Yu Shu lay in Supreme Dawn Tavern for half a month, completely unaware of what was happening in the outside world. = = = = Zhu Muzhao sent someone to the Yu Residence to report that she was safe, but he did not allow her family to visit.
Zhu Qingjue would come to take her pulse every day, but after she woke up, the matter of changing her dressing was handed over to the maidservant. He followed his father's instructions. Every time he came to visit her, as long as she was awake, he would accompany her and talk to her to relieve her boredom.
Zhu Qingjue felt that his father's actions were superfluous because she did not need anyone to accompany her. No matter what he said, she did not respond. At first, he thought that she was stimulated by being in prison, but later he found that she was simply too lazy to talk to him. Just like now — —
"Ahem, how are you today? Did you take the medicine? Raise your hand and try. Do your bones still hurt? "
Yu Shu was sitting on the bed, wearing a loose robe. One of her arms was exposed and had just been changed. She looked at the green trees outside the window. When she heard his words, she just raised her hand. She did not say anything, nor did she cry out in pain.
"What about your foot?"
She stretched out one of her legs from the quilt to show him. The splint on her ankle had just been removed yesterday. Zhu Qingjue's sect's secret 'Bone Breaking Ointment' was very effective. It should be known that her ankle was completely twisted, but he was able to put it back. It had only been half a month, and her bones had already grown back.
"Do you have a headache?"
Yu Shu shook her head, silently indicating that she did not feel any pain. Zhu Qingjue rolled his eyes and stretched out his hand to remove the white gauze on her forehead. As soon as he moved, she immediately reacted and pushed his hand away, not letting him touch.
Since she looked in the mirror ten days ago, she refused to let anyone see her forehead again. He tried to sneak up on her when she was asleep. As soon as he touched her head a little, she immediately woke up. He still remembered how terrifying her eyes were at that time. He knew that this was her weakness, so he patiently tried to reason with her,
"I just want to take a look to see how the wound is healing. What are you afraid of? I don't think you are ugly."
Yu Shu turned around, coldly glanced at him, and spat out two words, "No."
Zhu Qingjue gritted his teeth. He couldn't help but say, "It's just a disfigurement. What's there not to see? Are you going to cover your head for the rest of your life? "
Yu Shu was neither embarrassed nor angry. She just turned her head and ignored him. Zhu Qingjue was amused by her. He stood up and walked to the window and sat down. Blocking her view. Unexpectedly, she simply closed her eyes. He pretended to be asleep.
The house was quiet for a while. Only the chirping of cicadas could be heard in the trees outside, and the sunlight pierced through. Zhu Qingjue looked at her translucent and glowing profile and abruptly opened her mouth to tell her, "Last night, the Emperor passed away in Huazhen Garden."
The grievous news reached the capital overnight. Early that morning, the funeral bell was rung at the Meridian Gate. Outside the Imperial Palace, the streets were hung with white banners.
Yu Shu looked at him in a daze, "His Majesty passed away?" Zhu Qingjue nodded. Taking advantage of the fact that she was willing to speak, he said a few more words, "There are some things that my father doesn't allow others to tell you. He's afraid that it will affect your recovery, but I think you should know about it. Don't be too surprised when I tell you."
She gently nodded, indicating that she was listening.
"The Prince of Dongjing wanted to rebel. Someone saw the long-lost Xue Rui next to him. The court accused Prime Minister Xue of colluding with the rebels and secretly sending money to Ning Dong City. Prime Minister Xue was imprisoned in the Supreme Court and was personally tried by Grand Tutor Yin. Who would have thought that he would be implicated in the two murder cases of the Grand Historian's Library last year. Now, we're just waiting for the Crown Prince to return to the capital to make a decision."
After he finished speaking, he quietly observed her expression. He saw that her expression was cold, as if she was unmoved. He recalled that she and Xue Rui had once treated each other with sincerity and called each other brother and sister. Moreover, he heard that the reason she suffered so much hardship this time was also because of Xue Rui's younger sister.
"Hey, are you alright?"
Yu Shu lowered her eyes and softly said, "I'm fine." She paused and then said, "What can happen to me? I know that the person who harmed me will not have a good ending, so I can't be happier."
Zhu Qingjue couldn't see that she was happy at all. The atmosphere in the room was strange. He couldn't stay any longer, so he casually found an excuse to leave. Without a noisy voice in the room, no one would disturb Yu Shu's thoughts. She sat quietly for a while and then lifted the quilt. She slowly walked to the window and sat down. She turned her head and looked at her slightly hazy face in the bronze mirror. She raised her hand to touch the scarf on her forehead and gently pulled it down.
In the middle of her eyebrows, there was a flesh scar that was half an inch long. It was a deep red color and looked like a tightly closed eye. It was indescribably demonic. When she looked at this scar, she could clearly remember the torture she experienced in those two days and two nights. But strangely, she didn't feel fear at all. Instead, she felt her blood boil and there was some kind of desire that was about to come out of her body.
She quickly reached out and covered her reflection in the mirror. She slowly adjusted her breathing and regained her calmness. She was distracted by a thought: Emperor Zhao Qing had passed away. The Great Promotion Point would soon need her.
When Zhu Muzhao walked in from outside, he saw her sitting in front of the mirror in a daze. He stopped at the door and frowned. "Why did you get out of bed? Didn't I tell you to rest well?"
Yu Shu calmly picked up the scarf that had fallen to the ground and tied it back around her forehead. She turned around and said, "I've slept for more than ten days. I've slept enough. When do you plan on letting me go home?"
Zhu Muzhao walked in with his hands behind his back. He stood by the window and looked at the Celestial Commissioner. "The Emperor passed away last night." "I've already heard."
"When the Crown Prince returns to the capital tomorrow, I want you to testify against Xue Lingnan. Are you willing?" He turned around to look at her, waiting for her to make the right choice. Would she stand on the side of the Celestial Commissioner or against him?
Yu Shu gently fluttered her eyelashes and sarcastically raised the corner of her mouth. "What do you want me to testify against him? That he harmed Jing Chen, that he indiscriminately killed the innocent, or that he spied on the secrets of the Imperial Family? I can testify to all of these. "
He doesn't really need her to be a witness. He wants to take this opportunity to make a clean break with the past. He hands her the sharpened knife and asks her to stab the Xue Family for the last time and never waver from then on.
Half a month ago, she woke up from a nightmare. Her mind was unprecedentedly clear. The heavy fog that shrouded her eyes was pushed away. She suddenly seemed to be enlightened and saw everything clearly.
She knew that Da Tidian wanted to pass his position to her not just because she was the one who broke his life. More importantly, he saw that she and Yun Hua's two sons were bound together. It was difficult to get rid of the karma. He thought that she could find the Book of Mystery Maiden Liu Ren for him. What's more, one day, she would be willing to give birth to the Tai Bone of Destiny and ascend to the peak of power.
"Have you thought about it?" Zhu Muzhao stared at her calm eyes, but he did not see any hesitation.
"What is there to think about?" Yu Shu stood up with the support of the table and walked to his side. She looked at the Celestial Commissioner through the window lattice with him. It was like a maze of nine palaces. "On the other hand, the Crown Prince. Aren't you afraid that he will protect the Xue family and refuse to punish them? "
Zhu Muzhao smiled with satisfaction and said, "I have talked to the Crown Prince privately. The Celestial Commissioner will protect his throne. Throw away the abandoned Xue Lingnan. There is no pity. "
Yu Shu thought for a moment and guessed the whole story. "Did you deliberately stay in Huazhen Garden to discuss terms with the Crown Prince? Why would he agree?" The Crown Prince and the Xue family were tied in the same boat. If it wasn't for Xue Lingnan and Xiang Wang, he would not have become the Crown Prince.
"How do you think I convinced him?"
Yu Shu closed her eyes and said, "The Crown Prince is a very suspicious person and is also a fickle person. You only need to tell him that Xue Lingnan and the Prince of Xiang are secretly colluding. Even if he becomes the Emperor in the future, I'm afraid that it will be a wedding dress for someone else. Other than that, you must have told him the secret of the [Fairy Maiden Liu Ren Book]. "
Zhu Muzhao gave her a look of approval and said, "Xue Lingnan and Xiang Wang made a mistake. They both hid the existence of the [Fairy Maiden Liu Ren Book] from the Crown Prince. I told the Crown Prince that the Celestial Commissioner found the lost [Fairy Maiden Liu Ren Book] and lied to him that on the day of the ancestor worship, I led the next Grand Master to perform a divination and divined that he is the Son of Heaven. So even without the Xue family, he can still sit on the throne."
"He believed it?"
"Why not?" Even if it was a lie, as long as it was mutually beneficial, no one would try to expose it.
"Lotus Room." Zhu Muzhao called her by her Yi name. He turned around with his back to the window and said in a drawn-out tone, "I've already paved the road for you. What's next? Don't disappoint me."
With that, he patted her shoulder and strode away.
Yu Shu stood in front of the window and watched his figure walk down the nine turns bridge. Her eyes flashed and she muttered, "I hope that your heart is like mine. It is best that we do not betray each other."
***
Yu Shu was carried into the Supreme Court in a palanquin. In fact, she could already walk, but the Grand Supervisor wanted her to pretend to be seriously injured and deliberately put on a show for others. For this reason, Zhu Qingjue bandaged her from head to toe. On such a hot day, people would feel short of breath just by looking at her.
However, Yu Shu did not need to deliberately pretend to be weak. Her face was so pale that it was not like a normal person's. Anyone could see that she had encountered a great disaster.
The Xue family's case was not heard in public. Yesterday, the Crown Prince had escorted the emperor's body back to the capital. Before the national funeral, he had taken the time to come to the hearing. However, Xue Lingnan was his maternal grandfather. In order to avoid suspicion, he retreated to the side and did not interfere with Yin Tianhou and Guo Huaian's trial.
In fact, Yu Shu was only there to go through the motions. It was unknown when the Grand Supervisor had gathered evidence. It turned out that an old servant who did odd jobs in the Taishi Library was a vanguard of Xue Lingnan's army twenty years ago. Later, he was reported to the court to have died in battle. However, he was secretly sent to the Taishi Library to be an informant and killed two innocent female students, Zhan Xueyuan and Cao Youling.
Xue Lingnan probably knew that he had lost his power. In the face of witnesses and material evidence, he stood proudly in front of people and showed disdain. "Why would this old man want to kill two unrelated young girls? If you want to convict someone, you can always find a pretext."
Yin Tianhou sat behind the official table with a confession in his hand. He turned to look at Yu Shu sitting at the end of the table and said, "Celestial Commissioner Yu Shu, in your confession, you said that on the night of the 11th of May, you were arrested and taken to the Ministry of Justice's prison. Xue Lingnan privately set up a torture room and tortured you. Is this true?"
"Yes." Yu Shu asked someone to help her stand up. She pointed at Xue Lingnan and said, "He personally told me that he had ordered people to kill the students of the Taishi Library. As the Prime Minister, Xue Lingnan was dissatisfied that the Celestial Commissioner's power was greater than the six ministries. He wholeheartedly wanted to provoke a dispute between the Yixue family and the Celestial Commissioner, so he started from the Taishi Library. The murdered Cao Youling was the daughter of the Cao family of the twelve prefectures in the capital. Zhan Xueyuan was from the Jiangxi Yixue family of the Zhan family. Xue Lingnan wanted to shift the blame for their deaths to the Celestial Commissioner but had not found a suitable opportunity. "
The existence of the Book of Mystery Maiden Liu Ren could not be made public. He could only find another excuse. Just as Xue Lingnan said, if you want to convict someone, you can always find a pretext.
Xue Lingnan turned around and stared sharply at Yu Shu. However, he refrained from refuting. He knew that if he told the secret of the Book of Mystery Maiden Liu Ren in public, not only would Prince Xiang have nowhere to hide, but also his family would die without a complete corpse.
"As far as I know, the reason why you were put in the prison of the Ministry of Justice was because you destroyed someone's marriage. You let slaves hurt people on the street. Is this true?" Guo Huaian couldn't blatantly exonerate Xue Lingnan. He could only change the topic and force Yu Shu to expose herself.
"The Xue family and the Zhou family bribed my subordinate Cao Ren Jia of the Kunling Bureau. They stole the seal of the former Right Commander Jing Chen and forged the official marriage document. It was a private marriage. I received the news and went to catch the criminal. What's wrong with that? "Yu Shu asked.
Guo Huaian wasn't in a hurry to summon other witnesses. He held on to her and said, "You said in your testimony that Prime Minister Xue tortured you in prison. Wasn't it because you kidnapped the bride and hid her? You insisted on not telling where she was, so he tortured you?"
Yu Shu smiled coldly and said, "Xue Lingnan tortured me not to find out the whereabouts of his granddaughter. He didn't know how he found out that I have the evidence of the Xue family colluding with Prince of Dongjing. So he tortured me to force me to hand it over."
In just a few sentences, she had linked the case to the crime of the Xue family's rebellion. Her words were flawless. Xue Lingnan finally couldn't hold back and scolded her in a low voice, "Don't slander me! I have nothing to do with the rebel Jiang family. Your Highness … "
He turned to look at the Crown Prince and said with a sad expression, "My Xue family has evil intentions. Doesn't Your Highness know it?"
Without waiting for the Crown Prince to answer, Yu Shu said, "Now, you don't have to win the Crown Prince's sympathy. Whether you are loyal or not, the Crown Prince already knows."
Xue Lingnan stared at the Crown Prince, unwilling to give up. The Crown Prince let out a long sigh and turned his head to avoid his gaze. In a heavy and disappointed tone, he said, "I have already read the letter between you and the traitor Jiang Huaiying. I really did not expect that my maternal grandfather would be delusional enough to usurp the throne. I have nothing to say.
He said that he had nothing to say, but he had already made his attitude clear. Xue Lingnan's shoulders suddenly slumped. His face instantly aged ten years. His hands trembled as he clutched his chest and hung his head. Even now, he could not believe that the Crown Prince he had single-handedly raised would bite back at him before he ascended to the throne.
Seeing this scene, Yu Shu didn't feel the pleasure of revenge. Prime Minister Xue, who was once unattainable to her, was just an old man after losing his power. The reality made her realize one truth again. In this world, people without power were worse than dogs. (To be continued.)
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