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On this day in the imperial study, Emperor Deqing not only summoned Wang Youlun for a talk alone, but also deliberately drove away all the eunuchs from the imperial study. It was obvious that he had other agendas.
Therefore, Li Ru'an, as the eunuch in charge of the imperial study, did not hear the entire conversation between Emperor Deqing and Wang Youlun.
Obviously, the part of the conversation that Emperor Deqing deliberately concealed was the really important thing.
Under normal circumstances, although Li Ruan was calm on the surface at this time, he must be extremely curious in his heart, and he would even try to overhear a few words.
For Li Ru'an, if he masters more secrets of the Imperial Study Room, he will have more trump cards, and he may be able to change his destiny and reap huge profits in the future.
But at this time today, Li Ru'an was still calm on the surface, but he had no curiosity in his heart. He just felt restless and distracted.
Not long ago, he successfully peeked into the secret box of Emperor Deqing's imperial study, and peeked at the secrets in several secret boxes.
Therefore, Li Ru'an's mood at this time was quite mixed. He was a little surprised, secretly in awe, but also a little regretful and anxious.
The surprise was that he had harvested several trump cards in one go that were enough to shock the ruling and opposition parties. After possessing these trump cards, Li Ruan even had some illusion for a while, thinking that if he operated properly, he could single-handedly influence the ruling and opposition parties. situation, and is also full of optimism about his future development.
The awe is because Emperor Deqing is terrible!
Li Ru'an once thought that Emperor Deqing's power and scheming was slightly inferior to that of Zhou Shangjing, Zhao Junchen and others. It was only because he was sitting on the dragon throne that he had the advantage. If he was not the emperor, he must not be the emperor. Opponents of several powerful ministers.
But after reading the secrets in the secret box, Li Ruan suddenly discovered that Emperor Deqing was far more terrifying than imagined, and his forbearance was beyond the reach of ordinary people - even if he did not use the army or factories at all. Under the premise of Wei Wei, Emperor Deqing had long been sure of victory. It was just because the time had not come yet, or because he was considering all aspects, that he kept silent and waited for it to happen.
From a certain point of view, Emperor Deqing was occasionally plotted by Zhou Shangjing, Zhao Junchen and others, just because Emperor Deqing had the winning ticket and was careless because of his fearlessness.
As for regret and eagerness, it was because of the secret letter he left for Zhao Junchen earlier today.
In this secret letter, Li Ruan confessed to Zhao Junchen that he was ordered by Zhu Hejian and was forced to peek into the secret box in the imperial study. The reason why he wrote this secret letter at that time was very simple, because he was too exposed by Zhao Junchen. For a long time, he was suspicious and fearful, eager to win back Zhao Junchen's trust again. At the same time, he also had the intention of dragging Zhao Junchen and Zhu Hejian to death together after his spying on the secret box was revealed.
But now, after Li Ru'an successfully snooped into a few secrets in the secret box, he felt that he had more trump cards in his hand. He couldn't help but feel emboldened. He would no longer worry about gains and losses just because of Zhao Junchen's deliberate neglect, so he began to think about it. She felt regretful and thought that she should not confess the truth to Zhao Junchen.
If Zhao Junchen didn't know about this, he would be able to use these trump cards to gain the greatest benefit for himself in the future without any scruples. But if Zhao Junchen already knew about this, he would definitely ask him for the contents of those secret boxes. , Li Ru'an's interests will inevitably be greatly damaged by then.
Therefore, during his shift in the Imperial Study Room today, Li Ru'an has been praying secretly in his heart, hoping that Zhao Junchen's messenger has not taken away the secret message from his room. In this case, there is still room for recovery, and he is also eagerly looking forward to Deqing The emperor left the imperial study as quickly as possible so that he could rush back to the room to check on the situation.
Unfortunately, the conversation between Emperor Deqing and Wang Youlun lasted for more than half an hour. When Emperor Deqing finally left the imperial study and drove back to the harem, it was already noon.
After finishing his shift in the Imperial Study Room, Li Ruan couldn't even make it in time for lunch. He hurried back to his room and quickly opened the secret compartment to check. Then he saw that there was indeed a secret letter in the secret compartment. But this secret letter was not the one he had left before. It was obviously Zhao Junchen's reply.
Once Zhao Junchen made a decision, he was still very efficient and resolute, leaving Li Ruan no chance to regret it.
"At least... Zhao Junchen is finally willing to respond to me. I no longer have to worry about him using drastic measures to completely abandon me... Because of time constraints, I only briefly read the five secret messages in the secret box today, and I I still have the key to the secret box in my hand. Sooner or later, I will be able to read all the secrets in the secret box... Even if Zhao Junchen asks me for the contents of these secrets, I can hide some of them privately. There is no need to reveal them all. Give it to him, otherwise I'm afraid I won't even be able to drink the soup."
Li Ru'an comforted himself while muttering secretly.
Then, Li Ruan quickly opened Zhao Junchen's secret letter and checked it.
In this secret letter, Zhao Junchen's reaction was not beyond Li Ruan's expectation. On the one hand, it was to express that his trust in Li Ruan had never changed. He had always regarded Li Ruan as a confidant and did not pursue Li Ruan's original concealment and threats. , and even expressed his relief at Li Ru'an's confession...
But on the other hand, Zhao Junchen did not hide anything, and directly asked Li Ruan if he had seen more secret contents of the secret box, and asked Li Ruan to tell him all the contents he saw.
Li Ruan had already guessed the contents of the secret letter. Although he felt regretful, he was not surprised.
However, in the last part of this secret letter, Zhao Junchen also deliberately praised Li Ruan, praising Li Ruan for being "loyal and flawless", and also expressed that he would "salt the plum blossoms" with Li Ruan - these two words immediately aroused Li Ruan's attention. attention.
Ever since Li Ruan entered the palace, he has always regarded the powerful eunuch Feng Bao as his role model in life, and has always hoped that the relationship between him and Zhao Junchen would be like that between Feng Bao and Zhao Junchen. Zhang Juzheng usually becomes a political ally, one inside and one outside, and they are in charge of the government together!
Therefore, Li Ru'an paid a lot of attention to Feng Bao's various deeds in those years, and immediately thought of many after seeing these two words.
"Loyalty and impeccable" comes from an article - "The Director of Ceremonies Bingbi and the Eunuch Feng Gongxu wrote a note on longevity". This is a eulogy written by Zhang Juzheng to Feng Bao in that year. The content is quite deliberately meant to please. And the word "loyal and immaculate" is also quoted from this article!
As for "Er Wei Salt Plum", it is the words engraved on an ivory stamp given to Feng Bao by Emperor Shenzong of the Ming Dynasty.
Therefore, the profound meaning of Zhao Junchen's words is worth pondering, and it seems to imply something.
Thinking of this, Li Ru'an couldn't help but express: "Could it be that Zhao Junchen finally figured it out? Do you think he and I can build a temple together like Zhang Juzheng and Feng Bao back then? Or is he just paying lip service to what he said? Really, do you want to stabilize me temporarily?"
Out of rationality and understanding of Zhao Junchen, Li Ruan believed that the latter was more likely, but he still couldn't help but be a little excited, and even vaguely flattered!
In Li Ru'an's view, if Zhao Junchen is willing to abandon the prejudice that eunuchs cannot participate in politics today and give him a hint, then he will have the opportunity to make Zhao Junchen make a practical commitment in the future, and it is not impossible to finally make this matter a reality.
Thinking of this, Li Ru'an pondered for a moment, then quickly found a pen and paper and started writing a reply to Zhao Junchen.
Before writing, Li Ruan pondered for a moment, and finally decided to reveal some of the secret contents of the secret box to Zhao Junchen.
Li Ruan sneaked into a total of five secret letters today. In addition to the prince's secret letter, there were also four completely unrelated secret letters. The contents of these four secret letters covered many aspects, including the secrets related to Zhao Junchen. There is also a letter in Shu, which is about a minister named Li Chunchen impeaching Zhao Junchen for corruption and fraud when he supervised the construction of a palace for Emperor Deqing.
Finally, Li Ru'an decided to tell Zhao Junchen this secret letter and the prince's secret letter.
According to Li Ru'an's speculation, Zhao Junchen should have already known the contents of the secret letter from Prince Zhu Heyu. Telling him would have no impact on Zhao Junchen, and he could win Zhao Junchen's trust. This is the proper meaning of the title.
As for telling Zhao Junchen the secret of Li Chunchen's impeachment of Zhao Junchen, it was because after Li Ruan saw Zhao Junchen's secret letter, he couldn't help but have more expectations for Zhao Junchen. He didn't want Zhao Junchen to collapse because of this, and he could still Sell Zhao Junchen a favor to further prove his worth.
As for the other three secrets, Li Ruan naturally wanted to hide them in his heart and wanted to use these contents for his own benefit.
After deciding on the plan, Li Ru'an quickly wrote a secret letter, in which he once again assured Zhao Junchen of his "loyalty".
After everything was over, Li Ruan had just put away his pen and ink when he heard a knock on the door.
Li Ruan's expression changed, and he quickly cleaned up all the traces and then opened the door to check, only to see Jia Lun standing outside the door.
Just like last time, Jalen walked directly into the room without any courtesy. After Li Ruan closed the door, he asked directly: "Did you succeed?"
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Something unexpected happened and the time was delayed, so I only have half a chapter today, sorry! But I will finish the relevant plot tomorrow, it should be a big chapter.
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