Jiuxi

Chapter 790 788 [Follow the Map]

"I thank your majesty for his grace."

Li Tianrun slowly stood up and bowed.

Although Li Zongben felt it was a pity that Li Liangyu left the court like this, he could not stop his subjects from fulfilling their filial piety to their parents, so he said with a sigh: "Your Excellency, you are too kind. This is Minister Li's filial piety. I have absolutely no reason to stop him, so how can I talk about grace?"

Li Tianrun looked up at the young emperor, and suddenly sighed inexplicably in his heart, and then said: "State affairs are busy, I hope Your Majesty will take care of your health, I will take my leave now."

"it is good."

Li Zongben nodded, turned to look at Ding Hui and said, "Minister Ding, you will escort the Duke out of the palace on my behalf."

"The minister obeys the order."

There was no sign of abnormality on Ding Hui's face, but his mood was extremely complicated.

The two of them left the palace together, speaking nothing along the way.

When they reached the square outside the Hening Gate, Li Tianrun said softly, "My son has been working in the Ministry of War for the past year. Thanks to the care of the Minister, I would like to express my gratitude here."

Ding Hui was flattered and said, "I don't deserve it. Minister Li is very talented. I didn't do anything, so I can't say I was looking after him."

Li Tianrun smiled slightly, then said goodbye to Ding Hui and walked towards the carriage at the edge of the square. A young man and woman immediately came up to him. They were Li Liangyu and Li Bingxue.

Ding Hui looked at the family of three in the distance and suddenly felt a strong sense of frustration in his heart.

All we can say is that it was too much of a coincidence, or that he and Li Shizhi did not take Li Tianrun's physical condition into consideration.

Now that Li Liangyu has left the vortex with the impeccable reason of filial piety, Ding Hui not only has no way to dig a hole in Weiguogong's mansion, but also has to take on the government affairs that have increased out of thin air after the other party's departure - Li Liangyu will naturally submit his resignation, but the emperor will definitely not accept it. The only thing he can do is to let him return to the mansion while retaining his official position.

Ding Hui sighed secretly and hurriedly got on his carriage. He had to find Li Shizhi as soon as possible to discuss the next strategy.

On the other side, the Li family's carriage returned to Duke Wei's Mansion.

Li Liangyu and Li Bingxue supported Li Tianrun on the left and right, and the three of them came to the main hall in the front yard.

Li Tianrun sat down and said calmly: "His Majesty has agreed to my request. You should submit your resignation in two days."

"Yes, father."

Li Liangyu's expression was slightly solemn.

This was not his plan at all. In fact, before this morning, he didn't know that he was going to resign. It was not until he was on the way to escort Li Tianrun into the palace that he learned about this from his father.

Since it was his father's decision, he certainly wouldn't object. However, he hadn't figured out the strangeness of it yet, so he asked, "Father, has the situation become so tense?"

Li Tianrun said slowly, "The fact that the kid from the Li family deliberately followed Gu Wan'er before is enough to show that this evil wind has already started. Lu Chen's visit to Beijing has attracted worldwide attention. It is unwise to attack him directly. It is far better to attack him from the side and provoke Lu Chen's anger. As long as they can force Lu Chen to lose his mind and do something that is outrageous to both God and man, those people will have achieved their goal."

Li Liangyu suddenly felt enlightened.

Li Tianrun seemed unwilling to talk about this topic. He leaned back in his chair with a slightly tired look, turned to look at Li Bingxue and said, "According to the time, Lu Chen will soon be crossing the river. When he arrives in Beijing, you will go to the suburbs to greet him on my behalf."

"Yes, father."

Li Bingxue stood up and agreed, a hint of shyness appearing on her cheeks for the first time.

……

Huaizhou, Guangling Prefecture.

Lu Chen, Duke of Shanyang, led thousands of elite cavalry back to his hometown. Although they only stayed for one night, it was enough to cheer up the people in the city.

From the prefect Zhan Hui to the wealthy gentry, many people sent visiting cards to the county mansion in Xicheng, hoping to meet Lu Chen.

However, the guards outside the gate politely informed everyone that Lu Chen was not in the mansion, so these people could only smile and leave.

In another quiet and elegant mansion in West City, a set of fine tea sets was placed on the stone table in the atrium, and an old man was making tea.

The warm sunshine of early spring shines on your body, giving you a lazy and leisurely feeling.

The old man's movements were very skillful. After a while, he poured the dark red tea into a cup and handed it to the young man sitting opposite him.

Taking a sip of the fragrant tea and feeling the tranquility of the spring sunshine and breeze, the old man smiled and said, "I guess you haven't felt this kind of leisure for a long time?"

“Yes, I work hard all day long.”

The young man was Lu Chen. He drank the tea in the cup, put the empty cup back to its original place, and said with emotion: "To be honest with you, my dear uncle, I have to be extra careful about what I eat and drink outside now. If it wasn't here with you, I would definitely not drink this cup of tea."

The old man looked at his calm face and couldn't help but sigh softly, saying, "When I was chatting with your father, I mentioned your difficulties more than once. Don't be fooled by his usual calm and composed appearance. He is actually very worried about you."

The only person in the entire Guangling City who could comment on Lu Tong in this tone in front of Lu Chen was the old genius doctor Xue Huaiyi.

“You get what you pay for.”

Lu Chen smiled and said frankly: "If I want to settle down now, I will definitely die quickly."

"If you hadn't had this awareness, it would have been hard for you to get to where you are now." Xue Huaiyi was full of praise, and then said, "I'm afraid your return to Beijing this time wasn't so smooth, was it?"

Although he had never been an official in his life, the Qingyuan Xue family had produced many officials, and his nephew was the left prime minister. In addition, Xue Huaiyi was a guest of honor of the dignitaries in Heluo in the past, and he was no stranger to the officialdom, and of course he was aware of Lu Chen's current situation.

Lu Chen did not try to hide it, and nodded, "It is definitely not smooth sailing. The emperor wants to promote me on the surface, but in fact, there are many traps waiting for me in the capital."

Xue Huaiyi said, "In that case, I will write a personal letter to you and give it to my nephew after we arrive in Beijing."

Hearing these words, Lu Chen couldn't help but feel a little dazed.

He remembered that when he first came to Beijing, the old man in front of him had provided similar help, but he did not use the old man's letter to approach Xue Nanting to get close to him.

Lu Chen has never been a hypocritical person. Perhaps it was because the late emperor valued him so much that he no longer needed to seek shelter.

But now... things are no longer the same.

Lu Chen suppressed his thoughts and said sincerely, "Uncle, you misunderstood. I am not here today for Prime Minister Xue. First, I haven't seen you for many years. Since I am passing by Guangling, I must come to visit you. Second, I have a few questions in my mind, and I would like to ask you to answer them."

Xue Huaiyi said: "You say."

Lu Chen said slowly: "Uncle, do you know the details of the sudden death of the Crown Prince of Jing?"

Xue Huaiyi shook his head and said, "I don't know. Is there something fishy going on?"

"I didn't know it at first, and I wasn't interested in how the Crown Prince of Jing died, but in the series of changes that followed his death."

Lu Chen stroked the teacup with his right hand, a strange smile appeared on his face, and then he said: "Afterwards, we learned that the Crown Prince of Jing State must have been poisoned by a strange poison. He suddenly fell into a coma, and his vitality gradually faded away. He died more than ten days later."

Xue Huaiyi was startled, and subconsciously said: "Soul-locking incense?"

"Probably."

Lu Chen nodded and said softly, "I asked someone to go to Shazhou to ask. They have only sold the Cloud-Channeling Grass twice in the past few years. The first time was seven years ago, and the second time was three years ago. The buyer was a nobleman with a mysterious identity in Nanjing City, Jiangnan. In other words, if the poison that the Crown Prince of Jingguo was poisoned by was the Soul-Locking Incense, then there is only one possible source of the poison."

Xue Huaiyi couldn't help but frown. He knew the seriousness of the matter, but he didn't quite understand Lu Chen's intention.

He is a free and easy-going person. What is the point of knowing that there are people in the court colluding with the Jinglian people?

But the next moment, Lu Chen's words made Xue Huaiyi horrified.

"Uncle, based on your experience, could the late emperor's illness be related to the Soul-Locking Incense?"

"what?"

Even though Xue Huaiyi had seen countless big scenes in his life, he was still shocked to the point of being speechless at this moment.

Looking at Lu Chen's cold eyes, Xue Huaiyi finally calmed down and said hesitantly: "I have not seen the symptoms of the late emperor with my own eyes, so I can't jump to conclusions. However, the late emperor's illness was mentioned several times in the letters sent by Nanting. Combined with some public information, the late emperor should have been ill due to overwork, and then suffered the blow of the death of the eldest prince. In addition, he forcibly supported the normal operation of the court, so he could not be cured. The Soul-Locking Incense is extremely toxic. Once it enters the body, it will cause an attack. It should not have been used on the late emperor."

Lu was silent. In fact, he also felt that the late emperor was not poisoned, because when he first entered the capital many years ago, the late emperor did not look very healthy. Later, he fell ill over a complete process and did not collapse suddenly.

Although there may indeed be chronic poisons in this world, the late emperor still had a firm control over the political situation in the capital until his death. If he had noticed anything amiss, he would at least have ordered a detailed investigation. According to the information Lu Chen had, there was no such movement when the late emperor was alive.

Hearing Xue Huaiyi's explanation, Lu Chen changed the subject and said, "Uncle, I remember you once said that Soul-Locking Incense is not only difficult to obtain the raw materials, but also extremely troublesome to prepare. Most people simply don't know where to start."

"Yes."

Xue Huaiyi suddenly reacted and said in a deep voice: "Do you suspect that this poison is related to the Imperial Hospital?"

If not, how could Lu Chen connect the Soul-Locking Incense and the late emperor’s illness together?
Lu Chen did not deny it, and asked, "Uncle, what kind of person is Gui Yuanzheng of the Imperial Hospital?"

The chief physician of the Imperial Hospital, Gui Qiuliang, was Xue Huaiyi's senior brother, and he was also the one who was personally responsible for treating the late emperor.

Xue Huaiyi was silent for a moment, then smiled bitterly and said, "To be honest, although we are brothers, Senior Brother Gui and I have had very little contact since our master passed away. Senior Brother Gui was a kind-hearted man who took it upon himself to cure illnesses and save lives, but decades have passed, and I cannot guarantee whether he is still the same as he was back then."

Lu Chen expressed his understanding.

Although the questions in his mind had not been answered accurately, he now had a vague idea of ​​the direction.

Xue Huaiyi looked into the other person's deep eyes and said with determination: "If you don't mind, I will go to the capital with you. Whether you want to find Brother Gui or explore the secret of the Soul-Locking Incense, perhaps I can help."

"Thank you, uncle."

Lu Chen did not refuse in a pretentious manner. It would indeed be a good thing if a miracle doctor like Xue Huaiyi could accompany him.

Perhaps the old man would not have the chance to take action, but Lu Chen was used to preparing for the worst.

"This thank you is too formal. I will have someone pack up now and go south with you tomorrow."

Xue Huaiyi's personality is straightforward and direct, just as it was back then.

Lu Chen stood up and said goodbye.

After walking out of Xue's house, he looked up at the sky and saw the sunset glow as fiery as fire, dyeing the entire sky.

(End of this chapter)