Chapter 37
Two flowers bloom, one on each side.
After Lu Desheng separated from his daughter, he walked the familiar road to Yugan Palace under the leadership of a familiar young eunuch.
When he arrived at Yuqian Palace, he first confessed to the emperor, "I'm sorry, Your Majesty, I was late because I was waiting for my daughter to go out together."
When Emperor Kangcheng heard this, he asked curiously, "You and your daughter go out together?" Lu Aiqing rarely mentioned his wife and daughter, and his son only talked about it occasionally when he mentioned the prince. Today, you actually took the initiative to mention your daughter?
Lu Desheng smiled and said, "Yes, the Queen Mother summoned her, and our father and daughter separated at the palace gate."
"The Queen Mother summoned her? What's the matter?"
"Wei Chen doesn't know."
Emperor Kang Cheng didn't care. He comforted him casually and took him to play chess together.
After two or three games in a row, Lu Desheng lost. The first game lasted the longest, and the next two games were lost faster than the last.
Emperor Kang Cheng was a bad chess player. He won three games in a row and was in a good mood. At the moment, he was a little complacent and commented on Lu Desheng, "Ai Qing, your chess skills need to be improved."
Lu Desheng said unconvinced, "Your Majesty, Wei Chen is not convinced by your words. Wei Chen's chess skills are not bad. Wei Chen has been playing chess for so many years and has played so many chess records. Where is his level? Can he be any worse?"
As if to prove this point, he added, "In the past, when we played chess with the emperor, we always had some interactions. Your Majesty, have you forgotten?"
The emperor drank tea, smiled, and pointed at the mess that had not yet been cleaned up, "Here, you lost three times in a row, and you are still being stubborn?"
"That's why I was distracted!"
Lu Desheng said this, but secretly rolled his eyes in his heart. The emperor's bad chess player only bullied an honest person like him. He knew that many of the emperor's ministers could not win because others secretly allowed him to do so. But he could see that some of his ministers were letting loose, so he wouldn't be happy. The emperor likes to catch and torture novices like him. He had played chess with his daughter, and she was shocked when she heard him brag that he could occasionally beat the emperor when playing chess with the emperor, saying that their fight was just novices pecking each other. He thought about it for a moment and felt that this was indeed the case.
Perhaps Emperor Kang Cheng was in a good mood and allowed Lu Desheng, an old minister, to cheat, "Okay, tell me why you were distracted?"
Hearing this, Lu Desheng's mood dropped. "Today is the first time that my daughter has entered the palace alone. I am worried that she does not understand the rules and may have offended the Queen Mother."
Emperor Kangcheng ordered, "Wei Zili, send someone to Changle Palace to have a look, and come back later to report." His beloved mentioned his daughter one after another, and it seemed that he was really worried about her.
"Yes." Wei Zili walked out and thought that Lu Yushi was really highly valued by the emperor. Then he ordered his most valued young apprentice to visit Changle Palace in person.
Emperor Kang Cheng asked him with a smile, "You should be relieved now, right?"
"I would like to express my gratitude to the Emperor for his consideration."
"Do you want another round? I'll give you a chance to avenge your shame."
Lu Desheng shook his head, feeling that it was not enough, and gave up, "Another day, another day, I will go back to practice for two days and then come to the emperor to play chess. Then I will definitely avenge my previous shame!"
"Hahaha." Emperor Kang Cheng laughed, "Okay, then I will wait."
Lu Desheng looked at him sadly, Your Majesty, you are smiling like this, do you think I can't beat you no matter how hard I practice after I go back?
Emperor Kang Cheng stopped laughing, pointed to the boxes stacked on the table next to him, and said, "Okay, those things are rewards for you, go and see if you like them?"
Lu Desheng glanced at it, and then looked away with difficulty, "Your Majesty, I have something to say."
Lu Desheng's different reaction from the past made Emperor Kang Cheng raise his eyebrows, "If you have anything to say, just say it."
Lu Desheng immediately knelt down and said a series of words of loyalty.
For the emperor, it was very useful for Lu Desheng, a minister he personally promoted and re-employed, to express his loyalty. But when he heard Lu Desheng say that no matter how many contributions he made or how many qualifications he accumulated, he would not be promoted in the future, Emperor Kang Cheng was surprised at first, and then his suspicious and sensitive nerve as an emperor was touched.
The emperor has a conspiracy theory, there are always unscrupulous people who want to harm me!
Emperor Kang Cheng narrowed his eyes slightly, "Why does Aiqing have such thoughts?"
Could it be? "I heard that you were attacked at the door the first time you came home?" Are you afraid? Are you so timid?
Lu Desheng said nonchalantly, "Hey, some little bastards who don't like me are just throwing rotten eggs at me. What kind of attack is this? I don't know where these little bastards got so many rotten eggs. How good are the eggs?" Eat, they don’t eat and still keep the stinky stuff to hit people and ruin the family!” The latter sentence was muttered.
"As for your Majesty asking me why I have such thoughts, to be honest, I only had such thoughts in the past year."
"Weichen is now a fifth-rank censor. Weichen feels that he has climbed very high and is very contented. In Weichen's hometown, this is a high official. In the words of his hometown, this is like smoke rising from the ancestral graves in his hometown. ." Speaking of this, Lu Desheng couldn't help but puff up his chest.
Emperor Kangcheng laughed. A fifth-grade censor is not a high-ranking official. If you put a brick on Chang'an Street and throw it over, you might hit several officials.
"Wei Chen always remembers that when Wei Chen was at the end of his life, it was the Emperor who had the wise eyes of the emperor and promoted me to the Yushitai. Without the Emperor, I might have been tricked and returned to my hometown. I don't know where. Are you working as a farmer on the ground?" As he spoke, Lu Desheng glanced at Emperor Kang Cheng, who motioned for him to continue.
Lu Desheng said in a low voice, "In the past two years, Wei Chen has been a little afraid of what happened in the court."
"What are you afraid of?"
"Weichen is afraid that if he continues to rise higher and higher, the change in status will make Weichen lose his mind and do something to hurt the emperor. The most important thing is that Weichen likes the current censor. This official position cannot be done well by other ministers."
"You, you..." Emperor Kang Cheng stretched out his hand and nodded in vain. This Lu Aiqing spoke sincerely. In the sentence he just said, if anyone else, he would have put the words 'the most important thing' in the previous sentence. Go to show his loyalty to Chicheng, the emperor.
At this time, neither the monarch nor the minister spoke.
Emperor Kang Cheng narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at his minister.
Lu Desheng sat upright, looking at his nose and heart, letting Emperor Kang Cheng look at him, but he didn't feel much nervous in his heart. He and his daughter had analyzed this situation and found that no matter what Emperor Kang Cheng considered, he would not be in danger.
His dear friend had many faults, including being upright, petty, and intolerant of anger. He also had advantages. He was very good at impeaching and framing others, and he knew how to be grateful. The most important thing was that he had no complaints no matter how much infamy he suffered as the emperor. Now another advantage has been added, which is self-awareness.
