Just as Mu Yanming and Mo Qinghuan had just lifted the curtain of the carriage upon returning to the prince's mansion and hadn't stepped out yet,
a figure rushed up to Bai Ke.
He whispered something in Bai Ke's ear. Only to see Bai Ke's face quickly turn solemn.
Bai Ke waved his hand, signaling the man to retreat.
Then he stepped forward to assist Mu Yanming.
Mo Qinghuan heard Bai Ke whispering in Mu Yanming's ear.
"Go to the study."
Then he looked at Mo Qinghuan. "You go back to the Yangyang Hall first. I have important matters to attend to."
She nodded and went back to the Yangyang Hall alone.
In the Jingting Courtyard,
Mu Yanming was sitting in front of the desk, and a man in black tight - fitting clothes was kneeling below.
"Your Highness, after Zuo Fei left the capital, he headed north all the way. He met Lan Yiming on the border the night before last and then started to return to the capital."
Mu Yanming's fingers gently tapped on the table, one by one.
After the secret guard finished speaking and saw that Mu Yanming didn't say a word, he secretly glanced at Mu Yanming from the corner of his eye.
After a long while, Mu Yanming finally spoke. "What about Lan Yiming?"
"Your Highness, he has been under our surveillance."
Only then did he look up at the secret guard. "Keep an eye on him for now. We must find out the reason why he risked his life to escape and then came back regardless of the danger."
"Yes, Your subordinate takes his leave." The secret guard bowed and then retreated.
After the secret guard left, Bai Ke stepped forward. "Your Highness, what about Zuo Fei?"
He smiled faintly. "Don't worry about him. He can't stir up much trouble." He stood up and walked to the window, his eyes looking into the distance.
"Recall A Qi. He doesn't need to keep an eye on the Rui Prince's Mansion anymore. Send him to investigate the matter of Shui Tian Yi Se."
Hearing this, a worried look appeared on Bai Ke's face. "But A Jiu..."
"A Jiu also needs to be trained. We can't always assign someone to accompany him on every mission."
Bai Ke lowered his head and weakly said "Yes", then also retreated.
He set off towards the Yangyang Hall.
At this moment, in the prison, Yang Suxin was arguing with the jailer.
"Let me in!"
"Miss, there are orders from above. Please go back."
She was holding Mu Yanming's jade token in her hand and wasn't afraid of anyone at this moment. "Look clearly. This is the jade token of the regent. Do you know what will happen if you offend the regent?"
The jailer straightened his back and looked upright. "No jade token will work. The emperor has specifically issued an order that no one is allowed to visit Prince Cheng. Miss, please stop making a fuss here."
Yang Suxin bit her lips tightly, looking extremely dissatisfied but helpless.
Even though she was holding Mu Yanming's jade token, the other side was citing the emperor. She couldn't use Mu Yanming's jade token to go against the emperor, could she?
Wouldn't that be harming him?
She turned around and was about to leave when she suddenly caught a glimpse of a bright yellow robe. She slowly looked up from the bottom.
Just when her eyes moved to the waist area, the golden dragon pattern embroidered on the chest scared her so much that she immediately knelt on the ground. She tightly held the jade token in her sleeve, afraid that the person in front of her would see it.
"My humble self, Yang Suxin, pays respects to the emperor."
Mu Linyi glanced sideways at the trembling woman kneeling in front of him and coldly said, "Get up."
Yang Suxin stood up tremblingly, with her head down, not daring to even breathe loudly.
"Which noble family's daughter are you? What are you doing at the prison gate?"
Shu Dezong, standing behind the emperor, waved his whisk and asked in a shrill voice.
She cleared her throat and said, "Your Majesty, I am Yang Suxin, the legitimate daughter of the Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. I came to the prison this time because... because..."
She stammered for a long time but finally didn't dare to say her real purpose. Otherwise, since she was unmarried and the prince was unmarried too, but she was thinking about the high - ranking Prince Cheng, it would inevitably attract criticism.
Thinking of this, she knelt on the ground with a thud. "My humble self is guilty. I was just curious about the prison, so I came to take a look."
Mu Linyi just said indifferently, "The prison is a serious place. It's not for casual viewing. Don't come again. Go."
"Yes, my humble self will remember the emperor's teachings." Then she got up and ran away.
Mu Linyi looked back at her back and coldly asked, "What was she here for?"
The jailer respectfully told the emperor that she had wanted to go in to see Mu Yefeng with Mu Yanming's jade token.
The emperor turned around again and looked in the direction where the woman had left. "She came to see Feng'er... Shu Dezong, who did she say she was the daughter of just now?"
Shu Dezong bowed. "Your Majesty, she is the daughter of Yang Yi, the Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices."
"The Court of Imperial Sacrifices... Although she is a legitimate daughter, her status is still a bit low if she is to be matched with a prince. It would be okay for her to be a side concubine. What do you think?"
He looked at Shu Dezong as if asking for his opinion.
"Your Majesty is right."
The group walked into the prison. When the guards at the door saw the emperor coming in person, before the emperor could say a word, they stepped forward and opened the cell door.
Mu Yefeng heard the noise, turned around, saw the emperor, and stood up to pay his respects.
"Your son pays respects to Father Emperor."
The emperor looked extremely distressed, but he couldn't show it too obviously.
"Tell me about yourself. I issued an imperial edict that you should be confined to the Prince Cheng's Mansion during the regent's investigation. But you just had to come and suffer this."
Mu Yefeng smiled faintly and folded the Buddhist beads in his hand into two loops and put them on his wrist.
The emperor's eyes fell on the Buddhist beads. This was a string of Buddhist beads that Mu Yefeng's mother - concubine had liked the most when she was alive.
When Mu Yefeng left the capital that year, he gave the Buddhist beads to him. Now Mu Yefeng took them wherever he went.
"Father Emperor, the prison is cold. Father Emperor, please go back."
Mu Linyi let out a long sigh and turned around to walk out of the prison.
He looked at the emperor's back. All the docility and respect were gone, replaced by a cold and cruel look in his eyes.
After Mu Linyi returned to the palace, he sent someone to the Regent's Mansion to inquire about the progress of the matter.
"The emperor is being too impatient. It's only been half a day."
The eunuch who came to inquire saw Mu Yanming's sarcastic look and didn't dare to ask any more questions. He just lowered his body and said, "In that case, this little one will go back to the palace and report to the emperor."
Mu Yanming snorted at the back of the little eunuch and set off towards the Yangyang Hall.
Mo Qinghuan was mixing medicine. When she saw Mu Yanming come in, she put down the medicine bottle in her hand.
"The queen just sent someone to invite me. I have to go to the palace."
Mu Yanming hugged her from behind and rested his chin on her shoulder.
There was a hint of dissatisfaction in his tone. "This is outrageous. My princess is not someone they can summon and dismiss at will."
She turned her head sideways, with the intention of joking with him. "Then what do you think we should do?"
Mu Yanming looked at her seriously. "Tell me. What do you want me to do?"
At this moment, she suddenly felt that with his serious look, if she really said something, maybe he would really do it regardless of the consequences.