Chapter 513 Secrets Between Men
Wei Ke's handsome face froze for a moment, and he frowned as he looked at Li Rong questioningly.
Li Rong turned around, his dark eyes meeting his gaze.
Jiang Nuanzhi, confused, looked at the two of them: "Attending a banquet? What banquet? What are you being careful of?"
Li Rong helped her straighten her clothes: "It's Chi Heng's banquet, don't you know? I wonder what new tricks he'll pull at the banquet. Besides, Wei Ke is right, my medical skills will probably be ostracized after I enter the Imperial Hospital. Especially Xiao Yuanshan, if he finds out that I have your help, he probably won't let it go. Anuan, be careful."
Jiang Nuanzhi asked suspiciously, "Really?"
Li Rong nodded, his eyes darting around uncontrollably, and he swallowed hard. "Yes, that's right."
The next second, seeing the bloodstains on Jiang Nuan's clothes, Li Rong said directly, "Nuan's clothes are dirty, why don't you go and change them?"
Jiang Nuanzhi glanced down and said, "It's nothing, there's just a little bit on the hem of my skirt."
“Go change your clothes. This blood is poisonous. Besides, I, Anuan, am an official now. It would be inappropriate if I ran into my colleagues when I got back.”
"But I didn't bring it."
“I brought it for you.” Before Jiang Nuanzhi could finish speaking, Li Rong said, “Ladies and young ladies in the capital always carry spare clothes when they go out. Linchun prepared them well in advance.” As he spoke, Li Rong pointed to the maid guarding the door in the distance, “Have this maid serve you to go to the side room to change.”
"Alright then, the capital is really troublesome." Jiang Nuanzhi glanced at the two men, then said nothing more and followed the little girl out the door.
After watching Jiang Nuanzhi leave, Wei Ke pursed his lips before looking at Li Rong and lowering his voice to ask, "General, didn't you mention the banquet at the Regent's Palace tomorrow to your wife? If she doesn't go, do you have a plan?"
Li Rong's eyes darkened, and he remained silent, his fist half-clenched.
Wei Ke's voice carried a hint of urgency: "General, this matter is of utmost importance. It not only concerns Qin Lin's life, but also yours and the Grand Preceptor's. We cannot afford any mistakes. I'm afraid only the Madam is the key to breaking this deadlock."
Xiao Yuanshan is a master of both medicine and poison; if he wanted to take a life, it would be done silently. Furthermore, his request for his wife to come over must have a purpose. Her presence would both protect them from any hidden attacks and allow them to probe Xiao Yuanshan's true intentions.
If the general doesn't bring his sister-in-law along, their bargaining power will be even weaker.
If they were to face them head-on, given their current situation, they probably wouldn't even have a 10% chance of winning.
"Xiao Yuanshan may not know what Anuan looks like, so we can find someone to disguise her."
Li Rong pursed his thin lips: "I will never bring anyone close to me into Xiao Yuanshan's residence again."
In a daze, the candlelight flickered, and Li Rong's deep eyes flashed in the warm candlelight, revealing a hint of madness in his eyes, as if he were about to burst forth uncontrollably.
Looking at the general like this, Wei Ke seemed to remember something and couldn't help but freeze in surprise.
After a long while, he finally let out a long sigh: "Wei Ke will obey the general's orders."
Jiang Nuanzhi was led by the maid to the side room. She had changed into a moon-white long dress and walked with the maid through the covered corridor.
She had never seen this outfit before, and wondered when Li Rong had prepared it; it fit her perfectly, which was quite rare. It was clear he had put thought into it.
The snow hadn't melted yet, and the heavy scent of wood mingled with the crisp, clean air of the snowy night. Jiang Nuanzhi had just given Wei Ke acupuncture, and her neck was slightly sore. But after moving around a bit, she felt much better.
Just as I was admiring the murals in the gallery, I vaguely heard a noisy commotion coming from afar.
She instinctively looked in the direction of the sound and saw a group of people rushing into the mansion.
Upon closer inspection, it turned out that the leader was Chi Heng, who was running while grabbing the flustered old steward who was rushing to greet him, shouting, "Where's A Rong? Where's my sister-in-law? Where are they?"
The old steward was so flustered he barely had time to catch his breath, only managing to say, "Your Excellency, please don't worry. The General and his wife are in Lord Wei's room! They haven't left yet."
"Quickly! Take me there!"
"Hey, slowpoke, move aside!"
The young princess pushed past Chi Heng and ran straight ahead.
Not wanting to fall behind, Chi Heng ran a few steps faster and overtook her.
The two chased each other, with Yu Chuan and Sun Wen following behind, equally determined to keep up.
The chaotic sound of shoes clattering on the wooden planks, along with the sounds of pushing and shoving, instantly shattered the tranquility of the entire mansion.
Jiang Nuanzhi took a few steps forward: "You two, are you looking for me?"
Upon hearing the sudden noise, Chi Heng, who had rushed out ahead, came to an abrupt stop.
The young princess couldn't stop in time and crashed into him. The two turned around. Upon seeing Jiang Nuanzhi, they forgot all about cursing and their eyes flashed with intense light.
"Sister-in-law!"
"Sister Nuan!"
The two of them ran towards Jiang Nuanzhi in one go.
Jiang Nuanzhi blinked, looking at the two of them covered in sweat: "Where have you been? Were you chased by a ghost?"
"It's much scarier than being chased by a ghost!" Chi Heng said urgently, "Where's A Rong? Sister-in-law, I have something extremely important to tell you! Let's go to the study!"
The young princess retorted without backing down: "I also have something extremely important to tell you!"
The young princess pushed aside Chi Heng beside her and grabbed Jiang Nuanzhi's hand.
Jiang Nuanzhi blinked twice: "Arong is inside talking to Wei Ke. They have some secrets they want to discuss. I'm just hanging around here since I have nothing to do. It's the same if you talk to me."
"Secret? What secret?" Upon hearing these two words, Chi Heng turned to look over in the blink of an eye, seemingly forgetting all about his own affairs.
Jiang Nuanzhi shrugged. "I don't know, but it's probably a secret between men. They don't really want me to know." Then, she sighed softly. "You all know that even after marriage, sometimes you still need to give each other some space, right?"
Chi Heng and the little princess in front of them were both stunned.
Jiang Nuanzhi looked at the two "silly kids," glanced at the people behind them who were still catching their breath, and raised an eyebrow: "What exactly do you two want to talk about? I'm getting a little curious."
Chi Heng looked troubled: "This...this is a big deal, we must go to the study to discuss it!"
The young princess pushed past Chi Heng: "What's there to discuss! It's the Imperial Advisor! The Imperial Advisor has gone out to see Xiao Yuanshan!"
"Xiao Nianjun!" Chi Heng roared angrily, "Don't you know that walls have ears?!"
The young princess rolled her eyes: "I'm not deaf. I can hear you if you keep your voice down. Don't you know walls have ears?"
Chi Heng: "!!!"
"Women and petty men are the most difficult to deal with!"
Jiang Nuanzhi tilted her head and thought for a while, but then realized something was wrong: "You mean, my old man went to see that regent?"
(End of this chapter)
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