The emperor was furious, and everyone in Huajing knew it.
There was a flood in Jiangzhou, and his two most beloved sons were like being naked in the water. When the tide receded, their underwear was exposed, leaving behind only their two dirty butts.
The Chai family confessed that they were instructed by King Sheng to rob relief grain and privately manufacture weapons in order to gain leverage over Shen Chiyan. They also wanted to get rid of the Fu and Tang families, causing a huge mess in Jiangzhou.
The captured Fu Zixian was a weak-willed person and confessed everything during the interrogation. The Fu family made a fortune by taking advantage of the flood and colluded with Tang Lin's son to conceal the truth in order to provide Prince Gong with evidence to drive Tang Lin.
As expected of brothers, they are so in sync with each other in everything they do.
The emperor was so angry that he almost fainted several times.
In the end, what King Cheng did was even more outrageous. To put it mildly, it was a case of ganging up on dissidents. To put it more seriously, it involved both food and weapons, so it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it was a rebellion.
After an imperial edict was issued, the entire Chai family offered sacrifices to heaven; after another imperial edict was issued, Prince Sheng was stripped of his princely title, demoted to a county prince, and sent back to Yuzhou, and was not allowed to enter the capital without being summoned.
In this way, it can be said that Gu Shimin's road to succession has come to an end, and before long, he will be driven back to the southern border in disgrace.
Gu Shichong was feeling mixed emotions. Although he was happy to have Gu Shimin driven away, these days, his father would summon him into the palace and scold him whenever he was unhappy, and he would also send off several ministers who were attached to him.
Fu Zixian was exiled three thousand miles away, the Fu family's title of imperial merchant was stripped, and all the family property accumulated over several generations was confiscated. The richest man in Linzhou now only had his ancestral home left thanks to the emperor's grace.
Because Tang Jinglei was framed by the Chai family and made meritorious contributions while serving his sentence, and the Dali Temple pleaded for him, he was only stripped of his official title and sentenced to five years in prison. This way, he did not bring any harm to his family and also saved his life.
After being scolded, Gu Shichong came out of the Changsheng Palace in a dusty state. Thinking that it had been some time since Xue Zhiyi came back, he couldn't help but feel angry.
When she met Xue Zhiyi, she had just finished her errand for the empress dowager and was about to return to Jianzhang Palace.
In a secluded corner of the Imperial Garden, Xue Zhiyi smiled, a smile filled with longing and admiration: "Your Highness, long time no see."
In the past, she only thought that she had the experience of her past life and could easily act out her love for any man. Now it seems that the real thing and the acting are completely different things. She now realizes how fake her acting was.
Gu Shichong could be fooled by this, could it be that no one has ever truly loved him?
But he saw Gu Shichong in front of him curling his lips and slowly approaching: "Do you miss me?"
Xue Zhiyi nodded shyly: "I miss you day and night."
For some reason, she always felt that Gu Shichong was a little different from before, and his smile made people feel uneasy.
"So did I." He took a few steps closer until he was within arm's reach. "Thanks to you for organizing the charges found by the Dali Temple and sending them to me, I was able to make all the necessary preparations to deliver this fatal blow to Gu Shimin."
When delivering the message to Prince Gong, Xue Zhiyi wrote a letter in person without telling Huo Wuyou, and then sent it through the post station.
Since Prince Gong needs to know all these things, why not let her tell him in person?
However, Xue Zhiyi noticed Gu Shichong's mood. Something was wrong with him, very wrong.
She suppressed the strange feeling in her heart and smiled, "It is Zhiyi's blessing to be able to serve His Highness."
"Yeah?"
He suddenly hugged Xue Zhiyi's waist. Xue Zhiyi was startled and almost wanted to struggle, but he restrained himself and only pushed his chest lightly, pretending to be panicked: "Your Highness, this is not in accordance with etiquette..."
Gu Shichong's laughter was a bit cold: "I thought a woman as dissolute as you would have no sense of propriety, righteousness, or shame in her heart."
At this point, Xue Zhiyi was certain that Gu Shichong had discovered something.
But the expression on her face did not change, and her expression gradually turned into grievance: "Your Highness, Zhiyi does not understand..."
But Gu Shichong's hand slowly supported the back of her neck, and with a little force, he let her head rest on his shoulder.
Gu Shichong's voice fell into Xue Zhiyi's ears: "Remember the man who knocked you out in the Jiangzhou market?"
Instantly, Xue Zhiyi felt a shudder all over his body...
It was Gu Shichong. He had discovered her relationship with Huo Wuyou. It was his people who had intervened in the kidnapping case so that she could fall smoothly into Xue Tingliu's hands...
"Xue Zhiyi, I love you, but I'm not a fool."
He chuckled softly, "You'd better be thankful that the news you gave me was true. Otherwise, if there was even a single lie in it, I would kill you immediately!"
Xue Zhiyi dared to betray him and have an affair with another man. He could tolerate it for the time being for the sake of this chess piece planted next to the Queen Mother.
But if she dared to conspire with others to plot against him and ruin his great cause, then he would definitely take her life himself!
After that, the hand slowly touched Xue Zhiyi's hair again: "Be good, prepare yourself well, be beautiful and be my concubine, be obedient, and when I win the throne, you can choose the position in the harem. If you don't obey——"
He suddenly put his hand on the back of Xue Zhiyi's neck and said, "I am a man, and my patience for things like this is limited. You should be smarter. His surname is not Gu, and he can only be a minister in this life. His life and death are at the mercy of the emperor. Don't let your lust blind you and make you lose your mind. Do you understand?"
…
In order to avoid arousing Gu Shichong's suspicion again, Xue Zhiyi endured for several days before sending a message to Huo Wuyou.
It was still that rarely visited fake cave. As soon as they met, Xue Zhiyi said, "The person who was monitoring our whereabouts was Gu Shichong."
"It was him?" Huo Wuyou frowned: "So the person who burned the weapons depot..."
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