Chapter 733 Instead of the dinner table, let's present the recipe! [Seeking monthly votes!]
"Squeak—"
"Your Highness, Your Highness the Princess, we've kept you waiting."
Behind the main hall, after passing through the courtyard, is the innermost side hall.
Ouyang Rong pushed open a tightly closed wooden door, strode inside, and then slammed the door shut behind him.
In the side hall, the figures of Li Dalang, Li Guo'er, and Junior Sister came into view.
The three of them were waiting for him.
Outside the side hall, Zhen Shuyuan watched Ouyang Rong go in before turning back to the main hall. On the surface, she ordered her maids around and saw off the guests, but in reality, she kept watch without making a sound.
This side hall is located in the most secluded corner behind the main hall. It is very quiet and is a place that Ouyang Rong uses to discuss matters with his guests. Sometimes, when there is an emergency, such as when Yan Liulang or Pei Shisan Niang have important intelligence, Ouyang Rong will bring them in directly to discuss it.
Zhen Shuyuan was responsible for keeping watch outside, essentially acting as a lookout for them.
Because there were some close guests from afar last night, such as Li Dalang and Li Guo'er, who were staying at the Huaiye Lane residence, Zhen Shuyuan and Yan Liulang were busy early this morning. The former saw them off, and the latter saw them off to the dock to board the ship and leave Xunyang. They were both acting as Ouyang Rong's hosts, seeing everyone off. So Zhen Shuyuan got up quite early today. Li Dalang and Li Guo'er had urgent matters to discuss, so she arranged for them to come over directly...
"My love, did I disturb you?"
Li Dalang was about to speak, but after a pause, as if observing Ouyang Rong's spirit, he couldn't help but ask a question first.
"What do you mean by disturbing me?"
Ouyang Rong shook his head and said bluntly:
"Important business is at hand. What message did the Prince's residence send over early this morning, and what did it say?"
Li Dalang looked at Li Guo'er.
Ouyang Rong also looked over directly.
Li Guo'er was dressed in men's clothing, just like yesterday, holding a cup of hot tea and looking down at something.
Ouyang Rong saw that she seemed to be holding a letter with a few lines of writing on it.
Xie Lingjiang sat to one side, tilting her head as she and Li Guo'er browsed the letter in their hands.
When Ouyang Rong came in, neither of them really greeted him. Xie Lingjiang called out instinctively, but Ouyang Rong immediately stopped her.
She didn't move at all when Li Guo'er spoke. When Ouyang Rong came in and called her, she just hummed in response, her pretty face still showing a thoughtful expression. Her mind seemed to be completely focused on the letter in her hand.
Ouyang Rong glanced at him and asked:
"What was written in the letter, and whose letter was it?"
"I don't know who found the letter, but it was discovered at the gate of the Prince's residence. My mother found it when she went out with her entourage this morning. After seeing the contents, she immediately handed it to my father, who then hurriedly sent someone to deliver it..."
After saying this with a wry smile, Li Dalang called out to Li Guo'er:
“Sister, I believe you.”
Before Li Guo'er could hand it over, Ouyang Rong had already strode up behind her.
Li Guo'er was sitting in a chair reading the letter, while Ouyang Rong was behind her, bending slightly to examine the letter in her hand.
The girl with plum blossom makeup, still dressed in blue men's clothing, seemed to have just come back to her senses. She maintained the posture of "a beautiful woman sitting deep with furrowed brows." At this moment, facing the man's breath, Li Guo'er slightly turned her head and glanced at the handsome young man who was quite close to her. It was unknown what she was thinking at this moment.
"Leave……"
Ouyang Rong's attention was entirely on the letter. He was about to read it aloud, but then he realized that the very first sentence of this mysterious letter was not suitable for being addressed directly.
No wonder the eldest brother, the little princess, and the junior sister didn't say much, indicating that he should look for himself.
Because addressing someone by their first name in this way is very impolite, but at the same time, the content of the letter is also very simple, consisting of only one sentence:
[Li Xian, guards of the Prince's mansion, don't trust anyone too easily. When a banquet begins, everyone should know which table they are sitting at. If you don't know which table you are at, then you are the menu on the table.]
In short.
There was no signature or any other extra content.
On a large sheet of paper, there was only this one sentence.
It gives the impression that it was written casually while passing by the Prince's mansion, leaving people somewhat puzzled at first glance.
Ouyang Rong stood with his hands behind his back and bent over, the old man walking with a hunched back, his posture unchanged.
Xie Lingjiang turned her head and saw that her senior brother's eyes were narrowed.
After waiting for a while, no one spoke, and the atmosphere became somewhat quiet.
"The latter part sounds a bit like a Chinese proverb."
Xie Lingjiang broke the silence with a summary.
Li Guo'er nodded slightly, her words concise and to the point:
"Either sit at the table or be presented with a recipe. The principle is simple yet not simple; we need to think about why the person who gave us the letter told us this."
"Combined with the previous sentence, which reminded the father not to easily trust the guards of the royal palace, the following sentence is a subtle hint of danger."
Li Dalang interjected, "Why are you speaking so suspiciously and anonymously? Why don't you explain it clearly? It's all very strange."
Xie Lingjiang frowned and asked, "Is it strange? Is it a bluff, or a reminder? Is it a friendly guest or a hostile guest? If it is a friendly guest, why hide it? If it is a hostile guest, who could it be? Is it someone who has a grudge against us and is playing such a prank? Could it be an attempt to sow discord between us and the guards of the Prince's Mansion?"
The three had their own guesses, exchanged glances, shook their heads, and turned their gazes to Ouyang Rong, as if waiting for him to make up his mind.
Where was the letter found?
Ouyang Rong asked again.
Li Dalang replied, "At dawn, around 5 a.m., at the entrance of the Prince's Mansion."
"The princess just happened to run into you?"
“It’s Mother, that’s right.”
Ouyang Rong straightened up, stretched out his hand, and gestured towards the letter.
Upon seeing this, Li Guo'er handed over the letter.
Ouyang Rong glanced at the neat, indistinct handwriting on the letter, then folded it up and stuffed it into his pocket.
"Let's go to the Prince's residence first and see the Prince."
Li Dalang asked, "Isn't Tanlang going to the Buddha Festival?"
Ouyang Rong shook his head: "No rush. It's on the way. I'll go to the Prince's Mansion first. There's a celebration in the morning, so I don't need to go too early."
Li Dalang and Li Guo'er exchanged a glance, nodded slightly, and got up to leave.
The four quickly went outside and walked out of the side hall.
Ouyang Rong first gestured for Xie, Li and the other two to wait a moment, then went to fetch some things and gave Zhen Shuyuan some instructions.
Moreover, the four of them gathered and set off, politely declining Zhen Shuyuan's offer to have breakfast with them, and went to the stables at the back gate, where they each boarded their carriages.
Soon, two vehicles, one small and one large, started moving and drove out of the Huaiye Lane residence.
Ouyang Rong and Xie Lingjiang rode together in a small carriage, driven by Ali.
Li Dalang and Li Guo'er rode in the same car.
As soon as he got in the car, Ouyang Rong took the zither case from Xie Lingjiang's arms, which he had given to her just before leaving.
Ouyang Rong stuffed the full Mo family sword box into the usual spot under his seat.
Xie Lingjiang frowned slightly as she looked at the case. She had just hugged the zither case and noticed that it felt heavier than usual. She wondered what her senior brother had stuffed inside.
"Senior Brother, is this letter... dangerous? Have you found any clues? Is something going to happen today?"
Ouyang Rong shook his head slightly, but did not answer.
He touched the sword case beneath him and straightened his back again.
The zither-shaped sword box was almost full of things, and there wasn't much left in the Yinbingzhai study. This wasn't to guard against Xiu Niang, but rather because he had made preparations a few days ago, both for his birthday gift and for the victory celebration, to carefully navigate these crucial days.
He dared not be careless. He had observed the terrain well in advance and prepared the sixth position for the birthday ceremony that had just ended yesterday, taking a steady and cautious approach.
As for items such as the bronze mask, he carried them with him at all times, keeping them in his sleeve.
And there's also a certain little ink spirit.
Ouyang Rong took out a small inkstick from his sleeve, scratched it with his fingers, and woke it up.
"Little Rongzi, take your paws off! Where are you scratching? Xie girl, aren't you going to do anything about him..."
Miao Si woke up groggily, transformed into human form, stomped her feet on his knees, put her hands on her hips, and cursed.
Sure enough, the child is small, and so is the mind.
Ouyang Rong nodded.
Xie Lingjiang coaxed, "Alright, don't be angry. Senior Brother probably just has a lot of guts..."
Miao Si immediately crossed her arms and let out a soft groan:
"Hmph, learning won't help. This fairy isn't afraid of its scratches at all, and I won't fall for that..."
Little Ink Spirit turned her face away, looking down on it.
Ouyang Rong took out the mysterious letter, folded the paper, and patted her forehead.
"My Lady Immortal, could you please locate the owner of this letter?"
Seeing the serious expressions on their faces, Miao Si didn't say much. She skillfully unfolded the folded letter on Ouyang Rong's lap, sniffed the ink from left to right, and occasionally lay down like a fish, looking at the ceiling and touching her chin.
It looked just like how Ouyang Rong used to lie in bed while doing advanced mathematics papers, using the excuse of thinking about difficult problems to slack off.
"Hmm."
Miaosi nodded thoughtfully, stood up, and put her little hands behind her back.
Xie Lingjiang asked expectantly, "How is it?"
Miao Si nodded seriously: "I can't pinpoint the exact location. The writer is very cautious, as if they've tampered with the letter. There's no trace of their presence, and it lacks literary flair."
Xie Lingjiang looked disappointed.
Ouyang Rong asked, "Is it a man or a woman?"
Miao Si said, "A woman, at least the one who wrote it was a woman, but she wrote it with her less-used left hand, so there are no obvious traces of a woman's handwriting. However, it can't hide it from this fairy maiden. Besides..."
She glanced at Ouyang Rong and suddenly asked:
"Did you notice it too?"
Xie Lingjiang looked around at them with suspicion: "What did you see?"
Miao Si pointed to the unremarkable piece of paper and said:
"This kind of paper is used by government offices. Anyway, I've seen Xiao Rongzi use it a lot when he's working. It seems that all the government offices in Jiangzhou use this kind of paper."
Xie Lingjiang noticed that her senior brother's expression showed no surprise, indicating that he had already discovered it.
"arrive."
Ouyang Rong suddenly spoke, putting away his brilliant thoughts, and got out of the car first.
After an incense stick has burned.
Inside the Prince's study, everyone gathered.
Ouyang Rong was the first to explain the origin of the paper, which was consistent with what Miao Si had just said.
However, the reason he immediately recognized the paper was because when Rong Zhen was investigating the origin and texture of the paper when he was tracing the owner of the Butterfly Love Flower, he had also learned a lesson from it.
Ouyang Rong said directly:
"Clearly, the person who left the letter was most likely an official, and judging from the handwriting, it was probably a woman..."
"There's another detail: this letter wasn't just casually tossed at the door. There are many people coming and going at the main gate, so the timing was perfect to prevent Li Congshan, Miaozhen, or the patrolling White Tiger Guards from discovering it."
"Clearly, this person is very familiar with the defense system of our Prince's residence, and also knows the Princess's morning routine these days. In the letter, this person also reminded us not to trust the Prince's guards..."
At this point, Ouyang Rong stopped talking.
The group looked at each other in bewilderment.
He seemed to have thought of something.
Xie Lingjiang's expression was somewhat complicated as she asked, "Last night, it seemed that Rong Zhen was staying in the city."
Ouyang Rong lowered his eyes: "Hmm, I heard from Liu Lang that the Censorate is..."
Li Dalang couldn't help but say:
"So, she didn't just come to give Madam Zhen a gift; she actually had this other purpose? No wonder she was so low-key at the banquet last night and didn't cause much of a fuss..."
Upon hearing the following sentence, Ouyang Rong, who had been calmly pondering, frowned and looked over. Li Dalang immediately covered his mouth and coughed, looking around nervously.
Li Guo'er, who was standing next to her, relaxed her furrowed brows slightly:
"It's possible, but it's hard to confirm. Since she gave us a tip anonymously, it means she doesn't want us to find her. Asking won't help. We just don't know what she heard that made her an exception to give us a tip."
Xie Lingjiang nodded seriously: "No matter what, it has confirmed our concerns to some extent. From the moment Li Congshan and Miaozhen brought people to protect the palace, we never fully trusted them. Our eldest brother had already made arrangements."
She paused, then said in a somewhat enigmatic tone:
"From this perspective, the fact that she left this letter, regardless of whether the information is accurate, at least shows that she has good intentions."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Li Xian pondered and asked:
"Tanlang, do you think Rong... is this person reminding us about the victory celebration?"
The crowd exchanged glances, their gazes all turning to the composed Ouyang Rong.
Ouyang Rong was silent for a moment, just about to speak, when the old steward of the Prince's Mansion, Shunbo, suddenly rushed in from outside.
He sent a message:
"Tanlang, someone is looking for you outside."
Xie Lingjiang tilted her head: "Who is it?"
Shunbo respectfully said:
"It was a female official from the Censorate named Rongzhen. She said she knew you well and seemed to have some urgent official business to attend to. She insisted on seeing you. She apparently went to Huaiye Lane before but couldn't find you..."
Inside the study, the air suddenly became quiet.
Everyone's eyes turned to Ouyang Rong.
If I remember correctly, this Lady Rongzhen rarely comes to the Xunyang Prince's Mansion. Unlike Miaozhen, who likes to come and keep watch, she almost never takes sides in public. The last time she came was on the night of the Lantern Festival banquet at the Prince's Mansion, when she came to find someone, also under the guise of official business to find Ouyang Rong.
I don't know if he's a workaholic or if he's making an exception just for someone.
It was Xie Lingjiang who spoke first:
"Go, senior brother. At this critical juncture, it's very likely that something urgent has happened."
Upon hearing this, Li Guo'er chuckled softly.
Li Xian, Li Dalang, and Wei Mei also sensed something strange about the last sentence. What did it mean to say "it is very likely that it is an urgent matter"? Did that mean it definitely wasn't like that last time?
Ouyang Rong was about to speak when he said, "Junior Sister..."
Xie Lingjiang interrupted him, placing the mysterious letter into his hand and calmly giving the instructions:
"Perfect, Senior Brother, let's test her out and see if it really is her."
Everyone nodded: "That's right, Tanlang, go and give it a try."
Ouyang Rong looked around.
"Please wait a moment, everyone."
He left with a single sentence and rushed out the door.
...
Huaiye Lane, Yinbingzhai.
Inside the bedroom, the embroiderer was tidying up, sitting sideways on the edge of the bed, quietly folding clean clothes.
After Ouyang Rong left, she spent the entire morning in the house, cleaning and tidying it up thoroughly.
Just then, a voice rang out from outside the door:
"Where are you going, Sister Embroiderer?"
Zhao Qingxiu's figure paused slightly.
Ye Weilai crossed her arms, leaned against the door, and stared intently at the back of the pretty girl doing housework inside.
Her gaze fell on Zhao Qingxiu's updo.
The original white jade hairpin is gone; in its place is a pair of mandarin duck jade hairpins.
(End of this chapter)
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