Chapter 5 Chapter 5 "You and he are already engaged, so it doesn't count..."

The Marquis's wife didn't want to agree at first, but Nan Xu begged her.

Besides, the two of them are already engaged, so it doesn't matter if they meet once.

The Marquis's wife warned him, "You can meet him, but you can't act so petty anymore. This is a marriage approved by His Majesty, Ah Xu, you must accept your fate."

The words "accept your fate" were like a bolt from the blue to Nan Xu's ears.

She had lived a smooth life for more than ten years, so how could she just accept her fate?

So, while she was sending someone to deliver the message, she quietly took out the horn crossbow that the late emperor had given her, which could be hidden in her sleeve.

*

But within a stick of incense, the messenger came back with a frustrated look on his face.

He said he hadn't seen Wei Yangbo. "I've been making inquiries and found out that after leaving the palace yesterday, the Earl went straight to the Ministry of Justice and didn't return home at all."

Nan Xu prepared herself mentally for a long time, but she didn't expect that she wouldn't even see anyone.

There is a kind of "tragic" feeling of dying before achieving success.

She supported her chin, frowned and thought carefully. This man was indeed diligent. He came out of the palace yesterday and must have known about the arranged marriage, yet he was still able to handle official business as usual.

There should be more to the rumors outside!

"Or, send someone to wait outside the Ministry of Justice, and we will eventually wait for our future son-in-law." Yuxiang was a lively person. Before he finished speaking, he laughed foolishly at the word "son-in-law".

Nanxu:......

Yu Ming, who was holding the golden ball, felt a little headache.

She stuffed Jinqiu into Yuxiang's arms and pushed her to do something quickly, "Jinqiu is hungry, go feed her."

Yuxiang looked into the eyes of Jinqiu, who was a little angry in his arms.

She blinked in confusion. Aren't the maids always the ones feeding the cats?

The golden ball flapped its limbs proudly. It didn't like the noisy Yuxiang.

After the man and the cat left, Yu Ming told Nan Xu what he had found out.

Wei Yangbo's personality was unpredictable, and Nan Xu didn't think he would meet her just by having someone pass on the message, so she asked Yu Ming to find out where he usually liked to go.

It's never wrong to sit back and wait for something to happen.

"Tianxiang Tower? Why does this name sound..." not so serious.

Nan Xu has a close friend who likes to dress up as a man and go in and out of brothels. Over time, she has learned a thing or two about these dens of indulging in pleasure.

This name really... doesn't sound like a restaurant.

Yu Ming was also surprised when she first heard this, so she smiled and explained, "Don't worry, young lady, it is indeed a Sichuan restaurant. It's just a bit remote, so you haven't heard of it."

Yu Ming is a calm person, and won't respond rashly unless the matter is certain.

The roses outside the window are blooming beautifully. When the wind blows on the corridor, clusters of flowers surge, the fragrance of flowers fills the air, and Nanxu's heart is tossed and turned.

After thinking for a while, she stood up and asked Yu Ming to change her clothes. "Let's go and try the Shu cuisine here."

*

While Nan Xu was packing up to go out, Duan Wenpei was also busy in the Ministry of Justice prison.

In the dark prison, rats and insects were rampant. One or two of them would crawl onto the back of a person's feet, making him jump in fright.

Yu Rong sneered at him for being timid.

Liu Hui was so angry that he glared at him and told him to shut up. He then took a few quick steps and headed towards the torture room.

The further you go in, the more nauseating the damp smell of blood becomes.

In the torture room, the jailer placed the red-hot iron in his hand close to a prisoner on the rack whose face could not be seen, and the prisoner screamed in pain.

"Tell me quickly, who instructed you to assassinate the uncle?"

The smell of burnt meat spread, but the man was stubborn and only said a few words before refusing to open his mouth.

The jailer had exhausted all the tortures and could only turn around and ask, "Master?"

Liu Hui followed his line of sight and saw Duan Wenpei sitting in the innermost seat.

"No need to keep it."

Liu Hui couldn't see his uncle's expression clearly, but he thought he must be used to it and was calm.

It's not my uncle's fault for being ruthless. Ever since His Majesty bestowed the title, these assassins have been coming in waves. In the past, my uncle could still be patient and interrogate them personally, but after encountering several assassins who would rather die than surrender, my uncle lost his patience.

According to my uncle, there are only a few families around, so it doesn't make any difference whether you ask or not.

After the jailer dragged the man out, Liu Hui tiptoed forward and replied, "Master, it's spread all over the place. The one being married is Nan Xu, the second daughter of the Yong'an Marquis's Mansion."

He tried hard to suppress the joy that was surging from within and waited for Duan Wenpei's reaction.

After a while, the person sitting upright hummed lightly.

"Master? Don't you think it's a coincidence? Isn't fate wonderful?" Thinking of what Yong'an Hou blurted out that night, Liu Hui felt itchy.

In the darkness, Duan Wenpei lowered his eyes and looked at the confession in his hand, feeling no surprise.

When the marriage was arranged yesterday, he had some guesses.

Otherwise, the marriage would not have been granted earlier or later, but when the Marquis of Yong'an said that he wanted to marry his daughter, the emperor started to

Thoughts.

I'm afraid that every word spoken that night reached the emperor's ears.

He curled the corners of his lips slightly, his eyes full of sarcasm.

Is His Majesty testing him? Or is he testing the Yong'an Marquisate?

The sound of jailers dragging prisoners could be heard in the corridor outside. They must be prisoners from other cases.

Duan Wenpei stood up and walked out. When he reached the intersection of light and darkness, he turned around and handed the confession in his hand to Liu Hui.

Liu Hui lowered his head and happened to catch a glimpse of a line that mentioned the Zhao family in Shu.

"Burn it."

A cold voice came, and Liu Hui trembled with excitement. He quickly put the confession into the charcoal brazier.

The previous joyful mood disappeared, replaced by a solemn expression.

The Zhao family in Shu has always been a taboo for the uncle...

*

In a room on the second floor of Tianxiang Tower, Nan Xu and Yin Ruizhu, who was dressed as a man and sitting opposite her, stared at each other.

"Tell me the truth, who was that man?" Nan Xu pressed down Yin Ruizhu's folding fan, her mind replaying the scene she had just accidentally glimpsed. "He doesn't look like he's from Kyoto, nor is he someone I know. Ruizhu, you're hiding something from me."

The woman in front of her with her hair tied high and her eyes and eyebrows looking heroic is her close friend, Yin Ruizhu, the youngest daughter of the great scholar Yin Que and the cousin of her eldest sister-in-law Yin Wu.

The Yin family is a scholarly family, but they have produced an alternative person like Yin Ruizhu who doesn't like women's clothes and prefers men's clothes. Many people in the aristocratic family gossip about her, saying that she is a heretic.

However, Nan Xu and her hit it off right away and they got along very well.

As soon as she reached the second floor, she saw Yin Ruizhu standing at the end of the corridor in young clothes, with a man whom Nan Xu had never seen before standing next to him with his back to him.

Nan Xu saw clearly at that time that Yin Ruizhu was staring at the man's profile without blinking, and it was obvious that she was infatuated with him!

Yin Ruizhu's face turned slightly red, and she didn't dare to look at her out of guilt, "There is no such thing as a man, Ah Xu, you've seen it wrong!" As she said that, she simply dropped the folding fan in her hand, stood up and wanted to sit farther away from Nan Xu.

Such a shy attitude of a little girl rarely appears on Yin Ruizhu.

Nan Xu's face was full of disbelief. What a ghost he saw in broad daylight!

"If you don't want to tell me, then forget it." Nan Xu retracted her gaze and pretended to take something out of her sleeve. "I just found a purse embroidered with auspicious cloud patterns when I passed by you. I wanted to see if it belonged to that man. Since I'm mistaken, there's no need to keep it."

Having said that, he asked Yu Ming to take it away and throw it away.

Yin Ruizhu's eyes flickered slightly, and she could no longer sit still. She stood up and tried to grab it.

When she opened Nan Xu's tightly clenched palm, she only saw the crumpled handkerchief, without even a trace of the purse.

"Ah Xu!"

After her lie was exposed, Yin Ruizhu stopped pretending. She blew on her palms and started tickling Nanxu. "I told you not to lie to me. Now wait and see how I'm going to deal with you, little girl."

Nan Xu was very ticklish, but not as strong as Yin Ruizhu, so she laughed uncontrollably when she was tickled.

The two were having fun when they suddenly heard footsteps approaching from afar outside. Several tall figures were reflected on the silk gauze window. One of them had an elegant and calm posture, and the blurry silhouette alone was enough to make people unable to take their eyes off him.

The group walked in and went to the next room.

When there was no more sound outside, Yu Ming pushed the door open and walked in, looking at Nan Xu with excitement on her face.

Nan Xu's smile froze, she knew who that was.

*

The wing rooms of Tianxiang Tower are very interesting. On the wall between the rooms there is a leather painted fan with pictures of animals unique to Shu.

Although it was leather, it was not very transparent. Nan Xu pulled out her hairpin and took great effort to carve out two small holes that were big enough for one eye to observe.

She and Yin Ruizhu stood on low stools against the wall, squinting their eyes and looking over there.

"Is it really okay to peek like this?" Nan Xu was a little afraid to look inside.

She had just told Yin Ruizhu the whole story and wanted to meet him directly by stating her name, but Ruizhu stopped her and told her this method.

Yin Ruizhu glanced at her sideways, saying nonchalantly, "Ah Xu, I want to correct you. You and he are engaged. This isn't called peeping. At best, it's just... looking at each other. Yes, looking at each other!"

Hearing her talking in a roundabout way about peeping as if it was natural, Nan Xu felt a little amused.

Only when a man and a woman meet through a screen with the permission of their elders can it be considered as seeing each other. But here, there is a wall between them, so it can barely be considered as such.

Yin Ruizhu had been out there disguised as a man for a long time and didn't take this seriously. Since they were good sisters, she naturally wanted to help Nan Xu keep a close eye on Wei Yangbo. "Didn't Yu Ming just say that he looks unfriendly and just came out of the government office. If he's in a bad mood, and you know the rumors out there, if he doesn't like this marriage, wouldn't we run into him if we rushed in like this? He might kill us."

She imitated the characters in the opera and made a gesture of wiping her neck, which scared Nan Xu so much that she tightly grasped the horn crossbow hidden in her sleeve.

Yin Ruizhu patted her shoulder and said, "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid. Let's wait and see. Besides, I'm here for you."

After that, the two of them said no more and just looked over there.

The range visible through the small hole is limited. There are three people sitting around the table, separated by a half-person-high flower table.

Nan Xu had seen Duan Wenpei's portrait, and the two people sitting with their profiles visible were not him.

Yin Ruizhu quietly explained to her, "The one on the left with the peach blossom eyes is Xie Jin, the head of the Ministry of Justice. Although his position is low, he is from the Xie family of Jiangdong. The one on the right with a lovely demeanor is Huang Yu, the doctor of the Ministry of Personnel. Yes, this guy replaced your second brother's position."

Nan Xu nodded and glanced at Huang Yu's face twice more.

She was familiar with the children of noble families in Kyoto and knew very little about these officials.

Neither of these two people is it, so the only one who is facing away from that person is it.

"I haven't had the chance to congratulate you, my Lord, for finally marrying the beautiful lady." After the waiter brought the food and wine, Huang Yu raised his glass to congratulate Duan Wenpei, his eyes narrowed into slits with a smile.

Duan Wenpei remained silent. Xie Jin raised his glass and clinked it with Huang Yu's. "I used to think Huaizhou wasn't interested in women, but now it seems it's not that he's not interested in women, it's just that ordinary women don't catch his eye."

Huaizhou is Duan Wenpei's pen name. Anyone who calls him that must be someone very familiar to him.

Duan Wenpei still didn't say anything.

The two of them had long been accustomed to Duan Wenpei's cold attitude, and began to pick up the dishes with their chopsticks as if nothing had happened. Unfortunately, neither of them was used to Sichuan cuisine, and they were sweating profusely after just a few bites.

Duan Wenpei then lazily picked up the chopsticks and put the food into his mouth under the gaze of the two.

There was no sign of embarrassment at all.

"I say, Huaizhou, can you change the restaurant next time?" Xie Jin stopped drinking the spicy wine and fanned himself with the narrow sleeves of his official robe to cool down.

Duan Wenpei then glanced at him and said in a cold voice, "I'm afraid the dishes from other restaurants won't be enough to stop you from eating."

Seeing him eating so calmly, it was Xie Jin and Huang Yu's turn to look at each other, not daring to say a word.

How could they not know Duan Wenpei's temper? The imperial decree granting the marriage seemed fresh and exciting, but since it involved the Yong'an Marquis Mansion, any discerning person could see that something was wrong.

But no matter how wrong it is, this marriage may not be a bad thing for the cold-hearted Duan Wenpei.

Not only can he dispel the rumors in Kyoto about his homosexuality, but he can also have a caring and understanding wife by his side.

That is Miss Nan Er from the Yong'an Marquis Mansion, a famous beauty in Kyoto!

This celebration is sincere.

Huang Yu is not good at speaking, so he can only rely on Xie Jin's eloquence.

Xie Jin's peach blossom eyes curled up slightly, and he was about to speak with a smile, but Duan Wenpei had already taken the initiative to change the subject, "The assassin that day was sent by the Zhao family in Shu."

Xie Jin's expression changed slightly after hearing this sudden remark.

After a long pause, he suddenly sat up straight, his face bewildered. "How could this be? Didn't they expel you from the clan? Even the Zhao family's master said back then that whether you become a king or a prime minister in the future, it would have nothing to do with them. So many years have passed, how could they suddenly have someone assassinate you? Did they make a mistake?!"

Made a mistake?

Duan Wenpei looked at the spicy and delicious (1) fried pork slices with bean paste and three peppers on the table, and remembered that the man loved it very much, so he clenched the wine cup beside him.

He could make a mistake about anything, but he would never make a mistake about this one thing.

Huang Yu had only heard a little about the Zhao family's affairs and was not in a position to interrupt.

But the word "Shu" is so sensitive that it makes people think too much. He hesitated and said, "Master, what you mean is that the Zhao family is involved with King Yi."

He only knew that the Zhao family was a big clan in Shu, and Duan Wenpei had a close relationship with the Zhao clan.

The Zhao family wouldn't send assassins to kill important officials without any reason, nor would they break their promise and take Duan Wenpei's life. But if King Yi was involved, everything would be explained.

Since the Emperor ascended the throne and Prince Yi became a vassal, Prince Yi's ambition has never been curbed.

Duan Wenpei's grip on the wine cup had deformed it, and his already sharp features were etched with a hint of silence. He let go of the wine cup and wiped his hands with dignity, "Whether it's true or not, we'll know once we try it."

The author has something to say:

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(1) It is twice-cooked pork, but in ancient times, twice-cooked pork was called fried pork with oil, and it was salty. It was not until the Ming and Qing Dynasties when chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns were introduced that it was improved.

I just changed the name of the fictional dynasty.

In fact, many Sichuan dishes in ancient times were not spicy.