It wasn't that Miraculous Doctor Yu proposed to leave himself, but rather the Emperor ordered him to depart!
Hua Zhi frowned thoughtfully. "I recall that Miraculous Doctor Yu never took the Emperor's pulse before."
"Correct."
"This is unusual. The Emperor's health must have developed some problem."
"If there is a problem, why would he have Miraculous Doctor Yu leave the palace?" Chen Qing's heart suddenly skipped a beat, and he couldn't help but step forward. "Are you implying that this issue cannot be known by others, which is why the Emperor never allowed Miraculous Doctor Yu to check his pulse for routine health assessment?"
They exchanged glances. Chen Qing took a deep breath. "This subordinate will immediately send someone back to investigate."
"Not so fast. Since nothing was found before, investigating now may not yield results either. Either the other party is hiding it well, or we are looking in the wrong direction. Otherwise, we wouldn't have failed to find any clues for so long." Hua Zhi shook her head. "Are you certain the Emperor's spirit appears better than before?"
Chen Qing initially wanted to say yes, but upon careful reflection, he felt it might not be entirely true. After pondering for a moment, he described in detail the Emperor as he had seen him that day. "Compared to before, the Emperor's complexion appears much rosier, but the wrinkles on his face seem... deeper? No, that's not quite right—it's not that the wrinkles are deeper, but his face seems more saggy, even slightly swollen. In this subordinate's understanding, if one's complexion improves, the body should feel lighter than before. Yet the Emperor seems to walk even slower, as if... as if..."
His words seemed contradictory, but Hua Zhi understood what he meant. She finished his thought, "A sense of decrepitude?"
"Yes, exactly—decrepitude. To speak disrespectfully, the Emperor now appears even older than the Empress Dowager."
Hua Zhi nodded slightly. Decrepitude is a feeling that doesn't exist in youth. As one ages, the body naturally reflects it through posture, movement, and so on. In one's early fifties, it's far too early for one's walking pace to slow down.
Her grandfather was about the same age as the Emperor. Before his exile, he looked to be in his forties. People in this era emphasized health preservation; her grandfather often practiced martial arts and swordplay to stretch and exercise his body. There was no sense of decrepitude in her grandfather. Her maternal grandfather was slightly older than her paternal grandfather but still far from decrepit, which made the Emperor's condition all the more unusual.
"Is there any way to forcibly search the Like Orchid Palace?"
"Unless we can find evidence of Consort Yue's misconduct. If so, we could bypass the Emperor and have the Empress Dowager authorize a direct search of the Like Orchid Palace."
Hua Zhi looked at the chests of silver, thinking of Yan Xi who was far away a thousand miles distant, and said softly, "Then let's give her some evidence."
Chen Qing felt a chill in his heart and bowed in acknowledgment.
With this matter weighing on her mind, Hua Zhi grew even more eager to return. She feared Little Six might suffer losses, worried that Haoyue might have set traps during this time, putting their side at a disadvantage, and dreaded that the foolish Emperor, in his misguided concern, might harm Yan Xi again. Even now, Yan Xi still regarded him as family, and she didn't want him to be heartbroken again.
"With no one in charge in Jin Yang, this matter surely won't be delayed for long. We'll return to the capital as soon as our people arrive. By the way, did Yan Xi have any other arrangements?"
"The master instructed this subordinate to follow all your orders."
"Are his forces sufficient on his end? Why not take some more people to support him?"Knowing the young lady was worried about her master's safety, Chen Qing smiled and said, "This matter concerns the Chao Li Tribe, so the master won't be careless. The ship will definitely stop at several major locations along the way to gather personnel from the Seven Constellation Bureau. You needn't worry - the master won't take reckless risks like before as he used to."
"I truly hope so," Hua Zhi suppressed the overwhelming worry in her heart. After finishing her tea, she began fiddling with the abacus. What she needed to do now was quickly transport the silver away.
On the third evening after Chen Qing's arrival, carts loaded with silver silently exited through the west city gate, pulled by horses with padded hooves. General Lu had kept his promise and withdrawn the Green Willow Battalion, personally leading a squad of elite soldiers to guard the warehouse full of silver.
Hua Zhi came with the first batch of silver. Dressed in black and riding a horse whose hooves were similarly padded with soft cloth.
Seeing Lu Peiyu approach, she dismounted. "General, you've worked hard."
"It's nothing." General Lu watched the long carts continuously moving in. "Do you need additional manpower?"
"If the General could provide some assistance, that would be excellent. I've roughly calculated that the silver to be transported amounts to about 1.2 million taels. With just my current personnel, we probably couldn't finish moving it all in one night."
Lu Peiyu was startled. "That much?"
"The prominent families of Jin Yang contributed about 2.2 million taels of silver in total." Hua Zhi wasn't surprised. Although only about twenty people had come that day, far more than those twenty families had suffered heavy losses. While not completely bankrupting themselves, they had been severely weakened. To ensure their safety, they had been quite ruthless with themselves.
"You've essentially intercepted half of it."
"More than half." Hua Zhi tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear somewhat sheepishly. "I couldn't help myself - I kept worrying the Emperor would throw this silver into the water."
Digging canals was indeed like throwing money into water. Lu Peiyu chuckled. This young lady was quite bold, but that was good. Perhaps they would have to thank her for her boldness someday. However, "Won't transporting this much silver all at once be too conspicuous?"
"Indeed. We've made some adjustments to the original plan. The silver will first leave the horse racing track with the horses, but only a portion will continue with the horses. The majority will be transported openly to the capital under the guise of a merchant convoy organized by Jia Yang."
"To the capital?"
"No." Hua Zhi didn't elaborate further, nor would she tell this general that she had no intention of hoarding it at all. She planned to convert this silver into food - in critical times, silver couldn't fill empty stomachs.
Lu Peiyu glanced at her but didn't press further.
The carts traveled back and forth all night before finally moving all the silver out of the city. Hua Zhi then entrusted all subsequent matters to Jia Yang.
While Hua Zhi was tying up loose ends in Jin Yang, Gu Yanxi had arrived at the Seven Constellation Bureau's outpost in Pengkou.
Looking at the unfolded topographic map of Pengkou, Gu Yanxi asked without looking up, "No abnormalities in Pengkou?"
"None. I'm very familiar with Pengkou - if there were people active here as you described, they couldn't escape my notice. But I have no memory of such a group of people." The Seven Constellation Bureau member stationed in Pengkou was named Wan Qi. This was already the eastern region - the Daqing dynasty had always been wary of this area, so personnel placed here were carefully selected. Gu Yanxi believed what he said, but he also believed that a dying man's words are kind, unless the information he had received was incorrect to begin with.
Pointing at several locations on the map, Gu Yanxi said, "Investigate these places thoroughly. Keep it discreet - don't alert anyone.""Yes, I will make arrangements immediately..."
"Master." Wang Hai's voice preceded his arrival, "Yu Mu is here."
Yu Mu was supported as he entered. Contrary to what he had told Hua Zhi about switching horses along the way, he had driven day and night alone to catch up. After drinking a large bowl of water, his voice finally returned, "Not in Pengkou, but in Songzhu."
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