In a blink of an eye, Tao Ying had already returned to Xuzhou for three days, during these three days, Tao Ying and Cao Hong joined forces to secretly investigate the cause of Tao Qian's sudden aggravation of his condition, but they never found anything, and did not find any clues, which made Tao Ying himself a little suspicious that he was too suspicious, Tao Qian was just old and frail, so his condition recurred, and he had nothing to do with other people.

If it weren't for Tao Qian's pulse case record exposing the mystery, maybe Tao Ying might really have to give up the investigation, although Tao Ying didn't understand the Chinese medicine pulse case, but for the sake of prudence, Tao Ying still took the time to find a folk Lang Zhong to interpret Tao Qian's pulse case for himself, and Tao Ying unexpectedly found that Tao Qian's pulse case record showed that Tao Qian's condition was aggravated in two stages, the first stage was in the early days of his southern expedition, before the good news was sent to Xuzhou, Tao Qian's condition began to gradually worsen. However, after the news of the miraculous defeat of the Junzi Army in the autumn was sent back to Xuzhou, Tao Qian's condition immediately improved, and his pulse showed signs of recovery.

Then after Tao Ying had to send the news of Sun Ce's westward expansion to Xuzhou, Tao Qian's condition immediately worsened, during which he sent the news of Sun Ce's big break to Xuzhou, Tao Qian's condition not only did not improve, but further aggravated, until he sent the news of the success of Yuan Shu's peace to Xuzhou, Tao Qian's pulse began to improve, and has been improving until now.

After reading this case, Tao Ying came to two conclusions, one is that Tao Qian's condition may be affected by the situation on the battlefield in Guangling, Tao Qian's condition improves when the situation is good, and Tao Qian's condition worsens when the situation is critical. The second is that Tao Ying suspects that someone is secretly indulging Tao Qian's illness and aggravating Tao Qian's condition when the situation in Guangling is critical -- in this way, as long as he accidentally eats a defeat and then kills Tao Qian, the sin will have to be borne by himself, an unfilial son who talks on paper. And when the situation on the Guangling battlefield improved, the possible culprit behind the scenes did not dare to take action - because in the case of his successive victories, his prestige soared, and he could withdraw from the north at any time, Tao Qian suddenly died of illness, and the biggest beneficiary may be Tao Ying himself.

Although the second conclusion is only a suspicion, and there is no real evidence to prove that Tao Qian's condition is controlled by others, Tao Ying also believes that if the second conclusion may exist, then there are only three direct executors who can control Tao Qian's condition, Cao Hong, who protects Tao Qian's safety, Tao Shang, the filial son Tao Shang who personally serves Tao Qian's decoction and medicine diet, and Zhang Hang, the most trusted medical officer of the Tao family!

Analyzed the three most likely murderers, our honest and broad-minded Deputy Director Tao naturally had to spend a little effort, and arranged some manpower to investigate and investigate directly and indirectly, but it was destined to be time-consuming and labor-intensive when the investigation had just begun, on the morning of the fourth day, the rear army led by Zang Ba also returned to the outside of Xuzhou, and Tao Qian, who felt that he was a little sorry, also ignored his serious illness and his son's opposition, and personally led Tao Shang, Tao Ying brothers and Xuzhou civil and military officials out of the city to meet Zang Ba's army outside the city.

Seeing Tao Qian coming to greet him with illness, Zang Ba, who had strong self-esteem, was of course both excited and moved, and dismounted from afar to ask Tao Qian for his guilt, and was deeply ashamed that he had not made an inch of merit in reinforcing Tao Ying in the south this time, but Tao Qian opposed this statement, thinking that the reason why Tao Ying was able to make peace with Yuan Shu this time was that the key was that Zang Ba's army frightened Yuan Shu, so that Yuan Shu did not dare to start a full-scale war against Xuzhou, and was forced to agree to sue for peace. Reward Zang Ba and his soldiers to buy people's hearts.

At the end, the panting Tao Qian handed over the messenger to Tao Ying to receive the Zang Ba team, and asked Tao Ying to try his best to receive and arrange the Zang Ba team, and Tao Ying agreed. Then Tao Ying found Cao Bao to discuss, and asked Cao Bao to vacate part of the barracks to accommodate Zang Ba's team, Cao Bao did not refuse, and without saying a word, he ordered to vacate the east camp for Zang Ba's army to station, and according to Tao Ying's request, he sent someone to send a batch of wine and meat to Zang Ba's army to reward the three armies. But after all these arrangements were made, when Tao Ying was about to leave to pick up the wind and wash the dust for Zang Ba, Cao Bao stopped Tao Ying again and pulled Tao Ying to the side to talk secretly.

"Childe, there is a sentence that the last general doesn't know whether to say it or not." Cao Bao's expression was a little hesitant, and he said in a low voice: "Most of Zang Ba's team are Taishan thieves, all of them are brave and ruthless, unruly, and difficult to control, so according to the opinion of the last general, it is better for Gongzi to reorganize Zang Ba's team and install Xuzhou generals to facilitate control." ”

"Reorganize the Zang Ba Army?" Tao Yinghu glanced at Cao Bao suspiciously, and asked in a low voice, "Uncle, did you come up with this idea yourself?" Or did someone else say it to me through your mouth? ”

"It's the end who came up with it himself." Cao Bao replied truthfully, and then hurriedly added: "But this is not the last general who wants to do this, today the Xuzhou civil and military colleagues who accompanied the lord out of the city to greet him are also mostly worried that Zang Ba's intentions are not good, his team is difficult to control, and it is destined to be stationed outside Xuzhou City, once there is a change, the consequences will be unimaginable." ”

"Someone is sowing discord among them, trying to drive a wedge between our Tao family and Zang Bagang's eased relationship." Tao Ying glanced at the crowd of civil and military officials in Xuzhou in the distance, then turned to Cao Bao and sighed and said: "Uncle, although your worries are very reasonable, have you considered it, at this time, what will Zang Ba and Sun Guan think about reorganizing the Langya army?" This matter cannot be done for the time being, and can only be postponed. ”

Cao Bao is not a straw bag, of course, he understands that the reorganization of the Langya army at this time will definitely lead to the dissatisfaction of Zang Ba and others, so he nodded and said: "The last general also knows that this matter cannot be carried out, but his colleagues are talking about it, and he is worried that Gongzi will not notice, so he reminded Gongzi and hoped that Gongzi would pay attention." ”

Tao Ying thanked Cao Bao for reminding him, and told Cao Bao to carefully restrain his generals, not to let the Xuzhou soldiers clash with Zang Ba's soldiers, and never let the Xuzhou soldiers bully Zang Bajun, Cao Bao also honestly agreed. Then Tao Ying was about to leave, but suddenly smiled at Cao Bao and said, "Uncle Cao, the kind of good wine you invited me to drink last time, I don't know if there is still a treasure at home?" The little nephew was greedy, and he wanted to visit his uncle's house again, and by the way, he talked about what happened last time, I don't know if my uncle can accept it? ”

Cao Bao was stunned at first, and quickly remembered his last proposal, and suddenly his face was flushed with excitement, and he nodded again and again and replied: "Yes, yes, no matter when the son comes, the last general will greet him." ”

Tao Ying thanked him, and said with a smile in his heart: "Little girl, look at how you ran this time, I was almost deceived by you last time, if it weren't for you saying that you had a brother who died for Xuzhou, I really wouldn't have found out that you were that ugly monster." I owe my baton, and I am doubly settled. ”

The size of the Xuzhou army, which was killed by Cao Jun, was far from returning to its peak state, and Cao Bao's camp was full of empty barracks, so the work of settling Zang Ba's team went very smoothly, and only half of the left battalion was vacated to settle all the Zang Ba's army, but Tao Ying and Cao Bao also got to the lobby of the Thorn History Mansion to participate in the banquet for Zang Ba, so Tao Ying didn't have time to visit Cao Bao's house this day, let alone have the opportunity to discuss with Cao Bao what was not negotiated last time.

Tao Ying was really moved by Lin Qing's little girl, not to mention that this little girl is not inferior to Tao Ying's other sweetheart Mi Zhen sister in terms of appearance and appearance, just by virtue of this little girl disguised as a man to accompany her to the south to Guangling, Tao Ying felt that this little girl actually cared more about and cared about herself than Mi Zhen, but this little girl's arrogant surname really didn't dare to be flattered, and she was obviously deeply in love with Tao Ying - at least Tao Ying himself thought so, but he refused to say a soft word, He has never had a good face for Tao Ying.

To change to other men in this era, Lin Qing's little girl's unruly surname may be unacceptable, but for Deputy Director Tao, the little girl's little temper has little to do with it, and it is completely acceptable, so unconsciously, the weight of this little girl in Deputy Director Tao's mind has gradually surpassed the gentle and considerate but unattainable Mizhen girl, coupled with the vague guessing of the true identity of the little girl, the idea of marrying Cao Bao, the boss of Danyang soldiers, has gradually taken shape in Deputy Director Tao's heart.

As for the poor Mi Zhen sister, Deputy Director Tao really doesn't know what to do, the Mi Zhu brothers and Deputy Director Tao are on the same page, and they secretly communicate with Liu Bei, almost semi-openly on Liu Bei's side, and it is impossible to agree to Tao Ying's courtship, so even if she understands that Mi Zhen's sister is also affectionate to herself, Tao Ying doesn't know how to marry her home, so after returning to Xuzhou, Tao Ying didn't find a way to visit Mi Zhen once, and tried hard not to miss Mi Zhen, holding the idea of taking one step at a time to get by. If you don't come to the door, you don't think about it.

It is also because of these, for the stability of the Xuzhou army and his lifelong surname, in the afternoon of the next day, he helped Tao Qian take care of civil and military affairs, Tao Ying carefully dressed himself, led a few personal soldiers, and finally came to the door of Cao Bao's mansion to ask for a meeting, but unfortunately, there was another soldier brawl and fight in the Xuzhou military camp, and Cao Bao went to the military camp to put out the fire, and happened to be not at home.

From the mouth of the Cao Mansion guard, it was confirmed that it was not the Xuzhou soldiers and the Langya soldiers who were fighting, Tao Ying put his mind at ease and decided to wait for Cao Bao to come back in the Cao Mansion, the Cao Mansion housekeeper couldn't ask for it, and hurriedly invited Tao Ying to the hall to serve tea, Tao Ying also took the opportunity to ask the Cao Mansion housekeeper: "General Cao's daughter, is Cao Ling Cao girl here?" ”

"Yes." The housekeeper nodded busily, and replied honestly: "The master's son-in-law is pruning the plum blossoms in the back garden, my daughter-in-law likes the plum blossoms the most, the weather is getting colder day by day, and it is about to snow and bloom. ”

Tao Ying smiled, he really couldn't imagine what that unruly little girl would look like when she waited for flowers and plants, and the housekeeper of Cao's Mansion over there couldn't wait to ask: "Childe, do you want the villain to report to the lady and the daughter-in-law, and ask them to accompany the son?" ”

"No need." Tao Ying refused with a smile, intending to surprise the little girl. The housekeeper of Cao Mansion had no choice but to retreat honestly, while Tao Ying tasted fragrant tea and waited patiently for Cao Bao to come back. But Tao Ying didn't wait for Cao Bao to come, but waited for a very beautiful maid, saluted Tao Ying and said, "Childe, my daughter-in-law heard that Son-in-law is coming, and I want to invite Son-in-law to the garden for a while." ”

"This ......, isn't it right?" Tao Ying was pretended to be modest, but in his heart he scolded the Cao Mansion for being too talkative, and this time there was no way to give a certain little girl an unexpected surprise.

The beautiful maid showed a mischievous smile and said, "Childe, our son-in-law said that if you don't go to the back garden, don't want to see her today." ”

Lin Qing's little girl's bad surname, Tao Ying knows better than anyone else, so Tao Ying didn't dare to be polite, obediently got up and put on shoes, and followed the beautiful maid to the back garden to meet the future wife, and her heart was itching with hatred, "Little girl, dare to threaten your husband, wait for you to pass the door, see how I clean you up!" ”

It was late autumn, everything withered, in addition to the chrysanthemums in the back garden of Nuoda, there were no other flowers, most of the trees and flowers were withered, and the garden was golden, and because of this, Tao Ying saw at a glance after entering the garden, a long-haired girl wearing a green dress, leading a few maids and maids, was pruning plum branches next to a rockery. Tao Ying laughed secretly, waved his hand to silence the maid who led the way, quietly walked behind the green-shirted girl, tried to put on his most chic appearance, bowed to the girl, and said loudly: "In Tao Ying, I have seen Miss Cao Ling." ”

There was no unexpected exclamation as imagined, nor was there a familiar cold snort, only a voice that was thicker and sand than the throat of a male duck, "Childe doesn't need to be polite, little girl Cao Ling, I've seen Childe." ”

"Why is the sound so ugly?" Tao Ying looked up in surprise, but only glanced at it, Deputy Director Tao, who was still excited just now, almost didn't get scared of impotence on the spot, it turned out that the green-shirted girl who had turned around was none other than the ugly girl who scared Deputy Director Tao so much last time that she refused Cao Bao's proposal - toad beak and mung bean eyes, skin like paint, flat nose and chicken breasts, yellow and thin hair, thick and black eyebrows, a female version of the bell tower weirdo!

"The little girl is playing with me again?" After the shock, Tao Ying's first reaction was that Lin Qing's little girl was playing tricks again, and she couldn't see any other figures left and right, Tao Ying couldn't help but be a little flustered - could it be that he had analyzed Lin Qing's little girl's identity wrongly?

The strange ugly girl stepped forward, a smell of onion and garlic came to her face, and she smiled at Tao Yingyanran, revealing a mouthful of yellow plate teeth that could never be disguised in this era, and asked in a rough voice: "Childe, what are you looking for?" ”

"You ......, are you Miss Cao Lingcao?" Tao Ying asked tremblingly.

"I'm Cao Ling, the little girl and the son have met once, did the son forget?" The surprise of the ugly girl Cao Ling's rhetorical question made Deputy Director Tao completely desperate, and several maids and maids next to her also testified: "Childe, that's right, she is our master's daughter." ”

Holding on to the last glimmer of hope, Tao Ying carefully looked at the ugly girl in front of him to check whether there were any traces of makeup, but what made Deputy Director Tao sad was that the ugly girl in front of him did have traces of makeup on her face, but she smeared white powder and red rouge on her dark and rough skin, smeared lipstick on her mouth with the smell of garlic, and inserted freshly picked chrysanthemums in her yellow and thin hair.

"Childe, don't look at indecent things." Seeing Tao Ying looking at herself carefully, the strange ugly girl lowered her face shyly and reminded Tao Ying that her chicken breast was definitely not stuffed with a pillow.

"It's over, it's a big joke this time." Tao Ying finally understood that he had made a big mistake, as the so-called wise man has a thousand thoughts, he must make a mistake, why did he misjudge the identity of Lin Qing's little girl? As a result, it is good now, and the hint of preparing to marry Cao Bao has also been spoken, do you want to marry this ugly monster home to be scary?

"Childe." Seeing that Tao Ying didn't speak, the ugly girl Cao Ling had to take the initiative to speak, lowered her head and said very shyly: "Our business, when my father came back last night, he already told the little girl, the little girl is really happy, son, you are so handsome, and you are so young and promising...... little girl...... Willingly. ”

Speaking shyly, Cao Ling also took the initiative to approach Tao Ying with the smell of garlic all over his body, and the maids and maids around him pursed their lips and smiled, and took the initiative to walk away left and right, leaving a private space for Tao Ying and Cao Ling to say affectionate words. In this way, Tao Ying just didn't want goosebumps to fall to the ground, and suddenly shouted, "Ah! ”

"Childe, what's wrong?" Cao Ling was startled by Tao Ying's shouting, and finally stopped taking the initiative to snuggle into Tao Ying's arms.

"It occurred to me that I had one more business to do. Miss Cao, I will retire for the time being. Tao Ying bowed his hand to Cao Ling, and then ran to the gate of the back garden, leaving Cao Ling behind him and exclaiming, "Childe! Childe, please stay-! ”

Almost crawled away from Cao Ling's side, Tao Ying didn't dare to wait for Cao Bao to come back, continued to use the excuse that there was still business to do, and hurriedly fled to the gate of Cao's mansion, never thought that just before arriving at the door, Cao Bao just got off the horse outside the door, stopped Tao Ying and saluted: "Childe, I'm really sorry, there are a few seniors in the team who took the lead in fighting because of gambling money, which caused some chaos, but please rest assured that Childe, the last general has already cleaned them up, Childe please go to the living room and sit down, and the last general will let people prepare a banquet for Childe." ”

"No, no." The frightened Tao Ying hurriedly waved his hand and said casually: "Uncle, the little nephew suddenly remembered that there was still an urgent official business to do, so he took his leave for the time being, and said that he would make amends to his uncle again." ”

"What is Childe anxious about?" Cao Bao hurriedly retained and said sincerely: "Childe, my baby daughter is too naughty, there are some misunderstandings, and I will ...... today." ”

"Childe! Childe-! A guard of the Tao Mansion who suddenly rushed in on a horse saved the life of Deputy Director Tao, and shouted from afar: "Son, the lord has summoned you to go back immediately, there is an urgent matter!" 100,000 urgent, the lord wants you to go back immediately! ”

"Uncle, do you see that? The little nephew didn't lie to you, right? Tao Ying breathed a sigh of relief, pointed to the guard and asked Cao Bao.

"It's really urgent." Cao Bao also understood, and hurriedly let go of Tao Ying and said: "Son, since it is the lord's call, then you can ask quickly, the last general will be rude today, and he will go to the house to make amends." ”

Tao Yingru was amnesty, and hurriedly rode on a war horse to lead a few of his own soldiers to get out, leaving Cao Bao to ponder in place, "The lord has also revealed the intention of letting the second son marry me several times, why did the second prince send someone to call him back when the second son came to visit and was ready to discuss this matter today?" What is the urgency of this, should I also go to the lord's place? ”

"Wow!" When Cao Bao was pondering, a loud roar suddenly sounded in his ears, which scared Cao Bao, Cao Bao turned his head to look again, but saw that it was his daughter Cao Ling, Cao Bao couldn't help complaining: "Ling'er, why are you messing around again?" ”

"No, people just saw my father in a daze, so remind my father." Cao Ling smiled slyly, then pulled Cao Bao's sleeve and asked, "Father, I heard from the people in the house just now that the nerd is here, why don't you see his figure?" ”

"There is an urgent political matter, and the lord has summoned him back." Cao Bao explained casually, pushed away his beloved daughter and said: "Ling'er, the lord's temper is known to the father, it is not a hundred thousand urgent and important matters, the lord will not recall the son at this time, you and the son's affairs will wait patiently for a few days, and the father will go to the lord's mansion first to see if the son needs help." ”

"What's the matter with me?" Cao Ling's big eyes rolled and snorted: "Nerd who judges people by their appearance, I will never marry!" ”