Chapter 262 Li Yan
Chu Xin's long hair fell down, and then the fake beard on his face was torn off.
"This storyteller is actually a woman!?"
"I've long said that this boy looked delicate and tender, like a bunny, but I didn't expect he was actually a girl!"
"Hahaha, if it was really the young lady telling us stories every day, it would be a good thing. But why did she pretend to have a man's voice and deceive us all!"
Suddenly, the whole teahouse became noisy and filled with teasing voices.
Chu Xin stood there, tears filling his eyes. He tried to run away, but was dragged back by the tall and strong Li Yan.
"Brother, let's forget it..." The person who came out with Li Yan whispered, "There are too many people here. If something happens and it gets to the ears of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, it won't be good."
"What are you afraid of? I just asked this little girl to change the words of my storytelling. I didn't do anything to her!" Li Yan shook off his men.
Seeing him like this, the subordinate didn't dare to say anything more. After all, the other party was not only the captain of the Eastern Palace's personal guards, but also the Crown Prince's brother-in-law. How could a nobody like him offend him?
Zhu Qingyan felt a little strange. "This man's uncle used to be a member of the Wucheng Bingmasi, but I heard that he was dismissed from his post. Why is he still so arrogant?"
Zhu Lan shook her head. She didn't know the reason.
Someone nearby came over and covered his mouth and said, "You two girls, you may not know that Master Li's uncle, Lord Li Changjing, once made contributions to the court. Although he was dismissed for some unknown crime a few days ago, the emperor appreciated his past contributions and reportedly promoted his sons and nephews a little as a small compensation."
Zhu Qingyan was even more puzzled. "Could it be that Lord Li's sons and nephews are all officials in the palace?"
"That's not the case. In addition to his nephew, Lord Li also has a son and a daughter, both of whom are in the East Palace and have been promoted in rank and position."
Zhu Qingyan looked at the man next to him strangely. He was dressed in ordinary clothes and looked like an ordinary citizen.
"How do you know all this? Are you also from the East Palace?"
The other party laughed and said, "The Li Mansion is on our street, we are neighbors, how can such a thing be hidden? Everyone knows it a long time ago!"
After saying this, he didn't seem to want to be associated with Li Yan, the plague god. After paying for the tea, he shook his head and left.
Zhu Qingyan muttered indignantly, "What does your Majesty mean? He dismissed Li Changjing and promoted his nephews. This is not the way to use both kindness and severity. It's simply..."
She forced herself to swallow the words "indecisive" that were on her lips. It would be disrespectful to say them out loud.
Zhu Lan also fell into deep thought.
Based on her speculation about the emperor's character, Emperor Liang was definitely not a kind-hearted or indecisive person.
Normally, when an emperor trains a successor, he always paves the way for him, such as marrying into aristocratic families like the Dong family, placing the descendants of important officials in the court in the East Palace to establish the prestige of the crown prince, etc.
But now that Li Changjing, the commander of the Five Cities Army, has fallen, neither his son, daughter, nor Li Yan has a backer. If Yan Xiuyun continues to keep such people around the prince, he will not be able to gain any political benefits from them.
Emperor Liang's action was irrational, and even Zhu Lan was puzzled.
At this time, Li Yan was still trying to stop Chu Xin, but his tone had changed from being difficult to being teasing.
"I've been hesitating for so long, but I can't even come up with a story. It seems that there are too many people in the teahouse, and you are shy, right? Well, since you are a woman, I won't mess things up today. I'll give you a chance. Since you can't tell the story to the people here, why don't you come back with me? I want to listen to your story carefully, hahaha!"
Seeing Chu Xin's red cheeks and tears about to fall, Li Yan laughed even more wantonly and reached out to touch her face.
"It's such a shame for such a delicate girl to pretend to be a man—ah!"
A white porcelain teacup flew over from nowhere and hit Li Yan's wrist accurately. He retracted his hand and screamed in pain.
"Who is plotting against me? If you have the guts, stand up!"
Zhu Lan and the other man walked out from behind Li Yan. Zhu Qingyan looked at him and sneered.
"Captain Li, it's been a long time since we last met in Long'an County."
"Why are there two women again, I--" Li Yan stopped in the middle of his words, looking up and down at Zhu Lan and Zhu Qingyan, feeling that he had seen them somewhere before.
The other party mentioned Long'an County... Li Yan's face suddenly changed.
It was this woman who was very close to the crazy woman, Princess Ningyue, in Long'an County. The reason why he suffered such a great humiliation in Long'an County and his uncle was dismissed from office was all because of that crazy woman!
Li Yan stared at Zhu Qingyan with a gloomy look, burning with anger, but it soon turned into a sneer.
Last time in Long'an County, I didn't have many people with me, but now I'm in the capital, in my own territory. How can I allow a few women to be so arrogant?
Seeing that Li Yan's face was uncertain, but he didn't look like he was going to leave, Zhu Qingyan narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Why, it seems that Captain Li didn't enjoy enough of the reward from the princess last time?"
When this matter was mentioned, Li Yan was panicked for a moment, looked around subconsciously, and then immediately reacted - Princess Ning Yue was stationed in the northern border at this time, how could she appear in the capital?
"Don't bring her up to scare me. Haha, you like to stand up for the weak, right? Then I'm going to take this little girl home today, let's see what you can do to me."
As Li Yan spoke, he exerted force on his hands and pulled Chu Xin directly into his arms. Chu Xin screamed in fear. Li Yan raised his eyebrows at Zhu Qingyan provocatively.
Zhu Qingyan couldn't bear it any longer, so he picked up a cup of tea on the table and poured it on Li Yan's face!
Li Yan quickly dodged backwards, and Zhu Qingyan took the opportunity to pull Chu Xin over.
"You're looking for death--" Li Yan was about to pounce on Zhu Qingyan in anger, but as soon as he moved, he suddenly saw the sword blade as thin as a cicada's wing against his neck, and cold sweat immediately dripped down.
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