Chapter 8: Searching the Mansion

  "What's going on? Why is it so noisy outside?" Zhu Yinglong pretended to be woken up, and walked out of his room in a half-asleep state.

  Wang Chengen naturally understood and nodded at the door of Zhu Yinglong's room: "Return to Wang Ye, a left qianhu of the Jin Yiwei of the Northern Pacification Office wants to search the Wang Mansion, saying that an escaped prisoner who committed a serious crime has entered the Wang Mansion."

  "What's going on here? What kind of people are you? How could such a thing happen?" Zhu Yinglong shouted loudly.

  "Your Highness, these are not matters that concern me. In fact, no one has been found to have entered the palace. It seems to me that it's just the Imperial Guards trying to stir up trouble." Wang Cheng'en secretly smiled to himself, but still had to set an example for the other eunuchs in the palace, who knew if there were any spies sent by Wei Zhongxian among them.

  "Oh, so the Jin Yiwei is going to search my palace?" Zhu Yinglong asked angrily. He wasn't unwilling to clean up the eunuchs and maids in his palace, but he couldn't take action now. If he did, Wei Zhongxian would become suspicious and be on guard against him. Although being watched every day was unbearable, taking action at this time would not be beneficial for himself. Anyway, he had only thought about it in his heart and hadn't officially taken any action yet, so these people could stay for now. With them around, Wei Zhongxian could feel at ease and relax his vigilance towards him. As for who was the person Wei Zhongxian had planted by his side, Zhu Yinglong had already figured it out and instructed Wang Chengen to quietly transfer that person to an unimportant position. However, the show must go on. Despite this, Zhu Yinglong still felt a bit uneasy - after all, the other party was a famous eunuch in history who could control the winds and rains in the imperial court, thanks to his own cunning and the trust of Emperor Tianqi. Could it be that the injured woman was sent by him to test himself? But as soon as he thought about it, he dismissed the idea - the woman's injuries were real, not fake, and he had always been cautious. Even if Wei Zhongxian used some means to get rid of the people planted around him, he wouldn't have paid such a great price just to test himself. Once Zhu Yinglong figured this out, he put his mind at ease.

  "This servant doesn't know, Your Highness, whether you should personally go and explain to Left Commander, as this servant's explanation he won't listen to." Wang Cheng'en said cautiously, seeing Zhu Yinglong's changing expression.

  Zhu Yinglong paused for a moment and said: "It's actually like this, let that Left Qianhu wait outside the mansion first, I'll go over after changing my clothes."

  "Yes, Your Highness, I will withdraw." Wang Chengen replied with a bitter smile.

  Zhu Yinglong, dressed in his attire, met the Left Thousand Households of Jin Yiwei at the gate. He was scolding the guards of the Wangfu loudly, even cursing the king himself with all sorts of foul language. No one had ever dared to speak to him like that before, not even behind his back. At most, people would whisper a few words about him, and he would turn a blind eye. Although Zhu Youjian's name was notorious among the common folk, he was still the king of the Great Ming dynasty, far superior in rank to Left Thousand Households. How could Zhu Yinglong not be enraged by such insolence? He had been holding back his anger since arriving in this time and space, waiting for an opportunity to vent it out. Now that the chance had finally come, he would let it all out. This Left Thousand Households was unlucky indeed! Even if he were to report Zhu Yinglong to Wei Zhongxian later, Zhu Yinglong wouldn't be afraid. If a king like him allowed himself to be scolded by a lowly thousand households and didn't do anything about it, wouldn't that become another joke?

  "Daringly, Zuo Qianhu, seeing the king himself, not only did not kneel down, but even dared to be insolent and insult the king. Come on, take him down!" Zhu Yinglong gave the order to take down this arrogant Zuo Qianhu as soon as he appeared.

  He, Zuo Qianhu, was used to acting tyrannically in the capital city on ordinary days. No one dared to provoke him, and for a moment he forgot his own identity. Tonight, he originally wanted to have fun, but unexpectedly encountered this kind of thing, and before that, he had drunk a lot of wine, so he couldn't recognize east, south, west or north anymore. Moreover, the eunuch party was backing him up, making him even more arrogant and overbearing, completely disregarding Zhu Yinglong, this powerless and influence-less prince, and naturally also forgetting that in the Ming dynasty there were still distinctions between high and low.

  The guards in the Wangfu picked up the rope, ready to take people forward, just waiting for Zhu Yinglong's next order. The left Qianhu was first startled out of a cold sweat, but suddenly calmed down and laughed: "This Qianhu is a thousand households of Jin Yiwei, what can you do with this Qianhu as a powerless and influential king? This Qianhu is ordered to search, you are just a small vassal king, in the eyes of our factory public, not even a small ant, stupid king?"

  Zhu Yinglong was furious and shouted: "Such a madman, the guards on both sides, quickly take down this person with Ben Wang. How can there be such a shameless person in the Brocade Guard? Ben Wang wants to go ask Lord Xu how he taught you these subordinates!"

  Four guards rushed out of Zhu Yinglong's mansion and quickly pinned down the Left Qianhu. No one from the Brocade Guard came forward to stop them, allowing the ropes to bind him tightly. Once Zhu Yinglong gave the order, they would use their clubs to flay the skin off the Left Qianhu.

  "Zhu Youjian, you dare to hit me, Ben Qianhu, the factory owner will definitely stand up for me!" The left thousand households suddenly sobered up from their wine, and now they didn't care about anything, just kept loudly scolding over there.

  Zhu Yinglong was almost furious, the small Jin Yiwei Left Thousand Household actually dared to call out the full name of a dignified prince, although he didn't acknowledge this name in his heart, but it can be seen how great Wei Zhongxian's power has become. However, Zhu Yinglong quickly calmed down, with Wei Zhongxian having such great power now, he must be even more careful when doing things, he was still a bit young and impulsive, tonight's matter still needed to be handled calmly, but this tone couldn't be swallowed, can't let people ride roughshod over him, is he not the dignified Prince of the Great Ming Dynasty?

  Zhu Yinglong calmed down, waved his hand to let the guards retreat, and walked in front of him without anger but with a smile: "Well, Lord Zuo has such great official power. You came to our palace so late at night and made such a big fuss. What did we, the Imperial Guards, do to offend you?"

  Isn't this a deliberate question? Wang Cheng'en stood behind Zhu Yinglong, secretly worried. What the king is doing now is obviously taking this Left Qianhu as a scapegoat. However, it's not surprising that the king would do this, as this Left Qianhu was too arrogant. Even if Wei Zhongxian's power was great, he wouldn't dare to insult the royal family like this. This Left Qianhu must have drunk too much horse urine. Such a rebellious and unscrupulous act, killing him would be justified, even Wei Zhongxian couldn't say anything. However, this grudge is now formed.

  That left Qian Hu seeing Zhu Ying Long's tone seemed to have softened, and thought that Zhu Ying Long was afraid, planning to let him go. His voice also grew louder as he said: "Prince Xin, this humble officer has come to investigate the escaped prisoner, but the guards in your mansion won't allow me to enter and search. This is obstructing official business."

  "Reoffending? What reoffending?" Zhu Yinglong asked, pretending to be completely puzzled.

  That Zuo Qianhu looked at Zhu Yinglong's bewildered face, truly believing that Zhu Yinglong was still unaware of the matter. He struggled free from his restraints and stood up, untying the ropes on his own body. Zhu Yinglong did not stop him. All he heard was That Zuo Qianhu saying: "Your Highness, tonight there were suddenly assassins who broke into the Beizhen Fu's great prison, attempting to rescue the imperial offender Xiong Tingyi. I led men in pursuit and arrived at this place, discovering that the person seemed to have entered Your Highness's estate. Therefore, I wish to enter the Wangfu to conduct a search, fearing that the escaped prisoner would startle Your Highness."

  "Wang Chengen!" Zhu Yinglong suddenly shouted loudly.

  "Here comes the scoundrel!" Wang Chengen said.

  "Such a big thing happened and you didn't even tell me, have you forgotten your duties?" Zhu Yinglong's face turned cold as he said.

  "I was wrong, please punish me, Your Highness!" Wang Cheng'en hastily knelt down and begged for forgiveness.

  "Never mind, tonight's events happened suddenly, I suppose you were also caught off guard and didn't have time to inform me. Since nothing happened to me, get up." said Zhu Yinglong.

  "Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty." Wang Cheng'en stood up and thanked him.

  "Since there are no more felons disturbing the king, it's not impossible to let you search the mansion. However, I wonder if Left Commander has any imperial decree or Wei Changgong's token?" Zhu Yinglong suddenly asked with a smile.

  "I arrived in a hurry, fearing that the assassin would escape, and I didn't even have time to report to His Majesty and Lord Wei. The guy's face was full of flattery when he mentioned Wei Zhongxian."

  "Oh, so there's no edict or token, is that right, Lord Zuo?" Zhu Yinglong drawled.

  "Yes." Suddenly, Zuo Qianhu noticed that Zhu Yinglong's tone was a bit off, and his voice suddenly dropped.

  "No token, which means no more orders from above?" Zhu Yinglong said in a strange tone.

  "Yes." Zuo Qianhu was no longer daring to look straight at Zhu Yinglong's face, he wasn't stupid, knowing that he had been led into a trap.

  "Does Lord Zuo know what requirements there are in the Ming Code for searching a prince's residence?" asked Zhu Yinglong.

  "There is at least an imperial edict." The left thousand households' face already had small beads of sweat, and he found that the king above did not intend to let him off. Even if Wei Zhongxian's power was great, at this time he would not offend a king to protect himself, a small thousand households.

  "You don't have the emperor's edict, nor do you have Commander Wei's token. How dare you make such a big commotion in front of my palace? Don't you think that I, this foolish and stupid king, am not even worth considering by the Brocade Guards?" Zhu Yinglong asked, his face inches from his.

  "No, I didn't mean that. There are exceptions to every rule, and I was thinking of the prince's safety." The left thousand households' forehead was sweating profusely as he hastily explained.

  Zhu Yinglong burst out laughing and said to the dozen or so Jin Yiwei guards who had come with him, "For my safety, are you saying that the guards in my palace are not as good as you Jin Yiwei? What do you think I should do with you?" Zhu Yinglong's words were slightly provocative, which made it unlikely for his own guards to collude with the Jin Yiwei, making his safety even more secure.

  There was no response to the question, and the Jin Yiwei brought by Left Thousand Households all lowered their heads in silence. The Wangfu guards also had a look of indignation on their faces. Zhu Yinglong knew that this was not related to the subordinates of Left Thousand Households, so he turned around and said: "This king knows it's not your fault, but since your superior, Left Thousand Households, knowingly committed an offense, this king must give him a small punishment. Considering it was unintentional, let's just give him twenty big slaps, and that's the end of it."

  Most of the guards in the Xinfeng Mansion were squeezed out from the Jin Yiwei and came to serve in the mansion, but Zhu Yinglong was too cautious and didn't dare trust them too much. However, he also thought they weren't bad people. When they heard Zhu Yinglong say this, they immediately rushed forward again and pinned Zuo Qianhu to the ground once more.

  Zhu Yinglong did not let them take action, pointing to the Jin Yiwei who followed: "His Majesty wants you to take action, you clearly know that your Qianhu Da Ren has violated the Great Ming Law, but dare not point it out, so these twenty slaps will be given by you."

  The crowd of guards suddenly became like they had been struck by lightning, each one as still as a cicada in winter. No one dared to step forward and hit their superior. Their courage was not enough, but Zhu Yinglong could see that some people were moved, but did not dare to come forward. This Left Qianhu must have been a strict and unkind superior usually. It seemed that he still needed to add fuel to the fire. His face suddenly turned stern as he said: "What? Are you saying that you can ignore my orders?"

  The guards in embroidered uniforms all knelt down and said: "We dare not."

  "Alright, you're not making a move. Are you trying to be like Zuo Qianhu?" Zhu Yinglong continued calmly.

  "Someone has arrived, take down the brocade clothes and give them to me." Zhu Yinglong suddenly ordered, which was like another loud drumbeat on their heads.

  As expected, someone stood up and said: "Your Highness, I am willing."

  Since someone had come out, Zhu Yinglong waved his hand and beckoned the guards from the Zhu Yinglong manor back.

  One board after another was beaten down, and twenty boards were really beaten. Zhu Yinglong can't beat you Wei Zhongxian now, can he still beat your dog leg?

  "Lord Left, don't blame your brother for this. You were the one who made a mistake first, it was I who allowed him to hit you." Zhu Yinglong lowered his head and knocked on the left thousand households.

  "This official dare not." Zuo Qianhu's teeth were clenched in pain, fearing that he had cursed the Jin Yiwei's ancestors for three generations. The blow was so heavy that if he didn't peel off a layer of skin when he got back, his surname wouldn't be Zuo anymore.

  "Alright, this brother of the executioner is now in your hands, Left Qianhu. I don't want to hear any unfortunate news about him a few days later." This was a blatant threat, and Zhu Yinglong feared that his decision would end up costing an innocent person's life.

  Zhu Yinglong knew this was inevitable and didn't want to make a fuss about it, so he let them go. The people in the mansion's secret room wouldn't be discovered even if they came in to search the mansion.

  Zhu Yinglong first went to the basement and took a look. The masked woman was still unconscious, but her wound had stopped bleeding. It was probably due to excessive blood loss. Zhu Yinglong ordered someone to make her some nourishing soup to replenish her blood. Fortunately, there were enough ingredients in the mansion, so they didn't need to go out and buy them, which would have raised suspicions.

  The veil was lifted, and a pale but very beautiful little face appeared in Zhu Yinglong's eyes. Who was this woman? Why did she want to jailbreak? The person she wanted to jailbreak was still Xiong Tingyi. What was her relationship with Xiong Tingyi? Why did she want to jailbreak? Zhu Yinglong's mind was confused, at least he knew that this masked girl shouldn't be a bad person.

  Such a big thing would naturally not be hidden from the three princesses, and it was unexpected that Zhou Tianning actually knew this heavily sentenced young girl, who was none other than Xiong Tingyi's daughter Xiong Hu, also known as Li Niang. She was even her sworn sister, but after Xiong Tingyi went to prison, the two families had cut off all contact. Later, it was heard that Xiong Hu had returned to her hometown, but no one expected that she would be seen again in her current home, reuniting with her long-separated good sister after three years.

  Leaving Ning to take care of her, Zhu Yinglong and Ye Liangwei, Tian Shulan two women exited the secret room. Ning and she were bosom friends, having her take care of Zhu Yinglong made him feel more at ease. Who would have thought that he ended up saving the daughter of the Tiger Gate, and she was a great beauty? He felt very pleased with his own decision this time, thinking that he had done the right thing.

  Wei Zhongxian's search warrant was soon issued, and the person who came was another qianhu, seemingly knowing that the left qianhu had been beaten, and was very respectful to Zhu Yinglong, but just went through the motions of searching the mansion, found nothing, and returned empty-handed.

  As for Zhu Yinglong beating that Left Thousand Households, I heard he was at home nursing his wounds and nothing happened. The Wei Zhongxian side also didn't make any moves, letting Zhu Yinglong worry for a long time for nothing.

  The people who were openly watching had withdrawn, but the ones secretly watching would not be fewer. Zhu Yinglong knew they would not give up this largest suspect site. According to history, after Empress Zhang was secretly plotted against by Wei Zhongxian and suffered a miscarriage, she could no longer bear children. Later, Yu Fei became pregnant, but she relied on the favor of Emperor Tianqi and did not buy into Wei Zhongxian's and Ke Baobao's accounts. A good medicine ended up on the road to death. As Emperor Tianqi's body grew weaker and weaker, he still had no offspring, and even if there were any, they would die prematurely. As Wei Zhongxian's power grew greater, they thought of Lv Buwei's clever trick and secretly selected young women to sleep with his nephew Wei Guangmiao before sending them into the palace. This was how they achieved their goal of usurping the Zhu family's throne. Therefore, Emperor Tianqi's only younger brother, Prince Xian Zhu Youjian, was naturally the first target he wanted to eliminate, and since he was not in the palace, it would be easier to deal with him. So Zhu Yinglong had to be cautious because he did not know when Wei Zhongxian would put such thoughts into action.