Xu Yuehuai turned around and saw that it was Anan. She quickly squatted down, patted his head, and said, "What happened? Didn't I tell you to go back and rest? Why didn't you go back to the new district with Zhao Ping?"
“I don’t have any family in the new district, so I thought I’d stay and see if there’s anything I can do to help…” Anan replied, then turned and quickly pulled her along, “Manager Xu, come with me to see something.”
"Okay." Xu Yuehuai smiled and agreed, thinking to herself that it must be another child's prank.
Upon reaching the backyard, Anan took out a bottle from a pile of firewood and said, "Manager Xu, look, someone left this in our shop before. I saw them acting suspiciously, so they hid it."
Xu Yuehuai suddenly realized why the Minister of Revenue had come in high spirits but left disappointed; it turned out that Anan had intercepted his plans.
She took two steps forward, lifted the bucket, and took a look. She found that it was indeed the gutter oil that had been mentioned before.
Xu Yuehuai patted Anan's head and smiled, "Anan, you've done a great job this time. Tell me, how do you want me to reward you?"
Anan, unaware of what had happened, timidly asked, "Is this thing very dangerous?"
"This thing isn't dangerous, but if someone finds out about it, it will be very dangerous," Xu Yuehuai explained patiently.
Anan scratched his head, completely bewildered by Xu Yuehuai's words.
"If you can't figure it out, don't think about it anymore. This is an adult matter. You'll understand when you grow up," Xu Yuehuai said with a smile.
Anan nodded, and Xu Yuehuai stepped forward and pulled him towards the kitchen, saying, "Come on, let's take our little hero to eat something delicious."
As Xu Yuehuai passed through the main hall, worried that the Minister of Revenue might return, she simply closed the door. If she couldn't afford to offend him, she might as well avoid him.
Last time, Anan managed to ruin things, but I won't be so lucky next time. I need to be more careful.
She shook her head, unwilling to think about it anymore, and led Anan to the kitchen to cook him something delicious.
While the two were enjoying their meal in the kitchen, Pei Xuan, whom they hadn't seen in a long time, appeared in Chang'an City.
He had been tasked with dealing with the farming issues of displaced people recently, and had been so busy that he had no time to attend to anything else. He only returned to Chang'an City recently.
She had just seen the imperial edict posted at the city gate and asked the soldiers guarding it, only to find out that such a big thing had happened in the city.
"Qi Guze? Rebellion?" Pei Xuan shook his head, banishing the ridiculous thought from his mind. He would rather believe that pigs could fly than believe this.
He headed straight for Tianxiang Tower, intending to find Xu Yuehuai and ask her how such ridiculous rumors came about.
When he arrived at the entrance of Tianxianglou, he thought he had gone to the wrong place, but the sign above him did not lie; this was indeed Tianxianglou.
However, the place was deserted. Pei Xuan's heart skipped a beat. Could it be that Qi Guze had indeed rebelled?
Tianxianglou was also implicated by him, which is why it's so deserted.
He went up and knocked on the door, but no one answered after a long time. She felt that something was wrong.
But Xu Yuehuai inside actually heard the knocking, but she thought it was the Minister of Revenue returning, so she ignored it.
Pei Xuan, standing outside the door, turned away in disappointment. Not only had he failed to find out anything about Qi Guze, but he had also learned that Tianxiang Tower was closed. He was in a terrible mood.
However, he had only taken two steps after turning around when he ran into the Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister was aware of the Minister of Revenue's methods, but this time he had not received a reply for a long time. He could not wait any longer, so he decided to come and see for himself.
He happened to witness Pei Xuan knocking on the door and no one answered. He felt extremely pleased and thought that the Minister of Revenue had succeeded. He even complained in his heart, "This Minister of Revenue is really outrageous. He didn't even tell me that he had succeeded. He made me come to see for myself."
Pei Xuan gave the Prime Minister a curt greeting and walked past him, wanting nothing more than to know what had happened.
Seeing that Pei Xuan ignored him, the Prime Minister was not annoyed. Without even turning his head, he looked at Tianxiang Tower and said, "What a pity for Tianxiang Tower."
Pei Xuan immediately became interested, took two steps back and walked to the Prime Minister's side, asking, "Does the Prime Minister know anything inside information?"
"I just happen to know," the Prime Minister replied calmly. He was actually hoping Pei Xuan would come and ask so he could take the opportunity to say something bad about Xu Yuehuai. If Pei Xuan was disappointed in Xu Yuehuai, that would be even better.
"Would you mind telling me about it?"
“What’s wrong with that? It’s common knowledge. Tianxianglou is irresponsible to the people. They even use gutter oil for cooking. They deserve to go bankrupt.” The Prime Minister finished speaking and spat on the ground.
Pei Xuan flinched in disgust; he had almost vomited on his shoes.
"Is it because of gutter oil, and not because of anything else?" Pei Xuan didn't quite understand for a moment. She originally thought that Qi Guze had really committed treason, and Tianxianglou had been implicated as a result, but the Prime Minister's words didn't seem to indicate that.
"What else could it be? This kind of shop shouldn't be allowed to stay open." After saying this, the Prime Minister didn't want to stay there any longer and told his servants to leave.
Pei Xuan stopped the Prime Minister and said, "I believe in Manager Xu's character; she would never do such a thing."
The prime minister waved his hand without turning around and said, "It's easy to draw a person or a tiger, but difficult to draw their bones; it's easy to know a person's face, but difficult to know their heart."
After saying that, he didn't argue with Pei Xuan at all, and turned and left.
After getting into the carriage, he muttered to himself, "I wonder what kind of spell Xu Yuehuai has cast on these people. How come they're all so loyal?"
This further solidified his determination to kill Xu Yuehuai.
Pei Xuan watched as the Prime Minister's carriage gradually drove away, and he felt a sense of clarity.
After carefully considering the Prime Minister's words, I roughly figured out the relationship between them.
Since Tianxianglou was not implicated by Qi Guze, it means that the court did not have conclusive evidence to prove Qi Guze's treason. However, some people were convinced of this and therefore took action against Tianxianglou.
After thinking it over, Pei Xuan decided to return to the palace to report back first.
Even as night fell, he couldn't calm down, fearing that something might have happened to Xu Yuehuai and the others. So he went up and knocked on the door again, calling out softly, "Manager Xu, it's me, Pei Xuan. Are you inside? I have something I'd like to discuss with you."
This time, however, no one answered. Helpless, Pei Xuan had no choice but to leave, planning to come back early the next morning to see what the situation was.
But this time, Xu Yuehuai can't be blamed, because she genuinely didn't hear it.
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