Qu Qingxi remained silent, while He Liufeng continued, "He Qinan is the son of Consort Xian. He is seventeen years old this year and has been granted the title of Prince Yan. He lives in the Prince Yan's Mansion and works in the Ministry of Rites as the Minister of Rites. He is considered to be a person with little power."
"During this period, because of Zhou Wenli, the Ministry of Rites was in charge of this matter, and I had a lot of contact with him. I think he is a pretty good person. He is ambitious, and although he doesn't have much real power, he handles things in an orderly manner and is also very good at dealing with people."
"You should have noticed this a long time ago, right?" Qu Qingxi raised an eyebrow at He Liufeng, who didn't seem like someone who acted on a whim.
He always does things with preparation.
"Yes, it was a long time ago, almost ten years of observation. If He Qinan was really faking it, then it proves that he is a very shrewd person, and such a person is suitable for that position."
He Liufeng did not deny it. As a prince, he often accompanied the emperor and knew a thing or two about the emperor's sons. After gradually learning about the crown prince's character, He Liufeng felt that the crown prince was not suitable for the position.
At first, he knew that the Emperor would remove some obstacles for the Crown Prince. At that time, he only thought that the Emperor was doing this because of pressure from the Xu family and the Empress.
He Liufeng never expected that the Emperor genuinely liked the Crown Prince and would even give him the throne.
He deliberately presented everything as if he had no choice but to do so because of the Xu family and the Empress, but in reality, he was making everyone focus all their dissatisfaction on the Xu family and the Empress.
The other concubines, princes, and their supporters all believed that because of the Xu family's existence, the position of crown prince could only belong to He Qi'an. They thought that as long as they helped the emperor defeat the Xu family, the position of crown prince would become vacant, and they could then put their supporters in that position.
However, they were all wrong. They became pawns on the chessboard, while the Emperor was the true mastermind. Xu Ding was the first to awaken to this truth. When he learned that the Emperor had manipulated him and his entire Xu family in this way, Xu Ding was furious.
After his anger subsided, he quickly realized that he didn't want to be a pawn. So, he pretended to support the Crown Prince on the surface, but in reality, he had already begun to make plans for himself and the entire Xu family.
The one who realized it later was He Liufeng. When He Liufeng learned that he had been used by his trusted brother all these years, and that even the poison in his body was given by the emperor, He Liufeng began his counterattack.
"Ten years? That's quite a long time." Qu Qingxi understood.
"Consort Xian's father was Chen Yao, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. He was a low-key person and knew that the Chen family had no ability to compete with the Xu family. Therefore, after Consort Xian gave birth to He Qinan, she never competed or fought for anything. Moreover, when He Qinan was fifteen years old, Consort Xian proposed to the Emperor that he should give He Qinan a title and allow him to live in the capital temporarily until he came of age, and then go to his fiefdom."
The Emperor was naturally willing and quite pleased with Consort Xian's proactive request. Therefore, He Qinan's fiefdom was a relatively prosperous place. Because of Consort Xian's actions, and because He Qinan didn't seem like someone who could accomplish anything great, the Empress and the Crown Prince weren't very wary of them.
Because Consort Xian's maternal family worked for the Ministry of Revenue, the Crown Prince had once tried to win over Consort Xian and He Qinan, but some things happened, and the matter was dropped.
Although He Liufeng didn't say it explicitly, Qu Qingxi understood that He Qinan must have done something to cause this.
He Qinan was unwilling to serve the Crown Prince, yet he also did not want to be his enemy, so he had no choice but to do this.
"By the way, how is Zhou Wenli's injury healing?" Qu Qingxi turned to look at He Liufeng.
"I don't know, but they are already preparing to go back. They will depart in three days."
"What about the return gifts prepared by the Emperor?" Should we hold another banquet to showcase the Ling Kingdom's return gifts?
"The items are all prepared. All we need to do is have someone from the Ministry of Rites read everything aloud on the day they leave, and then let them take them with them."
This is indeed much simpler. Zhou State brought a lot of good things with them, and Ling State's preparations were naturally no less impressive. The process was simple and quite good.
"What about Die Feng? Why hasn't anyone come to the Prince's Mansion to kidnap him? Has Zhou Wenli given up on him?" Qu Qingxi raised her eyebrows. Die Feng knows how to raise Gu, which is a great weapon. Moreover, as far as she knows, people who raise Gu don't leave the mountain easily. Zhou Wenli must have paid a high price to bring him out. It's unlikely that he would just give up like this.
He Liufeng chuckled upon hearing this, "Zhou Wenli has already sent many people over, but they haven't found where Die Feng is being held yet."
"He's leaving soon, so they should be sending more people over the next few days."
"I've strengthened the guards over there, and we won't let Zhou Wenli take the person away easily." He Liufeng gave Qu Qingxi a reassuring look.
"Did the people who interrogated him find out what to do about the Gu worms on Zhou Chenguang's body?" Although she could alleviate the Gu worms on Zhou Chenguang's body with silver needles, this was not a long-term solution. The Gu worms on Zhou Chenguang's body had to be removed.
"Die Feng's side is almost done, but he said that a few things are needed to remove the Gu, and he asked us to prepare them. Also, he said that he originally had a red Gu worm on his body, and he wants us to return it to him in order to make the antidote."
Knowing that Zhou Wenli would be leaving soon, He Liufeng also ordered his men to intensify their interrogation of Die Feng. Die Feng's greatest reliance was his Gu worms, but all the Gu worms on his body had been searched out, and his martial arts skills were not high, so he agreed to everything without the use of many torture instruments.
He Liufeng was worried that he was playing tricks, so he sent his men to ask Qu Qingxi. When Qu Qingxi said this, it meant that his men had not yet told Qu Qingxi about this.
"A red Gu worm?" Qu Qingxi pondered for a moment, indicating that she understood. The red Gu worm that Die Feng mentioned should be the mother Gu that Die Feng had painstakingly cultivated. A person can only cultivate one mother Gu in their lifetime.
Seeing the importance of the mother Gu, Qu Qingxi nodded gently, "I understand about this matter, and I will make the arrangements. However, what about Zhou Chenguang? He shouldn't be able to stay here, right?"
Mentioning Zhou Chenguang, Qu Qingxi frowned. This was no small matter; she had almost forgotten about it.
“It’s definitely not appropriate to hand it over to Zhou Wenli. I’ll think about it some more.” He Liufeng hadn’t yet figured out how to handle the matter.
Giving it to Xu Yanyan won't work, keeping it here won't work either, and giving it to Zhou Wenli is definitely not an option.
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