Song Xiu

Chapter 31 You dare call my name?
The news of Wei Renpu leaving the palace could not be kept from Zhao Guangyi.

Because Zhao Guangyi was working in his official residence that day, he received the news rather late.

However, Zhao Guangyi reacted quickly, and immediately summoned his trusted confidants upon learning the news.

"Can you all guess what Wei Renpu's purpose was in leaving the palace?"

Previously, Yao Shu had been scolded by Wei Renpu and held a grudge. After returning, he embellished Wei Renpu's words in front of Zhao Guangyi.

Wei Renpu's original words were already hurtful, let alone after Yao Shu altered them.

Therefore, after Yao Shu finished reporting, Zhao Guangyi felt disgust and fear towards Wei Renpu.

Wei Renpu's words clearly expressed his attitude—he was determined to protect Zhao Dexiu as the crown prince.

This was undoubtedly a declaration of war against Zhao Guangyi, who was eager to become the heir apparent.

As an enemy, how could Zhao Guangyi be careless?

Faced with Zhao Guangyi's question, many people lowered their heads.

Wei Renpu's departure from the palace was too sudden, and it would be difficult to guess his intentions in a short period of time.

Seeing that no one offered any opinions, Zhao Guangyi turned his gaze to Shi Xizai.

Under Zhao Guangyi's gaze, Shi Xizai had no choice but to stand up and say:
"Upon learning of Wei Renpu's departure from the palace today, I contacted some people to go to Wei's residence to test him."

Unfortunately, when Wei Renpu met them, he mainly exchanged pleasantries about the past, occasionally mentioning the eldest prince, Renxiao, but otherwise showed no other unusual behavior.

Zhao Guangyi had been secretly working with ministers for some time, and thanks to his efforts, a few ministers were willing to side with him.

Today, Shi Xizai is contacting those ministers.

Shi Xizai's words made Zhao Guangyi frown.

In fact, Shi Xizai's reaction was already quite fast.

However, Zhao Guangyi was not satisfied with Shi Xizai's answer.

"You mean Wei Renpu left the palace today to help Zhao Dexiu build his reputation?"

"Given Wei Renpu's talent, his purpose is far from simple."

The sharp-minded Zhao Guangyi paced back and forth in the hall, deep in thought.

"Regardless of Wei Renpu's purpose, his high-profile departure from the palace today is intended to attract the attention of the court officials."

Currently, Wei Renpu holds no official position or post, and if he wants to do anything, he will have to rely on the help of others; this will not change.

After careful consideration, Zhao Guangyi grasped the crux of the matter.

Feeling somewhat uneasy, Zhao Guangyi turned around and decisively addressed his trusted confidants, including Shi Xizai, Yao Shu, and Cheng Yu:

"Starting tomorrow, you shall prepare gold and silver treasures and visit each of the officials, high and low, who visited the Wei residence today. Do not miss a single one!"

Zhao Guangyi spoke with great conviction.

However, Shi Xizai and the others looked troubled after hearing this.

Today, we visited at least seventy or eighty officials of all ranks in the Wei family. It took a lot of time and energy to probe them one by one.

Shi Xizai wanted to speak up for himself:
"General, if Wei Renpu has any schemes, he will definitely contact powerful figures in the court."

"We should focus our efforts on those people; that way, we can quickly uncover Wei Renpu's intentions."

As soon as Shi Xizai spoke, he immediately won the approval of the others.

In the past, given Zhao Guangyi's trust in Shi Xizai, he would have considered Shi Xizai's suggestion.

However, Zhao Guangyi's attitude at the moment was very firm.

"It's not that I'm being overly cautious, but Wei Renpu is a man of deep cunning and cannot be taken lightly."

I hope you can lend me a hand.

After speaking, Zhao Guangyi bowed to all his trusted confidants present.

Zhao Guangyi's ability to secretly gather many loyal followers was inseparable from his attitude of treating scholars with respect.

The confidants had long since tied their futures to Zhao Guangyi's, and coupled with Zhao Guangyi's sincere attitude, they were deeply moved and had no complaints.

After assigning tasks to his trusted confidants, Zhao Guangyi, just in case, came up with another plan.

He will go to the palace tomorrow and ask Empress Dowager Du to test Zhao Dexiu for him!

On the morning of the third day after Wei Renpu left the palace, Zhao Dexiu got up early as usual.

After washing up, Zhao Dexiu led Zhao Dezhao on their way to Yanshou Palace.

Because Empress Dowager Du held a higher position than Empress Wang, Zhao Dexiu would usually go to Yanshou Palace to pay her respects first.

Of course, Empress Dowager Du didn't particularly like the Zhao brothers, and often treated Zhao Dexiu's greetings with perfunctory indifference. On the way to Yanshou Palace, Zhao Dexiu saw in the distance two long lines of officials making their way towards Chongyuan Hall.

The court assembly in Chongyuan Hall is about to begin.

After Wei Renpu left the palace, Zhao Dexiu was unable to contact him again.

But Zhao Dexiu believed in Wei Renpu's abilities, and perhaps what he wanted would come true at today's court meeting.

With this expectation in mind, Zhao Dexiu arrived outside Yanshou Palace.

Zhao Dexiu had thought that his visit to Yanshou Palace to pay his respects today would be just a formality, as usual.

Unexpectedly, the eunuchs of Yanshou Palace politely invited him into the palace today.

This unusual occurrence made Zhao Dexiu wary.

Before entering Yanshou Palace, Zhao Dexiu whispered some instructions to Zhao Dezhao, who was standing beside him.

After hearing Zhao Dexiu's words, Zhao Dezhao's big eyes darted around twice to indicate that he understood.

Upon entering the palace, Zhao Dexiu's sense of unease deepened.

Because Empress Dowager Du, who should have been sitting in the main seat, was not present; someone else was in the main hall of the palace.

That man was none other than Du Shenzhao, the younger brother of Empress Dowager Du.

According to seniority, Zhao Dexiu should address Du Shenzhao as his maternal uncle.

However, you can call him Uncle Zhao Dexiu or not.

Although the royal family values ​​filial piety, they value filial piety between direct relatives, such as Zhao Dexiu's filial piety towards Empress Dowager Du.

In the patriarchal system of the time, the maternal uncle belonged to the collateral maternal relatives and had no patriarchal authority to suppress Zhao Dexiu's filial piety.

Fortunately, Zhao Dexiu was willing to give Empress Dowager Du some face and, along with Zhao Dezhao, addressed Du Shenzhao as "Uncle".

Upon hearing the titles Zhao Dexiu and Zhao Dezhao used to address him, Du Shenzhao revealed a smug expression.

Du Shenzhao unconsciously adopted the airs of an elder, not even bothering to offer Zhao Dexiu and his brother a seat, and instead asked Zhao Dexiu:

"I heard that Wei Renpu left the palace the other day. Do you know what he did there?"

As soon as Du Shenzhao asked that question, Zhao Dexiu realized who was responsible for today's unusual situation.

It seems that his good uncle couldn't figure out Wei Renpu's intentions for the time being, so he planned to take a roundabout approach and let Empress Dowager Du find a breakthrough from him.

Given his past image of being timid, Zhao Guangyi's move was indeed feasible.

Faced with Du Shenzhao's questioning, Zhao Dexiu naturally wouldn't reveal the truth, giving an irrefutable reason:

“My beloved teacher missed his family, so he left the palace for a few days.”

With Empress Dowager Du's instructions, Du Shenzhao certainly wouldn't easily believe Zhao Dexiu's words.

No matter what questions Du Shenzhao asked next, Zhao Dexiu stuck to his story.

Unable to find an answer from Zhao Dexiu, Du Shenzhao turned his gaze to Zhao Dezhao, who looked weak and vulnerable.

Zhao Dezhao stayed by Zhao Dexiu's side day and night; perhaps he could get some information out of him.

So Du Shenzhao put on airs as an uncle and asked Zhao Dezhao questions.

Seeing that Zhao Dezhao was young, and having received no answers after repeated inquiries, Du Shenzhao's tone unconsciously became stern.

Du Shenzhao's tone had turned into an interrogation.

Realizing that Du Shenzhao's behavior was becoming increasingly outrageous, Zhao Dexiu felt that the time was right and quickly gave Zhao Dezhao a wink.

Noticing his brother's meaningful glance, Zhao Dezhao secretly pinched himself hard. The intense pain, combined with his grievances, made him burst into tears.

Zhao Dezhao's sudden outburst of tears took Du Shenzhao by surprise.

Seeing that Zhao Dezhao had cooperated, Zhao Dexiu no longer needed to be patient.

"Left Minister, how dare you interrogate the prince, causing him to feel uneasy?"

After shouting these words, Zhao Dexiu pulled Zhao Dezhao behind him and then approached Du Shenzhao step by step.

Seeing Zhao Dexiu approaching him step by step with a livid face, Du Shenzhao, sensing that the situation was getting out of control, suddenly panicked.

"No, no, Deok-soo, you've misunderstood."

In his attempt to explain, Du Shenzhao made another grave mistake.

Upon hearing Du Shenzhao's form of address, Zhao Dexiu couldn't help but angrily rebuke him:
"Please address the Left Minister as His Highness the Eldest Prince!"

You dare call my name?
　Readers are encouraged to read this book diligently these next few days. The response to the recommendations is quite good, and if it continues on this trend, there's a good chance it will be featured on the Sanjiang list.

　　Thank you everyone!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)