Within a few days, Qu Ning made a generous gift, and the rites of the juniors were sent to the Chengwang Mansion together with the prayers.

King Cheng is considered to be a senior, it is Qu Ning's uncle Wang, he has passed the age of confusion, there are four sons and three daughters in the family, all of whom are married, surrounded by children under his knees, and he is considered to be a prosperous branch of the royal family.

However, Qu Ning recalled that when he was in the palace, when the emperor talked about becoming a king, he often said that he had no ambitions and only knew pleasure, and the emperor vaguely mentioned that he wanted him to come out to take charge of the Zongren Mansion, but he was also rejected without a trace. After that, there was no follow-up.

Since King Cheng likes to play sexually, it is not surprising that others sent women in, and he did not refuse to come, and even showed political bias because he favored women.

Qu Ning's etiquette is very thick, and the wording on the post is also very polite, holding the ceremony of respectful visits from the younger generations, which can be said to have given King Cheng enough face, but when the post arrived in King Cheng's hands, he was playing with several concubines at the time, and when he saw the post, he frowned.

Although he is a prince who "ignores everything", King Cheng actually knows a little bit about the affairs in Beijing, and as soon as he finds out Qu Ning's intentions, he knows that it is related to the recent affairs of Tang Shaoshuai to take charge of the northeast. And this greeting post is not a gift for nothing, this one who came to the door, but it is also a big trouble - he hates trouble the most, at this time holding the greeting post is like holding a hot potato, and he can't wait to pretend that this thing has not happened.

Only his son-in-law, Li Haoliang, a famous black coal mine boss in Shenyang, is sitting with him in his mansion at this time - the son-in-law watched his father-in-law play with women, this matter is actually commonplace in Chengwang's Mansion, which is famous for fun, and several women present don't have too many embarrassed expressions. Li Haoliang saw the embarrassment on King Cheng's face, took the post lightly and looked at it, and smiled: "Father-in-law doesn't want to see His Royal Highness the former princess?" If my father-in-law really doesn't want to see him, he has to think of a good reason, otherwise people will not be able to poke our backbones in the future, saying that we don't know how to be polite. ”

King Cheng rubbed his forehead with a worried face: "If it's just one of her nieces, I'll see it." It's just that her husband is a difficult Hades. Haven't you heard? That day, the gentry in Shenyang invited him to dinner and invited him to have a bad day, and even a person as delicate and sleek as Lao Sun capsized in the gutter, and was actually imprisoned on the spot, and the family property was confiscated, and now he has to wait for the court to decide," he said and shook his head desperately, with an expression of "unbearable reading", "I can't afford to entertain such a couple." ”

Li Haoliang laughed: "There is a way that a hundred steels can still be turned into finger wrapping, this gentle township is a hero's mound, I can't say it, even if that one is difficult, when he returns home, I don't know who has the final say......" He glanced at the women who were feeding him grapes in King Cheng's arms, and said with an ambiguous smile, "Father-in-law, aren't you the same?" ”

This is said to be in the heart of King Cheng: he came to the Northeast very early, at that time the Northeast was still a place of war, and his life was really sad, even if he tried his best, but with his knowledge of being raised as a pig since he was a child, he really had no ability and ability to deal with political affairs, so he simply let go, and only threw himself into the wine and beauty. "Drunk and lying on the knees of a beautiful woman, waking up to the power of the world," he often laughed at himself, and he got at least one of them. Therefore, how much influence this gentle township has, King Cheng agrees with it.

King Cheng hesitated vaguely: "So, according to what you mean, I still have to see this nephew?" ”

Li Haoliang nodded and persuaded: "You also heard about the incident over there in Guan Xinglou that day, right?" Someone outside begged me to come here, and wanted me to find a way to talk about Speaker Sun, but coincidentally, she came to the door by herself, so you can mention this matter, so that I can give someone an explanation, right? ”

"That'...... Okay......" King Cheng nodded a little reluctantly and agreed.

Of course, this kind of small "dispute" in the palace of the king, Qu Ning can't see it.

She got a reply from King Cheng at the time set by him, and then she heard the little servant she sent to the next post that day describe how beautiful the buildings of the palace of Cheng were and how beautiful and touching the concubine of King Cheng was.

When someone finally kept poking his finger at him to remind him, poking him as if he realized something, he hurriedly looked back and saw that the young lady was standing behind him, and with a smile in his eyebrows, he was greatly taken aback, and immediately knelt down in fright.

Qu Ning immediately helped him and said, "No need to be polite," she asked thoughtfully, "Since you saw King Cheng's concubine when you went in, did there be a woman wearing a Japanese kimono?" ”

The little guy was a little trembling, but he only saw that her eyebrows were kind, so he gathered his mind, thought for a while, and shook his head with certainty: "No." Those should be southern beauties, slender and weak, but definitely not Japanese......"

Qu Ning laughed when she heard this: "How do you know it's a southern beauty?" ”

"The southerners are endowed with weakness, slender figures, and their actions have a kind of beauty left over from the gold dust of the Six Dynasties, and this northern woman is ......" The little guy didn't stop for a while, and habitually began to blow nonsense as usual, until he was halfway through speaking, he realized that he was unabashed in front of the young lady, and his face turned pale with fright, and he immediately had a weak leg and wanted to kneel down.

"No need, no need," Qu Ning gimmed, shaking her head, "Surely you didn't see the Japanese?" ”

"Small yes."

"Hmm." Qu Ning nodded, and simply asked the housekeeper waiting on the side to reward him with another silver dollar, regardless of the person's gratitude, he paced behind his back: To say that the Japanese girls in this period are not as good at makeup, maintenance and even plastic surgery as later generations, Japan used to be poor, the whole race is very thin and dry, stunted like bean sprouts, and her teeth are yellow, and her aesthetics are weird, she was already a little confused about King Cheng's favor of the Japanese concubine, so her judgment was more and more certain. There must be something strange in the meantime, as for what is going on, I am afraid that she will have to wait for her to meet King Cheng and "chat" before she can judge clearly.

***

King Cheng's mansion is an extremely vast mansion, Qu Ning was led by the housekeeper Bi Gong to enter from the main entrance, and the car drove directly from the main entrance to the door to stop, and it took a full quarter of an hour.

The interior of the mansion is sparse with flowers and trees, strange rocks, pavilions, rockery, lakes and pools, almost a few steps and a scene, it is indeed beautiful.

It was Qu Ning, sitting in the car and looking at it, and at that time, he was also amazed at the wealth of the king, and he felt more and more strange about the gaffe that the little guy came back that day.

When the car arrived at the bottom of the house, a chubby man wearing a black robe had been waiting at the door early in the morning, and when he saw Qu Ning get out of the car, he immediately waved his hand at her: "My niece has worked hard from afar, come and come, please come in, please come in." ”

Qu Ning smiled and made a blessing to him, but his heart was simply shocked: This is Chengwang? How can there be a domineering side leak of the prince, it looks like an ordinary businessman is no different! How did this do the earth overlord, where is the evil spirit? Can you hold the field? Looking at such a fat body, it may not be possible to swing it with a saber, where is the deterrent?

She was thinking about it, and suddenly felt a feeling of being watched on her face, she quietly twisted her brows, and looked lightly along the direction of her eyes, but only caught a corner of clothes on the balcony on the second floor.

Someone is peeking?

She snorted softly, but there were already words on her lips, and she had already followed King Cheng into it.

These two people are coming and going at the moment, King Cheng pretended to miss the old relationship first, first said, "I hugged my niece when I was a child, you were still a fat doll at that time, and you were so big in a blink of an eye", and then expressed his loyalty to the royal family, and sighed, "I am also sad about the matter of Your Majesty's going to the wilderness, but unfortunately I have more than enough heart and insufficient strength, and I cry every night when I think of it, and it is difficult to sleep", in fact, everyone knows that this is all a lie when they look at his figure, but Qu Ning naturally will not expose him, and everyone will talk and laugh.

Seeing that the greetings were almost there, King Cheng finally tentatively opened his mouth and asked about the relationship status of their husband and wife, of course, posing as if the elders cared about the juniors.

Qu Ning just smiled and played Tai Chi - the three from the four virtues are very useful at this time, because she has been educated by Confucius and Mencius in the palace for so many years, so now that she is married, it is natural that everything should be done according to the young marshal's wishes.

This kind of nonsense, King Cheng obviously didn't believe it, but Qu Ning bit it to death at this time and didn't let go, pretending to be stupid and stupid, anyway, with a face of "I'm Xiaobai" I just came to visit the elders today and had no other meaning, King Cheng was very helpless by her nonsense, and at the moment she was completely pulled by her, dominating the topic, and finally she was dizzy or didn't understand, between her and the young marshal, whether it was the east wind that overwhelmed the west wind, or the west wind overwhelmed the east wind - this point, Li Haoliang asked him to ask, But he was about to disappoint the man.

In the end, King Cheng finally got a little impatient and went around in circles again, and opened his mouth to persuade: "The people of Shenyang are fierce, not as good as the mainland. The forces here are intertwined, they don't agree with each other, and there are many things where they draw swords and splash blood for five steps, and the young marshal did a good job in Guan Xinglou that day, but in this way, those people were afraid at the time, but when they talked about it later, those who hated him and wanted to retaliate were all ready to move. He said and glanced at Qu Ning, and looked at her at this time, finally solemnly and quietly, thinking that she was afraid, he said, "My old face, finally in Shenyang gentry still has a little thin face, if the young marshal intends to reconcile, if the old man can't say that the old man will be a peacemaker, when the time comes, everyone will be in the middle to say one or two, turn the war into jade silk, isn't it beautiful?" ”

Beautiful!

Qu Ning's face darkened almost instantly: Let's not say that she will only be Tang Shaoshuai's dog leg instead of dragging his hind legs, even if she has this mind, she can't be the master of Young Marshal!

Since he made a black face, before he felt that it was enough to repair those guys, what kind of reconciliation did she say as a lady, didn't she just stick a knife in her back, and peel off Tang Shaoshuai's face and put it on the ground for people to step on?

How can there be a reason to give outsiders face, but not to their husband's face? Isn't his face her face?

Qu Ning's face turned dark, he was originally smiling, but he didn't smile in an instant, he drooped his eyelids and put aside the tea cup in his hand dissatisfiedly, and almost changed his face between movements, and put up a shelf: "Uncle Wang, are you joking with your nephew?" Since we are our own family, we are close to each other, you don't stand on the side of your own family, but you stand on the side of outsiders to persuade our young marshal to make a move? My niece is really disappointed," he took out a handkerchief and wiped his tears as he spoke, with a sad expression, "My niece is still counting on Uncle Wang to give justice to the host and support me and my husband, you say this and accuse us of being a young marshal, this really makes me sad......"

"......" might as well cry when she says crying, King Cheng opened his mouth and stammered, and the expression on his face can be summed up in one word: embarrassment.

Seeing that King Cheng couldn't resist her at all, she only had the ability to resist and had no power to fight back, Li Haoliang, who was originally hiding in the dark to see the situation, had a number in his heart, and after a while, he went to the door along the dark road first.

***

Qu Ning came to see King Cheng today, one is to explore the details of this local snake, the second is that she knows the other party's current status in Shenyang, and knows that his news must be well-informed, so she wants to test the local gentry's views and attitudes towards the young marshal, and third, she wants to meet the legendary Japanese concubine who is very favored, and see with her own eyes what the relationship between "this close to Japan" is.

However, she came to Chengwangfu today, the first two items were achieved well, as for the third item, Chengwang did as she wished, introducing his daughter, granddaughter, and young and beautiful concubines to her, but the warblers and swallows gathered, the fragrance was dizzying, and she was dazzled, but she didn't find the pair of Japanese sisters she wanted to see the most.

Qu Ning wondered in his heart, he had doubts in his heart, and when he went out, he suddenly had an idea in his heart, and asked the car to wait for her at the gate, saying that he wanted to walk to the door, and the housekeeper of the Chengwang Mansion had a difficult look at this, Qu Ning smiled and explained two sentences: "The house has changed its scenery, each has its own treasures, since it is rare to come, then I want to take this opportunity to take a look, is it such a simple matter, do you want me to ask Uncle Wang?" ”

That's not a bad thing. Thinking of this young lady, she made the prince have a headache, she should be sloppy and noisy, she should be able to hold it and hold it, he can't afford to provoke this aunt, how dare the housekeeper say a word, and immediately respectfully asked her if she wanted to find someone to accompany her all the way out, so as not to get lost.

Qu Ning rolled his eyes, glanced at the path paved with cobblestones, smiled slightly, and nodded in response.

Without stopping, the housekeeper brought a tall and burly man in a dark short coat with a strange look, and said to Qu Ning: "Young lady, let this prince's eldest entourage send you out." ”

This man's figure looks like a rough job, and the tendons and knots of that body can almost brighten the eyes of blind people, and this head feels like it can be carried when he looks at it, but it makes people feel very secure, Qu Ning nodded and didn't say anything.

She moved in silence, walking slowly all the way, stopping here to take a look at it more, the long man was also obedient, following her, from time to time to point out where the scenery came from, in this garden, sure enough, every stone, every tree, and even every flower and plant has a story to tell.

Qu Ning occasionally nodded "um" twice, and the two walked around the big garden for a long time, Qu Ning suddenly stopped on a small bridge, and glanced back at the man who was bowing down her hands, she bent the corners of her lips slightly, revealing a treacherous smile like a fox that ordinary people would think was very affinity, but in the eyes of this person: "...... I guess, Mr. Changsui, should you, just such a coincidence, surnamed Li? ”

"......" The man showed a little surprise at the moment, then came back to his senses and smiled bitterly, "How did the young lady know?" ”

Qu Ning snorted.

The reason is very simple, she had a conversation with King Cheng before, and in the deliberate temptation of your coming and going, she had already noticed that King Cheng was not the kind of person who had a good grasp of the overall situation.

As for his ambitions, he is not as vigorous as many politicians, at least not as vigorous as Tang Dashuai, so behind his tentative words today, there must be the shadow of others.

However, as a king, others can only use their influence to influence, but they can't call him, so if you calculate it this way, only people who are close to him and close to him can have this ability to influence his behavior.

Coupled with the fact that she felt being spied on before, in this way, counting the information she got about becoming a king, who was the person who suddenly came out to give her a ride, she was about to come out. The other party has put so much effort into it, if she just leaves, wouldn't she be "ashamed of her hospitality"? That's why Qu Ning specifically asked to walk through the garden and give him a chance to speak.

Qu Ning looked at the other party and smiled slightly, did not answer his question, but asked rhetorically: "Since you want to meet me alone, then you must have a plan." I don't have much stuff, what do you want, you might as well say it. She paused and looked him in the eye, "But I think that what Mr. Li can't get from King Cheng, but what he wants from me, I can probably still get it." ”

Her last sentence was really meaningful. Li Haoliang looked at her with some surprise, his face changed several times, and finally frowned slightly.

This woman was so clever that one word hit him to the heart.

He made a fortune in the coal mining industry, and he was able to marry the concubine of the king, which in the eyes of outsiders, was already a fluke, which made him suddenly change from dog meat that could not be put on the table to pork that could at least be seen. But in the end, in the hearts of many generations of nobles, he is still a mud leg who can't get on the stage.

After marrying a wife, his identity has indeed risen to a higher level, but the woman is neither beautiful nor gentle, and he reluctantly tolerates it, but only for the sake of her identity. Including his petty flattery in front of King Cheng, it seems simple, but it is not always a long-term way.

A husband cannot be without power for a day, but this is something that his wife and the coal miners in his hands cannot give him.

Li Haoliang wanted to change his identity again early on, it was best to put on a layer of official skin, and if it was not good, it was okay to roll in the army, but he still had the strength to do it, and it would be useless to spend it in Gentle Township.

But these things are all things that King Cheng can't give him - the dignity of a man, the future of a man, King Cheng can only give him a layer of aristocratic gold edges, but the young marshal has real power in their hands.

These words have been rolling back and forth in Li Haoliang's heart several times, but in his eyes when he looks at Qu Ning at this time, there is a little bit of inquiry, and a little hesitation, obviously hesitating, whether to say it or not.

Qu Ning looked at him and smiled slightly, and said softly: "I'm not in a hurry, what you want to get, you have to exchange it for something, if you haven't thought about it yet, come and talk to me another day." Anyway, my place to live is easy to find, and if you come to talk to me another day, it's the same. She glanced at the sun, which had begun to set in the west, and sighed lazily, "Okay, I can't stay for a long time, you haven't decided on your move, I have to go home early, so I won't say more......"

Saying that he was about to leave, Li Haoliang was shocked, he didn't know where he didn't know, this "come to the door another day" is a pretext, in fact, the opportunity is not to be lost, and the news he knows also makes now the best time.

Li Haoliang gritted his teeth and suddenly knelt down on one knee: "I am willing to serve the young lady, I just ask the young lady to give me a step to enter the body......"

Qu Ning shook his head, before he could be disappointed, he had already heard the woman explain gently: "Now that the emperor is in the wilderness, the appointment and dismissal of officials is actually not a word. Official positions such as the speaker of the House of Representatives are subject to voting, and you should be well aware of this. Whether it is me or the young marshal, it is impossible to abolish the public for personal reasons, so if you want to take this path, it will not be easy. However, there are many steps in the army, as long as you don't take the political road, there is an opportunity, not to mention that now is an eventful season, don't underestimate the manpower in your hands, if you really want to serve the young marshal, then I will match you, I will always do it, after all, this is the time to use people," Li Haoliang didn't have time to kneel down to show her loyalty, she had already smiled and shook her fingers, "But whether this is effective or not, there must be a vote, red mouth and white teeth, nothing counts......"

Li Haoliang was so smart that he instantly understood what she meant.

He gritted his teeth, carefully looked at her in the sun, looked gentle and calm, but her eyes were so deep that people couldn't see the expression of her true heart, and finally decided to fight this shop, so he told what he knew: "Young lady, the little one doesn't dare to deceive, a few mine owners came to discuss with me the day before yesterday, saying that they want us to stop mining and prepare for a riot......" He peeked at Qu Ning's face, and saw that she listened carefully with a solemn expression, knowing that she was right this bet, she could understand the seriousness of this matter, Only then did he continue, "This steelmaking and ironmaking, ordnance factories and even the construction of railways all depend on our minerals, and those mine owners are ready to pretend that something happened to the mine and blow up the mine, so as to lead those sufferers to make trouble, so that the government must come forward as soon as possible to appease and relieve the disaster, on the one hand, to put pressure on the government to force them to release Speaker Sun to re-preside over the work, and on the other hand, to raise the price of the mine, and if the military factory or something wants to continue to operate, the government must negotiate terms with them......

Qu Ning's expression, the more he listened, the more he sank.

She said "um" twice, thought silently for a moment, then turned her head and asked Li Haoliang: "So, are those comrades of Speaker Sun who want to go against the young marshal?" ”

Now that the sale has already been sold, it is hypocritical to swallow and vomit at this time, but it has lost the heart of the new master.

Li Haoliang turned his heart sideways, and simply said everything: "Don't dare to hide it from the young lady, these people are not for Speaker Sun, but for their own interests." According to the knowledge of his subordinates, now the old skilled workers in the military factories have been run away, and there are only some nepotism left. The situation is similar at the steel plant, and the production situation is far worse than it was back then. All the extra money went into their own pockets. But these people all have their own ways, and ordinary people can't help them......"

Qu Ning glanced at him meaningfully: "That's why you want to test whether the young marshal and I have a firm mind to clean up them?" Are you afraid that we will give up halfway and trap you? ”

Li Haoliang didn't have time to object, she had already smiled faintly and shook her head: "Okay, I will talk to the young marshal about this news, as for how to settle you, we will give you an answer at that time." ”

She was calm on the surface, but in fact, Qu Ning's heart was already shaking: The situation in Shenyang is so bad?

She pondered for a moment, and then asked, "What about the Japanese concubines in King Cheng's family?" ”

Li Haoliang let out an "oh", and said with some hesitation: "Don't dare to deceive the young lady, those two were given to my father-in-law, but they were not found by me, but by the mine owners behind me, who stuffed them into me, saying that they asked me to build a bridge so that they could be filial piety to become kings, hoping that he could become the Baoshan of several Japanese stores...... King Cheng did like it for a while at that time, but a few days ago I heard that the young marshal was particularly disgusted with Japanese women, so King Cheng asked them to go back to their parents' house first, that is, those stores to live for a few days. In fact, it was also because of that greedy for freshness that the relationship passed. ”

"Oh", Qu Ning nodded: "You tell me the names of those shops, I'll deal with this matter." ”

Li Haoliang reported it without hesitation, Qu Ning silently wrote it down and nodded.