August 15th, Mid-Autumn Festival.

The royal banquet will be held at the Qinzhengwu Main Building of Xingqing Palace on the occasion of the good weather. After the banquet, the saint will enjoy the moon together with all the people.

For this royal banquet, many important ministers stopped paying attention today.

The Hanlin Academy located in the city west of the Daming Palace became increasingly quiet, but Li Mi arrived at the public room early and sat down, thinking about the poems he should write for tonight's imperial banquet.

"Mr. Li."

Suddenly, a soft voice sounded outside the public room.

Li Mi opened his eyes and already guessed who the visitor was.

He is now enshrined in the East Palace, and only the people in the East Palace call him "Sir".

Sure enough, the door was pushed open, and Li Jingzhong sneaked in. He walked tiptoe in front of Li Mi, knelt down and cried, "Please help me, sir."

Li Mi sighed and asked, "Yesterday's murder case was really related to His Highness? Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"Pei Mian and Du Hongjian are both dead. There is no news about the old slave. We only found out this morning."

"I didn't believe it when I heard that this case was related to the East Palace." Li Bi said, "Since Pei Mian has escaped, why bother sending merchants back to He to deal with it?"

Li Jingzhong had a bitter look on his face, knowing that he couldn't hide it from Li Mi's wise eyes, so he had no choice but to lie down on the ground and explain honestly.

"Is this old slave afraid that he will talk too much? Let Gu Wu Gu see if he can... silence him?"

"you!"

Li Mi stood up suddenly, looked at Li Jingzhong with a pair of eyes full of compassion, and shook his head with hatred.

"I have told you several times that the best kindness is like water. But you continue to want to kill His Highness? If you fail to bury Xue Bai alive, you will bring a big enemy to the East Palace. The damage has not been eliminated yet, but you still want to kill Pei Mian? What needs to be destroyed is not his.

The mouth is the demonic obstacle in your heart."

"I know my mistake! I really know my mistake!"

Li Jingzhong didn't know how to refute, so he knelt there, kowtowed to Li Mi, and said: "I really know that I was wrong. This matter was all done by me alone and has nothing to do with His Highness. When the time comes, I will ask for a cockfight to criticize His Highness. If I can

To pay for the crime with the old slave alone..."

"Stop talking." Li Mi sighed, "The foundation of the country is shaken, and the country is causing trouble. You can't bear it alone."

He knew very well that the mistake was indeed made by Li Jingzhong, but absolutely no one would criticize a slave. Li Linfu's target was only the Eastern Palace, or the important civil and military ministers who supported the Eastern Palace.

Li Jingzhong burst into tears and said: "It is not a pity for me to die, I just ask you, sir, to save your highness."

"Your Highness, please sin yourself to the saint."

"What?"

Li Bi said: "There is still time now, the saint is still resting, and the news has not yet been sent to the emperor. His highness's self-condemnation will never make the saint think about abolishing the throne."

This is what he thinks is the best way at the moment. This is also true for what he said when he was young: "Fang is like doing justice, perfection is like using wisdom, movement is like using materials, and tranquility is like being proud."

Li Jingzhong lowered his head and his eyes flashed.

"But... His Highness doesn't know about this. Could you please give His Highness a nice word?"

Li Mi shook his head and said: "It is useless to say nice things about this matter, but it will harm Your Highness. Only by asking Your Highness to admit his mistake and bear some responsibility can the big problem be reduced to a small one."

"yes."

When Li Jingzhong saw that Li Mi had only this option, he kowtowed and wanted to leave.

"One more thing." Li Mi leaned over to help him up and whispered: "Li Gong should remind His Highness that King Guangping is the eldest son, and His Highness and Zhang Liangdi should exercise restraint."

He didn't want to say this at first, but there have been many things going on in the East Palace recently, and as a subordinate official, he had to remind him.

He had heard that King Guangping had been banned, so he was worried that the prince would be swayed by King Guangping and rely on Zhang Liangdi's family background. Zhang Liangdi was born into a noble family, but if she gave birth to a son, it would be a bad thing for the East Palace in the long run.

…

Li Jingzhong entered the palace in the name of sending Mid-Autumn Festival gifts. He finally went to the Hanlin Academy, but he didn't expect to get such an idea. He was quite disappointed.

Returning to the Prince's Courtyard, he carefully explained Li Mi's answer.

"Sin against the saint?" Li Heng frowned, worried.

"Yes." Li Jingzhong said: "Mr. Li is not willing to intercede for His Highness, but he has forgotten that he is an imperial edict that His Highness asked his consort to find for him."

Li Heng put his hands behind his hands and looked out the window, sighing.

"Your Highness, you must not listen to Mr. Li's theory of self-incrimination. The saint is already biased against Your Highness. If His Highness admits this, he will admit to accumulating strength in private, just like admitting to intercourse with Wei Jian during the Wei Jian case. This is true.

The sins that could be easily shouldered by the old slave have become His Highness’s fault.”

It would be fine if Li Jingzhong could really take it on, but Li Heng knew that leaving Li Jingzhong behind would not solve any problem.

But now there are fewer and fewer people in the court who can intercede for him.

Thinking about this, he went to Zhang Liangdi's residence.

Zhang Ting started dressing up early in the morning for the royal banquet tonight.

"Everyone get down."

Li Heng picked up the comb and combed her hair himself.

"Your Highness is in trouble?"

"Something happened." Li Heng actually didn't know how to comb his hair, so he put down his comb and said, "Li Jingzhong arranged for a group of Huihe people to kill Pei Mian, but they all died, and even the token fell into the hands of Suo Douji."

Zhang Ting was surprised and asked: "Who killed him?"

"I don't know." Li Heng sighed: "Suo Dou Chong will definitely use this to criticize us tonight."

Zhang Ting smiled and combed her long hair on her chest.

Li Heng had already held her hand.

"Ting Niang, I have always felt that it would be too unfair to only let you do it for Liangdi. You should be my legitimate wife, and we should have children of our own."

~~

Du Zhai.

Lu Fengniang was still trying to persuade Xue Bai earnestly.

"You are going to the royal banquet again tonight. What if the saint offers you a princess to marry? This is the daughter of the Cui family of Qinghe. I don't know how many people want to marry a girl with the fifth surname. Cui Gongguan is appointed as Shangshu Zuocheng, the Ministry of Rites

Minister, it is very likely that he will preside over it again next spring. Cui Gong admired you very much when he saw you in Dali Temple. You are much more discerning than my brother and sister-in-law. I am not related to his family. This marriage is really too good.

Well, then I agree to come down and take you to see each other..."

"I also asked my aunt to reject the Cui family's kindness for me. It is true that I am not worthy of the Cui family of Qinghe." Xue Bai refused decisively and said, "I will go to the imperial banquet now."

"Going so early?"

"Yes, I will go to Xingqing Palace with Mrs. Guo Guo and look for her first."

"Then let's talk about it after the royal banquet. After all, she is a woman with the fifth surname."

"No, Mrs. Guo Guo doesn't agree."

Lu Fengniang was stunned, but she was speechless.

When Xue Bai left Du's house, he felt that this scene was quite similar to that during the Shangyuan Festival.

After all, the saint loved feasting and Lu Fengniang loved matchmaking, and their habits have not changed.

…

Mrs. Guo's Mansion.

Before Yang Yuyao got up, she heard that Xue Bai had arrived and ordered her maid to take him to the boudoir.

"After the banquet, we have to admire the moon again. I don't know how long the fuss will last. Why don't we sleep more during the day? Come over."

A jade hand stretched out the curtain to wave, Xue Bai stepped forward, and Yang Yuyao pulled him to the couch.

After a moment, Mingzhu hugged her clothes in front of her body, stood up, and whispered: "Slave, go prepare hot water."

She rustled outside the curtain, put on her clothes, and left.

Yang Yuyao smiled, knowing that both the maid and Xue Bai knew how to behave and never looked at each other.

"Did you know that something happened again in Chang'an City, and today's imperial banquet may not be peaceful again."

"I heard that." Xue Bai said: "They are fighting back and forth, it's annoying to watch."

"This matter has nothing to do with you, right?"

"I've been keeping to myself lately and not getting involved in these things."

"So good."

Yang Yuyao smiled and turned sideways, reaching out to pinch his chin.

"However." Xue Bai said: "I told you my identity. I checked this matter recently and got something."

"where?"

"In my arms."
To be continued...