Jiuxi

Chapter 143 Chapter 142 [Beauty is like a dream]

The winter thunder shook and the drizzle fell heavily.

The fog is deep and the trees are rustling.

In the rain, Yongjia City seems to be dyed with a dull gray-white color, and the rolling eaves of roof tiles are floating with wet light. It is dim when facing the light and dim when the backlight is on.

The raindrops hit the tiles with thousands of petals, intertwining the distance and the light, just like a beautiful woman's bare hands brushing the crisp strings, interweaving an ethereal concerto.

Li's house is immersed in the lingering and gentle rain curtain, and the pavilions and pavilions are looming, giving off a hazy coldness.

Thousands of raindrops gathered along the ridge of the roof, flowing along the gaps between the tiles, pulling out silken bead curtains from the eaves, and falling on the bluestone ground, like speckled gold splatters. Produces a dense and soothing sound.

The sound of rain rose with the wind and became gentler after passing through the closed doors and windows, waking up the sleeping man on the bed.

Lu Chen slowly opened his eyes, memories flooding into his mind.

He tried his best to kill the swordsman, and when the strong man went crazy and wanted to rush over to attack him, the experts from the Weaving Department rushed over, and then Li Bingxue appeared next to him.

After being in a coma for a long time, Lu Chen's consciousness was still a little blurry, as if he had had an extremely long dream, and his whole body seemed to be floating in the clouds. Especially when he turned around and saw that surprised and concerned face, he couldn't help but wonder if he was still alive. In that alley.

"you're awake!"

Li Bingxue's tone trembled slightly, and her upper body leaned forward involuntarily.

"Miss Li...how long have I been unconscious?"

Lu Chen's voice was slightly harsh.

Li Bingxue said: "Today is the third day. The imperial doctor said that your internal injuries are somewhat serious, and the assassin's last palm shocked your heart. Fortunately, all kinds of precious medicinal materials in the palace can be freely used, and you can practice your internal skills and mind skills." It is very solid, so there is no fear of life. Now that the injury has stabilized, you only need to rest peacefully and you will be back to normal in a month or two."

Her voice became lighter and lighter, and the smile on her face became thicker, and she added: "The imperial doctor said you should be able to wake up this afternoon, so I will stay here to guard you. He was indeed right."

After Lu Chen heard this, he subconsciously looked at the surrounding environment. This was a room with elegant furnishings. It was pleasing to the eye, but it was definitely not his residence, so he asked curiously: "Where is this?"

Li Bingxue suffocated slightly, and the fierce energy she had in front of the emperor disappeared, and she said softly: "After you were assassinated, I was worried that Lu Zhai was not safe and might be targeted by fake Yan assassins. In addition, you are like this I only brought a few guards with me when I entered the capital, so I asked Your Majesty to let you stay in my house temporarily until this matter is over before making any plans."

Lu was silent.

When she returned to Li's house from Jingshui Tower that day, Li Bingxue might have been excited for a moment, and because she was too drunk, she secretly expressed her affection for him in a state of not being sober. The relationship between the two changed somewhat subtly. .

Although Li Bingxue behaved very normally when they met later and did not deliberately deny the drunken talk that day, some things cannot really leave no trace after they happen.

Fortunately, they both have an open-minded temperament. If this matter ends here, and the two of them return to the border according to the court's arrangements, and I don't know when they will see each other again, some hazy emotions may continue to be hidden. After all, they all have their own goals. and ideals.

However, the sword light appeared in Xiliu Alley. After Li Bingxue saw Lu Chen covered in blood, a certain thought in his heart was difficult to suppress, so in front of the emperor and all the ministers, he took Lu Chen to his mansion to recover from his injuries.

She has always been brilliant in her actions, and she has nothing to say to others. In addition, the whole government and the public are paying attention to the assassination case itself, so no one will talk about it outside.

But at this moment, a man and a woman are alone in the same room, some memories inadvertently creep up to the top of my heart, turning into wisps of shyness that grow quietly.

"Thank you."

After a moment of silence, Lu Chen spoke frankly, without deliberately adding a title this time.

Li Bingxue felt something in her heart, and a calm smile appeared on her face: "You're welcome."

She stood up and fetched the tea cup, which contained warm water. Lu Chen took it and moistened his throat, then asked, "I have a few things to ask you."

Li Bingxue put the cup back to its original place, sat on the edge of the bed and nodded: "You ask, do you want to know what happened in the court these days?"

Lu Chen shook his head slightly, his eyes slightly dim: "That day in the alley, fortunately two swordsmen from the Weaving Department came to the rescue in time, otherwise I would not have been able to escape the assassin's killing move. In order to protect me, they paid a lot of effort At the cost, one person lost his arm and the other was seriously injured. I want to know how they are doing?"

Li Bingxue was a little surprised, but then she felt that this was his consistent temperament, so she said softly: "I asked someone to go to the Weaving Department to ask. Both of them are alive and well, but the swordsman with a broken arm cannot recover. .”

Lu Chen sighed lightly.

Since the day he decided to join the army, he has been mentally prepared to deal with various dangers. Whether it is a life-and-death fight on the battlefield or a daily crisis, he can face it calmly.But like what happened in Xiliu Alley, the two swordsmen didn't need to be so desperate. Although it was related to the rules of the Sutra Weaving Department, Lu Chen would inevitably feel guilty.

Thinking of this, Lu Chen said slowly: "I want to go to the Warp Weaving Department in a few days."

He also has the identity of the officer of the warp weaving department. Several elders did not think it was necessary for him to completely separate himself from the warp weaving department, but he did not want to get too involved in this yamen, so he never thought about weaving warp after entering Beijing. The Secretary General's Office visited and promoted Qin Zheng, and the greeting card Su Yunqing asked Li Jin to send was kept under the scroll.

But now he felt the need to go there, even if it was just to express his gratitude to the two swordsmen in person and do something for them.

Li Bingxue understood what he was thinking, but shook her head and said, "I'm afraid it's not appropriate recently."

Lu Chen asked: "Why?"

"A lot of things happened in the court after you fell into coma."

Li Bingxue briefly told him about the past few days.

At the court meeting on the day Lu Chen was assassinated, Gao Huan, the Minister of the Ministry of Life and Punishment of the Emperor, and Zhao Bingwen, the Minister of Dali Temple, thoroughly investigated the case. The living, strong assassin was imprisoned in the jail of the Ministry of Punishment.However, no matter how the senior officials in the Ministry of Punishment tried to punish him, the assassin always insisted that he was assassinating Lu Chen on the orders of his right minister Xue Nanting.

Naturally, this kind of crude frame-up could not convince the emperor and the important officials in the court. The key was how could Xue Nanting, who wholeheartedly supported the emperor's decision of the Northern Expedition, attack Lu Chen.

It's just that the assassins have gritted their teeth and have not yet made effective progress.

According to the inference of some ministers, the assassin's purpose in framing the right prime minister was to disrupt the court's view, perhaps to protect the real culprit behind the scenes, that is, the traitor who provided them with information about Lu Chen's whereabouts.

From this perspective, it is indeed possible that the traitor is hiding within the Sutra Weaving Department.

Another major event was that Zuo Yushi Zhongcheng Xu Zuo led [-] supervisory censors and stationed in the general office of the Weaving Department to start inspections.

This is the first time in the 160 years since the founding of Daqi.

Of course, Li Duan was not the first to create the Sutra Weaving Department. It existed before the Yuanjia Revolution. However, after the southern crossing to Yongjia, this yamen gradually grew in Qin Zheng's hands and became the emperor's eyes and ears.

However, in the past hundred years, the Weaving Department also had a certain special status. To a certain extent, it was equivalent to the emperor's personal army. Naturally, it was impossible for people from the imperial government to easily interfere.

From the promotion of Qin Zheng, the two men to the inspection of the school in Gyeonggi, and even the countless secret agents below, they are all waiting for the review of the Yushitai. The accounting issue is the top priority, so Li Bingxue said that Lu Chen should not go there recently. The warp weaver came to visit.

At the end, Li Bingxue said slightly puzzled: "Actually, I don't quite understand why Qin Tiju gave in so far. With His Majesty's trust in him and the support of the right prime minister, those civil servants in the court may not be able to What about the Sutra Weaving Department? We don’t have to let Yushitai intervene."

She knew a lot about the affairs in the DPRK, but she obviously couldn't understand the deep thoughts of a big man like Qin Zheng.

"It's not necessarily a bad thing for the Yushitai to check the Weaving Sutra Division."

Lu Chen concluded softly, facing Li Bingxue's curious eyes, and continued to explain: "Do you still remember that it was Xu Zhongcheng who came forward to impeach Qu Fenghua at the great court meeting, and Qin Tiju followed closely behind, completely nailing Qu Fenghua's Crime."

Li Bingxue's eyes brightened slightly and he nodded: "Remember. You mean, Xu Zhongcheng will not deliberately target the Weaving Department. On the contrary, he can use this to block the mouths of the courtiers and prevent the Weaving Department from attracting more attention on your assassination." Lots of criticism.”

"Probably so."

Lu Chen looked calm, and then said: "If I am not wrong, Qin Tiju has another motive for doing this. In fact, Prime Minister Zuo and Privy Council Guo should know very well that these two assassins are definitely spies from the north, and there is nothing wrong with assassinating me. He wants to provoke the border army and the central government to be at odds with each other. The left prime minister will not follow the other party’s wishes. After all, he just doesn’t want to promote the Northern Expedition, but he also doesn’t want the border army to lose the confidence to protect the border.”

"So he won't push the Warp Weaver too much?"

"That's the truth. The left prime minister just wanted to use my assassination to give His Majesty some eye drops, beat the Sutra Weaving Department and the right prime minister, and slightly weaken the power in the emperor's hands. This is what we saw after entering the capital, Lord The war faction and the peace faction coexist in the struggle, and there are often conflicts, but they cannot exist completely apart from each other."

"Then why does Qin Tiju behave so humbly and weakly?"

Hearing Li Bingxue's question and looking at her expression full of curiosity, Lu Chen said gently: "Qin Tiju's move is to prove one thing to the government and the public. If it is a major matter related to the safety of the country, the Sutra Weaving Department will The Zhong Yamen can investigate to the end. If similar things happen in other Yamen in the future, such as the Sixth Department of the Chaotang or the Zhongshu Zhengtang, the emperor can also have people investigate."

Li Bingxue suddenly realized and couldn't help but smile: "So that's it. These important officials in the court have so many minds. They all have their own plans when retreating and advancing. It's hard for them to think so deeply in such a short period of time."

She lowered her head and looked at Lu Chen, raised her eyebrows slightly and said, "Of course, you are no worse than them."

(End of this chapter)