After speaking out the doubts in their hearts, the Chang family brothers all looked surprised. The impatient Chang Mao immediately shouted: "Come here, come here, prepare your horses! Go get my armor!"
"What does Brother Chang want?" Zhu Su quickly grabbed Chang Mao.
"What else can I do? Of course I'm going to twist the head of Lu Ben, a turbaned dog!" Chang Mao said angrily. "How dare you plot against our old Chang family... If we don't give him some strength, how can our second brother and I gain a foothold in the Ming Dynasty?"
"Brother Chang, don't be impulsive." Zhu Su pulled him back to his seat. "After all, it's just empty speculation with no actual evidence. How can you kill someone in such a rage?"
"Moreover, Lu Ben is still the official of the imperial court, and the Emperor can kill the officials at will. Such a crime will probably cancel out all the achievements that Brother Chang made in the past."
"At this time, it is better to take steps first. If we really find out the truth, it will not be too late to report it to my father for disposal."
"...This makes me angry!" Chang Mao was depressed.
Chang Sheng, however, no longer looked as lifeless as before. If someone was really planning something, he would definitely have to find this person out before he could give up. He glanced at the trembling concubine Lu at the side, and suddenly shouted: "You bitch! Tell me! What did the Lu family want you to do? How do they want to plot against me?"
The concubine was feeling uneasy when the young prince revealed her origins in the Lu family. Suddenly she heard the loud shout again, and her whole body was shaken. She was about to faint when she saw it, but she heard that the prince had become cold. The voice said: "If you are willing to tell the truth, there is still a way to survive. I have no patience. If you don't tell me during the tea time, I will send you to Yingzhou as a prostitute."
"Now the women of Yingzhou admire our Ming Dynasty soldiers' demeanor and spurn the men of Yingzhou. As a result, it is difficult for Yingzhou men to get married, and all of them are hungry and thirsty. If we can send a few convict wives to Yingzhou... Haha, they You will definitely be grateful for my great kindness."
The concubine was so frightened that her liver and gallbladder were split apart, and she did not dare to faint even if she fainted. Although she is just a boudoir woman, she also knows where "Yingzhou" is. To put it bluntly, isn’t it the Japanese country of the past? I heard that the men of Japan were all short in stature, ugly in appearance, and rude in manners, just like apes in the mountains. If she, a Chinese woman, was assigned to those Japanese men... Thinking of this, she felt a thrill all over her body, and she felt that if that was the case, it would be better to die directly.
"Back...back to your highness, I, I, I and the Lu family do often exchange letters..." I was frightened in my heart, and naturally I became much more honest when I spoke. "But...it's just a matter of chatting about family matters, and there is no plot against the master!"
"You haven't gotten the letter yet!" Chang Sheng shouted angrily.
The concubine did not dare to disobey, and hurriedly stumbled out. After a while, she took out a box, opened it, and saw that it was densely packed with family letters. Zhu Su smiled when he saw it: "Oh, this Lu family is quite important. Brotherly love. It’s just a side branch, but it’s actually worthy of such a close relationship.”
You must know that it was not easy to deliver letters between Shandong and Yingtian at this time. Even if there were a few private express delivery shops, they often charged a high price. He is so interested in a side branch who is a concubine that he even spends a lot of money to maintain contact...
This made Zhu Su even more convinced that Lu Ben did have some evil thoughts.
Zhu Su and the Chang brothers read the letters one by one. Most of these letters were sent by Lu Ben's only daughter. However, the contents were indeed as the concubine surnamed Lu said. There was nothing strange about them. They were mostly just gossip. That’s all. Zhu Su did indeed see sentences such as "I heard that Qingshui Village on the outskirts of Beijing has beautiful mountains and clear waters, and many talented people and beauties come and go. Now that my family is in Shandong, I really yearn for the scenery of the capital." But that's all, and nothing was revealed. Flaw handle.
"Have you ever had a relationship with Mr. Lu's daughter in the past?" Zhu Su asked.
"Reply to your Highness, when I was in my boudoir, I was not lucky enough to be able to make good friends with the lady of my master's family. But after I entered the Chang Mansion, the lady of my master's family often sent me unsolicited letters."
"I heard that the lady of the master's family may become the crown prince's concubine, so... I also intend to cling to..."
"The crown prince's concubine? You want to blind her!" Chang Mao heard the sound and cursed. "The Crown Princess is a girl from our old Chang family. If you marry the second child of my Chang family as your concubine, do you still need to cling to someone else?"
"It can be seen that he is also very evil!"
The concubine named Lu looked aggrieved. Although she was married to the Chang family, she was just a concubine after all. She wanted to join the Chang family and marry the eldest daughter of the current prince, but she was obviously not qualified.
"Where did you hear that she might be the crown prince's concubine?" Zhu Su frowned. The old Zhu family did want to choose a concubine for Zhu Biao, but because Zhu Su revealed the incident of Zhu Yunwen, they gave up the idea. At that time, Lu Ben's daughter Lu did indeed fall into the eyes of Lao Zhu and his wife, but only the royal family and a very small number of people should have known about it. This woman is just a concubine, where did she know this?
"This...this is a rumor on the street. The Crown Princess is infertile. It has been many years since she gave birth to the Emperor's grandson, but nothing has happened. His Highness the Crown Prince must have another concubine, and if he does, Lu My young lady is virtuous and virtuous, and is well-known in the capital, so she is the best choice..." The concubine explained stumblingly.
"Fart!" Chang Mao was so angry that his mouth was filled with smoke. Chang Sheng was also furious. Mrs. Chang is their biological sister, and now the concubine of the Chang family is actually slandering the eldest lady who left the Chang family as being infertile... Chang Sheng stepped forward and kicked his concubine down, and cursed: "What a cheap maid, how dare you accuse my sister! Even if His Highness spares you today, I will not spare you!"
Even Zhu Xiongying, who had been sitting next to Zhu Su, silently observing Zhu Su's trial with his big eyes open, turned red with anger: "You are not allowed to say that about my mother! My mother is not sick!"
"Xiongying, do people usually talk about sister-in-law like this?" Zhu Su was keenly aware of the abnormality in his nephew's words.
"Well, when some old gentlemen with beards come to look for dad, they always say that mother is sick. They always advise dad to have a concubine, saying that this way he can give birth to a younger brother for Xiongying..."
Hearing this, Zhu Su understood clearly that the prince is the foundation of the country. As the Tian family has no selfish affairs, if the prince's heirs are not prosperous, people will naturally come to advise him. But Zhu Su didn't expect that this matter would reach the point where rumors spread that the Chang family was unfavorable to his heirs. He knew that Zhu Biao actually felt sorry for Chang's body. After all, Chang died young in history, and now giving birth to Zhu Xiongying early also hurt a lot of his roots. Zhu Biao felt sorry for his wife, thinking that the two of them were young and only in their twenties now, so it would be okay to have a second son later. It is absolutely not true that the Chang family is infertile.
Now that I hear these nosy rumors, I can't help but feel a little funny.
He just smiled, and suddenly thought of something, and couldn't help but be horrified: If the Chang family is really infertile, then if Zhu Xiongying, the great grandson, suffers from smallpox at this time, then even if Zhu Biao, the prince, does not If he wishes to accept a concubine, Lao Zhu will definitely escort him to accept the concubine.
If this is the case, then Lu, who was once selected and now has a reputation as a virtuous and virtuous person, must be the first choice of the Zhu family. The Lu family can then be legitimately married into the Zhu family and bear children for the Zhu family.
Since Zhu Xiongying died of smallpox at an early age, the son born to the concubine was undoubtedly his grandson. In the future, the Lu family will prosper and become a descendant. They were just hiding behind the scenes and using the power of Kong Xixue to infect Zhu Xiongying with the epidemic. However, the Lu family could kill three birds with one stone, allowing Zhu Biao to accept a concubine, seek the position of grandson, and use the influence of his grandson to raise the Lu family. Leave no trace, only benefit. The so-called success in one fell swoop is far from enough to describe this plan.
In the past, Lu Buwei sent Zhao Ji to Qin Yiren's bed. Could it be that Lu Ben now wants to follow the example of his ancestors and promote his own daughter as the crown prince's concubine, so that the old thing of being a rare commodity can't happen again?
(End of chapter)
