Chapter 169

Tao Tao was furious. She grabbed his ear and scolded, "What are you saying, you brat?! I cooked such delicious food, how dare you waste the meal I worked so hard to make?"

"I'm telling you, anyone else can choose not to eat, but you! You absolutely must eat!"

Upon hearing this, Tao Liang immediately burst into tears, crying, "Sister bullied me! Sister bullied me..."

"Stop arguing. If you keep arguing, you're not allowed to eat candy for three months, let alone any other snacks."

She stood with her hands on her hips, glaring at him, openly "bullying" him.

Tao's mother covered her mouth and smiled, saying nothing and not stopping her.

Seeing that looking at his mother was useless, Tao Liang immediately quieted down and just stared at Tao Tao with a resentful look.

Then she turned to the others at the table and said, "You all have to eat too. There's no more food in the kitchen, or we'll have to wait until tomorrow."

Xi Xin nodded quickly and smiled ingratiatingly, "Don't worry, boss, I'll definitely finish it!"

Tao Tao nodded in satisfaction, stretched, and said, "I'm so tired, I'm going to take a shower. You guys enjoy your meal."

After taking a shower, Tao Tao sat at the table, her eyes clear and focused on the letter in her hand. Her long hair was still dripping wet, but she didn't pay any attention to it.

At this moment, Rong'er walked in, holding a handkerchief, and went behind her to wipe her wet, dark hair.

"Who wrote this letter...?"

She touched her chin, pondered, and leaned back, wondering if she had overlooked something. Besides, she had never heard that Tu Miaoling had actually met him; they only communicated through letters.

Alternatively, they could contact him through his servants, but Qing Lin never actually appeared from beginning to end.

Does this mean that the person who contacted Tu Miaoling might not be Qing Lin?

Why did Tu Miaoling single out Qing Lin from Chu Feng Pavilion, who had contacted her? Was it a trap set by someone impersonating Qing Lin to target Tu Miaoling?

Actually, there's no need to go through all that trouble. We can just ask Qinglin tomorrow to find out.

"Princess, you didn't eat much tonight. This is a late-night duck soup that I made. Please try it."

When she heard Rong'er's voice, Tao Tao looked up, touched her hair, which was already half-dry, and smelled a fragrant aroma of meat.

"Good Rong'er, thank you for working so late. Go and get some rest."

When Rong'er saw her gentle tone, her face immediately turned red, and she said softly, "Your Highness is too kind. This is what I should do. Please don't overwork yourself; your health is the most important thing."

She liked this county princess very much. She would neither beat or scold her for no reason, nor would she take her anger out on them, the servants. She was much better than the young ladies of the Yingzhou Prince's Mansion.

Tao Tao nodded with a smile: "I understand, go back to sleep."

The person left, and the door was closed.

She took a silver needle from the side, put it into the soup, and after finding nothing wrong, she put the needle back and drank it as if nothing had happened.

Suddenly she looked up at the parrot eating walnuts on the wooden shelf, and beckoned, "Asu, come here."

Hearing the sound, the parrot turned to look at her, blinked its small, black bean-like eyes, spread its large wings, and flew over, landing on the table.

"Do you miss your master? How about we let you go back to see him?"

"Gaga—No! No! It's scary... pluck all your fur, Asu..."

Tao Tao poked its fluffy little head with her fingertip and laughed when she saw how scared it looked: "You mean Duan Gan will pluck all your fur? How could that be? You didn't make him angry."

"I've provoked him so many times, and I'm still alive and well. Actually, it's quite funny to see him get angry sometimes."

"He can be quite easily amused at times, and he can be really scary when he's angry, but it's alright."

Asu turned around and faced her with his backside. His long tail feathers shimmered in the candlelight, making one want to pluck them off.

She smiled, tore off a corner of a piece of paper, picked up a pen, and wrote, "A day apart feels like three autumns."

I rolled it into a long strip, looked around but couldn't find any rope or anything, so I just grabbed a light pink headband from the side and tied it around its ankle.

Feeling bored, I decided to find some entertainment.

"Go ahead, I'll buy you something delicious tomorrow."

Asu cried out reluctantly a few times, but still flapped its wings and flew out the window.

After finishing writing, she didn't take it to heart. She stretched, yawned, and wondered whether she should go to find Tu Miaoling first, go to Chu Feng Pavilion first, or go to the pawnshop to redeem Miaoling's house first.

The Privy Council Study.

Chen Jinghe stood below, looked up at the man who was writing the imperial edict, frowned, and said, "Fourth Master, are we really going to let the Crown Prince off so easily?"

"His impression on the Emperor is already extremely poor. Why not take another drastic step and force him to rebel?"

Duan Gan put down his pen, leaned back in his chair, rubbed his aching temples, and looked tired.

"The Qiu family pushed Qiu Yanshu out to take the blame, because if no one comes forward to claim the crime of regicide, the Ministry of Justice and I will use this opportunity to investigate them thoroughly. With the assistance of the Privy Council, the Ministry of Justice will then find out that they were buying and selling official positions."

“Further investigation will lead to the discovery that the missing weapons and gunpowder are related to them. Given His Majesty’s temperament, even the Crown Prince will not be able to protect the Qiu family at that time.”

"But this is on the premise that the Qiu family does not push Qiu Yanshu out to cover up the truth. This matter has little to do with the Crown Prince. With the Empress and the Qiu family involved, without sufficient preparation, they cannot force him to rebel. Even so, it is better to do him a favor."

Chen Jinghe nodded as if he understood, "I have a feeling that the Crown Prince has no interest in the throne. Could it be that the Empress and the Qiu family have been forcing him to move forward?"

Duan Gan gave a slight twitch of his lips and said coldly, "When truth is false, falsehood is truth; when falsehood is truth, truth is falsehood."

Just as Chen Jinghe was about to say something, a dark shadow seemed to be swooping down from the sky outside the window. He was startled and was about to draw his sword when Duan Gan suddenly raised his hand to stop him.

The dark figure made a creaking sound, and a multicolored light flashed past his eyes, landing directly on his desk in the blink of an eye.

Upon seeing the parrot in front of him, a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes. He looked up at the window, but soon looked away in disappointment.

Asu hopped around a few times, watching him flap his wings, then lifted his right foot to indicate that there was something on his foot.

He looked down and noticed a piece of paper tied to its paw. He quickly removed it and opened it to take a look.

Suddenly, the corners of his lips unconsciously turned up, his eyes and brows softened, and his fingertips traced the words on the note, a warm current flowing through his heart.

In the dim candlelight, the tips of her ears seemed to faintly blush.

At this moment, Chen Jinghe, the spoilsport, stepped forward and asked curiously, "Fourth Master, what does it say up there?"