"So, is your wife also planning to deceive you, saying that she has never been to Chunhua Street and has not met the Queen?"

After Chunxiang asked Li Yuezhen for help, Li Yuezhen immediately sent a supervisory censor and detained eight aristocratic ladies who were having dinner at a restaurant in Juhuafang. They are currently being interrogated in the censor's prison in Rising Sun Palace.

However, the eight ladies also insisted that they originally planned to go to a restaurant on Chunhua Street, but later thought it would be better to go to Juhuafang instead, so they changed the location temporarily.

They sent someone to notify Chunying Palace, and they went to the restaurant in Juhuafang, but after waiting around, they didn't see the Queen.

"Chunying Palace did receive the news of the change of location, but it was received long after the Empress left."

Zhuge Qing, who was standing diagonally behind Zhuge Ciyun, shrugged, and Zhuge Ciyun also deliberately sighed heavily.

"In short, you and your wife will be handed over to the Censor..."

"Us too?"

"certainly."

"But, as I said just now, we don't know anything..."

"Having said that, it was your wives who caused this incident."

Several nobles looked at each other in horror and asked Zhuge Ciyun: "Please let us see the emperor. We want to talk to the emperor directly."

"But the emperor doesn't want to see you."

"The emperor is very angry and says that he doesn't want to see your faces until the queen returns to the palace safely."

Zhuge Qing brightly supplemented Zhuge Ciyun, and the originally hopeful expressions of several nobles turned into despair.

Zhuge Ciyun deliberately teased in a sympathetic tone: "If you want to explain anything, you can tell the censor."

"..."

The eight nobles were speechless and left with the censor.

"Do they really know nothing?"

After the nobles left, Zhuge Qing looked back at his father.

"Even if they don't know what happened today and they haven't let their young daughters get married yet, they still hope that their daughters will have the opportunity to become queens or concubines, right?"

"So, whether you know it or not, you are all guilty?"

"Having said that, those nobles are usually closely watched by the emperor and do not dare to act rashly. Their wives only know the queen who quietly listens to their sarcastic remarks. I always feel that they are more likely to be behind the scenes... but these women are not enough after all.

Smart, screwed up."

With that said, Zhuge Ciyun sat on the bench and took a sip of the hot tea brought by the maid just now.

Zhuge Qing stood there, looking up at the ceiling.

"...Father, although this is just a hasty plan that will soon reveal its flaws, is it too high a risk for them to take action against a country?"

"Indeed, whether they try to kidnap or kill people, after all, there is a precedent of the Xishen Pass rebellion, so they should not do such a reckless thing."

In the Xishenguan Rebellion, the leading nobles lost their status and property.

Unless these nobles were mentally prepared to suffer the same punishment, they would not be able to attack Shui Xinyuan easily.

"In this case, the gardener's matter cannot be explained."

"I feel so too."

If the purpose was to assassinate Shui Xinyuan, there was no need to go out of his way to find Ziwei to join in the fun.

Zhuge Ciyun raised his chin.

"He said he was the Queen's childhood sweetheart. Did he ever propose to the Queen?"

"He himself preaches it everywhere. I don't know whether he likes to brag or borrows the courage from heaven..."

"Is it because I can't remember my old love for the woman I once proposed to marry?"

"I don't know. I heard from Qing'er that the queen had never mentioned that someone had asked her to marry him. She didn't recognize him at all at first, or at least he wasn't that familiar with her at first."

"For a gardener, it would certainly be unpleasant to hear that a fellow countryman who grew up with him has become a queen."

Zhuge Qing still raised his head and slowly folded his arms.

"Is it because you feel regretful that now that things have happened, you still want to keep it as your own?"

"Maybe the more you know you can't get it, the more obsessed you become."

"This... indeed, not getting it is always the best..."

If someone adds fuel to the fire at this time and tells this sentimental man that the woman he loves is in misfortune, it will make him even more unable to extricate himself.

Hearing these words from a fellow countryman who grew up with him, if the queen hadn't kicked him down in time, he might have faced another danger.

"..."

"..."

Zhuge Qing and Zhuge Ciyun looked at each other in unison.

"Could it be...that this is the purpose?"

"It's not impossible. The gardener expressed his feelings to the queen, and the place was in a restaurant on Chunhua Street. Although the queen would of course flatly refuse, the boastful gardener would think that the queen was just considering the emperor's favor and refused him. When the time comes,

They will spread the news about their secret meeting in Chunhua Street around the palace..."

"Oops..."

Zhuge Ciyun analyzed calmly with a serious face, while Zhuge Qing pressed his forehead.

"Are they going to all this trouble just to fabricate the affair between the Queen and the gardener on Chunhua Street?"

"I'm going to ask those dumb ladies, but if that's the case, it's really going to be a lot of trouble."

It is true that Shui Xinyuan and the gardener met on Chunhua Street. If rumors are spread, these rumors may indeed be detrimental to Shui Xinyuan.

"Even if the gardener spreads his word, no one will believe him..."

"As long as anyone who knows the Queen a little bit, it's impossible to believe her, including the Emperor of course."

However, this can become a new topic of cynicism for those nobles.

Zhuge Qing thought of Shui Xinyuan's gentle smile and couldn't help but sympathize with her.

"I will report to the emperor..."

"There is no need to report our inferences in detail. Once it is confirmed that this is the case, I will ask the censor to write a document... Moreover, if it is just to fabricate false news about the queen's affair, the queen cannot disappear, and there is no way that an unknown man will pursue her.

she."

"ah?"

Yes, things got more serious after the gardener was kicked down.

"The Queen ran very fast, I don't know where she escaped to..."

Although I don't know if Shui Xinyuan escaped successfully, I at least hope that she can escape from the clutches of the devil and hide somewhere.

Maybe ordinary rich ladies can't do it, but Shui Xinyuan is very hopeful.

However, it is already midnight.

"...I wonder if the queen will get lost."

"Not impossible."

The Queen looks smart and capable, but sometimes she is confused in certain places.

At this time, several footsteps were heard in the corridor.

After knocking on the door, two officials from Zhongshu Province came in.

"Excuse me, let's report the situation."

"good."

"As for the fact that someone made false claims about the gardener, we have already found someone to draw a portrait of the messenger. He should not be a soldier of these eight nobles."

"……What?"

"I have shown the gardener the armors worn by the soldiers of various families, and he said they are not..."

"Could one of those eight people be lying?"

Zhuge Qing asked, and the two officials shook their heads.

"It has been confirmed that when the gardener was talking to the masked man, all eight people were in the office. In addition, there is another incredible thing..."

"What's up?"

"According to the confirmation of the maid who accompanied the Queen to the invitation location..."

"Chunxiang?"

"Yes, she said that there was still an empty seat in the box in the Hongyuan Building. The Queen asked whose seat it was, and someone answered that it was the seat of Mrs. Ma Shilang of the Ministry of Etiquette, but because she was feeling unwell, she canceled it temporarily..."

Zhuge Qing turned around and found that Zhuge Ciyun's expression was also a bit solemn.

"...Speaking of Minister Ma, didn't his son also participate in His Highness Lu Wuxian's rebellion before?"
To be continued...