Liu Ren'an listened patiently to his subordinate's complaints. "Sir, the commander of the Five Cities' garrison has been away from the capital for a month now. As you know, his subordinates are all like bandits. I really can't get anything done."

"Yes, sir, why don't you talk to Lord Hu? Lord Hu has drunk with Lord Wei before, so they must have some connection. His words of reprimand to those bandits should be heeded."

Liu Ren'an glanced lazily at his two subordinates, thinking to himself that these two good-for-nothing bastards had no ability but still had the nerve to cry here. But he couldn't say that out loud. He had always been well aware of Lord Hu's principles and rarely got angry. He blew on his nails and said, "We're all colleagues. If he's a bandit, you'll follow him to be a bandit too? There needs to be tolerance and understanding between people. Tolerance, you know? It means being magnanimous. As the old saying goes, only with tolerance can one accommodate others, and only with generosity can one bear the weight of things."

Li Han and Zhou Gu exchanged a glance and asked in unison, "Which ancient person said that?"

Liu Ren'an looked up and said, "No matter which ancient person said it, remember this: in this capital, there are two people you can't mess with. The first is the commander of the Five Cities Army, who is also the Left Martial Guard General, Lord Wei. The second is Princess Jun of the Yong Prince's Mansion. You two listen up: if anyone dares to mess with these two, I, Liu Ren'an, don't know them."

Li Hanzhou was his confidant, and he only spoke these words to them out of goodwill. Wei Tingsi was notorious in the capital for being a ruthless and ruthless man.

As for the Yongwang Mansion, he had already investigated it before he went there that day. The heads of the Wang, Xie, and Ningguo Duke (no, Ningguo Marquis) families, these super families, have been at home disciplining their children ever since they were beaten at the Ningguo Marquis's Mansion. The Xie family, on the other hand, finished disciplining their children and went to court, but the Xie family sent them gifts.

Clearly, the Prince Yong's mansion is a sleeping tiger; it doesn't show its power until it does, and when it does, it will leave you bruised and battered.

"Yes, yes, how dare we?" The two quickly agreed, but in their hearts they did not think that the Yongwang Mansion was not to be trifled with. After all, its reputation was already as bad as it could possibly be. But both of them knew that their master had boarded the Yongwang Mansion's ship. No matter how bad its reputation was, it was still a royal mansion, hundreds of times better than theirs.

Let's not provoke them if we don't want to.

Unbeknownst to them, Li Han and Zhou Gu had been led astray. They had just been discussing something else entirely: asking the lord to find Lord Hu.

Just as I was about to offer another suggestion, Shengxia entered.

Liu Ren'an had met Sheng Xia before, though only once, but he remembered her very well because of her good looks.

She hurriedly stood up to greet her, "Aunt Shengxia, what brings you here?"

As summer approached, I pondered this all the way. The princess's intention was to have everyone visiting the Dowager Consort at the Jade Palace pass through the East Gate, as there was bound to be a good show to watch there.

However, the families who wanted to visit the imperial concubines were not ordinary families, and they could not be easily offended. The relationship between the Prince's Mansion and the various aristocratic families could not be described as merely strained; it could be described as overwhelmingly irreconcilable. Of course, the aristocratic families had the upper hand over the Prince's Mansion.

Before she could come up with a good solution, they had already arrived at the capital. She wished the journey could be longer.

"Lord Liu, please allow me a moment to speak." Sheng Xia thought for a moment, then decided to follow the princess's instructions. Even if something happened, the Empress Dowager would be there to protect her, and the princess would certainly be safe.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Shu and Liu Ren'an gestured to their two subordinates, and Li Hanzhou and Gu hurriedly went out the door. Although they didn't close the door, the two of them walked far away and kept an eye on the gate to prevent anyone from entering.

After everyone had left, Liu Ren'an asked, "I wonder if there is anything your household needs me to do?"

At this moment, he had already referred to himself as "this humble servant" to show that he truly considered himself a member of the Prince Yong's mansion. This shows that Liu Ren'an was a man who could bend and stretch, and had a thick skin.

Shengxia didn't notice this small detail at all and relayed the princess's words to him verbatim, "The princess has probably arranged some good show at the East Gate. Lord Liu, what do you think we should do?"

Liu Ren'an felt a chill run down his spine. What a trivial matter! He said, "Auntie, rest assured, I will handle it properly. Please convey my message to the Princess that you are at ease."

After all, Sheng Xia was a woman who specialized in domestic matters; she couldn't even grasp the intricacies of officialdom.

Therefore, she didn't quite trust Liu Ren'an, so she said, "Lord Liu, let's begin. I'll go with you to the East Gate to wait for the princess."

This was the first time Liu Ren'an had been questioned by a woman, and a maid at that. Although the maid was beautiful, he could not tolerate it. However, it was his first time working for the Prince's Mansion, so it was understandable that others did not trust him. He decided to bear it and said, "Alright, Aunt, please wait a moment. I will go to Lord Hu to get the transfer order."

The case concerning the Prince Yong's mansion has been handed over to him. Lord Hu's intention is to disdain associating with the Prince Yong's mansion. He has come up with several ways to create chaos on the street and has already arrived in front of Hu Lin.

"My lord, someone from Prince Yong's mansion has arrived. They say they have discovered the thief who kidnapped the maid from the mansion the other day and request that someone be sent to arrest him."

Hu Lin was writing without looking up. He picked up a document from the side, quickly signed his name, stamped it, and tossed it to Liu Ren'an, saying, "Go."

At this moment, Liu Ren'an felt that the adults were just being stubborn. The Hu family was only a third-rate family, and they couldn't possibly fight against the powerful.

Upon receiving the official document, they urgently mobilized personnel, and a large-scale operation was launched from the Jingzhao Prefecture government office.

Zhang Chu came out to announce the imperial decree, accompanied by palace maids and eunuchs. After announcing the decree to each household, he left one person behind to wait. Today, he insisted on going to Biyou Palace to visit the Dowager Consort.

As Wang Shenshi watched Zhang Chu's departing figure, her heart was filled with unease, as if something bad was about to happen.

She forced a smile and said to the maid who remained, "Please wait a moment, Auntie. I will go and prepare some pastries to take to the Dowager Consort."

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