The two men walked quickly into the house.
The bed veil fluttered and the bed was empty.
The two men immediately turned around and went to the other courtyard. There was no one, not even a living thing.
There was no sign of a fight, and everywhere was neat and tidy, as if the family had gone out for a trip and would return in a few days.
“Go!”
The two men went out the way they had come and got into a carriage not far away.
The carriage driver was Xiao Qian, and seeing that the two were empty-handed, asked, “Where are the men?”
“As we go.”
The two men got into the carriage and Xiao Qian went up too, shaking the reins, and the horse headed forward.
“There’s no one at the Liu family.”
Xiao Qian was startled, “How come?”
Then something occurred to him, “Has it been silenced?”
Song Yin shook his head.
Xiao Qian didn’t ask any more questions and drove the carriage as fast as he could, and soon returned to the Ding Guo Gong Mansion.
Duke Ding and Xiao Zheng and Song Si were waiting in the study.
Seeing the trio enter, Xiao Zheng asked impatiently, “How did it go?”
“There’s no one from the Liu family.”
Song Yin said back.
Xiao Zheng’s thoughts were the same as Xiao Qian’s, the Liu family had been silenced.
“There are no signs of a fight in the Liu family, and there are no bloodstains everywhere, so it doesn’t look like they were silenced, but rather like the family left.”
Duke Ding wrinkled his brows.
Liu Ying was the commander of the feathered forest army, which guarded the security of the capital, and the position of commander was even more important. The Liu family was not an ordinary small family, including the servants, there were at least sixty to seventy people, so it was impossible for so many people to leave the capital without anyone knowing.
“The family’s servants, at least, must be in their 60s and 70s. The capital is such a big place, and the Liu family has many people, so they should buy another big house. We should be able to find out soon if we send someone to investigate.”
“This is not a good idea.”
On the way back Song Wangyue also thought about this, and then denied it herself, “Since the emperor has used Liu Ying, he will definitely send people to protect them, if we go on a big investigation, we will draw his attention as well.”
Xiao Zheng was anxious, “What then? We can’t just let him hide in the shadows, can we? If he still has smallpox poisoning in his hands, won’t we be in danger all the time.”
Smallpox was extremely contagious, even things used by people who had smallpox carried the virus, and once they touched it, they would also be infected. Liu Ying was now the emperor’s dog, and if the emperor let him use smallpox against the Xu family and the Ding Gongfu, the consequences would be unthinkable.
Song Wan Yue’s lips were lightly hooked as she sneered, “If it really comes to that, let Chu Yi’s son accompany us.”
Didn’t the emperor want to make his grandson the crown prince, so let’s infect Chu Yi’s two sons as well and see if he saves or not?
“Good!”
Xiao Qian gritted his teeth, “If the people of our two houses do catch smallpox, I will immediately have Chu Yi’s sons arrested to accompany us.”
Not only did he want to arrest, but he wanted to do it blatantly, he wanted to see if that heartless thing dared to send someone to rob the Ding Guo Mansion?
Yes, it was something, not a human being, and he was not worthy of being a human being.
……
Coming out of the Ding Guo Gong Mansion, Song Wan Yue and Song Yin went to the South City.
The pastry shop had not yet opened, and Mr and Mrs Huang and the underlings of the shop had all gone home for the New Year, with only Song 30 people staying there.
Song Wangyue knocked lightly on the door three times.
Song San and the others instantly opened their eyes and leapt up, quickly dressing and walking out to open the door.
Song Wangyue and the two of them walked in and entered the hall.
The hall was already lit and the rest of the people stood in the courtyard as Song San walked in, “Dongjia?”
“Bring paper and pencil.”
Song San turned and went out, quickly bringing over paper and pencil.
Song Wangyue wrote a letter, sealed it and handed it to him, “Take the two of you out of the city early tomorrow morning to go to the Prefectural Renshantang, and give this letter to Doctor Yao.”
Song San took it and put it away.
……
The following day, the hundred officials did not attend the morning court.
The people were unaware of it and continued to do what they had to do.
However, the officials in the various offices noticed something unusual about their superiors.
Not only did they dress more heavily, they even had to ask them questions more than two metres apart, and even more so, when they arrived, they went straight to their own houses, not talking to the people below them at all, fearing that they might catch some disease.
The officers gathered together to discuss the matter, but before they could say anything, they were interrupted by stern shouts.
The next day, their bosses were still in the same situation, and when they thought that their bosses had not been to court for two days in a row, they guessed that something had happened in the palace, or to be precise, something had happened to the emperor.
In the palace, several more people were found to have smallpox.
It was from Consort Rong’s palace.
One of them was down to her last breath, hidden by others in the palace in a dried-up well. If a young palace maid hadn’t been close to collapsing and speaking out to the imperial guards who were barricading the palace doors, no matter how many times they searched, they wouldn’t have been able to find them.
The emperor was furious when he received the report and asked Sun Qi to interrogate the palace staff.
Some of the palace staff were on the verge of collapse, and some of them confessed without being interrogated – it was the aunt of Consort Rong’s steward who had witnessed Consort Rong’s collapse and was harbouring a grudge against Consort Xiao Xian, who had taken advantage of the time when she was out of the palace to get the clothes worn by smallpox patients and had her own eunuchs wear them to get close to Si Xi.
After hearing this, Sun Qi looked around and did not find the aunt they said was in charge.
“In, in her house.”
Sun Qi led the men over and kicked the door open, and what met his eyes were the wobbly legs of the Steward’s Aunt.
The emperor became even more furious at the report and told Sun Qi to throw the body of the aunt into the dry well, fill up the well and seal the rest of the people inside the palace, leaving it up to the will of God whether they would live or die.
After hearing this, Consort Xiao Xianfei only smiled faintly.
Although the palace gate was sealed, Sun Qi would give them news of the outside every day.
The fourth prince lay on the bed, his face burning red, and Consort Xiao Xian held his hand gently, “Feng’er, are you afraid?”
The Fourth Prince shook his head slowly, his voice hoarse, “Son, I am not afraid, just, just that I have dragged Mother Consort into this.”
“Silly boy ……”
The fourth prince’s voice was hoarse as he shook his head, “I’m not afraid.
The fourth prince’s eyes were red, he was not afraid of death, but he wanted his mother consort to live, to leave the palace, to live the rest of his life happily and happily, not to be trapped in the palace again.
His mother consort did not like this cage-like palace, nor did she like that man.
Inside the Hall of the Nurturing Heart, the Emperor looked furiously at the kneeling eunuchs, “All of you, don’t you always claim to be highly skilled in medicine? How come you can’t even cure a little smallpox?”
The eunuch doctors, led by the courtier, knelt in fear, not daring to breathe.
It had been two days, but the Fourth Prince’s symptoms had not abated, but rather worsened, and the Emperor’s temper had become even more irritable, and they feared that their heads would fall to the ground at any moment.
“Your Majesty ……”
The courtier’s heart was crossed and he couldn’t care less about his face, “There is really nothing else I can do, can you please declare Miss Song to come into the palace for a try?”