"After sending them away, you went to look for your little monk every day, is that right?"
The emperor's words were as sharp as ever and went straight to the point.
Hu Yang felt guilty and said weakly, "Then, I will go see the young monk every three days. I am at a critical moment now, and if I can't listen to the young monk's profound Buddhist teachings all the time, I'm worried that my willpower won't be strong enough and I'll return to the absurd days of the past."
"You are being ridiculous now!" The emperor was so angry that he laughed.
If he believed Huyang's nonsense, he would be a real tyrant who couldn't even tell the truth from lies.
"What nonsense! You're just trying to cover up the truth with sweet words. You still have the nerve to say you've turned around and become a new man. Even the Bodhisattva would be struck by lightning if they believed you."
The emperor's words were harsher and harsher.
Hu Yang sobbed and cried, "My daughter wants to correct herself, but father won't give her a chance. What kind of logic is this?"
"How dare you!" the emperor scolded Hu Yang. "If you want to listen to the Dharma, you can find a great monk. Why are you looking for a little monk? I think you are not listening to the Dharma, but you are really coveting the little monk."
Hu Yang defended herself, "Father's misunderstanding of me is truly deep-rooted. Listening to the Dharma requires the right time, right place, and right people. The young monk is my ideal. It's like Master Li teaching the same material better than Master Zhu."
The emperor laughed again, "You are just sophistry. Tell me the truth, who taught you to fool me like this? Was it Prince Ning?"
Prince Ning has a toothache, how could he have the ability to do that?
If he had this ability, he wouldn't have been tortured by Hu Yang for decades. He should have fooled Hu Yang into losing his way eight hundred years ago.
Hu Yang shook his head and kept silent.
The emperor's gaze swept across Prince Ning's face and slowly looked at Liu Zhao.
Liu Zhao simply stood up and said in a resounding voice, "It was my grandson who taught my aunt to speak like that. If the Emperor wants to punish me, please punish my grandson."
The emperor suddenly became furious.
"Do you think I'm old and confused and can be fooled at will?"
After saying that, the emperor picked up the inkstone at hand and threw it at Liu Zhao.
The inkstone missed its target and fell to the ground halfway, breaking into two pieces.
Liu Zhao did not change his words and insisted, "It was indeed my grandson who taught my aunt to speak like this. If my royal grandfather does not believe me, you can ask my aunt."
Hu Yang was a little confused, but didn't say anything.
The emperor sneered, "Come here, call Gu Jiu. If there's anyone else who can teach Hu Yang sophistry, then there's no one else besides Gu Jiu."
The emperor pointed at Prince Ning and Liu Zhao, father and son, and said, "Do you really think I know nothing about your Prince Ning's Mansion? You've taken me for an old fool and deceived me. I will make sure you have the consequences."
Princess Huyang was horrified and fell to her knees with a thud.
"Father, this is all my daughter's fault. If you want to punish me, punish me. This has nothing to do with my brother."
"Shut up! Get out of here! You even dared to lay your hands on the little monk. How hungry are you?"
The emperor angrily scolded Hu Yang, tore off Hu Yang's face, threw it on the ground and trampled on it.
Huyang cried so much that the emperor was upset.
Liu Zhao stepped forward and said, "Xiao Jiu is my grandson's wife. Her affairs are my grandson's affairs. If the emperor wants to punish Xiao Jiu, my grandson will bear the responsibility."
The emperor sneered, "You can't afford it. Get out of my way and don't speak without my permission. Otherwise, go to Zongzheng Temple and stay there."
Liu Zhao frowned.
The emperor changed his attitude too quickly.
He had just returned to Beijing the day before yesterday after having made great contributions. Today, he keeps saying that he will be imprisoned in the Zongzheng Temple.
Liu Zhao secretly looked at Prince Ning.
Prince Ning had a blank expression on his face, but in his heart he was cursing the emperor from head to toe.
The old man was getting more and more confused as he got older. The deceased censor, with a simple provocation, casually suggested that he be made crown prince, and the old man suspected that he was coveting the throne.
Prince Ning snorted inwardly.
Judging from the old man's personality, he probably wants to kill him.
If there were such an opportunity, the old man would definitely order his execution without mercy.
What is opportunity?
From the Imperial Censor, to Huyang, then Gu Jiu, Liu Zhao, and finally him. Step by step, it was clear that someone had planned everything and was creating an opportunity for the Emperor to kill him.
Prince Ning's mind was racing.
He carefully observed the emperor's reaction, expression, and demeanor, trying to judge how determined the emperor was to kill him.
Being under the emperor's watchful eyes, Prince Ning had no way to communicate directly with Liu Zhao and could only use eye contact.
Liu Zhao had no expression on his face and remained silent.
This seems to be a safe situation, but in fact it is full of murderous intentions.
Because the timing was perfect.
Yesterday, someone requested that Prince Ning be made the crown prince, and today Huyang was caught in the crossfire.
There is no one plotting behind the scenes, even a three-year-old child wouldn’t believe it.
How to resolve this situation?
Liu Zhao's gaze fell on Hu Yang.
If necessary, should we sacrifice Aunt Huyang?
When Liu Zhao thought about Gu Jiu being implicated in this situation by Hu Yang, his heart instantly hardened as a rock.
If necessary, he will sacrifice Princess Huyang.
The hall was suffocatingly silent.
All that was heard was the sound of the emperor flipping through memorials.
The eunuchs walked very quietly, not daring to make any sound.
He spoke in a soft voice and it was impossible to hear what he was saying unless you got close.
The silence was not broken until the eunuch reported that Madam Zhao had arrived.
"Send her in."
The emperor dropped what he was doing, put on a stern face, and stared at Gu Jiu who walked in from the door with an imposing look.
"Gu Jiu, do you admit your guilt?"
The emperor took the initiative to give Gu Jiu a warning.
Unfortunately, Gu Jiu was not raised to be scared.
She first paid her respects to the emperor, then asked calmly, "I don't know where my grandson's crime is. Your Majesty, please explain."
The emperor sneered, "You taught Huyang to lie to deceive me. Your crime is unforgivable!"
Gu Jiu glanced at Hu Yang, then secretly looked at Liu Zhao.
Liu Zhao shook his head slightly, meaning that no one said it and the emperor guessed it himself.
Gu Jiu knew what was going on and said calmly, "Your Majesty, all of this is actually Aunt Huyang's filial piety. I wonder if Aunt Huyang didn't express herself clearly, causing Your Majesty to misunderstand her intentions."
The emperor laughed in anger, "That's nonsense! But I'm very interested in hearing how you cover up your lie."
Gu Jiu raised his head and looked directly at the Emperor. "Your Majesty, wasn't Princess Huyang extremely naughty and absurd in the past? She relied on her status as a princess to do whatever she wanted, disgusting everyone and attracting countless impeachments from the Imperial Censors. This made Your Majesty and Consort Shu furious and humiliated countless times, yet they were helpless to do anything about it?"
For countless days and nights, His Majesty and Consort Shu hoped that Princess Huyang would turn over a new leaf, live a down-to-earth life, and stop being criticized and embarrassed. However, repeated disappointment made His Majesty and Consort Shu completely give up on reforming Princess Huyang.
Until recently, Huyang had met a young monk. Perhaps at first, Princess Huyang had ulterior motives in mind when approaching the young monk, but through repeated interactions, Princess Huyang's stubborn mind finally opened up.
Gu Jiu looked towards Princess Huyang. She had a warm smile in her eyes and said in the warmest tone:
"She would also hold a book and read a few pages. Even if she was pretending, it was better than not pretending at all. She would also explain a few Buddhist teachings. Although she didn't listen to the Buddhist teachings attentively, the little monk's repeated indoctrination made Princess Huyang listen and remember a few words.
All of these changes occurred after she came into contact with the young monk, and they were all good changes. It can be seen that the young monk did influence Princess Huyang, making her become more positive, more optimistic, and start to make progress in a positive direction.
At this point, discussing Princess Huyang's initial purpose in approaching the young monk is meaningless. Everything has changed. Princess Huyang is no longer the same Princess Huyang, and the young monk will be even more attentive in his efforts to inspire her.
So when someone accused Princess Huyang of having an unusual relationship with the young monk, she became particularly anxious.
But she was not good at speaking, and could not express her thoughts accurately. At the same time, she was afraid that if she could not explain herself clearly, it would deepen the misunderstanding and harm the innocent young monk.
Therefore, Aunt Huyang found her granddaughter-in-law. After learning about their relationship and witnessing the changes in Aunt Huyang, she helped her organize her words and taught her how to accurately express her true thoughts.
Speaking of this, Gu Jiu was almost moved by himself.
You can really brag!
She paused and continued her closing statement.
"Your Majesty, everything my granddaughter-in-law said is true. My granddaughter-in-law and Aunt Huyang have absolutely no intention of deceiving Your Majesty. We simply want to make things clear and let Your Majesty see the changes in Aunt Huyang, so that Your Majesty and the Empress can be happy."
All these years, when His Majesty had given up on Aunt Huyang, the young monk had not given up on her. At this time, every little bit of progress Aunt Huyang made was a sign of filial piety, because she no longer brought shame to His Majesty.
One day, Aunt Huyang will be able to turn over a new leaf and become the pride of Your Majesty. "My granddaughter-in-law has full confidence in the young monk. She believes that even if it is black, the young monk can use his profound Buddhist teachings to bleach it into grayish white."
Princess Huyang was deeply moved.
Tears rolled down her face, and she looked at Gu Jiu affectionately, as if to say: You understand me!
Gu Jiu sweated profusely, lowering his head to avoid Hu Yang's gaze. This was truly too melodramatic.
In fact, it was the first time for Prince Ning and Liu Zhao to truly witness Gu Jiu's ability to deceive people.
Liu Zhao was better off. At least he had seen Gu Jiu exaggerate black and his ability to deceive people.
However, this was the first time that Liu Zhao saw Gu Jiu going all out, and the person he was fooling was the emperor, so he was still shocked.
He thought to himself, my wife is really awesome.
Talking nonsense seriously, this is probably the highest level.
He wanted to laugh, but he had to hold it back and pretend to be serious.
Prince Ning was stunned by Gu Jiu's trick. He looked at Hu Yang. Is this his sister? A sister inspired by Buddhism?
No way!
Eating, drinking, whoring and gambling, this is what Huyang is all about.
Is it as good as Gu Jiu said that she can turn over a new leaf?
Hu Yang clearly wanted to sleep with the little monk, but how come in Gu Jiu's mouth it became that he was inspired by Buddhism and wanted to turn over a new leaf?
Today he finally saw what it meant to confuse right and wrong.
Just relying on Gu Jiu's eloquence, he could go to the morning court and fight with those imperial censors who relied on their eloquence to get into office, and he was not afraid at all.
Gu Jiu looked at everyone's shocked expressions and thought, this is just the beginning.
In her previous life, she lived in an era of information explosion. Countless nights, she witnessed the fierce online battles of keyboard warriors.
She has seen so much, using all kinds of tricky angles, picking on words, exploiting weaknesses, turning black into white, and the dead into alive, talking about everything from Paramecium to eighteen generations of ancestors, from foreign countries to domestic affairs, from ancient history to your mother telling you to wear thermal underwear last night, all kinds of weird debates, all kinds of ideas.
She had already cultivated a strong heart and various tricky ideas.
As the saying goes, benevolence is in the eye of the beholder. Ten people may interpret the same thing in ten different ways.
If the emperor needed it, she could come up with ten different opinions in one breath about whether Huyang was going to sleep with the little monk.
And each one can be discussed at length.
The emperor's eyes were filled with surprise and doubt.
He looked at Huyang, then at Gu Jiu, and then at King Ning Liu Zhao and his son.
The emperor frowned.
Hu Yang's face was filled with sincerity, as if he had carved a few big words on his forehead: Really, everything Gu Jiu said is true. I am so motivated.
So touched!
She was so moved by herself that she almost cried.
Oh, that's not right!
She wasn't moved to tears by herself, but by the Hu Yang that Gu Jiu mentioned.
Hu Yang's tears fell again. The only person in the world who understood her, besides the little monk, was Gu Jiu.
Gu Jiu is not only her eldest nephew's wife, but also her confidant.
Gu Jiu felt a little nauseous.
She really didn't want to be Huyang's confidant.
Just considering Hu Yang's nature of teasing cats and dogs and stirring up trouble, being her confidant would be exhausting.
It’s good to be a business partner, but don’t get involved too much in other things, it’s tiring!
The emperor said to Gu Jiu, "Although I know you are talking nonsense, you have successfully convinced me. I am willing to believe that what you said is true."
After believing Gu Jiu's words, the emperor felt less depressed.
Gu Jiu blinked.
Why do you say she's talking nonsense? Who knows, maybe one day, Hu Yang will really change his ways.
The emperor continued, "Gu Jiu, let me talk to you about the three main halls."
Gu Jiu: MMP, she knew that nothing good would happen when she entered the palace today.
What's the point of being willing to believe what she said is true? It's clearly a strategy of giving first if you want to get something.
Beat her with a stick and then give her a sweet date. Treat her like a three-year-old child.
Gu Jiu wanted to say, "Your Majesty, please don't believe me. I'm telling you, Hu Yang just wanted to sleep with the young monk from the beginning. All this talk of turning over a new leaf is fake."
Just wait and see, Hu Yang will sleep with the little monk sooner or later.
Gu Jiu was in a bad mood, so she particularly disliked Hu Yang.
You could sleep with anyone, but you have to sleep with a monk. Are little monks really that good-looking? Can they be better looking than the concubines in the princess's mansion?
Or was it that the little monk exuded an aura of abstinence that completely conquered Huyang?
"Why are you silent?"
The emperor looked at Gu Jiu with a half-smile.
No matter how powerful you are, Sun Wukong, you can't escape my Five Finger Mountain.
Aren’t you, Gu Jiu, quite good at fooling people? It’s just the right time for you to go and cheat people out of some money so that you can repair the three main halls.
Gu Jiu's mouth twitched, and she said aggrievedly, "I don't know what to say. This concerns the three great halls. I've actually thought a lot about it these days, but I still can't think of any way to solve the money problem. I'm not capable enough, so please understand, Your Majesty."
The emperor said, "I will not sympathize with you. Just based on the Yuhua Alley you created, I know you must be able to raise the money to repair the three main halls. Don't try to hide it. If you refuse to accept this task, then Huyang will be stripped of his title, and so will Prince Ning."
Damn it!
A naked threat!
Prince Ning was furious. The old man had been waiting for this day for a long time, wanting to strip him of his title and demote him to a commoner.
Ning Wangteng stood up suddenly.
"Father, if you don't like your son, why not just give him three feet of white silk? My son is dead, so why bother to embarrass a junior?"
The emperor glared at Prince Ning and spoke word by word, "If you dare to say one more word, I will issue an edict and give you poison."
When Prince Ning heard this, he was stunned.
He stopped talking and simply lay on the ground, unwilling to get up. He thought he was dead.
The corners of Gu Jiu's mouth twitched.
It is said that the imperial family is the most ruthless, and this is really the truth.
But Prince Ning is already very old, and he is still rolling on the ground and playing tricks. Is that really okay?
Liu Zhao was not surprised. When Prince Ning lay on the ground, he didn't even move his eyebrows.
Silence throughout.
"Gu Jiu, have you thought it through?"
The emperor asked aloud.
Gu Jiu: Oh my god, as the emperor, can you have some shame?
Can we use some technical means instead of simple and crude threats?
Emperor: I have been emperor for decades, and I have always been so simple and crude. If you have any objections, shut up!
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