Chapter 54: Framing and Falsehood
"Take a seat, serve." The crowd sat down to the shouts of the eunuchs.
"Every year's palace banquet is equivalent to a family banquet, so please ministers and Miss Gongzi, don't be restrained, just do as usual." Zhou Shengcuo said with a smile.
"Yes." And they all agreed.
Then, Zhou Sheng Cuobai talked to the Queen Mother, that is, Concubine Rong Guifei, and everyone relaxed when they saw it, talking to their friends around them.
"Finally there was no more tirade, and I thought I was dozing off again?" Xu Zhaohua lowered his voice and said with a sigh of relief.
"What a tirade, that's the emperor's summary of this year, and then learn a lesson and do better next year." Su Chengbi whispered a lesson to Xu Zhaohua in a doting tone.
"Got it." Xu Zhaohua carefully stuck out his tongue.
It just so happened that the palace people came to add wine, and Su Chengbi whispered: "Don't be greedy for cups."
Xu Zhaohua nodded to indicate that he knew. Su Chengbi glanced at her uneasily, and then, a lady came to talk to Su Chengbi, and Su Chengbi turned around.
Xu Zhaohua was bored, and when no one was paying attention, he secretly put his hand on the table to support his head, and watched the song and dance performance on the middle stage with his head held high and his eyes unblinked.
This performance is indeed a little different from sitting on it in her previous life to watching it at such a close distance from sitting under the stage now.
She's watching the show, and someone is watching her. Jiang Heng sighed and drank another glass of wine.
"You're a little different tonight." The crown prince Jiang Qi said with a white beard.
"Nothing." Jiang Heng retracted his gaze.
Jiang Qi obviously didn't believe him, he knew his grandson too well, so he looked at the place where Jiang Heng had looked just now. It was a girl, and after seeing Su Chengbi beside the girl, Jiang Qi knew that it was the daughter of the Xu family. Although this Xu Qingshan is on the side of King Li, the Su family is on the emperor's side, and I heard the military department Shangshu who was pulled in by the Su family say that it was the daughter of the Xu family who mentioned him.
Jiang Heng found that his grandfather had been staring at Xu Zhaohua, so he knew that his grandfather had found out, and deliberately asked, "Grandfather, what are you looking at?"
"Nothing." Jiang Qi returned it to him as he said.
Jiang Heng immediately hung his head.
Looking at Zhou Sheng Cuobai's side again, since he said the blessing to the Queen Mother just now, Zhou Sheng Cuobai has never said a word to her.
"Your Majesty has ascended to a high position, and he has forgotten what he once was." The Queen Mother said with a sigh.
Zhou Sheng Cuobai didn't answer at all, for this kind of person, Zhou Sheng Cuobai chose to ignore it, because the more she ignored her, the more she kicked her nose and face.
The Queen Mother saw that Zhou Sheng Cuobai completely ignored her, and she was about to explode, this was the first time she was ignored. She was about to shout Zhou Sheng Cuobai in a deep voice with the majesty of the Queen Mother, when a woman stood up and interrupted her.
"The little girl is Lu Yan, the daughter of Shang Shuling, who volunteered to dance for the emperor." Lu Yan stood up and volunteered.
"Exactly."
The emperor approved, and Lu Yan motioned to the pianists on the side to play the tune she had prepared for a long time.
This tune is different. Xu Zhaohua listened to it for a short time and was intoxicated. This song is ethereal, but not completely empty, and there is something in it, something that different people listen to and feel differently. It is not limited to a form of expression, but also a kind of direct fit to the mind, and the time for this group of piano masters to practice is not short. I didn't expect this Shang Shuling's daughter to have such a lonely book. Shang Shuling? No, she remembered that there was no Shang Shuling's daughter among the concubines in her previous life, not to mention that Shang Shuling didn't let her daughter show her face at all, let alone show her art on such an occasion, because Shang Shuling didn't want her daughter to enter the palace.
Xu Zhaohua came back to her senses from the beautiful melody, looked at Lu Yan's dance more carefully, and her intuition told her that something was wrong, although she learned Lu Yan very similarly, but there was one thing wrong, that is, when she was spinning, Lu Yan had a self-created stunt that no one knew, she was fortunate enough to see it once, the time was long, she couldn't remember it clearly, but this Lu Yan's was definitely wrong.
Xu Zhaohua looked at Zhou Shengchenmo, Zhou Shengchenmo looked at the position of the Queen Mother on the high platform, Zhou Shengcuobai kept watching the performance in the center, and did not notice the strangeness of the people next to him.
Xu Zhaohua was a little angry, the enemy is around, but you are in the mood to watch a song and dance performance! She had completely forgotten that she had indulged in it.
A song and dance are over.
Zhou Shengcuobai praised: "Okay, this song is a lonely song, I have never heard it."
"It's a lonely song, and it was obtained by the little girl by chance." Lu Yan jumped down and said a little out of breath.
"Not bad, good, reward." Zhou Sheng Cuobai nodded approvingly.
"Your Majesty." Lu Yan smiled and thanked her.
Then, Xu Zhaohua observed that when she sat in her position, Shang Shuling's behavior was very different, and he just smiled coldly at her, according to her previous drunkenness Jiang Heng, she learned from him that this Shang Shuling was a daughter slave, otherwise she would not do everything possible not to let her daughter enter the palace.
When Xu Zhaohua looked at Zhou Shengcuobai, he glanced at Jiang Heng by the way, Jiang Heng was also frowning and looking at Lu Yan, it seemed that Jiang Heng had also discovered the wrong relationship between Shang Shuling and Lu Yan. Then it seems that I don't have to worry.
"Your Majesty, the little girl also has a performance."
Xu Zhaohua was stunned when he heard such a familiar voice, and turned his head to see that it was not Xu Shaoyun.
"You are?" Zhou Sheng Cuobai asked suspiciously.
"Xu Shaoyun, the daughter of General Xu."
After hearing that it was Xu Shaoyun, everyone knew that it should be a concubine, because as we all know, General Xu's concubine is called Xu Zhaohua. Some people chuckled, on such an occasion, a concubine actually wanted to... The smile and the thought came to an abrupt halt. Looking next to Xu Shaoyun, she was not sitting on General Xu's side, and the person next to her was King Li.
People with active minds instantly understood that Xu Shaoyun had climbed to the high branches, and she had changed from a little concubine sparrow to a phoenix.
"That's right." Zhou Shengcuobai also agreed.
Xu Shaoyun went to the back to change clothes.
In a few moments, she came out, replacing her old skirt with a smart riding outfit, and holding a sword in her hand.
Xu Zhaohua understood that she was going to dance a sword dance. With the majestic music sounding, Xu Shaoyun also began to move, the action of the sword was completed in one go, and the strength was not inferior to the real fight with people, and the action of holding the sword flower made everyone on the scene applaud continuously. It seems that this has also been well-intentioned for a long time.
After the dance, Xu Shaoyun withdrew the sword into its scabbard. This dance consumed more physical strength than the previous dance, and her chest and abdomen rose and fell violently.
Zhou Shengchen Mo led the crowd to applaud.
"It's worthy of General Xu's daughter, a tiger father has no dog girl." Some people who want to slap Xu Qingshan praise again and again.
"Yes, reward." Zhou Shengcuobai is still a reward.
"Your Majesty, Emperor. But ......" Xu Shaoyun also saluted and thanked her, and then changed the topic.
After hearing her this, Xu Zhaohua's right eyelid jumped twice, this Xu Shaoyun also wanted to make her ugly here, she should wish she was ugly.
"But what?" Zhou Shengcuo asked.
Xu Zhaohua turned his head sharply to look at Zhou Shengcuobai, you actually answered her talk.
"The little girl's sister is more powerful than the little girl, so the little girl thinks that the sister should come out to perform for everyone to see." Xu Shaoyun deliberately dug a trap and waited for Xu Zhaohua to jump.
"The courtiers have also heard a little." Lu Yan also came out to join in the fun.
"Sister?" Xu Shaoyun looked at Xu Zhaohua with a simple face.
As far as Xu Shaoyun knows, Xu Zhaohua didn't prepare any performance at all, and now ask her to play on the spot, if she can't do it, everyone in the capital will know about it tomorrow, hmph, I see how you can get married when the name of Xu Zhaohua is spread out.
"Miss Xu, don't be humble anymore, let everyone open their eyes." Lu Yan said deliberately.
Everyone's eyes focused on Xu Zhaohua. Xu Zhaohua now understood that this Lu Yan was decisively from King Li's side. Now, you can't hide, it's better to accept it boldly.
The corners of Xu Zhaohua's mouth curled up and said with a smile: "That little girl is ugly."
"I wonder if Miss Lu's song can be borrowed from me?"
"Naturally." Lu Yan smiled disdainfully, could it be that she wanted to dance the same dance as her?
Then Xu Zhaohua went to the pianist first and asked them to play Lu Yan's piece again. She really wants to play on the spot, what she plays is Lu Yan's tune, when she watched Lu Yan dance, she felt that there was still something missing, and now she wants to make up for it.
She went to the dancing girl who was performing the song and dance to borrow a dress that suited her, and everyone watched her take the material on the spot, and then changed it later.
The music started first, and everyone was looking forward to whether Xu Zhaohua would surprise everyone, or whether he would land Lu Yan stiffly, everyone was guessing.
It wasn't until Xu Zhaohua appeared in white that the action and gesture surprised everyone.
How is this possible? Xu Shaoyun was already stunned. Xu Zhaohua's dancing posture has never been as good as hers.
Lu Yan also turned white, she originally wanted to see Xu Zhaohua's jokes, but now she let others see the jokes.
Zhou Shengcuo's eyes were full of amazement, but he covered it up quickly, no one noticed it, he stared at the dancing woman in the middle, Xu Zhaohua had already given him too many surprises.
Zhou Shengchenmo also regretted it for a moment, why did he choose Xu Shaoyun? A woman with empty scheming and beauty but no vision. Unlike Xu Zhaohua, erudite is now talented.
Jiang Heng lowered his face even more, such a woman likes her cousin, but she can be regarded as a talented woman.
Xu Songchen's eyes were full of pride. The corners of Su Chengbi's mouth also kept smiling.
At the end of the dance, everyone was still intoxicated, Jiang Heng took the lead in applauding, and when everyone woke up, it was thunderous applause.
"This year's palace banquet is really different, seeing that I am a versatile person, I am very pleased, reward." Zhou Shengcuo's tone was full of smiles.
"Your Majesty." Xu Zhaohua also thanked him.
Xu Shaoyun, who was beside Zhou Shengchenmo, clasped her hands tightly, especially when she saw Zhou Shengchenmo staring at Xu Zhaohua all the time.
Xu Zhaohua went down to change his clothes and sat down in his seat again. Next, the song and dance performance continued, and the atmosphere was happy.
"Crispy has something to hide from her mother now." For no reason, Su Chengbi sighed and said.
"What are you hiding from your mother?" Xu Zhaohua looked dazed.
"The crispy dance is so good, my mother has never seen it." Su Chengbi said resentfully.
Xu Zhaohua looked at Su Chengbi helplessly, and just wanted to refute, but was interrupted by a scream: "Your Majesty, be careful!"
Xu Zhaohua's heart tightened, and when he looked at Zhou Sheng Cuobai's place, it was a killer dressed as a eunuch who took advantage of everyone's inattention to sneak attack Zhou Shengcuobai.
But Zhou Sheng Cuobai was very alert, and when the killer's dagger almost cut his ear, he turned his face slightly, reached out and grabbed the killer's wrist, and the other person wanted to help, Zhou Sheng Cuobai flew up directly and kicked him away. At this time, the situation was very chaotic, everyone saw that someone had assassinated the emperor screaming, and some were panicked, Su Chengtuo and Su Qinfeng immediately stepped forward to help Zhou Sheng Cuobai. Xu Qingshan also transferred the palace guards to take down those killers.
There were seven killers, two died, five were captured alive, and another one committed suicide by biting the poison hidden in his mouth, and those four also wanted to bite, but they were stopped by Su Chengtuo and Su Qinfeng.
With the palace guards maintained, the scene calmed down.
"Who sent you?" Su Chengtuo asked sharply.
The scene just now was really terrifying, just a little bit, if the emperor's vigilance was not high enough, it would be the emperor who was lying down at this time.
Originally, several people were still willing to die and unyieldingly shut their mouths, refusing to speak.
Until Zhou Shengchenmo said: "This king just got some good things here a few days ago, and I heard that they are poison doctors' things, which seem to come in handy."
One of the kneeling bodies trembled, glanced at Su Chengtuo with ambiguous eyes, and said, "Who sent us, isn't it clear to General Su?"
"It seems that this person still doesn't tell the truth, His Royal Highness King Li, those things will be borrowed from the ministers." Su Chengtuo snorted coldly.
"Let's be honest." After hearing this, the other person immediately looked at Su Chengtuo tremblingly and said, "Didn't you send us General Su?"
"What?" The crowd was in an uproar.
Su Chengtuo knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, this matter has nothing to do with Weichen, this person framed Weichen."
As soon as Su Chengtuo's words fell, the four of them chattered: "It's the general that you sent us, you said that if the matter is done, you will give us great benefits."
"Yes, yes, General, now that the matter is revealed, you will leave us alone?"
"General Su, what's going on?" The Queen Mother stood up and questioned Su Chengtuo, and then was helped down step by step and said, "A good palace banquet has become like this."
"Queen Mother, this is really none of the minister's business." Su Chengtuo explained.
"It's none of your business?" Zhou Shengchen Mo sneered and said, "These people are all admitting that it is you, General Su."
"It's a false accusation." Su Chengtuo said categorically.
"Since General Su said that they were framed, then come and take these four people down to be tortured, and you must ask who is the person who framed General Su?" Zhou Shengchenmo suddenly believed Su Chengtuo and ordered the guards.
"Yes." The guards received the order and just wanted to do it.
Xu Zhaohua immediately shouted, "Wait a minute." The guard stopped.
If the guards really let the guards take away these four people, then in the hands of Zhou Shengchenmo, they would definitely grit their teeth and say that it was Su Chengtuo, so they must not be allowed to take people away, so Xu Zhaohua couldn't care too much about it, and shouted directly.
Suddenly, everyone turned their eyes to Xu Zhaohua.
"Who are you?" The Queen Mother looked at Xu Zhaohua with a hint of unkindness. The subtext of the Queen Mother in this sentence is what kind of thing are you, and you dare to be presumptuous in the presence of the mourning family.
"The little girl's name is Xu Zhaohua, and she is the daughter of the Xu family." Even if Xu Zhaohua understood what she meant, he pretended not to understand and introduced it again.
"Could it be that Miss Xu has something to do with these gangsters?" Zhou Shengchenmo said deliberately.
"If the prince says so, the little girl can't afford it." Xu Zhaohua said with a frightened face.
"Then why did you stop this king from handling the case?"
"The little girl is just afraid that these people will never come back as soon as they are taken away by the prince, just like ......" Xu Zhaohua did not continue.
But Zhou Shengchenmo instantly understood what she meant, his eyebrows jumped slightly, how did she know?
"Like what?" The Queen Mother asked coldly, and she naturally knew what her son was doing.
"This ...... The little girl wants the prince to know. Xu Zhaohua still didn't say, but knelt down to Zhou Shengcuobai and asked: "I hope the emperor can give my uncle a chance to clarify his suspicions." ”
"The emperor ......" the queen mother hurriedly called the emperor.
"That's right." Zhou Sheng Cuobai agreed lightly when she didn't finish speaking.
"Your Majesty." Xu Zhaohua immediately thanked him, and Su Chengtuo also thanked him immediately.
The Queen Mother squinted her eyes slightly to hide the look in her eyes, looking at Xu Zhaohua, she wanted to see how this little girl could exonerate Su Chengtuo.
"Then let's start with Miss Xu." Zhou Shengchen had an inexplicable smile on the corner of his mouth, and he was also very curious.
"First of all, the little girl wants to know who is in charge of the guards in this palace." Xu Zhaohua looked at Zhou Shengcuobai.
Zhou Sheng Cuobai did not hesitate to announce the Admiral of the Nine Gates.
As soon as the Admiral of the Nine Gates came, Xu Zhaohua's eyebrows twitched, it was him again.
It just so happened that someone said her heart at this time, and Jiang Heng chuckled and said when the Nine Gate Admirals saluted, "It's you again?" No wonder. ”
Admiral Jiumen wiped the cold sweat from his face with his hand.
"The little girl wants to ask Lord Admiral, where were you when the emperor was almost assassinated just now?" Xu Zhaohua stared straight at him and asked.
"Patrol." Admiral Jiumen said without hesitation.
"Patrol, no wonder Lord Admiral's face is sweating so much." Xu Zhaohua thoughtfully handed the handkerchief to the Admiral of the Nine Gates.
Zhou Shengcuo's white eyes were firmly fixed on the handkerchief, sending out a chill to the bone.
Admiral Jiumen felt a cold swish on his back, and he didn't dare to take it, Xu Zhaohua said: "Don't worry, this is not a little girl's handkerchief, please rest assured."
After hearing Xu Zhaohua say this, Zhou Shengcuobai withdrew his gaze, and the Admiral of Jiumen felt that the cold wind was gone, and took the handkerchief.
"Didn't Miss Xu say that she wanted to clear General Su's suspicion? What does this nonsense look like! The Queen Mother reprimanded.
"Don't worry, the little girl is asking." Xu Zhaohua smiled at the Queen Mother, but the Queen Mother snorted coldly.
Then, Xu Zhaohua looked at the shoes of the Admiral of the Nine Gates in amazement and said, "It turns out that the martial arts of the Admiral of the Nine Gates are so powerful, when patrolling, the shoes did not stick to a little dust."
With Xu Zhaohua's exclamation, everyone's eyes focused on the boots of the Admiral of the Nine Gates, which were as smooth as new, and there was no dust on the edges of the shoes, so everyone understood that the Admiral of the Nine Gates was lying.
"Miss Xu, does the lack of dust on the admiral's shoes have anything to do with the emperor's assassination?" The Queen Mother still accused Xu Zhaohua of being wrong.
"Isn't it okay?" Xu Zhaohua asked the Queen Mother rhetorically and said: "The shoes of the Admiral of the Nine Gates are not stained with dust at all because of the patrol, which shows that he is lying, and it also shows that he has a great deal to do with this matter."
"No, no, no, the minister is not lying." As soon as the Admiral of Jiumen heard that it had a great deal to do with the emperor's assassination, he hurriedly denied it.
Xu Zhaohua heard his denial, so he didn't hurry and said, "Then please ask the Admiral to explain to us what is the matter with the lack of dust on your shoes?"
According to these two incidents, Xu Zhaohua is already very sure that this nine-gate admiral is from the empress dowager and Zhou Shengchenmo's side, so no matter what these nine-gate admirals say now, there will be a crime and be dismissed.
The Admiral of the Nine Gates was annoyed at this time, because tonight was Chinese New Year's Eve, and his wife made a new pair of boots for him, and he put them on, but he did not expect that he would now put himself in a dilemma because of it.
"Why haven't you spoken?" Xu Zhaohua urged.
After waiting for a while, Admiral Jiumen still didn't explain, and it was really not easy for him to reverse black and white with a martial artist.
"Then let's leave it there for now." Xu Zhaohua changed the topic and said, "Lord Admiral, you can know these four people."
Admiral Jiumen looked at them, a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes, but he said, "I don't know."
Xu Zhaohua had been staring at him all the time and naturally saw that these Nine Gate Admirals must know these people, but he shouldn't know what these people are doing now, otherwise he wouldn't be surprised.
"Your Majesty, the little girl wants to ask for their bodies to be searched."
"Exactly."
Then, Xiao Dezi took a few minions to take these people down to search them, and when they left, Xu Zhaohua also specially instructed Xiao Dezi to take a closer look at their right back shoulder.
The Admiral of the Nine Gates naturally heard it, and his body trembled slightly, Xu Zhaohua thought that his guess was indeed right.
After a while, Xiao Dezi came out with people and said, "The order of General Su's Mansion was found from these four people."
"With such naked evidence, how else does Miss Xu want to deny it!" The Queen Mother seized the opportunity to speak, and it was her greatest wish at the moment to clean up the Su family.
"What else was found?" Xu Zhaohua was not in a hurry to refute, and continued to ask Xiao Dezi.
"Also, they all have tattoos on the back of their right shoulders that are unique to the palace guards."
The Queen Mother instantly looked at Zhou Shengchenmo, what's the matter, why don't you send clean people?
Zhou Shengchenmo also frowned, he didn't know why it was like this all of a sudden.
Admiral Jiumen bowed his head deeply at this time.
There was a little friction between the Admiral of Jiumen and the captain of the army secretly cultivated by Zhou Shengchenmo, and he was not convinced, so he sent these four people to infiltrate the captain's team to find out the news, but he didn't expect them to be sent to assassinate the emperor.
"Are those two people too?" Xu Zhaohua warmly reminded.
Xiao Dezi instantly understood, and after searching for the two dead people, he said: "Both have the government orders of the General's Mansion, but the tattoos on their bodies are different."
Two of the people watching quietly trembled with their hands.
"Now, please explain the problem with your shoes, as well as the problem with these four people." Xu Zhaohua turned his attention to the Admiral of the Nine Gates.
The Admiral of the Nine Gates didn't speak, so Xu Zhaohua said for him: "Lord Admiral, do you think these four people are the orders of the General's Mansion to frame General Su, or are they pretending to be palace guards to frame the Admiral?"
"Someone is trying to frame me." The Admiral of the Nine Gates naturally chose the second one when he heard the second one, after all, it was better to be framed than to be a mastermind.
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