Chapter 45

Lin Nanjie: [I understand the truth, but you pretended to be lame from the beginning, which shows that you don’t have martial ethics! ]

[At first, Guo Zixu saw that five or six ministers were extending olive branches to him, and even the princess was quite tempted, so he flirted with them and was hesitant. He wanted to advance in his career and covet the royal family status, so he secretly gave hope to many young ladies. ]

[After being discovered by the princess, she asked someone to give him a lecture.]

【I didn't expect that Guo Zixu had some cleverness that ordinary people didn't dare to have. After being beaten, he just felt a little uncomfortable in his left leg at first, and he went to the hospital to see a doctor and it was not serious. But he came up with a plan, why not pretend to be lame and control the princess, so that the royal family will double the loss to him. And it can also win the sympathy of scholars all over the world - after all, he worked hard to pass the exam and got a lame leg before he could become an official and enjoy the glory and wealth. No one can accept it.】

[A physically disabled person, no matter how handsome he is, will be looked down upon by others because of his physical disability. ]

[Guo Zixu was lucky. Even if he was lucky enough to find a father-in-law who was an official, he could not marry into a high-ranking family. He still had to start from the beginning and climb up step by step. He was just a fellow Jinshi. If he didn't have strong connections, it was uncertain whether he could stay in the capital. His salary was pitifully low, not to mention enjoying glory and wealth.]

【So Guo Zixu came up with this trick, which allowed him to enjoy wealth and glory while also using the princess's connections to rise higher.】

Li Chenghuan fell silent after hearing this. He really didn't expect that someone could pretend to be lame for three years.

In the past three years, the eldest sister seldom asked him for help, and almost every time it was because of Guo Zixu, hoping that he could be given a better official position.

Guo Zixu had been dragging a lame leg for the past three years, and he looked really pitiful, so Li Chenghuan acquiesced.

What can he say?

How can we still doubt a man who has become the consort of an emperor? Is he pretending to be lame to show his misery?

Who in normal state can do such a thing?

He knew Li Yunluan's heart knot and took into consideration their sister-brother relationship, so he promoted Guo Zixu to the fifth-rank temple secretary, which was an extraordinary move.

But I didn’t expect that Guo Zixu was pretending?

Li Chengqian fell into self-doubt.

In the past three years, he has never doubted it once.

After all, the incident was quite a big deal and no one had thought about it in this way.

Until Lin Nanjie revealed it.

Li Chengqian felt like a fool.

These two siblings had been kept in the dark and teased for three years!

Li Chengqian thought that he was not the kind of person who would take revenge for every grievance, but this time he could not tolerate it any more.

He called Wang Dehai over and whispered a few instructions to him.

Then he rubbed his fingers slowly and looked down at Guo Zixu: "I have seen what you have gone through in the past three years, and I cannot bear it. How about I find a famous doctor to treat your leg?"

Before Guo Zixu could reply, Li Chengqian looked at the civil and military officials and asked, "What do you think, my dear ministers?"

Lu Weitong thought, "I think it's possible. Only by curing the prince consort's leg disease can we completely resolve his worries."

Guo Zixu immediately said: "No... don't bother the emperor with so much trouble!"

Li Chengzhen raised his hand to stop him from speaking: "How can I do that? After all, I also want to be a wise ruler in the eyes of the people of Daqi."

Guo Zixu knelt down and said, "I am suffering from a heart disease. I have a serious illness. There is no need to trouble Your Majesty."

"Your heart disease needs to be treated! Otherwise, you will never be able to untie the knot in your heart for the rest of your life, and I will feel sorry for you."

Lin Nanqi suddenly said, "Your Majesty, I have something to report."

Everyone looked at Lin Nanjie, even Li Yunluan was a little surprised.

Under Guo Zixu's surprised gaze, Li Chengqian nodded and said, "Go ahead."

Lin Nanjie knelt on the ground and looked at Guo Zixu fearlessly: "I have only been in the Princess's Mansion for four days. I have witnessed various events that happened in the Princess's Mansion in the past few days. They are somewhat different from what the Prince Consort said."

Guo Zixu: "As a male pet, you will naturally speak in her favor."

Li Chenghuan raised his hand, motioning Lin Nanjie to continue, "Go on."

Lin Nan said, "I found out in the Princess's mansion that the Prince Consort wanted to be promoted to the position of Chief Justice of the Dali Temple by using his legs as leverage. In addition, the Princess's private treasury was emptied by the Prince Consort's family. The third daughter of the Guo family is getting married soon, and she wants the Princess to pay for all her dowry. Because the private treasury was emptied, the Prince Consort's mother, Feng, went to the Princess and made a loud noise, insulting her and accusing her of not wanting to pay."

The civil and military officials looked at Lin Nanjie in astonishment. They had not expected to hear these things. If it was true, the Prince Consort's family had indeed gone too far.

The ministers looked at each other in confusion, all of them somewhat doubtful.

After all, Lin Nanjie is the one in front of him.

Especially the two people from the Dali Temple, Zheng Yongnian and Fang Wenjue, they looked at each other and said in unison: "Ridiculous! The position of Temple Chief is so important, how can they just hire people casually?"

Besides, they already have the right person.

Guo Zixu was so angry that he said, "You are a male concubine, so of course you should speak for the princess!"

After he finished speaking, the ministers did not react as expected.

Guo Zixu was a little surprised. Aren't these ministers usually on his side? Why didn't they react at all after hearing what he said?

The ministers avoided his gaze.

The person in front of him is a good omen...what he says is still somewhat credible.

Only Zhao Mingchuan said: "Your words alone cannot be trusted."

"I can testify to this as well! What he said is true. I came two months earlier than him! I also saw it with my own eyes. No one in the Guo family respects the princess at all! And Guo Zixu is not clean either. His maid, who was his childhood sweetheart, is called Xue Wanyu. She is already two months pregnant!"

Guo Zixu retorted loudly: "You have no basis and are slandering me!"

Zhao Mingchuan also said: "You are the princess's male favorite. How can you tell whether it was the princess's order when you said that?"

Seeing that no one believed him, Lu Chengzhou got anxious and shouted at Lu Weitong's back, "Dad! What I said is true, and you don't believe me?"

Lu Weitong's back trembled and he wanted to play dead, but his colleagues around him disagreed.

"Dad? Who is he calling dad?"

"Looking in this direction is... Minister Lu?"

Everyone's eyes were focused on Lu Weitong.

Lu Weitong finally couldn't stand the pressure anymore, and slowly turned around with a sly look on his face: "In the court, there are only monarchs and ministers, not fathers and sons!"

Lu Weitong looked a little aggrieved: "This is not stating the facts."

"Minister Lu, this is your son?" Chen Yannian's eyes widened. "Isn't this the male favorite of the Princess's mansion?"

After saying this, Chen Yannian shut up.

The emperor has made all his former favorites his male favorites.

It seems that it is not surprising that the son of Minister Lu became a male favorite?

Only Guo Zixu was in chaos in the wind.

Guo Zixu looked at Lu Chengzhou in disbelief: "You, you are the son of Minister Lu?"

Lu Chengzhou straightened his back and said, "Yes, it's me! I have tolerated you, a hypocritical gentleman with a dignified appearance, for a long time."

With the testimony of the former eunuch and the son of the minister, many ministers had begun to doubt the truthfulness of Guo Zixu's words.

Even if the former eunuchs were on the side of the royal family, there was no need for this to happen to the son of Minister Lu.

Everyone looked at Guo Zixu with eyes full of speculation and inquiry.

Lu Chengzhou looked at Li Yunluan again: "The princess has a kind heart, but you have made up for it in the past few years. Why do you have to confine yourself to a circle? Why do you have to endure them bullying and humiliating you?"

Li Yunluan bit her lower lip, her eyes slightly moist.

Guo Zixu was furious: "Stop insulting my family!"

When they were arguing, Wang Dehai suddenly came in with a wooden barrel and said, "Make way, make way, make way!"

No one was able to dodge in time, and the liquid with a strange smell had already splashed onto the hall.

Lin Nanjie suddenly shouted loudly: "Prince Consort, please move aside, there are bugs in the water!"

When he heard there were bugs, Guo Zixu's face changed color and he stood up and dodged immediately.

The court suddenly fell silent, and everyone's eyes were focused on his left leg. When he dodged just now, Guo Zixu moved quickly, exerting force with his right leg and keeping pace with his left leg, without any sign of limping.

They still remembered that when Guo Zixu entered the hall, his left leg was dragging on the ground because he was powerless. It was impossible for him to move so quickly.

Zhao Mingchuan spoke first, looking at him hesitantly: "Your legs?"

Guo Zixu froze in an instant, and all the blood left his face.

"You...you are wrong!"

Zhao Mingchuan had just seen it with his own eyes and was so shocked that he almost jumped up: "You are not lame!"

Guo Zixu's forehead was covered with cold sweat: "You are wrong! I have been lame for three years!"

Zhao Mingchuan's expression changed again and again, and finally he burst into anger: "You have been lying to us from the beginning to the end?! I said so many words for you out of righteousness, but you didn't even limp!"

Guo Zixu's face turned pale and he spoke incoherently: "Listen to me, my leg is really lame! Just now, just now it was an accident, you saw it wrong!"

"Guo Zixu, are you pretending to be lame?" Li Yunluan's face was full of shock.

She felt like everything in her head was a mess. She had always thought that she had ruined Guo Zixu's life, but in the end, it was all fake?

Guo Zixu's legs are not disabled at all?

"Have you been lying to me all along?" Li Yunluan looked at Guo Zixu in disbelief.

Just before this, she also tried to get the emperor to consider Guo Zixu as the chief of Dali Temple?

The Guo family also blatantly emptied her private vault?

And she still needs wedding dowry?

She was planning to turn a blind eye to it.

Guo Zixu was anxious: "No, listen to my explanation!"

Li Yunluan was so angry that she slapped Guo Zixu in the face: "Bitch!"

Li Yunluan was so angry that she was shaking.

Guo Zixu touched his burning cheeks, pointed at Li Yunluan and said to the others: "Look... She beat people directly in the hall. She is even more arrogant and domineering at ordinary times!"

However, this time no one believed his lies, even Zhao Mingchuan stepped aside in shame.

The ministers looked at each other and saw expressions of disbelief on each other's faces.

"It turned out that he was pretending, and he had been pretending for three years."

"I originally thought that the princess relied on her status to bully others, but I didn't expect that Guo Zixu was greedy and wanted to be a royal consort to enjoy the glory and wealth, and also wanted to be a high-ranking official. He wanted both. How could he think so well?"

"I have met his family once or twice. They are indeed unreasonable and must have caused trouble for the princess a lot."

"Although the princess has a male favorite, according to the law, she can only take a concubine if she has no children for three years. Guo Zixu has made the girl pregnant, so it must have taken more than three years. So... that's fair!"

"That's ridiculous!"

Li Yunluan clenched her fingers and looked at Guo Zixu with a cold look in her eyes: "So, you are deceiving your superiors and lying to your subordinates, pretending to be lame to gain sympathy, which is the crime of deceiving the emperor."

"You tricked me into taking the potion that would kill my offspring. You are committing the crime of murdering the heir to the throne!"

"Allowing my family to secretly sell items from my private storehouse is a crime of theft!"

Guo Zixu panicked, but he did not forget to defend himself: "You are slandering me, you have no evidence at all!"

Li Yunluan snorted coldly: "I have asked the Imperial Medical Bureau to verify the medicine you asked me to take. It is indeed harmful to women's bodies. And your family stole jewelry and money from my private vault and sold them. If I send people to search all the pawnshops, we will know it immediately!"

Guo Zixu's face suddenly turned gloomy.

Li Chengqian made the final decision: "Guo Zixu has committed these three crimes, and he will be stripped of his status as a royal consort and his position as a judge in the Dali Temple, and will be imprisoned immediately!"

Guo Zixu instantly collapsed, fell to the ground as if he had lost his soul, then rushed forward and hugged Li Yunluan's legs.

"Yunluan, I was wrong, Yunluan! It's all my fault. We can't get divorced anymore, okay?"

"From now on, I will obey you in everything. You can have as many male pets as you want!"

"Everyone at home listens to you. If you don't like Wanyu, I'll send her far away. Can I let mother and sister serve you? I'll let them serve you tea and water every day!"

"Yunluan!"

Li Yunluan suppressed her hatred and kicked Guo Zixu away: "I was so blind to fall for someone like you!"

"You only care about wealth and glory, and you don't have any sincerity towards others, bah!"

Li Yunluan got goosebumps all over her body. Thinking back to that time, she felt like she was being taken away.

Being married to Guo Zixu is simply a stain on my life!

Others who had spoken for Guo Zixu wanted to slap themselves when they saw him like this. It was really infuriating that such a greed-oriented, heartless and ungrateful person had deceived them.

Only Lin Nanqi quietly looked at Li Chenghuan who was sitting on the dragon throne, with some surprise in his eyes.

[Strange, Wang Dehai's move just now was as if he already knew that Guo Zixu was pretending to be lame and deliberately exposed him in front of everyone.]

[Is the Dog Emperor so well-informed? ]

Li Chenghuan pretended to know nothing, avoided Lin Nanjie's sight, and said to everyone: "Dismiss the court!"