Lord Yi's actions were tantamount to admitting Shen Yu's words. His expression changed again and again as he slowly retracted his hand.
He had seen the seal on the paper very clearly. It was used to contact the people in the capital. The detailed arrangements to incite the people to slander Shen Yu were all sent to the people in the capital through this seal.
Now that Shen Yu was holding one of them, did he have the other one as well? This was not the only thing he had written in the letter to the capital. There were many other things that could not be known by outsiders.
Lord Yi's face turned ashen when he thought of the consequences if His Majesty found out.
"Do you admit to your crimes?"
Lord Yi, who had been immersed in his thoughts, was startled awake by the cold voice. He looked forward in panic. After a moment, he kowtowed heavily. "I admit to my crimes."
As expected, Shen Yu put away the letter in his hand and walked slowly back to Shang Junlin's side. He sat down. "Why are you targeting me? As far as I know, the Yi family has no plans to send their children into the palace. "
After the incident with the Tan girl, Shang Junlin had sent people to investigate which worlds had taken action. The Yi family was not among them. It could be said that the Yi family had never had such thoughts.
Lord Yi was silent.
Shen Yu cracked his fingers. "Let me guess. It's because of Yi Jianming?"
Since there was no conflict of interest in the harem, he must have done something unfavorable to the Yi family elsewhere. Shen Yu searched his memories. This was the only thing that matched.
"Yi Jianming was stripped of his imperial results and will never be able to become an official. Your family spent a lot of effort to nurture him. Unfortunately, before he could do anything for the family, he was abandoned. You were unhappy and targeted me. Do you think that if I had not appeared at the Qionglin Banquet, His Majesty would not have punished Yi Jianming?"
Shen Yu's every word pierced through Lord Yi's heart. He had never failed like this in his entire life. Yi Jianming was the child he valued the most. He liked him the most among the younger generation of the Yi family. Yi Jianming's intelligence was not inferior to others. He had high hopes for his successor, but because of a small matter, he was ruined!
How could he take this lying down!
After that incident, although Yi Jianming did not suffer any physical injuries, the child's mental state had undergone a huge change. He was muddle-headed all day long and did not look like a young master of an aristocratic family at all.
As for the people who went to the Qionglin Banquet with Yi Jianming, of course, he did not let them go. They were just some small family clans that relied on the Yi family. It would be easy to deal with them.
"Since Your Majesty and Your Highness already know everything, I have nothing more to say." Lord Yi slumped to the ground.
Shen Yu was not surprised that they would make a move against Jiang Huaiqing, who seemed to have no foundation at all. The Imperial Court was like this. It was always accompanied by mutual deception, open strife and covert struggle. Political opponents fought to the death. The Imperial Court seemed to be stable now, but it was the result of Shang Junlin's efforts to balance the situation.
"I want to know, how did Your Highness get the letter?" The thing that made Lord Yi unable to quibble was the rolled-up letter that Shen Yu took out. He would only choose his most trusted subordinates to send letters. Once they found out, they would destroy the letter at all costs. No one else knew how the letter was sent. How did the letter end up in Shen Yu's hands?
Lord Yi was puzzled.
"You're asking about this?" Shen Yu's eyes swept downwards. "What do you think?"
Lord Yi was taken away by the guards waiting outside. Before he left, he did not get a reply from Shen Yu.
Of course, Shen Yu wouldn't tell him that he was the one who used the letter to scare him.
"A Yu's imitation skills are really good." Shang Junlin's hand reached into Shen Yu's sleeve and took out the letter that made Lord Yi's expression change greatly.
His fingertips slid across her soft skin, causing her to tremble.
Shang Junlin hugged Shen Yu from behind. Then, he wrapped his arms around her waist and stretched them forward to unfold the letter.
If Lord Yi was here and saw the letter being unfolded, he would definitely scold them for being shameless.
— — Besides the pattern that Shen Yu drew at the end of the letter, there was nothing else on the letter.
In the beginning, they did not have any clue about the mastermind behind this incident. Later, Shang Junlin listened to Shen Yu's suggestion and asked the Hidden Dragon Guards to secretly search for the mastermind behind this incident. They really caught the person who delivered the message.
However, when the person realized that he had been discovered, he immediately destroyed the letter. The Hidden Dragon Guards brought back the news and the destroyed letter. Shen Yu pieced together the pattern and created a similar letter. However, a fake letter was still a fake. If Lord Yi was not distracted by Shen Yu's words, he might have realized that something was wrong.
Unfortunately, there was no 'if'.
"The rumors in the capital have been controlled. Now that the mastermind has been found, it's time to deal with the situation in the palace." If Shen Yu did not want to lure the mastermind out, Shang Junlin would not have allowed the rumors to circulate in the palace for so many days.
"How does Your Majesty plan to deal with this?" Shen Yu's wrist was held. The man's calloused fingertips caressed the inside of his wrist, causing him to feel numb.
If it was in the past, Shang Junlin would definitely kill the person who spread the rumors. However, he knew that Shen Yu did not like this. After a moment of silence, he asked, "How does A Yu plan to deal with them?"
Shen Yu turned and looked at Shang Junlin, "Your Majesty can do whatever you want with the leaders. As for the rest of them, they will be fined one year's salary as a warning to others."
The rumors disappeared as quickly as they appeared. In less than half a day, no one in the palace dared to talk about it anymore. As for the capital, Shang Junlin had already ordered people to suppress the rumors.
The people in the capital were not as gullible as Lord Yi thought. After what Lord Yi had done spread to the capital, everyone was enlightened.
"I said before that Lord Yi would not do such a thing. Look, the results are out now. Lord Yi was indeed framed."
"This Lord Yi … could it be that he is related to Yi Jian Ming, who was jealous of a poor student and wanted to get his results revoked?"
"They both have the surname Yi. What do you think?"
"No wonder he wanted to slander Lord Yi. If it was not for Lord Yi, that poor student would have been bullied by others."
His words were met with agreement. There were many aristocratic families in the capital, but there were even more ordinary people. These aristocratic families were used to being superior and thought that they were superior. The ordinary people did not have a good impression of them. Compared with the aristocratic families, they were more likely to bring in poor students.
"Not only this, have you forgotten that fraud was discovered in time before the imperial examination? It was Lord Yi who discovered it first. Lord Yi is so considerate. How could he kill a woman because of jealousy?"
"When those words were first spread, I felt that something was wrong. Before Lord Yi entered the palace, His Majesty's harem did not have many women. After Lord Yi entered the palace, His Majesty said that he only wanted Lord Yi in this life. How could he like another woman in the blink of an eye and take her into his harem?"
"If His Majesty really wanted to, his harem would have been full. A few years ago, the ministers did mention this matter. Don't you think it is suspicious?"
"So there is no such thing as His Majesty taking in new people. Since there is no such thing, Lord Yi's jealousy and arson cannot be established."
"I have a cousin who works in an aristocratic family. Did you know that a few days ago, the aristocratic family was reprimanded by His Majesty? The reason was that a woman from an aristocratic family deliberately got close to His Majesty and was punished. The person who punished her was not Lord Yi, but His Majesty himself …"
At this point, everything that should be understood was clear. The cause and effect relationship was wrong from the beginning. Since this was the case, no matter how dignified the reason behind it was, it would not hold water.
Restaurants and teahouses were all talking about this matter. Under the deliberate influence of some people, the wind quickly reversed.
"The truth is finally out. I knew that Brother Yu was not that kind of person." Jiang Huaiqing heard the discussion downstairs and poured a cup of wine for himself.
He Chengyu picked up the wine cup and took a sip. "The relationship between His Majesty and Lord Yi is stronger than gold. It is not something that can be casually interfered with."
"That's right. I don't know what these aristocratic families are thinking. His Majesty has already made it clear that he will not fill up the harem, but they still don't stop."
"Since ancient times, wealth and power have moved people's hearts. What they want is the power behind His Majesty. The aristocratic families' appetite is getting bigger and bigger."
Jiang Huaiqing knew this as well. Only after stepping into the Imperial Court did he realize that the interior of the Great Huan Dynasty was vastly different from what he had imagined. The seemingly stable exterior was only supported by a strong pillar. Once this pillar collapsed, it was only a matter of time before the Great Huan Dynasty collapsed.
He also understood why His Majesty would put poor officials in important positions. It was not because he liked them, but because the court had been controlled by the aristocratic families for a long time. If there was no power to oppose them, the imperial power would become a joke sooner or later.
Official Yi was sent back early, and the crimes he committed were also announced to the world. The Yi family's power in the capital was quickly divided up by other aristocratic families.
"The competition between aristocratic families is even worse than that between aristocratic families and poor families. If you think that they will be united, then you are gravely mistaken." Shen Yu put down a white piece.
Under the shade of a tree, Shang Junlin and Shen Yu sat opposite each other. Between them was a red sandalwood chessboard. Shang Junlin had specially ordered the palace servants to find it in the storeroom.
Shang Junlin held a black piece and put it down. "In fact, the aristocratic families and the imperial family are not much different. In the previous dynasty, during the war, there was a saying that 'the aristocratic families are made of iron and the imperial family is flowing water'."
Before Da Huan was founded, this land had experienced a hundred years of war. It was not until Da Huan was founded that the situation improved.
"Your Majesty, I am going to win."
On the chessboard, as the last white piece was put down, the situation instantly reversed. The white pieces, which were originally at a disadvantage, quickly surrounded the black pieces and cut off all their escape routes.
Shang Junlin threw back the piece in his hand and said crisply, "I admit defeat."
"Your Majesty, you have lost today. You have to keep your word."
"Of course, I will not disturb you tonight."
Shen Yu breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing that his body did not have any abnormalities after that time, Shang Junlin wanted to disturb him every time. He called it "getting used to it."
Shen Yu felt that he did not want to get used to this kind of thing.
"Your Majesty," Eunuch Meng walked over quickly with a rare look of panic on his face. "Xun Zhao, Official Xun wants to see you."
"Let him come in to see me."
Eunuch Meng took the order and left. Not long after, a slightly embarrassed man in his thirties came in. "Your Majesty, the north is suffering from a drought. Your Majesty, please send relief as soon as possible!"
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