Highness. As this servant sees it, it’s possible that Your Highness could give birth to another prince for His Majesty.”

Upon hearing these words, Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu could not hold back her laughter and began to giggle. When she finally managed to stop, she said: “Forget about a prince. His Majesty already has so many sons. Even if another prince was born, he would not rejoice. Moreover, this One merely looks young, but my age is still up there! But I have taken no shortage of supplements. If my belly is up to the task and can give birth to a princess, that would really be a great matter. In our Da Shun, giving birth to princes is not something to celebrate. Giving birth to a princess is what is truly worth celebrating.”

“That’s right! Your Highness will definitely be able to give birth to a beautiful little princess! Oh, wait! It will be two. It will definitely be twins.”

The two palace maids flattered Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu until she was smiling brightly. To Feng Yuheng, however, it was a little shocking. She had forgotten all about this. In the ancient era, girls became of age early, and Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu entered the palace when she became of age at 15. Although it had been over 20 years, when all of the addition was done, she was not even 40. At this sort of age, with the help of the palace’s supplements, once the many consecutive days of being shown favor, it was possible that she really could become pregnant. This woman was already so arrogant. If she really did become pregnant, the Imperial Palace really would become that mother and son’s world.

Feng Yuheng silently made a decision. She would stealthily put some contraceptives into her tea later. Although this was a sinister method, using it on Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu was not too much. Just this much was not enough for her to vent her anger.

After she finished taking care of her tasks in Cun Shan Palace, she figured that the eighth prince might come over after court was dismissed. Mother and son might come together and discuss some things.

At the same time, in a remote courtyard in the palace, Feng Zirui sat up in bed without a hint of sleepiness.

Speaking of, if it was not for someone from Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu’s side coming to search his room, he might have woken up a bit earlier. After all, living in the palace, he needed to remain vigilant. In addition to this, the Emperor had already gone to attend morning court, thus he could not just continue to greed for sleep. But with that sort of a mess last night, nobody was able to sleep well. In the end, Zirui was just an eleven-year-old child, and he was at an age where he was needing sleep, thus he woke up a little later.

He sat on the bed, and his first thought was: Did elder sister come last night? She should have come, right! Although he had not seen her, he had a feeling. That was his elder sister, who was connected to him, and he could feel his elder sister at his side. It was just that she did not come out to see him. He also knew that his elder sister was definitely uneasy with him staying in the palace alone, thus she secretly came in to see him. She also wanted him to face things openly, thus she chose to come but not make an appearance.

Zirui smiled thinly, as there was a feeling of being cared for. It really was nice. Even now, he could feel that he was standing side-by-side with his sister and brother-in-law in this fight. Although this sort of fight was rather covert, it was still quite moving.

Not long later, a palace maid pushed the door open and entered. It was the one who had come to stand guard last night.

Zirui saw her place a basin of water on the shelf then walk over to him. She saluted then said: “Young master, why not sleep a little longer? With that mess last night, you must not have gotten enough sleep, right?” Her voice was very gentle and carried a genuine tone of concern.

Zirui shook his head and said: “I’m done sleeping. Going into the palace is my job. His Majesty is already in court, so how can I ask for more sleep? Bad life habits will cause more problems. If word of this spread, it would be nothing to me, but I fear that people will say that my elder sister did not do a good job of raising me.” After he said this, he stared at the palace maid for a bit then suddenly asked: “Are you really someone sent by His Highness Prince Feiyu?”