Wanli's personal eunuch Zhang Cheng eavesdropped outside the house and heard the conversation between Wanli and the Queen Mother. After the Queen Mother left, he went to Yongning Palace to report to Concubine Zheng secretly.
Concubine Zheng was afraid that Wanli would punish Zheng Lujia, so she hurriedly went to Qianqing Palace to find Wanli and plead for Zheng Lujia.
Wan Li pointed at the file on the table and said displeasedly: "See for yourself, these are all good things done by your brother. It is simply outrageous and extremely stupid."
Concubine Zheng picked up the file, opened it, looked at it a few times, and said: "This is all Luo Sigong and others framed Lu Jia, the Holy One cannot believe it."
Wanli said: "There are witnesses in dozens of cases, how could it be a frame-up?"
Concubine Zheng said: "Lu Jia has been an official for many years, and it is inevitable that he has made mistakes in several cases. He has worked hard for the court these years, but he has no merit and still has toil. Please show mercy to Lu Jia and do not punish him."
Wanli said: "Luo Sigong and the others are going to impeach Lu Jia. For your sake, I will spare him once. However, I have to make an explanation to the queen mother. I will not punish Lu Jia at all. It cannot be justified in front of the queen mother. I am ready to spare Lu Jia." As the Minister of Punishment, he will concentrate on being the chief assistant from now on."
Concubine Zheng took a deep breath and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your kindness."
The next day, Wanli issued an order to remove Zheng Lujia as the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, and sent a young eunuch to Cining Palace to inform the Queen Mother. The Queen Mother was very dissatisfied and came to Wanli again and said: "Your Majesty, why did you only remove him as the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment? Why not get rid of the first assistant altogether? How can we let such a fool become the first assistant again?"
Wanli said: "Mother, although Lu Jia is a bit confused in handling cases, he is still very talented in handling government affairs. You cannot completely deny him just because he handled a few cases wrongly. This is unfair to him."
The Queen Mother said unhappily: "If he were not Concubine Zheng's brother, would you be so partial to him? These Zheng siblings are Yang Yuhuan and Yang Guozhong of this dynasty. My prince, if you continue to indulge me, the foundation of your ancestors will be ruined by this." The siblings are ruined."
Wanli said: "Mother, you have spoken harshly."
The Empress Dowager still refused to give up, and tried her best to get rid of her. Wanli still refused to remove Zheng Lujia as his first assistant.
The Queen Mother returned to Cining Palace and found Luo Sigong, asking him to find a way to deal with Zheng Lujia again and make sure to trip Zheng Lujia down.
Luo Sigong thought to himself: "It seems that the only thing left to do now is to let Li Tianmu kill Zheng Lujia."
If Zheng Lujia is assassinated, Dongchang will never let it go and will definitely pursue it to the end. Even if Li Tianmu does it very secretly and the paper cannot contain the fire, Dongchang will find him sooner or later, and by then Li Tianmu will have no choice but to flee the world. , Luo Sigong can no longer use him in the future.
Li Tianmu and Mou Rongtian were Luo Sigong's right-hand men. Letting Li Tianmu assassinate Zheng Lujia was undoubtedly the way for a strong man to cut off his arm. The sacrifice was too great. Luo Sigong would not take this move unless it was a last resort.
He returned to the Jinyiwei General Administration Bureau, found Li Tianmu, and said, "Tianmu, I just got the news that the Holy One has punished Zheng Lujia."
Li Tianmu was overjoyed and asked: "How did the emperor deal with it?"
Luo Sigong said: "The Holy One exempted Zheng Lujia from being the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, but allowed him to continue to be the first assistant."
Li Tianmu originally thought that the emperor would kill Zheng Lujia, but when he heard this, he was greatly disappointed. He immediately became angry and shouted: "Zheng Lujia killed so many people, and the emperor punished him so lightly. It is really unreasonable."
Luo Sigong said: "The Holy One loves Concubine Zheng, so how can he punish Zheng Lujia severely? If a person like Zheng Lujia is allowed to continue to hold a high position, I don't know how many people he will kill. In order for the people not to suffer anymore, I want to ask you to get rid of him." Zheng Lujia, I wonder if you are willing?"
Li Tianmu said: "It is my duty to eradicate Zheng Lujia."
Luo Sigong nodded with satisfaction and said: "Tianmu, you are indeed brave and heroic, I admire you." After saying that, he picked up a heavy baggage from the ground, put it on the table, and continued: "Take this."
Li Tianmu asked: "What's inside?"
Luo Sigong said: "Two thousand taels of gold."
Li Tianmu was startled and said, "Master Luo, what do you mean? Why did you give me gold?"
Luo Sigong said: "After you kill Zheng Lujia, you can only flee to the end of the world. I know that you will definitely take Miss Dong with you. In this case, your promise to Dong Fuyu will not be fulfilled. You can keep part of this gold."
If you pay for the expenses and leave the rest to Dong Fuyu, you can also be considered as an account to him."
Li Tianmu said: "Master Luo, you have thought carefully, thank you very much."
Li Tianmu returned to the Feihu Escort Agency. The apprentices were practicing swordsmanship in the courtyard. Li Tianmu asked, "Is Qing'er in the room?"
Chen Maohong said: "In the room."
Li Tianmu pushed the door open and walked into the west wing room. He saw Qing'er sitting by the kang, collecting shoe soles, putting a bag full of gold on the kang, and said, "Qing'er, let me tell you something."
Dong Qing said: "What's the matter?"
Li Tianmu was about to reveal his intention to assassinate Zheng Lujia, and then said: "After the incident is completed, I will fly far away. Qing'er, will you go with me?"
Dong Qing said: "No need to ask, of course I am willing."
Li Tianmu said: "Fuyu and I made a one-year agreement that day, but it seems that it cannot be fulfilled now. There is some gold in the bag. You can give some to Fuyu as an apology to him."
Dong Qing untied the bag and saw dozens of gold ingots inside. She was startled and said, "Brother Tianmu, where did this gold come from? Did you rob the bank account?"
Li Tianmu smiled and said: "Where are you thinking? How could I, Li Tianmu, rob a bank account? These golds were given by Mr. Luo."
Dong Qing wanted to give more to his brother, but was afraid that Li Tianmu would be unhappy, so he only took out four gold ingots and said, "Just give these to my brother."
Li Tianmu smiled and said: "It's too little. How can this be done? There are two thousand taels here in total. Let's keep one thousand taels for our expenses. The rest should be given to Fuyu. If he takes the gold, he won't do it."
You will blame me for abducting you."
Dong Qing said: "Is it too much?"
Li Tianmu said: "It's not much, just give it to him."
There were a total of forty fifty-two gold ingots. Dong Qing divided out twenty, wrapped them in another piece of cloth, and said, "Let's send them to my brother together tonight."
Li Tianmu said: "Okay, let's send it to you tonight." He paused and then said: "Tomorrow morning, I will send you to your hometown in Suning. You wait for me at home. I will go to you after I finish my work. Let's go far away together.
.”
Dong Qing said: "Where shall we go in the future?"
Li Tianmu said: "Hong Kong Island, are you willing?"
Dong Qing said: "As long as I'm with you, I'm willing to go anywhere."
That night, Li Tianmu and Dong Qing went to Dong Fuyu's house. This house was lent to Dong Fuyu by Luo Yangxing. It was not large in area and had only one courtyard.
Li Tianmu knocked on the door knocker. It was not long before he heard Dong Fuyu asking from inside: "Who is it?"
Dong Qing said: "Brother, it's me."
Dong Fuyu opened the door and asked, "Why are you here?"
Dong Qing said: "Come here to see you and give you something."
Li Tianmu and Dong Qing walked in, and Dong Fuyu bolted the courtyard door and said, "You are making shoes for me again? Oh, I still have several pairs of shoes that I haven't worn yet. Why are you still making them? It's so hard to make so many shoes."
Don’t be afraid of tiring yourself.”
The three of them walked in, and Dong Qing said, "I won't give you any shoes."
Dong Fuyu said: "Did you make me new clothes again? Oh, why are you so tired? I usually wear official uniforms. I can't wear the ones you made. There are several clothes you sent me earlier.
I haven’t worn any of them.”
While talking, the three of them walked into the hall. Li Tianmu and Dong Qing sat down. Dong Qing put the baggage containing gold on the table, and Dong Fuyu poured water for them.
Dong Qing said: "It's not clothes either."
Dong Fuyu said: "What is that?"
Dong Qing pointed at the baggage and said with a smile, "Open it and see for yourself."
Dong Fuyu put down the teapot and said, "It's still very mysterious. Let me see what's inside." As he spoke, he unwrapped the bag, and his eyes suddenly lit up, and he shouted, "Oh my God, it's so mysterious."
That's so much gold." He looked at Dong Qing in surprise and continued: "How come you have so much gold? Where did it come from?"
Dong Qing said: "Brother Tianmu earned all this gold."
Dong Fuyu said: "Tianmu, did you earn all this gold?"
Li Tianmu smiled and said, "I earned it."
Dong Fuyu asked: "What do you do to earn so much gold?"
Li Tianmu said: "I'm just a escort, what else can I do?"
Dong Fuyu said: "You have only worked in the escort agency for more than half a year, how can you earn so much gold?"
Li Tianmu said: "During this period, the escort bureau has taken on several big business orders and earned a lot of money. I am the head escort, and I get dividends and some gold."
Dong Fuyu said: "You are not well-off, and you have finally earned some money. Why don't you keep it for yourself? Why do you give it to me?"
Li Tianmu said: "You are Qing'er's brother, shouldn't I be filial to you?"
Dong Fuyu smiled and said: "You are too polite."
The three of them chatted for a while, and then Li Tianmu and Dong Qing stood up to leave. Li Tianmu did not tell Dong Fuyu that he wanted to take Dong Qing far away.
Dong Fuyu sent them out. Dong Qing thought that it would be difficult to see her brother again in the future, so she reluctantly said goodbye to her brother.
The two returned to the Flying Tiger Escort Bureau and went to the back house to find Li Jiaoyue. The lights were on in the room, and Dong Qing asked: "Sister, are you lying down?"
Li Jiaoyue said: "No, come in."
The two pushed the door open and entered. It was midsummer and the weather was hot. Li Jiaoyue was sitting in the room wearing a bellyband and shorts. The bellyband was still a low-cut dress, revealing her deep cleavage.
Li Tianmu was about to speak, but seeing Li Jiaoyue wearing such revealing clothes, he quickly turned his head away, not daring to look any further.
Li Jiaoyue said: "Master Li is here too, is there anything wrong?" He picked up his coat and put it on.
Li Tianmu looked out of the corner of his eye and saw that Li Jiaoyue had put on his clothes neatly, and then he said: "Bureau Chief, Qing'er and I are leaving. Come and say hello to you."
He is the golden name of Feihu Escort Agency. Li Jiaoyue was reluctant to let him go and said, "Why should I leave? Is it because I did something bad that made Master Li angry?"
Li Tianmu said: "Bureau chief, please don't misunderstand. It's not what you think. As for the reason, I am not in a position to disclose it. You will know it in the future."
Li Jiaoyue said: "Where are you going?"
Li Tianmu said: "Go to a very far place."
Li Jiaoyue saw that he was vague and did not tell the specific whereabouts, so it was inconvenient to ask again and said: "When will you leave?"
Li Tianmu said: "We will leave early tomorrow morning."
Li Jiaoyue said: "During this period, you have made a lot of money for the escort agency. I will give you your dividends later."
Li Tianmu said: "No need, I have enough money on hand, just keep the dividends."
Li Jiaoyue said: "How can this be done? You deserve it, how can you not want it?"
Li Tianmu said: "I'm here as the head escort. It's not about money. I just want to help you. Don't mention the dividends anymore."