I am a ruler in troubled times

Chong Yi asked without answering, "Do you know where the dressing room is?"

Song Peiyu subconsciously glanced at Chong Yi's stomach, no wonder she had to look for the toilet after eating so many winter fruits.

But this is still not the reason why Chong Yi suddenly appeared in the canopy.

The smile on Song Peiyu's face was too forced, causing Chong Yi to take a few more glances, pointing to the distance and saying, "Come on the tree, get closer."

Song Peiyu looked in the direction of Chongyi's finger. The pine tree closest to Chongyi's foot was at least five meters away. From his angle, he could clearly see a short branch protruding from the bark. Snow covered.

So Chong Yi suddenly thought of Gong, and jumped over the wall and jumped trees all the way from outside the door?

At this moment, Song Peiyu felt that the physics class he had attended was a joke.

"Is His Highness the only one in the tree?" Song Peiyu said with difficulty, and began to think about how he could pretend that he had just found out that he had dropped the oiled paper bag, and then put the oiled paper bag back into his sleeve.

Chong Yi, "Yeah"

Song Peiyu asked, "Is there only His Highness on each tree?"

Chong Yi changed from squatting to sitting, and his condescending gaze moved from Song Peiyu's face to the oiled paper bag under Song Peiyu's feet, "Only Gu, what do you want to say?"

Song Peiyu opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

In a short period of time, countless thoughts flashed through his mind.

Although unwilling to lose this excellent opportunity, a gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall.

After making a decision, Song Peiyu seemed to be attracted by Chong Yi's movements, followed Chong Yi's gaze to look at his feet, and then touched his sleeve, "This seems to be..."

"How did you become naughty when you grew up? You don't want to leave the gate, you have to climb over the wall and take the tree." Su Wang's loud voice came from behind Song Peiyu, and he strode to the tree to look up at Chongyi, and said angrily , "Qianniuwei thought that the villain flew in suddenly and wanted to assassinate him. If he was not afraid of the raccoon slave's suffering, he would have rushed forward just now."

Chong Yi, who was stamped naughty, had no intention of refuting at all. He jumped down from the tree, as light as a feather falling on the snow, and his footprints were even shallower than that of King Su and Song Peiyu.

"Where is the place where Gong is born?" Chong Yi asked.

King Su pointed to the location of the main courtyard not far away, "It must be there, you can look for it."

Chong Yi looked sideways at Song Peiyu.

Song Peiyu, who had almost lost her ability to think, said subconsciously, "Should I accompany His Highness?"

"Yes" Chong Yi nodded reservedly.

Song Peiyu wished to turn back time and wake up her dazed self.

When passing King Su, Chong Yi looked at Qianniuwei not far away who was still paying attention to this side, and sneered, "A bunch of trash."

Su Wang, who was also going to find the hut with Chong Yi, stopped when he heard this, and looked at Qian Niuwei very dissatisfied.

It's true that Chong Yi's talent is excellent, but he put a lot of thought into training Qianniuwei. Now that the entire Liu Mansion is surrounded by Qianniuwei, Chongyi can still quietly touch the outside of the most heavily guarded courtyard. He was slapped across the face.

He will not care about these things with Chongyi, and even be proud of it, but he will not give Qianniuwei a face that makes him ashamed.

Su Chao waved at Qianniuwei who was probing in the distance, and one of them gave him a kick, and said angrily, "Useless things, why don't you hurry up and order someone to squat on a tree? Hit your face, it won't hurt!" Can’t you see like a blind man again?”

Missing the best opportunity to pick up the oiled paper bag again, Song Peiyu simply stopped thinking about it, so as not to show clues on his face and increase the risk for nothing.

Moreover, Chong Yi never mentioned the oiled paper bag, maybe he didn't see it?

At this time, it was hard for Song Peiyu not to take chances.

However, lying on the bed in Tianhuju in the middle of the night, Song Peiyu carefully recalled every scene in Liu's house, but he had to tear up his luck.

Chong Yi saw everything.

He didn't expose him right away, maybe he didn't care, maybe he was too lazy to speak up, or maybe he was waiting for him to confess on his own initiative.

After tossing and turning and staying up all night, Song Peiyu found helplessly that no matter what Chong Yi was thinking, he didn't know how to persuade Chong Yi to help him keep it a secret.

But you can't just sit back and resign yourself to fate.

After washing, Song Peiyu wrote two large characters to meditate, and called Jin Bao to the study room to ask alone, "Has there been any unusual things happening around him recently?"

Jin Bao followed Song Peiyu's eyes to see the paintings on the wall, and instantly understood which "he" Song Peiyu was talking about, shook his head and said, "It's all trivial things like going to the concubine's room to spend the night, and there is nothing unusual in detail. .”

Seeing that Song Peiyu hadn't spoken for a long time, Jin Bao took the initiative to ask, "Shall I let Xiao Hua take the initiative to inquire about the news?"

Some time ago, Song Peiyu suddenly asked Jinbao to collect information about General Jianyuan. Jinbao secretly searched for a breakthrough, and accidentally discovered that the maidservant next to General Jianyuan's concubine was a slave bought from outside, and the sister of the maidservant was sold to the Zhuangzi of the Song Mansion. .

Through this relationship, Jin Bao took the big maid in his hands, and also got General Mei Jianyuan's personal jade pendant.

Song Peiyu pondered for a long time, then shook her head firmly, "Go and pass the sign, I'm going to the East Palace to pay my respects."

Xiaohua is just a concubine's maid, and it is already the limit to be able to take Wei Zhong's personal jade pendant out of the house without implicating herself.Doing more will easily overwhelm the enemy and make the situation worse.

Since it is impossible to find a breakthrough from General Jianyuan Wei Zhong, it is still necessary to find a way to seal Chongyi's eloquence.

Chong Yi had already seen his behavior, unless Emperor Yonghe pressed down the jade pendant, Chong Yi would definitely know what was in the oiled paper bag he deliberately dropped in the Liu Mansion.

With Emperor Yonghe's love for Chongyi, he would definitely believe Chongyi's words unconditionally. Even if he could find evidence that Wei Zhong was Chen Guoxie at the last moment, he would inevitably leave a stain.

It's just that Song Peiyu didn't expect that the matter of Liu's residence would be handled so quickly.

He had just gotten off the carriage, and before he could figure out what to use to stop Chong Yi, suddenly a eunuch from Qinzheng Hall ran up and said to Mr. An, who came out to greet Song Peiyu, "Your Majesty is in the Qinzheng Hall, serving as the supervisor of Qin Tianjian." The things copied out of the house are furious, please let your highness go down to persuade your majesty."

Eunuch An looked hesitant, Emperor Yonghe was not a good-tempered person.On the contrary, he came from a humble background, and he had been in the market since he was young. Only by shocking others can he climb up to the present step by step.Therefore, it is not uncommon for Emperor Yonghe to get angry in the Hall of Qinzheng, but no one from the Hall of Qinzheng has ever come to report.

"But it's involved..." Eunuch An's voice was weak and weak, and his eyes turned to look in the direction of the main hall of the East Palace.

The eunuch who came to report the letter nodded heavily, "Even the three adults have been reprimanded by His Majesty."

Song Peiyu's heart skipped a beat. The only one who can be called the three adults together is the big brother from the three provinces, and his eldest brother is among them.

Eunuch An didn't dare to delay any longer, he gave Soong Peiyu a vague gesture, and trotted all the way to the main hall. The eunuch who reported the letter also didn't dare to stay longer, and didn't even have time to greet Song Peiyu.

After a while, Chong Yi came out from the main hall, looking at Song Peiyu's face, "You..."

Liu Ke's screams suddenly sounded outside the East Palace, followed by a gagged muffled grunt. Listening to the movement, far more than one person was dragged to the Qinzheng Hall.

"Oh, why is there such a big commotion." Eunuch An chased out with a heater in his arms, handed it directly to Song Peiyu, and then said to Chong Yi, "Why don't you go, His Majesty won't be angry with you anyway, What if the old man got it wrong?"

Chong Yi's answer was to walk directly towards the gate, Song Peiyu pushed the hand stove back, and said softly, "I will go down with your highness to have a look, if your majesty is angry, it is not easy to hold the hand stove."

Eunuch An said 'hey', and casually stuffed the hand stove into the arms of a little eunuch, and trotted to chase Chong Yi who was striding forward.

As soon as he arrived outside the Qinzheng Hall, Song Peiyu felt an unusual aura from the extraordinarily serious guards.

When Chong Yi was about to enter the door, Eunuch Meng took the initiative to stop him, saying that he had to report to His Majesty first, which had never happened before.

"You have time to persuade Gu." The warm breath came to Song Peiyu's ear, and he took a big step back in shock. His eyes were full of vigilance and well-covered panic. When he looked up, he found that Chong Yi was lowering his head. To see him.

When the matter came to an end, Song Peiyu forgot the rhetoric that had been carefully considered, and there was only one sentence, "I am loyal to Zhao Guo, and I have a clear conscience for what I have done."

It happened that Eunuch Meng left and returned, and respectfully invited Chongyi and Song Peiyu in.

Chong Yi took a deep look at Song Peiyu, and stepped into the Hall of Qinzheng first.Emperor Yonghe gave Chongyi a seat, Song Peiyu still had to stand behind Chongyi.

King Su, Song Jinyu, Shang Shuling and Mu Shizhong sat on both sides.Liu Ke sat on the ground limp and fatigued, still shaking his head frantically.

Song Peiyu saw the jade pendant wrapped in oil paper on the ground in front of Liu Ke, and there was a string of extraordinarily unique and gorgeous agate beads not far away.

Shang Shuling shook his head at Liu Ke, his face full of pain and sorrow, "Now, what else do you have to hide? Honestly tell me what you conspired with the owner of the jade pendant and the agate bead. How innocent is a child?"

Liu Ke shook his head frantically, tears and snot rushing out, his voice was hoarse and desolate, "I really don't have any, and I don't know where jade pendants and agates come from, I've never seen these things before!"

King Su snorted coldly, "The jade pendant was dug out from under the plum tree outside your yard, and the agate was hidden in the window frame of the study, do you remember?"

"I have been wronged, Your Majesty!" Liu Ke became kneeling on the ground with difficulty, making muffled noises with his head, "I am loyal to Your Majesty, and the sun and the moon can learn from each other!"

Only then did Song Peiyu realize that Liu Ke's limbs had been twisted into strange shapes, and the ground was covered with filthy blood, presumably he had already been tortured.

In the past, Mrs. Song and Mrs. Ye helped him deal with the crimes committed by maidservants in Song Peiyu's yard. This was the first time Song Peiyu saw such a bloody scene. He calmly looked away and hid the unbearable in his eyes .

Eunuch Meng came in from outside again like a ghost, and whispered in Emperor Yonghe's ear.

Emperor Yonghe said in a deep voice, "Press them up."

Song Peiyu looked along the wide open door, her pupils constricted suddenly.

It was Wei Zhong and Ping Zhang who were pushed up.

Song Peiyu originally thought that the fact that he put the jade pendant in Liu's residence was exposed, and that the ransacking of Liu's residence would involve the East Palace, but now it seems that he has a ghost in his heart, and he has become a frightened bird.

Feeling overjoyed and overwhelmed, Song Peiyu, who experienced such a big crisis for the first time, felt a little weak. She reached out and grabbed the back of Chongyi's chair to stabilize her figure. Suddenly, she felt a heat on the back of her hand, and something was stuffed into her palm.

Song Peiyu withdrew her hand calmly, looked through the cover, and couldn't laugh or cry.

It was a piece of hard candy wrapped in oiled paper. Looking at the pattern on the oiled paper, it was one of the annual gifts Song Peiyu sent to the East Palace.

The tension that had always been tense was relaxed, and Song Peiyu noticed with sharp eyes that there was the same oil paper on the side of Chongyi's boots. It can be seen that Emperor Yonghe was furious just now, but it did not affect Chongyi's mood to eat candy.

Wei Zhong and Heping Zhang's face was full of similar daze and uneasiness, Ping Zhang's hurried eyes caught Chong Yi's figure and he calmed down a little, but his voice of greeting Emperor Yonghe was still trembling uncontrollably.

King Su first asked Wei Zhong, "General Jianyuan, can you recognize the jade pendant on the ground?"

Wei Zhong's appearance can only be described as ordinary but extremely simple and honest, so the blankness and shock on his face are particularly convincing, "This is a jade pendant that I like very much, and I lost it half a month ago."

King Su got up from his seat, picked up the jade pendant on the ground and held it in his hand, and said coldly, "Then tell me, why did your lost jade pendant appear in the mansion of Zheng Liu Ke, the supervisor of Qintian Supervisor?"

Wei Zhong looked in disbelief at Liu Ke, who was already exhausted and panting on the ground, and stammered, "But, maybe, someone stole my jade pendant and sold it to Liu Ke..."

In the end, Wei Zhong himself believed it, and looked at King Su eagerly.

Su Wang held the upper and lower ends of the jade pendant with both hands, and twisted it suddenly, and the jade pendant suddenly split into two halves from the middle.

This jade pendant turned out to be hollow, but there was nothing inside.

"What's inside?" King Su spread the jade pendant in half under Wei Zhong's eyes.

"It's impossible!" Wei Zhong stretched out his hand to grab the jade pendant, but King Su raised his hand abruptly to dodge it, and rewarded Wei Zhong with a kick.

King Su kicked unceremoniously. Even a strong man like Wei Zhong, who had been honed on the battlefield, lay on the ground. He quickly got up, "I have used this jade pendant for three years, and I never knew that the inside of the jade pendant is actually hollow. This It must not be the jade pendant of the minister, but someone deliberately planted it to frame the minister."

Qian Niuwei was able to accurately go to the Jianyuan General's Mansion to arrest people, and he had already confirmed that this jade pendant belonged to Wei Zhong.No matter how much Wei Zhong yelled, it would only make the people present shake their heads.King Su restored the jade pendant to its original shape, tied it around his waist, and went to get the agate string on the ground. He looked down at Ping Zhang who had been frightened, and said coldly, "Is this your thing? Answer after you think about it, Don't change your mind just like General Jianyuan."

Ping Zhang has been a playmate with Chong Yi since his father died in battle, and even Emperor Yonghe and King Su are extraordinarily kind and tolerant to him, where has he ever encountered King Su who is so dishonest?

What's more, Wei Zhong's example was right in front of him, and he was so nervous that he couldn't even speak for a while.

'Snapped'

A teacup flew down from the main seat and fell into pieces between Pingzhang and Wei Zhong. Emperor Yonghe roared angrily, "Say! Don't you say that you are trying to deceive me?!"

Ping Zhang put his head on the ground, and said tremblingly, "I don't know, there are small black flaws on the sixth and eighth of my string of agates. In addition, my agate strings should be in the study Not lost."

King Su had already kept all the details of the jade pendant and the agate string in his heart, so he knew that what Ping Zhang said was right without looking at it, and said in a deep voice, "The string in my hand that I found from Liu Ke's mansion is yours. Have something to say?"

"I..." Pingzhang looked around in a daze, lowered his head decadently, unable to say anything.

After a long time, Emperor Yonghe said, "What do you think?"

King Su was in charge of ransacking and interrogating the house, and knew this matter best. "In addition to these two items in my hand, Liu Ke's mansion also has a large amount of gold and silver of unknown origin. People in his mansion also confessed that 'Auspiciousness from God' is simply It didn't grow on the winter tree in his mansion, and all the servants in Liu Ke's mansion suddenly knew the existence of 'Tianxiangrui' overnight."

There is also evidence that Liu Ke has been in close contact with unknown people since he arrived in Xianyang. Until half a month ago, the mysterious person suddenly disappeared.

The evidence of Liu Ke's collusion with the enemy has been conclusive. As the first case, the younger brother thought that he should be severely punished and punished the nine clans for public display. "

Mu Shizhong looked at Chong Yi, "What do you think, Your Highness?"

Chong Yi casually raised his hand, he didn't want to say anything.

Mu Shizhong agreed with King Su's opinion and wanted to kill Liu Ke from the nine clans.

However, Song Jinyu and Shang Shuling felt that to punish the chief culprit was enough to silence the people who participated in it. To punish the Nine Clans would hurt the peace of heaven and expand the impact of the matter.

In the end, Emperor Yonghe decided to imprison Liu Ke first, wait until the 'auspicious fruit' turmoil passed, and then behead all the people involved in this matter. The rest of Liu Ke's mansion, whether masters or servants, were all exiled to the mines to do hard work.

Liu Ke's incident has a far-reaching impact, and the evidence is conclusive.

Wei Zhong and Heping Zhang were very difficult to deal with, although they were also involved, but there was no evidence other than jade pendants and agate beads.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Wei Zhong walked on his knees to hug Emperor Yonghe's leg. After being kicked by King Su, he hugged King Su, and wiped his tears and nose unceremoniously on King Su's robe, and began to recall the past with Emperor Yonghe.

"How can you not trust me?

I have been by your side since 20 years ago. I have blocked the long swords on the battlefield for you, and I have also rejected Yan Guo's invitation for you. I have no second thoughts about you or Zhao Guo.

The people who followed you at the beginning are now only Wei Chen and brother Luo.

Today is the only son of Brother Chen Heping, and tomorrow will be Brother Luo!

This is clearly a deliberate instigation by some villains to get rid of all the old ministers around you.

His Majesty! "

As soon as these words came out, except for Su Wang and Chong Yi, everyone else's expressions were a little subtle.

Compared with Wei Zhong, none of the people present here can be regarded as old ministers. They can't be so tough that they let Emperor Yonghe deal with Wei Zhong peacefully, otherwise wouldn't they just respond to Wei Zhong's "bad guys"?

Just when the atmosphere froze, Chong Yi suddenly said, "That string of agate beads is mine."

Ping Zhang trembled, bit his lip tightly and did not make a sound.

Mu Shizhong coughed lightly, and said slowly, "Your Highness has a lot of compassion for those around you, and I've heard it too. It's just that important affairs in the court are not child's play, Your Highness should not be sentimental."

Shang Shuling waved his hand, "His Royal Highness is young and deceived by the people around him, so it is understandable for him to be irrational. Brother Mu, you don't have to be too harsh."

"It's because I always look forward to His Highness being able to share the burden for His Majesty as soon as possible, so I'm stunned." Mu Shizhong smiled wryly, and sat in his seat to bow to Chong Yi, taking it as an apology.

The corners of Song Jinyu's mouth curled up, and just as he was about to speak, a clear and youthful voice rushed ahead of him.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, to my lords, the agate string is indeed from the Eastern Palace. His Highness does not like the two agates with black spots, so he asked Pingzhang to find a replacement agate. Send Chuanzi back to the Eastern Palace." Song Peiyu felt all kinds of eyes on her body, and her back became straighter, "The agate Chuanzi is still in the account book of the Eastern Palace, and you can check it in the warehouse account book."

Emperor Yonghe looked at Chong Yi, "Is it really as Li Nu said?"

Chong Yi didn't even lift his eyelids, "Yeah"

Agate getting involved with Chong Yi will only make things more complicated.

Mu Shizhong and Shang Shuling, who knew well how much Emperor Yonghe protected Zhongyi, were speechless when he heard the words, and his expression became more thought-provoking.

Song Jinyu came out to smooth things over.

In the end, because of insufficient evidence, Wei Zhong was punished with minor punishments. Wei Zhong was suspended for half a year, and his soldiers were temporarily handed over to Murong Jing.

"Ping Zhang." Song Jinyu looked at Chong Yi, "What do you think Your Highness should do?"

"He made an omission while running an errand for me, and he was fined Yueyin for half a year." Chong Yi didn't think about it.

Standing behind Chong Yi, Song Peiyu moved her lips almost invisibly.

Before Mu Shizhong opened his mouth, Chong Yi said again, "The honored officers on Jiang Pingzhang's body have descended from Captain Shangqi to Captain Xiaoqi."

Pingzhang also had honored officials. When Emperor Yonghe proclaimed himself emperor and rewarded meritorious officials, he remembered Pingzhang's father's old kindness and awarded him the fourth rank of riding captain.

Mu Shizhong waited for Chong Yi to finish speaking before opening his mouth, "Pingzhang should be like General Jianyuan, he should spend half a year at home thinking about it, and it is not appropriate to go to Donggong Academy during this period."

Song Jinyu put down his teacup, and said unhurriedly, "Then, General Jianyuan, would you like to be demoted two ranks?"

Wei Zhonghan smiled, and diverted Song Jinyu's words, "Although I have no bad intentions, I made a mistake, and it will take time to rectify the house. I am very convinced of His Majesty's punishment."

Just kidding, he doesn't have an honorary officer, he only has the actual position of a second-rank general. If he is demoted two ranks in a row, his soldiers will not be temporarily placed in Murong Jing's hands, perhaps half of the heads will be completely divided up.

The matter came to an end, Song Peiyu and Heping Zhang left with Chong Yi, and went back to the East Palace to rest.

After a stick of incense, Song Peiyu and Heping Zhang met outside the main hall of the East Palace.

After looking at each other, they turned their heads blankly and knelt down.

Eunuch An, who failed to enter the Hall of Qinzheng, did not dare to stand in front of the two of them. He walked around to the back and asked repeatedly, "How can you perform such a big ceremony? Wait for the old slave to get you a cushion."

"Trouble my father-in-law to inform me." Song Peiyu said softly, "Chen Te came to make an apology."

As soon as Song Peiyu finished speaking, Ping Zhang said in a muffled voice, "I'm also here to make an apology, please help pass it on to my father-in-law."