Chapter 258 Resignation
Ever since Queen Lu ordered Jinzhi to visit the Lu family, she has been thinking about how to tell Xiao Yan the clues without arousing suspicion from the eunuch.
After finally coming up with a plan and planning to invite Madam Lu into the palace so as to take her down, he heard that Guan had died.
Queen Lu frowned: "How did he die?"
"Suicide." Jinzhi spoke quickly. "The Black Armor Guards went to the Lu family today and searched the women's quarters. They found Qinxin and the things that had been sent to the Madam. The Madam pierced her throat with a hairpin in front of the Lu family and Xiao Yan."
Empress Lu heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing this. She reached out to pick up the cup beside her and smiled slightly, "Death is better. The dead can't speak. With her life accompanying Prince Cheng, I think Xiao Yan and His Majesty will both let it go, and Prince Cheng's case can be concluded..."
"Your Majesty, it was the Fourth Prince who led the people to the Lu family today."
"Bang!"
The cup of tea suddenly fell to the ground, and the water inside splashed on Empress Lu's hand. She suddenly looked up: "What did you say?!"
"It was His Highness who led the Black Armor Guards to the Lu family today."
Jinzhi's voice trembled slightly as she spoke, her face pale. "Your Highness led his men into the Lu family and ordered the Black Armored Guards to search the residence of the Lu family's women. It was also Your Highness who had the eldest lady and her family interrogated. After her death, her body was brought all the way into the palace. It is said that there were scars on her body and face. It was...it was the Fourth Prince who did it before her death..."
"absurd!"
Queen Lu's fingers were burning red, but she didn't care about the pain at all. She stood up suddenly and said angrily:
"Aren't the Black Armor Guards Xiao Yan's? Why would Huang'er get involved with him? Xiao Yan is investigating the Lu family's affairs, so why would Huang'er lead people to break into the Lu family..."
Her face was filled with ferocity, no longer worthy of reason. "Is it Xiao Yan? Is he using the prince?! That eunuch Xiao Yan, how dare he use my prince as a weapon!"
Jinzhi quickly said, "No, the Fourth Prince went to the Lu family on the emperor's orders."
"The Emperor's order?" Empress Lu's face froze with anger. "How did Your Majesty know that?"
Jinzhi shook her head. "I haven't gotten any news either. I only heard that Princess Cheng came into the palace today and caused a big disturbance, threatening to break off relations with Prince Cheng. After she left, His Majesty urgently summoned Governor Xiao, and then His Highness received the imperial order to thoroughly investigate the Lu family."
Seeing the queen's grim expression, Jinzhi said cautiously:
"I couldn't get any information from the Imperial Court, but I heard that His Majesty was furious before Governor Xiao entered the palace. The person who came out of the palace to announce his return was also in a hurry. Governor Xiao came directly from the Ministry of Justice, his clothes were stained with blood, and he didn't even have time to change. I don't think he was the one who told His Majesty about Prince Cheng and the Lu family."
Queen Lu's eyes were gloomy. She originally thought that Xiao Yan had used the Fourth Prince as a knife, but it turned out to be His Majesty. However, not only did the anger in her heart not dissipate, but her expression became even more resentful.
The Lu family is Zheng'er's maternal family, and Zheng'er has Lu's blood in her veins. She dragged the Guan family into this just to protect them and their mother from being implicated. Even if they still broke with the Lu family in the end, outsiders would only think that they were disdainful of what the Lu family did and were "forced" to sever ties with the Lu family.
But Emperor An actually asked Zheng'er to investigate the matter, and let him personally expose the Lu family's scandal and bring disgrace to the Lu family.
No one would think that the Fourth Prince was putting the interests of the country above his own. They would only say that he was cold-blooded and ruthless in order to please His Majesty, and that he was ungrateful and disregarded family affection.
The Lu family can be destroyed by anyone, but it must not be destroyed by the Fourth Prince.
Empress Lu's face turned pale with anger: "Xie Tianyong... He wants to destroy my Zheng'er..."
Jinzhi listened to the empress addressing the emperor by his name, and dared not speak. After a while, the empress said in a cold voice, "You said Rong Yue came to the palace to break off relations with Prince Cheng?"
Jinzhi lowered her head and said, "Your Majesty has not agreed."
Before Empress Lu could sneer at Rong Yue's wild ideas, she heard Jin Zhi say cautiously:
"Princess Cheng was steadfast in her vows, and His Majesty refused to grant her consent. She then started a riot, nearly resulting in bloodshed in the palace. His Majesty finally relented and allowed her to divorce Prince Cheng. To appease Princess Cheng, he allowed her to establish a residence under the Rong family name, conferred her the title of First-Rank Lady of the Rong State, and also… He also handed over all of Prince Cheng's property to Princess Cheng..."
Seeing that Queen Lu's face was becoming more and more ugly, Jinzhi's voice became lower and lower, until it was almost inaudible.
Queen Lu gritted her teeth and pinched her fingertips, then waved her hand and pushed the screen fan aside. She had a gloomy face and was breathing heavily.
Mrs. Rongguo?
Is Rong Yue worthy of this?!
"Where is the fourth prince?" Queen Lu asked coldly.
"Still in the Imperial Study."
"Go wait outside, and as soon as he comes out, have him come over immediately!"
Just as Jinzhi was about to agree, Empress Lu changed her mind: "Forget it, I'll go there myself!"
…
In the imperial study, Guan's body was placed in the center. Her body was covered in horrifying blood, and her eyes were staring open in death.
Emperor An took only one look and frowned in disgust. He ordered her body to be carried away, and his eyes then fell on the letters and the green jade bracelet on the table.
"...I led a search of the residences of several female members of the Lu family and interrogated their servants one by one. These items were all found in Madam Lu's room. According to her maidservant, Madam Lu was acquainted with Prince Cheng before marrying into the Lu family. It was she who replaced the Lu family and Prince Cheng's wife with their offspring..."
The Fourth Prince recounted what had happened today before continuing, "This letter was written by Prince Cheng, and that jade bracelet is a token of love between Prince Cheng and her."
Emperor An opened the letter and took a look: "This is Prince Cheng's handwriting."
When he was young, he studied in the same study with Prince Cheng. Later, after the death of Crown Prince Li, he competed with Prince Cheng for the throne. He naturally recognized Xie Tianyu's handwriting. As for this bracelet, the late emperor did get a piece of green jade and made objects into it to give to people in the palace.
At that time, he was not favored by the late emperor, and his mother was not a favored concubine in the palace. He had no chance of such a good thing. At the palace banquet that year, he and his mother could only secretly envy the princes and concubines who received rewards, so they had a deep memory of this incident.
Emperor An stroked the lines on the bracelet, looked up and asked, "So, Lu Zhinian is Prince Cheng's son?"
"yes."
"What about Xie Yin?"
"It's the Lu family's bloodline, but whose it is remains to be investigated."
Emperor An laughed out loud when he heard this. It was just a spur-of-the-moment guess before, but he didn't expect it to be true. This was really interesting.
His eyes fell on Lu Chongyuan, who was kneeling not far away with a pale face. Seeing how miserable he was, he suddenly felt refreshed. Lu Chongyuan had been proud of his achievements over the years and had relied on the power of his aristocratic family to suppress him everywhere. The aristocratic family prided themselves on their reputation, but they did not expect that such a scandal would happen.
Emperor An threw the jade bracelet on the table: "Lu Qing, do you have anything to say?"
Lu Chongyuan knew that Emperor An was laughing at him. He lowered his head and said in a hoarse voice, "Old minister, I am guilty."
Emperor An was surprised to see him confess his guilt so readily.
Lu Chongyuan knelt on the ground and said, "I am wrong in not managing my family well and not educating my children well."
"Over the years, I have been so focused on the court and Your Majesty's country that I have forgotten to discipline the people in your palace. First, there was the rebellious son Lu Zhao who meddled in the grain and silver and embezzled it, and then there was the shameless and unvirtuous daughter-in-law Guan. I am at fault and have failed Your Majesty's high hopes."
"This old minister, the Qi family, has been disturbed and has caused such a scandal. I have no face to remain in the court, let alone to serve as the Minister of the Central Secretariat." He kowtowed directly to Emperor An and said, "I beg Your Majesty to allow this old minister to resign and return to Yuanchuan with the entire Lu family."
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