Chapter 88 Does Your Majesty have someone to lend you?
After Jiang Xue served the medicine, she coaxed Empress Lu to sleep. After she fell asleep, she went outside the palace and said to Fu Dong, "Go to the small kitchen in Yi'an Palace and make some light porridge for my mother, and some appetizers. I'll serve her some food when she wakes up later."
Fu Dong nodded and said, "Okay."
Jiang Xue found Dong Shupei again and asked, "Is my second brother in the palace today?"
Dong Shupei said, "After lunch at the Second Palace, I went to Yi'an Palace once. I followed the instructions of the Majesty and just said that the Majesty was taking a nap."
"The Second Prince left a message saying that he would stay at Huashengtai after finishing his official duties in the next few days, and asked me to send someone to invite him there if I have anything. I believe he must be there now."
Jiang Xue nodded and said, "Aunt, please send me the sedan chair. I will go look for my second brother."
Dong Shupei nodded and immediately asked someone to do it.
Arriving at Huashengtai, Jiang Xue walked quickly into the study.
Jiang Yu was just reading official documents when he suddenly saw Jiang Xue pushing the door open. He asked in astonishment, "Xue'er, why are you in the palace?"
Jiang Xue said: "I have something to ask my brother."
Jiang Yu put down the document in his hand, stood up and asked, "Why are you in such a hurry?"
"Second brother, Feng Song, the Right Censor of the Imperial Court, do you know this person?"
"Feng Song?" Jiang Yu frowned and thought carefully, then said, "If I remember correctly, Lord Feng had retired three or four years ago. Why are you looking for him?"
"Retired? Three or four years ago?" Jiang Xue felt more and more puzzled.
Jiang Yu helped her sit down at the table, poured her another cup of tea, and said, "Yes, and at that time he was no longer the Right Picker of Relics, but had already reached the rank of Fourth Rank Counselor. However, he was not old enough to retire at that time. He retired because his mother was seriously ill, so he submitted his resignation to his father."
Jiang Xue asked, "My brother, you had not yet had any involvement in government affairs at that time, how can you remember it so clearly?"
"Well," Jiang Yu said with a wry smile, "Lord Feng had many disagreements with my eldest brother on politics, and he would submit memorials to him every few days. My eldest brother wanted to implement the reform of the aristocracy at the time and give poor people a way to take the imperial examinations. Because my father has always been open to opinions, Lord Feng and my eldest brother didn't get along very well. I even thought about finding someone to beat him up because of this."
"Not getting along with the eldest royal brother?" Jiang Xue was puzzled. She didn't know what happened in the court back then, but everyone in Daji knew about her eldest royal brother's reputation. She didn't know that there were people in the court who were against him.
"Yes," Jiang Yu sighed and said, "Although he always accused my eldest brother of crimes, when he retired, my eldest brother also lamented to me that he was upright and a loyal minister. It was a pity."
Jiang Xue asked, "Where will you be after retirement? Does your Royal Brother know?"
Jiang Yu shook his head and said, "I only know that he went back to his hometown in Hexi, Ganzhou."
Jiang Xue sighed. It seemed that she had no choice but to send someone to Hexi.
"Why are you asking him?" Jiang Yu asked puzzledly.
"I've been investigating some things these days, nothing much," Jiang Xue changed the subject and said, "Brother, have you helped me go to Jingzhao Yinfu to investigate the mother and son?"
"I was thinking of going to Gu's house tonight to talk to you about this," Jiang Yu said seriously, "According to the household registration book, the mother and son are from Suzhou."
"Suzhou?!" Jiang Xue's pupils trembled. "Gu Lintan is a scholar from Hedong. Suzhou and Hedong are thousands of miles apart. How could she be from Suzhou?"
"It is definitely Suzhou," Jiang Yu said, "Maybe Gu Lintan knew him in his early years?"
"No," Jiang Xue said, "Their child is already three years old. If they knew each other earlier, why was her hometown still in Suzhou before she came to Beijing?"
She said to Jiang Yu, "Brother, please find someone to spread the word first. I want to see how Gu Lintan will react after he finds out that someone is investigating Suxi's identity."
Jiang Yu nodded and said, "Okay."
Jiang Xue rubbed her brows with her hand, hesitated for a while, and finally decided to talk to Jiang Yu.
"Brother, our mother is ill. She didn't tell anyone because she was afraid that we would worry."
"What?" Jiang Yu was shocked. "No wonder Aunt Dong refused me several times when I wanted to go to Yi'an Palace to pay my respects and accompany my mother these past two days."
Jiang Xue felt a little helpless. A soldier like Jiang Yu must not be as meticulous as a girl like Xiaochun, so it was normal that he didn't notice it.
"I came to the palace today to serve my mother. My brother, would you like to go with me to Yi'an Palace to have dinner with my mother?"
"Okay, wait for me to pack up these documents." Jiang Yu said in a deep voice.
"The queen mother fell ill because of my grandfather's matter. The palace was originally isolated from the outside world. The people the queen mother sent to the prime minister's residence could not see my grandfather, and they had no way to report the truth when they came back. But I have just comforted her and assured her that her grandfather is fine. I think she will get better soon." Jiang Xue said, "When my brother sees the queen mother later, remember to comfort her from this perspective."
"I know what to say." Jiang Yu nodded.
At dinner, Jiang Xue saw that Empress Lu looked much better than when she first saw her in the afternoon. She ate two bowls of scallop and shredded chicken porridge made by Fu Dong, and sighed inwardly, it turned out that heart disease requires heart medicine.
After dinner, Queen Lu felt much better and asked Jiang Xue and Jiang Yu to talk to her for a while.
Seeing that the time was right, Jiang Xue said, as if she had just remembered something, "There is something I should have reported to my mother as soon as possible. It's really my carelessness that I forgot about it in the past few days."
Lu Congfang asked, "What's the matter?"
"Your husband's mother is still in Hedong and has not been brought here yet. I think as a wife I should also fulfill my filial duty for your husband, so I thought it would be better to issue an order from the palace to send a team to bring her mother here. This will show my sincerity and the grace of the royal family. What do you think, mother?"
Jiang Yu raised his eyebrows and suppressed the doubts in his heart, thinking that Jiang Xue must have some new plan.
Lu Congfang frowned slightly, thought for a moment, and said, "That's good. The fact that you can think like this shows that you have grown up."
She turned to Dong Shupei and said, "Go and make arrangements. Take my order and go to Hedong to pick him up."
Jiang Xue interrupted, "I also want to pick two smart people from the mansion to go with me, so that they can take care of Auntie on the way."
Empress Lu nodded and said, "Then let's have the team go to Gu's mansion tomorrow and take the people you selected with us."
Jiang Xue bowed gracefully and said, "Thank you, mother."
The two men sat and comforted Empress Lu for a long time, almost saying that Prime Minister Lu was alive and kicking. Seeing Empress Lu's smile, the two men finally felt relieved and said goodbye to her.
Dong Shupei escorted Jiang Xue to the outside of Xuanhua Gate. Jiang Xue whispered in her ear, "Aunt, if anyone from the Lu residence comes to see the queen mother these days, they should all be turned away."
Dong Shupei nodded.
After getting on the carriage, Fu Dong asked, "Your Highness, shall we go directly back to the Gu Mansion?"
"Well," Jiang Xue leaned against the wall of the car, closed her eyes tiredly, and said softly, "Ask Xu Chong to think of a way to go to the Temple Clothing Hall to find Jing Ye for me."
Back in Wenqingxuan, Jiang Xue was thinking about loosening her clothes and soaking in the hot water, when she suddenly thought of Jing Ye on the rooftop when she was bathing that night.
She shuddered and decided to sit and wait for a while.
Soon, a dark shadow jumped in from the window.
"Your Majesty," Jiang Xue said helplessly, "I have a door here, you can leave without worry."
Jing Ye was dressed in a dark robe and said nothing, looking even more frightening in the dim candlelight.
Jiang Xue hurriedly asked Fu Dong to come in and light a few more lights.
The two of them sat down in the room. Jing Ye looked at her tired expression in silence. After a while, he asked:
"What are you looking for me for?"
"Does the prince have any extra manpower? Lend me some."
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