"I heard someone said that you met someone from the East Palace alone this morning. Is this true?" Shen actually shined the candle outside the window, and then pulled the window up.
"To be fair to the manager, this is indeed true."
"If you told me everything, why didn't you report it?" Shen Jing sat down and looked at him with stern eyes.
"This..." Lu Xinzhong hesitated for a moment, then sighed and said, "Oh, I can't explain this sentence or two clearly. Please explain it from beginning to end. You can understand."
"Say." Shen Jing never doubted his loyalty and gave him a chance to defend himself.
Lu Xinzhong bowed his head and bowed deeply: "That man is the guard of the East Palace. He said that he came under the order of the prince and wanted to meet Mr. Shen. The younger one suspected that he was pretending to be a fake identity and was not at ease, fearing that he would cause trouble. , so I set up a game to test it, but I didn’t expect that he would not change his expression and deal with it calmly, so I believed his words.”
"Then I asked him about the purpose of his visit and learned that His Highness the Crown Prince had been sent by Cun Zhao to persuade him to help in the election of provincial ministers. The Crown Prince didn't know what to do and was going to ask you to go to the East Palace for questioning and come up with a two-way plan. Way to offend. I don't know the prince's intention, and I'm worried that this is a grand banquet, so I don't dare to let him see you, which will make you unable to step down. So I temporarily excused you on the grounds of your poor health. The original intention was I was afraid that you would be involved in troubled waters, so I didn’t report it, and I didn’t realize that some villains had bad intentions and slandered and framed me. It’s really chilling!”
"Come here," Eunuch Shen nodded and waved to him, "Actually, I don't believe those rumors. They have always been jealous of your status and said a lot of bad things, but none of them are true. I'm used to it. Already."
"But the prince's people will come again sooner or later, and it will be difficult to refuse them then." Lu Xinzhong walked into the candlelight and showed a serious face, "Why don't you let me go for you."
Shen Jing frowned and said: "You have been to the East Palace once and are familiar with the prince and others, so it is a good idea. But how should you discuss it with them, I still can't think of it."
"I dare you to say something," Lu Xinzhong rubbed his hands tightly and raised his eyes, "Now Liu Dang's house is about to collapse. We can't hang ourselves on this tree. After all, the days ahead are still long. It’s okay. Why not take this opportunity and join the Qingliu family?”
After hearing this, Shen Jing was not angry. He just replied calmly: "I have followed Liu Zhennian for so many years. Not to mention interests, there are also many friendships. How can I break my face so easily? What's more, we are slaves and should only serve. Your Majesty, you should not worry about the affairs of the court and rush to stand in line. Back then, I was just following the trend of the times, but I was also trembling with fear. Today, I cannot take the initiative to rely on the past and break the rules. When you go to the East Palace, be careful and don't be paranoid. This is a dead matter and makes His Highness unhappy." Lu Xinzhong listened and accepted it one by one.
After discussing the matter, Shen Jing was not distracted, so he followed the original instructions and handed the cold clothes to Eunuch Lu and asked him to take them to the palace to serve the emperor. After watching him leave, he asked about his participation in the plot. Most of the eunuchs involved in this incident were Lu Xinzhong's confidants, and they had embezzled a lot of money and food with him. If any one of them was willing to tell the truth, the matter was passed over without anyone noticing.
When Eunuch Lu came back from the dormitory, it was already very late, so he had to go to bed for the time being and wait until early tomorrow morning to report the news to the soldiers. The soldier returned to the camp yesterday afternoon and went to Cunzhao. It was a lie, saying that Shen Jing went to the palace to meet the emperor because of Chen Tongpao's promotion to minister. He would come tomorrow after a while. The second secretary didn't realize it was a lie and let him rest, but in his heart I was so anxious that I couldn't sleep. I waited hard all night until I saw the sky was getting bright. Then I took Lu Xinzhong's secret letter, opened it, read "Go quickly", and put it on the candlestick to burn. He hurriedly put on his clothes and went to see Cunzhao in the big tent. Seeing that there was no one in the school grounds, he said, "Eunuch Shen has made an appointment with me, and we are coming now."
Cunzhao and Taisu looked at each other, each overjoyed. They called for someone to hand him the bronze medal, and discussed with several confidants: "The chief steward in the palace is coming, and all the sergeants in the battalion must know about it! You guys are right. The time has been set, let everyone gather in the school grounds in a moment, no mistakes allowed!"
The military man rode a horse and hurried out of the camp. When he reached a gate, he showed the bronze medal engraved with Cun Zhao's official title. Therefore, he had an unimpeded journey and went straight to the outside of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to greet Lu Xinzhong.
"Thank you for your hard work!" The soldier jumped off the horse and held his hand, "Eunuch Shen really agreed?"
Lu Xinzhong sighed: "I agreed, but he has doubts and refuses to abandon Liu Dang. I don't intend to force it, and I will never harm him for this."
"Eunuch Lu helped me solve such a big problem. If there is a quarrel because of this, I must help to talk!"
"Then I really rely on the military master."
As the two of them talked, they gradually walked to the last gate in front of the military camp. Lu Xinzhong stopped and looked at no one in the distance, but he could vaguely hear the sound of shouting, and he immediately became alert: "Is the school ground ahead of you? ?”
The soldier pointed his horsewhip and said: "After passing the gate in front of you, you will reach the camp gate. Naturally, you can hear the sound of troop training."
"Going in...you won't pass by the school grounds, right?"
The military man glanced at him in panic and said quickly: "Ah, ah, no! The school grounds are behind the martial arts hall in the east, and you came from the west. Why are you bothering with this?"
Lu Xinzhong turned around and said: "I'm not afraid of meeting people. Your family's imperial eunuch invited me to go, and it's not a secret thing. Why hide in Tibet? I'm just afraid that they will be angry and blame you. Today I'm here There should be quite a few people gathered in the school grounds, right to welcome me?"
Seeing that he could no longer hide it, the military man had no choice but to laugh and say: "My father-in-law is really a master of calculation! This is what Cun Si Jin ordered me to do before, so that no one can make it public. I didn't want to tell the truth at first, but after hearing what you said, what's the meaning of 'guilt'?" ,'annoyed', I was a little scared; I don't know the reason for this..."
"Why are you worried about this?" Lu Xinzhong gave a sharp sneer, but it didn't seem to be because of him. "The two officials just wanted to greet Eunuch Shen in this way to appear polite. But you never said it was me who came. It's a trivial matter. How can a person accept such a great gift? They were deceived and made a fool of themselves in a crowd. They will naturally be angry. They will blame you later, and they will be beaten and scolded in the least, and dismissed from their posts in the worst. The anger of the military master It’s really bad luck that you have to encounter these helpless things!”
The military man was completely panicked. He ignored Cunzhao's ironclad order and immediately grabbed Eunuch Lu's sleeve: "Please save me!"