"You just came back from the capital? How is the situation there?"
In the study room of the Prince of Xiangyang's mansion, the Prince of Xiangyang, dressed in brocade, sat upright in a chair and asked his confidant Liu Qiang who was standing opposite him. xs520.
Liu Qiang stepped forward, lowered his head and said in a deep voice: "Your Highness, the situation... seems to be somewhat out of your control."
"What do you mean?" The King of Xiangyang immediately clenched his hands on the table into fists, and there was a hint of anger in his slightly nervous question. What he hated and feared the most was things getting out of control, because what he was about to do was something fatal, and getting out of control often meant failure and death.
"After the Emperor fainted once, there has been no movement since then. Two months ago, the Crown Prince also fainted once, but within three days, the Emperor sent Duan Tingxuan, the son of the Marquis of Anping, to supervise the Crown Prince's training. It is said that the wife of the Marquis of Anping is good at cooking. With her wonderful cooking skills, the Crown Prince no longer likes to eat meat for every meal. The Marquis of Anping supervised the Crown Prince's training. Before I left the capital, I saw the Crown Prince from a distance. He was thinner than the last time I saw him..."
Liu Qiang was talking in a deep voice. Before he could finish, he heard a "bang". King Xiangyang slammed his fist on the table. Then he stood up in anger and said with gritted teeth: "This boy is despicable. I have been planning for twenty years. Is it possible that everything will be ruined by him? No, I will not allow it. I will never allow it."
Liu Qiang was silent. After listening to the prince's heavy breathing, he asked in a deep voice, "Prince, what should we do now?"
Prince Xiangyang kept silent with a sullen face, and Liu Qiang did not dare to disturb his thoughts. After a long while, he saw his expression gradually calm down. He raised his head and said in a cold voice: "Duan Tingxuan's wife. Is she the woman who made the birthday cake?"
"Yes." Liu Qiang nodded, thinking that the news spread very quickly, even the prince knew about the wife of the Prince of Anping.
"I can't believe that Duke Ping's family is finished, but his daughter shows up. Wasn't it said before that she had been abandoned by the Duan family? I thought she was dead." Prince Xiangyang muttered indignantly.
Your Majesty, now is not the time to talk about this, right? Liu Qiang was secretly worried in his heart. He quickly added: "I don't know how she won the favor of Master Duan again. But this woman is not simple now. She rarely goes out, but she has the final say in the mansion. I heard that the Master listens to her and the Emperor and Empress also like her very much. The herbal tea and ice cream she made are popular in the capital. The most puzzling thing is that I don't know how she can cook those vegetarian dishes. Not only the Prince, but also the Emperor has always loved meat, but he praised her vegetarian dishes very much. Now he even drinks porridge and eats pickles in the morning..."
With a "dong" sound, the King of Xiangyang slammed his fist on the table again, his eyes full of murderous intent, and he said word by word: "In that case, this woman cannot be kept."
"What does the prince mean?"
"Find someone to kill her." King Xiangyang said coldly.
"But she seldom goes out." Liu Qiang didn't mean to make things difficult, he was just stating a fact.
"Then wait. I don't believe she can stay at home for her whole life. If that doesn't work, then find a way to create opportunities. For this kind of thing, you don't need me to give you advice, right?"
"Yes, I will complete the task." Liu Qiang was startled and bowed to assure him. But the King of Xiangyang hesitated and said, "Wait, let me think about it." He paced a few steps in the room, then suddenly stopped and whispered, "You mean? Duan Tingxuan obeys this woman's orders?"
"Yes, that's what my informant in the Marquis's Mansion said. He also said that for this woman, the prince even ignored his two most beautiful concubines."
"Duan Tingxuan is a man who is always ruthless and cunning. If he really values this woman, killing her will only arouse his boundless anger. He is deeply trusted by the emperor and the prince. I don't know what kind of storm he will stir up when he is angry. It may be disadvantageous to us."
Seeing that the prince was hesitating and seemed to want to change his mind, but was too embarrassed to say it, Liu Qiang quickly stepped forward and said, "Your Highness is wise. I also think that this matter needs to be reconsidered."
Prince Xiangyang nodded calmly: "In this case, think of a way to trick her out and tie her up, so that Duan Tingxuan will be afraid of the consequences. Maybe she can help us do two things."
"Your Majesty is wise. I will give the order right away." Liu Qiang gave a thumbs up, flattering him from the bottom of his heart. Just as he was about to turn around, he heard the King of Xiangyang say again: "Of course, the more bargaining chips, the better. If we can also tie up the old ancestor in the Marquis's Mansion, the effect should be even better."
Liu Qiang, who had just turned around, almost stumbled and fell to the ground: Do you want to kidnap the old lady? My Lord, I am not as greedy as you are, okay? But how dare I say this? I had to take a deep breath and said, "My Lord, the old lady is not able to move around easily, so it may not be easy for her to travel."
"If we can't kidnap the old man, we can kidnap the Marquis's wife. She is Duan Tingxuan's biological mother. He can't just ignore her, right? By then, his beautiful wife, concubines and mother will be in our hands. Are we afraid that he will not obey our orders?"
This mission was still very difficult, but it was at least a little easier than kidnapping the old lady in the mansion. Liu Qiang didn't dare to find any more excuses. He knew that the prince was not a very good-tempered person. It was very rare that he could control himself and not kill people.
Walking out of the study, Liu Qiang looked up at the starry sky, let out a long sigh, and began to seriously think about how to plan the whole thing.
"Time flies so fast. In the blink of an eye, it's already autumn."
In Chunfeng Garden, Aunt Jing and Aunt Lin sat with Su Nuannuan under the grape trellis, chatting casually.
"It's still hot in autumn." Su Nuannuan fanned herself with a round fan and murmured. But Aunt Lin smiled and said, "There is still a hot summer after autumn. Besides, it's a given. It's going to be hot for ten days or half a month."
"Finally, it will be over in another ten days or half a month." Su Nuannuan sighed, but heard Aunt Jing laugh and said, "This summer, with the ice cream made by my sister, it will be much better than usual."
Su Nuannuan rolled her eyes: "That's easy to say, but I have to work hard to make the ice cream." After that, Aunt Lin said: "That's true, grandma, why don't you let the kitchen do it? You can save some trouble."
Su Nuannuan said dejectedly, "Don't mention it. The first and second masters are obsessed with money. Aren't they going to make a big move in the capital soon? They don't allow me to give the recipe to anyone, and the Xue family's wife doesn't allow me to do it either. I'm so tired. I'm so angry. If it weren't for the money to be shared, I wouldn't have endured this hardship."
Aunt Jing and Aunt Xu couldn't help laughing. Aunt Jing said, "Sister, what you said shows that you are also obsessed with money. Otherwise, why would you care about what Master and Second Master do?"
Su Nuannuan was exposed and immediately shouted angrily: "Don't tell the truth. This is the rule of my Chunfeng Garden. How dare you disobey it? It's a blessing."
With a shout, the big cat came over, meowing and jumping onto Su Nuannuan. Su Nuannuan was so anxious that she quickly picked him up and put Zhaocai on Aunt Jing, saying repeatedly, "Warm her up, warm her up. I don't need you right now."
"Zhaocai seems to have gained some weight." Aunt Jing gently picked up Zhaocai. It was obvious that she loved pets very much. She would even pick up the Persian cat at Shi Yurou's house and stroke its fur when she saw it.
"Isn't it? But fortunately, he is more agile than before, otherwise he would have died at the hands of your grandfather. He is really a foodie. If someone dares to steal his food, well! It's okay for the old lady and me, he can't hit people, but Zhaocai is a cat. Every day when he comes back, my Chunfeng Garden is lively. The man and the cat fight each other for a lot of fun."
Aunt Jing smiled and said, "Grandma is still complaining. The other day I heard Grandma Lan and Grandma Yun say that they might as well raise a cat. They thought that when Grandpa comes to Chunfeng Garden every day, besides the delicious food, it can also bring him wealth."
Su Nuannuan smiled and said, "Feed them as much as you want. When the time comes, all of them can come to my place and let your master fight against several cats alone. I don't know who will win or lose. The Persian cat in the second room is useless. It dares not breathe when it sees Zhaocai, let alone your master."
As they were talking and laughing, they saw Duan Xinqi walk in. Aunt Lin stood up and asked, "Why did you come just now? It took you so long to change your clothes?"
"No, I met Grandma Hua when I came here. She pulled me aside and talked to me about some boring things for a while." Duan Xinqi's face turned red, so several people knew what kind of boring things she said. Su Nuannuan smiled and said, "Our second daughter is very popular now. I heard that several groups of people have come to inquire about the old lady and the wife. Do you have a favorite candidate in mind?"
Duan Xinqi's face turned even redder, and she stamped her feet and said, "Sister-in-law is teasing me again. I won't talk to you anymore." After that, she turned around, picked up Zhaocai and sat aside. Aunt Lin here expressed her gratitude, "Thanks to grandma's support that day, the child has finally waited for this day. I was worried that she would end up in a different family for the rest of her life. The other day, the master came to me and said that among the families that we are trying to get information from, there are two good ones..."
Before she could finish, she heard Duan Xinqi calling again, so she smiled and said, "Okay, okay, I won't say any more. Let me ask you, what is Hua Dao Po doing here?"
"She said she came to see Madam Min. She said a few days ago that she wanted to offer lamps." Duan Xinqi agreed casually, and suddenly said, "By the way, have my sister-in-law and aunt heard about it? The suburbs of Beijing have been in turmoil recently. Several villages have been robbed. They said it was bandits. I wonder how bandits dare to be so arrogant under the feet of the emperor?"
Su Nuannuan smiled and said, "Your elder brother told me about this when he came back. Don't worry, they won't be so arrogant for a few days. The Dali Temple and the Ministry of Justice have joined forces, and the emperor has mobilized the imperial army from the Beijing camp to deal with these bandits. Humph! In my opinion, it's a good thing they didn't come to the capital. If they had, they would have been caught in a trap."
Aunt Jing said, "The capital may not be peaceful. There has been an obvious increase in thefts and robberies these days. I wonder what's going on? It's still a long way to the New Year, why can't these thieves hold back?"
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