After a brief rest, Lin Yi got up early.
Just as he was about to have his meal, palace maids and eunuchs were quietly discussing the Emperor’s majestic presence yesterday.
The complexions of the concubines in the harem were visibly better this morning, and those were not something that could be faked with makeup.
Looking at the civil and military officials, knowing the reason why the Emperor skipped the morning court, they all agreed.
But the Fourth Prince and Sixth Prince couldn’t be happy.
If the young Emperor really was to have descendants, it would not be good news for them.
While the young Emperor was sound asleep, Ying Yi brought a map to Lin Yi.
"Sir, this is a map of the Du Tong’s residence, please have a look."
It was drawn by Ying Yi who disguised as a servant and sneaked into the Du Tong’s residence.
According to Ying Yi’s briefing, the luxury of the Du Tong’s residence was comparable to the Prince Mansion, and it was highly guarded.
Lin Yi stared intently at the map and found a secret channel running through.
In future dynasties, post houses were commonly recognized for passing information, while secret channels were not widely known.
On the map, Ying Yi marked where the secret channel entered and exited the Du Tong’s residence.
"Just get this secret channel checked out."
Ying Yi was confused.
"Sir, aren’t we going to check those out?"
Lin Yi smiled deeply.
"You’ve seen for yourself how strictly guarded it is inside. Continuing to probe could easily expose us, startling the snake in the grass. But this secret channel seems a good lead."
Clearly, Ying Yi didn’t understand Lin Yi’s intentions.
But seeing Lin Yi’s confident demeanor, she was convinced that Lin Yi had a better plan.
After Ying Yi left, Lin Yi activated 20 eavesdroppers.
To avoid disturbing the young Emperor’s rest, Lin Yi turned the volume to the lowest.
After he finished listening, he found that the Sixth Prince’s voice was absent, Zheng Tong decided to mend his ways and break off relations with the Fourth Prince.
Besides greeting Huang Jian, Su Rui had almost no verbal interaction.
As for the other officials, apart from some grumbling behind the Emperor or the Princes, there was hardly any useful information.
Lin Yi was slightly disappointed; the eavesdroppers did not achieve the expected results.
He then checked the surveillance footage and found that the secret transmission of the Wordless Heavenly Scripture and the Yin Yang Ledger had been canceled.
"Were we discovered?"
There was an invisible net in the palace secretly watching the young Emperor. Lin Yi pondered carefully and decided to slow down.
Having missed the morning court for two consecutive days and not seeing the Sixth Prince, Lin Yi missed him so he obtained an insignificant Holy Decree from the young Emperor.
When the Sixth Prince saw Lin Yi bearing the Holy Decree, he had to respectfully go out and receive the decree.
"Sixth Prince, why do I not see the Fu Lu Shou Jade Pendant bestowed by Your Majesty?"
The cunning Sixth Prince then clearly understood Lin Yi’s real purpose for this visit.
’Heh, so delivering the Holy Decree was just a pretext, the real intention was to ask about the jade pendant.’
"Sir Lin, please come inside with me. The Fu Lu Shou Jade Pendant is inside."
On the way, the luxurious and noble aura of the Sixth Prince Mansion hit Lin Yi, making him truly feel "the Prime Minister’s household being well-fed while the world starves."
Soon, Lin Yi was brought into the grand hall of the Sixth Prince Mansion.
He saw the Fu Lu Shou Jade Pendant was placed in an exquisitely sealed box, securely set upon a glazed Pixiu.
It was known that the Sixth Prince had spent a considerable amount of silver to acquire this glazed Pixiu.
Now that the Sixth Prince placed the Fu Lu Shou Jade Pendant on the Qilin Pixiu, it showed how highly he valued this jade pendant in his heart.
"Sir Lin, look, I have placed the Fu Lu Shou Jade Pendant here."
Lin Yi smiled awkwardly, seeing how sensible the Sixth Prince already was, he couldn’t blame him for his loyalty, even if it meant picking faults like finding bones in an egg.
"Still, the Sixth Prince is wise. If Your Majesty sees how much the Sixth Prince cherishes this jade pendant, he will surely be very gratified."
Having been around cunning people for so long, Lin Yi too learned to speak with a facade.
’I’m really fed up with you two princes, one venerating a toilet at home, the other venerating eavesdroppers, indeed birds of a feather flock together.’
Seeing that installing the eavesdropper at the Sixth Prince’s place failed, Lin Yi had to think of another way.
In the Imperial Study Room, the well-rested young Emperor was recording information transmitted by the eavesdroppers on paper.
Being so engrossed, he didn’t notice Lin Yi had already stood behind him.
This very scene reminded Lin Yi of a conference recorder available at the Nine-Eyed Mall.
[Drip, drip, drip, Host has successfully purchased the conference recorder. The item has been delivered beneath the desk in the Imperial Study Room.]
When Lin Yi reported the presence of the conference recorder, the young Emperor finally snapped out of his daze.
"Your prodigal son, you still know how to come back. Do you know that the old eunuch sneaked out of the Imperial Palace last night?"
"Out of the Imperial Palace?"
Lin Yi looked incredulous. According to the rules, the old eunuch usually couldn’t leave the palace, except if it’s arranged by the master or if he was one of the purchasing eunuchs.
"How did that old thing get out of the palace?"
Lin Yi stared at the surveillance footage of the old eunuch, wishing he could pull the eunuch out from the screen and beat him violently.
"You might not believe this, but the old eunuch switched identities with Xiao Fuzi from the Rituals Office, blending in with the purchasing team to leave."
Lin Yi had seen Xiao Fuzi, who had a burn on his face, usually covered by half a piece of black cloth. Short and thin, reclusive and uncomplaining, Xiao Fuzi was like an invisible person in the Rituals Office.
And the old eunuch was obviously taller than Xiao Fuzi by a head, generally stout.
"Switching identities, with such an obvious difference, did no one notice it?"
Facing Lin Yi’s confusion, the young Emperor’s answer sent a chill down Lin Yi’s back.
"The old eunuch knows the Bone Shrinking Skill, so he shrank his bones to match Xiao Fuzi’s figure and then wore a piece of gauze. No one would suspect Xiao Fuzi."
The old eunuch was highly cautious, even in his own room, he always kept a candle burning in the corner, keeping the room in a state of semi-brightness.
Thus, in the surveillance video, only the old eunuch’s figure could be seen clearly, not his expression.
Especially when the old eunuch, after compressing his collarbone, and Xiao Fuzi stood together, from behind, it was impossible to tell them apart.
"Good lord, it seems we’ve underestimated him."
Lin Yi had seen the old eunuch’s skills, but had never fully understood his capabilities.
It could even be said that if they really were to confront each other, Lin Yi might not stand a chance.
Next, they need to focus on where the old eunuch went after leaving the palace and who he was going to meet.
"What are you holding in your hand?"
The young Emperor saw the machine in Lin Yi’s hand and knew it had a new use.
After Lin Yi set up the conference recorder, he explained.
"Seeing you use pen and paper is laborious, this conference recorder can automatically convert the eavesdropped content into text."
"We can just look at the text information and filter out the useful stuff."
Hearing that he could free his hands, the young Emperor immediately put down the brush and wrapped his arms around Lin Yi’s neck.
Indeed, it had been a long time since the two of them clung to each other shamelessly.
Ying Yi had been waiting on the rafters for a long time, intending to report, but it seemed he had to wait a bit longer.
A quarter of an hour later, seeing that the two had finally separated a bit, Ying Yi jumped down from the beam.
"Your Majesty, sir, there’s a new discovery."
According to Ying Yi’s investigation, the secret channel in the residence of the Du Tong runs through the moat ten miles away from the Imperial City and downstream to the Yuquan River.
And Yuquan River surrounds Yuquan Mountain.
"Who is guarding the moat?"
"Is there a special small squad of 50 people guarding it?"
Ying Yi’s answer puzzled Lin Yi, who then explained: "This used to be the small squad of the Right Martial Guard of the Fourth Prince. When Command of the Right Martial Guard was transferred to you, Your Majesty, considering that this squad was guarding the moat, nothing was changed."
Hearing this, even a fool would understand that the moat was under the surveillance of the Fourth Prince’s men.
For this, Lin Yi speculated boldly.
"The Fourth Prince provides the convenience of the moat to pass messages, assisting in moving the National Treasury’s reserves. Among those involved are the old eunuch and Huang Jian."
The young Emperor nodded; Lin Yi’s analysis made sense.
"Ying Yi, send some idlers to fish in the moat to intercept secret reports. Of course, you can’t miss the upper stream of the Yuquan River."
"Is there really going to be a secret report?"
Instinctively Lin Yi felt that the design linking the moat to Yuquan River by Du Tong’s residence was ingeniously planned, it definitely wasn’t a coincidence.
Remembering something the young Emperor had mentioned before, that the Fourth Prince and Eighth Prince were born from the same mother, their alliance wasn’t impossible.
Suddenly, Ying Yi seemed to recall something and pulled out a bag of brown powder from his pocket.
"Your Majesty, I had someone secretly investigate it, three former Du Tongs were likely poisoned. This poison’s reaction seems very similar to their current conditions."
The young Emperor looked at the poison, "What poison is this?"
"Gu Poison from the Western Regions."
ps: The fourth update today, ten thousand words are offered! Don’t hold back your tickets, smash them all on Zimu! The little girl thanks you!