Rong Suihe secretly breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile: "If other people asked me this, I would never tell the truth. But if my dear girl asked me personally, how could I lie to you? I have only been in Chang'an for a few days. The foundation is still shallow, and a lot of the information comes from County Master Jingshu, so of course he won’t know about the relationship between General Zuo Weiwei and the Huan family!"
"Then you are harming innocent people?" Sheng Weiqiao frowned and considered his words, "I know you are dealing with the imperial concubine just to vent my anger, but human life is at stake..."
"My dear girl, do you think I really want to kill General Zuo Weiwei?" Rong Suihe knew that although this girl was not the kind of noble person who could not look down on any darkness, she also had a certain degree of moral flexibility, but in the final analysis, she was a greenhouse It is impossible for the apple of a child's eye to treat human life as trivially as what he has experienced.
At this moment, he quickly explained, "Even if County Master Jingshu didn't drag you here, I would definitely try to save his life. I just took a fancy to his position!"
Worried that Sheng Weiqiao thought it was inappropriate to do so, he added, "There are too many overt and secret fights in the officialdom. General Zuo Weiwei was forced into a desperate situation so easily. Obviously, his own response and the city government are not very good. Even if there is no such person I calculated against him. If someone else takes a fancy to his position in the future, isn’t it the same result? Maybe the others don’t even want to spare his life! In this way, I saved his life!”
"Do you dare to make more lies?" Sheng Weiqiao wordlessly reached out and pinched his arm, and said angrily, "What is the difference between what you did and when you were a bandit at sea?"
"There is still a difference. It's much more troublesome now than before!" Rong Suihe said with an innocent face, "Before, all you wanted was a knife! What about now? The knife has very few uses, and you still have to worry about it. The strenuous intrigues… Ouch!”
Sheng Weiqiao had a sullen face, pinched a bunch of bloody fingerprints on the back of his hand, and then said with a sneer: "Do you think it's laborious to fight in intrigues? I think you just enjoy it!"
"Good girl, in temple disputes, one always strikes first to gain advantage, and to strike later suffers disaster." Seeing that she was really angry, Rong Suihe stopped joking and said seriously, "There is no such thing as a true moral gentleman. What a good end! Otherwise, if you look at the civil and military forces in the current dynasty, who can be said to be brilliant?!"
"I am of the bloodline of the King of Gaomi. Ever since my life experience was revealed, I was naturally destined to be inseparable from this temple turmoil."
"Even if not, as the Sheng family's top pick in high school, he will be dragged down sooner or later!"
"You said that I am no different now than when I was a bandit at sea. Actually, you are right."
"Because in my opinion, my situation has basically not changed at all: I couldn't help myself before, but I still can't help myself now!"
"Take General Zuo Weiwei this time as an example. I have no enmity or enmity with him, and I have never even met him until now. However, just because I took a fancy to his position, when I took care of Concubine Shu, I You conveniently tricked him! In your opinion, this is a very disapproving and even disgusting approach."
"But to me, this is the same as when I was a pirate before, carrying knives and taking innocent passing seafarers to Tortoiseshell Island, burning, killing, and looting... It's actually the same."
"Don't I have any grievances with those seafarers?"
"At that time, if I didn't rob pirates, the Gongsun clan wouldn't be able to tolerate me; now if I don't seize every opportunity to exclude dissidents, promote close associates, and build up enough power, no matter who wins in the future, the King of Gaomi or the Meng clan, it will not matter to me. It’s not a good thing!”
"And if I can't even protect myself, let alone protect you?"
Rong Suihe sighed softly and said, "My dear girl, I am very willing to speak and do things according to your preferences. This is the reason why I was not too careful about the Lord Jingshu just now. If you were not here today, and revealed I can't bear to see Lord Jingshu crying, so I can't give in so readily. But such a concession is not without a bottom line, that is, it cannot affect my future."
After a pause, he said, "It is also our future. My dear girl, you have always been under the protection of your parents. You have seen too many blooming flowers and too few darkness and confusion. If I have the ability now, So that you will have no haze in your life, of course I am willing to pamper you like my father and mother. The problem is, I don't, at least not now."
"Of course I am willing to strive for such an ability, and I am working on it."
"Therefore, I can only selectively take into account your preferences for the time being... It's not that I don't like you enough, it's just because I think that our common future cannot be compromised. Therefore, there are some requirements that I can't help, at least not at the moment. achieve."
"..." Sheng Weiqiao pursed her lips and didn't speak for a while. After a while, she asked distractedly, "After General Zuo Weiwei leaves the throne, who do you plan to replace him? Just as Lord Jingshu just said As you said, you don’t seem to have any suitable candidates at all, right? Gongsun Haizhu and the others are not even good citizens at the moment, how can they enter Shanglin Garden and become the generals of the Chunbo Lake Navy?!"
"And Ah Xi was just retained by the Queen today. Being a guard of Wangchun Palace is an exceptional promotion from the Queen... Even if the imperial concubine speaks, it is impossible for him to jump from a young servant to General Zuoweiwei overnight?"
Rong Suihe smiled calmly: "My dear girl, you are right, they are not the candidates I want to recommend."
He said meaningfully, "The person I plan to recommend..."
... A few hours later, we arrived at Shanglin Garden and Wanyue Palace.
Shu Zhaoyi, who frowned tightly, tiptoed out of the main hall door. The high-hanging melon-style blue gauze palace lantern illuminated Zhaoyi's tired face, as well as a gloomy killing intent between her eyebrows.
"Good service!" Thinking of my sister who was rolling on the bed in pain and wailing miserably before drinking the soothing soup, and the imperial doctor's trembling words "I'm afraid the imperial concubine will not be able to walk in the future." This murderous intention suddenly became stronger. After a few minutes, she gave brief instructions to the palace attendants on the left and right, and she took her confidant, the eldest palace maid Mianxia, along the winding corridors, turning left and right, and after having a cup of tea, she entered a brightly lit flower hall.
There were all tables and chairs in the flower hall, but the people waiting inside did not dare to sit down. Instead, they stood at the bottom with their hands down.
Seeing Shu Zhaoyi come in at this moment, he knelt down and said, "I'd like to say hello to Empress Zhaoyi!"
"Get up!" Zhaoyi said as she walked up, "Why are you here? But what's going on at home? Did dad send you here to ask about your sister? But didn't dad come to see your sister before leaving the garden today? Of?"
The person in front of her was sent by her and Concubine Shu's father, Shu Ting.
Shu Ting came from a humble background, otherwise he would not have sold his daughter to Princess Wuyang for training. Later, the two daughters entered the palace and became favored, and he was rewarded with an official status. But first of all, he himself had no ability, and he didn't even know a lot of words before; secondly, although the King of Gaomi and the Meng family were fighting to the death, they didn't want to see a powerful relative appear behind the Shu sisters, so they tacitly cooperated Suppress.
In this way, Shu Ting has been an official for more than 20 years, but she still has a sinecure position, which is like using the imperial salary to support an idle person.
But he is the father of his beloved concubine after all, so he is also present at today's Chongwu Banquet.
In the middle, Concubine Shu fell from the boat. Emperor Xuanjing and Shu Zhaoyi stopped the tour on the spot and sent the concubine to the Wanyue Palace, which was closest to the lake shore at that time, for resettlement.
At that time, after Rong Suihe pretended to be busy around for a while, he saw that among the three emperors and concubines, Concubine Shu, who had the highest opinion of him, was unconscious. Emperor Xuanjing and Shu Zhaoyi were worried about the concubine, so they didn't pay much attention to him, and he also He was thinking about going to Sheng Weiqiao, so he made excuses to leave.
At that time, Shu Ting received the news and came over to see her eldest daughter.
So at such a late hour, Shu Ting actually sent someone to take the special token given by her daughter and go into Shanglin Garden to find Shu Zhaoyi. Zhaoyi couldn't help but be surprised.
I saw the servant stood up after thanking him, still bending over him, and said respectfully: "My Lady, this is what happened: Prince Mi Zhen just went to our house to visit the master at night."
Shu Zhaoyi raised her eyebrows and said, "Oh?"
Although Concubine Shu had a good impression of Rong Suihe, because Shu Zhaoyi had never been in contact with Rong Suihe alone and had not personally experienced Rong Suihe's exquisiteness and attentiveness, she could not say she had any dislike for the young prince, but she was far from dissatisfied. She didn't have Concubine Shu's urge to take him into her lap as her adopted son on the spot.
At this moment, I heard that Rong Suihe went to see Shu Ting, but I didn't feel that he really cared about Concubine Shu. I just asked, "What did he say to daddy?"
"The county king heard that your majesty and the empress planned to deal with General Zuo Weiwei, so he went to see our master." The servant said, "The county king said that something happened to the noble concubine today after the empress fell into the lake. There was a very hidden rumor at the banquet, that is, the reason why the imperial concubine was blown off the deck by the lake wind was... it was retribution for instigating the palace maid to murder the empress!"
When Zhaoyi heard this, he was furious: "Who are these damn killers who spread such words?! Who is the Prince of Mi Zhen County? They reported their names and official positions to me one by one, and I immediately let them know what retribution is. !!!”
"Your Majesty, calm down!" the servant hurriedly advised, "The prince said that it is not convenient for him to mention the identities of those people for fear of being misunderstood. But our master is thinking that the current Queen is neither His Majesty's Empress nor the Empress of the Yuan Dynasty. She has never served His Majesty. Besides Meng, who would treat her as the main palace? She is nothing more than a decoration in Wangchun Palace!"
"So, besides Meng, who else could be the person who was gloating about her misfortune to the imperial concubine?!"
Shu Zhaoyi's eyes were cold and she gnashed her teeth and said, "Meng's family!!! I will never spare them!"
"Your Majesty, the reason why the prince went to see our master at midnight was because he was unhappy with the imperial concubine, so he thought of a way to vent his anger on your behalf!" the servant said, "The prince said that Chunbo Lake belongs to General Zuo Weiwei. Jurisdiction, when arranging the boat, he forgot to remind the concubine that the wind in the lake was too strong, causing the concubine to fall and suffer serious injuries. Although he is guilty, but after all, it was an unintentional mistake, and the crime will not lead to death! "
At this point, seeing Shu Zhaoyi's expression becoming angry and seeming to be planning to refute, he hurriedly spoke faster and continued, "It would be better to remove this person from the position of General Zuoweiwei and replace him with a worthy person."
"For example, Uncle Chongxin!"