mtl008 Chapter 108 Head
Chapter 108 Head
"Wait..." Lin Yiqing interrupted her in surprise, "How much did you say? Ten stones, did I hear correctly?"
Lin Yiqing repeatedly looked at the "lumps" that had been baked and placed on a plate waiting to cool.
"Of course, it also depends on the soil environment. It may not be so high at the beginning. But they don't have high soil requirements. They can be grown even in mountainous areas without farmland. They are very suitable for us in the southwest..."
As Xu Siyu spoke, she peeled the sweet potato in her hand and handed it to Lin Yiqing to try.
Lin Yiqing didn't take it directly with his hands. Instead, he stood up and reverently took a bite of the "spiritual object" from Xu Siyu's hand.
"Sweet?" Lin Yiqing's eyes lit up. Sweet things are not cheap.
With this yield and taste, if it could be grown in the mortal world, it would surely be a good business.
Xu Siyu put the remaining sweet potatoes on a porcelain plate and peeled them for him.
The potatoes had no taste, so Xu Siyu squeezed some salt and chili powder on them and motioned Lin Yiqing to dip them himself.
"This... is too bland..."
Although he said so, he still dipped it in the condiments and ate it mouthful by mouthful, relishing its delicious taste.
The two stayed in the study for a whole day and ate so much that they didn't even go to the kitchen to ask for any food. This made Shi Jin and Rui'er, who were guarding outside the door, very anxious.
……
When Prince Linjiang learned that Princess Yuyang had revealed her secret to an unrelated female businessman, he felt half sorry that his child was still young and could not be trusted; but he was also half surprised that the other party was so generous as to give them grain seeds after knowing the secret.
It seems that Lu Zichong cannot let go of the talented person he has chosen.
Originally, the situation between them and the court had not yet come to a head, but not recruiting capable people was clearly not the behavior of someone aiming for great things.
In fact, it is very simple to think about it. He needs to hide his thoughts and strength from the emperor.
However, this does not mean that he needs to kowtow to the emperor's dog.
Even if Lu Zichong is the emperor's man, he is not untouchable.
So what if they move? It's just sending another person over.
So, King Linjiang was assassinated.
When his life was in danger, he asked the capital for permission to let the prince return to Jiangling.
The letter attached to the same edict mentioned that the guards of the royal palace had captured the mastermind of the assassination.
The thieves said that they were instructed by the prefect Lu Zicong.
When the Prince of Linjiang wrote a petition to the emperor, he suspected that there was something behind this matter.
Last year, Lord Lu was appointed to Jiangling Prefecture by imperial decree. After arriving in Jiangling, he often mentioned the emperor's will and the emperor's heart. Someone must have seized on this to alienate Prince Linjiang from the emperor...
In the Funing Palace.
The emperor threw the letter from Prince Linjiang to the Duke of Qing and his men, "How does Lu Da do things?"
When the emperor calls his subjects by their full names, it must be when he is angry or unhappy.
No one would be stupid enough to step forward to defend him.
The emperor knew that Lu Zichong definitely didn't do this, but why did Prince Linjiang try to excuse him?
This was of course done intentionally by Prince Linjiang, who had seen through the suspicious nature inherited from the imperial family.
If the facts are true, the emperor will be suspicious; if the facts are false, the emperor will also be suspicious.
Even if the emperor did not believe that Lu Zichong sent people to commit the crime, as long as Prince Linjiang tried his best to clear him of any involvement, it would make him very uneasy.
Anxiety will make him suspicious, and suspicion will make him give up and make the decision of "rather kill a hundred".
In particular, the emperor still needed a reason to continue detaining the prince and not give the living Prince Linjiang the opportunity to meet him.
In order to appease Prince Linjiang as soon as possible, he would let Lu Zichong take all the blame and ask Prince Linjiang to carry out the execution to show his favor to the Linjiang Palace.
Only in this way can he feel at ease, and Lu Zichong will never be able to collude with the King of Linjiang again...
It was a bright February, and Sima Yang came to Changjia Mansion again.
This time, she brought Lu Zichong's head to Xu Siyu to exchange for grain seeds.
Xu Siyu really thought it was a gift from the little girl, so she opened the mahogany box without any precautions, and then all she heard was screaming and vomiting.
Xu Siyu ran out of the study and went to the garden to breathe in the fresh air. It took her a long time to calm down before she could talk to Sima Yang normally.
"Did I give you the wrong impression that I could read human skulls?"
"It's not that bad. I was afraid you wouldn't recognize it, so I had it cleaned and sent to you wrapped in ice."
"Ugh..." After hearing her detailed account, Xu Siyu felt even more like vomiting.
Xu Siyu thought about taking revenge on Lu Zichong. After all, it was he who first betrayed their cooperative relationship and wanted to control her, which led to the loss of Xu Wangshi.
But she didn't expect that the cause and effect relationship between her and such an old man would end with his head and body separated.
She still can't accept it.
"Isn't he one of the emperor's closest confidants? How could he be killed so easily by you?"
"Well, we are just carrying the knife to deliver the message. It was the emperor who ordered his death."
Xu Siyu: ...
"You'd better take this head back and leave the body intact..."
"No need. The Emperor's decree is to spare his body but not his relatives. His head and body will be separated and abandoned on the chaotic hill. The Lu family will sever ties with him, so his entire family can still live. Otherwise, they will be executed together..."
The emperor was also cruel. He issued an imperial decree of death and let everyone know that there were two ways for Lu Zichong to die. One was for him to be expelled from the family and die an unjust death in exchange for the life of the entire Lu family. The other was for the entire Lu family to atone for their sins in a decent manner.
But what is disgusting is that the emperor did not give the right to choose the way of death to Lu Zichong and the Lu family, but gave it to the King of Linjiang who "needed to be appeased after being assassinated."
This transfer of contradictions will make the Lu family inevitably bear a grudge against the Linjiang Palace.
If Lu Zichong dies, they will hate the Linjiang Palace.
But what if the King of Linjiang blamed them and killed Lu Zichong's family?
The image of Prince Linjiang as cruel and unkind will contrast with the emperor's magnanimity and remain in the minds of those who sympathize with Lu Zichong's situation.
Those who have family ties with the Lu family will naturally choose to oppose the Linjiang Palace.
Just for this matter, Yuyang thought they were very strange. The way of death was clearly written in the imperial edict, but they did not blame the person who issued the edict, but blamed the person who followed the edict.
No wonder my father always talks about the importance of the reputation of orthodoxy.
They must find a reason to rebel that is in accordance with the will of heaven, so that they can have a chance of final victory.
That's getting off topic. That's what Yuyang is supposed to do. Sima Yang is here to purchase goods.
Sitting in the pavilion in the garden, Xu Siyu saw Sima Yang's men packing up the human head box, and hurriedly called Rui'er to clean her study.
After everything was cleaned up, the two returned to the study. Xu Siyu still felt unhappy, so she lit the incense burner and smoked jasmine to ease the stuffiness in her chest.
Sima Yang handed Xu Siyu a booklet, which contained the order form for goods that the Sima family of Xiangzhou wanted to purchase from the Xu family.
"Two million dan of grain, one hundred thousand logs, five hundred thousand jin of sugar, one million jin of salt, fifty thousand pieces of coarse cloth..."
Xu Siyu closed the booklet and said, "Miss Sima, haven't you investigated the Xu family's background? We are just a small merchant in the city. How could we possibly accept such a large order from you?"