Seeing that Lanling still didn't understand, Li Hong continued, "As the saying goes, you should be grateful if you eat someone's food, and you should be grateful if you receive someone's gifts. If I accept those gifts, does it mean that I agree with the Xiao family? Wouldn't this go against my father's current goal of suppressing the Five Surnames and Seven Families? Furthermore, if I do something in the future, wouldn't it be an excuse for me and my father to be at odds with each other because of the Five Surnames and Seven Families? Let people think that I did that. Moreover, the Lanling Xiao family approached me without spending a penny of their own money, and took all the savings that Concubine Xiao Shu had worked hard to accumulate, which not only gave them a reputation of caring about family affection, but also established a relationship with me that was different from that of ordinary court officials. They got the best of both worlds, but what did we get? What did you get from it?"
Li Hong pondered over these words for half the night after returning from Ci'en Temple last night. He finally figured them out in a daze. The Xiao family of Lanling are really unscrupulous businessmen. They will do anything to achieve their own interests.
And Lanling also vaguely understood that the hidden meaning of Li Hong's words was that he had already set his mind on competing for the position of crown prince. It was not that he was unwilling to make friends with court officials now. The reasons he and his father used to suppress the Five Surnames and Seven Families were just talk.
The main reason is that the people of the Lanling Xiao family are not in Li Hong's eyes. Their official positions are too low, and they can't play any effective role in his fight for the position of crown prince. Li Hong doesn't even take the only Censor of the Secretariat seriously. As for the Governor and the Sima, Li Hong naturally doesn't take them seriously.
So rather than saying that Li Hong was unwilling to accept Lanling Xiao's gift, it would be better to say that the bargaining chips and sincerity given by Lanling Xiao to Li Hong were far from satisfying Li Hong.
"So you mean you won't help?" After Lan Ling understood the reason, he stopped forcing Li Hong. He knew the royal family's affairs well, and Li Hong's future was foreseeable. As expected, the position of crown prince was probably in his pocket.
"Of course I will help. But firstly, I helped because of Yiyang, Gao An, and Li Sujie, and it has nothing to do with Lanling Xiao Clan. Secondly, if Lanling Xiao Clan wants me to think they are sincere, they should at least let my aunt live a worry-free life. Otherwise, I don't think there is any reason to think that they are approaching me for Concubine Xiao Shufei. Besides, what does Lanling Xiao Clan have?"
"Lanling wine." Lanling said.
"Yes, Lanling is your fiefdom. Year after year, the profit share of Lanling wine has been rising, but my aunt can only watch. Moreover, you let my aunt unconditionally act as a matchmaker for them to get close to me. You are really scheming, too petty and disrespectful." Li Hong shook his head, looking like a real scoundrel.
...
...
Lan Ling felt warm from the bottom of her heart when she heard what Li Hong said. The little guy still cared about her. She smiled and touched Li Hong's head and said, "Okay, Auntie knows your feelings, but that's his own wine. What does it have to do with me?"
"In that case, this can barely be considered half of their family affairs, and what does it have to do with you? I did not let them say it yesterday, which has already given them enough face. How can they get involved in the affairs of the royal family? If they still have no sincere gratitude to you recently, I don't think there is anything wrong with you taking a few shares of their shares." At the end, Li Hong seemed like a completely different person, as if the person talking to Lan Ling was a scheming adult, not a child.
Lanling didn't know what to say when she looked at the little guy in front of her, but she knew in her heart that Li Hong treated her well with all his heart. Perhaps, in addition to the fact that she was his aunt, it was also closely related to the fact that she took out the Linglong Tower without hesitation and asked him to apologize.
"Hong'er, you can't do this recklessly. The Lanling Xiao family is not as simple as you think. Even if you do that, it is not something you can shake alone." Lanling reminded Li Hong while holding him in his arms.
"Don't worry. If they don't come to your house to thank you before I return to the palace, don't blame me, Li Hong, for being unkind. Sooner or later, I will make their Lanling wine bear my aunt's surname!" Li Hong said in Lanling's arms. Lanling's body stiffened when he heard it, and he couldn't help feeling a little scared.
Originally, she had a non-confrontational personality and didn't care much about these material things, but she didn't expect that Li Hong was willing to do such a thing for her.
Li Hong seemed to have sensed Lan Ling's body tense up, so he comforted Lan Ling's uneasy heart and said, "It's not because I'm jealous of the profits of Lanling Xiao's fine wine, but because I despise their way of doing things. Using you like this is bullying you. We must not let them continue like this. We must make them pay a price and let them remember it for a long time!"
"King Dai, Lord Liu is here to visit." Xia Zhi walked to the side of his nephew and said in a low voice.
"Let him in." Li Hong got up from Lan Ling's arms, and Lan Ling went to the backyard to see if there were any accessories in his workshop that he could take away.
Liu Rengui took out a few letters from his sleeve pocket and placed them on Li Hong's desk, saying, "This morning I wanted to report this matter to Your Majesty, but Your Majesty said that this case was handled by you, the Prince of Dai, so he asked you to continue to handle this case before returning to the palace."
Li Hong took a few letters and looked through them. One of them was a handwritten order from his father, and the others were letters between Liu Shuang and Weiying that were collected from Liu Shuang's home. However, the letters did not mention anything about what happened between them. It was only vaguely apparent that Liu Shuang had used his position as the Minister of the Central Secretariat to open some convenient doors for Weiying.
Putting down the letter in his hand, he thought that since his father wanted to test the ability of a four-year-old child, he had no choice but to ignore the matter.
So Li Hong asked, "Master Liu, did you find out anything last night?"
"Prince Dai, after I took the relevant suspicious persons away from Ci'en Temple last night, I interrogated them one by one with Lord Duan, but we didn't get anything valuable. We only got some answers from the people you mentioned who were imprisoned in the backyard, and then we found out indirectly that they seemed to have been conducting human trafficking, but the specific woman named Yarou denied it flatly." Liu Rengui said with a frown.
"We can make a breakthrough with Wang Jing. He should be the easiest to interrogate among them. As for Liu Shuang, keep him in custody first and don't interrogate him. Wei Ying should know the causes and consequences of everything. It depends on your abilities then." Li Hong said after pondering.
"The King of Dai is very smart, and I have the same plan. However, there is one more thing. What should we do with that woman? I think that this woman should be of high status, and she is probably not an ordinary woman."
"That's natural. It's impossible for an ordinary woman to let the Minister of the Central Secretariat of the Tang Dynasty become her guest of honor. Her identity is definitely not simple. To be on the safe side, we can't use torture or force her. It's quite difficult to deal with." Li Hong laughed after saying this.
Liu Rengui laughed twice in agreement and said, "Today, Li Yifu asked me about this case. I wonder if I can let him...?"
"No, if the people from the Ministry of Personnel get involved, it will disrupt the government." Li Hong knew that Liu Rengui was testing the relationship between him and Li Yifu, testing his degree of dependence on Li Yifu. He just didn't know if his father also had his intention in this test.
"If that's the case, there is only one way left." Liu Rengui's sharp eyes swept across Li Hong's face.
"What method?" Li Hong felt a hint of conspiracy.
"Then you, King Dai, will have to interrogate her personally. Even if this woman's status is noble, can it be as noble as yours? By then, even if someone asks for her from the Honglu Temple, or intends to intervene, we have not disgraced this woman's status, right?" Liu Rengui said.
Li Hong looked at Liu Rengui warily, several thoughts flashing through his mind, and asked, "Whose idea was this? Father's? Or someone else gave you the idea?"
"Haha, King Dai is so smart, I really admire him! Yes, it was indeed someone else's idea, but I wonder if you, King Dai, can guess who said it?" Liu Rengui said.
Li Hong put his head on the table, thinking about it. There were not many people in the court who knew him well. Shangguan Yi? Impossible, his father would never let him know about this. Li Yifu? Impossible too, Liu Rengui's words just now had already rejected Li Yifu.
Who else could it be, my father? Would my father let me judge? That was unlikely. My father was afraid that I might mess up, so he wouldn't let me judge.
Then there is only one person, and that person is Xu Jingzong, the great scheming man of all ages. Perhaps only he can come up with such a solution that satisfies both parties and cannot be criticized.
Li Hong did not tell Liu Rengui about his guess. It was better to pretend to be ignorant about some things. As a child, if he was too scheming and knew the court officials too well, it would probably not be good for him.
"Okay, I took it. Where is the person now? Should I go and interrogate him or should you bring him over?" Li Hong changed the subject.
Liu Rengui was stunned at first, then he bowed to Li Hong and said, "I will send the person to your house this afternoon, but I hope that the King of Dai will be careful and not let her escape from you. This case may seem insignificant, but I think there must be a huge secret behind it after we investigate it thoroughly, and this woman may be a key figure. I hope the King of Dai will be cautious and keep a close watch on her."
"Don't worry, let Bailu, Xiaoxue and Xiaohan take care of him. Besides, there are a hundred Qianniu guards inside and outside the palace. They are not made of wood."
"Yes, the King of Dai is right. Your Majesty ordered me to bring another two hundred thousand bull guards to guard the Prince Pu's mansion. Logically, it should be impregnable and impossible to escape."
After Liu Rengui and Li Hong gave repeated instructions, they left Prince Pu's Mansion. Lan Ling also came back from the workshop in the backyard. He looked at Liu Rengui's departing back, then looked at Li Hong and asked, "Why did he come to your place?"
"Aunt, I want to ask you, do you have a private relationship with that monk Weiying...ah...it hurts, I'm wrong, it's friendship, no, it's...please don't pinch me, listen to me." Li Hong's ear was pinched by Lanling, whose face was ashen, and he jumped in pain.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
