Immediately after, they heard the two people whispering there.
"Granny Wang, I don't know if Jiuye and his wife have successfully left this place."
"Is Her Highness missing them and hoping they leave soon, find the Third Prince, and find a way to see you?"
"The only mistake I made in this life was switching out my own flesh and blood back then. Now the Empress is deliberately torturing me and not giving us food to eat, just wanting to watch me die.
Even if my illness is cured by Jiuye's wife, I'm afraid this life will still not escape the Empress's wicked claws.
I only wish to see my own flesh and blood whom I have wronged for over twenty years before I die. In this life, I will have no other regrets."
"Your Highness, please don't think like that. What the Empress's faction has done is an attempt to usurp the throne. We still don't know His Majesty's situation.
If His Majesty has a chance to regain control of the court, we will be saved."
"Heh heh... No one understands His Majesty's character better than me. He is arrogant and reckless, without a clear head in times of trouble. How could we hope for such a person to turn the situation around?"
After that, Concubine Yuan was giving Granny Wang some instructions, such as if she were to die, she must tell Fei Nanyu that his birth mother wronged him, and things like that.
Mo Jiuye and He Zhiran had no interest in listening further. However, they could hear from Concubine Yuan's voice that she was no longer as weak as the day before, and her body was gradually recovering.
As long as Concubine Yuan's health was unimpaired, they had accomplished something significant for Fei Nanyu.
As for how mother and son would get along in the future, that was no longer their concern.
Mo Jiuye took He Zhiran and used their lightness skills to leap over the palace walls. Along the way, they avoided the patrolling guards and arrived outside the Emperor's sleeping quarters.
The Emperor's sleeping quarters were naturally the most luxurious place in the entire palace.
In Mo Jiuye's memory, even in the depths of night, that place should have been brightly lit.
However, today was completely contrary to his impression. Not only was it not brightly lit, there were not even any guards stationed around the palace.
From this, one could preliminarily determine that Emperor Shunwu was not there.
Nevertheless, since they had come, they naturally had to investigate thoroughly and not miss any useful clues.
Mo Jiuye carefully observed the surroundings. Apart from the occasional patrol of guards passing by, there were indeed no fixed guards stationed here.
So, after a patrol of guards had just passed, Mo Jiuye pulled He Zhiran close and the two lightly leapt over the courtyard wall.
Inside the sleeping quarters, it was pitch black. Fortunately, Mo Jiuye was familiar with the place and could find his way by the moonlight.
He took He Zhiran straight to Emperor Shunwu's bedchamber.
Emperor Shunwu's bedchamber was similar to a modern suite, with an entrance leading to a temporary office hall, and separate rooms inside for sleeping.
The door was not locked; Mo Jiuye only had to give it a light push to open it.
They had already confirmed that the entire sleeping quarters were deserted, and Emperor Shunwu's bedchamber was in the middle, surrounded by other rooms. The high walls made it impossible for anyone outside to see in unless they climbed to a high vantage point.
After assessing the safety, He Zhiran took out a flashlight from her spatial storage.
The two used the flashlight to look around.
On the central soft bed, the pillows and such were somewhat disarrayed, and a thin blanket had fallen to the floor.
If analyzed like a crime scene, it was highly likely that Emperor Shunwu was resting here when he was taken away.
Not far away, on the desk facing the bed, the imperial edicts were not neatly arranged as usual, but rather haphazardly stacked there, clearly having been disturbed.
All of this evidence proved one thing: Emperor Shunwu had been forcibly taken away.
As was her habit, before leaving, He Zhiran made a gesture with her small hand, and all the items in the room instantly vanished from sight into her storage space.
The inner room where Emperor Shunwu had rested was also searched, and all items were collected into her storage.
He Zhiran did not do this out of greed, but because Emperor Shunwu owed the Mo family and all the citizens of the world.
After confirming there were no other suspicious signs, Mo Jiuye took He Zhiran and left Emperor Shunwu's sleeping quarters, heading straight for the Empress's residence.
There was no doubt that Emperor Shunwu's disappearance was the work of the Empress's faction. To find out his whereabouts, they had to start with her.
Concealing themselves along the way, the two soon arrived at the Fengxi Palace where the Empress resided.
This place stood in stark contrast to the desolation of Emperor Shunwu's sleeping quarters. Not only were the palace buildings brightly lit, but even the walls around the compound had people stationed with lanterns.
Moreover, about every five minutes, a patrol of guards would pass by here.
Mo Jiuye calculated the gap in the patrol shifts and took He Zhiran around to the most lightly guarded area behind the Fengxi Palace before leaping inside.
Although Mo Jiuye was familiar with the layout of the palace grounds, he had never been to the Empress's Fengxi Palace and was not too clear about the interior structure.
He had been prepared to hide as soon as they entered, but fortunately, their landing spot was the rear courtyard of the Fengxi Palace, with no one around nearby.
To obtain useful information, they had to head towards where there were people.
Mo Jiuye took He Zhiran's hand and, while observing their surroundings, walked towards the direction of the Empress's bedchamber.
This seemed to be the most secluded area of the Fengxi Palace, with only a few rooms for storing miscellaneous items and nothing else.
They had not gone even ten paces when Mo Jiuye suddenly stopped.
He Zhiran's perception was not as keen as her husband's, but she knew that Mo Jiuye must have noticed something to halt so abruptly.
She asked softly, "Husband, what is it?"
Mo Jiuye made a gesture for silence, then pulled He Zhiran close and leapt up into a large nearby tree with her.
Soon, the sound of cursing voices could be clearly heard.
"Hehehe... Never thought you old fox would end up in our hands too. The Empress is merciful and wants to give you a quick death, but we will defy her wish."
"Xu Li, you are just a disgraceful upstart. If it weren't for us taking pity on you back then and keeping you by our side to teach you, could you have achieved your status today?
Yet you repay our kindness with treachery and treat us like this?"
"Hmph! Back then you kept me by your side under the pretense of teaching me. But was that teaching?
Every day I had to pour your bathwater for you. If you were unhappy, you would beat and scold me. I will make you pay for that for the rest of your life."
The people in the conversation, one of the voices Mo Jiuye was very familiar with - it was Qi Changshun, the chief eunuch attending to Emperor Shunwu.
He spoke in a voice only He Zhiran could hear, "Ran, you stay here and wait for me. This person may know Emperor Shunwu's situation."
With those words, he used his lightness skills and in the blink of an eye, arrived behind the newcomers from behind.
