surrogate wife

A few days later, the Empress Dowager called Wen Yumu into the palace to cook some food.

Wen Yumu didn't want to serve her, let alone Linglu, so he just made some ordinary southern snacks.

The queen mother tasted it, and said to the palace people beside her: "The taste is quite light and refreshing, but it doesn't seem to be as exaggerated as the emperor said. I think he just eats it fresh."

The palace man smiled and said: "The emperor is still young, and there are some who like to try something new."

"Speak to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and invite a cook from the south to come back. The emperor can cook for him whatever he wants."

"Yes."

Having said that, the queen mother packed a portion of each of these snacks and sent them to the emperor.

They are two small egg-sized Huangqiao biscuits, three small steamed buns, and a small bowl of shredded chicken and shrimp wontons.

The emperor felt something was wrong when he smelled it. He picked up a piece of biscuit and took a bite. Sure enough, it didn't have the kind of fragrance that lingers in the mouth and makes people want to bite off their tongues.

It seems that although some people look gentle and soft, they have a lot of temper inside.

He wasn't annoyed either, he just chuckled in disappointment and put the snack back.

The palace man walked over silently with broken steps, leaned over and said softly: "Your Majesty, the Empress sent someone to ask, and said that the Empress Concubine Shu wanted to see you, would you like to take a look?"

The emperor was stunned for a moment, looked at the plate of snacks, and said with unchanged expression: "I'm not going. Fang Dehai, give Concubine Shu a glass of poisoned wine, and help her escape."

The palace people didn't dare to say any more, so they bowed and recited it.

In Nuo Da's inner hall, only the emperor is left.

After a long time, he said in a low voice: "I'm afraid Zitong will think I'm ruthless again."

"Maybe I should put on an air of hypocrisy, but I just don't like pretending to be affectionate."

You are obviously ruthless, why pretend to be ruthless?

He asked himself that he had never treated anyone badly, and he would give what he could give.What he can't give, he just can't give.

"Father, you taught me the truth of being a king, and I will always remember it."

"Everything is lovely, not addictive."

A beauty, a plate of dim sum.

All the same.

……

After the empress dowager called that time, the Ministry of Internal Affairs invited a cook from the south to enter the palace, and Wen Yumu was happy to relax, and said to Xue Yi: "This matter is finally over, the evil wind in the capital is strong."

Xue Yidao: "Rigorous people are always able to make more troubles than us."

"In officialdom, I often feel that the capital is like a big dye vat. It is a very challenging thing to keep myself clean in this intricate and bizarre place."

Wen Yumu picked his chin, and said with a smile: "Listen to this voice, you are full of fighting spirit."

Xue Yi took his hand and put it in the palm of his hand to play with, "It's not full of fighting spirit, but I found some fun."

Complicated officialdom games are getting more and more interesting in his opinion.

Wen Yu murmured: "I'll just say you're a white-knife, just for fear that the world will not be chaotic."

Xue Yi said cheekily: "It's still Mu Mu who understands me."

……

half year later.

Just turned over the new year, still the night is long and the day is short.

On a foggy morning, the sky was getting brighter, and when the fog was about to disperse, a scream broke the tranquility of the morning.

In the Tianzi No. [-] guest room of Jingting Pavilion on Xishi Street, a figure fell there, and on the other side was a man leaning on a chair unconscious, with a jade pendant tied with multicolored silk threads falling from his hand, and Several broken wine jars.

Xiao Er was the first to discover something was wrong. He was passing by, but he heard the sound of something breaking inside the house.

He hurriedly asked, but no one answered. Afraid of accidents, he knocked on the door for a while, and finally gritted his teeth and knocked open the door.

Everything inside the door was shocking. The person who fell to the ground and died was Ren Mengshan, Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry.And the unconscious person was Wen Changning, the commander of the Five Cities Army and Horse Division.

It was these two people who had no contact with each other on weekdays, but in an inn room, one of them died, and he was strangled to death.

The murder weapon was the multicolored ribbon with jade that fell in Wen Changning's hand.

As soon as this matter happened, the court hall was like a spoonful of boiling oil poured into cold water, and immediately started to boil and make noise.

Some people say that there are still doubts in this case, and Wen Changning really has no motive to kill Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry.

Some people think that Ren Mengshan died together with him, the strangle mark on his neck matches the ribbon on the jade pendant very well, and he smelled of alcohol, maybe they drank together, quarreled and killed impulsively.

Most people think it is the latter, and the evidence is too conclusive - the word Changning is still engraved on the jade pendant.The wound on Ren Mengshan's neck, and the marks on Wen Changning's palm all match up perfectly, and they fit perfectly.

The court fought vigorously, the innocent party's evidence was weak, and it was inevitable that they lacked strength, and the guilty party was beaten to the brim, if not for the support of the emperor, they would have been powerless to fight back.

Seeing that the situation was wrong, most of the officials remained silent. Even if they felt that Wen Changning was guilty, they didn't dare to say a word.

The group of officials who jumped the highest was led by Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, Gong Wenzhen. They had long seen that Wen Ruhui's team was not pleasing to the eye, and now they wanted to take advantage of the situation and bite off a piece of meat.

The Ministry of Industry also stood on their side.

The emperor insisted on investigating the case, but after five days of investigating the case, there was no clue at all, and Wen Changning has been detained in the prison of Dali Temple.

The emperor had to order the deputy commander of the Wucheng Bingma Division to temporarily replace him.

The people in Dali Temple were also worried, the emperor's eyes almost killed them alive, but there were so many eyes on this case, and the person who died was a second-rank official, they didn't dare to find someone to take the blame.

After checking and checking, they couldn't think of any way to clear Wen Changning's suspicion.

The voices in the court shouting for conviction became louder and louder, and even the people began to discuss, thinking that the emperor was trying to cover up.

Petitions that the prince broke the law and the common people were guilty of the same crime even began to circulate among scholars.

Seeing the situation getting worse and worse, Elder Wen has spent half his life in the court, but now he seems to be ten years older, and half of his temple hair is gray.

The emperor was also in a state of desperation, he was under great pressure, but the group of trash in Dali Temple had no clue at all, they must have been killed by Wen Changning.

How can this be? !

The emperor broke down angrily, "Everyone said that I was covering up, that I was cronyism, but I know what kind of person he is, and he would never kill someone drunk!"

"He's Wen Changning!"

They grew up together, Wen Changning has always been the best, drunk killing people, it's too ridiculous, is this going to turn him into some kind of thug?

"They just want me to surrender, and I will never!"

Ten days after the incident, the confrontation in the courtroom was like fire and water. Gong Wenzhen was so aggressive that the angry emperor wished he could chop him off with a knife, and scratched him in the small notebook in his heart countless times.

Among the people, the emperor's reputation began to decline. The common people didn't know who was good and who was not. They only knew that a son of a family killed someone, and because he was the emperor's bamboo horse, the emperor wanted to protect him.

Although everyone knew that it was a joke for the prince to break the law and common people, it was still unacceptable to see such a bloody scene before his eyes.

Not only the common people did not accept it, but the officials also did not accept it. The one who died was the Minister of the Ministry of Industry, a second-rank official!

If Wen Changning can even get away with killing a Master Shangshu, wouldn't they also have to worry that his head would be removed from their necks someday?

More and more silent factions joined the ranks of confrontation. Except for Mr. Wen's loyal lineage, no one dared to speak for Wen Changning anymore.

The emperor couldn't sleep all night, his eyes were red and he looked crazy.

"I'm telling you, so what if I cover up, all the trash in Dali Temple, get out of here! I'm going to reconvene people who are good at solving cases!"

"I don't believe it, this case can't be investigated!"

"Your Majesty, calm down, think twice." The officials below knelt down on the ground.

The emperor was furious, and threw the memorial on the table to the ground, scattered all over the ground, "Everyone said to appease their anger and think twice, but they were actually forcing me!"

"I don't dare." Gong Wenzhen lowered his head, the corners of his mouth curled up uncontrollably, he continued to be crazy, continued to make trouble, and let everyone know how 'stupid' and 'crazy' you are.

Seeing the emperor's situation, Wen Ruhui couldn't help crying.

This is a series of tricks, his son was used as bait, but it was the fish that was lured by the emperor.

He knew he couldn't let the situation continue, but thinking of his son, he couldn't make a decisive decision.

Difficult, too difficult...

He has been an official for decades, and he has never been afraid of many crises and schemes, but he never thought that one day the butcher knife would fall on his son's head.

Xue Yi also heard a lot of rumors, and he was worried every day. It's a pity that although he was promoted to a bachelor of the fifth rank, he was still too insignificant in this capital.

He is not even qualified to go to court, and he can only learn about the rumors of the court from the gossip of his colleagues.

He went to ask the teacher several times, and the old couple were suffering from heartbreaking pain, so he didn't dare to bother too much, so he had to discuss with Wen Yumu, asking him to go over and make some delicious food if he had nothing to do, so he could take care of them Take a look at your body.

On this day, it was finally his turn to enter the palace on duty.

He found Fang Dehai who was next to the emperor and inquired about it, only to realize that the situation was so serious.

He was heartbroken and ran to see the emperor.

The emperor was still in court, and he was in the same situation as a group of courtiers. If it weren't for the people from Mr. Wen's family to suppress him, they might have started arguing long ago.

Now it is just a taut string, and it depends on who breaks first.

Unless the emperor really wanted to be a tyrant and splatter the court with blood, he would really be helpless against these officials for a while.

He asked to see him outside the Disaster Relief Hall, but was stopped by the guards. Fang Dehai said with a sad face: "Master Xue, please calm down. If you are also broken, what should we do?"

Xue Yi pulled him and said hurriedly: "Boss Fang, help me go in and ask to see the emperor, just say that I, Xue Yi, volunteered to investigate the case."

Hearing this, Fang Dehai gritted his teeth and said, "Then I will run for you."

When he got old, he no longer served as the singing eunuch, but was only responsible for serving the emperor's daily life, but his prestige was even higher, and there was no obstacle at all along the way from the back hall to the front hall.

He trotted all the way and whispered a few words in the emperor's ear.

The emperor lifted his spirits and said loudly: "Xuan Xue also comes in."

The guard got the order and let him go.

Xue Yi walked in, bowed and saluted, "I have seen Your Majesty."

"Get up." The emperor said excitedly: "You said you would like to investigate the case, are you sure?"

Xue Yidao: "I will do my best."

Gong Wenzhen stood up slowly, and cupped his hands, "Your Majesty, Xue Xueshi and Wen Changning are brothers in the same school, and they are close people. They should avoid suspicion. How can we let him investigate the case?"

The emperor threw a pen on his head angrily, "Shut up!"

Xue Yi said: "The emperor calm down."

He turned to Gong Wenzhen, "Master Gong, my lords, I would like to swear on my personality here, that I will never cover up favoritism."

"I know you don't believe me, so how about it, everyone is here today, you might as well be a witness. After the case is cleared, you can ask me about any details of the case. If there is something wrong or wrong, you can treat me. I have nothing to say about the crime of doing things unfavorably, and immediately resign and go home."

When he comes to this point, no matter how aggressive he is, it will appear that they are unreasonable

Gong Wenzhen narrowed his eyes, "I don't know how long Mr. Xue will take. If you investigate for a year or so, why bother to investigate? By then, there will be no clues, so it's up to you."

Xue Yi looked at him and saluted, "I don't know what advice my lord has to offer?"

His expression was sharp, although he was very polite, it made Gong Wenzhen feel extremely uncomfortable.

"Oh. Don't dare to be a teacher. Dali Temple has investigated this case for ten days. Since Mr. Xue thinks that the officials of Dali Temple are all powerful, why don't we make an agreement on five days."

Xue Yi looked at the emperor, "I have no objection, everything is under the emperor's arrangement."

Gong Wenzhen also looked at the emperor and said, "If the emperor thinks it's not enough, a few more days will do."

The emperor turned a deaf ear and only looked at Xue Yi. He knew that Xue Yi was always smart, so he couldn't help but have great expectations, so he said: "Then for the time being, for five days, I will promote you as the Shaoqing of Dali Temple to specialize in this case. And Dali Temple will cooperate with you unconditionally."

"I thank the emperor Long En."

Xue Yi took the order and withdrew, and the emperor also announced his downfall.

Gong Wenzhen folded his sleeves and stared coldly at Xue Yi's back.

Shaoqing of Dali Temple, heh, he was promoted from the fifth rank to the fourth rank in one fell swoop.

It depends on whether you have the life to be the official.