Chapter 75 Idiot
At dawn.
Ru Fei slowly woke up and spent some time with the emperor before she helped him change his clothes and wash his face.
Since she entered the palace, she has always been the favorite of the emperor.
Even on the first and fifteenth days of the lunar month, the emperor would only go to the queen's place for meals and still stay in her room.
Concubine Ru was in high spirits, with a radiant look on her face, and she bowed respectfully to see the emperor off at his morning court.
When she saw the procession had gone away, she yawned lazily and called the palace maid to comb her hair.
Suddenly, a eunuch ran to the door in a panic and said that he had something important to report to Empress Ru.
Concubine Ru recognized that the person was the secret agent planted by her brother in the palace, and waved her hand to let the person in.
The eunuch stumbled in and prostrated himself on the ground.
"Empress Rufei, something terrible has happened. There's a fire in the Marquis's mansion—"
"A huge fire broke out in the middle of the night. We just put it out. Most of the house has burned down!"
Concubine Ru was so startled that the jade ruyi she was playing with fell to the ground and broke into several pieces.
She asked anxiously: "Is my brother okay? He is not injured, right?"
"The Marquis had important matters to attend to last night and was not at home. Everything is fine. However..."
Hearing that her brother was fine, Concubine Ru finally felt relieved.
But when she heard the young eunuch hesitating, she became annoyed again.
"Just what? Tell me."
The young eunuch broke out in a cold sweat after being scolded.
"The fire started in the Marquis's house. Although it was discovered in time, the fire was too big to put out. It burned the entire warehouse to ashes, causing heavy losses."
Concubine Ru slumped down on the chair, it was obvious that someone wanted to kill her brother.
audacious in the extreme!
The first person she thought of was Lu Weiqing. Her brother had sent people to burn the food and supplies, and he dared to burn down the Marquis's mansion?!
Could it be him? She wasn't sure.
Regardless of whether it was him or not, I think my brother had already dealt with Wu Wei last night. Even if Lu Weiqing continued to pester him, there would be no evidence.
If he hadn't been so stubborn and refused to take sides, they wouldn't have thought of this way to pressure him.
Thinking about how the Third Prince suffered at the hands of Jiang Ran and Lu Zhaoyang yesterday, Concubine Ru narrowed her eyes slightly and decided to start with his family and test the waters.
She had planned everything, but she had never expected that Lu Weiqing, whom she hated so much, had entered the palace early and was now meeting the emperor in the imperial study.
The emperor held the memorial in his hand and looked at Lu Weiqing meaningfully.
"You mean, the weather was dry and the Yongqing Marquis's Mansion spontaneously combusted?"
Lu Weiqing raised his eyes to look at the gloomy face of His Majesty and replied, "It's just one of the possibilities."
"Perhaps the Marquis has committed too many evil deeds, and this is a punishment from Heaven."
As the emperor heard his words become more and more outrageous, he picked up the memorial and threw it at him.
Lu Weiqing picked it up and took a look. It turned out that it was the Yongqing Marquis who impeached him for dereliction of duty and private punishment of court officials, which led to the Qingzhou governor Wu Wei hanging himself in the imperial prison to express his determination.
"That's strange. I escorted Wu Wei all the way to the capital. If he wanted to die, he wouldn't have had any trouble finding an opportunity. But he chose to wait until Chang'an to commit suicide in such a heavily guarded imperial prison."
Lu Weiqing presented a thick stack of evidence and a confession with his fingerprints.
"Wu Wei's crimes are too numerous to list. Every single one of them is proven by witnesses and evidence."
"If it weren't for my nephew's momentary negligence and taking the wrong copy to the Ministry of Justice, Your Majesty wouldn't be seeing these things today."
After he said this, he said no more and stood aside, waiting for the emperor to slowly look through it.
The emperor was a man of deep thoughts. Since he summoned him alone before the morning court, it was obvious that he was partial to him.
This time, Marquis Yongqing is desperate.
Lu Weiqing's sudden return to Beijing caught him off guard. He was so focused on killing people to silence them that he had no time to make a thorough plan.
What he least expected was that Lu Weiqing dared to burn down the Marquis' Mansion, directly exposing the fact that he was not in the mansion in the middle of the night.
If this was the only incident, he could have found a way to get over it, but that night, Wu Wei died suddenly in the imperial prison, and the evidence of his crime disappeared from the Ministry of Justice. Everything pointed to him.
Marquis Yongqing had no other choice but to take the initiative and accuse Lu Weiqing of being tortured into confessing.
The emperor pondered for a moment and sorted out the whole story.
But he still felt that Lu Weiqing's burning of the Marquis' Mansion was too reckless.
"Lu Weiqing, you are so brave——"
Lu Weiqing didn't expect to be able to hide this from His Majesty, so he immediately apologized and said, "Your Majesty, please punish me."
The emperor snorted coldly, "Do you really think that I dare not punish you?"
"How dare I! Your Majesty is so kind! Even if you suspend me from my duties for a year or two, I will have no complaints."
Lu Weiqing seems humble, but in fact he is trying to be lazy in his words and deeds.
The emperor was choked by him and threw a paperweight at him in anger.
This time Lu Weiqing dodged quickly. Seeing that the emperor was gasping for breath with anger, he quickly apologized.
"Your Majesty, please forgive me. Madam is willing to marry me because of my good looks. I cannot afford to ruin my appearance."
"If Your Majesty throws another memorial, I promise I will not hide."
The emperor became even more angry when he heard his one excuse after another.
"You dared to burn the Marquis's Mansion today. Will you dare to burn my bedroom next time?"
Upon hearing this, Lu Weiqing honestly admitted, "Marquis Yongqing framed me first, and then instigated the Third Prince to harm my family."
"Your Majesty is a trusted official, and personally, you are the elder brother of the Concubine Ru and the uncle of the Third Prince. I dare not embarrass His Majesty, so I resorted to this desperate measure."
The emperor was so angry that he laughed. He pointed at him and trembled for a long time. "In that case, I should thank you."
Lu Weiqing cupped his hands and said, "I dare not."
"Don't dare? I think you dare to do it. You even dare to accuse me of partiality."
"I have no such intention. Your Majesty is wise and will investigate this matter thoroughly and clear my name."
Now that things have come to this, is there anything else he doesn't understand?
The emperor stroked his brow helplessly and waved his hand to signal Lu Weiqing to leave first.
Lu Weiqing stood up and said goodbye, and couldn't wait to go home to be with his wife.
Unexpectedly, when he returned home, he learned that Concubine Ru had summoned A Ran and Zhao Yang into the palace.
His face was stern, his thin lips pressed into a straight line, he was so busy dealing with Marquis Yongqing that he forgot to deal with her, right?
Lu Weiqing turned away and immediately rode back into the palace to pick someone up.
At this time, Jiang Ran and Lu Zhaoyang had just been led to Concubine Ru's palace by the palace maids, but they saw Xu Qingwan already sitting in the palace.
They stepped forward and paid their respects. Concubine Ru seemed quite warm and kept saying, "No need to be so polite, please take a seat."
Xu Qingwan had just received a reward from the Marquis. Early in the morning, she was summoned by Concubine Ru and happily dressed up and entered the palace.
She thought that since Concubine Ru had specially summoned her, she must have intended to reward her, so she couldn't help but feel elated and rushed to offer compliments, trying to outdo Jiang Ran and Lu Zhaoyang.
"I've long heard that Empress Rufei is beautiful. Today, she is truly stunning, making me feel ashamed of myself."
What woman wouldn't like to hear this? Concubine Ru immediately burst into laughter.
Xu Qingwan glanced at the two of them, feeling proud and speaking even more without restraint.
"I wonder how Empress Rufei maintains such good looks? The Third Prince is almost reaching adulthood, and yet the Empress still looks so young and beautiful. How enviable."
"My mother only gave birth to me, a daughter. I don't even have any half-sisters. Today, after meeting such a divine figure as the Empress, I felt an indescribable closeness to her. I couldn't help but dare to call her "Fairy Sister."
As soon as these words were spoken, Ru Fei's face suddenly changed. She clenched her hands, and her long nails dug deep into her flesh.
Everyone present was dumbfounded, looking at Xu Qingwan as if she were a fool.
Even the slow-witted Lu Zhaoyang was shocked.
Ru Fei was born out of wedlock, and the Third Prince was an illegitimate child. Didn’t Xu Qingwan know that?
You still dare to mention these things, you really think you can't die fast enough.
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