I'm a fool and I'll add some

Chapter 158 The Truth
"The folk girl lives in the country. Today, she accompanied her mother to burn incense and worship Buddha at Daxiangguo Temple. She got separated for a while and came here. I didn't expect...Thanks to the son-in-law for saving me! The famous girl is very grateful!"

Mei Niang said sincerely.

"Girl, you are welcome. Since you live in the country and your mother is in Daxiangguo Temple, I will escort you to Daxiangguo Temple first! Then I will send you home!"

He Yuzhu said with a smile.

"Then... I would like to thank the son-in-law!"

Mei Niang originally wanted to decline, but when she peeked at Uncle Guo was still there, she couldn't help being frightened and quickly agreed.

Uncle Guo really had the idea of ​​waiting for He Yuzhu to leave, and then secretly snatched Meiniang back to the mansion. Now that He Yuzhu insisted on sending Meiniang home, Meiniang also agreed, and angrily tossed his sleeves, and left bitterly... …

He Yuzhu was a little surprised to see him leave, and originally planned to find a chance to kill Uncle Guo.

Now Uncle Guo is obviously not a fool, and left directly.

He Yuzhu had no choice but to give up and wait for a chance to talk about it in the future!
He Yuzhu called the carriage, let Meiniang get on the carriage, and drove to Daxiangguo Temple together.

On the way, He Yuzhu couldn't help thinking back to the plot of the civet cat for the prince: During the reign of Renzong, a blind old woman Li Shi and her adopted daughter Mei Niang lived in the countryside to sell vegetables for a living.Mrs. Li kept calling herself "Aijia" to Mei Niang, which made Mei Niang laugh and cry.In fact, Li was originally the concubine of Zhenzong. Because she gave birth to a dragon son, she was jealous by Concubine Liu. Not only was Concubine Liu exchanged the civet cat for the prince, but she almost died in the cold palace.Li endured humiliation and buried her name for 20 years, only hoping to see her son again.Mei Niang occasionally saw her cousin Bai Yutang dissatisfied with Zhan Zhao's title of "royal cat" and competed with Zhan Zhao, mistaking Zhan Zhao as a bad person. .From then on, he fell in love with Zhao.Zhan Zhao also likes this beautiful and gentle girl very much.Concubine Liu in the past is now the Empress Dowager. When she went to Daxiangguo Temple to burn incense, she met Mrs. Li and was shocked by a ghost.His confidant Guo Huai deceived Li to be blind and designed to trick Li into the palace.Li is at stake.

Li's eyes are blind and his heart is bright. Knowing that he has fallen into the hands of the enemy, he deliberately pretends to be crazy and stupid, so that Guo Huai and Empress Liu have nothing to do.Zhao Guodong never forgets Mei Niang, and captures her home to insult her, but Zhan Zhao finds out that she is following her and chases her after her.In order to save Mei Niang, Zhan Zhao was caught in the trap and was almost injured.Mei Niang is grateful for his kindness, respects his righteousness, and has a deep affection for Zhan Zhao, while Bai Yutang is very jealous but has nothing to do.Zhao Guodong was greedy for money and lustful, and committed a murder case. Although the Eight Sage Kings pleaded for mercy, Bao Zheng still resolutely killed him.The Eight Sage Kings became angry from embarrassment, and urged the young and vigorous emperor to dismiss Bao Zheng, and everyone in Kaifeng Mansion was heartbroken. `After many attempts, Guo Huai finally believed that the Li family was not the concubine Li, but fearing that she would leak the secret, he sent guards to silence her.Knowing that Guo Huai is both Bao Zheng's friend and Bao's life-saving benefactor, Zhan Zhao ventured into the palace to ask Guo Huai to intercede for Bao Zheng, which happened to save Li.Zhan Zhao recalled that Mei Niang was followed by the masters in the palace a few days ago, so he knew something was wrong.Zhan Zhao is extremely witty, knowing that Guo Huai will definitely not let Li Shi go, so he devises a trick to escape Guo Huai's pursuit and bring Li Shi and Mei Niang back to Kaifeng Mansion safely.

Mrs. Li went to Kaifeng Mansion, took out the golden pills given by the late emperor as evidence, and explained his identity to Bao Zheng.At this time, when Guo Huai came to visit, Li found out that the two had a deep friendship and was very disappointed, so she secretly left with Bai Yutang and Mei Niang.Guo Huai was terrified when he knew Li's identity, and ordered his subordinates to enter Kaifeng Mansion at night to steal the golden pills in order to destroy the evidence.Unexpectedly, it fell into Bao Zheng's scheme, and only the fake gold pills were stolen.At the same time, the abbot of Xiangguo Temple was silenced by Guo Huai because he knew too much, but before he died, he told his friend Zhan Zhao everything he knew.Bao Zheng discovered that Guo Huai might be the mastermind of an earth-shattering conspiracy, and felt deeply embarrassed by the "dilemma of love and affection".Bao Zheng sent the golden pills to the Palace of the Baxian King, hoping to get the help of the Baxian King.Unexpectedly, it was self-defeating. On the one hand, the Eight Sage Kings held grudges, and on the other hand, they were deceived by Guo Huai.Not only was Jin Wan replaced by Guo Huai in private, but the two conspired together to withhold the imperial decree ordering Bao Zheng's reinstatement, ordering Bao Zheng to leave the capital immediately.Everyone in Kaifeng Mansion was inexplicably sad and indignant, and they all expressed their willingness to resign and go back to their hometown with Bao Zheng, begging Bao Zheng to take them with them.Bao Zheng shared his feelings with them, with mixed feelings.Although it was difficult to let go, they reluctantly refused their request and left sadly.

Bao Zheng was concerned about the case of "civet cat for prince", and finally stayed in secret.He visited Li Shi and recognized Li Shi's status as the mother of the country.It turns out that the current emperor is nominally the son of the Eight Sage Kings, but in fact he is Li's own flesh and blood that was exchanged back then.Only Mrs. Li, Chen Lin, the director of internal supervision, and Ba Xianwang and his wife knew the inside story.Bao Zheng arranged for Mrs. Li to meet while the emperor was burning incense in Xiangguo Temple alone.Li Shi was eager to think about her son, seeing that the emperor refused to believe that she hit the emperor with a cane in a rage.Although the emperor left in a rage at that time, but the mother and son's nature worked. After returning to the palace, he made many inquiries and found many doubts.Bao Zheng guessed that Guo Huai would not let Chen Lin go in order to keep a secret. Zhan Zhao took the order and went to the government again late at night to find Chen Lin. Guo Huai's sinister intentions were revealed.Chen Lin was finally moved by Zhan Zhao, and told the emperor: If you want to know the details of "civet cat for prince", you must consult the Eight Sage Kings.

Facing the emperor's questioning, the Eight Sage Kings were speechless and left in embarrassment.Bao Zheng guessed that the Baxian King was afraid of committing the crime of deceiving the emperor so he dared not speak out. Regardless of the Baxian King's cold eyes, he came to visit in person.Moved by Bao Zheng's sincerity, the Eight Sage King reunited with Concubine Li's old friend, and finally made up his mind to tell the emperor the truth.The emperor was greatly shocked, and issued a secret decree that Bao Zheng should be reinstated, and everyone from concubine Liu to Guo Huai could be interrogated at will.Guo Huai and Bao Zheng faced each other yesterday.Guo Huai said that he would not hesitate to make any sacrifices for his beloved Concubine Liu.Although Bao Zheng respected his love and righteousness, he also said that he would never bend the law for personal gain.The two drank the unfeeling wine and tossed glasses to break off friendship.Guo Huai followed Bao Zheng back to Kaifeng mansion sadly after knocking goodbye outside Concubine Liu's window.The Baxian King, Concubine Li, and Chen Lin appealed in court about the truth about the "civet cat for the prince". Zhan Zhao also proved that Guo Huai had sent a master to kidnap and assassinate Concubine Li.But the most powerful witness of the year - the court lady Kou Zhu was persecuted to death by Guo Huai 20 years ago.Guo Huai gritted his teeth again and refused to plead guilty.Bao Zheng couldn't convict Guo Huai just based on the one-sided words of everyone in the hall, which was very embarrassing.

When Chen Lin saw Mei Niang, she was surprised that Mei Niang was exactly like Kou Zhu.Bao Zheng used his legend of "judging Yang every day and breaking Yin at night" to interrogate Guo Huai at night, and asked Mei Niang to pretend to be Kou Zhu's ghost to test Guo Huai.Unexpectedly, Guo Huai was so cunning and cunning that he saw a flaw, and forced Meiniang to question him.At a critical juncture, Kou Zhu's ghost suddenly appeared, with blood on his face, and asked Guo Huai to pay back the blood debt with a stern expression.Guo Huai had a mental breakdown and finally pleaded guilty.Renzong reunited with Concubine Li's mother and son, crying for headache.Renzong deeply hated himself for committing the crime of "unfilial piety", and asked Bao Zheng how to judge the crime.Bao Zheng asked Renzong to take off his dragon robe and beat him 50 times with a stick as punishment.Bao Zheng and Guo Huai bid farewell to each other in death row.Guo Huai said that he had no complaints against Bao Zheng, and blamed himself for everything, and begged Bao Zheng to be lenient to Concubine Liu.After Bao Zheng agreed to Guo Huai, he killed Guo Huai with tears in his eyes.Concubine Li went to see Concubine Liu wearing the queen mother's costume.Concubine Liu was terrified and knelt down to beg for mercy.Concubine Li expelled Concubine Liu from the palace and never saw each other again.Concubine Liu shaved her hair and became a nun, and the ancient Buddha with the green lamp, was depressed but survived.

(End of this chapter)