After Princess Chaoren heard the news, she smashed everything in the house angrily, and the servant girl guarded the side cautiously, not daring to breathe.
"Princess, this matter is up to the emperor and has nothing to do with Tan'er. Please calm down, princess."
Auntie Du propped herself up and stood at the door to persuade her, looking at the debris on the ground, her face was livid.
The outside world said that Second Master Xiao, as a concubine, married the concubine's daughter of a prince, and the majestic princess married, and Xiao Tan was blessed for several generations.
Little did they know that Aunt Du was suffering in her heart. In order for her son to be successful, Aunt Du endured it for fifteen years.
Not only did she not enjoy the service of a daughter-in-law for a day, but on the contrary, she had to live by the face of Princess Chaoren, praising the main body of Chaoren County for her filial piety when meeting everyone, and only she knew the actual suffering.
There is nothing to worry about in the post city. Princess Chaoren has a good temper. Once something goes wrong, she will be beaten or scolded. There is no aunt in the whole house who dares to disobey her. No.
If my aunt stays in bed too much, she will be seriously ill within a few days, or she will be poisoned by someone inexplicably, and her appearance will be ruined overnight. As time goes by, Xiao Qin will understand that the number of times she goes to the backyard is getting less and less, and she is busy with business. This stopped.
Princess Chaoren was in a fit of anger, and seeing Aunt Du's cowering appearance, she felt angry, "My princess is upset, throwing something will get in the way of you, don't cry in front of this princess, I don't know Some people thought that the princess was bullying you."
Princess Chaoren did not look down on Aunt Du, she was petty and could not be on the stage, and she had a frowning face all day long and she didn't know who to show her. Because of Aunt Du, Princess Chaoren and Xiao Qin often quarreled, and the gap between husband and wife was not small.
Aunt Du lowered her head and said nothing, holding the hand of the servant girl back, she kept moaning and sighing.
"Grandmother, mother is getting angry, she didn't mean to say these ugly words, grandma, please don't take it to heart."
Xiao Wu hurried over and persuaded Aunt Du in a soft voice.
Aunt Du nodded, "Good boy, please persuade your mother more, grandma won't care about it."
Xiao Wu didn't look at Aunt Du again when she heard the words, she turned around and went to persuade Princess Chaoren, "Mother, calm down, my grandfather is only here to guard Lincheng, and he will be fine if he brings enough doctors. Father has already arrived at the door. Why do you bother to feel sorry for your grandmother and make your father feel bad."
The last sentence was whispered by Xiao Wu in the ear of Princess Chaoren, "Mother, father is not to blame for this matter, father can do nothing."
Princess Chaoren glared at Aunt Du, holding back a breath of anger for a long time before recovering, "Why did mother come here suddenly? Chaoren is a little irritable, but it is definitely not aimed at mother. Husband misunderstood."
Aunt Du saw the sharpness in Princess Chaoren's eyes, and moved her lips, "I've been lying down for a long time and my bones are getting lazy, so I came over to have a look. This maid is really ignorant, and accidentally broke these vases, Princess Don't get annoyed, go for a walk in the garden and let the servant girl tidy up."
Only then did Princess Chaoren's expression soften, and she squinted at the big maid who was next to her, and then followed Mrs. Du to the garden.
Halfway through the walk, I happened to meet Xiao Tan who looked gloomy. Xiao Tan glanced at Princess Chao Ren, "Have you heard?"
Princess Chaoren hummed lightly, and Xiao Qin said in a deep voice, "This time I underestimated Zhao Houye, who is no less scheming than elder brother, and brought this matter to father-in-law in a few words, you write a letter to father-in-law, Tell your father-in-law everything about Kyoto, and let him make plans early."
Princess Chaoren raised her eyebrows, "It's just a Marquis, is it really so powerful?"
Xiao Tan nodded, and then told Princess Chaoren everything that happened in the court hall. Princess Chaoren frowned and sighed, "The water in the capital is too deep. We underestimated the capital. That's all. Go write a letter to your father."
Xiao Tan nodded, watched Princess Chaoren leave, and glanced back to see Mrs. Du sitting in the pavilion covering her mouth and coughing lightly.
Auntie Du glanced at Xiao Wu from the corner of her eyes, and hurriedly said to Xiao Tan, "Don't worry, mother is fine, it's just that she caught a cold two days ago, just take a few medicines and you'll be fine."
Xiao Wu smiled and went forward to say hello to Xiao Tan, Xiao Tan pursed his lips tightly and didn't say much, there was only one calculation in his mind, how to bring down the right minister.
Xiao Tan suddenly realized a problem. He had suspected it since he entered Beijing. On the surface, Emperor Dongming and Empress Dowager Lian put aside their grievances and dealt with Prime Minister Right for the time being. Even the Queen Mother!
The Right Prime Minister resigned for no reason and returned to the government. The Emperor loved Zhao Houye very much, and Zhao Hou Ye represented the Right Prime Minister.
The more Xiao Qin guessed, the more frightened he became. If this was the case, then Emperor Dongming must have planned to let King An go to Beijing. King An has been eager to make a move all these years, and he did not take sides on the surface, but in fact he was loyal to the Queen Mother Lian.
"Oops! It's been tricked!" Xiao Qin's heart sank, and he quickened his pace to find Princess Chaoren.
Princess Chaoren just finished writing the letter, Xiao Qin said, "Hurry up, go to the palace immediately to greet the Empress Dowager, all of this today is very likely to be a mess, if the father-in-law leads troops to Beijing, he may not be able to return to the post city safe and sound. "
Princess Chaoren was startled when she saw Xiao Tan's serious expression. Xiao Qin gave a few more words of advice, and Princess Chaoren nodded immediately, "I...I'll pass a message to the palace right now, and I'll go into the palace right away."
Just at this time, the guard stood at the door and said, "My lord, there is a jailer outside the door begging to see my lord."
Xiao Tan raised his eyebrows, "Jailor? Let him in."
After a while, the jailer came in wearing a prison uniform with a big prison word on his chest, holding a tray in his hand.
Princess Chaoren's eyelids twitched heavily, with an ominous premonition lingering in her heart, she stared at the tray.
"Master Xiao, this is Master Zhao's order to return the belongings of the Xiao family to their original owners."
As he spoke, the jailer lifted off the covering cloth, and on the tray were some earrings, hairpins, bracelets and necklaces, three emerald rings, and a piece of suet jade.
Xiao Tan looked familiar, and looked at Princess Chaoren, "This phoenix hairpin looks familiar, and it's somewhat similar to Madam's."
Princess Chaoren took a deep breath, and her face turned pale.
"Return to Master Xiao, this is the princess who was kidnapped by accident that day, and the jewelry on the princess was snatched by the prisoners. Master Zhao ordered that it must be handed over to the princess intact, and see if there is anything missing."
After saying that, Xiao Qin's face became ugly. To put it bluntly, these jewels were snatched from Princess Chaoren by force. Xiao Tan suddenly remembered the scene of going to pick up Princess Chaoren that day.
The stinking prison cell was full of people, most of them were men. Princess Chaoren's clothes were disheveled, and there were many scars on her body. She didn't think much of it at the time, but now that she saw the jewelry, Xiao Tan felt disgusted.
"Crack!" Princess Chaoren reached out and knocked the tray out of the jailer's hand. The jewelry fell to the floor, and she gritted her teeth angrily, "You made a mistake. These are not the Princess's. Don't bother Mr. Zhao so much!"
At this moment, Princess Chaoren wanted to kill Zhao Zun. She saw clearly just now, the loathing that flashed in Xiao Tan's eyes.
Having been husband and wife with Xiao Tan for more than ten years, Princess Chaoren still knows Xiao Tan somewhat, or it can be said that men have this common problem, and they don't want women to be contaminated with anything related to loyalty.
If you don't explain it clearly, the gap between husband and wife will become bigger and bigger in the rest of your life. Princess Chaoren has a cold face and scolds Lord Zhao for being too shady!
"Husband, listen to my explanation, things are not what you think..."
Princess Chaoren hurriedly explained, but Xiao Tan smiled slightly, "Princess, as a husband, I naturally believe in you."
"Okay, go back and tell Mr. Zhao that he doesn't need to worry about the second bedroom of the Xiao family. You should take care of yourself. This plague is not easy to control."
Xiao Tan squinted his eyes and said coldly to the jailer, his eyes were sharp, and a cold light flashed suddenly, Xiao Tan wrote down the account.
The jailer was not afraid of Xiao Tan's aura at all, but bent down and picked up the pearls and hairpins on the ground one by one, "The little one will definitely tell Mr. Zhao, since it is not the princess's, the little one will take it back and return to order."
Princess Chaoren was almost pissed off, and stared fiercely at the jailer. A small jailer was so bold. It was a great shame for Princess Chaoren to have her jewelry carried by a lowly jailer. .
"Presumptuous!" Princess Chaoren sternly shouted, "Do you still have any rules? That's what Master Zhao taught his subordinates!"
The jailer looked innocent, "Didn't the princess say that this thing does not belong to you? Our lord ordered that it must be returned to the original owner. If it is not the princess's, it is someone else's. If that person comes to ask for it, those who don't know will think it is ours." The adults are corrupt."
"You!" Princess Chaoren choked, her chest heaving up and down in anger.
"Okay, let's go, don't delay your Mr. Zhao's official business!" Xiao Qin said to the jailer impatiently. Sure enough, there are as many slaves as there are masters, and they are equally tricky and mean!
The jailer nodded repeatedly, and left the second room with the jewelry in his pocket.
Princess Chaoren's face turned red with anger, her eyes were ice-cold, and she wished she could poke two holes in the jailer.
Xiao Tan withdrew his expression and glanced at Princess Ren, "Master Zhao is indeed the son-in-law that the elder brother likes, and he is really sincere!"
"Husband, this Marquis Zhao is really deceiving people too much, we must not stop here and let him go lightly!"
Princess Chaoren's anger still persisted, and she had a very bad impression of Zhao Zun. She was really aggrieved because she couldn't get out of this bad breath.
"The princess doesn't have to worry. We have a bright future ahead of us. Why do we have to be quick for a while? He is the future son-in-law of the eldest brother, and we are enemies from the beginning. The two families will lose if they fight, but it will be sooner or later."
The right minister has promoted Zhao Zun all the way up to now, and sent a merchant directly to the second-rank Lord Marquis. If someone else is there, he may not be able to sit in the current position of Marquis Zhao even in twenty years.
Just as arrogant and conceited as the Prime Minister on the right, when he suddenly thought of something, an imperceptible gloom flashed across Xiao Tan's eyes.
"It's getting late, you go into the palace, don't put him in your eyes." Xiao Tan is now more and more sure that there must be a connection between Emperor Dongming and Prime Minister Right.
Princess Chaoren was relieved when she saw that Xiao Qin had regained her expression, and immediately entered the palace with her maid.
As soon as the person left, Xiao Tan's face turned cold. He wiped his hands with a handkerchief, and threw it away in disgust.
The jailer smiled and held up the jewelry, "Master, you guessed it right, Princess Chaoren didn't admit it at all, and wished he could hack his subordinates with a knife."
Zhao Zun glanced at Zhao Qi angrily, "It's not a waste of a trip to get a good deal, and you can wait to marry a wife."
"Thank you, Master." Zhao Qi's eyes were slightly red, feeling inexplicably moved, and after a while, he seemed to think of something again, "Master, the Tao family has been really restless these days, and they gave the Queen Mother hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, which is how they escaped a lifetime." Jie, he kept making small moves in private, and wanted that kid from the Tao family to marry his wife, so he kept going to the prime minister's house every day."
Zhao Zun squinted his eyes halfway, "It's really an eyesore, keeping such a painless one, it should be dead."
"Master, what Madam means is that there is no need to take care of family affection. Mrs. Xiao has already given up on the Tao family."
So Zhao Qi told Zhao Zun everything about what happened to the Xiao family and the Tao family. , Zhao Zun was stunned and didn't dare to disturb him.
Zhao Zun heard the words counting the days, "Ask Ye Xiuzhi later, when will the newlyweds be able to conceive a child at the soonest."
Zhao Qi was stunned for a moment, how did she get pregnant again
"The Tao family..."
Zhao Zun pursed his lips, "The Tao family is just a new merchant, and it won't last long without the blessing of the right minister."
As he spoke, Zhao Zun raised his eyebrows with a smile that was not a smile, Zhao Qi shrugged unconsciously as he watched, a chill came out from the soles of his feet.
"I remember that Prefect Lu has a daughter named Lu Yan. In my opinion, she is just right for that kid from the Tao family."
The corners of Zhao Qi's mouth twitched violently when he heard that, that Lu Yan was a formidable character, with a hot temper, and he was unreasonable. He had a younger brother, Mr. Lu, who almost married Princess Qingle, and several concubines were all He was forced to death by Lu Yan.
This Lu Yan is already eighteen years old, and he is still unmarried. He looks big and three rough, and has a savage temper.
This Lu family is also a member of the Empress Dowager's camp, Lord Lu is highly valued, if Lu Yan and Tao Zihao achieve good things, the future life of this Tao family will definitely not be peaceful.
Don't blame his grandfather for being ruthless, in fact, his grandfather didn't have time to meddle in his own business, just blame the Tao family for not knowing what to do but to shoot at the muzzle.
Zhao Qi nodded again and again, "This subordinate understands, so I will do it now."
Zhao Zun was too busy these days, he hadn't seen Concubine Xiao for a long time, he took care of everything just to make time for Prime Minister Right, and hoped that Prime Minister Right would not let him down.
Calculate the time, the good days should not be too far away.
Thinking of this, Zhao Zun immediately became full of energy and returned to his former sternness.
early the next morning
Tao Zihao woke up in a daze, with severe pain on his face, as if someone had slapped him, and there was a faint cry in his ear.
"Who are you?" Tao Zihao was taken aback, and quickly sat up straight and looked at the other party, seeing the other party's appearance clearly, without concealing his contempt.
Lu Yanqi was furious, and pointed at Tao Zihao's nose, "You still dare to ask me who I am, but you used all sorts of tricks to take me away..."
Lu Yan's dark face was flushed, angry and helpless, no matter how careless he was on weekdays, he didn't dare to say some words, so he could only shed tears of grievance.
Tao Zihao looked innocent, he slipped out yesterday to drink and have fun with some friends he just met, maybe because he drank too much later, he only remembers the woman who came in vaguely, the two had a lingering lingering relationship, and he completely forgot what happened afterwards.
"Isn't this a restaurant? How could you, a girl, appear here?" Tao Zihao was young and had never experienced such things before, so he was frightened out of his wits.
Lu Yan saw that he was young, but he was born with delicate features, and his complexion was so fair and tender that water could be squeezed out. The two of them had accomplished a good thing again, and Lu Yan couldn't help but feel flustered.
"This is the Lu's restaurant, but this room is my wing. Outsiders can't get in, but you took advantage of me to get drunk, and unexpectedly..."
Lu Yan covered her face and wept as she spoke. The pear blossoms that were about to cry were accompanied by rain, but with her thick body, everything seemed so out of place and made people feel uncomfortable.
Tao Zihao was at a loss for a moment, quickly put on his clothes, looked for money from his arms, and found only one jade pendant for a long time, "Girl, I didn't mean to offend, this jade pendant will be used as compensation for the girl, farewell! "
With that said, Tao Zihao turned his head and ran away before Lu Yan came back to his senses.
Lu Yan was tossed all night, his whole body was sore and limp, and he couldn't chase after him at all. His big fat hands held the jade pendant tightly, and he couldn't get angry.
"What a joke! Who am I, Lu Yan, to run away as soon as I say?"