Little Cardamom - Chapter 68

The next day, Yu Bozhong sent a post, finding a reason to cleanse the dust, and invited His Royal Highness the King of the North and Second Prince Shu to sit down at the Huilou, tasting wine and enjoying the music.

Before going out this time, Jiang Xu purposely said a few more words to reassure Ming Tan.

Now that Ming Tan knows the game of interests, he can naturally analyze what the Su family should do to him.

Unfortunately, I just heard from the magistrate’s wife yesterday that the women in the Hui Tower in Quancheng are all skinny horses in Yangzhou. They are different from the girls who greeted and sent off in the 180 boats. They were brought back by dignitaries. There are many aunts in the mansion.

Ming Tan felt a little awkward in his heart, but he didn’t want to say anything, so he murmured in a low voice: “If you invite someone, you can invite someone. I don’t know how to find someone who can listen to me. I have been in Lingzhou for several days. Take the wind and wash the dust, my husband is not a feather duster, how can there be so much dust.”

While muttering, she waited for the change, dawdling with her eyes downcast, and after hanging up the jade pendant, she secretly hung a black sachet with the pattern of mandarin ducks playing in water for him.

Jiang Xu only noticed that the color of the sachet was relatively low-key, and he didn’t pay attention to the embroidery patterns on it. After putting it on, he gave Ming Tan a few words, rubbed her head, and went out with Shu Jingran.

Yu Bozhong held a banquet this time, not only in the name of cleaning up the dust for His Highness King Dingbei, but he had to invite a few more officials to accompany him. Apart from the magistrate, the general judge and other local high-ranking officials also came neatly.

After Yu Bozhong exchanged greetings, everyone took turns to toast Jiang Xu.

Seeing that His Royal Highness Prince Dingbei met today compared to yesterday, Yu Bozhong was no longer so trembling. After drinking a glass of wine, he returned a more polite sentence: “My lord and Mr. Shu Er have been in Lingzhou for a few days, I should have come down sooner.” It’s just to clean up the dust for the two of you, but the next official has something to delay, and the hospitality is not good, the hospitality is not good.”

Jiang Xu lowered his eyes and played with the wine glass, and said in a calm voice: “Master Yu, if this is the case, it’s not your fault that you didn’t entertain well.”

Everyone: “…”

Indeed, the magistrates and judges are still alive and well, so it’s his turn to be a city envoy to set the host’s profile. No matter how Lingzhou is the territory of the host family, this statement is really arrogant.

Yu Bozhong’s face was a little stiff, and the fear of being dominated by the power and pressure from yesterday surged into his heart again. A layer of cold sweat broke out on his back, and he quickly apologized with a smile: “Yes, yes, there is also the magistrate, the magistrate, and it’s not the next turn.” The official entertained first, it’s just that the subordinate officials have admired the prince’s reputation for a long time, and want to do a little more for the prince.”

Jiang Xu didn’t respond anymore.

Yu Bozhong wiped the sweat from his forehead, and then had a polite conversation with Shu Jingran. Fortunately, Shu Jingran listened a lot while speaking, which eased the nervousness in his heart.

After drinking for three rounds, Yu Bozhong finally brought up the matter: “By the way, my lord, I have something to report. The death of Zhou Baoping, the supervisor of the Shipbuilding Department, has been investigated for a long time by our company and the government. Officials have always kept themselves clean and diligent, and they will never be the kind of people who are obsessed with prostitution and pleasure all day long.”

Jiang Xu and Shu Jingran listened quietly, while the others nodded their heads to match Yu Bozhong’s performance.

“Everyone also thinks that there should be something else wrong with the sudden death of Supervisor Zhou. However, after a long time of investigation, the clues were not found. The lower officials thought that Supervisor Zhou was a person who was valued by the Holy One, so they did not dare to hide it. It was time to write down the official cause of death of Supervisor Zhou and hand it over to Beijing. But these days, the real cause of death of Supervisor Zhou has finally been found out.”

Yu Bozhong said without blushing, “It turned out that the boss in the Shibo Department had been at odds with Zhou Supervisor for a long time, and there was a rift in his heart. Those stickers, officials, and Kong Mu colluded together to amass money in private. Unfortunately, they were discovered by the supervisor Zhou. The supervisor Zhou was upright and didn’t want to get along with him. If he couldn’t win over, the gang of officials killed him Silenced, deliberately framed, and intentionally damaged his reputation behind him!”

Jiang Xu still showed no expression, Shu Jingran lowered his eyes and sipped his wine, thinking to himself: It’s embarrassing for Mr. Yu to sacrifice his flesh, and he was willing to hand over so many people to Zhou Baoping to be buried with him.

“Now all the people involved have been sent to the government office. These people have harmed their colleagues. They have been dishonest officials. It is not a pity to die. They just need to be escorted to Beijing to wait for their release. However, Supervisor Zhou has devoted himself to the Secretary of the Municipal Shipyard, and his character and talent are obvious to all. , Such a loss of life is really innocent. I hope that after His Royal Highness returns to the capital, he can express his feelings to the emperor on behalf of the officials of Lingzhou City, and return Master Zhou’s innocence, so that loyal ministers can rest in peace under the nine springs.”

After Yu Bozhong finished speaking, the others couldn’t help but agree:

“Yeah yeah.”

“Master Zhou is so innocent.”

“It’s a pity.”

Jiang Xu didn’t know what he was thinking, after hearing the statement, he didn’t express his opinion.

Yu Bo was loyal and worried, thinking carefully whether there was anything wrong with what he said just now, or is it that His Highness is still not satisfied with this change of words?

After a long time, Jiang Xu finally said “um”, and poured himself another glass of wine.

This “hmm”, does it mean you are satisfied?

Yu Bozhong carefully looked at Jiang Xu’s expression. After a long while, he finally breathed a sigh of relief, and hurriedly clapped his hands again, leading a group of charming girls into the room.

Not long after, I saw a group of girls approaching gracefully, lined up in a line and said in a soft voice: “Greetings to His Royal Highness Beiwang, and greetings to all adults.”

Shu Jingran couldn’t help staring at them for a moment, these women seemed to be more eye-catching than what they saw in Xianquanfang that day, and they were fat and thin, each with their own merits, and their looks were comparable to those of the concubines in the palace.

These are the girls who have been well-educated for many years in Huilou. They are not comparable to ordinary prostitutes. They are all first-class beauties. The benefits of coming here, several of them were raised by the masters of the host family who originally planned to use them, but now they have to be used to entertain the King of Hell.

Jiang Xu glanced, and for some reason, he paused for an extra breath on the second **** the right.

Yu Bozhong was very good at observing words and expressions, and when he saw this, he hurriedly signaled the girl to come and serve him.

The rest of the girls didn’t get close to the other men, they quietly retreated, and only a few girls with good looks, but not so top-notch, came in to accompany them.

The girl who was assigned to serve Jiang Xu was wearing a crimson skirt, with snow-like skin and full-bodied eyes.

She made a salute, and sat obediently beside Jiang Xu, keeping a distance of an inch. She only held up the jade chopsticks and added a chopstick of green bamboo shoots to Jiang Xu. Her voice was also soft and clean: “Lingzhou green bamboo shoots are fresh and crisp. Stir-fry tastes the best, may you try it, Your Highness?”

Everyone was paying attention to Jiang Xu’s reaction, including Shu Jingran. This girl has an extremely beautiful complexion, but what does he look like, the eyebrows and eyes are familiar? It’s like… like… He seems to be thinking about it, and he can’t remember it for a while.

Jiang Xu didn’t look at the girl, but after a moment of silence, he held the chopsticks and picked up the green bamboo shoots that the girl had added for her.

Yu Bo is loyal to his father’s decision, the hero is sad about the beauty pass, the hero is sad about the beauty pass. He knew that His Royal Highness King Dingbei was indifferent on the surface, but he was able to get married in the study in private. Presumably, he would not reject the girl in Huilou. This move was really right!

At this moment, in the magistrate’s government office, Ming Tan is also tasting the Lingzhou delicacies specially prepared by the magistrate’s wife.

Lingzhou is rich and rich, and the food is also very delicate. Ming Tan tasted a few novel snacks in a row. He was talking to the magistrate’s wife. When he returned to Shangjing in the future, he would definitely find a chef from Lingzhou to enter the mansion. : “Concubine, madam, Yu, Lord Yu sent a few girls from Huilou, saying that they are… saying that they are going to be given to His Royal Highness King Dingbei.”

The smile on the corners of Ming Tan’s lips froze slightly, after a while, she put down her chopsticks, got up and asked, “What did you say?”

The servant was trembling, repeated what he said just now, and said: “The girls are waiting outside the flower hall now…”

Ming Tan stood quietly for a moment, then suddenly ordered quietly: “Please come in.”

She turned around and sat upright at the top of the flower hall, and the magistrate’s wife sat beside her without daring to show her air.

The girls from Huilou entered the room gracefully again, lined up to greet Ming Tan and the magistrate’s wife.

Ming Tan looked at the past one by one, and the unknown anger burst out in her heart. She clenched her jade hand tightly and asked: “Every girl came from Huilou, did the prince know about it?”

These… the girls looked at each other in blank dismay. When they left, the prince didn’t know about it, and if they knew about it later, then they didn’t know either.

Seeing their expressions, Ming Tan breathed a sigh of relief, and she asked again: “Where is the prince?”

One of the girls was very active, thinking that she would be the prince’s man in the future, if she didn’t want to be taken in by the prince for a while, she would be thrown aside and not allowed to go back to Beijing with her, and she had to be close to the concubine.

After all, no matter how good-looking and talented these people are, they are doomed to abandon them at any time if they are born there. After all, this back house is decided by the princess. Seeing that the princess doesn’t like them, why don’t they draw attention away, and then find another opportunity to pursue her. To get asylum, at least you have to go back to the capital and enter the palace to not be considered a disadvantage.

Thinking of this, the girl stepped forward to give a blessing, and replied politely: “Back to the princess, when the servants came, the prince was still having a drink with the adults, the prince only let Qingyu accompany, and the other servants didn’t know about it. “

Ming Tan was a little startled: “Qing Yu?”

“Yes. Qingyu is the best girl in Huilou, and also the most valued girl by my mother. The slaves and maidservants are not close to her.”

How could Ming Tan not understand the meaning of the eye drops in these words, but she is too lazy to care about the woman’s thoughts now, the prince pointed out the girl as a companion – this news is enough to make her worry about gains and losses.

There was another singing and dancing in Huilou, and after a while, someone came to report to Yu Bozhong, saying that the girls had been successfully sent to the mansion.

Yu Bozhong nodded in satisfaction, put down his wine glass, and said after deliberation: “My lord, is Miss Qingyu’s service satisfactory?”

Although from the beginning to the end, His Royal Highness King Dingbei only ate a piece of green bamboo shoots and didn’t look at people seriously, but how can he not understand the thoughts between men? Not rejecting does not mean accepting.

He smiled again and said: “When the prince is away from home, there must be some caring people around him to serve him. The guards and maidservants are clumsy, how can they compare with the gentleness and carelessness of the beauties. But I thought, if only Miss Qingyu If you are alone, you might miss something when you are busy, so I sent the girls from before to the mansion to wait.”

Yu Bozhong was quite satisfied with this thoughtful arrangement, and he couldn’t wait to lead to the issue of extraction: “…It’s just that the matter of making up for the extraction that the prince said earlier is true. In the past two years, there have been many The wind and waves caused serious damage to the fleet, and the Shipbuilding Department is really stretched. This can make up for the past two years, can you…”

Jiang Xu interrupted suddenly: “You sent someone to the government office?”

His voice was suddenly cold, and Qing Yu, who was about to pour wine for him, couldn’t help shaking, and the wine beads rolled down on his sachet.

She was a little flustered, and subconsciously wanted to wipe it with a handkerchief, but Jiang Xu pressed the sachet first: “Don’t touch it.”

He stood up on his own, brushed off the wine drops on the sachet, and only then noticed the delicate embroidery on it.

Qing Yu: “Your Highness…”

“Step aside.”

Jiang Xu didn’t give half a look, and was about to leave the table with his hands behind his back. Shu Jingran also stood up.

Yu Bozhong was stunned, and he didn’t know what was going on: “My lord, my lord, I’m an official…”

Jiang Xu stopped slightly: “Master Yu can spend a lot of money to find many beauties. If you want to come to Shibosi with a lot of pockets, it will not be difficult to make up for the sea trade for the past two years. If that is the case, please ask Mr. Yu again Divide the profit according to the market line, make up the interest together, and fill the treasury, which can be regarded as benefiting the common people.”

Yu Bozhong: “…?”