184. Wealthy and powerful, intelligence unknown.

Dou Shichen secretly glanced at Xie Wenling sitting opposite him. Xie Wenling had his eyes closed and his face was calm, revealing no emotion whatsoever, which made Dou Shichen even more flustered.

Xie Wenling remained silent. Was he still angry, or did he have no intention of letting him off the hook?

His heart was in his throat.

Fortunately, after an unknown amount of time, when he was feeling restless, Xie Wenling finally spoke slowly: "I can give you a chance."

Dou Shichen stopped crying, as if grasping at a straw, and hurriedly asked, "What opportunity?"

Xie Wenling opened his eyes and looked at him: "Don't rush to agree. This matter may not be as simple as you think."

He paused, then continued, "I need you to do something for me. If you do it, not only will the letters you wrote not be discovered, but I can also find a way to let you go back to live there for a while."

"Really?" Dou Shichen stood up excitedly, then realized he had lost his composure and quickly sat down, his eyes full of anticipation.

But then he thought about it again and became a little scared.

Xie Wenling is of noble status, so the task he is asked to do must be extraordinary. What if he fails to do it well? Wouldn't that be even worse?

He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but dared not refuse, so he could only lower his head and nervously twist the hem of his clothes with his fingers.

Xie Wenling took in his reaction: "What? You're scared now?"

Dou Shichen's heart tightened. He thought of Wei Zhenhua's pitiful state and the temptation of going home. He steeled his heart, raised his head, and said, "I promise! No matter what it is, I'll help you!"

Xie Wenling nodded and got straight to the point: "You're going to see someone named Lin Lingrong."

"Lin Lingrong? Who is she?"

"Lin Lingrong is the eldest daughter of the Duke of Anguo. I want you to find an opportunity to meet her, obtain some information from her, and then hand it over to me. As long as you meet her, mention the words 'marriage alliance' and 'Prime Minister,' and she will naturally understand."

Dou Shichen had many doubts, but he dared not voice them. He could only ask one question: "Then... what should I do?"

Xie Wenling waved to him.

He leaned in and whispered in his ear.

"...That's it, did you understand?"

Dou Shichen took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and said, "I understand, I will definitely find a way to make it happen!"

Seeing his desperate attitude, Xie Wenling originally didn't want to say anything more.

But given that this was his first time working with children, and due to his distrust of their intelligence, he emphasized: "You must remember, since we've reached a cooperation agreement, we're allies. If either side has a problem, the other won't fare well."

"I understand." Dou Shichen wasn't stupid; his letter was still in their hands.

Xie Wenling didn't say anything more, but simply instructed the coachman, "Take the Prince of Zhennan's heir back to his residence."

The carriage soon arrived at the gate of the Prince of Zhennan's residence. Dou Shichen got out of the carriage, his legs still weak.

He looked up at the familiar gate of the Prince of Zhennan's residence, but his heart felt heavy instead of light.

-

The next afternoon.

When the time came for the end of the government office, carriages and horses came and went on the stone-paved road outside the government office.

Duke Anguo straightened his official robes and stepped out the door, but before he even reached his carriage, Xie Wenling stopped him.

Xie Wenling held the little dumpling in his arms and carried a food box in his hand, with a gentle smile on his face: "Duke Anguo, please wait. I happen to have something I would like to discuss with you."

Duke Anguo's heart skipped a beat.

He didn't know what Xie Wenling wanted to see him for, but he knew that the other party's sudden blockade of his road was definitely not a good thing.

He panicked and became suspicious again, wondering if the other man had found out about his dirty deeds and was coming to settle scores with him.

However, since Xie Wenling did not say it explicitly, he could only pretend to be calm while still holding onto hope: "What advice do you have, Lord Xie? But I have some trivial matters at home and I'm afraid I can't delay."

“It won’t take long,” Xie Wenling said with a smile, stepping aside and pointing to the tea stall next to him. “Why don’t you sit down and have a cup of tea, just to rest your feet? Princess, please give my regards to Uncle Anguo.”

The little dumpling peeked out from Xie Wenling's arms and called out in a clear voice, "Hello, Uncle Anguo!"

She blinked her big eyes and looked at Duke Anguo curiously: "Uncle, your official robes are so beautiful. Are the patterns on them tigers?"

Duke Anguo's tense mind was taken aback by the child's question, but Xie Wenling shook his head with a smile: "This is a Qilin pattern, not a tiger."

"What kind of duck is a Qilin? Is it more powerful than a tiger?" the little dumpling asked, sliding down from Xie Wenling's arms and running to the Duke of Anguo's side, looking up at him with her little face. "Yue'er has only ever seen tiger dolls. Can a Qilin fly?"

Xie Wenling sat down and asked the tea vendor to bring two cups of hot tea. He said slowly, "Children are naturally curious, please don't take offense, Your Highness. Speaking of which, last time at the restaurant..."

Duke Anguo's heart tightened, and his hand holding the teacup trembled, almost spilling the tea.

That time at the restaurant, his secret plot with the old prime minister was almost exposed. Xie Wenling brought it up now, could it be that he discovered something?

He forced himself to remain calm: "Why is Lord Xie bringing this up again?"

"It was just a casual remark," Xie Wenling handed the little dumpling a pastry and continued, "The county princess loves making friends. After getting to know the two young ladies from the Duke of Anguo's mansion, she often talks about how smart the eldest young lady Lin is and how lively the second young lady Lin is, and she even says she wants to play with them again."

The little dumpling nodded immediately, her mouth full of snacks, and mumbled, "Vegetarian duck! Big sister Gray taught Moon to say the character 'Xie,' and Sister Fufu Gray played with Moon, and they were all shouting!"

Duke Anguo's heart sank. Xie Wenling kept mentioning the restaurant and his daughter in every other sentence, which clearly indicated that he had ulterior motives.

He wanted to find an excuse to leave, and just as he was about to get up, the little dumpling grabbed his sleeve.

The little dumpling tugged at him, quickly chewing and swallowing her snack, then asked, "Uncle, don't you like Yue'er? Why are you leaving?"

It's not that the little dumpling can't read the room; it's just that the little dumpling also came here on a mission.

Xie Wenling picked her up from school this afternoon. He first stuffed a lunchbox full of snacks into her hand, and after she happily ate two pieces, he suddenly told her that he had a task for her today...

The little dumpling's task was to help him by keeping Duke Anguo from leaving.

Tempted by the delicious food, the little dumpling resolutely accepted the task.

“Princess, it seems that Duke Anguo doesn’t like you and doesn’t want to give me this face…” Xie Wenling lowered her eyelashes sadly and sighed.

"Haha, how could that be..." Duke Anguo could only sit back down, but he became more and more anxious.

"I knew it. The Duke is not the kind of arrogant person." Xie Wenling's expression changed quickly. He smiled and asked the stall owner to serve tea, pretending not to notice Xie Wenling's change of attitude, and continued to chat about everyday matters.

We talked about everything from the weather in the capital to the latest snacks, from the little dumpling's schoolwork to the flowers and plants in the mansion...

They were just talking nonsense.

Hearing this, Duke Anguo's heart pounded, but he dared not lash out.

-

At this moment, at the gate of the Duke of Anguo's mansion.

Dou Shichen, accompanied by a large group of servants, was blocking the entrance. Standing on the carriage, he looked down at Li Yuniang and Lin Fuman, who had just returned from outside.

"Is this how you do things?" Dou Shichen pointed to a brocade box on the ground, inside which a jade pendant was shattered into pieces. "The jade pendant I asked your shop to carve last time, is this how it turned out? Are you treating me like a fool?"

Li Yuniang was stunned. She hadn't accepted the task Dou Shichen had entrusted to her at all, and quickly explained, "Prince Zhennan, you've misunderstood. We've never..."

"Misunderstanding?" Dou Shichen abruptly interrupted her, his voice rising several decibels. "I personally delivered the goods to your store and even paid a deposit, and now it's in this terrible state. You call this a misunderstanding? I think you're just deliberately trying to evade responsibility! If you don't give me an explanation today, you're not entering this store!"

Lin Fuman frowned, showing no fear of him whatsoever.

She had recently been learning accounting from her aunt and knew that important people like Dou Shichen had their purchases recorded in a special ledger.

If he really did come to spend money, they couldn't possibly not know.

So she immediately said, "Prince Zhennan, we really haven't seen your things before. Did you send them to the wrong place?"

"Sent to the wrong place?" Dou Shichen said with a stern face. "I think you're just trying to renege on your debt! With such a grand presence, you can't even handle this small matter properly. How dare you establish yourselves in the capital?"