Just before sunset, a black cat stopped outside Lu Zhenzhi's study. It knocked twice on the door with its claws and transformed into a human form. "Nineth Master, today, Minister of War Jiang Yucheng and Vice Minister of War Xue Shanlu submitted ten letters impeaching you. The Emperor was furious after reading them!"
"knew."
Lu Zhenzhi continued writing without raising his head.
As if this matter had nothing to do with him.
"Keep watching the palace and report to me as soon as you get any news." Lu Zhenzhi said calmly.
"yes!"
Lu Zhenzhi snorted coldly, then picked up his pen and wrote a secret letter, having it delivered to the Dali Temple.
Not long after, a servant knocked on the door and said, "Master Jiu, Eunuch Xia, His Majesty's attendant, is here to deliver the decree."
Lu Zhenzhi walked around the table, walked briskly to the door, opened it, and saw a eunuch named Xia who was in his fifties.
Eunuch Xia said with a smile: "Prince Regent, His Majesty has ordered you to come to the palace to meet him immediately." His voice hung on a thread.
Lu Zhenzhi said, "Thank you, eunuch, for delivering the message."
Eunuch Xia said with a smile, "Prince Regent, His Majesty is angry. Please be careful on your way."
"Thank you!" Lu Zhenzhi clasped his fists, turned around, took the fox fur cloak, walked through the villa, and left quickly.
Eunuch Xia stood in the yard, smiling meaningfully.
Imperial Study in the Palace
Sitting next to him was Lu Zhenzhi.
The emperor sat sideways in the middle, looking at Minister Jiang and listening to Minister Jiang and Cheng's accusations against his ninth brother Lu Zhenzhi. He did not say a word for a long time.
After a long while, he slowly said, "If what you said is true, then the Regent is guilty of an unforgivable crime."
Lu Zhenzhi sat on a carved wooden armchair cushioned with gold-thread printed velvet. He calmly lowered his eyes, picked up the teacup, opened the lid, and took a sip of hot tea.
Minister Jiang knelt in the center of the imperial study and bowed prostrate, saying, "Your Majesty, every word I say is true! The Prince Regent has abused his power, acted arbitrarily, and bent the law for personal gain. He deserves death and the extermination of his entire clan!"
When the emperor heard this, he slammed the string in his hand on the table and said, "How dare you!"
He lowered his head and spoke in a calm tone, pointing at Minister Jiang and saying, "The Prince Regent and I are brothers! You want to kill all his clans, what is your intention? Minister Jiang wants to take my place, right?"
"I dare not! That is not what I meant!" Minister Jiang was so frightened that cold sweat broke out on his back.
The emperor continued, "Lord Jiang, you keep saying the Prince Regent is abusing his power. I want to ask you, where is your evidence? The memorial you presented to me simply claimed he embarrassed you at the restaurant today, and you were so angry you wrote this to vent your anger. Is that right? And you even used cinnabar... How dare you! You frame the Prince without a single piece of evidence."
Minister Jiang said: "But the Princess Hui humiliated—"
Lu Zhenzhi frowned and glared at him, then instantly grabbed Minister Jiang's throat invisibly!
"Princess Hui?" the emperor pondered, then glanced sideways at Lu Zhenzhi, wondering, "Ninth brother, you brought Princess Hui along for a social event?"
Lu Zhenzhi put down his teacup and was about to stand up to report - the emperor closed his eyes and raised his hand, saying: "Sit down."
"Thank you, my royal brother."
Lu Zhenzhi sat down again, leaning towards the emperor, and said with his head slightly lowered:
"When I was returning home today, someone came to tell me that Lord Jiang was hosting a banquet for me. He also said that if I didn't go, he would have people disrupt my business at the western market. I had no choice but to go. When I arrived, I heard Lord Jiang ordering people to beat up Princess Hui and her maid. Out of kindness, I rescued Princess Hui and her maid, but I didn't expect that this would anger Minister Jiang."
The emperor looked at Lu Zhenzhi's calm demeanor, stroking the string of Buddhist beads beneath his palm. After a moment's thought, he slowly said, "Ninth Brother, you have guarded the border for many years, serving the court and the entire Great Yan, bringing peace and well-being to the people. I am deeply grateful."
He turned back to look at Minister Jiang who was kneeling on the ground and said slowly:
"Minister Jiang, you serve in the same court as the Regent. You should understand the principles of getting along with each other. You cannot rely on your petty temper to falsely accuse the prince, a Regent who has made outstanding contributions to Great Yan! In everything, I demand evidence! Take these cinnabar memorials back, and I will pretend that this matter never happened. Withdraw!"
"Your Majesty, I feel uneasy if the Regent is not removed. Your Majesty..." Minister Jiang knelt down again.
Lu Zhenzhi sneered, took a sip of hot tea, and said calmly, "Master Jiang, are you determined to overthrow me today?"
The emperor said word by word, "My dear Jiang, I no longer blame you. Why do you continue to pester me? If you continue like this, I will punish you by having you retire to your residence for three days. You are not allowed to enter the palace unless summoned!"
Minister Jiang was about to say something else, but the emperor waved his hand and said, "That's it."
Lu Zhenzhi put down his teacup, stood up, knelt and said, "I'm leaving!"
The emperor said, "It's getting late, my ninth brother, please stay for dinner."
Lu Zhenzhi thought of Fu Tong'er. If she had moved to a new house, having dinner together in the evening would be something he looked forward to. So he said, "Your Highness has important matters in the army."
The emperor nodded and said, "Military affairs are more important. Ninth brother, please go."
"Yes, I'll take my leave." Lu Zhenzhi bowed to the emperor and walked out of the imperial study with steady steps.
Minister Jiang was about to say something, but the emperor lowered his voice and pointed at him: "Jiang Yucheng, ah Jiang Yucheng, you have a pig brain! You falsely accused the prince! According to the law, you are guilty! But considering that you have elderly parents and young children to take care of, I will pardon your crime. Without any evidence, you wrote ten cinnabar memorials to impeach the regent! You, you really have a brain filled with mud! Back off, back off!" The emperor was so angry that his head started to hurt.
"yes--"
Outside the Hall of Supreme Harmony, at the foot of the jade steps, I ran into the Regent, Lu Zhenzhi.
He seemed to be waiting there on purpose.
"Minister Jiang--" Lu Zhenzhi was a head taller than Jiang Yucheng, and looked both majestic and cold in front of him.
A pair of eyes that seemed to be smiling but not smiling made people shudder.
"Ninth Master!" Although Minister Jiang was unwilling, he still bowed down according to the hierarchy.
"Get up." Lu Zhenzhi turned around, looked at the boundless sky dotted with scattered snowflakes, and said calmly, "You feel unhappy that you didn't overthrow me, don't you?"
"I dare not."
Lu Zhenzhi snorted coldly and said calmly: "The wind is blowing, Minister Jiang, look at the warm winter sun more often. If you keep staring at me, something bad will happen..."
"Yes... Master Jiu." Minister Jiang's teeth were broken, and he watched the Regent walk away in anger and helplessness.
…
Lu Zhenzhi quickly mounted his horse, thinking: I wonder if that girl has moved yet. What should I ask the cook to cook tonight...
The horse galloped, running faster and faster.
At lunch, the girl ate a lot of plum blossom soup. Oh, it turns out she loves sweet things. But then she thought again, eating too much sweet food is not good, it would be better to eat more nourishing food.
As he thought about it, Lu Zhenzhi rode his horse even faster...
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