Chapter 223 - 221. Investigation II

Third-person POV

Lu Ping brought Weisheng into his temporary camp and served him a cup of tea. Then he pulled out a thin necklace that wrapped in white cloth from his pocket and placed the necklace onto the table in front of Weisheng.

"I thought that it would be better if I give you personally." Lu Ping explained.

"What is it?" Weisheng impatiently asked.

"Murong Qing's necklace. Of course, it is not a coincidence. Furthermore, I found it on the other magic circles. Got it?" Lu Pig sipped his hot tea and glanced at Weisheng with meaningful eyes.

Weisheng didn't reply to Lu Ping nor did he nod his head in affirmation. Lu Ping sighed when Weisheng didn't respond to him.

"It is better if you go back to the Royal Palace. Based on her lack of intelligence, I predict Murong Qing will come to you on her own. At that time, you know what to do. Disregard every emotion you have with Yunru, arrest the whole family. I started to smell some rats roaming around the court." Lu Ping indifferently said.

"I have to find Hong er as soon as possible," Weisheng said with a resolute voice.

Lu Ping stared at Weisheng with pitiful eyes then he looked down at the tea leaf that was floating on his tea.

"I know that you love her very much but now you have kids. You leave them in the Royal Palace just like that. Although you had left all of your guards to protect them, it is not enough. They need their father by their side.

I don't want to re-open your wound but the truth is right in front of us. Her Majesty Empress's power can be said comparable to yours, yet, they still managed to take her away from the tightly guarded Royal Palace.

Moreover, our enemy is someone who is very close to us. It would be a piece of cake for him to infiltrate the Royal Palace, without having to bring any soldier with him." Lu Ping spoke with a grim voice.

Weisheng rose from his seat and walked out of Lu Ping's tent without saying anything. Lu Ping nonchalantly watched him walked out and his eye turned to the tea that he poured for Weisheng.

"Haah~ He didn't drink it." Lu Ping sighed.

He ordered his personal servant to clean the table up then he went to visit Lan Qingshan and Lin Zhenxin. He saw them very into their inspection and decided to not disturb them. He was thinking about looking over the evidence once again but noticed there was something.

"He took it," Lu Ping sighed for the hundredth time.

.

.

Qiyi and Qier looked at Weisheng with weird eyes. They just arrived here not long ago and now they were going back to Royal Palace, they were extremely confused. However, they were only servants, their job is just to follow Weisheng everywhere he goes and protect him.

It took them about a day and a night to reach the Royal Palace. The time they arrived at the Royal Palace, it was already midnight. The servants quickly wake up from their deep sleep just to be dismissed by Weisheng.

He directly went to Xue Lang's bedroom without taking off his armor. The maids that were looking over Xue Lang quietly retreated from the room as they saw how pained Weisheng's expression was.

He sat on the side of the bed and gently caressed Xue Lang's hair with his rough hand. Xue Lang's brows twitched as he felt the warmth that he always loves was lovingly patting his head. Xue Lang slowly opened his eyes and a wide smile spread on his face.

"Im…Imperial father…" Xue Lang weakly whispered.

Then he coughed as his throat was very dry. Weisheng took a bowl of water that the maid had prepared beforehand and scooped a spoon of water then positioned in front of Xue Lang's lips. As currently, he was very weak, Xue Lang obediently drink the water without saying anything.

Weisheng diligently fed Xue Lang water spoon by spoon until Xue Lang lightly shook his head as he drank enough. Weisheng put the bowl back to the side table and the room went silent. Xue Lang has not fully recovered, his eyelids forcing itself to close. Then he heard a faint mumble from the man beside him.

"I am sorry…" Weisheng mumbled with his head lowered.

Xue Lang sleepily stared at Weisheng shedding tears, he placed his hand on top of Weisheng's.

"It is….fine…" Xue Lang smiled weakly.

Then Xue Lang glanced around the room, "Where is…Imperial Mother?"

Weisheng's instantly body froze. Xue Lang was still recovering, it would worsen his health if he told him about the current circ.u.mstance. Weisheng took Xue Lang's hand and placed it under the blanket.

"Sleep, get well soon." Weisheng patted Xue Lang's head.

Xue Lang nodded his head and fell into a deep slumber. Weisheng carefully gets to his feet so he won't wake Xue Lang up. Then he walked out of the room and stared at the full moon that shone brightly in the middle of the dark sky.

The maids that were standing beside the door held their breath, in fear that they would anger the man in front of them.

"Take care of him," Weisheng said before he walked away with Qiyi and Qier following behind him.

The maids stared at Weisheng with disbelief. In the past, Weisheng never spoke to anyone except the Qi brothers, his family, and aides. Even if he had any order or instruction to give, usually it would be Qiyi or Qier that relay the order to them.

"Y-yes, Your Majesty Emperor." The maids bent their waists.

Weisheng aimlessly wandered around the courtyard with Hong er's earrings in his hands. Then he heard chimes sound coming from the garden. He walked slowly to the entrance of the garden, he looked at the pile of snow that was covering the frozen flowers.

"The Empress loves flower," Weisheng muttered as he brushed the frozen flower with his hand. However, as soon as his fingertips touched the flower, it shattered into pieces.

As they were used to Weisheng's vague way of talking, they immediately grasped what Weisheng meant by his words.

"Understood, Your Majesty Emperor. This servant will require the gardener to fill the garden with Her Majesty Empress's favorite flowers." Qiyi bowed to Weisheng.

"One week," Weisheng whispered.

Qiyi and Qier glanced at Weisheng.

"If he can finish it in one week, reward him. If not, bring his head to me." Weisheng said with a blood-chilling voice.

"Y-yes, Your Majesty Emperor." Qiyi stuttered.

Weisheng continued to follow the sound of chimes with his eyes closed, then his steps abruptly halted when he opened his eyes. A glass chime hanging on the roof of Hong er's favorite pavilion, Floating Lotus Pavilion.

A woman in white attire sitting tranquility under the pavilion with a cup of tea in her hand. Weisheng's eyes widened in shock, his lips trembled as he was unable to get a word out his throat. The woman turned her head around and now she was facing him. A wide smile instantly spread on her face as she parted her lips.

"Sheng ge~" She called out with her soft voice.

Weisheng dragged himself towards the pavilion. His steps getting faster and faster until it became a run. He crossed the bridge and leaped to the woman with his arms extended.

"Hong er!" Weisheng cried out her name as he clasped the air. He fell to the ground with his hands clutching the seat where Hong er always sat.

"Your Majesty Emperor! Are you okay?" Qiyi and Qier ran to Weisheng's side.

They were shocked when Weisheng stopped on his track then suddenly dashed to the empty pavilion while calling out to their empress's name. The loss of the empress was too much of an impact on their emperor that it caused him to hallucinate.

"Ho…Hong er… I am sorry…. Because of me…" Weisheng sobbed as he kept punching his chest hoping that it could reduce the pain in his heart.

Qiyi and Qier stood behind him in silence with a pained expression. Both of them understood Weisheng's feelings, Meiyun and Huayun were in a coma for days and haven't shown any signs of waking up. Thankfully, Huayun's condition wasn't as bad as Hong er's nor Meiyun's.

They just hoped that everything would be alright.