Chapter 455: The one who tied the bell must untie it
After hearing Zhu Qingyan's words, they fell silent again.
What Zhu Qingyan said made sense. They all held important positions now. If they all stood up to speak for Zhu Lan at this time, it would probably arouse the emperor's suspicion.
But now the Li family is forcing them hard, and if they, as friends, do nothing, Zhu Lan will also find it difficult to escape.
What should I do?
At this moment, there was a gentle knock on the door of the room.
One short and three long sounds were Wang Defa's secret signal for knocking on the door.
Zhu Qingyan opened the door and saw Wang Defa standing at the door. He said to her humbly:
"My Lords, there was a strange person outside the Imperial Fragrance Pavilion just now. I couldn't see his face clearly, so he just asked me to give this to Miss Qingyan."
Wang Defa took out a note and handed it to Zhu Qingyan, then quietly left.
Zhu Qingyan immediately opened the note and looked at it, only to find a single line of words on it:
The person who tied the bell must be the one to untie it.
Zhu Qingyan put the note on the table and showed it to Xiao Wan and others.
Xiao Wan said softly, "This handwriting is lively and elegant, and has a sense of transcendence. I seem to have seen it somewhere..."
"It's the Sixth Prince's calligraphy!" Zhao Sicheng said happily.
Zhou Da also laughed and said:
"Since Your Majesty ascended the throne, the headmaster has become less and less concerned with state affairs, always saying that he wants to be an idle wanderer and see all the mountains and rivers in Daliang.
Since he left Beijing last year, no one knows where he is traveling.
I thought he had forgotten all of us, but I didn't expect that he was still paying attention to the slightest movement in the capital."
Zhao Sicheng agreed.
“It seems that he also knew that Zhu Lan was thrown into the Heavenly Prison, so he wrote this note to help us break the impasse.
But... 'The one who tied the bell must untie it', what does this mean?"
Several people pondered for a while, and said almost at the same time:
"Li family!"
Xiao Wan smiled and said, "Such a simple truth, but we, the authorities, are confused."
“Zhu Lan was imprisoned entirely because those people from the Li family took advantage of the situation to put pressure on Your Majesty.
Your Majesty had to do this in order to temporarily appease them.
At this time, if the Li family could take the initiative to give in and plead for Zhu Lan.
Then the problem will be solved without any intervention from any of us.”
Zhu Qingyan nodded and said:
"To catch a thief, we must first catch the leader. After all, the Li family has come to where it is today thanks to the Duke of Wei's rescue.
As long as we convince Duke Weiguo, no one in the Li family will dare to make trouble again."
"That's the truth, but it's easier said than done..." Zhao Sicheng said with a bitter face, "Look at the Li family's attitude. How can we ask them to give in? How is that possible?"
Zhou Da also followed suit:
“I heard that the old Duke of Wei, Li Lie, had already moved in with his bedding to stand guard over the late emperor’s body in order to force the emperor to execute Zhu Lan.
He also said that as long as Zhu Lan was still alive, the spirits of the Li family's descendants in heaven would not be able to rest in peace, so he would rather freeze to death outside the imperial mausoleum than come out.
It seems that this time they are determined to drag Zhu Lan into this situation. It is useless for us to persuade them."
"How do you know if you don't try?" Zhu Qingyan stood up and said.
"I will go to see the Duke of Wei tomorrow."
"I'll go with you." Xiao Wan said immediately.
"I'm going too."
"And me!"
Zhao Sicheng and Zhou Da also said so.
Zhu Qingyan shook his head, "It is inconvenient for you to come forward on this matter."
"Zhu Lan and I are both members of the Zhu family. With this relationship, it is only natural for me to plead for her. Even if His Majesty knew about this, he would not be too suspicious.
Therefore, it is most appropriate for me to go and see the Duke of Weiguo."
…
The Imperial Palace.
There was snow and ice outside the Ziyun Palace, but even though there was no charcoal fire inside the palace, it was warm.
The steward Zhao who came in from outside had already broken into a sweat before he had even waited for a moment. He quickly and quietly called the eunuch to help him change his cotton clothes, sighing:
"The 'ground dragon' designed by Minister Zhao is really amazing... I have lived for so many years and have never thought of laying a fire channel underground to heat the house.
It is a work of art beyond compare, it is truly a work of art beyond compare!"
The young eunuch echoed:
"Who says it's not true? Minister Zhao has such a clever idea, and we all benefit from it.
You don’t have to endure the coldest days of winter, nor do you have to be suffocated by the smoke from the charcoal fire.”
Manager Zhao changed into some thin clothes, waved away the young eunuch, and then entered the main hall to meet Yan Xiuyun.
Yan Xiuyun was also wearing only a single piece of clothing and was sitting in front of a table with an incense burner at hand, emitting curls of incense.
There was a thick pile of memorials on the table, and Yan Xiuyun was flipping through them very quickly, as if he was looking for something.
Manager Zhao stepped forward to help grind the ink and asked softly:
"What are you looking for, Your Majesty?"
Yan Xiuyun opened two more memorials, glanced at them and put them aside.
"That's strange." He finally stopped and said.
“I heard that Zhu Lan had many friends in the court, but now she is in prison, and only a few petty imperial censors wrote letters to speak up for her.
It seems that those so-called "friends" she has are just friends of interest, just for fun, without much sincerity."
The ink stick circled in Manager Zhao's hand, rubbing it in the increasingly thick ink in the inkstone pool.
He ground the ink very finely, and his ability to read people's expressions was even more refined.
Manager Zhao carefully observed Yan Xiuyun's expression for a while, but still couldn't tell whether what he just said was a sign of joy or anger.
After all, she was an old person from the Eastern Palace and was always closer to the emperor.
Finally, he plucked up the courage to ask:
"Your Majesty is hoping that the ministers will plead for Zhu Zhongcheng...
Or do you want them to just sit there and watch?"
Yan Xiuyun was silent for a long time.
Finally, the young emperor smiled bitterly and picked up the tea that had already gone cold.
"I... don't know either."
"But the Duke of Wei has now moved to the Duxin Temple in front of the late emperor's mausoleum to keep vigil. That place is austere, and there is no ground heating like in this palace.
After all, the Duke of Weiguo is the savior of the late emperor. He is now old. If he really gets frozen in the temple, I am afraid that the censors will drown me with their spit. "
"Does Your Majesty really want to execute Zhu Zhongcheng?"
"She went to Qingzhou for me, so I naturally don't want to kill her.
But Shi Yuanzhong was killed in the street before he could confess his guilt, and Li Moxu was indeed killed because of her.
Although I wanted to be tolerant, the Duke of Wei and the Li family members in the court were relentless and insisted on asking for an explanation, so I could do nothing about it. "
Manager Zhao was silent for a while, then he seemed to remember something and said:
"By the way, I heard that after the court meeting ended today, Zhu Xuezheng from the Hanlin Academy went to the direction of the late emperor's mausoleum."
"Oh?" Yan Xiuyun raised his eyes and asked, "Is she going to see the Duke of Wei?"
Yan Xiuyun didn't need an answer. He quickly withdrew his gaze and nodded slightly.
“That’s fine, she and Zhu Lan are sisters from the same father, and they both ranked top three in the same subject.
If she really has the ability to persuade that stubborn old Duke Weiguo, it will solve my dilemma."
Then he ordered:
"Send more people to Duxin Temple. I want to know what they talked about when they met."
"I understand."
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