The Next Day at imperial consort Shi's palace.
"Who else.... The deputy of course. The Emperor is very confident in his plan. I think we should make use of it father".
Although Pri Minister Shi hadn't t with Deputy Sun he understood the kind of man the Deputy was. While his plan may be seen to be fail-safe to the Emperor, pri minister Shi was sceptical.
"Daughter, did the Emperor explain the plan in detail to you?"
"Yes father he did, the evidence is strong enough that the charges of treason will hold. After our family's opium dealing ca to light, the Emperor has been acting strange. I fear that he had gotten suspicious of us, for our plan to work we need to avoid any suspicions he may have. That's is where the Lu family co in, let's shift the bla to them. We can make it seem like third uncle was working with them" she said smirking.
"What a wonderful idea, that would teach them not to get in our way", he placed his hand on her shoulder "You did well daughter"
"Don't ntion father, I am only focused on our end goal. This is the best way to get rid of the Lu family and cover all loose ends, we have planned this for years. I will see this to the end".
*******
anwhile, At Deputy Sun's mansion, Ningzhuo
Deputy Sun, like most political officials, was given an official mansion on the sa street as the governor's mansion. He had moved out of Sun mansion and had established a residence a few years ago. However, his father still had the final say on every decision but if his plan worked out that would change.
Deputy Sun's residence unlike the governor's residence was much smaller and less lavishly decorated. It was like a standard affluent family's mansion, deputy Sun and his principal wife lived in the main courtyard located at the centre of the residence.
Deputy Sun's study was located at the small Pavillion close to the main courtyard. He was going through the accounts from his mansion steward when his ssenger ca in with a letter from minister Sheng. He dismissed the ssenger and unsealed the letter, minister Sheng sent a response to his previous letter.
He had been anticipating a response from him and finally, it was here, Minister Sheng had written to inform him that he could go ahead with his plan. Just as his mother had predicted Minister Sheng had agreed with their plan. He had received a ssage from the Shi family yesterday, the Pri Minister Shi had written to inform him that he wanted to et up with him a few days from now.
Once he had received the Shi family's response, Lu Yaozhu was as good as dead.
********
Four days later, the first snow fell at Ningzhuo
There had been signs of the impending snowfall so it didn't co as a surprise, they had prepared for the change in weather by preparing thicker layers of clothes suitable for winter, hand warrs, fur coats and hot packs. The maids on Night duty were the first to witness the fall of the white snow.
They quickly alerted matron Gu who instructed the maid on the necessary precaution. The maids brought in the hot packs, the small warrs and blankets. They lit the warrs at the centre of the room and left. The servants worked efficiently and avoided disturbing their mistress sleep.
Su Liya found that it was snowing when she walked up she put on a thick coat and ran out to play in the snow. Boazhai tried to stop her from leaving the room by reminding her that it was raining but, Su Liya waved her away. Out id all the seasons of the year, her favourite season was winter.
The snow and white surfaces were so beautiful, winter to her signified the beginning and end of the year. She liked everything about winter, she liked the feel of her feet on the iced ground and the feel of snowflakes falling on her cheeks.
Su Liya folded both hands at her shoulders and looked up to the sky eyes closed. As the droplets of snow fell on her face, the smile on her cheek spread wider. Her eyes opened as she felt sothing hairy brush her neck, "Yaozhu! I didn't see you".
"How could you when your mind is elsewhere, it is cold out here. Why are you dressed so lightly?"
Su Liya rubbed the heavy fur coat on her shoulder softly, it looked very high quality and thick. "I wanted to feel the snow on my face. It is the first snow".
Lu Yaozhu placed at her reddened hands, "let us get back inside, I don't want you to catch a cold".
She smiled as she followed his gaze to her hand, "okay". She walked in stride into the centre room of her Pavillion, the God air from the room ran straight down her spine warming her up. There was a vast difference between inside the room and outside.
The maids had set up a few more heaters at strategic areas of the house. Winters in Ningzhuo were no joke, it got colder by the minute at tis one could easily see steam co out as you talked. Majority of her servants were born and raised in Ningzhuo at were familiar with the weather.
As soon it began snowing the kitchen sent over two basket loads of coal and heated wine. The servant went about filling up the water basins, while the kitchen prepared so hot food such as soap and porridge. The servants brought in a hot pot of tea and snacks as soon as they walked in.
Even with the hearers and coat, her hands still felt a little cold. Baozhai pulled out a hand warr and passed it to her. Su Liya held the hand warr with both hands and sat on the too seat in the living room. Lu Yaozhu sat opposite her, he had a wool glove on.
Su Liya hadn't expected to et him so early today, he was usually gone to court by this ti. She waited for the inner maids to leave before turning to him and asked "It is odd to see you around this early, are you not going to court today?"
"No, there is no need. This isn't the court today. One of the perks of being a local official is that I do not need to co in every day."
"Oh, must be good to be your own boss. Since you are not going to court today, what is your plan for the day?"
Lu Yaozhu leaned to the side, resting his head on his hands, "I got a tip from an assistant at the ministry of finance, the assistant claims to have evidence of the official records being tampered with. I need to et with him".
"That is sudden, are you sure it is not a trap to get you to co out and then get killed. According to what you said the Sun family has been syphoning a lot of money. This might just be a ans to get rid of a disturbance", her eyebrows creased a little passage tried to rember if any of the lots of the original story pointed to that but ca out empty.
The original plot wasn't focused on Lu Yaozhu but the Crown Prince and Zhu Fenfang, everything ntioned in the book only concerned the progression of the original leads love story. She was on her own, there were no cheats. She was a little suspicious of this sudden eyewitness, the Sun family and the Lau family had a lot of influence in Ningzhuo.
It would be difficult to find soone willing to risk their lives and betray them so easily. Everything seed a little suspicious, like Su Liya, Lu Yaozhu was a little suspicious of the sudden witness. For the past few weeks, he had been trying to get a hold of the original accounts book but hit a dead end every ti.
Lu Yaozhu was curious what the witness would report, "do not worry about that, I took the necessary precautions. I have been finding it difficult to get any information, it might not be a bad idea to et whoever that is. I will go with a few n, don't worry".
"Since you have taken the precaution, I guess that is okay. About the Wu family, I am thinking of getting in touch with them. In case getting the original ledger doesn't work out we can see if we can get so help from the Wu family"
"Okay, I will leave that to you, I will be eting the witness this night so I will spend the night to keep them from finding out about my late-night visits. I caught a servant listening in on my conversation with General Bai yesterday, it is not safe here. The Sun family has so ears around us, we have to be careful".
"I will be, don't worry. About the spies, I suspect that steward ng is behind them. The last ti I went out, I noticed a guard paying close attention to my actions"
"That steward ng is butting more than he can chew, ignore him. I have plans for him".
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