Volume 5: Fellow Traveler Chapter 789: Who did it?
He was about to win, but Hua Qi suddenly interrupted him with a word "Stop fighting". Ah Liu was of course not happy at all. However, after Hua Qi said this, even though he knew that this madman was clearly trying to change the subject, he couldn't ignore it . It was true that the eldest prince was Zhang Shou's enemy and not a good person, but who else, other than the emperor, would dare to kill him like this?
Seeing Ah Liu staring at him, Hua Qi was stunned at first, then he came to his senses and glared back angrily: "Why are you looking at me? It wasn't me who did it!"
Zhang Shou heard Ah Liu's insincere "oh", while Hua Qi was annoyed that someone was trying to cover up his mistake. Even though he knew that it was impossible for Hua Qi to do this, he couldn't help but tease Ah Liu, "Yes, Mr. Hua Qi, don't bother with this kid Ah Liu. Of course I know it wasn't you."
"You... like master, like servant!" Hua Qi finally recovered his normal state. After a sullen laugh, he folded his hands and said calmly, "The reason why we know that he was poisoned and not committed suicide is because the eldest prince had bite marks on his lips and his wrists were tied behind his back. Even if he wanted to pretend to be murdered, he couldn't tie himself up and take the medicine."
"Whether he committed suicide and then had his hands tied, or he was tied while alive and then force-fed drugs, there is a certain difference in the bruises, and after all, there are signs of struggle." At this point, Hua Qi glanced at Ah Liu, "After I reported this to the palace, I could see that the emperor was very angry. After he approved it, I came to tell you."
"No matter who did this, no matter whether the emperor really hates his son, it doesn't mean that someone can beat him to such an incredible thing." He paused and then laughed at himself, "Fortunately, the emperor thinks that I have the ability to appear and disappear, but I don't have the time."
"And if I were to do it, I would never do such a thing as forcing someone to take drugs and tying their hands. Of course, it is also possible that the person who did this deliberately used this method to confuse the public."
Hua Qi glanced at Ah Liu and laughed, "If you hadn't been inseparable from your young master every day and never left the capital, you might have been suspected. And the people from Duke Zhao's mansion didn't leave the capital during that time. In short, anyone who has a grudge against the eldest prince is always suspected. Of course, the most unlucky one is the emperor."
Zhang Shou thought about the emperor's mood when he learned about this, and he felt that he must have been in a terrible mood. He deposed the empress and expelled the sons, and then not long after, they all died one by one. Even if the emperor knew that he didn't do it, could he tell others about this? I'm afraid that when he goes down in history, in addition to deposing the empress and expelling the sons, the emperor will also have the reputation of killing his wife and children within a year.
Later generations don’t care whether it is true or not. Anyway, it is impossible to verify it after decades or hundreds of years. As long as historians say with certainty that you killed your wife and children within a year, then you killed your wife and children.
As expected , just as he was thinking this, Hua Qi sighed again: "The emperor has always been indifferent to rumors, so even the dethronement of the queen was originally planned to be personally issued, but who knew that the queen mother took the initiative to take it over. To be honest, I am not worried about anything else. After all, neither the Duke of Zhao nor you will do such a thing. I am only worried..."
Seeing Hua Qi hesitated for a moment and then shut up, Zhang Shou suddenly felt relieved.
There is no doubt that Hua Qi wanted to say that the most worrying thing is that the Queen Mother is now trying to make up for her mistake of insisting on establishing the Queen, so she will kill the mother and her two children. Even if we take a step back, people are more worried that the Queen Mother did not do it, but she thought it was the Emperor, so she took the initiative to take the blame...
With his limited knowledge of the Empress Dowager and the Emperor, he knew that this kind of very awkward misunderstanding was very likely to happen. And this kind of thing that is easy to explain in ordinary people is particularly easy to be twisted in this richest family.
Ah Liu had never been interested in these complicated matters. He had been standing quietly by the side since the beginning. But he suddenly said, "Crazy, you seemed to have said that the executions of King Ye and King Lu were ordered by the Queen Mother?"
Hua Qi immediately took a breath of cold air. How could his disciple, who had always been interested in fighting and killing, remember that he had said this? He seemed to have just mentioned it casually? It was not easy. Zhang Shou must have been nurtured by him every day to give him enough knowledge in this area!
He thought so in his heart and did not care about how Ah Liu addressed the two people. Instead, he gave a very earnest response.
"Yes, the emperor was very worried about the three women giving birth to three children on the same day, and he had to deal with the rebellion. So when the two commoners were captured alive, the queen mother took the initiative and ordered the death of the commoners first, and then went to see Prince Lu in person. When she came out, Prince Lu was dead. The emperor and the queen mother had a big quarrel over this matter."
"As a result, you should be able to guess it, because the emperor specifically ordered that no one should talk about it, and outsiders only said that Prince Lu committed suicide out of fear of punishment. And the emperor pitied his brother, and even did not deprive Prince Lu of his throne, and did not do the same as the eldest and second princes, who even removed him from the clan. In the end... if he had not been so decisive, the current owner of Zhang Garden would probably still be that person."
Zhang Shou thought about the emperor's usual education of the third and fourth princes. Although he felt that Hua Qi's words might not be entirely true, he also knew that at least nine of them were true and one was false.
But he believed that the Queen Mother was hard-hearted, because when he first accompanied Zhu Ying to meet the most noble woman in the world, he saw her chatting and laughing with Zhu Ying, and her expression and eyes seemed to reveal kindness and love, but when she looked at him, she was deeply scrutinizing and vigilant. Of course, for the Queen Mother who once ruled the country from behind the curtain, but also once freely gave up power, such an attitude should be just normal.
So, when he saw that Ah Liu seemed to want to say something, he coughed heavily and changed the subject: "It's already very late. Yingying and Princess Yongping are interviewing new students for the girls' school today. Is it because there are too many people that they can't finish it yet?"
As expected, Ah Liu was immediately attracted by Zhang Shou's topic. He completely forgot about the Empress Dowager, the Emperor, and the Crown Prince, and immediately suggested eagerly, "Master, why don't we go pick them up together?"
Even though he watched Zhu Ying grow up, and was happy to see her marry well, Hua Qi still felt mixed emotions when he found out that even Ah Liu cared more about Zhu Ying. Especially when he saw Zhang Shou nod and agree without thinking, he couldn't help but remind him, "Hey, when the young lady goes out, she is always surrounded by people, not to mention that she is an expert herself?"
"When you guys go out, maybe she'll come back just in time, and it would be unfair if she missed you!"
"That's better than wasting time here."
Hearing Ah Liu's loud voice, which was supposed to be a muttering, Hua Qi almost choked to death. Who is wasting time? After he came, who was the guy who started fighting as soon as he got into a fight, as if he had some deep hatred? Wasn't it you, kid? I brought you this first-hand news, you ungrateful kid!
Ah Liu pretended not to notice Hua Qi's resentment, and only looked at Zhang Shou. He was so simple and direct that Zhang Shou, who was originally planning to end the topic, smiled and said, "The roads in the capital are straight and flat, and Yingying likes to take the same road, so how could she miss it? As for whether she brought enough people and whether she can fight, that's one thing..."
"Whether I take Ah Liu to pick her up is another matter."
Although Hua Qi didn't know what it meant to show affection or spread dog food, he was used to being single and felt that Zhang Yuan was simply unbearable to stay in. He said goodbye with a fierce face and turned around to leave. This time, he was too lazy to climb the eaves and walls to check the vigilance of those little guys like he did when he came, but walked through the proper gate.
As a result, when he walked out of the second door with a gloomy face, he bumped into a group of people coming towards him. He found that the person walking in front was Zhu Ying. He was surprised and slapped his face without thinking, then rubbed it quickly, and wiped away the annoyed expression on his face, and then smiled and greeted him.
"Hey, Miss, are you back? Just now our son-in-law told Ah Liu why you haven't come back yet, and said he would go pick you up. I joked that I shouldn't miss you on the way, but he insisted on picking you up. Tsk tsk, seeing how loving you two are, I will probably be able to hold the young master or young lady in my arms soon."
"Uncle Hua, what nonsense are you talking about!"
Although Zhu Ying was not afraid of being teased, she could not help but get angry when Hua Qi even teased her and Zhang Shou's future children. However, after scolding her, she hesitated for a moment and then said sullenly, "When Mingyue and I were about to leave, someone from Qingning Palace came to summon me to the palace. But when we arrived at Bei'an Gate, we were stopped again, saying that the emperor asked me to come again tomorrow."
"Uncle Hua, do you know what's going on?"
Hua Qi, who was originally smiling, suddenly looked grim. He had just discussed this with Zhang Shou and Ah Liu, could it be that the quarrel had already broken out?
Although he regained his composure in an instant, Zhu Ying was very familiar with him. As soon as she saw his expression, she knew something was wrong. Without thinking, she stepped forward and grabbed his wrist: "Uncle Hua, what's the matter? The emperor would never stop me from entering the palace!"
Zhu Hong, who followed Zhu Ying out, saw Zhu Ying and Hua Qi staring at each other. Although he should have stepped forward to persuade them, he hesitated for a moment and chose to run away. Zhang Garden was no different from other mansions. Apart from Zhang Shou, Zhu Ying and Wu, there were no other women. Therefore, even if he was a man, he could have barged into the inner courtyard when necessary.
In a short while, he informed the enemy and brought back the swift Ah Liu.
As for Zhang Shou... since he had already learned the whole story from Hua Qi, he knew that it would be useless even if he ran out of breath, so of course he gave a few instructions to Ah Liu and Zhu Hong, asked them to come first, and he followed behind calmly.
While Zhu Hong was going to get help, Hua Qi had already dragged Zhu Ying aside and told her the whole story in a concise and concise manner. When Zhu Ying found out that the eldest prince did not commit suicide but was poisoned, her expression froze instantly. When she heard Hua Qi hinting at a certain possibility, she was stunned for a long time before she reacted.
"This... This is simply too ridiculous!" After shouting in shock and anger, she saw Zhu Hong bringing Ah Liu back and immediately said, "No, I have to go to the palace to take a look! Zhu Hong, you come with me, Ah Liu, you stay at home and take care of Ah Shou!"
Before Zhu Hong could agree, he saw a flash before his eyes. When he looked again, he saw Ah Liu had opened his arms without hesitation to block Zhu Ying. Although he didn't know why Zhu Ying was stopped at Bei'anmen, he knew that things might not be that simple even if he was slow-witted.
So, he thought for a moment, and finally remained silent. As a result, the next moment he saw Hua Qi easily escape from Zhu Ying's hands, and then he sighed deeply and said: "Miss, this matter is not something else, even if it is you, it is best not to get involved. I will go back to the palace now, you just stay at home with your son-in-law, don't worry about it."
Seeing Hua Qi turn around and walk away after saying this, Zhu Ying, who had just been caught off guard and was broken free, was immediately anxious. But when she stamped her feet to avoid Ah Liu and was about to grab him again, a hand suddenly stretched . She always liked to tease this boy, but she shouted coldly for the first time: "Ah Liu, get out of the way!"
However, her roar was met with the opponent's silence. She was furious and subconsciously reached out to grab him, and ended up locking Ah Liu's shoulder socket lightly. Seeing that it was so easy to do, she didn't have time to be surprised, and hurriedly chased after him as soon as she let go, but her eyes suddenly blurred, and when she looked again, Ah Liu, who had just been hit, was blocking her again.
"You..." Zhu Ying was immediately furious when she saw the unwavering and determined look in his eyes. She knew that she couldn't get past Ah Liu's ten fingers, so she was furious. Of course, she knew that Ah Liu would never attack her, but could she just beat him down and catch up with Hua Qi because of this? What's more, this little guy was just a stubborn wooden man!
Zhu Ying, who had no idea how to deal with the man, could only walk around in circles. Finally, she shouted in frustration, "I'm not going to talk to you anymore. I'm going to find Ah Shou!"
"Hey, you're looking for me? I'm here!" Zhang Shou, who was late, saw the scene from afar and roughly guessed what was going on. So when he came over, he couldn't help but gesture to Zhu Hong. Then, Zhu Hong, the first guard beside Zhu Ying, didn't even ask for permission from his own daughter. Not only did he quietly slip away, he also winked at the others.
So, in an instant, there were only three people left in the large open space in front of the second gate. Zhu Ying's attention was focused on Zhang Shou. When someone came over and grabbed her hand naturally, she woke up from her dream. She looked around and found that she was left alone. But as she heard Zhang Shou's words, she finally calmed down a little.
"Yingying, even an honest official cannot judge family affairs, let alone the Queen Mother and the Emperor. At this time, it is better to stay still than to move."
