Chapter 80 Chapter 80 Jinjiang First Release
Chapter 80
When Su Li woke up, it was already bright outside.
The bright yellow sunlight shines into the house through the window, casting mottled shadows on the ground.
A crooked jujube tree planted in the courtyard had already sprouted tender new buds, and its shadow was cast into the house, covering the ground with black leaves, as if vibrant branches had sprouted from the shadows.
There was nothing on Su Li's couch; Cui Jue had already left.
The feeling of being both cold and hot, both close and distant from last night, like an ant on the tarsal bone, still lingers on my arm and takes a long time to go away.
Su Li touched her hands and stopped caring about it.
When Su Li sleeps at night, she rarely sticks disguise costumes on her face.
Every morning when she wakes up, Su Li will wash her face with the cold water she prepared at night, and then put on the disguise costumes. It is just a matter of lowering the bridge of her nose and drooping the corners of her eyes. Just a slight change in her facial features can make Su Li's beautiful appearance become simple and plain.
Su Li walked out of the room, took out the herbal ointment and brush, and stood in front of the drainage trough to clean her teeth.
The aroma of beans wafted from the kitchen nearby. Yuan Ge'er came running over, holding up the preserved fruit in his hand and offering it to her with a smile: "Godfather gave this to Yuan Ge'er...Godmother, eat it!"
Su Li choked and coughed, nearly swallowing the herbal ointment in her mouth. It took her a long time to react. She asked the child who blinked innocently, "What, what godfather?"
After hearing this, Mrs. Hu laughed heartily: "Master Lan is just teasing the child! He's really thoughtful, using candied fruit to coax the child into calling him 'godfather'!"
Mrs. Hu did not go to the fields to plow today. Seeing that it rained heavily last night, she took out the damp soybeans from the cellar, crushed them with a stone mill, poured them into the pot and boiled them into soy milk. In another pot, she was steaming white flour buns.
After Su Li finished brushing her teeth, Mrs. Hu winked at her and asked teasingly, "I saw it! Young Master Lan came out of your room this morning. What's going on between you two?"
Su Li secretly cursed Cui Jue in her heart for being shameless and not knowing how to hide anything.
Faced with Mrs. Hu's relentless questioning, her eyes flickered as she fabricated a story: "Well, let me tell you the truth, Mrs. Hu. Actually, I came from a well-off family in my early years, and I was engaged to the eldest son. Later, the war broke out, my family fell into poverty, and the marriage was canceled..."
Su Li didn't explain it in detail, but Mrs. Hu's wild imagination made up a tragic love story of a beautiful woman in troubled times.
Mrs. Hu sighed, "Several years have passed, and Young Master Lan still hasn't forgotten his old love. He even came all the way to Liuzhou, which shows how deeply he loves you. I see he's handsome and tall. A man of his caliber is rare in all of Liuzhou. You must cherish him!"
Su Li hesitated for a while and evaded the question, "Mr. Lan's family is wealthy, and he has countless girls to look at every day. To be honest, we are not the same type of people. He treats me warmly, but it's just that he hasn't gotten what he wants, so he can't forget it. After a while, he will get tired of it."
Mrs. Hu gasped, "You have some truth in what you say, but since you don't want to be with him, and you stay with him at night, aren't you just letting him eat and drink for free, without even having a legitimate status?! This is worse than being a concubine..."
Mrs. Hu said earnestly, "Listen to my sister's advice. Don't be foolish enough to let a man coax you into bed with you just because he's sweet-talking you. Remember that Ah Jiao from the village? She got together with the young master of the jewelry shop a while ago. She was coaxed into bed with him for a few taels of silver, and now she's pregnant, and he won't even let her through the corner gate! He even forced her to have an abortion! She schemed for so long, but in the end, she was still manipulated by that man, and everything went to waste! Not to mention the betrothal gifts, she didn't even want a concubine position. She just packed up a couple of clothes and moved in with him."
Mrs. Hu was worried that Mr. Lan would take Su Li away completely, so she dumped her.
Su Li laughed. "Sister-in-law, you're worrying too much. You've heard it before. I was injured in my early years and my waist and abdomen were frozen. It's extremely difficult for me to get pregnant. Even if I really am pregnant, I won't be able to have a child. Besides, it's better for me not to have a formal status. If he gets tired of me, he can find someone else right away. But I'm in trouble. With his family fortune, no matter how big or small my status is, I can't even get a divorce certificate. If I'm locked up in the yard and depressed all day, wouldn't that be asking for trouble?"
Su Li's heart was clear, and she no longer avoided Cui Jue. He could come if he wanted. Love that cannot be obtained will only lead to obsession. She let him have it a few times, and he no longer ran away blatantly. He lost the novelty and would always get tired of it.
At that time, they can part ways amicably and things won't get too awkward between them.
After all, Su Li was just a commoner peasant girl. To compete with the emperor was like trying to stop a chariot with a mantis arm. She was overestimating her own abilities.
Mrs. Hu thought about it carefully and felt that Su Li was really smart.
Unlike her, she married into her husband's family as soon as she became pregnant. As a result, her husband died early, leaving behind a posthumous child. It was not right to have an abortion, and it was not right not to have an abortion either.
The parents-in-law were counting on this grandson to carry on the family line, so they wouldn't allow Mrs. Hu to return to her parents' home.
In order to avoid being bullied by her parents-in-law, Mrs. Hu had no choice but to promise not to marry again, but she would take her children to live in the neighboring Meihua Village. Now she is stuck in this dilemma, being watched by her late husband's parents and unable to live her own life. However, she feels that she can endure it a little longer for the sake of her well-behaved and sensible son Yuan. She feels really aggrieved.
Mrs. Hu sighed, "That's true. We're self-sufficient and don't rely on men. Why should we be locked up in the backyard to serve our parents-in-law? It's fine for you this way. Just think of it as keeping a gigolo. If you like him, kiss him once, if you don't, kick him out. You can live a carefree life!"
-
Liuzhou Fort, Imperial Study.
Cui Jue knelt in front of the desk, reading the secret letter sent by the secret guard.
After reading the contents of the letter, the man frowned, stood up indifferently, held the letter between two fingers, and put it into the Boshan stove burning with plum blossom ice.
The smoke curled up, and the dim flame burned the letter of denunciation into pieces.
Cui Jue frowned slightly and glanced at Chen Heng, who was standing beside him. "Is the news true?"
Chen Heng said: "Of course it is true, the Xie family and the Yao family have joined forces."
The Xie that Chen Heng mentioned was Xie Xiuming, the prime minister of the State of Wu.
Previously, the Xie family wanted to use their granddaughter Xie Qinghan to marry into the Cui family in order to get a share of the country.
However, Cui Jue refused to budge. Not only did he sternly reject Xie, he also promoted an unknown country peasant girl as the queen.
This move was a resounding slap in the face to the Xie family.
In addition, most of the civil officials of Wu State were members of Xie's party. In order to weaken the aristocratic families and promote the imperial examination system, Cui Jue placed those children from poor families into the civil service offices to compete with the Xie family for power and profit.
In order to stabilize the government, he killed many elders of aristocratic families.
When the children of the aristocratic families saw that Cui Jue suppressed the gentry and made them hopeless of rising to prominence, they became resentful and deliberately planned to bring Cui Jue down.
In the eyes of the Valiant, the various policies implemented by Cui Jue after he came to power were nothing more than a case of getting rid of the donkey after it has served its purpose, and the bow was put away after the bird was dead, which had already aroused public indignation.
Although they were afraid of the troops in the king's hands, they were unwilling to sit and wait for death, so they thought of instigating the Xie family, Yao family and other aristocratic families to act as the vanguard, first to create chaos in the situation in Wu, and then wait for an opportunity to overthrow the rule of the Cui family.
The Xie family passed down poetry and etiquette from generation to generation and held a highly respected position in the literary world.
Recently, Cui Jue learned that the literati of the Xie family deliberately used classic works to incite public opinion and used poetry to deliberately satirize Cui Jue's cruelty. They sophistry turned Cui Jue's military strategy of using war to end war in order to seize power from the aristocratic families into an act of imperial brutality.
He also called the drought in the north and the summer floods in the south a punishment from heaven for "tyranny and unvirtuous rulers."
Xie deliberately instigated the frustrated literati of Wu to slander Cui Jue and sacrifice his life to leave his name in history, in order to win the name of justice and become famous throughout the world.
It's just ridiculous that these pedantic literati don't even know why they can't gain a foothold in the court.
Naturally, it was because the descendants of the Xie family firmly controlled the official vacancies of civil officials and suppressed the children of poor families, which made these disadvantaged literati feel that their talents were not appreciated and were trapped in the local area.
Unfortunately, the new imperial examination policy had only been implemented for three years, the foundation of the common people was unstable, the children of poor families had little say in the court, and the local people were deeply oppressed and deceived by the aristocratic families. They were blinded by political affairs and did not understand the wisdom of Cui Jue in governing the country.
This was a literary inquisition against Cui Jue.
The purpose was to destroy the reputation of the Cui family and to "vindicate those declining powerful families."
No matter what one says, Xie's intention is nothing more than to create chaos and humiliate the country and usurp power.
How could Cui Jue allow the Xie family to be so arrogant and disrupt the government?
In order to break this situation, Cui Jue had only two plans.
The first strategy was to suppress the literati of the Xie Party and force the Xie family to shut up.
However, Cui Jue could not openly attack the prestigious Xie family. If he punished the Xie family, a family with a tradition of poetry and etiquette, with the charge of "violating the prohibition of writing" because of a few rumors, it would confirm that Cui Jue intended to reject advice.
This was the behavior of a mediocre monarch who refused to listen to unpleasant advice, which was exactly what Xie Xiuming wanted, and also confirmed the world's impression that Cui Jue was cruel and inhumane.
The second plan was to form an alliance with the Xie family, follow Xie Xiuming's wishes, marry Xie Qinghan, and enthrone her as queen. In this way, Xie could be brought into the Cui family camp and the storm could be calmed down.
But Cui Jue knew that if he took a risky move in order to stabilize the country, not to mention that he would be constrained by the Xie family in the future, he would not be able to explain to Su Li.
Cui Jue had lost Su Li once, and he had learned enough lessons. He would not add so many difficulties and obstacles to his path to marriage again.
This time, Cui Jueru wanted to destroy the upright Xie family, stabilize the people's hearts, and establish the image of the Wu monarch as a prudent and discerning ruler. The only way was to find out the Xie family's crime and then completely eliminate them...
Cui Jue half-closed his eyes and pressed his forehead: "We'll discuss this matter later."
Chen Heng saw his concerns and didn't say much, but only asked about other things.
"Your Majesty, I went to the chambers last night looking for you, but Eunuch Yang said you weren't at the fortress... Tell me the truth, where were you last night?"
Chen Heng naturally knew that Su Li had been found. Who else could it be except Su Li that could have caused Cui Jue to be so confused?
Cui Jue didn't like discussing private matters with others, but Chen Heng repeatedly ridiculed him for not being popular with girls, so he also had a tiny selfish motive.
Cui Jue said casually, "I'm staying outside for the night."
Chen Heng was horrified. He didn't expect that Madam Su was so weak in determination that Cui Jue succeeded so easily.
He had been annoyed with Cui Jue's cleverness in strategizing for a long time, and thought that he could use Su Li's help to dampen Cui Jue's arrogance!
Chen Heng sighed and felt sorry for it.
But he soon realized something was wrong.
Chen Heng chuckled. "...So, you slept with the girl for one night for free, but she refused to go back to the fort with you? Brother, you are the King of Wu after all, how can you do the things of a prostitute? You are worse than a prostitute! You gave her away for free, not to mention the position of husband, you don't even have a formal status. Isn't this just a concubine?!"
Chen Heng's undisguised laughter really hit the nail on the head.
Cui Jue was unable to refute and was speechless for a moment.
After a long moment, the man calmly straightened his robe, glanced at him indifferently, and sneered, "Does anyone find you noisy? If you talk too much and say something inappropriate, you might as well have your tongue cut off."
Chen Heng looked at Cui Jue with a stern face, and it was obvious that his words had hit him hard.
He smiled awkwardly, not daring to challenge the king's majesty, so he had to keep quiet.
Anyway, Su Li is not his wife. Whether Cui Jue can get her or not is none of his business. Why should he worry so much?
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