Xie Qinglan glanced at the man standing in front of her, secretly rolled her eyes at him, and turned her head away.
She secretly thought to herself, "Besides making fun of me for eating too much, when has this person ever treated me well? What a shameless person!"
Seeing that she had turned her head away and ignored him, Cui Zichen smiled helplessly, cupped his hands to Shen Youying, and then took the food box from the servant behind him and placed it on the table, saying, "This is honey-roasted lamb leg from Fanlou. I happened to go to Fanlou today and heard that you like it, so I brought one back on the way."
Fanlou's honey-roasted lamb leg is hard to come by; even high-ranking officials and nobles have to patiently wait in line. It's only because of the infamous reputation of the King of Qin that it has any influence. Cui Zichen's honey-roasted lamb leg doesn't look like something he bought on a whim.
Shen Youying glanced at him thoughtfully.
Cui Zichen stood straight and let her look him over. Seeing Xie Qinglan's cheeks puffed up in anger, he couldn't help but say, "You look better when you're a little chubby. You're too thin now."
Xie Qinglan: !!!
She turned her head and glared fiercely at Cui Zichen, as if she would kick him out if he dared to say another word.
Cui Zichen smiled. Although he didn't know why Xie Qinglan always seemed to dislike him so much, he especially liked her vibrant appearance, which made him feel cheerful just looking at her. So, he simply smiled and tactfully took his leave of the two of them to pay his respects to Vice Minister Xie.
Seeing that he had left, Xie Qinglan twitched her nose and couldn't help but ask Lian Qiao to open the food box. Inside, besides a plate of sliced honey-roasted lamb leg, there were also several kinds of fruits and pastries newly produced by Fanlou.
Shen Youying looked at them and found that they were all Xie Qinglan's tastes.
Seeing this, she joked, "I thought you didn't want to eat."
Xie Qinglan pouted: "If the food is delivered to my door, I might as well eat it. I can't let him mock me for nothing."
Shen Youying chuckled and asked her again, "I think Lord Cui is handsome and his manners are impolite. Why do you dislike him so much?"
Xie Qinglan thought about it seriously, but she couldn't really remember what Cui Zichen had done that made her hate him. The most memorable thing was that he had a disagreement with her father on politics and they had a fight in the study. Her father was very angry that day, and Cui Zichen knelt at the gate of the Xie residence for a whole day afterward and never came home again.
After that, I heard from my father that he had switched allegiance to the Prime Minister and was serving him, doing many despicable things in order to gain promotion and higher rank.
Back then, his father would always sigh with regret when he mentioned him, a kind of resentment at his father's lack of ambition. Young Xie Qinglan, hearing this, naturally didn't like him as much.
To be honest, when Cui Zichen was still her father's student, he treated her quite well. He would bring her snacks and trinkets from the streets, and knowing she loved reading storybooks, he even wrote her some stories. She vaguely remembered that they were much more exciting than the storybooks in the bookstores.
In her small study, there is still the storybook he hadn't finished writing.
Xie Qinglan recalled the storybooks she hadn't been able to finish reading and mumbled, "Maybe it's because he ran away halfway through telling me the story."
Shen Youying looked puzzled. Xie Qinglan exclaimed "Oh dear!" and picked up a piece of lamb leg for her, saying, "Why do you keep talking about him? It'll get cold if you don't eat it soon."
*
After receiving Xue Shaojun's silver notes, Xue Gui originally planned to postpone the case until after the New Year.
In the meantime, Xue Shaojun will have enough time to deal with the rumors and gossip. After the New Year, he can report the progress of the case to his father, the Emperor, and then make a few excuses for Xue Shaojun for not finding any real evidence. That would be fulfilling his promise to Xue Shaojun.
But to his surprise, in just one day, five people beat the Dengwen Drum to appeal their grievances and sue Xue Shaojun and the Prince of Huaiyang's mansion.
Upon learning of this matter, Xue Gui immediately went to the Ministry of Justice. After seeing the case file, his expression changed slightly. He dared not delay or try to exonerate Xue Shaojun. He immediately mobilized officials from the Ministry of Justice and began to work overtime to hear the cases.
When the news reached the Prince of Qin's residence, Shen Youying was somewhat surprised: "Besides the witnesses we arranged, how come there are other people?"
The secret guard found two witnesses at Changyang Temple, which she handed over to the Xie family for their disposal after sending them there. But now, in addition to the two she found, there are three more aggrieved parties who have gone to appeal to the authorities.
"The other three are accusing the Prince of Huaiyang's mansion of selling smuggled salt and murdering people to cover it up." Xue Shen narrowed his eyes and slowly analyzed, "The Salt and Iron Commissioner is in charge of tea, salt, mining, taxation, canals, and military equipment throughout the country. But the Salt and Iron Commissioner is my elder brother's uncle. The Li family has been keeping a low profile lately, and even the Salt and Iron Commissioner is on sick leave at home, so it can't be him. With the Commissioner absent, the one in charge of the Salt and Iron Commissioner is the Deputy Commissioner Cui Zichen. Cui Zichen also has a close relationship with the Xie family, so I guess he's the one who leaked this information and colluded with the Xie family."
Shen Youying recalled that Cui Zichen had indeed gone to the Xie family the day before, but Xue Shen was unaware of this matter, yet he could guess that it was almost certain. She sighed slightly and told him about her encounter with Cui Zichen that day: "However, Cui Zichen has long since switched allegiance to Prime Minister Wang Yuanguang. Prime Minister Wang has always been at odds with Vice Prime Minister Xie. Isn't he afraid that Prime Minister Wang will make things difficult for him by acting like this?"
Xue Shen pinched the tip of her nose and said, "Wang Yuanguang is a man who only cares about profit and is good at scheming. He was willing to accept Cui Zichen in the first place because he valued his talent. Now that Cui Zichen has become powerful, even if he is dissatisfied, he will not say much on the surface in order to keep him in check. The young men of the Wang family in this generation are not particularly talented. I heard that Wang Yuanguang intends to take him as his son-in-law."
Shen Youying was taken aback: "Miss Wang?"
Wang Yunting, the eldest daughter of the Wang family, was quite famous among the noble ladies of Dongjing City. If she were to be matched with Cui Zichen, she would be the only one.
Xue Shen nodded: "Zhao Zhao is clever, but Cui Zichen seems to have refused."
Shen Youying recalled the honey-roasted lamb leg that Cui Zichen had specially sent that day, and couldn't help but think more about it. But since this was just speculation and it concerned Qinglan's reputation, she kept quiet.
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