Lady Anguo returned to the banquet. Although she put on makeup again, she still couldn't hide the redness in her eyes.
An Qingfeng and Duke An Guo saw that Qin Danqing had not returned yet, and the queen had left the table and never came back.
The emperor came back once halfway and ended the New Year's Eve palace banquet with an anxious look on his face.
An Qingfeng and Duke An Guo were anxiously waiting for the answer and stood there without leaving.
Wang Youxi approached and passed on the message, saying that the Queen wanted to keep Qin Danqing with her for a while, and asked everyone in the Anguo Mansion to go back first.
An Qingfeng wanted to test the waters: "I wonder if the officials in the world would send my wife two sets of clothes."
Wang Youxi smiled and shook his head. His face remained normal, but his eyes were fixed on An Qingfeng, with a hint of respect in his inquiry.
"The palace has everything, so you don't have to worry about it."
Before An Qingfeng could ask more, he was stopped by Duke An Guo.
When they returned to the Anguo Mansion, the Anguo Lady called them over.
"In the middle of the palace banquet, Eunuch Wang Youxi handed me a note, saying it was from Danqing. I haven't read it yet."
As soon as the note was taken out, it was snatched away by two people. Seeing that the wife of Duke Anguo was still there, they immediately persuaded her to leave.
An Qingfeng saw that Qin Danqing had accomplished the plan, but now that the queen was in a coma, she was suspected and was imprisoned. She spent 50,000 taels to bribe the eunuch to pass a message to her, asking him to keep the position of queen for her.
He didn't know how Qin Danqing knew his true identity. He recalled the look in the little eunuch's eyes when he looked at him and how he called him "you".
You must know that after you deposed the prince, many people flattered the powerful and bullied the weak, not to mention the most powerful eunuch in the palace.
Fifty thousand taels of silver is a huge sum of money, which can make a small eunuch do some small things, but he was so respectful to his words, he must have peeked at the contents of the letter.
He told Duke Anguo all his guesses and said anxiously:
"Dad, let's use the secret agents in the palace to kill Qin Danqing and that little eunuch as soon as possible, otherwise my identity will be exposed soon.
I don’t know if my mother has read the note just now. If she knew, I don’t know if it would cause trouble.”
Duke Anguo nodded in agreement.
"Deal with Qin Danqing and that little eunuch first. As for your mother, I'll test her first. If there's any danger to you, I'll kill her."
An Qingfeng was moved and hugged Duke An Guo, saying with emotion:
"Dad, you are so kind to me. I will definitely repay you well."
Duke Anguo patted An Qingfeng's shoulder with satisfaction:
"I will definitely not let your mother down."
After seeing the loving father and filial son here, Duke Anguo went to find his wife and saw her beating and scolding the maid in the house, which made him even more unhappy.
Qingfeng's mother was not like this. She treated every palace maid with warmth and kindness, which is why she accumulated the gratitude of so many people.
"What's wrong with you today?" asked Duke Anguo unhappily.
Lady Anguo glanced at him and said, "I saw my daughter's friend at the banquet today and talked to her for a few words. I feel sad when I think that Qingyu is gone at such a young age.
But Qin Danqing, the culprit who killed my daughter, was afraid that I would torture her, so she deliberately hid in the palace of her sister, the queen.
You even had the nerve to pass me a note. I wanted to throw it away immediately, but the eunuch told me to give it to Qingfeng, so I didn't throw it away for my son's sake."
Duke Anguo was nervous, but pretended to be nonchalant when he asked, "You didn't read the contents, did you?"
The wife of the Duke of Anguo slapped her thighs with both hands, full of indignation:
"It's just a couple's private conversation, and I, an old woman, feel embarrassed to hear it. But that idiot Qin Danqing only has men in his mind.
She's willing to let Qingfeng beat her in any way he wants. I'm curious to see what she can write, and I'm definitely not going to let Qingfeng mess around during this period."
Seeing her excited expression and her contempt for Qin Danqing, Duke Anguo felt relieved and reminded her casually:
"You are also a first-rank imperial official. It's not good to always beat and scold the servants."
The wife of Duke Anguo looked unhappy, but she still gave in.
"It's annoying to see the maids clumsy. Send these two to the farm tomorrow and I'll find a few more clever ones."
Duke Anguo nodded and didn't take it to heart. Just like that, the wife of Duke Anguo replaced the secret guard given by Shang Xiaoyang with one who would serve her personally.
The wife of Duke Anguo began to contact people from other families, arranging to adopt a child to inherit the throne of the crown prince in order to paralyze Duke Anguo and his son.
It made them feel that they definitely didn't know An Qingfeng's identity.
At the palace, they waited for a whole day and caught an old maidservant beside the empress dowager and attacked Qin Danqing.
Another steward from the Imperial Household Department hid poison in the new clothes he sent to Wang Youxi.
After being tortured severely, the two refused to confess. When investigating their past, they found that their only connection was with the late emperor's Concubine Gu.
A few days after Concubine Gu gave birth to the little prince, a man was found in the house. The late emperor was furious and Concubine Gu was executed on the spot.
Asking Duke Anguo, who was serving as the imperial guard at the time, to throw the little prince off the cliff would surely cause him to be smashed to death.
Then this little prince is undoubtedly An Qingfeng.
Duke Anguo did not receive any news of success from the palace for a long time. Instead, he found that Shang Xiaoyang started to find fault with him in the court. He was scolded five times in three days, and they were all about trivial matters.
After returning home, Lady Anguo would often consult him about who to adopt, and his temper became more and more irritable.
He felt that Shang Xiaoyang must have noticed the action in the palace. In the next few days, several people who were openly from his faction lost their jobs.
This made him even more certain. Since this was the case, he might as well give it a try. Otherwise, his power in the court would continue to decline, and he would not be able to do it even if he had the opportunity in the future.
He wrote a letter to Pingjun near the capital, and during this time, the wife of Duke Anguo had already passed on all the important information from his study.
Shang Xiaoyang obtained the list of officials involved and the account books, and was just waiting to close the net.
Half a month later, there were unusual movements in Ping County, and the generals secretly bribed by Duke Anguo encouraged Shang Xiaoyang to lead the army in person.
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