Her guards

Chapter 95 The Marquis of Yichun's Speculation
The night is dark.

Marquis Yichun sat at his desk, his usually composed eyes showing some surprise.

"Ji Ying is missing?" he asked again.

"Yes, father."

Chai Yuan, wearing a cloak and nightgown, had clearly been woken up. He held a lamp in his hand and pointed at the map on the shelf.

"Ji Ying received the letter at this location, and the postmaster there confirmed that Ji Ying left the post station that very night."

"There was no further news from here."

"I don't know if it's because of the heavy snow or because it was deliberately covered up, but there are no traces along the way."

Marquis Yichun stared at the map, his cloudy eyes deep and somber: "No trace is a trace; this is man-made."

"Ji and Ying were eliminated by the local officials who were being investigated?" Chai Yuan said. "These people are too audacious. Do they still think this is a chaotic world where everyone is their own king? This is an attack on His Majesty..."

"This is aimed at us!" Marquis Yichun interrupted him. "Why did this happen right after we received my letter and returned to the capital?"

Chai Yuan was stunned: "Why are they coming at us?"

Marquis Yichun looked at the spot where Ji Ying had disappeared, his gaze following a line he had previously drawn—the line along which Ji Ying had traveled since becoming the inspector.

Finally, his gaze settled on one spot.

Lu County.

Baima Town.

"So it really is related to the matter of White Horse Town?" Chai Yuan said. "Is someone trying to prevent us from getting involved in the White Horse Town affair?"

Marquis Yichun looked at him: "Qin Fu said earlier that the Empress did not know about Yang Tongnu's matter. Is it that A-Feng really did not know, or that Qin Fu did not know that A-Feng knew?"

Earlier, the Duke of Ding'an came in the middle of the night because his niece had been attacked and killed, and he believed that his father had ordered it.

The father believed that he did it.

After he explained that he didn't know, his father then believed that the Empress had done it.

After all, back then, when the Empress and the Emperor were arguing because of Lady Yang, they declared that only one of Lady Chai and Lady Yang could live.

Although the Yang family later withdrew and Yang's daughter disappeared from the capital, for the past ten years or so, the eldest sister has been throwing tantrums whenever she sees anyone from the Yang family.

If we knew that Yang's daughter's child was still alive...

Indeed, when someone is extremely angry, they might commit murder.

But when Qin Fu was summoned and asked, Qin Fu said that the Empress did not know that Lady Yang had a daughter. Like His Majesty, she had always thought that Lady Yang had aborted the child.

Could it really have been his sister who did it? Chai Yuan hesitated.

Is my sister really that capable? She's keeping assassins right under their noses?

Those elite warriors cannot be recruited in a day or two; they must be nurtured over many years.

The Empress was previously a young lady raised in seclusion, and now she is raised in the inner palace, even more isolated from the outside world.

“Father, I think…” Chai Yuan thought of something, “It’s possible that His Majesty did it.”

Emperor.

Marquis Yichun frowned: "How could the Emperor..."

"Father, are you saying the Emperor had deep feelings for that Lady Yang?" Chai Yuan said, scoffing. "Perhaps he had some feelings when he was young, but not that deep. Otherwise, he wouldn't have married into our family. Later, when he achieved fame and success, he did cherish those old feelings. But now that he's the ruler of the land, and was humiliated by Lady Yang like that, those old feelings have all been exhausted. So many years have passed, the country is stable, he's a great founding emperor, and there are many beauties in his harem. If he were to recall those days, I'm afraid all that would be left is resentment. Father, think about it. We don't want to mention this old story, but does the Emperor want to? Doesn't he feel ashamed?"

Marquis Yichun paused for a moment, then said in a deep voice, "I've thought about that guess of yours too."

That night, the Duke of Ding'an came to question him about sending people to kill the Yang family child. He chased away the confused Duke of Ding'an and first used the remnants of Sun Shu to cover up the situation and avoid focusing attention on the Yang family daughter.

Then quietly investigate what happened that night.

The more I investigated, the stranger it seemed.

No trace.

Marquis Yichun felt that even if he personally took action, he could not achieve such a clean result.

Besides him, who else would be willing to go to such great lengths to get this Yang family girl?

Almost no one knows the past of the Yang family woman.

Yang Tong has no connection with anyone else, so there's no need to eliminate her and her daughter.

Besides us, the Yang family, and the Emperor, the only other person connected to Yang Tong is the Emperor.

"Even if Ah Feng really did raise assassins behind our backs, all these things—investigating information, killing people silently, and erasing traces—can't have been done by her alone."

"If it were the emperor..."

Upon hearing this, Marquis Yichun interrupted Chai Yuan: "Wei Jiao."

Why did you suddenly bring up Wei Jiao?

Marquis Yichun looked at him and said, "Think about it, wasn't Wei Jiao present at all of these events?"

Chai Yuan seemed thoughtful. "Ji Ying said that Wei Jiao was investigating Jiang Wangchun's treason case in nearby Zhao County at the time, and had even come to Baima Town to track down the murderers," he said.

"Wei Jiao was also present when the young lady of the Duke of Ding'an's mansion was attacked last time..."

"Moreover, the young lady from the Duke of Ding'an's mansion personally said that Wei Jiao's men killed the murderer."

"Now……"

“Wei Jiao is not in the capital either. He used the excuse of sending off the Wei family to do that thing.”

Chai Yuan said, adding another sentence.

"It was the clues we provided to him."

Marquis Yichun looked at the map: "Who knows if he really went, or if he's using this as an excuse to do something else?"

Wei Jiao was the emperor's man.

They were to work exclusively for the emperor, and no one else was allowed to interfere.

"Have Ji Ying's family investigate the matter," Marquis Yichun said slowly, looking at Chai Yuan. "Withdraw all our men. I'll ask Wei Jiao myself when he returns, and then we'll discuss it further."

……

.......
As dawn broke, a loud sneeze echoed from the Imperial Study.

Princess Heisei was startled when she came to greet the children before going to school and had just reached the door.

"Father, did you stay up late again?" she asked loudly, stepping heavily inside. "It's cold now, staying up late will make you catch a cold!"

The emperor, dressed in a cotton robe, was sitting behind a desk, rubbing his nose. Upon hearing this, he laughed and said, "No, no, it's just that my nose is itchy. It gets itchy in the middle of the night."

As he spoke, he sneezed again.

"Perhaps someone is criticizing me behind my back."

Heisei scolded, "Father, the people are praying that you will not stay up late and that you will be healthy so that the world can be peaceful and prosperous forever. How can you say that this is an insult to you?"

The emperor laughed out loud.

"Princess, rest assured, I'm watching over His Majesty. He went to bed early last night," a eunuch said with a smile, then paused, "He just wanted to check the map, so he got up a little early."

Princess Heicheng didn't ask much about politics. Just as she was about to change the subject, the emperor smiled and spoke first.

"It was I who sent Wei Jiao to do something of great importance," he said. "To keep track of where he is now."

Princess Pingcheng knew that Wei Jiao had gone to escort the Wei family members. It turned out that he had another mission. She thought to herself, "Why would Wei Jiao be so kind?"

She couldn't help but smile: "Father, rest assured, Wei Jiao will certainly fulfill your expectations."

The emperor nodded with a smile: "This lad is quite reliable." Then he added, "Some things, but most things, are just a mess."

He pointed to the map as if to say something...

Princess Heicheng advised, "Since Father trusts him, he should rest more and not get up in the middle of the night anymore."

The emperor seemed reluctant to stop talking about the matter, but seeing that Princess Heicheng didn't want to listen...

"Isn't today your day off? Why are you up so early?" he asked with a smile, then added, "You're not allowed to stay up late either; you should rest when you need to."

Princess Heicheng winked at the Emperor: "I know, I'm just used to it. Even though I'm resting, I still get up early. But smart people don't study by cramming. Father, please remember that too."

The emperor laughed heartily again and waved to his daughter, "Go quickly."

Princess Heisei bowed and left.

The emperor watched his daughter's retreating figure. She was deeply loved by him, but she never took advantage of his favor and was always polite and measured in her speech...

He was pleased, yet slightly regretful, that he wasn't as...rude as he was when he was a child.

The thought flashed through my mind, and I chuckled to myself.

If a daughter is like he was when he was a child, it would be a real headache.

The emperor turned around with a smile and looked at the map.

"Wei Jiao should have arrived by now."

……

.......
As we approached the border of Longxi, the weather turned bitterly cold, especially in the early morning when even the flickering campfire couldn't ward off the chill.

Wei Jiao sat by the campfire and sneezed loudly.

"Captain." A woman in embroidered robes hurriedly took off her cloak to wrap him in another layer.

Wei Jiao raised her hand to stop him, rubbing her nose: "I'm not cold."

Another woman in embroidered robes laughed and said, "That means someone is gossiping about the Commandant behind his back."

Wei Jiao frowned: "That's not right. How can I sneeze? Wouldn't all these years of hard work have been for nothing? I need to sneeze continuously to make it look proper."

(End of this chapter)