Chapter 664: Killing Two Birds with One Stone
On August 14, Yan Zhigao and Mrs. Li took Yan Wenxiu and his wife and Daohua to the provincial government and stayed at the Li family. On August 15, they went to the Yuan family at a moderate pace.
After arriving at the Yuan family, Mrs. Yuan was quite enthusiastic towards Mrs. Li and took the initiative to chat with Mrs. Li and other female relatives.
This was the first time Han Xinran went out to visit friends after marrying into the Yan family. After Madam Li introduced her to everyone, Daohua accompanied her throughout the trip to meet the wives of other officials.
Daohua basically knew all the female relatives of provincial officials. After taking Han Xinran for a walk, she recognized almost all of them.
"Sister Su."
Daohua brought Han Xinran to the Su family's female relatives and whispered in her ear, "Sister Su and my fourth brother are already engaged."
Hearing this, Han Xinran immediately smiled at Su Shiyu and showed her kindness: "Miss Su."
Su Shiyu also returned the greeting warmly: "Grandma Yan."
Both of them secretly looked at each other, and when they saw that the other party was easy to talk to, they couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
In a family, the relationship between sisters-in-law is also very important.
Afterwards, the three of them found a pavilion to sit down. Daohua and Su Shiyu introduced to Han Xinran the relationships of the various families that came to the banquet.
When the three of them were talking excitedly, Yuan Zhilei came over with a few girls: "Miss Su, Grandma Yan, Miss Yan, what are you talking about? Why are you so happy?"
Daohua smiled and said, "I was just saying that the snacks and mooncakes your family prepared today are delicious."
Yuan Zhilei smiled and said, "Really? I'm so happy that you like me." Then she sat in the pavilion with the other girls.
After everyone chatted for a while, Yuan Zhilei saw the topaz sunflower hairpin on Daohua's head and couldn't help but take a closer look. She smiled and said, "The hairpin on Miss Yan's head is really unique."
Daohua smiled and said, "Thank you."
The girl from the Chief Justice's family took a look and smiled faintly, "I think it's okay. Although topaz is rare, you can still find it if you look hard enough."
Yuan Zhilei smiled and said, "I think it's unique, not because of the topaz, but because of the carved flower shape."
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone's eyes fell on Daohua.
Yuan Zhilei went on to explain, "We rarely see sunflower patterns on jewelry. But when I saw Miss Yan wearing it today, I thought it looked pretty nice."
As he said this, he looked at the rice flowers.
"Miss Yan, why did you want to carve the hairpin into the shape of a sunflower?"
Daohua smiled faintly and said, "There's no special reason, I just like it."
Yuan Zhilei smiled and said, "Sunflowers weren't common in the past. I only know about them because there's a Sunflower Villa on Tangyu Mountain in Beijing. Last June, I was lucky enough to see sunflowers blooming all over the mountain. I still remember that magnificent scene vividly."
At this time, Han Xinran continued, "I know about that villa too. What we usually see are mostly plum orchards and peach orchards. Scenery like a sea of sunflowers is rare."
Yuan Zhilei nodded: "Isn't it? I also heard that there is a beautiful legend circulating in this Sunflower Villa."
"What legend?"
Seeing everyone looking at her eagerly, Yuan Zhilei smiled and said, "Legend has it that the sunflowers all over the mountain were planted by a handsome young man as a gift for his beloved, just to make her smile."
"real?"
Many girls showed longing looks.
Daohua listened and couldn't help but curl the corners of her mouth.
Yuan Zhilei saw Daohua laughing and asked, "Why is Miss Yan laughing?"
Daohua put away her smile and said seriously, "I just think that the young man in the legend is quite romantic."
Su Shiyu glanced at the rice flowers. She remembered that Yi Yi seemed to have given the little prince a sea of sunflowers.
Is she bragging?
Yuan Zhilei: "It's indeed quite romantic, but some people also say that it was planted by a master to please his wife. Anyway, there have been rumors about Sunflower Villa for a long time, and it's hard to tell which ones are true and which ones are false."
"Many people are asking about the owner of the villa, hoping to go in and enjoy the beautiful scenery up close. Unfortunately, Sunflower Villa, like the Four Seasons Villa next door, is mysterious, and it's impossible to find out who the owner is."
Hearing this, Daohua raised her eyebrows and asked tentatively, "Are the two villas very famous?"
Yuan Zhilei smiled and nodded. "Of course. Sunflower Villa is okay, and it's only known among people who like to appreciate flowers. Four Seasons Villa is much more famous."
As he said this, he looked at Han Xinran.
"I wonder if Grandma Yan has ever tasted the fruits and vegetables produced at Four Seasons Villa?"
Han Xinran smiled and said, "I have eaten it before, but only very rarely. Every time, the servants in the mansion had to go and queue up early, and most of the time, they couldn't even buy it."
Yuan Zhilei looked regretful. "It's the same thing at my house. When the tomatoes came out last year, I wanted to eat them so badly. But unfortunately, from the time they were on the market to the time they were off the market, I only managed to eat three."
"I heard that King Rui also likes eating tomatoes very much. He once revealed his identity in a store and wanted to buy more tomatoes, but unfortunately he was rejected."
Daohua interrupted, "Are the things grown at Four Seasons Villa so popular?"
Yuan Zhilei and Han Xinran nodded in unison.
Yuan Zhilei continued, "The reason Four Seasons Villa is so famous is mainly because the crops grown there are very high-yielding. Everyone who bought seeds and planted them back home has proven this."
Daohua added, "Since we've already bought the seeds, there's no need to scramble for the fruits and vegetables produced at the villa, right?"
Yuan Zhilei shook her head. "At first, everyone went there for the taste, but later on, they went for the reputation. I don't know when it started, but everyone started taking pride in being able to eat at Four Seasons Fruit and Vegetable Shop."
Han Xinran nodded, also looking confused.
Daohua was happy. She knew that the two shops in the capital were doing good business, and Qin Xiaoliu had mentioned this many times in his letters, but she didn't expect them to be so famous.
And that guy Xiao Yeyang is really willing to use such a nice villa to grow sunflowers. He is such a spendthrift.
Everyone was talking about various interesting stories, and the atmosphere was quite harmonious. After a while, there was a noise in the distance. Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and found that the women from the Jiang and Guo families had arrived.
When Daohua saw Mrs. Jiang and her daughter arriving, her eyes flashed and a sneer appeared at the corner of her mouth, but it quickly disappeared.
As soon as Mrs. Jiang arrived, she started to make some sarcastic remarks about Mrs. Li, making the situation a little awkward for a while.
Mrs. Yuan stood aside and watched, with no intention of smoothing things over.
Daohua watched this scene with a hint of coldness in her eyes.
Han Xinran looked worried and wanted to go to her mother-in-law, but was stopped by Daohua.
"It's okay, Mom can handle it."
Looking at Daohua's cold eyes, Han Xinran felt a tightness in her heart for some reason, and immediately decided to stay with her. Her mother-in-law would not act impulsively, but her sister-in-law might not.
The Jiang family is powerful and influential, and the Yan family cannot compete head-on with them.
Soon, it was lunch time.
Just as everyone was about to sit down to eat, there was a commotion in the front yard.
Seeing the jade seal with a dragon button falling out of Councillor Jiang's arms, everyone present changed their expressions drastically, and the eyelids of the host, Minister Yuan, twitched violently.
The jade seal with a dragon knob is the token of the Eighth King, but it fell out of the arms of Chiang Kai-shek. What does this mean?
The Yuan family's staff looked solemn. After a moment's thought, they quickly said to the Governor Yuan, "Master, quickly order the arrests. Otherwise, our Yuan family will also be implicated in the Eight Princes' gang."
Governor Yuan hesitated: "But the Jiang family."
The staff member quickly said, "The master is following the rules. How to punish Jiang is up to the emperor."
Yuan Buzheng looked at Jiang Canzheng angrily. Even if this guy wanted to get involved with the Eight Princes, he should not let him know. In order to avoid getting into trouble with the Jiang family, he had concealed the assassin's involvement with Jiang Canzheng before. But today...
Almost all the officials from the Zhongzhou provincial government have arrived, so he can't hide it even if he wants to!
Yuan Shizhi gritted his teeth and said, "Come here, arrest Jiang the Minister of Justice."
When Jiang Canzheng, bewildered by the jade dragon seal, heard this, he shouted coldly, "How dare you!"
Governor Yuan said in a cold voice: "I am just doing my job. You are carrying the token of the Eight Kings, so I have no choice but to escort you to Beijing and hand you over to the emperor." As he said that, he waved his hand.
Soon, more than a dozen guards with swords rushed towards Minister Jiang.
When Councillor Jiang saw that Governor Yuan was really going to arrest him, he was so angry that his face turned pale: "Yuan Xingsi, are you blind? Can't you see that I was framed?"
Governor Yuan: "I am willing to believe you, but you should go and talk to the emperor about this."
The emperor has hated the Eighth Prince to the core over the years. Anyone involved in the Eighth Prince's gang will definitely be liquidated in the future. He doesn't want the Yuan family to be implicated.
By the time the news from the front yard reached the back yard, Chiang Kai-shek had already been thrown into jail.
Seeing Mrs. Jiang and her mother leave in a panic, Daohua calmly drank a sip of Tremella soup.
The Jiang family has set their sights on the Yan family. Since the military rations were lost and could not be moved to the Yan family, they will definitely look for another opportunity next time, and their methods will be even more violent.
She couldn't guarantee that she would be able to solve the problem every time, so she could only take the initiative to overthrow Chiang Kai-shek.
According to the information she got from Xiao Yeyang, her master and others, the emperor had no good feelings towards the Jiang family. She believed that the emperor would make good use of the opportunity she created this time.
Daohua's gaze fell on Mrs. Yuan and her daughter, who also looked panicked.
She didn't know what the actual relationship between the Yuan family and the Jiang family was, but last time they joined forces to deal with the Yan family, so this time, let them confront each other completely, so as not to always focus on the Yan family.
(End of this chapter)
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