Chapter 686: Sealing the City Gate (1)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
What Song Jingchen and Shen Yijia didn’t know was that not long after noon, assassins entered the palace.
It was fine if someone dared to barge into the palace in broad daylight with the intention of assassinating the emperor, but there were so many imperial guards who let the assassin escape.
The emperor was furious and immediately issued a decree to seal the city gate, preventing anyone from entering or leaving. He ordered the city guards to search for the assassins from house to house and threw Lin Mu and all the imperial guards on duty today into the prison.
If not for Eunuch Li’s persuasion, the emperor would have almost gotten someone to chop Lin Mu up on the spot for failing to protect him.
“Your Majesty, His Highness Lord Xian requests an audience.” The young eunuch’s voice sounded outside the imperial study.
The emperor snatched the porcelain bottle from Eunuch Li’s hand in a hurry. He poured out the pills inside and stuffed them into his mouth.
Eunuch Li quickly handed over a cup of tea respectfully.
The emperor shoved his teacup to the ground impatiently and said in a low voice, “Summon him.” “Lord Xian, enter the hall.”
Not long after, Shangguan Yu entered the imperial study.
He bowed. “Greetings, Father.”
The emperor changed his previous anger and looked up. “Second Prince, why did you enter the palace today?”
“I heard that Father was attacked and was worried about Father’s health,” he said.
The emperor waved his hand. “I’m fine.”
Shangguan Yu lowered his eyes. “It’s good that Father is fine. In that case, I can rest assured.”
The emperor nodded. “That’s very thoughtful of you.”
Then, the emperor asked about the imperial examination.
Shangguan Yu said, “I was about to tell Father about this. Regarding the chief examiners, I’m interested in Assistant Zhang from the Hanlin Academy, Minister Chen from the Ministry of Official Personnel Affairs, Old Master Zhao from the Censorate, and Minister Lu from the Ministry of Revenue.”
The people he mentioned were all important figures in the imperial court, especially the elders of the two dynasties, Scholar Zhang and Elder Zhao.
Apart from that, there were also officials from Lord Rui’s faction and royalists.
Putting aside the royal faction for the time being, there were only two adult princes in the capital now. One of them would have to become the crown prince. Lord Xian was willing to include the officials from Lord Rui’s faction. It could be seen that he had no selfish motives.
The emperor was very satisfied. “Then let them enter the palace to see me tomorrow.”
Indeed, among all his sons, Lord Xian was the most filial and reassuring.
“Yes.”
The father and son talked about other matters in the court.
Throughout the entire process, the emperor spoke to Shangguan Yu calmly. Eunuch Li glanced at the emperor.
After so many days, he realized that as long as Lord Xian was present, the emperor did not seem to be angry.
About an hour later, Shangguan Yu came out of the imperial study.
Seeing that he was standing in front of the imperial study without moving,
Lianshan asked, “Your Highness, are we leaving the palace?”
Shangguan Yu retracted his gaze and shook his head. “I haven’t seen Mother in a long time. Let’s go to Weiyang Palace.”
Lianshan was stunned and quickly followed.
Weiyang Palace had a small kitchen. The small kitchen was not big and was even a little dilapidated. It had been cleaned up by Su Yun. However, because there were no ingredients, it was usually used to boil water.
Early this morning, Song Li packed up the few things that were worth some money and personally went to look for the guard at the door to exchange for a bag of flour and two eggs.
After the Song family’s rebellion, everyone thought that it was time for her to move out of the Cold Palace. Even the guards guarding the palace were very attentive for a few days.
Unexpectedly, the emperor restored the Song family’s title, but there was still no imperial edict to restore the position of Empress Song Li, so these people’s desire to please her faded.
However, they did not dare to ignore her as usual.
When she heard that she only wanted a bag of flour and a few eggs, the guard symbolically took a hairpin and sent the things she wanted.
There were countless rats in the Cold Palace. Su Yun specially caught a few and locked them in small cages.
Every day, she would first pick out some of the food sent in from outside and feed it to the rats. After confirming that there was no problem with the rats, she dared to send it to her young lady.
It was the same today. As soon as she got the flour, she took a bowl and prepared to mix it with water to feed the rats.
“There’s no need. They won’t do anything to me now.” Song Li shook her head helplessly. She found a larger basin and prepared to knead the noodles.
With Brother Chen around, anyone with a brain would know that things were different now. How could they dare to harm her?
Su Yun felt that it made sense and carried the bowl to feed the rats.
Song Li was speechless.
When Shangguan Yu arrived, he could see smoke rising from above a certain house from afar. It was different from the desolation he had seen every time he came here. It added a few pyrotechnic smells to this deathly silent palace..
