Chai Jun quickly laughed and said, "How are you stupid? My cousin is a good girl. Back then, there were hundreds of families seeking daughters. You should look for her first, right?"
Liu Zhaohou became happy again.
It was already dark after dinner. Chai Jun sent Liu Zhaohou back to the palace, and Chai Zixiao went straight back home with Prince Consort Chai.
When leaving, Liu Zhaohou also said, "Sister Xu and Xiao Xixi come to the palace to play someday and let my father and grandmother see you."
Xu Lanyin smiled, thinking that the palace was her teahouse, and she could come whenever she wanted. She couldn't say yes or no.
Xu Lan took a detour to send Min Jia back to Min Mansion before returning home.
She returned to the house and held Zhao Mingxi in her arms. The more she looked at him, the more he resembled Liu Zhaohou, especially his eyes and mouth. Thinking that intergenerational inheritance was too mysterious, she also felt a little worried. She wondered if her son wouldn't be smart when he grew up.
Xu Lanyin ran various tests on Zhao Mingxi, a five-month-old baby, and was relieved when she saw that he performed very well. After feeding him, she asked Qian's mother to take him to rest.
After breakfast the next day, Liu Zhaohou hurried to the Cining Palace. Apart from the emperor, and the families of the second and third princes who had been driven out of the capital, among so many princes, grandchildren, and nephews, only Liu Zhaohou could enter and leave the Cining Palace at will.
Empress Dowager Pu had just finished her meal and saw that Liu Zhaohou's forehead was sweating. She said, "Monkey, why are you in such a hurry? Don't catch a cold." After that, she pulled Liu Zhaohou to sit next to her and took out a handkerchief to wipe his sweat.
Liu Zhaohou smiled innocently and said, "Grandmother, I know what kind of daughter-in-law I want to find."
Queen Mother Pu was amused and said, "Tell me, what kind of person do you want to find?"
Liu Zhaohou said, "The wife I'm looking for should be as pretty as Sister Xu, speak as sweetly as her, be able to play chess and cook, and the son I'll have should look like me, just like Xiao Xixi..."
Empress Dowager Pu was stunned when she heard this.
Liu Zhaohou's personal eunuch, Xiao Chizi, bowed and smiled, "Your Majesty, the woman your fourth prince is referring to is named Xu Lanyin, the granddaughter of Princess Nanyang. Your fourth prince met her three years ago when he went to Ningzhou Prefecture."
Empress Dowager Pu was a little slow to react and said, "I remember that Nanyang only had one son, Chai Jun. Where did this granddaughter come from?"
Nanny Zhang, who had been serving her, smiled and said, "The Princess of Nanyang adopted a niece of Prince Consort Chai as her daughter, so she should be her daughter..." She then briefly talked about the feud between Chai Qingyan and the son of Princess Beiyang, Wang Yi, and how her husband was the one who went to the enemy country to obtain intelligence for the prince, and now served in the Imperial Guard.
Empress Dowager Pu suddenly realized, "I remember now. I heard Nanyang talk about this before. The two old sisters had a quarrel for a while, but their relationship is not as good as before... Oh, I'm getting old, and I forget things." She added regretfully, "What a pity. That girl is of high status and grew up among the common people. She knows how to take care of others..."
She didn't say anything else. Nanny Zhang understood and sighed, as if she felt the same way.
Empress Dowager Pu coaxed him casually, "Okay, let Miss Xu come to the palace to see me later." Suddenly, she remembered her grandson saying that the son of the Xu family girl looked like her grandson. The snow-white jade-like little person flashed before her eyes again. She pulled Liu Zhaohou and said, "My grandson values the mother and son so much, I will let Nanyang bring them to the palace. I will find a good wife for my grandson, just like the Xu family girl."
Liu Zhaohou felt that the Empress Dowager had heard what he said, and he grinned and laughed hard.
At noon that day, Xu Lanyin was strolling leisurely in the small garden with Zhao Mingxi in her arms. Almost all the flowers in the garden were in bloom, with a dazzling array of colors and a faint fragrance.
The maid in the front yard came to report that Li Luo had arrived.
Xu Lanyin quickly handed the child to Mother Qian and hurried to the study in the front yard.
Zhao Mingxi was unwilling and cried for his mother. Xu Lanyin hardened her heart and did not take him with her. She had been waiting for Zhao Wu's reply. Li Luo came at this time and should have received Zhao Wu's letter.
In the study, Li Luo was sitting with a smile on his face. One could tell from his expression that something good was going to happen.
Li Luo smiled and said, "Zhao Wu asked Ma Zi to deliver a letter. Lan Zhou has lived up to expectations and passed the exam to become a military scholar. The results were announced this morning. Lan Zhou will stay with his grandparents for a few days and will return later."
Xu Lanyin was overjoyed to hear this. Xu Lanzhou was only sixteen years old, and it was not easy to pass the imperial examination at this age.
Li Luo's expression turned serious again, and he lowered his voice and said, "Zhao Wuli took advantage of Nanny Yu's nephew's illness and successfully lured Nanny Yu to the manor. Regardless of whether she is useful or not, they will create an accident to hide her. If she is useful, of course she will be a witness. If she is useless, she will be released only after this matter is over..."
That's good news.
Xu Lanyin had a hunch that since Nanny Yu was a maid who followed the Queen Mother into the palace and came out of the palace, she might know some secrets.
A while ago, Wen Yan secretly had his second son, Wen Zhuohua, the third master of the Wen family, lead a group to Yefeng Ridge on Oat Mountain. They searched the cliffs where Zhao Wu was killed for several days, but found nothing. They reasoned that the Wen family was probably looking for Zhao Wu's "Yan Shang Hairpin."
The sudden appearance of the fake Yan Shangchai made both the Pu and Wen families anxious.
This was something Xu Lanyin hadn't thought of before. She had thought about sending someone to visit Su Qing after returning to Ningzhou Prefecture and giving her a generous gift. With the clue Su Qing provided, they would both win.
Li Luo also said that there was news that Wen Yan had asked Zhou Zilin, the son of the Zhou family, to transfer Wen Zhuohua to the Northwest Army. The reason why Wen Yan asked the Zhou family for help was that the second master of the Zhou family was the commander-in-chief of the Northwest Army and the general of the Western Expedition, and also because he felt that the Zhou family owed the Wen family a life. Wen Zhuofeng was forcibly taken to the manor by the Zhou family, causing the frightened horse to drown. The Zhou family would definitely help with this.
Generally, it was border troops who sought transfers to the capital's defense forces, while those from the capital's defense forces who sought transfers to the border forces were few and far between, often seeking promotion. The Wen family had not requested a promotion, offering a transfer from the rank of seventh-rank lieutenant. Several members of the Zhou family, aware of how Wen Yan had harmed his brother Wen Xing's family, and now rumors swirled within the court that Wen Yan had been corrupt and had killed soldiers, had not only refused to help but reported the incident to Li Luo.
Xu Lanyin snorted coldly, "Now Wen Yan has seen that they are abandoned. It's not that easy to leave a descendant just in case."
Li Luo also thought so and said, "Wen Yan, his evil daughter-in-law, and their two sons, don't even think about escaping. Their legitimate daughter Wen Jiao is a good girl. Not only has she never done anything bad, she even sent me a letter. She and the other two concubines from the second house will not be touched in the future."
Xu Lanyin nodded. It was rare that Li Luo, who had been imprisoned for ten years, still had such a broad mind.
When Chai heard that Xu Lanzhou had passed the imperial examination, she was overjoyed. She asked someone to prepare wine and food and invited Li Luo to stay at home for a drink.
After Xu Qingyan came back, he was so happy that he drank with Li Luo until the beginning of the evening.
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