The fat poisonous insect was too late to escape, its plump body quickly shriveled up, and the little Furball devoured it, leaving a corpse of a poisonous insect on the ground.

Bai Ruozhu drowsily opened her eyes, "Furball, what’s going on?"

Furball, with a smug face, sought credit from Bai Ruozhu, urging her to look at the fat poisonous insect on the ground.

Bai Ruozhu glanced at it, "Thank you, you protect me well, continue sleeping now."

She was too tired and fell back asleep immediately after speaking.

Furball then lay back on her shoulder, carefully observing the surroundings, perhaps another poisonous insect might attack?

Of course, if it comes again, it wouldn’t mind treating it as an extra snack.

The next morning, Bai Ruozhu woke up with a stretch and suddenly scratched her head, saying, "Did some poisonous insects attack us last night?"

Furball flew up, trying various cute poses for praise. Bai Ruozhu tapped its head with her finger, smiling, "Alright, I’ll reward you with a drop of Spring Eye Essence later."

Furball jumped up joyfully. That substance wasn’t abundant, and Xiaohei always wanted to snatch it, but unfortunately, this time it couldn’t outdo Furball.

The disgruntled Xiaohei in the space strongly demanded to join the night watch next time. Bai Ruozhu couldn’t help but laugh and said, "Alright, from now on you both can keep watch at night."

Everyone got up one after another, and soon the palace maids brought breakfast. The group ate breakfast together and inquired with the palace maids but still hadn’t found Prince Wen De.

"I guess it’s going to be difficult to find him." Bai Ruozhu remarked.

After breakfast, the Astrologer came over, taking out a box, saying, "This is the box where the Star Plate has been stored for years. There’s a connection between the treasures, and through this box, we can definitely find where the Star Plate is. I believe even if the Star Plate is not with Song Yi, once we find it, we can certainly thwart Song Yi’s next plan."

"When can you cast the spell?" Jiang Yichun asked.

"Not possible now, so I want to ask Qiu Zhi and Coral to help me, with the three of us casting the spell together, we should be able to locate the Star Plate." The Astrologer said somewhat proudly, "I found this method in ancient books, Song Yi wouldn’t know, and we can catch him off guard."

Qiu Zhi immediately said, "Alright, we’ll cooperate with you."

Coral nodded naturally, and the three of them began preparing, setting up the ritual right in the yard.

Soon, the Star Plate’s location appeared, and because all three cast the spell together, the Astrologer’s view was much more detailed. He exclaimed, "It’s actually in the Emperor’s bedchamber!"

"So Song Yi is hiding next to the Emperor?" Coral asked in shock.

Bai Ruozhu suddenly spoke, "I know, it’s in that secret passage, let’s hurry over there!"

Everyone came to a sudden realization; Song Yi used poisonous insects to control the Emperor and also learned about the secret passage, and often the most dangerous places are the safest, and easily overlooked by everyone.

If not for the three of them casting the spell, who would have thought the Star Plate was in that secret passage?

Not daring to delay, they hurried to the Emperor’s bedchamber.

The Emperor and Da Gu saw them rushing over with great momentum, thinking they had some conflict with General Chisong and were coming specifically to complain.

"Your Majesty, we need to open the secret chamber, Song Yi stole the astrologer family’s treasure, and now I have calculated that the treasure is in the secret chamber, not sure if Song Yi is also hiding inside." The Astrologer got straight to the point.

The Emperor turned pale with fright. If the secret chamber houses the most dangerous element, wouldn’t he be sleeping with the wolf?

"Hurry and check, don’t let anyone get away." The Emperor said urgently.

He took the initiative to open the mechanical lock, and this time it was much simpler, revealing everything in the secret chamber to everyone.

It was empty inside, with no one in sight.

"We need to open one more secret chamber." Bai Ruozhu said.

The Emperor nodded, then opened the mechanism hiding the secret compartment, revealing another small space.

Without needing any prompting, the Emperor pressed the mechanism on the bookshelf, opening the long secret passage.

The Astrologer was the first to go in, quickly finding the Star Plate hiding in a corner.

"Could Song Yi have just been here and already escaped through the secret passage?" The Astrologer asked.

Bai Ruozhu shook her head, "If he had time to escape, how could he bear to leave the Star Plate behind?"

"It seems he doesn’t know we’ve found the Star Plate yet. As long as we keep the news sealed, he’ll inevitably come to retrieve it, and we can catch him red-handed." Bai Ruozhu said with a smile.

Yuan Licheng immediately said excitedly, "I’ll set up a formation so that once he comes, he will be trapped inside, unless he can fly to the heavens, he won’t be able to escape!"

"Alright, let’s leave that task to Xiaoyuan." Jiang Yichun said.

Bai Ruozhu looked at the Emperor, "Your Majesty, this matter must be kept confidential, it must not get out."

"Alright, only Da Gu and I will know about it." The Emperor said.

Bai Ruozhu was still a bit uneasy, so she had Furball check Da Gu just to be sure, as this one day doesn’t mean he hasn’t been planted with poisonous insects.

Da Gu was also quite nervous, but fortunately, Furball said there were no poisonous insects in him, and upon hearing Bai Ruozhu say so, he heaved a big sigh of relief.

"Then Xiaoyuan and Lan Ying will stay, and the rest of us should go back to the Posthouse for now." Bai Ruozhu suggested. They had been gone for two nights and a day, and Ning Yu and Diao Bin were still recuperating at the Posthouse. Although Mo Beishan was taking care of them, they were still somewhat worried."

"Alright, alright, if anything comes up, I’ll have Da Gu contact you." The Emperor said.

...

In Empress Yazi’s bedchamber, she slept through the previous night, and her face was not as pallid as before, so she pulled the Second Prince over to ask about what had happened.

The Second Prince, worried about his Empress Mother, stayed by Empress Yazi’s side all the time. The two of them had just been talking for a short while when Princess Ya’an hurried over.

"Mother, I’ve heard everything, you have suffered." Princess Ya’an said, her eyes turning red.

The Second Prince coughed twice, "Mother, I was afraid you might harm Ya’an, so I had the guards lock her up. I only released her today."

Princess Ya’an glared at him, "Brother, you’re really going too far!"

Empress Yazi hurriedly said, "Don’t blame your brother, I was indeed controlled by the poisonous insects, I didn’t even know what I would do, and if I accidentally harmed you, even if I woke up, I couldn’t forgive myself."

"I understand Brother was trying to protect me, forget it, let’s not talk about this anymore, since you’re well, we are relieved." Princess Ya’an said.

"Hurry and tell me exactly what I’ve been doing recently." Empress Yazi urged.

The Second Prince laughed awkwardly and asked, "Mother, do you remember about me being poisoned and almost dying?"

Empress Yazi showed a terrified expression, "What? You were poisoned? Are you alright now?"

The Second Prince and Princess Ya’an exchanged a glance, it seemed that before the Second Prince was poisoned, Empress Yazi had already been controlled by the poisonous insects!

They had never been able to find the person who poisoned the Second Prince, but now it seemed highly likely it was done by Empress Yazi who was controlled by the poisonous insects.

Because she was the birth mother of the Second Prince, the Second Prince was completely off guard against her, making her the best candidate to administer the poison.