funbook-pk Chapter 307 Labor Hualuan
Chapter 307 Labor Hualuan
Zhao Fangyu opened the letter, which said that the fourteen states had now contacted Mei Zhanhui.
The cliff had reached the edge of Chenzhou, and fourteen states were used to pull the cliff to Mei Zhanhui.
Pei Yan and his team are still in Chenzhou, but in order to investigate the case, only half of the original fifty Jinyiwei are left in Chenzhou, and the remaining half have already been dispersed to the edge of Chenzhou.
Zhao Fangyu had already sensed the danger in Chenzhou when he saw this. Pei Yan was the commander of the Jinyiwei, but he still kept so many people around him. Perhaps he had found out something, or the local officials were afraid that he had found out something...
It is not easy for the Jinyiwei to leave Chenzhou for the time being. It is also possible that they have already obtained the evidence of the crime and one of the scattered Jinyiwei will bring it back to the imperial city alone.
But this piece of news was too important, and it was dangerous to deliver it alone. According to what Zhao Fangyu heard in front of the emperor, Pei Yan's style was not something he would do.
Unless he was forced into a desperate situation, he would resort to such a desperate method.
According to the letter from the fourteen states, the Jinyiwei were not only on guard against the officials of all ranks in Chenzhou, but there were also rumors in Chenzhou that assassins were carrying out assassinations in the dark night.
Zhao Fangyu's eyes focused on the word "assassin", and he couldn't help but think of the assassination in which Mei Zhanhui disappeared.
The people who assassinated the Jinyiwei were most likely the same group of people who assassinated Mei Zhanhui.
The letter also mentioned why Mei Zhanhui had not contacted the Fourteen States until now.
But the letter did not say much, only vaguely mentioning that he was seriously injured, and when Lord Mei returned to Beijing, he would come to Zhao Fangyu to explain and apologize.
The last page of the letter was written by Mei Zhanhui himself, in which he requested Zhao Fangyu to conceal the news of his life and not tell anyone, including the Mei family.
This news was not an urgent one, but was enclosed in cargo, loaded and unloaded by a cargo store near Chenzhou all the way to the fourteen states in the capital, and then delivered by people from the fourteen states in the capital.
It is safe, but very slow.
I'm waiting for news along the way. I'm afraid there has been progress over there.
He read everything on the letter carefully, and finally put the letter slowly into the aromatherapy stove to burn it.
The flames burned the paper until only a piece of black ash was left. Zhao Fangyu stared at the large piece of ash, but what he was thinking about was why Mei Zhanhui didn't want the people in the capital to know that he was alive.
The reason was simply that he felt that the capital was unsafe now, or he felt that there were spies in his family and he didn't want to bring trouble to himself who was far away in Chenzhou, or something else.
Or maybe he was afraid of something, and the Jinyiwei sent by the emperor to accompany him could not be fully trusted. Now the only ones he could rely on were the Fourteen States.
Otherwise, Mei Zhanhui would not have not yet joined up with the Jinyiwei. The two sides were restraining each other, and it was obvious that Mei Zhanhui was at a disadvantage.
Zhao Fangyu wrote a letter and asked Nong Bo to deliver it to the fourteen states, waiting for the next shipment and taking it to Chenzhou as soon as it arrived.
The time for the round trip should be about the same.
There was not much Zhao Fangyu could do. Now the emperor was annoyed with her and was waiting to catch her in the act, so Zhao Fangyu had to be cautious in every move.
The situation in Chenzhou was unclear. After much thought, Zhao Fangyu decided to send a letter home to Zhou Qinghe in an open and aboveboard manner.
The above did not mention the things that happened in the capital, but only the food and utensils sent in the letters were all things that were stolen, in order to prevent the food in the army from not harming him and instead being poisoned by the things sent from home.
If she does it, these will be considered congratulations; if she cannot, these will be considered funeral rites.
·
There are no less than a hundred officials of all ranks in the capital, and only a handful of them can attend court every day.
Many people from aristocratic families received Zhao Fangyu's invitation to the banquet for beauties, but what happened to them after receiving it is another matter.
The princess curved her lips, holding the invitation to the banquet for beauties that Zhao Fangyu had personally given her. She spoke in a calm tone, as if she had seen through something, "The Qianjin Building has burned down, what can you give me to compensate me?"
Zhao Fangyu smiled, as if she didn't understand what the princess meant. "Aunt, what are you talking about? There was a fire in your Qianjin Building, and I was very sick. I haven't asked you to compensate me for my medicine yet."
The princess spat in anger, and she wanted to poke Zhao Fangyu's head and ask her what evil thing she had done: "The fire happened to start on the day you came, and it happened to burn down several buildings. How did you encounter something that only happens once in decades?"
Zhao Fangyu still pretended to be ignorant. After all, the princess had only a vague guess as to the truth. He wanted to deceive her with a guess, make her admit it herself and give the princess a handle. This was absolutely impossible.
Zhao Fangyu dragged on, looking helpless: "What's the reason? I came to see my aunt that day just to discuss the banquet with my aunt, how could I have expected to encounter this? Besides, I was really seriously ill at that time, and I asked the young uncle of the Cui family to give me acupuncture several times before I was saved." Zhao Fangyu glanced at the princess coquettishly, and also pretended to be annoyed, snorting: "Aunt used to say that she loved me the most, but she didn't come to see me when I was sick. As soon as we met, she asked me to compensate you for your Qianjinlou. It's really unreasonable!"
The princess didn't lie, and she didn't look angry. She just laughed twice when she opened her mouth, "I was just teasing you. It's just because something happened in my Qianjin Building, and the commander of the Jinyiwei of the Northern Pacification Department was involved. Your Majesty blames me."
Zhao Fangyu still refused to give in, and said in a coquettish manner: "It's unreasonable that my father made my aunt angry, and my aunt came to me, a junior, to vent her anger. Now my husband is still in the frontier, and no one can speak for me."
These coquettish yet somewhat unreasonable words made the princess seem to see her own daughter. The familiar headache just came over her, but was then diluted by sadness.
However, the pulse diagnosis Zhao Fangyu described was true. The princess had never suspected Zhao Fangyu before. It was not until the death of the Jinyiwei commander of the Northern Pacification Division who had competed with her in Qianjin Tower that she realized something was wrong.
She went to the Imperial Hospital specifically to ask for Zhao Fangyu's pulse records from the past few days. After examining him, several imperial doctors said that he was in critical condition. If the eldest lady had not invited Cui Fu, the genius doctor from the Cui family, at the critical moment, it would have been unknown whether Zhao Fangyu could survive.
It was for this reason that the emperor simply asked the Jinyiwei to go over and ask casually.
After all, the commander of the Northern Pacification Division had no grudges or hatred with the Zhao family in the past or present. If there was any hatred, it was probably only the time when Zhao Fangyu was assassinated on Changjie Street before, which was worthy of her revenge.
If that is really the case... then it is reasonable. However, if Zhao Fangyu really has the ability to kill the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard at will, the emperor will not let Zhao Fangyu go even if he is the commander of the Northern Pacification Division and is in the wrong.
The princess calmed down a bit, and pulled Zhao Fangyu aside and said, "You are some pitiful little thing, aren't you? I heard that your mother even blocked the door with your family's red seal and iron certificate to prevent the Jinyiwei from entering?"
Zhao Fangyu quickly made two "Puh-Puh" sounds: "Who spread the false news? I caught him and he had to slap me. It's obvious that mother is afraid that I will be implicated and sent to prison again."
"I went to that place once when I was in the palace. At that time, I was harmed by... the commoner Zhou Qingcang and the former commander of the Southern Pacification Division, Jiang Qianchi. I stayed in the imperial prison for more than half a month."
"My aunt must have never lived there, so she doesn't know how horrible it is. Many prisoners who have been interrogated were covered in blood. It's very humid in there, and the flesh that hasn't grown properly will rot and turn sour. It may even breed worms that crawl inside the bodies of living people..."
Zhao Fangyu made himself sound a bit disgusting, let alone the eldest princess?
The two of them shuddered at the same time. After Zhao Fangyu drank a sip of tea, he continued to explain: "I won't hide this from my aunt. My family didn't intend to send anyone to the palace. After all, there was already Concubine Dan in the palace. It was just that I displeased my father at the time, so I was sent to the palace so that Concubine Dan could discipline me."
"I was just an idle clerk in the Yanyun Palace of Concubine Dan. When I reached the age, my family asked me to go back. I didn't expect that I would be imprisoned in the imperial prison because of Miss Zhang..."
"My mother was very distressed at the time, but at that time, there was no imperial decree or iron certificate at home, so she was powerless even though she wanted to. Now that everything is peaceful at home, my mother wanted to compensate me, so she did this."
Although the princess was teasing, there was still some doubt in her words. Zhao Fangyu then forced a story of cause and effect, and turned the tables and put the blame on the royal family.
What's wrong with her Li family's arrogance? Her Li family's arrogance has a reason. If the eldest prince hadn't deliberately locked her up in the imperial prison and tortured her, how could the eldest lady be so resistant to the imperial prison that she would sit at the gate of the Crane Palace holding the red book and iron certificate passed down by her ancestors and embarrass the Jinyiwei?
It’s not like I’m tired of living.
The eldest princess didn't know much about the inside story, but when she heard it, she remembered that the reason why the emperor granted Zhao Fangyu to marry Zhou Qinghe was because she happened to be serving the emperor that day.
Born as a palace maid...
"I was wondering, you are such a noble lady, why did you think so hard that you entered the palace and became a maid?"
Zhao Fangyu was not angry at all, and she didn't care at all that the eldest princess talked about her background so openly.
"Originally, I just wanted to enter the palace to ask my cousin to teach me, but later I got involved with the eldest prince and my father got into trouble. In order to protect myself, I took the initiative to go to the emperor to avoid disaster."
After saying this, Zhao Fangyu looked around and said to the princess, "Aunt, please don't tell anyone else about this. If you do, I will lose all my dignity."
"I have only said this to my aunt. If I hear it from someone else, I will come to my aunt first."
How could the eldest princess possibly let these words get out? Naturally, she just agreed.
In this way, Zhao Fangyu dispelled the eldest princess's suspicion and started talking to her about the Banquet of Beauties again.
The matter of holding a banquet for beauties is simple and difficult at the same time. There are many things to consider when deciding who to invite to the banquet and who among the participants can work on this project.
It doesn't make sense that a banquet for flowers should only invite those who have money and financial resources. Those without money won't even be invited. Spring is when a hundred flowers bloom. If there is only one kind of flower, what kind of banquet is it?
Rich families have their own invitations, and humble families cannot be left out. Another thing is, since it is a group of beauties, then of all ranks must be invited. Treating them all equally will inevitably make those in high positions feel neglected, while flattering the powerful and bullying the weak will give people a reason to criticize.
The eldest lady had explained all these things to her in the boudoir. What was difficult to balance was the intricate relationships between these wealthy families.
There are several Wang families in the capital alone, and they are not from the same branch. There are also several other big families. They are obviously sisters-in-law, but they always compete with each other openly or secretly at banquets in the past...
Zhao Fangyu arranged the seating arrangements twice and also had a general idea of the relationships between these noble ladies.
However, many of these were news reported from the Fourteen States. After all, from the maids and young girls to the wives and old ladies, all the younger generations in the family would prepare dowries when they got married.
Among them, Suzhou embroidery, Shuzhong brocade, Longxi colored gems, and Tianshan jade are the most popular, followed by gold and silver jewelry, perfumes and facial masks, which are visible and tangible and can be used by oneself or given as rewards and gifts.
For gold and silver jewelry, people usually go to large jewelry shops like Baoqing Silver House, while for perfumes and facial masks, people go to Zhao Fangyu's Fourteen States, which have the most complete and the best. Even the Qianjinlou at that time could not compare with Zhao Fangyu's Fourteen States.
Even though the items were similar, the Fourteen States sent out holiday gifts all year round, and the saleswomen would greet them with just the right amount of greetings as soon as they entered the door, which was neither flattering nor considerate and warm-hearted, which made everyone sigh. Although Qianjinlou was good, after all, there was no Fourteen States that would not cater to buyers for a few taels of gold and silver.
In addition, the saleswomen followed behind them all the time and were very familiar with the affairs between these ladies, so they were able to provide Zhao Fangyu with such accurate information.
The day of the banquet for all the beauties was not particularly grand. Zhao Fangjin was currently in the period of giving birth, so naturally she needed someone to accompany her. Zhao Fangyu did not ask the eldest lady to help, in case anything went wrong with Zhao Fangjin.
The old lady of the Song family is no good. We must not keep the old lady of the Song family to keep order, otherwise, at the critical moment, the doctor will definitely protect the young one.
Zhao Fangyu agreed to the princess' request in a gentle tone, and only gave up after her banquet was over and she opened a Qianjin Building for her opposite the Fourteen States.
"It's just that I don't want to be across from your fourteen states. I want to stay away from you. Otherwise, who will do business with me?"
The eldest princess got the money and then greeted the guests at the door. After the guests entered, she led them slowly to the Qunfang Garden.
Along the way, the fresh weeping crabapples are covered with dew, and their bright colors are not gaudy, but refreshing and fairy-like. Passing through this crabapple forest, there are two huge hydrangeas behind, with clusters of flowers in full bloom, each one bigger than a person's fists!
The blue and purple flowers bloomed densely in one place, which had a good meaning and the ladies liked it when they saw it.
The eldest princess and her people stood at the intersection of two roads. The one on the left was elegant in blue and white, while the one on the right was attractive. The ladies were confused on the spot as to where the banquet would be held.