Chapter 222 - 220. Investigation I

Third-person POV

He passed them back to Jin Momo and Ming Yu after both of the babies were asleep. He dismissed all of the servants except Qiyi and Qier. He ordered them to grab new clothes for him. Without any delay, Qiyi went to his wardrobe and take a set of clothes then ran back to Weisheng.

Both of them helped him to wash his face and brush his hair. Seeing his own reflection on the mirror, he instantly disheartened from the tattoos that were covering half of his face.

'It's permanent,' he sighed.

Then he glanced at Qier's hands that were brushing his hair. Usually, it was Hong er who brushed his hair every morning. Her fingertips would softly brushed over his scalp whenever she slides the hairbrush down his hair. She would also sing her favorite song happily.

As his mind was filled with Hong er singing, he unconsciously hummed along Hong er that was in his imagination. Qier's hands abruptly stopped when he heard the low humming sound coming out from the tall man in front of him.

He glanced at the mirror and saw Weisheng smiling gently like how he always smiled whenever he sees Hong er. Qier gritted his teeth as his hurt ached to see his normally stoic master depressed over his lost wife.

Weisheng opened his eyes when he noticed that Qier hands' stopped. Qiyi nudged Qier's arm with his elbow to notify him. Realizing his mistake, Qier quickly bowed to Weisheng and apologized. Weisheng nodded his head as he didn't have time to think about Qier's tiny mistake.

"How long I have been out?" Weisheng asked.

"2 days, Your Majesty Emperor," Qiyi replied.

Weisheng tapped his fingers on the dressing table and asked, "Xue Lang and Yue Ying?"

"His Highness Prince Xue is still unconscious and last night, Her Highness Princess Yue woke up. However, she is sleeping right now. Shall this servant wake Her Highness Princess Yue up?" Qiyi questioned.

"No. How about mother?" Weisheng took one of Hong er's jewelry and gently caressed it.

"We had sent a message to them and they said that they were on their way back to Royal Palace. They also said that Her Majesty Empress Dowager was so shocked that she almost fainted but overall, she is fine." Qiyi replied while staring at Weisheng's hand movement.

Weisheng's hands stopped for a while before he continued to ask, "Any clue about the empress?"

Qiyi bit his lips as he was afraid that Weisheng would go berserk if he said the truth. But he knew it was futile to lie to Weisheng.

"Lu Gongzi immediately went to investigate as soon as he heard the news about Her Majesty Empress. There is still no news from Lu Gongzi." Qiyi said without looking at Weisheng's fiery red eyes.

"Where is he?" Weisheng inquired with a blood-chilling voice.

.

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"You have come, Your Majesty Emperor." Lu Ping respectfully bowed to the tall man in front of him.

"En, what do you find?" Weisheng dismounted from Xiao Hei while asking Lu Ping questions.

On that day, Weisheng immediately departed from the Royal Palace after he temporarily passed his authority to his maternal uncle, the current prime minister, who is also Lu Ping's father and Lu Cixi's younger brother.

There were three highest positions in the government which were called Three Excellencies. Lu De Xing as the Chancellor, meanwhile, Lu Ping is acting as Weisheng's Imperial Counselor where his position almost the same as his father's.

(AN: Lu De Xing is Lu Ping's father.)

The last position, Grand Commandant, was previously held by Weisheng. However, after he ascended to the throne, this position had been vacant as none of the general was as good as him. He was thinking about giving it to Xu Tingfeng but Xu Tingfeng himself was still Da Chu's civilian.

"Yes, I just found a bas.e.m.e.nt which I assumed the place where they captivated Her Majesty Empress." Lu Ping explained with a serious expression.

Without wasting any time, Lu Ping quickly guided Weisheng into the bas.e.m.e.nt and showed him the magic circles that were drawn with blood. Lu Ping glanced at Weisheng's grim expression and sighed.

"Firstly first, promise me that you will not go berserk or else you will delay our investigation and probably destroy everything in here which is not good." Lu Ping fearlessly reminded Weisheng.

Weisheng silently nodded his head as he understood what Lu Ping's words meant. Then he continued to pay attention to Lu Ping who was standing in front of a table that was full of random stuff. His eyes caught a glimpse of the familiar earrings, he reached over and rubbed the dust off the earrings.

"Hong er…" Weisheng whispered her name under his breath.

"Yes, as you can know that is Her Majesty Empress's earrings that she wore daily. We found that at about 1 km from here hidden in the bushes. Maybe it was unintentionally dropped to the ground when they move her to another place.

I had sent your elite forces to track them down but maybe it will take more time because they erased their traces." Lu Ping explained.

Then he walked towards one of the magic circles that had a wooden block in the middle of it. Lu Ping took out his handkerchief and rubbed some of the dried up blood with the handkerchief before he handed it to Weisheng.

"We conducted a blood test on it and it is indeed Her Majesty Empress's blood." Lu Ping continued.

Weisheng gripped the handkerchief in his hand and burned it off with his black flames.

"But some of the blood at here and that corner was not Her Majesty Empress's. It seems like there were several people in here that were injured during the ritual." Lu Ping pointed at a few spots where the blood had a slightly different shade.

Weisheng narrowed his eyes as he could see the difference between the blood on the handkerchief and at the spots that Lu Ping pointed.

"I know that the language in the magic circles is Divine Language but I am completely clueless about the meaning of the words and the purpose of this ritual. Very few people can read Divine Language because the books about them were destroyed in wars." Lu Ping sighed while staring at the magic circles with a frown.

"I can read it," a deep voice sounded out from behind them.

Weisheng and Lu Ping glanced over at the newcomer.

"Lan Laoshi?" Weisheng said with a questioning tone in it.

"Greeting to Your Majesty Emperor. Lu Gongzi asked me to come and coincidentally I was passing by the city near here. And there is Madam Wang with me." Lan Qingshan moved to the side and revealed Lin Zhenxin standing behind him.

(A/N: For you guys that forget about them. Lan Qingshan is Hong er's teacher when she was young, she taught her literature, math, etc. Lin Zhenxin is Bai Huiqing's best friend and partner in creating magic tools, she is very knowledgeable about magic.)

"Greeting to Your Majesty Emperor. I have come to assist Lu Gongzi in this investigation." Lin Zhenxin said with a soft smile on her face.

"Then, I will count on you." Weisheng nodded his head to respect the elders.

Lan Qingshan and Lin Zhenxin swiftly went to the side of the magic circles to scrutinize the words that were written in it.

Lan Qingshan interpreted the Divine Language to Lin Zhenxin, on the other side, Lin Zhenxin wrote down everything that Lan Qingshan said and drew out the magic circles onto her notebook.

Lu Ping stared at them with a satisfied expression then turned his eyes to Weisheng.

"While they appraise the magic circles, I will show you something." Lu Ping said to Weisheng and walked out of the bas.e.m.e.nt.