The Famous Detective of the Red Mansion

Chapter 442: The Emperor's New Clothes

Boom!

Watching the iron door of the secret room slowly open, Liu Luanwei quickly leaned forward with a flattering shoulder and respectfully listened, "Did Lord Sun ask anything?”

Who knew that halfway through the conversation, Sun Shaozong's face turned to iron and blue as he emerged from inside? The wallowing cloud robe was sticky and covered in something disgusting. In short, the sour smell was hard to stop and made people feel nauseous.

“My Lord, this is?”

“Bad luck, really bad luck.”

Sun Shaozong angrily said, "I’m beating around the bush, forcing her to speak recklessly. However, this woman was so agitated that she suddenly vomited.”

As he spoke, he couldn't help but feel a little nauseous. He covered his nose and said in a muffled voice, "Liu Luanwei, is there any place near here where I can wash myself?”

The eunuchs couldn't help but gloat at these words.

“Yes, there is.”

Liu Luanwei, however, didn’t dare to neglect it and endured the suffocating breath, whispering, "There happens to be a bathtub near here. I'm sorry, I'll take you over.”

“It's not urgent.”

Sun Shaozong waved his hand and said, "Could you please send someone to summon our carriage driver so that I can entrust him to pick up some clothes after washing?”

Liu Luanwei naturally wouldn't refuse such a small matter. He quickly called out several servant girls from nearby, one of whom was assigned to lead Zhang Cheng in, while the others surrounded Sun Shaozong in the bathtub in the southwest corner of the back garden.

Although this bathtub was exquisitely decorated, a small fountain was created in the middle by some unknown technique. However, compared to the wine pool and meat forest in the Prince’s Zhongshun Residence, it was still more than one point inferior.

Sun Shaozong took off his official robe by the bathtub and handed it over to the maids to scrub it first. After waiting for Zhang Cheng to deliver, he whispered a few words and finally went down to the pool to scrub himself.

Those servant girls also wanted to help, but at this critical moment, Sun Shaozong didn’t dare to grow branches out of bounds and refused one by one.

He soaked in the pool for about half an hour, and it wasn't until Zhang Cheng brought the spare official robe that Sun Shaozong dressed neatly again.

“Lord Sun.”

Almost as Sun Shaozong was packing up, Liu Luanwei appeared from somewhere and respectfully said, "Would you like to continue investigating the case or have dinner first?”

“It's natural to continue investigating.”

Sun Shaozong touched the sturdy small porcelain bottle in his sleeve and exclaimed, "Let's go and accompany me to trial the Li-Shi again.”

“Do you still want to go to trial Li-Shi?”

“What's wrong?”

Sun Shaozong's face darkened and he said, displeased, "Do I look like someone who would give up halfway?”

“No, no, no.”

As a person of guilt, Liu Luanwei was now relying on the person in the ”special task force” to say a few beautiful words in the memorial. Seeing Sun Shaozong feeling a bit unhappy at this moment, how could he dare say anything more?

He busily led Sun Shaozong to the secret room.

This time, there was no need for Sun Shaozong to rush people out. Several young eunuchs consciously avoided it.

The filth that Li had previously vomited had already been cleaned up, and even her clothes had been changed into new ones. However, there was still a sour and rotting smell in the air.

Seeing Sun Shaozong come in from outside again, Li's expression was extremely complex, angry, and ashamed.

However, the most common thing was still confusion.

Sun Shaozong smiled at her and walked forward to take off the towel again.

“What exactly do you want to do?”

This time, Li couldn't afford to swallow her saliva. She immediately gave a soft scolding and only sprayed her saliva.

Sun Shaozong took a half step back, avoiding the drool, and said calmly, "Didn't I say that I want you to live and live well?”

As he spoke, he took out a small porcelain bottle from his sleeve pocket, unscrewed the cork wrapped in red silk, and poured out a black pill the size of a peanut in front of Li-Shi.

He thought about it and thought that it wasn't easy to swallow, so he took half a cup of leftover tea from the table and brought it to Li's mouth along with the pill. He coaxed her like a child and said, "Come on, take this medicine first.”

“What kind of medicine is this?”

Li-Shi shrank her neck and asked sharply, "What the hell do you want to do?”

“This medicine is not a big deal.”

Sun Shaozong shrugged and said calmly, "But it just gives you a little bit of leverage to negotiate in front of His Majesty. If you are smart enough, perhaps you can temporarily protect Prince Yizhong from death.”

This was a clever statement, but how could Li-Shi believe it?

Just as she was about to refute Sun Shaozong's absurd remarks, she heard him say, "Why, do you think I dare to openly poison you? Or do you prefer to procrastinate until death rather than fight for Prince Yizhong?”

Li-Shi was stunned.

After a while, she slowly opened her cherry mouth and signaled to Sun Shaozong to feed her the pill.

Sun Shaozong was naturally not polite, so he immediately put the pill into Li's mouth and gave her a few sips of tea.

Li only felt that the pill was fishy, spicy, and greasy, and she felt very nauseous when eating it. If she hadn't swallowed it hard along with the tea, it would have been really difficult to swallow it.

In this way, she still felt uncomfortable in her throat. She swallowed a few mouthfuls of saliva and couldn't help but ask again, "What is this... What the hell is this?”

“Emetic.”

Sun Shaozong didn’t conceal any further this time.

“Emetic?”

“That's right, using this thing ensures that you keep retching and vomiting for the next two to three days, whatever you eat.”

Sun Shaozong paused for a moment and then said word by word, "It's like being pregnant.”

“Are you... Are you crazy?”

Upon hearing this, Li-Shi widened her eyes and blurted out a question. "These tricks, let alone the Imperial Physician, may not even be able to conceal them from those few eunuchs responsible for guarding me.”

“That’s what I wanted.”

Sun Shaozong took the opportunity to sit at the square table and said, "If only a few people could see through this method, wouldn't I, as the initiator, be waiting for someone to kill me?”

Li felt like she was facing an unreasonable madman and couldn't help but laugh or cry, saying, "Since you know this trick can't be hidden from others, what's the point of doing this?”

“This is why you are ignorant.”

Sun Shaozong took out his pocket watch and looked at it, saying, "There's still some time left and right before the drug takes effect. How about I tell you a story?”

Without waiting for Li's consent, he said, "Once upon a time, there was a king who was very fond of fancy clothing. One day, two swindlers volunteered and said they could make an article of magical clothing that only smart people could see.”

At first, Li sounded inexplicable, but later, her expression gradually became solemn.

In the end, Sun Shaozong spread his hands and said, "The king's new clothes can still keep hundreds of officials and people quiet, let alone the child you have in your belly, which is related to His Majesty's imperial power, the national fortune of the Zhou Dynasty, and even the billions of people in the world.”

“At present, among the hundreds of officials in the court, although there are many who want to profit from chaos, those who hope for peace in the world still make up the vast majority.”

“As for the citizens, it's just a lively and novel story about the royal family.”

“The Prince's Concubine was forcibly occupied by the Crown Prince, and after three years of hardships, she finally bit off the Crown Prince's dragon root in one fell swoop. However, she unexpectedly discovered that she was pregnant with the Crown Prince's flesh and blood. Is there anything more bizarre and absurd than this story? If they don't believe this; what else can they believe?”

“Therefore, even if someone dares to risk the great injustice of the world and expose the truth of this matter in the face of His Majesty's thunderous anger, they will only be submerged in the voices of those who pretend to be confused.”

“Unless…”

“The Supreme Emperor wants to face His Majesty in battle, leaving behind an eternal curse of father-son violence.”

Li-Shi was stunned for a long time after listening to these words and she finally regained her composure after a long time. She asked with a complex expression, "What about me? Why should I cooperate with your trick and help that Foolish Emperor... and that shameless Crown Prince?”

“Didn't I say that? This is a bargaining chip for you.”

Sun Shaozong said with a serious expression, "A chip that allows you to bite off the dragon root of the Crown Prince, not only to continue living but also to help Prince Yizhong continue his life.”