Lord Gu seemed to have thought of something; his eyes flashed, and his fingers unconsciously curled slightly at his side.
Gu Baozhu proudly raised her chin and gestured excitedly: "That's right. Xu Tang and I competed, and he lost two out of three rounds. He was not willing to give up and insisted on fighting again. I wanted to make him accept defeat, so I agreed and made a deal with him that if he lost again, he would have to call me 'father.' If he hadn't gone to invite me just now, he would have had no choice but to call me 'father.'"
Qin Yuan exclaimed in surprise: "I didn't expect you to be so good at Cuju. I heard that Xu Tang is an exceptionally skilled player, which is why he was kept in the palace to keep the emperor company. No one in the palace can match him, and he is also incredibly ruthless. Many people have fallen victim to his schemes. If you encounter him in the future, you should be extra careful."
Gu Baozhu shook her head dismissively: "His reputation is undeserved. If he's so blind as to try and sabotage me, then I can rightfully break his legs. I'm just worried he won't come."
Seeing that neither Madam Gu nor Lord Gu had spoken up to reprimand her, she seized the opportunity to boast about her, which drew the children's enthusiastic praise and admiration.
After everyone finished eating, Rong Momo took the children out. Gu Baozhu then said to Qin Yuan, "Heng Ge'er said he wanted to play football with me and introduced me to Xu Tang so we could get closer. But he's been missing for the past two days, and I've been too busy to look for him."
Qin Yuan knew that Qin Heng had probably been harmed by Cui Shi, and laughed, "Didn't you want to get closer to him? Now you've forced him to call you 'father,' which is probably going to create a grudge. It's good that he's not here; he can help you mediate in the future."
Gu Baozhu's eyes darted around, and she said, "Who cares? If Xu Tang can't tolerate me, wouldn't that be even better? I have plenty of ways to deal with him."
They seem to think that the world is in chaos.
Lord Gu finally couldn't help but scold, "You should also calm down. Don't think you're so great just because you're good with your fists. You should know that there are always stronger opponents."
Even the usually silent Madam Gu spoke up: "Baozhu, can you behave yourself before you go to Baihe Academy? Even after you go, you still need to be more restrained. As the saying goes, teeth that are too hard fall out quickly, while those with soft tongues live to the end. I only hope that you will live a carefree life."
Gu Baozhu lowered her head, holding her teacup, and nodded in response, but anyone could tell that she didn't take it to heart at all.
Sixth Master Gu quickly changed the subject: "Third Brother, did you suddenly call us all here because of something important?"
Lord Gu sighed, picked up his teacup, took two sips, put it down, picked it up again, and repeated this three or four times before saying, "I won't hide it from you, a lot has happened outside these past few days..."
Gu Baozhu immediately became interested: "Third brother, I've been asking around these past few days, but I haven't heard anything about it."
He glanced at her sideways and said sarcastically, "What can you get out of Eighteen by forcing them? If you can get anything out of them, they should be the ones getting punished."
Seeing that she remained silent, Lord Gu cleared his throat and said solemnly, "It's not easy to go into details, but you all need to be careful when you leave the manor in the future. Now I... I have formed an alliance with Prince Qi. The Crown Prince and Empress Lin are currently trying to win over the Dingbei Marquis's manor, but I'm afraid they won't have much patience in the future."
Qin Yuan and Gu Liuye remained silent, while Baozhu blinked and asked, "Didn't Third Brother say that His Highness Prince Qi is a black sesame dumpling? Doesn't our Dingbei Marquis's Mansion only serve the Emperor and not get involved in royal affairs?"
Lord Gu paused for a moment before saying, “Our Dingbei Marquis’s Mansion is only loyal to the Emperor, but the Emperor doesn’t trust our Dingbei Marquis’s Mansion. This is because he was forced to do this… After the festival, you should go to Baihe Academy to study. Don’t cause trouble in the capital. Don’t associate with anyone like You Dasong Er. I know you can’t control your tongue, but this matter concerns the life and death of our Gu family. I’m sure you know the importance of this matter.”
Gu Baozhu was stunned for a moment, then muttered, "What's going on now? We're just young ladies having a casual get-together, what trouble could we possibly cause?"
Sixth Master Gu hurriedly tugged at her sleeve and said, "Just listen to your third brother. That You Da is incredibly cunning. If you get close to her, you might get tricked into revealing information in just a few words. Even if you don't know anything and she can't get anything out of you, what if she tricks you and gets you tied to the Crown Prince's ship? What would your third brother do then?"
Gu Baozhu was very unconvinced, "Am I that stupid?"
Qin Yuan laughed and said, "You're not stupid, you're just not as smart as them. You can't compete with their strengths when you compare your weaknesses. Let's avoid this for now and wait until the situation in the court settles down, then it will be fine."
"No one understands me better than my third sister-in-law," Gu Baozhu said, deeply moved. "I will never hold my third brother back."
Sixth Master Gu glanced at Gu Baozhu and sighed inwardly.
Old Madam Gu clutched her prayer beads tightly in her palm, her expression grave: "Third son... what exactly has happened these past few days..."
Gu Jinghui stopped hiding it and said slowly, "A few days ago, someone set fire to the prison of the Jingzhao Prefecture and almost kidnapped the monk Zhiguang. Fortunately, we got the news and chased after them overnight. Unexpectedly, we captured several members of the Yelü clan."
Everyone was taken aback and hurriedly asked, "How could this be? What else?"
Gu Jinghui's face was expressionless, and his voice was very low: "...and...there are a few more assassins, they are from the Marquis of Chengen."
Qin Yuan let out a long sigh.
Marquis Chengen is Empress Lin's younger brother and is deeply favored by the Emperor. Previously, it was only suspected that the monk Zhiguang was a member of Empress Lin's faction, but now it is a certainty.
The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Outside the window, the laughter of the maids watching the cats and dogs fight could be clearly heard.
Two different states of mind, separated by a single window.
Qin Yuan paused for a moment before asking, "What exactly happened to Monk Zhiguang?"
If anything happens to the monk Zhiguang, this matter will be difficult to resolve.
and……
Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at Old Madam Gu, whose face was ashen.
Qin Yuan thought that the identity of the corpse in the dry well also needed an answer.
Gu Jinghui said blankly, "They were kidnapped by bandits."
"Bandits?"
Everyone was startled again.
Gu Jinghui nodded and said, "Yes, bandits. They are all hiding in the imperial estates on the outskirts of the capital."
Gu Baozhu could no longer contain herself and jumped up: "Why not order people to search each village one by one!"
Sixth Master Gu rebuked, "Nonsense! The imperial estates in the suburbs of the capital are all under the name of the imperial family. How can they be searched so casually? Furthermore, the matter of Monk Zhiguang's escape should be under the jurisdiction of the Prefectural Governor of the Capital and the Five Cities Garrison. How can Third Brother get involved and alarm the Crown Prince and others? We can only act in secret."
Qin Yuan nodded.
It seems that Sixth Master Gu has not wasted his time with Mr. Songshan these past few days; he has learned a great deal.
Unable to refute, Gu Baozhu sat down angrily and cursed, "What use is the Jingzhao Prefecture? Not only is there no trace of Xu Zhen, but now the bandits are hiding in the imperial estate, so they can't do anything about it."
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