"Your Majesty, do not panic. His inability to leave the capital is merely superficial. Besides, now is not an opportune time for him to leave the capital anyway."
Ji Youze quickly replied. He had already conceived several plans, but he just hadn’t found the most perfect one yet.
Upon hearing this, the young Emperor looked at him, pleasantly surprised.
"Youze, what brilliant strategy do you have? Tell me quickly."
Ji Youze shook his head. "I’m still thinking!"
But Ji Youzhi said, "In this capital, our biggest concern is that Mr. Wu. As long as I can find him and clearly investigate the issue with Xie Pan’Er’s and Xie Yingying’s birth horoscopes, then create the illusion that I’ve remained in the capital all along, leaving secretly won’t be a problem."
Hearing Ji Youzhi’s words, Ji Youze’s eyes lit up, and he pressed, "Can you find that Mr. Wu in a short amount of time?"
Ji Youzhi chuckled. "If it were before yesterday, I wouldn’t have had any confidence. However, after investigating the disappearance of the fabric yesterday, I’ve thought of a way."
"What way?" the young Emperor and Ji Youze asked in unison.
Ji Youzhi gave a mysterious smile. "I’ll keep it a secret for now. I need to try it out to know for sure."
As they were speaking, the young eunuch who had gone to summon the Imperial Physicians returned.
The Imperial Physicians from the Imperial Medical Bureau all dropped to their knees.
Ji Youzhi and Ji Youze silently withdrew.
The young Emperor left them with a stern warning: "If Princess Ata dies in my Imperial Palace, none of you should expect to live." Then, he too followed them out.
"Your Majesty! The National Master is here."
Outside the Side Palace of the Imperial Study, Eunuch Ling and the National Master had already appeared at the entrance.
"National Master, accompany Us to the Imperial Study to talk. You two, if you have matters to attend to, go ahead and see to them!"
Ji Youze cupped his hands. "I will go to the secret chamber!"
Ji Youzhi said, "This subject will go to Cining Palace to fetch Suisui!"
The young Emperor said, "Youze, you may go first. Youzhi, wait for Us; We will go with you."
Ji Youzhi responded, "Yes," and waited outside.
The National Master and the young Emperor spoke for a while, and soon they emerged with solemn expressions.
"Let’s go!" The young Emperor called to Ji Youzhi, and they proceeded to Cining Palace.
The National Master stood in the corridor, gazing up at the sky. His master’s words from before he descended the mountain echoed in his mind:
"The new dynasty has just been established, and its national fortune is unstable. However, as long as the National Master lineage protects the Dragon Vein from those with malicious intent, the Great Han will enjoy at least three hundred years of prosperity. But if the Emperor Star wavers and signs of national decline appear—such as incessant military conflicts and natural calamities—it must mean that a heaven-defying entity is attempting to usurp the national fortune!"
He must immediately send word to his sect; surely, the sect would devise a way to deal with this!
The National Master took a deep breath and muttered to himself, "Master, this speculation about the Great Witch of Nanjiang having survived for several millennia... that truly would be an incredible, heaven-defying existence!"
With that thought, he left the Imperial Palace and returned to the National Master’s Mansion.
「Inside Cining Palace.」
When the young Emperor and Ji Youzhi arrived, they initially thought they had come to the wrong place.
Every eunuch and palace maid wore a flower on their head. The large, golden-yellow Golden Chrysanthemums were strikingly garish, no matter how one looked at them!
"Your Majesty! We... we must have come to the wrong place, right?"
Ji Youzhi and the young Emperor retreated several steps in unison, looking up at the Cining Palace plaque.
"No, it’s correct! The words ’Cining Palace’ are written right there, large as life!" said the young Emperor.
Ji Youzhi pointed to the eunuchs and palace maids adorned with the large Golden Chrysanthemums. "Since when did the Empress Dowager develop such... aesthetic tastes?"
Hearing this, the corners of the young Emperor’s mouth couldn’t help but twitch.
Eunuch Ling also took a good while to react. In fact, he didn’t even remember to announce "His Majesty has arrived!" until after the young Emperor had already walked into the Main Hall of Cining Palace.
However, as they stepped into the Main Hall of Cining Palace, an even bigger surprise awaited them!