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Yuan Cixian's legs were weak and she walked slowly. When she heard him catch up, she turned around and said, "Minister Lu, please don't tell others about me fainting from being scared by a snake. It is said that a good father will have a good daughter. This will bring shame to my father."
Lu Shiqing was half a body away from her. He glanced at her and said nothing.
She turned her head away in boredom. Just after taking two steps, she heard a faint voice behind her: "Lu is not your brother. He won't always find fault with others."
Yuan Cixian understood at once that Lu Shiqing was talking about how his brother had found his weak spot and repeatedly scared him with a dog.
She smiled awkwardly: "It is indeed my brother who did something wrong. I have already told him about it. Don't worry, with me, Yuan Cixian, here, no one in Chang'an City dares to bully you anymore..."
As she said this, she turned around to look at Lu Shiqing. Before she finished speaking, she happened to encounter a step. Suddenly, her feet felt empty and she stumbled. Fortunately, she managed to stand firmly.
Lu Shiqing knew what she hadn't finished saying, and sighed, "You should take care of yourself first."
She curled her lips: "Then why don't you walk behind me without reminding me."
Lu Shiqing was distracted just now and didn't pay attention to her steps. Hearing her words, he glanced at her and finally walked a step faster.
Yuan Cixian was happy to be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with him, and she was in high spirits when she was happy: "Don't underestimate me, I'm quite brave, but I'm just afraid of snakes. It's all because Yaozhou is not a peaceful place. Earlier, the palace had not yet been completed, and the city was full of rioters and bandits. I had to live in the wild with my father and mother for a while. I have bad luck. I step on snakes every now and then. Once, I even encountered a snake crawling on my bed!"
Lu Shiqing paused for a moment and blurted out: "Male snake?"
She was stunned. What did it matter whether it was male or female? He seemed to have put the wrong emphasis on this.
She said, "It's good that I didn't faint from fright. How do I know if it's a male or female? What's wrong with a male snake?"
Lu Shiqing quickly realized that he seemed to have overreacted, and said, "Oh," "I heard that male snakes are more likely to bite people."
"Really?" She looked at him doubtfully, "So, the one just now..."
Yuan Cixian paused in the middle of her speech and covered her stomach.
She decided not to think about it. She fainted not because of the snake, but because of Zheng Zhuo's knife skills. Seeing the snake's body chopped in two, its head broken, bones rotted, and bloody, she could not bear it.
She changed the subject: "Minister Lu, there is a reason why I am afraid of snakes. Are you afraid of dogs?"
I don't know what wound this sentence has exposed in Lu Shiqing. He, who is rarely kinder than usual, suddenly frowned and said, "No reason."
This Lu Shiqing is really moody. One moment the sun rises and the next it rains. It's said to be sunny but it's not.
Yuan Cihan stopped asking questions and when he looked up, he saw the main hall approaching. It was a rather solemn scene and he was slightly stunned.
A group of civil and military officials were waiting outside the hall with their hands hanging down in embarrassment. Inside the hall, a circle of royal family members gathered. In the middle was kneeling Zheng Zhuo with his back straight. Emperor Huining stood in front of him with a stern look on his face, gently pointing at him with his index finger, looking so angry that he was speechless.
Zheng Zhuo nodded slightly and said, "I have admitted my guilt and will leave it to you, father."
Emperor Huining seemed to be amused by the anger, and clapped his hands in anger, saying, "Tell me, where is your crime... Where is your crime?"
"I was ordered by my father to take charge of the Jinwu Guards on behalf of my second brother. I was responsible for patrolling and guarding the area around Wangji Temple today, but I made an oversight and did not notice the red snake hiding in the bushes. This is my first sin. My father repeatedly warned me not to kill any living creatures on the day of the Dharma Assembly, but I made a mistake and caused the snake to die. This is my second sin."
"Where did such a ferocious venomous snake come from out of nowhere?" Emperor Huining took a deep breath, looked up and saw Yuan Cixian and Lu Shiqing standing in front of the palace gate, and waved to them, "Come here. I heard from the guards that you two were there at the time. Cixian, tell me, is there anything suspicious about this matter?"
Yuan Cixian said "Oh" in her heart and understood the whole thing.
A few days ago, the second prince committed a crime, and Emperor Huining stripped him of many of his powers, and ordered Zheng Zhuo to temporarily take charge of the Jinwu Guard. Zheng Zhuo gained power and aroused envy and fear from others, which led to the plot against him today.
Those who plotted against him expected that he would be charged with two crimes, but they didn't know that he had actually been prepared and was just taking advantage of the situation.
Zheng Zhuo knew Emperor Huining very well. He was clear about two things.
First, the saint actually did not believe in Buddhism that much. Whether to kill or not was just for the world to see. What he hated was not the snake that died at the Ullambana Festival, but the person who exposed this matter to the world.
The several Jinwu Guards around Zheng Zhuo were not truly loyal to him, so when this happened, they hurriedly reported it to the emperor, hoping that everyone in the court would know about it. However, they did not know that their actions had truly violated the emperor's great taboo.
Second, given the saint's suspicious nature, he would have to think about everything in a roundabout way, and he would definitely guess the conspiracy. Therefore, after the incident, Zheng Zhuo not only did not argue, but instead took the blame on himself. This would undoubtedly win the saint's sympathy and sympathy, and also show that he had no intention of competing for the position of crown prince.
Right now, Emperor Huining was unwilling to see Zheng Zhuo being so humble. He wanted to seek justice for his son and catch the mastermind behind the incident.
This move was really powerful. Yuan Cixian only thought of the conspiracy and did not think it through. It was really unnecessary.
She and Zheng Zhuo were in the same boat for the time being. Since she had understood all this, she naturally would not expose anything in public. She said hesitantly, "Your Majesty, Cixian was frightened by the red snake just now and didn't pay attention to other places..." After she said that, she glanced at Lu Shiqing and said, "Why don't you ask Minister Lu?"
Emperor Huining understood that it was a girl, so he asked Lu Shiqing again and listened to his answer: "Your Majesty, I was far away from Your Highness and the County Lady just now, and I didn't see it clearly. But the red snake is really ferocious. If it is not eliminated, I am afraid that Your Highness and the County Lady will encounter unexpected events. I think that the so-called 'emergency is a matter of discretion'. Killing is certainly a taboo, but how can it delay human life? Of course, Your Highness failed to investigate the crisis, which put Your Majesty, the royal family, and the civil and military officials in the Wangji Temple today in a potential threat. It is indeed a dereliction of duty. Therefore, I think that Your Majesty should punish Your Highness half and forgive half."
Although the real culprit was still not caught, these words hit the nail on the head and touched Emperor Huining's heart, giving him a moderate solution.
Yuan Cixian glanced at Lu Shiqing and felt that this man was not simple. After the incident with the Uighur caravan, she had tried to test his attitude towards government affairs, but he always kept it secret, including now. He was always like a loyal minister who only cared about the saint. She helped him resolve the embarrassment with a few words and advised him in a tactful way that he should not investigate the case in public...
As for who Lu Shiqing has in mind as the crown prince, or whether he has anyone to support, it is really hard to tell.
It would be a big deal if the stalemate continued. Emperor Huining nodded and said, "Minister Lu is right. Let's do it this way for now."
The Ullambana Festival ended hastily. Emperor Huining issued several edicts in succession and dealt with the aftermath. After that, he returned to the palace on the grounds of fatigue and asked Yuan Cixian and Lu Shiqing to accompany him.
Yuan Cixian knew that the old emperor would not let her, a witness, off easily. When she arrived at the Purple Palace and was given a seat, she heard him ask, "Cixian, I want to ask you, why did you happen to go to the South Temple Gate earlier, and why did you suddenly look for my Liu Lang?"
She had already thought about this problem, and she believed that if the saint wanted to confess, based on Zheng Zhuo's way of thinking, he would definitely use the same rhetoric as hers.
She hesitated for a moment, then took out a jar of ointment from her sleeve and said, "Your Majesty, Cixian is sending this to Your Highness. During the Taoist ceremony, I saw Your Highness' hand burned by incense ash, so I lent him this ointment to apply once. At that time, I wanted to give it to Your Highness, but Your Highness declined. Since there were so many people around, I did not insist. It was not until the ceremony was over that I thought it would be better to give it to Your Highness."
"But I heard from the guards that you talked to Liu Lang and wanted to get a minute to talk. If you were delivering the ointment, why were you hiding?"
Yuan Cixian couldn't help but feel a little bit of ridicule in her heart. The old emperor had clearly checked everything, and he invited her to the Purple Palace in a friendly manner, but interrogated her like a criminal, obviously not trusting her very much.
She hesitated again and glanced at Lu Shiqing opposite her: "Your Majesty, you have to ask Minister Lu about this!"
Lu Shiqing glanced at her, probably to say: What does it have to do with me
She hummed softly, "Ci Xian realized that she was being followed by Minister Lu, so how could she dare to give the ointment to His Highness openly? His Highness and I are only cousins, but there is no guarantee that Minister Lu will not misunderstand. So I had to ask His Highness for a moment to talk, and then secretly stuffed the ointment into his hand."
Lu Shiqing choked. What a mess! She didn't even notice that he was following her!
No, when did he follow her
Yuan Cixian continued, "I gave Minister Lu a copy of the ointment before. If he saw me giving the same thing to His Highness, he would definitely be unhappy. Your Majesty, you have exposed me now."
This trick of diverting trouble to someone else really worked. It actually made Emperor Huining speechless for a moment. After a while, he looked at Lu Shiqing and asked, "Yes, I haven't asked Zishu yet. Why did you go to the South Temple Gate? Did you really follow her here as Cixian said?"
Lu Shiqing did follow Yuan Cihan, but not for any romantic reasons. It was because he saw that Yuan Cihan was in a hurry to look for Zheng Zhuo, and he was afraid that she would guess something and ruin their strategy of using the same trick against her.
But he couldn't tell the truth at the moment, so he could only smile uncomfortably: "Your Majesty, the word 'following' is probably not accurate enough. It was the county lady who was sneaking around first, and I was just investigating for your safety."
In this situation, the more Lu Shiqing denies it and the more excuses he finds, the more he will tempt Emperor Huining to think about trivial love affairs.
After hearing this, the old emperor, who was originally in a very bad mood, couldn't help laughing. He looked at Lu Shiqing, then looked at Yuan Cixian, and said to the eunuch beside him: "These two children, look at these two awkward children!" After that, he sighed and said, "Okay, okay, you two can go back, I will consider this matter carefully."
*
Yuan Cihan and Lu Shiqing went out together and walked all the way to the outside of Danfeng Gate, where they were about to part ways.
Seeing that the guards were standing far away, she leaned close to Lu Shiqing's ear with a smile and said, "Minister Lu, should you thank me for covering up for you in front of the saint? I know you didn't go to the South Temple Gate because of me. What exactly was your purpose?"
Lu Shiqing glanced at her coldly: "Lu also knows that the county lady did not go to the Nansi Gate to deliver the ointment. What about you? What is your purpose?"
Yuan Cixian choked, then put on an expression that was as angry as death, and said, "I just won't tell you, what can you do to me?"
Lu Shiqing sneered: "It just so happens that Lu doesn't want to say it either."
After he finished speaking, he nodded to her as a sign of farewell and walked towards the carriage waiting not far away. After walking for a while, he recalled Yuan Cixian's attitude just now, and suddenly felt an itch of hatred, so he untied the water bag at his waist, raised his head and drank a sip, but before he could swallow the water, he was called again by the person behind him.
He stopped and looked back, and saw countless strong expressions on Yuan Cixian's face in an instant, like pity, sympathy, and heartache.
He paused for a moment, forgetting to swallow the water, and then heard her say in a rather awkward tone: "Minister Lu... I've drunk your water bag..."
Lu Shiqing's face changed and he coughed violently, choking on half a mouthful of water.
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