After saying this, Xu Yuehuai realized her slip of the tongue.
Perhaps if I hadn't brought up Zhao Yinfang, the King of Mingyue Kingdom might have considered him. But now that I've mentioned it, people might misunderstand and think that I have some kind of relationship with Zhao Yinfang.
She subconsciously glanced at the King of Mingyue's face, and sure enough, his face had darkened.
"Miss Xu and Lord Fang seem to be acquainted?" the King of Mingyue Kingdom asked.
Although his expression remained calm, a hint of wariness was still evident in his eyes.
The Mingyue Kingdom and the Central Plains are both eyeing each other covetously. Even with the current barter system, it still arouses suspicion. If Zhao Yinfang, as a courtier of the Mingyue Kingdom, maintains close ties with people from the Central Plains, his career will be over.
"Your Majesty is joking. He has the blood of the Central Plains in his veins, so naturally he is closer to others than others. However, he is fighting for the Mingyue Kingdom after all, and his relationship with the little princess is not closer than that with me." Xu Yuehuai had no choice but to bring up the little princess.
The King of Mingyue nodded, but distrust remained in his eyes.
However, after thinking it over, he still spoke up: "If that's the case, then Lord Fang understands the situation in the Central Plains better than others, so it seems most suitable to entrust this matter to him."
"Tomorrow, I will issue an order to have him take over General Maimaiti's responsibilities in this matter."
His words finally put Xu Yuehuai's mind at ease.
Just as Xu Yuehuai was about to turn and leave, the King of Mingyue Kingdom called out to her again: "Miss Xu, you are a woman of intelligence. I wonder if you have any plans to stay in Mingyue Kingdom? Now that the Regent is gone, you should find another place to stay."
"Does the king mean to arrange a marriage for me?" Xu Yuehuai joked.
The king nodded: "Although Lord Fang is a courtier of the Mingyue Kingdom, he has the blood of the Central Plains in his bones. I think you and I can get along well. My youngest daughter also likes you. If you can stay because of this, I will definitely give you the highest honor."
"No need," Xu Yuehuai shook her head.
“I still have my shops and my family in Chang’an. I can’t just leave them like this. I appreciate the king’s kindness, but as for Lord Zhao’s marriage, let’s make other plans.”
She turned and left after she finished speaking.
Behind her, the King of Mingyue watched her departing figure, but couldn't help but fall into deep thought.
The next day, the king indeed replaced the person in charge of the "barter" program. Maimaiti originally wanted to use this incident to embarrass the Central Plains, but he did not expect that it would benefit Zhao Yinfang so much.
Zhao Yin was also bewildered, but since the king had given the order, he could only accept it.
However, because of this, Zhao Yinfang was able to openly associate with Xu Yuehuai and others.
...
Jiang Shichen had a dream late at night. He was happy to see Anan, but then he was terrified and broke out in a cold sweat. Anan's upper body was fine, but his lower body had been tortured beyond recognition.
He suddenly woke up, took several deep breaths but couldn't calm down, and ran to Zhou Wan's room while wiping away his tears.
Hearing the commotion, Zhou Wan quickly ushered the man inside, held him in her arms, and listened to him finish recounting his dream. She sighed and patted his head.
"Ah... could Anan be dead? Otherwise, why would she appear in my dream?" Jiang Shichen sobbed, speaking haltingly.
Hearing this, Zhou Wan felt extremely sad and could only pat his head to comfort him. After speaking, she suddenly remembered the Duke of Zhenguo and prepared to take Jiang Shichen there to check on the situation.
She left without hesitation, pulling Jiang Shichen towards the door. Just as they reached the main hall, they bumped into Third Sister.
"Zhou Wan? Where are you going so late?" San Niang looked at the tear stains on their faces and realized that something seemed wrong.
Zhou Wan took a few deep breaths and told him everything about Jiang Shichen's nightmare and her plan to take him to the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion to check on things.
After listening, Third Sister pondered for a while and then closed the door.
"Third Sister, what's wrong?" Zhou Wan asked, somewhat puzzled, her brows furrowing slightly.
“Zhou Wan, we shouldn’t always rely on the Duke of Zhenguo to help us. He has already done more than enough by helping me once or twice because of Manager Xu. If we keep bothering him, it will make us seem like we don’t know the proper etiquette,” Third Sister said earnestly.
After hearing this, Zhou Wan immediately understood and sat down on the stool, unsure of what to do. Jiang Shichen then called out softly, "Anan..."
For a moment, no one spoke. After a while, it was Third Sister who broke the silence first.
“I remember, it’s Ningyuan Marquis’s son’s birthday soon. He will definitely have a big celebration. We can sneak in and see what’s going on, and see if we can find any clues.”
Zhou Wan and Jiang Shichen both looked up after hearing this; Third Sister's suggestion was indeed quite good.
But she soon ran into another problem: "Third Sister, it sounds simple, but I'm afraid we might not be able to get in. Besides, the entire Ningyuan Marquis's mansion is probably just waiting for us to walk into their trap."
She shook her head as she spoke.
Although they wanted to find out Anan's whereabouts as soon as possible, they couldn't be so reckless.
“There are only a few reputable restaurants in Chang’an, and our skills are top-notch. Even if it’s just to give face to their Marquis’s family, they will definitely let us go. Don’t worry,” Third Sister quickly reassured her.
Zhou Wan and Jiang Shichen exchanged a glance; at the moment, they had no better choice than this path.
...
In order to facilitate communication between the two countries, Zhao Yinfang spent the whole night researching information from books and even went to the site to investigate. He then rushed to the palace early the next morning to tell Xu Yuehuai all his findings.
Xu Yuehuai examined it closely and couldn't help but sneer: "If it weren't for the change of personnel, we could never have made this 'barter' deal happen even if we tried for thousands of years."
"What's wrong?" Qi Guze asked in surprise, and picked up the things.
Zhao Yinfang trusted Xu Yuehuai enough, but when he saw a stranger, a woodcutter, casually taking these things to look at, he couldn't help but frown and reach out to stop him.
Xu Yuehuai was stunned for a moment before she reacted and said with a smile, "Lord Zhao, don't worry, this is a prince. It's just that we have General Maimaiti's spies here, so we can only let him disguise himself."
At this point, Zhao Yin realized his lapse in composure and couldn't help but scratch his head: "Your Highness, I didn't recognize you."
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