Let's talk about Situ Ce, who felt a little tired after approving the memorials sent from the palace for a day. Li Ping served hot tea and said, "Your Highness, the girl is awake."
"Is there any discomfort?" he asked while drinking tea.
"No, he said he has gone back to his dormitory."
Situ Ce nodded, "Go and see Shen Zhuo."
"yes."
When Situ Ce arrived at Chongming Hall, he saw Shen Zhuo standing by the window, looking at the pomegranate flowers outside the window. Situ Ce walked to the table and sat down. He smiled and said, "You don't eat or drink all day long. Shen Shangshu still thinks I am I’ve treated you badly.”
When Shen Zhuo saw Situ Ce coming, he knelt down and saluted, "See you, Your Highness."
Situ Ce hummed, "Get up and sit down."
"Thank you, Your Highness."
Seeing the person sitting down, Situ Ce said calmly: "I know you were wronged about what happened a few days ago, but breaking into the palace without permission is a serious crime."
"I know that I am guilty, please punish me, Your Highness." Shen Zhuo immediately knelt down and bowed his head.
Situ Ce waved the waiter out, looked at Shen Zhuo, and said in a deep voice, "Get up first and sit down, and listen to what I have to say."
He sighed, thought for a while and said: "The crime is not small, but this matter is considered a private matter of the East Palace and should not be made public. I want to find a reason to transfer you to Honglu Temple. Are you willing?"
"Your Highness is magnanimous. I cannot escape the blame for my death. I should not let down your hard work. But after this incident, I know that I am not worthy of being an official. I sincerely ask Your Highness to allow me to resign and return to my hometown!" Shen Zhuo said, kneeling down to look at his head. .
Hearing this, Situ Ce frowned slightly and didn't speak for a long time. Shen Zhuo kowtowed again and asked, "Your Highness, please agree."
"Since you have decided to leave, I won't keep you here." Situ Ce sighed, "From now on... just take care of yourself."
"Thank you, Your Highness."
Situ Ce nodded, got up and left. As soon as he arrived at the door, he heard Shen Zhuo say: "Your Highness, in the early Qing Dynasty, she was pure and upright, and had a quick mind. She was able to satisfy His Highness by serving him. But she was upright and determined. , will never bow her head easily, and may sometimes bump into His Highness. If she contradicts His Highness one day, please spare her life for the sake of her being alone."
"I have my own sense of discretion." Situ Ce said calmly.
"Thank you, Your Highness." Shen Zhuo said and bowed his head.
"Do you... have anything you want me to bring to her?" Situ Ce thought for a moment before asking.
"No more," Shen Zhuo smiled, "I am just a burden to her, so don't cause her any more troubles."
Situ Ce turned to look at him, only to see him smile bitterly and say: "Actually, I know that the early Qing Dynasty only bound me because of the marriage contract. As my fiancée, she needs to respond to my feelings. Women, I always feel stupid. I always feel that once I get married, I will be someone else's for the rest of my life, and I will have no self at all. She is just a responsibility to me. Emotions? Yes... not much."
Situ Ce was not a person who loved his children, but when he saw that the cheerful person in the past was so lonely, he felt a little emotional in his heart and said with relief: "She is not so heartless."
Shen Zhuo shook his head, "She's not ruthless, she just doesn't love me."
In fact, he had known for a long time that Fu Qingchu didn't hate him, but he didn't love him. Otherwise, she wouldn't be able to analyze the pros and cons with him so calmly and draw a clear line with him so decisively.
She knows what she wants, and she is a burden to her.
Situ Ce sighed, "Cherish it in the future."
"Your Highness, if one day you don't need her anymore and she can leave the palace, please tell me that I have been waiting for her." He looked at Situ Ce longingly.
However, he loved her, loved the girl who looked back at her on the Lantern Festival night, loved the girl who hid behind the screen and looked at him secretly, loved the girl who could talk to him about the past and present, and advised him not to study hard.
He thought that Fu Qingchu was just a happy maid next to Situ Ce. When they got married in the future, the princess would not be able to tolerate others, so she would be released from the palace.
"You don't have to wait any longer." Situ Ce said, opened the door and went out.
Shen Zhuo looked at Situ Ce's retreating back, and the light in his eyes dimmed little by little. He laughed to himself, got up from the ground, and staggered out of Chongwen Hall.
…
In late spring, there was more rain than usual, and it dripped on the plantains.
Su Junruo stood quietly in front of the window, watching the rain dripping from the eaves, with no sadness or joy on her face.
At this time, the door was pushed open from the outside. She turned around and saw a young eunuch saying: "Si Gui, Your Highness has summoned you."
"Okay, I'll freshen up. I'll be here soon." She said calmly.
The prince kept her under house arrest for three days, and what was supposed to come would eventually come.
As soon as she arrived at Zhaoming Hall, she saw Fu Qingchu already standing in the audience. In addition, there were former chief cook Wu Yuansi and chief minister Wang Shunlan.
"See Your Highness." She knelt down and saluted.
"No need to pay tribute."
"I wonder why His Highness summoned his ministers here?" Su Junruo asked calmly.
"I have something to check with you." Situ Ce looked at her and said calmly, "The ancient calligraphy and paintings in the library were quietly taken out and sold for rubbings. Did you know?"
Hearing this, Su Junruo looked surprised and looked at Situ Ce in disbelief, "Is there such a thing? I don't know, but the people in the library are too bold!"
Situ Ce glanced at her and then looked at Wu Yuansi, "Wu Si Cui, the items purchased by Si Cui are more than ten to twenty times higher than the market price. Did you know?"
"I...don't know."
Situ Ce nodded and turned to look at Wang Shunlan, "Wang Size, did you know that many of the gold, silver and jade items recorded in the warehouse can no longer be found?"
"I don't know." Wang Shunlan lowered his head and said.
Hearing this, Situ Ce couldn't help but laugh, "I don't even know, what do I need you for?"
"I have made a mistake, please forgive me——"
The three of them knelt down to apologize.
Situ Ce stood up and walked to them, "Su Sigui, please explain to me. The number of people in the entire East Palace that can be called is 567. Why are there 823 people on the palace roster?"
Su Junruo looked around, took a deep breath and said in a deep voice: "Some people have left the palace, and some people have been seconded to the Yeting Bureau. I haven't had time to update the books yet."
Situ Ce nodded, "Then why do you still receive a monthly salary of 823 people?"
Hearing this, Su Junruo's heart sank and she didn't know how to respond.
"Can't tell? Let me tell you." Situ Ce looked at her coldly, "The extra 256 people will be eaten equally by you, right? Oh, I don't have the guts to eat people. , but not only do you have the courage to eat people’s monthly salary, but you are also very brave, right?”
"Your Highness!" Su Junruo shouted hurriedly, "I was threatened by the Xiao Jialing of the Jialing Temple. Everything was not what I wanted. Moreover, the comings and goings of the palace people were recorded in the Jialing Temple. Even if I wanted to take advantage of my empty salary, I am also full of ambition but not strong enough, so please be more careful, Your Highness!"
Situ Ce laughed, "Then you should know the books in the library, right?"
"This is my dereliction of duty, but I really didn't know about the theft of ancient books, calligraphy and paintings."
"I don't know? You were very active when you were helping Zhang Shu find books, but now you don't know?" Situ Ce said with a smile, "In the whole palace, you are the only one who has been the most aggrieved."
"I dare not say that I am wronged, but I cannot do these things alone," Su Junruo said calmly, "As for petty thieves, I look down upon them."
"Yes, you don't look down on petty theft. Is Hegong's monthly salary enough? You exchange all the monthly salary rice and grain for silver mixed with tin, and you also look at me, I don't know?"
"Your Highness..."
"Xiao Chenghe is your grandfather's disciple. What are you going to do and he dares to stop you? He is alone in the capital. Only the Su family has such great ability to exchange so much money and food for adulteration. Fake silver of tin!”
At this point, Situ Ce's face was filled with anger. He pointed at the people kneeling on the ground and cursed: "You big families are so beautiful and admired by the world, but behind your back you do all kinds of dirty things. , make friends and form cliques, bully superiors and humiliate subordinates, and have no shame!"
"Your Highness, I am responsible for all my work. If you haven't done it, you haven't done it. There is no need to involve your family." Su Junruo looked down at the ground and said, neither humble nor arrogant.
"You yourself know what dirty things your family has done!" Situ Ce said coldly, "The rats in the gutter are cleaner than your family! Take a good look at these things for yourself, have you ever done them?"
As he spoke, he threw the stack of paper in his hand in front of her.
Su Junruo picked up the papers, read them one by one, clenched them unconsciously, and shouted: "Your Highness, my family is just a big tree that attracts the wind. These are just rumors, and they are really unfounded! On the other hand, some people, in the family, I started my career as a second minister, but when I came to my court, I still devoted myself to being a second minister. Even if I gave birth to a daughter, I would have to serve two husbands together."
Hearing this, Fu Qingchu felt a little ridiculous. This person was about to die, but he still didn't forget to throw dirty water on her.
"Su Junruo, you are still spouting feces when you are about to die!" Fu Qingchu looked at Su Junruo with contempt on his face, "Do you think what you did was perfect?"
"Isn't it?" Su Junruo said with a smile, "Fu Shi surrendered to our dynasty as a royal relative of the Ning Dynasty, and she rebelled some time ago. You had an affair with someone in Shunyang Pavilion, why are you pretending to be a chaste and martyr woman here now?
"I'm about to die, but what about you? I had an affair with someone, I was carried out by the prince in a disheveled state, and I didn't leave the prince's palace for three days, and we had sex without a matchmaker. Which sentence did I say wrong? The family is disloyal, and you Unclean. Your Highness, if you have such an unfaithful and unclean person around you, you will also be polluted."
Situ Ce looked at her, his eyes becoming colder little by little.
"Oh, I forgot, you were born among the people and have experienced the sufferings of the people, like Fu Qingchu..." She paused deliberately and said meaningfully, "You should be used to this kind of act of surrendering yourself to others. You don’t care about these little details, do you?”
Situ Ce looked at Su Junruo coldly, sneered when he heard this, turned around and walked to the knife holder behind the seat, pulled out a knife and gave it to Fu Qingchu, and said calmly: "Kill."
Fu Qingchu looked at him in shock and said in disbelief: "Your Highness..."
Situ Ce turned to look at her, frowned and asked, "Don't you listen to me?"
"Your Highness...I..." She held the knife and her hand began to tremble, "I..."
"I asked you to kill her." Situ Ce looked at her firmly and said softly, "Kill her for me." As he said that, he pushed her forward.
Fu Qingchu looked at Su Junruo, whose expression had changed on the ground. His hands couldn't stop shaking. Every step he took was like walking between a mountain of swords and a sea of fire.
Su Junruo looked at her with horror on her face and backed away with her hands, "Fu Qingchu, don't come over. If you kill me, I will never let you go..."
"Kill! I will go to hell for you!" Situ Ce looked at Su Junruo coldly.
"Situ Ce, if you kill me, you won't be able to hide those things you did!" Su Junruo screamed.
"Then I will kill them all! Fu Qingchu! Kill them!"
Situ Ce roared.
"Fu Qingchu——"
Su Junruo screamed and rushed up from the ground.
"ah--"
Fu Qingchu raised the knife and dropped it. In an instant, warm blood splashed all over her body.
The surroundings suddenly fell into dead silence.
Su Junruo's chin was cut off in half, and her head hung on her neck. Her eyes were wide open, and she was twitching on the ground. After struggling for a few times, she died with her eyes open. Tears fell down from the corners of her eyes, and her eyes were full of tears. Hatred and unwillingness.
With a clang, the bloody knife slipped from Fu Qingchu's hand. Wu Yuansi and Wang Shunlan were so frightened that they hugged each other and cried, for fear that they would be the next to die.
Situ Ce supported the shaky person, and Fu Qingchu turned to look at him with horror in his eyes, "Your Highness...she is dead."
"Yes, you killed him for me." Situ Ce picked him up and walked out.
