After noticing that her mistress had left, Hongrui returned to the Prime Minister's Mansion right away.
Before she could fully assume the role of a lively young girl, she saw Lu Wenhan hurrying towards the guest room. Without any delay, she immediately came to inform Hongmei.
However, she was still a bit late. Right after her voice, Shang Luoshu had already heard the footsteps of Prime Minister Lu.
"Your Highness?"
Hongmei looked at the young girl on the bed pleadingly.
Lu Yinxi was still in a coma. If Prime Minister Lu were to find out, it would surely alert the mansion doctor and lead to a series of unnecessary questions and troubles, which was exactly what she wanted to avoid.
So, for the time being, Hongmei could only pin her hopes on her own mistress.
"I remember you can imitate others' voices?"
The heavy footsteps of a man stopped at the door of the guest room. Soon, Prime Minister Lu's voice sounded: "What's wrong with Xier? Why is she shutting the door during the day?"
He was asking Hongrui.
After all, his daughter was already a grown - up girl. As her father, Lu Wenhan wouldn't just barge into her boudoir.
"Reply to Your Excellency, after the Fourth Miss returned from Concubine Wang's courtyard, she felt unwell and just lay down."
True to her character, even at this moment, Hongrui still managed to throw some shade on the one in Rongjing Courtyard. But what she said seemed to be true.
Lu Yinxi did turn out like this after leaving there. However, Prime Minister Lu's current focus was obviously not here.
"Unwell? Is it the illness from last time flaring up again?"
As he spoke, Lu Wenhan took a step forward as if to barge in, but then his rationality pulled him back.
He had always known that his daughter suddenly fell ill after returning from Anguo Temple. For this reason, Prime Minister Lu had been worried and couldn't sleep well for several days. Later, when he saw her bouncing back to normal, he finally put his mind at ease.
Thinking of this, he softened his voice a bit: "Xier, the mansion doctor is still here. Let Father ask him to take a look at you, okay?"
"No need, Father."
The slightly weak voice of a young girl came from inside the room. "Daughter will be fine after sleeping for a night."
Prime Minister Lu couldn't help but frown. Why did this voice seem a bit off?
Indeed, at first glance, he thought his daughter might be a bit weak, but if you listened carefully, you could tell that she was actually full of energy.
Was Xier really unwell?
Or was there someone else inside?
Hesitating for a moment, Prime Minister Lu said again: "Xier, Father can hear that your voice is very weak. Are you really sure you don't want to call a doctor?"
"No need. Daughter knows her own body well. Father, do you have free time tomorrow? You haven't finished that story yet."
Lu Wenhan immediately understood what his daughter meant. This matter was only known to their father - daughter duo, so his previous speculation was just overthinking.
His mood changed again, and Prime Minister Lu's voice returned to its previous gentleness: "After the morning court tomorrow, Father will tell you."
"Thank you, Father." A light cough came from inside the room. Before Prime Minister Lu could say anything, another voice came from inside, "Father, daughter feels very tired and will rest first."
Lu Wenhan wanted to say something else, but he had to swallow it back. Then Hongrui was surprised to find that the currently powerful Prime Minister Lu had turned into a chatterbox.
She saw Prime Minister Lu giving her a whole bunch of instructions.
Such as paying more attention to the Fourth Miss's daily diet and living; remembering to add clothes for the Fourth Miss as it was getting cold these days; if the Fourth Miss didn't like the food, clothing, housing, and transportation in the mansion, just send someone to ask him for money.
Wasn't it said that the Prime Minister didn't like the Fourth Miss?
Looking at Lu Wenhan's retreating back, Hongrui thought like this.
Inside the room, Hongmei was holding a wrung - out handkerchief, hesitating whether to step forward and wipe the cold sweat off the Fourth Miss's forehead or let her do it herself.
Lu Yinxi had woken up. At this moment, she was sitting on the edge of the bed, one hand tightly gripping the bedrail, looking extremely uncomfortable.
Although she was said to be in a coma, in fact, she had always been conscious and had a slight perception of the outside world. So she knew what Hongmei had told Hongrui and also knew that Shang Luoshu had come to her room.
That was why she was able to force herself awake from the coma.
It had to be said that Hongmei did imitate her voice very well, but it could only deceive those who were not familiar with her. To deceive Prime Minister Lu, she still had a long way to go.
Now that they had managed to deceive Prime Minister Lu, the only problem left to solve was Shang Luoshu.
"When did His Highness the King of Jing become a flower - stealing bandit, barging into a young girl's boudoir without the owner's permission?"
"Sorry, I was being rude."
Glancing at her sweaty forehead, the man knew that she was enduring the pain with great effort. He couldn't bear to argue with her anymore, so he sincerely apologized.
Shang Luoshu: "This time I was being hasty. I guarantee there will never be a next time. But now... Hongmei has brewed some pain - relieving medicine. I'll leave after you drink it."
"No need. That medicine is useless to me."
The young girl closed her eyes, and her refusal was obvious. The side - effects of the spiritual words could only be borne by herself.
"Your Highness the King of Jing, please go back. If you stay any longer, it will be difficult for this official's daughter to get engaged in the future."
Knowing that she was in a bad mood, Shang Luoshu obediently complied: "Okay, then I'll leave first. You..."
"Hongmei, see the guest out!"
After the extra person left, the young girl fell back onto the bed in pain again.
That night, Lu Yinxi endured the pain until dawn before she finally fell asleep.
That night, Concubine Wang suddenly had her power to manage the mansion taken away by Prime Minister Lu. At the same time, she was confined in Rongjing Courtyard, and no one was allowed to enter or leave easily.
That night, a dark shadow flashed across the quiet night sky, and then someone fell into a long - lasting sleep and would never see the sun of the next day.
The next day, a series of shrill screams woke up the sleeping capital.
Before dawn, Lin Zihan, the junior official of the Supreme Court of Justice, led his men straight to the scene. As for the morning court, he could only ask his superior to take a leave for him.
Not long after, people learned that four capital officials had all been killed overnight. Coincidentally, among these four officials, two were the invigilators of the spring imperial examination, and two were the examiners.
The moment they learned the identities of these people, the Prince Regent became the suspect in Lin Zihan's mind.
Everyone knew that the Prince Regent was in - law with the Minister of Rites. If there was indeed fraud in the spring imperial examination as Prime Minister Lu had said, Minister Kong would surely not be able to escape responsibility.
If more things were dug out, it was possible that even Shang Mozheng could be involved.
"My Lord, this..."
Looking at the corpses in front of him and listening to the wailing of the families, even a calm person like Lin Zihan couldn't help but feel a bit irritated.
"Take all the corpses back and let the coroner conduct an autopsy. I'll go to the Prime Minister's Mansion."
The mansions of the four capital officials were quite far apart. After running to all four houses, the sun was already high in the sky. Presumably, his teacher had already returned home after the morning court.
"Sir is here."
The servants were already used to seeing the future son - in - law. After asking about where his teacher was, Lin Zihan immediately turned to the study of Prime Minister Zhang.
The door was suddenly pushed open with a "bang", but Prime Minister Zhang in front of the desk seemed not to hear it. The tip of his pen didn't tremble at all and landed steadily on the white paper. With a flourish of the pen, he wrote the character "jing" (calm).
"Zihan, you still need to practice your state of mind."
Still standing outside the door, Lin Zihan stared at the person in front of him with a complicated expression. His eyes were filled with an unclear look: "Teacher, do you still regard your student as your student?"
Prime Minister Zhang: "What do you mean by this?"
"Teacher, you and the Prince Regent are actually in the same faction, aren't you?"