Chapter 290
Therefore, ever since the Ninth Prince fell in, rumors spread through the palace that the little palace maid was seeking his life.
As soon as this happened, the emperor and his ministers all knew in their hearts that those people had started to cause trouble!
As for the rumors in the imperial palace, Emperor Mingxi did not order anyone to suppress them. Let them spread; if they didn't, how could he follow the vine to get the melon and uproot the hidden forces within the palace?
When the prince unexpectedly encountered danger, on the surface, the emperor merely ordered the palace servants to send some gifts to console the two of them before concluding the matter as an accident.
He appeared to be rather unconcerned about the two and the matters surrounding them.
Consequently, the helpless Ninth Prince could only swallow his anger.
However, the Fourth Prince, who still had some backing, refused to let it go.
From the grooms to the guards, he had them all arrested and thoroughly interrogated.
And his birth mother, Concubine Xin, who was usually as aloof from worldly strife as a Bodhisattva, smelled the scent of a conspiracy aimed solely at her son for the first time.
She could finally sit still no longer.
"Master Yue, what should we do now? Little Four's startled horse incident this time was definitely premeditated!"
Because she had eaten the fruits and vegetables bestowed by Emperor Mingxi, Concubine Xin had grown healthier day by day. Although Emperor Mingxi, upon learning the truth later, did not send much more, Concubine Xin's health had indeed greatly improved. Now, she was so anxious that she paced back and forth in her palace without feeling tired.
"Your Highness, we are currently grounded and cannot go anywhere. Your anxiety will not help matters."
Yue Ying's face was pale at this moment. This cold had cost him half his life. For some unknown reason, no matter what medicine he took, he never seemed to get better; instead, his condition worsened day by day.
Because the Fourth Prince had offended Junior Preceptor Yue, everyone in their palace was implicated and grounded, and his illness had dragged on for over a month.
He had already missed the date to meet his junior martial brother Qi Ming. He only hoped that, without his help, his junior brother could successfully complete the mission assigned by the Emperor of Yue.
At this time, Yue Ying did not yet know that the good junior brother he was worrying about was currently locked up in the lowest level of the heavenly prison.
Just waiting for the day they would reunite.
"But I feel that this time is different from the usual schemes and fights for favor in the harem. This incident was aimed directly at taking Little Four's life.
Moreover, the opponent's strength is unknown, and their origins and motives are unclear."
Over the past two days, Concubine Xin had even suspected Emperor Mingxi, the father himself.
She thought the emperor had discovered their plan and wanted to finish off Little Four, his own son, to break the Emperor of Yue's layout.
But all signs indicated that this matter was indeed not orchestrated by the emperor.
"Your Highness, even if your guess is correct, our hands and feet are currently tied. So what you need to do now is figure out how to regain favor and have the emperor lift our grounding, cough... cough, cough..."
Before he could finish two sentences, Yue Ying started coughing again. He felt like he was going to cough his lungs out, yet his throat still felt itchy and dry.
Seeing his face turn entirely red from coughing, as if he would stop breathing in the next second, Concubine Xin temporarily suppressed her worry for her son and turned to care about Yue Ying's health.
"Master Yue, why is your illness not getting any better? Is the medicine not treating the symptoms?"
Concubine Xin thought about it and concluded this was the only reason. After all, the medicine was from their own palace, and the prescription was written by themselves.
Surely no one would tamper with the medicine just to harm a senior palace maid by her side!
Emperor Mingxi would tell you that someone actually would!
If it weren't for the sake of keeping Gan Sheng steady, he wouldn't have to be so constrained and convoluted just to kill someone on his own turf!
Emperor Mingxi really wanted to swear, 'This is too damn frustrating!' Sooner or later, he would make Gan Sheng taste this feeling too!
Yue Ying leaned half against the pillow, waving his hand weakly, "The prescription is fine. It is my own body that has a problem."
In his early years, when he studied under his master Du Zhongxian, he had tasted a hundred poisons, damaging the foundation of his body. Although he had slowly recuperated and recovered somewhat in the Great Yan imperial palace over the years.
But this cold came fiercely and immediately triggered the hidden ailments in his body.
There were even a few times when Yue Ying faintly felt that his end was approaching!
Both master and disciple could not help but frown, adding two more to the gloomy atmosphere.
Entering the end of April, the weather was just like the lingering haze in everyone's hearts, with continuous drizzling rain.
The over-forty-year-old Emperor Mingxi seemed to have hit his midlife crisis early. During today's morning assembly, he looked particularly displeased.
He had been single-handedly venting and roaring at the court for quite a while.
The reason was simply that the people he wanted to catch hadn't been caught, and those he wanted to kill still had to be dealt with slowly.
This had utterly frustrated the supreme emperor!
He had to secretly order the spies hidden in various countries to speed up their layout. Since they had fired the first shot, they shouldn't blame him for retaliating!
Yue Fuguang couldn't help but pick her ear and ask the system, "Tongtong, have you found the whereabouts of Matsuyama and Feng Yang?"
[Host, the points you spent were not wasted. The data of the Melon-Eating System has recovered a little bit more.
Isn't finding two people a piece of cake?]
The growth gap between the Melon-Eating System and the Merit System was gradually widening, and the system was becoming severely unbalanced.
Neither the person nor the system had realized the impropriety of this yet.
Because at this time, Yue Fuguang was more concerned about finding the two and eliminating them, so she could quickly earn back the spent points.
Therefore, she replied perfunctorily to the system, which felt it was capable again after just recovering a bit of data, "I knew Tongtong, you are the most amazing system.
Hurry up and tell me, where are these two right now?"
[Host, these two are really cunning. There is a saying in your hometown that a crafty rabbit has three burrows. These two have changed locations five times in ten days.
Tell me, isn't that outrageous!]
Yue Fuguang nodded in agreement, "It really is outrageous! Don't tell me that right after you tell me their current spot,
they'll just move again!"
The system thought about it and agreed, so it had a brainwave and said, [Master, I know where Matsuyama and Feng Yang are hiding.]
Yue Fuguang, who was still dozing with her eyes closed, only moved her eyeballs. Still maintaining a half-leaning posture, her lazy voice echoed in the grand hall.
"Didn't you say yesterday that they just changed places? Where did they move to today?"
[Hehe, the place they moved to today is very interesting. Moreover, the two rarely thought alike, both taking the route that the most dangerous place is the safest.
They pulled a 'darkness under the lamp' trick on Wei Ping and Cai Xian.]
Seeing Wei Ping and Cai Xian looking anxious like monkeys, the system stopped keeping them in suspense and readily started reporting the address.
[Matsuyama is currently hiding diagonally across from the Shangjing County Magistrate's Office, in the number one chain inn across multiple planes—Yuelai Inn.
This guy truly lives up to being royalty; he never wrongs himself no matter where he goes. He is now staying in the inn's best Heaven Number One room, letting his sister Yōko stay in a standard superior room.
The siblings are even pretending not to know each other.]
Yue Fuguang was a bit speechless and couldn't help but complain, "This short melon, if you say he's cautious, he high-profilely stays next door to the county magistrate's office, and in the most eye-catching Heaven Number One room at that.
If you say he's not cautious, he knows not to put all his eggs in one basket.
Where are all his subordinates?"
The Dongyi people's concept of hierarchy was even stronger than that of Great Yan. His subordinates would certainly not allow a prince and an imperial princess to stay in an inn alone.