Dingbei Hou's doctor brother

Chapter 222: One step ahead

Xiao Yan lowered his head to look into his eyes, his gaze moving down to the red and slightly swollen lips that were kissed, and he confirmed himself.

"You're right. I've become obsessed because I miss you so much. You have to be responsible for me."

"That's enough. Stop talking." Lu Ziqing closed his eyes and stopped looking at him. He suppressed the heaviness in his heart and spoke in a voice that seemed desperate. "The Marquis has asked me to go against my morals. I don't know what to say."

Xiao Yan's eyes were slightly red, and he put his hands on his cheeks, stroking them gently with his thumbs while whispering.

"Then don't say anything, and don't do anything. Just stand where I can see you. I'm the bad guy, and I'll cover for you."

The quiet conversation between the curtains and the soft couch lasted for a while, but Lu Ziqing never responded. His breathing gradually returned to normal and he fell asleep again.

Xiao Yan leaned on the side, pulled the quilt inside, and covered himself and Lu Ziqing.

A night had passed at the Dingbei Marquis' Mansion. The servants climbed the ladder to get the red silk. Su Xin, sleepy-eyed, went to the main courtyard and knocked on the door. No one answered. She pushed the door open and went in. The room was littered with broken porcelain cups and a phoenix crown fell on the corner of the table.

Xining had not yet taken off her wedding dress and was lying on the bed wrapped in a quilt, unconscious. Su Xin called her and patted her a few times before Xining opened her eyes in a daze.

"Will you let me sleep? Get out."

Su Xin pulled the quilt over her and said, "Princess, you can't sleep any longer. Get up quickly. You still have to go to the Duke of Wei's mansion to pay your respects."

Xining fell asleep again, eyes closed, and murmured, "Why are you paying respects? I only want to pay my respects to the Emperor and the Empress Dowager. Why would I go to the Duke's Mansion?"

Su Xin urged her, "The princess is getting married. Today is her first day as a bride. She needs to pay her respects to her parents-in-law. Hurry up and get up. If you sleep any longer, you'll be late."

"Married?" Xining turned over and took a few seconds to react. She suddenly opened her eyes and sat up, looking at Su Xin. "You said I'm married? Oh, yeah, how could I have forgotten about this? Hurry up and dress me up."

She hurriedly got out of bed and saw the mess on the floor. She immediately remembered what happened last night and her face darkened.

After washing up, she changed her clothes and sat in front of the dressing table. Su Xin combed her hair. "Is the princess still angry?"

Xining clenched the pearl hairpin in her hand and stared at the face in the mirror sulking.

"You see, he really is capable of doing this. He said he wouldn't come to the wedding night and didn't even consider me, the princess, at all. Now everyone in the mansion knows about it. It's embarrassing for me. How can I not be angry?"

"What the princess said is true," Su Xin said indignantly. "This is the first time I've heard of a groom running away on a wedding night. The Marquis is truly outrageous. He'd abandon his wife for a friend like Lu Ziqing. How could such a bizarre thing happen in this world?"

Xining became increasingly annoyed as she listened, slamming the pearl hairpin on the table. "Do you think he really did it for Lu Ziqing? He's probably going to look for that Miss Xi, and Lu Ziqing is just a cover."

"I don't understand what's so good about that woman either," Su Xin said. "Whether it's her looks, status, or family background, she's nowhere near as valuable as the princess. Why would the Marquis like her?"

She took the pearl hairpin and put it in her hair.

"However, Princess, don't worry. You and the Marquis are already married, so she is your legal wife. Even if the Marquis really takes her in later, she will only be a concubine, and you will be at your mercy."

Xining became even more furious, "Marry what? I don't want him to marry anyone else."

"This..." Su Xin hesitated. "Princess, it's not that I won't speak up for you this time. What man wouldn't take a concubine? Especially with a Marquis of such status. Princess, you might want to do it, but it's unrealistic."

"You originally wanted to marry the Marquis, and now your wish has come true. Before the wedding, the princess also knew that the Marquis was not... well, I mean, marrying into the Marquis's mansion is the first step. There is still a long way to go. I believe that as time goes by, the Marquis will fall in love with the princess. Don't worry."

After Xiao Yan finished the morning court and walked out of the Qianqing Gate, he saw the Right Censor-in-Chief calling him and the two greeted each other.

Xiao Yan stopped at a less crowded area and asked, "Master Cao, what's the matter?"

Cao Yunchong said, "It's Huaichang again. Taking advantage of this investigation, I received a lot of impeachment memorials recently, including Pei Gengwen. Although I have the power to impeach and submit memorials as a censor, I am still a lowly figure in the court. Guan Feiling will definitely suppress me, and Pei Gengwen relies on the Yan Party. I am afraid that my own strength will be of little use. Therefore, I would like to ask Dingbei Hou for some help when the time comes."

"I will certainly do my best to catch the corrupt officials in the imperial court." Xiao Yan said, "Don't worry, Lord Cao. Just bring it up when the time comes."

The two chatted and then separated outside the palace gate. In the office of the parade ground government office, Yang Zhounan saw Xiao Yan coming back and made tea for him.

"The people Yan Mengjiang sent out failed to intercept them; someone else got there first."

Xiao Yan stopped as he was about to serve the tea and looked at him, "Who is it?"

"Two women, one dead." Yang Zhounan said, "In the Huaichang case, Yan Mengjiang must have taken action. I just didn't expect that someone would be more active than us and have such detailed knowledge of his whereabouts. I don't know who it is."

"A woman?" Xiao Yan lowered his eyes in thought. "There are many people in the court who hate Yan Mengjiang, but this woman? Did the dead man see her?"

Yang Zhounan said: "That woman is from the organization we are looking for."

"It's them?" Xiao Yan was a little surprised. "Lu Linfeng's subordinates said before that they have a special group of assassins who mostly kill people to silence them. If this woman is from the same group, why did she intercept Yan Mengjiang's people? According to previous cases, shouldn't she be helping them?"

Yang Zhounan speculated, "Could it be that someone paid someone to do this? Their purpose is to deal with Yan Mengjiang."

Xiao Yan pondered, "Regardless of whether they are hired or not, someone will definitely want to kill him through this incident. The court is about to start, so we just need to go with the flow. Yan Mengjiang will continue to follow and must not give him the slightest chance."

Yang Zhounan nodded in agreement, and after a while, he said something else.

"I've heard some talk these past two days from down below. The soldiers who came to the capital are privately lamenting that the military pay they received after being sent to the garrisons is almost gone. Soldiers can't even support themselves, let alone their families. Many have deserted, and those above them are just collecting the empty pay."

Xiao Yan drank his tea. "Military expenses are high, and the treasury is becoming increasingly empty. The little money the Ministry of Revenue allocates isn't even enough to fill the gaps between the teeth of those above them, and the people below them are being wronged. Pei Gengwen is a tyrant, and if he causes a mutiny, he'll be dead soon. I just came back and ran into Cao Yunchong, and he had papers in his hands impeaching Pei Gengwen."

"If anyone brings it up at this time, it's just stepping on the sidelines," Yang Zhounan said. "I just hope the soldiers under me can live a good life soon."

Xiao Yan put down his teacup, looked at the blueprint on the table, and picked up his pen to draw up a battle plan for the exercise. Yang Zhounan glanced at him and asked tentatively, "I heard you weren't at the Marquis' Mansion last night?"

Xiao Yan paused when he heard this, raised his eyes and then lowered them, saying, "The wind you heard is quite fast."