Disease rights policy

“Commander,” a maidservant serving outside Baili Jiayue’s tent greeted Gong Yuyi upon seeing him arrive.

Gong Yuyi said, "Princess Jiayue is unwell. Are you taking good care of her?"

The maid replied, "We have been taking good care of her, and she is much better now."

"Go in and announce that His Majesty requests Princess Jiayue to sit in the front seat."

"Yes."

As soon as the maid went in, Baili Mingzhe rushed in. After greeting Gong Yuyi, Baili Mingzhe laughed heartily, "The hunt is almost over. My little sister is too late to come out. I'm sorry to trouble you, Commander. Just leave her alone."

Gong Yuyi was always kind and gentle to people. “The proper etiquette cannot be neglected. How can we ignore Princess Jiayue? The Second Prince should have sent someone to invite the princess long ago.”

Baili Mingzhe: "The commander is very thoughtful."

“Princess Jiayue was fine yesterday, but she hasn’t recovered even after resting for half a day today. She’s not like she was yesterday.”

“It’s understandable that she’s having trouble adjusting since it’s her first time traveling so far,” Baili Mingzhe glanced over and saw a maid coming out. She picked out the maid she had brought and asked, “Is the princess feeling better?”

The maid replied in a flat, hushed tone, "Much better. The princess just woke up and is having tea."

Baili Mingzhe seemed relieved, and then said to Gong Yuyi, "Commander, why don't you come in with me and take a look?"

Gong Yuyi hesitated for a brief moment, then said, "It is time to go and visit the princess."

Once inside, Baili Jiayue indeed looked drowsy and listless. Seeing the two of them, she got up from the stool and smiled, "It's Jiayue's body that's letting me down. I'm sorry to have troubled you all by coming to see me."

Gong Yuyi calmly took in the scene inside the tent. Baili Jiayue seemed to have never left the house before, so he said, "I will have the imperial physicians come and examine the princess. After all, the imperial physicians are more familiar with the climate of Daliang and can prescribe the right medicine."

Baili Jiayue's face paled slightly, and she looked apologetic. "I was thinking of just having the accompanying physician prescribe some medicine. I didn't want to trouble you too much."

Gong Yuyi smiled and said, "It's alright."

“Then…” Baili Jiayue raised her eyebrows slightly, but before she could speak, Baili Mingzhe interrupted her, saying, “Then I’ll have to trouble you, Commander. After all, my little sister’s health can’t be compromised.”

After he finished speaking, he bowed to Gong Yuyi, who said, "Then I won't disturb the princess's rest any longer. I will send someone to invite the princess to the banquet later tonight. The meal will be sumptuous."

Baili Jiayue: "Okay."

Gong Yuyi strode out of the tent and instructed his trusted aide, "Keep a close eye on Baili Jiayue's tent, and make sure you see everyone coming in and out."

"Does the commander believe that what happened in the forest is related to Princess Jiayue?"

Gong Yuyi paused, then shook his head and said, "I don't know, let's keep an eye on it for now."

"Yes."

When Yao Yuze was injured, Gong Yuyi almost lost his composure, but fortunately he managed to stabilize the situation.

As expected, the assassin who had fled into the dense forest could not be caught in a short time. Although Gong Yuyi and the western suburbs garrison had timely guarded all the exits of the dense forest, the western suburbs were very extensive, and it would take many days to search each place and narrow down the search area.

After the hunt, Li Hezhang returned to his tent under the pretext of resting, where he flew into a rage.

"Cao Yong! How did you defend this western suburban camp? You let assassins into the hunting grounds right under your nose! I think you don't want your dog's head anymore!"

Li Hezhang pointed at Cao Yong's nose and cursed. Everyone knew that there were 100,000 troops stationed in the western suburbs outside the capital. In order to maintain control over the military, the emperor had never appointed any generals, only retaining Cao Yong as a colonel to manage the daily training of the garrison. The real commander was still the emperor.

Li Hezhang could see every little thing the garrison in the western suburbs did every day, but even so, something still went wrong during the spring hunt.

Cao Yong lay prostrate on the ground, already drenched in sweat; he feared he was about to lose his head.

"And you! You! You!" Li Hezhang cursed everyone with a position, and soon a large number of people were kneeling in the tent.

"Issue my order to completely seal off the dense forest in the western suburbs. The assassin must be captured! He must be found alive or dead!" Li Hezhang said grimly. "Not even a fly should be let out."

"Yes."

"Gong Yuyi!"

"Your subject is here." Gong Yuyi hurriedly stepped forward.

Li Hezhang said, "Strengthen security in the camp and do not make any more mistakes. Pingjing and Jinchu are coming with great force, and we cannot let them take advantage of any loopholes."

"Yes."

After venting his anger, Li Hezhang dismissed everyone else. He then felt a tightness in his chest. 'Chang' came out from behind him and presented him with a pill that had been prepared at all times. Li Hezhang swallowed it in one gulp and then gasped for breath, saying, "I'm not dead yet, and these spies are already trying their best to destroy my foundation. Tell me, after all these years, how come they still can't be completely eliminated?"

Chang replied in a calm voice, word by word: "Your Majesty, please do not be angry. Eliminating the root of the problem is a long-term solution. This century-old foundation still needs Your Majesty to safeguard it."

"I'm afraid I won't even last two years before I'm driven to my death by this bunch of idiots!" Li Hezhang pounded his chest and sighed. "I've really wasted my time supporting them; they're all traitors!"

Chang lowered his head and said, “Your Majesty, I have another matter to report.”

If Li Hezhang were to ask who he trusted most, it would be the four crane-controlling guards by his side. He said, "Go ahead."

“Your subject once sent ‘Eye’ to Shu to fetch medicine, but encountered a petty thief and lost something. Now, that petty thief has been caught red-handed.”

Upon hearing this, Li Hezhang became even angrier. "Who is it?"

Chang said, "Qiao Xiaoran, who serves the Empress."

"who!"

Li Hezhang doubted his ears, his eyes widening in disbelief.

Chang repeated, "Qiao Xiaoran."

Li Hezhang's expression froze for a moment, then he suddenly stood up. "Qiao Xiaoran," he said, "Qiao Xiaoran, daughter of the Prefect of Qianzhou." Li Hezhang closed his eyes briefly, then opened them again. "I have kept her by the Empress's side. The Prefect of Qianzhou is now dead in the dense forest, and the murderer has not yet been identified. Where is Qiao Xiaoran?"

Chang said, "They ran away."

"What!" Li Hezhang turned around, his eyes wide with shock. "These useless trash!"

Looking at Li Hezhang's expression, Chang realized that the Emperor was becoming increasingly irritable and agitated...

"Is she a spy?" Li Hezhang pondered for a long time before instructing Chang, "Go to Qianzhou immediately and arrest everyone connected to Qiao Xiaoran, as well as those who have the most contact with her. Detain them all. I refuse to believe we can't find out."

Chang said, "Yes."

After Li Hezhang's anger subsided, Changcai left, while Yu Yin returned dejectedly, saying with a sullen face, "I didn't catch anyone."

Chang patted him on the shoulder and sighed, "If it were that easy for you to catch me, I wouldn't be an ordinary person."

"What do we do now?" Yu Yin was almost in tears. Why did he always end up making things a mess?

"Are you sure that Qiao Xiaoran was the one who conspired with others to steal your medicine in Sichuan?" Chang asked again.

Yu Yin exclaimed excitedly, "It's her! Although she was dressed as a man and covered half her face, I've been following you for so many years, I can't possibly be without this ability to recognize people. It's definitely her!"

“That makes things easier,” Chang said, his eyes darkening. “You have two tasks. First, go to Qianzhou and take control of the people in the governor’s mansion. Second, take Qiao Xiaoran’s portrait to Sichuan to investigate her activities there. You’ll eventually find some clues.”

Yu Yin said angrily, "Don't worry, young master, I'll go right away."

"Go quickly."

Yu Yin went to investigate with a heart full of anger. No sooner had he left than someone informed Chen Jiu of the news.

Chen Jiu summoned Zhou Mu, saying, "Go to Sichuan immediately."

Zhou Mu accepted the order and headed straight for Sichuan.

Later, as the campfire blazed brightly and the daytime prey had become a delicious meal, everyone, more or less, displayed a talent for acting, each trying to appear calmer than the last.

Gong Yuyi and Chen Jiu stood behind, gazing at the scene before them like outsiders. Their worries and calculations were evident in their eyes.

Chen Jiu asked him, "How's the investigation going?"

"Cao Yong has been embezzling and breaking the law right under the Emperor's nose. In the past year, he has recruited a lot of people into the camp. As long as the money is enough, he can turn a blind eye and let people in to fill jobs. After three rounds of checks, a total of thirteen people are missing from all the camps." At this point, Gong Yuyi couldn't help but gasp. "The identities of these thirteen people are all fake. It is not clear whether they are from Pingjing or Jinchu. The black-clad assassins in the dense forest are them."

Chen Jiu said, "The pests were all raised at home!"

Although his voice was calm, the bulging veins on his neck showed that he was extremely angry.

Gong Yuyi continued, "The assassin initially intended to hunt down Governor Qiao during the spring season, but it shouldn't have been Governor Qiao. We found in Governor Qiao's tent that someone had invited him to the stream in the forest with a secret letter. He was shot dead before he even reached the stream."

It was just a coincidence that we stumbled upon it.

"Let me see," Chen Jiu reached out and took the letter. It was an ordinary piece of paper with the words, "By the stream in the woods, discussing the matter of exchanging women for the palace."

After reading it, Chen Jiu said, "Does this person know that Qiao Ran's identity is fake? In this palace, besides you and me, who else is there?"

Gong Yuyi: "Yao Yuze?"

Chen Jiu: "He doesn't know."

Yao Yuze only suspected it, but never confirmed it.

"Who else?"

The two looked at each other, neither able to guess who the other person was.

"Then what was his purpose in killing Governor Qiao?" Gong Yuyi turned to look at Chen Jiu.

Chen Jiu looked at the campfire burning in the distance. As everyone toasted each other, he slowly said, "Since you knew that Qiao Ran's identity was fake, why did you still kill Governor Qiao? Isn't that obvious?"

Gong Yuyi frowned. "This person helped Miss Qiao conceal her identity?"

Chen Jiu nodded slightly, "But he never expected that this would be a waste of time. Qiao Ran had no intention of staying in the palace and had already planned her escape route. Now that things have blown up, it's hard to back down."

"But this person's identity is secretive, and we don't know whether he's friend or foe. How can we find him?" Gong Yuyi had a headache.

"Once the envoys from both countries have left, His Majesty will surely punish Cao Yong severely. Qiao Ran offended Young Master Yu Yin in Shu, and he will likely suffer the same fate. This man will definitely take action."

After Chen Jiu finished speaking, he straightened his clothes and turned to go into the tent. Gong Yuyi quickly followed, "Aren't you worried that Qiao Ran will fall into the hands of the Imperial Guards or the garrison? They have already sealed off the forest."

Chen Jiu smiled and said, "Since she dared to escape, she must have a way to leave safely. She will contact me after she is safe."

"Are you so sure?" Gong Yuyi was unsure about the relationship between the two.

Chen Jiu simply said, "She still trusts me."