Chapter 87 Drinking
Rong'an Marquis Mansion.
Marquis Rong'an sat behind the desk with a gloomy face.
That night, the third young lady of the Rong'an Marquis's Mansion disappeared inexplicably in Zhending. He took people to look for her overnight, and it was not until the next day that they found her in a guest room of the Da'en Temple in Zhending County.
The Third Miss of Rong'an Marquis's Mansion had no memory of who brought her here. She only remembered that she met the Fifth Miss of Zhenguo Duke's Mansion while having dinner and wanted to say hello.
As a result, he didn't get to say hello as someone suddenly covered his mouth and nose with a handkerchief and he fell into coma.
When he opened his eyes again, he was already in the guest room of Da'en Temple.
After Marquis Rong'an brought her back to Kyoto, he sent people to investigate. It turned out that the Fifth Miss of the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion had not gone to Zhending that day at all, and had been playing with the daughter of the Minister of War, Xiang Zheng.
It was obvious that someone dressed up as the fifth lady of the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion to seduce his daughter and lure him to Zhending.
This was not the most annoying thing for Marquis Rong'an. What annoyed him the most was that when he went to Zhending to look for someone at night, he met a caravan traveling at night.
When they passed each other, he didn't even recognize them. That was not a caravan at all. It was clearly the magistrate of Zhending County escorting Fu Mingchang and his party to Kyoto.
If he had recognized him at that time, why would all that happened later? He would have immediately ordered the arrest of the Zhending County Magistrate.
Fu Mingchang just passed him by!
When he thought of this, Marquis Rong'an felt like vomiting blood.
Now Fu Mingchang was locked up in jail for interrogation, but he had no idea what to do. He knew Fu Mingchang would not give him up and would only push everything onto the Duke of Zhenguo. But the more he did so, the more uncomfortable Marquis Rong'an felt.
Who is behind this?
He absolutely did not believe that Fu Mingchang would be exposed in Zhending.
I don't even believe that someone would pretend to be the fifth lady of the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion for no reason.
He will definitely find out whoever is behind this plot and tear it into pieces!
At this time, at the Duke Zhenguo's Mansion.
Ever since he vomited blood and fainted in the Golden Palace that day, the Duke of Zhenguo has been in poor health and his condition has not improved.
He sat behind the desk in the study with a haggard look on his face, reading slowly, word by word, the letters that his eldest son had written to him.
His most beloved eldest son was gone just like that.
The Duke of Zhenguo clenched his fists tightly, hatred growing from the bottom of his heart.
Outside the study, footsteps gradually approached, and then the door of the study was gently pushed open. The Duke of Zhenguo did not even raise his head and said, "Take it out. I don't want to eat."
"I thought of something important to tell the Duke."
A light and clear voice came, and the Duke of Zhenguo looked up.
The person who came was not his personal attendant, but the aide named He Chao.
After glancing at He Chao, the Duke of Zhenguo looked back at the letters and said nothing.
He Chao took two steps inside and said slowly, "I heard from the guards at the city gate today that Marquis Rong'an left the capital that night."
At this sensitive time, mentioning a sensitive person, the Duke of Zhenguo paused for a moment as he held the letter.
He Chao continued, "Later I went to inquire about it, and they said that during the daytime, the third daughter of the Rong'an Marquis's residence went to Zhending, and then disappeared for some reason. Rong'an Marquis went to Zhending overnight to look for her, but the next day during the daytime, she was found in Zhending Da'en Temple in good health."
Duke Huo raised his head and looked towards He Chao.
"What do you want to say?"
He Chao said, "I just think it's a bit strange that Marquis Rong'an left the capital at this time ."
Among his staff, He Chao was the most outstanding one. The Duke of Zhenguo admired him very much. "Do you think it was Marquis Rong'an who took action against Mingchang?"
He Chao shook his head. "On the contrary, I think there might be something going on between Fu Mingchang and Rong'an Hou. When Fu Mingchang got into trouble, Rong'an Hou should have gone to save him, but he was just a step too late."
The Duke of Zhenguo opened his eyes wide in vain.
He Chao lowered his head and looked down, "These are just my guesses, and they may not be accurate. I just thought of it and felt that I needed to tell the Duke."
The Duke of Zhenguo felt as if struck by lightning.
He always treated Fu Mingchang as his own, and even did not hide the things happening in Beimengshan from Fu Mingchang. He planned to hand over the command of Fu Mingchang after the private army in Beimengshan became powerful.
Now, He Chao told him this guess.
He wanted to believe Fu Mingchang, but this time Fu Mingchang's accident was indeed strange, and the reason why Rong An Hou went to Zhending in the middle of the night was even more absurd.
Doubts gathered in his heart, and the will of the Duke of Zhenguo, who had been depressed for many days, suddenly became strong again. If Fu Mingchang really had any collusion with Rong'an Marquis...
Wrapped in anger, the Duke of Zhenguo slammed the table and called his confidants, "Go check on the Marquis of Rong'an!"
The confidant received the order and executed it immediately.
He Chao stood aside with his eyes lowered. There was a coldness in his eyes that made it impossible to see his true emotions.
No matter what the atmosphere was like in the Duke Zhenguo's Mansion and the Marquis Rong'an's Mansion at the moment, at this moment, the Prince's Mansion was filled with laughter and joy.
Jixiang built a fire in the yard and roasted a leg of lamb until it was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, with a fragrant aroma filling the air.
Using a sharp knife, he sliced the roasted lamb leg into small pieces, and Jixiang brought the small plate to Su Qingqing, "Your Majesty, eat first, and I will go and roast it."
Su Qingqing pinched Jixiang's red face and said, "Let them roast you. Look how hot you are."
Jixiang wiped the sweat from his forehead and grinned, "I just like roasting for fun."
Rong Que sat next to Su Qingqing, watching her pick up the wine glass with two fingers, gently take a sip of osmanthus wine and put the glass down again. Her lazy posture actually made people feel a little dazed.
"Have we met before?"
Rong Que couldn't hold it in any longer and asked Su Qingqing directly.
Su Qingqing leaned on the beauty couch and glanced at him sideways, "I don't have this blessing."
Rong Que stared at Su Qingqing and was silent for a while, "You look a lot like an old friend of mine."
Minglu stood aside and his eyelids twitched.
His Highness is not an old friend, but his sweetheart.
Su Qingqing turned her beautiful eyes and looked at Rong Que. Suddenly, she sat up and moved a little closer to Rong Que. "Old friend? Your Highness, you are not going to say that I look like your childhood sweetheart, right?"
Minglu rolled his eyes.
Childhood sweethearts?
His Highness is not worthy.
At best, it was an attempted secret love.
Rong Que, who didn't notice being criticized by his own servant, nodded lightly, "Yes, we are childhood sweethearts, it's consensual."
Su Qingqing was a little surprised. She raised her wine glass and looked at Rong Que, "Didn't you say that there was nothing going on between you and the third young lady of Rong'an Marquis's Mansion?"
Rong Que's face darkened, "I didn't say anything about her."
Su Qingqing chuckled, "Who are you talking about, Your Highness?"
Rong Que lowered his eyes, turned the wine glass in his hand around, and said nothing.
Su Qingqing was quite shameless and gossipy. "We are comrades who fought side by side. We worked together to accomplish such a big thing. Wang Yu has taken up the post of commander of the Xishan Camp, and Gao Tiankuo is about to go to the northwest. Your Highness, please treat me as a comrade. It would be great to chat with me. Tell me about it?"
I don’t know if it was because I was drunk or Su Qingqing’s words were too tempting, or maybe some things had been suppressed in my heart for too long...
In short, for some unknown reason, Rong Que started talking in a daze.
