Ever since Queen Lu ordered Jinzhi to visit the Lu family, she has been thinking about how to tell Xiao Yan the clues without arousing suspicion from the eunuch.
After finally coming up with a plan and planning to invite Madam Lu into the palace to take her down, he heard that Guan had died.
Queen Lu frowned: "How did he die?"
"Suicide." Jinzhi spoke very quickly: "The Black Armor Guards went to the Lu family today and searched the residence of the Lu family's women. Qinxin and the things that were previously sent to the eldest lady were all found. The eldest lady pierced her throat with a hairpin in front of the Lu family and Xiao Yan."
Empress Lu heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing this. She held the cup beside her with her hand and smiled: "It's better if she's dead. The dead can't speak. With her life accompanying Prince Chen, I think Xiao Yan and His Majesty will let it go, and Prince Chen's case can be concluded..."
"My queen, the one who led people to the Lu family today was the Fourth Prince."
"Bang!"
The cup of tea suddenly fell to the ground, and the water inside splashed on Queen Lu's hand. She suddenly looked up: "What did you say?!"
"It was His Highness who led the Black Armor Guards to the Lu family today."
Jinzhi's voice trembled as she spoke, and her face turned pale. "Your Highness led people to break into the Lu family and ordered the Black Armored Guards to search the residence of the Lu family's female relatives. It was also Your Highness who asked the eldest lady to be interrogated. After the eldest lady died, her body was transported all the way into the palace. It is said that there were scars on her body and face. It was...it was the Fourth Prince who did it before she died..."
"absurd!"
Queen Lu's fingers were burning red, but she didn't care about the pain at all. She stood up suddenly and said angrily:
"Aren't the Black Armor Guards Xiao Yan's? Why would Huang'er get involved with him? Xiao Yan is investigating the Lu family's affairs, so why would Huang'er lead people to break into the Lu family..."
Her face was ferocious and unprovoked: "Is it Xiao Yan? Is he using my son?! Xiao Yan, that eunuch, how dare he use my son as a knife!"
Jinzhi quickly said, "No, the Fourth Prince went to the Lu family on the emperor's orders."
"The Emperor's order?" Empress Lu's face froze with anger. "How did Your Majesty know?"
Jin Zhi shook her head: "I didn't get any news either. I only heard that Princess Cheng came into the palace today and made a scene, saying she wanted to break off relations with Prince Cheng. After she left the palace, His Majesty urgently summoned Governor Xiao to the palace, and then Your Highness received the imperial order to thoroughly investigate the Lu family."
Seeing the queen's grim expression, Jinzhi said cautiously:
"I couldn't get any news from the emperor, but I heard that His Majesty was furious before Governor Xiao entered the palace, and the person who came out of the palace to announce his entry was in a hurry. Governor Xiao came directly from the Criminal Department, and his clothes were covered in blood, so he didn't even have time to change. I don't think he was the one who told His Majesty about Prince Cheng and the Lu family."
Queen Lu's eyes were gloomy. She originally thought that it was Xiao Yan who used the Fourth Prince as a knife, but it turned out to be His Majesty. However, not only did the anger in her heart not dissipate, but her expression became more resentful.
The Lu family is Zheng'er's maternal family, and Zheng'er has Lu's blood in her veins. She dragged the Guan family into this just to protect them and their son from being implicated. Even if they still broke with the Lu family in the end, outsiders would only think that they were disdainful of what the Lu family did and were "forced" to break off relations with the Lu family.
But Emperor An actually asked Zheng'er to investigate the matter, and let him personally uncover the Lu family's scandal and bring disgrace to the Lu family.
No one would think that the Fourth Prince sacrificed his own family for the sake of justice. They would only say that he was cold-blooded and ruthless in order to please His Majesty, and that he was ungrateful and disregarded family affection.
The Lu family could be destroyed by anyone, but not by the Fourth Prince.
Empress Lu's face turned pale with anger: "Xie Tianyong...he wants to destroy my Zheng'er..."
Jinzhi didn't dare to speak when she heard the Queen addressing the Emperor by his name. After a while, the Queen asked coldly, "You said Rong Yue came to the palace to break up with Prince Cheng?"
Jinzhi lowered her head: "Your Majesty did not agree."
Before Empress Lu could sneer at Rong Yue's wild ideas, she heard Jin Zhi say cautiously:
"Princess Cheng wanted to break off the relationship, but His Majesty refused, so she started to make a scene, and blood was almost spilled in the palace. His Majesty finally agreed to let her divorce Prince Cheng. In order to appease Princess Cheng, he allowed her to establish a Rong family mansion, conferred her the title of First-Rank Lady of Rong State, and also... He also handed over all the properties of Prince Cheng's mansion to Princess Cheng..."
Seeing that Queen Lu's face was becoming more and more ugly, Jinzhi's voice became lower and lower, until it was almost inaudible at last.
Queen Lu gritted her teeth and pinched her fingertips, then waved her hand and pushed the screen fan aside. She had a gloomy face and was breathing heavily.
Mrs. Rongguo?
Is Rong Yue worthy of it? ! !
"Where is the fourth prince?" Queen Lu asked coldly.
"Still in the Imperial Study."
"Go wait outside, and as soon as he comes out, ask him to come over immediately!"
Just as Jinzhi was about to agree, Empress Lu changed her mind: "Forget it, I'll go there myself!"
…
In the imperial study, Guan's body was placed in the center. Her body was covered in horrifying blood, and her eyes were staring open as if she died.
Emperor An took only one look and frowned in disgust. He ordered her body to be carried away, and his eyes then fell on the letters and the jade bracelet on the table.
"...I led people to search the residences of several female members of the Lu family and interrogated their servants one by one. These things were all found in Madam Lu's room. According to her maidservant, Madam Lu knew Prince Cheng before she married into the Lu family. It was she who replaced the Lu family and Prince Cheng's wife's offspring..."
The fourth prince recounted what happened today, and then continued: "This letter was written by Prince Cheng, and the jade bracelet was a token of love between Prince Cheng and her."
Emperor An opened the letter and took a look: "This is Prince Cheng's handwriting."
When he was young, he studied in the same study with Prince Cheng. Later, after the death of Crown Prince Li, he competed with Prince Cheng for the throne. He naturally recognized Xie Tianyu's handwriting. As for this bracelet, the late emperor did get a piece of green jade in those days and made objects into it to give to people in the palace.
At that time, he was not favored by the late emperor, and his mother was not a favored concubine in the palace. There was no chance of him having such a good thing. At the palace banquet that year, he and his mother could only secretly envy the princes and concubines who received rewards, so they had a deep memory of this incident.
Emperor An stroked the lines on the bracelet, raised his head and asked, "So, Lu Zhinian is the son of King Chen?"
"yes."
"What about Xie Yin?"
"It's the Lu family's bloodline, but whose it is remains to be investigated."
Emperor An laughed out loud when he heard this. It was just a spur-of-the-moment guess before, but he didn't expect it to be true. This was really interesting.
His eyes fell on the pale-faced Lu Chongyuan who was kneeling not far away. Seeing how miserable he was, he suddenly felt refreshed. Lu Chongyuan had been proud of his achievements over the years and had relied on the power of his aristocratic family to suppress him everywhere. The aristocratic family prided themselves on their reputation, but they did not expect that such a scandal would happen.
Emperor An threw the jade bracelet on the table: "Lu Qing, what do you want to say?"
Lu Chongyuan knew that Emperor An was laughing at him. He lowered his head and said in a hoarse voice: "Old minister, I am guilty."
Emperor An was surprised to see him confess his guilt so readily.
Lu Chongyuan knelt on the ground and said, "I am wrong for not managing my family well and not educating my children well."
"Over the years, I have only cared about the court and your majesty's country, but I forgot to discipline the people in the palace. First, there was Lu Zhao, the rebellious son, who meddled in the grain and silver and embezzled it. Then there was Guan, the shameless daughter-in-law who had no virtue. It is my fault and I have failed your majesty's high expectations."
"I, your Majesty, have caused such a scandal. I am ashamed to stay in the court, and I dare not take on the position of Minister of the Central Secretariat any longer." He kowtowed to Emperor An and said, "Please allow me to resign and return to Yuanchuan with my family."