Ming Dynasty: At the beginning, the house was ransacked and the ancestral temple was burned down.

Chapter 227: Rumors are spreading! Dog bites dog and gets a mouthful of fur!

Although this touching scene of 'loving mother and filial son' did not last long, it was enough for Zhu Yijun.

However, on the way back, Zhu Yijun felt more and more that something was wrong. He looked at Zheng Mengjing carefully and found something strange.

Although his beloved concubine was lively and clever, her brain was not very bright.

Although kneeling down and kowtowing to the prince to admit her mistake was the worst of the worst options, it was indeed a bad idea that the "stupid concubine" could think of and do.

But this stupid method only looks stupid on the surface. It is not that simple if you think about it carefully, especially when it comes to pleading for Concubine Wang Gong.

Could it be that... there is an expert behind the scenes giving advice?

"My beloved." Zhu Yijun patted Zheng Mengjing's shoulder, stared at her carefully, and asked:
"Today, you came to the East Palace specially?"

Zheng Mengjing had long noticed that Zhu Yijun had been staring at her, and she knew that this suspicious man would definitely suspect her. Fortunately, she was prepared!

"Alas..." Zheng Mengjing sighed for a long time and said helplessly:

“I originally wanted to go to the Taoist temple outside the city and ask the Three Pure Ones to bless my brother and me to get through this difficult time.

But only halfway through, I realized that praying to gods and Buddhas is not as good as relying on yourself.

I understand that this time, they are just afraid that Your Majesty wants to change the crown prince.

I am tired and I don't want to fight for it anymore. The position of Crown Prince... Fu'er is not destined to be this way after all."

Zheng Mengjing finished her words with a sigh. Zhu Yijun stared at her all the time. After she finished speaking, he only said three words:
"That's it."

There was obviously something wrong with such a perfunctory conversation.

Zheng Mengjing knew this man. If nothing unexpected happened, he would definitely ask someone to check her whereabouts today.

She was not afraid of being investigated, after all, she did not lie.

At the beginning, she was indeed heading for the Taoist temple, and she did turn back halfway.

As for what happened during this period, no one else knew except a few of her confidants.

Seeing that Zhu Yijun was still staring at her, Zheng Mengjing was also annoyed. She seemed to have just noticed it and said unhappily:
"Your Majesty, why are you looking at me like this? Don't you trust me?"

Zheng Mengjing's face was filled with disappointment. His eyes, which had just been wiped dry, became wet again in an instant.

Seeing that his beloved woman was about to cry again, Zhu Yijun could no longer stare at her.

However, Zheng Mengjing became unhappy and lost his temper:
"I have already humbled myself and kowtowed to the Crown Prince, but you are still doubting whether I have ulterior motives...

Your Majesty, if you really don't believe what I say, please go ahead and check. You are the emperor, there is nothing you can't find out!

At worst, you can just take all the people around me, including me, to the Imperial Prison for trial!"

The more someone has something to hide, the more righteous his words and actions will tend to be when he is questioned. This trick can not only paralyze the other person in a short period of time, but also make the other person fall into self-doubt and feel guilty.

Zhu Yijun fell into self-doubt, and looking at Zheng Mengjing's aggrieved look, he couldn't help but feel more guilty.

"My dear, I don't doubt you. I'm just asking a few more questions out of curiosity."

"Humph! I still don't doubt it! Your eyes are about to shoot me into a sieve!"

"Oh, okay, okay, I won't be angry anymore."

Zheng Mengjing knew very well that when facing the emperor, it is best to get down by the ladder.

She stopped being angry and said worriedly, "Your Majesty, I have already done this. Those ministers should let me and my brother go, right?"

"Well, it's not that simple."

"Ah? Still not enough?"

"They won't stop until they get rid of some people."

"What should I do then? Wouldn't my kowtow be in vain?"

"Don't worry, it won't be in vain. We'll just let them bite each other for a while and let them 'find' the culprit behind this attack and the evil book!"

……

at the same time.

Yu Mansion.

Yu Shenxing was obviously not expecting Zhang Chonghui's sudden visit.

Zhang Chonghui waited for a while before he saw Yu Shenxing hurried to the front hall to meet him.

"Mr. Yu is really a busy man." Zhang Chonghui joked intentionally or unintentionally:

"You are in such a hurry, did you just meet someone?"

Yu Shenxing's expression was unnatural for a moment, and he asked directly: "What do you want to see me for?"

"Of course there is something." Zhang Chonghui said, taking out a piece of paper from his sleeve, which was the latest demon book.

"What are you doing with this unclean thing?" Yu Shenxing quickly snatched the evil book, turned around and placed it on the candlelight beside him, letting it burn ashes.

"What's the point of burning this one? There are flying monsters everywhere outside now." Zhang Chonghui said, and took out another monster book from his sleeve and asked:

"You should be able to tell that this time the demon book is aimed at you, right?"

Yu Shenxing was silent for a moment before nodding and saying, "Well, they can't sit still anymore."

"How are you going to respond?" Zhang Chonghui asked.

Yu Shenxing did not answer, but asked instead: "You were the one who came up with this assassination, right?"

Zhang Chonghui shook his head and said, "Hey, don't slander me, I don't know anything."

"Just pretend." Yu Shenxing looked unconvinced, and then said, "What do you want to say to me? Just be direct. I have something else to do."

"Then I'll just ask directly." Zhang Chonghui said without hesitation:
“During this attack, I saved the prince’s life. As a meritorious person, I should have been rewarded, but the emperor did not reward me.

Therefore, as the second assistant of the cabinet, even if it is just to maintain the face of the crown prince of the East Palace, you should find a way to help me get a reward, right?"

Yu Shenxing was silent for a moment, then asked, "What reward do you want?"

Zhang Chonghui said shamelessly: "I want to be an official. This should not be a difficult thing for you, right?"

"You should know that the emperor will not agree." Yu Shenxing directly refused:
"Besides, this is a time of great trouble. You and I are both troubled by the matter of the demon book. You shouldn't come to see me at this time, and I won't help you with this."

"You rejected me?" Zhang Chonghui didn't seem surprised at all, and just sighed pretentiously:

"Oh, I'm really asking for trouble. Well, if you won't help me, then I'll just find someone else to help me."

"Who are you going to find?" Yu Shenxing suddenly became anxious.

"Who I look for is none of your business?" Zhang Chonghui deliberately said, "I can't just hang myself on your tree, right? If it doesn't work, I can still look for Guo Zhengyu."

Hearing the name Guo Zhengyu, Yu Shenxing's face suddenly turned bad, and he said truthfully:
"It's not that I don't want to help you, I just can't help you for the time being. Also, let me advise you, this time I will bring Guo Zhengyu down no matter what, don't go to him, you will be implicated."

"Are we going to fight to the death?" Zhang Chonghui asked. "Yes." Yu Shenxing nodded solemnly and said, "All the blame this time will be borne by either him or me."

"Okay." Zhang Chonghui said indifferently: "Then you guys can fight slowly. At worst, I can just switch to another one."

"Next one? Who?" Yu Shenxing was anxious again: "Fang Congzhe? He is a fence-sitter, don't go to him! Hey, where are you going?"

This time, Zhang Chonghui did not answer Yu Shenxing, but walked away with big strides.

Looking at Zhang Chonghui's stubborn back, Yu Shenxing sighed helplessly and murmured to himself:
"It's not that I don't want to help you, I'm just afraid of getting you into trouble..."

……

Time flies and two days have passed.

The news that Concubine Zheng knelt down and kowtowed to the Crown Prince and asked the Emperor to release Concubine Wang Gong soon spread throughout the court and the country.

At this point, all the officials who had some sense had to shift their focus away from Concubine Zheng and Uncle Zheng.

There was no other way. The Imperial Concubine had already knelt down and kowtowed to the Crown Prince. If she continued to stare at a woman like Imperial Concubine Zheng at this time, she would be bringing bad luck to the Crown Prince and making him appear disloyal and unfilial, and would not know what was good for him.

Concubine Zheng was briefly quiet, but the culprit behind the assassination and the evil book has not yet been caught, and the ministers must give an explanation to the Emperor.

The civil servants, who had been thinking of taking this opportunity to eliminate dissidents, would naturally not miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Thus, a fight began!

At first, many censors submitted memorials to impeach Zhang Chonghui's well-known backer, the cabinet's second-in-command Yu Shenxing, on the grounds that Zhang Chonghui was too daring in the evil book.

For a time, Yu Shenxing was caught in a storm. He had already offended people everywhere, and now he became the target of public criticism.

Until, a censor who came from nowhere said that Yu Shenxing was trying to change the crown prince and had the evil intention of supporting Prince Fu as the crown prince.

Such rumors can only be said to be self-defeating.

After all, Yu Shenxing, who was then the Minister of Rites, scolded Emperor Wanli so much in order to get him to quickly appoint his eldest son as the crown prince that the emperor was so angry that he ordered the suspension of the salaries of all the people in the Ministry of Rites.

With the self-defeating rumor, Yu Shenxing, who was the target of public criticism, and the Qi Party behind him finally began to counterattack!

The target of the counterattack was directly the prince's teacher, Guo Zhengyu!

……

East Palace.

Guo Zhengyu has been on high alert these days.

Even though he was listening to the Crown Prince reciting a lesson, his mind was wandering, thinking about things happening in the court.

He thought that dealing with Yu Shenxing would not be difficult, at least it would be much simpler than dealing with Shen Yikuan back then.

After all, Yu Shenxing seems to be a maverick and has a poor relationship with others, unlike Shen Yikuan who forms cliques everywhere.

But what Guo Zhengyu never expected was that Yu Shenxing was so insidious. Although he seemed low-key on the surface, he actually had quite a few cronies behind the scenes!
Moreover, the impeachments made by Yu Shenxing and others against him all hit the nail on the head, even clearly showing from whom he had accepted bribes!

It is obvious that Yu Shenxing had already made preparations!
At this point, the development of the situation has exceeded Guo Zhengyu's original expectations, and is gradually moving in a direction that he cannot control.

Guo Zhengyu knew very well that if he continued like this, even if he was not the planner of the evil book, he would be forced out of the court because of these impeachments!

Guo Zhengyu didn't want to leave. He had climbed up to his current position step by step, step by step, on the road paved for him by the corpses of so many accomplices. It was already difficult!
He was unwilling to leave like this!

Guo Zhengyu was even more unwilling to let others climb up by stepping on his corpse, especially that villain Ye Xianggao!
"Mr. Guo, Mr. Guo?"

The little prince's voice brought Guo Zhengyu back to his senses.

"Ah, has Your Highness the Crown Prince finished reciting it?" Guo Zhengyu asked seriously.

"Well, I've finished reciting it." Zhu Changluo nodded. Looking at Guo Zhengyu's absent-minded look, combined with the recent events, he asked a question seemingly casually:
"Mr. Guo, right now people are saying that you were the one who planned this demon book. It must be fake, right?"

Zhu Changluo's question hit Guo Zhengyu's heart like a hammer. Looking at this student for whom he had put so much effort, he felt sadness for the first time.

"Your Highness, even you don't believe me anymore?"

Perhaps hurt by the teacher's sad eyes, Zhu Changluo quickly turned his eyes away and said:

"Mr. Guo, I believe you, but there have been too many rumors about you recently. Even if I stay in the East Palace, I can hear a lot of them.

In this case, my father will definitely hear more rumors. I am also worried about you, Mr. Guo, so I asked one more question. "

Guo Zhengyu felt better when he heard that the little prince was concerned about him.

As for whether Zhu Changluo really cares about his Mr. Guo, perhaps only he himself knows.

In particular, he had already learned from Zhang Chonghui that Guo Zhengyu was the mastermind behind this evil book.

Zhu Changluo didn’t know whether what Zhang Chonghui said was true or false. He didn’t completely believe Zhang Chonghui, but he didn’t completely believe his Mr. Guo either.

After all, Zhang Chonghui really helped him rescue his biological mother, Concubine Gong, but in order to climb up, Guo Zhengyu did not hesitate to drag him, the prince's student, into the water.

……

Time flies and a few more days have passed.

When dogs bite each other, they both end up with a mouth full of fur. As the dog bit each other, it actually bit back to Concubine Zheng.

I don't know where the rumor came from, but someone actually spread the rumor that the mastermind behind this assassination was Concubine Zheng, and her purpose was to stage and act as a loving mother so that the prince would be grateful to her.

At this point, His Majesty the Emperor, who had been watching the show, could no longer sit still.

Qianqing Palace.

When Zhu Yijun heard this rumor, he also saw a memorial.

It was the memorial submitted by Zhang Yunxiu.

"Zhang Wulang actually pleaded for Guo Zhengyu's release?"

Zhu Yijun just found it unbelievable. After all, Guo Zhengyu, as the biggest suspect of this evil book, directly wrote Zhang Chonghui's name on the evil book.

Zhu Yijun even heard that Zhang Chonghui was now implicated by the evil book and dared not even leave the house.

Under such circumstances, Zhang Yunxiu actually took the initiative to plead for Guo Zhengyu?
"Your Majesty, I remember that Zhang Yunxiu and Guo Zhengyu are both from Huguang." Chen Ju at the side said:

"Also, I remember that there is another fellow countryman of Guo Zhengyu named Xiong Tingbi in the Hanlin Academy. He has also submitted several memorials in succession to plead for Guo Zhengyu."

"Fellow countryman? Ha..." Zhu Yijun laughed:
"Fellow townspeople are just a cover. These people are only there for profit. When it comes to fighting for profit, the first person to stab you in the back is often the so-called fellow townsman."

"Your Majesty is right." Chen Ju was unable to refute. He lowered his head and said worriedly, "Now the trouble has been dragged onto the Imperial Concubine. If it continues like this, I'm afraid..."

Zhu Yijun knew what Chen Ju wanted to say. Thinking back on all the things that had happened recently, he knew that it was time.

"It's time to end this mess after so long."

"Pass the order down. I want to go to court."

(End of this chapter)