The others' expressions changed slightly, and they were about to say something when he raised his hand to stop them.
Zu An glanced at Yu Nan, secretly feeling contempt. These scions of wealthy families who grew up with silver spoons in their mouths still lacked character.
In comparison, Prince Qi is much more cunning. I just ruined his grand plan that he had been plotting for many years, but now he is not acting on emotion. Instead, he is using the situation to sow discord between me and the emperor while trying to win me over. No wonder he has become the emperor's biggest worry.
"Since Your Highness wishes to hear, how could I dare disobey?" Zu An immediately changed his previous attitude and slowly recounted what had happened in the secret realm.
After listening, King Qi's expression turned strange. The other party did reveal many details that had not been written in the report before, but still did not mention Lu Xiao and his group at all.
It's like listening to him for half a day and gaining nothing. I just gave him a lesson on the way here, and he actually put it into practice.
After Zu'an finished speaking, he asked, "When can I examine the body of the concubine?"
Prince Qi smiled and said, "I only said I could consider it, but after considering it for a while, I still feel that such a thing does not conform to royal etiquette. I still need to ask the Emperor to make a decision. If he issues an edict, then Lord Zu can come and inspect it."
Zu An rolled his eyes. It was as if he had said nothing at all. How could the emperor possibly issue an edict on such a matter? Wouldn't all the elders of the royal family jump out and criticize him? Besides, the emperor was currently avoiding a complete falling out with Prince Qi, so he was even less likely to break ties with Prince Qi over something like this.
Seeing the somewhat heavy atmosphere, Princess Qi returned to her duties and decided to change the subject to something lighter: "Everyone, stop chatting and start eating! This roast suckling pig won't taste good if it gets cold. Hey, Yu Nan, why did you only try one piece and then stop? Is there something wrong with the dish? I can ask the chef to improve it next time."
Yu Nan shook her head: "The chefs in the Prince's mansion have reached the pinnacle of skill; the problem lies in the ingredients."
"Hmm, the ingredients for this dish are carefully selected suckling pigs that are only one month old. There shouldn't be any problem," Princess Qi asked, puzzled.
Yu Nan poked the roast suckling pig in front of her with her chopsticks: "This kind of pig doesn't deserve the name 'suckling pig.' A real suckling pig should be fed with human milk from birth and raised for a full month before being slaughtered. At this time, the meat is the most tender, and the name 'suckling pig' is truly fitting."
Zuan frowned: "Who would feed pigs with human milk?"
Yu Nan said calmly, "It's normal that Lord Zu hasn't seen this place before, since he comes from a small place like Mingyue City. I have more than a dozen wet nurses in my manor who feed suckling pigs. I'll send Lord Zu one another day."
Zu'an's expression changed drastically. How could there be such extravagant and greedy people in the world who didn't treat those wet nurses like human beings at all!
Not only him, but even the King of Qi and his men frowned.
Lian Yu couldn't help but say, "You've gone too far. Such extravagance and waste can lead to impeachment in the court."
Yu Nan scoffed: "What's wrong with me spending my own money? I could never be as stingy as you. Don't think I don't know that back then, when Lord Wang heard that your peach trees were very sweet, he asked you for some peaches to try. You were worried that he would take the peaches back and plant them himself, so you deliberately pierced the pits of every single peach you gave him with a needle... Humph, you don't care about face, but our Yu family does. You actually did something like that!"
Zu An couldn't help but glance at Lian Yu, only then noticing that although his clothes were decent, some of the more private parts seemed to have been starched and turned a bit white. Even his wife's jewelry was noticeably less than that of Princess Changshan and Princess Qi.
You should know that his wife was a young lady from the Yu family before she got married, so how could she lack jewelry?
Who would have thought that this person with thick eyebrows and big eyes would be like this?
Lian Yu blushed and said angrily, "Lord Wang asked me for peaches back then, he didn't say he wanted to take them back to plant, so what did I do wrong by giving him peaches?"
Yu Nan chuckled: "Your own frugality has nothing to do with me, but don't let my sister suffer with you."
Zuan was a little confused as to why the two of them were arguing in front of him. It turned out that the older brother always doted on his younger sister and looked down on his brother-in-law, while the brother-in-law always looked down on his brother-in-law's behavior, so it was inevitable that the two of them would not get along.
Seeing that the two were about to quarrel, Princess Qi and Madam Lian stepped in to resolve the situation and defuse the storm. However, after this incident, the banquet soon ended unhappily.
Zuan seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the gossip, clearly indicating that the Qi Wang faction wasn't a monolithic entity.
In the end, he was unable to examine the remains of the concubine of Prince Qi. After leaving Prince Qi's residence, he first sent his guards back. These people claimed to have done it themselves, but who knew if they were sent by the emperor to monitor him? It was unsettling to be with them.
As he walked along the main road, pondering what to do next, a thought suddenly struck him, and he turned to look to the side.
A young man with rosy lips and white teeth stood before them, his figure slender and delicate, clearly a woman disguised as a man.
At that moment, she held something out in front of him: "Brother, is this jade pendant the one you dropped?"
Looking at the dark, unremarkable object in her hand, which looked like an ordinary roadside stone no matter how you looked at it, Zu'an couldn't help but complain, "You call this a stone? Why don't you pick up a brick and ask if I dropped it?"
The girl's eyes lit up: "That's a good idea. Now I have another way to strike up a conversation."
Zuan rolled his eyes: "What are you doing here?"
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