Upon receiving these two orders, Marquis Yongning was hurriedly led away through the secret passage back to his residence. Xu Rao was waiting in his study. Seeing that Marquis Yongning had returned alone, he quickly asked, "Father, where is Zhao Ci? Why didn't Zhao Ci come back with you?"

Marquis Yongning, still shaken and frightened in the middle of the night, wanted nothing more than a bowl of hot tea to warm himself and soothe his frightened heart. When he heard Xu Rao ask his wife, he poured himself a bowl of tea and said irritably, "Didn't you see your father was back? You didn't even pour me a bowl of hot tea in the middle of the night."

Xu Rao quickly poured hot water from the copper kettle warming on the small red clay stove in the corner into the teapot, which was no longer very hot, and said with a smile, "Father, it's my fault. Please drink this; it's hot."

Marquis Yongning drank two bowls of hot tea before finally letting out a sigh of relief. He then recounted the events of the previous night to Xu Rao. Upon listening, Xu Rao frowned and asked, "Father, do you mean that Zhao Ci will have to stay in the palace until my brother-in-law returns from the southwest?"

Marquis Yongning nodded and said, "I understand His Majesty's meaning. Third brother, we've really hit a snag this time. With our current strength, we have no chance of winning against the Wang family. So, we can only help His Majesty get rid of the poison in his body and then prevent the Wang family from resorting to desperate measures and bringing troops into the city to endanger His Majesty's life."

Upon hearing this, Xu Rao gasped, then seemed somewhat relieved, saying, "The time has finally come, but our preparations are indeed insufficient. Father, should we write to Uncle and ask him to bring the children back?"

Marquis Yongning shook his head and said, "The children are safer outside than in the capital, so don't let them come back. I'll write a letter to Xu Di right now, and you should send someone to deliver it to him as soon as possible. The situation in the southwest is now affecting the situation in the capital, so we must stop the garrison in the southwest."

Xu Rao thought of Xu Di and couldn't help but shed a handful of bitter tears for him. His son was now being used as a firefighter by the current emperor. Wherever there was a problem, he would be sent there. He didn't know if he would be retaliated against in the future.

Xu Rao nodded and asked, "Father, what about Zhao Ci? Is she getting used to life in the palace?"

What kind of time is this to still be concerned about these things? Thinking about it, everyone says that the third master of the Xu family is a loving husband and father, and it's true. If he didn't have this heart, how could he have earned this reputation? Thinking of Chen Zhaoci's unspeakable rules, the Marquis of Yongning wanted to talk to Xu Zhaoci about it, but considering that now was not the time to care about this, he didn't say anything. Instead, he gritted his teeth and said, "Zhaoci is doing well in the palace. It's just that because His Majesty was poisoned, she can't go through the Imperial Hospital, so she's kept in the palace to check His Majesty's pulse from time to time. Once your brother-in-law returns from the southwest and detoxifies His Majesty, she will be able to go home."

Upon hearing this, Xu Rao began to calculate how long it would take Chen Zhaocheng to travel from the capital to the southwest and back. Thinking about the time he had calculated, his face changed, and he said, "During this time, if Zhaoci doesn't appear at home, people will be suspicious. Father, how should we deal with this?"

Marquis Yongning shook his head and said, "We can't worry about that now. Just figure out a way to smooth things over yourself. It's getting late. I'll go over and talk to the old lady when she has breakfast. You should write a letter to Xu Di and send it over as soon as possible."

Xu Rao returned to his courtyard, wrote a letter to Xu Di using a secret script, and prepared some gifts for the two children. At dawn, he sent the guards of his household to Miaozhou.

Chen Zhaoci and Xu Rao often delivered things to Miaozhou like this. Those who were monitoring the Xu family didn't think much of it, unaware that it was because of this small mistake that the Wang family's decades-long plan vanished into thin air.

Wang Xiuyuan was not a particularly beautiful woman. She was chosen from among the many daughters of the Wang family to be sent to the palace, probably because she was rational and calm enough. In the eyes of the elders of the Wang family, she was a person who could be of great use. Wang Xiuyuan was indeed a person with high aspirations. She did not even dare to hope for the emperor's love. What she always wanted was the highest position. She wanted her son to be the emperor and she wanted to be the empress dowager.

In previous years, because the sixth and seventh princes were still young, she watched the struggle between the three princes with a cold eye. She also did her part in stirring things up. However, she did things in a secretive way, and with Consort Shu and the eldest prince in the Wang family protecting her, few people paid attention to this low-ranking concubine who had always lived in seclusion in the deep palace.

She endured until the eldest prince was imprisoned, the third prince was beheaded, and the second prince, born to the empress, was explicitly abandoned by Emperor Liang Cheng. Only then did she begin to act freely and bring some things that had been kept in the shadows into the open.

Wang Xiuyuan's presence was so low that if it weren't for the Sixth Prince's attempt to target Zheng Yuanyuan, who would have thought that there was such a strategist in the palace?

After Lord Xu's audience with the Emperor yesterday, Emperor Liang Cheng had been pondering why it was the Sixth Prince, son of Consort Wang, who had taken action against Zheng Yuanyuan, while the Seventh Prince, son of Consort Shao, was secretly instigating it. Emperor Liang Cheng had always thought that Consort Shao was clever enough to help the Seventh Prince set a trap for the Sixth Prince. However, the more he thought about it, the more he wondered what would happen if the Sixth Prince succeeded. The Sixth Prince hadn't even married his principal wife yet. If he really had an intimate relationship with Zheng Yuanyuan, and the Sixth Prince came to him for a marriage decree, and considering that he was instigated by the Seventh Prince, would he agree or not?

Such a brilliant plan, killing two birds with one stone, could only have been devised by Wang Xiuyuan. Emperor Liang Cheng even suspected that the Seventh Prince's instigation of the Sixth Prince to do such a romantic thing was also due to Wang Xiuyuan's influence.

Marquis Yongning sat in his study, increasingly shocked and impressed by Wang Xiuyuan. She was indeed a talented person.