Cypress Boat Floating

Normally, there is no fixed time for the prince to enter the mansion. He will enter on any day that suits him. Because after entering the mansion, he has to prepare for the opening banquet, so everyone will basically choose to enter the mansion at a suitable and relatively free time, which will also make it convenient to prepare for the opening banquet later.

Lu Ci Qiu saw that his palace had been almost packed up. Originally, the palace suggested waiting until after the first month of the lunar year to move in, but Lu Ci Qiu thought it would be better to move earlier. He was afraid that it would be too hasty to wait until after the first month of the lunar year, so it would be better to move in early while everyone was free.

As for the opening banquet of the mansion, he himself had no idea. Seeing that Ye Jianqing didn't want to do it, the Concubine Shu took on the responsibility on the grounds that he was a child and didn't know how to do it, and took on the responsibility of organizing the opening banquet of the Prince Xian's mansion.

Therefore, in the first month of the lunar year, everyone was happily on holiday, except for everyone in Lu Ciqiu's courtyard, who were packing up for the move. Although they only needed to move their own things, as there was everything in the palace, this was after all the place where Lu Ciqiu had lived for more than ten years, and each thing had a different meaning to him. Just his own things took the entire courtyard two days to pack up.

Leaving the palace for the prince's mansion was not the first time for Lu Ci Qiu, but it was the first time for Concubine Shu. After Lu Zhixing set up his own mansion, Lu Ci Qiu was the only one left in the palace to accompany her. It had only been a short time, and this little one was also going to set up his own mansion and leave her.

She really couldn't bear to let him go, so she often came to see him during the days when Lu Ci Qiu was packing his things, and helped him with a little bit of this and that from time to time.

When all the things were ready and they were really about to move out, Lu Ci Qiu was a little reluctant to leave. He stood at the gate of the courtyard looking at the courtyard. Only when Huai Xi said it was time to leave did he reluctantly get on the carriage.

"Are you reluctant to leave?" Ye Jianqing looked at him and asked in the carriage.

Lu Ci Qiu shook his head silently, "I just can't bear to leave my mother. If I want to come back to see her in the future, I have to inform her. I can no longer go to see her whenever I want like before."

Ye Jianqing didn't know how to comfort him, he just patted his back silently. Everyone has to leave their parents and learn to grow up. This is an indispensable thing in life.

"Tell me, how can I keep my mother from dying?" Lu Ci Qiu raised his head, his eyelids tinged with red, as he looked at Ye Jianqing. He longed to get a definite answer from Ye Jianqing so that he would have the motivation to move on.

Ye Jianqing opened her mouth. She didn't know how to answer this question. No one knew what happened to Concubine Shu's death. She also wanted to know the answer in advance so that she could avoid it directly, but unfortunately, she didn't know the answer either.

She wanted to comfort Lu Ci Qiu but didn't know where to start.

"Remember, before I was reborn, my mother died in the palace for no reason. In less than a day, I received news that my second brother died in the disaster area. Then, someone came to assassinate us that night. In fact, I doubt the prince very much, because he is the only one who wants to kill my second brother the most." Lu Ci Qiu crossed his hands on his chest, closed his eyes and leaned against the carriage. He went over the things that happened before his death in his previous life one by one in his mind. He always wanted to find a problematic thread in this world. Following this thread, he could find the problem with this thread, and he could avoid all the problems in advance, but this thread was too tangled and he couldn't find it.

Lu Ci Qiu's voice was choked with sobs. He slowly said, "My mother's father was the Imperial Tutor, who taught my father since he was a child. My mother has loved my father since she was a child. Later, my father married the Queen. My mother had given up on him, but then by chance my father fell in love with her, so she entered the palace again."

"After mother entered the palace, the Grand Tutor retired to his hometown, either to avoid suspicion or to protect mother. But despite this, mother's family is not as powerful as ordinary people. The Queen's family is the Prime Minister, who is on par with mother, so the Queen has always had a lot of resentment towards mother. The Crown Prince has always felt that the second brother would be his strong enemy since he was a child. Even after he was named the Crown Prince, he still held this idea, so he was very cautious about the second brother and wanted to suppress him everywhere."

Ye Jianqing listened to Lu Ci Qiu's story. She knew nothing about the court affairs, nor did she know the ins and outs of it, but now Lu Ci Qiu needed someone to listen, so she would be that person.

"Do you think it is possible that my mother's death is related to the Queen and the Crown Prince?" Suddenly, Lu Ci Qiu opened his eyes, grabbed Ye Jianqing's hand, and asked her with a little excitement.

Ye Jianqing frowned, thinking about the relationship between the Queen and Concubine Shu, even though everyone knew that they didn't get along, and the Crown Prince and Lu Zhixing didn't get along either. But it was hard to say whether Concubine Shu's death had anything to do with the Crown Prince. Without evidence, Ye Jianqing didn't want to jump to conclusions, as that would easily lead them into misunderstandings.

But as Lu Ci Qiu said, the prince's power is also huge. If he really wants to do something, there are ways he can do it, so this person cannot be completely ruled out.

"Don't jump to conclusions. Let me ask you first, if the death of Concubine Shu was really caused by the Crown Prince, then what are you going to do?" Ye Jianqing looked at him seriously and solemnly. She wanted to lead him out of this misunderstanding and not let him fall into obsession because of Concubine Shu's death.

Lu Ci Qiu thought for a moment and said, "We have completed the first step and have successfully established a government. This means that we will have more freedom in the future and can do more things. But we have just left the palace, and the prince will definitely send someone to keep an eye on us. After a while, we can guard the prince instead. I don't believe that the fox will not come out of the hole."

Ye Jianqing nodded. It seemed that Lu Ci Qiu was not so stupid as to start something as soon as he left the palace. "We really need to develop slowly and steadily, and don't rush.

If you want to lure the prince out of his hole, you must first make sure you have enough bait to lure him out, and you must also make sure there are no more foxes behind him. So before that, I think we can first find out the prince's power. "

"Indeed, I can get this from my second brother." At the critical moment, Lu Ci Qiu still believed in Lu Zhixing very much. He and Lu Zhixing were one. He thought it should be easy for him to find Lu Zhixing to get things.

But..... "What does it mean to grow in a sleazy way?"

(⊙o⊙)...

Ye Jianqing was embarrassed and accidentally said out a modern verbal habit.

"Nothing, nothing, don't worry about it, it's just a habit." Ye Jianqing faked a smile and then quickly changed the subject: "So what are you going to do next?"

"As you said, we should develop slowly and steadily, and first gain a foothold in the court. Only then can we conduct better investigations." Lu Ci Qiu immediately used her habit of speaking and answered actively.

Ye Jianqing was helpless. Why was this guy so annoying? But at the same time, she did not forget to give her own suggestions: "It's still more than four years before Concubine Shu's death. We need to investigate the people around Concubine Shu to see if they can be trusted. In the harem, the worst thing is to know a person's face but not his heart."

Lu Ci Qiu was very clear about this. In fact, since he was reborn at the age of eight, he had been secretly investigating all the people around Concubine Shu. There were indeed one or two people sent by the Queen, but Concubine Shu was also aware of this, so she was also wary of them.

"There are all kinds of people in the palace. We just need to find out who they are and not alert them. We can still use them when the time comes, otherwise we will have to investigate again if someone we don't know comes."

This is what Concubine Shu said to him when he was secretly telling the truth to her. It was this sentence that made him firmly believe that his mother must have been murdered. His mother was so smart and healthy, how could she die suddenly?

The Prince Xian's Mansion was not far from the Imperial Palace, and the carriage arrived soon. As soon as the carriage stopped, the conversation between the two naturally stopped.

Some things can only be said secretly in private. In the past, they were afraid of having spies in the palace, so they didn't dare to say much. Now that they are out of the palace, the people in the palace can be trusted, so it is not too late to say some things in the palace.

Lu Zhixing knew that Lu Ci Qiu was going to move his things to the palace today and prepare to officially move in, so he had planned to help Lu Ci Qiu move things today, but before he could reach Lu Ci Qiu's courtyard, he was called away by Su Zilin.

Normally, the emperor would not inform him unless there was something important during the New Year holidays, but he was a little confused as to why he suddenly called him today.

Chengming Palace

The emperor, dressed in a dark blue suit, sat upright on the dragon throne, quietly looking at the memorials in his hand. Although all officials had a seven-day holiday, the emperor could not rest during these seven days. He still had a lot of things to deal with and had to arrange work plans for the whole year.

Chengming Hall is divided into inner and outer rooms. Usually, the emperor reviews memorials and summons ministers in the inner room. Outside the room, a row of eunuchs stand guard in the hall. There is a large screen outside the room. If anyone wants to see the emperor, they have to salute outside the screen and can enter the room only after the emperor's approval.

Lu Zhixing saluted the emperor behind the screen and waited for the emperor to summon him.

"My son, I will meet my father."

The emperor in the room seemed not to have heard Lu Zhixing's voice and did not speak. He did not speak, and although Lu Zhixing was suspicious, he was not annoyed, and knelt motionless.

According to his understanding of the emperor, the emperor's current state might be due to something that made him angry, but he thought about what he had done during this period and found that he had done nothing wrong. For a moment, he didn't know what had happened, and Su Zixing refused to tell him anything on the way here.

After about a quarter of an hour, the emperor finally spoke and said, "Come in."

"Yes!"

Hearing the emperor's voice, Lu Zhixing stood up, patted the dust off his knees, straightened his back, and walked in with an upright posture.

The emperor just sat on the high seat and watched his most satisfied son walk in. Even though he had been kneeling for so long, he did not look a bit embarrassed. Not bad, not bad.

"Do you know why I called you here today?" the emperor asked slowly.

Lu Zhixing shook his head honestly: "I don't know."

"I heard that before the New Year, those ladies wanted to collect donations. When they gave the collected money to your wife, she returned all the money, saying that you don't accept these donations. Tell me, what happened?"

"So it's this matter." Lu Zhixing thought. He knew that the prince would never let him go so easily. When Wangshu told him about this matter, he was ready to see what the prince would do, but he just kept quiet. He thought the prince had changed his nature and would not use this matter as an excuse to harm him.

As a result, it has to accumulate until today.

"Yes." Lu Zhixing bowed and replied, "At that time, the Crown Princess did send a message to invite my wife to the East Palace to reminisce about the past, saying that several ladies wanted to raise funds and wanted to hand over the money to my wife to manage. The flood in the South City is a big deal, and my wife is worried that if the money is handed over to her, she will not be able to manage it, which will ruin the ladies' good intentions. So she asked the Crown Princess to tell the ladies to discuss with the adults to see whether to inform you, the emperor, and then have someone to manage the fundraising funds. After my wife came back, she also told me about this matter. I had the same idea at the time, but there was no news later, so I didn't deal with it anymore."

With these words, Lu Zhixing did not intend to clear Wei Wangshu of all blame. He simply told the emperor what had happened in the first place, and specifically pointed out that it was the Crown Princess who brought up the matter in the first place. In other words, everyone was looking for the Crown Princess, and it was the Crown Princess who came to find my wife. If you want to blame someone, blame the Crown Princess, don't blame my wife.

The emperor looked at him sharply and asked, "Why didn't you come to discuss this with me the next day?"

"This matter is my fault. The Crown Princess and the others have not responded, so I thought the matter was over. I will not bother you with such matters anymore."

The emperor sighed, waved his hand, motioned him to stand up, and gave him a reproachful look, "I don't blame you. I heard about this from other people these past two days. It's not good for your reputation. Do you know what the outside world says about you?"

Lu Zhixing shook his head, "I don't know."

"People say that you don't care about the people of South City because you are afraid of taking responsibility. People can't find a place to raise funds. People are worried that you will treat other people in the same way."

This was indeed the first time Lu Zhixing had heard such a statement, and he felt it was somewhat novel, but he did not intend to defend himself. He had already told the emperor what happened, and as for whether the emperor believed it or not, and how much he believed it, that was his business.

"I know you are not that kind of person, but you have to give me an explanation as to why."

"Yes, I know that your father is sincere and that he is thinking about his son. I have just explained the details to you."

The emperor now put aside his status as the ruler of a country and spoke to him as a father: "Next time, pay more attention to what you do, so as not to cause gossip."

"Yes."

"Let's go to your mother's place for dinner later."

In fact, the emperor still dotes on Lu Zhixing. He is capable, courageous, and good at martial arts, so the emperor has always trained Lu Zhixing to be the prince's opponent. If he can defeat the prince, then he is the prince. If he cannot, then there is nothing he can do.

The emperor's love needs to be measured, but only he himself knows the measure.