Contentment with modest wealth

Chapter 419 Suspicion
After bidding farewell to Lu Jia, Li Quan hurried to the Qianqing Palace.

The emperor had indeed finished meditating, and the palace servants were calling out to serve breakfast.

Taking this opportunity, Li Quan inspected everyone in the inner palace and then went to the palace gate to observe the guards and palace servants on duty that day.

As an old man who had followed the emperor from his pre-imperial residence, and as someone who had received much favor from the emperor, even though he had also been neglected at times, Li Quan's concern for the emperor's safety over the decades was purely heartfelt.

At this moment, all the people on duty inside and outside the palace were people he knew well. After the Gao Hong incident, he had already screened the people that the Shanggong Bureau had arranged to come to Qianqing Palace.

There was nothing unusual at the moment, and he wondered if Lu Jia and the others were just being overly cautious.
He stood at the gate for a moment, and seeing that the person delivering breakfast had already arrived under the covered walkway in the distance, he withdrew his gaze and went back into the hall.

When breakfast was served, he personally used silver chopsticks to test for poison, and only after confirming that there was no problem did he place it in front of the emperor.

"What's wrong with you today? Why are you being so cautious?" Even the emperor noticed.

Li Quan forced a smile: "It's nothing. I was just worried they might not do things properly."

The emperor paid no attention and continued eating. He then said, "After breakfast, the Taoist priests from Baiyun Temple will enter the palace. If any officials come to see you, tell them to come another day."

Thinking of the officials who had been blocked outside the palace gates earlier, Li Quan asked, "Someone has been requesting an audience since early this morning. Is His Majesty aware of this?"

The emperor showed no sign of surprise: "What important matter could there be? Lu Jie has already gone to the cabinet. He is a capable minister. Even if there is something, we can send someone to find Lu Jie."

Li Quan remained silent.

Given this situation, even if the officials who had previously blocked the palace gates were acting on the orders of the Imperial City Guard, the Emperor's attitude meant they had a good grasp of the situation.

Why did the Yan family forbid officials from entering the palace?

Thinking about it this way, he realized that Lu Jia wasn't just worrying unnecessarily.

Recalling the emperor's earlier statement about needing a libation ceremony, he immediately retreated outside and summoned the eunuch who was to serve him that day: "Besides the designated palace servants, has His Majesty summoned anyone else today?"

The eunuch barely hesitated before saying, "His Majesty also summoned the Crown Prince to serve him today."

"Prince?"

Li Quan was very surprised.

Since the last time Yan Shu was exposed for embezzling the annual allowances for the imperial clan, the emperor's attitude towards the crown prince has not changed, and the crown prince has hardly ever been summoned.

Why was he suddenly summoned to serve and perform the ritual?
"It was an imperial decree issued earlier. In the coming days, in addition to His Highness the Crown Prince, the Crown Princess will also be coming. Several eunuchs in charge of the Eastern Palace will also be coming."

The eunuch who was giving the reply felt that it wasn't complete enough, so he took out the roster that had been placed at the door.

Li Quan held it in his hand and flipped through it, his feelings complicated and hard to describe.

The emperor rarely even saw the crown prince, let alone the crown princess who was currently six months pregnant.

During sacrificial rites, the Crown Princess is required to be present and has nothing to say. What can she do with her pregnant belly at such a time?
Why would the emperor suddenly issue such an edict?

Just as he was about to walk towards the emperor, he suddenly spotted a eunuch not far away—

"come here!"

The eunuch looked this way and walked over.

Li Quan scrutinized him closely: "Aren't you working at the Imperial Hospital? What are you doing here?"

The eunuch bowed and said, "Your Excellency, I was instructed by the head of the Imperial Hospital to come and observe His Majesty's cough."

"I am ordered to observe until noon before I can leave."

Li Quan stared at him for a long time: "What's your name?"

"Zhang Fu."...

Because of Yan Song's sabotage, Lu Jie, who was in charge of the affairs by imperial decree, has been so busy that he can't spare any time for days.

Early in the morning, Yang Bonong brought the letter he had received on his way out of the government office to the yamen.

After reading the letter, Lu Jie folded it up and quickly got up to go to the window to see what Yan Song was doing.

"That old scoundrel Yan suddenly took leave today, and tomorrow is the day they submit their case to the Emperor. If we don't act today, when will we?"

Yang Bonong stepped forward: "Even if they choose this dead end, Prince Ning, who is far away in Hubei, will not come to the capital immediately. Besides, if something happens to the Emperor and he appears immediately, wouldn't that arouse suspicion?"

Lu Jie turned around and said, "The Yan family is just one of the collaborators. All they need to do is control the court!"

"We need to figure out how they're planning to make their move as soon as possible!"

"grown ups!"

As soon as you speak of the devil, Lu Rong strode into the house: "Old scoundrel Yan is nowhere to be seen today, and the officials who went to Yan's residence last night have all left today, but their whereabouts are unknown."

"grown ups!"

Before Lu Jie could react, another confidant walked in with a note. "This was secretly given to me by the young master's guards. They instructed me to pass it on to you immediately!"

Lu Jie opened the note. "He Qu found the family members of the officials who visited the Yan family last night and learned from them that all these officials left the mansion early today!"

"And they were all wearing official robes when they went out!"
"At the same time, in all the six ministries—no! in all the ministries of the entire court—people have unanimously requested leave today, and the number we have so far is more than sixty!"

The room suddenly fell silent.

Yang Bonong said, "The thief's methods are undeniably swift!"

"The Imperial Guards are preventing officials from entering the palace, which is to leave room for that old scoundrel Yan and his cronies!" Lu Jie crumpled the note into a ball. "They've acted so swiftly and mobilized such a large force; they must be very confident!"
"It seems that Yan Liang had probably already arranged for people from the Prince of Ning's residence to be near the capital!"

He suddenly turned to Yang Bonong: "The previous accusations against the Yan family for building a house in violation of regulations and for colluding with Japanese pirates have not yet been settled, have they? Bring over all the memorials from the censors impeaching the Yan family these past two days."

"Just pick a few, any will do!"

"Have Cheng Wenhui bring two people with me to the palace to meet the Emperor!"

"The Imperial Guards are not allowing officials to enter the palace today. How may you, sir, enter?"

"Didn't Jia Jie get the token from Li Quan?" Lu Jie said sternly, "We must break in by any means necessary!"

……

When Yang Bonong walked out of the Cabinet Office, Lu Jia had already handed over the list of today's duty rosters from the Shanggong Bureau to Shen Qingzhou for him to check.

The movements of people in the palace are easily tracked by checking a few key entrances. If all else fails, they can search their residences to see if there's anything fishy going on or if they've hidden any money.

And we actually made a profit!
"He is a eunuch named Zhang Fu. He used to work in the Imperial Hospital, but recently he was sent to the Qianqing Palace by the head of the hospital."

"Because some things were indeed found in his residence, we investigated further and discovered that his long-standing 'pairing' relationship was involved in the palace turmoil of that year, and they were all eventually executed."

"The items found were valuable and portable banknotes, as well as property deeds in towns thousands of miles away."

"At the same time, there was also a travel permit."

“These are things that ordinary people cannot afford. But the Yan family can afford them.”

Tang Yu laid all of this out in the open.