Rong Ting paused for a moment and raised his eyes slightly.

From his angle, he could see the way she looked when she smiled and her eyelashes bathed in the sun. When the breeze blew, her dimples sunk in, and her smile looked extremely soft, sweet, innocent and childish.

This smile made it seem as if what she had just said was particularly true, without a trace of falsehood.

Rong Ting suppressed his irritation and just smiled. Even though his smile was very faint, it still looked a bit charming and seductive with his handsome face, like a silent temptation. He lowered his voice, "If you are happy, that's good."

He is indeed greedy.

He wanted her to focus completely on him, but he also wanted to see a smile on her face.

In that case, there's nothing wrong with asking Hu Tang to accompany her.

But it can't be too long.

"But I heard that Madam Hu is having a headache about her marriage, isn't she?"

This time it was Jiang Rao who was stunned.

She thought about what Rong Ting had just said and suddenly realized that she had not thought it through.

Hu Tang came to see her every day, as if he had nothing to do.

But her elder sister Hu Li had already arranged her marriage last month and was promised to the second son of Censor Zhang.

Hu Tang was more willful than Hu Li. He refused to follow Madam Hu's arrangements and his marriage was delayed.

She had heard Hu Tang mention this in private. She had thought about what kind of person her future husband would be. He should be as tall and strong as her father who was stationed in the northern border, with integrity and responsibility, and he would not confine her to the backyard and deprive her of her freedom.

But although Hu Tang said so, she didn't see her showing any interest in any young man from Jinling. It was obvious that she was obsessed with swords and military books every day, and wanted to go to Mobei where her father lived.

Jiang Rao has always been lazy about prying into other people's private affairs, but she cares a little more about the people she cares about.

She groaned and her smile faded.

"Even if I'm on leave, I'll always have some time after the court session. If you want someone to accompany you to the opera house, just let me know."

Jiang Rao suddenly raised her head and looked towards Rong Ting.

Guangliyuan? How did he know that she went to Guangliyuan?

Rong Ting looked into her eyes that could reveal her true feelings, "A colleague saw you at Guangli Garden."

Jiang Rao had no doubts, but she bit her lower lip and asked, "I came to Guangliyuan to get close to two people?"

Rong Ting's expression changed slightly, "Who?"

"Princess Xiang and her daughter Xie Xi."

Not interested in other men.

Rong Ting's irritability subsided, and he asked calmly, "What do you want to know?"

Jiang Rao never likes to think about that in front of familiar people.

Instead of going around in circles, he was frank and direct, "I want to take a sneak peek, find some evidence against them, and do something bad to them..."

"We can't just allow them to bully us." She blinked, "We can't just allow us to bully him."

us.

Not "you".

This subtle change caused Rong Ting's fingers to tremble slightly.

But when he saw Jiang Rao mumbling something, her eyes were attracted to the little monk sweeping the floor outside, and he smiled bitterly.

The speaker may not mean it, but the listener may take it seriously.

He followed her and spoke quietly, drawing the little girl's attention back to him, "Princess Xiang has been out of favor for many years, so she often goes to the Pear Garden to listen to operas to relieve her boredom."

Jiang Rao turned around.

So, maybe what Chen Congyun said to her was true.

But even though she knew all this, it was still difficult to find out anything from Princess Xiang and Xie Xi. Jiang Rao gradually realized what Concubine Yun meant when she told her that the Xu family was difficult to deal with. Caution seemed to be something written in the bones of the Xu family.

She went to Guangliyuan several times and discussed with the owner of the theater to give her a seat where she would not be easily discovered by others, so that she could secretly watch Princess Xiang and Xie Xi who came to listen to the music.

They never talk to anyone, and even when the play on the stage reaches an exciting part, their faces become dull.

As if they were afraid that others would see through their thoughts.

…

Summer came in the blink of an eye.

It is easy to feel sleepy in the summer, so Jiang Rao stayed in the pavilion to cool off. This is the season when she is most likely to doze off. Listening to the chirping of cicadas, she hid in the shade under the pavilion, and soon her eyelids felt like they were about to droop.

I was awakened by a buzzing sound close to my ear.

Jiang Rao leaned over the stone table and moved uncomfortably. The annoying sound still did not disappear. She opened her eyes in surprise and was even startled to see the mud spots moving on the table.

Looking closely, I saw that it was a green dragonfly with its wings covered in mud. It was circling on the stone table, flapping its heavy wings with difficulty.

Jiang Rao looked at the little boy squatting beside the table, his eyes level with the edge of the table, and his hands around the table to block the dragonfly from falling off, and suddenly a feeling of helplessness surged in her heart.

Jiang Jinxing was taking a break in the academy today. It was a rare opportunity for him to have some fun playing with toys, so he had a lot of fun. He caught a dragonfly, but he didn't want to pay much attention to his elder sister, his eyes were still fixed on the dragonfly.

"Sister, you slept too much." He said, "Just now, mother came to find you and said that she wanted you to go with her to check the dowry. You fell asleep and she didn't wake you up."

Jiang Rao's dazed look suddenly came to her senses.

She didn't know how the days passed.

I clearly felt that the divorce date was far away yesterday.

In the blink of an eye, there are less than two months left.

Dazhao has always had a tradition that unmarried couples cannot see each other for the first three months of their marriage. She has not seen Rong Ting for more than a month.

"There will be a palace banquet in two days, don't forget it, sister. Sister Tang has written an invitation and wants to go to the palace with you." Jiang Jinxing said while teasing Qingting.

Jiang Rao wanted to get up, but she felt a little heavy. She took a closer look and saw a thin blanket draped over her shoulders. Jiang Rao reached out and gathered it, "Did mother cover me with this?"

Jiang Jinxing held the dragonfly with his hand, then looked up at Jiang Rao and pouted in dissatisfaction, "It's me."

Jiang Rao was very surprised.

It was the first time for her to have the honor of being taken care of by the little one.

She smiled and asked, "Who taught you to do this?"

Even though she asked this, she was waiting for the little guy to say that no one taught him. Then praise him a few words so that he will do more of this in the future.

“Someone taught me.”

Jiang Rao was stunned for a moment, but then she smiled as she did just now.

Even though her brother had listened to others and put the blanket on her, she was still happy in her heart, "Who is that?"

"Daddy is mommy?" she guessed.

Jiang Jinxing shook his head but didn't say who it was.

He just looked at her like a little adult and said sternly, "If you are sick, you won't be able to get married."

“…”

The tone of his voice seemed to make him wish for her to get married?

Jiang Rao coughed.

She got up and left the pavilion. At night, she asked Yu'er to ask the servant who served Jiang Jinxing.

"Has the young master met anyone recently?"

Afraid that someone would lead her younger brother astray, Jiang Rao would send her maid to find Jiang Jinxing's servant and ask him a few questions from time to time to find out what kind of people Jiang Jinxing had met.

The servant hesitated a little, thinking that Rong Ting, who they often met in the academy recently, was not a new person. Hadn't they met him often before? It may just be a coincidence that I encounter it more often recently. It seemed unnecessary to report this specifically, so he shook his head at Yu'er.

…

When going to the palace banquet, Jiang Rao and Hu Tang rode in the same carriage. People were hurrying on the street, all heading east, as if something had happened in the east.

Hu Tang became restless and wanted to go east. Seeing her like this, Jiang Rao stopped the carriage, sent Ming Shao out, and stopped a passerby to ask.

Ming Shao Hui

When he came, his face was pale and his eyes were filled with fear. "It was Liu Qi, who was executed at Caishikou..."

"Liu Qi? Minister Liu?"

Hu Tang looked confused as if he had no idea what was going on.

Madam Hu arranged a marriage for her, but Hu Tang not only refused, but also tried to sneak out of the capital and go to the northern border to find his father. Madam Hu put him in solitary confinement for three months, and he knew nothing about what was happening outside.

Jiang Rao explained to her, "He embezzled too much silver and was sentenced to death by the emperor."

Liu Qi was the Minister of War.

In addition to him, many officials in the six ministries were investigated.

Chen Bing was one of them. He had close ties with Liu Qi, but his crimes were not as serious as Liu Qi's, so he was demoted to Xiangzhong.

Chen Congyun got her wish in the spring and was promised to the third prince, without being implicated by her father.

Jiang Rao was in the back house and had little chance to know what was happening in official circles. All these turmoil could reach her ears, and Jiang Rao also vaguely felt the turbulent situation.

She felt relieved after hearing the news of Chen Bing's downfall, and felt that God was on her side.

The same news reached Empress Jiahe's ears, causing her face to reveal an anger that she could not suppress.

Zhang Qi, Chen Bing, and nearly half of the other officials investigated in the past six months have close ties with her father and the Xu family.

It's all the work of that crippled guy!

He didn't even show his face, and asked the Liao family's seemingly useless youngest son to work for him, and gradually eliminated the dissidents in the court. Today, she began to feel that her foundation was shaken, and she was worried that all these years of planning would fail.

All of this happened after Rong Ting got engaged.

She hadn't thought of what "gift" to give him, but he kept silent and gave her a big one first, which made Empress Jiahe grit her teeth.

She shouldn't have believed Shen Xiuying's words so easily. Just because she predicted Emperor Zhaowu's sudden illness, she really thought that she had opened her clairvoyance and could easily predict what would happen in the future. She believed her words and eliminated the Ning'an Marquis' Mansion, which would become Rong Ting's helper in the future.

Now that the Ning'an Marquis's Mansion has not collapsed, it has helped Rong Ting to establish a solid foundation.

Whenever she thought of Shen Xiuying, her face was filled with disgust. She had spent a lot of money to pry open her mouth, thinking that she could seek profit and avoid disaster, but it made her situation even more difficult.

Even though Shen Qinying was dead, she still hated her to the core.

As for the Ning'an Marquis's Mansion and Rong Ting...

When the day comes when her son ascends the throne, these people will sooner or later become prisoners.

The corners of her mouth were pointed downwards and her eyes were cold.

The palace lady who was combing her hair

The woman looked at the face in the mirror that showed a vicious look, and she stopped moving in fear and knelt down, "This servant, this servant did not mean it, please forgive me, Madam."

Empress Jiahe glanced at her and was in a bad mood. Everything she saw was an eyesore and trouble, so she asked another palace maid to comb her hair.

She was wearing pearls and emeralds and a phoenix hairpin when she suddenly heard someone behind her calling her "Mother".

Empress Jiahe glimpsed the Seventeenth Prince's cheerful and smiling face in the mirror, and her face darkened. "Why did you come back so early today?"

"I heard there's a flower viewing party in the palace, I..."

The seventeenth prince looked at Queen Jiahe's increasingly gloomy face, and suddenly stammered and dared not say anything.

Empress Jiahe rebuked him, "You cannot come back unless I send someone to call you back."

The seventeenth prince lowered his head, looking unhappy.

His timid appearance made Empress Jiahe frown even more. "If you don't live up to your expectations, when you move out, how can I follow you around like I do now? What will you do then?"

At this time, a palace maid brought up tea.

"Your Majesty, calm down."

The ordinary-looking palace maid bent over and poured tea for Empress Jiahe. When she put down the teacup, she found a letter under the cup, from which wisps of hot steam were rising.