During the night, the matter of Shen Youhuang wantonly searching the palace for the 'assassin', naturally alarmed the imperial concubine of Chen Ming Palace.
Imperial Concubine had been on tenterhooks all night, so she had gone to the Hail Palace early in the morning to pay respects to the empress dowager and inquire about what had happened last night.
The empress dowager looked at the surrounding palace maids and eunuchs before ordering everyone to withdraw from the palace. She said to the imperial concubine in a low voice,
"Last night, the King Yu entered the palace to help out Yu Su. Hail Palace came before the Li Palace. But before they even spoke for a while, Shen Youhuang led his people and rushed in aggressively, wanting to search for this very moment. This humble one is worried that he has spies in Hail Palace … "
The imperial concubine was shocked upon hearing this and couldn't believe it, "How could that be? The empress dowager still has those reliable people by her side, who could possibly be bribed by Shen Youhuang? Furthermore, the King Yu's Wife had already entered the palace, so why did Shen Youhuang not receive any news at that time and did not hold back? "
The empress dowager couldn't figure this out after thinking for a whole night. She shook her head. "This Dowager was only guessing. After all, none of the people around me seem to be traitors. But if Shen Youhuang did not come to capture King Yu last night, then who was he looking for? Imperial Concubine, pay attention to whether any of the people in the palace went missing last night. "
The imperial concubine nodded. "Yes, empress dowager. Chenqie will send people to investigate in secret when we get back."
The empress dowager was still worried. "Even though there may not be any spies around, we should take this as an example. If you have time, comb through the palace's personnel. For those that aren't reliable, temporarily don't let them get too close. Pay more attention. Be careful when doing so."
The imperial concubine hurriedly replied, "Your concubine understands. Your concubine will investigate the spies as soon as possible and exonerate the imperial harem."
At this time, they suddenly heard anxious footsteps from outside the hall. A young eunuch hurriedly crossed the threshold of the hall and accidentally fell in.
The empress dowager frowned, while the imperial concubine couldn't help but exclaim in alarm, "Aiyo! "Why aren't you looking at the road? What are you doing in such a hurry this early in the morning?"
The young eunuch crawled up on the ground, and was so flustered that it did not know whether it should stand up or not. It simply kowtowed a few times, and reported in a sharp voice: "Reporting … To the Empress Dowager, no … Not good … His Majesty, he … He's infected with the plague! "
"What!?" The empress dowager and imperial concubine spoke at the same time as they both stood up in shock.
"How can this be!" The Imperial Concubine's body swayed. She couldn't even stand.
"Take over the Qianyuan Palace!" After all, the empress dowager had experienced decades of trials and hardships, as well as generations of emperors. No matter how frightened she was, on the surface, she could still remain calm and know when to do something.
She then held Imperial Concubine's hand and walked out of the bedchamber. The two of them rode on their carriages towards the Qianyuan Palace in the hazy sky.
When the sun was about to rise, Lan Zhu and the maid Chang'er carried their washing clothes and walked towards the Star Observation Platform.
At this time, they saw Jing Qi hurrying over, holding onto a carrier pigeon.
Seeing that Jing Qi's expression was unusually serious, Lan Zhu quickly asked: "Brother Jing, do you have something important to report to the Duke?"
Jing Qi nodded. Seeing that she was going to attend to the Duke and the wangfei, he said: "Lan Zhu, wait a moment. Something big has happened in the palace."
Lan Zhu was shocked, he immediately stood where he was and did not dare move.
Jing Qi took large strides, and rushed forward in a single breath.
Just then, he heard footsteps downstairs. Shen Lingjue immediately opened his eyes and gently let go of the sleeping Feng Ningyan in his arms. He carefully tucked her in before silently walking downstairs.
At this time, Jing Qi had also reached the eighth floor. Seeing Jing Qi's expression, Shen Lingjue also had a bad premonition.
"What is it? Speak."
"News from the His Highness King Xuan s urgently arrived from the palace …" Jing Qi bowed and handed over a slip of paper that he had just removed from the carrier pigeon's leg to Shen Lingjue.
Shen Lingjue spread open the paper, and finished the contents of it in one glance. He frowned: "Father suddenly caught a plague? Impossible! The plague never spread to Fallen Maple Town! "
At this moment, a clear and cold voice suddenly sounded from the stairs. "With Shen Youhuang by your side, why is it impossible?"
It turned out that Feng Ningyan was also awakened by the sound of him getting up. Knowing that something was up, she put on her clothes and walked down.
When Jing Qi heard the name Shen Youhuang, his eyes immediately turned red with hate. "This bastard that is inferior to pigs and dogs.
"This King understands..." Shen Lingjue gradually calmed down from his shock and anger, "Last night, Shen Youhuang faked the imperial edict and summoned Yu Su into the Qianyuan Palace.
Feng Ningyan's thoughts also started to become clearer, "You're saying, he calculated the time Yu Su would return to the palace, and then tried to kill the emperor before she entered the Qianyuan Palace. As long as Yu Su has been to the Qianyuan Palace, then the emperor must have contracted the plague because of Yu Su's infection …"
"That's right!" Jing Qi clenched his fists, "He is not human!"
"Yesterday, Yu Su did not enter the Qianyuan Palace, but the plague of the Emperor was real … We cannot enter the palace, what should we do? " Feng Ningyan frowned as he looked at Shen Lingjue.
Shen Lingjue turned around and took out a pen and paper from the cabinet at the side. He wrote down two lines of small words, rolled them up and stuffed them into the reed tube, then handed them to Jing Qi and said: "Send the message to King Xuan immediately. He will understand what I mean once he reads the contents of the note."
The snow-white carrier pigeon, in the early morning light, flew to the depths of the red jade wall.
Inside the Qianyuan Palace, it was extremely quiet, so quiet that one could hear a pin drop.
The palace maids and eunuchs held their breath, not even daring to breathe. Trembling, they kneeled on the ground. It had already been two hours.
The dozen or so imperial physicians took turns shakily examining the patient, but they all shook their heads in fear.
One of the imperial physicians said in a low voice, "Your Highness Prince Cheng, the emperor's symptoms are indeed a plague …"
Shen Youhuang reprimanded him coldly: "You don't need to say that! This King wants an effective recipe! All of you have been consulting for a long time, and all that is said is nonsense! "
The imperial physicians were silent like cicadas in the winter as they thought to themselves, Even the imperial physicians with exceptional medical skills were sent to the epidemic area, and even they had not developed a antidote yet. What could the low-level imperial physicians they kept in the capital do?
On the surface, Shen Youhuang looked angry, but he was laughing coldly inside. His gaze landed on the tent that was covered by the bright yellow curtain.
Looking at the emperor who was on the verge of death, it was as if he was looking at a masterpiece of his own, relaxed and happy.
Royal father, you say you are in such a terrible condition, yet you have seized the throne for so long, why do you need to go through so much trouble just to end up with such a useless title? Let's make way!
Just as Shen Youhuang was feeling pleased with himself, Shen Yusu walked in.
When Shen Youhuang saw Shen Yusu, the corner of his mouth twitched.
Shen Yusu lifted his robe, knelt on the dragon bed, and kowtowed: "This son greets royal father! I heard that royal father was infected with a plague, so I came here to offer you my recipe. "
The imperial physicians were all astonished. They looked at each other, not daring to believe their own ears.
Shen Yusu had only been in the epidemic area for a day and a night, could he really develop a cure for the plague this quickly? He would simply be the Guanyin Bodhisattva that had to ask for help in times of need.
However, most of the imperial physicians did not trust this experimental phase of the recipe.
Shen Youhuang naturally could not believe it either. He sneered, raised his hand, and signaled Yu Su to get up.
"Sixth brother, what recipe did you bring? Were the imperial physicians the ones who gathered them amidst the chaos? "Don't say it, he got it pretty quickly."