Chapter 8: Testing and Suspicion

In a daze, "Liu Gang" saw his crying and scolding mother. He felt his scalp tingling and his mind went blank, as if he should not be staying anywhere in this world.

If you are addicted to gambling, you will face such a situation sooner or later. If you confess your mistakes many times and make amends, your credit will definitely be completely ruined, and even your own mother will not believe you anymore.

He suddenly woke up!

He sat there with his eyes wide open for a long time. Seeing the antique carved windows and hearing someone next to him say, "How could my second brother fall asleep here?", he gradually came to his senses and remembered that he was Zhu Gaoxu, in the Ming Dynasty.

The person who just spoke was the third brother Gao Sui. Gao Sui looked at Zhu Gaoxu's face and asked, "Is the second brother dreaming?"

Even in his dreams, Zhu Gaoxu didn't want to harm the people around him. He also wanted to be good to his relatives and gain recognition. It was just that he had no money and took the wrong path.

Zhu Gaoxu's chest was beating fast and his mood was in a mess... He couldn't help but sigh: Perhaps the original sin of men is poverty and powerlessness, often accompanied by desire.

Now in the Ming Dynasty, what he had was extremely important. He wanted to keep everything he had. This desire became stronger and stronger.

Gao Sui's voice said again, "Big brother is sick!"

Zhu Gaoxu took a deep breath, stood up from the bamboo couch, turned to look at Gao Sui, "Big brother has always been in poor health."

Gao Sui frowned and said, "But this time it's not a minor one. It looks like an emergency. He's vomiting and crying in pain. There are a lot of sesame-sized red bumps on his body! We need to find a doctor to check it out."

"I'll go see my elder brother first." Zhu Gaoxu said, "You go to the door and ask the guards to find the doctor."

Gao Sui nodded.

"Third brother." Zhu Gaoxu called him again, "Tell the captain of the Jinyiwei to inform my fourth uncle (Xu Zengshou) first. I heard that my fourth uncle likes to associate with strange people in the martial arts world, so he might be able to find a way."

"I'll go right away."

Zhu Gaoxu also walked out of the room, and was immediately hit by a wave of heat. I remember when I first moved in, it was still drizzling in the spring. It seemed that in the blink of an eye, the weather had become so hot.

Walk west along the inverted house for a while before you can see the entrance hall of the inner house. Zhu Gaoxu slept outside at noon, so Gao Sui just asked him why he fell asleep here.

The brick walls of the houses on the top of the mountain were covered with gray and black dirt, and the air had a stale and smoky smell. Since the King of Yan was enfeoffed to Beiping, this huge mansion was mostly uninhabited, with only a few servants looking after it.

Zhu Gaoxu walked to the entrance hall and looked back. There was nothing under the banana tree at the corner of the outer wall. The small white flowers that once bloomed there were gone.

...The prince was ill, and although he asked the Jinyiwei to tell Xu Zengshou first, it was Xu Huizu who came first. Xu Huizu and a companion named Qu came with the imperial physician from the Taichang Temple to visit the patient.

The imperial physician carefully examined the symptoms and took the prince's pulse, but he was unable to ask the prince himself, as he was already drowsy and his speech was not clear. The imperial physician was only certain that the prince was "really" ill.

That afternoon, more than a dozen imperial doctors came! The prince's illness was real and serious, and the court immediately paid special attention to it.

More than a dozen of the most skilled imperial physicians of the Ming Dynasty were unable to diagnose the prince's condition! Some believed that it was the summer heat that caused the fever, rash, vomiting, etc., but the slow pulse could not be explained.

Some people also thought it was poisoning, but they couldn't tell what the poison was...and when talking about poisoning, the imperial doctors all had worried expressions and most of them remained silent.

Outside the prince's bedroom, Xu Huizu called a maid who had just come out with a copper basin. Xu Huizu asked, "When the prince usually eats, does the maid bring it to him?"

The maid buried her head and stammered, "I'm not sure, most of the time it's like this."

Xu Huizu immediately asked, "The Crown Prince is not able to move around easily, and the brothers are harmonious. Except for most of the time, the Third Prince... Prince Gaoyang will also serve the Crown Prince meals?"

Perhaps because of the mention of brotherly harmony, the maid nodded immediately and said, "Yes."

Xu Huizu asked again, "The prince seems to be vomiting, where is the filth?"

"The servants have already cleaned it up."

"Oh..." Xu Huizu waved his hand, "Tell the people who serve the prince that if he vomits again, don't throw away the things. The imperial doctors may be able to help."

"Yes." The maid quickly knelt down and said, "I'll take my leave."

Xu Huizu's companion didn't say anything, but just stood aside and listened to his question. Xu Huizu said, "Let's go to the kitchen and take a look."

This companion named Qu Neng was a capable military commander who inherited the post of Sichuan Commander-in-Chief and made many contributions in Sichuan. He had just returned to Beijing to report on his work. He and Xu Huizu had known each other for a long time. Qu Neng, a military commander who had nothing to do with government affairs, had a better relationship with Xu Huizu.

The two walked all the way to the kitchen in the outer courtyard. Xu Huizu looked around and a look of disappointment appeared on his face. Now was not the time to cook. There was no one in the kitchen, and the pots and pans were all neatly put away. Xu Huizu turned around and looked at a ditch outside the kitchen, which led from under the wall to the outside of the mansion. The ditch had also been washed with water.

At this moment, Zhu Gaoxu suddenly walked over here alone. When his eyes met Xu Huizu's, Zhu Gaoxu said, "It is said that a gentleman should stay away from the kitchen. Uncle is of high status, why are you coming to the kitchen?"

Xu Huizu was a little embarrassed and said, "I came to see if the kitchen is clean. I'm afraid the prince has an upset stomach."

Zhu Gaoxu nodded and looked at the person next to him, "This is..."

Qu Neng, who was wearing a gray cloth robe, clasped his fists and said, "I am Qu Neng, the commander of Sichuan, and I am here to meet the Prince of Gaoyang."

Zhu Gaoxu looked calm, without any sign of panic. He also bowed in return, "General Qu, nice to meet you."

Today, Xu Huizu did not act like an elder, nor did he scold him. Instead, he looked at his nephew with a sense of equality. Although Zhu Gaoxu was tall and strong, he was only in his teens after all, and his face was still slightly childish. Only his eyes, which were bright and showed a kind of experience, were very inconsistent with his age.

Maybe it was just an illusion. Xu Huizu felt it was incredible.

Xu Huizu was suddenly excited and sighed, "Many people are doing things, which is very interesting..."

Zhu Gaoxu asked with great interest, "Uncle, why don't you tell me what's so interesting about this?"

Xu Huizu smiled and said, "Probe."

"Oh?" Zhu Gaoxu tilted his head slightly, "What does uncle want to test?"

Xu Huizu shook his head, took a breath through his teeth, frowned, and thought, "Maybe because I don't know everything, and I can't confirm other people's ideas, so I do a little bit, watch a little bit, and keep speculating and confirming. It's safe ..."

After he said that, he stared at Zhu Gaoxu's face without blinking.

Zhu Gaoxu looked confused and asked, "Are you talking about hooking up with this girl?"

Xu Huizu was stunned for a moment, and then embarrassed again. He immediately said with a stern face, "The prince is seriously ill, and you are not a proper brother. You are still thinking about that obscene thing!"

Zhu Gaoxu hurriedly stood there with his fists clasped.

"Hmph!" Xu Huizu flicked his sleeves and walked away. Zhu Gaoxu's voice came from behind him, "Uncle, General Qu, please slow down."

Xu Huizu and Qu Neng left the mansion and rode away on horseback.

Qu Neng asked his followers to slow down, and rode his horse to catch up, and asked, "Duke Wei met Prince Gaoyang in the kitchen. I wonder what the deep meaning of his words is?"

Xu Huizu looked around and said in a deep voice, "It just occurred to me today that Gao Xu killed that official last month. Maybe he was deliberately trying to test the court!"

"This..." Qu Neng pondered.

Xu Huizu said calmly, "Just now when I went out, I wanted to ask the Jinyiwei captain at the door to check whether the prince was poisoned. But it would be useless to say anything. Now the Jinyiwei no longer has the power to interrogate and arrest. Unless the court is informed first and the higher-ups give the order, the Jinyiwei will search the palace. That's why I held back and didn't say anything."

Qu Neng responded but didn't say anything. The two of them didn't want to say anything more and soon fell silent.

Xu Huizu had a hunch: the prince was poisoned, probably by Gao Xu!

But there was no evidence and some unreasonable things in it, so he would not speak it out rashly. He thought: This is how the world is. Others are suspicious of me, and I am also suspicious of others.

Thinking of this, Xu Huizu still smiled bitterly and shook his head.

Qu Neng looked at him in confusion, not understanding what was going on.

Xu Huizu immediately regained his serious expression, looked back at Qu Neng, and stopped talking about the prince's illness. Instead, he said, "My nephew Gao Xu was cunning and fierce when he was young. Later, he followed his father to Beiping, where he mastered the art of archery and horse riding, and often taught soldiers how to deploy troops. I heard that before he was 20, he had followed his father to the north many times, often serving as a vanguard general. He was definitely not a simple man.

This time when I went to the capital, I paid special attention to him. Now it seems that he is even more extreme than before, and even a little... scary! "

Qu Neng was a little surprised by Xu Huizu's choice of words, but he quickly agreed, "After all, the prince is the descendant of Taizu, and is more powerful than ordinary people."

...Xu Huizu had just left when Xu Zengshou arrived. After Zhu Gaoxu arrived in Nanjing, he had never seen the two brothers appear at the same time.

The next to arrive were the husband Wang Ning and Wang Ning's eldest son Wang Zhenliang. As they were all relatives, they could not help but ask about each other's well-being and show their deep concern.

Xu Zengshou also brought a monk with him, saying that he wanted to try to exorcise evil spirits.

Zhu Gaoxu asked about the monk's background and he said privately that he was a monk from Qingshou Temple.

Qingshou Temple? Zhu Gaoxu remembered that his father had a counselor beside him, a monk named Daoyan and Yao Guangxiao. Yao Guangxiao happened to be the abbot of Qingshou Temple.

Zhu Gaoxu looked at Xu Zengshou with meaningful eyes several times. What his uncle Xu Zengshou was doing behind the scenes seemed even more interesting.

Zhu Gaoxu did not take the initiative to bring up the matter again. With the monk relationship, Xu Zengshou was suspected to have close contacts with the Prince of Yan's Palace; but there was another layer of relationship...Yao Guangxiao was the person designated to assist the prince. Internally, Xu Zengshou's relationship with the prince's palace seemed to be even closer.

The closeness of people's relationships varies, just depending on who they are compared with.