There is a god in the sky

Chapter 356 Palace Change 9

"Grandfather, has Father Emperor agreed to let me go?"

Tong Yiwen shook his head, "Your Highness, don't worry. These days are the most dangerous, so you're actually safer here."

The crown prince angrily shook the prison bars, "This is the imperial prison! How dare you think I'm safe here?"

He paced around in place. "Look, this place is so tiny, you bump your head every few steps, and the bed is so hard, I can't sleep at night at all..."

The prince kept complaining.

Tong Yiwen listened quietly, but inwardly he was sighing.

The crown prince has never experienced hardship since childhood and is adored by everyone. He panics at the slightest difficulty, which is not the way to accomplish great things.

"Your Highness, please calm down. The Emperor cannot imprison you indefinitely. Right now, the harem is holding a funeral for Consort Li. The Emperor is just still angry."

The Crown Prince's eyes blazed with fury. "Where is that Consort Lin? My maternal grandfather had her reduced to ashes on my behalf!"

"Consort Lin's body has been taken out of the palace and her whereabouts are unknown. She is just a dead person, Your Highness need not worry about it."

"What do you mean 'don't care'? If it weren't for her, how could I have ended up in this situation? I'll make that bitch's soul be torn to shreds!"

Seeing that his eyes were bloodshot, Tong Yiwen knew he truly hated the woman, so he readily agreed.

“Okay, Grandfather promises you, I will definitely find her body and grind her bones to dust.”

The crown prince finally calmed down, gripping the prison door and asking, "How is my mother? Why didn't she come to see me? Does Father not even give her face?"

Tong Yiwen frowned.

He also wanted to know, but his men couldn't even get into Kunning Palace.

He submitted the token several times, but it was thrown out by the Imperial Guards before it even reached Kunning Palace.

Although the original words were that the emperor did not want to see him, he knew that this was the Marquis of Pingyang settling a personal score.

There was no overt conflict between the Tong family and the Marquis of Pingyang, but everyone knew the true nature of their relationship.

The emperor temporarily replaced the Marquis of Pingyang with the commander of the imperial guards, presumably knowing this.

The current situation is extremely unfavorable for the Crown Prince and for the Tong family.

Tong Yiwen glanced at the still angry Crown Prince and thought to himself: The Crown Prince is so impatient, cowardly and reckless. He seemed alright in peacetime, but now it seems he really can't handle things.

Moreover, the fact that he could be tricked by a mere woman is a direct result of his own moral failings.

"I was unable to see the Empress. Do you have any way to contact someone close to her?"

"Find Li Ge. He is a confidant of the Empress Dowager and wields considerable power in the harem. He should have a way to pass on messages."

Tong Yiwen wanted to sigh again.

“This man is not to be trusted,” he said.

The Crown Prince laughed, “Grandfather doesn’t understand him. He’s a eunuch who got to where he is today because of me and Mother. How could he not be trustworthy?”

Did my maternal grandfather think he had many wicked ideas? And was he insidious? It's alright, he might be a bit ruthless, but he's rid me of many menaces."

"Sigh... Never mind, Your Highness, stay in the prison for now, I'll come and get you in a few days."

Tong Yiwen did not try to persuade him; there were some things the Crown Prince would only believe if he saw them with his own eyes.

The crown prince cried out in a panic, "Grandfather, what if Father insists on deposing the crown prince?"

Tong Yiwen gave him a reassuring look and said firmly, "Remember, you are the only crown prince, and you will be the only heir to the throne!"

The prince suddenly laughed.

When Tong Yiwen left the prison, the official guarding the prison personally saw him off.

"Rest assured, Master, His Highness the Crown Prince is safest here."

Tong Yiwen praised, "You've always been the most reliable, so I trust you. But the Crown Prince is impatient, so don't let anyone else come to see him, lest you anger him."

"Yes, yes, the student will certainly comply."

After leaving the prison, Tong Yiwen boarded the carriage, and the driver, Kong Xiang, immediately said, "Master, you guessed right, that kid really is suspicious!"

"Oh? You messed up?"

"Yes, he was rescued. The assassin said the rescuer was a girl."

Tong Yiwen raised an eyebrow, and immediately understood.

"That Shen Lan who filed a complaint with the emperor, an orphan from Guli Town, it seems that Liu Engui wasn't swift enough back then, allowing several children to escape."

"You mean, that person was also from Guli Town?"

"Whether he is or not is not important. All we need to know is that he is a spy planted in Kunning Palace. The Empress's illness must be related to him. We must find a way to get rid of him."

"But now that he's back in the palace, it'll be difficult for him to make a move again."

"Let's go back home."

After returning home, Tong Yiwen personally met with his daughters-in-law.

The next day, the maids who accompanied the ladies of the Tong family to the palace to pay their respects were all quite robust. Even with makeup and wearing skirts, they looked much stronger than the ladies.

Once inside the palace, when acquaintances asked about the maids, Madam Tong forced a smile and said, "The palace has been rather unsettled lately, and my husband was worried that something might happen to me there, so he chose a few strong maids to accompany me."

The other ladies praised Lord Tong for his thoughtfulness, and considering the recent deaths in the palace, they dared not move around unnecessarily.

"Speaking of which, how is Her Majesty the Empress's health? She hasn't even shown her face for so many days."

Madam Tong, clutching her handkerchief, replied, "I don't know either. My husband told me that Her Majesty the Empress is very ill."

The wife of the Imperial Censor Wang, a relative by marriage of the Tong family, immediately said, "The Empress is seriously ill, and we noblewomen should go to visit her."

The proposal was seconded by everyone.

When the empress fell ill, the harem appeared calm on the surface, but it was eerily lifeless.

There used to be a flamboyant concubine named Li Fei, whose laughter could be heard everywhere she went.

Now that Consort Li lies in a cold coffin, the entire harem seems to have died along with her.

Madam Tong said sadly, "I heard that the gates of Kunning Palace are locked and no one is allowed to enter."

Madam Tong gave Madam Wang a wink, and the latter immediately added, "Her Majesty the Empress is the mother of the nation. Unless the Emperor issues an edict to seal off the palace, why shouldn't we be allowed to enter?"

"Exactly! I wonder which lackey took it upon himself to do this!"

A group of noble ladies went to Kunning Palace together.

The Empress would fall asleep and wake up intermittently, but the time she was awake was never long. She would often fall asleep again after taking her medicine and saying only a few words.

She knew she had been framed, but no matter how she talked to Li Ge or the palace maids, they would only say that she was overthinking things.

The Queen never doubted their loyalty.

Even if one or two people betray her, it's impossible for everyone to betray her.

When the Queen woke up again, she found the room pitch black.

She had lost track of time and called out, "Someone come here."

Li Ge pushed open the door and came in, carrying medicine in his hands. "It's good that Your Highness has woken up. Today's medicine has just been brewed."

As soon as Li Ge sat down by the bed, the Empress reached out and slapped the medicine out of his hand, the scalding liquid burning his hand.

But he wasn't annoyed at all. He simply wiped the broken pieces with a handkerchief, then squatted down to pick up the shards of porcelain.

"Li Ge, I know you possess miraculous medicine, why won't you give it to me?"

Li Ge looked up in surprise: "What did Your Majesty say? How could this servant have such a thing?"

"Don't think I don't know. You've been inquiring about the Emperor's use of the miraculous medicine all along. Now, Wu Xuan, who's by the Emperor's side, is one of your people, isn't he?"

Li Ge blinked, swept away the broken porcelain shards on the ground, stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty must be delirious from illness. I'm just interested in the medicine His Majesty takes. Where can I get this stuff?"

"Is that so? Then the medicine that Consort Li gave to the Lady of Pingyang was not given to her by you?"