The princes are interrogating the identity and background of the master eunuch, heavy suspicion, let everyone more and more suspect that this eunuch is not simple.
The little eunuch in the outer courtyard suddenly came in to inform that the Crown Princess has returned to the palace.
Crown Princess in the daytime in the Palace of the Reservoir to serve the Empress, rare midday back to the Prince Hall, 80% of the Empress temporarily have something, it is not convenient to bring the daughter-in-law.
Sixth Prince looked at Fifth Brother, "Shall we tell sister-in-law what he did now, or wait until Big Brother returns?"
The fifth prince hesitated for a moment, really curious about the other party's life, then said to the eunuch: "Give you another hour to consider, either honestly confess why you came to the palace as a servant, or waiting to be escorted to the Northern Township Division to await trial! We will temporarily hide your sister-in-law for you, let's see if you are honest or not."
Xue Yao breathed a sigh of relief and glared at the eunuch, hoping that he would understand that this was his last chance to survive.
The eunuch was escorted by several guards to the office, where he was temporarily detained.
Prince Consort heard a few small prince came, very happy, not remove the hairpin to rush to the flower hall, out of their own collection of Imperial Tribute cakes, let the princes eat first, and then called the lunch.
Unfortunately, the Empress has just instructed her today to fast for three days and not to touch meat and fish at lunch.
The Crown Princess has long been accustomed to vegetarianism, but it is the little prince who is aggrieved.
The Crown Princess doesn't want to aggravate the Crown Prince's younger brothers, especially the chubby Seventh Brother.
She knew that Lu Jinan loved this naive and interesting young brother the most.
Married for three years, she has always wanted to give her husband a fat son, but after two miscarriages, her stomach has been uncontested, and she can only look forward to the seventh prince to accompany her husband in the temple day after day.
Whether it was the Emperor and Empress's reward, or the special food that was begged from her mother's family, the Crown Princess saved all of them as bait and waited for the Seventh Prince to come and play.
The Seventh Prince, like a little meat pigeon, often popped into the trap, and after eating the pastries from his big brother's house, he didn't forget to repay the favor by saying to his sister-in-law, "How about master giving you a Houyi shot?"
The Crown Princess said, "There is no need to tell stories, Your Highness come often to play with big brother in the future."
Lu Jinan treated the Seventh Prince like a loving father.
The Prince Consort loved to watch the brothers from the sidelines, imagining that it was her own husband and son who were happy.
Looking at a table of vegetarian meals on the table, the Crown Princess first greeted the Seventh Prince sheepishly, "These dried beans are smothered in crab soup, Your Highness take a taste, it's delicious."
The Seventh Prince looked at the table full of vegetarian dishes, put his chopsticks down, and turned his head to solemnly inform his sister-in-law, "Old Seven is here."
"Old Seven is here," was what the Crown Prince used to say, and when he said it to the Crown Princess, it meant, "Go and prepare the dried fruit and roasted meat."
At the moment, big brother was not present, so the seventh prince could only personally remind his sister-in-law to change this table of vegetarian dishes.
"Your Highness try this dried bean, the texture is similar to beef." The Crown Princess personally pinched the little prince's food, fearing that he would run away.
The Fifth and Sixth Emperors guessed that the Crown Princess might have been fixed by the Empress again, and not being able to pick a fight, they could only assist their sister-in-law in getting the Seventh Brother to eat obediently.
One of the brothers stabilized the seventh prince's face while the other force-fed the celery!
The Seventh Prince's little chubby face was hiding his double chin, and he was still stuffed with a mouthful of celery.
The Crown Princess went out to inquire when the Crown Prince would return to the palace, wanting him to come back soon to play with Seventh Brother.
As soon as the Crown Princess left, the three princes began to discuss what they were going to do with the expert eunuch again.
Xue Yao was afraid that they would make a big deal out of it, so he had to find a chance to talk to the Fifth Prince: "If that eunuch really had any misguided intentions, he must have a backer behind him, so why would he need to steal this small amount of money? Maybe he wasn't instructed by anyone, but just ran into some trouble, so let's be patient and give him time to tell the truth.
He such a good body is really rare, your highness has always wanted to go to the seven pass array to practice light power, in my opinion, it would be better to let that eunuch give some practicing skills, so that your highness can get twice the result with half the effort is not to say it."
The Fifth Prince's eyes lit up, "That's right, his leg work is stronger than a first grade guard, he must have some kind of practice trick!"
Thinking that after so many years of practicing martial arts, he actually had to ask a eunuch for advice, the Fifth Prince's complexion darkened, and he grumbled to himself, "There is no shortcut in practicing kung fu? In the end, I still neglected practicing on weekdays, alas!"
Thinking of himself falling from the wigwam in front of a bunch of attendants, the Fifth Prince was ashamed and annoyed, and sighed, burying his face into his hands in depression, sighing repeatedly.
It so happened that the Crown Princess came back at this time, and asked the Fifth Prince who was holding his head and sighing in surprise: "What's wrong with Your Highness?"
The Seventh Prince seized the opportunity to put his arm around his aching Fifth Brother and complained to the Crown Princess with a serious look, "It's really hard to swallow, Fifth Brother needs to be roasted!"
The Fifth Prince slowly lifted his face and squinted his eyes at the Seventh Brother who wanted to eat roasted meat.
The Crown Princess was stunned that a vegetarian feast had broken the Fifth Prince!
"Sister-in-law don't listen to him," Sixth Prince rushed to round up the conversation, "Seventh Brother is joking with you."
*
The Prince returned to the hall in the morning.
Xue Yao found a chance to greet the Crown Prince, and after a few pleasantries, he went straight to the point: "In these two days, I suddenly remembered that when I went to Ping Rong County to visit my family, I heard that a few families in the village had gotten the same kind of strange disease, and that after the natural disaster and famine, there were famished people who were violently corpsed in the wilderness, and that the local villagers said that the evil spirits who died of starvation would be transformed into the God of Plague, and come to the village to harm the people."
The Crown Prince sniffed and gave Xue Yao a puzzled look, "There's no harm in saying what you have to say, there's no need to be too scrupulous."
Xue Yao nodded and said, "I am worried that the plague will really spread after the disaster, so I hope that Your Highness will look for some experienced and famous doctors to go to the affected counties for a year and a half, so as to take precautions before it happens."
The Crown Prince nodded his head without much thought and said, "It's still you who have thought it through, I'll make the arrangements tomorrow."
Xue Yao sighed in relief.
When the Crown Prince returned to the palace to rest, the Fifth Prince immediately greeted his brothers and went to the office room to look for that master eunuch.
"Have you thought about it? Big brother has returned to the palace, if you don't give us an honest account, we'll let big brother dispose of you!"
"What does Your Highness want your slave to deliver?"
"Who sent you to Big Brother!"
"No one." The eunuch's gaze was like a pool of dead water.
"You're still not honest!"
Xue Yao hurriedly said to the eunuch, "His Highness appreciates your martial arts skills before giving you this opportunity, you joined the palace as a slave and must have experienced many sacrifices and sacrifices, why do you have to be stubborn in this life and death situation? What's the use of keeping a secret when your life is gone? Speak out your hardships, and His Highness may be able to forgive you."
That eunuch let out a bitter smile and lowered his head, still not answering.
Xue Yao was very puzzled when she saw the expression on his face as if he were dying.
If this person has a backer behind him, it is impossible for him to risk stealing in the Crown Prince's Palace for a bit of broken silver, and if he is trying to steal money to mix into the palace, it is impossible for him to put his life and death at risk.
He wouldn't confess, probably so as not to implicate someone.
Xue Yao opens his mind to imagination ......
This chivalrous man couldn't be the crown prince's little fanboy, specially coming incognito to work as a shadow guard by the crown prince's side!
"Your Highness, let me talk to him alone once more, and if he still refuses to confess, we'll hand him over to His Highness the Crown Prince to dispose of." Xue Yao requested.
The Fifth Prince nodded in agreement.
Xue Yao led the eunuch to the corner of the office room, stared at him with a piercing gaze, and spoke in a firm tone, "You entered the palace to protect him, didn't you?"
That eunuch raised his eyes, and a hint of panic flashed through his dead black pupils.
"Indeed." Xue Yao pretended to understand everything.
"It's none of her business!" Normal human emotions finally appeared on the eunuch's numb face.
Is it really to protect the Crown Prince?
Xue Yao stared calmly at the eunuch, "You entered the palace to protect him and had no intention of harming him, so why do you refuse to confess?"
The eunuch thought that Xue Yao had already asked for the secret from the old eunuch's mouth, and his face gradually became overwhelmed and desperate.
Turning his head to look at the three imperial princes sitting in the distance, he turned back to Xue Yao and explained in a low voice: "She is completely unaware of this! It's me who wanted to enter the palace to be her guard, because guards can't get close to the consort, I can only use the eunuch's identity, palace maids and eunuchs aren't good things, she's never been treated this harshly in the mansion, and I just want to be by her side to take good care of her!"
Xue Yao: "......"
This mysterious eunuch actually blended into the palace for the Emperor's consort!
No wonder he refused to confess to the emperors. This eunuch is trying to cuckold the emperor!
"Don't get excited, I know that this matter has nothing to do with the empress." Xue Yao continued his condescension, "You committed the theft in order to give those belongings to that empress?"
"Of course not, how could she possibly accept such dirty money!" The eunuch looked at Xue Yao and felt that there was nothing more he needed to hide, so he told the truth: "When you work as an errand boy in the Harem, you can only listen to the Chief Manager's instructions, I was assigned to the Crown Prince's Palace for two months, and every time I visited the girl, I might have caused trouble for her.
That's why I asked Eunuch Qiu to help me buy off the Chief Superintendent of the Eight Bureaus, so that I could be transferred to Chung Chi Kung and serve her in peace.
If I don't pay a little tribute, how can the higher-ups help me? My husband said that he wanted a total of 300 taels of silver, I gave it to him, and it was already accomplished, but then the chief of the Inner Governmental Supervision found out about it and also wanted to pay for it, so my husband asked me to raise another 200 taels, but the silver bills I brought to the palace had already been used up, and now we're just short of 60 taels!"
Feeling that this mysterious expert might have been pitched by the old eunuch, Xue Yao asked him gently, "Which eunuch gave you the job?"
"What do you want?" The eunuch's face was wary, worried that Xue Yao would sabotage his good deed.
"Put it to you this way." Xue Yao looked at this mysterious master sympathetically, "Five hundred taels of silver to hit the point, enough for you to mix a sixth grade deputy governor position, you just want to be transferred from the Crown Prince's Palace to the Consort's Palace as an errand boy, a full count of fifty taels would be enough, it won't cost you five hundred taels, you should have been pitied and cheated."
Mystery Master: "......"
"Don't worry, tell me who took your silver and I'll go get it back for you." Xue Yao had a calm face.
The eunuch let out a bitter laugh, "What use do I have for silver when my life is about to be lost?"
"Who wants to kill you?" Xue Yao pursed her lips and smiled, "Not only will I be able to get your silver back, but I will also be able to transfer you to Princess Hui's side as an errand boy."
The eunuch's eyes widened in surprise, "Don't tease me."
"You're a strange person." Xue Yao complained, "I don't blame that person who cheated you out of your silver and didn't do anything for teasing you, but I've wronged a real person like me!"
The eunuch froze for a long time and asked uncertainly, "What do you want me to do for you?"
Xue Yao almost laughed out loud, this mysterious expert had probably never accepted help from anyone without greed in his life, so he would rather trust the old eunuch who demanded five hundred taels of silver from him than Xue Yao's inexplicable goodwill.
"If there must be a quid pro quo, then I'll make two demands: first, you must promise never to steal and harm people in the future, and second," Xue Yao narrowed his eyes at him with a smile, "make me a friend."
The mysterious expert took one look at Xue Yao's gentle smile and uncomfortably lowered his head, murmuring a few words in a low voice, his eyes still filled with suspicion.
He was like a stray wild dog that had been abandoned and betrayed by its master too many times, completely disappointed in humanity, but unable to hold back a heart that wanted to trust again.
"I'm not a good person, this kung fu is practiced from doing bad things." He lowered his head to warn Xue Yao.
"If you are given the chance to be a good person later." Xue Yao asked him, "Are you willing to try?"
The eunuch raised his eyes to him.
Xue Yao's gaze was firm and trusting.
The eunuch lowered his dark eyes in a hasty manner, and, imperceptibly, nodded his head.
*
After the interrogation, Xue Yao told the three young emperors about the eunuch's situation one by one.
If he didn't tell the truth, the eunuch's life would definitely not be saved, and if he told the truth, the eunuch couldn't turn any waves.
A net body into the palace only to guard the cold palace consort of the infatuation of the man, a cheated five hundred taels of silver still help the liar count the money of the demented master, really does not seem to be able to do great things.
"Does he like Princess Hui?" The Sixth Prince questioned the Fifth Prince very directly.
The Fifth Prince replied with some embarrassment, "Maybe."
The Sixth Prince was a bit emotional, "He entered the palace as a eunuch to protect the woman he liked."
The Fifth Prince didn't say anything.
The Seventh Prince gave a thoughtful analytical opinion, "Let Father marry Consort Hui to him."
"Shhh! Don't talk nonsense!" The Sixth Prince warned the Seventh Brother.
"Father's consort is a woman who is already married to Father and cannot remarry." The fifth prince told the seventh brother, "Not to mention ...... that he is already a eunuch and has no way to take a wife."
"Why?" The Seventh Prince crooked his little bun face.
The Sixth Prince looked at his Fifth Brother in embarrassment, as the Seventh Brother was born different from the other children, and was completely ignorant of these things, and didn't know how to explain it to him.
"Because eunuchs don't have that." The Fifth Prince replied vaguely.
"Nothing?" For the first time, the Seventh Prince was formally confronted with this type of sensitive issue.
The Fifth Prince awkwardly exchanged a glance with the Sixth Prince, thinking that his fat younger brother had grown up and couldn't be ignorant of everything.
So, the Fifth Prince politely reminded, "Do you know how men and women are different?"
The Seventh Prince thought for a moment, "Men don't wear rouge on their faces."
"Ahem ...... What else is different ......"
The Fifth Prince coughed twice with his fist against his lips, and smoothly raised his index finger and pointed downward, prompting, "Be lower ......"
The Seventh Prince thought for a moment, cleared his throat, and in a low octave voice, inquired in a low voice, "Men don't rub rouge on their faces?"
"It's not for you to lower your voice!" The Fifth Prince collapsed, "I meant lower, what's different about lower!"
Xue Yao couldn't bear it! With one hand covering the little chubby cub's ears, she protested to the Fifth Prince, "Your Highness is still small!"