Mountains and rivers pray for peace

Chapter 71 Drawing the Line
The moonlight was hazy, shining on the high walls, making the magnificent palace look even more desolate.

In the Fuyun Hall of Jing'an Palace, all the lights and candles were completely extinguished.In the corridor in front of the palace, a thin light from a palace lantern slipped into the palace through the gap between the windows and coffins. The handsome face of the man on the soft couch was covered with mottled light and shadow, and the gold thread on the four-clawed python robe was coated with a layer of cold light. Light.

A young woman dressed as a court lady knelt on the couch, bowed her head and said nothing.

Shen Yuning closed her eyes slightly, put her slender fingers on her cheeks and fell asleep, and her deep voice seemed particularly cool in the silent night sky: "Have you got the things from the Nie family?"

Gou Yue took out a brocade box from her sleeve and presented it with both hands: "Master, I have got the thing. My subordinates have checked it. It is indeed evidence that Nie Qin accepted bribes."

Shen Yuning opened his eyes, took the brocade box, opened it, glanced lazily at the contents, and finally a sporadic smile appeared on his cold face: "You did a good job, go down and receive the reward."

But Gou Yue's back stiffened, and she paused before speaking hesitantly: "Master, my subordinate accidentally met the eldest lady of the Huo family when he was acting... She must be suspicious."

After finishing speaking, Gouyue lowered her head even deeper, not daring to look up at Shen Yuning's face.

Today she disguised herself as a maid and sneaked into Nie's house. Because she had visited Nie's house many times in the morning and night, she was very familiar with the layout of Nie's house, and searching for evidence was like picking out something from a bag.She also witnessed what happened in the garden of Nie's mansion. In order to buy more time, she deliberately let the chef's dog go, and tried to lure the dog to take away Nie Ying's clothes.

However, when she was about to retreat to Nie Qin's study, she happened to run into Huo Qi.Others don't know her, but Huo Qi has known her for a long time, and Huo Qi noticed her almost immediately.She wanted to slip away directly, but she didn't want to be stopped by Huo Qi.

Shen Yuning raised his eyebrows, and an unknown smile appeared in his peach blossom eyes: "How can she be suspicious?"

Shen Yuning kept his words to a minimum, and always only asked about the results of what he ordered his subordinates to do, and ignored everything else.This time her actions revealed traces, Shen Yuning did not directly and concisely ask her to go down to receive the punishment, but instead pondered over the details, which surprised Gouyue.

After being stunned for just a moment, she came one by one: "Miss Huo didn't ask any more questions. She only asked if the subordinate was here under the order. But before the subordinate could reply, she said that she would help the subordinate to hold him back. Everyone in the house will not reveal to anyone what they saw today with my subordinates."

"She's really nice. Besides, she must have something for you to bring to me." The corners of Shen Yuning's mouth curled up, but she couldn't feel the smile on her face.

According to his understanding of Huo Qi, if she didn't have something to say, she must have avoided Gouyue and pretended to be deaf and dumb, so why would she take the initiative to call Gouyue to stop?
"My master is wise. Miss Huo asked her subordinates to ask, does the hairpin you gave me earlier have any connection with the Nie family? After all, she has no merit and no reward, and cannot bear what you gave her. This hairpin is still It’s better to return it. In addition, by keeping her master’s secret today, she should be repaying the favor of you for supporting her at the Qiu Ju Banquet that day and for appointing Guard Cheng to testify at the sacrificial ceremony..."

The further he went on, the softer Gou Yue's voice became.She Nuonuo took out the jade hairpin from her cuff, held it in her hands, and waited for Shen Yuning to take it.

Although she didn't know what the relationship between Huo Qi and Shen Yuning was, her intuition told her that this young lady from Duke Ning's mansion was very valued by her master. Otherwise, she wouldn't have received the hairpin as a gift, and she wouldn't have known that her master could escape unscathed after his plot. reason.

Although the master himself may not think so.

Now, Miss Huo's family actually looks like she wants to draw a clear line with the master, thinking about it, the master's heart is not happy.

Shen Yuning didn't have any strong emotions on his face, he took the hairpin and played with it for a while, his face still had the same indifferent look, but Gouyue felt that the air was a bit colder for no reason.

"Did she be made things difficult at Nie's house today?" After a long while, Shen Yuning said a lukewarm sentence.

Gouyue was slightly stunned: "Exactly. As far as my subordinates know, Mrs. Nie seems to be trying to use some disgraceful means today to bring Liu Fang, the son of the Minister of the Ministry of Officials, and Miss Huo together. But Miss Huo is alert and intelligent. In the end, I didn’t suffer a loss, but calculated it back.”

Shen Yuning closed her eyes again: "Got it."

Gouyue saw that Shen Yuning didn't seem to intend to get entangled in Miss Huo's matter, so she changed the topic: "Master, Huo Rushan, a servant of the Imperial Academy, also has a lot of tricks, but the evidence of Nie's family is not complete now, and it can't directly point to Huo Rushan. If we only deal with the Nie family this time but let Huo Rushan go, we will only scare the enemy and make it more difficult to obtain evidence of Huo Rushan's bribery in the future."

"This king has his own plans for this matter, don't worry, you go down first." Shen Yuning said lazily.

Gou Yue nodded: "Yes, I am resigning." In the blink of an eye, the graceful figure disappeared from a long black shadow into nothingness.

……

The palace is turbulent and cloudy, and Ningguo's mansion is not peaceful.Although the capital is big, the news spread quickly. What happened in the Nie family today finally reached Wang's ears.

However, Mrs. Wang only knew that there was a maid in Nie's family spreading rumors today, which almost tarnished Huo Qi's reputation, but she didn't know the scheme behind Mrs. Liu.She was afraid that Huo Qi would be wronged, so she wanted to comfort him.It's just that after arriving at Qiju, Huo Qi looked normal, and there seemed to be nothing wrong.

Furthermore, Wang's front foot arrived at Qiju, and the housekeeper of Nie's family sent a pair of exquisite jade bracelets on his back foot, saying that Quan Today made amends to Huo Qi today, which made Wang's anger dissipate a bit.

Mrs. Wang held Huo Qi's hand and sat on the soft couch, speaking affectionately between mother and daughter: "The farce in the Nie family today made my mother think about your marriage. After the new year, my mother plans to ask the servants to prepare From the list of marriageable nobles in the capital, choose the right one and settle your marriage as soon as possible. What do you think?"

Huo Qi was slightly stunned.At this age in her previous life, she had already made a marriage arrangement with Yuan Shao.At that time, everyone in the entire family was serious about arranging the marriage for her, and Yuan Shao treated her sincerely at first, which gave her the illusion that good days would last forever after the wedding.

But now when she thinks about the past, she only feels ridiculed.It’s not easy to be happy at first sight, let alone how long it lasts?The love for a young age ended with the Zhenyuan Hou's mansion framed by the Ningguo Duke's mansion as a sentence.Her heart has long been barren when it comes to matters of love between men and women.

Thinking of this, a wry smile appeared on her face: "Mom, my daughter doesn't want to get married now. She just wants to spend more time with you and your father."

It should be said that she never wanted to marry in her whole life.

Mrs. Wang had always been open-minded and felt that her children and grandchildren would be blessed. Now seeing Huo Qi's flat refusal, she just patted her hand and said, "If you say you're not in a hurry, then you're not in a hurry. That's what my mother said. You can stay in the house more." After a few years, your father and I feel relieved."

The sky was getting darker and darker, so Wang stayed for two cups of tea before returning to the main courtyard.Lingfeng fetched water for Huo Qi to wash his face, while Tingyu lit warm incense and put down the bed curtain.

While listening to the hot and cold water, Lingfeng said to Huo Qi: "Girl, this servant has really seen it today. It is clear that Mrs. Nie is harboring evil intentions and wants to use your marriage as a basis. Why don't you report it directly to Mrs. Nie?" Madam, sir, please make the decision for you?"

"There is no real evidence for this matter. Now that the Nie family has come to pay the gift again, it is only a misunderstanding on the surface. If I refuse to let go, it will appear that I am too small-minded. I will give someone a handle." Huo Qi stepped forward and wiped it with a cloth towel Wiping his face, his originally fair face looked more transparent under the candlelight.

Ye Feng nodded thoughtfully, but there was still a bit of annoyance on his face: "But can this be the end of the matter?"

Huo Qi threw the cloth into the silver basin and smiled slyly: "Find a way to secretly send a message to Aunt Zhang of the Nie Mansion for me tomorrow. Just say that in five days, the famous actor Qin Xiaolian of Baixiao Class will sing the most popular opera. . Let her prepare her expenses and pretend to leave the house normally. After watching the play, I will personally send her away from the capital."

(End of this chapter)