Chapter 125
It wasn’t that Li Yu hadn’t speculated about the culprit behind King Jing’s poisoning when he was young, but he was only King Jing’s official consort. There were many restrictions in investigating the emperor’s harem from decades ago, so it was best to leave it to the emperor himself to investigate. Right now, he and King Jing had no other choice but to trust the emperor.
In addition, there was another terrifying point. The King Jing of this world had recovered, but the King Jing of the original book was probably mute for the rest of his life. It was no wonder that no matter if it was in the book or in this world, King Jing’s children were all normal. It wasn’t because King Jing was lucky, but because King Jing’s muteness wasn’t innate. The King Jing of this world was lucky enough to discover it, but there wasn’t a carp spirit in the original book that could help King Jing discover the truth.
Li Yu himself felt lucky, but also a little scared. The secret related to the muteness had been dangling in front of him for a long time, but he almost missed it.
King Jing spat out the poisonous blood in a moment of desperation because he chose to do the side mission “Compassion”, and the reward for this side mission was a prescription that was inextricably linked to the muteness.
If he added a single Snow Crow Seed, it would become a poison that would harm King Jing. If he added a few other herbs, it would help King Jing recover.
You never know what kind of surprises the system would have in store for you.
Also, sometimes, doing good deeds would bring about good karma.
The side mission had come to an end. Li Yu had helped Madam Liang, and also helped himself and King Jing to overcome the most difficult hurdle. They were about to clear the path.
That day, the Sixth Prince held Madam Liang hostage, and was suspected of regicide. After the emperor brought everyone back to the palace, he ordered the guards to lock the Sixth Prince in the prison, and no one dared to speak up for the Sixth Prince.
The Sixth Prince dared to attack the emperor, so the emperor could cripple his son, but he couldn’t really kill him. Sparing the Sixth Prince’s life was already extremely benevolent.
Consort Zhang knew that the Sixth Prince had really made an unforgivable mistake this time, so she decided to protect herself and stay in Yongfu Palace as much as possible.
Because Concubine Zhang did not directly participate in the Sixth Prince’s actions, the Emperor kept her position as Concubine and severely reprimanded her.
Concubine Zhang was often a quail in front of the Emperor, but in the end, it was her quail temperament that saved her.
Liang shi had completely given up on the Sixth Prince. After experiencing the kidnapping, the child in Liang shi’s womb was too agitated and could not be saved that night. Without another word, Liang shi packed up and returned to her maternal home.
Concubine Lu, who had been framed, was released after the investigation by the Emperor and reunited with the Eighth Prince.
The Seventh Prince and his birth mother, Imperial Concubine Li, also learned from the Emperor that they were also involved in the Sixth Prince’s scheme. The Seventh Prince said that one may know a person’s face but not his heart. After this hunting trip, the two little princes unexpectedly matured a lot.
The Emperor sent King Jing’s four sons to the Imperial Study. Finally, the Seventh Prince and the Eighth Prince were no longer the youngest. In front of the four treasures, they became uncles. The two little princes held their chests high.
The Emperor was already paving the way for King Jing. He clearly told them that it was King Jing who helped them to clear the suspicion. The two little princes were especially attentive to their nephews. The Imperial Study was peaceful and the Emperor was very satisfied with this. Since the Seventh Prince and the Eighth Prince could build a good relationship with the four treasures, it meant that they had built a good relationship with the King Jing. In the future, they would not have to worry about anything.
On the other side, Head Steward Luo was ordered to investigate. The cause of Pu Liu’s death also surfaced. Pu Liu originally died of poisoning. The Emperor ordered the old imperial physician to assist the coroner and found that there was residual poison in Pu Liu’s body. It was the medicinal effect of the snow crow seed mixed with angelica.
This was very clear. Pu Liu must have drunk the mixture of these two herbs and then passed the poison to the young King Jing through the milk. After she left the palace, the poison took effect.
It should be said that it was fortunate that she did not directly feed King Jing the medicine. Otherwise, King Jing would not have been able to live for more than a few months. Because the snow crow seed’s poison was passed through the milk, the toxicity was weakened by a lot. Therefore, King Jing was mute and did not die. The poison remained in King Jing’s body and did not cause any other harm.
This was probably the cunning part of the person who poisoned King Jing. If King Jing was directly poisoned to death, the Emperor would definitely investigate. But if he was mute and pretended to be born mute, the Emperor would at most ask the imperial physician to examine him. He would also pray to the gods and Buddha, but would not punish anyone else.
In this way, even if the Emperor and Empress Xiaohui still had a legitimate son alive, in fact, it was almost the same as not having him.
The Emperor was very sure that he had no enmity with Pu Liu. He really did not understand why the other party wanted to frame him like this.
Since she was not an enemy, Pu Liu must be working for someone. Luo Ruisheng continued to investigate Pu Liu’s family.
He found that her family members were infected with the plague and died not long after her death.
At that time, there were two midwives who helped Empress Xiaohui deliver the baby. One of them accidentally fell off the cliff and died without a trace. The other one was accidentally hit by a carriage after drinking too much. The imperial physician who “diagnosed” King Jing was quite old at that time. Not long after he retired and returned to his hometown, he passed away.
… None of them survived.
The Emperor, who was familiar with the ways of the palace, knew at a glance that they were probably killed.
In retrospect, there were indeed too many tricks.
The investigation was thus interrupted, and the Emperor had a headache. Because it was related to King Jing, the Emperor summoned King Jing’s husband to the palace.
These days, the Emperor also saw Princess Jing’s intelligence. Li Yu always had unique opinions. It was also Li Yu who found the poison powder that Pu Liu put in the sealed palace room and saved King Jing. The Emperor thought that it would be better to ask Li Yu to see if Li Yu had any other opinions.
The Emperor ordered King Jing to come quickly with Li Yu.
King Jing had been talking day after day. Other than his voice still being very hoarse and his conversation being a little slow, there were no other problems. Even if it was like this, the Emperor would not dislike it.
“Tian Chi, what do you think?” The Emperor asked.
King Jing slowly said, “Very good.”
King Jing could not talk before. Now that he had recovered, he did not have the desire to talk to the Emperor. He was usually very concise.
On the other hand, the Emperor had prepared a lot of questions to show his concern for King Jing, but unexpectedly, he could not ask them.
The Emperor heard from Wang Xi that King Jing would wake up early every day to read, from the Three Character Classic to all kinds of storybooks, and he would read them aloud.
King Jing looked cold and cheerless. He could fight and kill, but the Emperor could not imagine him reading storybooks.
King Jing stuffed a small booklet in his sleeve. After consulting the Emperor, he would take it out from time to time to read it.
The Emperor knew that King Jing used to keep some notes. Now that the notes were no longer needed, what was the booklet for?
The Emperor took a sneak peek when King Jing was not paying attention. It was a mess of strange patterns.
“The Princess wrote it.” King Jing smiled and explained.
Because Li Yu was afraid that King Jing would suddenly forget how to pronounce a certain word, he organized a pinyin book of commonly used words for emergencies. King Jing carried it with him. Whether he forgot or not, he would take it out to read.
Li Yu was close to him, but he could not stop King Jing from wanting to show off.
The Emperor was speechless.
The Emperor felt that after King Jing recovered from his muteness, his relationship with Princess Jing had reached a new level. The Emperor had seen it so many times that he had become numb to it. This was the feeling of being filmed with PDA too many times.
Back to the main topic, after exchanging greetings with the young couple, the Emperor told them about the current predicament.
“Father Emperor is wise. You found so many clues so quickly.”
Li Yu flattered the Emperor, and the Emperor did a thorough investigation, so the news came quickly. Li Yu did not expect that the few insiders they could think of were all dead.
The Emperor was flattered. He coughed lightly and said, “It’s just that now that the clues are gone, I don’t know what to do.”
Li Yu was waiting for him to say this.
“Although these people are gone, there are still ‘things’. Some ‘things’ can’t be changed … Father Emperor, why don’t you investigate the snow crow seed?”
Li Yu’s words hit the nail on the head.
He heard from the old imperial physician that the snow crow seed grew on the top of a snowy mountain. There were no snowy mountains in the country, so the snow crow seed was extremely rare. Even the Imperial Hospital did not have it.
“… This is suspicious. Why would the herb, which even the Imperial Hospital does not have, be in Pu Liu’s hands? Moreover, the snow crow seed was originally very nutritious. It became poisonous when it was mixed with angelica. I think that the person behind the scenes should know medicine, or at least know the toxicity of the snow crow seed. ”
The old imperial physician said that the powder was originally made according to the ancient prescription for nourishing the body. It was just that the snow crow seed was added. Even if people who did not understand the mystery of the medicine knew about the existence of the snow crow seed, they would think that it was to make up for the deficiency. It was probably a way to fool people.
Li Yu said nothing more, but he was slightly worried. The snow crow seed was rare in the country. Could it be that — this poison was related to foreign countries?
But for so many years, there were no foreign countries in the emperor’s harem.
For example, Jin Jue. Even if the emperor and Jin Jue Wang were allies, and the two countries were friendly, the emperor could accept the marriage between the Princess Jinjue and the prince, but he would never take Jin Jue as his concubine.
This was the emperor’s usual style.
Li Yu strongly suspected that Pu Liu’s snow crow seed came from foreign countries. But there were no foreign people in the harem. How did the snow crow seed come about? Could it be that Pu Liu herself was a foreign country?
The more Li Yu thought about it, the more suspicious it was. He unconsciously asked.
The emperor was startled and fell into deep thought. After a while, he said, “I will order people to start with the snow crow seed and continue to investigate.”
Li Yu saw that the emperor did not want to say more, so he did not ask anymore.
After leaving the Palace of Heavenly Purity, Li Yu gently nudged King Jing with his elbow. “Tian Chi, do you know where the snowy mountain is?”
King Jing was outside, so it was inconvenient for him to say more. He wrote two words on Li Yu’s palm: Lou Lan.
“Lou Lan … What’s that?”
Li Yu was dumbfounded. He was a bookworm, and his knowledge of geography was pitiful. Thanks to the original book, all the neighboring countries only knew of one Jin Jue. In his impression, this was the first time he had heard of the name Lou Lan.
King Jing wrote: Lou Lan, there is a snowy mountain. Thirty years ago, it was destroyed by father.
Li Yu was speechless.
It turned out that it was an extinct country. No wonder he had never heard of it.
Could the snow crow seed be from Lou Lan?
Originally, he was thinking that the person behind the scenes who harmed King Jing must have some enmity with the emperor. Could it be that the people of Lou Lan who had been destroyed sneaked into the palace to take revenge on the emperor?
Or, Li Yu recalled the flickering look in the emperor’s eyes just now. Could it be that the emperor and a certain Lou Lan girl were old friends and had brought her into the harem? However, the emperor’s favorite was still Empress Xiaohui. The Lou Lan girl’s love turned into hatred, so … she harmed King Jing?
The more Li Yu thought about it, the more ridiculous it was. King Jing curled his lips and pulled Li Yu’s sleeve.
Follow me. King Jing signaled with his eyes.
Li Yu followed King Jing for a while and found that King Jing brought him to a somewhat familiar palace.
Li Yu glanced at the plaque. It was actually Jingtai Palace!
When he first turned into a fish, he lived in Jingtai Palace for a few days. However, a year had passed, and Li Yu had lived in the king’s mansion for a long time, so Jingtai Palace had become somewhat unfamiliar. He didn’t recognize it immediately.
The original servants of Jingtai Palace bowed to their master, King Jing, when they saw him.
King Jing didn’t look sideways. He pulled Li Yu and went straight to the bedroom.
Li Yu was speechless.
Li Yu blushed a little. Recently, he had been clamoring for a daughter. However, after smoking gold several times, King Jing’s dark circles were about to pop out, but his daughter still hadn’t come.
It was really too difficult for her not to have sex with him. Li Yu was eager to have a daughter, so he was a little superstitious. He strongly suspected that King Jing’s horoscope in the Imperial City wasn’t compatible with his daughter. He wanted to try another place with King Jing. King Jing was indeed a considerate old man. When he was about to doze off, he gave him a pillow.
Jingtai Palace was good. It could be considered half a place where they first met. It was very memorable.
King Jing knew that there was something that might be related to Lou Lan. When he turned around to get it, he found that the carp spirit had already burrowed under the brocade quilt. She kept seducing him with her watery eyes.
