si-mexico Chapter 78 Exceptional Abilities
Chapter 78 Exceptional Abilities
"I noticed that too." Zhu Ling and Xing Xiaoyu both nodded. This visit to the Marquis of Ankang's residence was quite fruitful.
"Yes. This Marquis started his day by calling me 'Physician Xing.' Zhu Ling, how long has it been since I've heard the title 'physician'?"
"It's been a while, ever since we started working together a year ago, you haven't been a doctor."
Yun Yuke didn't quite understand the conversation between the two, and her eyes revealed curiosity.
"It's like this, Sister Yun. When Xiaoyu was serving by the Empress's side, she was the leader of the palace guard. According to the title, her official position was 'Langzhong'. Later, the Empress assigned each of us female scholars a partner, so we temporarily stopped taking over the original palace guard duties."
"When I heard the Marquis address Miss Xing, he directly called her 'physician'? Does this mean that Marquis Deng already knew Miss Xing's identity?"
"Not only were there informants in the government offices of Changgan City, but there were also reports in the capital. To be honest, it's hard to say in the capital who exactly did this."
Xing Xiaoyu was more familiar with the situation inside the palace, and the information she provided was very accurate.
"It must be the Empress Dowager's doing. We all know that the Empress Dowager wants to improve her relationship with the Emperor and the Prince of Jin, but both of them are more or less bothered by things from their past, and their relationship with her is not very good."
Mentioning the title "Empress Dowager" unconsciously ignited Yun Yuke's gossipy nature.
As is widely known, the Empress Dowager was once a renowned talented woman in the capital, known for her cold beauty. At that time, because the Empress Dowager disliked the Emperor, the Emperor did many outrageous things that violated the rules in order to please this concubine.
"What exactly is the Empress Dowager's situation? We only knew about it before. Is there anything you can reveal? Let's find out more so that I can be prepared if we open a shop in the capital in the future."
Zhu Ling was hesitant to speak about matters of the court, but Xing Xiaoyu remained calm, saying, "There's nothing that can't be said. These are just topics of conversation among the nobles in the capital."
Xing Xiaoyu explained the relevant situation in simple terms.
This cold beauty, known for her aloofness, bore the late emperor two children but still couldn't win his heart.
But coincidentally, the emperor was drawn to this beauty's temperament.
Later, the current emperor made great achievements and gained popularity, and was eventually named crown prince. In order to ensure that the emperor could ascend the throne smoothly, the late emperor took the initiative to reduce the power of his other sons one after another, and finally only retained the power of the Prince of Jin, who was born to the same father and mother.
However, Xing Xiaoyu also said that the Emperor and Prince Jin were not favored by the Empress Dowager in their early years, and the two brothers supported each other to get to where they are today.
When the late emperor was still alive, this cold beauty could live a very comfortable life, but after the new emperor ascended the throne, she was promoted to empress dowager, but her treatment was not much better.
"In short, our cold and beautiful Empress Dowager only thought about building a good relationship with the Emperor after she became Empress Dowager, which was really too late. So she mobilized the power of her Deng family to do things for the Emperor and arranged people everywhere to understand the Emperor's preferences. Only then did the Emperor start to show her a slightly better attitude."
"What about the Empress Dowager's matter and this Lord Deng?" Although Yun Yuke had some guesses, she still wanted to hear the opinions of these people.
"As for arranging manpower, the Empress Dowager will have someone inform these relatives of the Empress Dowager's connections in the capital and the various personnel arrangements there. I don't know if they are making these arrangements to target us or if they are simply trying to curry favor with us."
"It's better to be cautious. After all, we are officially the Empress's people, but the Empress Dowager doesn't necessarily like us." Zhu Ling had served in the palace before and had her own judgment.
Yun Yuke nodded. "Besides that, I just heard you testing the waters? About Ding Huajiang?"
"Well, there's no rush. Let's find a place to eat first." Zhu Ling didn't explain directly, but led the group to an inn next to the official road.
Yun Yuke and Zhu Ling met in this area earlier. Furthermore, Zhu Ling and his group also transferred manpower at this inn when they led Ding the gardener out of the city.
This is where General Tan and his entourage, who took up their posts with Zhu Ling, stayed.
I don't know how General Tan managed to turn an old shop that had been open for several years by the official road into a temporary outpost. In any case, the soldiers who came with him back then have now become waiters and other service staff at the inn.
This is currently the place where Zhu Ling feels most at ease and trusts the most.
The group arrived at the restaurant and settled down in a place where no one would eavesdrop, and continued their conversation.
"Where were we? Oh right, we were talking about Ding the gardener."
Zhu Ling told the truth.
"What Ding the gardener told us was that several years ago, a man carrying a Marquis's badge came to him."
The details were similar to those in the previous statement, except that the gardener, Ding, accurately identified the person who came to see him as a steward of the Marquis's residence. Ding and this steward, surnamed Wang, had a good relationship.
This steward, Wang, was arranged to leave Changgan City about two or three months ago. This is the flaw that Zhu and Xing had planned to exploit.
Provide a statement that is partly true and partly false, so that the people in the Marquis's mansion know that Ding the gardener is not telling the truth, while at the same time testing the thoughts of these people in the Marquis's mansion.
"This false confession seems to be answered quite fluently by Lord Deng. He says there is no such person and even asked you to bring the witness over to verify the confession. Do you really intend to arrange it this way?" Yun Yuke thought carefully, combining the information she had just heard with the intelligence before her.
But before her friend could give her conclusion, she had already thought it through herself and shook her head. "No, we can't push this witness to the forefront. It's good enough if we don't kill him to silence him."
"Yes, this message is enough to deter them. We still need to find more compelling evidence."
“This is not easy at all... Moreover, this Lord Deng has many powerful forces supporting him, so it is not easy to make a move easily.”
These are the only possibilities at this stage. Now that the group has reached a safe place, they will no longer travel together.
Yun Yuke needed to return to the city as soon as possible, while Zhu and Xing needed to go out of the city to discuss some things with General Tan.
"Sister Yun, I might need to arrange for some people to go into the city later. I'll have my people go directly to your residence to find you, is that alright?"
“No problem, this is easy, I’ll arrange it.” Yun Yuke took out a silver pendant made by her own shop. “This is a token, I’ll leave it to you. Whoever brings this to my shop, someone from my shop can help you.”
After changing back into her own clothes, Yun Yuke told Zhu Ling and the others about the other news she had heard before leaving.
"Do you remember the family members that Lord Deng received before we went in?"
Yun Yuke told the others the information she had heard with her divine sense, "This older brother-in-law of Lord Deng is the former husband of my Aunt Hua who went missing."
Logically speaking, since people are free to marry, this news is not too surprising.
“Ling, thank you for allowing me to come this time. I know that this heartless man has now climbed up to a higher branch. Our Yun family is also prepared. It’s better than being completely in the dark. We will definitely be able to prevent that man from deceiving Aunt Hua again.”
“It’s nothing. Aunt Hua is an acquaintance of mine. I’ve eaten her cooking before. We’re from the same hometown, so it’s only natural for us to help each other out. Once I’m done with what I’m doing, I’ll ask Aunt Hua to make me some local delicacies.”
"Okay, don't worry, I'll keep a close eye on her." Yun Yuke smiled and prepared to leave, but before mounting her horse, she remembered another situation.
“The couple said they wanted to send a concubine to this Marquis Deng. I think if you send someone to keep an eye on the Marquis’s residence, you might need to pay a little attention to the couple’s behavior.”