Chapter 31 Chapter Twelve

Shen Bai's hand holding Lu Yuanqing's finger trembled uncontrollably before he tentatively asked, "Are you blaming me? Yuanqing..." "It's very late, sir, you should go back to your room to rest." Lu Yuanqing closed his eyes tiredly, and stopped looking at him. "I still have something to say..." "But I don't want to listen to it anymore." Lu Yuanqing smiled, "Although the ending of the matter is a bit unexpected, it has never been difficult for me to sort out the ins and outs of a matter." "Yuan Qing, listen to me and finish." Shen Bai suddenly leaned over and grabbed Lu Yuanqing's shoulders, hugged her into his arms, "I just want to finish the matter, that's all, Yuan Qing."

Hearing the hint of pleading in his words, Lu Yuanqing wanted to laugh, why so, my lord?You have your official career to go, I have my remaining wishes... that's all. "Let me tell the adults, okay?" After a long time, Lu Yuanqing responded. Shen Bai just hugged her thin body tightly and didn't speak. "I think that when Mr. Ye Wenying helped the adults to surround the Tianqing Girl Temple, the adults already knew the whole plan of Zhou Yuanwei's killing from him, right?" He continued, "Mr. Wenying is the emperor's man, and Feng Yanqiu was the commander-in-chief who besieged Zhou Garden this time, so it was not Mrs. Zhou's invitation that Mrs. Wenying invited you to the Zhou Garden to appreciate the chrysanthemums that night. It was what Feng Yanqiu meant.

"My lord has received three invitations from Zhou Garden. The first time my lord mentioned it was around the Cold Food Festival. At that time, Madam Zhou once invited me to Zhou Garden to appreciate chrysanthemums on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival. The second time was When Yu Xingliang was rounded up in the Tianqing Women's Temple, the Wenying Gongzi also mentioned that adults must go to Zhou Garden to appreciate chrysanthemums during the Mid-Autumn Festival. The last time was three days before our departure, and Zhou Garden officially hosted a banquet Send a letter to the adults, please enter the Zhou Garden a few days in advance.

"I think it was Mrs. Zhou herself who invited Your Excellency for the first time; this second time invited Your Excellency, as I just said, it was actually Feng Yanqiu, the deputy commander of the Jin Yiwei; this last time invited Your Excellency to come to the mansion ahead of time, I I think it should be the fake Mrs. Zhou who was killed by the so-called Cuiyun at the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet? Think about it carefully, although they all invited the adults to enjoy the chrysanthemums in Zhou Garden, but these three invitations were not from the same person. Also, If it is the same person, why do you invite adults over and over again? Is your memory really bad enough to forget that you have already asked adults? I also raised this question when I first entered Zhouyuan. I said that the old lady repeatedly invited It may be that my lord went to the house because it was too lonely to spend the Mid-Autumn Festival alone. But Feng Yanqiu, Mr. Feng is indeed a smart person. He understood my meaning in an instant, so he deliberately followed my topic and said it in reverse, and deliberately brought up The past between him and Zhou Yan'an. That's right, this move calmed my doubts. From this point of view, this person is really clever, and I did turn my thinking direction to another angle as he expected. For example, the cause of Zhou Mianniang's death back then, for example, Zhou Yuan's century-old reputation that has been worked so hard to maintain.

"Under Feng Yanqiu's allusion, I was really thinking that Mrs. Zhou might actually sacrifice things that are hard for us ordinary people to understand for Zhou Yuan's century-old reputation. Well, I have to say that this fake Mrs. Zhou did a really good job. She played out that subtle fear so vividly that it was only natural that she fell ill due to fright. It seems that Feng Yanqiu appeared in Zhou by chance. In the garden, it’s not the case. He didn’t come to Biancheng on business to see Mrs. Zhou, but he came here on purpose. In other words, it was Feng Yanqiu’s business to besiege Zhou Yuan this time. The people in the mansion have taken control. I think the first person to discover this is not Feng Yanqiu, but you, my lord. When Mrs. Zhou invited you to enjoy the chrysanthemums in the Mid-Autumn Festival around the cold food festival, you should have doubted it. So your lord handed the emperor a secret report, so the emperor sent Feng Yanqiu to the Zhou Garden to thoroughly investigate the matter. I don't know what position the Zhou family occupies in the emperor's heart, it must be extremely important, so important that the emperor wants to keep it calm and not affect it. The siege was completed without the slightest bit of reputation of the Zhou family, and thus the trip to the Zhou Garden came about.

"You are not joking. Since the emperor has decreed to give the Zhou family these honors, he cannot let the Zhou family have any dishonorable moments. Since Zhou Yaoniang died in the Tatar Rebellion ten years ago with the reputation of a chaste woman, she I can't come back to life, even if someone suddenly finds out that she is still alive at the bottom of the Jiefu Well and tries to avenge her. "A person can live for ten years by eating dead corpses. Is it true? Zhou Miaoniang may have eaten dead corpses, but after someone found out that she was still alive, she stopped eating dead corpses. I met her face to face at the bottom of Jie Fujing According to breath and smell, although there is bloody and rotten smell on her body, there is no smell in her mouth. She has not eaten dead bodies for a long time.

"I think it was Zhou Yan'an who first discovered that Zhou Yaoniang was not dead. The study room I was led to that night should be Zhou Yan'an's study room. My lord once said that Zhou Yan'an is a master at arranging the secret passages of Qimen Dunjia organs, so can you not?" To create this secret passage to the bottom of the chaste woman's well to see Zhou Yaoniang, the person who can do this is not the second choice except Zhou Yan'an. Speaking of Zhou Yan'an, I have to say that this person is really very smart, and he can be called one of the best in the world. Ghost genius. In order to conceal the secret of discovering Zhou Mianniang and secretly delivering food to her, he set up a strange gate array in the West Garden where Jiefujing is located, which is exactly the same as the East Garden. Therefore, unless he allows people, it may be difficult for others to approach Jiefujing. It is nearby, so let alone discovering this secret. So this secret continued until three years ago. Three years ago, Zhou Yanan escorted grain and grass to the south of the Yangtze River, and was killed by bandits on the way back to Beijing. I asked my lord before, why did everyone Zhou Yan’an is the only one who is not dead? Hehe, the reason is actually very simple, only nine words—the ruler wants the minister to die, and the minister has to die.”

"Yuan Qing..." Shen Bai's voice was low and hard to distinguish, more like a sigh. "The emperor wants to kill Zhou Yan'an, so he has to die." Lu Yuanqing smiled, "Why did the emperor want to kill Zhou Yan'an? With Zhou Yan'an's ingenuity, it is rare, if not hard to find in the world. Although the emperor is now pursuing longevity Immortal method, but he is also a monarch who loves talents, if he is not forced, how could he be willing to kill Zhou Yanan? "At this point, we should talk about the truth about Zhou Yaoniang jumping into the well to die." Lu Yuanqing paused, as if exhausted, "Actually, at the bottom of the well, I told Zhou Yaoniang that when Zhou Yanan died, her grief and desire Jue's crying has already explained everything. Zhou Yan'an is not Zhou Myoniang's nephew, but Zhou Yan'an is Zhou Myoniang's biological son. The year Zhou Myoniang died was already twenty-five years old, which is long past the time when a woman should marry Age. Chaste and chaste woman, this term sounds really admirable. But the truth? Zhou Mianniang, who 'died' at the age of 25, already had a ten-year-old son, and that was Zhou Yan'an, the son of her elder brother Zhou Chengen.

"A fifteen-year-old unmarried woman gave birth to a son. Such a thing is extremely embarrassing even in a commoner family, let alone in the Zhou family, which represents the glory of the gentry? This is a shame! This child She should be killed in secret since she was born. I think Mrs. Zhou thought this way at first. But Ms. Zhou will definitely not agree. In fact, it is not difficult to understand, as a mother, there will be an incomprehensible feeling for her own child. Obsession. In the end, Zhou Yaoniang's well-educated elder brother Zhou Chengen came up with this compromise. After all, he is the flesh and blood of the Zhou family. It was a boy, so this child became Zhou Yan'an, the eldest son of Zhou Chengen.

"This is the most perfect ending in an unfortunate story. Zhou Yaoniang can see this child from time to time. Although he only calls her aunt, it's better than watching him be killed? Zhou Yaoniang bears this stain on her body, and in herself If the family can't lift their heads, how can they marry again? Madam Zhou will not agree, so she can only be an old girl in name and stay in the Zhou family for the rest of her life to maintain the century-old reputation of the Zhou family. But I Thinking that Zhou Yaoniang doesn't mind, being able to see Zhou Yan'an all the time is the greatest comfort in her life, right? But how cruel is fate? How can it make you happy for the rest of your life? So in the 29th year of Jiajing, Zhou Yaoniang met her for the first time in her life. Two nightmares. She met that man, the man who destroyed her life, and also Zhou Yanan's father, oh, a Tatar!"

Shen Bai raised his head in surprise, he seemed shocked that Lu Yuanqing would guess this. "Are you surprised, my lord?" Lu Yuanqing smiled casually, "The emperor is really a very smart person. He knows what things should be suppressed with iron blood, and he also knows what things should be turned a blind eye. Facing those officials is even a bit The emperor who is able to laugh off any overbearing persuasion, it is inevitable that some people will think that the emperor is really not a wise king. He seems to be sober for half of the year, and the other half... Hehe, it doesn't matter if I don't mention it. Of course, I don't want to talk to your lord Let's talk about whether the emperor is wise or stupid. What I want to say is that the emperor seldom gets angry, so that many people forget the power of the emperor hidden behind the stupid smile. "I have only heard the thunderous anger of the current emperor twice. The first time was the 'Great Ritual Dispute' at the beginning of the emperor's ascension to the throne, and the second time was when the Tatars forced their way into the capital in the 29th year of Jiajing's reign. Actually Strictly speaking, the coastal Japanese pirates should have brought me the most damage to the Ming Dynasty, but in the emperor's heart, what he hated the most was not the Japanese pirates, but the Mongolian Tatars. Why? Because the Tatars approached the capital, they fought with Just like the "Great Ritual Dispute" back then, they offended the majesty of the emperor. Then, what would happen if the emperor knew that the courtier he admired the most was a Tartar scoundrel? This is like a fine porcelain, no matter what How much you like it, no matter how even its glaze is, how bright its coloring is, and how unique its shape is, but once you find out that it is a fake, all your enthusiasm will drop to freezing point in an instant, you I even hate myself for being so blind that I thought it was a priceless treasure. The emperor will not make mistakes, so the only one who is wrong is this porcelain, and it will end in pieces."