Chapter 78: Meeting at the Restaurant

The position of the Shen Mansion is sensitive. Especially if the emperor knew that what happened in the court today was the result of Shen Changhe's involvement in the conspiracy with Xiao Yuan, the safety of the Shen Mansion would be unimaginable.

Xiao Yuan was not afraid that Shen Wen would find out, but he was wary of the emperor and of bringing disaster to the Shen family.

"Go to the palace and check who the emperor summoned today and who has entered and left the imperial study."

"Okay." Ling Chenyi put down the letter and stood up immediately, "Then be careful."

Xiao Yuan nodded, and after Ling Chenyi left, he dressed up a little and left the Prince's Mansion with Li Huaiyan.

They did not use the prince's carriage, but chose an extremely inconspicuous ordinary carriage and went directly to the back door of the restaurant.

The two men got off the carriage and opened the back door. There was no one guarding it, which must have been arranged by Shen Changhe long ago. So they went directly to the private room written on the letter.

"Master." Qingfeng hurriedly followed the two of them.

Xiao Yuan glanced at him calmly and said, "Speak."

Qingfeng pursed his lips again and again before speaking in a low voice, "The secret guards who went to the Shen Mansion sent news that Miss Shen went out and went to the restaurant across the street."

Xiao Yuan paused slightly, a faint gleam in his eyes, but he fell completely silent again because of Qingfeng's next sentence.

“Miss Shen has an appointment with Zhang Yeyang at the restaurant.”

The private room was within reach, but Xiao Yuan stopped completely, his gloomy eyes filled with the rage that was about to come.

Qingfeng immediately took a few steps back and lowered his head slightly.

Li Huaiyan, who was standing at the side, of course heard everything. He frowned and looked at Xiao Yuan and said, "Business is more important."

Xiao Yuan said nothing, turned around and was about to leave.

To him, each one is important, and each one is more important than the other.

"Xiao Yuan." Li Huaiyan stepped forward quickly and grabbed his arm, his tone heavy, "The one waiting for you inside is Shen Anan's elder brother. It is very likely that what he is going to say is related to the safety of the Shen family. When the nest is overturned, no egg will be left unbroken. You should weigh the importance of this matter."

Xiao Yuan pursed his thin lips tightly, without moving, but he also did not shake off Li Huaiyan, remaining stubborn.

Li Huaiyan waved his hand to signal Qingfeng to leave, and then continued to persuade, "Now you can't produce evidence to completely kick the scholar out. If you rashly get involved, it will only make Miss Shen hate you, which is not conducive to the development of your relationship. Get busy with business first. Only by taking power can you keep her."

Xiao Yuan's brows were tightly knitted together, and a chill slowly spread around him. Li Huaiyan directly hooked his shoulders and led him into the private room.

"Listen to me, I have experience."

Xiao Yuan glanced at him coldly, "Do you have experience visiting a brothel?"

Li Huaiyan sighed, "Of course it's the experience of coaxing girls. What's the matter with them being together? At most, they are just having a meal. Be more tolerant and let them be today."

Xiao Yuan sneered and asked, "Let's have dinner together?"

He hasn't even eaten it yet.

Shen Changhe had been waiting anxiously for a long time. When he saw the two of them coming in, he immediately stood up and walked over to close the door. "There is tea on the table. Fourth Prince, Mr. Li, please sit down and talk."

Seeing how cautious and alert he was, the two of them looked a little more serious.

The three of them sat down at the table, and Xiao Yuan asked directly, "Did your father discover something about you?"

Shen Changhe nodded, his brows and eyes were full of gloom, "An hour ago, the eunuch beside the emperor went to the imperial guards to read out an imperial decree, asking Zhou Yunfeng to work with me to investigate the case of Mr. Zhang."

After these words were spoken, Xiao Yuan and Li Huaiyan frowned at the same time.

"Anything else?" Xiao Yuan asked.

Shen Changhe shook his head. "That eunuch only said polite words. I can't tell what's going on."

"Lord Zhang is obviously from the Second Prince's faction, and Zhou Yunfeng is the elder brother of the Second Prince's wife. What does the Emperor mean by letting Zhou Yunfeng get involved? Is he trying to help the Second Prince?" Li Huaiyan said with a frown.

Xiao Yuan was silent for a moment with a gloomy face, and said in a calm voice, "The emperor will not let Lord Zhang go for the suspicion of collaborating with the enemy. Zhou Yunfeng is not going to help the second prince. I am afraid he is used to contain Chang He and prevent me from making any moves."

Shen Changhe nodded immediately, "I mean the same thing, but this also shows that the emperor doesn't trust me. He already knows about our relationship."

Not to mention the suppression and fear that the Shen family will suffer, in the future, no matter what the Shen family wants to participate in, the emperor will no longer allow it.

Xiao Yuan's dark eyes were gloomy, and his stern face was cold. "I have asked Ling Chenyi to investigate, and I believe there will be results soon."

Their dealings have always been very secretive, and the Emperor could not possibly know about it. They were fine during the morning court today, but now they have suddenly changed. This can only mean that someone has made some slanderous remarks.

Shen Changhe nodded. No one in the Shen family except the imperial concubine could figure out what was happening in the palace, and only the two princes had the ability to reach into the imperial study.

"What I'm worried about now is that once Zhou Yunfeng and I take charge of this case together, our subsequent plans will be disrupted. If he finds out something else..."

The Zhou family is different from a small family like Wang Ganzhi. The Zhou family has a history of hundreds of years and was once a powerful family.

Zhou Yunfeng is the next generation heir trained by the family. He is full of tricks and strategies. It is not easy to fool him.

"Don't worry about that." Xiao Yuan said calmly, "Even if he knows that Lord Zhang was framed, he can't find evidence. As for the witness in the Western Region, you can relax the guards in the next two days, and someone will take him away from Daliang."

Without witnesses, the silent physical evidence is useless. Even if three courts hold a joint trial, they will not be able to find out the truth.

"As for the future plans..." Xiao Yuan paused before continuing.

"If the person behind this is really the Second Prince, Zhou Yunfeng's joining may not necessarily be a bad thing. You can relax a little these few days and let him get close to Lord Zhang alone. Give them some time, and clues will eventually emerge."

Shen Changhe frowned when he heard this, "Wouldn't that alert the Second Prince and let him know that we are investigating the death of Concubine Shu?"

The Emperor is extremely secretive about the term "Shufei". If he heard any rumors, he might not allow the Fourth Prince to continue investigating.

Xiao Yuan curled his lips coldly, "It doesn't matter, I just want to know who is behind this."

As for how to kill the other person, he has hundreds of ways.

"You try the case normally, and don't let Zhou Yunfeng find out about your relationship with me." Xiao Yuan warned in a deep voice.

If the emperor has become suspicious, as long as the second prince and his faction instigate a little, the Shen family will have a very difficult time in the court, even walking on thin ice.

"Don't worry about this, I know what I'm doing." Shen Changhe nodded in response.

Xiao Yuan finished the tea in his hand, stood up and stood in front of the window.

The window frame was only opened to a gap of two or three fingers' width, through which he could barely see the scene on the street. He stood there for quarter of an hour.

Li Huaiyan knew what he was waiting for, but Shen Changhe didn't. He stood up and walked over. His peripheral vision happened to see a familiar carriage passing by downstairs.

He frowned, and immediately stood in front of another window lattice and looked down, and saw Shen Anan got off the carriage with the help of Mo Xiang and walked into the restaurant.

After thinking for a while, Shen Changhe understood what was going on. He raised his head and glanced at Xiao Yuan inconspicuously, pursing his thin lips.

For the future of the Shen family and his ambitions, he could follow Xiao Yuan, but his sister must not be included in this gamble.

"The day after tomorrow is the day my sister gets engaged. If the Fourth Prince is free, you can come to my house and have a glass of wedding wine."

He had already prepared himself for Xiao Yuan to get angry and to exude a sense of oppression, but surprisingly, Xiao Yuan did not move, and his expression did not change except for becoming a little cold.

After a long while, he said "hmm" softly, as if he didn't care at all.

But even with that light response, Shen Changhe could smell the smell of gunpowder, and his heart was not at ease.

Li Huaiyan was somewhat impressed by Shen Changhe, who really was jumping back and forth on Xiao Yuan's reverse scale time and time again. Only because Shen Anan was his biological sister, otherwise Xiao Yuan would have made him leave sideways today.

In order to prevent him from saying anything shocking again, Li Huaiyan immediately pulled him back to the table and sat him down.

"Didn't they say they were going to get engaged the day after tomorrow? Why are they still meeting two days before the engagement? I heard that it's not auspicious for two newlyweds to meet in advance."

As he spoke, he cautiously glanced at Xiao Yuan's back, thinking secretly, I am helping you, I am just saying this for the occasion, please don't mind it.

Shen Changhe frowned, "Zhang Yeyang had some accidents a few days ago, and now he has just been released, it is reasonable for the two of them to meet to show their concern."

Of course Li Huaiyan knew that Zhang Yeyang had been captured and thrown into the dungeon by Ling Chenyi a few days ago.

If he were to say, Xiao Yuan was still too soft-hearted. If he had continued with his previous cruel and ruthless style, let alone an engagement, the scholar would have been buried as soon as he appeared.

Li Huaiyan nodded, "You are right, but the rules left by our ancestors must have some reason, so we should abide by them. The capital is full of nobles, it would be bad if someone ran into us."

Shen Changhe was silent for a while. Of course he knew it, but he could see his sister's worry after not seeing her for several days.

Li Huaiyan continued, "Look at the time. Miss Shen has been in for about a quarter of an hour. Even if we are just talking, it should be almost time."

After all, Xiao Yuan had been standing in front of the window for nearly half an hour. From his stern face and stiff back, he could guess the raging fire in his heart at the moment. Maybe his rationality was only as much as a fingernail left.

The more Li Huaiyan spoke, the more restless Shen Changhe became. Privately, he didn't think highly of Zhang Yeyang.

He suddenly stood up, and Li Huaiyan asked hurriedly, "Where are you going?"

Before Shen Changhe could speak, he immediately pulled Shen Changhe to sit down and said, "You came here secretly. There may be many eyes watching you downstairs. If you are seen, it will be a failure. Let Xiao Yuan's people go and remind Miss Shen."

Shen Changhe's face showed a sense of vigilance, and he looked at Li Huaiyan, "This is not a good idea, let's just forget it."

Are you kidding? It's hard to say whether Xiao Yuan's people will go and kill Zhang Yeyang. It's not like An An likes the Fourth Prince very much.

"Aiya, are you still unsure about the people under the Fourth Prince? They always know their limits."

Without further ado, Li Huaiyan stood up and left the private room, giving Qingfeng a few instructions.

It was too late for Shen Changhe to stop it.