Green Dome Palace.
In the inner bedroom of the bedchamber, Consort Shio sits in front of the mirror, and Yiqiu is coiling her hair and inserting hairpins.
Confidant little palace maid Chunfang wait aside, reported the movement in the school hall, lowered her head and waited for Consort Shi to ask.
I heard that the third prince provocation midway, was Tong Fei's people to stop called away, Shih Fei face is not like the former that gratifying gratitude, but instead coldly laughed: "Once upon a time I thought Tong Fei moment care about the old seven safety, on the old three of that sins constraints, now only understand, she is afraid of the old three things make a big deal, stabbing the emperor's head."
"Paper can't wrap fire." Yiqiu gazed at Concubine Shih in the mirror, "Why let Concubine Tong suppress the matter? The Emperor always spends more than ten nights a month with our Lady, and if she blows a little pillow air, the Third Prince will not dare to continue to cause trouble."
Concubine Shih smiled bitterly, "How sturdy do you think holy favor is? I just complained about Lao San breaking the wooden horse last month, and the Emperor has already made his decision; if I target Lao San again and again, the Emperor might want to think I'm good for something."
"It was the third prince who provoked our highness." Yiqiu frowned and said, "Moreover, he has just been scolded by the emperor, but the third prince is unrepentant and has become more aggressive, this is a good time to fix him."
Concubine Shih sighed and murmured, "His Majesty will not seriously fix the Third Prince, I am always accompanying him, if I can't even hear His Majesty's attitude towards Concubine Tong, I would be too obtuse."
Shih Fei is not a woman who is good at scheming, but her intuition is enough to judge that the nine-to-five emperor, who is deeply affectionate to her on his lips, is limited to her favor within the harem, while Tong Fei's elder brother is a credit to the kingdom of the country and can not be touched.
She knew that she could not shake Consort Tong's position, and if she insisted on striking a stone with an egg, she would harm herself and her son.
It can only be endured.
There will always be a day when the war is over, and there will be a time when Princess Tong will lose her power.
Wait until then ......
A flicker of resentment flashed through Princess Shio's heart, followed by a shock at her own mind.
When she thought of how Concubine Tong had taken care of her mother and son with concern on the surface, but secretly poisoned her, a feeling of helpless loneliness trapped her again.
"I'm destined to fight with such a group of human-faced people for the rest of my life." Princess Shio looked forlorn and murmured in a low voice, "In this world, who else can be trusted?"
Yiqiu heard the words, immediately squatted in front of Consort Shi's knees, tilted her head and pleaded: "Your Highness, do not be sad, slave girl swore to be loyal to your Highness, we still have Sister Guo, and Chunfang and Little Persimmon, no matter what the wind and rain outside, our masters and servants are of the same heart, the slave girl gave up her life, but also want to shield your Highness from the wind and the rain!"
Chunfang saw the opportunity to kneel down, pretending to choke, "slave girl sworn allegiance to the mother, only one thing I do not know whether to say it, said for fear of letting the mother suspected worry."
Yiqiu turned her head to look at her and said urgently, "What is it? Sending you to keep an eye on His Highness the Seventh Prince is to avoid trouble, don't hide something, report it to the Queen in a hurry!"
Chunfang crouched on the ground, trembling, "A few times after school, the slave girl found that that new companion of His Highness, Mr. Xue Yao Xue, ...... did not go out of the palace to return to his house ......"
Puzzled, Princess Shio asked her, "Then where did he go?"
"He's been to the Reservoir a few times ......"
*
After school, Xue Yao went back to the Qing Dome Palace with the Seventh Prince and begged to see Consort Shi, intending to show the results of the past few days' education to the Empress.
When the attendant went to inform, Xue Yao pulled the Seventh Prince and rehearsed again, "When you see the Empress in a moment, what is Your Highness going to say?"
The Seventh Prince was busy playing with his own little tiger ragdoll and replied without lifting his head, "I'm so tired oh."
Xue Yao glared, "Does Your Highness still want to drink milk?"
The Seventh Prince's tiger's body shook as he raised his head and rehearsed earnestly, "My child will tell a tale to the Empress!"
Xue Yao then nodded in peace.
The person who informed him hurriedly stepped into the flower hall and reported back, "The empress is not in good spirits today, so little brother will come back another day."
Xue Yao froze, not expecting that he would eat a closed door.
This was unusual, Princess Shi Shi was usually extraordinarily enthusiastic about him and couldn't wait for him to come and dine with Lao Qi day after day.
Even if one's spirit was weak, one still had to eat, and it wasn't like Xue Yao needed Princess Shi Shi to bother entertaining him, so why did he refuse to meet?
He is cautious and suspicious by nature, in the palace "kindergarten" for a long time, in recent days the degree of vigilance has been lax, worrying about whether he did not pay attention to where, offended Shih Fei.
Now that the Emperor might mention the matter of touring Ba Shu to Consort Shi at any time, Xue Yao must remind Consort Shi of the imminence.
Once she had promised the Emperor in one breath, there was no possibility of going back on her word.
Regardless, now that Consort Shi refused to see him, there was no way to force the issue, and before Xue Yao left, he instructed the Seventh Prince to wait until he met the Empress together before he could tell the story.
After returning to the mansion, the old lady's maid came to lead Xue Yao to the main courtyard, saying that the manor had sent fresh field snails, as well as crabs.
Xue Qiong is also sitting in the hall, listening to straight gulping, turned his head and Chen whispered that he also want to eat.
Chen's a cold eye stared at him closed his mouth, and changed back to a peaceful attitude, smilingly sent away Xue Yao and the old lady's maids, turned back and grabbed Xue Qiong's ears, snapped: ''You're a waste of space, you usually fight chickens and dogs, see anyone stupid happy, let you show a smile in front of the old lady, are like a wood! You still want to eat crabs? If you're half as accomplished as Xue Yao, I'm thankful!"
Xue Qiong covered her ears and complained, "That kid has a black heart! He's as smart as a fox in front of me on weekdays, but when he meets the old lady, he just plays dumb and acts like a good boy!"
Chen froze, and her mind couldn't help but flash back to Xue Yao's behavior over the past month or so.
She had realized that this kid was more astute than she remembered, and only thought that she had looked away before, but now, even her young son's impression of Xue Yao had changed, which was too sudden.
Xie Lang accompanied the old lady and the old master to eat together, and the second uncle was also there, discussing family matters with the old master.
The maid was pulling out crab meat and feeding it to Xue Yao, and the old lady even personally gave him vegetables and soup.
The second uncle was talking to the old master about the affairs of the Xue family's fields in the countryside.
"The tenants who don't pay their rent are all members of the Zhao family, and even if they sue the government, the magistrate can't do anything about them. A few of them have been delaying their rent for two years, but the strongest dragon can't suppress a snake, and our power is in the capital, and the emperor is far away from our hometown, so we really can't do anything about the Zhao family's scoundrels."
The old master eyes downcast slowly peeling crab shells, not much emotion to speak: "drive away that group of shrewd is, in the future, before signing the land lease, let a person to investigate the tenants of the bottom of the details of the first time you two uncle management of the manor, there is no such thing, you will be careful point."
The second uncle immediately bowed his head in shame and said yes, and said to the old master: "The Zhao family has rented a lot of good land in our manor, and if we can't get it back, we'll lose a lot of money on our books, and it just so happens that the Liu family in the countryside has a newly-adult son who has taken a liking to the daughter of our third uncle's family, and for some reason, the family of the third uncle doesn't agree with this marriage."
The old master glanced up at him and nodded for him to continue.
The second uncle then showed his thoughts, "The Liu family is a local squire, if his family marries our family, the Zhao family will be able to get that rent back, but the third uncle's family doesn't know what's at stake, and has been hesitant to respond to the Liu family, and now it's all up to you to give the word and make the third uncle's family agree to this marriage."
Xue Yao was about to lose his appetite from listening to the gossip.
Why is this Second Uncle as wilful as Third Master Xue?
It sounds as if the Xue family encountered rogue tenants on their country estate and couldn't get their field rent back.
The second uncle intends to force his relatives' daughter to marry a powerful landlord in the township and use the power of the big squire to recover the outstanding amount.
Relatives do not agree with the marriage, certainly have their own reasons, if the good family, who do not rush to marry their daughters over, for fear that it is a fire pit.
Nowadays, the profit of the manor is mainly managed by the second uncle, probably anxious to get back the rent of a few tenants, he forced his cousin's niece to marry unsuccessfully, so he came to ask the old master to intercede in the marriage, forcing his cousin's niece to marry a countryside landlord, to find a backer for the Xue family's field estate.
It's shameless.
Xue Yao ate the crab while secretly observing the old master's demeanor.
The old master didn't seem to have any intention of refusing, still pondering the pros and cons of the matter.
Xue Yao made an instant decision, playing dumb and asking the old lady, "Sister is getting married?"
The old lady didn't blame him for interrupting, and smiled amiably, "It's your follower sister, the relationship is far away, you don't recognize it."
Xue Yao pretended to be curious and said, "Whose family is Sister Cong marrying?"
The old master cleared his throat and signaled with a stern look for the child to keep his mouth shut, eavesdropping on adults was already unruly, but actually breaking his mouth in front of them, really lacking in upbringing.
However, the old lady has spoiled her grandson beyond measure since he saved his old life at the monastery, and even then, she doesn't rebuke him, instead patiently answering Xue Yao's question, "Marrying a good family, a big family, won't treat her poorly."
Xue Yao let out an "oh" and said in surprise, "Do big families have manors too? Are they all our family now? Is our manor going to get bigger? It's all going to be ours!"
The bystanders had not yet reacted, but the smooth and accidental old master was steeped in Xue Yao's words!
That's right, to agree to this marriage, to borrow the local big squire's power to protect the manor, then the squire's family will definitely meddle in the manor's affairs in the future.
And the Xue family's power is mainly in the capital, the strong dragon can't suppress a snake, even the Zhao family kind of rascals can't control it, how can it withstand the Liu family's meddling?
By then, all of the Xue family's farms will be under the Liu family's control.
Elder Master Xue was shocked out of a cold sweat, almost being led into the ditch by his son, fortunately, this childish grandson said such a paragraph, which accidentally woke him up.
"This marriage cannot be agreed to." The old master spoke decisively, "If you can't get the rent back, you don't need it, and in the future, before signing the land deed, investigate the tenant's background."
Second Master Xue was stunned, he hadn't figured out what was at stake, and froze for a while before he depressedly bowed his head and agreed.
Xue Yao sighed in relief.
This second master is really a fool, no wonder he failed in the imperial examinations and couldn't manage the estate well.
Since he knew that a strong dragon could not suppress a local snake, and his own family could not even defeat the local earthworms, he actually wanted to join hands with the local earthworms to fix them, wasn't that leading the wolf into the house?
Fortunately, Elder Master Xue is a shrewd one, in the end, he has been a big official, a little bit of understanding.
Xue Yao was just worried that they wouldn't be able to hear the meaning if he said the opposite so much, but he didn't expect the old master to turn the corner in a second.
Just as he was celebrating, a tone was suddenly heard in his head: [Whitewash Points +115]
Xue Yao: "????"
Where did you get this huge amount of money?
Can you get so many whitewash points for helping the Xue family keep their fields?
When you think about it, there must have been human lives involved to get so many whitewash points into the account.
It is likely that the sister of the relative in the country, who originally lost her life because of this marriage.
Xue Yao changed Elder Master Xue's mind, thus changing the fate of his relatives, a cascading effect, which is how he got so many whitewash points.
With 115 Whitewash Points in his account, Xue Yao's first thought was actually "I have money to give the little fat kid for food again".
It's not right.
Xue Yao felt like he had already been counter-cultivated by the Seventh Prince into an old father's heart, damn it!
He couldn't put real emotion into that little dragon Ao Tian, it would affect his sanity, and in case he couldn't avoid the palace struggle and stayed with the seventh prince, he would probably die earlier than the original owner!
The next day when he went to the schoolhouse, Xue Yao became restrained.
It didn't even pinch the Seventh Prince's bun face.
The Seventh Prince was a bit lost, doubting the source of his charm.
For the first time in his short three-year-old life, he had a sense of crisis.
Yao Yao doesn't love him anymore!
His Highness will never have milk again!