Chapter 402 Zhao Duan's vest fell off

"Huh?" Xu Zhenguan snapped back to his senses. After a moment of panic, he subconsciously straightened his sitting position slightly.

"Are you done?"

Zhao Duan stared at the empress lying on the couch with a strange look in his eyes. He caught the strangeness in her expression and nodded honestly:

"I have finished speaking."

He even suspected that Zhenbao hadn't listened carefully at all... Suddenly, he felt like he had nervously reported his work, but his boss didn't listen at all...

"Okay, what you said makes sense. I will believe you this time." Xu Zhenguan coughed lightly and put on a stern face to hide his panic.

Zhao Duan was stunned and thought to himself, are girls so easy to please?

He thought it would be difficult, with a cold war or something... Sure enough, Zhenbao was completely different from those vulgar women. A smart woman would not make stupid mistakes in important matters.

Xu Zhenguan suppressed the complex emotions in his heart, took the initiative to change the subject, and said seriously:

"Although you won the debate today and received a great opportunity, I'm afraid you won't give up so easily."

I want to discuss the great opportunity in detail… Zhao Duan muttered, but he temporarily suppressed his curiosity about the “Buddha’s Baptism” and said:

"Your Majesty, are you saying that the Eastern and Western Buddhist sects will retaliate? Struggle? Cause trouble?"

Xu Zhenguan thought for a moment and said:

"The situation at Shenlong Temple is fine. Not to mention that I warned Xuanyin a few days ago, and Monk Dajing is still on the run. Just the fact that you helped Prajna up today is enough to give Xuanyin a headache for a while.

Your Buddhist theory is similar to the sudden enlightenment held by Prajna. Shenlong Temple can later promote the doctrine of sudden enlightenment and portray the debate as their victory... The key is the Western Regions."

Zhao Duan frowned: "That holy monk from the Western Regions doesn't seem to be hostile to me today."

Xu Zhenguan thought for a moment and said:

"Perhaps they're afraid this is the Yu Kingdom, so they don't dare to act too recklessly. Besides, the Red Sect Master in the Western Regions isn't someone who's obsessed with the merging of East and West...

In short, you should keep a low profile these days. I don’t think they would dare to do anything out of line in the capital.

My only concern is that the failure of the Western Region monks' debate will interfere with next year's trade between the imperial court and the Western Regions, affecting the new market."

Zhao Duan also became serious after hearing this.

The King of Dharma is supreme in the Western Regions, far superior to Princess Wenzhu and other nearly puppet rulers.

If the Buddhist sects in the Western Regions speak up and interfere with trade, it will indeed be troublesome.

At this moment, footsteps suddenly sounded outside the door, accompanied by the palace maid's report:

"Your Majesty, Princess Wenzhu has come to the palace to request an audience."

Inside the room, the king and his minister looked at each other.

Xu Zhenguan thought for a moment, then glanced at the time and said, "Please ask her to go to the dining hall and have lunch with me."

"yes."

The palace maids outside the door retreated.

Xu Zhen glanced at Zhao Duan and said:

"My aunt is entering the palace right now, and she must be coming for you. Please come with me. Remember, when you are in front of Princess Wenzhu later, you must behave in a manner worthy of your status."

Zhao Duan was stunned for a moment and said uncertainly:

"Is it consistent with your status?"

The empress glared at him unhappily:

"To the outside world, you are my concubine, have you forgotten? Since you have won the debate, I can only let it go. Later, you and I will get closer as king and subject, and put on a show for Wenzhu to see."

It's a show... Zhenbao, you want to let Auntie know that you support my debate, so that you can express your strong attitude and make Auntie think that this debate is the will of the court...

This was to demonstrate the strength of the Yu Kingdom and to prevent the Western Regions from causing trouble in trade due to pressure from the Red Sect Master...

Zhao Duan quickly sorted out his thoughts and nodded:

"I understand."

…

When Princess Wenzhu, who was over forty years old and had a gentle temperament, was led by a palace maid to the empress's bedroom where she had lunch.

As soon as I entered the yard, I saw the empress in white standing in the corridor with a smile to greet me. Beside her stood a handsome, tall and handsome man.

It was Zhao Duan Benan.

"Aunt, you came at the right time. The imperial kitchen has just prepared lunch. Let's eat together." Xu Zhenguan took the initiative to speak with a smile.

After returning from Jinfeng Pavilion and briefly comforting the defeated Western monks, Princess Wenzhu hurried back to the palace. She forced a smile and responded before shifting her gaze to Zhao Duan.

Then, she was visibly stunned.

What a handsome man!

In the debate arena, because the distance was too far, she could only barely see Zhao Duan's figure, but could not see his face clearly.

It was not until this moment that I saw the full appearance of this concubine.

As expected, it was consistent with the rumors. The treacherous minister who disrupted the government and sought fame and reputation was indeed born with a good-looking appearance.

Well, and a good eloquence...

Princess Wenzhu was in a complicated mood. Thinking back on the morning's debate, the more she thought about it, the more "fake" it seemed to her.

In her opinion, it made no sense for a minister like Zhao Duan to jump out and cause trouble without any warning and succeed.

Therefore, rationally speaking, we still believe that it was the empress who arranged the drama behind the scenes, and the content of the so-called debate was probably not something that Zhao Duan could say.

This was not the first time the other party had done something like this. Wenzhu even suspected that the empress and Prajna Bodhisattva had secretly formed an alliance.

Prajna provided the theory, which Zhao Duan recited, thus using a knife to kill someone and strive to increase his power in Shenlong Temple...

This is obviously more reasonable.

As for the astonishment of Yuan Li and other ministers, some of them may have been kept in the dark, and some, such as Yuan Li and other important ministers, may have been cooperating in the performance.

Who are you performing for? Of course, yourself...

When she thought about it this way, everything made sense. As for the biggest bug, the baptism of the god Buddha... she still couldn't figure it out.

Therefore, he was in a hurry to enter the palace in order to confirm his guess.

Suppressing her doubts at this moment, she smiled and exchanged a few pleasantries, then followed the king and his minister into the house. The round table inside was filled with sumptuous dishes, and the three of them sat down as host and guest.

It is worth mentioning that the empress and her aunt sat opposite each other, and as for Zhao Duan, the "face-to-face concubine", he naturally sat next to the empress.

"Today's debate... Envoy Zhao truly opened my eyes."

Princess Wenzhu looked at Zhao Duan and said sarcastically:

"It is truly astonishing that at such a young age, having never practiced Buddhism, one can achieve such profound attainments in Buddhist studies."

Zhao Duan looked at the aunt who had tried to win him over not long ago with a strange mood, and smiled:

"Your Highness, I am so grateful for your kind words. These are just some of my humble opinions. I am surprised to receive such an honor from the World Honored One."

Haha... He pretends to be quite natural, but he is really such a shameless person... Wenzhu was unhappy. No matter how beautiful a person is, as long as she thinks of the rumors, she will inevitably feel disgusted.

"Ahem," the empress coughed lightly at the right time to remind him to pay attention to his identity.

Zhao Duan smiled naturally and began to pick up dishes for the empress familiarly, pour soup himself and feed her. While greeting Wenzhu, he showed his affection in public.

The empress was also very cooperative, looking like an emperor who was used to being served by concubines.

When soup spilled at the corner of her mouth, she let Zhao Duan take out a handkerchief and carefully wipe the corner of her mouth... Although she felt ashamed, for some reason, she felt inexplicably happy.

Although Princess Wenzhu was an experienced person, she still felt uncomfortable watching the two young men feeding her. She thought to herself that the traitor surnamed Zhao had gained favor through shameless flattery and licking.

He couldn't help but frown slightly, feeling more and more disgusted.

Xu Zhenguan noticed his aunt's unusual expression and was a little confused for a moment. He didn't understand why and thought that the two of them were not pretending to be like each other, and the experienced aunt saw the flaw.

This made her a little anxious, but the empress had never kept a lover and didn't know what normal was like.

I can only recall the scene when my father and the concubines in the harem were having dinner.

Well... I have always been served, but it seems that I cannot show my favor to the head of the table... Thinking of this, the empress picked up her chopsticks and began to pick up food for Zhao Duan, urging him:

"Don't be so busy. Eat more and replenish your body."

Hiss... My niece has indeed been deceived by this traitor. As a dignified emperor, he treats his concubine like this... and he doesn't betray him at all... He is so intimate with me even in front of me. How can he be tolerated under normal circumstances?

Princess Wenzhu frowned even deeper.

The empress was stunned for a moment, thinking, could it be that she had made things worse?

Unable to help but feel anxious, he simply transmitted the sound into the secret, sending the sound directly into Zhao Duan's sea of ​​consciousness:

"Not enough, Auntie seems to have noticed something is wrong, act more realistically!"

"..." Zhao Duan was speechless, wondering how he could act like this. His face remained unchanged. After thinking about it, something moved his mind.

While picking up the food, he casually put one hand around the empress's slender waist, making the two of them sit closer.

! !

Xu Zhenguan was caught off guard when a large hand climbed onto her soft waist. Her body suddenly stiffened, and her eyes widened slightly.

How dare this guy...

"Not here!" Her voice rang rapidly in Zhao Duan's consciousness.

Mr. Zhao looked innocent and said, "This won't work. How about...a little lower?"

Then, as my hand slid down, I felt the Empress's body tense, and a sense of danger came over me...

He withdrew his hand awkwardly.

"Your Majesty..." Princess Wenzhu, who was sitting opposite, finally couldn't stand it anymore. Even though she was older, her husband in the Western Regions was only a "formal" husband and had died long ago. How could she stand a young man whispering in her ears?

After enduring for a long time, he interrupted:

"Have you found the Mr. Lin I recommended last time?"

It must be admitted that Wenzhu's words had a bit of a malicious tone.

She deliberately mentioned Master Lin at this time, undoubtedly for Zhao Duan to hear.

Xu Zhenguan's expression changed slightly, he put down his chopsticks heavily and said coldly:

"Aunt cares a lot about that Young Master Lin. When you find him, just give him to me and take him back to the Western Regions. It would be a good use of such a talented person to assist you in governing the Western Regions."

As he spoke, his eyes subconsciously looked at Zhao Duan.

She herself didn't realize that she was a moment of panic, fearing that Zhao Duan would misunderstand her relationship with that "Mr. Lin".

However, there was no suspicion or surprise on Zhao Duan's face, only a smile.

Princess Wenzhu didn't expect her niece to react so strongly.

Just as he was about to make amends, he suddenly heard the eunuch's voice from outside:

"Your Majesty, the Imperial Guards have sent someone to report that the chess player who defeated the foreign monk has been identified."

The three people in the room were stunned.

Xu Zhenguan didn't expect this to be such a coincidence. After thinking about it, he simply said, "Bring someone over."

After a while, a royal official appeared at the door and respectfully handed over a letter:

"Your Majesty, the results of the investigation into the chess player are all written on this memorial."

Xu Zhenguan raised her hand and the memorial was picked up by the breeze and landed in her hands. The empress smiled:

"Since Auntie has been thinking about this person so much, I'll let you know if I find out."

As she spoke, the empress opened the letter, took a look at it, and then... she was obviously silent.

There seemed to be surprise, unexpectedness, and also a hint of...as expected.

After a moment, she handed the letter to Princess Wenzhu.

Princess Wenzhu felt something was amiss, but she still took the letter and slowly opened it, looking forward to finding out which family Link belonged to.

However, when she saw the words written on the paper clearly, she was stunned, her pupils suddenly narrowed, she was stunned for a moment, and then she looked up suddenly.

Staring intently at the empress's lover opposite him.

Zhao Duan smiled slightly: "Nice to meet you again, Your Highness."

(End of this chapter)