Su Rong grabbed Ye Qiuying and directly got on Ye Guixue’s carriage.
Duanhua looked at Su Rong in astonishment, asking her, "What about me and Fen Ling?"
Su Rong settled Ye Qiuying and turned back to her, "You two too, Guixue’s carriage has room for you."
Duanhua: "..."
Is it really about there being enough room? Isn’t this about the impoliteness of not familiar people?
Seeing that Duanhua was still standing, Su Rong thought she might not want to share the space, and said, "Or perhaps you can go in your carriage? Have the coachman follow us?"
Duanhua glared at Su Rong, "No.", she extended her hand to her, "You pull me up."
Su Rong extended her hand and helped her onto the carriage.
Fen Ling peered inside the carriage. Although the exterior appearance of the carriage was unremarkable, the interior space was large enough to accommodate him. He also jumped aboard the carriage, greeting Ye Guixue with a amiable laughter, "Second Young Master Ye, you haven’t met me yet, right? I’m Fen Ling, my elder sister’s personal younger brother."
The personal younger brother is equivalent to a close guard, there’s no mistake there.
Ye Guixue smiled, "Master Feng, I know."
The curtain of the carriage fell, and the coachman drove the carriage towards the Treasure House.
As Zhou Gu and Su Xingze exited from the top-level Tea House, they saw Su Rong and the others getting onto Ye Guixue’s carriage, and the carriage drove away. He restrained the smile at the corner of his mouth, standing there, just watching.
Su Xingze didn’t expect that Duanhua’s words were true, that she really did message, and that Ye Guixue really did come to pick her up. He looked at Zhou Gu and patted him on the shoulder.
Zhou Gu withdrew his gaze, turned around and walked back in, returning to the top-level Tea House, "Brother Su, let’s go back."
Su Xingze was taken aback, "It’s already over."
"Exactly because it’s over, we can ask clearly." As Zhou Gu said this, he had already walked back inside.
Su Xingze almost forgot, immediately followed him back into the top-level Tea House.
Inside the tea house, the place was empty except for the owner and the helpers who remained. Guards from the Duke Residence had already blocked old Zhao, who wanted to leave from the back door.
Zhou Gu passed through the front hall and came directly to the backyard of the tea house, and indeed saw old Zhao’s face turn white because he was stopped by the guards of the Duke Residence.
And Ziye had already bound Zhao Fei and was speaking to old Zhao with a stern face, "Old Zhao, your son said he doesn’t know anything. Today’s event was your own idea. If you don’t talk, I won’t care, but will directly send your son to Rui’an King to be interrogated in connection with Princess Qingping’s assassination case."
Zhao Fei was already scared out of his wits, a pale face continuously saying, "Father, Father, don’t harm your son? Didn’t you say last time that today you were going to talk about the strange tales of the previous dynasty’s princess? Why did you end up talking about Princess Zhenmin? Why did you suddenly change your mind? Say something, are you really going to let your son enter the Dali Temple’s dungeon? People have died there due to Princess Qingping’s assassination case, your son doesn’t want to go and get killed."
Old Zhao said with a pale face: "I also don’t know who it was. Yesterday, a black-cloaked and masked intruder burst into my room, forcing me to talk about Princess Zhenmin today, or else he would kill my son..."
Ziye frowned, "Are you telling the truth?"
Old Zhao repeatedly said, "The common people wouldn’t dare to lie."
"What was the person like? Any specific features?" Ziye questioned further.
Old Zhao recalled, "Black cloak and masked, covered from head to toe, only showing a pair of eyes, holding a sword in his hand, the rest... there was nothing more..."
Ziye wasn’t going to let him off that easily, "You, in your earlier years, besides writing comic books, also made a living by drawing. Now draw that person."
Old Zhao nodded repeatedly, "Alright, alright, just let go of my son first..."
Ziye kept a straight face, "Just as long as you draw that person and tell the truth, your son will naturally be released. But if there is even a hint of falsehood..."
At this point, he saw Zhou Gu and Su Xingze arrive and stopped speaking, "Young Master! Master Su!"
Zhou Gu nodded, glanced at old Zhao and Zhao Fei, and asked old Zhao, "The first half of the story was about Princess Zhenmin being buried in Dawei, what about the second half about Princess Zhenmin?"
Seeing Zhou Gu and hearing his question, old Zhao’s face turned even paler. He dared not hide anything and whispered, "It’s about how Princess Zhenmin feigned death, ended up in Jiangning County, and had a daughter named Su Rong..."
Zhou Gu narrowed his eyes, turning to look at Su Xingze. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮
Su Xingze’s complexion also changed, Su Rong’s identity would eventually be known by everyone, but not at this time. Let alone coming from the mouth of a storyteller and spreading throughout the streets and alleys of tea houses and pubs, especially not at this time when she is not yet ready to reclaim her true identity.
But if someone were trying to expose her identity in this manner, wouldn’t it quickly cause an uproar, spread from Capital City to the whole of Later Liang region, and even reach Dawei?
Zhou Gu gave an order, "Take them away, both father and son should be taken back to the Duke Residence. He can do his paintings back at the Duke Residence."
Ziye agreed.
Zhao Fei immediately shouted, "Lord Zhou, you can’t simply kidnap the innocent citizens..."
Zhou Gu ignored him and turned to Su Xingze, "Big Brother Su, please join us at my residence as well."
Su Xingze nodded.
Thus, the two of them left the premium tea house, Ziye and his men bound up old Zhao and his son and returned to the Duke Residence.
In the carriage of Ye Guixue, Little Qiuying was telling Ye Guixue about the event, "Uncle, today at the tea house, the storyteller was telling the legendary tale of Princess Zhenmin."
Ye Guixue was taken aback, he turned to look at Su Rong but directed his question to Little Qiuying, "Why did he decide to tell that story?"
Little Qiuying shook her head, "I don’t know, sister Princess had told me that the plan originally was to tell the affair of a Princess from the previous dynasty, but it was changed for some reason."
Duanhua also disagreed, "Yes, I have no idea why the storyteller chose this topic. Would you pay a lot of money to listen to a story you have heard a thousand times already from childhood? I definitely will demand a refund from the tea house."
Su Rong smiled, "It might not be a waste for you to listen today, since there is the second half."
"What? Isn’t it finished? There’s a second half?" Duanhua turned her head to look at her.
"Aren’t all daily storytelling sessions contained within one day? Didn’t you purchase a seat for a day’s worth of performances? Surely, he can’t count it as a day if he doesn’t perform a second half?" Su Rong replied.
Duanhua thought it made sense, "But what will he talk about in the second half? The story of Auntie Zhen has already ended, perhaps he will tell the scandalous history of the previous dynasty’s princesses as he originally planned?"
Su Rung was about to say that it ended only in their understanding, the truth was that Princess Zhenmin did not die, she faked her death and escaped, giving birth to Rong. She became someone’s concubine and has a daughter now. That would give the storyteller plenty more to tell.
Duanhua did not catch the hidden undertone of the conversation. She urged, "Tell the coachman to hurry up, we need to finish eating and rush back to see whether the second half of the story is about the princesses from the previous era. I want to listen to that."
This interrupted Feng Ling’s thinking, "Isn’t it a taboo to blatantly talk about Princess Zhenmin’s contributions to the kingdom? Even I know that the gossip of Princess Zhenmin is a taboo for the Imperial Court. The storytelling for today is already over. There will be no more stories today."
Duanhua slapped her forehead, "Right, what you said makes sense. If my mother knew that the storyteller was openly discussing Auntie Zhen in the marketplace, she would definitely be furious."
She shouted right away, "Stop the carriage, I need to go back to the Residence."
The coachman heard clearly and immediately stopped the carriage.
Duanhua told Su Rong, "I’m going back to tell my mother to look into this. How did old man Zhao, who has been telling stories for years, suddenly grow so bold as to dare to talk about Auntie Zhen?"
She mumbled, "How could I forget? I should have told my mother about this right away."
Su Rong replied, "Even if you didn’t tell the Princess, she would already have heard about it."
"No, I must go back. I’ve been to the entire storytelling session today, and even some things I didn’t know were revealed by Old Zhao. Although they are trivial matters, they are not usual." Saying this, Duanhua got out of the carriage, took a few steps, remembered that Little Qiuying was still staying at the Princess Residence, turned around and said, "Little Qiuying, stay with them for now. I think you like being with them more than with me."
After saying that, she lifted her dress and got up on her own carriage, ordering the coachman, "Quick! Back to the Residence."
The coachman from the Princess Residence cracked the whip, and the carriage immediately turned around, heading back to the Princess Residence.
With one person gone, the carriage became somewhat quiet all of a sudden.
Fen Ling then said, "Sister, I’ve already sent someone to investigate, but because..." He quickly glanced at Ye Guixue, then at Su Rong.
Su Rong said, "Guixue is not an outsider, go ahead and tell."
Feng Ling nodded, and without any further concerns, he said, "Because Master Zhou has already sent Ziye and his men to investigate, and has seized Zhao Fei one step ahead of us, I have cancelled our own investigation. After all, Lord Su is with Master Zhou, and we should be able to learn about it from Lord Su in the end."
Su Rong nodded slightly, uttering a "Hmm..."
Zhou Gu was in the private room upstairs, and now that he knew her identity, he certainly wouldn’t let Old Zhao continue the second half of the story today. Since he stumbled upon it, he would definitely take action.
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