Has not slept all night?
Even Zong Luo was taken aback.
Yuan Jia had mentioned before that in his early years, Emperor Yuan, relying on his good health, not only worked through the night to revise memorials, but also waited until after the morning court session, practiced with the sword, and then returned to his sleeping chamber to bathe and rest.
This was simply a superhuman schedule, only the young have this kind of capital features to do so.
In those two years, Great Yuan was indeed in a bad situation, with a bloody reformation domestically and the Wei Country’s army outside pressing on the borders. Zong Luo, who was only a few months old, was sent to Wei Country as a proton with his wet nurse. Thanks to Emperor Yuan’s diligent governance and iron fist, he barely managed to pull up such a large country.
But now Yuan Jia had mentioned Emperor Yuan’s health in front of him over and over again, his tone full of worry, plus the memory of the accident that Zong Luo had actually experienced in his previous life——
He didn’t think much about it, just hurriedly nodded to the people waiting for him in the distance, and followed the eunuch to the Zhang Palace.
The words that Yu Beizhou said last night, in the end, left some traces in Zong Luo’s heart.
What does it mean to leave too early and hate the wrong person from beginning to end?
Unfortunately, this sentence had no follow-up, in the absence of necessary conditions, Zong Luo couldn’t get more useful information.
But this matter did leave some traces in his heart, but whether from reason or emotion, he dared not think deeply.
After passing through the bluish-gray stone road of the imperial palace, he finally arrived in front of the towering palace hall.
Zong Luo steadied his mind, but unexpectedly saw a familiar figure kneeling at the door of the Zhang Palace, along with Yuan Jia who was waiting there.
Seeing him coming, the expression on Yuan Jia’s face relaxed a little. “Third Highness.”
“Just now an imperial guard came to report, His Majesty just so happened to have gone to the imperial prison. Your Highness, why don’t you go inside the hall, sit down and have a rest, wait slowly.”
Imperial prison? Then there should be some discoveries concerning the drugging last night?
“Okay, troubling the Eunuch Yuan.”
Zong Luo’s gaze swept over Zong Hongjiu, who was kneeling at the door of the Zhang Palace, without a trace.
Yes, the one kneeling here was the little devil Zong Hongjiu who usually acts like a tyrant.
The latter was still wearing the ceremonial robe from last night’s palace banquet, his head drooping, and eyes looking red. When he saw Zong Luo, his expression instantly became ferocious. It’s hard to imagine that such a vicious look would appear on the face of a ten-year-old child.
Relying on the white silk as a disguise, Zong Luo walked past him without a sideways glance, feeling surprised in his heart.
Although Zong Luo knew clearly in his heart that the culprits of the drugging were Zong Hongjiu and Zong Chengsi, these two, from his previous life. But after all, both were princes, one of them was even the most beloved son of Emperor Yuan. Not to mention that they wouldn’t be so stupid as to drug someone in public without preparing a scapegoat, even if they were really found out, the victim was only the proton from the Wei Country, it’s estimated that it would be picked up high and be put down lightly, and wouldn’t be too serious.
(TL: picked up high and be put down lightly-’picked up high’ to achieve the goal. After the goal is achieved, ‘put it down gently’. Focus on means, not results.)
But the current situation seemed to be a bit different from what he guessed.
The imperial prison was a place where the emperor usually ordered the arrest of criminals. When the Rong family rebelled, the first leak of the news was when torture was used for interrogation in the imperial prison, which led to a lot of follow-up like pulling out a radish and bringing out a lot of mud. It was said that when the corpse was carried out, its complete face couldn’t be seen at all.
For this reason, in everyone’s mind, the imperial prison was a place that was thousands of times more terrifying than the great prison of Great Yuan. At least when one entered the great prison, even if the punishment was cruel, breaking fingers and toes, there may still be a chance to come out alive. The imperial prison, however, was a place where once you go in, there would absolutely be no way to survive.
It wasn’t until he entered the palace that he turned around and called to Yuan Jia, who was about to leave, and asked in a low voice, “Eunuch Yuan, about last night’s incident——”
The emperor did not issue a gag order, and since the Third Highness asked, Yuan Jia naturally would not refuse to answer.
After Zong Luo vomited blood last night, the emperor was furious and ordered the King of Beining to seal off the palace and take charge of the overall situation.
The Ninth Prince, who was also drugged, went to rest in the side hall. After a round of screening, finally, a wine pouring official plucked up the courage to come forward and reveal some clues.
“When this slave went to the side hall to fetch wine, this slave put down the plate casually, went to the restroom for a while, and when coming back, this slave saw a few shadows sneaking around in front of the plate, not knowing what they were doing. This slave was scared at the time, therefore this slave picked up the small knife for opening the jug and waved it at them.”
At that time, the King of Beining squinted his eyes, didn’t say whether he believed it or not, but turned around and ordered the imperial guards to check.
“Who was it found on in the end?” A ridiculous guess flashed through Zong Luo’s mind.
Yuan Jia sighed, “There were no injuries on anyone in the whole hall, and if there were, they were old ones. But when Imperial Physician Lin was applying medicine for the Ninth Highness, he saw a fresh wound on the Ninth Highness’s arm.”
This wound was caused by a clumsy servant when Zong Hongjiu was putting on his ceremonial robe. He was dragged down and beaten to death with a stick. Although Zong Hongjiu didn’t value human life, he wouldn’t publicize the reason for killing his servant, instead, he used the name of offending the prince.
Unfortunately, there weren’t many people inside the palace when he was changing clothes, and in the end, he got rid of the human evidence himself.
“However, even though these were found out at the time, the King of Beining did not directly convict, but instead detained all those involved, including the wine pouring official who provided evidence, waiting for His Majesty’s decision. After His Majesty returned, he was furious and sent them all to the imperial prison, ordering the King of Beining to interrogate them personally.”
When Zong Luo arrived, Emperor Yuan had just received a report from a servant, saying that the King of Beining had found key evidence that the mastermind was the Ninth Prince, then he put down his pen and went over.
At first, Zong Hongjiu resisted stubbornly, arguing desperately, and playing dumb when asked. Later, when he heard the news about the imperial prison, knowing that the situation was hopeless, he was scared out of his wits and hurriedly knelt down here.
No matter what, he couldn’t figure out where he had slipped up.
Because he left the hall early, Zong Hongjiu didn’t know that the development afterwards had completely deviated from his and Zong Chengsi’s plan, and was instead stabbed in the back by the other party.
He had clearly arranged for a scapegoat long ago, but to his surprise, Emperor Yuan, contrary to his usual practice, ordered a thorough investigation in the imperial prison.
The imperial prison was a place where, once entering and not telling the truth, one wouldn’t be able to die quickly. Even if the scapegoat agreed to die for himself, he never thought he would be tortured.
Unfortunately, in the urgency of the situation, Zong Hongjiu was in the palace and couldn’t contact the person who planned this with him for a while, and the one who provided Mantingchun to Zong Chengsi.
On the other hand, Zong Luo in the palace was full of emotion.
Who could have thought that in this life, he would actually manage to dismiss Zong Hongjiu.
