First Concubine

Chapter 173: Cleverly catching the culprit (1)

But when he passed by Shui Lingxi, Shui Lingxi suddenly said: "Empress! This painting, actually... comes from the Shangshu Mansion, the eldest sister of the minister's wife..." and elaborated on the origin of the painting as told by Shui Linglong.

The queen angrily took people to Hualong Palace. At this time, the emperor was reviewing the memorial. Seeing the angry queen and the embarrassed concubine, she frowned slightly and said without anger: "What happened? ?”

The queen bowed respectfully. Even though she was angry, she still showed a hint of tenderness towards her husband: "Your Majesty, I have the audacity to disturb your work. I really have something to say, and I won't be happy if I don't express it."

The emperor's eyes were cold and he motioned for the queen to continue.

The Queen calmly said: "The Crown Prince of Zhenbei wanted to present a treasure map to me. I didn't know whether it was true or not, so I asked Concubine De to help identify it. Unexpectedly, Concubine De verbally said that the treasure map was fake in order to deceive me. The concubine neglected it, and then ordered Xiao Dezi to take the treasure map out of the package and put it into the Xun family's carriage. The concubine guessed that she was going to bring the treasure map to the Xun family! "

Concubine De cried and defended: "I have been wronged, Your Majesty! The first time I identified it, it was indeed a fake. Somehow, the one found later turned out to be a genuine one! I did not collude with Concubine Shui! Please!" The emperor is aware of this!"

"Of course you didn't collude with Concubine Shui! Concubine Shui didn't know about it at all! What you colluded with was Prince Pingnan! Only Concubine Shui didn't know about it, so it wouldn't be exposed! After all, you, Prince Pingnan, are only afraid of secretly plotting against Chen Cang It’s been a long time! I don’t know what evil intentions you are hiding?” the queen said righteously!

Concubine De was really at a loss for words: "Your Majesty! Your Majesty, do you trust me! I don't..."

The emperor blinked suspiciously and did not immediately judge the treasure theft case. Instead, he asked the queen: "Who did you just say presented the treasure map?"

The queen replied: "The eldest concubine of Zhenbei Palace is Shui Linglong." Finally, she added, "She is also the eldest concubine of Shangshu Palace. She accidentally discovered it in the warehouse of Shangshu Palace. She thought it looked good at the time, so she took it in her hand. , the treasure map was placed together with some inconspicuous calligraphy and paintings. I guessed that Shangshu Shui did not know that it was a treasure map. "

That picture was indeed taken away by Nuo Min! The emperor's eyes dimmed at first, then brightened, and then he seemed to be in a daze. Neither the queen nor Concubine De knew what the emperor was thinking. After a while, they heard him say solemnly: "Concubine De colluded with Marquis Pingnan. The prince stole the treasure map and committed a heinous crime..."

Concubine De was finally found guilty of colluding with the Marquis of Pingnan to steal the treasure map. The emperor deprived Concubine De of her title, demoted her to changing clothes, and gave her a glass of poisoned wine.

If something happened to Shui Chenxiang last time, Xun Feng was lucky enough to be spared, but this time he was not so lucky.

Of course, making things out of nothing also depends on the occasion. The palace concubine is the emperor's woman, and it is easy to deal with her. Xun Feng is different. He is the mainstay of a meritorious family. If you want to bring him down, an illusion fabricated by Shui Linglong is not enough. But both the queen and the emperor decided to use this opportunity to eliminate the most powerful political opponent for the prince.

 The official story is that the emperor summoned Xun Feng for a secret talk, hoping to learn the truth about the theft. Unexpectedly, when the emperor exposed Xun Feng's lies one after another and planned to send him to a prison and sentence him to severe punishment, Xun Feng suddenly lost his mind, pulled out the hairpin on his head and began to assassinate the emperor. Eunuch Chang was a heroic savior and took a stab for the emperor, buying precious time for the arrival of the Royal Forest Army. Under the joint encirclement and suppression by the Royal Forest Army, Xun Feng was finally captured. Assassinating the emperor of a country was supposed to be a capital crime of confiscating the family and exterminating the clan. However, for the sake of the old head of the family, the emperor did not kill all the Xun family. Instead, he deprived Xun Feng of his official position and the title of heir apparent, and exiled him. When you reach the eastern border, you will not be allowed to return to the capital unless you are Zhao.

On the other side, Shui Linglong performed a great job in presenting the treasure, and the Queen's decree allowed Shui Lingxi and Xun Feng to reconcile. Shui Lingxi was spared the fate of going to a bitter and cold place together, and returned to Shangshu Mansion.

The dark room was filled with rich blood. Nazha was dressed in plain clothes, with disheveled hair, sitting slumped on a shiny chair. The red paint slowly reflected the weak light of the candle, illuminating her pale face, reflecting the wandering soul. Generally eerie. At her feet was Xiao Anzi, who refused to rest in peace.

 Eunuch Zhang held the tray with one hand and said in a strange tone: "I'm changing my clothes. It's time to hit the road. Don't make things difficult for us!"

Nazha's red and swollen eyes once again overflowed with two lines of clear tears. She stood up and hugged Eunuch Zhang's arm, pleading hard: "Where is Shiyi? Where is my Shiyi? I want to see him!"

Eunuch Zhang brushed her hand away in disgust: "Sinful woman Yu Xiwan! Your Highness is now the Queen's legitimate son and has nothing to do with you anymore! If you want to cry, go to the underworld to cry to the Lord of Hell!"

Nazha's body became unstable and she fell to the ground. Her forehead hit the armrest of the chair. Blood flowed down her cheek. She reached out her hand and touched it. It was slightly hot and felt like a soldering iron, burning her fingertips. , burning in her heart, she looked at herself in a miserable state in the bronze mirror, and suddenly she became excited like a lion whose tail was stepped on: "No! I don't want to die! You are the executioner sent by the queen. ! The emperor will not be willing to kill me! The queen must be the one who made the decision! You asked Eunuch Chang to do it for you! How dare you punish me? So called!”

Hum, if Eunuch Chang hadn't blocked Prince Xun's stab tonight and fell unconscious tonight, it really wouldn't have been his turn to deliver this decree! Eunuch Zhang looked at Nazha with disdain: "Hold her down for us! She has to drink this poisonous wine whether she wants to or not!"

 Several young eunuchs were reluctant to take action due to Concubine De's former majesty.

Eunuch Chang raised his foot and kicked it one by one: "Long Live Lord's will is to give Yu Changyi poisonous wine. If she doesn't drink it, our mission will not be completed! Are you afraid of a dying person, or are you afraid of the superior Long Live Lord? ?”

Without hesitation, the few of them took a step forward and held Nazha down!

 Eunuch Zhang smiled coldly, grabbed her jaw, and poured the poisonous wine into her mouth...

“I didn’t expect it to be like this.” In Mohe Courtyard, Shui Linglong was so surprised that she couldn’t open her mouth from ear to ear after hearing the news explained by Zhuge Yu. The emperor liked Nuomin and regarded Nazha as Nuomin's substitute. Even if Nazha "stole the treasure map", the emperor would more or less take into account some of his past friendships and try to save Nazha's life, or... Does the emperor really care so much about the treasure map?

Zhuge Yu held Shui Linglong on his lap, caressing her belly, and said with a half-smile, "De Fei is dead, but Nazha is not."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Shui Linglong looked at him with wide eyes.

Zhuge Yu held her in his arms, rested his chin on her soft shoulder, and said with a touch of teasing: "Didn't you say that the emperor regards Nazha as your mother's substitute? Since he loves Nazha so much, you How can this frame-up, which is not very clever, be able to hide from his eyes? "

Shui Linglong turned her head and glared at him unconvinced: "What? Are you still looking down on me?"

Zhuge Yu chuckled lightly, touched her red lips that were pouting in anger, and leaned over to **** her lips, tasting them carefully with the tip of his tongue, and then said in Shui Linglong's eyes that she wanted to shoot him into a sieve: "That's not what you are planning. Concubine De and Xun Feng are the hearts of the emperor and the queen. You know that the queen has wanted to bring down Concubine De for a long time, and you also know that she and the emperor are deeply afraid of Xun Feng. You just need to give them a clear and reasonable accusation. Since they have covered it up for you, and they have blocked all kinds of loopholes for you, you can watch Concubine De and Xun Feng fall with peace of mind. In the end, you can still stay in the palace on the grounds of being unwell during pregnancy or being frightened. Don't go to face the saint. Anyway, the palace is protecting you, and the emperor can't force you to go. The emperor can only question Shui Lingxi and Shui Lingyue. The former hates Xun Feng. The latter has been out of favor for a long time and has to move closer to you. Who allows you to show your strength in front of Shui Lingyue again and again? "

After saying that, he kissed her soft red lips again. A woman who is too smart will be tired from living. He thought that she wanted to use the treasure map to plot against Shui Lingxi, so he didn't take it to heart. Unexpectedly, she actually Targeting Xun Feng and De Fei.

Shui Linglong smiled and asked: "You just said that Nazha is not dead. What do you mean?"

Zhuge Yu looked at her playfully, as if waiting for her to guess it herself.

Shui Linglong narrowed her eyes suspiciously and fell into deep thought: "Could it be that...the emperor knew Nazha's true identity and apparently killed Concubine De, but actually let her go free and let her return to Mobei?"

The smile at the corner of Zhuge Yu's mouth gradually widened, and his handsome face was reflected in the candlelight, and the brightness in his eyes became a little brighter: "That's right. The reason why Mobei lost to Da Zhou was largely due to the internal differences being too serious. With the treasure map, we can’t find the sacred objects of Mobei, and we can’t give orders to the major factions who have been fighting for a long time. Now that we have the treasure map, Nazha, as the Dong family’s princess, naturally has extraordinary appeal.”

"I seem to understand the emperor's approach." Shui Linglong's heart was filled with a layer of disgust. "He first instigated the Tai clan to start civil strife and ordered Guo Yan to go on an expedition. Guo Yan won a great victory by cooperating internally and externally, and the Dong clan After being slaughtered, only the eleventh prince in the palace was left! Then he used Tai's presentation of a fake treasure map as an excuse to have Guo Yan severely inflict heavy damage on Tai's family. Now, the Dong princess appeared with the treasure map. , even if Tai wants to rebel, there is no one else but Nazha and the Eleventh Prince. What if Nazha changes her mind? After being stable, marrying a man from Mobei and giving birth to a more pure bloodline, wouldn't the throne of the eleventh prince be ruined? "

Zhuge Yu smiled indifferently: "Guess again, what did the emperor give Nazha to drink tonight?"

Shui Linglong’s bright eyes widened: “Don’t tell me it’s the ultimate medicine!”

 Zhuge Yu did not answer, but Shui Linglong got the answer she wanted from his cold eyes. The emperor's methods were as cruel as Xun Feng's. Nazha, who loves her son as much as she lives, will suffer from the pain of separation from mother and son, and will willingly fall into the emperor's clutches to seize Mobei, because this is the only way for her to reunite with her son. If her guess is correct, when the day comes when Mobei truly surrenders to the eleventh prince, the emperor will kill his mother and keep his son to prevent the power of Mobei from falling into the hands of the queen mother.

Suddenly thinking of something, Shui Linglong looked solemn: "Since the emperor knows that Nazha is not from the Zhou Dynasty, will he doubt his father?" After all, this false identity was fabricated by the prince for Nazha.

 Zhuge Yu's eyebrows showed a trace of tiredness: "It's been taken care of, it can't be found."

Shui Linglong raised her hand and pressed his temple, narrowed her eyes and smiled, and changed the topic: "Then what do you think the emperor and the queen will think of my behavior?"

Zhuge Yu enjoyed her gentleness, and his tone became gentle: "You are the prince's concubine, and you naturally represent the position of the prince. In their eyes, every move you make is authorized by the prince. Therefore, today's various In their opinion, it is just a way for the Zhenbei Palace to suppress Pingnan Hou Palace. They are unlikely to think that everything is your plan. They are just secretly cursing the Palace for using their pregnant daughter-in-law to eliminate political enemies! "At the end of the story, Zhuge Yu pinched her pink cheeks angrily and funnyly.

Shui Linglong put down her hand and snorted: "Xun Feng held me hostage last time. I couldn't get angry, so I wanted to punish him so that he would never recover." This explained why she hated Xun Feng so much.

Zhuge Yu looked at her steadily, as if he was trying to distinguish the truth from her words. Shui Linglong had lived for two lifetimes and had already developed the ability to keep her expression calm and her heart not beating. Besides, she wasn't completely lying. That incident This thing really made her angry. Zhuge Yu couldn't see anything, smiled faintly, and said: "Okay, Xun Feng was expelled from Pingnan Palace, and has nothing to do with the Xun family from now on. Without the blessing of the Xun family, if he wants to make a comeback, it will be worse than ascending to heaven. Difficult."

As long as Xun Feng doesn't die, she won't be able to rest at ease. To be an emperor in his previous life, he must first have the destiny of a nobleman. In addition, he does have perseverance and brains that are higher than ordinary people. A hundred-footed insect can still die. It's not deadlock, she doesn't believe that Xun Feng has been planning for many years, and it will be difficult to move forward without leaving the Xun family.

 Zhuge Yu held her hand and said very seriously: "Leave the rest to me, you can rest assured to raise the baby."

Shui Linglong was stunned at first, and then her heart warmed up. After all, she was not fighting alone in this life. Sometimes she had a haven to rest when she was tired, right?

"good."

Zhuge Yu smiled slightly, touched her little head and said: "That's right! Don't worry about it anymore in the future. I married you to let you enjoy happiness, not to let you worry about the Zhuge family every day! The Zhuge family The men of the Zhuge family are holding up the sky, and I will be there before you if it collapses. Don’t be stupid again, you know?”

Shui Linglong spread her palms. Her hands were still the same, but she no longer needed to hold a butcher knife in her life. Because this man said that he wanted to marry her so that she could enjoy happiness. If the sky fell, he would be there in front of her. Does it mean that he will never use her and will protect her even if he dies?

Zhuge Yu's big palm moved down and gently touched her hard belly. He changed his soft tone and said, "Son! Did anyone bully your mother in the palace today? Tell me, and dad will go." Beat him away!"

At this time, Zhi Fan happened to come in with a midnight snack, and he heard Zhuge Yu asking Shui Linglong if she had been bullied. He was so frightened that his hands shook and the tray almost fell to the ground!

Zhuge Yu's eyes flashed coldly and he looked at Zhi Fan: "What's wrong?"

 Zhi Fan cast his questioning gaze on Shui Linglong, who shook her head. Zhi Fantan smiled and said: "Oh, nothing... nothing. Look no evil. I didn't see anything! Really... I didn't see anything!" After saying this, he lowered his head, as if he had just done that. The loss of composure was caused by seeing the ambiguity between Shui Linglong and Zhuge Yu.

Shui Linglong jumped into his arms very cooperatively, grabbed his clothes with her little paws, and said angrily: "I hate it!" Goosebumps...

 Zhishan put the tray on the table and exited the room as if he was running away.

Shui Linglong knew that she was careless this time. Even though she knew that Concubine De was colluding with Xun Feng, and she was aware of Concubine De's abnormal state, she still bit the venison pie. According to her In the past, she was cautious and would avoid any slightest disturbance, but this time... she relaxed her vigilance.

Shui Linglong was like a child who had done something wrong and tried to hide it from his parents, feeling so guilty that he broke into a cold sweat.

Zhuge Yu clearly felt the moisture on her forehead, picked up her face and asked, "What's wrong with you?"

Shui Linglong whispered: "I'm hungry."

 Zhuge Yu smiled narrowly: "I'll feed you."

The guilty child didn't think deeply, and just nodded like a fool: "Um...okay...ah?"

Before Shui Linglong could react, Zhuge Yu turned over and pressed her down. His slender fingers slowly brushed her flower-like, graceful body, and said in a hoarse voice: "I've been hungry for more than a month, eh? Be good, I will feed you today.”

 Shui Linglong... shocked!

Guo Yan's task of transporting supplies was successfully completed. Not only that, he also secretly visited many high-ranking officials in Mobei according to the emperor's secret order, and sent out the accompanying beauties. He bought a total of thirteen officials and twenty others. Ten people there made it clear that they would not accept the Emperor Zhou's overtures, while the other ten people used the "drag" tactic: they need time to think about it!

Guo Yan stretched out, how could Mobei have anything to do with him? He just wants to protect Linglong. He hasn't seen her for a long time. He really has wings and wants to fly back!

"General, after passing this forest, you can see the capital in half a day's march!" Changsui Xiaohan handed over a piece of shriveled donkey meat and said honestly, "General, please have some, you have eaten very little at night. ”

Guo Yan casually picked up the donkey meat and took a bite. It tasted like wax. He frowned: "Dig a few holes, install simple traps, and get up in the morning to eat fresh!"

“Oh!” Xiaohan scratched his head, took out a small shovel from the suitcase, and started digging hard.

Guo Yan leaned against the big tree and chewed the dry donkey meat while thinking about Linglong Qiao's smiling face. He only regretted that he had lost his memory for five years in his previous life and only saw everything he had lost before he died. Now he is married. Acting like a child in Lai Linglong's arms seems... very embarrassing!

 (End of this chapter)