Chapter 146 - Control of Operations
Prince Ruiqing's conspiracy did not have any warning, and the time he chose was at night. Most people were asleep, and if it were not for the fact that the city gates were shut tight the next day, no one would have known such a big thing would have happened.
The commoners of the capital only felt the atmosphere around the capital change as soon as they woke up. Groups and groups of soldiers walked past from time to time on the streets. Occasionally, these soldiers would rush into certain houses and grab some people.
Everyone watched for a long time and realized that it had no effect on them, so they continued to do whatever they needed to do. It was just that this matter was being discussed everywhere in the teahouse and tavern.
Therefore, everyone soon found out the whole story. Although they didn't understand why Prince Ruiqing would want to rebel, they could only shake their heads and sigh when they remembered the chaos that happened before the Crown Prince ascended the throne last year.
As the rumor spread, the news that Zuo Shaoqing was held hostage by Prince Ruiqing also began to spread.
“Hey, don't you think it's strange? Why did you catch a man to threaten Master Lu? Who is that Master Lu?” In the capital's busiest teahouse, this sort of conversation could not be lacking.
“Shh… Have you forgotten? Weren't they still spreading just a few days ago, that thing…”
About half of the people in the capital had heard of Zuo Shaoqing, but very few of them had actually seen him. Previously, everyone only knew that Master Lu fell in love with a man was ridiculous, but now that the two of them thought of it together, it was almost equivalent to confirming the truth.
Otherwise, if Prince Ruiqing didn't capture the old mistress of the Wu Steel Manor and the civil and military officials of the imperial court, he would have caught a nameless young man, and a man at that! For what?
“You mean Master Lu is really manly? How was this possible? For the fifth generation of Duke Zhen Prefecture, the old lady will not be counting on him to pass on his legacy.”
“Tch, you don't understand this, do you? Do you know of the Chu Feng Restaurant in the capital? Aren't there many nobles there? But which family does not have three wives, four concubines, and a son?”
“Chu Feng?” It's the one that was full of Master Rabbit?”
Seeing the other person nod his head, that person sighed, “I never thought that Master Lu would actually have such a hobby.”
Just then, a young man at the next table leaned over and said mysteriously, “You don't know about this, do you? Master Lu has been on the battlefield since he was 11 years old and is surrounded by men. When he grows up and learns how to behave, he will still be a man. As time passes, this concept of a man naturally changes.”
“That's true…” When the two heard this, they suddenly understood and felt sympathy for Master Lu.
Which normal man wouldn't be a beauty? His curvaceous body and soft white tender flesh felt so comfortable to carry. Master Lu had definitely seen too many men in the past few years that had caused his aesthetic standards to change.
“Sigh, Master Lu has sacrificed his life for his people. I wonder if he can still carry women in the future.”
The young man walked over with his teacup and continued chatting with the other two, “I have a relative who is working at Duke Zhen Manor. I heard that Master Lu has never had a woman serve him since his triumphant return.”
“Really?”
“Do I dare to make up such a big thing?” The young man rolled his eyes. He took out his chopsticks and moved it towards the refreshments on the table and said as he ate, “This is not a secret. You can ask around and find out.”
“Who dares to ask about the Duke Zhen Manor? Are you tired of living?” One of the customers mocked himself.
The other man asked in a sneaky whisper, “What about men without women?” After asking this question, he observed the surroundings to confirm that no one was listening from the corner of the room.
The young man had just finished dealing with a plate of pancakes and put down his chopsticks. He said with his mouth full: “Do you think Master Lu is one of those despicable officials? I heard that even attendant is not used in Master Lu's room.”
In this day and age, which rich and powerful family wasn't a group of servants and attendants? He had never heard of a young man who didn't even have a maid, attendant, in his room.
However, at this moment, the focus of everyone's attention was clearly not here, “It looks like Master Lu truly loves this Third Young Master of the Zuo family.”
That youth retorted, “I don't think so. You must not have heard about what happened at the city gate yesterday.”
The two customers didn't care about the empty plates on the table as they urged, “We don't have good information, we only have a general idea. Tell us about it.”
The youth chuckled before lifting the empty teapot and shouting to the tea doctor, “Hurry up and serve me a teapot!”
The two customers watched him eat and drink with a pained expression, but they couldn't resist their curiosity, so they let him do as he pleased.
When the young man finished his tea happily, he said in a low voice, “Did you not see that? Back then, Prince Ruiqing used a knife to point at the young master's neck and asked Master Lu: Do you want a beauty or a mountain? Guess what Master Lu said?”
“How did you answer that?” The two customers didn't seem to understand the mistake in those words. How could they let a subject choose between a beauty or a mountain?
“Master Lu is truly worthy of being our role model. He is the Guardian God of Great Yang, so of course, we can't ignore the matters of the nation just for the sake of our children's private affairs. You and the other traitors have all been executed. Today, even if I am to be torn to pieces, I shall carry out justice for the heavens!”
“Ah… And then?”
“Then Master Lu shouted: Bring the bow!” The young man put down his teacup and made a bow with both hands, making an ‘arrow' position. This immediately caused the two customers' hearts to jump into their throats.
“Did Master Lu shoot the arrow?” the two tea men asked nervously.
“It did, of course it did!” Seeing the two's pity and pity on their faces, the young man laughed and slapped the table: “But… When the arrow shot out, Third Master Zuo suddenly moved on the city wall. He suddenly became godly, smiled at the sky, and threw Prince Ruiqing down onto the city wall with both hands. The traitors behind him wanted to catch him, but who knew that Third Master Zuo would leap and jump down from the city wall…”
“Ah…” The two of them exclaimed, “Then is Third Master Zuo dead?”
“Of course he's not dead. Third Master Zuo was like a god that had possessed his body. Not only did he not die, but he was also not injured at all. On the other hand, Prince Ruiqing, who was thrown down earlier, fell half dead.”
Hearing that, the two customers realized that something was wrong, “Isn't Third Master Zuo just a scholar? How could he have fallen so high and been completely unharmed?”
“Sigh, that's why they say God is in their possession. In my opinion, it must be because of Master Lu's righteousness and Third Master Zuo's fearlessness towards death. Even God can't bear to break them apart.”
“Wait, where is the arrow?”
“Arrow?” The young man was stunned for a moment, then he slammed the table, “Don't worry, I'm not done yet. Third Master Zuo jumped off the wall to avoid dragging Wu Tie down, but at this moment, the arrow shot onto the wall, and suddenly… A fierce wind blew, and the arrow was blown away by the wind. Coincidentally, it hit the leader of the rebel army, and he was shot in the heart. He died.”
“As expected… It was with God's help!” The two tea guests replied stupidly.
“Of course! Otherwise, how could it be a war god?” The young man finished his last cup of tea, stood up swiftly, and cupped his fists towards the two of them: “Alright, I have something urgent to attend to, please do as I say, brothers!” After saying that, he slipped away like a wisp of smoke.”
When the two customers came back to their senses, there was not a single bit of residue left on the table. After sitting for a while, they realized that all the guests in the teahouse were talking about this.
A handsome young man sat through the morning and evening at a table near the window. He looked around at the crowd and listened to all kinds of stories arranged by them.
When the teahouse was about to close, a team of Janissary Guard rushed in, blocking the young man on the second floor.
“Young Master Cao, come with us!” The team captain said impolitely.
Cao Zongguan put down his tea cup, took out some silver from his pocket and left it on the table. He stood up and followed the group of unfriendly Janissary Guard downstairs. From start to finish, his footsteps were steady and there was not a trace of nervousness in his eyes.
During the day, Lu Zheng got the list of the people he captured the first time they met. When he saw Cao Zongguan, he was quite surprised.
At first, he only met Cao Zongguan a few times at Zuo Family and felt that he was an upright and open-minded scholar, upright and square, as gentle as jade.
Chang Ping Cao Family was not some big family, and it did not show itself in the capital.
Without waiting for him to investigate, Zuo Shaoqing gave an unexpected answer, “He probably wanted to borrow Prince Ruiqing's power to deal with the Zuo Family, but he didn't expect Prince Ruiqing's ambition to be so big.”
Lu Zheng thought about how Cao Zongguan had been schemed against by Zuo Family, and raised his eyebrows, “Good courage, but too bad you were a bit rash.”
Zuo Shaoqing always had a good impression of Cao Zongguan. This matter was facilitated by him, so of course he didn't want him to be convicted, “Can Master Lu protect him? He hasn't been in the capital long enough to do anything.”
Lu Zheng held his hand and squeezed his thin palm. A trace of unhappiness flashed across his eyes. “You seem to… Do you really care about him?”
Zuo Shaoqing was pinched so hard that it felt like his skin was being pinched, he dodged for a bit, but he was held tightly by Lu Zheng, he did not open his eyes and replied: “No matter what, it's my brother-in-law, and this matter is Zuo Family's fault anyway, so just treat it as accumulating some merits for the Zuo Family.”
“If you didn't mention this, I would have forgotten that you still have an older sister who married into the Cao family.” Although he didn't think Zuo Shaoqing would have a whole new level of respect for this sister, but in the end, they were in-laws and Lu Zheng wanted to create momentum for Zuo Shaoqing, so of course he wouldn't let go of this opportunity.
Zuo Shaoqing knew he meant to help, so he secretly felt relieved, “Oh yeah, why did I hear so many weird rumors today?”
“Hmm?” Lu Zheng crawled into bed, avoided Zuo Shaoqing's wound, and hugged him.
“Don't randomly touch…” Zuo Shaoqing slapped away the palm that he sneaked into from under his clothes and thought indignantly: “This man's mental strength is comparable to a needle in the sea. Even if they sleep in the same bed, he can still control it freely.”
Lu Zheng scratched his waist, then his eyes gradually dimmed as he looked at the person's trembling body in his arms.
His control was not as good as Zuo Shaoqing had imagined. He had already bathed several times in the cold water these days. It seemed that he needed to get Zhan Yuanfeng to decree the marriage as soon as possible.
Zuo Shaoqing couldn't avoid his harassment so he let him go. He asked while panting, “I just happened to overhear a servant talking about yesterday's incident at the city gate. Why is the story spreading so fast?” After hearing this, he even suspected that what he had experienced was just a dream.
Lu Zheng had a smile on his face, “Isn't it spread well?”
The corner of Zuo Shaoqing's mouth twitched. That was great, but it was too exaggerated. How did he suddenly become a righteous hero that was not afraid of death?
Noticing the change in Lu Zheng's expression, Zuo Shaoqing suddenly understood and asked, “Did you get someone to pass it on to me?”
Lu Zheng replied calmly, “I'm just letting the people know what they should know.”
“For example, Master Lu is not the least bit bewitched by beauty? You can kill your loved one with a single arrow?” Zuo Shaoqing leaned close to the corner of Lu Zheng's mouth and kissed. In his eyes, there was an undisputable tenderness.
He knew Lu Zheng's intentions. The common people's thinking was narrow, especially for a hero like Lu Zheng, the requirements were harsh. If they knew Lu Zheng was willing to ignore the safety of the imperial court for the sake of a man, then he, Zuo Shaoqing, would definitely become a nuisance to the public!
In all the dynasties, which one of the emperors had a good reputation, despite all the rivers and mountains, for the sake of women? Actually, they might not have fallen for it because of their deep love for each other. It was just that their current location did not allow them to just care about the affairs of their children.
On the contrary, when everyone knew that Lu Zheng wouldn't abandon the society for the sake of personal feelings, they were relieved and forgiven. They even felt that there was nothing good about being Master Lu's lover.
Zuo Shaoqing's expression gradually became strange. After understanding all of this, he felt that he had probably become the target of the people's pity. Perhaps everyone in the capital was now pitying him.
However, it shouldn't be just that. Judging from what he heard, he, Zuo Shaoqing, was not afraid of death and his reputation as a righteous man had spread out.
“Master Lu is indeed worthy of being a general charging towards the battlefield. He is truly a strategist!” Zuo Shaoqing sighed.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺