Living deep in the palace, because of his extremely poor health, Wang Hong almost did not have a chance to go out for fun. In daily life, the people he can come into contact with are still almost a fixed pattern because of physical reasons.

In addition to seeing them every day when he went to greet his father and mother and concubine, and accompanying them for a short while, he could occasionally disturb the imperial sister, and the imperial brother often had difficulty getting together for a few days in a year and a half, and most of his life, he still dealt with the imperial doctor of the Imperial Medical Bureau.

But seeing a doctor when you're sick isn't a good thing.

However, it is also because of this that Wang Hong can feel very early on that Doctor Ye is very different from other imperial doctors. Physician Ye's respect always has a strong sense of distance, for example, Wang Hong told him not to be formal, but he still grovels without any appreciation.

Dr. Yip is not a person who has committed a felony and needs to be repaid by being a slave. On the contrary, when there were no idle people around him, his father often admonished him as an ordinary father when teaching the family: You must respect Ye Zhengming, and you can't forget the kindness of the Ye family to the Wang family.

Wang Hong didn't know what the Ye family's kindness to the Wang family was, but he conscientiously did what his father warned him to "respect Ye Zhengming", but today when he saw Ye Zhengming, who was almost crazy, he suddenly realized: What Ye Zhengming really wants is probably not the word "respect".

What he wants is something substantial.

And Wang Hong faintly felt that this was by no means the substance of reputation, and it had nothing to do with official rank.

If Ye Zhengming wants to be an official, there is no "fat difference" in the court and a good income, with his father's attention and gratitude to the Ye family, if Ye Zhengming wants to make some conditions, as long as he doesn't play too much, what his father wants to promise him, I'm afraid it won't be so difficult.

But Ye Zhengming actually didn't even want to continue to be the position of the royal medical officer.

In order to leave Kyoto, he did not hesitate to "sharpen his knife" with the prince he had taken care of for many years. It's just to achieve the goal of angering the emperor. If you get a reprimand, this is of course the quickest way to leave Kyoto.

But when he did this kind of thing, it seemed that some of his behavior was too improper. You know, if today's incident goes out, maybe he can really leave Kyoto because of this, but before leaving, I'm afraid he will need to go to the cell to "live" for a few days.

He also has a very beloved daughter, who is only eight years old, and needs to be taken care of, how can he risk all this despite this?

What the hell is going on. Almost driving him crazy?

Summing up what Ye Zhengming said in the chariot just now, it seems that he can't do one thing he wants to do. It's not within the reach of a prince, but he can't let go of this matter, and he can't wait any longer.

So, what if the emperor made a move?

No, look at Ye Zhengming's secrecy on this matter. It is almost to the extreme, and even he, a person who has been in close contact with him for so many years, only learned about it when his love was out of control today.

I'm afraid he kept this matter from the emperor!

What no one knows about, and which seems to be something that only the supreme in power can do, but who do not use it to ask for help from those who are in sight and who are likely to be willing to contribute to it. This...... Thinking of this, the second prince Wang Hong couldn't help but ponder it on the secrets of the court.

If things are involved at this level, it seems that it is a little difficult to deal with them on the surface. It's best to keep it in your heart for the time being! Perhaps, when the conditions are right, the problem will be solved without disturbing the people who should not be involved in the matter.

Wang Hong glanced at Wang Zhe, who was sitting opposite, very close to him, with a faint smile on his face at this time. He hesitated.

The third brother is outside the palace all the year round and lives a traveling life. The character is well trained, and the people next to him, in general, are relatively gentle. But sometimes if the third brother is irritable and has a temperament, it is difficult to control his feelings. If this thing had been broken and had fallen on his head, he might have lost his heart.

Even though Ye Zhengming's words just now were extremely disrespectful, Wang Hong did not hold a grudge against him because of this incident.

He is still grateful to Ye Zhengming.

Whether it is the father's common words, the kindness of the Ye family's ancestors to the Wang family, the accumulation of shade for Ye Zhengming, or Ye Zhengming's careful care for him over the years, the warm kindness that he has accumulated is heavy enough.

In addition, Ye Zhengming's words today also made Wang Hong have a new thinking about the Ye family. And at the moment, he doesn't want to reveal the slightest bit of his thoughts about this and alarm anyone.

However, the younger brother seemed to just casually question, which made Wang Hong suddenly feel that he was perfunctory with his younger brother's lies, and he was a little reluctant to weave it.

After a little muttering, he had to add: "If you want to count it, Liao Shi is still half of Ye Zhengming's master, and it is not surprising that he will be annoyed if I belittle his master." ”

couldn't think of anything else, so he could only pull in Dali, who was loyal to his teacher and valued righteousness.

In a country where spiritual construction attaches great importance to "benevolence, filial piety, and courtesy", perhaps false benevolence, foolish filial piety, and deviant manners can still gain a certain amount of honor and respect, but any behavior that violates these three spiritual laws will be condemned without reason.

When Wang Zhe heard this, he was really stunned.

But he quickly smiled lightly and said: "This statement of yours may be feasible if it is applied to others, but it is very far-fetched to be placed on Liao Shi and Ye Zhengming. As far as I know, Liao Shi has not yet confiscated his disciples, and he has also driven out the few people who want to worship him because they revere him. As a result, his reputation never showed the slightest sign of improving. ”

After a slight pause, Wang Zhe then added: "Besides, what evil words can come out of your mouth?" Even if you have a little accusation against Liao Shi in your words, will Ye Zhengming be such a weak-eared person? ”

Wang Hong shook his head and said lightly: "But Ye Zhengming gave up business to study medicine, and he always relied on Liao Shi's help to guide the way to the entrance, such an encounter and affection, even if it only lasts a few days, it is enough for a person to remember for a lifetime......

Wang Hong's original intention when he said this was to cover up what had just happened in the car in front of his younger brother, but as soon as his words came to this, he couldn't help but doubt it again.

But the question he questioned this time was not because he felt that the false he made up was too loophole, but because a new idea suddenly popped up in his mind. After thinking about it, I also felt strange. Unconsciously his views converge with those of his younger brother.

Ye Zhengming mentioned Liao Shi in front of him, must it be because he had a depression related to Liao Shi?

My brother's words, in a certain way, are still very accurate.

Although Ye Zhengming and Liao Shi have been friends for a long time, they have only met for the first time, and they have a close relationship. However, the intersection of the two of them, which are similar to master and apprentice, but the specific relationship is not clear, only lasted for about a year, and then the connection between the two was very sparse.

Concubine De had a miscarriage in her early years, and there was no movement in her womb after that. The Taiyi Bureau used many methods, but it didn't work, so she tried to find Liao Shi through the relationship between Guò Ye Zhengming. I want to find a way from this master of medicine.

However, because this is always a matter that will affect the face, the actions taken by Concubine De in this matter are very secretive, and she did not alarm the emperor's side, so she could not get the information that Lin Shan's side could provide—no one knows, in the world now. Only Lin Shan can find Liao Shi, but because of face problems, Concubine De is cocooning herself.

It wasn't until Concubine De returned disappointed several times that she knew and believed that the relationship between Ye Zhengming and Liao Shi might not be as close as the few people who knew about the matter said.

Ye Zhengming is a full-time physician who assists the second prince in his recuperation, and the two are very close. Therefore, Concubine De asked him to find the traces of Liao Shi for several years, and finally did not hide it from the eyes and ears of the second prince.

The second prince, Wang Hong, understands Concubine De's difficulties.

She was his stepmother. Since he was a child, he has been cared for by her, he has no intention of publicizing this matter, and silently cooperates with him to keep it secret, and even pays attention to Liao Shi's news.

At first, Wang Hong also thought about his own strength. If he can, he can help, but then he learned about it. Because he knew it more thoroughly than he had at first, his attitude changed because of this, and he put the matter on hold for the time being.

But he will not completely forget the various details of this matter, and now, because of Ye Zhengming's "depression that is difficult to dispel", he naturally turned over the information stored in his mind.

Liao Shi doesn't care about fame and fortune, except for refining medicine, he has no other hobbies. And because of the supreme medicine he possessed, he casually started to treat a rich man, and the money he mixed was enough for him to spend a year. He doesn't have to work every day to make a living, so he has little trace all the year round, rarely appears in crowded places, and almost does not interact with people, and lives in the world.

Such a person would make a friend who is not close to him, because of what is so depressed that he growls and loses his manners?

Counting, in the scope of his own understanding, the biggest grievance Liao Shi suffered in his life was more than ten years ago, when he was wrongfully imprisoned in the prison for several years. But if you have to find someone to be responsible for this matter, it should be Yan Guang, who was the introducer at that time and invited him to enter the palace to treat the former queen mother.

In fact, after this incident, Liao Shi did not have much contact with Yan Guang anymore. Back then, the two of them jumped out of the boundaries of officialdom, and their personal relationships in the medical world seemed to have been destroyed a lot by this disaster, otherwise Concubine De would not have decisively given up Yan Guang's network route since the beginning in the matter of finding Liao Shi.

……

Thinking about this matter in his mind, he came to a swamp of all kinds of entanglements, which made the topic of conversation between Wang Hong and his younger brother at the beginning disconnected from the follow-up without warning.

It wasn't until he heard his brother call a few times that he came back to his senses.

"Second brother, second brother, what are you pondering? Still worrying about Uncle Ye? ”

Wang Hong retracted his attention a little, raised his eyes, and saw his younger brother Wang Zhe's eyes full of concern, looked at him and said: "Don't think about it anymore, and don't say that I don't believe you will do anything to anger him, I am a little suspicious, what did he say to make you angry." But no matter what, don't be angry with yourself, it's impossible for our Wang family and the Ye family to hold grudges. This is the only special treatment for our royal family. ”

Wang Hong's eyes moved, and he suddenly said, "Foreigner? Have you forgotten that the Ye family still has a Ye Ziqing? ”

Ye Ziqing has a special status in Wang Hong's heart, and when he was a child, he experienced a trace of maternal care in the garden where she lived. After many years, Wang Hong originally thought that this special feeling had been precipitated in his heart, although he would not forget it, but it would not be so easy to be excited and impetuous just because he mentioned her in a sentence.

But at this time, when he heard his younger brother say the word "foreigner", he didn't know what was wrong, and he didn't agree with it from the bottom of his heart, and he was eager to refute it.

Not to mention. This excitement is not all due to his personal feelings. Ye Ziqing is justified and has complete etiquette, and was canonized as a virtuous concubine, so she also belongs to the stepmother of all imperial heirs. Although in order to do the canonization, the officials of the Ministry of Rites made some written embellishments on her life experience, but she is a member of the Ye family after all, which is a fact that cannot be erased.

In this way, Ye Zhengming also belongs to the emperor's relatives, how can he be named a "foreign family"?

……

In Wang Hong's mind, the impression of Ye Ziqing was still fixed ten years ago.

The young woman with a slight bulge in her lower abdomen always likes to walk slowly around in that quiet garden. Occasionally, he would stop in front of the wild apricot tree in the corner of the courtyard, raise his hand and hold an apricot branch that was only bare and gray in winter, and stare at the slight protrusion of the branch. There is anticipation in his eyes, as if he sees the bright branches in the beginning of spring.

Living in Bessoen, she cares a lot about food, and although she doesn't eat much at every meal, she must have a lot of variety. He was blessed for a few months. And in addition to that, during pregnancy she was. There are very few habits that are common to other pregnant women.

……

The time when Ye Ziqing was canonized as a virtuous concubine is very close to the time when Xiao Wanting was canonized as a concubine, and both of them have also had the experience of taking care of Wang Hong for a period of time. But ten years ago, Wang Hong had vaguely ranked these two people in a priority position in his heart.

Although Concubine Xian later could not continue to take care of Wang Hong because she had to give birth. moved him to Concubine De, but during the days when Concubine De's Xiaohuai Palace lived, Wang Hong often missed Concubine Xian. I just don't know what accident happened later. Her people said no, it was gone.

At that time, Wang Hong was only about four or five years old, and he had no other feelings except for being sad for a while.

However, he lived in Concubine Xian's annex for about half a year, and nearly ten years passed after that. It's unforgettable.

Even in the next few years, Concubine De never stopped taking care of him. But the dependence he had on Concubine Xian when he was a child was not something that Concubine De could dilute and replace by accumulating time.

What's more, he is no longer the child he was back then.

Although he was physically weak since childhood, it did not weaken his mental power. In recent years, from inadvertently hearing about it to intentionally inquiring, the information he has been able to grasp about the sudden death of Concubine Ye Ziqing is not all that happened back then, but the tip of the iceberg has seen the strange atmosphere of unsolved mysteries.

Among the fragments of information, there is a key element that surprised Wang Hong the most, and he couldn't skip this matter in his heart: the daughter born to Concubine Xian is still alive.

This is his sister.

When Concubine Xian was pregnant, she had contact with the imperial doctor, palace maid, and midwife...... can always let Wang Hong find one or two old people.

Judging from the time, Concubine Xian's daughter is the baby that Mr. Lin took out of the palace ten years ago. At first glance, there seemed to be some obscure and unspeakable problems, but Wang Hong was lucky enough to find a personal servant with Concubine Xian when she was not out of the pavilion, so he knew that Mr. Lin took Concubine Xian's daughter out of the palace back then, and it was not because of reluctance.

Concubine Xian gave birth, but the ending was that two of the three lives of one corpse had been lost, and after several imperial doctors consulted, a terrible truth was obtained.

In the context of the crisis where the real culprit is unknown, but the means of murder are extremely intriguing, the father does not want to take the daughter left by the concubine in exchange for his life to take risks, and after discussing with Mr. Lin, he made him leave Kyoto with the baby girl, and sent people to chase and kill him all the way, causing him to fake his death.

And the root cause of the ultimate disaster, in the palace that is heavily guarded, but the internal hearts are inevitably complicated, who will be the real culprit who can use slow poison to eclipse the constitution of the virtuous concubine?

Wang Hong has a hobby of reading, because he has never expected the matter of establishing a prince to fall on him, so most of his reading is biased towards the government. And the emperor saw that he was weak, and did not give him too heavy a study task. This allowed him to have a relatively free reading space and obtain some fragmentary records of the secrets of the court of the previous dynasty.

The cause is jealousy, and the fruit falls to killing, which is really a palace killing!

It's just two simple words, with an incomparably empty reason, one thought to kill a person.

Wang Hong couldn't believe that if a woman's jealousy continued, it could eventually form such a terrible sin.

However, this situation does not seem to have happened in this dynasty.

Wang Hong once tried to think that maybe because of his father's background, he was not born with a royal identity, so he didn't have so many concubines who married with interests and shared beds and dreams, plus the abnormal unity within the Wang family, his father had true feelings for the six women he owned who officially married into the door. The rain and dew were evenly wet, and these women were also very harmonious with each other.

But is that really the case?

In some records of the previous dynasty, about the palace killing, but it was bloody in more than one place.

As a son of man, how much can he really know about his father's affairs?

Regardless of the qiē factor, just talk about the "palace killing", the target is the virtuous concubine who is pregnant and waiting to give birth, in that year. Who is the most likely murderer to be hostile to her and to commit murder?

A few years ago, when the second prince Wang Hong came into contact with the servant of the Ye family, he knew these information. Before Concubine Xian was entitled, several concubines who were enshrined one after another are now mostly gone. Wang Hong could only recall their former images from memory, but he couldn't find any doubts.

At that time, Concubine Xian lived in another garden, and she had less contact with other concubines. When he was a child, Wang Hong often went to that courtyard, and he was still deeply impressed by this.

And the key cause of Concubine Xian's death was that she was slow to poison her body without knowing it. But in those days, Wang Hong often ate with her, and did not mention slow poison. Even if he has a slight symptom of wind and cold, he will summon several imperial doctors for diagnosis and treatment, why didn't the imperial doctor notice it at all?

This can only illustrate one point. Concubine Xian was harmed only after she left the garden in the last few months of childbirth.

What a cunning murderer!

In the huge palace, there were actually not a few concubines, and Wang Hong quickly looked away from this angle. Go to another area.

After the father carried out a special "cleaning" work on the harem, the palace people left behind in the previous dynasty. Most of them were sent home and allowed to rent land for farming. But not all the dismissed palace people are willing to go home to farm, and some palace people who have become accustomed to palace life have been operating for many years without telling their masters, and have established their own small privileges in the deep palace, and going home is equivalent to nothing.

In such a group, there may be people who are dissatisfied with the severance order and have a bad heart to harm the Lord.

Most of the people in this group have been in the palace for a long time, and if they want to play a set of palace killing techniques, their distorted wisdom dares to make the audience smack their tongues.

Father may also be thinking about this problem, in order to protect his family who has no experience in living in the deep palace, he took this action, and most of the people who were "cleaned" and dismissed from the palace were such experienced old slippers in the palace, but it was inevitable that they still had people in the palace and borrowed the hands of others to retaliate.

Originally, the second prince Wang Hong's suspicion perspective would have turned around, but after repeatedly pondering what the old servant of the Ye family had said, a time-related memory fragment suddenly flashed in his mind, making him turn his gaze back to the original direction of suspicion.

He didn't want to put the object of suspicion on his stepmother, Concubine De, who had taken care of him for many years, but no one could clear his memory, so no one could stop him from pondering in that direction.

I still remember that year, after leaving Concubine Xian's garden, he immediately lived in Concubine De's Xiaohuai Palace, which also gave him the privilege of observing Concubine Xian's "close" contact with her during the two months when Concubine Xian gave birth.

Originally, this memory fragment could only make Wang Hong start to pay attention to Concubine De, and in addition, there would be no more in-depth investigation for the time being, but after paying attention to it for a long time, it really made him see heresy. The heresy he had seen with his own eyes had made the doubts that had been in his heart for several years swell several times in an instant.

About half a month ago, that is, shortly before Mr. Lin was killed, there was a sudden change in the Xiaohuai Palace in the middle of the night. Although Wang Hong is still not sure whether the people in Xiaohuai Palace are directly related to Mr. Lin's accident, it can at least prove that Concubine De has a group of masters under her hands, and these people also have a relatively fast path to enter and exit the palace.

In addition, the number of times Concubine De personally went out of the palace increased significantly during that time.

The dynasty changed flags, and the new monarch made some changes to the laws and regulations used in the previous dynasty. In addition, in order to take care of his family members who have no experience in court life, the current emperor has changed some court regulations, and concubines or imperial heirs are allowed to occasionally go out of the palace to relax.

Even the people of Kyoto have some understanding of this, and they also express their understanding.

But this kind of micro-service out of the palace needs to be accompanied by some internal guards, but Concubine De's frequent micro-clothes out of the palace some time ago did not alarm the emperor's side or alarm a palace person. In addition to keeping her actions extremely secretive, she also made a "puppet" to stay in Xiaohuai Palace instead of her, pretending to be sick and lying in bed to hide people's eyes.

What is there outside the palace that needs her to be so sneaky?

And the group of people she raised, acting, the path is familiar with the road, and the secrecy work is also very skillful, it seems that it is definitely not a temporary find someone from the outside to make up, I am afraid that she started to give this qiē a few years ago.

Even if it can't be confirmed that she started doing this ten years ago, it can at least show that she is not a simple-minded woman.

It is not an exaggeration to live in a palace with many hearts and minds, but if someone uses these extra hearts and eyes to do evil things......

If you want to mention the word vicious, a figure suddenly floated into Wang Hong's mind, it was Liao Shi, who had the notoriety of medicine ghosts that Ye Zhengming had just mentioned in front of him just now.

Because it was Prime Minister Shi Jing who led a group of civil officials to control the City Defense Department in advance, it was regarded as an internal response to the Wang family, and when his grandfather and father led the Wang family army into Beijing, many things in Beijing were still in a normal state, and there was no big riot.

Liao Shi was also still squatting in the prison, but fortunately avoided the burial of the former Emperor Ling before the death of the country.

After entering Beijing, my grandfather was unable to familiarize himself with the humid climate of the seaside capital because of too many old and new injuries accumulated over the years, and he suddenly fell seriously ill and passed away not long after.

His father inherited his grandfather's will and ascended the throne as the emperor, but because of this, he was entangled in a lot of affairs and shelved Liao Shi's affairs, which indirectly caused him to continue to "live" in the prison for more than half a year before he was released.

The reason for Liao Shi's notoriety is because, it is rumored that more than ten years ago, he was invited to the palace to administer medicine to the former empress dowager and achieved good treatment results, and immediately killed her with his backhand. The so-called curing the sick and saving people, for him, is just to make a living person a reality.

His behavior, the former is really a heinous crime for the people of the Southern Zhou Dynasty who take filial piety as the spiritual core. In addition, although there is no ironclad evidence for the act of using living people as real people, as soon as such words came out, it still gilded his image with a black shadow similar to destroying miè's human nature.

So will the medicine made by him also be contaminated with this smell?

Vicious intentions, coupled with vicious medication, these two design conditions allowed Wang Hong to connect Concubine De and Liao Shi.

If we deduce it carefully, the two conditions of time and place, embodied in these two people, can also have zài overlapping points.

……

As his thoughts peeled back and forth, he seemed to be getting closer to the truth step by step, but his mental state became a little unstable.

Gradually, the second prince Wang Hong's eyes showed a look of struggle. He crossed his arms over his chest, hugged his shoulders, and hugged him tighter and tighter, and a chill filled his heart.

Before, Ye Zhengming took the potion he got from Liao Shi, and the two hot fires that he pushed out on his chest and back seemed to be destroyed by this cold oozing from the depths of his heart, and gradually became cold.

It wasn't until he heard his brother's call that Wang Hong came back to his senses, and then he felt a slight warmth on his back, and his younger brother Wang Zhe took off his robe and draped it on him.