Xiao Mencius nodded repeatedly and said: "Yes, yes, yes, return it quickly. Don't get involved again. Just give me the money."
Liu Qi weighed the money bag and said, "I guess it's not enough. I'll go back to the room to get some and give it to you. If Xiao Yuanzi isn't there then, you can help me go to Yimeixuan." Seeing Xiao Yuanzi.
Mencius hesitated, and said: "I just went to pay back the money, and it won't take too long."
Xiao Mengzi gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, I'll help you one more time, but you have to promise me that you can't ask Xiao Yuanzi for any money in the future."
"Absolutely." Liu Qi hurriedly agreed. After returning to his residence, he took the money bag tied tightly and handed it to Xiao Mengzi, asking him to hand it over to Xiao Yuanzi with his own hands.
That night, Xiao Mengzi went to the gambling place in Yongxiang. Xiao Yuanzi was also there. He walked over quickly and said: "This is the money Liu Qi asked me to give you for him."
Xiao Yuanzi pointed at himself in astonishment and said, "Give it to me?"
"Yes, he asked you to borrow money a few days ago, and now they are all here. Please click a little bit." Listening to this, Xiao Yuanzi became more and more strange. Liu Qi asked him to borrow money, but after Liu Qi agreed, he borrowed money from you.
As soon as the master started working, the account was written off. How could he pay back the money so smoothly? Could it be that he thought he could get rid of them by paying back the money? Or was there another reason?
Xiao Mengzi didn't want to have too much contact with Xiao Yuanzi, so he urged him to count the silver. The latter stroked the slightly rough embroidery on the money bag, raised his head and said with a smile: "No need, I trust Liu Qi, tell him,
The account is settled."
Xiao Mencius looked relieved and said: "That's good, I'm leaving."
After Xiao Mencius left, Xiao Yuanzi went to the corner and opened the money bag. There were some scattered silver in it, which shone silvery white under the candlelight. It looked normal.
Xiao Yuanzi stared at the broken silver for a while, then suddenly squatted down and poured all the broken silver on his clothes. Behind the broken silver, a thumb-sized paper ball fell out. After unfolding the paper, he read the content on it.
Finally, Xiao Yuanzi's face changed drastically, and he stood up and ran out, letting the broken silver that he couldn't put away fall to the ground.
Xiao Yuanzi ran all the way back to Yimeixuan, and happened to see Xiangju coming out. He took a breath and said, "Where is the master?"
"The master is inside." Before Xiangju could finish her words, Xiao Yuanzi had already passed her and ran inside. Xiangju quickly turned around and grabbed him and said: "The master has rested. If you have anything else to do, wait until tomorrow."
"It will be too late tomorrow!" After saying this, Xiao Yuanzi broke away from her hand and pushed the door open and walked in.
The sound of pushing the door startled Wei Jingxuan, who asked through the heavy curtains: "Who is it?"
Xiao Yuanzi opened the curtains, bowed and said: "This slave pays his respects to the master!"
Wei Jingxuan sat up with some displeasure and said, "Didn't Xiangju tell you that I have rested?"
Xiangju, who came in behind Xiao Yuanzi, said anxiously: "I told him, but he insists on coming in, and I really can't stop him."
"Master, I have something urgent to report!" As he said this, Xiao Yuanzi held up the paper ball tightly in his palm. The cold sweat on his palm made the paper ball a little damp, but it did not prevent Wei Jingxuan from seeing clearly the words on it.
When she saw the words clearly, Wei Jingxuan suddenly sat up straight and said in shock: "Liu Qi gave this to you?"
Xiao Yuanzi told what had just happened, and then said: "It seems that Liu Qi has caused some trouble, so he did not dare to come over in person; Master, you guessed it right, those people were sent by Concubine Ying to harm him."
Master and the others, they will take action early tomorrow morning, but Liu Qi didn't hear how they would do it, he could only faintly hear the words 'Shuntian Mansion'."
Xiangju asked in astonishment: "How come Concubine Ying is related to Shuntian Mansion?"
Xiao Yuanzi ignored her, looked at Wei Jingxuan and said: "Master, you have to find a way quickly. Although I don't know what the way is, I know that once they succeed, we will be at a disadvantage."
"Isn't this palace already thinking about it? Why are you urging me so hard!" Wei Jingxuan fell to the ground in annoyance, without even taking off her shoes. She paced back and forth in the house barefoot, muttering: "Shuntian Mansion... Shuntian Mansion...
…”
From time to time, she lowered her head and glanced at the paper in her hand, trying to figure out what Hu and the others meant by reporting to Shuntian Mansion. Unfortunately, there was so little news from Liu Qi that even she couldn't figure it out for the moment.
Xiangju held the shoes and whispered: "Master, put on the embroidered shoes first to avoid getting cold."
Wei Jingxuan didn't care about this at the moment. She waved her hand to move away. She stared at the words on the paper and said to herself: "Concubine Ying...Yinzi...Shuntian Mansion...where is their connection?"
Xiao Yuanzi frowned and said: "The Yin of Shuntian Prefecture is in charge of the government affairs of the capital. If someone commits any crime in the capital, Shuntian Prefecture will send people to arrest them. But after the master and others came to the capital, they have always lived in seclusion and never made trouble for others. I don't think so."
Understand what kind of relationship they can have with Shuntian Mansion, just based on the money they sent?"
Xiao Yuanzi's words were like thunder, exploding in Wei Jingxuan's ears. She suddenly stopped and said in a voiceless voice: "I understand, it turns out that this is their idea, no wonder!"
Wei Jingxuan's unclear words made Xiao Yuanzi confused and asked: "Master, what is going on?"
Wei Jingxuan glanced at him, lowered her eyebrows and said, "What you just said is right, it's the money. They can use that money to convict my father of blackmail!"
"Blackmail?" Xiao Yuanzi said in disbelief: "How is this possible? The money was obviously sent by them themselves, but the master and the two young masters never asked them for it."
Wei Jingxuan said coldly: "Do you have any evidence?"
Xiao Yuanzi was speechless by her, and after a while he finally said: "But this is a fact."
"It doesn't matter what the facts are. What matters is what other people think and what the government thinks. Let me guess. Compared with giving away the money, the government is more willing to believe that my father extorted their money."
Xiao Yuanzi said unconvinced: "But I am the master's father. Shuntian Mansion must take care of the master no matter what and find out the matter."
Wei Jingxuan said expressionlessly: "For Shuntian Mansion, everything is already clear. My father relied on me as the emperor's concubine to extort money from the merchants. The merchants had no choice but to report to Shuntian Mansion one by one. What else is there to do?
clear?"
Xiao Yuanzi was at a loss for words, and for a long while he could only say: "Isn't there no way to prove the innocence of the master and the others?"
Xiangju said with confusion on her face: "I don't understand. Concubine Ying and the master have no grudges. There is really no reason to harm them. Could it be that Liu Qi heard it wrong? In fact, there is no such thing?"