Lu Jiu'an couldn't understand his grandfather's intention, so he could only tell himself that his grandfather cared about the clan, and he must think twice before committing such a major rebellion. After the doubts in his heart were suppressed, traces were still left in the end.
"Jiu'an."
Over there, Lu Chongyuan put away his pen.
Lu Jiuan quickly calmed down and stepped forward: "Grandpa."
Lu Chongyuan put the pen in his hand on the case, and then handed him what he had written: "Send this letter to Cao Mansion and give it to Cao Dejiang."
Cao Dejiang?
Lu Jiu'an glanced at what was written in the letter inexplicably, and then raised his head in shock: "Grandpa, this..."
Lu Chongyuan sighed: "Sooner or later, Rongsheng Academy has been built, the aristocratic family is in chaos, and His Majesty also has intentions. This cannot be stopped. In this case, it is better to trade your father's life. Go, Cao Dejiang After reading this letter, I will agree to intercede for your father."
"But several others..."
"They have separated from the Lu family a long time ago, and they don't lack this one."
He didn't want to let the Qingliu faction get their way, but he didn't want to risk Lu Qin's life even more.
In Lu Chongyuan's heart, the family is indeed the highest priority, but he is also a human being. He has already given up his eldest son's family to save the Lu family, so how can he give up Lu Qin too? He knows that it is impossible for Lu Qin to have nothing to do, but he can at least keep him alive. His life.
As long as you are alive, you still have a chance.
…
When Cao Dejiang learned that the Lu family came to him, he was very surprised. He already knew about the attack on Emperor An, and he was quite moved when he learned the purpose of Lu Jiuan's visit and read the contents of the letter.
After seeing off Lu Jiu'an, Cao Dejiang pondered for a moment and then asked someone to drive to Tang Mansion.
Tang Ning didn't seem surprised at all when she saw Cao Dejiang. She just dismissed the outside servants and personally led Cao Dejiang to the backyard. When she saw the "seriously injured" Xiao Yan, Cao Dejiang had an incomprehensible look on his face: " Governor Xiao is quite courageous, are you not afraid of me going to see your majesty?"
Xiao Yan smiled palely: "I knew Mr. Cao was looking for me, so I reluctantly met him. Why did Mr. Cao go to see His Majesty?"
Pack!
Cao Dejiang said coldly: "If you are planning like this, you are not afraid that His Majesty will know about it."
"Why do you plan it? It's just your love and my wish..."
cough!
Before Xiao Yan could finish his words, he suddenly started coughing. His pale face was flushed, and when he lowered his head and coughed, blood spilled from the side of his mouth.
"Brother!"
Tang Ning on the side quickly stepped forward to support him with a handkerchief, and when Xiao was leaning over with a cough, the white clothes on his back seemed to be stained with a large amount of bright red due to the involvement.
Cao Dejiang's cold and angry face changed instantly: "Are you really hurt?"
Xiao Yan loosened the handkerchief covering his mouth, which was stained with large amounts of blood: "Mr. Cao was joking. How could I hide this from His Majesty if I wasn't injured?"
"You're crazy!"
Cao Dejiang originally thought that Xiao Yan was playing a trick tonight, just to plot against the Lu family, but he never expected that he was actually injured, and just by looking at the blood stains on his body, he knew that the injury was serious.
He frowned and glared at Xiao Yan and said: "If you want to scheme against the Lu family, you can just play it off. How can you risk your own life? A shrewd person like you has lost his mind. You don't know what will happen if your life is lost." All gone?!”
Xiao Yan's breathing was a little rapid, Tang Ning held him up and his eyes were red: "Mr. Cao, brother is seriously injured, please don't scold him..."
"You're protecting him, but do you know that you're going to die if you act like this?!"
Tang Ning seemed to be shocked by his angry voice.
Seeing that the old man's face was livid, Xiao Yan coughed and said, "It's none of Tang Ning's business. The Lu family has been cleared of Lu Zhao's case, and the food supply issue has also been suppressed. I wanted to continue the investigation secretly, but after His Majesty found out, He scolded me but didn't say anything, and he became distant and defensive towards me. I always have to find a way to get myself out of trouble."
He was out of breath when he spoke and his lips were white.
"Mr. Cao also knows that I am in a difficult situation in the court. If I take a step back, I will never recover. I cannot lose His Majesty's favor. Besides, so many people died in the Caoliang case, and so many people were killed in the hands of the Lu family. We cannot let them escape in vain. Now that I can destroy Lu Qin, I will only have to lie down for more than a month, so it is worth it."
"you……"
When Cao Dejiang listened to Xiao Yan's unabashed words of revenge, he felt for the first time that this man was really unwilling to admit defeat. Once he was attacked by the Lu family general, he had to find him back immediately, even if it cost his life to bite him off. A piece of meat from the Lu family.
Cao Dejiang stared at Xiao Yan for a long time: "You are really..."
I wanted to scold him, but when the words came to my lips, I couldn't curse when I looked at Xiao Yan's pale and smiling face.
After a long while, he spat: "Sooner or later you will have to break those stubborn bones in your own hands!"
Xiao Yan rarely showed a sickly look, with a handsome face and a slight smile, and his voice was weak: "No, I have a sense of propriety."
Cao Dejiang snorted coldly upon hearing this.
Xiao Yan begged for mercy: "Don't be angry, Mr. Cao. Although my methods were despicable and I suffered a lot of injuries, I still got some benefits for you and the court. For the sake of those benefits, don't talk about me." ”
Cao Dejiang glared and walked to the bed and sat down: "Did you know that Lu Chongyuan would come to see me?"
"I don't know, but if he doesn't want to kill his two sons in a row, he has to find someone to speak for him in the court." Xiao Yan smiled weakly: "Lu Chongyuan is a human being after all, and he also has emotions and desires, so we can't let Lu Zhao die. , and watched Lu Qin follow him to his death."
"Although His Majesty spared the Lu family, he was still resentful of Lu Chongyuan. He wished he could kill Lu Qin to vent his hatred. Lu Chongyuan's plea for mercy was to force His Majesty to die. He could only ask others for help. There was only one person in the court who could persuade His Majesty. After all the calculations among them, Cao Gong is the most suitable."
Cao Dejiang was angry: "You have no plans left!"
After speaking, he sighed and took out the letter that the Lu family had given him previously from his sleeve.
"Lu Chongyuan sent someone to send a letter to me, saying that as long as I come forward to ask Your Majesty to save Lu Qin's life, he will promise not to stand in the way of the imperial examination. Although it is only a matter of time before the imperial examination is launched, the aristocratic family has always been obstructing it. If the Lu family gives in first, this matter will be much easier."
Although there will still be many difficulties, without the Lu family, the biggest obstacle will be gone.
When Cao Dejiang saw Tang Ning taking the letter and unfolding it for Xiao Yan to read, he said: "Lu Chongyuan did not ask Lu Qin to be innocent, but only wanted to save his life. Afterwards, he was willing to propose that the imperial court open a new school to recruit scholars. I originally wanted to ask I asked you for your opinions to see if I could find a way to persuade you to let him go, but now I think you have already guessed it and are just waiting for me to come over."
Xiao Yan said warmly: "It's worth using Lu Qin's life to exchange for the path of the world's students to climb the clouds."
"Are you willing to spare Lu Qin's life?"
"I didn't even think about killing him. He's just a loser. It's not as important as opening a subject to get a scholar. Mr. Cao can just agree to Lu Chongyuan."
Cao Dejiang looked at Xiao Yan's weak but gentle smile, and couldn't help but feel a little soft in his heart. In the past, he had always thought that Xiao Yan was calculating and unscrupulous in his actions, but now that he thought about it, if he was pure and kind, he might He had already lost his life.
Compared to the aristocratic family who violently occupied the people's wealth and destroyed the foundation of the court, what Xiao Yan did never crossed the bottom line. He was not an extremely evil person, and he also had great rights and wrongs.
Cao Dejiang whispered: "All scholars in the world owe you a favor, and so do I."
