Capital, Imperial Study.
Lu Lingzhi was kneeling on the ground, sweat dripping from his forehead. He was here to confess his guilt and beg the emperor for forgiveness.
“Marquis Anyang, I don’t understand what you just said.” Mo Rongzhan looked at Lu Lingzhi coldly, his eyes filled with anger.
“Your Majesty, it was when Gui Ren passed away. I arranged for the things in her room to be buried with her, in the process, I discovered the letter her father had her, so… Only then did I know that she was pretending to be the emperor’s savior. Your Majesty, please consider that Shuang’er was infatuated with you and forgive her for deceiving you.” Lu Lingzi kowtowed..
Mo Rongzhan fixed his gaze on Lu Lingzhi. He wanted to know if this man’s words were true. As he contemplated, he realized he had already discovered Lu Wushuang’s duplicity beforehand, and as a punishment, she packed her off to the Nian Tzu Temple. Once there her movements were restricted to say nothing of the people visiting her. So, Lu Lingzhi would not have had the chance to meet her. This meant he (LLZ) did not know that he (MRZ) already knew.
“What did your father write?” Mo Rongzhan asked in a low voice.
Lu Lingzhi’s face was filled with grief. He struggled and hesitated for a long time before he took out a stack of letters. “Your Majesty, I beg you to forgive my late father for the wrongs he committed out of his love for his daughter.”
Eunuch Fu took the letter from Lu Lingzhi and brought it over to his master. Mo Rongzhan looked at them one by one. His thin lips were tightly pursed, but the anger in his eyes grew more and more intense. “Your father hid the real girl?”
“Replying to Your Majesty, that’s what the letter says. This minister has yet to find the person,” Lu Lingzhi said softly.
“Lingzhi, do you know the consequences of handing these letters to me?” Mo Rongzhan’s eyes were frosty. He had been obsessed with the little girl who saved him all those years ago. Thinking that Lu Wushuang was the one, he had spoilt her so much that he couldn’t control himself. When he discovered that he was mistaken, he wanted to find the real Xiao Yao but couldn’t. He had thought she was dead, but now, Lu Lingzhi was holding these letters and telling him that Xiao Yao was still alive and under house arrest by Lu Shifeng somewhere.
A trace of pain flashed across Lu Lingzhi’s eyes. “I did want to hide it from Your Majesty, but I was afraid that the truth would be revealed in the future and affect the entire Lu family—”
Mo Rongzhan asked coldly, “Are you not afraid that I will make your Lu family pay the price?”
“This minister only wants the emperor to spare my Lu family’s lives.” Lu Lingzhi kowtowed.
“Have you sent people to look for her?” Mo Rongzhan asked in a low voice. He didn’t really believe what the letters said. What if this was another fake?
Lu Lingzhi said, “I only found these letters yesterday and haven’t confirmed them. I don’t know… that young lady still—”
Mo Rongzhan slapped the table. “I shouldn’t have let Lu Wushuang off so easily!”
“Your Majesty please have mercy!” Lu Lingzhi kowtowed in fear. He started sweating profusely, grimacing in agony. His hands that were supporting the ground were trembling slightly.
“Marquis Anyang, if the person your father imprisoned is really the one who saved me back then, I will definitely make your Lu family pay the price,” Mo Rongzhan said coldly.
Lu Lingzhi gritted his teeth and said, “Yes, Your Majesty.”
Mo Rongzhan frowned slightly. Why did he feel that something was wrong with Lu Lingzhi? This was a man who he did not so much as change his expression when facing thousands of enemy troops. Could it be that he is afraid of me today?
Eunuch Fu’s sharp eyes noticed the peculiarity and hurriedly said, “Your Majesty, there seems to be something wrong with the Marquis Anyang.”
“Lu Lingzhi?” Mo Rongzhan called him sternly.
Lu Lingzhi wanted to speak, but the pain in his body rendered him speechless. He opened his mouth and could not help but twitch uncontrollably. “Your servant … means no disrespect ….”
“Quickly summon the Imperial Physician!” Mo Rongzhan’s expression changed, he understood that Lu Lingzhi’s poison had flared up.
Soon, Gong Yuanzhi rushed over. Since Qi Jin and Huangfu Chen were not in the capital, he had to start treating Lu Lingzhi immediately. Unfortunately, the effect was not very good. The residual poison could not be cured, and the pain was worsening. For now, he could only somewhat alleviate Lu Lingzhi’s pain. There was nothing else he could do.
After half an hour, Lu Lingzhi gradually stopped twitching.
Most of Mo Rongzhan’s anger had dissipated because of Lu Lingzhi’s poison flare-up. He recalled that he (LLZ) had been poisoned on his way back from the great victory. Although Lu Shifeng and Lu Wushuang deserved to die, the Lu family had made a lot of contributions in the past, and Lu Lingzhi even more so. He had many military exploits to his credit.
Forget it, he would spare the Lu family if the girl was found safe and sound. But should a single hair be out of place, he would ensure the Lu family suffers hell. This could be counted as them reaping what they’d sown.
“Have someone escort the Marquis Anyang back and let him recuperate at home,” Mo Rongzhan lightly ordered.
Eunuch Fu responded as he pondered over the changes that would occur in the palace if the emperor found and brought the girl back.
Mo Rongzhan looked at the letters on the table. According to what was written, and from his understanding, the place where Lu Shifeng had imprisoned Xiao Yao was in the outskirts of the outskirts. This time, he would personally go and find her.
♚
Huaijiang City, the village gates.
As soon as Ye Zhen came out of the Wangjiang, she got word that something had happened here. She hurried over and saw Xu Ji’s people pointing knives and swords at the villagers. It turned out that the villagers wanted to leave the village but were stopped by Xu Ji’s people. They were not allowed to take half a step across the fence.
“Brigade Commander Xu, what’s going on?” Ye Zhen asked as she walked over.
Xu Ji snorted coldly. “If these people attempt to leave the village, they will naturally be stopped.”
“Even if you want to stop them, your soldiers should not threaten them with swords,” Ye Zhen said unhappily. “They didn’t get typhoid fever, so why treat them so harshly?”
“When they leave the village and infect others, you will realize that such harsh treatment is nothing,” Xu Ji sneered.
Ye Zhen wanted to say more, but Xu Ji had already walked over and ordered the soldiers, “Whoever dares to break through the fence again — Kill!”
The word’ kill’ immediately stunned the villagers. They looked at each other helplessly. They were between the devil and deep sea after all. One side was the soldiers with swords waiting to slash them should they move an inch and the other was a village infected with typhoid fever. Either way, death was a certainty.
“We have to leave!”
“Right, we have to leave this place. Let us out!”
“We don’t want to stay here and wait for death. Let us out!”
The villagers all cried out. They felt that their village had become deadly. If they didn’t leave, they would also die.
“This was retributive punishment! We know our wrongs. In the future, we would never say that there was a plague in the village….”
“Heavens, we were wrong. We were wrong!”
A few villagers shot back at those who continued to cry out loud, “It’s precisely you guys, spewing nonsense year after year- Saying that there’s a plague every year at our village though there isn’t one!”
♚♚♚
