Chapter 383: Such a fancy play?
Tang Ning had just returned from Rongsheng Academy when he saw Canglang standing in front of the door.
Xue Ru, who was standing next to him and had a more mature and beautiful face, took the initiative to say, "Sister, the exam is in a few days. I have to go back to study first."
Tang Ning said softly, "Go."
Xue Ru smiled at Canglang and left with the book in her hand. After she left, Tang Ning led Yuejian and Hua Wu into the house, and Canglang followed behind them.
Hua Wu entered the house and started to make tea busily. She first gave it to Tang Ning, and then poured another cup and brought it to Canglang.
Cang Lang looked at the tea brought by the little girl and smelled a faint fragrance: "What's added to this tea?"
"Dog nose?" Hua Wu muttered, "With osmanthus flowers added."
The girl had a cough yesterday, and the doctor next door, Sun, said that osmanthus can dispel cold, break up lumps, resolve phlegm and relieve coughs, and the osmanthus flowers are blooming at this time. So she went to the yard to pick some, dried them, and put a few flowers in the tea. That's why Canglang followed the girl to have a cup.
When the little girl turned around and walked away, the little tuft of hair on her head shook.
Canglang took a closer look and found it quite interesting.
Tang Ning took a sip of tea to calm himself before speaking, "Why are you here so early today? Is everything going well in the Privy Council?"
"Don't worry, young lady. Everything is fine in the yamen." Speaking of business, Canglang quickly collected his thoughts. "The Fourth Prince is still in prison. The Zhao family comes to the palace every day and begs to bring the Fourth Prince's wife back, but His Majesty has never agreed. However, Second Lady Bai and Madam Pei have already been released."
Tang Ning was not surprised: "They didn't do anything in the first place, it's not easy to be detained for such a long time."
Canglang said, "However, the Second Prince has been unlucky. Although there's no evidence to prove he framed the Fourth Prince, His Majesty is clearly fed up with him and has removed him from his previous position in the Ministry of Personnel. Furthermore, because he acted without the knowledge of his noble family, Cui Lin has been giving him the cold shoulder lately."
The second prince had only just come to power and did not have much trust in the aristocratic families.
Cui Lin and his companions wanted to help him ascend to the throne, but at the same time they were wary of him becoming the second Emperor An who would turn against him and be ruthless, so they tried to control the Second Prince in every way.
The second prince was afraid of being exploited by the aristocratic families, and was also worried that he would follow in the footsteps of the fourth prince. He wanted to use the aristocratic families but was also on guard against them.
With each side having their own thoughts, they acted in secret, and were not as close as the Lu family was to the Fourth Prince. Now the Second Prince had caused such a thing behind their backs, how could Cui Lin and the others not be angry? In order to "teach the Second Prince a lesson", they had been treating him coldly after the incident, and the already scarce trust was even more precarious.
Hearing this, Tang Ning rubbed the bracelet on his wrist, fiddling with the red gold bell hanging from it. "What about the Lu family? What's going on recently?"
Canglang said, "The Lu family is very quiet. Lu Chongyuan seems to have been damaged since his last demotion. He became even more ill after Lu Zhao was executed a few days ago. The Lu family is not as marginalized by the aristocratic families as before. They also ignored Empress Lu and the Fourth Prince after their accidents."
"Where's Lu Jiuan?"
"He's always been very well behaved."
Tang Ning was playing with the bell, but she vaguely felt that something was wrong when she heard the words. Lu Chongyuan didn't seem like someone who would give up so easily. In his eyes, the Lu family was more important than anything else. How could he be willing to see the Lu family withdraw from the top of the aristocratic families and be excluded by the other families?
And that Lu Jiuan...
The eldest illegitimate son of the Lu family has always been low-key and extremely low-key. She had never noticed him in all the many times she had been in and out of the Lu family. Even Lu Zhinian looked down on this illegitimate brother.
But last time when the Lu family was in trouble, his nimble and agile skills, his decisiveness in silencing witnesses, and the vague relationship between him and Lu Chongyuan hidden in secret all showed that he was by no means an ordinary bastard.
Tang Ning said to Cang Lang, "Have someone keep a close eye on Lu Jiuan and find out what he's been doing recently. Also, don't let Lu Chongyuan down."
Canglang nodded: "Yes."
The tea in the cup is warm, and the first sip is the sweet fragrance of osmanthus.
Tang Ning asked, "By the way, have you found Shi Changan?"
Canglang was depressed when he talked about this: "Don't mention it, girl. This Shi Changan is really good at running away. Cao Gong sent a message saying that he had entered the capital, so I took people to secretly inquire about him, but he turned out to be a good person. I don't know what method he used to make him disappear without a trace."
"A few days ago, I finally found out that he had gone to Lingyun Temple, so I took people there, but when I got there, he had already left."
"What is he doing at Lingyun Temple?"
"have no idea."
Canglang shook his head. "I only heard from the monks at Lingyun Temple that Shi Changan met Master Xindeng and stayed in the temple for half a day before leaving. Oh, and he was accompanied by a man in his thirties at the time. I don't know where he went after leaving Lingyun Temple."
Tang Ning was a little surprised when she heard Canglang's complaints. She knew the abilities of the people under Xiao Yan's command, plus the Black Armored Guards in the Privy Council and those omnipresent Owl Guards.
Shi Changan was actually able to avoid their search. No wonder he was able to turn Beiling upside down and still escape alive.
"Never mind. Cao Gong must have told him that I wanted to invite him to be the president of the academy. Since he refused to show up, I guess he has no interest in Rongsheng Academy."
Although Tang Ning felt it was a pity, he couldn't force anyone to do anything. Besides, Shi Chang'an was a man of real ability and was extremely "ruthless" in his actions. Just looking at Beiling, who was disturbed by him, you can tell what he meant.
Tang Ning didn't want to offend that person for no reason.
"Tell the people below not to look for him anymore. If he doesn't want to show up, then forget it."
He just thought that Rongsheng Academy was not meant for him.
Tang Ning talked to Canglang about the things in the capital for a while. After everything else was settled, Canglang mentioned the news from the palace.
"You said the Queen wanted to kill Jinzhi?" Tang Ning was surprised: "Why?"
There are not many people around the queen now, so it is not right to touch Jinzhi at this time.
Canglang said, "I don't know. Deshun only said that the Queen wanted to kill Jinzhi."
"She sent people to the Fengxi Palace's storehouse under the pretext of preparing a dowry for Jinzhi's marriage, but then had Deshun claim the items taken as stolen, wanting to accuse Jinzhi of theft. Furthermore, the Queen also had Deshun prepare some things for the Fourth Prince, but I don't know what she was doing with them."
Tang Ning was lost in thought. It was unnecessary to go through so much trouble to kill Jin Zhi. With the Queen's methods, she could just casually accuse Jin Zhi of a crime and kill her. But now she had to go through so much trouble...
She paused to figure out the key, and suddenly felt disgusted:
"Our Queen is as vicious as ever. She even uses her closest confidants to silence them."
Canglang was puzzled: "What does the girl mean?"
"The Queen probably wants Jinzhi to take charge of the Lingyun Temple affairs and remove herself from it. As for the excuse?"
Tang Ning sneered, "A lonely auntie living in the deep palace for so long fell in love with the young, strong, and promising prince of her master's family. She plotted against him, but then she was jealous of him because he already had a wife, so she framed him and betrayed her master, falsely conveying the queen's instructions. How's that for an excuse?"
Cang Lang: “…”
Are you playing so extravagantly?
What should I do if I suddenly feel a little nauseous?
Tang Ning laughed when she saw that he was at a loss for words. "Don't worry about them. Let Eunuch Deshun do what the Queen ordered. Just save Jinzhi's life at the critical moment."
She was too lazy to care about the Queen. As long as she gave the Queen some hope, someone like her who cared about power and status and was ambitious would not do anything desperate.
As for the rest, as long as she doesn't ruin my brother's business, she can do whatever she wants in Fengxi Palace.
"Has there been any news from the northwest?"
"not yet."
Tang Ning was worried. Half a month had passed since the last letter, and his brother still hadn't sent any news back. He didn't know whether things were going well in the northwest.
Tang Ning frowned and said, "Tell the people below to be more careful and pay more attention to all parties to avoid any mistakes."
I just hope I can wait for my brother to come back safely without any trouble.
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