Since Xiao Xian had agreed to attend the banquet, Xu Wanke naturally went back immediately to make preparations. He invited his colleagues in the officialdom and ordered to invite a team from outside to host the banquet, so as not to make any mistakes and be found fault with by the prince.
Three days later, Xiao Xian and Shen Mingzhu arrived as promised, and Xu Wanke and Mrs. Xu had already knelt down in front of the mansion to greet them together with Yangzhou officials and children of Yangzhou aristocratic families.
Xiao Xian helped Shen Mingzhu get out of the carriage, glanced at everyone, and said calmly: "Everyone is exempt from the courtesy, there is no need to be so extravagant."
Xu Wanke naturally had a motive for being so extravagant, and Xiao Xian certainly wouldn't know it, but what he wanted was for everyone to be confused so they wouldn't really care about it.
Entering the Xu family, the prince took his seat, and Shen Mingzhu was invited by Mrs. Xu to the backyard to meet the ladies of the aristocratic family.
Mrs. Xu wanted to pretend to be enthusiastic and stepped forward to take Shen Mingzhu's hand, but Shen Mingzhu quietly put her hand in her sleeve, as if she didn't want others to touch her.
Mrs. Xu smiled awkwardly and immediately found a topic to resolve the embarrassment.
"Don't worry, Miss Shen. The entourage has also been arranged in the side courtyard, and there are people to accompany you." Mrs. Xu showed an attitude of being at ease with everything, using her social skills as a prefect's wife.
The other ladies and ladies, led by her, looked at Shen Mingzhu cautiously but with hints of caution and sarcasm.
The speculation in their minds was overwhelming. If it were poured out, it would be enough to flood the Xu Mansion.
It's a pity that Shen Mingzhu didn't give them that chance at all. No matter what they asked, as long as she didn't want to answer, she could always block them back without mercy.
This time Xiao Xian and Shen Mingzhu came as guests, but they didn't bring many people with them. Originally, everyone thought that the prince's grandeur would not have an escort.
Who would have thought that Xiao Xian, who had been so high-profile all the way to the Xu Mansion, was so low-key. Except for two coachmen, four women, two girls, two boys, and four guards, there was no one else, so he didn't say goodbye. Compared with the prince, even an ordinary wealthy family has more than this manpower when they go out to visit guests.
Therefore, the yard that the Xu family prepared was not used, which felt like they could not fully use their hands and feet.
Shen Mingzhu looked at Mrs. Xu's eagerness to find out the news but could not find a way to break through. She secretly laughed in her heart. They all knew that she was beheaded by the emperor's order, and people all over the city came to watch, and they all thought that she was dead. Yes, but now that she suddenly appears, it's enough to make them feel anxious.
She was already dead, and she was originally an imperial prisoner. Even if she was alive, most people would hide in hiding, and they would never dare to enter Beijing with such a big fanfare like her.
Because most people are afraid of being arrested again by the court, they naturally want to remain anonymous.
But she didn't do that, so it was like dropping a big bomb in Daqin, which blew them away.
Along the way, he and Xiao Xian walked in a high profile, and the court did not order her to be recaptured, which naturally made the local officials on the way confused.
What she wanted was this effect. When the emperor wanted to kill her, she took advantage of his plan and pretended to be killed, and then went to investigate the matter of the man in black anonymously.
Now that the man in black's lair has been destroyed by her, and the mastermind behind the scenes has been found, there is still no time for a decisive battle with Feng Qinran and Ye Di, so she and Xiao Xian returned to Qin to solve the problem here first. matter.
