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Yuan Cixian glanced at the black-sailed boat behind him and cleared his throat: "No, I'm not cold..."
Her expression was three parts awkward and seven parts cautious, just as Xu Ruqing expected, she began to avoid "Xu Shan". Lu Shiqing should be happy about this, but seeing her look as if she was hit hard, he couldn't bear it and had the urge to comfort her.
He bit his back teeth silently and endured it.
After all, once this consolation is uttered, not only will it offend the teacher's wife, but also myself, and it will also put the deceased teacher in an unjust position.
After a long while, he explained, "Xu is a little cold. If you don't mind, could you please lend me your carriage for a ride?"
Yuan Cixian let out a low and short "Ah", then suddenly realized, "So that's how it is. Please, sir."
After she finished speaking, she turned around and walked towards the intersection where the carriage was parked, walking quickly ahead.
This was so embarrassing, she actually mistakenly thought Xu Shan was concerned about her.
Seeing her hurried back, Lu Shiqing's heart softened again. He took a few steps forward, coughed and said, "The county lady should put on more clothes when she goes out."
Yuan Cixian was slightly stunned, not because she was surprised by his words, but because his cough made her feel very similar to Lu Shiqing.
She was a little confused. When she was with Lu Shiqing, she thought of Xu Shan from time to time. Now that she was with Xu Shan, she thought of Lu Shiqing again.
What's wrong with her
Yuan Cixian quickly put away her reverie and said, "Thank you for your concern, sir."
The two walked for a long distance and got into the spacious carriage one after the other. Yuan Cixian poured a cup of tea and handed it to Lu Shiqing, saying politely, "Sir, if you are afraid of the cold, drink some hot tea."
However, Lu Shiqing did not reach out to take it.
He knew very well that after returning to Beijing this time, hiding his identity would be much more difficult than before, after all, Yuan Cixian was already quite familiar with him.
No matter how spacious the carriage was, it was still cramped compared to the outside. His hands were white and beautiful, and the journey south must have left a very vivid impression on her. He couldn't let it slip.
Seeing that he didn't take it, Yuan Cixian put the teacup in front of him and withdrew her hand embarrassedly.
She suddenly remembered the hot wine she had seen in the sloop just now.
When Xu Shan came to Yuan's house for a banquet, he said that he was not good at drinking. But was it because he was not good at drinking, or because of a past experience when he was drunk that he was unwilling to drink with other women? She felt that the latter possibility was more likely.
Seeing her slightly embarrassed expression, Lu Shiqing couldn't help but do it too much, and said: "Thank you, County Lord, Xu will drink later."
She smiled and said nothing.
"The county lady mentioned in her message yesterday that she had something to discuss with Xu. May I ask what it was?"
When it comes to business, Yuan Cixian no longer hesitated and said hurriedly, "Oh, it's like this. When I was with Minister Lu in Shuzhou, I met the third prince, Prince Ping. There was nothing else, but one time, he invited me to play chess with him. I was wondering if this matter has anything to do with you, sir?"
Of course Lu Shiqing knew about this. At the beginning, he was busy outside and left Yuan Cixian alone in the mansion. Although he knew that Prince Ping would not harm her, he was still worried, so he arranged many spies.
He said, “There should be.”
Yuan Cixian frowned: "Does he really want to use my chess skills to find out whether I have any contact with you?"
Lu Shiqing nodded.
"Fortunately, I was careful." She smiled shyly, "But even if I hadn't kept it, it wouldn't have mattered. After all, I only watched one game of chess, sir."
Lu Shiqing also thought so. He had studied his teacher's chess skills for many years, but he still hadn't fully understood the mysteries inside, let alone Yuan Cixian. So when she wanted to play chess with him, he didn't refuse. First, he was still far from his teacher's level, and second, she had never understood the essence of her teacher's chess skills.
He nodded: "It's fine, but since Prince Ping is suspicious, he will take other actions. Xu will be cautious. Thank you for the reminder, County Lord."
King Ping probably thought that Yuan Cixian was young and simple-minded and could be bullied, otherwise he would never have alerted the enemy like this.
Yuan Cixian shook his head to signal him not to be polite, and then asked: "So, it was Prince Ping who assassinated you three years ago?"
"That's right. At the beginning, I made some moves to make Prince Ping think that I was going to seek work for the Second Prince, and I didn't expose the Sixth Prince. But in recent years, the court situation has gradually developed in a direction that is beneficial to the Sixth Prince. Prince Ping became suspicious and looked back at the events of the past. He guessed that Xu might not be dead and might be working for the Sixth Prince. As for the relationship between the King of Diannan and the Sixth Prince, he was still unsure, so he secretly tested you."
Yuan Cixian's heart tightened subconsciously: "Since Prince Ping has guessed this far, aren't we in danger?"
Lu Shiqing shook his head: "It doesn't matter what Prince Ping thinks, what matters is what the saint thinks. The county lady can rest assured for now."
If he was really Xu Shan, he, Zheng Zhuo, and the Yuan family would all be in danger. But fortunately, he is Lu Shiqing. As long as he can control Emperor Huining, Prince Ping will not be able to cause any big trouble for the time being.
Yuan Cixian was reminded by his words and suddenly realized something: "So, the accomplice of those assassins in Shangzhou is probably King Ping! He knows that he is incapable of getting rid of my Yuan family, so he wants to ask the saint who is afraid of my father to do this. He helps Nanzhao to kidnap me. If this succeeds, my father will inevitably be constrained and forced to act according to Nanzhao's wishes, which may cause the saint to mistakenly believe that my Yuan family is traitorous..."
"Even if the plan failed, he had already thought of a plan to put the blame on someone else. Not only could he suppress the Second Prince again, but he could also make the Saint doubt the relationship between the Sixth Prince and our Yuan Family. Fortunately, you are resourceful and this plan failed halfway."
Lu Shiqing seemed to smile, tacitly agreed to his actions, and said nothing.
He could sense that after the journey south, Yuan Cixian had developed some trust in "Xu Shan" and Zheng Zhuo to work with, and no longer tested them as frequently as before.
Yuan Cixian was just thinking about this. Because of the dream, she could never completely let down her guard against Zheng Zhuo and Xu Shan, but this time the former argued for the people's livelihood in the court and asked the emperor to give up repairing the Huaihe River embankment, and the latter cleverly broke the King Ping's plan and helped the Yuan family escape a disaster. It was really difficult for her to remain unmoved, so she discussed this with Xu Shan today.
However, seeing how Xu Shan was planning everything, she guessed that her reminder was totally unnecessary.
Yuan Cixian was silent for a while, then said, "It's good that you are confident about King Ping. It's getting late, and I should go back. I hope you won't blame me for what happened today."
Lu Shiqing seemed to be slightly stunned: "Why does Xu blame the county lady?"
She smiled shyly and said, "Sir, I'm sure you've guessed it. The reason why Xu Sanniang came to Chang'an was because I sent someone to take your chess record to test Mr. Xu."
"It's nothing." He said calmly, "Even if it's a business deal, both parties have to negotiate the price and inspect the goods openly, not to mention a political cooperation that concerns life and future. It's normal for the county lady to have doubts about Xu. You are cautious and thoughtful. Your Highness and I should be grateful to have such an ally."
He is indeed a lobbyist and is really good at speaking.
Yuan Cixian smiled. After finishing the business, he remembered Xu Sanniang and felt that he should not be alone with Xu Shan for too long, so he asked, "Sir, how did you get here? Do you want me to take you back?"
Of course Lu Shiqing understood her intention to drive him away, and originally planned to leave, but he had a plan in mind, and he was unwilling to give in, so he said shamelessly: "Then I'll have to trouble the county lady."
Yuan Cixian choked. She was just being polite, how could he not understand
She had no choice but to bite the bullet and said, "Sir, you're welcome. Where do you live?"
"Yongxingfang."
She said "Huh", and asked Shi Cui to drive to Yongxingfang, and then asked, "Are you neighbors with Minister Lu?"
Lu Shiqing nodded: "You can say that. Yongxingfang is inhabited by dignitaries and nobles, so it was not Xu's turn. But the Sixth Prince thought that place was suitable for keeping an eye on the movements of court officials, so he arranged a private residence for me. On the surface, Xu is a wealthy family in Chang'an."
What Lu Shiqing said was true. Every time he did something as Xu Shan, he would go to the private residence through the secret passage of Lu Mansion, go out from the main door of the private residence, and return the same way after finishing his work to prevent the possibility of being exposed.
Yuan Cixian couldn't help but feel curious when she heard this, and asked, "Are you also monitoring Minister Lu?"
Very good, he asked. He said this just to naturally lead the conversation to himself.
He nodded and replied, "He is one of them."
Yuan Cixian said "Oh" and continued to ask: "Do you know what he has been busy with these days?"
"Minister Lu has been up all night, so he must be busy with government affairs. Has the county lady contacted him recently?"
She curled her lips and shook her head.
Seeing this, he smiled and said, "Look at you, you must have had an argument with Minister Lu."
Yuan Cixian was slightly stunned, and looked at him: "Sir, you have a keen eye."
Lu Shiqing was secretly excited. Everything was going too smoothly, and all that was left was to persuade them to reconcile through Xu Shan.
In order to avoid her suspicion, he suppressed his anxious mood and said slowly: "If the county lady doesn't mind, you can talk to Xu."
Yuan Cixian had confided in him about Lu Shiqing's "concerns" when she pretended to be drunk last time. There was nothing wrong with talking about it now, so she simply said, "The reason is that he caught a cold, but he lied to me and said it was the plague."
He said "Oh" in a deep voice, and said curiously: "As far as I know, Minister Lu doesn't seem to be such a swindler."
Yuan Cixian snorted and said nothing more.
The face behind Lu Shiqing's mask was stunned. What did "humph" mean
He asked tentatively, "Hmm?"
Yuan Cixian remained silent and did not answer.
In fact, she thought about it carefully afterwards and realized that Lu Shiqing did not deliberately lie to her at that time. He even explained it many times, but she refused to listen and refused to believe it after listening. In this matter, he was not wrong.
But why didn't he look for her for several days in a row, as if all his journey south had been in vain, and he returned to the same attitude as before leaving Beijing.
Originally, she was indeed looking for someone to support her, so she kept a low profile and there was nothing wrong with continuing to pester him. However, since she knew that he had some feelings for her, she inevitably became greedy, hoping that he would take the initiative someday, so she intentionally waited for a few days.
But now it seems that Lu Shiqing may have realized that her motives in approaching him were impure, so he disliked her, otherwise why would he do nothing
Well, if you dislike him, then dislike him. Who can't live without him? Maybe he will be an unreliable idiot in this life. She is getting along well with the Sixth Prince now.
Thinking of this, she suddenly heard Xu Shan sneeze. She quickly regained her composure, blinked her eyes and said in surprise, "I was cursing Minister Lu in my heart, how come you sneezed instead?"
"… "
Lu Shiqing held his breath and said very kindly: "Oh, what did you scold him for?"
"Nothing, I'd rather not mention it for fear of polluting Mr.'s ears."
Mention it, my little ancestor!
He had endured for so many days, but could not find a suitable reason to go to Yuan Mansion, nor could he bring himself to apologize in person. He also did not wait for her to come to Lu Mansion, so he was hoping to get some information out of her today.
Lu Shiqing sighed and wanted to ask more questions, but he was afraid that if he said too much, he would arouse her suspicion, so he had to keep quiet. When they arrived at Yongxingfang, he finally said, "Thank you, county lady, for seeing me off all the way. Now that you are here, you might as well stop by the Lu Mansion. After all, if you hold your temper for too long, you will get sick easily."
He felt that he should be able to transform in time.
Unexpectedly, Yuan Cixian was unmoved, and looked as if she had no such intention: "Thank you for your trouble, Mr. Lao. Please take care of yourself."
Lu Shiqing had no choice but to get off the carriage in shame.
After he left, Shi Cui, who had been listening all the way, said to the carriage, "Young lady, do you think Mr. Xu is weird?"
Yuan Cixian hummed, "Yes, it is slightly different from before. But isn't the Mr. Xu that Xu Sanniang mentioned even more different from what we saw? To put it bluntly, we don't really understand him either."
"That's true, but I think Mr. Xu seems to be overly concerned about you. Since he has been involved with Xu Sanniang, and in front of you... How can he be so guiltless, telling you to put on more clothes, to take care of your health, and even to persuade you to stop fighting with Minister Lu?"
Yuan Cixian said nothing when she heard this.
Shi Cui continued, "In short, I think Mr. Xu is not a good person, at least not in matters between men and women. He is so sentimental, he might as well be as cold-hearted as Minister Lu. You should be careful."
Yuan Cixian didn't want to speculate about Xu Shan's character, but she knew that she should keep her distance from him, so she said, "I know. I won't take the initiative to invite Mr. Xu again in the future."
After she finished answering, she felt a little tired after being exposed to the cold wind for so long, so she leaned against the wall of the car to take a nap. Unexpectedly, the stove under her feet was too warm, and she fell asleep in a comfortable manner.
After this sleep, I returned to the Lu Bridge that I hadn’t dreamed of for a long time.
This time, she heard a strange female voice on the bridge: "Your Highness, have you finally given up on the salvage?"
The person who spoke at the back seemed to be a maid: "It seems so, Princess. But I heard from Butler Zhou that His Highness is busy outside and I'm afraid he won't be back home in the near future."
The woman sneered: "He just doesn't want to see me."
"Don't get angry, or you might get upset."
"Even if this child is born, it will be exposed. My father asked me to climb into His Highness's bed, saying that once this scandal is publicized, the King of Southern Yunnan will never let his daughter down and will swear to cancel the engagement with His Highness. Then the position of the Crown Prince's Consort will be mine... But what does it matter if I get this position? His Highness has never touched me from beginning to end, even the child..."
The maidservant lowered her voice and stopped her: "Please don't say this to anyone! You must remember that this is your Highness's own flesh and blood, and he is nothing like you. You see, the Yuan family has done something wrong and has even rebelled. Now the Princess of Lancang County is dead. Isn't that God's help for you? As long as you give birth to this child, there is still a long way to go. Why worry about not winning your Highness' heart?"
*
Yuan Cihan was awakened by Shicui's call. She was still unconscious for a while and felt like she was in a dream even after opening her eyes. She only came back to her senses when the cold wind blew.
She got off the carriage in a trance, and walked towards the mansion with a frown on her face, recalling what the strange woman in her dream said. When she passed by the flower hall, she was suddenly stopped by someone: "Ci Xian is back."
She came back to her senses with a start, stopped and turned around, only to see Jiang Birou and an unfamiliar young lady standing at the steps looking at her.
Yuan Cixian smiled at Jiang Birou and said, "Sister-in-law." Then she gestured to the young lady beside her, "Who is this?"
"She is my sister-in-law's younger sister, two years younger than you. You can just call her 'Can'er'."
She nodded, but before she could say hello, she heard Jiang Bican call her sweetly, "Hello, Sister Cixian!"
Yuan Cixian's smile suddenly froze on her lips.
This sound... Oh, what a show it is.
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