Adoption brings disaster

It is said that due to the continuous heavy rain, there were many more refugees in the capital. These refugees had no food to eat and no roof over their heads. How could they survive? Naturally, they died one after another.

In this era, there is almost no research on infectious diseases. The bodies of these dead refugees piled up together and soon became a plague that could easily kill people.

I was far away in the imperial city, so the plague naturally had nothing to do with me. It was only because Xiaolu was kind-hearted and died of the plague, and the Seventh Prince wanted to go to pay his respects, that we became concerned about this matter.

If you want to know the specific situation of the plague, you still have to get information from the Imperial Medical Bureau.

So I asked Ada to go to the Imperial Hospital often to ask, but Ada went to the Imperial Hospital several times and didn't get any useful information.

The imperial physician only said that the plague was rampant and was afraid that it would be transmitted to the nobles in the palace. The imperial physician had been unable to leave the palace for a long time and had to rely on news passed in from outside. Since they had not seen it with their own eyes, the news could not be taken as true.

Seeing that there was no news, I no longer cared much about the plague. After all, I was a rich and idle man, and the plague would not enter Qianqiu Pavilion in this deep palace with high walls for a while.

Besides, no matter what the outside of the palace walls looks like, inside the palace walls there is always extravagance and debauchery. I have enough food to eat and clothes to wear. There are people to serve me every day, so it is comfortable.

But since we talked about the plague today, it also made me notice that the situation seems to be not very good these days, because all kinds of delicious food that usually flow into various palaces like water have disappeared in the past few days.

Now each palace only provides some ordinary ingredients, and even ordinary ingredients have deteriorated visibly.

Although I have a strong appetite, I don't have to eat all the time. I can barely accept the fact that the food has deteriorated due to martial law at the palace gates. However, what happened on the small road made me feel sad. My appetite has decreased, and I don't eat as much as before.

Chunyu was very worried when she saw that I didn't eat much for lunch, so she asked the kitchen to make some exotic snacks with great care, and coaxed me to eat with sweet words.

These snacks looked really good, which whetted my appetite a bit. I didn’t want to make the servants worry, so I picked out a few of my favorites to eat.

As I was eating, I started to wonder why the Seventh Prince hadn't come back yet.

By dinner time, the Seventh Prince still hadn't returned. I was so worried that my appetite became even worse. I forced myself to eat a few bites and managed to eat half a bowl of rice mixed with soup. Then I stopped eating and asked someone to put a recliner in the yard. I lay there in a daze, waiting for the Seventh Prince to come back.

This trip took me several hours. I felt a little sleepy, but didn't want to sleep. I just waited until the moon was tired and hid in a tree in the east to be lazy. Only then did the Seventh Prince come back.

The sound of footsteps approaching from afar brought me back to my senses. I stared blankly at the tired Seventh Prince walking slowly towards me, surrounded by the Second, Third, and Fourth Princes.

When I saw the Seventh Prince coming back, I also stood up, walked quickly to the Seventh Prince, grabbed his hand, and was about to say a few words to comfort the Seventh Prince with heartache.

But the Seventh Prince pulled his hand out of mine without leaving any trace, and said with a forced smile, "Normally, Yuan Qing would have gone to bed at this time. But he didn't sleep today. Could it be that he was waiting for me to come back?"

I could hear the weariness in the Seventh Prince's words, and I felt so distressed. I forced a smile and said, "I'm feeling uneasy and can't sleep well alone. Since I have nothing better to do, I'll just enjoy the moon and wait for you to come back."

After hearing this, the moon behind me also poked its head out curiously, wondering why this person didn't look at me all night and was admiring the moon.

After hearing this, the Seventh Prince took another step forward without leaving any trace, and said wearily, "I feel a little unwell today, so I can't sleep with Yuan Qing."

Looking at the sadness in the seventh prince's eyes and the exhaustion in his body, I felt even more sad, and I imagined a big drama in my mind.

Such a young child grew up in the deep palace, and there are probably not many people who treat him sincerely. It is very pitiful that his rare good friend passed away.

My mind was full of random thoughts, and I felt even more distressed for the Seventh Prince. I rubbed his head and said, "Rest well. I don't need you to sleep with me."

After saying that, I was afraid that the Seventh Prince would want to sleep next to me again at night and would be too embarrassed to come, so I hurriedly said, "I can't sleep well without you by my side. When you feel comfortable, you can come and sleep next to me anytime. Don't worry about disturbing me."

"Any time is fine?" asked the Seventh Prince.

After hearing this, I thought to myself, although the Seventh Prince is mature and steady, he is still a child after all. Even if he is sad and doesn't want to show it in front of others, he still wants someone to accompany him.

I understood what was going on, so I took the Seventh Prince's hand and said, "Anytime is fine, as long as you want."

I don’t know what the Seventh Prince did when he went out of the palace today, but he must have been extremely tired. Not only was the Seventh Prince tired, but even Ah Er and the others who followed him were visibly tired.

Therefore, although I had a lot to say to the Seventh Prince, I had to hold it in and let Chunyu and the others take good care of the Seventh Prince and let him rest.

The seventh prince did not want anyone to serve him. He just asked Er and the others to fetch some water. After washing up casually, he went to rest.

When I saw the Seventh Prince had fallen asleep, I asked A Da to serve him well in the room, and then A Er and the other two followed me out.

"What did the Seventh Prince do today?" I asked.

"Your Highness, I was ordered by the Emperor to leave the palace today to pay my respects to Master Lu," Ah Er said. "However, the palace gates have been under martial law lately, so entering and exiting is not as convenient as before. Therefore, it took a while and I returned late."

"I asked why you were late, but you're just trying to cover up your mistake. You're simply admitting your mistake."

After hearing this, I knew that they had something to hide.

When Ah Er and the other two heard me say this, they did not refute me, but just kept kowtowing and saying that they were wronged.

Seeing them like this, I sneered and said, "Besides, who in this entire capital dares to stop His Highness the Seventh Prince? You're saying it's not as convenient as before. I'm afraid you can't even fool Xiao Tao with that. You're still trying to use that to evade me."

Ah Er listened and said with a bitter face, "I shouldn't have overestimated my master. I apologize, but I am understandably late. Your Highness, you may not know that if I were to go out on a normal day, no one would dare to stop me. But since I'm leaving the palace under Your Majesty's order, I have to follow the palace rules, so it naturally takes a little longer."

I stared at Er and the other two. They were all strong men. I thought that if I didn't use some tricks today, they would not tell me the truth.

I was a little tired today and didn't feel like arguing with them any further, so I said, "I understand you don't dare to say it. It must have been ordered by the Seventh Prince. Since you've given me that excuse, you must have made thorough preparations. I doubt I'll find anything even if I investigate."

Ah Er listened, but didn't complain. He just chuckled and said, "Your Highness, you are overthinking it. I have absolutely no intention of lying. This is all the truth. It has nothing to do with Your Highness the Seventh Prince."

I smiled, not dwelling on it. I took a sip of tea and said, "I didn't intend to ask why you came back so late. It's just that you were feeling guilty and took up the conversation."

Ah Er smiled awkwardly and tried to evade me with words.

But I didn't give him a chance to speak. I continued, "I remember that His Highness the Seventh Prince was wearing armor when he went out this morning. How come he was wearing casual clothes when he came back in the evening?"

"The weather was hot, and the armor was thick and heavy, making it unbearable to wear. General Lu was afraid that it would harm His Highness's health, so he persuaded His Highness to change into his armor and wear ordinary clothes."

Ah Er answered so straightforwardly. I don't believe it if you say that they hadn't discussed their statements in advance. I also asked Ah San and Ah Si to explain the reasons, and they were exactly the same. This proves that they made up lies to deceive me.

I understood what they said, but I pretended to believe them and said with a smile, "General Lu is very thoughtful. I think I'll prepare some small gifts and go thank him in person when the plague gets better."

"His Highness is of high status. If you wish to see him, you do not need to go in person. You can simply summon him to the palace. General Lu is in charge of the defense of the palace and often walks around the palace, so it would be convenient for him to come."

Judging from what Ah Er said, it seems that it’s not just Ah Er and his friends who are colluding with them. I’m afraid that the general has also colluded with them.

"That's fine." I took a sip of tea, looked towards the dim light in the east, and continued, "Why didn't you bring back His Highness's armor? You can't just throw these things around. What if someone uses them to do something with them? You're being too careless."

"Your Highness, you are wrong to blame me. For some reason, your Highness's armor is broken. There is a skilled craftsman in General Lu's mansion who specializes in repairing it. General Lu said that it will be sent to the palace tomorrow after it is repaired."

"I heard from the Taoist priest that if this armor sees blood, it will reveal its evil appearance, and he has a secret method that can make ordinary people see its evil appearance. I don't know if it is true. Today, this armor has seen blood. Bring it to the palace tomorrow and let me see if it is true."

After hearing what I said, Er and the others were stunned and stood there awkwardly, not knowing whether to say anything or not.

Seeing them like that, I wanted to laugh, but I held it back and shouted angrily, "How long are you going to keep lying to me?"

Ah Er and the others didn't say anything, and it seemed that they were prepared to never confess even if beaten to death. But it made sense, as long as they could hold out until the Seventh Prince got up, there might be a turning point in this situation.

"I know what you're thinking. You're just waiting for His Majesty the Seventh Prince to wake up so you can come up with some new excuse to fool me."

The three of them didn't dare to respond, so I continued, "There's no need to go to such lengths. Not to mention the Seventh Prince's ability, it would be a piece of cake for you guys to find a reason to fool me."

After saying that, I sneered a few more times to express my emotions and put some psychological pressure on them.

But I still underestimated the three of them. They seemed not to hear anything, just lowered their heads and said nothing, like they were dumb.

Seeing that this trick was useless, I said, "If Chunyu had gone out with you today, I really wouldn't have found any clues. It's a pity that you three grown men are still a little careless. You didn't notice such a large pool of blood on the Seventh Prince's clothes. Or are you too hurried and didn't have time to check carefully?"

The three of them were a little panicked when they heard this, but they immediately calmed down and looked at each other. They still refused to admit it and just said, "Perhaps His Highness Yuan Qing was mistaken. His Highness the Seventh Prince was only there to pay his respects to Master Lu. It is absolutely impossible for him to be stained with blood."

I'm not making this up. Seeing that they still refused to admit it, I asked Chunyu to bring the clothes over and said, "I've got this thing. Even if you have great abilities, you can't come up with a reasonable excuse, right? So why are you still insisting on taking it?"

"Your Highness discovering it yourself is different from us confessing it. I hope Your Highness will let the three of us brothers go." Ah Er was just giving up. Anyway, the three of them couldn't say a word.

But Ah Er's words were tantamount to a confession. I waved my hand and said, "I'm neither a pedantic scholar nor a martial arts hero who breaks the law with force. I don't want to care about what you do. I'm just worried about His Highness the Seventh Prince, so there's no need to worry."

Ah Er and the others looked at each other and realized that there seemed to be no way to deny it. They could only say, "It's not a big deal. We just killed a few refugees."

As a modern person, I must feel uncomfortable with this kind of indifference to human life. I frowned immediately, but I am definitely not a saint, so I frowned for a moment and then relaxed.

I said in a somewhat unhappy tone, "The plague is rampant, and instead of advising His Majesty the Seventh Prince to take care of his health, you followed him out to kill people. If anything happens to His Majesty the Seventh Prince, you will have several lives to pay for it."

Ah Er, listening to my inquiries, chuckled out of concern for the Seventh Prince, and said, "These refugees, unaware of the noble's help, have been hiding in a private house for over ten days since entering the city. We've thoroughly investigated and found they haven't come into contact with other refugees in the past ten days. There's absolutely no plague. Please rest assured, Your Highness."

I felt a little relieved after hearing this, and then I said, "Even if there's no plague, we still need to be more cautious. You know these refugees have received help from noble people, and you killed them like this, aren't you afraid of retaliation?"

"Don't even mention the refugees who were helped by a noble person. Even if they are real noble people, if they offend our Highness, we will kill them. What's the big deal?" Ah Er's words were full of arrogance.

I was a little speechless, but people of noble birth always have to have some domineering aura so that others dare not insult them. So this is not necessarily a bad thing, and I don't want to pursue it.

But I was still a little worried, so I asked about this matter over and over again. After making sure that it would not harm the Seventh Prince, I felt relieved and let Er and the others go to rest.

After finishing all this, the sun came out. The rising sun was too cold and could not warm my heart which was feeling cold for no reason.

I was panicking and felt like something was going to happen. I took the seventh prince's clothes and subconsciously rubbed the blood stains on them.

I watched the sun slowly rise, thinking a lot in my heart. I was still afraid of a murderer from the bottom of my heart, but in my heart, Chongguang was already my child, and I couldn't help but find reasons and excuses for him.

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Xiaoshan stumbling in. I looked at Xiaoshan, who was covered in mud and looked miserable, and asked, "What happened to you? Did someone bully you?"

Xiao Shan realized that he had bumped into me, and he quickly kowtowed to apologize. After hearing what I said, he said, "With His Highness and His Highness the Seventh Prince here, who dares to bully the people of Qianqiu Pavilion? I fell down."

I looked at Xiaoshan's reserved look and thought it would be a bit embarrassing for him to appear in front of me like this, so I asked him to go back to the house to change his clothes before serving me.

Xiaoshan took the order and went back to the house to change clothes. I looked at his lonely back and always felt that he was very pitiful. It seemed that he was different from usual.

I was still a little concerned about Xiaoshan's condition, so I asked Ada to check if Xiaoshan was being bullied.

A Da came back soon after finding out what happened. Xiao Shan had indeed fallen down by himself, and he had also broken a lamp when he fell. A Da had already dealt with it, otherwise if he had been caught, Xiao Shan would have been beaten.

After hearing what Ada said, I felt a little relieved. I asked Chunyu to bring some medicine for Xiaoshan's injuries. Only then did I feel relieved.

After a sleepless night, I was very sleepy, but I felt uncomfortable and didn’t want to sleep, so I could only lean in the chair and stare blankly.

I sat in the chair, feeling even more panicked, as if something bad was about to happen.

What exactly is this bad thing? Let’s wait and see in the next episode.