Lu Jinshuang stared at the two sisters for a while. The more she thought about it, the stranger it seemed. The timing was just too coincidental.
She recalled what Lu Qianning had told her. These two had been acting strangely from the very beginning. It seemed normal for them to do such things. But how on earth did they make the pavilion disappear?
Then she thought of the stolen orchards in the rural estate on the outskirts. She wanted to ask but finally held back. Forget it, it was someone else's secret.
"Sister Jinshuang, am I very pretty?" Xi Weilan opened her big, cute eyes and looked at her, with an expectant expression on her face.
Lu Jinshuang nodded repeatedly with a smile. "Yes, you're pretty. Lan'er is the prettiest. I was even dazzled for a moment."
Xi Qingyue didn't believe a single word of her nonsense. She was definitely suspicious of them. But she wasn't afraid at all now. Anyway, the Grand Tutor was on the side of the Fourth Prince. If something happened to the Grand Tutor's Mansion, Lu Jinshuang would only secretly gloat.
As for whether Lu Jinshuang would do her any harm, she still had a bit of confidence. She didn't sense any malice from the Lu sisters.
Even if there was any in the future, she wouldn't be afraid. Just being a fourth - level wind - type ability user already made her invincible. Moreover, she had more than one ability and all kinds of weapons. She could even destroy the entire Great Jing.
Her calm attitude made Lu Jinshuang even more certain that there were huge secrets on these two sisters. They must have extremely powerful means. This also made Lu Jinshuang attach more importance to them and she wouldn't casually inquire about their private affairs.
"By the way, my mother - concubine said she wanted to meet you before. Do you want to go to the palace to have fun? After things calm down in a few days, I'll ask Sister Shiwan to take you to the palace."
She wanted to take the two to see her mother - concubine herself, but she was still under house arrest and couldn't enter the palace openly. Lu Qianning was still ill, so Lu Shiwan was quite suitable.
Hearing about going to the palace, the two sisters immediately perked up.
Xi Qingyue waved her hand directly. "Hey, it's not necessary to be so troublesome. We'll go to find Sister Shiwan tomorrow and ask her to take us in. I've never visited the imperial garden in the palace."
Xi Weilan also nodded happily. "Yes, the pastries in the palace are delicious. I want to go and eat pastries."
Lu Jinshuang thought again that she couldn't talk to these two according to common sense at all. There was a look of puzzlement on her face. "Right now, the emperor is still very angry. Are you sure you want to enter the palace at this time?"
Xi Qingyue thought for a moment. What if she met the old emperor? If she didn't kneel down, would she be convicted? If she killed the old emperor at that time, wouldn't the whole world be in chaos immediately? If she just beat him up, she would have a whole bunch of new enemies.
But it seemed there was no difference between going in a few days and going now. She smiled at Lu Jinshuang. "Sister Jinshuang, well, tell me the approximate location of your mother - concubine in the palace. Lan'er and I will go to see her when we're free. Ask her to prepare more pastries. We can explore the imperial garden by ourselves."
In this way, Consort Qin would see them, Lan'er would get to eat pastries, and they could explore the imperial garden on their own. This was a win - win situation.
The corners of Lu Jinshuang's mouth twitched involuntarily, but she still agreed. She found that she couldn't treat these two as children when talking to them, but all the things they did were what children could do.
After playing for half an hour, Xi Qingyue and Xi Weilan proposed to leave. "Sister Jinshuang, we've been out for a long time. It's time to go back. We're going to take Tafeng with us this time."
"Do you want me to give you a good horse?" Lu Jinshuang thought a mule - cart was not as fast as a carriage.
Xi Qingyue shook her head. "No, Tafeng has followed us all the way. Lan'er and I both like it very much."
After that, the Xi sisters went to the place where Tafeng was.
When Tafeng saw the two sisters, it excitedly raised its hooves and neighed. It hadn't seen them for many days.
Xi Weilan ran over cheerfully. "Tafeng, Sister and I have come to pick you up. Are you happy?"
Tafeng lowered its head and let Xi Weilan stroke it. It looked very docile. This scene made the young servant who came to feed it every day very puzzled.
"Strange, when did this mule become so obedient? It always ignored me when I fed it every day."
Amid his mumbling, Xi Qingyue and Xi Weilan drove the mule - cart out of the Seventh Princess's Residence.
The two driving the mule - cart on the deserted street were very eye - catching. Only a very small number of people were on the street today. Most people didn't dare to wander around casually.
After all, the streets were full of yamen soldiers and imperial guards. They were afraid of being arrested randomly.
The news of the Grand Tutor's Mansion hadn't completely spread throughout the city yet, but the people on the street were already talking about it. It was really too incredible.
In the morning, the head of the Fourth Prince was found hanging at the palace gate. Then the Tenth Prince was found dead in his own mansion. Now the Grand Tutor's Mansion had been emptied. When did the defense of the capital become so weak?
The common people questioned this one after another. While celebrating the death of the Fourth Prince, they were also worried about their own safety in the future.
After the Duke Anguo's mansion was searched today, he left the mansion alone. He originally wanted to go out for a drink to drown his sorrows, but he didn't have much money. So he came to a small street - side tavern and even had to drink a jar of wine on credit because he had to save money.
The Duke's mansion had been having frequent problems recently. The mansion had been stolen and the rural estate had also been emptied. Fortunately, there were still some shops, so they wouldn't really starve to death.
The imperial doctors all said that his son's leg injury couldn't be cured, which worried him a great deal.
Previously, Prince Kang had sent a letter saying that he wanted to cooperate with the Duke's mansion, but he didn't agree immediately. His son wanted to go back to pick up his daughter and arrange a betrothal with Prince Kang's son as an alternative. But instead of picking up his daughter, he brought back Cheng Dingxiang and her son. His son said that Prince Kang also had a daughter, and they could still arrange a betrothal. Now it seemed that Wen Liang was right.
Prince Kang was the emperor's eldest son. Although he wasn't the legitimate one, he was the first to be enfeoffed as a prince. With the death of the Fourth Prince, all these princes had a chance to ascend the throne.
Just as he was deep in thought, a mule - cart slowly passed in front of him.
He seemed to see two children on the mule - cart. One of them was somewhat similar to the child he saw in the portrait today. He instantly sobered up a bit.
Just as he was about to chase after them to take a closer look, a hand patted him on the shoulder from behind, stopping him from moving forward.
A drunken voice came from behind. "Duke Anguo, what a... what a coincidence!"
The Duke of Anguo looked back and saw that it was the Right Vice Minister of Rites, who was dead drunk. This man was as unlucky as him. He probably also didn't want to spend money to go to a big restaurant.
He wanted to shake off the man behind him, but the Right Vice Minister of Rites had drunk too much and just wouldn't let him go.
"Duke Anguo, we're in the same boat now. My son is gone, and your son is useless..."
Half - way through the sentence, the Duke of Anguo suddenly turned around, furious. "Who said my son is useless? You're the one who's useless!"
After saying that, he punched the Right Vice Minister of Rites in the face.
The minister felt the pain and sobered up a little, but only a little. Then he also angrily punched back. "Your son is really useless. The imperial doctors all said there's no cure, so there's no cure. He's even worse off than my son. He's living a life worse than death."
Duke Anguo was still furious and threw another punch. "It's better to live a wretched life than die bravely. Your son didn't even get the chance to live on, and he drowned in a cesspit. It's such a disgrace to mention it."
The two of them exchanged punches with each retort and ended up brawling in the small tavern. The on - lookers were stunned by the scene.
