Zhou Jingrong and Fu Yunshen were summoned to the palace together for an audience.

When I came to the palace, I saw that the emperor was really losing his temper, and he was sitting on the dragon chair with a terrible face, looking gloomy about to be rained.

Ling Xie stood at the bottom of the emperor, his calm expression made it impossible to guess what he was thinking.

In addition, several officials of the Honglu Temple were kneeling in the hall with their heads bowed, trembling and not daring to say anything, and a few crumpled paper balls were scattered around them.

Zhou Jingrong and Fu Yunshen saluted, and the emperor shouted, but he still said angrily: "Look at it for yourself, and see what is drawn in this comic!" ”

Zhou Jingrong was a little strange, and picked up a paper ball casually and unfolded it, but saw that it was a cartoon that was thrown away by the emperor in anger.

The cartoon depicts the wedding customs of the Xia Dynasty, and the process from engagement to marriage is extremely complicated. With the orders of their parents and the words of matchmakers, newlyweds may not even have met before marriage.

In contrast to the marriage customs of the Klee people, the Klee people are nomadic people, with the sky as the quilt, the earth as the seat, the tribe is bold and informal, men and women can marry on their own, and the wedding is simple.

There is nothing wrong with this, but the cartoon portrays the attitude of the Klee people towards marriage too casually.

Men and women live together once they like each other, and there is no officially recorded marriage certificate, only each other's names are engraved on the arms as a promise.

If the two choose to separate for various reasons, the name on the arm will be crossed out, and the place where the name was once engraved will become a scar.

This part is exaggerated in the comics, a Xia Dynasty man and a Keli man compete with each other to see who has more wives, the Xia Dynasty man takes out a stack of marriage books, but the Keli man stretches out an arm full of scars.

Although there are exaggerated and funny elements in this, if it really spreads to the Klee people, the irony and disrespect implied in it will inevitably arouse the disgust and hatred of the other party.

And the point is, the Kli people simply do not have such a custom.

Although the Klee tribe did not pay as much attention to red tape as the Xia Dynasty, when the clan got married, they would also make vows to the gods they believed in under the witness of the most respected elders of the clan.

Their belief in God was even more binding on the people than the laws of the Xia Dynasty, and once they swore to God, they would never break their oath.

The act of carving names on the arms is limited to a few individuals and is not a common custom. It's just that after someone else saw this kind of behavior, they spread it, and the three of them became tigers, which gradually caused people to misunderstand.

However, the above reasons are secondary, and it is not worth the emperor's anger.

What's more, there is a princess of the Klee tribe in the harem, who is quite popular with the emperor because she is good at riding and archery.

The princess had a very visible scar on her arm, which was the mark of her fight with beasts while hunting in the grasslands, and she was proud of it, and she never hid it and refused to remove it.

Coincidentally, the scar in the comic is exactly the same as the scar on the princess's arm, even the size and shape are exactly the same, as if it is alluding to something.

Did you want to show that the imperial concubine had married a woman, and she couldn't force the emperor to buckle a green hat? No wonder the emperor was so angry.

Zhou Jingrong was about to open his mouth to explain, when he suddenly heard a report from the eunuch: "Your Majesty, Cheng Fei, the official of Honglu Temple, asks to see you." ”

The emperor was angry, and when he heard that it was someone from Honglu Temple, he immediately said angrily: "Let him get in!" ”

Ling Xie's imperceptible eyes flickered slightly, but he didn't say anything.

Cheng Fei walked inside, and when she passed by Zhou Jingrong, she saw the comics she was holding in her hand and the drawing paper all over the ground, her heart sank, and she immediately knelt down and apologized: "Your Majesty, the responsibility for the mistake in the comics is not on Mrs. Fu, it was Weichen who mistakenly took the unverified books to Mrs. Fu as reference materials, which caused the errors and omissions in the content of the comics." Weichen is willing to bear all the responsibility for the crime, and I hope that His Majesty will be aware and not blame Mrs. Fu who was involved for no reason. ”

Zhou Jingrong looked at Cheng Fei and couldn't help but be a little surprised.

The calligraphy and paintings in Cheng Fei's mouth have been burned, and there is no evidence. Even if Zhou Jingrong uses this as an excuse, there is no evidence, and this matter cannot be relied on by Cheng Fei.

He could have stayed out of it, but he didn't know why he had to admit it and bear the blame.

Zhou Jingrong really couldn't understand, if it was really Cheng Fei who framed her, why did she stand up for her now?

She was a little confused.

Fu Yunshen saw through the little Jiujiu in Cheng Fei's heart at a glance, and he was not trying his best to clear up the relationship and make them believe him. The most important thing is to make Zhou Jingrong believe in him.

Fu Yunshen didn't appreciate it, and said sharply and bluntly: "Why is Lord Cheng so eager to convict my wife? ”

Cheng Fei was slightly stunned, and only said: "Master Fu misunderstood, I didn't want to convict Mrs. Zun, I just wanted to take my own responsibility." ”

Fu Yunshen seemed to laugh: "Master Cheng is really responsible. ”

Fu Yunshen then turned to the emperor and said: "Your Majesty, Cheng Yan just said that he mistakenly took the untested books to Neizi as reference materials, although I don't know if he really made a mistake, or did it intentionally, but Weichen and Neizi really don't know about this matter. As a gift from the envoy, the matter was so big that Weichen did not dare to ignore it, so he consulted a large number of classics with Neiko, and the paintings and calligraphy sent by Honglu Temple were not all read. ”

Fu Yunshen paused, and said: "This cartoon is not from the hand of Neiko at all!" The cartoons were replaced, and this is the second, one of which is the problematic calligraphy and painting sent by Cheng Guanguan before. The successive coincidences are all unfavorable to Neiko, and even affect the diplomatic relations between Great Xia and other countries! The connection implied in this really can't help but make people think about it, and I hope Your Majesty will see it! ”

Ling Xie, who had never been silent, opened his mouth leisurely at this time and raised a reasonable question: "You said that this painting was not painted by Mrs. Zun, but is there any evidence?" ”

Zhou Jingrong replied: "I don't know if Ling Shoufu still remembers that when I was taking the exam before, someone imitated my paintings and leaked the exam questions. Therefore, there is no shortage of people with superb painting skills in this world, and it is not difficult to confuse the real with the fake. Your Majesty, do you think what the courtiers are saying? ”

Zhou Jingrong didn't give Ling Xie a chance to question again, but the last sentence was thrown to the emperor.

Ling Xie glanced away disdainfully, not thinking that the emperor would pay attention to Zhou Jingrong.

Unexpectedly, the emperor nodded thoughtfully, and then became angry again, and angrily scolded the officials who had been silent in Honglu Temple: "The painting that Madame Fu showed me before is not this one, how can it be sent to your Honglu Temple and then sent back to me to change its appearance?" Could it be that your Honglu Temple is a trick? Or do some people harbor evil intentions and want to provoke disputes between the two countries? ”

As soon as the emperor said this, everyone was shocked.

It turned out that the emperor was not angry with Zhou Jingrong because of a mistake in the comics, but he already knew that the comics were stolen and replaced, and it was the dereliction of duty of the Honglu Temple and the anger of the person who secretly changed the comics!

Several officials of Honglu Temple were inexplicably charged with treason, and they wanted to prove their innocence by death, and they kowtowed again and again to beg for mercy.

Cheng Fei never thought that Zhou Jingrong would let the emperor look at the comics in advance, and he was shocked and forgot to confess with them, and looked up at Zhou Jingrong.

Zhou Jingrong looked at his nose and nose, and never gave him half a look.

Even Ling Xie couldn't hide the shock in his heart, and his complexion changed greatly.

Sure enough, without Concubine Ling in the harem, Ling Xie is equivalent to missing an eye, and he can't control many things.

Otherwise, Zhou Jingrong followed Mrs. Fu into the palace to meet the Queen Mother several times, showed the comics to the emperor by the way, and discussed the direction of comic creation with the emperor, how could he hide it from him, so that he would suffer a dumb loss at such a time.

The emperor scolded everyone fiercely, felt a little more comfortable, calmed down again, and said majestically: "The comics are related to the diplomatic relations of the country, and it is not a trivial matter to be replaced, who is the one with bad intentions, and it must be found out by me!" Fu Aiqing, you are the Shaoqing of Dali Temple, and this matter will be handed over to you Dali Temple for review. ”

Fu Yunshen said: "Weichen leads the order!" ”

The emperor said to several ministers of Honglu Temple: "Your accounts, after the mission leaves Beijing, I will settle accounts with you!" Now, get the job done. If there are more branches, all of them will be raised! ”

Several ministers hurriedly responded, swearing to heaven and earth that they would never live up to the emperor's grace, and they would never let the younger people take advantage of it again.

Everyone was scolded, and they were kicked out by the emperor, and they all hung their heads and walked out of the palace together.

Cheng Fei wanted to come forward to talk to Zhou Jingrong several times, but was preempted by several officials of Honglu Temple.

They apologized to Zhou Jingrong one after another, and assured Fu Yunshen that all the staff of Honglu Temple would definitely cooperate with Dali Temple in the investigation.

In addition, Fu Yunshen was on guard, and Zhou Jingrong didn't want to say anything, so Cheng Fei never had a chance to speak.

Ling Xie walked far ahead, but he seemed very calm.

It wasn't until he reached the gate of the palace that Ling Xie walked to the carriage, and Fang Yin looked back at Fu Yunshen with compassion.

Fu Yunshen also looked back faintly, the indifference in his eyes was cold and piercing, which made Zhou Jingrong feel very strange.

On the way back, Zhou Jingrong sighed: "Thanks to your alertness, let me present the painting to the emperor in advance, and with the emperor as my witness, no matter how they frame, I can't make waves." ”

Fu Yunshen replied lightly.

Zhou Jingrong asked again: "Ling Xie is biting us so hard, will there be a trick?" ”

Fu Yunshen hugged her and comforted her softly: "Don't worry, this matter has already reached the emperor, and he won't dare to do anything more." ”

Fu Yunshen spoke, but he looked a little absent-minded.

Zhou Jingrong saw him like this, so he obediently shut up and didn't bother him anymore.

Fu Yunshen lost his mind slightly and fell into deep thought.

If it was said before, Fu Yunshen might still feel that Ling Xie was in a high position, commanding hundreds of officials, and he was a big tree that was difficult to shake.

But now, Ling Xie's wings are being cut off by him little by little.

Ling Xie is like a tiger with its teeth extracted, but he is a newborn calf, so there is nothing to fear.