"My wife!"
Liu Ji suddenly appeared from some corner and ran towards Qin Yao excitedly.
He watched her coming out from the direction of the Imperial Master's Mansion from across the river, and since she had been gone for such a long time, he guessed that she must have figured out where her teacher was.
"You finished so early?" Qin Yao asked suspiciously. He looked like he had been waiting for a long time.
Liu Ji nodded and handed her the snow pear ice drink that he had been carrying for almost half an hour, "My lady, you have worked hard. Please quench your thirst."
The ice drink is put in a bamboo tube with two holes punched at the mouth of the tube. A rope is strung on it so that you can carry it in your hand and eat while walking.
The store provided a long-handled wooden spoon. Qin Yao motioned for Liu Ji to go home, saying as they walked:
"I found the person. He's alive, but sick. We didn't get a chance to meet him, but I've sent him a message. Prepare some light, easily digestible food tomorrow morning. I'll try to get you in."
After Liu Ji heard this, his eyes instantly became bright, and he looked at her and nodded hurriedly: "Yes, I'll buy half a slice of pork liver on the way back and make pork liver soup for the teacher."
Then he asked Qin Yao, "Madam, is there anything you want to eat? Let's buy some and I'll cook it for you in the evening."
Qin Yao ordered a dish of sweet and sour pork ribs without hesitation. Liu Ji took note of it and immediately bought the ribs and pork liver when he passed by a meat stall.
The couple gradually discovered some conveniences of living in the capital, that is, the supply of pork was sufficient and could be bought from morning to night.
However, the meat sold in the evening is leftover from the morning sale, so the quality is a little worse than the morning. But considering the price is 10% lower, it is still a good choice.
"What did you find out over there?" Qin Yao asked.
She did not immediately tell Liu Ji about meeting the prince in the Imperial Master's Mansion today. This man was very timid and would be afraid if he knew too much.
If he knew that the prince might suddenly appear, or that the imperial master had discovered the whereabouts of the couple, his legs would be so weak that he would not be able to climb the wall when he went to the imperial master's mansion with her tomorrow.
Thinking of this, Qin Yao tilted her head to glance at Liu Ji who was happy on his own, and said with a click of the tongue twice, his face was really pretty~
A cry of "Ouch" was heard on the street. Qin Yao turned her head and saw that two women selling vegetables were staring at the smiling handsome man in the vegetable market. While looking at each other, they accidentally bumped into each other.
"Tsk!" The two looked at each other with disgust. They snorted and immediately returned to their respective stalls, but they still couldn't help craning their necks to continue looking. Even after the person disappeared, they were reluctant to look away.
Liu Ji looked back a few times after realizing it belatedly, and muttered suspiciously: "Does this vegetable vendor in Kyoto want to eat people?"
Then I thought, this is a manifestation of charm, and I smiled with my big white teeth showing, "I'm so pretty!"
Qin Yao: “.”
Perhaps his gaze was too cold, so the man quickly put away his big tooth flower and confessed everything he had inquired about in the brothel today.
"My dear, I am so lucky today. I met a man named Lu Xiaofeng. His uncle is the prefect of Jingzhao Prefecture. Others call him Xiao Yanei. He also works for the prefect of Jingzhao Prefecture. He knows a lot of things. Blah blah blah."
There was nothing in the capital that Lu Xiaofeng didn't know. He was a native of the capital. His son had already lived in this area for more than a hundred years before the Baili family came to the capital. It seemed that his family was one of the Lu family, one of the major aristocratic families.
However, the powerful ones are all from his uncle's family. His biological father has no special abilities and has to take up an idle job to serve the elderly in the mansion every day.
"In my wife's words, it's just a way of living off your parents!"
Master Lu Er depended on Master Lu, and Lu Xiaofeng depended on Master Lu, perfectly inheriting the family tradition of depending on one's parents for support.
After spending half a day in the teahouse today, Liu Ji confidently told Qin Yao that he had learned half of the family secrets of the old family in the capital from Lu Xiaofeng.
"And the Xiao family, that's where Master Ding married into the widow Xiao's family. Tsk tsk tsk~, last month Master Xiao secretly took a mistress and was discovered by Madam Wang of the Xiao family. Guess what happened, madam?"
Qin Yao didn't need to answer, Liu Ji continued in an exaggerated tone: "As a result, the concubine was caught cheating with Madam Xiao's brother by Madam Xiao herself, and the Xiao and Wang families became the biggest jokes in the capital, hahahaha!"
The loud laughter was met with a cold glare from Qin Yao. She admitted that the gossip was explosive, but!
"What does this have to do with the Imperial Master?!" Qin Yao gritted her teeth.
If looks could kill, Liu Ji would have been tortured to death by now.
Liu Ji swallowed his saliva and said seriously: "Madam, it is related. It is a big deal. Please listen to me in detail."
Qin Yao: "Speak to the point."
Liu Ji: “Okay.”
"The Imperial Preceptor's mother is from the Wang family. Madam Xiao is the Imperial Preceptor's aunt according to seniority. Uncle Wang, who had an affair with the Xiao family's mistress, is the Imperial Preceptor's uncle. Madam Xiao Wang and the Imperial Preceptor's mother have completely different personalities. The Imperial Preceptor's mother, Madam Wang, has a soft personality and is well-known in the capital for her good temper."
Liu Ji specially emphasized the three words "good temper", meaning that one has such a good temper that he will smile even when being bullied.
"However, the eldest Wang has been dead for six years, and the relationship between the Imperial Master and the Wang family has gradually become distant. They are not really close relatives."
"But the incident was too big and even reached the palace. In addition, Xiao Wang was very fierce and wanted to kill her brother, the concubine, and Master Xiao in anger. Fortunately, the Saint Empress and the Princess persuaded her and saved her life."
"When the Holy Queen led the army into the capital, it was the Wang family who first opened the city gates to welcome the Lord into the city. Therefore, the Holy Queen took the matter of the little Wang family very seriously this time and sent the eldest princess and the imperial teacher to deal with the matter between the Xiao and Wang families."
Qin Yao was getting a little impatient. Finally, she heard the key word "national teacher" and waited patiently.
Liu Ji said: "Logically speaking, Xiao Wang and Uncle Wang are both relatives of the Imperial Master. It's difficult to decide whether the Imperial Master will help the right and not the relatives, or help the relatives and not the right. It's the right thing to do to smooth things over."
"But the Imperial Master tried to protect the Xiao family, while the Princess protected the Wang family. Finally, according to the laws of Sheng Kingdom, the Jingzhao Yin sentenced the adulterer to fifty strokes of the cane for a man and thirty strokes for a woman, and exiled them to Lingnan. Master Xiao was also suspended from his post for three years."
This was a good result, and the Xiao and Wang families had nothing to say. After all, being able to preserve this marriage was the greatest luck.
But the matter is not over yet. Many people have been implicated in this scandal. Some people pleaded for Mr. Xiao, some people fanned the flames on behalf of the Wang family, and the concubine's family talked nonsense and revealed all kinds of shocking news.
All of a sudden, all the major factions in the capital emerged.
Liu Ji looked around and saw that there were not many people around. He whispered, "There are four major local families in the capital: Xiao, Lu, Wang, and Si. Among them, the Xiao and Si families are interested in the Eastern Palace, the Wang family is loyally supported by the eldest princess, and the Lu family is devoted to Your Majesty."
"Among the three provinces and six ministries, more than seven support the Crown Prince. Only the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Personnel have not yet taken sides."
"But!" Liu Ji emphasized, "The 20,000 guards of the imperial palaces outside the capital, the 40,000 frontier troops in the northern border, and the two military governors of the Hexi Beiting, a total of 100,000 troops, are all in the hands of the princess."
"The rest of the Northern Yamen Imperial Guards, the six military governors of Xi'an, Shuofang, Fanyang, etc., are all loyal to the Xu family where the Holy Empress is."
If anything unexpected happens, the Queen Mother can immediately mobilize all the Northern Yamen guards in the palace for defense.
By this calculation, all His Majesty can control are the pitiful number of Southern Court Guards under the city gates and bridges, as well as the military forces of the Baili family in various places.
The Eastern Palace has ten armies, and just considering the forces that can be assembled within the vicinity of the capital, they are comparable to the garrisons of the 20,000 palaces outside the capital controlled by the eldest princess.
ps: (The above content has borrowed and applied the names of ancient troops, but the settings are not exactly the same. The Jiedushi in the text refers to the border defense troops. The Beiya governs the Ziwei Palace, which is equivalent to the royal personal bodyguards. The Nanya governs the inner capital, which is equivalent to the various armed police, criminal police, special police, patrol police, traffic police, etc. in the local public security system. Please don't criticize if this is a private setting) (End of this chapter)
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