My husband, who abandoned his father and kept his son, actually wants me to be his concubine.

Chapter 156 Death Sentence Inevitable
In the Zichen Palace.

Emperor Huiyuan, who was at the head of the group, frowned as he looked at the portraits one after another, and threw them all on the ground.

Emperor Huiyuan rubbed his aching head and said, "What a Rong Consort! She actually used such methods to form cliques and disrupt the court!"

Rong Yi bowed and said, "Father, please calm your anger."

Emperor Huiyuan angrily said, "Minister Liu, bring all the men in these paintings here!"

"Yes," Liu Siqing hurriedly replied, "I will immediately send men to capture Prince Qingshan and his men."

Lu Jinshi glanced at the portraits at her feet. These court officials were all promising high-ranking officials, yet they could be so muddle-headed.

Emperor Huiyuan stopped Liu Siqing and asked, "Wait, has Consort Rong... come to see you?"

Liu Siqing knelt on the ground and said, "Your Majesty, I am utterly loyal. Consort Rong has never approached me. No, she has not."

Liu Siqing was afraid that His Majesty would misunderstand him.

Lu Jinshi looked at Liu Siqing kneeling on the ground and spoke up for him, saying, "Father, it seems that Consort Rong doesn't just take in every official. Apart from Prince Qingshan, the officials she has taken in are all civil officials from non-aristocratic families..."

It seems that Consort Rong's threat is only effective against officials who fear the extermination of their entire clan, as they are already the most powerful members of their families and have no choice but to submit to her. Fortunately, Consort Rong's methods were not used against the military generals and nobles of the Great Sheng Dynasty.

Rong Yi said, "Because the military officers and nobles in this court don't think that sleeping with Consort Rong will result in the extermination of their entire family."

Lu Jinshi nodded and said, "Like my senior brother He Wen, who has passed away, he dared not reveal this predicament. Firstly, he was afraid of implicating his entire family, and secondly, scholars all have their own pride and value their reputation. They simply dared not let outsiders know about this matter and could only conceal it by dying."

If it were a military general, he might not care about these things.

They wouldn't be used by Consort Rong forever. They were straightforward and didn't think too much about it, so they came to His Majesty to report the truth.

Moreover, most of the military generals of the Great Sheng Dynasty were descendants of founding nobles, whose families still held titles and iron certificates. Once the iron certificates were issued, the entire clan could be protected.

Emperor Huiyuan frowned deeply.

About an hour later, all the men in the painting, except for Prince Qingshan, had gathered there.

"Where is Prince Qingshan?"

Liu Siqing knelt before His Majesty and said, "Your Majesty, the Prince of Qingshan has been gone from Chang'an for more than half a month."

Rong Yi frowned and said, "Didn't I have someone keeping a close eye on his mother?"

"The Prince of Qingshan also left through the secret passage. The people watching the Prince thought that the Prince had never left the house!"

Emperor Huiyuan gestured to the eunuchs beside him to distribute Rongpin and their portraits one by one.

The court officials, who were kneeling on the ground, were all stunned and fell to the ground after seeing the contents of the portrait.

Even worse, their official robes were soaked with sweat.

Lu Jinshi glanced at the court officials in front of him. When they tried to stop His Majesty from establishing an empress, they made all sorts of grand and righteous statements.

Little did they know what despicable and petty things they were doing behind the scenes!
Emperor Huiyuan roared, "You! How dare you deceive the emperor like this!"

"Your Majesty, spare me! Spare me!"

"We were wrong, Your Majesty, please spare our lives!" In an instant, the entire hall was filled with cries.

"Junior sister, save me, save me..."

Wu Ke knelt down in front of Lu Jinshi, kowtowing repeatedly and saying, "Junior Sister, save me."

Lu Jinshi frowned and said, "Senior Brother Wu, I asked you what your difficulties were back then, why didn't you tell me?"

Wu Ke shed tears of remorse and said, "I really can't say this, Junior Sister. I know I deserve to die, but please spare my wife and children. My wife and children are innocent!"

Lu Jinshi said, "Since you know your wife and children are innocent, why did you still make such a foolish claim?"

Wu Ke tearfully said, "I really didn't want to. That day, I accompanied my wife to the temple to burn incense. I felt quite tired, so I went to rest in the side room. While resting, I had a dream. In my past life, I saved a fox in the mountains. In this life, the fox said it wanted to come and repay the favor. When I woke up, I saw a beautiful woman in front of me, and I thought she was the fox from my dream who was repaying the favor..."

After I fully regained my senses, I was filled with remorse. My master and mistress had taught the students of Tianzhang Academy that they should not take concubines. I was agonizing over whether or not I should disobey their orders when she said that she was Consort Rong, and that she had come to worship Buddha, only to be humiliated by me…

Wu Ke, filled with shame and indignation, said, "I really don't know what to do. I don't want to implicate my entire family. I can only beg Consort Rong to keep this a secret for me. I... I can only obey Consort Rong's every word... and follow Consort Rong's lead without question."

"I also dreamt of a fox repaying a debt of gratitude, and it was also in a Buddhist hall."

"I heard that the paintings I liked were with the abbot, so I went to the side room of the Buddhist hall to rest. I also dreamed of the scholar and the fox who was repaying a debt of gratitude."

In the main hall, all the officials knelt on the ground, recounting how they had contracted the disease.

Most of them are in Buddhist halls, and most of them have a dream first, and when they wake up, they still think they are in a dream.

Upon hearing this, Lu Jinshi frowned and looked at Rong Yi, saying, "So many people are having the same dream? That's really strange."

Rong Yi said, "It's not surprising. The mural in the temple we visited last time depicts the story of a scholar saving a fox, and the fox coming to the Buddhist hall to repay the kindness. You may not have seen the mural, but the painting technique is unique. Anyone who loves painting would take a look."

Lu Jinshi said, "At the time, I was only concerned about Zhang'er, so I didn't see Xu Zhen."

Rong Yi said, "As long as a young monk specifically guides them along the corridor with the murals, they will definitely remember the content of the murals. With the addition of some intoxicating incense, such illusions may appear."

Lu Jinshi said, "So that's how it is. I always thought the side rooms in the temple were very strange. Even the usually well-behaved Xiao Zhang cried incessantly when he entered the side rooms of the temple. So that's the reason."

Upon hearing Rong Yi's words, all the ministers nodded in agreement, saying, "That little novice monk even showed me that mural."

"It's the mystery of that mural that I never suspected before."

"Your Majesty, we did not mean to disrespect the imperial authority. We beg Your Majesty to spare our lives."

"Your Majesty, please have mercy on me."

Emperor Huiyuan, seated at the head of the table, said, “You would rather be threatened by Consort Rong than deceive me. I will not let you off lightly. If you are willing to admit your mistakes, I may not hold it against you. What you have committed is not the crime of defiling the harem, but the crime of deceiving the emperor and forming factions!”

Emperor Huiyuan said, "Death is inevitable, but your family members are innocent. I will not hold your family members accountable for their crimes."

"Guards, drag them all away and lock them in the imperial prison."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Lu Jinshi glanced at Wu Ke, seeing the pleading in his eyes, but did not respond. After all, if Wu Ke and He Wen had told her the truth long ago and were willing to testify, Prince Yan would have been punished long ago, and Rong Yi would not have been in danger.