184. Investigation
Third-person POV
Another peaceful day, Hong er sat in her library with a document in her hand. Then she remembered Di Shang's promise of marrying Meiyun that he made 7 months ago. She glanced at Meiyun who was brewing a new set of tea for her.
Hong er: "Meiyun."
Meiyun: "Yes, Your Majesty Empress."
Hong er: "Are you still in contact with General Di?"
Meiyun: "Yes, we are. We occasionally write letters for each other but he said that he would be busy for a few months and couldn't write to me back that frequent."
Hong er: "Hhmm~ Did he say anything regarding your marriage?"
Meiyun: "En, he is handling the dowry and has a plan about our marriage but he didn't tell me anything about the marriage."
Hong er: "It is good to know that General Di took this matter seriously."
Meiyun: "En."
Hong er: "Coincidentally, His Majesty Emperor also got busier these past few weeks. I wonder if they are planning something behind my back again."
Meiyun: "The Qi brothers also have been going in and out the palace every day."
Hong er: "Let them do what they want to do. If they don't want to tell us, then let them be. No need to poke our nose in every single matter."
Meiyun: "Yes, Your Majesty Empress."
Hong er: "But I don't know why I got this very bad feeling."
Meiyun knitted her brow in bewilderment. She believed Hong er as usually if Hong er said that she had a bad feeling, something would really happen. Ming Yu came into the library with Xue Lang who was just done with his classes for the day.
Ming Yu: "Your Majesty Empress, do you want to this servant to make a calming soup?"
Ming Yu asked worriedly, she and Xue Lang didn't know about Hong er's ability to sense a bad omen that is going to happen.
Xue Lang: "Imperial Mother, I will massage your feet."
Xue Lang took a small stool and sat in front of Hong er. At first, Hong er wanted to reject his offer because his hand was still injured from yesterday's accident, but seeing the determination in his eyes, Hong let him do whatever he wanted with her feet.
Huayun: "Your Majesty Empress, how about we go investigate to see if anything is odd?"
Hong er: "En. Meiyun, take the elite forces with you and investigate everything. Huayun stay here."
Meiyun: "Yes, Your Majesty Empress."
Without further ado, Meiyun departed to get the elite forces to investigate everything that related to Hong er and anyone that are close to her.
Xue Lang: "Imperial Mother, I'm sure everything will be fine."
Hong er: "En. Mother hopes so."
.
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10 days later, Meiyun finally came back from her inspection. She directly went to report to Hong er without even changing her clothes.
Meiyun: "This servant apologizes in place of all the elite forces for the delay."
Hong er: "En. It is fine, nothing had happened since you left but the bad feeling only got worse day by day. So what took you so long?"
Meiyun: "Yes, we coincidentally bumped into some problem in many places."
Hong er: "Like what?"
Meiyun: "It seems like the snowstorm at northeast of Da Qi had caused the livestock in there to decrease in such a great amount. The entourage that His Majesty Emperor had sent couldn't reach the town due to the snow blocking the path. The mages had tried their best but still couldn't clear
out the path as the snowstorm got worse.
This also impacted the soldiers at the border. They went on an extreme diet because of the low sustenance and the moral of the soldiers also lowered. The barbarians outside of the border planned to attack at their lowest. The general that is guarding the border entrusted me this letter that has his seal on it. Here."
Meiyun handed Hong er the letter and continued to report.
Meiyun: "From the information that I got from Senior Jian, in Da Chu, the fight for power had started for quite a while and it seems like the seventh prince supported the crown prince's rival, the second prince. Imperial concubine Li (Li Zhenzhen) also supported the second prince as she always opposes the crown prince's mother, the empress.
The DC emperor angered with the power struggle as he is still alive and healthy. There are still no weird behavior from the Da Chu side except the emperor occasionally makes everything harder for Master (XuTingfeng)."
Hong er: "And?"
Meiyun: "And what I heard from the spies in Bei Zhou, they have been producing a large amount of weapon. However, they haven't found the reason behind it."
Hong er: "Huayun, send a message to them to be more cautious. Report their every movement to me or father."
Huayun: "Yes, Your Majesty Empress."
Hong er: "Continue."
Hong er put aside the letter in her hand and signaled Meiyun to proceed with her explanation.
Meiyun: "Yes. For Dong Fang, it was predicted that they will be war."
Hong er: "Why?"
Hong er asked nonchalantly, yet her eyes glinted with a dangerous vibe.
Meiyun: "Dong Fang had suffered a long period of drought in the summer and autumn so they couldn't harvest any crops. Not to mention the snowstorm in the winter, they couldn't plant anything and resulted in famine. Furthermore, since the new DF Emperor ascended to the throne, he increased the tax for the commoner equal to the nobles and wealthy merchants.
The Great General Di had pleaded the DF Emperor many times only to be convicted of treason for opposing the ruler. The tension between the DF royal family and the Di family is very visible. Fortunately, the commoner supported the Di family while on the other side, the nobles opposed them."
Hong er: "Hhmm… It appears to be that I had been too relaxed in the inner palace. Then, how about our own Da Qi?"
Meiyun: "His Majesty Emperor had been helping the Di family in supplying weaponry. This servant deeply apologize as the Qi brothers blocked me from gathering more information."
Hong er: "En. It's fine."
Meiyun: "Your Majesty Empress, this servant thought that this is quite important.
Hong er: "What is it?"
Meiyun: "That Murong Qing went out a lot with various men."
Hong er: "So?"
Meiyun: "One of them is Sir Wei Yunru."
Hong er: "Hhmm… Is there anything else?"
Meiyun: "No, Your Majesty Empress. Any instruction for this servant, Your Majesty Empress?"
Hong er: "Pass this letter to His Majesty Emperor and you can take a rest."
Meiyun: "Yes!"
Hong er spun her cup and stared blankly at the whirling tea.
Hong er: "I hope nothing goes wrong."