Zhao Jingyu stormed away, and Song Wanji was furious in the study, scaring the eunuchs and guards on duty outside. Even Si Fangzheng hesitated for a long time and didn't dare to go in.
Su Jincheng was there too. He hadn't expected that Zhao Jingyu would go against the emperor in order to protect Xiu'er's dignity. In the past, he had always worried that Zhao Jingyu was unreliable and could not bring happiness to his sister. At this moment, he finally realized that his worries were unnecessary. To be fair, Zhao Jingyu's love for Xiu'er even exceeded that of their relatives. At least they didn't dare to disobey the emperor's orders for Xiu'er easily.
He had nothing to worry about since Xiu'er could marry such a man. His only worry now was that the relationship between Zhao Jingyu and the emperor had become too strained, and he wondered how it would end.
Although Zhao Jingyu threatened to give up the position of crown prince in anger, the position of crown prince is not something you can choose to become if you want to. With his status, if he doesn't want to be the crown prince, he can only be the deposed crown prince. The only destination of the deposed crown prince is to live out his retirement in the cold palace. If the future emperor is afraid of him, he will be beheaded before he gets old.
So this matter cannot be delayed, Xiu'er must be notified immediately and asked to persuade Zhao Jingyu.
"Where are the people? Are they all dead outside?" A teacup carrying Song Wanji's full anger flew out and fell outside the door and shattered. Everyone was frightened and went in to serve fearfully. Su Jincheng took the opportunity to leave for a while and go to find a trusted person to report the news home.
When the news reached the Duke Zhenguo's Mansion, everyone, young and old, was gathered in the meeting room to discuss countermeasures.
Seeing that the wedding was about to take place, such a vicious rumor suddenly spread, and everyone was panicked. Worried that Xie Nanjia would be wronged, General Wu'an and his family of three also came in a hurry.
In comparison, Xie Nanjia was much calmer than her family. She believed that those who were innocent were innocent. There were many ways to prove whether she was as bad as the rumors said. However, she was very disgusted by the despicable means of the person behind the scenes.
She calmed everyone down and recounted the events at the manor in detail. She then analyzed, "It's been more than two years since this happened. No one else knows about it except the people at the manor. And the doctor had already proven my innocence in public on the day of the incident. Now someone is suddenly using it to slander me. I can't think of anyone other than the housekeeper's wife, Mrs. Li."
After Sheng Qingyun heard her story, she was so angry that tears came out. She hugged her and cried, "Mother only knew that you suffered outside, but she didn't know that you had also suffered such an insult. If the heavy rain hadn't collapsed the house, the beast would have succeeded. My poor child..."
Sheng Qingluan was just like her, feeling terrified at the thought. She wiped away her tears in pain, and at the same time she wished she could dig the beast out of its grave and whip its corpse to relieve the hatred in her heart.
"Sister-in-law is right. It's thanks to God that the beast was killed, so that our Xiu'er's innocence was preserved." The fourth lady continued Sheng Qingyun's words, "Then Li should be thankful that her son died early, and then hide in a corner with her tail between her legs. But she actually jumped out to throw dirty water on Xiu'er just before her wedding. How hateful and rampant!"
"I will find her and tear her into pieces right now, and see how she can still act so rampant!" Xie Nanfeng stood up in anger and was about to take people to search for Li's whereabouts.
"Wait!" Xie Nanjia hurriedly called out to him, scolding him, "You are a general now, why are you still so impatient? I only guessed it was her, but I'm not sure it was her. Why are you so anxious?"
"..." After being scolded, Xie Nanfeng was still angry but he still sat back down obediently.
Everyone found it strange that this cousin with a bad temper was actually controlled by his cousin.
At this time, Xie Zhanting said in a deep voice: "Li is just a peasant woman. Even if she hates Xiu'er, she should not have the courage to slander the Crown Princess. So I think that either Li has someone behind her instigating her, or someone else is spreading rumors. In short, it is definitely not something that Li can do alone."
"I agree with my father's idea." Xie Nanjia said.
Perhaps because she called him "Father" too naturally, everyone was stunned for a moment, and young Duke Su Xian couldn't help feeling a little sad in his heart.
Fortunately, with Sheng Qingyun's help, Xie Nanjia had already recognized Xie Zhanting as his godfather, so no one thought of anything else.
Just at this time, Su Jincheng's confidant sent a message saying that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince disagreed with the Emperor's proposal to let the body-checking nanny check the body of the Crown Princess. He had a big quarrel with the Emperor and left the palace, claiming that he would resign from the position of Crown Prince.
Everyone was stunned when they heard this. On the one hand, they were happy that their daughter had found a good husband, but on the other hand, they were worried about Zhao Jingyu's recklessness.
Xie Nanjia was also quite surprised. She didn't expect that Zhao Jingyu would go against the emperor for her. She was very worried, so she asked Xie Nanfeng to accompany her to Dingyuan Marquis' Mansion to find Zhao Jingyu.
No matter what, we have to persuade Zhao Jingyu first. We can't let him lose his position as crown prince because of this.
Sheng Qingyun hurriedly ordered his servants to prepare the carriage. Xie Nanjia thought the carriage was too slow, so he rode Xie Zhanting's horse away.
The brother and sister rode their horses towards Marquis Dingyuan's Mansion. Along the way, all the people who recognized them looked at them strangely, and as soon as they passed by, they quickly gathered together to talk about it.
Xie Nanjia knew what those people were talking about, but she didn't care at all. The only thing she cared about now was that idiot Zhao Jingyu.
When they arrived at Marquis Dingyuan's Mansion, Zhao Jingyu was not there. People in the west wing said that he had not returned since he was summoned to the palace by the emperor. Wei Jun and Huangfu had not returned either.
"Is the Second Young Master going to look for Young Young Master Cheng? Whenever he has something to do, he goes to Young Young Master Cheng for advice." Yiyun reminded.
Xie Nanjia thought it was very likely, so he and Xie Nanfeng went to the Minister's Residence to find Cheng Zhiye.
At this time, Zhao Jingyu was drinking with Cheng Zhiye and Zhou Yuncheng in Diancui Pavilion, the largest brothel in the capital.
After coming out of the palace, he became angrier and angrier. He had no place to vent his anger, so he called two good brothers to come out and drink with him.
"For all of you, getting married is as easy as drinking cold water. Why is it so difficult for me? I saw that the 81 difficulties had almost come to an end, but I didn't expect that there would be 82 more difficulties to come. Is this going to end?"
They both felt sorry for him, but seeing how angry he was, they couldn't help wanting to laugh, but they had to hold it back in order not to irritate him.
"If I had known that you had a quarrel with your father, I would not have come here." Cheng Zhiye said, "Don't let your father get angry and punish us later."
"That's right. We drank a little hastily." Zhou Yuncheng echoed, "I know my uncle's temper very well. It's fine if you say you're unlucky, but you have to make us suffer with you..."
"Are you two still human?" Zhao Jingyu picked up the wine jar and threw it at them. The two men dodged to the side, and the wine jar smashed to the ground. The jar of the best girl's red wine was spilled without a drop left, and the whole room was filled with the aroma of wine.
The girl serving beside her screamed in fear, and Zhao Jingyu glared at her: "Why are you screaming? Bring me some wine!"
The girl didn't dare to delay and hurried out to get the wine.
Cheng Zhiye and Zhou Yuncheng laughed out loud.
Zhao Jingyu finally let out some of his anger, and glared at the two of them and said, "Do you think I can't be the crown prince, so you're not afraid of me anymore?"
"Okay, stop talking nonsense. My uncle won't argue with you." Zhou Yuncheng sat over and patted his shoulder. "He has put so much effort into you. If he doesn't let you do it, who else can he do it? He can't train your suckling brother from scratch, right?"
"He is in his prime now, so it's not impossible to train him for a dozen years." Zhao Jingyu said angrily.
"That's not the case. Even if he wants to, the ministers won't agree. You are very popular in the court now, don't worry, someone will protect you." Cheng Zhiye said, "If it doesn't work, don't we still have you?"
"Alright, alright, stop talking nonsense. Now it's not about whether he wants me to do it or not, but whether I am willing to do it or not." Zhao Jingyu said, "Anyway, if he insists on examining Xiu'er, I will fight him to the end."
Cheng Zhiye: “…”
Zhou Yuncheng: “…”
"To be honest, physical examination is indeed an indispensable procedure for entering the palace..." Zhou Yuncheng tried to reason with him.
"I won't allow it. Whoever wants to test it can do it, but Xiu'er is not allowed!" Zhao Jingyu interrupted him firmly and didn't want to listen at all.
Speaking of this, he couldn't help getting annoyed and slammed the table and shouted, "Where's the wine? Where's the wine? Why isn't it here yet?"
"Here it comes, here it comes..." The mother of Diancui Pavilion personally brought in a few jars of good wine, and also replaced the serving girls for them. She said with a smile on her face, "Don't be angry, Second Young Master. This is the Spring Breeze Drunk that I have treasured for many years. I brought it specially for you to cool down."
Zhao Jingyu said unhappily, "Which eye of yours saw that I was angry? Stop talking nonsense and serve the wine."
While saying these harsh words, he threw a gold ingot over.
The mother took it, held it in her hands, smiled happily, thanked repeatedly, told the girl to serve her well, and then left happily.
When the girl saw that her mother got a gold ingot for just a few words, she quickly put on a charming smile, poured a full glass of wine, and personally fed it to Zhao Jingyu's mouth.
Cheng Zhiye wanted to stop her but Zhao Jingyu's face turned black. "Who told you to feed me? Don't I have hands?"
The girl was so frightened that she didn't know what to do, and tears welled up in her eyes.
Cheng Zhiye sighed and waved his hand to let her go: "You don't know, our gentleman has been chaste since he found his lover."
The girl was confused and thought, why are you coming to a brothel if you are a virgin? Just to drink
However, she only dared to think about this in her heart. In order not to offend this gentleman again, she retreated timidly with her body bowed.
I just stepped out the door and was about to talk to my mother when I turned around and bumped into a girl.
It was obvious at first glance that the girl was not from the building. She was extremely beautiful and had an elegant temperament, but she was holding a horsewhip in her hand.
The girl was stunned and wondered what was going on.
Then I saw my mother chasing after me breathlessly, stammering, "Too, too, too..."
What do you mean by "Tai"? Could it be that someone's wife came to catch an adulterer? Oh my God! The girl covered her mouth in amazement. She often heard people talk about Hedong lions and tigresses, but she had never seen one. Today was really an eye-opener.
Just as she was thinking about it, the girl reached out and pushed her aside, then rushed into the house like a gust of wind.
The door slammed shut and the girl startled.
My mother ran after me and stood outside the door, holding her knees and gasping for breath.
"Mom, whose wife is this?" the girl asked.
"What Madam? This is the Crown Princess!" Mom said in a low voice.
The girl took a breath: "..."
As soon as Xie Nanjia entered the room, the three people in the room jumped up in surprise at the same time, as if they had really been caught cheating, staring at the whip in her hand in horror.
"Xiu'er, why are you here?" Zhao Jingyu hurriedly went up to her and asked guiltily.
"I heard that you were wronged because of me, so I came to see you." Xie Nanjia said lightly, putting the whip aside, walked to the table and sat down, poured himself a glass of wine, raised his head and drank it all, sighed with satisfaction, "I've been looking for you for a long time, I'm so thirsty, this wine is good."
“…” The three of them looked at each other, feeling more and more uncertain.
Xie Nanjia put down the wine glass, turned around and asked curiously, "Why are you standing? Why don't you sit down?"
The three of them sat down obediently, with their hands on their knees and their backs straight, as if they were listening to a teacher in class.
"Why don't you drink?" Xie Nanjia asked.
“Drink, drink, drink…” The three of them quickly picked up the wine glasses in front of them and drank them all.
"Why didn't you call a girl to serve you?" Xie Nanjia asked again.
Zhao Jingyu was startled and quickly explained: "We are not called girls, we just drink."
Afraid that she wouldn't believe it, he added, "Really!"
"Yes, yes, it's true, it's true!" Cheng Zhiye and Zhou Yuncheng echoed in unison.
Xie Nanjia finally came to her senses and couldn't help laughing out loud, "What are you doing? I'm not here to catch you cheating."
"..." The three of them were skeptical, but when they saw that her smile didn't seem fake, they slowly put their hearts at ease.
"I was scared to death." Zhao Jingyu patted his chest and said, "I saw you holding a horse whip, and I thought you were going to teach me a lesson."
"..." Xie Nanjia glanced at him unhappily, "Why, am I scarier than your father? You have the guts to argue with your father, so why are you afraid of me?"
Zhao Jingyu scratched his head and chuckled twice: "So, you know everything?"
"How could I not know?" Xie Nanjia said, "It's not a big deal. Why don't you become the crown prince? If you don't become the crown prince, do you want me to follow you and starve to death?"
Zhao Jingyu looked at her in surprise, unable to believe that she could still be so calm at this time.
"This concerns your innocence, so of course it's a huge matter. How come you're not angry at all?"
"Is it useful to be angry?" Xie Nanjia said, "Instead of being angry, it is better to find the person who spread the rumor as soon as possible. The wedding is only a few days away, and I am looking forward to having a grand wedding!"
Zhao Jingyu: “…”
Cheng Zhiye: “…”
Zhou Yuncheng: “…”
How big a heart does this take
"Xiu'er is right. It's useless to just be angry. We need to calm down and think about how to find out who spread the rumors." Zhou Yuncheng personally filled the glasses for several people and raised his glass, saying, "Come on, let's drink this glass of wine and discuss countermeasures."
Cheng Zhiye and Xie Nanjia both raised their glasses, but Zhao Jingyu alone did not move.
"What are you standing there for? Come on!" Xie Nanjia urged him.
Zhao Jingyu blinked and said in a coquettish voice, "You scared me just now. I want you to feed me."
"..." Xie Nanjia glared, "What are you saying? Don't you have hands?"
"Yeah!" Zhao Jingyu hid his hands behind his back and said shamelessly, "No."
(End of this chapter)