Chapter 82: The move to Ningzhuo 2

The Present: The courtroom of the imperial palace of Northern Wei.

Emperor Zhong sat on the Dragon Throne at the centre of the wide palace hall, seething with anger as yet another military official came forward to support the petition for the appointment of Lu Yaozhu as the military governor of Chengxu submitted by The Minister of war Tian Ke.

Even after he had dismissed all their numerous written petitions, they dared to bring it up in courts. These military officials had a lot of guts to submit a verbal request in court and the presence of the delegates from Chu state. 

Emperor Zhong clenched his teeth, he glanced at the quiet Lu brothers and Minister Tian, their co-conspirator. This must be the two brothers plan, they couldn't get him to give Lu Yaozhu more power through the usual methods, hence they decided to go all out.

Emperor Zhong didn't like to be cornered but since they were determined to bend his hands he will deal with them. Emperor Zhong had already made plans to handle these greedy bunch, starting with Lu Yaozhu. He waited for the current speaker to finish speaking before swooping in for the kill.

"I have some really good officials, look at how you are all jumping up and down about the appointment. I understand that the urgency in choosing a new military governor for Chengxu. With our extending kingdom, these things are necessary.

"However, after giving it some thoughts, I don't think it is necessary to send General Lu to Chengxu. Sending over a military governor of General Lu's calibre is a waste of his talent. A military governor was necessary when there was still unrest in the south.

"The Previous Governor did a good job in quenching the unrest, Chengxu is now in peace. I am sending the sixth prince Zhongshan Cheng to take charge of that seat. General Lu's talent is more needed to curb the wide clans in Ningzhuo"

A chill spread around the entire hall as he said that, it was so quiet that even the sound of a pin when dropped would be heard in the hall. Everyone looked at the Emperor in shock, they could help but glance at the quiet young General who stood on the second role of long lines of the military officials.

Who is the Emperor trying to fool by pretending to send General Lu to where "his talents" was needed. This isn't a promotion but a curse, how is sending him to the far north something good. The Emperor was just sending him to suffer, was far not a cold land where it was winter for the majority of the year.

Even when it wasn't snowing the weather was too cold. Ningzhuo was the capital seat of the far north region where there was constant unrest and other problems. It was known as the barren lands for a reason.

The unfavourable weather conditions coupled with the constant bandit's attack and unrest with their northern neighbours made life unfavourable for the inhabitants. Lu Yaozhu wasn't going to have it easy there.

Ningzhuo never had the typical summer weather because of its location. it was either winter or spring and even when they did, it was extremely hot. Everything was to the extreme in that region, compared to the other towns in the far north, Ningzhuo was a breeze. Sending Lu Yaozhu to Ningzhuo was an obvious punishment ser up by the Emperor.

Everyone expected Lu Yaozhu to challenge the Emperor's decision and try to get sent to another border town but that wasn't the case. They were surprised when Lu Yaozhu walked forward and accepted the "promotion". 

Bad news they say travels fast, by the end of morning court the news of Lu Yaozhu's "promotion" had gone wide. 

****

At Minister Zhu's residence, the main madam's room.

Zhu Feifei rushed over to her mother as soon as the news of the sixth Prince's posting got to her. Zhu Feifei spent her entire life in the capital, the prospect of leaving her familiar place for a smaller city scared her. she immediately rushed over to seek her mother's advice.

Zhu Feifei rushed to sear next to her mother as soon as the maids were dismissed. "Mother something bad has happened, his highness has been posted out of the capital! Did we lose favour with his Majesty! What do I to do!"

Patting her hands gently, Madam Zhu tried to console her troubled heart, Zhu Feifei was heavily pregnant, it wasn't good for her to be worried. Especially since she was pregnant with the Emperor's first grandchild.

"Feifei'er, calm down! There is no need to worry, his Highness is his Majesty's favourite child. Her Majesty would do anything to hurt him, his majesty sending him to Chengxu is sudden. However is not a bad thing, on the contrary, It is a wonderful idea."

Zhu Feifei stopped fretting and looked up "really!" She said.

Madam Zhu nodded "yes, Chengxu is one of the biggest cities in Northern Wei. Ningzhuo is considered a ghost town compared to Chengxu. Everything from the weather to the standard of living is all on par with the capital. You will not be disappointed"

Zhu Feifei sighed, "now I can relax, mother do you know how scared I was when I got the news. I thought that tge Emperor was trying to punish us like he did Lu Yaozhu but turns out he isn't."

"Yes, this is also a good way to test His Highness leadership qualities. If he makes a good contribution to the kingdom, everyone will see him in a good light. It might even help him get appointed as Crown Prince since the crown prince doesn't have many achievements on his plates. The Lu family are now at loss, now that Lu Yaozhu is transferred to Ningzhuo."

Zhu feifei nodded "Their lose has become our gain, good"

Now that she wasn't worried about the sudden move, Zhu Feifei remembered the events of yesterday and the part she had in Lu Yaozhu's marriage and how she had let Su Liya know. She had felt uneased after discovering that it was a misunderstanding. She had asked around, specifically the sixth prince's servant and it was just as he had informed her.

He never met with Su Liya that night but had spent the night at a brothel with her elder brother. She had been misled by Zhu Fenfang, who for whatever reason wanted to hurt Su Liya. He spied couldn't find out the reason but she had discovered quite a few things about that two-faced sister of hers.

Zhu Feifei was initially scared that Su Liya might report everything to the Empress or the Lu family and get her in trouble. However not that Lu Yaozhu was moving to Ningzhuo, Su Liya can't make any moves. Su Liya would be too busy preparing for the move to do that.

She had done it out of anger but now that she was discovered, she couldn't help but worry about how Su Liya would respond. It was a good thing that Lu Yaozhu was moving to Ningzhuo. He would be too busy with the sudden move and wouldn't have time to make a move on her.

Zhu Feifei gazed at her mother and bit her lips. She was contemplating informing her mother about her discovery. When there was a knock at tge door followed by a maid coming in holding a tray of dried preserved fruits, some cakes and cold beverages.

Madam Zhu looked at her lady's maid, "Xiao Lan, you outdid yourself this time. You have been standing here for some time, when did you send a message to the kitchen?"

Xiao Lan or Nanny Ding as she was known to everyone else was madam Zhu's dowry maid and Zhu Faye's nanny. She was the Chief matron in charge of madam Zhu's courtyard, all the servants took orders from her.

Nanny Ding came forward to reply " I didn't call for their madam, her highness's arrival was too sudden. There was no time to prepare for it".

Madam Zhu looked from Nanny Ding to the maid carrying the tray of snacks, "this wasn't your doing? Then who_?"

Nanny Ding looked to the maid and ordered "who sent this?"

The maid raised the tray higher, "answering madam, this was sent over by third Miss. She heard that her highness visited and ordered tge kitchen to send over these refreshments".

Zhu Feifei's expression got sour as she heard the maid's words. After what she now knew of Zhu Fenfang, she knew not to take anything she did lightly. She opened her mouth to reject this but her mother beat her to it.

"Aiya there is no need to do this. Third girl is thoughtful, she still cares about her second sister and even sent over all her favourite snacks. Xiao Lan, please send over my thanks" Madam Zhu Said then to the maid she gestured to the table next to Zhu Feifei's seat and said, "Drop the tray on the table and sent the cook my thanks".

The maid placed tge tray on the small table and left, Nanny Ding followed after her. Zhu Feifei waited until she could no longer hear footsteps before saying "sneaky bitch, mother don't be fooled by that snake. Fenfang isn't any good, be careful of her".

Madam Zhu laughed " Fenfang? What is there to be worried about with that weakling?"

"A lot, her methods are quite bad mother. She is no good" Zhu Feifei replied.

Madam Zhu continued to laugh but when she noticed her daughter's serious expression, she stopped "wait, you are serious?"

"Yes, Zhu Fenfang that ... girl lied about seeing his highness and that slut Su Liya"

"What! Are you serious?" Madam Zhu asked. When she saw her daughter nod, she held her neck and fell back. "tell me".