Chapter 65 Seize the Day

"Because the prince is a good person."

Li Nanke smiled and started counting on his fingers.

"The prince cleared my father's name and saved my mother. He even reminded me about the poisoning just now."

In my heart, the Prince is the best person in the world, so of course he couldn't bear to see so many people starving and freezing.

Shen Cong pulled his cloak tighter around himself, stood up, and looked down at her.

His face was full of mockery.

"Li Nanke, I don't like flattery, this trick won't work."

After saying that, he turned around and prepared to go inside.

"Ah! Your Highness, wait a moment, let's talk some more."

Li Nanke quickly stepped forward and reached out to grab his cloak.

Shen Cong turned his head, his brows furrowed into a deep frown.

"Let go."

Li Nanke shook his head and tightened his grip.

"If Your Highness doesn't leave, I'll let go."

"Let go!"

"I won't let go!"

Shen Cong's eyebrows twitched, and his expression grew increasingly cold and somber, as if he were trying his best to suppress something unclean.

A moment later, he raised his hand.

Li Nanke subconsciously shrank his neck, and the next second, a silver squirrel fur cloak was pulled over his head.

Everything was dark.

She frantically pulled off her cloak, only to see the door slam shut in front of her.

Li Nanke's small body trembled slightly, and she pouted.

Still unwilling to give up, he clung to the door frame and shouted into the room.

"Your Highness, please don't do this. Let's talk some more."

"I swear I will never sell grain at a high price. At worst, we'll split the profits 40/60."

"Sanqi, it really can't go any higher."

"And if I ever get any useful information from divination in the future, I will definitely tell Your Highness in time. Isn't that enough?"

"Your Highness?"

There was no sound from inside the room; it seemed that Shen Cong had made up his mind to ignore her.

Li Nanke slumped his shoulders and got up in disappointment.

Yesterday's near-fatal incident made her think a lot. She wanted to protect her mother and grandmother and learn to be self-reliant, so she had to seize every opportunity to improve herself.

But she is too young right now. If she wants to learn something, she must first have a reliable teacher.

After thinking it over, the only one I could think of was Shen Cong.

I thought that by revealing the news of the dike breach in China, I could get a new manager to come back and learn how to do business.

It seems impossible now.

She sighed, folded Chen Cong's cloak neatly, placed it on the recliner under the eaves, and left with her head drooping.

"Wait a minute."

The door opened behind her.

Li Nanke's eyes lit up, and he suddenly turned around.

"Has Your Highness changed your mind?"

Shen Cong stood behind the door, looking at Li Nanke expressionlessly.

The little girl's round, grape-like eyes shone like the stars in the sky, brimming with longing.

Looking up at him, he resembled a kitten that had been starving for a long time and suddenly discovered delicious food.

Shen Cong unconsciously curled his lips into a smile.

“Wei Yan came this morning. He said there was pressure from the Censorate and the Left Prime Minister, and there was no further evidence to suggest that your aunt, Madam Song, poisoned your mother, so…”

Li Nanke asked, "So your aunt will be released and sent home?"

Shen Cong raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised by her insight.

Li Nanke shrugged, not surprised by the answer.

Song Hui is, after all, a reborn woman and the female protagonist of this fictional world, so she is naturally not so easy to deal with.

When Song Hui offered to cooperate with Lord Wei in returning to Bianjing Prefecture for the investigation yesterday, Li Nanke had already guessed what would happen next.

“I understand, but my mother’s poisoning must be related to her. Even without evidence, I will definitely avenge this myself.”

She bared her teeth and gave a cold laugh.

"A gentleman takes revenge even after ten years. I am not a gentleman, so Ke'er takes revenge as soon as possible."

Shen Cong snorted.

Li Nanke looked at Shen Cong with longing eyes again.

"Your Highness, what I just said..."

"Bang."

Her response was another loud slam of the door shut.

Li Nanke, having been turned away once again, made a face at the closed door and muttered something under his breath.

"You stingy person."

He turned and left.

at the same time.

After finishing his duties at noon, Zhao Hong personally came to Bianjing Prefecture to pick up Song Hui and take her home.

As Song Hui stepped out of the Bianjing government office, she narrowed her eyes, straightened her hair ornaments, and tugged at her clothes.

In Zhao Hong's memory, he had never seen Song Hui lose her composure or panic since they got married.

She always seemed elegant, composed, and confident, and of course, most of the time, it was he who benefited from her confidence.

Except for this time.

Helping her into the carriage, Zhao Hong asked with displeasure, "What exactly happened? A perfectly good trip back to your parents' home turned into a death? And you were dragged into it too?"

Do you know that if I hadn't pleaded with my superiors and mentor beforehand, Wei Yan would never have agreed to release you?

Song Hui's expression also turned somewhat unpleasant.

She was extremely frustrated after failing to defeat Song Yi in three consecutive attempts.

But she dared not tell Zhao Hong the truth, and only gave a vague explanation: "My sister accused my mother of taking away her dowry shop, which made my mother very sad."

Zhou's mother was promoted by her own mother and wanted to share her mother's burdens. So she thought of teaching her sister a lesson and put strychnine in her sister's tea.

Who knew that Prince Xuan would encounter this matter, which led to it reaching the Bianjing Prefecture. Since Granny Zhou was my personal maid, I assisted Lord Wei in making a trip to the Bianjing Prefecture.”

Zhao Hong's expression darkened slightly.

“Since Zhou Mama was your maidservant, she is now a member of the Zhao family. Instead of helping your mother-in-law to discipline people, people will only say that the Zhao family did not discipline its servants properly.”

From now on, you must be stricter with the servants in your household.

Song Hui responded.

Zhao Hong continued, "How did it happen that King Xuan happened to be there? Did King Xuan say anything?"

He is, after all, His Majesty's only brother, and there have always been voices in the court calling for him to become the Crown Prince. We cannot afford to offend Prince Xuan.

Song Hui disagreed, saying confidently, "Husband, don't worry, Prince Xuan can't be the Crown Prince. Have you forgotten the person we sent to Taizhou to look for?"

Zhao Hong's expression changed slightly.

"Speaking of which, we have news from the people we sent to Taizhou."

Song Hui sat up straight with excitement.

"Have you found them?"

"The person was indeed found, but at the same time another group of people were also looking for the child. The two groups fought, and the child got away."

Song Hui's face darkened.

Zhao Hong moved closer to her and lowered his voice, saying, "With just a blurry portrait, we've sent out more than a dozen groups of people over the past year, practically turning Taizhou upside down."

Are you really sure that child is the eldest prince who was lost among the common people all those years ago?

Song Hui looked completely certain.

"Trust me, I won't make a mistake."

In his previous life, the one who ultimately ascended the throne was this eldest prince, Shen Xu, who had been living among the common people.

The new emperor relied heavily on Zhao Hong and often visited the Zhao family incognito.

At that time, she had just returned from exile and was staying at the Zhao family's house. She had seen Shen Xu once from afar.

I also heard from Song Yi that this young emperor had been lost among the common people when he was young, and suffered a lot in Taizhou before being found by the royal family.

Last year, relying on her limited memory, she finally managed to draw a portrait of Shen Xu, and then asked Zhao Hong to send someone to Taizhou to find him.

“Husband, we must continue the search. Once we find the eldest prince ahead of time, His Majesty will naturally make his own son the crown prince, since His Majesty has a legitimate son.”

"We will be ministers who have rendered meritorious service in supporting the emperor's rise to power. Why should we worry that the Zhao family will not prosper?"

Song Hui grabbed Zhao Hong's hand urgently.

Zhao Hong was very interested in the phrase "meritorious service in supporting the emperor".

"But the child has disappeared again. Where should we look for him?"

Song Hui closed her eyes and searched her mind carefully, then suddenly opened them after a moment.

"Xuzhou, go to Xuzhou to look for it."

"Okay, I'll write to our people right away."

Song Hui breathed a sigh of relief, pulled the cart handle aside, glanced outside, and immediately asked in surprise, "Huh? Aren't we going home? Where are we going?"

Zhao Hong's expression was somewhat complicated.