Chapter 271
Chapter 271 - Blemish
The night was as dark as the water. A cloaked figure walked out of the secret room and knelt in front of the emperor without making a sound.
“You're here …” The emperor leaned back on the soft couch and closed his eyes to rest.
“Yes, Your Majesty.” Huo Yidao took off his cape to reveal a face that was much thinner than before.
The emperor opened his eyes and stared at him, his gaze full of scrutiny and doubt. It wasn't that Huo Yidao didn't know what he was suspecting, but he was incapable of explaining.
Only now did he realize how foolish he had been for doing something that was completely inhumane.
“Alright, get up. Although this time's incident did not succeed, it was fortunate that you were not exposed …” The Emperor frowned and asked with some worry, “You didn't expose yourself, right?”
“Probably not.” Huo Yidao thought back to the matters at home these two days. It seemed that everyone treated him the same way, but it was the Huo Yiloong who had just come out of seclusion that got punished to kneel in front of the Ancestral Hall because of his illegitimate son.
It was as if the matter of the letter was already in the past and his father had not sent anyone to investigate. Huo Yidao sensed that something was amiss, but he was unable to pinpoint what was amiss.
“That's good.” The emperor supported Huo Yidao and sighed, “Originally, I thought that everything was safe, but I didn't expect your father to be so alert.
“This official doesn't know either.” Huo Yidao boldly met the emperor's gaze, not faking it at all.
The emperor stood up from the soft couch. He was wearing only a thin nightgown, revealing his emaciated body.
Huo Yidao was startled, he did not realize that the emperor's body was so weak, and looking at his face, it looked darker than usual, and he was even coughing a few times from time to time.
It seemed that the rumors about the emperor's weakening body was not a rumor. No wonder even the First Prince had to take action now.
“The Emperor needs to take care of the dragon's body, there's no hurry regarding the Huo Family.” It was true that he wanted to be the patriarch, but he also didn't want to see the outcome of how the Huo Family would survive.
He had been persuaded by the Emperor to place the letter, but he regretted it afterwards. He couldn't eat or sleep well, and he had thought of secretly changing the letter, but he hadn't had the chance.
The Marshal Huo's study was not that easy to enter. Even if he was a young master with decent Huo Family, he would need his father's permission to enter.
Under normal circumstances, there would be people accompanying him. On that day, he was accompanying a deputy general to the study room to retrieve something. While the deputy general was bent over searching for something, he would secretly hide the letter in a book and remember the name of the book.
“Next up, I have a plan to work with you.” As the Emperor fiddled with the wick of the lamp, the light in the hall flickered and grew brighter.
Huo Yidao lowered his head, making it difficult for others to see his expression, “Your Majesty, please give your orders.”
“Since the crime of colluding against an enemy and selling their country has not been established, we can look for more evidence, but it would seem too deliberate. Why don't we transfer your father and brother to the southeast coast to resist the Pirate first?
“Pirate?” Huo Yidao did not understand.
“That's right, there should be news arriving tomorrow. A bunch of rogue officials like to add insult to injury to trouble the people. They deserve to be killed!”
Huo Yidao was quite familiar with the situation as he heard that the old clan which had escaped back then had settled down on an isolated island in the ocean to plunder the coastal area to survive. They had to go ashore at least three times a year, and every place they passed by, their officials would all be killed.
“Won't it be a bit difficult to get father and big brother to go exterminate the bandits …?” Overkill?
That group of people were actually not many. Three thousand soldiers were enough to deal with them, but they were too vigilant. Usually, before the imperial army arrived, they would have already escaped out of the sea.
There were so many islands overseas that it was impossible to find any traces of these people.
“There's no one in the court.” “The Marshal Huo is our most trusted general. Only when he makes a move can we guarantee success.”
Huo Yidao did not believe the emperor's words, but he believed that it was absolutely true that he wanted to call his father out of the capital.
“Then what does the emperor need this subject for?”
The emperor's eyes shone brightly as he looked at him and said with a smile, “This time, you will follow them. I want to know their whereabouts and their arrangements.”
“This official is a civil servant!” Huo Yidao lowered his head and said.
“What happened to the civil servant? Which army didn't have civil servants? We will order you to assist the Marshal Huo in exterminating bandits. “
“This… Would Father notice it? ” If his father found out that he was a traitor to Huo Family, he would not dare to imagine what would happen to him.
“No, they will only think that this is our compensation for Huo Family, a chance for your family to earn merits. It's a waste and no one else wants it.”
Huo Yidao didn't know whether or not he was going to leave the palace. His mind was filled with thoughts of whether or not he would get what he wanted if he did this.
It was impossible for a tree to form into a forest by itself, and it was impossible for him to hold up Huo Family all by himself.
Even though the Emperor had promised him, he didn't really believe him and had no choice but to prepare.
Returning home from the back door, Huo Yidao didn't rush to light his lamp when he entered the room, but sat by the window thinking. This time, the Emperor didn't tell him the specific plan of action, but he could guess that the Emperor wanted to use Pirate to get rid of his father.
But where would the other side get the confidence to get rid of his father? Huo Yidao felt that there were definitely some details that he did not know.
“Where did he go?” A familiar voice suddenly sounded out in the room, shocking Huo Yidao so much that he almost fell down from his chair.
“Who?” “Father?” Huo Yidao's heartbeat sped up as he saw a blurry figure following the direction of the voice.
His throat moved, and he was sure that there was no such shadow when he entered the room.
“Where did you go?” Huo Zhengquan asked again.
Huo Yidao gradually calmed himself down and lit up the oil lamp, he could clearly see the man wearing his outer robes sitting beside his bed.
Instead of answering, he asked, “Father, why aren't you sleeping this late?”
“En, if you can't sleep, then come out for a walk. I just happened to pass by your courtyard and wanted to come in and play chess with you.” After all, Huo Yidao was a civil servant, and his chess skills were the highest among all the brothers in the Huo Family.
Huo Yidao smiled, “So father wants to play chess now. Your son received a letter from a friend and went out to gather for a while. He came back late, and didn't go through the main entrance.”
The Huo Family wasn't too strict with the disciples' discipline, especially after he was sure that he would walk the path of a civil servant, Huo Zhengquan basically did not care about him, and it was normal for him to come back late at night.
However, Huo Zhengquan today was not so easy to talk to, “Oh, with whom did you go out with? Our Huo Family is indeed an eventful place, be careful of what others do. “
Huo Yidao's heart skipped a beat, he didn't know if what he said was true, but he said calmly: “Father is overthinking things, he is my son's colleague. A small fry like him, something bad happened at home, so he asked my son to accompany him for a drink.”
Huo Yidao had always been a cautious person. At this time, he indeed had a slight smell of alcohol on him, if he did not have a suspicious attitude, he would definitely believe it.
Huo Zhengquan remained silent for a long time. Just when Huo Yidao thought that he had revealed a flaw, the other party sighed and stood up.
Looking at his leaving figure, Huo Yidao covered his eyes. He didn't know what he had done exactly, all these years, this matter had already become his obsession, and no matter what, he had to continue.
After Huo Zhengquan left, he did not immediately return to his room. Instead, he went to the study room.
“Tell me what you saw.”
“Yes, after this subordinate went out with Second Young Master, I saw him go to a tavern. He sat there drinking half a pot of wine, then he said that he wanted to go to the restroom and went to the tavern's backyard.” Yes, after this subordinate followed Second Young Master, he watched him go to a tavern, he sat there drinking half a pot of wine, then he said that he wanted to go to the tavern's backyard.
The subordinate was shocked. After confirming that the second young master had not left the room, he waited on the roof for two hours before seeing the second young master walking out from a hidden door.
Subordinate does not know where the secret door leads to, nor do I dare to carelessly touch it.
This son of his was unique since he was young. When he was young, he had great talent in martial arts, and he had always thought that he had the most talent in Huo Family. Unexpectedly, he had abandoned martial arts midway and insisted on taking the examinations to become a civil servant.
Huo Family did not require the support of a pavilion elder, nor could they have the support of a pavilion elder.
The father and son were well aware of this matter. He was always angry and guilty towards his son, so he didn't care about him too much.
“Give me the location of the secret passageway. Send two more people to follow him and report every move to me.”
“Yes, that tavern is at the end of East Sun Street, in front of the door hung a blue flag, in the back of the tavern is a row of small houses, counting from the left to the third room, the hidden door is on the wall to the south, on the wall is a row of bookshelves, your subordinate didn't see how the second young master opened that door.”
“Mm, got it.” Huo Zhengquan waved for him to go out and sat in the study room until daylight.
Too many things had happened recently, so he was worried about the safety of his family's children. He secretly sent people to protect them.
Other than Yin Xu, who had sent the person back earlier, the other sons did not know of this.
He hadn't expected to discover such an interesting thing.
Huo Zhengquan thought about Teng Yu, and wasn't sure if he knew something, but if it was, then his hands had stretched out too long.
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