CH 89

Lu Shi Qing smiled resignedly.

After figuring out the deep meaning of Shaohe’s move at the beginning, he didn’t seem to particularly care about Yuan Ci Xian’s intention on approaching him, anyway, whether she provoked him or not, the result would be the same.

Probably because of this, no matter how clumsy her tricks were when she chased him, he accepted it all.

Yuan Ci Xian was also laughing. Satisfied, she tightened the forearm holding his neck slightly, then brought her mouth to his ear, and lightly bit his thin earlobe.

Lu Shi Qing shuddered from her bite, and looked at her sullenly.

Shouldn’t tease him.

Yuan Ci Xian was still so stubborn that she stretched out her index finger to poke his lower abdomen, smiled and said coaxingly: “In two days, I will give you a baby.”

Although Lu Shi Qing’s blood surged up because of her teasing, but the bottom of his heart was calm, knowing that her laughter was just a front.

She had just married him, and she hadn’t completely curbed her playful nature. She was still like a child, and she was not ready to be a mother at all. The reason why she suddenly changed her attitude was probably because of the nightmare this morning.

Yuan Ci Xian had almost confessed everything to him, but she just skipped this dream. But he also roughly guessed: she cried like that, and asked him about his old injury as soon as she woke up, and now she was in a hurry to give birth to him, what else could she be dreaming about?

She had seen the impermanence of the world, so she was all the more eager to seize the moment and achieve success as soon as possible, that way there were fewer regrets.

In the past, she didn’t have much care in the world, so she was reckless, ad free and unconstrained. But now that she used her heart, she also knew how to feel anxious and to look ahead and behind.

Lu Shi Qing was happy in his heart, but he didn’t want her to have a child because of this anxiety.

It was like if she gave birth to a pair of children and extended the Lu family’s lifeline, then when he encountered death in the future, she would no longer struggle to survive, and just walked away gracefully.

He frowned, took her hand, pressed it to his heart, and asked, “Did you hear that?”

Yuan Ci Xian looked at him puzzled: “What?”

“As long as it beats for a day, you will be there for a day. As long as you are there for a day, it will not dare to stop for a day. The bad things in your dreams will not happen, we can have children later.”

Yuan Ci Xian hated that her mind was seen through by him, and while she choked, the hand resting on his heart turned into a fist, and lightly punched him.

Why is he so good at talking all of a sudden, it makes her nose sore, it’s so annoying!

She was not convinced that her mind was revealed, she raised her chin and refused to admit it: “I’m just bored, what’s wrong with wanting to have a baby to play with? I have the final say, you still dare not giving it?”

While Lu Shi Qing was talking with Yuan Ci Xian at home, the Daming Palace was holding a Dragon Boat Festival banquet. At the time when hundreds of officials gathered, the news of the assassination of the two princes in Qujiang naturally spread all over the place.

Emperor Huining had heard about this long before, and immediately sent eunuchs and imperial physicians to the mansions of Zheng Zhuo and Zheng Ji to comfort and treat them. But he did not cancel the banquet tonight, intending to take the opportunity to see how the officials responded to this matter.

At the banquet, many officials who had witnessed Zheng Zhuo’s injury at the Hu Ji wine ship were unable to sit still, and implored the emperor to send someone to investigate this matter. The next day during the court meeting, a large number of officials spoke out. Only Lu Shi Qing, who was still on his wedding leave, seemed really heartless, and walked around the West Market with Yuan Ci Xian for a whole day without care in the world, until he was summoned into the palace by the emperor at dusk.

When Emperor Huining saw him, he had a headache: “Zhen did told you to have a good relationship with the Yuan family, but it doesn’t mean that you can be this unprofessional! What Ci Xian wants to buy, you can just ask the servants to buy it. If you don’t have enough money, you can ask Zhen for it, but you have to investigate the case for Zhen! The Minister Cai’s matter hasn’t been settled yet, and Qujiang has another big case. Zhen is having a headache, but how about you? You just stay at home, and even absent from the Dragon Boat Festival banquet last night, what Zhen should do?”

The old emperor let out a torrent of bitterness, Lu Shi Qing looked apologetic, and took out the words he had prepared a long time ago: “Your Majesty, please calm down, this official has been distracted recently, but it’s not that this official doesn’t care about the court affairs. This official probably have countermeasures for the two cases you mentioned.”

“How?” Emperor Huining calmed down a little after hearing the words, “Let’s talk about Minister Cai’s case first.”

In order to avoid being exposed, Lu Shi Qing should not directly intervene in Cai He’s affairs, so when the Ministry of Justice turned over the illegal salt case, he chose to stand still. Until Emperor Huining took Cai He into custody, and because he couldn’t make up his mind, he took the initiative to send people to the door and asked for Lu Shi Qing’s opinion.

At that time, as soon as he read the conclusive evidence listed by the Ministry of Justice, he asked the eunuch to go back and pass on the message, saying that according to the situation, Cai He could be directly convicted. He wondered if the Emperor was reluctant to sacrifice a minister because he thought Cai He was capable of great things. If that was the case, he could relieve His Majesty’s worries and help Cai He to overcome the difficulty.

This was what Lu Shi Qing told Zheng Zhuo before, a permanent solution.

If the emperor was a wise monarch who wanted to solve this frame-up case, he would naturally have to try his best to prove Cai He’s innocence. But Ping Prince came prepared and blocked all the possibilities of overturning the case, and the emperor was just a fatuous person who didn’t care whether people corrupt or not, guilty or innocence, he just wanted to control all the obedient pawns in his hands. That was why Lu Shi Qing turned Cai He into a useful pawn for the emperor, and let Ping Prince to punch his own father.

The reason why Emperor Huining originally sought Lu Shi Qing’s opinion was just out of suspicion, thinking that there were other secrets hidden in it, but Lu Shi Qing’s response was unexpectedly reasonable.

As the head of the three courts of the Great Zhou court system, the Dali Temple held a higher position than the Ministry of Justice in reviewing cases. Many of Ping Prince and Second Prince’s forces had infiltrated the Dali Temple. Although Emperor Huining was aware of this, the court was too complicated, and it was impossible to openly remove all these people. So after Jiang Min was dismissed, he wanted to bring Cai He, who had a relatively clean background, under his control to suppress them.

The emperor couldn’t do everything as he pleases. When it came to appointing talents, he also needed to buy people’s hearts. When he promoted Cai He to an important position, it was already an act of grace, and now there was a perfect opportunity: Cai He was in trouble, his official position and even his life were in danger, and if the emperor showed him favor, others wouldn’t be able to manipulate him in the future.

So Emperor Huining ordered Lu Shi Qing to mediate, which was why he asked him to test a few high-ranking officials yesterday. He was now eager to know the results.

Lu Shi Qing replied, “Yesterday, this official sounded out a few senior ministers in a wine shop, and they expressed great regret for Minister Cai. This official think, Your Majesty, if you want to protect him, you should not encounter too much resistance.”

After pondering for a moment, Emperor Huining asked, “Then, in your opinion, what should Zhen do to make it more reasonable and appropriate?”

“In the Ministry of Justice, who insisted on making things difficult for Minister Cai, Your Majesty can make it even more difficult for him, isn’t that logical?”

With just a few words, the old emperor was pushed out to meet Ping Prince’s blade, and beat his pawn at the Ministry of Justice with a backhanded slap, which could be said to be a small force to move a large weight, using the enemy’s strength against them and winning by surprise.

Emperor Huining, who was kept in the dark, took it seriously and continued to ask him about the Qujiang assassination case.

Lu Shi Qing smiled slightly, and said: “Your Majesty, this case is simpler than Minister Cai’s case. In fact, you don’t have to send someone to Qujiang to collect evidence and find out who the murderer is. You think, His Sixth Highness went to Hu Ji wine shop to take refuge after being chased down because he knew this official was drinking there, but why did the people who chased him stop because of this?”

Seeing the pupils of the person on top shrank, and seemed to already understand, he continued: “Because the other party also knows where this official and the seniors ministers are, they dare not go further rashly. Your Majesty can investigate, and see who is more suspicious among those who know about yesterday’s banquet in the wine shop, and the case can be easily solved.”

Lu Shi Qing pointed out but did not explain. Emperor Huining’s heart sank slightly, and he said calmly, “Well, tomorrow morning, you will take a look at the injuries of Second child and Sixth child for Zhen, and see how they are doing.”

Lu Shi Qing took the order and retreat. The next day he went to the Second Prince’s mansion, and then went to see Zheng Zhuo.

Although Zheng Zhuo’s injury was not as dangerous as Lu Shi Qing’s last time, the bad thing was that it was in the middle of summer, and the incision was easily infected, so it was not so easy to recover from the injury.

He got fever for two consecutive days, woke up from sleep, and was still a little drowsy when he saw Lu Shi Qing. After hearing his explanation of his visit, he turned his head reluctantly, lay on the bed and said hoarsely: “This time, Second brother is really unlucky. On the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, I went to Father’s place with him, and happened to meet Minister Wang, and heard that you had an appointment to drink at a wine shop at noon. Father probably thought of this, so he asked you to compare my second brother’s and my injuries to see if there are any clues.”

Lu Shi Qing nodded, thought for a while and said, “I’m afraid I won’t be able to hold Zheng Ji this time.”

In fact, the Second Prince’s life had already been exhausted. If Lu Shi Qing had the heart, he could push down this hollow wood with his fingers, but he never did. Instead, he intentionally left this person up and down in the court, in order to maintain the balance among the three princes.

If the Second Prince fell too quickly, Ping Prince’s energy would be concentrated on Zheng Zhuo, which would also increase the risk of him being exposed. Only when the Second Prince and Ping Prince checked and balanced each other, then Zheng Zhuo had enough room to breathe and grew his wings step by step in a stable environment.

But this time, Emperor Huining was probably really disappointed with the Second Prince, and decided to kick this son away. As soon as the pattern in the court change, the triangular balance collapse, then a big commotion was bound to happen.

Zheng Zhuo smiled helplessly when he heard the words: “I may have acted too hastily.”

Lu Shi Qing shook his head: “When the soldiers come to block you, you have to do whatever you can to survive.” After he got up and was about to leave, he pointed to a small medicine box that he brought with him, “I won’t bother you, these are the best wound medicine of the Yuan family, I begged it from Ci Xian, you can use it.”

Zheng Zhuo glanced at the box, and smiled weakly: “When did you become so generous?”

Lu Shi Qing didn’t answer, smiled back at him, said inside that Yuan Ci Xian’s monthly period should also be finished. Seeing that she seemed to be quietly planning something bad recently, maybe he would become a father soon, of course he should be more steady.

Thinking like this, he walked away slowly and briskly, and the fluttering hem of his robe could not be restrained by the wind.

Zheng Zhuo watched him leave, not knowing what he was happy about. He then sobered up and called Chen Zhan to ask: “When I was in a coma that day, nothing happened in the carriage, right?”

Chen Zhan hesitated before saying: “You first talked in your sleep about falling off a rockery when you were a child, and then you mistook County Princess for Xue Cairen… Do these two things count?”

“…” Zheng Zhuo’s face twitched, he quivered until it almost tore the wound open. He took a breath in pain, then pointed to his nose and said, “I really did that?”

Chen Zhan nodded, and said awkwardly: “You even hold County Princess’s hand and refuse to let her go.”

Zheng Zhuo looked down at his palm awkwardly, and twitched the corner of his mouth.

After seeing the injuries of the two brothers, Lu Shi Qing turned around and entered the Daming Palace to report to Emperor Huining.

When he was not at the mansion, Yuan Ci Xian nestled in the room, after bumping into Lu Shuang Yu, they studied a few treasures from the West Market together. Among them were several hand lock mechanisms crafted by masters from the Western Regions, made of gold, silver, and jade, with chains or hoops.

Although Lu Shuang Yu found them novel, she couldn’t help but wonder, blinking her eyes, “Sister-in-law, did you buy so many lock mechanisms to deal with someone?”

“Of course, it’s your brother!” Yuan Ci Xian was playing with a handcuff, and she blurted out the truth in a moment of carelessness. After speaking, her face stiffened slightly and a faint blush rose on her cheeks.

Fortunately, her simple-minded sister-in-law didn’t understand what was going on, and asked at a loss: “Did Brother commit something?

Yuan Ci Xian laughed “hehe”: “No, no it’s just…” Her head spun quickly, then connected, “That’s right, your brother doesn’t sleep well, he kicks me all the time in the middle of the night. If I handcuff him, then he won’t move too much.”

“Huh?” Lu Shuang Yu was surprised, “Brother is actually such a person!”

“Yeah, I didn’t expect that either.” Yuan Ci Xian touched her nose embarrassedly.

Lu Shi Qing, in order to keep your sister’s innocent heart, please forgive me.