Chapter 58: No need for you to shield me

"Lu will accompany you to the end," Lu Zhenting said, cupping his hands. His eyes looking at Lin Jiaojiao were full of firm support, "If the grievances are not resolved, these problems will never be solved."

Lin Jiaojiao rolled her eyes at him, "This is something you should have solved, right? Your Dali Temple produces divine people. The Dali Temple Minister is an arsonist and murderer, and the Dali Temple Junior Minister is impartial and selfless, stuffing feces into the leading superior who promoted him all the way——"

If the other party hadn't saved her life, Song Shijie wouldn't want to pay attention to her at all.

"But I have a condition," Song Shijie interrupted her complaining, "This time I can shield you once and report to the above that they were just poisoned by eating pufferfish, as a repayment for saving my life. From now on, we are even, and our engagement is canceled."

"Now I am a free person, who wants to marry you!" Lin Jiaojiao immediately retorted, "No need for you to shield me! Save yourself from living in the guilt of shielding me for the rest of your life! Now we are even!"

"That's what you said." Song Shijie looked at Lin Jiaojiao coldly. He didn't believe she could just be even like this. Even if they were even, with her personality, who knew what kind of dog-shit things she would cause in the future that would make him wipe her ass.

Song Shijie finished the rest of the sentence, "Don't use the life-saving favor to threaten me in the future."

"Who would threaten you!" Lin Jiaojiao felt more and more that this person was extremely annoying, and he radiated a stinky, annoying smell from head to toe. She didn't want to be in the same room with him, not even for a second!

"General Lu, let's go!" After Lin Jiaojiao finished speaking, she pulled Lu Zhenting's hand and walked out of the stinky house, walking into the dawn drizzle.

Watching them walk away, Song Shijie slowly sat on the stool. The morning light coming into the room shone on his bloodless face. The wounds on his body that hadn't healed yet came with bursts of pain when he relaxed after this night's tossing.

He looked at the person lying on the ground and shook his head in disappointment, "The entire Dali Temple should have a round of cleaning."

The rain outside finally stopped, and the golden sun rose from the horizon. The sunlight shone through the clouds and mist onto the wet ground.

A row of civil and military officials were walking with steady steps to the morning court. They walked to the Taihe Hall and, under the announcement of the head eunuch, performed the imperial kowtow to the young Emperor sitting on the bright yellow dragon throne.

"All officials, please rise." The young Emperor sitting on the dragon throne raised a noble hand, letting the officials rise.

Eunuch Gao beside him noticed his expression, knowing that His Majesty was not feeling very good today, so he looked up and announced to the officials, "If you have something to report, do it; if not, retire from court!"

The officials looked at each other, all in a state of wanting to speak but stopping. At this time, Prime Minister Su stood out, "Reporting to Your Majesty, I have an important matter to report."

Qin Yuan looked at Prime Minister Su with some impatience. He was not in the mood for court today, and judging from the memorials he reviewed yesterday, the borders were stable, there had been no natural or man-made disasters recently, and even the bandit gangs that occasionally harassed the people had been swept away by Lu Zhenting one by one.

With neither internal troubles nor external worries, he didn't know what important matter the Prime Minister had to report.

He wanted to retire from court early, then change into casual clothes to leave the palace and go to a tomb on the mountain to pay respects to the deceased person he missed in his heart.

But since the Prime Minister said he had something to report, he, as the Emperor, should listen.

He sat up a bit straighter to show importance, "What important matter does Prime Minister Su have to report?"

Prime Minister Su walked to the center in front of all the officials holding his official tablet, knelt down and bowed, "In the 'Book of Rites', it is said that the Son of Heaven establishes an Empress to inherit the ancestral temple. It is often said among the people that a country cannot be without a ruler, and a ruler cannot be without an Empress. Your Majesty, you are a wise ruler, but the middle palace has been empty for a long time, directly affecting the royal descendants, which I fear is not a long-term plan."

Qin Yuan rubbed his forehead helplessly. It's here, it's here, the daily advice is here. It's not advising him to establish an Empress, it's telling him to select concubines to fill the harem and give birth to descendants early, so that the throne has a successor.

He currently has 1 Imperial Concubine, 3 concubines, and 1 noble lady in the harem. These were all officials who tried every means to stuff them to him, and most of them were not his own love.

If he wanted to establish an Empress, there were those with sufficient background but no descendants, and those with descendants but low background. None of them were suitable.

"The selection of concubines can be decided after the Mid-Autumn Palace Banquet." Qin Yuan just wanted to drag this matter further, dragging it for one day was one day.

"Your Majesty, tomorrow after tomorrow, how many tomorrows are there, Your Majesty!" Prime Minister Su was solemn, as if he were advising his own son who was not striving for success in marrying and having children.

"I said we will discuss it after the Mid-Autumn Festival, so we will discuss it after the Mid-Autumn Festival!" Qin Yuan was a bit impatient. This Prime Minister Su covered the sky with one hand, which was fine in official court affairs, but now he even interfered with his problem of establishing an Empress and selecting concubines, which was even extremely annoying!

To change the subject, Qin Yuan asked other civil and military officials, "All officials, is there any other important matter to report?"

Prime Minister Su could only retreat to the head of all officials and sighed in a low voice.

"Your Majesty," another official walked out, "I still have doubts about the fire at the Dali Temple——"

At this time, a powerful and strong drumbeat suddenly came from outside the palace. A group of civil and military officials couldn't help but tilt their heads slightly, pricking up their ears to listen to the source of the sound, "Someone is beating the drum to seek justice at the Xuanwu Gate outside the palace."

Qin Yuan turned slightly and asked the head eunuch beside him, "Eunuch Gao, who is beating the drum to seek justice at the Xuanwu Gate?"

"Your Majesty, I will send someone to check now." Eunuch Gao shouted with a sharp voice to the young eunuch standing outside the hall door, "Why don't you go check, and return to report to His Majesty quickly?"

"Yes, Eunuch Gao." The two young eunuchs heard the order and ran towards outside the palace gate.

Not long after, the young eunuch ran back in a hurry to report, his eunuch hat crooked.

Eunuch Gao pointed with his orchid finger, and the young eunuch hurriedly straightened his hat, knelt in the hall and reported, "Reporting to Your Majesty, reporting to Eunuch Gao, the one beating the drum to seek justice at the Xuanwu Gate is a woman, saying there are two old unjust cases related to the Dali Temple to report, and General Lu is also accompanying her on the side..." ===== CHAPTER 59 =====