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Jiang Nian has always given people a calm and elegant temperament, and even her emotional fluctuations are rarely felt. But when she heard her words, Fuling could clearly feel the firmness and determination coming from her for the first time.
Seeing this, Fuling had no choice but to nod. Thinking of what Jiang Nian had said before, that she didn't need to go with him, she asked one more question to confirm.
"Do you need Fuling to accompany the young lady?"
Jiang Nian shook his head slightly, a faint smile on his lips.
"I'll handle this matter myself."
After Qin Lan got out of the car, he felt his thighs were a little numb from sitting.
For some unknown reason, the mountain road leading to Xiao Yingzhu's residence was stopped halfway through. The second half of the journey was extremely bumpy, as if it was going to shake him apart.
......Why did Xiao Yingzhu build his mansion in Pingzhou on this mountain?
Although he rode in a carriage along the way and burned some mugwort to fumigate mosquitoes, he was still bitten several times.
Wouldn't Xiao Yingzhu be attracted to mosquitoes if she lived here?
Xinfeng had been waiting for Qin Lan's arrival at the gate from afar. When he saw Qin Lan walking towards him, he felt as friendly as if he had seen his own parents. Then he ran towards Qin Lan, carefully holding the princess' invitation letter in his hand.
“Xiao Lan—Xiao Lan—!!!”
"You're finally here!"
He was in a hurry, but thinking that Xiao Yingzhu was in the mansion, he didn't dare to make a loud noise, and the tone of his voice was even lower than usual.
Seeing Xinfeng's appearance, Qin Lan knew that nothing good was waiting for him.
He looked somewhat helpless and hooked his finger towards himself.
"What do you want me to do?"
Seeing that there was a chance, Xinfeng showed Qin Lan the letter that he had been hiding due to the poor viewing angle.
"I can't give you an invitation to the princess' birthday."
Noticing the bitter expression on Xinfeng's face, Qin Lan thought of the special punishment Xiao Yingzhu had given him, which was to deduct half a year's salary and not allow him to talk to other people for a month. He suddenly found it a little funny.
If Xinfeng is punished with confinement or corporal punishment, it will not be the right solution. Xiao Yingzhu's secret guards have all been selected and trained through layers of selection, and these are too little effort for Xinfeng.
But if Xinfeng was fined his salary and not allowed to speak, he wouldn't be able to take a break from occasionally buying snacks, nor would he be able to chat with others in his spare time.
This would be the death of the trade winds.
After all, this is what Xinfeng himself said. Without these two things, life will lose a lot of interest.
“…”
Observing Qin Lan's expression, Xinfeng silently cast a slightly inquiring gaze at him.
When he met the other person's gaze, Qin Lan suppressed the smile on his face and decided not to say these hurtful words. He stacked the invitation letter handed by Xinfeng on top of his own invitation letter and patted him on the shoulder.
"Nothing, I'll wait for you to take the invitation, go and complete your other duties."
Thinking about how Xiao Yingzhu had just ordered him and Song Chui to block a small part of the covert information transmission route with Dong Lan last night, Xinfeng's active mind was brought back to its original state by this order and instantly became limp.
Qin Lan had always known Xiao Yingzhu's style of doing things, so he couldn't bear to continue looking at Xinfeng's bitter face. He waved his hand and walked straight into the mansion.
Xiao Yingzhu was reading a report from the Donglan Defense Line in the morning. When she looked up, she saw Qin Lan strolling to the door of the study and temporarily putting the report in his hand into a lock box that was not often used.
The blue and white porcelain vase on the window table in the study was shining with the warm sunlight. The warm and comfortable environment made Qin Lan squint his eyes.
He glanced at the layout of the house and found that there was no change from when he came here a few months ago. It was still arranged according to the layout of the Duke's Mansion.
Sitting back in the familiar position where he had previously discussed pests and diseases in the capital, Qin Lan spread his hands towards the empty armchair next to him.
"sit."
Qin Lan caught a flash of coldness in Xiao Yingzhu's eyes. Knowing that he never cared about these things, he raised his eyebrows and smiled.
"Okay, rephrase, please."
Xiao Yingzhu ignored Qin Lan's request for a beating, and with her slender fingers she pulled out the map of the world from the desk and spread it on the window table.
The woods outside the study were lush and shady, and the beams of light shone through the swaying and intertwined branches, casting flickering shadows on the picture.
His eyes fell on a name marked on the map of the world, and Qin Lan tapped it with his fingertips. Before Xiao Yingzhu could speak, he smiled knowingly.
"You are really cruel."
Xiao Yingzhu sat on the other side of the window table. When she glanced at the place Qin Lan was pointing, the coldness on her lips became even more intense.
"If he wants to check, I'll give it to him."
The area circled in red on the world map is Cang County.
Its location is exactly opposite to that of Pingzhou.
The eldest prince was indulging in singing and dancing, the third and fourth princes' thoughts were hard to understand, and the fifth prince, who was eager to show off, played right into the second prince's hands.
If someone wanted to set the stage for something big at this time, then the fifth prince would be the scapegoat.
And persuading the Fifth Prince to take action and then play his trump card would just interfere with Emperor Changde's sight.
Therefore, the big promise that the Second Prince made to the Fifth Prince was to reveal to him the key answer to the current undercurrent between Donglan and Huan, and to trick the Fifth Prince with words like "If you find the anthelmintic prescription, Emperor Changde will value you."
At this time, leading the Fifth Prince to Cang County could avoid the Fifth Prince from spying on the anthelmintic drug research and development that he was collaborating with Jiang Nian in Pingzhou.
but……
The smile in Qin Lan's eyes had not faded yet. When his gaze fell on Pingzhou, he suddenly felt a little puzzled and looked up at Xiao Yingzhu who was sitting opposite him.
"Aren't you afraid that he'll go to Pingzhou?"
Xiao Yingzhu's gaze lingered for a moment on the area surrounding the two characters "Pingzhou," then he shifted his gaze indifferently, his tone nonchalant.
"I can't walk. There's no way."
Qin Lan withdrew his gaze, leaned his hands on the back of the chair, listened to Xiao Yingzhu's reply, and inexplicably felt that something was wrong.
As I thought just now, Xiao Yingzhu created some eye-catching information smoke bombs in Cang County in order to protect the formula of the cooperative anthelmintic from being leaked.
But he didn't have to do that.
Even the censor Zhu Wang, who was inspecting agriculture and was particularly concerned about the pests and diseases in recent years and was afraid that he would lose his official position if he was not careful, did not notice the special insect repellent developed by Jiang Nian.
Not to mention the fifth prince who just became a monk halfway through his career.
Pingzhou's recipe for "mixing seeds with arsenic" was, for Xiao Yingzhu, a smokescreen to conceal the anthelmintic medicine developed by Jiang Nian.
Then why did he go to Cang County to create another smokescreen?
If the subordinates in charge are not careful, other people with ulterior motives will come up with other ideas and create unnecessary things.
Qin Lan cast a thoughtful gaze at the person opposite him who was looking down at the map of the world, and an uncertain guess emerged in his mind.
"You asked me to come here this time so that I can spread false information in Cang County?"
Xiao Yingzhu raised her eyes and caught a glimpse of the mischief that flashed across Qin Lan's eyes, and there was a slightly cold emotion in his eyes.
"Even though you knew it would attract evil intentions, you still deliberately led the Fifth Prince to Cang County—who were you doing this for?"
"It can't be—"
Qin Lan was just about to say the first syllable of his partner Jiang Nian's surname when Xiao Yingzhu in front of him lowered her eyes, with a nonchalant look that hinted at a sense of crisis.
"Qin Er."
Hearing Xiao Yingzhu's rare warning-like address, Qin Lan knew that he had gone a little too far. He slightly adjusted his nonchalant sitting posture, his expression became slightly more serious, and he looked in the direction Xiao Yingzhu pointed with a spirited look.
Xiao Yingzhu's slender fingers moved the map of the world spread out on the windowsill from the capital to Pingzhou.
"The Second Prince did all this just to come here."
Xiao Yingzhu casually touched the word "Pingzhou" with her fingertips, and then raised her lips.
"The timing was extremely tight, and the Fifth Prince was anxious to find an effective insect repellent formula that Emperor Changde didn't know about."
"Compared to the deworming method that Zhu Wang seems to have told Emperor Changde, the Fifth Prince seems more convinced of his own opinion."
After being persuaded by the Second Prince, the Fifth Prince eliminated all the seemingly true and false information from other regions and finally discovered the Cang County hidden deep within. Naturally, he thought he had discovered it by accident, holding it in his hands as if it were a treasure, believing it without a doubt.
Xiao Yingzhu's gaze fell on the word "Beijing" on the map of the world. A hint of subtle gloom flashed across his eyes, and the smile on his lips gradually turned cold.
"It's time for the Second Prince to set off."
After much difficulty, he attacked the fifth prince and used him as a shield for the city, but his subordinates were disobedient and did not follow his wishes to go to Pingzhou.
After Mid-Autumn, time is running out. Seeing that the Fifth Prince is determined to go to Cang County, the Second Prince will be forced to take action, change his plan, and reveal the last trump card he has been hiding in advance.
Qin Lan listened with his eyes lowered, and finally he sighed with a smile, then raised his eyes and looked at Xiao Yingzhu with a sigh.
"No wonder I heard from the wind that you transferred a small group of people elsewhere. It turns out you had planned this game so long ago, setting up the game in Cang County at that time."
Xiao Yingzhu's expression beside him was as calm and carefree as usual. Qin Lan caught the meaningful look in his eyes and continued to ask with a smile.
"But then again, with all that back-and-forth between you and the old emperor, did those old men in the court really not notice?"
Xiao Yingzhu glanced at the direction of the capital on the world map, and the past scenes suddenly flashed through his mind, and the smile on his lips turned a little cold.
"I'm thinking about saving my life. It doesn't matter whether it's discovered or not."
Qin Lan tapped the armrest nonchalantly and was about to mention the birthday banquet for Princess Qingping when he suddenly thought of something as if he had discovered a new continent. He raised his eyebrows and narrowed his eyes meaningfully at Xiao Yingzhu.
"How did I almost get tricked by you?"
"So you sent the Fifth Prince to Cang County just for Jiang Nian? To give her more time to develop the insect repellent?"
The casual and cold expression on Xiao Yingzhu's face did not change. Qin Lan raised his eyes and met the dark color in the eyes of his long-time friend, as black as ink. His mind was filled with confused thoughts.
——When he asked Xiao Yingzhu just now, Xiao Yingzhu rarely explained the part that he didn't understand. When he listened, he felt that Xiao Yingzhu was rare to be kind.
Now that I think about it carefully, I didn't expect that Xiao Yingzhu wanted to continue explaining and avoid the topic involving Jiang Nian.
However, it did satisfy Xiao Yingzhu's wishes, and his own desire to explore the relationship between Xiao Yingzhu and Jiang Nian was indeed avoided.
Qin Lan lowered the curtain slightly, looked at the invitation in his hand, and nodded with a smile.
Although there was no longer an opportunity to find out Xiao Yingzhu's thoughts during official business, the opportunity sent by Princess Qingping was still there.
A man who never had any contact with women suddenly had a little girl around him, and the little girl was even cooperative.
How could Qin Lan not be curious after breaking two of Xiao Yingzhu's unspoken habits in a row?
Moreover, when he was curious about who was working with Xiao Yingzhu in the teahouse that night, he just brushed it off lightly. Now that the opportunity was combined with the topic he missed last time, Qin Lan naturally had to get to the bottom of it.
Qin Lan put the two invitation letters he had just taken from Ai and Xinfeng on the windowsill. He took out the one inviting Xiao Yingzhu, raised his eyebrows at Xiao Yingzhu, and shook the invitation letter in his hand.
"Princess Qingping's birthday party, are you going?"
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