In less than half an hour, Qin Shun brought the cooks and inner supervisors of the dining room to the front of the main hall of the North Palace.

There were more than a dozen cooks kneeling in front of the temple gate, and a smell of oil smoke came to their faces.

Qin Shun stepped forward and bowed his hand and said, "Your Majesty, they are all here." ”

Cheng Yong was still kneeling in a low voice, bowing his head, covering his face, and not saying a word. Rong Zhan turned around and said sharply, "Get out of the way, don't get in the way." ”

Cheng Yong was short of breath, stood up hunched, and walked out without looking back.

"Come back!" Rong Zhan leaned on his belt and glanced at him hatefully: "Stand aside." ”

Qin Shun beckoned and asked Shi Yushui to bring the cooks and inner supervisors into the main hall: "Shi Zhangshan, who made the dishes on the emperor's table?"

Shi Yushui glanced at the table in confusion, and the dishes barely touched the chopsticks, especially the plate of white artemisia, which was particularly obvious, and even the broken petals sprinkled on the top did not move at all.

"Your Majesty, it's a villain. Shi Yushui kowtowed.

Rong Zhan glanced at Qin Shun, Shi Yushui's coming out of the Prince's Mansion was the most credible, so he naturally didn't have to doubt it. Rong Zhan nodded: "Then let everyone who serves the dishes come over." ”

Shi Yushui knelt on the ground, turned his head to look behind him, and several inner prisoners slowly took a step forward and knelt down.

"Whoever brings a plate of food, that plate of food will be rewarded to him. Qin Shun pointed to the inner supervisor who was kneeling on the ground and said, "You all come here!"

"Emperor Xie appreciates the food. Several inner prisoners did not know what to do, looked at each other a few times, boldly, climbed to the table, took out chopsticks from their waists, and ate in small bites.

Qin Shun raised his eyebrows, they ate happily. If someone really poisoned it, they would not dare to enter it. Rong Zhan also felt a little strange, the appearance of these inner supervisors eating vegetables, at a glance, he knew that they were not poisoners. It's like a demon who hasn't eaten in a few lifetimes, especially the one holding a duck in the middle, but he picked up a big bargain, and he held a duck and gnawed it chaotically.

A few inner prisons looked like locusts in the harvest, and a gust of wind swept away the clouds, and only a few empty plates and a pile of duck bones were left on the table. The internal guard who gnawed on the duck was still licking his shiny fingers.

The few of them ate very happily, but none of them touched the chopsticks on the plate of Artemisia on the table. Qin Shun was shocked, and pointed to the plate of white artemisia on the table, and his voice trembled a little: "Your Majesty, it is indeed as expected by the emperor." ”

"Who brought that plate of white artemisia?" Qin Shun asked.

Several internal supervisors looked at each other, and no one knew who this dish came from. Shi Yushui said in a low voice: "If you go back to the emperor, this plate of white artemisia was brought by the villain himself." ”

"Why are you?" Rong Zhan turned to look at Shi Yushui: "That dish of white artemisia, you also made it?"

Shi Yushui glanced at Rong Zhan and asked, "Your Majesty, but isn't this dish the same taste?"

Rong Zhan didn't overdo it, and Qin Shun said loudly: "Shi Zhangshan, whatever the emperor asks you, you will answer." The emperor asked you who made the white artemisia?"

Shi Yushui lowered his head slightly, and said: "If you go back to the emperor, Artemisia is a vegetable that the people often eat, and the first emperor and the concubines will never want to eat this." So the villain didn't know how to cook this dish, and it happened that the sous chef of the dining room, Hou Xiao, alias Skinny Monkey, said that he was good at cooking this dish, so the villain asked him to cook it for him. ”

Rong Zhan slowly closed his eyes, and sure enough, he guessed correctly.

The late spring wind was a little damp, stirring the tulle drapery against each other, like tangled threads, intricate cases.

Seeing that Rong Zhan's face was not good-looking, Shi Yushui was a little frightened, and hurriedly bowed down and kowtowed: "The emperor forgives the sin, and the villain is guilty of death." ”

"What's your crime?" Rong Zhan stroked his palms and asked indifferently.

"The villain is tired, please give the emperor a sin. Shi Yushui said, kowtowing a few more times.

"Which one is Hou Xiao?" asked Rong Zhan with his hands behind his back, looking at the group of kitchen supervisors kneeling in front of him.

"If you go back to the emperor, Hou Xiao is not among them. After he cooked this dish, because he was unwell, the villain allowed him to take half a day off and go to the room to rest. Shi Yushui replied: "When General Qin came to the dining room just now, Hou Xiao's stomach hurt so badly that he couldn't even get out of bed, so the villain made his own decision and dared to let him stay in the room to rest." If the emperor wants to see him, the villain will go and call him over. ”

Rong Zhan snorted coldly: "Qin Shun, go and arrest Hou Xiao for me, and the rest of the people will disperse." ”

Qin complied, and waved his hand at Shi Yushui: "Let's go." ”

After the cook and the internal supervisors retreated, Rong Zhan rushed to Cheng Yong and hooked his hands: "Let's talk about it." ”

Cheng Yong arched his hand slightly and said, "The emperor is wise and outstanding, and he knows what he knows." Those small people are by no means the emperor's opponents, and the emperor can easily rectify them, and the students are admiring. ”

Rong Zhan raised his eyebrows and glanced at him: "Did I let you say these flattering nonsense? I am asking you about Princess Chenxiang." The princess took you sincerely, why did you tell the matter of Lanyu? The Lan Mansion was decreed by the first emperor and carried out by the Donglin Sect Master on his behalf. The first emperor is my biological father, and the sect master of Donglin is my beloved concubine. If you have a grudge against this, you can rush to me, why should you take revenge on Miyaka? She didn't do anything, she was innocent. ”

"The student didn't dare, the student just lost his temper for a while, and he didn't mean to hurt the princess. Cheng Yong still held his hand and hid his head low between his arms: "Please let the emperor know." ”

"Gaffe?unintentional??" Rong Zhan glanced at Cheng Yong coldly: "Wei Chengyong, don't think that I don't know what you're thinking." You have a grudge against the first emperor for raiding the Lan Mansion, but you don't dare to retaliate against the first emperor, you are afraid of the first emperor, you are afraid of me, and even afraid of your sister Yuanxi. So you sprinkle your anger on someone who is weaker than you, and even more powerless than you. That's why you hurt Miyaka, isn't it?"

Cheng Yong was already weak, his knees were weak, and he almost fell to the ground.

"Students don't dare, even if students have the courage to hold a grudge against the emperor!"

"You dare. Why don't you dare? I see that your courage is so big!" Rong Zhan affirmed categorically: "Not only do you have the courage to do this, but you also do it. Even if Princess Chenxiang is of low blood, everything is much more noble than yours. But just because Chenxiang loves you, because she can't bear to hurt you, because she can tolerate your abruptness and rudeness again and again, because the root of her joy, anger and sorrow lies in you, so you have no fear, you dare to vent the anger you suffered in the first emperor to her. Wei Chengyong, I remember that you are well-read, miscellaneous and well-informed. You should know how to respect women, especially one who loves you!"

Cheng Yong knelt on the ground, and the cold sweat of the bean size slid down his sideburns and dripped onto his clothes.

"Where is your character? Where is the ambition of the literati? If you are really a man, no, I don't have the luxury of being a man who stands up to the sky. If you are a scholar, you should be sensible, know right from wrong, mighty and unyielding, and rush your anger to me, I am the eldest son of the first emperor, the father and son pay the debt, it is justified, if you really have the guts, if you are still a righteous gentleman, you will rush to me. Rong Zhan pulled out the saber at his waist and threw it at Cheng Yong's feet with a loud bang: "Pick up the sword." ”

Cheng Yong slowly stretched out his hand, held the sword, raised his head, and looked at Rong Zhan in confusion: "Your Majesty?"

Rong Zhan slapped his heart twice with one hand: "Rush your hatred, don't be like a despicable village woman, take advantage of the weak and be angry." Don't you have hatred in your heart? You're rushing to me? Come!"

Rong Zhan drank loudly, so frightened that the sword in Cheng Yong's hand fell off his hand in an instant, and fell to the ground with a bang. Cheng Yong prostrate at Rong Zhan's feet: "Your Majesty, the student knows his mistake, ask the emperor for forgiveness, and the student will not dare to make trouble even if he dies." ”

"Don't you dare to make trouble? You humiliate the princess and hold a grudge against the first emperor, isn't this a rebellion?"

"The student is a capital crime!" Cheng Yong slammed his head on the ground, almost crying.

"Wei Chengyong, you are used to being a Qing Gao literati, when did you become hypocritical? When did you learn to bully the soft and fear the hard? Disobey the marriage decree of the first emperor, is this your way of loyalty? Have you read all the sage books into the dog's stomach?"

"Student capital crime, student capital crime!"

"Of course you are guilty of a capital offense. Rong Zhan said coldly.

"Your Majesty?" Cheng Yong raised his head, and after being surprised, he was a little dead. He closed his eyes slightly: "I beg the emperor to punish one student, not the student's family." ”

"Do you know why I covered it up for you just now?"

"The students don't know. Cheng Yong's mind was blank, and he couldn't think at all.

"I just don't want to involve your family. Weifu is the No. 1 big businessman in Dachu, and shaking the foundation of Weifu is tantamount to shaking the economic lifeline of the capital, and I will not do such a stupid thing. If what you did just now is known to the Queen Mother, not to mention one of your Wei Chengyong's heads, even if you have hundreds of heads in Weifu, it will not be enough to cut off. I have advised you not to disregard the lives of hundreds of people in the Weifu because of your personal feelings, which is not only selfish, but also detrimental to yin and morality. ”

Cheng Yong pursed his lips, and after a while, he fell at Rong Zhan's feet as if he had fallen down and said: "Student Xie Emperor is very kind, the emperor is rebuilding the Wei Mansion, and the emperor is ......."

"I know that the law of Great Chu, the great crime of exterminating the clan, does not involve women and children, so the first emperor sentenced Lanyu to death, which is actually not in line with the law of Great Chu. Therefore, you are jealous of the first emperor, and you are jealous of the first emperor for knowing the law and breaking the law. Rong Zhan turned around and looked at Cheng Yong fiercely: "But have you ever thought about it, what a genius the first emperor was, how can I hide the matter of sending Lanyu out of the capital from the first emperor? If there is no acquiescence from the first emperor, do you think Lan Yucheng can get out of the capital?"

"That ......"

"Do you think that after the death of the first emperor, you will be able to renew the relationship with Lanyu? But Lanyu can't get rid of the reputation of the daughter of a criminal minister in this life, so you feel pain again, right?" Rong Zhan sneered and said, "I advise you to die of this heart." Even if Lan Yu returns to Beijing, she will not be able to marry you, because she is no different from dead now. ”