Chapter 178 What's the Relationship
Chen Yu said "Oh", and seeing Chen Zhao looking at her seriously, she hurriedly said, "Brother, when the prince led troops to rescue Yanliang Pass, Emperor Tongxu recruited him to the capital as a hostage. I followed him to the capital, hoping to use him to find out the truth, and served as a guard beside him for a while."
Shen Zhao noticed that Shen Yu kept calling him "he", with no sense of being a subordinate, nor any respect, as if they had a very close relationship.
His mind moved slightly, "Your relationship with the prince... seems very close?"
Chen Yu: “Actually, it’s just average.”
Xie Tingzhou: "This is natural."
The two said in unison.
Chen Yu closed her eyes and stepped on Xie Tingzhou's foot under the table.
Shen Zhao turned around and asked, "Why are you stepping on me?"
Chen Yu was stunned, "Huh?"
She bent over and looked under the table, then raised her head and said, "Why are you stretching your legs so far?"
Shen Zhao looked her over, "Let me ask you first why you stepped on me?"
Xie Tingzhou looked at Chen Yu with a gloating look, a frivolous smile on the corner of his lips.
"Oh." Chen Yu said, "I just wanted to stretch my legs, but I stepped on you."
Xie Tingzhou said with a smile: "When you lie, don't move your eyes around."
"This girl has been like this since she was young." Chen Zhao said to Xie Tingzhou, "When she feels guilty, her eyes keep moving. You..."
He stopped talking because he realized something was wrong.
Chen Zhao coughed lightly and said, "Thank you for taking care of Ayu during this period. If you need Chen Zhao in the future, please let me know."
“Later…” Xie Tingzhou dragged out his tone, looked at Chen Yu and said, “Of course there is something to mention.”
Only Chen Yu understood the look in his eyes and what he meant.
Shen Zhao was stunned for a moment.
Wouldn't a normal person politely decline, saying it was just a small favor and not worth mentioning? But why was Xie Tingzhou so rude to him?
"First, let's talk about business first." Chen Yu changed the subject with a guilty conscience, "Today, the Minister of Justice Xu Yishan reported to the emperor that Xuanping Hou took all the blame and said that it was all his fault."
"Did the dog emperor believe it?" Shen Zhao still had some complaints about Emperor Tongxu.
Chen Yu said, "He probably didn't believe it. If he wanted to protect the person behind Xuanping Hou, he could just close the case, but he issued a death order to Xu Yishan, so he must conduct a thorough investigation and find out the person behind it."
Chen Zhao frowned, "Marquis Xuanping refused to speak, isn't the answer obvious? The Crown Prince is his nephew, who else can he protect so much except the Crown Prince?"
"I'm afraid Emperor Tongxu is thinking of deposing the crown prince." Chen Yu said solemnly, "Now he needs a reasonable reason to depose the crown prince."
"But Marquis Xuanping won't give me this reason. Is there no other way?"
Chen Yu said: "The crown prince is the foundation of a country. He is the foundation of the country. Now is different from the past. At this time, any disturbance can cause a big wave. People who are about to die are bolder. They may be willing to give it a try even if they dared not to do it before."
"But Emperor Tongxu is already at the end of his strength. As long as Marquis Xuanping does not get involved with the Crown Prince, and the Crown Prince survives until Emperor Tongxu dies and succeeds to the throne, Marquis Xuanping will still have a chance of survival. Perhaps this is the reason why Marquis Xuanping refused to speak."
"Drink some water to moisten your throat first." Xie Tingzhou poured her some tea and handed it to her, "Drink less cold tea at night."
Chen Yu hummed, took two sips and put it down.
The tacit understanding between the two of them doesn't seem like that of a superior and a subordinate, nor like ordinary friends.
Shen Zhao saw it, and his gaze gradually deepened.
"We have to find a way to get Marquis Xuanping to speak." Chen Yu said.
Shen Zhao was pulled back to his thoughts, "Under severe punishment, there is no fear that he will not confess."
"He has a hereditary title, so the Ministry of Justice dares not torture him." Shen Yu's face was gloomy.
Xie Tingzhou's fingertips moved the teacup again and again, "Don't you find it strange?"
They both looked over at the same time.
Xie Tingzhou said, "There are a few unreasonable places that we have overlooked. There are more than one inconsistency. At the beginning, when the bandit suppression failed, you escorted the people back to the capital without encountering any obstacles. You also said that maybe the other party was deliberately waiting for them to come to the capital. It can't be that Xuanping Hou himself was expecting them to come to the capital to identify him."
Chen Yu nodded, "That's what I thought at first."
Xie Tingzhou tapped the table with his fingertips, "There is one more person, Qiu Wan.
They were going to silence him, but in the end they let Qiu Wan persuade Gui Xiong. Don’t you think this step is unnecessary?"
"Now that you put it that way, it seems to be the case." Chen Yu and Xie Tingzhou looked at each other, "But the evidence is irrefutable. The person who sold the government grain privately was indeed Marquis Xuanping."
Xie Tingzhou frowned slowly, "It seems that there is someone who keeps changing his direction as the situation changes. He fights with his troops and blocks the water with earth, and never loses the upper hand."
"Does the prince have such a plan?"
Shen Zhao interrupted, "Which prince doesn't have a few aides? Maybe there is an expert behind the scenes giving advice."
Chen Yu thought about it over and over again, and always felt that something was wrong, but she couldn't figure it out for a while.
The conversation went on till late at night, and Shen Zhao escorted the two to the door.
Chen Yu pulled at the door reluctantly, "Brother, I live at the end of Yongqing Lane on Qingshi Street. If you have any problems, go find me there. Luyao will find a way to notify me."
"The solution to the green medicine is me." Xie Tingzhou said calmly: "General Shen can contact me directly."
Chen Zhao said: "I am no longer a general, so please just call me by my name, my lord."
"Then Brother Chen, you don't have to call me Prince. Just call me Tingzhou like you do Ayu." Xie Tingzhou said.
Shen Zhao nodded, then frowned for a moment.
A-Yu? Ting Zhou? Is this how they usually call each other by their first names?
"Let's go, brother." Chen Yu waved her hand, looking back every few steps.
"Well, go ahead."
Chen Zhao stood at the gate of the courtyard, watching the two people walking with a distance of five or six feet between them, yet they did not seem to be very close.
Strange, Shen Zhao closed the courtyard door suspiciously.
Turning the corner of the alley, Xie Tingzhou glanced at Chen Yu, "Are you afraid of your brother?"
"Is it obvious?" Shen Yu asked.
"You're eight feet away from me, as if you're sticking to the wall. Isn't it obvious? Don't you have any idea?" Xie Tingzhou snorted.
Shen Yu heard the truth from his hum, looked back, and confirmed that Shen Zhao had not caught up, then moved over and pinched Xie Tingzhou's fingers hidden under his sleeves.
He stammered, "My brother doesn't know about our relationship yet."
"What is our relationship?" Xie Tingzhou asked deliberately.
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