Royal study room.
"Have you read this secret edict?" The emperor stared sharply at Luo Shimin below.
Luo Shimin hurriedly knelt down and said, "Please forgive me, Your Majesty. I must first confirm the authenticity of the secret letter before I dare to present it to the Emperor."
The emperor looked at him for a long time, then lowered his head to look at the secret decree. His eyes finally stopped on the character "eight": "You just said that this secret decree was stolen from the daughter of the Qi family?"
"Exactly."
"How could Qi Shuo leave such an important thing to his daughter for safekeeping?" the emperor guessed.
"The emperor means that there is fraud?" Cold sweat broke out on Luo Shimin's forehead.
The emperor was silent. He read the secret edict carefully and found no suspicious traces at all. Even if the handwriting can be imitated, the imperial seal cannot be faked. Not to mention that the yellow silk used for writing was produced in palace silk spinning, and this silk material had been completely discarded six years ago and replaced with new silk.
Although he didn't want to believe it, the emperor confirmed that the secret decree was true. His eyes suddenly became sharp, and the character "eight" on the secret decree made him feel cold. He was on every possible precaution, but he had no idea that his biological brother, the son of one mother, was the one who needed to be on guard the most.
"Who else has read this secret decree besides you?" the emperor asked coldly.
"The secret decree is of great importance, and I have not shown it to any third person."
"Very good, you'd better keep your mouth shut. If any news leaks out, I won't be frivolous!"
"Wei Chen obeys your orders."
The emperor tightly grasped the corner of the secret decree and suddenly said in a deep voice: "I heard that Luo Yanyisu, the daughter of the Minister of Punishment, has something to do with the daughter of the Qi family?"
"Back to the emperor, I have also heard about it." Luo Shimin replied cautiously, "I heard that Miss Luo has made things difficult for the Qi family's daughters many times. This matter is no longer a secret among the noble ladies."
"Well, get someone to tell her that as the daughter of a minister, if she can't deal with a little plain girl, she won't be qualified to be honored in the future." The emperor said indifferently.
"Yes, I will definitely tell you." The emperor obviously wanted to use Luo Yanyi's hand to knock down the mountain and shake the tiger. Although the Qi family is now in dire straits, a small warning is necessary to prevent them from secretly harboring evil intentions. With the emperor's silent consent, Luo Yanyi no longer had to worry. The daughter of the Qi family may be doomed this time.
A sneer appeared at the corner of Luo Shimin's mouth.
Outside the capital, a carriage was driving slowly. In the carriage sat a handsome man, about seventeen or eighteen years old, with luxurious clothes and a distinguished temperament.
He frowned and was distracted. Seeing this, the middle-aged man sitting in the same car with him comforted him: "Prince Jing, don't worry. The four princes are coming to Beijing together this time. The situation is still unclear. We can see the opportunity." Act.”
King Jing sighed: "You and I know the emperor's thoughts very well. I wonder if I will come back alive after going to Beijing this time?"
"Crisis is also a turning point. Don't underestimate the outcome until the end." The middle-aged man stroked his beard and smiled.
"I, the king, should also learn from Mr. Wei Ding's calm and calm demeanor when dealing with shocks."
"Haha, the prince is so complimentary."
At this moment, the carriage suddenly stopped.
Mr. Weiding asked: "What happened?"
The guard replied: "There is a young man blocking the way ahead."
Wei Ding looked at King Jing, who nodded to him and let him handle it.
Wei Ding said: "Go and ask who that young man is and why he is blocking the road?"
"yes."
The guard took the order and left, but came back after a moment to report: "The young man refused to answer. He just asked his subordinates to give this letter to the prince."
Wei Ding took the letter and handed it to King Jing.
King Jing took the letter casually, but when he was halfway through it, his expression suddenly changed and he said sternly: "Go and bring that young man over."
Wei Ding also saw the yellow silk exposed from the mouth, and his eyes darkened slightly.
The young man was brought to the carriage and knelt on the ground.
"What do you want to do?" King Jing asked.
"The untouchable Yuan Xi is homeless and begs King Jing to take him in."
"My king has a noble status, how can he take in someone of unknown origin?"
"As long as King Jing is willing to take him in, the untouchables will no longer be people of unknown origin." The young man responded calmly, "Although the untouchables have no great talents, they are more loyal and will never betray."
King Jing was silent for a moment, then slowly took out the yellow silk from the envelope, looked at it carefully for a moment, and was about to put it away when he found a word written on the inside of the envelope - "Fan".
The eyes of King Jing and Wei Ding flashed at the same time.
"I have no shortage of loyal servants, but I am about to enter the capital, and there may be no one to take care of the horses in the palace. Are you willing to be my stableboy?"
"The untouchables are willing." The young man was overjoyed.
A few days later, Qi Surong received news that Yuan Xi had entered Prince Jing's Mansion. She was happy for Yuan Xi, but she didn't know that danger was approaching her.
"Miss, Mr. Su's daughter, please come over and have a chat with me." Ping'er reported.
"The daughter of Master Su?" Qi Surong asked, "Can you tell me what it is?"
"Miss Su is going to attend a tea party in the afternoon and would like to ask the lady to dress her up."
Qi Surong thought for a while and said, "Go and refuse for me, just say I'm unwell."
Ping'er went out to reply, and when she came back, she had a confused look on her face: "The man said that Miss Su accidentally hurt her face a few days ago and did not dare to see anyone, but this tea party was invited by the Prime Minister's daughter, so it was difficult to refuse, in order to avoid loss. Yi, I can only ask the young lady for help and find a way to cover up the scars on her face."
Qi Surong was quite hesitant. She knew that a noble lady valued her appearance very much. If she attended a party with an injury, it would be a small thing to be ridiculed, but it would be a big thing to offend the powerful. The daughter of the Su family is relatively introverted and has never had any conflicts with her, so it is not a bad idea to help out a little this time.
Thinking of this, she asked Ping'er to accept the Su family's invitation.
After mentioning it to Qi's mother, Qi Surong took Ping'er to the Su family in a carriage. The Su family's status in the court was not high, they acted quite neutrally, made few enemies, and had no particularly prominent political opinions.
Qi Surong was led to a room by a servant.
The servant bowed and said, "Miss, please stay for a moment while I go and report to the lady."
Qi Surong nodded.
After a while, the servant returned and apologized: "I'm sorry, the lady is entertaining guests, and it will take some time."
"It's okay." Qi Surong sat at the table, with no look of impatience on his face.
The servant added: "Not long ago, the young lady asked someone to buy a batch of fabrics and put them in the warehouse. The young lady asked the villain to fetch them and ask the girl to help select them and make a set of skirts and coats."
"Okay, thank you."
The servant was about to leave, but suddenly he seemed to think of something and said to Qi Surong: "There may be a lot of things. Can you ask the girl to come over and help? All the girls in the house have gone to entertain the female guests, and we can't call anyone for the moment."
"Well, Ping'er, you can go with this little brother." Qi Surong nodded in agreement without thinking.
After the two left, Qi Surong stayed alone in the room. There was silence all around. There was not even a girl serving tea. It seemed that they had all gone to the front hall to greet the guests. I don't know who came to the Su Mansion. They left in a hurry and didn't have time to inquire about the news.
After a while, the door creaked, and Qi Surong thought it was Ping'er who had returned, so she didn't pay attention. However, a pair of arms suddenly hugged her from behind. The body shape and arm strength clearly belonged to a man.
Qi Surong's expression changed greatly, she struggled to break away, turned around and saw that it was Cao Xiang who had once threatened to marry her as his concubine.
"You, why are you here?" she asked.
"Of course I'm here by invitation." Cao Xiang approached him and said with an evil smile, "When I saw you that day, I thought about you like crazy. Since you don't want to be my concubine, then just have sex with me for once. To relieve the pain of lovesickness."
"Shameless!" Qi Surong turned around and ran away towards the door. Unexpectedly, Cao Xiang pulled him back before his hand even touched the doorknob. With a hard throw, Qi Surong staggered and fell towards the back room.
She knew in her heart that she was being framed, but it didn't help. She could only find a way to escape from here first. Even if she dies, she doesn't want her innocence to be tainted by this villain.
"Don't you pride yourself on being loyal?" Cao Xiang said disdainfully, "Today I want to see how loyal you are?"
He grabbed Qi Surong's arm and dragged her to the bed. Qi Su endured the nausea, quickly grabbed a handful of chili powder from the brocade bag, and threw it into Cao Xiang's eyes.
"Ah!" Cao Xiang covered his eyes and threw himself on the bed.
Qi Surong took the opportunity to pull away and ran out of the room without daring to linger.
Just as he ran out of the room, he heard a muffled sound behind him. She glanced back hastily and saw that Cao Xiang seemed to have hit the bedpost in the chaos.
"What happened?" A surprised voice suddenly reached Qi Surong's ears. She felt bad. Although she knew there must be someone outside the door waiting for her to enter the jar, now she couldn't avoid it.
She stood there and looked around, only to see Miss Su walking with four or five women.
She knew all these women. They were either ladies from famous families or young ladies. They all had looks of surprise and confusion on their faces. It was hard to tell whether they were real or fake.
At this time, Cao Xiang's cry came from the room: "My eyes, my eyes... Someone come quickly! My eyes can't be seen!"
Miss Su hurriedly asked a servant to go to the room to check, then looked at Qi Surong and asked: "Miss Qi, what happened just now?"
Qi Surong looked at them indifferently and said coldly: "A man broke into the room just now with the intention of doing evil to me."
"You're talking nonsense!" Cao Xiang walked out with the support of his servant, covering his red eyes, and said angrily, "I do yearn for you a lot. My words may be inappropriate, but there is absolutely no wrongdoing."
Qi Surong looked at him coldly: "Absolutely no foul play? If you are really a polite person, how could you rush into the room?"
"Didn't you invite me in?" Cao Xiang said angrily, "Why are you criticizing me now? Last year, you used a bloody poem to make me lose all face among the scholars. From then on, I had no hope of official career. Now that we meet, it is like this What are your intentions in slandering me? Do you want to use this to show off your innocence?"
Qi Surong was about to argue when someone suddenly interrupted: "Mr. Cao, are your eyes okay?"
"I can't see in my eyes. Please call a doctor for me immediately." Cao Xiang began to cry out in pain again.
The man looked at Qi Surong and said in a regretful tone: "Miss Qi, no matter what Mr. Cao's fault is, you should not have dealt with him so harshly."
"That's right, he is still a child of an official family. For you, a common girl, to murder a child of an official family is already a serious crime." Another woman also spoke up.
"In any case, let's leave this matter to the government, right?" Someone suggested, "If Mr. Cao becomes blind because of this, Miss Qi may not be able to escape the blame. This matter can no longer be resolved privately. The merits and demerits have their own merits. Decide.”