Everyone was
shocked. The Duke's wife stood up suddenly and scolded: "Why are you panicking! Speak properly! What happened?!"
The maid knelt on the ground and kowtowed while crying: "Yes, someone died in the river. I saw it..."
The Duke's wife Yin and the Queen Yin Yiyi looked at each other and saw the two words "not good" in each other's eyes.
The two of them could no longer care about anything else and hurried to the garden.
The ladies were curious and scared. Amidst the discussions, many brave ones followed. Qiu Che was among this group of people.
Li Qingwu looked at Yaotai comfortingly and followed.
Sure enough, as the maid said, there was a body floating in the pond in the garden.
Someone was sent to salvage it. When the hair on the body was scattered on the face, it was found that it was a woman with a swollen face and closed eyes. It seemed that she had been dead for a long time and was wearing the clothes of a palace maid.
The queen's eyebrows moved, and the ripples around her were also startled.
ââThis woman was Yingyu, another maidservant beside the queen.
A nanny beside her covered her nose and stepped forward to feel Yingyu's breath, shaking her head to indicate that she was beyond help.
The queen suddenly turned her head to look at Li Qingwu who had just followed, and asked sternly: "You said you came here, and she told me to bring you here?" Li Qingwu
saw the corpse at a glance, was stunned for a moment, subconsciously raised her hand to cover her nose, and resisted the urge to vomit and said: "Yes..."
After all, she has been the queen's daughter for so many years, so she shouldn't be unable to recognize the head maidservant beside her.
The queen said coldly: "Then tell me, why is she here now?"
This is not easy to answer.
If what Li Qingwu said just now is true, then the last person who saw her is Li Qingwu, and she is the first suspect, which means that her words have lost credibility at the same time.
If Li Qingwu denies it at this time, then she will be charged with lying, and her words will also lose credibility.
How she suddenly appeared in front of the two people in Yaotai is unclear.
Li Qingwu was smart. Having stayed in the palace for a long time, he was good at observing people's words and expressions, and he immediately found the trap in her words.
She did not answer immediately, and the scene was quiet for a while.
Yaotai, wearing a thin coat, came over swaggeringly, and said blankly: "Your Majesty, since someone has died, shouldn't you report it to the authorities first? Or do you want to settle it privately?"
The queen had not made up her mind.
She had a bad premonition in her heart, and always felt that she could not report it to the authorities, but now someone had suddenly died in public, and it was not so easy to shut up these rich ladies.
What's more, she actually suspected Li Qingwu.
Even if she didn't do it, Yingyu's death must have something to do with her.
If it had nothing to do with Li Qingwu, a good flower-viewing banquet, but a scandal and death inexplicably occurred, it would be very detrimental to the reputation of the Duke's Mansion if it got out.
The queen was reluctant to report it to the authorities.
She scolded with some dissatisfaction: "I am talking to the princess, when is it your turn as a dancer in a brothel to interrupt?"
Yaotai slid to her knees quickly and said immediately: "It is my fault for talking too much, please forgive me, Your Majesty."
The queen then cast her eyes on Li Qingwu again. She was about to speak, but suddenly there was a dense but orderly sound of footsteps outside the yard.
Qiu Che felt something was wrong, and immediately lowered his head and left the crowd. While no one was paying attention, he quietly leaned against the wall of the courtyard, stepped on his heels, and quietly flipped over the wall.
No one noticed.
The next moment, the Jinyiwei in flying fish uniforms filed in from the gate of the courtyard and surrounded everyone.
The leader was wearing a long sword and had a serious face. He was the head of the Jinyiwei, known as the cold-faced evil god, and the third-rank commander, Cui Wenshen.
Unlike the imperial guards, the Jinwuwei, the Jinyiwei obeyed the emperor's orders, and only the emperor's orders.
They would not be dispatched collectively until the critical moment.
The Queen's eyelids jumped immediately: "Lord Cui... what does this mean?"
"Someone reported that there are Southern Yi insiders in the Duke's Mansion."
"By order of His Majesty-" Cui Wenshen took out the gold medal of amnesty and said in a serious tone, "Everyone in the Duke's Mansion today, no matter who they are, will be taken to the imperial prison to await interrogation."
In front of the gold medal, no one can disobey, including Yuan Fu, the commander of the Jinwu Guard who is also a third-rank official.
But the Queen and others were of noble status after all, and the so-called "Southern Yi insiders" were unlikely. The Emperor still gave them face and only let the Jinyiwei take away other people, including Yaotai and Fuling.
Li Qingwu, the Queen and the Duke's wife were separated and placed under house arrest.
As the Queen's mother, she was placed under house arrest by her husband in public. It can be seen that the Queen was very embarrassed.
But probably for the last few points of face, she did not have any conflict with Cui Wenshen in public, and reluctantly put on a decent smile and left with the Jinyiwei.
No matter how dissatisfied and protested the ladies and ladies were, the Jinyiwei took all the people away impartially.
Cui Wenshen glanced at the corpse that had just been fished out of the ground, and waved for his men to take it back.
Later, all of this was told to Qiu Che by Wu Yiqi.
As luck would have it, he was now working for the Jinyiwei, a small flag of the seventh rank, and happened to be among the people who followed Cui Yushen to arrest people.
He did not say it in person, but sent someone to pass on a message to Qiu Che, only telling the general situation.
Li Qingwu was unable to come back for the next day after this banquet.
Such a big thing happened in the Duke's Mansion. First, the Jinwu Guard was caught cheating, then the maid died suddenly, and finally it was said that there were spies from the Southern Yi, and even the Queen Mother was placed under house arrest. Naturally, the outside world was talking about it.
The lady's daughter and "granddaughter" were all placed under house arrest, and the Duke's hair turned white overnight.
The next day, memorials about this case filled Li Shi's desk.
Some people impeached that the emperor should not be so impulsive to put the empress under house arrest, and some questioned who had reported the emperor and whether the source was credible. Some people exaggerated and took advantage of the situation... In short, there were all kinds of content.
Qiu Che, as the imperial tutor, naturally read the general contents of these memorials clearly without Li Shi covering up.
She lowered her eyes and grinded ink and sorted books for the emperor as usual.
Li Shi looked very troubled and suddenly said, "Qiu Aiqing, I just put Le He under house arrest... Don't you have any ideas?"
Qiu Che said calmly, "Your Majesty has his own reasons for doing things."
Bullshit.
She was not as calm as she appeared on the surface.
Because what happened this time broke the situation that she had been avoiding many risks by "prophecy" for some time.
There was indeed such a flower-viewing banquet in her previous life, but there was no such accident in her vague memory.
Some things have completely changed with her rebirth -
Qiu Che has never been more aware of this than now.
Rebirth only gave her a chance to start over for ten years, but it did not mean that she could take a shortcut to a carefree life by relying on the memories of these ten years.
Nothing can be under her control forever, Qiu Che knows.
The court is full of twists and turns, and the situation is ever-changing. One wrong step will lead to an abyss.
Qiu Che warned herself in her heart, suppressed the depression in her heart, and continued to sort things out quietly.
She was waiting - waiting for the emperor to speak.
After learning the news last night, Qiu Che thought about it and sat up until the second half of the night without falling asleep. She also figured out many things that were wrong.
Not to mention why so many things happened in the Duke's Mansion at the same time in just one day.
If it was just a palace maid who died suddenly, the Jinwu Guards had an affair, or even a spy from the Southern Yi who sneaked into the mansion... it would not cause the queen of a country to be placed under house arrest like this.
The Jinyiwei arrested someone, but there was no movement, neither interrogating nor releasing him, which means there are only two possibilities.
One is that the case is complicated and cannot be sorted out in a short time.
The other is that the emperor has other plans.
As an outsider of this case, Qiu Che had to take over the case if she wanted to know the truth and save Li Qingwu, Yaotai and others.
But how could an ordinary imperial tutor take over such a case?
She chose to take a gamble. She
bet that this case was not simple, that the emperor was suspicious, and that he had no one to use.
She bet that he would also bet on her integrity and loyalty.
In this long, silent silence, Li Shi stared at her for a moment, then smiled abruptly: "Qiu Aiqing, you always make me feel confused - are you really happy and harmonious? Why do you seem to care nothing about her?"
"Family and country come first, love comes second," Qiu Che said neither humbly nor arrogantly, "I am happy with your Highness, but I also know that your Majesty is your father and will definitely not harm her. So even if I am worried, as long as your Majesty does not say anything, I will not go beyond the rules." Knowing
what kind of life Li Qingwu had lived in the past, he had to say such seemingly harmonious words in person.
Even though Qiu Che was used to exchanging compliments with anyone, even enemies, he still couldn't help but feel sick for Li Qingwu.
Fortunately, the emperor didn't notice anything unusual.
He must be very satisfied with Qiu Che's answer. He waved his hand and asked the eunuchs and palace maids around him to leave.
Then he said, "Come and play a game of chess with me."
Qiu Che paused and agreed.
The emperor and his minister sat cross-legged, and Li Qingwu's black pieces went first.
Throughout the ages, it seems that politicians like to use chess games to break the atmosphere whenever they want to talk about serious topics, deliberately creating a relaxed atmosphere of "talking and laughing and destroying everything".
Playing chess with the emperor is different from playing with others, and it is also different from playing with the queen mother.
The queen mother is half her ally, but the emperor is not.
Qiu Che has been immersed in the officialdom for ten years. Even though he later became the prime minister, he rarely sat face to face with the emperor like this. It
is very tiring to play chess while dealing with the emperor's questions. If you are not careful and too nervous, you will involuntarily show your cowardice.
She was not afraid, but she was inevitably nervous.
The incense burner next to her was burning, and the wisps of ambergris added a bit of quiet and peaceful atmosphere.
Li Shi took two steps and spoke again in deep thought: "My dear, you must have heard that a maid died in the Duke's Mansion?"
Qiu Che nodded: "I heard a little bit."
The emperor stroked the chess piece and said:
"Two more bodies were dug out from the pond of the Duke's Mansion last night."
Qiu Che paused slightly while holding the chess piece.
"The two bodies, according to the autopsy by the coroner, one male and one female, have been dead for nearly 20 years," Li Shi squinted his eyes and recalled, "Originally, they were buried under the pond in the Duke's Mansion for who knows how long, but it rained heavily last night, and the mud and water flowed everywhere, and the bones were washed out of the pond in the garden."
"My dear, guess who these two people are?"
Qiu Che shook his head slowly.
Li Shi laughed and said, "What a coincidence. It was the Minister of Rites Wu, who you mentioned to me some time ago and was supposed to be traveling outside, and his concubine."
Qiu Che looked surprised: "How could the bodies of the Wu family appear in the Duke's Mansion?"
Seeing that she looked normal and did not look guilty, Li Shi observed her for a moment, then retracted his gaze and said, "This is also the question I am puzzled about. But there are accessories on the two bodies, which are enough to prove their identities."
He said, "What do you think, Qiu Aiqing, is going on?"
Since the emperor had spoken, Qiu Che followed his words and guessed cautiously, "Is someone going to use this old case to attack Prime Minister Wu?"
In fact, she already had a vague guess in her heart based on the few words revealed by the emperor and the information she knew.
But now there is insufficient evidence, and it is useless to say it out.
In front of the emperor, Qiu Che chose to change to a conventional answer.
"Isn't that a coincidence?" Li Shi curled his lips again and smiled meaningfully, "Yesterday, he reported to me that there was a Southern Barbarian spy in the Duke's Mansion - it was Prime Minister Wu."