The next day, the news of Fan Zhefu's death was reported to the palace, and Zhu Shiyang was sitting on the couch playing chess with Zhu Shiji.

Lu Wenyuan didn't dare to get up lightly, so he had to defend himself head-on: "Your Majesty, the minister did not poison Fan Zhefu's wine and food, please let the emperor know." ”

Zhu Shiyang didn't look at him, he only played with a chess piece in his hand, and after a while, he slowly put it on the chessboard: "That's it, if you're dead, you're dead." That Fan Zhefu caused chaos in the dynasty and bent the law for bribes, he deserved to die, and now he deserves it. He also instructed Zhao Yongning, the waiter of the Criminal Department, and said: "There is no need to file a case against the Criminal Department, when it is close in recent years, I don't want to make a big deal about it, so I will choose a day for the Ministry of Rites to quietly bury it." ”

Zhao Yongning agreed and withdrew. Lu Wenyuan still wanted to argue, but he knew that this was the emperor helping him to suppress the matter. Although he was grateful, he was also really worried, but if this matter was to be concluded in such a hasty manner, I am afraid that there would never be a day when the truth would be revealed, so how could he prove his innocence, could he have been burdened with the suspicion of killing Fan Zhefu all this time?

Lu Wenyuan was in a dilemma, and he didn't want to get a result, but he heard Zhu Shiyang say on the side: "A few days ago, Shangshu Jian of the Ministry of Rites went out of the palace to worship the sky, what do you think?"

Lu Wenyuan had no choice but to temporarily put away his thoughts and said: "The construction of the Ministry of Rites is reasonable. The country has just experienced a natural disaster, and the people's hearts are unstable, and the emperor personally goes out of the palace to worship the sky, which can appease the people's hearts and benefit the community. ”

Zhu Shiyang nodded and said, "Then since this is the case, you can arrange it with the Ministry of Rites." ”

Lu Wenyuan had no choice but to agree to retire.

Out of the main hall, I saw Zhao Yongning waiting under the rain eaves outside the hall. Lu Wenyuan hurriedly took two steps and walked forward with him. Zhao Yongning complained in a low voice: "My lord is really, when you go to visit the prison in the Criminal Department, you don't tell me to follow, so you can take care of it." Now that something has happened, I really can't tell if I have a mouth. ”

Lu Wenyuan sighed: "I also went here on a temporary basis, who wants to ......?"

The two went to the cabinet as they spoke, and the other people in the cabinet also got the news, and they were waiting anxiously at the moment, so Zhao Yongning told the ins and outs of the matter again. Several people guessed for a while, and Yan Yong said: "Lu Wenyuan, if this thing is really done by you, then you are still a little promising; if you didn't do it, forgive me for saying something that I don't like, I'm afraid that you are not suitable to be an official in the court." ”

Lu Wenyuan said with a slight discoloration: "Why did Lord Yan say this?"

Yan Yong sneered: "In ancient times, officialdom was like a battlefield, and there was no room for a wrong step in Longtan Tiger's Den everywhere. If you are soft on others, others will not be soft on you. Now this Fan Zhefu is an example, you look at him kindly, but he did not forget to frame you until he died, fortunately, the emperor has the intention to suppress this matter, otherwise once it is handed over to the Criminal Department to file a case, even if nothing can be found, just the public opinion of the officials in the DPRK and the Central Committee can pull you down from the position of the first assistant of the cabinet. After a pause, he frowned and said, "This kind of lesson is enough once, so you should remember some of it." ”

Lu Wenyuan said in fear: "Master Xie Yan's teachings, the students remember them." ”

Press this side not to mention, and say that Zhu Shiyang sent off the ministers and continued the unfinished endgame with Zhu Shiji. The two of them held a black son and a white child, and each fought silently. Zhu Shiyang's mind is not on this, and there is no rule in the fall. After a long delay, I heard Zhu Shiji chuckle on the other side and said, "Brother Huang lost." ”

Zhu Shiyang looked at it, and the blacks on the chessboard were indeed densely surrounded by whites. Zhu Shiyang smiled bitterly, simply pushed away the chessboard, changed a comfortable posture and leaned on the pillow behind him.

Zhu Shiji glanced at him with a smile, moved the chessboard to him, and slowly packed up the chess pieces. His hands and feet were extremely light, and the hall was silent for a while, except for the occasional crisp crackling sound of the fire underground. White smoke slowly rose from the incense burner on the desk.

After a while, Zhu Shiyang finally couldn't bear the loneliness, and coughed lightly, but his mouth was completely irrelevant: "Fan Zhefu was my attendant when I was in the East Palace, now that I think about it, I have called him a master for a few years......"

Zhu Shiji knew that he was thinking of the old relationship between master and apprentice, so he said euphemistically: "If the imperial brother is sad, he might as well check with the Criminal Department, so that he can give Fan Zhefu justice." ”

Zhu Shiyang listened but was silent, only frowned a pair of thick eyebrows tighter, lowered his head and muttered. Seeing this, Zhu Shiji cautiously guessed: "The emperor is afraid that he will find out that it was really Lord Lu who did it, and it will be difficult to explain it at that time?"

Zhu Shiyang came back to his senses and glanced at Zhu Shiji lightly. Zhu Shiji knew that he had guessed correctly, so he said tentatively: "Isn't that the imperial brother unable to believe Lord Lu?"

Zhu Shiyang sighed at this time: "I also know that I shouldn't suspect him, but now that all the evidence points to him, Fan Zhefu called his name before he died, I can't help but think about it too much." ”

Zhu Shiji asked rhetorically: "But why didn't the imperial brother think that Lord Lu was more likely to be framed." Lord Lu is now young and promising, one

Rising to the top and making him famous, he will inevitably arouse the envy of many people, and it is reasonable for these people to harm him. ”

Zhu Shiyang hesitated: "This ......"

Zhu Shiji said: "So what the imperial brother should do now is not how to be suspicious and suspicious of him, but to rely on him, support him, and let those who have hidden dark ghosts die as soon as possible." Didn't the imperial brother hear that there is a saying that suspicious people don't need to be used, and people are not suspicious? The imperial brother should really trust him. ”

Zhu Shiyang's heart shook slightly, and he only said that his younger brother still had a shallow personal relationship with him, and he knew that he was a person, but he still doubted him, which was really undeserved. hurriedly extinguished this thought, and only trusted Lu Wenyuan more and did not mention it.

Fan Zhefu's death was quickly quelled by the emperor's attitude. Of course, Lu Wenyuan was not at ease, and he pursued it openly and secretly for a while, but there were no clues, so he had to give up for the time being. Zhao Yongning promoted several informed jailers to their hometowns according to the emperor's wishes, and Fan Zhefu's body was quickly sent back to his hometown for burial under the arrangement of the Ministry of Rites.

The officials of the court began to prepare for leaving the palace to worship the heavens, and there was a scene of joy and prosperity up and down. No one wants to mention the once powerful and powerful Cabinet Scholar anymore. It was as if he had never existed, completely disappearing from people's eyes and mouths. Only Lu Wenyuan occasionally thought that the affairs of the previous dynasty were really like a tide overshadowing a wave of the ocean, and the old had not completely subsided, and was pressed by the new. And he and Fan Zhefu are just the people who make the tide with the ups and downs between the waves, and none of them can stand on the crest of the waves forever. Thinking like this, I secretly felt a little desolate and pitiful for others.

The auspicious day chosen by the Qin Tianjian coincided with Chinese New Year's Eve. Zhu Shiyang got up at the fourth watch, and in the dormitory, Gui Xi and several palace people served him in the crown and auspicious clothes that sacrificed to the sky. Zhu Shiji got up earlier, cleaned up by himself, and followed the helper on the side.

The accessories of the crown clothes are extremely complicated and cumbersome, and the weather is freezing outside, Gui Xi and others are afraid that the emperor will be frozen, so they add layer after layer of inner and outer clothes, and it is extremely difficult to wear them, and they have not been worn for a long time. Zhu Shiyang was originally a quick temper, how could he stand such a toss, at the moment his arms were sore, full of impatience, he only said that he wanted to rest for a while, and then drove Gui Xi and the others out, leaving Zhu Shiji alone to sit on the couch with him to talk.

Zhu Shiji wore a princely dress embroidered with an ochre embroidered dragon today, which matched the emperor's dark gown, and under the bright candlelight in the hall, he looked more and more like jade, plump and handsome. Zhu Shiyang saw it pleasing to the eye, and then he felt a little soothed, and praised it: "King Kangping has been getting better and better since the last time, and I didn't think it was patronizing and having fun a few days ago, but now I look at it, it's really good." ”

Zhu Shiji was overjoyed when he heard the imperial brother praise himself like this. The two gossiped a few words, and gradually forgot the time, and said more and more happily, Gui Xi waited anxiously outside the door, seeing that the sky was full of stars moving westward, and it was almost time to start driving, but the emperor's clothes were not yet dressed. After a while, I saw a figure hurriedly coming from a distance, and when I got closer, it turned out to be Lord Lu Wenyuan. Gui Xi was like an amnesty, and hurriedly reported loudly: "Your Majesty, Lord Wang, Lord Lu is here to see." ”