It is said that Shi Li and Jia Huan guessed the ambitions of Li Guofu and the Empress Dowager. They were silent for a long time. Jia Huan awkwardly praised: "How dare you play!"
Shi Li said: "He is doing it openly and I am doing it secretly. If we want to have some fun, there is nothing we can do about it."
Jia Huan said: "Old Gong has not come back since he went to Hong Kong. It has been so long. Liu Xianglian's two moments in front of the masters in the field were for nothing. Why don't you stop playing."
Shi Li looked at him and smiled: "Do you think that only the Fifth Master and I can fight in SHIELD?" Jia Huan was startled. SHIELD was recruited from Liu Dengxi's dark department. Most of them were spies, and he had actually only seen Jia Xu and Shi Li who could fight. Shi Li said lazily, "That's all, you don't have to worry about this." Jia Huan was not a diligent person either. He said no. Whatever, then leave it alone.
But it was time for Jia She's letter to be sent to Rongxi Hall, so he ordered someone pretending to be a messenger to send it in from the main entrance of Rongguo Mansion. Jia Zheng took the letter and read it from the beginning. He still couldn't believe it, so he read it from the beginning several times. He was suddenly happy. Tears fell like rain: "My Huan'er is going to be successful!" He hurriedly asked someone to call Jia Huan over.
Jia Huan was waiting on the low roof of Lixiangyuan, eating snacks and chatting with Shi Li. Hearing the footsteps of a boy stumbling over outside, he wiped his hands with a handkerchief and jumped to the ground: "Let's go! I want to discuss with my father about getting a wife!"
Shi Li waved his hand: "Go, go! I'm going to find someone to discuss serious matters." Then he stood up and went out through the courtyard door facing the street.
Jumping on his horse outside, Shi Li went straight to Liu's Timber Store. Seeing Liu Xianglian and Qin Keqing, he first told the story about the Liu family and the Empress Dowager from the beginning.
Qin Keqing thought for a long time and said: "It's really weird. The Empress Dowager even refused to let go of Cong'er's marriage. The matter of Huan'er has been handed over to her, so let it go in vain?"
Shi Li smiled bitterly and said: "Brother Huan said that he fell in love with a princess and even flattered her several times. It's not difficult to guess. In the early years when King Lu came to Beijing, he wasn't the one accompanying him? So the Emperor The Queen Mother must have guessed that Princess Jian'an is here. The person who gave birth to her didn't even ask her in person. How can anyone ask for marriage from the Heavenly Family without telling them who the girl is?"
Qin Keqing glanced at him: "What do you think it is?"
Shi Li said: "I guess it's to avoid suspicion."
Qin Keqing sighed: "I guess it's also to avoid suspicion." Liu Xianglian coughed twice. Qin Keqing said, "Master Zheng asked the Empress Dowager for grace and wanted to marry Princess Jian'an on Huan'er's behalf. The Empress Dowager agreed, and Yi's decree has been issued. According to Master Zheng's temperament, how can we let this matter go without making the whole capital aware of it? Once the capital knows about it, the special envoys of the various princes will immediately send people back to deliver the message, and in the blink of an eye everyone in the world will know."
Liu Xianglian said: "What does it have to do with avoiding suspicion?"
Qin Keqing said softly: "If Princess Jian'an suddenly disappears..."
Liu Xianglian took a breath. If Princess Jian'an suddenly disappears and Jia Zheng makes such a big fuss, Jia Huan will not marry a princess. I am afraid that his father will not agree. Since the first one is a gift from the Empress Dowager, Marriage, but that man is not lucky, so the Queen Mother naturally has to help him find a good wife. The one in front is a princess, and the one behind is inconvenient to go past her, and most likely has to choose a princess. As for who to choose, it depends on the Queen Mother The Queen Mother was very happy.
Qin Keqing asked: "Brother Huan didn't expect this section?"
"He had vague doubts in his heart, but he never thought about it so clearly," Shi Li said. "So he only wrote an urgent letter and sent it to Lu State. I added another letter to ask the Zhong family's uncle and nephew to take strict precautions. I am here today to discuss with Brother Liu and Sister-in-law Liu, but this matter must be kept hidden from Huan'er."
Liu Xianglian frowned and said, "Why are you hiding it from him? They want to kill his wife."
Shi Li said: "The Empress Dowager cannot die in these few years. I want to keep her and sell more titles to destroy the dignity of the Situ family."
Liu Xianglian shook her head: "It's better to let Huan'er know about such a big matter. Even if we don't know about it now, what if we do know about it in the future?"
Shi Li shrugged and said, "He's not Jia Cong, he's not that hot-tempered."
Liu Xianglian snorted and said: "Since you want to hide it from him, you can just discuss it with the people in Luzhou. Wouldn't it be clean to hide it from both of us?"
"If this doesn't scare Princess Jian'an, just give it up; if it does..." Shi Li said, "I would like to trouble Sister-in-law Liu Er to go to Luzhou and meet the princess." He smiled bitterly and said, "Princess, please ask her." I also cover up some of those things."
Liu Xianglian frowned and said, "Don't drag us husband and wife into the water."
When Shi Li was about to speak, Qin Keqing spoke first and said, "That's fine, I haven't been out of Beijing for a while." Shi Li bowed his hands and thanked him.
Liu Xianglian's brows were twisted into knots, and she said after a while: "If they don't sell their titles, will the Situ family still have dignity?"
Shi Li chuckled and said: "The fifth master told me when he left last time that he would rarely come back to Beijing in the next few years. If you have to do anything, you can hide it from Brother Huan. Mr. Gong also told me when he left that it would be difficult to deal with it. Either he made his own decision, or he told Mr. Mu that there was no need to discuss it with Brother Huan. In fact, Fifth Master discussed some matters directly with Mr. Gong and never told Brother Cong."
Qin Keqing frowned: "It can't be Miss Chen's business, Cong'er will tear the world apart if she finds out."
"No, it's something else." Shi Li said, "Brother Cong and Brother Huan have a very smooth life. Sometimes they do things too lightly, or they do things out of loyalty and are unwilling to owe favors. Both the Fifth Master and Mr. Gong are the same. The leader of the Situ family is also older and understands the importance better than them. The Situ family has never experienced a weak king and a failed country. It was directly entrusted from the prosperous age, and the people's hearts are extremely stable. If you want to shake the foundation, you cannot relax in anything. Selling the title The incident hurt the hearts of the scholar-bureaucrats the most. For example, Mr. Su Zheng. "Su Zheng's son served as the magistrate of Jingzhou. Ever since the great chaos in Beijing, he had been trying to take him over, but old man Su had always refused. Until the Empress Dowager began to sell his titles, his ideas became clear. Shaken. "Now those scholar-bureaucrats who are still in their dreams and refuse to wake up are all hoping that the Empress Dowager will repent, or that the ancestors of the Situ family will be angry in heaven and take her in."
Liu Xianglian said: "Even if the Empress Dowager is gone, the little saint will still sell his title. He is not a prostitute yet, so there is no way to shirk it."
Shi Li said: "The Empress Dowager is a female, but she is also the queen appointed by the late emperor himself. The little saint's surname is Situ, but she was established by the traitor Fang Xiong. Their identities are complementary and they both got the money from selling their titles. Neither one of them can Young Master, the scholar-bureaucrat is the cornerstone of the imperial court after all. Besides, if we don't touch her, she will seek her own death sooner or later. She is just an ant in front of King Yan."
Liu Xianglian was silent for a long time, and finally stood up and said, "I don't care." Then she rolled up her sleeves and walked out.
Qin Keqing smiled apologetically: "He has such a personality."
Shi Li smiled and said, "I know. Leng Erlang has a cheerful nature and doesn't care about trivial matters. Even though he has been a bandit for more than ten years, his nature has not changed."
Qin Keqing said: "Mr. Shi, you are not bothering me to go to Luzhou just for Princess Jian'an. You can find anyone at will for that idea."
Shi Li cupped his hands and said, "I know that I can hide the truth from Brother Liu, but I can't hide it from Sister Liu. I also want to ask Sister Liu to act in a play." Qin Keqing raised his eyebrows. Shi Li whispered, "Smart people think about things.
Duo. Sister-in-law Liu has two natural advantages over others. First, she has outstanding bearing; second, her husband’s surname is Liu.”
Qin Keqing frowned and said after a while: "I still don't understand what you mean."
Shi Li sighed: "Speaking of which, this matter is due to their inadequacy in the south. Liu Hu said that the Liu family's Liu Xinxin branch and the Li Guofu Liu Keli branch had long since broken off, and they believed it. Gong Kun
What Liu Hu wrote in his letter to the Empress Dowager was that he wanted to give up his life. When he arrived in the West, the sea and the sky were vast and free, and he was no longer willing to work for the Empress Dowager. The Empress Dowager might not be willing to believe it. If he didn't believe it, he would be suspicious of the letter.
If she believes it, she will send someone else to go to the West. But the matter is too urgent, and she is a harem girl. People in the palace act cautiously and will not make decisions easily. I have listened to Brother Huan's gossip for many years.
There were rumors before that you, Sister-in-law Liu, are the orphan of Prince Yi Zhong."
Qin Keqing said: "I've heard it too, that's nonsense."
Shi Li smiled and said: "Although it is nonsense, why don't you bullshit others? Prince Yi Zhong has been the crown prince for many years, so it is not surprising that he can abduct some people from the palace. Didn't Liu Dengxi also abduct many people for the Supreme Emperor?
At that time, the imperial court was investigating Prince Yizhong's remnant party very closely, and it was definitely not something ordinary people could do to rescue a princess without making a sound. Coincidentally, Brother Liu's second brother is also named Liu."
Qin Keqing finally had a rough idea of what he wanted to do, and said with a wry smile: "There are so many people named Liu."
Shi Li said: "That's why I say that smart people are most prone to overthinking because they never believe in coincidences."
"It's just that there must be others besides Liu Hu who can trust Ouchi Liu."
Shi Lidao: "Liu Hu's father is still here. In a family like theirs, everything is top secret. Liu Hu himself doesn't even know if he has any brothers. And those in higher positions are the most suspicious."
Qin Keqing sat and thought about it for a long time, and suddenly felt it was funny, so he started laughing while sitting there. Shi Li sat beside him with a smile.
Two days later, Qin Keqing pretended to be a visiting relative and led several maids and servants to Luzhou. Liu Xianglian wanted to follow, but there was still a young girl at home with no one to take care of her, so she had to stay with her. Rongguo Mansion was naturally led by Jia.
Zheng Zheng personally wrote a letter to the Empress Dowager asking for marriage, and Jia Huan ran to Feng Ziying's house to say hello. All the key figures knew it well, and everything was easy to handle. The Empress Dowager chose a good time and auspicious day to issue the decree for marriage, and sent
People went to Luzhou to issue an edict.
Shi Li's prediction turned out to be true, and something happened in Luzhou. The uncles and nephews of the Zhong family got the message from Fei Ge in Beijing, and sent people to secretly keep an eye on Princess Jian'an day and night.
Jia Huan wrote a letter to King Lu a long time ago, saying that he must abide by the filial piety of his grandmother. After completing his filial piety in April this year, he will come to propose marriage. Therefore, Luzhou has also prepared various items early. In recent years, Luzhou has become rich, and King Lu has become more and more popular.
With this one biological sister, the dowry is naturally not small. However, his uncle Zeng Chun is not very willing and often talks about "the Jia family is extremely rich" and wants to reduce some of the princess's dowry. Now the King of Pianlu has Zhong Heng.
With support, Zhong Heng's soldiers attacked others in groups one by one, and Zeng Chun had no choice.
That night, Princess Jian'an, her maid, and others had already fallen asleep. A figure quietly opened the window and went in. He smeared a circle in the small Ru kiln tea cup where she usually drank tea, and sprinkled something into her incense burner.
, and left quietly. Seeing that the man was gone, the people sent by the Zhong family took away the tea cup, poured out the contents of the incense burner, washed them and put them back.
This man returned to the teahouse with the contents of the stove and the tea cup to show to his colleagues. Zhong Wei didn't recognize him at all, but the doctor looked at the ashes and smelled the tea cup, high-fived and said, "Whose trick!
It looks really good when it's all white and rotten." Then he took up a pen and wrote a small sign. The man just now ran back and took the sign back to the princess's room and pressed it under the tea tray.
Early the next morning, the princess got up to have tea. The maid couldn't find the tea cup she usually drank from, so she rummaged around and found the sign. Princess Jian'an was shocked when she saw it. After thinking for a long time, she said: "That tea cup looks like
I left it somewhere yesterday, and I can't remember it for the moment. If you look for it again, first bring me another cup to drink tea from." The maid agreed, and took another cup to pour her tea.
After searching for a long time, the garden sweeper picked up a small tea cup from the verandah, brought it inside and asked whose family it belonged to. It happened to be the one that was missing from Princess Jian'an's house. The princess smiled and said: "It is indeed, especially
If you go looking for something, you probably won't find it. If you put it down for a while, it will come out by itself." Nai ordered the tea cup to be put aside for good, but now it has fallen out of favor and no longer uses it to drink tea. All the maids laughed.
.But the tea cup did not fall out of favor for long, and the princess used it to drink tea again in the evening.
A few days later, Princess Jian'an caught a cold and was bedridden. Three days later, chickenpox began to appear! Fortunately, it was not serious, and the princess did not alert anyone else, so she sent her maid to find the King of Lu. The King of Lu was extremely anxious and ordered her to die.
I went to invite a good doctor. But Zhong Heng happened to be on the spot. He said: "Chickenpox doesn't matter. There is a doctor near our teahouse. He doesn't practice medicine much anymore. He is best at treating chickenpox and is better than others." King Lu
I was overjoyed and ordered people to invite the doctor to come over.
Not long after, the doctor came and asked if it could cure chickenpox. He said with a smile: "Other diseases are fine, but chickenpox is a prescription passed down from my family. It is the best way to cure it."
The happy King Lu bowed to him: "Mr. Hard work."
Zhong Heng said from the side: "It's just that the princess is a female family member."
The doctor said: "Just hang a silk thread to diagnose the pulse."
King Lu was even more impressed: "Sir, you can actually do this! Could he be a miracle doctor?" This silly boy! Zhong Heng almost laughed out loud.
The doctor smiled and cupped his hands: "I don't dare, I don't dare."
When Concubine Ning and the Zeng family learned about this, the miracle doctor had already finished diagnosing the pulse and left a prescription. He also said: "This prescription is a medicinal introduction. Three bowls of water are boiled into one bowl. Take it twice a day, morning and evening."
He took six packets of medicinal powder from his arms and said, "This is chalcedony powder passed down by my family, specially designed to treat chickenpox. Princess, please drink the medicinal powder and then mix it into tea." King Lu ordered the princess's mother to put it away and kissed her.
Send the doctor out.
At this time, the eldest grandma of the Zeng family had come over. She asked after her greetings and gossiped for a long time through the tent before leaving. The King of Lu wanted to send someone out to buy medicine, but Zhong Heng said, "I was just about to go back and have a few words with my uncle before I come back."
The prince is here. Why don't I go buy some medicine and bring it back with me? With the doctor accompanying me, I can choose the medicinal materials better." The king of Lu heard that this was reasonable, so he entrusted him with it.
Not long after, Zhong Heng came back from helping to buy medicine, and the princess's mother went to boil the medicine. But when she finally drank the medicine with tea, her mother secretly muttered: The medicine looks like sugar. (