Fang Yu was dragged away by the Black Cloud Guards. "You are just a Duke's wife. You have no rank and you have no right to arrest me."
"Miss Fang is from Jiangnan, so you may not know that the Black Cloud Guards are the emperor's secret guards, responsible for protecting the emperor. The Black Cloud Guards in Ye Mansion today are sent by the emperor to protect the Ye Mansion, so I can naturally use them. You should be thankful that today is An An's hundred-day banquet, otherwise you would have become a dead soul under their swords if you had offended the emperor like this." Chen Qiu said and bowed to the emperor.
"Your Majesty, please calm down. I thought no one would come to this backyard, but I never thought that there would be someone who is not afraid of death and wants to climb up. It is better to hand it over to the Black Cloud Guard. Disrespecting Your Majesty is a serious crime. In such an occasion, she was able to send Commander Ling away and come directly to you. It is not something a girl like this can do alone. There must be accomplices. For the sake of Your Majesty's safety, we must not be careless." The emperor thought for a while and nodded, agreeing.
"Take her directly to the Black Cloud Guard. This is the sister-in-law of Lord Zheng. I just don't know if Lord Zheng knows that you are doing such a thing?" Ye Chen came in and asked the Black Cloud Guard to cover Fang Yu's mouth. He looked at Fang Yu coldly. Only then did Fang Yu realize how stupid he had done. The emperor was not Chen Yue, and the people in the Ye Mansion were not the ordinary people in the suburbs. It would be easy for the people here to crush a young lady from a poor family like her to death.
Fang Yu shook her head desperately, wanting to say that she was wrong. She just wanted to marry into a wealthy family, but she chose the wrong person. Not touching Ye Chen was the best thing she had done so far, otherwise she wouldn't even know how she died.
Fang Yu was silently taken away from the Duke's Mansion. Ye Chen brought Lord Zheng, who was drinking at the men's table, to the emperor. After listening to Ye Chen's words, Lord Zheng had no choice but to kowtow. The common people may not know, but those who work under the emperor must know that so many memorials for selecting concubines submitted this year have fallen into oblivion. The friendship between the emperor and the empress is rare in the royal family, but his wife's sister really doesn't know the importance of the matter!
Zheng Peng, the Minister of the Dali Temple, was the son of the doorman of the Fang family. He was originally a slave. Later, his father accompanied the old man of the Fang family out and encountered bandits on the way. Not only did they rob the money, but they also killed many people. It was Zheng Peng's father who reasoned and mediated with the bandits, rescued the old man of the Fang family, and carried him back to the Fang family.
In order to save his life, Mr. Fang released Zheng Peng from slavery, which allowed Zheng Peng to take part in the imperial examinations. He advanced from a student to a Jinshi, and finally became the top scorer. He was exiled for five years and was transferred back to Kyoto six years ago. Zhang Zhiyuan, the former cabinet minister, was his mentor. Now he and Chen Qingyun serve as the left and right prime ministers to assist the emperor.
Zheng knew how much he had sacrificed to get to this point, and he would never let all his years of hard work go to waste just for a sister-in-law like his. So, "It's all up to the Emperor," he said, bowing his head to the ground.
After the Hundred Days Banquet, Lord Zheng went home and had the door closed, saying, "No guests today," and then went directly to his wife.
"Husband, where is Yu'er? Why didn't she come back with you?" Mrs. Zheng Fang saw her husband coming back, but didn't see Fang Yu. They clearly went out together!
"He was taken away by the Black Cloud Guards." Lord Zheng did not intend to hide it from his wife. His wife knew that she was kind-hearted and must have been kept in the dark about Fang Yu's affairs.
When Mrs. Zheng heard that Fang Yu was taken away by the Black Cloud Guards, she hurriedly asked, "Why? What happened?" Lord Zheng then told Mrs. Fang what had happened today.
The more Fang listened, the colder her heart grew. Was Fang Yu truly daring? Still dreaming of becoming the imperial consort? What was she supposed to do now? No one who had entered the Black Cloud Guard had ever emerged alive. But even if Fang Yu had done something wrong, she was still her sister. Even though she had been expelled from the Fang family, if anything happened to her, the Fang family would definitely make trouble for her.
"How can we rescue her? Oh, where is Xia Ying? Why didn't she take good care of Yu'er?" Fang remembered that she had asked Xia Ying to remind Fang Yu not to do anything rash, so how come such a thing still happened?
"She was killed by Ling Tian, the deputy commander of the Black Cloud Guard. She lured Ling Tian away for Fang Yu so that Fang Yu could have the opportunity to get close to the emperor. She was killed on the spot. Everyone in the capital knows how much the emperor dotes on Young Master Ye. You can imagine how furious the emperor was when blood was seen at his son's hundred-day banquet." Lord Zheng tapped the table lightly, wondering what kind of situation this incident would bring to him. Could he still keep his current position?
"Husband, it's all my fault. I should have gone with her to look after her. With me here, she wouldn't have the chance to do such a thing. What would you have done? Did the emperor blame you?" Fang finally realized that this incident might affect Lord Zheng's career.
Lord Zheng stood up and hugged Fang. "You didn't know she was such a person, did you? Don't worry, the emperor is not a tyrannical monarch and will not embarrass me."
Madam Zheng leaned on Lord Zheng's shoulder and said, "What should I do with Yu'er? I can't just ignore her. Oh, I'll go find the Duke's wife. She can help me!"
Lord Zheng sighed, "She won't help you. Fang Yu was supposed to be her future sister-in-law, but she seduced another man at her son's hundred-day banquet. If it were you, would you plead for her?"
Mrs. Zheng suddenly thought of that day. Was this their plan? Just to be able to legitimately cancel the engagement that was no longer in place. If that was the case, she could rescue Fang Yu.
The next day, Madam Zheng really delivered a visiting card to the Ye Mansion. Chen Qiu looked at the visiting card and knew why Madam Zheng came. "Since she wants to understand, let her come."
Ye Chen was cleaning Chen Qiu's ears, "Qiu'er, do you feel a little regretful?"
Chen Qiu wanted to shake his head, but couldn't move it. "It's a pity. Madam Zheng is actually a good person, but we have grown a little bit apart now. If it weren't for Fang Yu's incident, she and I could really become good friends. It's a pity."
In the afternoon, Madam Zheng came to the Duke's Mansion. Chen Qiu did not go out to greet her in person as he did in the past. When Chen Qiu arrived at the main hall, Madam Zheng was drinking tea.
The two of them greeted each other and sat down. "Madam, I know Fang Yu has offended your brother many times before. Please be so kind as to let her go." Mrs. Zheng spoke first.
Chen Qiu looked up at Madam Zheng. "Madam, you're wrong. First, she didn't offend my brother. He was planning to come back and marry her. On the day he left, everyone in Kyoto saw him. They said goodbye to each other, and he promised to come back and marry her. Second, she disturbed the Emperor and framed him. How can I get him to let her go? I don't have that much face."
"Madam, you have already gone to the Zheng residence to take the token. You did this just to stop people from gossiping. You put her to death for the sake of your brother's reputation. Don't you think it's too cruel? Fang Yu was wrong, but she didn't deserve the death penalty. You not only ruined her reputation but also took her life. Don't you think it's too cruel?" Madam Zheng stood up and finally questioned Shen Qiu.
"Madam, do you think your sister is so important to me that I would let my son bleed at the hundred-day banquet? She is just a jumping clown. I will not let my husband and the emperor have a rift because of her, nor will I let the Ye family and the queen have a rift because of her. Use the emperor to plot against her? She is not worthy of me to use my mind to plot against her. She can walk to the edge of the cliff by herself. Why should I dirty my own hands?" Although Chen Qiu was still sitting, his tone became unfriendly.
"If you want to die, not even the King of Hell can stop you." Chen Qiu said nonchalantly, touching the edge of the teacup with his fingers.
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