Chapter 387 The Empress’ Deliberation

Lu did not come to summer vacation this year, Cuihua Mountain is the place where Song Yuan lost his life, she watched her beloved husband die here with her own eyes, if not for her children and the support of the idea of revenge, at this time last year, she already wanted to die.

Is that why, how can she be willing to come back this year?

Of course externally it was said that the elders of the family were no longer there, she was alone with three children who were not even old enough to go back and forth even if Cuihua Mountain was not too far away, it was troublesome to go back and forth, so she simply stayed in the old Song family mansion in the imperial capital.

But this time the emperor sent word and the empress personally sent someone to summon her to Cuihua Mountain – even if by this time the matter of smallpox at Cuihua Mountain had already reached the imperial capital side, she had to leave Zhang Cuiniang to take care of the children and hurriedly set off herself.

Since she had been living with her three children and there were no signs of smallpox on the Imperial Capital side, she was brought directly into the palace.

When she arrives at the Empress, she is stunned to hear Shi-wan talk about Lu Hearing Spring and Xu’s revelation!

Only after a long time did she cry out, “Your Highness, be clear! I did do something wrong, but I have nothing to do with Marquis Boling, nothing at all!”

As Lu plotted to avenge her husband’s death, she also envisioned what would happen to her if things didn’t go well, or if something went wrong somewhere, and one day, after things failed, what would happen to her?

But she never thought that she would one day be questioned about her honor – a great insult to Lu, who had always followed the rules except for avenging her husband’s death!

If it wasn’t for the fact that it was the Empress who said this, Lu would have wanted to slap her across the face!

She held back her shame and anger, said with tears, “Although my wife and her late husband were not the original couple, but they also raised their eyebrows, respect each other as guests, and there are two daughters and a son, my husband died young, my wife grieved a lot, if not for the children are not yet adults, I really want to go with him a piece of it! My wife to the late husband’s heart, heaven and earth, the sun and the moon can be seen, and how could betray him?”

Empress Wei frowned and said, “Then your second sister-in-law said that you and the Marquis of Boling had close dealings, especially after Song Yuan left, and that your second sister-in-law alone knew of several private encounters, so what about that?”

“Back to your majesty’s words, this is all due to my wife’s greed being too much.” Lu wiped her face, choked and said, “Before my husband died, he thought that he owed Missy in the early years, and had the idea of compensation, so before he died, he specially left a message that he wanted to give half of the family’s property to Missy – but I thought that Missy was just a married woman, but my wife has a son! If half of the family fortune is given to Missy, then my two daughters and one son can only share the remaining half? That would be too unfair to my only son!”

These words had eased Empress Wei’s face quite a bit.

It is not that the Empress thinks she is right to be greedy, but this is human nature – nowadays it is said that the woman who married out of the door splashes out of the water outside the door, and it is never said that the married woman returns to her mother’s family to share the family property.

Not to mention the share of the pie that overwhelmed his only brother.

Lu was not happy with Song Yuan’s will as such and secretly tampered with it, which was understandable, though unrighteous.

“Then what does this matter have to do with Marquis Boling?” Empress Wei mused, “Could it be, that you sought the help of Marquis Boling?”

Lu smiled bitterly and said: ”Your Highness, Marquis Boling is a close friend of Duke Yan, and loves Missy as much as she does, so how could he help my wife and hide this from Missy? In fact, it was the late husband who bought and sold a few farms with the Marquis of Boling during his lifetime, and at that time, he had spoken to the Marquis of Boling about this matter – then the late husband passed away, and when the Marquis of Boling saw that my wife had not made any movement, he came to the door under the banner of condolence, and attacked from the sidelines!”

She said here blinking away the tears on her long eyelashes, slowed down her breath, before continuing, “I only thought that no one knew about this matter at that time, was mentioned by the Bo Ling Hou, it is inevitable that there is something between the expression of the show! Marquis Boling therefore took the blame for Missy, and asked my wife to do what her late husband wanted!”

“But I really can’t let go a little bit – just find all kinds of excuses to procrastinate! And the Marquis of Boling thought of my wife’s children, also has not been forced too much, not to mention the big miss, just from time to time to remind, urge my wife. I don’t want to, this thing called the second sister-in-law noticed some clues, but is misunderstood on!”

Hearing this, Empress Wei pondered for a moment and said, “So, you guys didn’t have anything else before?”

Seeing Lu’s nod, the Empress nodded noncommittally, “Then you and go down and rest.”

After Lu was taken to the side hall and placed under house arrest for the time being, Shi Wan came closer and said, “Your Highness, do you think what this Grandma Lu said is true or false?”

“It’s just nonsense!” Empress Wei didn’t even lift her eyelids, coldly snorted, “Marquis Boling used to follow A Xu, also considered the Palace to see the growth of his temperament is not clear to the Palace? If it is really Lu’s concealment of the things that should be given to the Song younger siblings told him to know, he either does not care about this idle; to care about it, which will still be entangled with Lu’s nearly a year? He has a way to make Lu obediently spit it out–and even offer an indemnity!”

The Empress lightly hooked the corner of her mouth, revealing a touch of mocking cold smile, ”Lu said so, is nothing more than playing to avoid the idea of light, admit to tampering with her late husband’s will of the fault, to conceal the truth, want to also know, she concealed down the truth is bound to be much more serious than coveting down the original first daughter of the first daughter of the things! After all, Song younger sibling’s behavior, although may not be willing to ask for half of the Song family property, but Lu’s since said it, which can not give an explanation? She went out of her way to conceal it at such a cost, only to be afraid that once this truth is exposed, she’ll have to lose her reputation! Otherwise, who would be willing to give it up?”

Shi Wan was surprised, “Then these two?!”

“The illicit love should not be.” The Empress murmured, “This Palace is not to believe Lu, but to believe in Boling Hou, that Yuan Xue Pei’s parents died when he was still young, but also with a younger sister, inside and outside how many people coveted the title of the Yuan family with the industry, he froze down! This although more or less borrowed some of his foreign family Hengshan Wang Fu’s power, but also enough to see his means. This kind of person will not be for the district beauty, take their own future as well as the family reputation risk? Not to mention that Lu’s not much of a beauty, on the posture is not as good as Wei Wangfei, who is a few years older than her!”

“Your Highness please forgive the slave girl’s stupidity.” Shi Wan was puzzled, “Then what are these two people, who are not relatives and not friends, always coming and going in private, what are they trying to do?”

Empress Wei didn’t answer this question of hers, only glancing at the bronze leak in the corner of the hall, “Today, Minister Gu should be going to the East Palace to give a lecture for the Crown Prince?”

Shi Wan did not know why the Empress suddenly mentioned this, and subconsciously said: ”Precisely. Two days ago, His Majesty was afraid that smallpox would be spread, so he temporarily suspended the lessons. However, in the past two days, the doctor diagnosed that there was nothing wrong with the East Palace and Minister Gu’s side, so His Majesty did not want to delay His Royal Highness’s schoolwork, so he asked Minister Gu to continue to go to the East Palace to give lessons. Of course, Gu Xiang has sent word to close the door to thank the guests, fearing that there is something bad about the visitor, through him over to His Highness the Crown Prince.”

“You go to the small kitchen and fetch two bowls of ice.” Empress Wei murmured, “Take them to the East Palace and give them to Crown Prince Gu Same … After you go, make a wink for the Crown Prince to recuse himself, and tell Minister Gu what Lu just said.”

Shi Wan then realized that Empress Wei just saw that what Lu said was not entirely untrue, the reason why she did not immediately pursue the question, but ordered Lu to be brought under house arrest first, but because of the consideration of Gu Shao.

After all, the last time Lu’s mother and son were able to get away smoothly, there was also Gu Shao’s face in it.

In case he remained on Lu’s mother and son’s side this time – in the end, he was the Crown Prince’s teacher and an important official in the court, as the Crown Prince’s own mother, the Empress naturally had to give him extra decency.

Shiyuan was ordered to go, came back after a long time and reported, “Minister Gu said that there is certainly nothing between Grandma Lu and the Marquis of Boling, although he does not know what Grandma Lu is hiding, but he heard that although the Marquis of Boling has been friends with the Duke of Yan since they were young, he has been very distant from the Lady of Yan. Now Yan Guo Gong and Miss Jane are out of flowers, Yan Guo Lady alone accompanied in the courtyard, think the heart must be very fearful and uncertain, so Gu Xiang is very worried that Yan Guo Lady knows these things, will be towards the bad to think, then born misunderstanding, may even Yan Guo Gong couple husband and wife to affect the love between the couple!”

Empress Wei frowned and listened without saying a word: Gu Shao’s words, since they were words.

“He said that there is certainly no involvement between Lu and the Marquis of Boling, meaning that he should hope that there will be no speculation about the two outside;”

“As for the fact that Marquis Boling is actually estranged from Sister Song – this sentence is fatal!”

The Empress couldn’t help but bite her lip gently, “The grudge between Marquis Boling and younger sibling Song should be about that maid Zhiqin! By mentioning this, is Gu Xiang mentioning this, is he not implying that Lu is not so innocent in the matter of Princess Wei’s assassination?!”

That’s a lot of trouble!

Song Yixiao froze to remember six years of hatred for the sake of a maid’s crippling, and pitted Cui Jianren, who had already been the Crown Prince’s side consort, directly to death – not to mention that Wei Mengying was her own mother!

Empress Wei’s face was grave, she had not directly pressed Lu, but had first asked Gu Shao’s meaning, just to express her regard and closeness to Gu Shao. She did not expect this matter to involve Song Yixiao, or this kind of grudge that has no room for mediation!

“The latter said what Song younger siblings fear uncertainty, is just counting on me to help Lu think of a better statement, in short, to take her off the hook, don’t ever ask Song younger siblings to get suspicious just!”

If this matter were to be put aside in normal times, it would not be difficult for the Empress, but it is just a matter of coaxing a State Lady.

But now the Duke of Yan’s family contracted smallpox has attracted the attention of Cui Hua Mountain, especially the Empress Dowager and the Grand Princess of Jin, simply hate to urge the results of 800 times a day – in this case, the exculpation of Lu’s words, inevitably have to withstand more than the usual suspicion and speculation, once seen to be a breakthrough, the consequences can be said to be Unimaginable!

After all, plotting to kill the grandson that the Dowager Empress personally raised, the dear son of the Grand Princess of Jin, and the first cousin of Emperor Duanhua, this kind of crime Empress Wei could not afford!

“The cost is just too great!” Empress Wei thought for a few moments, and felt that it was not a good deal, although Gu Shao was an important minister, he was not an ordinary important minister, he was the teacher that Emperor Xianjia had personally set for the eldest grandson, and was naturally tied to the current Crown Prince.

So Empress Wei didn’t even need to worry that Gu Shao would turn around and trip up the Crown Prince because she wasn’t helping – these days, a teacher and disciple are like father and son, and while Gu Shao certainly wouldn’t dare to steal his son from Emperor Duanhua, since he was the Crown Prince’s official teacher, he wouldn’t be able to openly oppose the Crown Prince.

Besides, why would Gu Shao oppose the Crown Prince?

The crown prince was both full-blooded and long, and he was also very intelligent and respectful of Gu Shao, so even if Emperor Duanhua had more sons in the future, under normal circumstances, the position of the crown prince would always be secure.

Gu Shao takes care of the Song family again, in the end his own Gu family is more important isn’t it?

He couldn’t possibly turn his back on the Empress and her mother for the sake of the Song family, could he?

So Empress Wei decided, “We can’t listen to him! The big deal is to give him some favors later and explain it properly, that’s all.”

Just as the Empress was planning to ask Shi Wan to reject Gu Shao’s request, Shi Wan added, “Minister Gu also said that this time the matter was definitely not done by the Lu family, and that the culprits behind the scene used the Empress’ hand to point the finger at the Lu family, and that, perhaps, what they were playing was the idea of disrupting the court!”

Empress Wei pursed her lips.