Your Majesty, the princess is fleeing famine with her child!

Chapter 379 Prepare

Empress Dowager Cui thought about asking Imperial Physician Zhou for details after returning to Shoukang Palace.

After a while, Eunuch Gao came out and told the princes and princesses to go back.

Seeing that Emperor Jing was still unwilling to see them, the princes and princesses had no choice but to kowtow and greet the emperor in the inner hall behind the curtain before leaving.

Empress Dowager Cui, Concubine Cui and others who knew the inside story were afraid of the severity of smallpox and did not dare to go into the inner hall to investigate in person.

Although they were only observing in the outer hall, with the help of Imperial Physician Zhou and a stake they had planted in the Purple Palace, they had no problem getting first-hand information.

After returning to Shoukang Palace, Empress Dowager Cui dismissed her attendants and left Imperial Physician Zhou to talk.

Concubine Cui and the third prince also came to Shoukang Palace.

Doctor Zhou knelt down and reported respectfully, "Your Majesty has a persistent high fever. Judging from your pulse alone, I am not sure whether you have smallpox."

"And there are no smallpox sores on your face, hands and feet, so I can't open your clothes to look at your body."

"Perhaps it's just a short time and the smallpox sores haven't broken out yet, or the places where they have broken out are covered by clothes."

"However, I have checked the prescriptions and pulse records that Ouyang Yuanzheng wrote for Your Majesty in the Imperial Hospital these past two days, and I found something wrong."

"The apparent diagnosis was wind-cold, and the prescription was for dispelling wind and relieving the symptoms, but the medicine prescribed for Your Majesty included not only the wind-cold drink, but also herbs for treating smallpox."

"It's just that the matter was done secretly. If you don't pay attention, you won't find it easily."

Therefore, Imperial Physician Zhou suspected that His Majesty had actually contracted smallpox, but he strictly ordered that the news should not be leaked.

The imperial doctors who treated His Majesty told others that it was a cold, but in fact they prescribed medicine for smallpox.

Queen Mother Cui asked a few more questions before letting Imperial Physician Zhou leave.

As soon as Doctor Zhou left, the Third Prince couldn't help but jump up from his chair, his eyes filled with unconcealable excitement.

The spy he had planted in the Purple Palace had sent out the message this morning. Combined with the information found out by Imperial Physician Zhou, his 50% certainty suddenly turned into 90%.

"Father must have been infected with smallpox!"

"We are afraid that the news will leak out and cause unrest in the government, so we are keeping it a secret."

"Maybe Father has sent a message to Xiao Jingyi, hoping to delay it until Xiao Jingyi comes back."

When the Third Prince thought that Jing** might be hiding the news and delaying time so that Xiao Jingyi could rush back to succeed the throne, his eyes turned red and he felt hatred and anger in his heart.

He looked up at Empress Dowager Cui and Imperial Concubine Cui, "Grandmother, Mother, it's time to take action!"

"Otherwise, if Xiao Jingyi comes back, all we have done will go to waste."

"If Xiao Jingyi finds out that we did something wrong, I don't need to tell you what will happen to the Cui family, right?"

Concubine Cui clenched the handkerchief in her hand, her eyes flashing with a bit of sharpness, "Aunt, the arrow has been put on the string and has to be shot. We have no choice."

Queen Mother Cui pondered for a moment, and her eyes became firm.

"Let's get ready!"

Concubine Cui and the Third Prince stood up and bowed solemnly. They were about to leave when Queen Mother Cui suddenly called out to them, "Wait!"

The Third Prince and Concubine Cui paused and turned to look at Empress Dowager Cui.

Queen Mother Cui frowned slightly. She had always felt that something was wrong, but she couldn't remember what it was.

Just now, a sudden flash of inspiration came to me, and I suddenly realized that something was wrong.

"Where is Xiao Jingyi's little bastard Xiao Jingmo?"

"I remember that before Xiao Jingyi and Yun Fuling went to Shuozhou, they sent Xiao Jingmo to the palace to be taken care of by the emperor."

"A few days ago, I could see him having fun in the palace from time to time."

"Just now I suddenly remembered that I haven't seen him in the past few days."

After Empress Dowager Cui said this, the Third Prince also realized that something was wrong.

Jing**'s love for Xiao Jingmo is no less than that for Xiao Jingyi.

Since Jing** is ill, Xiao Jingmo should have stayed by his side to take care of him.

But whether it was the last time or this time when he went to the Zichen Palace, he did not see Xiao Jingmo.

Yi Jing's love for Xiao Jingmo was so great that once he knew he had smallpox, he would never let Xiao Jingmo stay by his side to take care of him and infect him with smallpox.

When Jing** fell ill, Xiao Jingmo, as the prince of Prince Yi's Mansion, did not even show up. This was really abnormal.

The only explanation is that Xiao Jingmo is not in the palace at the moment.

It is even possible that he is not even in the capital.

So the question is, where did Xiao Jingmo go?

Although Xiao Jingmo was just a child and posed no threat, the Third Prince felt inexplicably uneasy.

After leaving Shoukang Palace, the third prince immediately sent people to investigate Xiao Jingmo's whereabouts.

When he returned to the palace, the news was delivered back.

"A few days ago, Miss Pingle was going to the hot spring resort in Mount Li to recuperate. When she went to say goodbye to Your Majesty, Prince Yi was there too."

"Prince Yi was in a playful mood, so he insisted on going to the hot spring resort in Mount Li to play."

"Your Majesty originally refused to allow it, but Lady Pingle spoke on behalf of Prince Yi and begged His Majesty to give in."

"So Prince Yi followed Lady Pingle to Mount Li."

The third prince felt much more at ease when he learned where Xiao Jingmo had gone.

He pondered for a moment and ordered, "Take a team to Mount Li and find out whether Xiao Jingmo is really in the manor of Pingle."

"If the person is really there, bring him back to me."

Just as the subordinate was about to agree, the Third Prince suddenly added, emphasizing, "Remember, capture him alive!"

With Xiao Jingmo in hand, it is equivalent to holding Xiao Jingyi's weak spot.

If he captured the capital, and everything was settled, Xiao Jingyi would lead the northern army to the city. He would have Xiao Jingmo as a bargaining chip in his hand. How would Xiao Jingyi dare to act rashly at that time?

In order to save his son, he might even surrender to him.

Xiao Jingyi is the third prince's biggest concern. If he were to gain the throne, he would never tolerate Xiao Jingyi and would definitely have to root him out.

If we have Xiao Jingmo as a bargaining chip in hand, it will be much easier to eradicate the problem completely.

The third prince calculated the distance from the capital to Mount Li and realized that even if he rode at full speed, he might not be able to make it back by tomorrow night.

The time for action that he agreed with Queen Mother Cui, Duke Cheng'en and others would be tomorrow night.

Forget it. After it’s done, I can also catch that brat Xiao Jingmo, which will be the icing on the cake.

The third prince was busy preparing his plan.

The eldest prince was not idle either.

After leaving the Zichen Palace, he went directly to the palace where his biological mother, Concubine Qi, lived.

When Concubine Qi saw her son coming, she was very happy and asked the palace servants to prepare tea and snacks that her son liked.

Seeing Concubine Qi busying around him, the eldest prince felt relieved.

Among all the concubines, Concubine Qi had the lowest birth, and was only given the title of concubine because she gave birth to the eldest prince.