When walking out of Zhongshu Province, Li Mu sighed softly.
Liu Yi was so enthusiastic towards him half a month ago, calling him "Brother Li" one after another. Just now in Zhongshu Province, his attitude towards him has undergone earth-shaking changes, and his enthusiasm has turned into politeness.
, polite with alienation, alienated with vigilance...
Obviously, after Cui Ming's incident, the straight man image he finally established fell apart.
Before today, most of the courtiers thought that he was the Queen's licking dog.
After today, they will treat him as a cunning fox and guard against him.
Although licking dogs can also bite people, dogs don't have as many plots and tricks in their minds.
Foxes are different. In the eyes of most people, foxes are synonymous with cunning, insidiousness and treachery.
This actually belongs to the stereotype of this race. There are also stupid ones among foxes. Xiaobai almost had the words "silly, white and sweet" written on his face.
Once everyone's impression of him changes, I'm afraid no matter what he does, others will speculate whether he has any deeper purpose.
When I walked out of Zhongshu Province and passed the palace gate, a sedan drove up from outside the palace.
"Get out of the way!"
The bearers carrying the sedan scolded Li Mu from a distance to get out of the way. Li Mu looked around and saw that the palace gate could accommodate at least four sedans passing at the same time. He didn't know who was in this sedan. It was so grand.
When I walked out of the palace gate, I happened to hear several guards talking.
"It's Princess Yunyang's sedan."
"The prince-in-law is in jail, and the princess finally can't sit still!"
"The prince-in-law has such a bad character, the princess might as well kick him away and let him fend for himself..."
Hearing Princess Yunyang's name, Li Mu looked back and saw that the sedan had disappeared from sight. Looking at the direction, it should be heading to the West Palace.
The concubines of the late emperor lived in the West Palace. Although the Emperor of Zhou changed his surname, the Queen did not clean up the Xiao royal family after she ascended the throne. She did not have any difficulties with the concubines left by the late emperor and still allowed them to live in the West Palace. According to the imperial concubines
The rituals are offered.
When Lord Mei mentioned Cui Ming and Princess Yunyang, he looked down upon them with disdain. They were probably the same as each other.
No matter whether it is Princess Yunyang, the Xiao family, or officials of the old party, they will definitely not watch Cui Ming's fall. Princess Yunyang entered the palace in such a hurry, she must have gone to the West Palace to plead for mercy.
Li Mu left the palace and walked on the street. The people on the street were talking about Cui Ming's affairs.
Mrs. Chu was in the Ministry of Punishments just now, causing a huge commotion. Anyone who saw the vision coming from the sky would not be able to help asking for the reason.
"Knowing people but not their hearts, who would have thought that Prince Consort Cui, who looks like a human and a dog, is actually a beast."
"I have known for a long time that he is not a good person. Look at his face, with sunken cheekbones and high eyebrows. He looks like a hypocritical and ruthless person!"
"All the young girls and young wives in Shendu are fascinated by him. There must be something strange about this man."
"The imperial court must kill this beast as soon as possible. Don't let him harm the women of Shendu anymore. He wanders around the streets all day long. It's so annoying!"
"These good-looking ones, none of them are good!"
"That's not all. Captor Li is also good-looking, so Cui Ming is not even worthy of carrying his shoes..."
"Li Captou has sword-shaped eyebrows and starry eyes, and a straight bridge of nose. With his face, one looks at him as an upright person, and he is destined to commit suicide..."
"Is there anything strange about marrying Taohua? If I were a woman, I would also want to marry him..."
…
On the streets of Shendu, pig-killing butchers, waiters in teahouses, and salesmen carrying burdens all gathered together in twos and threes. They all expressed great contempt for beasts like Cui Ming, and wished they could cut him into pieces and cut him into pieces with a thousand knives.
, the soul entered the eighteen levels of hell...
In the rouge shop on the street, several women who were choosing rouge were also talking about this matter.
"I know people well but don't know their hearts. I didn't expect Prince Consort Cui to be such a person."
"Thankfully I like him so much. I dreamed about him the day before yesterday. I didn't expect him to be such a beast..."
The two young women sighed while choosing rouge.
Their last companion snorted softly and said: "No matter what Consort Cui does, I like him. He will always be the Consort in my heart!"
A woman frowned and said: "Why are you like this? He is a great evil man who killed his wife and killed dozens of people in his wife's family for the sake of his future. You like such a person, do you still have a sense of right and wrong?"
The woman curled her lips and said: "I just like him. What's wrong? Do you like someone who breaks the law? I just saw the princess's sedan entering the palace. The princess must find a way to save the consort..."
"Help, help, save your grandma's legs!" The shopkeeper of the rouge shop snatched the rouge she was looking at from her hand. The muscles on his face trembled with anger, and the veins on his forehead jumped. He said loudly: "Get out of here, there is no place here."
You are welcome, get out of here!"
The woman was stunned for a moment. After she came to her senses, she said angrily: "How dare you scold me!"
The shopkeeper grabbed her arm and drove her out of the shop, saying angrily: "I not only dare to scold you, I also dare to hit you. I will remember your donkey face. From now on, you are not allowed to enter my shop."
, otherwise I will beat you every time I see you!"
Seeing the shopkeeper raising his hand, the woman ran away. The other two women glanced at her and did not pursue her.
Li Mu watched the woman escape and sighed in his heart.
There is no shortage of people like this woman in ancient and modern times. Fortunately, such people are only a minority, and justice still exists in the hearts of most people.
The shopkeeper of this rouge shop was a sweetheart, so Li Mu went into the shop and bought two boxes of rouge to take care of his business.
Xiao Tian was naturally beautiful, even without any makeup, but Li Mu thought it would be better for her to dress up a bit, which would reduce her charm and prevent him from having more messy dreams at night.
Since the last time the queen discovered that she was sleeping with him in a dream, she has never visited Li Mu's dream again.
Li Mu once asked Li Si this question, of course on the premise of concealing the identity of the queen.
Li Si said that if a woman, regardless of her status, often meets a man at night, it is either because of love or because of loneliness.
Between Li Mu and the Queen, there is naturally no former.
But how could the queen be lonely?
At first Li Mu thought Li Si was talking nonsense, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized that what he said made sense.
As the queen of a country, the queen is above tens of thousands of people. Because of her identity, status, and strength, the king of a country is often a solitary person.
They have no relatives or friends, and the world only respects and fears them. If things go on like this, their psychology will easily become depressed and abnormal.
Li Mu felt that Her Majesty the Queen already had some inclination in this regard.
She was a noble queen in front of others, and she had to put on airs when she spoke. In Li Mu's dream, she was not polite to him at all.
As someone who aspires to be the Queen's caring little cotton-padded jacket, it's not enough to just help her solve problems in the court. He also has to help her open up her heart. Apart from letting her vent herself, there must be other ways.
Li Mu was walking on the street, thinking about the Queen. He glanced inadvertently and saw a figure in front of him.
He was a middle-aged man. His figure was not burly, but he was very tall and straight. He had an average appearance, not as good as Cui Ming, but at least as good as the two Zhang Chun.
Through Wang Wu, Li Mu investigated Zhou Zhong, the minister of punishment.
He had no wife or children, and lived in a five-entry house in Beiyuan. This house was given by the late emperor. Apart from Zhou Zhong himself, there was only one old servant in the house, and no other maids or servants.
Li Mu didn't understand why Zhou Zhong defected to the old party.
He lived in poverty. Although the mansion he lived in was large, there was no maidservant. Li Mu could be sure that if the mansion was given to Zhang Chun, he would have to hire at least eight maidservants, and they would have to be beautiful.
The boy who slayed the dragon turned into an evil dragon because he was greedy for treasure and the princess. Zhou Zhong did not love money and was not lustful. He did not rely on his power to bully the people and did whatever he wanted. What did he want?
Zhou Zhong suddenly turned around and asked: "Master Li has been following me for so long. Do you want to show off to me that you have captured Cui Shilang?"
Li Mu sneered and asked, "Why was Cui Ming arrested? Doesn't Mr. Zhou have any idea?"
Since Zhou Zhong's strength can control Mrs. Chu and affect her sanity, he can also make Mrs. Chu go crazy in the court of the Ministry of Punishment and get rid of her completely with the help of Cui Ming.
But he didn't do this, and instead forced Mrs. Chu to break through. If it wasn't that Zhou Zhong and Cui Ming had a grudge, there was a mole in the old party.
Zhou Zhong glanced at him and said: "Things in the DPRK are not as Mr. Li imagined. It is too early to talk about victory or defeat now."
Li Mu asked: "What do you mean?"
Zhou Zhongdao: "You will know tomorrow at the latest."
After saying this, he turned and left, took two steps, paused again, turned around and said: "The Chu family incident has sounded the alarm to the court. If you are really dedicated to serving the people, you should propose to His Majesty
, take back the power of life and death of each county over the people..."
Li Mudao: "This is not a problem, Mr. Zhou. I have just asked your Majesty about this matter. In the future, serious murder cases will be reviewed by each county, and then the files will be submitted to the Ministry of Punishment for review. Finally, your Majesty will personally approve them and then issue them to each county."
.”
Zhou Zhong nodded and said, "That's good."
Li Mu remembered something, looked at Zhou Zhong, and asked: "If I remember correctly, this article was also included in the law reform promoted by Mr. Zhou more than ten years ago. Why was it later abolished?"
Zhou Zhong said lightly: "Because the late emperor found it troublesome."
Li Mu secretly cursed the emperor in his heart. Many of the decrees and laws of the late emperor's period have left a legacy to this day. The great Zhou Dynasty was made into a mess by him. Now that the old Zhou family has taken over the world, he can't blame others.
Thinking of the late Emperor, Li Mu couldn't help but think of the Queen, and couldn't help but sigh: "Her Majesty the Queen is still wise."
Zhou Zhongshen nodded in agreement and said: "Although loyal dogs are rare, they still have to meet their wise owners."
Li Mu said happily: "Fortunately, I met His Majesty..."
Then he realized something, raised his head and said angrily: "Who are you calling a dog?"
