Chapter 174
Her heart pounded in her chest before the maid finally understood He Baixuan's meaning: she wanted to use Lu Rou as a shield!
In an instant, she quickly lowered her head, not daring to look at the young lady leaning against the wall again.
Within days, the assassination attempt on the former Grand Tutor Cai, who had been demoted to prison by His Majesty, became the talk of the town and was known to everyone.
As for how it was discovered, it all started when the snow stopped in Ying County.
According to an insider, the melting snow mixed with bright red blood seeped out from the gate of the tightly closed house, almost flowing all over the street!
The local officials, accompanied by their guards, went to investigate. As soon as they opened the gate, they found the courtyard littered with corpses, the deaths gruesome and hellish!
The minor officials were so frightened that their legs went weak.
Grand Tutor Cai, who was supposed to be enjoying his retirement, was kneeling in the center of the courtyard, his face pressed against his bones, his flesh oozing a deathly gray from the inside out.
A string of scattered round beads lay before him, their surfaces smooth and round, clearly indicating that he often handled them.
But at this moment, they were all split apart.
Several officials, suppressing their nausea, waded through the bloody water and carried the body out in twos and threes.
The scene was so brutal that it resembled the confiscation of property and the extermination of an entire clan.
When the news reached Jijing, everyone in the capital was terrified. They privately speculated about who was so audacious. Surely it couldn't be that the person above had spared Grand Tutor Cai's life on the surface to preserve his reputation as a benevolent ruler, but then secretly killed him?
Before the imperial desk, the emperor looked at the memorial in his hand, gave an ambiguous chuckle, and threw the memorial heavily onto the desk.
The chief eunuch who served His Majesty keenly sensed that the emperor was in a bad mood and quickly said in a slow voice, "Your Majesty has been reading memorials for a while now. Why don't you have some tea to relieve your fatigue?"
"As you say."
Having received the order, a quick-witted eunuch brought tea.
The emperor lifted the tea lid, and the misty steam dissipated. Without looking up, he asked, "Tell me, why did he have to rush things so much? Why did he act so ruthlessly?"
The head eunuch bent down again, offering words of comfort: "After all, Commander Pei has endured humiliation and hardship for many years; his lifelong wish must have been to personally avenge his enemies..."
The emperor sighed and shook his head. "These are all injustices left behind by the late emperor."
Despite saying that, they all knew in their hearts that the late emperor had relied on the Cai family to gradually secure his throne and had also used the Cai family to suppress many of his political enemies.
The Cai family had rendered meritorious service to the late emperor, but power breeds darkness.
Once a person comes into contact with supreme power, it's like darkness gradually devouring the light.
In his later years, the late emperor lost interest in state affairs, and Lady Cai devoted much effort to finding a suitable heir, but unfortunately...
After finishing his tea, the emperor rubbed his temples, realizing that the late emperor had indeed wronged Lady Pei.
"That brat should be back by now, shouldn't he?" The man on the dragon throne tilted his head slightly and asked, "I heard he's been in... Shanzhou lately?"
The Emperor's Eastern and Western Inspection Guards covered the entire Great Sheng Dynasty, so nothing could escape his eyes.
Upon hearing this, the chief eunuch bowed and said, "That's right. The informant wrote that Lord Pei seems to be using a false identity and staying at someone's house."
"Tsk..." The superior chuckled enigmatically, his fingertip twirling a smooth jade thumb ring, as if he were smiling. "Don't tell me that family happens to have a young woman of marriageable age..."
The atmosphere was more lively than before, and the chief eunuch smiled and flattered, "Your Majesty is wise, indeed so. May I inquire further?"
"No need." The ruler waved his hand. "He is indeed not young. I originally intended to arrange a marriage for him, but seeing this, I will not interfere."
The chief eunuch remained silent.
If His Majesty were to bestow a marriage upon that person, how could the princess in the eldest princess's residence possibly agree?
Let him handle this troublesome matter himself.
——
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