In the backyard of Duke Jingguo's mansion, Zhou Chen was sitting with his mother in Mrs. Zhou Xu's room.
"You are taking a bit of a risk in this matter. Is the current situation in the DPRK really so serious that you have to use this method to temporarily avoid it?"
"Mom, you don't understand. Now the officials and the Queen Mother have secretly taken action. In a few months at most, they will definitely have the fiercest fight."
Zhou Chen understands the current situation best.
"If I were just Duke Jingguo, that would be fine. The key is that my current position is the commander of the Imperial Palace, in charge of most of the Imperial Guards, especially the Imperial Guards in the palace and in the western suburbs camp. This is an official position.
Both my family and the Queen Mother desperately wanted it, so they tried to win me over more than once."
"If I keep stalling like this and the two don't help each other, sooner or later their patience will wear away, and it may even cause them to join forces to eliminate me first, so naturally I can't just sit back and wait for death. Instead of being passive, I might as well turn my passivity into an initiative."
Zhou Xu frowned and said: "But in this case, no matter which of them wins in the end, you will not be taken as seriously as you are now."
Zhou Chen chuckled and said: "You can't say for sure, something else might happen in the process. Mom, don't worry, I know it well. My father will leave the Zhou family in my hands, and I will definitely not let the Zhou family
Failure, if not for myself, then for my children."
In fact, there are not many paths he can choose. He can either seek refuge with the officials or the Queen Mother. No matter who he seeks refuge with, he will be taken seriously. Even if he cannot become the most trusted confidant, he can maintain his current glory and even reach a higher level.
Building is not a bad idea.
It's just that he doesn't have a good impression of the current official family, and he doesn't have much loyalty to the Queen Mother, so he wants to watch the fire from the other side.
His withdrawal is tantamount to handing over control of the capital and palace. The stage for the next step has been set, and it depends on how the officials and the Queen Mother perform.
Mrs. Zhou Xu sighed, and then asked: "What are you going to do with the Sheng family? Although the culprit of this incident is the Kang family's wife, after all, what your mother-in-law did was also treasonous, disobedient and unfilial.
.”
Zhou Chen smiled and said: "Sheng Changbai will handle the Sheng family's affairs. Unlike my father-in-law, he is a truly upright person who has the courage to take responsibility."
"Is that the eldest lady's biological brother? I've also heard that he is indeed a good child."
As one of the most outstanding young officials in the court in recent years, Sheng Changbai still has a certain reputation in the capital.
"What about the Kang family's wife? You brought her to the Duke's Mansion. You must have made a decision?"
Zhou Chen snorted coldly: "There is only one end for such a person."
Zhou Xu nodded and didn't ask any more questions. If she hadn't needed her help in acting this time, she wouldn't have thought to ask too many questions.
Two more days passed like this. On this day, the Duke of Jingguo's residence suddenly became lively, with many guests coming, but half of them were uninvited guests.
Sheng Hong and Wang Ruofu brought a group of people to the Jingguo Palace.
The person in charge of the reception was Sheng Hualan, the eldest lady of the Jingguo Palace.
"Father, mother."
When Hualan saw this group of people, she first greeted Sheng Hong and Wang Ruofu, and then looked at the other people with a stern expression.
They are all her acquaintances, not only acquaintances, but also relatives.
The old lady of the Wang family, her maternal grandmother, the current head of the Wang family, is her uncle, her aunt, and the other one is Aunt Kang's legitimate son Kang Jin.
Nowadays, Kang Jin is already quite old, but because he failed in the imperial examination and has no background, he has not yet become an official.
There is another couple, Shulan's younger brother Sheng Changwu and his wife Kang Yuner.
Hua Lan could clearly see the displeasure on Sheng Changwu's face. He must have come here not voluntarily, but was forced to come. As for the reason, it was naturally because Kang Yun'er was Aunt Kang's biological daughter.
Hua Lan naturally knew the purpose of these people coming, so she didn't give them a good look.
Sheng Hong said: "Your grandmother has not been feeling well these days and has not come over. Hua'er, how is Shuyuan doing now?"
Hua Lan replied: "Today the imperial doctor just came to check the officials. The situation is not very good. The internal organs were injured. It will take at least a few months to recuperate. It is difficult to say whether it can return to its previous state and whether there will be any sequelae."
Sheng Hong's expression suddenly changed: "Is it so serious?"
Hua Lan said coldly: "Father also knows that such a strong dose of ginkgo bud juice basically went into the mouth of the official. If the imperial doctor had not treated him in time, it would have been difficult to save his life. He is already alive now.
God has favored me."
Hearing this, everyone present turned pale, especially the Wang family members who were preparing to plead for mercy, their faces were even more frightened.
"Hua Lan, my good boy, long time no see, you are really becoming more and more like a lady in charge. She is indeed the most promising legitimate daughter of our Wang Sheng family."
The gray-haired Mrs. Wang stepped forward and grabbed Hua Lan's hand very enthusiastically, with a loving look on her face, and her tone was full of praise and pride, as if she was proud of her.
Hua Lan broke away from Mrs. Wang's hand with a cold expression, and said in a calm tone: "This is the first time I saw my grandmother after she returned to Beijing, but I shouldn't let my grandmother go to the Duke's Mansion at such an age.
, why don’t grandma go back today, and when I am free in the future, I will go to the palace to meet grandma in person."
Mrs. Wang's face froze slightly. She didn't expect Hua Lan to react so violently. She was already preparing to chase them away before she even said a word.
Wang Shiping, the uncle of the Wang family, showed dissatisfaction: "Hua'er, what's your attitude? This is your grandmother. How can you talk to your grandmother?"
Wang Shiping's wife, the Wang family's aunt, pulled her husband hard. She was more discerning. The Wang family finally returned to Bianjing City, but although Wang Shiping was not low in rank and was just old enough to wear a purple robe, he was not as good as Zhou Chen.
There is still a big gap between the real power of the state and the public.
Civil servants looked down upon generals, but that also depended on who they were. How many civil servants dared to look down on a prince like Zhou Chen? Even a prime minister like Han Zhang would not look down on Zhou Chen.
Zhou Chen is so powerful, and as Zhou Chen's eldest wife, Hua Lan is not something that the current Wang family can offend.
In fact, she didn't agree with today's trip in the first place, but Wang Shiping listened to Mrs. Wang, so she had no choice but to come.
However, she already had a bad plan in mind. You must know that this time she almost killed Duke Jingguo. Even if the two families were related by marriage, it was related to Zhou Chen's life and safety, so what did their relatives mean?
Hua Lan heard Wang Shiping's words and said coldly: "It is because of the relationship between my grandmother and uncle that I welcomed you in politely. If it had been anyone else, I would have had someone do it."
Mrs. Wang showed a sad look and said sadly: "What happened to Duke Jingguo is indeed your mother's fault. It was my incompetence in raising my daughter that almost caused something to happen to Duke Jingguo. The old woman is willing to take responsibility for this matter. As long as Jingguo
If you can relieve your anger, I, an old woman, can do whatever you want."
Hua Lan's expression changed, and she said: "It seems that grandma doesn't know the truth of the matter after hearing what she said? Or did grandma deliberately not talk about aunt, only my mother? In grandma's eyes, everything that happened was nothing.
My mother’s problem?”
"Is not it?"
Mrs. Wang looked shocked, and then said: "Isn't it possible that your mother did something worse than a beast? She poisoned her to harm her mother-in-law, but ended up harming Duke Jingguo?"
When Wang Ruofu heard this, he shouted excitedly: "Mom, it's not me at all, it's my sister who asked me to do it. She also gave the ginkgo bud venom, and I didn't know about it at all."
After hearing this, Mrs. Wang suddenly said with an ugly face: "Now that things have happened, do you still want to implicate your sister?"
Wang Ruofu's body softened and he said loudly: "What do you mean I am implicating my sister? Mother, this was originally done by my sister. She told me that it was a medicine that would make people sick for a few days, but it turned out to be a venom that would kill people. I don't know how to do it."
I don’t know, it’s my sister, she wants to harm me, mother, you have to believe me.”
Mrs. Wang looked up to the sky and sighed: "I don't know whether what you said is true or false, but you sent the things here. It is precisely because of your evil intentions that you have caused such irreparable consequences. This is all
Because of you, it’s all my fault that I didn’t teach you well.”
After saying that, she turned to look at Hua Lan and Sheng Hong: "Good granddaughter, good uncle, she had the intention of harming her mother-in-law and also harmed the Duke of the country. It is really a big crime. What are you going to do with her?
"
Sheng Hong was stunned for a moment, and Hua Lan showed anger on his face and shouted unceremoniously.
"Grandma is really good at saying that she blamed all this on my mother, but took out my aunt. What a good plan."
Sheng Hong also followed up and said: "Mother-in-law, although I am a stupid lady who is at fault, if you want to put all the responsibility on her, I can't agree to it."
"What do you mean by pushing it on her? It's a fact." Mrs. Wang still looked confident.
Wang Ruofu looked at his mother in disbelief: "Mom, I have told you that my sister ordered me to do this, but you only want to make me take the blame and take out my sister. Do you have me as a daughter in your heart?
?”
Mrs. Wang looked at her and said: "My child, our Wang family has a strict style of work. We know our mistakes and can correct them. If you make a mistake, you should be punished. But fortunately, the Duke is fine now, and the matter has not reached the point of irreversibility."
Seeing Mrs. Wang's attitude, Hua Lan and Sheng Hong understood clearly that the old lady was deliberately trying to put the blame on her younger daughter in order to save her eldest daughter.
Hua Lan felt cold all over her body. Even though she hated her mother for being stupid, she knew that all this happened because of Aunt Kang.
As both biological daughters, this grandmother only wanted to take care of her eldest daughter, but did not care about her mother's safety and pushed her mother out to take the blame.
Of course she wouldn't let Mrs. Wang succeed.
"Grandma, it's useless to say more. The truth of the matter has been found out a long time ago. Someone is here."
Yuan Cai, who was guarding outside, immediately walked in, holding a wooden box in his hand. The wooden box was filled with some papers.
Hualan pointed to the paper in the wooden box and said: "Everyone involved in this matter has been arrested, and it records the ins and outs of everything, including how my aunt contacted people to make drugs and how she planned it.
To be continued...