Chapter 384: The Fourth Prince's Concubine Died, Complete Chaos
The capital was in turmoil, and the court was in chaos. On the contrary, the Lu family was extremely quiet.
Lu Chongyuan looked much older, his hair was turning white, and his once straight back was now hunched. There was no trace of his former vigor and vitality as the Minister of the Central Secretariat. He sat on the bed in his inner clothes, coughing lightly from time to time.
Lu Jiuan stretched out his hand to help him calm down, but when he looked up closer, he saw another face under the almost identical figure.
"Master, there are spies in the mansion again."
"Who are you targeting?"
"It must be Erlang Jun. I used the excuse of tending to the Master's illness, leaving early and returning late every day, and occasionally staying overnight at Qingpu Courtyard. But the eyes in Erlang Jun's courtyard have never left. If I wasn't familiar with Erlang Jun's words and deeds, and if I didn't have the same body shape as him, I'm afraid I would have been able to hide it long ago."
Lu Chongyuan stopped coughing, but his face looked extremely pale. He took the handkerchief handed to him by the person in front of him and wiped his mouth, then said in a hoarse voice:
"That eunuch thief Xiao Yan is truly vindictive. I've already backed off and stopped interfering in the capital's affairs, yet he still keeps targeting the Lu family. And Jiuan, too. That day, Jiuan only revealed a little to him, and he kept biting at me like a mad dog."
He hated Xiao Yan very much, but he was also afraid that he was too sharp, like a mad dog, who would bite him at the slightest mistake.
Lu Chongyuan thought of his dead eldest son, his exiled second son, and the current depressed state of the mansion. The itch in his throat that had just been suppressed resurfaced.
He covered his mouth and coughed violently, his back bent even further.
"Lord!"
Xilin, who plays Lu Jiuan, is a born son of the Lu family. He was also taught by Lu Chongyuan along with Lu Jiuan and has been hiding in the dark for many years. He hurriedly stood up and wanted to ask the court doctor to come over, but was stopped by Lu Chongyuan. When Lu Chongyuan stopped coughing, scarlet appeared on the originally clean brocade handkerchief.
"My dear, you..." Xilin's eyes were red.
Lu Chongyuan looked at the glaring red in his hand, but his expression was calm: "Why are you acting like this? I won't die for a while."
He wiped the blood from his mouth, rolled up the handkerchief and threw it aside.
"Xiao Yan is a cunning man. Since he's set his sights on Jiuan, I'm afraid you won't be able to hide this from him for much longer. Has Jiuan replied? How's the situation?"
Xilin hurriedly whispered, "Erlangjun has sent back a message saying he's contacted the people in his clan and reactivated the connections you gave him. Over the years, many princes have expressed dissatisfaction with Your Majesty's ascension to the throne, and Erlangjun finally chose Prince Pingshan."
Lu Chongyuan muttered upon hearing this: "Prince Pingshan holds military power, is rude and conceited, but is also extremely ambitious..."
Lu Jiuan wants the throne, but it is not easy for the Lu family to achieve it alone. The aristocratic families are now divided. Cui Lin and others chose the second prince. If the Lu family reveals their intentions, they will become the target of public criticism. They need to push a target in front of people.
Compared to other overly shrewd or deep-minded princes, the arrogant but shallow-minded Prince Pingshan is indeed the best choice.
"But there's one strange thing," Xilin said. "When Erlangjun went south to contact those old friends, he discovered that two of them had accidents."
Lu Chongyuan was stunned: "Accident?"
"Yes, one is Lou Yong'an, the Sima of Shezhou. A month and a half ago, he and his family were out of town for a trip when they encountered bandits and fell off a cliff. The other is Zhou Jungui, the Chief Clerk of the Shezhou Governor's Office. About half a month ago, he fell into the water and drowned after drinking with someone."
Xilin whispered, "Neither of these two held high positions, and both died in accidents. The officials at the prefecture government investigated and found no problems, then casually reported the matter to the court and replaced the officials. If they hadn't been on the list Langzhu gave to Erlangjun, I'm afraid the capital would never have known about their misfortune."
Lu Chongyuan frowned. Ever since Lu Jiuan revealed his ambition and even persuaded him to seize that position, he gave him all the connections that the Lu family had built up over the years.
Those who could be recorded by him and preserved on paper were all guaranteed to be loyal to the Lu family and had a vested interest in the Lu family. Now two of them died suddenly, and the accidents happened almost one after the other. Lu Chongyuan subconsciously felt that something was wrong.
Lou Yongan.
Zhou Jungui...
He thought carefully about the identities of the two and felt a little confused about them. He signaled Xilin to help him up and walked directly to the back of the bed, which was one block away from the wall.
Lu Chongyuan stretched out his hand and felt around on the wall for a moment, then he heard a "click" and the front wall popped open, revealing the secret room inside.
There were many booklets, boxes and other things in the secret room.
Xilin stepped aside and lowered his eyes, not daring to look any further. Lu Chongyuan reached in and rummaged through it for a long time before taking out a booklet and looking for the names of Lou Yongan and the other two.
When he found them after a while, Lu Chongyuan's heart skipped a beat when he saw the tiny handwriting on them.
These two people were actually the ones who surrendered to the Lu family during the flood in the south twenty years ago?
Lu Chongyuan's palms trembled. How could it be such a coincidence? !
He stroked the names on the paper and looked at the notes behind the two names. Lou Yongan was the magistrate of Changxin County under Shezhou at that time. When Prince Li was transporting disaster relief food and grass to the south on an official ship, it suddenly sank when passing through the mouth of Changxin River. The people who were responsible for salvaging and autopsy were those brought by Lou Yongan.
As for another person named Zhou Jungui, he was a military general of Shezhou Prefecture. He was responsible for clearing out the "rebels" in the south and helping Emperor An, who was then the fifth prince, to quell the chaos in the south. He gained fame for this. After the rebellion was quelled, he was promoted several ranks and entered the Governor's Office.
After the disaster relief that year, in addition to those who openly surrendered to Emperor An and later rose to prominence, some people who secretly surrendered to the Lu family also gained a lot of benefits. Although Lu Chongyuan rarely contacted these people and rarely used them to ensure that no one would mention the events of that year, they were indeed people on the Lu family's ship.
But now both of them have had accidents...
Lu Chongyuan's face looked a little ugly. If it was just a coincidence, it would be fine, but if it wasn't, it meant that someone was interested in the old case from twenty years ago.
"Xilin, immediately send a message to Jiuan and have him secretly send someone to keep an eye on these people."
Lu Chongyuan quickly mentioned a few names, all of whom were people like Lou Yongan and the other two, who were related to the flood relief case twenty years ago. After he finished speaking, he gave his instructions in a deep voice.
"Tell Jiu'an to be careful and not expose himself. Just keep an eye out for any unusual activity around these people. Also, have him check if anyone from the capital has recently passed through Rongjiang, which is under the jurisdiction of Shezhou. Especially any unfamiliar faces who approach the government office. Have him reply as soon as possible!"
Xilin had never seen Lu Chongyuan speak so harshly before, so he didn't dare to ask any more questions and quickly agreed.
Lu Chongyuan was holding the booklet in his hand with uneasiness, hoping that he had guessed wrong, otherwise he would be in big trouble.
…
The Lu family has been powerful for many years and has its own foundation. Even though Tang Ning had people guarding the family tightly and even keeping an eye on everyone in the Lu family, the news about Lu Chongyuan was still sent out without anyone's knowledge.
After the news left the capital, Lu Chongyuan, who had been bedridden, forced himself to pay attention to the situation in the capital. When he took a look, he suddenly found something wrong.
The court was in chaos, with princes and court officials attacking each other. The Fourth Prince's reputation was ruined, and the Second Prince was also disliked by Emperor An. Cui Lin and others wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to fight for power, and the Qingliu side could not hold back and began to impeach the princes. However, the person who should have been in the vortex was quietly hiding in Jiyun Lane.
The capital is in a state of chaos, but the people in Jiyun Lane seem to be isolated from the world.
Lu Chongyuan was holding the news that was sent back one after another from below. The more he read, the more he felt something was wrong. He paid close attention to Jiyun Lane and found that everything was too normal. After waiting for seven or eight days, when the news from Lu Jiuan was urgently sent back to the capital, Lu Chongyuan listened to what Xilin said and suddenly threw the thing in his hand onto the table.
"What a Xiao Yan, what a Governor Xiao!"
It turned out that he stirred up trouble in the capital just to divert attention.
He was actually investigating Rong Jiang's affairs.
How could he know those secrets from twenty years ago?!
Lu Chongyuan's palms were shaking with anger, his eyes were filled with fear and rage. It was obvious that what happened back then had long been buried in the dust, and no one knew about the past. Those who knew about it would never dare to speak out. How did that mad dog Xiao Yan know all about it?
etc……
Lu Chongyuan pinched his palms hard. If the Lingyun Temple incident was a setup to muddy the waters in the capital and distract people from other things, then on the day when Rongsheng Academy opened, could it be that Xiao Yan and Song Tangning had humiliated him and angered Lu Qin by setting up a trap long ago?
They deliberately provoked Lu Qin to take action, and then left Emperor An in Song Tangning's carriage.
During that time, Emperor An spared the Lu family for once out of consideration for old ties, and also because the Lu family treated Xiao Yan coldly, Xiao Yan deliberately set up such a scheme, which not only earned him the credit of saving the emperor, but also made Emperor An feel guilty about him. However, considering that the eunuch Xiao Yan was always smart, would he really be seriously injured and dying?
The more Lu Chongyuan thought about it, the angrier he became, and he suddenly waved his hand and knocked over the things in front of him.
"How dare you, arrogant boy, plot against the Lu family like this!!"
He was so angry that his blood boiled and his face turned red, and his body shook and trembled.
Xilin hurried forward: "Master!"
Lu Chongyuan gasped for breath, feeling dizzy and dazed. He finally managed to steady himself by holding on to the person beside him. He pinched his palms tightly and said coldly, "He used a serious injury to deceive the emperor, plotted against Qin'er, and even sent people to Jiangnan to investigate those old things without authorization. Does he really think he has absolute control over everything in the capital?"
"I want to see how many lives this eunuch has left!"
…
The accident came unexpectedly. It was the beginning of August, the day of the monthly exam of Rongsheng Academy. Tang Ning had just come out of the academy after finishing his papers and was talking to Mr. Tong who was waiting outside when he saw Yue Jian rushing over.
When they got closer, Tang Ning smiled and said, "Aru hasn't finished answering yet. We have to wait a while before we can go back home..."
"Girl, something happened!"
Tang Ning was stunned.
"The Fourth Prince's wife is dead. The Second Lady Bai was also assassinated and fell off the corridor. She is now unconscious. The Zhao family is now in front of the Privy Council, saying that they want the Fourth Prince to pay with his life. The Second Prince's wife has also entered the palace."
It's a complete mess.
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