As everyone knows, amongst the four countries: Ye Country has many water ways, Xia Country has many gra.s.slands, Xue Country is covered with ice and snow all year round, while Shu Country is famous for its complex terrain, which makes it easy to defend and difficult to attack.
Therefore, the Kingdom of Shu in Xia Yuqing’s mind was a beautiful fairyland on top of a high mountain and surrounded by clouds, but the truth was…
“No wonder this Kingdom of Shu is easy to defend and difficult to attack, it is surrounded by mountains on all sides. The mountains for barriers are complex and convoluted, it would be difficult to find the way inside unless someone led the way.” Shao Zitang, wearing light apparel, sat in front of the carriage and pointed out.
Feng Tingye in the carriage slightly raised the curtains. He glanced at the scenery from all sides, and raised his eyebrows: “The mountain roads are the most difficult to traverse. People who don’t know the road will easily get lost in the mountains and forests, they may even fall into the traps set by the people of Shu. Thus this place is well fortified. However, once someone understands the pattern between the mountain roads, the role of this barrier would be greatly reduced.”
Shao Zitang smiled. Feng Tingye took advantage of the situation and put the carriage curtain down, stopping his speech.
The carriage slowly drove into the entrance of Shu Kingdom, and slowly moved towards a very vast manor.
“This is…” Yun Zhongyue jumped down from another carriage. He stared at the large and vast mansion in front of him and the plaque above the mansion. He couldn’t help being stunned.
“This is the home of Wei Yan, the richest man in the capital of the Kingdom of Shu. I forgot to tell you that Wei Yan and my Father are sworn brothers.” Shao Zitang threw the rein in his hand to the side, “but you can feel rest a.s.sured that he is not a spy of the Kingdom of Ye. He’s just an innocent businessman. We just came here to find a place to stay. After all, if so many of us go and live in an inn, it will inevitably be noticed.”
“Then your spies are…” Yun Zhongyue raised his eyebrows and asked tentatively.
“You’ll know once you enter.” Feng Tingye interrupted the chat between the two, and walked towards the entrance of the courtyard.
“You are…” Hearing the movement, the old housekeeper stuck his head out of the door. After seeing Shao Zitang, he was stunned, “It’s the Little Master, come in please.”
Shao Zitang and Feng Tingye looked at each other, and smiled: “Is Uncle Wei here?”
“Master is inside. It just so happens that Lord Lan is also inside. Master was just talking about Young Master yesterday, who would have expected Young Master to come today.”
“Well, it just so happens that I have a few friends who I want to introduce to Uncle Wei and Big Brother Lan. You can lead us to find Uncle Wei first, then you can help us arrange the luggage.”
“Good, Young Master and the few guests, please come this way with Nu Cai. Naturally someone will help tidy up those things, Young Master doesn’t have to worry.”
“En.”
Shao Zitang nodded and followed the old housekeeper and walked in.
Lord Lan? Is it possible that Feng Ting Ye’s spy planted in Shu is a man in the court? Yun Zhong Yue listened to Shao Zitang and the old housekeeper’s words and a trace of doubt rose in his heart.
And this doubt was finally explained when he saw the man in the study with his back to the crowd. After hearing some movement, the man turned around and faced them. He was thoroughly shocked.
“Lan Yingran, Master Lan?!”
The man who turned around was also taken aback after seeing the person who came. He whispered, “Sixth Prince?”
Yun Zhongyue was scared by the sudden truth. His head went blank. On the other side…
Xia Yuqing and several people were still hiding in the carriage with the luggage. Quietly listening to Feng Tingye’s conversation outside, they felt that the carriage was b.u.mped again and swayed for a while. After that, it stopped and they heard a shout from outside.
“Someone come, move these things to the Xiyuan wing.”
“Yes.”
Thus, Xia Yuqing and the others experienced the shaking feeling of being in the air again. That feeling… It’s a bit like motion sickness, the most important thing though is….
“Why is this box so heavy? Is it carrying rocks or something?”
“…” Buddy, are you saying that we are too fat?
“You stupid, who would put rocks in a luggage? If you want to ask me, maybe it’s some kind of gold and silver jewelry, or money.” Another voice laughed and scolded the man. This also made Xia Yuqing and the others realize that they were being carried by two people.
“Gold and silver jewelry? Money? How much money do they have to bring to have it be this heavy? How about we open it up and take a look to open up my eyes?”
“!” Xia Yuqing paled, holding the two steamed buns. Big Baby also narrowed his eyes slightly, staring dangerously at the top of the box.
“Forget it, this is something the Young Master brought. Even if it is really gold and silver jewelry, would you dare take it? Be careful that Master will chop your hands off.”
“What’s the matter? I don’t want to take it, I just want to take a look. Taking a look won’t make them lose any meat.”
“Come on, do you think I don’t know you? Seeing the money in the open, would you still be able to be indifferent? Honestly, don’t look, otherwise you’ll suffer.”
“…okay.”
“…” Xia Yuqing listened to the conversation between the two and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
After a few sways and b.u.mps, several people felt that they had fallen to the ground again. Listening to the sound of people closing the door, Xia Yuqing reached out and pushed the lid of the chest tentatively, then took a look outside along the opening of the box. Confirming no one was there, she completely opened the box.
“Ugh, it was so suffocating! Dudu, Dundun, how are you? Is there any place you feel uncomfortable?” Xia Yuqing let out a sigh of relief. So Feng Tingye and the others won’t discover them, they had been acting like thieves. Yhey were sneaky when they were eating, and didn’t even dare to go out for a breath of fresh air. It was good now, now they can finally be relieved.
Big Baby sat up holding the flushed Second Baby. He rubbed his reddish little hands, and replied mercilessly: “Mother, you should lose weight.”
“…” This child is really not cute! I shouldn’t have cared about him just now! Bringing him out was really the biggest mistake of my life, there is nothing else!
“Gurulu…” Xia Yuqing was speechless, then she heard a loud sound.
The two followed the sound and looked at the innocent little eyes of Second Baby who was holding her belly: “Mother, baby is…hungry.”
“Hungry? This soon? Didn’t you just eat an hour ago?” Xia Yuqing stared at the round belly of Second Baby. It was still bulging just an hour ago, how could it become deflated after an hour? She can eat too well!!
“Gurulu…” Xia Yuqing just wanted to make a comment, when a louder voice came from her stomach.
“…”
“…”
The two foodies had big eyes. Second Baby bit her little finger: “Mother is also hungry?”
Xia Yuqing laughed embarra.s.sedly: “Yes, Mother is also hungry.”
” …… ” Big Baby looked at the happy smiles on the two people and could not help but twitch, these two foodies!
“We’ve already finished the things we brought, it seems like we have to go out to find food to eat. This seems to be someone’s mansion in Shu, so they should have a kitchen. We can go to the kitchen to steal something to eat.”
“Steal food?! Oye…” As soon as she heard that there was something to eat, Second Baby became excited and waved her little pink fists happily.
“…” Mother, is it really okay for you to take sister to steal food so openly? And we don’t even know whose house we are in now. If we get caught…
Big Baby was speechless for a moment. He silently took Second Baby’s hand and made up his mind that if they were discovered later on, he would take his younger sister to escape. As for Mother, she is an adult, so it would be fine if she stays to pay off their debts. Father will definitely come to save her, so that’s the plan!
Xia Yuqing didn’t know that she had been sold out by Big Baby. At the moment, she had only one thought in her heart, food!
Xia Yuqing took the two buns and slowly opened the door of the room. Poking her head out, she took a look outside. She found that the yard was very quiet with no one coming in and out, so she boldly opened the door.
“Wow, this is the Kingdom of Shu. Sure enough, the mountains have lots of fresh air. But it turns out that the Kingdom of Shu is not built on top of a mountain, it’s actually a basin!”
Although the courtyard was secluded, the view was surprisingly wide. Xia Yuqing bounced around, looked at the outside scener, and praised it.
Big Baby rolled his eyes helplessly and reminded her in a low voice: “Mother, we are starving to death, shouldn’t we look for food?”
Xia Yuqing woke up from her dream: “Well, let’s find food first. Hey, what’s the smell?”
“Smell?” Big Baby glanced at Xia Yuqing with some suspcion, then sniffed around. He didn’t smell anything special.
“There, there…” Second Baby seemed to have discovered something, and pointed towards a certain direction in the courtyard.
“Yes, that’s right, over there!” Xia Yuqing’s eyes lit up. Carrying the two buns, she rushed in the direction Second Baby pointed.
After the time to make a cup of tea, Big Baby saw a kitchen with smoke flying above the chimney three yards away. He became embarra.s.sed. It turns out that the world of a foodie is difficult to comprehend.
Xia Yuqing had already started to make her move for her little belly, while the atmosphere on Yun Zhongyue’s side was becoming a bit stagnant.
Lan Yingran was taken aback when he saw Yun Zhongyue. He was even more shocked when he saw the people with him.
“Your Majesty, you…”
“Your Majesty? You’re a member of the Ye Kingdom? Does this mean Fifth Sister-in-law is also a member of the Ye Kingdom?”
“Your Fifth Sister-in-law, that is Ying Ran’s sister, is naturally my Ye Kingdom’s people.” Shao Zitang stated with a light smile, while looking at the dumbfounded appearance of Yun Zhongyue.
“What the h*ll is going on? How could Fifth Royal Uncle’s wife be…” Yun Xi was also taken aback when she heard Shao Zitang’s words. She looked back and forth in amazement.
“Yingran and Yingran’s sister, Ying Yao, since childhood were shadow guards who followed my Father. Later, during a mission, they accidentally rescued your Fifth Royal Uncle. Your Fifth Royal Uncle insisted on marrying Ying Yao as his wife. Ying Ran did not agree with the marriage between the two, but Ying Yao also fell in love with your Fifth Royal Uncle. So when Ying Ran, informed my Father of this matter, my Father did not say much. He was only worried about Ying Yao’s ident.i.ty and how if someone in the Kingdom of Shu found out, they would definitely harm Ying Yao with this. It will also be used to prove Ye Kingdom’s unruly plot. Thus, he had Ying Yao pretend to be the daughter of a rich businessman and marry your Fifth Royal Uncle. Yingran also followed them to the Kingdom of Shu, a.s.suming the post of the grand scribe of the Kingdom of Shu.”
“This matter…Does my Fifth Royal Brother know?” Yue Zhongyue asked after listening to Feng Tingye’s explanation.
“I don’t know. I think he has always thought that my sister was just a young lady who came from a scholarly family.”
“If my Fifth Royal Brother knew about this…”
“He will never know. Whether you believe it or not, since Ying Yao married your Fifth Royal Brother, she has never intervened in the dispute between Ye and Shu.” Lan Yingran glanced at Yun Zhongyue, his eyes were filled with years of silent killing intent.
With a “pop”, it was Yun Xi who broke the deadlock first: “Little Royal Uncle, that’s enough. The emperor brought you here not for you to reveal Uncle Lan and my Fifth Aunt’s shortcomings. What if my Fifth Aunt is a person of Ye? General He, Qing Jiejie, and your favorite Lu Rui Jiejie, which one isn’t from Ye? Little Royal Uncle, I think that since Lu Rui Jiejie hasn’t been here for the past few days, you are unmasking yourself.”
If Yun Xi had learned about this incident before meeting Xia Yuqing, Yun Xi would have been more stimulated about Lan Yingran’s affairs than Yun Zhong Yue. After all, her Royal Aunt had instilled a lot of ideas about Ye and Shu in her, and how hateful the people of Ye Kingdom were.
But after meeting Xia Yuqing, that had completely subverted her three views. Especially after the incident of Yan Tingfang, it refreshed her knowledge of the world. It turned out that her closest relatives are capable of doing this kind of cruel thing, let alone others. On the contrary, those who were silent seemed more reliable.
“…” Silent tears flowed from Yun Zhongyue who felt like he was slapped head-on. Little niece, save a little bit of face for your little Royal Uncle! Since you went to Ye Kingdom, you have become more and more rude. How can that stupid big guy stand you?!
“Ahem, I was just… just concerned about Fifth Royal Brother…”
“No need to explain, explaining is covering up!”
“…”
“Fifth Royal Aunt is kind to me usually, and treats Fifth Royal Uncle even better. If Fifth Aunt was approaching Fifth Royal Uncle due to a scheme, they would not have so many happy days together, so…I believe in Fifth Aunt .” Yun Xi turned to look at Lan Yingran with a serious face.
Lan Yingran was stunned. He looked at Yun Xi’s firm expression, and smiled: “The crown heir has grown up a lot since going out.”
“Hehe, Uncle Lan just smiled.”
“…I didn’t say I didn’t believe it…” Yun Zhong Yue looked at the harmony between the two and said aggrievedly.
“…” But Little Royal Uncle, you just said it clearly… Did you just come to scare people?
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Yun Zhong Yue felt the contemptuous gazes projected from his surroundings and he silently squatted to the side to draw circles.
“…”
Feng Tingye ignored the brat who had become anxious since leaving Lu Rui and was only thinking about bullying other people all day long. Feng Tingye coughed, and stepped forward: “Since the death of my Father, Zhen has not spoken to Ying Ran. This time could be considered a special exception. Ying Ran, this person is Yan Tingfang, the daughter of Prime Minister Yan of the State of Shu.”
“Prime Minister Yan’s daughter?” If Feng Tingye returning to the palace with Yun Zhongyue and Yun Xi had already given Lan Yingran a big surprise, then the appearance of Yan Tingfang gave Lan Yingran a second surprise. “Prime Minister Yan’s family.. five years ago, weren’t they all…”
“It’s like this.” Feng Tingye simply explained Yan Tingfang’s matter to Lan Yingran.
After listening to Feng Tingye’s words, Lan Yingran was even more surprised: “I didn’t expect the Eldest Princess to actually…”
“Zhen came to you because none of them are suitable to come forward. You can get in and out of the palace easily. If you can help check the people involved in this incident and find some evidence from them, then we can completely solve the problem.”
Lan Yingran nodded knowingly: “The Fifth Prince is weak, so my sister has always been staying in the palace to take care of his body, while this minister also chose the idle role of Grand Scribe. In court, this minister has tried his best not to make himself too conspicuous. Firstly, this minister did not want to become deeply involved with the Kingdom of Shu. In the whirlpool of the court, one will have to guard against temptations and probes by others and it may hurt my sister. Secondly, even though this minister’s official position is not high in the court, this position is precisely the place where most secrets are hidden in court. That must be why you wanted to start with this minister.”
Feng Tingye smiled: “Zhen knows those exact points, thus Zhen contacted you at this time. Zhen hopes you can help lend a hand.”
“Well, this minister will try his best to find the files related to Prime Minister Yan.”
“Be careful not to be noticed.”
Lan Yingran nodded, but at this moment, Yan Tingfang took a step forward and bowed: “Da Ren’s great grace, Tingfang in the future is willing to be a cow and a horse for the rest of my life to repay Da Ren.”
Lan Yingran quickly went over to help her up: “There were a lot of doubts about Prime Minister Yan back then. However, at that time, the two countries of Ye and Shu were already in trouble. Coupled with the fanfare of the Third Prince and the Princess, no one dared to bother to investigate. Five years later, I don’t even know if the files are complete or not. Besides, Prime Minister Yan was admirable and this matter involves Ye Country and the controversy over the past few years with Shu, so it is inc.u.mbent for this minister to do something at this point.”
Feng Tingye glanced at Yun Xi’s group of people, not forgetting to tell Lan Yingran, “Don’t tell King Shu about them returning.”
Lan Yingran was taken aback, then nodded: “This minister understands.”
Lan Yingran paused, and added another sentence: “However, this minister hopes that after this matter is done, Sixth Royal Prince and the crown heir will not disclose the ident.i.ty of this minister and his sister to the public. This minister is worried…”
“This, you don’t have to worry, we know what to do.” Yun Xi agreed, “Ahem, Uncle Lan, we have all returned to our country with Emperor Ye. If you are the princ.i.p.al offender, we can be regarded as secondary offenders. Just for this point, Master Lan should believe us too.”
Lan Yingran glanced at everyone, his eyes became a little complicated, then he chuckled: “That seems to be true. This minister never expected that there would be a day when Your Royal Highness and the Sixth Prince would one day appear in Shu with the emperor.”
“Do you think we wanted to come with this guy? If it wasn’t for the sake of my Junior Sister…”
“Little Royal Uncle, be careful what you say. Before leaving, Qing Jiejie has instructed me to write down what you say, then go back to inform Lu Rui Jiejie. If Lu Rui Jiejie is angry, those delicious things of yours…Tsk tsk, Lu Rui Jiejie would surely reward me instead right?”
Yun Zhongyue felt indignant at the injustice. He stepped forward, smiled and grabbed Yun Xi’s sleeves: “Xiao Xixi, you wouldn’t treat Little Royal Uncle this way, right?”
“That’s hard to say, Little Royal Uncle, you are really annoying sometimes.” Yun Xi put her arms around her chest, with a very arrogant expression.
“… Then what has to happen for Xiao Xixi not to tell these words to Miss Lu Rui?”
“It will depend on how you behave in the future, Little Royal Uncle.”
“…” As an elder, he was being threatened by his little niece? This is irrational! Is there an uncle in this world who has it worse than himself? !
“Little Junior Sister?” Lan Yingran asked in surprise when he heard the key points in the dialogue.
“The Junior Sister of the Sixth Prince is my beloved Ai Fei, the empress of Ye Kingdom.”
“It turns out to be the empress. I didn’t expect the empress to have this relations.h.i.+p with the Sixth Prince, and listening to the crown heir’s words, Niang Niang must be a very dignified, gentle and virtuous woman. It is Your Majesty’s good fortune.” Lan Yingran was taken aback when he heard Feng Tingye’s explanation, and praised her without hesitation, but soon he would discover that he was very wrong.
“…” Uncle Lan, you have made a big misunderstanding! My Qing Jiejie is not what you think!
Yun Xi was about to explain, when suddenly she heard a burst of laughter above her head: “Second Brother, I didn’t expect you to have a day like this. To actually be bound to a woman… tut tut…”
“Woman what? Hua Gongzi, don’t look down on women. Otherwise, you will suffer retribution.” Dare to look down on me, I curse you to meet you a dominatrix in the future who will supervise you every day!
“Uncle Wei, the sudden visit of our people must have caused you trouble, but we hope you can keep it a secret.”
Wei Yanwei was a straightforward person. He laughed loudly: “The emperor is too polite. Not mentioning that this old man’s ancestors were originally from the country of Ye, you are the emperor of Ye country. It is an honor for this old man to be able to a.s.sist you. Furthermore, this old man and Zitang’s Father are life brothers. This old man has always treated Zitang as a son. From a parent-child perspective, if his friends are here, there’s not even enough time for this old man to get happy, so how can this old man feel troubled? Besides, this old man has always been worried about the incompatibility of the two countries. Now that the emperor is here for this issue and this old man can help, the emperor does not have to be polite. This old man is willing to go through water and fire to help.”
“Uncle Wei is righteous.” Feng Tingye and Shao Zitang looked at each other with a smile.
Several people were chatting, when suddenly there was a commotion outside.
“Hey, that’s weird. Little Royal Uncle and Hua Gongzi didn’t fight, so where is the big commotion coming from?” Yun Xi was startled.
“What’s the matter?” Wei Yan twisted his eyebrows and walked outside.
“Master, we found a thief in our kitchen!”
“What? A thief? How could there be a thief? Take me to see.”
“Tsk tsk tsk, we encountered thieves as soon as we entered the door? What kind of thief would be so bold to dare to steal in front of the king of thieves? Isn’t this like wielding a broadsword in front of Guan Gong?” (military general who uses a broad sword) Hua Nongying sat on the beams of the room making cynical remarks.
The blue veins on Yun Zhongyue’s head burst: “If you don’t speak, no one will treat you as a mute.”
“What should we do now?” Shao Zitang turned his head and glanced at Feng Tingye.
“It’s rare for it to be so lively, let’s go take a look.” Yun Xi proposed very excitedly.
Feng Tingye raised his eyebrows and smiled: “We were robbed just after entering the door with our front feet? If we don’t check it out, I’m afraid we won’t be able to recover our faces.”
“Then let’s go.” Shao Zitang seemed to have expected this. He stretched his waist and then led a few people towards the kitchen.
In the s.p.a.cious kitchen, almost half of all the pastries and meals placed on the table were missing. It was like they made a clean sweep of everything.
“Look, Sir, the food was all eaten. It’s definitely not a mouse. How could a mouse have such a big belly? It must be a thief.”
“Why does this scene look a bit like…” Shao Zitang, who arrived later, seeing the mess on the table, had a bad premonition.
“It can’t be…”
“…”
Feng Tingye didn’t reply, but stepped into the kitchen. He glanced at a small piece of fabric floating down from the stove, and hooked the corners of his lips upwards.
“Uncle Wei, forget it. Didn’t you say you were going to personally prepare a roast suckling pig for us as a welcoming? These dishes are just for appearance anyways, so it’s not a big deal if a thief ate it.”
“Roast suckling pig?” Wei Yan was stunned. He didn’t understand what Feng Tingye meant, but Shao Zitang smiled knowingly, “Yes, that’s right. Uncle Wei, you had said that the pigs in your house are fat but not greasy, so making a roasted suckling pig is the most delicious. We will make sure to taste it clearly later.”
“Mother, hold it, hold it!” On the other side of the stove, Big Baby pulled on Xia Yuqing, who had been tempted and was losing her self control. However, this made him neglect the other foodie.
Therefore, everyone in the kitchen heard a spa.r.s.e sound coming from the stovetop. After a while, a small figure rushed out from behind the stovetop and stumbled towards Feng Tingye shouting: “Royal Father, roasted suckling pig, roasted suckling pig, I want to eat it!”
“……” Everyone was petrified for a few seconds. Then an earth-shattering cry bursted out, “Little Princess!!?”