Qin Kou'er coldly watched as all the men in black left the ancestral hall before turning to Lan Linxue and asking in a deep voice, "Are all these people the Fifth Prince's subordinates?"
Lan Linxue looked at Qin Kou'er, then suddenly gave a mocking, wicked smile, and lazily walked to a chair and sat down: "What? Fifth Master's reputation is so great that you can't believe what you're seeing? Hehe, Qin Kou'er, if you really believe those rumors, then I really overestimate you!"
Qin Kou'er remained silent and slowly walked over to sit down next to Lan Linxue.
Qin Kou'er's knowledge of the Fifth Prince, Lan Xiuyuan, was definitely not based on hearsay. Of the Lan brothers, excluding Lan Linxue, only Lan Xiuyuan had garnered Qin Kou'er's special attention.
Lan Xiuyuan is the grandson of Hu Tianyong, the current prime minister, and he and Hu Feifan are cousins.
This man was learned and knowledgeable, yet humble and cautious—a paragon among men, a gentleman among flowers. He dredged rivers and repaired dikes, widely accepted good advice, revered ancient customs, and was skilled in both literature and martial arts.
Qin Kou'er didn't hear about Lan Xiuyuan's various deeds from others; she learned them through her own investigation.
Once, Qin Kou'er thought with a bit of dismay that compared to Lan Xiuyuan, Lan Linxue was like the sun and moon compared to a firefly. But she was blind to the fact that she chose to extinguish a spark of fire, simply because this spark had a nice-sounding name: Crown Prince.
But if those people really were the Fifth Prince Lan Xiuyuan's men, then Qin Kou'er might really have to gouge out her own eyes.
"Do you think they'll really carry out their talk of massacring the village?" Qin Kou'er stared intently at Lan Linxue and asked gravely, "Massacring the village is meaningless if they can't find anyone to do it!"
Lan Linxue stood up and looked at Qin Kou'er, speaking each word with an even colder gaze: "At least the dead won't know who their target really is! Lan Xiuyuan is meticulous in his work, preferring to kill the innocent rather than let the guilty go free! Qin Kou'er, a person can't leave behind only a good reputation and no bad one without some ruthless methods! Now you know why Lan Xiuyuan is praised by so many people, right?"
Lan Linxue gently approached Qin Kou'er and whispered dangerously and seductively, "Because anyone who wanted to curse him was already gone before they even opened their mouth!"
Qin Kou'er frowned as she looked at Lan Linxue. "You sound a little envious?"
Lan Linxue immediately tossed her head proudly, "Envious? Lan Xiuyuan? Hehe, you really overestimate a toad and mistake it for a frog! I don't even need a reason to kill someone, so who do you think would envy whom?! However, it's actually quite interesting to have a hypocrite and a villain like Lan Xiuyuan as an opponent!"
"This is not the time for fun!" Although Qin Kou'er was mentally prepared for the power struggles between these princes, she still couldn't help but feel annoyed upon actually experiencing it, and a hint of disgust appeared on her face. "Do you have any ideas about the massacre of the village?"
Lan Linxue immediately glared at me, "Why are you asking me? It's Lan Xiuyuan who's going to kill someone. This area, let alone fifty miles, is your territory, even a hundred miles around. You want to save people, and Lan Xiuyuan wants to kill someone, so why are you asking me? I never like to meddle in things that don't concern me!"
As he spoke, Grandpa Lan crossed his legs in a very serious manner and started shaking them.
Qin Kou'er stared at Lan Linxue, wishing she could bite him to death. Everything was caused by him, but now this old man is doing just that, completely uninvolved! Instead, he pushed her and Lan Xiuyuan into the mess.
Qin Kou'er turned her head angrily, no longer looking at Lan Linxue, and asked Qu Feng'er, "Are our sentries all ready?"
"They've never retreated! Are we going to stop them halfway?" Qu Feng'er asked calmly.
Qin Kou'er thought for a moment, then shook her head. "Let them pass. We'll take action once they reach the village. Remember, don't kill them all. Arrest them all. Make the wounds look like they were inflicted by the villagers. Treat them like robbers. Don't interrogate them! Just lock them up!"
"yes!"
Qin Kou'er had her own plans. Before the Fifth Prince arrived in Yangzhou, she didn't want to make an enemy of someone whose background she couldn't figure out. Moreover, this Fifth Prince was the presiding judge in Shi Mengjian's case. Before he revealed his hand, she would absolutely not make the first move, otherwise she would only face certain death.
"Why lock them up instead of killing them?"
Lan Linxue was very dissatisfied with Qin Kou'er's decision, and he stared at Qin Kou'er with some annoyance.
His original plan was to make Qin Kou'er and Lan Xiuyuan become enemies, so that even if Qin Kou'er occasionally became infatuated, she would definitely not be seduced by that wicked Lan Xiuyuan.
Thinking of Lan Xiuyuan's alluring eyes, Lan Linxue felt a surge of hatred. Even the most clueless women in the palace could be driven to suicide by his smile, let alone a fickle woman like Qin Kou'er.
Therefore, no matter what precautions we take, we must be wary of Lan Xiuyuan!
Thinking of this, Lan Linxue suddenly stood up, grabbed Qin Kou'er's hand, and said very seriously, "It's almost dawn! I'm hungry! I want to eat steamed buns!"
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