Chapter 171 Starry Sky
Outside the capital, a large group of people slowly moved towards the city gate.
As the queue approached the city gate, the imperial guards stopped them.
“Who are you?”
The leading person moved forward on his horse and took out a red gold token. “This is the team of honor guards of King Nanyang. Hurry to step aside quickly.”
“King Nanyang.”
Seeing this, the captain of the gatekeeper hurriedly stepped forward to salute.
“Pay my respects to you, Your Royal Highness.”
There was a lazy voice in the carriage where King Nanyang was. “I have to enter the palace to meet His Majesty. Hurry to give way.”
“Yes.”
The Imperial Guards gave way to let the team march into the city.
The Emperor was in the Imperial Study.
A palace maid walked quickly out of the door and whispered something in Eunuch Yi’s ear.
Eunuch Yi nodded and turned into the study.
“I will never let you down, Father.”
Xia Houkun was explaining the situation of the Imperial Guards to Xia Hourui. And Eunuch Yi whispered to Xia Hourui. “Your Majesty, King Nanyang has entered the city.”
Xia Hourui slightly lifted his half-closed eyes. “It’s almost time. Let him come in directly when he arrives.”
“Yes.”
After Eunuch Yi withdrew, Xia Hourui looked at Xia Houkun and said: “Your uncle is here, and you should also see him.”
His uncle … King Nanyang … the person who had been enjoying for his whole life. And Xia Houkun had never looked up to him in his heart. However, since Xia Hourui had said so, he certainly had to stay.
“Yes.”
King Nanyang didn’t make the father and son wait for too long. Soon, Eunuch Yi came in and said that King Nanyang had arrived outside the Imperial Study.
“Let him come in.”
“Yes.”
“King Nanyang comes in.”
The Imperial Study door was opened, and King Nanyang, wearing a peac.o.c.k feather robe, walked in with leisurely steps.
“Pay my respects to you, Your Majesty. Long may you reign.” King Nanyang knelt on the ground and made a respectful salute.
King Nanyang’s gesture of submitting himself to the rule of the Emperor made Xia Hourui quite pleased.
Xia Hourui straightened up and cheered up. “Get up.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
“Pay my respects to you, Uncle.”
Just as King Nanyang got up, Xia Houkun stepped forward to greet him.
King Nanyang looked up at him with a smile. “Oh, the eldest nephew has grown up into such a tall and handsome man.”
Xia Houkun’s face was slightly frozen. “Uncle, I’m your second nephew.”
Hearing this, King Nanyang looked at him with his eyes fixed on his face. “It turned out to be Kun’er. Well, you look so much alike to your father. I can see it at a glance!”
Of course, he looked alike to his father!
“You are still the same as before and always so confused.” Xia Hourui said helplessly.
King Nanyang didn’t care about it and said with a smile. “Brother, I’m not confused. I can clearly remember where the rouge street is in the capital.”
King Nanyang was playful and naughty when he was young. At least half of a month had been spent in the rouge street. For this reason, the previous Emperor had punished him for so many times.
In the beginning, King Nanyang would be somewhat obedient, but after the previous Emperor was getting weaker and weaker, he had no more fear, and the previous Emperor was too lazy to pay attention to him again.
Xia Hourui snorted softly, but his face was not angry. “You are still so playful. Fine, do as you like. Mother hasn’t seen you for a while, so you should go to see her.”
“Okay, I’ll go after a while.”
“Go ahead.”
“Yes, please excuse my retreat.”
King Nanyang turned around and left. But when he was about to step out of the door, he suddenly stopped and looked back at Xia Hourui with a frown.
“Why? Do you have anything else?”
“Brother, I am a little confused about something on the way back to the capital.”
Xia Hourui lowered his eyelids and said with a less interested tone: “What’s the matter?”
“When I came back, I pa.s.sed by the camp outside the city and saw that some people pushed something out with a cart. Eh … they seemed to be approaching the unmarked common graves behind the mountain.” King Nanyang paused slightly after saying so. “Brother, you shouldn’t have forgotten that we had strayed into the place before, and it was very ghastly and scary.”
Hearing this, Xia Hourui suddenly opened his eyes again.
Xia Houkun, who was standing aside, was putting on a stern face!
These useless things couldn’t do anything well at all!
“Uncle, it might be that the wounded were so seriously ill that they could not be cured and were taken out for burial.”
“The wounded soldiers who were seriously ill in the camp would be thrown into the unmarked common graves? Oh, it turned out that it was all right. Brother, I’ll retreat.”
King Nanyang didn’t stay for any longer and went directly to the Imperial Study.
Xia Houkun who stayed in the room felt great pressure on himself!
Xia Hourui looked at Xia Houkun with a stern gaze. “Almost all the soldiers in the injured barrack are the imperial guards. If they are seriously injured, they will be thrown into the unmarked common graves directly?!”
Xia Hourui was speaking with a small volume, but Xia Houkun could feel his anger.
Xia Houkun suddenly knelt down in the room. “It’s my fault. I haven’t dealt with this matter properly. When Ninth Brother was in charge of the Imperial Guards, he hadn’t dealt with this matter well and made those soldiers seriously ill and incurable. I …”
“Shut up. Find a solution to this matter yourself, and I won’t be able to help you if it was exposed!”
Xia Hourui didn’t punish him, and Xia Houkun exhaled a sigh of relief. “Yes, I will solve it well.”
…
In the Jin Mansion.
Su Muge brought the medical kit to the upper loft.
“Step aside. I want to see His Royal Highness.”
Just as Su Muge went to the door, she saw Qingyu was really stopped from leaving the mansion by Zuoqiu and others.
“You want to ask where Liu Rumeng is?” Su Muge walked over.
Qingyu stopped when he heard the words. Now he could see the figure vaguely. He was just like a person with high myopia who could see but not clearly.
“Your Grace, Your Grace, please tell me, where is Rumeng? Where is Rumeng?”
Su Muge said calmly: “Before I answer your question, I will ask you two questions first.”
“Your Grace, please.”
“Will you betray His Royal Highness in this life?”
Qingyu said without hesitation: “Even if I have to die, I will never betray His Royal Highness!”
“Okay, here is the next question. If Liu Rumeng did something that betrayed His Royal Highness, what would you do?”
Qingyu froze suddenly. “No, Rumeng will never do anything to betray His Royal Highness.” His Rumeng was gentle and kind. How could she do such a thing?!
“But the fact is that she has already done it. She was thrown out of the mansion after a punishment of flogging a few days ago.
“What?” Qingyu couldn’t believe it. “Impossible! Rumeng will never do anything to betray His Royal Highness. She must have been framed up!”
“Do you know why you were caught by Second Prince? It’s because His Royal Highness was framed up and was accused of colluding with the traitor, and the evidence is in the cloak handled by your sister Rumeng. If you still don’t believe it, I will have nothing else to say.”
After finishing her words, Su Muge walked past him and walked into the courtyard.
Standing on the spot, Qingyu was stunned and could not recover from the blow.
“Impossible…I don’t believe it. I don’t believe… Rumeng would never do such a thing…”
“Your Royal Highness is so nice that you would talk to him so much.”
Guima looked at her teasingly with his hands held around his chest.
Su Muge raised her eyebrows noncommittally.
Guima snorted. “What a fool to be cheated by a woman.”
Su Muge took up the medical kit and followed him into the research room.
“Doctor Gui, what happened to that intestine?”
Guima walked to a table and opened a plate to reveal the human intestine which had been stored for a few days.
The intestine had been treated by Guima, presenting a strange pinkish-gray color.
Su Muge raised the corners of her lips. “It’s a really perfect color rendering.”
Guima raised his neck proudly.
“I have dipped this intestine for a day with a kind of flower juice, and it has become like this afterward.”
“Flower juice.”
“Yes.”
This intestine was already in a state of necrosis and decay. Even if it was thrown into the dyeing tank, it would not be like this.
“Next, what I want to tell you is a flower called Starry Sky.”
Guima came over with a potted plant from the window.
The potted plant was as big as two palms, and there was only a kind of plant which looked like weeds with no sign of blossoming.
“Starry Sky?”
“Yes, the fodder for this kind of flower is carrion of humans and animals. It can take root and germinate in just half a month. Its flower is as tiny as an ant, and it can only bloom in cold winter. But the most adorable part is its green rhizome because this rhizome has strong corrosive power. As long as it is eaten into the stomach, it will…”
Guima pointed to the intestine in the plate.
“Is it poisonous?”
“Yes.”
“When one starts eating a small amount at first, he will show symptoms of fever. But over time, the toxins will spread in the stomach and intestines before slowly corroding them.”
“The antidote is its flower?”
“Yes.”
“A pot of Starry Sky can kill ten people, but a flower can only save one person’s life.”
Su Muge looked at the flowers in the pot and put on a frown. If this thing was mixed into the food, it couldn’t be discovered at all. There was someone who was harming the Imperial Guards!
“Where can I get these flowers?”
“Xiliang Kingdom.”
“Xiliang?”
“Starry Sky can only bloom only in the extremely cold environment, and there is a large area of Starry Sky on the snow-mountains inXiliang Kingdom. However, the snow-mountains were too high for people to climb up.”
…
Outside the Jin Mansion.
King Nanyang was stopped by the imperial guards and stood outside the gate angrily with his hands on his hips.
Xia Houmo was banned to leave his mansion, and Xia Houkun sent a troop to guard the Jin Mansion. No one was allowed to leave the mansion and no one was allowed to enter.
“Do you know who I am? Hurry up to step aside!”
The Imperial Guards were also helpless. “Your Royal Highness, it is really the order of His Majesty that we can’t disobey. Please don’t put us into a dilemma, Your Royal Highness.”
King Nanyang blew his beard angrily. “How could Brother be so strict? Even if he doesn’t let the people come out, why does he disallow us to go in? I could rarely come back once, but I can’t meet my favorite nephew!? I don’t care. I have to go in today!”
King Nanyang rushed into the Jin Mansion without saying anything. The Imperial Guards wanted to stop him, but they didn’t dare to go too far. After all, it was King Nanyang. If something really happened to him, it would be them who were out of luck!
King Nanyang had bet exactly that these people dared not to do anything to him, so he pushed the door of the Jin Mansion while they were not paying attention…