The emperor faked his death? Never mind, I will ascend the throne directly!

The Chen Mansion, with its carved beams and painted rafters, is magnificent.

Chen Ling covered his swollen cheek and limped into the main hall, where he ran into his father Chen Qiyuan leisurely sipping tea.

"Dad! You have to make the decision for me!" Chen Ling had a sad face and knelt on the ground with a thud.

Chen Qiyuan put down his teacup, frowning slightly. "Ling'er, what's wrong with you? Who dares to beat you like this?"

"It's a rough guy named Tiezhu!"

Chen Ling gritted his teeth and said, "Just because I stole a ticket to a poetry gathering from that poor scholar Feng Rusi, he beat me up like this! Dad, I can't swallow this!"

Chen Qiyuan's face darkened. Tiezhu was Li Chengfeng's personal bodyguard. How could he protect a poor scholar?

Let’s talk about the poetry gathering. What is Li Chengfeng up to by doing this?

Could it be that they want to suppress public opinion and divert attention?

He paced back and forth in deep thought, and gradually a plan came into his mind.

Since Li Chengfeng ascended the throne, he has adopted many measures and carried out reforms continuously, which really made him unable to sleep or eat.

This poetry gathering is probably not only a way to divert attention, but also a trick for him to win people's hearts!

We must not let him succeed!

"Ling'er, get up."

Chen Qiyuan helped Chen Ling up and said, "Dad will definitely seek justice for you in this matter!"

"However, there may be something else behind this poetry gathering."

Chen Qiyuan immediately sent people to invite Lu Qingming, the head of the Lu family, Ouyang Xuan, the head of the Ouyang family, and Su Dezheng, the head of the Su family.

These three families have always been on good terms with the Chen family, advancing and retreating together, and their influence in the court is complex.

Soon, the three of them arrived at Chen's house one after another.

"Brother Qiyuan, you called us together in a hurry, but what happened?" Lu Yuanshan asked first.

Chen Qiyuan told everyone everything about Chen Ling being beaten and the poetry meeting.

"Humph, this Li Chengfeng is really getting more and more presumptuous!"

Ouyang Xiu slammed the table in anger, "To actually allow your men to beat up the son of a court official is simply a disregard for the law!"

Su Dezheng, however, appeared exceptionally calm. He slowly said, "Please don't get angry. This matter may not be that simple."

"Li Chengfeng's thoughts are unfathomable."

"What do you mean, Brother Su?"

Chen Qiyuan asked.

Su Dezheng sighed, "I suspect this poetry gathering is a cover for Li Chengfeng to recruit talent."

"He openly suppresses the aristocratic families, but secretly tries to win over the poor students in order to consolidate his imperial power!"

"Think about it, everyone. If he recruits a group of talented people, our lives will be difficult in the future."

When these words were spoken, everyone was shocked.

As a deputy minister of the Seal Verification Department of the Ministry of Personnel, Su Dezheng has the most thorough understanding of official affairs.

He had long been dissatisfied with Li Chengfeng for supporting a young boy to be the head of the Seal Verification Department. Now, with Su Yuan's failure in the exam, he hated Li Chengfeng even more.

"Brother Su is right!"

Chen Qiyuan slammed the table. "We absolutely cannot let Li Chengfeng succeed! We must find a way to sabotage this poetry gathering and stop him from recruiting talent!"

"Brother Qiyuan is right! That poetry gathering was most likely a way for Li Chengfeng to win over students from disadvantaged backgrounds!"

Ouyang Xuan curled his thick lips. "He's suppressing the aristocratic families openly, but secretly trying to build up his own power. This is clearly a case of wanting to burn the bridge after it has crossed and then abandon the donkey after it has done its work!"

Lu Qingming remained silent until this moment when he slowly spoke, his voice as low as the cold winter wind.

"Everyone, in my opinion, we must not only disrupt this poetry gathering, but also make it an opportunity for Li Chengfeng to be ruined."

Everyone turned their eyes to him, waiting for what would happen next.

Lu Qingming twirled his beard and smiled grimly, "Do you remember who hosted this poetry gathering?"

Ouyang Xuan's eyes rolled, and he immediately understood what he meant: "Brother Lu, are you referring to... Acting Prime Minister Song Yuwei?"

"Exactly!"

Lu Qingming nodded seriously. "Song Yuwei is just a woman, but she holds a high position. People in the government and the country have been talking about her for a long time. Why don't we..."

He lowered his voice and told his plan.

After hearing his plan, Chen Qiyuan and the others couldn't help but gasp. Ouyang Xuan even clapped his hands in admiration, "Brilliant plan! Brilliant plan! This way, not only can we disrupt the poetry gathering, but we can also make Li Chengfeng bear the blame and damage his reputation!"

Although Su Dezheng was a shrewd man, he had not initially thought of targeting Song Yuwei. This reminder was like an epiphany, and he couldn't help but admire it.

"Brother Lu's plan can be said to kill two birds with one stone!"

"However, we need to be cautious when handling this matter and must not leave any handles."

"Don't worry, Brother Su."

Lu Qingming was confident, "I have made all the arrangements and I guarantee that nothing will go wrong."

Chen Qiyuan raised his teacup and said, "Everyone, let's drink tea instead of wine. Cheers to our common goal!"

Everyone clinked their glasses and drank it all in one gulp, their eyes gleaming with the glint of success.

Lu Qingming returned to the Lu Mansion with a terribly gloomy face.

He walked straight to the study and slammed the door shut.

"The traitor! The traitor!"

Lu Qingming roared and swept the pen, ink, paper and inkstone on the table to the ground.

The "rebellious son" he mentioned was his own son, Lu Mingyuan.

Ever since Li Chengfeng ascended the throne, Lu Mingyuan has shown extraordinary loyalty to the young emperor, and was even willing to go to the remote area of ​​Xijing to assist the new King of Pingxi.

This made Lu Qingming very angry.

The Lu family is a century-old aristocratic family. Every generation has occupied a place in the court, even making the emperor wary of them.

Lu Mingyuan, on the other hand, not only disobeyed me and made friends with the Left Prime Minister Song Zelin, but now he is even loyal to this tyrant. He is so unfilial!

He kept trying to persuade his son to turn back from his wrong path, but to no avail.

"Do you think Li Chengfeng is a good guy? He's just a brat!

"You actually disobeyed your father for him!"

The more Lu Qingming thought about it, the angrier he became, and his chest heaved violently.

Although Lu Mingyuan was not in front of him, Lu Qingming became furious whenever he thought of that face.

He walked to the bookshelf, picked up a letter and threw it hard on the ground. Among the scattered papers, the densely packed tiny handwriting was particularly eye-catching.

"He even wrote a secret letter to that little emperor! Does this rebellious son still have me as his father?"

The content of the letter was that Lu Mingyuan arranged for his spy in the capital to report the conspiracy of the Chen family and others to Li Chengfeng.

Fortunately, several families are closely related and have spies everywhere, so the letter naturally fell into his hands.

"You think you can do it without anyone noticing? You think you can hide it from everyone?"

Lu Qingming sneered, tried his best to calm his breathing, and slowly sat down.

"Mingyuan, you are still too young after all."

"I know everything you've done!"

"Just wait and see, I'll let you know what kind of person the emperor you serve is!"

A fierce glint flashed in his eyes. "This poetry gathering is a great opportunity. I'm going to ruin Li Chengfeng's reputation and make you face reality!"