Chapter 320 After Dying I Woke Up In Ancient Times With My Pharmacy 19
After a while, Shi Meifen's smile died down and she traced the object in her hands with the tips of her fingers. She didn't take the General's words seriously at all. Afterall General He and Lu Jingye were both men. Why would another man's good looks be enough reason for such a huge favour?
That being said, what was General He's true motive?
She sent a few glances in Lu Jingye's direction with her mouth opening and closing a few times but nothing came out. What could she say? Lu Jingye said he didn't know the General but the man himself had suddenly appeared in the Ancestral hall at such a time and even gave out such a precious item.
What did this mean?
After an hour in silence and confliction, Shi Meifen finally cleared her throat. "... Jingye..."
Lu Jingye remained silent. In actuality, he was also trying to figure out General He's true motive. Was he like the second young miss and needed an ally? But that didn't make sense. General He was someone who controlled an entire army and could even attend court alongside Prime minister Lu and other prominent figures.
What exactly did he need in the Lu mansion that'll make him look to the 'cursed' son of the least favoured concubine? Something didn't add up.
Seeing that her son wasn't in the mood to talk, Shi Meifen sighed in defeat. She'd already spent quite some time in the Ancestral hall and needed to leave before someone found out.
After wallowing in her conflicting thoughts for a while more, Shi Meifen slipped the fragile object in Lu Jingye's hand and turned to leave only to be stopped with,
"The cloak."
She looked back and was about to refuse but the young man had already taken it off and outstretched his hand towards her. She knew it wouldn't be good if someone were to find the cloak she'd brought for him so she slowly took it and then walked out of the Ancestral hall with an absentminded expression.
Once his mother's footsteps completely faded away, Lu Jingye's thumb slowly moved along the rim of the glasses. He thought about the odd feeling General He gave him -almost identical to that sting he felt whenever he touched his brother but also very different.
What really was the General's motive?
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When the Lu guards outside the hall regained consciousness, they both rushed into the Ancestral hall in trepidation only to find the fifth young master in the same position they'd left him with his head lowered.
They exchanged looks before their eyes went straight to the burning lantern on the dirty ground. They were not stupid and knew someone had come in at some point as evidenced by the fact that they both woke up stacked in a hidden corner but then what?
Everything looked fine and even if they were very uncomfortable in their hearts, they both silently agreed that it was better not to say a word about this. How would they explain their incompetence? Besides... The Madam's temper was not news to them.
Better safe than sorry.
They both eyed Lu Jingye again with an annoyed frown before walking out to resume their duty.
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As soon as He Yuan returned to his courtyard, he went straight to his study. He'd succeeded in finding his System but the current situation did not leave him rest assured at all.
888 being part of the Lu family now only meant that as soon as Prime minister Lu's crimes were exposed, the System would be at risk of death due to the Emperor's order of wiping out nine generations of the Lu family.
But how to smoothly get him out?
He didn't have the resources to be like Lu Xuilan who had gone to the Emperor privately and used a modern weapon and precious drugs in her pharmacy to exchange for a one time immunity decree to save Fang Lan from being persecuted with the rest of the Lu family.
He Yuan slowly drummed his fingers against his desk.
Another option would be to simply fake 888's death and then secretly bring the System into the He mansion to be hidden. Of course, the same went for Shi Meifen and Lu Wenduo as they were part of his task in this realm but this method wasn't fullproof.
He had no idea what would happen to the mother and son as soon as him and 888 left this Task realm. If the Emperor found out he'd been deceived, even a hundred of Shi Meifen and Lu Wenduo combined would not be enough to appease his anger and their deaths could be even more gruesome than in the original timeline.
He Yuan folded his arms across his chest and focused his expression on a particular spot on his desk that had a small chip. He hadn't bothered to light up a lantern so more than half of the study was shrouded in darkness whilst a small portion close to the window was graced with faint moonlight.
The moon steadily moved across the sky and He Yuan maintained his position until dawn broke. Winter was fast approaching so there was heavy fog outside the window. An idea finally popped into He Yuan's mind and the frown on his brows finally loosened.
Shi Meifen and Lu Wenduo could be implicated by Lu Qian's crimes because they were part of the Lu family but what if... It was widely recognized that they weren't?
As long as Shi Meifen and Prime minister Lu separated, the woman would no longer be recognized as part of the Lu family.
The next second though, the frown was back on He Yuan's forehead. What era was this? It was impossible for Shi Meifen and Lu Qian to mutually separate. In this feudalistic times, the sole right of divorce was in the hands of the husband.
Besides, Shi Meifen did not even count as Lu Qian's wife. She was a servant turned concubine so if she so much as looked at the man the wrong way, it wouldn't be surprising to find her dead a moment later.
There was also the matter of reputation and how the matter could affect Lu Wenduo's future. No matter how one looked at it, mutual separation between a man and a concubine in these times was folklore.
In fact, it wasn't even folklore, it was just something that no one would bother to think about because it just did not exist.
Unless...
He Yuan's frown disappeared again. Unless an Imperial decree declaring a right to divorce was handed over to Shi Meifen! Not only would Shi Meifen's reputation be safe but it would also deal a huge blow to Lu Qian.
Yes, a lot of people would look down on Shi Meifen but they wouldn't dare say it to her face or ostracize her because doing that would be tantamount to slapping the Emperor's face!
With renewed vigour, He Yuan went over the details of the original timeline looking for opportunities that would make his plan advance smoothly. At last, he finally laid the basic framework of his plan but wasn't complacent yet as the plan would need the co-operation of different parties.
It also depended slightly on how similar Lu Xuilan's actions in this timeline was to the original timeline so he didn't plan on interfering with any of her actions yet.
Anyways, he had no idea how to destroy the pharmacy so why bother n-
Knock, Knock.
"Master He."
He Yuan's thoughts settled down and he looked towards the door with a raised brow. Mu Huan? He cleared his throat. "Come in."
The stern faced steward of the He family walked in and lowered his head in greeting before scrutinizing the young man before him. Seeing that the gloom that shrouded He Yuan since he returned from the battlefield seemed to have lifted, the man felt much relaxed.
He walked forward with a steaming bowl of ginger soup and placed it on the desk. "Drink."
He Yuan looked from Mu Huan to the steaming bowl. He wasn't in the mood to argue so he checked out the soup and drank it in one gulp.
Mu Huan's stern face loosened a a little. He was aware that He Yuan had locked himself in the study all night and he wasn't one to pry but on such a cold night, the young man didn't even light a lantern for some warmth so he felt a little distressed.
Even if He Yuan knew martial arts, he wasn't invincible. It wasn't good to tempt nature like this. Due to this reason, Mu Huan impatienlty waited until dawn broke, prepared some comforting words and finally rushed over.
Now though... it seemed his words would no longer be needed as He Yuan seemed to have solved his problem himself.
Mu Huan inwardly shook his head and picked up the empty bowl as he said, "It would be time for morning court soon, Mu Shu has prepared your bath and breakfast would soon be served. It'll be better to hurry before you run out of time."
He Yuan nodded and a beat later, added, "Thank you."
Mu Huan felt even more relaxed and turned to leave only to pause before he crossed the threshold of the door. Anyways, he'd worked so hard to prepare comforting words, it wouldn't do to leave without saying anything. "You're young, you can't know everything. If you encounter problems, there's no shame in asking for help." And then he walked out.
'...'
He Yuan pinched his forehead in exasperation. Although he looked nineteen, he was twenty-eight when he died and had already spent a couple of years in between Task realms. He wasn't young okay?
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Two hours later, He Yuan arrived at the door of the Great hall of the Imperial palace. The second he entered, the ministers turned silent before continuing to shout at each other angrily when they noticed who it was.
There were fierce arguments between the members of the First, Third, Sixth and Ninth factions. There were very few officials who were neutral -including the left Prime minister Meng- but even then, the hall was extremely lively and thick with tension.
The cause of this argument?
Well it turned out that whilst they were all focused on the battle at the Northern border with Qinmen, their neighbours on the Eastern side, Zhoudong, had been secretly plotting and when the people of Xiangshan relaxed their guard due to He Yuan's spectacular victory at the North, they launched a full scale attack and dealt the Eastern army with heavy casualties.
The middle aged Eastern General, Gong Zhu, had turned pale after hearing the news and began his journey to the Eastern frontier at midnight. Deep down, every single minister knew that it would be difficult for Gong Zhu to be able to solve the problem all alone this time -especially now that winter was near.
This was not because Zhoudong was too powerful but because they already had a head start and their strength was not too far from Xiangshan.
Fortunately...
This meant that an opportunity to earn merits had risen and each faction wanted their own candidate for the throne to be the one assigned to the Eastern border in order to win the hearts of the distressed people and the acknowledgement of the Emperor.
The Emperor and the princes soon arrived one after the other and even Tian Weisheng arrived early this time. After their salutations, the ministers toned down their fierce arguments but the glares and guarded looks they sent each other did nothing to reduce the tension.
The face of the Emperor was horribly gloomy and once they received the go ahead, a few shortsighted ministers began giving reasons as to why this prince or that prince should go which only made the Emperor's face gloomier. How could he not see through their thoughts?
He Yuan bidded his time and observed the situation in silence. In the original timeline, the wheelchair bound Tian Weisheng had led a part of the Southern army to the East and completely crushed Zhoudong but this time, He Yuan wanted to go.
In fact, this battle against Zhoudong was the opening point of his plan. If he wanted to gain the divorce decree from the Emperor, he had to ensure that the merit he gained was enough to force the Emperor to stick his hand in the harem matters of a court official which was usually not taken lightly.
Also, mere merit wouldn't be enough but he already had a plan on how to force the Emperor's hand. He just needed the opportunity.
He Yuan's eyes discreetly drifted to Tian Weisheng and when he noticed that the man was already watching him closely, he sighed in relief.
Tian Weisheng was heavily favoured by the Emperor and unlike the other ministers in the hall, He Yuan knew that the Emperor wanted Tian Weisheng to ascend the throne so if he wanted to go to the East then he needed Tian Weisheng to give it up himself.
The words of the small time officials only made the Emperor angrier and at some point, the son of heaven let out a loud humph that successfully silenced everyone.
He Yuan saw the opportunity and took it. After waiting for ten seconds, he stepped forward and cupped his fists to the Emperor. "This General has a suggestion." He sent a not-so-hidden glance in Tian Weisheng's direction before continuing, "I don't know if your Majesty would be willing to hear it?"
The Emperor stared at the young General before him. Lately, he'd been satisfied with this General so he waved, "Go on."
With a resolute expression, He Yuan declared, "I suggest that the Fifth prince leads the reinforcement to the East."
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