King Xiang of the Red Chamber

Chapter 786: Disappearance of Ying Qiu

In the blink of an eye, a few more days passed. The situation in the capital remained stable and people had gotten over the atmosphere of the late emperor's death.

In two months, the Zhengtong Year, which had lasted for twenty years, would end, and the whole world would usher in the prosperous era.

In fact, some merchants and envoys have chosen to stay in the capital for a period of time to participate in this special New Year's Eve moment.

According to custom, on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the Lantern Festival, the emperor and empress would ascend the Daming Gate to accept congratulations from all the people.

This is the first Lantern Festival since the new emperor ascended the throne. In a sense, the blessings are even greater, and naturally many people would like to share in the joy and blessings.

However, the prosperity of the capital city has nothing to do with Prince Gongshun's Palace. Although there is no one to guard it, it seems isolated from the world.

Of course, the so-called unattended presence actually meant that there was no one on the surface; in reality, both the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard had sent people.

Anyone who paid the slightest attention knew that Zhu Jingyuan was not in good health, but in fact he was in very good health and was writing in the study in the inner house.

From the night the emperor passed away until now, he had been eating, drinking, defecating and urinating in this small courtyard. Apart from Chen Zhi and two maids who took care of him personally, Zhu Jingyuan basically saw no one else.

He also asked Chen Zhi to release the news about his poor health in order to reduce his own threat.

He delayed entering the palace that night, and then questioned the authenticity of the portrait in public. It was an impulsive act, and the more he thought about it afterwards, the more scared he became.

Old Thirteen is cruel and ruthless. If someone could not help but order his death, he might really die of sorrow.

Of course, he landed safely later, so Zhu Jingyuan's heart was at peace and he established the principle of lying low and waiting for changes in the situation.

He still didn't want to give up, because the idea that the throne belonged to him had been engraved in his mind for more than ten years, and he had believed so almost since he was old enough to understand.

At this point, he can be understood to have a mental disorder and can no longer be considered a normal person.

The door outside was opened. Zhu Jingyuan stopped and listened for a while. When he found out it was his wife, he continued writing.

Chen Zhi carried the lunch box, pushed the door open and entered the room, then turned around and closed the door.

"It's time for lunch!"

"Ok!"

After agreeing, Zhu Jingyuan put down the pen in his hand and walked towards Chen Zhi.

In addition to food, there was also a jar of boiled medicine in the food box. This was the medicine prescribed by the imperial physician to treat his cold.

In order to find out whether Zhu Jingyuan had a cold, the Imperial Hospital sent someone to diagnose and treat him, and the situation had to be reported to Zhu Jinghong.

Although his hard power was not as good as Zhu Jinghong's, Zhu Jingyuan had been a prince for nearly twenty years after all. He had spent countless money and favors, and there were simply too many people in the court who had connections with him.

Because Zhu Jingyuan was previously a potential crown prince, the Jinyiwei East Factory did not have to monitor him too closely, so it was impossible for them to know all the people related to Zhu Jingyuan.

What’s even more terrible is that one of the main tasks of Zhang Qian, the former commander of the Northern Pacification Office, before he was imprisoned was to destroy information about Zhu Jingyuan.

The intelligence he destroyed over the years was so complex that it was impossible to remember it, so torturing Zhang Qian would be of no avail.

To get back to the point, there were people in the Imperial Medical Bureau who had received favors from Zhu Jingyuan, and the one who came to see him was one of the imperial doctors, and then he forged a false medical record.

Then Zhu Jingyuan pretended to be sick, and with the two of them working together, no one suspected him.

Although the East Factory would come to inspect from time to time, it was not difficult for Zhu Jingyuan to pretend to be sick. He had accumulated a lot of experience during the two years of house arrest.

The medicine that Chen Zhi brought was poured into the toilet by Zhu Jingyuan, and the meal was ready when he returned.

Because of his "serious illness", he has been eating simple and light meals recently. In addition, Zhu Jingyuan has abstained from sex and alcohol in the past two years, so he is now much healthier than before.

However, due to his unclear thoughts, Zhu Jingyuan looked much older than before. At the age of 35, his temples were already gray.

Watching her husband eating seriously, Chen Zhi wished that she could live such a peaceful life forever.

If he was not in the royal family, with his literary talent and knowledge, he would have been a rare talent... Thinking of this, Chen Zhi couldn't help but laugh. She felt that she was too naive to have such unrealistic ideas.

"Ying Qu is missing!" Chen Zhi suddenly spoke.

"Gone?" Zhu Jingyuan stopped, looking extremely surprised.

Ying Qu was also Zhu Jingyuan's confidant. After the failure of the Mid-Autumn Banquet two years ago, Zhu Jingyuan had a bad feeling about the situation and asked Ying Qu to hide in advance.

"He has his own things to do, so it's not surprising that he hasn't sent any news for a few days!" Zhu Jingyuan replied calmly.

"It's been about twenty days since you last saw him. What did you tell him to do?" Chen Zhi asked.

The Palace of Prince Gongshun, formerly the Palace of Prince Rui, had a tunnel, one end of which was in the study, connecting to somewhere in the back garden of the palace.

Only Zhu Jingyuan himself knew this news. Chen Zhi only learned about it twenty days ago because Zhu Jingyuan needed someone to keep watch.

The tunnel had been dug for more than ten years. At that time, Zhu Jingyuan wanted to extend it to the outside of the palace, but the construction was stopped halfway because the workload was too large. The person in charge of this matter was Ying Qu.

The workers who knew about the secret at the time are probably dead now, so they allowed the secret to be kept for so many years.

"Nothing!"

Not wanting Chen Zhi to ask more questions, Zhu Jingyuan changed the subject and asked, "How long has it been since we heard from him?"

"It's been ten days. Xiao Anzi hasn't seen him for ten days!"

"Ten days?" Zhu Jingyuan put down his bowl and chopsticks. He didn't expect the problem to be so serious.

After two years of repeated negotiations, especially the surveillance in the last two months, Zhu Jingyuan's confidants have died or dispersed, and there are only a few people left who can be trusted and used.

And this Ying Qu is the most crucial person, doing the most crucial things for him.

Xiao Anzi, who was supposed to show up once every three days and was responsible for liaising with him, turned on the light at a specific time to convey the message to the palace that the situation was normal.

The lights haven't been on for ten days, which means something might have happened to Ying Qu!
Zhu Jingyuan could no longer sit still at this moment. He paced back and forth anxiously, and he was sweating in such a cold weather.

Chen Zhi was also anxious at this time, so she asked, "Did you ask him to contact officials? Or did you ask him to contact old friends? Did you ask him to find those people in Jiangnan?"

He has many officials and old friends who support him, especially the literati in Jiangnan, who are very powerful even in the opposition.

When Zhu Jingyuan was in charge of the Maritime Customs, he had a lot of dealings with these people, and many of them supported him to succeed to the throne.

Zhu Jingyuan was extremely panicked at this moment and ignored Chen Zhi's opinion at all, because Ying Qu did none of these things.

"Maybe... maybe this guy has already escaped!"

Zhu Jingyuan talked to himself and kept repeating this sentence, vividly illustrating what it means to deceive oneself.

Chen Zhi didn't expect that just a casual question would lead to such an incredible and terrible thing.

So she quickly asked: "What's going on?"

Zhu Jingyuan was still talking to himself. Chen Zhi was so angry that she poured tea on him, which made Zhu Jingyuan stop.

"What on earth did you ask Ying Qiu to do?"

Looking at Chen Zhi's bloodshot eyes, Zhu Jingyuan was silent for a few seconds and then replied, "This matter has nothing to do with you, it's better for you not to know!"

"It's better not to know? Aren't we a family? Shouldn't I know?" But no matter how Chen Zhi pressed him, Zhu Jingyuan didn't say a word. He was doing this for the good of his family. If things failed, he would take all the responsibility.

He had his own people in the Imperial Medical Bureau, secret passages were prepared in his home, and he had many potential supporters in the court and the country, which made Zhu Jingyuan feel that he still had the mission of heaven.

Especially when he thought that Zhu Jinghong thought he had the situation under control, but might be outmaneuvered by him, Zhu Jingyuan felt that he was a genius.

But now, a key link in his plan may go wrong, putting his plan at risk of collapse.

Ying Qu, whom Zhu Jingyuan was concerned about, was indeed away on a long journey for some business, so he was unable to show up in time to deliver the message.

But he was indeed arrested by the Henan Thousand Households of the Northern Pacification Office five days ago because he had connections with the White Lotus Sect.

Henan, Shaanxi and the three provinces of Shaanxi guard the capital area in the middle, so investigating the White Lotus Sect is a very important task.

Each of these thousand-household offices had a lot of clues about the White Lotus Sect, some of which they had even deliberately left undetected.

On the one hand, these people can be used to follow the clues, and on the other hand, when necessary, they will not fail to report the results to their superiors.

Chen Yuntai is the emperor's confidant. The people from Henan Qianhu Suo know that they are investigating the White Lotus Sect recently. These officials all want to have a good relationship with Chen Yuntai, so they took the initiative to express their willingness to cooperate and assist.

Therefore, half of the clues held in Henan were contributed to the Beicheng Thousand Households Office. The other two provinces were also doing the same, so Chen Yuntai has achieved remarkable results recently.

Ying Qu's arrest was both unexpected and inevitable, simply because he had too much contact with the White Lotus Sect.

In prison, Ying Qu was subjected to various tortures but he refused to utter a single word because his wife and children were under the control of Zhu Jingyuan.

However, not all the other arrested White Lotus members had ironclad beliefs. They all confessed that this person was related to the headquarters, but they could not tell their specific purpose.

Ying Qiu contacted them and gave them instructions about things that were not very relevant. No one understood what was going on except himself.

In the Henan Qianhu Division, it is certain that Ying Qu is a key figure, but there is nothing they can do if they cannot pry open his mouth.

At this time, inside the Henan Qianhu Office, three Qianhu were discussing the case.

One of the deputy captains suggested, "Captain, yesterday the official document from the Northern Pacification Office said that a group of White Lotus sect bigwigs were found. Why don't we take them to the capital and investigate the case together with the Northern City Captain!"

The captain in the main seat did not answer, and the other deputy captain said, "Sir, I don't think it's necessary to go through so much trouble. Just send the person directly to Chen Yuntai!"

"Let's investigate together. If we really find another big case, how will we divide the credit then?"

"We've shared the credit with him. Even though we helped, he may not be grateful to us!"

The following words really convinced the captain in the main position. What he needed was Chen Yuntai's favor, which was more valuable than the reward for solving a major case.

If nothing unexpected happens in the next few years, Chen Yuntai will be the head of the Northern Pacification Office, and the most important thing is to establish a relationship with him.

"What do you think, Brother Zhang?"

The person called "Brother Zhang" by the captain was the deputy captain who spoke first. After thinking about it carefully, he nodded.

"Well, send someone immediately to send Wang Qiu to the Northern City Thousand Households Office!"

The so-called "Wang Qiu" is Ying Qiu's pseudonym. He never uses his real name in public.

When Ying Qu was taken to the capital, there was also a major breakthrough in the Beicheng Qianhu Suo. One of the captured high-ranking members of the White Lotus Sect, a divine messenger named Dong Ze, gave out explosive news.

At that time, Chen Yuntai was looking through intelligence and found that some things had been delivered from several provinces near the capital.

"Master Qian Hu, Dong Ze has confessed again. The matter involves His Majesty and Prince Gongshun. I would like to ask you..."

"What did you say? It involves His Majesty and King Gongshun?" Chen Yuntai widened his eyes and jumped up from his chair.

Originally, he wanted to investigate the White Lotus Sect, dig out some heavyweight figures, or destroy its important strongholds, so that he could write off his achievements more brilliantly.

He really didn't expect to find out about the Emperor and King Gongshun.

"What did he confess?"

"Dong Ze refused to say anything, saying he wanted to talk to the adults!"

Chen Yuntai started to leave, saying, "If he's playing tricks on me, I'll make him suffer all the same way again!"

These old wiles of the White Lotus Sect did confess some things in the past few days, but much of them were useless or false information, and there were not many truly useful things.

Soon, Chen Yuntai entered the cell. Someone had already prepared a clean chair for him and even cleaned the floor.

The prisoner Dong Ze was tied to a chair at this time, with two captains on his left and right, both of whom were experts in torture.

Seeing Chen Yuntai coming in, the two captains saluted immediately, and Chen Yuntai stared at Dong Ze, only to see that the latter was also looking at him.

Dong Ze had wounds all over his body, and even most of his teeth had been pulled out. He looked extremely miserable at this moment.

When Chen Yuntai approached the desk, the captain who came in after him hurried forward and pulled his chair back a step so that he could sit down more conveniently.

"You have something to tell? I'm here...you can tell me now!"

Looking at Chen Yuntai who was sitting down, Dong Ze was silent for a while, and then he spoke: "Once you enter the Northern Pacification Division, you will never get out alive. Even if you confess, you will still be tortured until you can't confess anything!"

The Jinyiwei have been doing this for many years, so any inducement will not be believed, and the members of the White Lotus will fight to the death.

"If we are arrested, the church will soon know the news and all the bases will be changed, so it is useless for you to ask us!"

"What do you want to say?" Chen Yuntai asked coldly.

"I have a condition. If you agree to it, I can tell you something real!"

"What conditions?"

Dong Ze took a few deep breaths and then said, "I am useless now and I am doomed to die. I only ask you to give me a quick death!"

"Sure, as long as what you say is useful!"

Dong Ze had no idea whether Chen Yuntai would keep his promise, but he no longer cared.

After shaking his head slightly, causing the messy hair in front of his eyes to spread out, Dong Ze slowly said: "Gongshun Prince Zhu Jingyuan intends to assassinate the emperor!"

His voice was weak, but what he said was shocking, and all the Jinyiwei present were shocked.

After regaining his composure, Chen Yuntai said coldly: "Do you have any evidence for what you said? Who would believe you if you just say it without any evidence?"

"It was someone sent by the Gongshun Palace who came to us, hoping to join hands with us to assassinate the emperor. After the success, they will give us wealth and glory!"

"What is this person's name? Where is he? Is there any physical evidence?" Chen Yuntai asked hurriedly.

Zhu Jingyuan got involved. If it were someone else, they would have been cautious, but Chen Yuntai was extremely excited.

When Zhu Jingyuan was in power before, Zhang Qian often embarrassed him, so he hated Zhu Jingyuan to the core.

If possible, he wouldn't mind sending Zhu Jingyuan to hell. Moreover, getting rid of this man would help the emperor get rid of his worries, which would be a great achievement for Chen Yuntai.

(End of this chapter)