Chapter 43 Invitation "You will be responsible for any accidents that happen to the servant you brought with you."...

"Tinglan, the master asked you to take care of the flowers in his yard!"

"knew!"

Zhou Tinglan, who was wearing a dark gray robe, raised her head and responded. She put the broom in the corner, dusted herself off, and walked towards the yard.

In the courtyard, Minister Shen was standing before the precious flowers he had carefully tended. Seeing Zhou Tinglan approach, he waved him over. "Tinglan, come and take a look! Why are my flowers so wilted? Are they dying?"

Zhou Tinglan looked at the flowers in the pot, lowered his head and said, "Don't worry, sir. I have a way to cure him."

"That's great! Tinglan, you do have a solution. I still have some official business to attend to. Please cure them for me!"

"Don't worry, my lord. I will do my best to take care of your flowers." Zhou Tinglan frowned and respectfully saw Minister Shen off.

Seeing that there was no one in the yard, Zhou Tinglan leaned against the wall beside the yard.

"After a few days of investigation, Minister Shen's residence was the last one on the list. We still haven't found any solid evidence to convict Yao Ningde."

Zhou Tinglan raised his head and sighed, what should he do?

Looking back on the past few days, she had disguised herself as a servant and sneaked into the mansions of each family on the list according to the list given by Duke Xie.

Minister Shen and Yao Ningde both belonged to the Ministry of War. Minister Shen was the Minister of War and was the only court official who had frequent interactions with Yao Ningde.

Zhou Tinglan spent some money to bribe Minister Shen's personal servant to pretend to be sick, and pretended to be his cousin to take care of Minister Shen for a few days.

At first, the man was unwilling to agree to Zhou Tinglan's request, but he couldn't resist the temptation of money and finally agreed.

There was no way, Zhou Tinglan gave too much. Zhou Tinglan was happy when he paid the money, but felt heartbroken later.

However, since it concerns the life and death of Xie Zechuan and his family, Zhou Tinglan doesn't care about the money.

As the saying goes, anything that can be solved with money is not a big deal.

So, Zhou Tinglan successfully entered the residence of the Minister of War and replaced Minister Shen as his personal servant.

Minister Shen was puzzled for a moment when he first saw Zhou Tinglan. Then he pointed at Zhou Tinglan and asked, "Isn't Qingzhu the one who took care of me today? You look unfamiliar. Who are you?"

Zhou Tinglan's heart skipped a beat, and he kept comforting himself, saying, "No one will be found out, I have already taken care of it."

She bowed deeply to Minister Shen before explaining her origins: "I am Qingzhu's distant cousin. Cousin Qingzhu has been ill recently, but he is concerned for you, sir, and doesn't trust anyone else to take care of him, so he asked me to come. I hope you won't mind."

"Really? What's your name?" Minister Shen asked back.

Zhou Tinglan lowered his eyebrows and said, "Yes, sir, my name is Tinglan."

"Which two words?"

"To answer your Excellency's words, those who obey should obey, and those who orchid should orchid."

"Ting Lan? It's a good name."

He pondered for a moment, then waved Zhou Tinglan away: "I understand. You can leave today and come back to serve me in the room the next day."

He then called another servant into the room to take care of it.

Minister Shen was suspicious. In his memory, Qingzhu was a smart and capable servant, always in good health, and a good hand in the courtyard.

He immediately sent his servant out to investigate: "Go to Qingzhu's house and see if he is really sick."

The servant received the order and left the Minister's residence, heading towards Qingzhu's house.

Zhou Tinglan, who was hiding behind the flower stand in the yard, saw the servant come out of the minister's room and go straight out of the house.

She showed a look of assurance and left quietly.

Zhou Tinglan thought to himself that Minister Shen would not believe her just based on a few words. Nothing was as real as what he had found out himself.

He holds the position of Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, so he must be very careful with the people he takes care of and must not let unknown people get close to him.

When the servants returned to report that it was indeed as Zhou Tinglan had said, Minister Shen finally felt relieved and said, "Let Qingzhu's cousin Tinglan come to the room to serve you tomorrow."

"Yes, sir."

The servant bowed and Zhou Tinglan soon received the message to return to his room to serve.

"Forget it, why bother thinking about useless things? I should think about how to find evidence next."

Zhou Tinglan plucked a dead leaf from the flowers. Although she had just officially entered Minister Shen's room to serve him yesterday, she had also searched his study.

Like other official residences that had been searched, only a few letters were not destroyed, and no important evidence was left.

Zhou Tinglan was furious. They were really cunning and destroyed the evidence so quickly!

Since there was no such thing, she had to find a way to go to the Minister of War's residence, but how to get there was still a problem.

The reason why she was noticed by Minister Shen so quickly was because of the precious flowers in front of her.

Minister Shen loved to appreciate flowers and planted a large area of ​​various precious flowers in his yard.

However, according to what Zhou Tinglan learned, although Minister Shen likes flowers, he is actually a clumsy person.

On the first day Zhou Tinglan came to the mansion, she showed her ability to take care of flowers. Minister Shen was pleased and asked her to help take care of them.

After trimming the flowers in front of him, Zhou Tinglan turned around with satisfaction and picked up the watering can to water them.

After watering the plants, Zhou Tinglan was about to go to the front yard to find Minister Shen to report to him about the flowers. When she turned around, she saw a servant running past.

ah--

The servant was tripped by a stone and the red invitation fell to the ground from his hand.

Zhou Tinglan stepped forward to help the boy up. She picked up the invitation on the ground and asked, "What is this?"

"It's an invitation from the Minister of War to our Lord. I was just about to deliver it."

When Zhou Tinglan heard that the invitation was from Yao Ningde, curiosity flashed in his eyes and he took the initiative to take charge: "I just finished taking care of the flowers in the yard for you, sir, and now I have to go to the study in the front yard to look for you. If you are satisfied with this invitation, I can help you deliver it."

The servant seemed to have other things to deal with. When he heard Zhou Tinglan's words, he said happily, "Thank you very much. I have other things to do urgently."

"No need to thank me, it's just a simple thing."

When Zhou Tinglan saw the servant leave, she picked up the invitation in her hand, her eyes dim.

I don't know what the content of the invitation is. It seems that there is no evidence to be found in Minister Shen's residence. It would be great if I could use this to enter the residence of the Minister of War openly.

**

The next day, Zhou Tinglan, dressed in the clothes of a servant in the Minister's Mansion, followed Minister Shen to the gate of the Minister of War's Mansion.

Looking at the gate of the Minister of War's residence, Zhou Tinglan recalled what happened yesterday.

When she knocked on Minister Shen's study door, Minister Shen's voice came from inside.

"What's up?"

Zhou Tinglan's eyes flickered as she softly replied, "Sir, I've already taken care of the flowers in the yard. Lord Yao from the Minister of War's residence sent us an invitation, and I'll bring it to you."

"Come in."

After getting permission, Zhou Tinglan walked into the study.

Minister Shen was sitting behind his desk. Zhou Tinglan had been here last night. She glanced at the documents on the desk and saw that they were all scrolls from the Ministry of War, nothing special.

She placed the invitation in front of Minister Shen and stood beside him, waiting for his instructions.

Zhou Tinglan stared at Minister Shen's actions and shouted anxiously in his heart, "Open it and take a look, quickly!"

Seeing Minister Shen looking at the invitation on the table for a long time without moving, Zhou Tinglan reminded him, "Sir, is there anything wrong with Lord Yao's invitation?"

Minister Shen came back to his senses and said with a smile, "No."

He then picked up the invitation and opened it. After he read the contents of the invitation, his face was filled with joy.

Zhou Tinglan was curious, so she asked tentatively, "Sir, does this invitation contain any good news from Master Yao?"

She kept cursing in her heart, happy event, damn this happy event, this happy event built on the blood of others, it's a pity that they are so happy about it.

"Tomorrow, Master Yao is holding a poetry gathering at his mansion and has invited me to a small gathering. Tinglan, you should come with me tomorrow."

Zhou Tinglan was overjoyed as he finally had the opportunity to visit Yao Ningde's house.

However, she still refused, "Sir, I am only here to take over for my cousin. I am not a real member of the Minister's Mansion. Would it be inappropriate?"

Minister Shen was very happy that Zhou Tinglan had taken good care of the flowers these past two days, so he waved his hand to stop Zhou Tinglan from speaking.

"That's all right. The Minister is a magnanimous man and won't take these things to heart. Just go and prepare."

"Thank you, sir, for giving Tinglan the opportunity."

Zhou Tinglan responded excitedly and left the study.

Isn't this an opportunity? An opportunity to go to the Shangshu Mansion and find evidence of guilt.

However, she thought about Minister Shen's evaluation of Yao Ningde in the study, and she secretly complained that Yao Ningde was just as her father said, pretending to be honest and generous on the outside, but actually being a dirty and shameless villain.

The shameless villain Yao Ningde in Zhou Tinglan's mind overlapped with the person in front of her.

Yao Ningde was standing at the door to welcome guests. When he saw Zhou Tinglan, he couldn't help but narrow his eyes slightly. The servant looked so familiar.

"Minister Shen, who is this?"

Mentioning Zhou Tinglan, Minister Shen smiled: "He is a new servant in my house. He helps me take care of flowers. His skills are quite good. One day he will come to take care of your backyard as well."

Yao Ningde thought to himself, is this the new servant?

He stepped forward and ordered in a cold voice, "Raise your head and let me see."

Zhou Tinglan was extremely panicked. Yao Ningde had seen her before. Could it be that she would be exposed in front of the Shangshu Mansion today?

"I told you to raise your head!" Yao Ningde raised his voice when he saw Zhou Tinglan stunned.

Zhou Tinglan's body trembled, and she slowly raised her head, but her jaw was immediately pinched by Yao Ningde.

She almost cried in pain. Zhou Tinglan cursed in her heart, why use so much strength, her bones will be crushed by this bastard!

Before Yao Ningde could take a closer look at Zhou Tinglan's appearance, another voice came from the gate.

"Sir, Madam has asked her subordinates to call you in." Fu Chang stood behind the three people and said while maintaining a salute.

Yao Ningde shook Zhou Tinglan's jaw off, turned to look at Fuchang, and asked dissatisfiedly: "What's the matter?"

"Madam said she has something to discuss with you, but I don't know what it is."

"Got it." Yao Ningde looked at Minister Shen and pointed at Zhou Tinglan: "You will be responsible for anything that happens to the servant you brought with you."

After saying that, he strode towards the mansion.

Zhou Tinglan seemed frightened and apologized to Minister Shen: "Sir, I'm sorry. Could you please let me take a break here?"

Minister Shen agreed to Zhou Tinglan's request and told her to go into the mansion early and then walked in by himself.

Zhou Tinglan turned to look at Fu Chang: "Why did Master Fu help me?"

Isn't he Yao Ningde's follower? What good will it do for him to help her?

Fu Chang seemed to not understand what Zhou Tinglan meant. "What do you mean by that? We don't even know each other, so why should I help you? I'm just conveying Madam's wishes to ask you to go back."

Seeing that Fuchang was unwilling to admit it, Zhou Tinglan didn't bother to argue with him any further.

She said, "I'll leave first, Lord Shen is still waiting for me," and walked into the Minister of War's residence.

What Zhou Tinglan didn't see was the inquiring look in Fu Chang's eyes when he looked at her after she turned around.

She found Minister Shen at the banquet, waited beside him, and then took the opportunity to sneak into Yao Ningde's study.

Zhou Tinglan watched Minister Shen chatting with other court officials, silently listening to how they addressed each other, thinking that almost all of them were people on the roster.

The maid came to serve wine. Zhou Tinglan's eyes lit up. She took the wine pot from the maid and said, "I am here to serve wine to you, my Lord."

She walked to Minister Shen's side with the wine jug, a cunning look in her eyes: "I'll pour you some wine."

"Okay, okay, fill it up!" Minister Shen was in high spirits.

When Zhou Tinglan poured the wine, she pretended not to hold it firmly, and the wine spilled on her clothes. She screamed, attracting the attention of Minister Shen.

As if he felt that he had caused trouble, Zhou Tinglan knelt down and begged for mercy: "Master, please calm down. I... I..."

"Why don't you go down and deal with it!"

Zhou Tinglan stood up and walked quickly out of the banquet table. As soon as she walked out, she ran into someone.

"Where are you going?"