Chapter 457 What's wrong with this plan?
Gu Nianting agreed without thinking.
"So good."
"I will go to the palace now and ask Aunt He to cooperate and summon Master Qi and Master Tao. She will lead us to the palace of Concubine Xian and deliver food."
When Qi Lei heard that Concubine Rong would be implicated, he immediately frowned.
"Your Majesty, think twice. This plan is obviously not well-intentioned."
"What is the punishment for murdering the imperial concubine? If the truth is revealed, not only will the two of us be in danger, but Empress Rong will also be in danger."
Tao Kangping remained calm, found the other party's mistakes as usual, and convinced him with reason.
"Your Majesty is very insightful. Lord Sudu's plan is full of loopholes."
"According to the palace rules, before the emperor and the queen eat, the palace maids will taste the food to ensure that everything is perfect."
"How could the two of us endanger the life of Her Majesty the Consort when we went to deliver the meal? The most we can do is to kill the palace maid who tasted the food."
"This plan is simple. The two of us have nowhere to hide. If the virtuous concubine investigates the matter, how should we save ourselves?"
Gu Nianting twirled his chin and fell into thought.
"Hmm... this..."
Su Ding acted as if nothing had happened and answered calmly.
"Please don't worry, my lords."
"Lord An's plan is perfect. This medicine will not show any harm unless its properties are stimulated. Therefore, when the palace maids who tested the food took it, it was no different from ordinary food, which was enough to deceive the public."
"On weekdays, the imperial physician who is responsible for serving the virtuous concubine is none other than Lord Jiao. Lord Du has a clever plan to transfer him from the Imperial Hospital. Lord An will then take his place and go to the virtuous concubine's palace to check her pulse. While stimulating the properties of the medicine, it will also eliminate the abnormalities in the food."
"This way, even if they investigate, they won't be able to trace it back to you two adults."
Gu Nianting was surprised and delighted, and immediately agreed.
"What a brilliant idea."
"When the matter is accomplished, the three Lords Su, Du, and An will all be credited with the first merit."
Su Ding and Du Hanping responded in unison.
"Thank you, Your Majesty for your grace."
Qi Lei tried his best to stop him.
"My Lord, this plan is absolutely unacceptable!"
Gu Nianting was full of impatience.
"Where do you get so many objections?"
Thinking about Feng Zhengtai, who couldn't afford to lose for the time being, he listened with reluctance.
"explain."
Qi Lei suppressed his temper and followed the example of Lord Tao, convincing others with reason.
"Everyone here knows that the Jiao clan's heart is with His Royal Highness Prince Li."
"Why is Lord Su so vague and hasn't explained what trick Lord Du used to transfer Lord Jiao away? Aren't you feeling guilty?"
"In my opinion, Lord Du has no plan. I think he accidentally missed something when he was thinking about the feigned surrender, so Lord Su had to make a perfunctory comment when he came to this point."
He spoke in a cold tone, throwing out a question.
"Excuse me, Lord Su, how do you explain this?"
Gu Nianting had some doubts in his mind, and looked at Su Ding silently.
Su Ding looked a little embarrassed and hesitated to speak.
"This……"
Qi Lei was self-righteous, with a smile on his face and a relaxed brow.
"Excuse me, Lord Su, why are you hesitating so much?"
Su Ding's face showed a hint of helplessness.
"This is about Lord Du's privacy. It is difficult for me to speak of it in public."
Du Handing's brows trembled, showing a sense of confusion and grievance.
"Since Lord Qi is already suspicious, how can he not speak up? Lord Su, please sit still. I will speak for myself."
Feeling Gu Nianting's eager gaze, she pretended to surrender and spoke in a low voice.
"The Imperial Physician, Master Jiao, has a secret crush on me. If I make an appointment, he will take leave and come to see me."
Upon hearing this, Gu Nianting looked somewhat helpless, with guilt filling his heart.
The more guilty he felt, the angrier he became. Gu Nianting spoke harshly to Qi Lei and suddenly rebuked him.
"For the sake of this king, Lady Du was willing to sacrifice her own reputation, but you used clever words to force her to speak out in public. You are simply unreasonable!"
"Apologize to Lord Du!"
Qi Lei was furious.
"Apologize……"
Tao Kangping hurriedly stopped him from speaking and smiled apologetically.
"Lord Qi wants to say that an apology is essential."
"Your Highness knows that Lord Qi values his reputation very much. We have worked together for many years. I cannot bear to see him being humiliated, so I volunteer to apologize on his behalf."
"Master Du, I'm sorry."
Qi Lei was even more furious.
"Master Tao..."
Tao Kangping continued to interrupt.
"Master Qi, there is no need to thank me. Why should we be polite to each other?"
Qi Lei gnashed his teeth in anger.
"I……"
Tao Kangping insisted on stopping him.
"Master Qi, rest assured. Master Du is magnanimous and will not haggle with you."
Qi Lei suddenly became furious and roared loudly without paying any attention to etiquette.
"Tao Kangping! Shut up!"
"If you and I go and die, what will happen to the prince? What will happen to Feng Zhengtai's subordinates? You are trying to curry favor with others and make such slanderous remarks. Have you ever thought about the consequences?"
Tao Kangping looked embarrassed and shut up as he was told.
Gu Nianting saw through it at a glance and pointed it out directly.
"After all, you're still avoiding trouble and refusing to deliver food, right?"
There was no point in making excuses, so Qi Lei simply admitted it.
"Yes."
"This plan is not good. Feng Zhengtai and his people will definitely not be involved in it. Your Majesty, please find someone else."
Gu Nianting's eyebrows were straight and his eyes were glaring, his tone was cold to the core.
"You are talking to me with this attitude?"
Qi Lei was unruly and asked back.
"So what?"
Seeing this, Gu Nianting, contrary to his usual behavior, finally came to his senses a little.
"Then tell me, what's wrong with this plan?"
Tao Kangping was secretly shocked. He didn't expect that Lord Qi's reckless charge would have such a miraculous effect.
Qi Lei looked at him proudly and offered a solution.
"Your Highness, you can ask the other three people in the palace, who dares to go and do what is right? Then we will know whether this plan is good or not."
The hope of victory was right before their eyes, and Tao Kangping felt a glimmer of anticipation.
After swallowing for a while, Gu Nianting appeared silent on the surface, but his heart was filled with emotions.
Lord Qi, with the guidance of his mother, the Concubine, entered the officialdom of the Eighth Ministry.
As far as I can remember, Lord Qi has been with me. I know him best.
Frequent rudeness may not be due to jealousy, but it may be that the advice is given sincerely.
Gu Nianting carefully recalled what had happened in the past few days and analyzed the details carefully in his mind.
Today's two plans, as Lord Tao said, are indeed crude.
Are they not smart enough?
Or did they really use the strategy of feigning surrender?
Could it be that this is just a beautiful dream?
He glanced at the group of wise men present, his eyes filled with a hint of reluctance, and suddenly, he revealed an expression that showed he had seen through everything.
"Don't think that I don't know what you are planning."
"Let them deliver the food, and you go and report them, and use the virtuous concubine to eliminate the dissidents, is that right or not?"
Tao Kangping held his forehead with his hand, feeling completely helpless.
Qi Lei was angry and amused, and just wanted to rush forward and give him a loud slap in the face.
"Haven't you thought clearly about who is excluding whom?"
Gu Nianting looked relaxed and at ease.
"My heart is as clear as a mirror, and everything is clear to me."
Qi Lei noticed something was wrong and asked.
"Your Highness doesn't dare to ask, because he's afraid of getting into trouble and waking up from his dream?"
"Don't you think that even if they really surrendered in disguise, it doesn't matter. Once they are favored enough and their hearts are settled, the fake surrender will become a true surrender?"
Gu Nianting flatly denied it.
"I have never doubted the sincerity of you all."
After the test results came out, Qi Lei's anger gradually subsided, leaving only contempt.
"Your Highness is blind and full of luck, which is ridiculous."
He laughed so hard that he couldn't even look up, and was extremely mocking.
"Do you think you are so great that everyone is loyal to you and that's your due? Hahaha..."
Gu Nianting was so angry that he lost his mind again.
"Are you mocking this king again?"