The emperor pushed open the door in anger, and everyone looked into the room curiously, wanting to see what secrets were inside.
Shi Mingyue also looked inside. At that moment, a chill rose from her back and went all the way to her heart.
Two people lay on the couch in the room. One was naked, the imperial concubine Rong, and the other was disheveled, Fu Yueli. The two woke up at the sound of the emperor pushing the door. Rong Fei, seeing herself completely naked with the crown prince lying beside her, screamed in fear.
Fu Yueli met the emperor's furious gaze, and soon he understood what had happened. He did not panic at all, but calmly picked up the clothes on the ground and handed them to Concubine Rong.
He stood up, blocking Concubine Rong. Even at this moment, he still had the energy to straighten his clothes. His collar had been ripped open by someone, leaving it in disarray, and his belt had also been loosened. He stood before everyone, calmly straightening his clothes.
Everyone was stunned. The emperor said angrily, "How dare you!"
Fu Yueli straightened her clothes, lowered her eyes, and said in a deep voice, "Sometimes seeing is not necessarily believing."
Hearing his words, the emperor became even more furious. But before he could say anything, Concubine Cen beside him spoke up: "So many eyes saw you and Concubine Rong lying in bed together. You were caught in the act of adultery, and you still want to make excuses?"
Fu Yueli looked at her, then at the emperor: "The clear will be clear, and the turbid will be turbid. I have no regrets. As for how I ended up lying in the same bed with Concubine Rong, I'm afraid only the instigator knows."
"Enough!" The emperor seemed unable to bear the blow. He turned his head and said disappointedly, word by word: "The Crown Prince's tutor Yueli has failed in moral conduct and is unfit to inherit the throne. From today on, the Crown Prince is deposed and remains Prince Ling. He must reflect on his mistakes within the palace."
The emperor abolished Fu Yueli's position as crown prince with just one sentence. He looked angry and sad, but Shi Mingyue clearly saw a strange and smug smile on the corner of his mouth.
Was all this just a conspiracy set up by the emperor? Shi Mingyue felt a chill run down her spine at the thought of this. She absolutely did not believe that Fu Yueli would betray her, yet she had to pretend because everyone's eyes were fixed on her.
She knew they wanted to see her reaction, so she cooperated and shed tears, showing an aggrieved expression, then turned and ran away.
Finally, there were no outsiders in the mansion. Fu Yueli saw Shi Mingyue walking towards him, and he could only say: "I didn't do it."
"I believe you." Shi Mingyue sighed, but others didn't believe her, and she didn't know what the emperor would do next. She had to get to the bottom of this matter. "Why did you appear in that room? What did the palace maid whisper to you?"
Fu Yueli's eyes flashed with pain. "An old maid who once served my mother in the palace said she was willing to testify for me, proving that it was Concubine Cen who put a chronic poison in my mother's daily diet. However, when I went to that room, I felt dizzy and then lost consciousness."
How could such a thing happen! Shi Mingyue couldn't understand. If the emperor was the one who had set the trap, then since he loved Empress Lu so deeply, why didn't he avenge her, knowing that Concubine Cen was her murderer? Could it be that it wasn't the emperor who had set the trap, but Concubine Cen?
But why did the emperor have such a strange and smug smile? It was as if some of his schemes had succeeded.
"Do you know Concubine Rong?" Shi Mingyue still had a question: why was it Concubine Rong and not another concubine lying on the bed?
Fu Yueli did know Concubine Rong, and he had the deepest impression of her. That was because when he first came to the imperial palace in Shangjing, after meeting the emperor and walking out of the hall, he met Concubine Rong, who was of the same age as him.
"I know her, but we have no connection."
Shi Mingyue calmed down, thought for a long time and said, "You can't leave the palace for the time being. No matter who wants to harm you, wait and see what happens."
Fu Yueli couldn't just sit back and wait. He had already determined that it was Concubine Cen who had set up this trap. She was determined to get rid of him for the sake of her son's position as crown prince. How could he just sit there and wait for death? But now that Lu Lingyan was not around, who else could he turn to for help? Not to mention that he had to protect Mingyue.
The two looked at each other for a long time and both sighed.
As the saying goes, good fortune never comes alone, nor does misfortune. Three days later, another piece of news rocked the court and the country. It was about the deposed crown prince and the previous runner-up, Ren Xianyang. Someone filed a petition alleging that Ren Xianyang's smooth passage through the imperial examinations was closely linked to Fu Yueli, claiming that Fu Yueli had sent someone to Xinzhou to look after Ren Xianyang and had him move into a new house.
A day later, another person filed a petition accusing Fu Yueli of corrupt conduct and having visited Nanfeng Pavilion. They even brought up Yan Jiajie's past. Yan Jiajie had been rescued from Nanfeng Pavilion by Fu Yueli and stayed at Prince Ling's mansion for a few days. With Fu Yueli's help, he became a teacher in a village outside Shangjing. Yan Jiajie, who had escaped the purview of his father, Yan Zhenru, for bribery during the imperial examinations, was now under arrest.
This series of events made the emperor extremely angry, so he ordered Fu Yueli to be demoted to a commoner and placed under house arrest.
I thought things were only this bad, but who knew something happened to the Lu family in Lingzhou.
The head of the Lu family is Fu Yueli's uncle Lu Shulin. The Jinyu Bookstore run by Lu Shulin has always been a prosperous business. A story in a collection of stories printed last year mentioned through the protagonist's mouth a sentence said by Chen Sheng during the Chen Sheng and Wu Guang uprising, "Are kings, princes, generals, and ministers born of different species?" This sentence was preceded by another person asking why, if the law of nature is clear, incompetent monarchs and corrupt officials can still get away with it.
This episode was picked up by someone with ulterior motives. Coupled with the extremely high sales of the story collection, the Lu family was accused of insinuating the current emperor, inciting the public to rebellion, and harboring treasonous intentions. Not only was Jinyu Bookstore raided, but Lu Shulin, Lu Lingjing, the two elders of the Lu family, and Lu Lingyan, who had returned earlier, were all imprisoned.
Upon hearing this, Shi Mingyue might have previously suspected that Concubine Cen was the mastermind behind the incident, but now she was completely certain that it was the emperor. Only the emperor would be so cruel as to plunder the Lu family, and even use that old nanny to set a trap and slander Fu Yueli, knowing that Concubine Cen was the one who killed Empress Lu.
After hearing about the Lu family's situation, Fu Yueli couldn't help but rush out of the house. When he thought of his grandparents being imprisoned and suffering such torture at such an old age, he lost his mind and wanted to go to Lingzhou to rescue them.
But as soon as he opened the door, two guards outside stopped him. They were the guards who were guarding him and would not allow him to leave the room.
"Get out of the way!" Fu Yueli said sternly.
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