Ten miles outside the city, there is a stone pavilion, which is the last place where the exiles have always met.

Since yesterday, the pouring rain has been non-stop, spring thunder, and the black clouds in the sky are overwhelming like an army pressing the border.

Xi Yunzhi stood in the stone pavilion in plain clothes and waited.

After a long time, a group of people slowly walked in the distance, escorting two prisoner cars, Xi Yunzhi rushed into the heavy rain regardless of it, stood in the middle of the official road, Ruyi held an umbrella and held an umbrella, and came to Xi Yunzhi to cover her from the rain.

The prisoner cart team came to him, and the leading officers and soldiers pointed at Xi Yunzhi's master and servant and shouted:

"Whoever comes, dare to block the way."

Xi Yunzhi took out a brocade bag from his sleeve and handed it to Ruyi, Ruyi handed the umbrella in his hand to Xi Yunzhi, and he ran into the rain, while playing the umbrella, he ran and said:

"My lord, my wife has been favored by King Ji, and I want to come to see them off for the last time."

Ruyi said that he secretly sent a brocade bag to the hands of the first officer and soldier, the officer and soldier weighed the weight, and saw that they were just two little women, and they couldn't turn over any big waves, so they waved their hands, and some soldiers braved the rain to pull out the soaked King Ji and Princess Ji, put on shackles, and sent them to the stone pavilion.

Xi Yunzhi looked at the embarrassed King Ji and the Zhen family who had been crying, and asked Ruyi to wipe the water stains on their faces for them, and then silently took out a few plates of snacks from the food box next to him and fed them one bite at a time.

Since the two of them entered the prison, those people have not eaten anything for them, and all the people in Jiwangfu have been arrested, and the people next to them do not dare to come and visit them easily on the cusp of the storm. Zhen said thank you while eating, and King Ji also nodded gratefully to Xi Yunzhi, no one spoke during the whole process, no one was in the mood, even if it was a goodbye, he couldn't open his mouth.

After serving the two of them to eat and drink enough, under the urging of the officers and soldiers, King Ji and Zhen were pulled up, and they were about to turn around and leave with chains and shackles.

King Ji walked in front, Zhen walked behind, Xi Yunzhi took advantage of the fact that all the officers and soldiers walked out of the stone pavilion, pulled Zhen's look, and quickly took out an oil bag from his sleeve and stuffed it from Zhen's side placket, Zhen looked at her in surprise, only to see Xi Yunzhi look at her quietly, and said lightly: "Cherish." He shoved her from behind.

King Ji and Zhen were unshackled, put into a wooden prisoner car again, and escorted to the northwest.

Xi Yunzhi stood on the stone pavilion and watched them leave, and she didn't retract her gaze until she couldn't see anyone, and walked towards the city with an umbrella.

***

After King Ji was exiled, the entire court seemed to be shrouded in a storm of noise. Bu Qin frowned deeply every time he came back, and even Xi Zheng, who was in an idle position, sighed all day long.

But the people in the city are still peaceful, there is no unhappiness and anxiety about the decline of the dynasty, Xi Yunzhi's shop is not an exaggeration to say that it is a daily income, and when the store makes money, she uses it to buy a house, buys a house and sells it, after selling, she will buy the store again, and the shop on Suzaku Street has already been bought by her.

It is no exaggeration to say that now half of the houses in the capital have some relationship with Xi Yunzhi, some have become her private property, and some have been sold by her, in short, no matter how low-key Xi Yunzhi is, she does not want to make a noise, but she also has a reputation in the capital, and when people mention the rich shopkeeper, she is always the first thing that comes to mind.

Coupled with her status as the general's wife, the rumors about her are even more divine.

But she herself has no feelings for these, and she teaches her husband and children at home and takes care of government affairs.

Xiao An can already walk around on the ground, running east and west every day, falling as soon as he runs, and then getting up by himself, clapping his hands and running again. made the two nurses dizzy and anxious, but the house was filled with his crisp and happy laughter.

Bu Qin has not been arranged to go on the expedition since the last time he led the troops to attack the dog Rong, and the emperor seems to be on guard against him, afraid that he will support the army and respect himself, and he has discussed major matters several times, but he has not been passed on to join the cabinet to discuss.

Bu Qin is also happy to be idle, and comes back to accompany his wife and children every day after the morning court. There is something in the court, unless the emperor personally inquires, otherwise he will not speak, Xu is the exile of King Ji, so that he is extremely disappointed in this court, but it is a little more restrained than before, he does not speak much, and the emperor does not dare to really assign any major things for him to do, those officials, the officials just stare at him all day long, and they can't find anything to admonish.

In November of the same year, King Ping suddenly died at home, and the murderers were said to be his two dancing girls, and the emperor ordered a thorough investigation, but in the end he didn't find out what happened, so he had to stop it.

But after Bu Qin came back and told Xi Yunzhi about this matter, Xi Yunzhi felt that there must be something strange about King Ping's violent death, and it was definitely not something that his two dancing girls could do.

She thought about who would benefit the most from this matter, and it was not difficult to guess a thing or two.

The four princes of the royal family, one was exiled, one died violently, and now only the crown prince and King Jing are left, the prince and King Jing are brothers and brothers-in-law, if they want to join forces to eradicate anyone, then what ability do the other princes have to fight back?

At the beginning of December, the crown princess was rumored to be pregnant, and the whole country rejoiced, and the emperor said that the heavens were sent to Lin'er, and the belated grandson was to be given the title on the spot.

After Xi Yunzhi moved to the new general's mansion, she bought all the mansions in Lanfuyuan and made them her commercial residences, and the number of people buying and selling residences has grown from less than ten people to fifty or sixty people today.

It's not good to be busy every day, because this is essentially a private house, and Xi Yunzhi won't often go to the shop to show up, but he will still come here to check the account when he has time.

was reconciling with Sister A Xiang, Zhang Yan sneakily walked in from outside, Xi Yunzhi saw this, so he stopped him, Zhang Yan stopped, turned around helplessly, and smiled at her.

"Where did you go last night? I heard you didn't come back all night. ”

Xi Yunzhi put down the ledger and asked him.

Zhang Yan's face immediately changed, and he got up: "No...... I went out with a few friends and had some drinks. ”

Xi Yunzhi looked at him for a while, and then continued to reconcile, Zhang Yan lowered his head and returned to his room to make up for sleep. didn't realize that Xi Yunzhi was chasing the puzzled gaze behind him.

Xiao Hei stared at Zhang Yan for many days, and found that this person would go to the same place every night.

A residence in Yanzi Hutong in Dongcheng, the gate is closed all the year round, Xi Yunzhi once sent Xiao Hei to inquire, but Xiao Hei also returned, only saying that it might be the private residence of a certain dignitary, and the security is strict and does not lose any official residence, he can't get in at all, and he usually can't see people coming out.

Zhang Yan can come and go there at will, entering and leaving on time every day.

Xi Yunzhi felt very strange, if Zhang Yan wanted to make any small moves, she didn't see it, because he was just passive and slacking off recently, most of the time was spent sleeping, and after waking up in the afternoon, he mixed up the time, and then rushed to Yanzi Hutong at the end of the day.

In the evening, when she returned to the general's mansion, the porter Lao Lu told her that after the general came back at noon, he went to the martial arts arena alone, and he has not come out until now, and he has not eaten.

Xi Yunzhi took off the cloak and handed it to Ruyi, and he went to the martial arts arena in the south of the General's Mansion, and before he entered, he could hear the sound of the sticks waving inside, Xi Yunzhi pushed the door in, and saw Bu Tan sweating like rain on the school field alone, and the sticks were beating very fiercely, as if he was forbearance and catharsis.

Xi Yunzhi turned around and poured a pot of tea and brought it in, and she didn't call him, she sat down at the stone table on the edge of the martial arts arena and waited for him to finish venting.

Bu Qin had already seen Xi Yunzhi walk in, but it was another time for him to take a stick of incense before he was willing to stop, threw the stick, and walked to the stone table, picked up the teapot that Xi Yunzhi brought before, and drank it.

After a heavy drink, he put the kettle down and gasped with his hands on the edge of the stone table.

Xi Yunzhi took out the handkerchief from his arms, wiped the sweat beads on his cheeks for him, Bu Qin gasped for a while, and then recovered, took the handkerchief in Xi Yunzhi's hand, and wiped the sweat by himself.

"But what happened to the court?"

Although Xi Yunzhi asked so, she was sure in her heart that something big had happened in the court that her husband couldn't relieve, but he was powerless to change it, so she sulked here.

Bu Qin sat on another stone bench and sighed heavily:

"There was a rebellion in the northwest, King Jing recommended Wang Bochong to go into battle, Wang Bochong was a closed disciple of Meng Fu, and he had never been in battle to kill the enemy, this time the emperor ordered him to be the commander-in-chief, and all the 200,000 soldiers guarding Nanning were sent to him."

Xi Yunzhi doesn't understand strategy and politics, but after hearing Bu Qin say this, he also knew that this Wang Bochong relied on the relationship of Dingyuan Marquis Mengfu, so he became the boss, he had never fought a war, and he lacked experience in all aspects, but the emperor let the 200,000 soldiers of the Bu family guarding Nanning send to him, no wonder Bu Qin felt angry and had nowhere to vent.

When Xi Yunzhi saw him like this, he didn't know how to comfort him, so he asked:

"Then there is no opposition from the other ministers of the DPRK and China? King Jing recommended Wang Bochong, what about the prince? Who did the prince recommend? ”

As soon as Bu Qin heard Xi Yunzhi mention the prince, he suddenly became even more angry, slapped the table, and said angrily as he walked:

"Prince, the prince hasn't been in court for a month."

“……”

***

On this day, Xi Yunzhi was playing with Xiao An in the courtyard of Lanfu Garden, Xiao Hei ran in and said that he had something to tell her, so Xi Yunzhi asked the nurse to accompany Xiao An, and went outside to talk to Xiao Hei.

"Madam, the origin of the house has been found. Guess who the owner is? ”

Xi Yunzhi saw Xiao Hei's excited face, so he also shook his head curiously, let him say quickly, Xiao Hei pondered, pointed in the direction of the imperial city, and said excitedly:

"That house turned out to be the private residence of the prince of the dynasty. I said, "Why is it so guarded?" ”

“……”

Xi Yunzhi frowned and puzzled: "The prince's private residence? How do you know? ”

Xiao Hei grabbed his head and smiled, and said his method:

"I stared outside for several days, and found that this mansion sent a car out to buy ingredients every three days, so I followed it and looked, who knows, their car is not going in the direction of the market at all, and then followed, and they arrived at the back door of the Dongcheng Prince's Mansion, and after they loaded a large cart of ingredients, they returned to Yanzi Hutong."

“……”

Xi Yunzhi felt even more puzzled, yesterday her husband said that the prince had not been in court for a month, and today Xiao Hei found out that the prince was likely to be hiding in Yanzi Hutong, but these were originally none of her business, but Zhang Yan was involved.

The mansion that Zhang Yan goes in and out of every day turned out to be the prince's private residence, and the husband said that the prince had not been to the court for a month, and Zhang Yan behaved a little strangely almost a month ago, leaving late and returning early, and he was rarely seen in Lanfu Garden.

What the hell is going on?

What did the prince want to find out from Zhang Yan? If the prince wanted to use Zhang Yan to inquire about the general's mansion, but Zhang Yan didn't specifically ask her about anything.

Could it be that the two of them used to know each other in the past, Zhang Yan said that he used to be an imperial chef, did that mean that when he was an imperial chef, he had a friendship with the prince?

But what Xi Yunzhi doesn't understand is what kind of friendship can make Zhang Yan and the prince so inseparable together?

The author has something to say: the first update.

Question: Who is Zhang Yan? What is the relationship with the prince?

Author's note: It's definitely not a male-male relationship, for the sake of harmony, please don't guess in that direction.