vstars Chapter 894 Everyone in the court criticized Bai Lu and others for being unfilial by killing their s
Chapter 894 Everyone in the court criticized Bai Lu and others for being unfilial by killing their s
He hesitated as he turned to Bai Lu and said, "I heard that you, Qingze, Lie Zhao and the others went to the Bai family yesterday and killed Xie."
Bai Lu nodded lightly.
The prince sighed and said, "Tell me, why did you have to kill Xie before rewarding her?"
"Killing Xie at this time, no matter how great the injustice you have suffered, there is a layer of ethical principles above your head! You are unfilial and have truly violated the laws of the court!"
"Many people said that you three were covered in blood when you left the Bai family. The bloody stench was so strong you could smell it from ten miles away. It was so overwhelming!
"Pei Huizhou and his men found a powerful handle on you, and they brought a group of censors to impeach you in the court. They even impeached the eldest son of the Bai family, who didn't do much! They said he was not good at educating his younger brothers and sisters!"
"This made the Emperor's face turn pale for a while. In the end, he said that he must have made a mistake. He would have the Ministry of War investigate thoroughly and asked us not to tarnish the reputation of the hero."
Hearing this, Bai Lu nodded with a calm expression, "What's next for Pei Huizhou?"
The prince continued, "But you know... the Ministry of War isn't good at investigating cases. Lord Pei wanted to take over this responsibility, and we were the ones who persuaded him, saying that Lord Pei was no longer with the Dali Temple and should not get involved in the investigation. So, we let it go."
The prince was still indignant as he spoke, "It was Xie who killed my aunt, but because it was so long ago, we don't have any evidence... We suffered a loss in this regard!"
He still had a headache, so he said softly to Bai Lu, "You guys are so impulsive. Why did you do it yourself?!"
"It's better than letting me do this!"
Bai Lu listened to the prince's indignant expression and slowly smiled.
She pulled the prince to sit down and said to him very calmly: "How can this be possible? After all, it is the grudge between me and the Xie family."
"If you are implicated, and the ministers in the court impeach you, wouldn't that be a waste of time?"
"If the ministers in the court want to impeach me, then they can impeach me. I am not afraid."
Upon hearing this, the prince frowned and waved his hand, "Even if there are these troubles... they are much better than yours. At least they don't involve any unfilial behavior!"
"You are so arrogant now! If there are people who hate you so much, they would like to cut a piece of flesh from you!"
Before Bailu had such a quarrel with her father, some people had actually been secretly saying that Bailu was unfilial, but they also brought up her mother, meaning: If you think Bailu is unfilial, then if you have a very good relationship with your father, then doesn't that mean you are also unfilial to your mother?
For a moment, these people were speechless and had nothing to say.
But now they have killed Xie again.
Killing and scolding are two completely different concepts.
This matter was simply brought up together with Bai Lu's previous unfilial behavior, and Bai Lu was really attacked severely.
In addition, some ministers said that it would be a waste to give the title of Marquis of Anguo to someone as disloyal, unvirtuous and unfilial as Bai Lu, and it would be better for Your Majesty to revoke her title of Marquis of Anguo immediately.
The person who said this obviously didn't think.
Although Bai Lu was conferred the title of Marquis of Anguo, which was against the ancestral system because she was a woman, the world now advocates that men and women have equal status, and the imperial examination for women has already been opened.
If the title of Marquis of Anguo were revoked, what would women in the world yearn for then? Why would they fight so hard for such a marquisate?
Moreover, Bai Lu's title of Marquis was not conferred by her, but was awarded based on merit! She had previously saved the people of Liangzhou and had made great contributions.
It would seem unfair to strip her of her merits because of what happened between her and her parents' family.
Just like Bai Yansong favored his concubine and killed his wife before, didn’t he continue to serve in the court?
In short, these things made the emperor very angry. He immediately threw the minister out and beat him up severely. Only then did the minister dare to say anything else.
However, this matter will definitely give Pei Huizhou and his men a handle.
After listening to what the Crown Prince said, Bai Lu smiled at him and said, "Your Highness, don't worry. These are just trivial matters. We just got back and we still need to rest for a while. Let them handle this matter on their own."
Hearing this, the prince was stunned for a moment, and said in disbelief: "This... after hearing all this, you don't want to think of how to prevaricate?"
"Do not want to."
Bai Lu shook her head and said to the prince, "We will definitely be scolded now. There's no way we can clear ourselves of this matter. Instead of getting into all this nonsense, why don't we just take a good stroll around Kyoto and rest up."
"Come to think of it, we haven't really explored Kyoto yet."
The prince stared at Bai Lu in a daze. He was completely dumbfounded. He didn't expect Bai Lu to be so open-minded.
Bai Lu shrugged her shoulders and said to the Crown Prince with a smile, "Your Highness, why are you looking at me like that?"
The Crown Prince twitched his lips and said, "You don't care about such wealth and splendor? That's right... Even if they criticize you, what can you do? They can't sentence you to prison. At most, they'll send you back to Liangzhou. It's unlikely that you'll even be able to take away the title of Marquis."
"That's right."
Bai Lu doesn't care about these things, it doesn't matter.
The prince nodded, his heart wide open. He slowly exhaled, "Cousin Chu Yao didn't do anything. No matter what, we can't hit him."
"However, Lie Zhao and Qing Ze will serve as officials in the court, so we may need to consider this carefully."
Bai Lu nodded. "Yes, they both serve in the imperial court. But my second brother is prone to violence and murder over a disagreement. I'm easier to deal with than him. Besides, he's going to marry the daughter of the Shangguan family, so they'll probably be in Qingzhou... It won't have much impact on him in the court."
"And my third brother married General Murong's daughter, so General Murong's family provided him with support."
"My second and third brothers are not easy to mess with, so the one who is easy to mess with is me, a woman..."
"Plus, with someone like Pei Huizhou interfering, it's normal for me to be targeted and become the target of public criticism."
"But I don't care about these things. It doesn't matter... As long as they don't attack my second brother, third brother, eldest brother, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, that's fine."
The prince was completely relieved, so he smiled and asked her, "Where do you want to go? I'll take you there."
Bai Lu was startled and looked at him carefully. Then she heard the prince cough twice and said, "I... can take a few of your girls with me to play."
He was a little embarrassed, lowered his head, and looked shy.
Afraid that Bai Lu would think he had bad intentions, he actively assured her: "Don't worry, I just treat you as my sister now."
"Understood, Your Highness."
Bai Lu smiled and nodded to the prince, saying, "Then let's go out and have some fun together."
The prince said excitedly, "It just so happens that the Double Ninth Festival is just a few days away. I wonder which mountain the palace will hold a banquet on! Let's go climb it then."
"Okay."
Not long after, the Queen sent Hongying over to deliver a message to Bai Lu: "In reply to Lady Bai, our Queen said...if Lady Bai likes to go to a certain mountain, please let us know in advance."
"This Double Ninth Festival climbing event is organized by the Imperial Concubine, but the location will be chosen by our Empress."
Nowadays, most of the trivial matters in the palace are handled by a few concubines. They are suppressed by the queen and their power is also revealed.
But the queen is still alive after all, and she dare not act rashly.
Besides, no one in the Bai family is easy to mess with, so naturally the task of choosing the location should be left to the Queen.
The Queen is the one who makes the decision and will personally organize the banquet. When the time comes, she will just tell others that this is the Double Ninth Festival banquet organized by the Queen.
Some concubines are also good at trying to please people.
Bai Lu pondered for a moment and said, "I don't know how many hills there are in Kyoto, so just pick one at random."
Hongying pondered for a moment and said to Bailu, "Lady Bai, you have to choose for yourself."
"If you don't choose for yourself, the Queen will beat me later."
"Let me tell you which places there are."
Bai Lu nodded.
Hongying said, "There's a deer mountain here with a lot of fawns there. They're born in May or June... They're three or four months old now, very cute. If you like, you can bring a couple back."
"There's also a Peach Blossom Mountain. There's a marriage temple on top of it, and it's said to be very powerful. Two years ago, we held a Double Ninth Festival banquet on Peach Blossom Mountain, and many men and women who climbed the mountain found their partners."
"There's also a small tea mountain. It's really nice to drink tea there. The scenery is beautiful, and there's even a faint bamboo forest."
"These three mountains are not high. Even if our little princesses want to climb them, it will only take half an hour!"
"It would be fun to go to the mountains, enjoy the flowers, and have an outing with these princes and nobles. I'm sure my lady and the princesses will be happy."
The imperial decree of the princess has not been issued yet, but Hongying directly calls Bailu's children princesses, so that their status seems higher.
Anyway, there are only Bai Lu and myself here, no one else is here, so even if I want to find fault, I can't.
It would be nice to say more nice things to make Bai Lu happy.
Bai Lu smiled and said, "In that case, let's go to Deer Mountain. If there are deer there, I'm sure the children will like it very much."
"Okay, then I'll go tell the Queen."
"..."
In the evening, news came from the palace that the Queen Mother had chosen Lushan.
On September 9th, we go to Lushan Mountain to hold the Double Ninth Festival banquet.
According to gossip, the Queen actually chose Lushan for Bailu.
These people secretly sighed in private: "I didn't expect...our Lord Bai is so favored. Even the Emperor and the Empress Dowager are so protective of him. He is even more popular than His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"
"Yes, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is their biological son and grandson, and he's the eldest son and grandson... but he's still no match for Lady White!"
"He didn't even ask His Royal Highness the Crown Prince during the Chongyang Banquet, nor did he ask the other princes and princesses, but he actually asked Lord Bai directly!"
"Oh my god, no wonder she was so arrogant and domineering in the previous dynasty and even killed her stepmother Xie."
Immediately, a palace attendant covered the other person's mouth in fear, "Oh my God, please shut up! The reason for this is! There are some secret rumors involved."
"...You youngsters don't know about these things, but now that they've been brought to light... If White Snake finds out, watch out for your hides!"
"What's going on?"
In the middle of the night, someone whispered, "Why was the eldest son of the Bai family repeatedly diagnosed by the imperial physician as not living past forty? It was because of Xie..."
After a while of blah blah, he turned to Bai Lu. "No wonder Lady Bai Lu killed Mrs. Xie. After all, she's been wandering around for over a decade and is now a widow, raising seven children by herself and being bullied by her in-laws. It was all Mrs. Xie's doing! Oh, I really want to chop her into pieces!"
"She's a heroine who can fight on the battlefield and chop off heads without blinking an eye. Xie had such a deep grudge against her, yet they only tortured her for half an hour, and her death was considered quite easy!"
Everyone was speechless for a moment.
"In that case, it doesn't seem to be a big deal..."
"Madam Bai Lu and several young masters of the Bai family killed Xie. Even Bai Yansong probably couldn't say how bad they were. At most, he could only curse them at home."
"If they point their fingers at their noses and curse at them right in front of them, and even want to drag their mothers out, how can they reason with them?!"
"That's exactly it!"
"Then why are there so many people in the court talking about Lady Bai Lu and the others?"
"I don't know..."
Everyone fell into deep thought.
Then someone remembered, "Speaking of which, isn't the Bai family's wife currently engaged? With Master Pei Huizhou..."
"Perhaps Pei Huizhou doesn't want to marry Lady Bai, so he is deliberately ruining Lady Bai Lu's reputation."
Everyone lowered their heads and felt that this matter made a lot of sense.
They never thought that Pei Huizhou ruined Bai Lu's reputation because he wanted to marry her.
He really wanted to marry Bai Lu, but there was no other way now.
A few days before the Double Ninth Festival, Pei Huizhou led a group of censors in a heated debate, scolding Bai Lu and several young masters of the Bai family from head to toe.
The emperor and other court officials were in the court listening to Pei Huizhou and the others cursing.
Public opinion was rife in the court, and many people felt that Bai Lu shouldn't have done this. Pei Huizhou's lackeys also said so, but no one seemed to dare to actually mention what to do to Bai Lu.
After the emperor heard what they had to say, he said calmly, "A great victory on the front lines, and General Zhou has returned... The Turks have been annihilated and are no longer a threat. It's time for us to celebrate."
"Tomorrow we will go to Lushan Mountain to climb the heights. The Double Ninth Festival banquet will be held here... Whether it's a reward or a punishment, we'll decide tomorrow."
The emperor has already drafted many imperial edicts.
After hearing this, Pei Huizhou and the others nodded without saying anything.
It seems that the emperor will reward the soldiers according to their merits tomorrow.
Tomorrow, Bai Lu and the others' affairs will be resolved.