The First Assistant Resigned

Mr. Yuan Fu suddenly resigned from the post of First Assistant. This was enough to shock the entire court. Unexpectedly, he left the capital the next day and was said to have returned to his hometown of Jiangling.

This news was so sudden that the whole court was in an uproar, and almost the entire six cabinet departments were in chaos.

From Yan Qing's point of view, this was also without warning. At least, when Jiang Weiren came to see her at the end, he said that he would leave Beijing for a while, but he did not say why.

The last time she saw him was two days ago. She had just woken up from her nap at that time, and her mind was still hazy. For some time now, she had been particularly lethargic for some reason, and it took her a long time to wake up completely.

When he came in, she was sitting on the edge of the couch in a daze, her hair slightly disheveled and her eyes dim. The summer afternoon was hot again, and I was covered in a thin sweat from sleeping. At this moment, my cheeks were as rouge-colored as if they were stained with impatiens juice, and they had an unknowingly natural charm.

He stood still and looked at her like that.

Yan Qing was stared at by him, her cheeks were a little hot, and she said angrily: "Why are you looking at me like this?"

Jiang Weiren slowly walked over, sat next to her, stretched out his hand to hug her slightly, and Yan Qing leaned against her. on his shoulders.

These days, she feels particularly weak when she wakes up. Now leaning against him, she always feels tight in her chest.

He saw the round fan beside her pillow, so he took it and fanned her gently.

The two of them were speechless for a moment, both coveting this quiet moment together. She had a fight with him last time about Cao Yu, and left in anger. She couldn't bear to see him. In fact, she was longing for him to come. See your own.

"Are you still angry?" After a long time, he asked softly.

She was angry and refused to answer, but she scolded him for being stupid in her heart. If she was still angry with him, why would she be leaning into his arms now?

"Qingqing, I may leave Beijing for a while." He said calmly.

Yan Qing was startled, put her chin on his shoulder, stared at him and asked, "Why?"

"I want to go back to Jiangling," he replied lightly, then looked at her and said slowly, "Fuying is an honest person, but Not smart enough. Chen Min is reliable. Don't worry. He has been promoted to Bingbi and is Zhang Fang's apprentice. Zhang Fang has the trust of Empress Dowager Ciyi. If you have anything to do, just let Chen Min do it. ."

Yan Qing frowned and looked at him in confusion, "Why do you need to explain this when you go back to Jiangling?"

Jiang Weiren smiled. He had a handsome face and elegant eyes, and there was a sparkle under his smile.

While smiling, he hugged her tighter and said softly: "You don't know me yet? Even if I leave you for a day, I'm still worried..." When

he said this, Yan Qing's doubts were relieved. He glared at him, "Glib tongue..."

"The two doctors who came to diagnose your pulse the day before yesterday stayed in Beijing. If you feel uncomfortable, ask Chen Min to secretly summon them to the palace. Do you understand? "

Yan Qing nodded and saw that he suddenly took out something from his arms and said to her, "This letter is from me." Seeing Yan Qing take it, he added, "Don't read it yet..." "

Then what? " Time to watch?" She raised her eyes and asked him.

He leaned closer and said, "Look at it when you miss me."

"Then I won't look at it." She turned away.

Jiang Weiren smiled and said nothing, with a look of endearment in his eyes. He lowered his head and kissed her on the forehead.

Yan Qing did not expect that he only told half of what he told him that day. He said he would return to Jiangling, but he did not say that he would become an official.

The turmoil in the imperial court also began after Jiang Weiren left. Cao Yu began to officially take charge of the garrison of the capital, and a large number of generals in the capital were replaced. The cabinet seemed to be inactive without a leader.

Especially in the Ministry of Hubu, the Minister of Hubu has been the most relaxed among the six officials in recent years, because most of the time, Jiang Weiren goes directly to the Hubu Yamen office to calculate the accounts. All the writing was in his mind. His departure left the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance in a quandary and extremely busy.

Many people in the court wrote to ask your Majesty to recall the chief minister, but Cao Dingzhen only asked Zhang Fang to suppress the details and leave them unpublished.

Jiang Weiren was not only the chief minister of the cabinet, but also the main lecturer who taught Zhao Yuan. As soon as he left, Cao Dingzhen re-selected Zhao Yuan as the lecturer. Zhao Yuan was naturally reluctant and insisted on asking Jiang Weiren when he would teach. Return to court.

Cao Dingzhen said, "Mr. Jiang has worked hard for state affairs for so long. Now he is in poor health and has returned to his hometown to recuperate. Your Majesty should be more understanding."

She said this, and Zhao Yuan naturally couldn't bring up the matter of Jiang Weiren's return.

Yan Qing didn't know why Jiang Weiren left in such a hurry, but no matter how slow she was, she knew that something must have happened and the situation must not be optimistic, so he would hide it like this.

She suddenly thought of the letter left by Jiang Weiren...

After reading the letter, Yan Qing burned the letter directly.

"Fuying!" She called outside, but the one who answered was the maid next to her.

"Queen Mother, Sister Fuying has just gone to Nadusi." The palace maid replied.

Yan Qing did not raise any suspicion and just said: "Then you send someone to Nei Dusi to call her back. The Ai family has something to tell her."

The palace man followed the order and left, but did not come back until late at night.

"Where's Fuying?" Yan Qing asked in a deep voice.

"Your Majesty..." The palace man knelt down with a plop, "Sister Fuying, she has entered the Inner Court of Justice!"

The Inner Court of Justice is under the jurisdiction of the Neidu Division and controls the punishments of the prisoners and eunuchs. The imperial edicts and prisons of Fusi in Beizhen were even worse.

After all, the prison sentence still needs evidence. Those who were sent to the inner punishment court were often sent to the palace because the master was unhappy and found an excuse to find a reason. Very few of those who went in came out completely, and many prisoners were unjustly killed. People from the capital.

Fuying is her personal female officer. Anyone who dares to let her into the inner punishment court seems to be in trouble.

"Go and call Duan Changzhong to the Ai family!" she said angrily.

Just as he was talking, the eunuch from outside came in and reported: "The Queen Mother, General Manager Duan led a group of forbidden troops to surround our Renshou Palace!"

Yan Qing walked outside the main hall in person, and sure enough he saw a group of torches in the distance in the night. Come on, the jeering sound of the soap boots on the stone bricks is getting clearer and clearer.

Duan Changzhong was at the front. When he saw Yan Qing standing outside the palace, he hurriedly knelt down and saluted, "I have alarmed the Queen Mother, and I deserve death!"

Yan Qing sneered, and he led the imperial army to surround the palace. What's more, is he planning to surround Renshou Palace quietly?

Yan Qing looked at the group of forbidden troops behind him, which included hundreds of people, and said coldly: "The Ai family doesn't know when will the Neidu Division be able to order the forbidden troops?"

Duan Changzhong is the general manager of the Neidu Division, and the person guarding the palace is Nan. No matter how you calculate the Yamen Imperial Guards, it was not Duan Changzhong who should have brought the Imperial Guards here.

"Your Majesty," Duan Changzhong said, "I came here because of Fuying in the Queen Mother's palace."

"What happened to Fuying?" Yan Qing asked.

"According to the palace reports, Fuying cursed His Majesty in private. This is extremely disrespectful. Naturally, the Nadu Division will investigate the matter. These forbidden troops are to prevent people related to the case from escaping or destroying physical evidence. To investigate the case. Before, the palace maid of Renshou Palace was not allowed to step out of Renshou Palace.

Yan Qing glanced at him, "It's relevant... How can it be considered relevant? If Fuying is a member of the Ai family, isn't the Ai family also? If it counts, does that mean the Ai family can’t even step out of Renshou Palace?”

Unexpectedly, Duan Changzhong was not afraid at all, and said with his usual expression: "This matter concerns Your Majesty's holy bow. I believe that the empress also hopes that the guilty will be punished, and will not intentionally cover up. Since the matter is serious, I can only wrong the empress for the time being."

His words, On the surface, she said it was polite, but the meaning behind her words was that if Yan Qing didn't cooperate, she was deliberately covering up. If she was really open-minded, she wouldn't be afraid of Nai Dusi coming to investigate.

How could Fuying curse the emperor? Yan Qing understood that these were all directed at him.

The Imperial Guards of Nanya dared to be ordered to surround her Renshou Palace, which meant that Jiang Guangyuan, the commander of Nanya, also defected to Empress Dowager Ciyi and the Cao family.

Yes, Empress Dowager Ciyi is the emperor's biological mother. The emperor may one day not take Empress Dowager Shengyi seriously, but in the end he will not disrespect his biological mother. If Yan Qing is that Jiang Guangyuan , will naturally welcome the Cao family.

In fact, Yan Qing had expected this day, but he didn't expect that this day would come so suddenly.

Since Duan Changzhong dared to lead the imperial army to besiege the palace, how come he couldn't find anything? There were many people in the inner prison under her in Renshou Palace, so it was not easy to do anything. Yan Qing knew that if they took Fuying, they would not be able to escape the charge of Nightmare Curse.

She is the Queen Mother Shengyi. If she insists on refusing to let Nedusi come and search, no one will dare to do anything. But that will only prove the crime of shielding, and it will only cover others. What they deliberately planned to accuse Fuying is disrespectful. . If she even covers up this, what will the world think, and what will A Yuan think in the future?

Yan Qing stood under the moon, with a thin figure, his clothes fluttering in the night wind, and covered with the moonlight, looking at him with an indescribable coldness and desolation.

She smiled calmly, her expression already calm and fearless, "The result you want is in the Renshou Palace, so check it out. This good show must be full of appearances to be exciting, right, Manager Duan?" Duan

Changzhong kowtowed hard to her, "If you offend your Majesty, you deserve to die!"

After saying this, he tilted his head to show off to the eunuchs behind him. They split up and walked to the various palaces and verandas of Renshou Palace to search carefully.

Duan Changzhong was about to get up, but he heard Yan Qing say coldly: "Wait a minute..."

"Although there are witnesses now, there is no physical evidence. Even if you find something, you can't guarantee that there is injustice involved. Since the crime has not been determined, if the person is here What's wrong with your Nei Dusi?" Yan Qing looked at him with blazing eyes, "Duan Changzhong, the Ai family wants your life!"

Duan Changzhong was so frightened that he knelt down again and kept kowtowing: "There are a hundred slaves. I don’t even dare to think about it. Miss Fuying is fine, but it’s up to Your Majesty and the two Queen Mothers to decide what to do next!”

After hearing what he said, Yan Qing breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, Fuying’s safety is not in danger at this moment! No worries.

But as she expected, she did find something overwhelming from Fuying's room.

The palace has always been most taboo about these witchcraft matters. However, Zhao Yuan was young and had no concubines by his side, so the palace was clean and there were no taboo things. But who dares to believe that a female official next to the Queen Mother would actually use it now? These come to curse the emperor.

Fuying belonged to Yan Qing, so she naturally wanted to avoid suspicion, so Duan Changzhong took the items found directly to the Empress Dowager Ciyi.

Yan Qing watched Duan Changzhong lead the people away. It was already late at night, and she couldn't sleep anymore, so she just sat under the lamp like that all night, no matter how much the palace people around her tried to persuade her, it was of no use.

Finally, at dawn, news about Fuying came from Nedusi.

At dawn, Fuying committed suicide out of fear of crime.

The messenger knelt in the hall and didn't hear Yan Qing make a sound for a long time. When he boldly raised his eyes, he saw that she had already stood up and walked out of the hall with bare feet.

A red sun had just broken through the clouds outside. Yan Qing stared at it for a while, as if being stabbed by the light, he closed his eyes and said in a low voice: "I hurt you..."