Who says the prince is weak and can't take care of himself?

Tang Ling looked at Qi Xiao. His eyes reflected one person, absorbing all the light, painting it on that one person, nothing else. Tang Ling's mind was blank, and she could only stare at him blankly, as if she wanted to incinerate herself under his gaze.

Qi Xiao kissed him gently: "Okay?"

Tang Ling somehow reached out and hooked her arms around Qi Xiao's neck, leaning forward to respond to his kiss.

it is good.

Qi Xiao smiled as he led Tang Ling inside. Footsteps approached from outside. Qi Xiao frowned slightly, a resentful thought rising in his heart: he would break the legs of anyone who dared to disturb him.

"Sir, the emperor summoned you." The guard entered the inner courtyard and saw that Qi Xiao was not in the side hall. He took two steps towards the wing room and did not dare to go any further. Even if he had a hundred courage, he would not dare to do so. But since the emperor summoned him, he dared not delay and could only announce it loudly in the corridor.

Seeing Qi Xiao's furrowed brows and a look of anger, Tang Ling couldn't help but laugh. She touched his cheek and gently soothed him, "Change into clean clothes and go quickly."

Qi Xiao was furious. The criminals who needed to be arrested had been arrested and tried. He had done everything he was supposed to do. Cao Weishan and Pei Hao should have reported the case to His Majesty. Why was he still involved?!

"Go ahead." Tang Ling smiled, but he didn't seem to mind at all.

"Then wait until I come back."

"……it is good."

***

Qi Xiao hurriedly changed his clothes and entered the palace. There was no sign of Cao Weishan and Pei Hao in Chengming Palace. His Majesty summoned Qi Xiao alone.

"My son, I will meet my father."

"Well, get up and talk."

Qi Xiao stood straight and respectfully, feeling extremely annoyed in his heart, but his appearance was very well-behaved.

"Do you know why you were summoned?"

His Majesty looked at his son, whom he hadn't seen for many years, his gaze shrouded in inquiry. He had many children, most of whom had received little affection. Qi Xiao was indeed unremarkable in his childhood; he could hardly remember what he looked like. After years of exile, he suddenly returned, and he found this son even less recognizable.

"Father, do you want to ask about Luo Yu's case?"

"Then tell me what you think."

"At the hour of Yin on the morning of the tenth day of the eighth month, a fire suddenly broke out in the residence of Luo Yu, the Minister of Justice. After the fire was extinguished, Luo Yu's body was discovered. Servants reported that thieves had broken into the residence, stolen treasures, killed Lord Luo, set the fire, and fled. Following the incident, the Five City Guards secured the city gates, and the Capital Protectorate searched the city for the suspect. At nightfall, the Five Capitals entered the city to assist in the capture of the criminals..."

His Majesty glanced at Qi Xiao and said, "You don't need to read the report to me. Tell me what you found out."

"..." Qi Xiao stole a glance at His Majesty, his expression unrecognizable. The case was now under investigation, and Qi Xiao hadn't offered any comment on Cao Weishan and Pei Hao's memorials. Pei Hao's temperament would undoubtedly have been outspoken, and Cao Weishan, preoccupied with preserving his own life, wouldn't have dared to conceal anything. And with Chi Yue acting as his spy, what could His Majesty not know? Why was he questioning him now?

"Your Majesty, yesterday the Five Capitals captured two thugs in the East Market. However, their confessions conflicted with those of the Luo family servants. Lord Cao and Lord Pei followed the clues and that night apprehended the clerk who had secretly communicated with the Luo family servants and the jailer who had attempted to silence them. They discovered that they were orchestrated by the Changming Trading Company in the city. This morning, the Jingji Protectorate raided the trading company and its affiliated gambling den. Li Chang, the owner of the Changming Trading Company, knew he had no excuse and has confessed everything. He had a secret relationship with the Ministry of Revenue and had been profiting from lending money through gambling dens for years. Fearing implicated in the Ministry's corruption case, he took the risk of killing Lord Luo."

His Majesty looked at Qi Xiao for a long moment before saying, "You don't take any credit for yourself at all."

"Your Majesty has ordered me to assist Lord Pei in his investigation. I dare not slack off. However, I have no experience in investigating cases. I can only learn diligently from Lord Pei's side. I dare not take credit for anything."

"I dare not take credit for it." The emperor showed a smile, which seemed satisfied, but also angry. "Is the Tiance Camp working smoothly?"

Qi Xiao lowered his head slightly and held out the jade token of Tiance Camp with both hands: "Your son dare not overstep your bounds."

"The case isn't finished yet, so keep it." The emperor picked up an unread memorial and continued, "Changming Commercial Bank is the boss's private property. Why don't you dare to speak?"

Li Chang is the cousin of the eldest princess, so he is naturally working for the eldest prince. If they find Changming Commercial Company, they will find the eldest prince. But without any concrete evidence, who would dare to accuse the eldest prince?

Qi Xiao was silent for a moment, then said, "Father, there is no concrete evidence." The case should be closed at this point. With the Ministry of Revenue cleaned out, the eldest prince would no longer have any power to rely on. He couldn't just kill his own son, could he?

After the emperor finished reviewing one memorial, he turned to the next one and said to Qi Xiao, "You continue to investigate the military pay case."

"...Your son obeys your order."

Since he entered the palace, Qi Xiao was determined to visit Concubine Lin, but when he arrived at Qiyun Palace, he immediately noticed that the atmosphere was wrong. The maids and nannies were all busy in the inner courtyard, and even the imperial physician had come.

"what happened?"

Lin Guiren's personal maid, Liu Shuang, said with red eyes, "Your Highness, the Queen felt dizzy and sleepy when she woke up this morning. Before lunch, she said she wanted to take a nap, but she never woke up again. We were panicked and went to ask the imperial physician to see her..."

"Weren't you fine yesterday?" Qi Xiao came yesterday, and Concubine Lin was in good spirits. Although she felt tired after chatting for a while, she did not look seriously ill.

Liu Shuang looked like she was about to cry after being asked a few questions by Qi Xiao. Qi Xiao felt even more annoyed and waved his hand to let her go and went straight into the house to wait for the imperial physician to finish taking her pulse.

Doctor Fang is the director of the Imperial Medical Bureau and is not someone who can be easily invited. For many years, Concubine Lin's illness has been delayed again and again. The imperial physicians have been slow to arrive and have not used the medicines with full care. Nothing has gone well. How could the illness be cured?

Qi Xiao remembered most of his childhood events clearly. It wasn't because he had a good memory, but because he was so hateful and sad that he remembered everything naturally.

When he was six years old, he had chickenpox, and his whole body broke out and he had a fever for several days. Chickenpox was not a serious illness and could be cured in ten to twenty days with a few prescriptions. But the people from the Imperial Hospital were not available. On the fourth and fifth days of Qi Xiao's fever, he was so drowsy that he couldn't even drink water. The imperial physician came, took his pulse and said that he would be cured with some medicine. However, the palace people were always blocked when they went to the Imperial Hospital to get the medicine, and the people from the Imperial Hospital used various excuses to make excuses.

Qi Xiao's wet nurse couldn't stand the harsh treatment. To save Qi Xiao's life, she took advantage of the Imperial Hospital's busy schedule and went to get some medicine herself. The next day, she was arrested by the inner court, accused of stealing precious medicinal materials from the Imperial Hospital. Without even questioning, she was caned to death. A life was lost in vain.

Qi Xiao was a prince, His Majesty's own flesh and blood, but His Majesty had many children, and if one died, there would be one less, making it easier to fight for the throne in the future. He didn't have His Majesty's favor, so naturally no one cared about him. He was lucky not to die.

That year, the five-year-old eleventh prince also died of chickenpox. In order to deceive His Majesty, the Imperial Hospital said that the eleventh prince had smallpox. The eleventh prince's biological mother could not bear the pain of losing her son, so she hanged herself that night. Without the head of the palace, all the people in the eleventh prince's palace were secretly killed. It was said that they were infected with smallpox. The bodies were pulled out of the palace overnight and burned.

Qi Xiao was still young at that time, but he understood everything. When the eleventh prince's palace was in trouble, Concubine Lin hugged him and cried all night. Her son was lucky, but she was terrified, afraid that such luck would not come next time.