However, Emperor Zhao Yu was shocked when he learned about the fire in Qixia Pavilion and the assassination last night from the mouth of Feng Chaoying, the general manager of the palace, and the assassins. He hurriedly summoned Li Zhishan, the commander of the palace guards, and Zhou Shan, the guard on duty, to come to his palace. Question in the study room.
Li Zhishan first vividly recounted what happened last night, including a lot of evasiveness and excuses for himself, and then came his analysis and opinions on the matter.
The emperor was impatient to listen to his long and long speech. He frowned slightly and said, "In your opinion, where did the assassin come from last night?"
Li Zhishan said: "In my humble opinion, this assassin is most likely from the Shangshu Mansion of the Ministry of Punishment."
"What, the Minister of Justice's Office again?..." The muscles on the emperor's face twitched involuntarily.
Li Zhishan's deep eyes flashed, "Exactly. Although Lu Wenzheng has been imprisoned for being suspected of murdering the prince, his remaining members are still evil-minded and plotting evil--"
As he spoke, he glanced at "Zhou Shan" beside him with a meaningful look, "Zhou Shan, didn't you meet and fight with the assassin last night? You should know the situation best."
Ling Yun's Adam's apple rolled twice unconsciously and he lowered his head.
In fact, he had already thought over and over in his mind how to deal with this somewhat difficult problem.
If he did not admit that the assassin was from the Shangshu Mansion of the Ministry of Punishment, Li Zhishan's suspicion would immediately arouse, and his hard-won opportunity to undercover the palace officials would be lost, not to mention future investigations.
Therefore, for the sake of the overall situation, now we can only sacrifice some immediate personal interests.
After thinking about this, Ling Yun calmed down and answered with everyone's eyes focused on him: "Yes, that assassin is indeed from the Shangshu Mansion of the Ministry of Justice."
"Who is it?" The emperor almost pressed forward step by step.
Ling Yun's hand hanging by his side tightened little by little, bit his lip and said, "Looking at his body and behavior, it seems...Ling Yun..."
As he spoke, he rolled his eyes inaudibly, complaining in his mind: "Isn't it ironic to expose yourself and still act as if nothing happened?..."
When the emperor heard this, he raised his eyebrows and said, "How unreasonable! How many days have passed since the prince's incident, but these important imperial criminals are still at large! Li Zhishan, are you all the masters of the imperial family doing nothing? ?”
Facing the emperor's thunderous wrath, both Li Zhishan and "Zhou Shan" held their breaths and concentrated. The two forces fought, and they were so frightened that they did not dare to make a sound.
The air was stagnant for a moment. The imperial study was so quiet that you could clearly hear a pin drop.
If Feng Chaoying, the chief internal officer, had not walked in at the right time, there is no telling how long this embarrassing situation would have lasted.
Feng Chaoying fell to the ground and kowtowed to the emperor respectfully.
The emperor tilted his head slightly to calm down the raging anger in his heart, glanced at him and said, "What's the matter?"
In fact, from the moment he walked in, Feng Chaoying was keenly aware that something was wrong with the atmosphere in the study.
But the person had already walked in, and there was no reason to turn around and go out again - as the saying goes, "the arrow is on the string, it has to be fired." So in this situation, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and come in.
Seeing the emperor asking questions at this time, he quickly calmed down his uneasy mood and said tremblingly: "I have something to do with you, I wonder if it would be convenient to say it here?" As he spoke, he glanced at Li Zhishan and Li Zhishan beside him with the corner of his eye. "Zhoushan".
The emperor said expressionlessly: "Say it."
Feng Chaoying considered the wording and said cautiously: "Yes. The palace servants, maids and eunuchs suspected of being involved in the prince's case don't know how to deal with it, so please ask the Holy One to make a decision."
The emperor's face slowly darkened, his eyes were dark and cold, and his heart was throbbing with pain, as if a heavy hammer was hitting him mercilessly.
Feng Chaoying felt like he had a rabbit in his arms, his heart was pounding, and his head was so low that it almost dropped to his feet. After a long time, he heard the emperor exhale softly, and replied in an extremely low voice: "Evict those who deserve to be driven out, and kill those who deserve to be killed -"
"Yes." Feng Chaoying answered anxiously with her head bent and her neck bent.
"Li Zhishan." The lines on the emperor's face were as sharp as a knife, and he spoke coolly.
"I'm here." Li Zhishan was frightened.
The emperor said: "Leave this matter to you and Manager Feng, there must be no mistakes."
"Wei Chen takes the edict." The two of them could only chatter incessantly...
After leaving the imperial study, "Zhou Shan" followed Li Zhishan back to his residence.
Li Zhishan first summoned the other three guards, Zhao Ying, Sun Guoxiong, and Liu Yujie, to come to the study to discuss matters.
Then he arranged for Sun Guoxiong and Zhao Ying to stay in the palace, while he took Liu Yujie, Zhou Shan and others out to do business.
Ling Yun was about to go with him in order to find out some information about the prince's case. At this time, hearing the words just suited his heart, so he just agreed and said nothing.
Because he had learned about Zhou Shan's basic situation, including his own temperament, from Princess Mo Shuiling.
Zhou Shan is a reserved and low-key person. He rarely talks and obeys the orders of his superiors, and he does not express himself excessively.
When Ling Yun heard this, he couldn't help but secretly rejoice; because too much talk leads to mistakes, so in a sense, the role of Zhou Shan was easier to play.
He had not had much interaction with Zhou Shan before, and he was afraid that if he stayed with Li Zhishan for a long time, his flaws would be revealed; since Zhou Shan's personality was like this, he could only talk less and see more.
But Li Zhishan came to Ding Mansion with Liu Yujie, "Zhou Shan" and dozens of imperial guards.
In the living room, Ding Jinzhi, Li Ruiyun and others were there; and to Ling Yun's surprise, his father He Yuting was also among them!
Li Zhishan briefly talked about the assassination in Qixia Pavilion last night and the emperor's summons in the imperial study today.
Ling Yun stood aside, his expression like a mask, without any waves appearing on his face.
But no one could understand the turbulent emotions in his heart.
Silently looking at his father He Yuting, who was only a short distance away from him, his heart suddenly twitched, like a sharp and thin needle pricking him hard, causing heart-piercing pain.
He couldn't tell what he felt like, hatred, sorrow, depression, conflict... The pain of despair was so clear and familiar, lingering on his heart, lingering endlessly.
The hatred towards Li Ruiyun, Ding Jinzhi and others around his father has been unconsciously ignored in his heart.
But Li Ruiyun, after listening to Li Zhishan's statement, glanced at He Yuting meaningfully, and said in a teasing tone: "Master He, your son really has the ability to reach the sky and the earth, and change the rain and clouds. It’s a pity that he is now alone!”
At this point, he paused for a moment, and a frown suddenly appeared on his eyebrows. "Hmph, I want to see how many more days he can survive! If I catch him again one day, I will make him suffer even more than last time." hundred times!……"
He Yuting's face suddenly became extremely ugly, and he bit his lips involuntarily. Without saying a word, he stood up and walked out, his steps seeming a little frivolous.
Looking at his lonely back, Li Zhishan snorted, "You've already come to this point, why are you putting on such a stinky air?"
Ding Jinzhi's lips curved, and he forced out a smile and said: "He has such a temper, why should we be the same as him? Let's get back to business now, let's just talk about how to deal with these palace eunuchs!"
Li Ruiyun's eyes were cold and the corners of his lips pursed into a straight line, "Feng Lin, we can't keep him. He knows too much. If it falls into the hands of Ling Yun and the others, the consequences will be disastrous. Commander Li, I'll leave this matter to you." Go ahead and do it—remember, you have to do it neatly.”
Li Zhishan lowered his hands and said respectfully: "Okay, Mr. Li, just don't worry."
Li Ruiyun gently rubbed his forehead with his fingers, and said in a gentle voice: "There is also Lingu, her mission has been completed, and there is no use staying in the palace any longer. Let her be exiled and let out of the palace. I am short of manpower here."
Li Zhishan said: "Yes."
Li Ruiyun said again: "Are there any others? As that foolish king said, 'Evict the people who deserve to be driven out and kill those who deserve to be killed'. You can take care of it yourself."
Ding Jinzhi and Li Zhishan said yes repeatedly.
Li Ruiyun's pupils shrank slightly, and a sharp light flashed across his eyes, and he suddenly said: "And Mr. Ding, there is a major hidden danger lurking in your mansion right now. Haven't you noticed it?"
Ding Jinzhi couldn't help but his face stiffened.
Li Ruiyun stood up in excitement, raised his hands, and a white light flew out of his sleeves and hit the window lattice.
I heard someone scream outside the window and escaped.
Everyone was shocked.
Li Zhishan was stunned and immediately came to his senses. He jumped out of the window with "a crane soaring into the sky" and rushed after the man; Liu Yujie and "Zhou Shan" also followed.
Li Ruiyun and Ding Jinzhi also followed them into the courtyard, but the pursuer and the pursued had already disappeared from sight.
Ding Jinzhi was still in shock, his jawline tightened, and he murmured: "How could it be?..."
Li Ruiyun raised his sword eyebrows and sneered ferociously, "Master Ding, the spies have been lurking in your house for such a long time, are you not aware of it at all?"
Ding Jin subconsciously cleared his throat, "Look at that back and voice. Why don't I remember him at all? Could it be that he's new here?"
He hurriedly ordered the people around to inform the acting housekeeper Ding Yi - it turned out that since Ding Yurong's death, Ding Yi had been acting as the agent for all matters in the mansion.
After a while, Ding Yi came in panic, held his breath and concentrated, stood with his head lowered, and listened to the instructions.
Ding Jinzhi stared straight at him, his eyes turning scarlet due to anger, and the strong dissatisfaction and accusation in his eyes were ready to come out.
"You should have seen what happened when Commander Li led them to chase the thief just now! Is that person from our house? Who is he? Why have I never seen him before?"...
