The Yongzhao Emperor had personally arranged for today’s formal audience. Every official who was supposed to play a part had arrived, except for the men from the Xuanying Bureau. This left the Yongzhao Emperor deeply dissatisfied, and at the same time, quite bewildered.
The Xuanying Bureau had always been meticulous in its operations. Regardless of the outcome, they should have sent someone to report back. What could it mean that not a single person had appeared? The Yongzhao Emperor suddenly felt a sense of foreboding. His brows furrowed as he considered a possibility: if the people captured by His Highness Prince Qing were truly Huolu spies, the Xuanying Bureau would have no reason to be absent—unless the results of their investigation were unfit for public disclosure, making them afraid to show their faces.
What kind of results would be unfit for public disclosure? The first thing that came to the Yongzhao Emperor’s mind was a outcome that would bring total disgrace to the royal family. Only such an unbearable result could make the people from the Xuanying Bureau afraid to appear.
Chapter 24