Dugu Jingyao is reborn as Li Chu's beloved

Chapter 526 Something is fishy

When Li Chu heard about this, he thought that this Magistrate Du was indeed no simple man. Not only did he gather people from the local Chamber of Commerce, but the people in the local military camp were also familiar with him. He also secretly hid so much gold, silver, jewelry and food. People who didn't know would think he was planning a rebellion!

At this moment, there was a knock on the door. Li Chu asked, "Who is it?"

Li Guangbi outside the door said: "Your Highness, it is this humble official."

Li Chu signaled Feng Shengyi to open the door, and Li Guangbi followed Feng Shengyi into the house.

Li Chu asked, "Master Li, what's the matter?"

Li Guangbi bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I have something to report."

Li Chu asked again, "I wonder what it is?"

Li Guangbi said, "To give Magistrate Du the impression that we are just doing our job, today, Lord Guo and I went to a restaurant in Jinling. We overheard someone in a private room mentioning that Magistrate Du's wife was once the top performer at Zuixianju here."

Although Li Chu was somewhat shocked, he still asked, "What does this have to do with what we are investigating?"

Li Guangbi continued, "Your Highness, the wife of Magistrate Du is not as frail as we see her. Her father was once a general, but unfortunately, after he died in battle, their family fell into poverty. In order to buy medicine for her mother, she was sold to a brothel. Madam Du has always been famous in Jinling for her sword dance, and with her beauty, she became the top prostitute."

Li Chu frowned upon hearing this and said, "Perhaps he became weak due to illness later on?"

Li Guangbi hesitated and said, "It's possible, but it's strange that Magistrate Du and Madam Du have been married for ten years, but they have no children. It was only in the past year that Magistrate Du took a concubine, but she still has no children."

Hearing this, Li Chu pondered: "If it's because Madam Du is beautiful, then there are so many beautiful women in Jinling. Magistrate Du could have found a beautiful woman from a good family. Why did he insist on marrying her, especially since she is frail and childless? Or maybe he is deeply in love with her, but in that case, he should have ignored worldly opinions. Why would he take a concubine? This doesn't make sense."

Seeing that Li Chu had not responded yet, Li Guangbi asked, "Your Majesty, do we need to investigate further into the matter of Madam Du?"

Li Chu nodded and said, "It's a bit strange, but you two should not investigate. I will let Feng Shengyi and the others investigate. You just continue to pretend to enjoy your life."

Li Guangbi immediately left the room. Li Chu asked Feng Sheng to send someone to investigate the matter of Madam Du, and then rubbed his temples. At this moment, he missed Dugu Jingyao very much, because Dugu Jingyao had always been by his side when he was melancholy in the past.

He walked to the desk, picked up a pen, and wrote a letter home, expressing his longing for Dugu Jingyao and his two children. He also asked about the situation in the palace and the well-being of Emperor Suzong and the Empress. After letting the ink dry, he packed the letter and gave it to Feng Shengyi to send a pigeon to the Chu Palace.

In Chang'an City, because Concubine Xiao was less than three months pregnant, the news of her pregnancy was known to only the emperor, Imperial Physician Zhang, and Concubine Xiao's own people, who then passed the letter back to the Xiao Mansion.

But Suzong still loved Queen Chong very much, so he informed the Queen in advance.

The Empress was also surprised to hear this. After all, no woman in the harem had been pregnant for two or three years. Although Concubine Xiao was favored, she had not been pregnant in more than ten years. How could it be so sudden? She always felt that something was wrong.

However, she still responded to Suzong on the surface, congratulating him on having another child. Suzong was naturally very pleased, and that night he invited Li Tan and Li Ruo to have dinner together in Fengqi Pavilion and rest in Fengqi Pavilion.

The more the Queen thought about it, the more she felt something was amiss. She knew Dugu Jingyao was a bit smart, so the next day she sent Li Ruo to the Prince of Chu's mansion, under the pretext of visiting Dugu Jingyao, Li Shi, and Li Ying. In reality, the Queen had written a letter to Dugu Jingyao, which Li Ruo had brought along. Of course, Li Ruo didn't know the contents of the letter.

When Dugu Jingyao heard that Li Ruo had arrived, she was very welcoming and asked someone to prepare Li Ruo's favorite snacks.

Li Ruo brought the gifts sent by the Queen, and secretly gave the letter to Dugu Jingyao, then ran to play with Li Shi and Li Ying.

When Dugu Jingyao received the letter, she felt that there might be some important news, otherwise the queen would not have asked Li Ruo to bring the letter, but asked Li Ruo to pass on a verbal message, or asked herself to go to the palace another day.

Dugu Jingyao looked at Li Shi and Li Ying playing happily with Li Ruo, so she said, "Ruo'er, play with Shi'er and Ying'er for a while. I'll go back to my room first."

Li Ruo had an expression that said, "Don't worry, I'm here." Dugu Jingyao smiled and went back to her room. She opened the letter and was a little surprised when she saw the contents.

After all, in the previous life, Concubine Xiao died when she was still a Liangdi, and after Suzong became emperor, the only person who was pregnant in the harem was Zhang.

But everything is different in this life. Zhang is dead, the Crown Princess has become the Queen, Xiao has become the Imperial Concubine, and is now pregnant.

Moreover, she remembered that in her previous life, Zhang took advantage of Li Qi's death and put the blame on Li Shen, which led to Li Shen being sentenced to death and Li Chu being depressed for a long time.

She recalled in detail and remembered that in her previous life, Murong Linzhi seemed to have been sold into a brothel, and it was Zhang who sold her into the brothel.

It seemed that Murong Linzhi had discovered something, but she didn't know what it was. After all, in her previous life, she was busy competing with Shen Zhenzhu for Li Chu and was not very familiar with Murong Linzhi. So how could she verify what happened in her previous life?

Dugu Jingyao stood up and paced back and forth, pondering countermeasures. Suddenly, she thought of something: "Yes, although I'm not familiar with Murong Linzhi in my previous life, I vaguely remember that Emperor Suzong's health was not very good in the previous life. And in the previous life, there was also an incident where no one in the harem had been pregnant for many years, but Zhang suddenly became pregnant. I think there must be a connection between them. However, Murong Linzhi is not in Chang'an City now, so I can't confirm whether it is the case I think. If it is, it means that Concubine Xiao's child may not be Emperor Suzong's, and then the Li family's prince conferment will not be possible."

Dugu Jingyao thought for a moment, and after some thought, she decided to write a letter to Murong Linzhi, asking about Li Xi's situation and how long it would take them to come back. Finally, she asked Murong Linzhi to come back quickly if it took too long as they had urgent matters to discuss.

Then he asked Shi Jian to deliver the letter to the Palace of Yunnan, and use the Palace of Yunnan's method of communication to pass the letter to Murong Linzhi.

Dugu Moyan knew the matter was urgent, so he immediately arranged for someone to deliver the message. That same day, Murong Linzhi received the letter.

Murong Linzhi read the letter and found a quiet place to write another one. The general meaning was that Li Chu would not be able to return for another three to five days at most. He also said that if there was an emergency, Tinglan was still in the epidemic area and she could return to Chang'an first.

After writing the letter, she mailed it as soon as possible, and it arrived at the Yunnan Palace the next day.

Shen Zhenzhu sent Hongrui to the Chu Palace to deliver something, including a letter from Murong Linzhi. Dugu Jingyao quickly read it, picked up her pen and wrote a reply, asking Hongrui to take it back, and also instructed that the matter must be sent as soon as possible.

Hong Rui agreed and returned to the Yunnan Palace to give the letter to Dugu Moyan, who followed her instructions.

Sure enough, after receiving the letter, Murong Linzhi immediately explained some matters to Tinglan and resigned from Gongsun. Gongsun knew that Murong Linzhi had a close relationship with Dugu Jingyao, but he just reminded Murong Linzhi not to get too involved to avoid unnecessary entanglement.

Murong Linzhi agreed, and then packed up his things as quickly as possible and returned to Chang'an. He arrived back in Chang'an in just two days.