Besides lying down, I also know a little about power struggles

Chapter 181 No Son Is Here
At the hour of Xu in the evening, night falls.

All civil and military officials have entered the Jiying Hall in the palace.

Outside the palace, there were graceful singing and dancing and the sounds of ritual music.

While enjoying the singing and dancing, some people whispered to their colleagues: "It's already past half past midnight, why is there still no sign of His Majesty?"

The colleague shook his head and responded softly: "I don't know."

"Your Majesty should have returned long ago. What delayed you on the way?"

"Don't worry, your majesty is with the imperial guards, nothing serious will happen."

"Your Majesty is always punctual. Tonight is his birthday party. His delay in returning is really disturbing."

"Don't talk nonsense," the man's colleague said, "It's bad luck if you say that today."

In addition to these two people, there were also many ministers and people around them who discussed the matter privately. After all, the emperor had always been strict with himself, and such untimely events had never happened before.

Just as everyone was whispering, a long and faint sound of a chime sounded.

A bright yellow figure slowly walked into the hall and headed towards the throne above.

As the emperor appeared, the hall inside and outside fell silent.

The emperor sat on the dragon throne with a calm expression. If one looked closely, one could vaguely see a hint of fatigue, but his body was straight and his majesty was so dignified that no one dared to look directly at him. Everyone thought that his fatigue was caused by his hurried journey and did not dare to look at him any longer.

The old eunuch shouted to En: "Get up!"

All the officials in the hall immediately stood up and faced the emperor.

Chao En said: "Kneel!"

Everyone knelt down.

"bye!"

All civil and military officials raised their hands to their foreheads and paid great tribute to the emperor.

After the thirty-three bows were completed, the emperor said, "All the ministers, please stand up."

All the officials stood up to express their gratitude and took their seats.

As soon as they sat down, someone noticed something strange in the hall.

The crown prince was not seen at the front of the hall, and the seats for the other princes were also empty.

The emperor seemed to see the doubts in everyone's eyes, and smiled slowly: "My sons said they would prepare a great gift for me. I saw that they were so mysterious, so I was too lazy to ask more questions and let them have fun. My dear ministers, drink this cup to the full and share the joy."

After saying this, he took the lead in raising the golden cup and signaled to everyone.

After hearing the emperor's explanation, all the officials dared not say anything more and raised their glasses to toast the emperor.

After three rounds of toasts, the entertainers from the Music Bureau began to play music and sing softly, and a group of dancers came on stage and danced gracefully to the singing.

The emperor watched the singing and dancing with a smile on his lips, and seemed extremely satisfied.

Seeing him so relaxed, the ministers unconsciously turned their attention back to the scene and stopped looking at the empty seat in front of the hall.

After the song and dance, various acrobatic performances came on stage one after another.

Seeing that everyone was watching intently, the emperor handed the wine glass to Chao En.

"Go ask the prince if he has figured it out."

"Yes." Chao En bowed and left.

In the Rui Palace, Fang Tong heard the news brought back by Wei Baichuan and frowned: "Didn't you see His Highness?"

Wei Baichuan nodded: "Our people have been waiting at the city gate since early morning. Not only is Your Highness not in His Majesty's team, but even the Crown Prince and other princes are not seen."

Fang Tong put down the book in his hand and said, "Today is the Emperor's birthday. All civil and military officials must come to the palace to celebrate the Emperor's birthday, and the prince should not be absent."

"That's true, but the imperial guards who returned to the city were replaced by a new group of people. No matter who I asked, they kept their mouths shut." Fang Tong pondered: "Where are the horses? Did you see your highness's horses in the team?"

Wei Baichuan said: "The horses are not here, but speaking of this, there are several more carriages in the team."

The emperor would travel by carriage, and other princes and ministers who were unable to walk could also drive.

Before this, all civil and military officials had returned to the city, except the emperor, who was unwell. He took the princes to the imperial farm in the suburbs to rest for a while and rushed back to the capital in the evening.

Among the people traveling with him, except Prince Jing Feng Yuyang who was born lame and could only ride in a carriage, the rest of them rode horses, so apart from the emperor's carriage and the carriages for transporting items, there should not have been so many carriages in the team.

If Fang Tong hadn't mentioned it, Wei Baichuan hadn't thought about this. But when she mentioned it, he immediately became suspicious.

"Could it be that His Highness and the Crown Prince abandoned their horses and rode in carriages? This doesn't make sense. If they come back, there is nothing the Imperial Guards can't say."

"Has anyone in the palace gone to inquire?" Fang Tong asked.

"I have already let Xiaonian go." Wei Baichuan said, "If His Highness comes back, he will definitely attend the palace banquet."

Fang Tong thought for a moment and asked, "Are you sure it's the emperor who's coming back?"

"I'm sure." Wei Baichuan said, "Our people saw His Majesty get off the car and change sedan chair outside the palace. It was definitely him."

"That's strange," Fang Tong murmured, "The emperor has returned safely, so everyone else should be fine too."

"What did Miss Fang say?" Wei Baichuan didn't hear clearly.

Fang Tong glanced at him and said, "By the way, have you found the person who followed me on the street today?"

"That man was very alert. After the girl got on the car, he probably realized something was wrong and ran away quickly," Wei Baichuan said. "Several of our guards chased and intercepted him but failed to catch him."

"It's good that our people are okay." Fang Tong said, "But that person dared to cause trouble today. I'm worried that it has something to do with the palace."

"What do you mean?"

"Today is the birthday of the emperor. There are yamen runners patrolling the streets. Ordinary thieves dare not cause trouble. That person dared to target me. He was either coming for me or for the emperor." Fang Tong said, "Qingluan and his gang are dead. If I have any other enemies, it's only Wuyue Mountain Man."

As for who was behind the Wuyue Mountain Man, she and Feng Twelve both guessed that Prince Jing was involved, but they did not have enough evidence and could not make it public.

But everyone around me who should know knows it.

This time when they go to the Imperial Temple to pray, Feng Twelve and the Crown Prince will keep an eye on Prince Jing. As for the Emperor, he has already placed people from the Dali Temple beside Prince Jing, so he probably doesn't need anyone to remind him of anything; he is also on guard.

With so many people around, even if Prince Jing wanted to do something bad, he wouldn't be able to cause much trouble.

However, he did not expect that when the emperor came back from his trip out of the city, not only Prince Jing, but even Prince Feng Twelve and the Crown Prince, along with all the other princes, were missing.

"Boss," Xiaonian rushed in from outside, "there is not a single prince at the palace banquet."

"What?" Wei Baichuan was startled, "Where is His Majesty?"

"His Majesty is fine," Xiaonian panted, "He even told the ministers that the princes wanted to prepare some gifts for him, so he didn't attend the banquet."

Not only did these words fail to reassure Fang Tong, but they made her frown.

Wei Baichuan's face also looked ugly.

"Who dares to miss such a grand banquet?" He could not hide his worry in his eyes. "Even if we want to give Your Majesty a surprise, we will prepare it in advance. It is impossible for Your Majesty not to know about it."

"Commander Wei," Fang Tong said, "Can you send someone to the imperial manor?"

Wei Baichuan looked at her and said, "Do you want to find out what happened in the Royal Manor today?"

"Yes, according to what you have learned, His Highness was last seen on his way to the Imperial Manor. I think we can find some clues there."

Wei Baichuan thought about it and replied, "Okay, I'll send someone out of the city right away."

"Be careful." Fang Tong warned, "If something really happened in the imperial farm, there might be someone guarding it."

"I understand," Wei Baichuan said, "Miss Fang, do you have any other instructions?"

Fang Tong looked at the night outside the window and said, "I want to go to the palace myself."