The princess was ordained by Heaven.

Chapter 135 The Envoy from the Brown Kingdom Arrives in the Capital

After learning the conditions for hearing someone's true feelings, the emperor knew that Lü Youzu would definitely betray the country.

Given his position, it's impossible that he would have made no contribution to the Great Yong Dynasty. Therefore, the only reason he couldn't hear his own voice is that he would betray the country.

But what he didn't expect was that there was such a hidden story behind it.

[How ridiculous! Why call her "mother"? Judging by the donkey's mindset, he should just call her "mother wife."]

What is a "motherly wife"? She is both a mother and a wife.

I can't even be bothered to talk about the dirty thoughts in his mind.

Because he lacked maternal love from a young age, his mind gradually became twisted. He married a 28-year-old widow at the age of eighteen, which was still considered normal up to this point. But he actually had affairs with his wife's mother, who was in her forties, and her grandmother, who was in her sixties...

God knows how much I suffered when I saw all this in the system.

Ministers:! ! !

It's been a long time since I've heard such exciting and juicy gossip, but of course, the main reason is that this gossip has nothing to do with me.

The emperor, seated high on his throne, fixed his gaze on Lü Youzu as if he were looking at something rare and precious.

Within a short period of time after Zheng Xun began attending court, he had come to a complete understanding of what it meant to know a person's face but not their heart; his beloved ministers all had stranger hobbies than the last.

Zheng Xun seemed to have noticed his gaze as well, and as if he had thought of something, his look became somewhat strange.

The emperor's eyebrows twitched, a strange sense of foreboding creeping over him.

As it turned out, his hunch was correct.

Speaking of which, when he was young, Donkey was quite handsome and attracted many noblewomen, the most prominent of whom was his father's eccentric mother.

emperor:……

Some people are already dead, but the shadow still hangs over them, and every time they think they are free, it suddenly strikes again.

The donkey is a player, and the empress dowager is a player queen. When their feelings for each other were at their peak, they even promised to commit suicide together. However, neither of them were love-struck. They agreed to take poison one day, but the next day they awkwardly met in court.

[Not only the emperor, but Donkey also had somewhat ambiguous relationships with many noblewomen and the mothers of court officials. However, they were all seasoned veterans. Donkey treated others as emotional comfort, while those noblewomen treated him as nothing more than a side dish. In a battle between masters, the key is to strike with deadly force.]

What's most egregious is that he sometimes resorts to unethical and coercive methods...

The courtiers could no longer laugh.

Sure enough, gossip tastes best when it has nothing to do with you.

Also, you can't only say half of what you mean!

Who exactly is involved with the donkey... no, I mean with Lü Youzu?

But the thought did not resonate again; Zheng Xun was busy confronting Lü Youzu.

"I'm disgusting? I was born from her, why can't she treat me better?"

Zheng Xun didn't expect that he would break down so easily.

She actually had no way of finding out anything about the Brown Country from the system. The claim that Lu Youzu's biological mother had a new child was just a lie to trick him.

To everyone's surprise, he believed it completely without even verifying it.

What does this mean? It means that he also knew that his mother had no real feelings for him, but no one had ever exposed his pitiful illusions.

“She was originally a spy for the Brown Kingdom. She only gave birth to you to make it easier to hide her identity. After her mission ended, she naturally couldn’t continue to play the role of your good mother,” Zheng Xun looked at him with disgust. “You grew up in Dayong. Your stepmother may not have been the most devoted to you, but she was certainly dutiful enough. Betraying Dayong and its people, who do you think you are to face?”

Zheng Xun did not bring up his accusations against Liao Hongsheng again, but once Lü Youzu's betrayal of Dayong was confirmed, all his accusations would be untenable, and Liao Hongsheng would become a clean victim.

Lu Youzu was still immersed in Zheng Xun's previous words, muttering "Mother" from time to time, and seemed to be a little mentally unstable.

Seeing that Zheng Xun was not going to speak again, the emperor waved his hand and ordered, "Search him."

Perhaps still a little dazed, Lü Youzu did not resist much, and the letter was successfully handed to Li Xiaojun.

The above content was nothing new. It started with a few affected reminiscing sentences, then urged Lü Youzu to make trouble as soon as possible, preferably to bring down several key ministers of Dayong. Finally, it promised that if he and his mother could reunite in Heguo, he would definitely write him in Heguo's merit book.

This letter was merely a one-sided urging from Lü Youzu's biological mother; it did not actually convict him at all.

Imperial Censor Jiang's heart skipped a beat, and he scoffed, "Just a few words of nonsense, are you trying to fool anyone? Surely no one will actually believe that?"

Already on the verge of collapse, Lü Youzu could no longer hold back. He roared and accused, "Why are you doing this to me? I've been so obedient! You told me to stir up trouble in the court, so I pushed a bunch of incompetent people into official positions. You told me to frame innocent people, so I plotted for years to frame Liao Hongsheng. You told me to climb the ladder, so I climbed the ladder..."

Liao Hongsheng scoffed, "Huh? So you know I'm innocent..."

How ridiculous! Lü Youzu knew he was wrong, and he knew the consequences of his actions, yet he treated it as a pledge of loyalty to his mother, as if to say, "Look, I've even fallen into villainy for you. What a great sacrifice this is..."

Now that he had confessed his crimes in front of everyone, sentencing him would be easy. The emperor had never been tolerant of such parasites that threatened the country: "Take him away for interrogation. I want to see just how many 'good deeds' my dear minister has done!"

His face was clouded with anger. Lu Youzu was startled by these words and came to his senses. He knelt up straight again, as if he wanted to explain something, but he was quickly gagged and dragged away.

After the court session ended, the Third Prince and the palace servants quickly helped Zheng Jin back home.

Liao Hongsheng stopped Zheng Xun, who was trying to leave.

He was a tall and imposing man. He bowed deeply to Zheng Xun and said solemnly, "Thank you, Princess, for speaking up for me."

His tone was humble and sincere, and he did not treat Zheng Xun as a child of about ten years old.

Zheng Xun smiled and said, "Lord Liao, there's no need for such formality. You are the pillar of the Great Yong Dynasty, and I am a princess of the Great Yong Dynasty. It is my duty to speak up for you."

Liao Hongsheng was overjoyed. He had heard Zheng Xun say similar things before, but when it actually happened to him, he realized how rare and important it was to offer help in times of need.

“If the princess doesn’t care, I can’t just leave without repaying her kindness.”

"If Lord Liao really wants to do something, then he should be a good official and do more to benefit the people and offer good policies."

"Your Highness's vision is beyond my reach," Liao Hongsheng said with a smile, patting his thick belly.

"Alright, no need for such formalities. Lord Duan and Lord Jiang have been waiting for you."

Zheng Xun raised his chin and pointed in a certain direction.

Duan Yunfeng, an old friend, and Jiang Yushi, a new friend, stood together without saying a word, but their expressions as they looked at Liao Hongsheng were equally focused and affectionate.

Liao Hongsheng's smile faltered for a moment before returning to normal.

He bid farewell to Zheng Xun and walked toward his two friends.

Zheng Xun shook his head and turned to deliver his prey.

The emperor was indeed pleased to see the tiger skin and ordered it to be taken away and carefully processed. He planned to lay the golden tiger skin on the dragon throne in the Fengqin Hall.

As for the other odds and ends of the prey, she sent them all away as well.

The Lu Youzu incident involved many court officials, many of whom were in the provinces. Although the court is full of talented people, it is simply not enough.

Therefore, those who had achieved decent political results and had not committed any wrongdoings in recent years were praised highly by the emperor but let off lightly.

Having escaped death, the group felt grateful to the emperor and worked even harder.

However, according to Lü Youzu's purpose, most of the people he put into the court were not good people. These people had to be dealt with, and there were not enough new talents. Therefore, in the entire Dayong Dynasty, from the central government to the local level, all the ministers wished they could be split in two.

A top-down, involutionary atmosphere thus took hold.

The days passed so leisurely.

Half a month has passed in the blink of an eye, and there are still a few days until the emperor's birthday.

Although it was said to be the emperor's birthday, in reality, regardless of the court or the harem, the people who looked forward to it the most were the envoys from the Kingdom of Brown.

Who wouldn't be excited when an adversary who's been secretly causing trouble on your turf is finally about to openly step into your territory?

The only thing that made Zheng Xun unhappy was that the protagonist of the original book, the seventh prince of the Brown Kingdom, did not come. At this time, the other party was still wearing a hypocritical mask, pretending to be his good boy in the Brown Kingdom.

The leader of this group was the Eighth Prince, who had bullied the Third Prince.

Of course, in the Brown Kingdom, they call him the Eighth Prince, whose title is Prince Chou.

It is worth mentioning that the seventh prince's title is Yong Wang, which means "ugly" and "mediocre". This shows how much the current emperor of the Brown Kingdom dislikes his two younger brothers. Perhaps the author of the original text also disliked these two titles, so even though they were made kings, they were still called the seventh prince and the eighth prince.

Since the envoy from the Brown Kingdom entered the territory of Dayong, the entire Dayong court has been eager to get things done. Even the Empress has entrusted all palace affairs and birthday banquets to her younger sister, Consort Liang, and is focused on waiting for the envoy from the Brown Kingdom.

Of course, no one intended to kill the envoys of Dayong, but it was impossible to let them return so easily either.

Amidst the anticipation of the masses, the envoy from the Brown Kingdom finally stepped into the capital of Dayong.

Zheng Xun and his siblings were peeking from the city wall when the unfortunate crown prince was about to go and fetch someone.

Upon seeing the eighth prince of the Brown Kingdom, the third prince shrank his chin in disdain: "That's Prince Chou?"

Zheng Xun nodded: "Yes, Third Brother, remember him, he's not a good person."

The third prince nodded repeatedly, then glanced at the other people from the Brown Kingdom and asked in alarm, "Do all the people of the Brown Kingdom look so strange?"

He couldn't help but look at Zheng Jin.

Zheng Jin: ?

See what she does?

The third prince guiltily shifted his gaze away.

Zheng Jin narrowed his eyes dangerously: "What are you thinking, Third Brother?"

Unable to withstand his intense gaze, the Third Prince honestly admitted, "I was just wondering if that Prince Yong looks strange, which is why you don't like him."

Zheng Jin smiled slightly: "Third brother, are you stupid? Whether I like him or not has nothing to do with his appearance. If he is just good-looking and I happen to like him, I should peel off his skin and keep it carefully."

Anyway, that King Yong wasn't a good person either.

For bad things, it's better for them to be dead than alive.