The Third Prince and the Duke of Qi went to the study, and as soon as he sat down, the Duke of Qi took out the letter and handed it to him.
The Third Prince read it, “Does Grandfather mean to wait for the news to reach the capital and ask me to find a way to get the errand over?”
“The old gentleman is famous all over the world, the news of his poisoning spread, the world is concerned, if you go to Qingping County and can quickly find out the person who poisoned him, you will be able to leave a good impression on the court and the public, the main thing is ……”
The Duke of Qi lowered his voice, “We can take this opportunity to ascertain Gu Yi’s identity, as long as it is confirmed that he is the son of the King of Qin, we will immediately escort him back to the capital, as long as the Emperor’s heart is pleased, more and more important errands will be assigned to you in the future.”
The Third Prince had the Grand Prince and the Second Prince above him. Both were much older than him, and had done many errands for the Emperor over the years, and had a high position in the hearts of the civil and military officials. Only the Third Prince, who had just established his government a few years ago, had not received any important errands, so much so that the impression he had among the ministers was that he was the son of Concubine Shu and the grandson of the Duke of Qi.
“I reckon the news will soon reach the capital, and when it does, the emperor will certainly summon me over, and I will propose that you go, so prepare yourself.”
“Listen to Grandfather.”
The following evening, a fast horse had entered the capital at the closing of the city gates and went straight to the Ministry of Officials to present the fold.
The Minister of Officials, who was just about to leave the court, read it and immediately got up and hurried into the palace, presenting the fold to the Emperor, who, after reading it, was furious and slammed the fold on the dragon case, “Simply audacious, someone, summon the Duke of Qi to the palace.”
The Duke of Qi quickly entered the palace.
“I have just received a report from the magistrate of Qingping County that the old gentleman was poisoned during his lecture in Qingping County. I order you to leave for Qingping County immediately, find out who poisoned him and have him executed.”
“I obey the order.”
The Duke of Qi bowed to receive the decree and did not immediately retreat, “Your Majesty, this person dared to poison the old gentleman in full view of the public, I think the matter cannot be that simple, I think it is best to send a royal son with me, if we find any big conspiracy, we can also make a decision in time.”
“Granted, I will send ……”
Thinking of the fact that the first and second prince had both been sent out by him, “I will send the third prince with the imperial doctor to go there afterwards.”
The Duke of Qi withdrew.
The emperor announced the Third Prince to come over and ordered him to take the imperial doctor to Qingping County immediately, “If you can’t save the old man, you don’t have to come back either.”
“My son obeys the order.”
After leaving the imperial study, the Third Prince went straight to the Imperial Hospital and ordered a few eunuch doctors, told them to go home and pack up a little, and led them out of the city.
It was only half an hour before and after, first the Duke of Qi left the city with his men in a hurry, and then the Third Prince. The civil and military officials soon got the news and sent people to inquire, only then did they learn that the old gentleman had actually been poisoned in Qingping County.
The news also reached the House of the State Prince of Ding.
Gu Yi had long ago told Duke Ding and Xiao Zheng about the plan, the two were not worried, but Duke Ding’s wife could not sit still and hastily ordered someone to call Duke Ding over, “Master, that old thing, Duke Qi, is not going after Xiao’er, is he?”
The first time I saw a woman, I was so worried about her that I didn’t dare to tell her about Gu Yi’s plan.
When she saw that he was not at all worried, she became suspicious and stared at him for a long time, “You’re not hiding anything from me, are you?”
“How is it possible? I was also panicked when I got the news just now and called out for Zheng’er to come over, he said that as long as we didn’t move, no matter how treacherous the Duke of Qi was, he wouldn’t get a clue from us and Xiao’er would be safer.”
The Duke of Ding’s wife nodded, “Zheng’er has a point, it’s my concern that has led to confusion. That old thing, the Duke of Qi, has probably already arranged for someone to spy on us, so we’ll just stay still and be angry with him.”
Duke Ding laughed, “Madam is right, let’s not move and piss him off. However, I think we should send someone to Si’er to tell him to go to Second Sir, who is not in the court as an official and is not as well informed.”
“Then what are we waiting for, Master, send someone to Si’er quickly.”
The Duke of Ding shouted for the butler to come in and asked him to send a boy to deliver a letter to Song Si.
The steward answered, came out and shouted for a smart boy to come over, giving a few instructions. The boy galloped all the way to the backyard, took his horse out of the side gate, rolled onto it and galloped all the way to the south city, dismounted and went up to knock on the door.
Song Si lived alone in the mansion over there, and had just brought firewood and was preparing to cook for himself at the moment.
“Sir Song, the Duke of State asked me to come and tell you that the old gentleman was poisoned while he was lecturing in Qingping County, and his life and death are not yet known, the Duke of State is not at liberty to go and speak to the second gentleman, and asks you to come over.”
Song Si didn’t even have time to untie her apron and hurriedly headed over to the pastry shop.
“Sir Song, the door is still unlocked.”
Hearing the boy’s reminder, Song Si didn’t stop in his steps, “You lock it for me.”
The boy took out the lock behind the door, locked it, took his horse and followed Song Si, giving him the key.
Song Si received it in his hand and hurried to the pastry shop, calling out to one of the pastry shop fellows to drive the carriage to take him to the Xu residence.
The door of the Xu residence was closed, so Song Si got off the carriage and went up to knock on the door.
The door hadn’t been opened for a long time since the old man and Meng had left for Qingping County, so when he suddenly heard this urgent knock, Uncle Xu’s heart trembled and he took three steps to open the door.
“Mr. Song?”
“Is Mr. Er in?”
“Yes.”
At his words, Song Si lifted his feet and entered, hurrying over to the second gentleman, while Uncle Xu covered the door behind him.
Song Si stopped one of the servants, “Quickly, go and report to the Second Mister that something has happened to the Old Mister.”
Uncle Xu’s heart stuttered.
Song Si had just walked past the moon gate when the second gentleman came out of the house, “Song Si, what has happened to my father?”
“The old gentleman has been poisoned while lecturing in Qingping County!”
There was a buzz in Mr. Er’s head and he could barely stand.
Song Si took a few quick steps to help him.
“Someone, prepare a carriage, go to Qingping County immediately.”
Uncle Xu swayed on his feet as he went to give the order.
The Second Lady also came out of the house, hearing the news in disbelief, “I’ll go with you.”
The second gentleman was shaking all over, his lips opened a few times before a sound came out, “You stay at home and let Yan’er accompany me, send someone to tell Yan’er quickly.”
When Xu Yan heard the report, he didn’t even have time to put on his shoes and ran over in his bare feet, “Who sent the news, is it true or not? How did grandfather get poisoned?”
Song Si returned, “It was the Duke of Ding who sent someone to tell me, saying that the Emperor had sent the Duke of Qi and the Third Prince to Qingping County with an imperial doctor.”