Jiuxi

Chapter 794 [Suspicion]

Lu Chen's request was undoubtedly abrupt.

Regardless of whether Gui Qiuliang really died suddenly of illness or there was some other mystery, it was not the turn of the military heroes to intervene. Even if Lu Chen had made great contributions, he could not extend his hands so far.

In short, he crossed a line.

Yuan Yuji and the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs lowered their heads at the same time.

These eunuchs who have been serving nobles in the palace for many years are extremely sensitive about certain things, and they don't want to be involved in a bottomless vortex for no reason.

Li Zongben didn't want to make the atmosphere awkward from the beginning, but he couldn't stand his subjects wantonly overstepping the line, so he said expressionlessly, "Does Lu Qing have a history with Gui Qiuliang?"

Lu Chen knew very well what the young emperor was feeling at the moment, so he stood up and said, "Your Majesty, please allow me to report. I am going back to the capital with someone else, who is a close friend of my father and the uncle of the current Prime Minister Xue. This person is known as a miracle doctor, and he is a fellow disciple of the Imperial Hospital Director Gui Qiuliang. He came to the capital this time to visit Prime Minister Xue and to visit his old friend. I heard from the old miracle doctor Xue that he and Gui Yuanzheng had the best relationship among all his fellow disciples. Now Gui Yuanzheng has unfortunately contracted a serious illness, and I would like to accompany the old miracle doctor Xue to see him. I hope Your Majesty will allow me."

After hearing this reasonable explanation, Li Zongben's expression eased.

After a moment's silence, Li Zongben said calmly, "Since there is such a connection, you can take people to Gui Qiuliang's residence to have a look. If the divine doctor Xue has any findings, remember to tell the people in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. I also want to know the truth."

"The minister obeys the order."

Lu Chen bowed.

The moment he lowered his head, a hint of doubt flashed in his eyes.

Although he spoke righteously before, in fact Xue Huaiyi and Gui Qiuliang had not seen each other for more than 20 years. They only exchanged a few letters, and their friendship had long since faded.

The reason why Lu Chen insisted on joining in the fun was, on the one hand, because he really wanted to know the cause of Gui Qiuliang's death, and on the other hand, to test Li Zongben.

Ever since Qin Zheng was forced to resign because of the assassination attempt, Lu Chen began to suspect that the emperor had something to hide, and subsequent discoveries continued to deepen his suspicion.

If Li Zongben was really so cruel and unscrupulous that he not only murdered the eldest prince but also the previous emperor during his ascension to the throne, then the Imperial Medical Service would be a place that he could not avoid, and the director of the Imperial Medical Service, Masaki Akira, might know some clues.

In other words, if Li Zongben really tampered with the late emperor's illness, he would definitely isolate Lu Chen's hand outside the Imperial Hospital.

I didn't expect that he would agree so readily.

Is this aboveboard or is it reckless?

Lu Chen couldn't make a clear judgment immediately.

He looked up at Li Zongben, who looked normal, then turned and walked out of the imperial study.

When leaving the palace, Lu Chen suddenly stopped, looked at Yuan Yuji who was quite respectful beside him, and asked, "Yuan Shaojian, I want to ask you about someone."

Yuan Yuji quickly responded, "Speak, sir."

"Lü Shizhou, former Junior Supervisor of the Ministry of Internal Affairs."

"This……"

Yuan Yuji seemed to be hesitant to speak, his eyes revealing a very clear meaning: As a military hero, it's probably inappropriate for you to inquire about people in the palace, right?

Lu Chen smiled faintly and said with emotion: "The late emperor treated me with great kindness, and Junior Supervisor Yuan may not know much about the past. I want to go to the imperial mausoleum to pay homage to the late emperor when I return to Beijing this time. If I can let Master Lu go with me, it may be a little comforting."

Yuan Yuji continued to hesitate until Lu Chen's eyes turned colder. He said with difficulty, "My Lord, Lv Shizhou took the initiative to request to guard the imperial mausoleum two years ago. One night last fall, he accidentally fell from a height because he was drunk and died."

"he died?"

Lu Chen finally understood why the other party was hesitating.

Yuan Yuji nodded and said, "Your Majesty has ordered people to investigate, and it is indeed an accident."

Lu Chen stared at him for a while, and finally said nothing, turned around and walked away.

Yuan Yuji looked at the back of the young duke and secretly breathed a sigh of relief. At that moment he felt like he was being stared at by a tiger.

As the cool spring breeze blew by, Yuan Yuji realized that cold sweat had appeared on his back.

More than half an hour later, in Daxiangfang, Xicheng.

A carriage and dozens of knights arrived at the gate of a mansion.

Lu Chen got off the carriage first, looked up, and saw that the gate of the mansion was already painted white.

Immediately afterwards, Xue Huaiyi came out of the carriage.

There was genuine sadness in the old man's eyes.

"Greetings, sir."

The steward of Gui Mansion, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and officials from the Imperial Hospital all came forward and stood in a row to salute Lu Chen.

"No need to be polite."

Lu Chen said calmly: "In compliance with the order of His Majesty, I am accompanying this Divine Doctor Xue to investigate the cause of Gui Yuanzheng's death. Where is his body currently stored?"

The head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs quickly replied, "My Lord, the body has not yet been buried. Please suspend the main hall now."

Lu Chen nodded slightly, then turned to Xue Huaiyi and said, "Thank you, old doctor."

Xue Huaiyi said: "I don't deserve it."

The two walked into Gui Mansion side by side. Lu Chen's personal soldiers completely ignored the others. Half of them stayed outside the mansion on guard, while the other half went inside and dispersed.

Lu Chen did not go to the main hall. After all, he did not know the ins and outs of autopsy. After sending people to assist Xue Huaiyi, he was led by the housekeeper of Gui Mansion with awe to the study where Gui Qiuliang died.

"I'm just taking a look, you don't have to follow me."

"Yes, sir." Lu Chen walked into the study and stopped at the door without checking around impatiently.

This is a very distinctive study room. In addition to two rows of wooden shelves with various books, there is also a row of shelves with many bottles and jars, which is in line with Gui Qiuliang's identity as an imperial physician.

There is a large desk next to the window, and an armchair is fallen to the ground, from which one can infer the scene before Gui Qiuliang's death.

According to the report from the Ministry of Internal Affairs to Li Zongben, Gui Qiuliang died suddenly of a serious illness. That is to say, the imperial physician was reading at his desk when he suddenly felt unwell. He struggled to stand up but fell down again, and then knocked over the chair.

After Gui Qiuliang fell down, he was unable to stand up again and died.

The light in the room was a little cloudy.

Lu Chen narrowed his eyes slightly, observing every detail in front of him.

There was no sign that the study had been searched before his arrival.

Could it be that Gui Qiuliang really had an acute illness?

Lu Chen took a step forward and first came to the large desk, on which there was an open medical book with a few ink stains on the paper and a brush next to it.

There was a stack of letters in the front right. Lu Chen flipped through them one by one. They were basically letters between Gui Qiuliang and famous doctors from various places. There was nothing strange about them.

In the front left are several piles of books, mainly various medical books and Gui Qiuliang's notes.

Lu Chen flipped through the pages very patiently, but soon his expression changed slightly.

An unsealed envelope was hidden in a medical book titled "Wai Tai Mi Yao".

There was a piece of letter paper inside.

Lu Chen took it out and looked at it. There were only nine words written on the paper: Sixteen, Ninety-three, Spring is coming, and the air is bright.

He intuitively felt that this was a veiled hint, but he couldn't be sure whether it was written by Gui Qiuliang or sent to him by someone else, because there was no heading or signature.

Judging from the handwriting, this line of words is not very similar to Gui Qiuliang's usual handwriting, but Lu Chen knows that he cannot draw a conclusion based on this, because he cannot rule out the possibility that Gui Qiuliang deliberately wrote it with his other hand.

The key is what information is hidden in this line of words?
Lu Chen picked up the book "Wai Tai Mi Yao", turned to page 16, counted to the 93rd word, and saw the word "Liu", which had nothing to do with the next four words on the letter paper.

However, Lu Chen can now be sure that after Gui Qiuliang's death, no one came to his study to search, otherwise they would not have missed this envelope, after all, it was not hidden in a secret place.

Unable to find any clues for a moment, Lu Chen stuffed the envelope into his sleeve and continued searching, but unfortunately he found nothing more.

By the time he left the study and came to the main hall of Gui Mansion, Xue Huaiyi had already completed the autopsy procedure.

At this moment, everyone already knew that this old man was the uncle of the current left prime minister and also a fellow disciple of Gui Qiuliang. Therefore, no one questioned any of his actions, including Gui Qiuliang's relatives who just waited with sad faces.

Lu Chen walked closer and heard Xue Huaiyi say to Gui Qiuliang's relatives: "... Senior Brother had a heart attack, which was so severe that he could not save himself, so he ended up like this. Please be patient and do not be too sad. Now we should properly handle the funeral."

These words were also spoken to the people in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

When everyone saw Lu Chen coming, they quickly moved aside.

Lu Chen first expressed his condolences to Gui Qiuliang's relatives, and then left with Xue Huaiyi.

The carriage moved forward steadily, with dozens of elite guards closely guarding the surroundings.

Inside the carriage, Lu Chen frowned slightly and asked, "Heart disease?"

Xue Huaiyi sighed softly and nodded, "People with heart disease will have blue hands and feet and severe heart pain. The pain will come on in the morning and then in the evening. If it starts in the evening, the patient will die in the morning. Judging from the symptoms, my brother's heart disease got worse very quickly. Even if I was there at the time, I might not have been able to save him."

Lu Chen understood that this was probably a sudden death caused by an acute heart attack. Even the medical conditions in his previous life might not have been able to successfully rescue him, let alone in this era.

But the next moment Xue Huaiyi said solemnly: "You may not know that people who are good at medicine are also good at using poison. This is the two sides of the same coin. I can only conclude that Brother died of heart disease, but I can't find out whether it was caused by internal factors or external forces."

"In other words, we cannot rule out the possibility that Gui Yuan died of poisoning?"

"Yes."

Xue Huaiyi felt a little sad. Although his friendship with Gui Qiuliang was no longer what it used to be, they were old friends who had known each other for decades. How could he remain indifferent when he saw his senior brother's body with his own eyes?

Perhaps not wanting to dwell on that emotion, the old man asked Lu Chen, "Did you find anything?"

Lu Chen shook his head.

Xue Huaiyi didn't ask any more questions.

The carriage was heading towards Taikangfang in the south city. The residence of the left prime minister Xue Nanting was in the square. Xue Huaiyi would definitely not live in Lu Chen's county mansion. If this were known to the world, they would probably stab Xue Nanting in the back.

When passing through Xiliu Lane, Lu Chen lifted the curtain and looked out.

He still remembered that it was here that he almost died at the hands of an assassin.

Of course, no assassin would dare to assassinate him, a county lord who commanded hundreds of thousands of border troops, in the street now, but Lu Chen was still not at ease.

He did not tell Xue Huaiyi the secret of the envelope, not because he did not trust him, but because he thought it was really strange.

Lu Shizhou died, and Gui Qiuliang also died.

People related to the late emperor left one by one.

It just so happened that such a letter fell into Lu Chen's hands, as if someone was guiding him in the dark.

Lu Chen narrowed his eyes slightly, his gaze as deep as a pool.

(End of this chapter)