Upon hearing this, Lord Shen, fearing he would lose the protection of Marquis Ningyuan, quickly tried to smooth things over: "Your Majesty, why don't you let Lord Pei take this money to the disaster relief first, and let Marquis Ningyuan figure out the rest?"
The emperor remained expressionless and showed no intention of speaking.
"Your Majesty, just as Lord Pei said, disaster relief is more important right now." He quickly pressed on while the iron was hot.
Although Pei Xuan was unwilling to let Ningyuan Marquis off so easily, at this critical juncture, he had no choice but to choose the path of disaster relief. Thus, Ningyuan Marquis breathed a sigh of relief.
...
After returning to his residence, Marquis Ningyuan still couldn't swallow his anger.
For so many years, he had been fed and clothed by the imperial court without ever having any problems, but then Pei Xuan suddenly appeared out of nowhere and almost ruined his plans.
He threw the teacup beside him heavily: "Where is Xu Mingzhi?!"
"Reporting to Your Excellency, we haven't seen Lord Xu recently, and we don't know where he's gone," the servant replied respectfully.
"Find him! I need to see him within an hour." Marquis Ningyuan gave a death order, naturally because the Emperor had taken away his silver. The wealth he had worked hard for for most of his life had been given away in one fell swoop. Although it was used for disaster relief, he could not swallow this insult.
Pei Xuan is now the Minister of Disaster Relief appointed by the Emperor, so he is naturally untouchable. Qi Guze, who is on good terms with him, is also missing and his fate is unknown. So, only Tianxiang Tower, which he covets, remains.
He was determined to join forces with Xu Mingzhi to take over Tianxianglou and vent his anger.
An hour passed quietly, and Xu Mingzhi was indeed found by the people of the Ningyuan Marquis's residence, who hurriedly came to the residence.
"My lord, you wanted to see me?" he asked respectfully, bowing.
"Now that Xu Yuehuai has gone to the Underworld Moon Kingdom, Tianxiang Tower is leaderless. Now is a good time to take over Tianxiang Tower. Do you have any countermeasures?" Marquis Ningyuan asked.
Xu Mingzhi was speechless for a moment.
He was afraid that Marquis Ningyuan would talk to him about this, so he had been hiding far away, but he didn't expect to be found by someone anyway.
He can't even get into Tianxiang Tower right now, what can he do?
He sighed and said, "My lord, it's not that I don't want to take action, but the Duke of Zhenguo has surrounded the area three layers deep, and I really have no choice."
Xu Mingzhi was determined to give up.
Anyway, I'm already an official now. Even if I can't complete the task given to me by Marquis Ningyuan, I'm still an official, so there's no need to be afraid.
"If you can't do it, then go and find a solution for me." Marquis Ningyuan threw the teacup in his hand at him. "Let me tell you, without Tianxianglou, I will never give you and your son any more food. You'd better think it over."
Xu Mingzhi didn't take these words to heart.
He didn't believe that Marquis Ningyuan would really abandon him.
Xu Yuehuai sent the little princess to the palace, but unexpectedly, she was stopped as soon as she entered the palace gate.
Maimaiti rushed over and, upon seeing the scene, said, "So it turns out that Manager Xu has kidnapped the little princess. Come on, subdue her!"
"What are you going to do?" Xu Yuehuai asked calmly.
"What am I doing? You kidnapped our princess and you still want to ask me what I'm doing?" Maimaiti said with a sneer.
"Which eye of yours saw that I kidnapped the little princess? Besides, even if I did kidnap her, why would I send her back? Lord Maimaiti, you are really trying to frame me." Xu Yuehuai said calmly. Although she was surrounded by guards from the Mingyue Kingdom, she naturally had nothing to hide and was not afraid of being accused.
“Stop trying to outwit me,” Maimaiti said with a wave of his hand. “You kidnapped the little princess, but you didn’t expect us to react so quickly. All the roads were blocked off in an instant, so you had nowhere to escape. Naturally, you had no choice but to send her back and put on a good show of feigning indifference to clear your name. You really played a clever game.”
"Brilliant!" Xu Yuehuai clapped her hands after listening and said, "Lord Maimaiti's thinking is truly unique."
"Having handled so many cases, analyzing the suspect's motives is just routine for me." Maimaiti didn't catch the sarcasm in Xu Yuehuai's words and actually thought she was praising him.
"Maimaiti, what nonsense are you talking about?" The little princess did indeed jump off her horse and pointed at his nose.
“Little princess, why are you speaking up for the people who kidnapped you?” Maimaiti hurriedly said to her.
"Pah! Who said Sister Xu was the one who kidnapped me? Let's see who said that!" The little princess stood in front of Xu Yuehuai, hands on her hips, and asked.
“Everyone says so…” Maimaiti glanced at the gazes of those around him, but his expression froze instantly, and his voice naturally grew softer and softer.
Everyone lowered their heads after seeing his gaze, because from the way he addressed her as "little princess," it was clear that Xu Yuehuai was definitely not the one who kidnapped her.
"Who? I only heard you say that, slandering the person who sent me back to the palace. I think you're the one with malicious intentions." The little princess also glanced around, and finally her gaze fell on Maimaiti, and she immediately put a big accusation on him.
"Please forgive me, Your Highness. I was too hasty and saw everyone as a bandit." Seeing that things were not going well, Maimaiti immediately lowered his posture and begged for forgiveness.
The little princess ignored him and led Xu Yuehuai and his entourage into the palace. Maimaiti, who was behind them, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and spat at their backs.
Inside the imperial city.
The king was gazing at the portrait of the little princess with tears in his eyes when suddenly a joyful voice came from behind him.
"Your Majesty, the little princess has returned."
"What?"
He was terrified and ran out without even wiping away his tears, hugging the little princess and sighing with emotion.
"My little darling, you're finally back."
"You can't go running around like that again next time, you've been worrying me to death."
"You've got some nerve! You actually dared to sneak out of the palace. If I don't teach you a lesson today, what will you do when you grow up?"
...
The king spoke with a distinct tone, and looking at Xu Yuehuai, he couldn't help but chuckle softly.
That's when he noticed Xu Yuehuai.
...
To Xu Mingzhi's utter surprise, for three consecutive days after that day, Marquis Ningyuan really did not feed them, and even took all the servants away.
Xu Jingui had long been accustomed to a life of luxury, and he simply couldn't bear the thought of being without anyone to serve him.
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