The three girls waited in the pavilion for a long time but still did not see He Ran come back. Just as Mrs. Nuanyu was about to call Sijing to have a look, she saw Xiao Zhu coming with a chess box and reporting: "The Minister of the Ministry of Punishment came to see him. He went to the front hall.

I have a guest, I told you I would be here in a minute."

Su Xiyao said to Mrs. Nuanyu: "It's better to live comfortably in the valley. Now I dislike him less and less because he is busy with official duties."

"He is working for your Su family." Mrs. Nuanyu replied with a smile.

Su Xiyao glanced at her and said, "It's hard for you to say such unintentional words."

Seeing that Mrs. Nuanyu didn't fight back, Mingqin Chaduo couldn't help but be surprised, and asked timidly: "Isn't what Sister Nuanyu said wrong?"

Su Xiyao looked at Mrs. Nuanyu and said, "Please tell Sister Cha'er clearly who he is working for, and let me see if you have any intentions."

Mrs. Nuanyu said harshly: "I'm just working for your Su family. You are really unreasonable." After saying that, she smiled and turned to Mingqin Chaduo, "He, he worked so hard for us, just for us."

Let us live a stable life." He glanced at Su Xiyao and then said, "Of course, the most important thing is for the eldest princess whom we love the most, and we all borrowed from the eldest princess."

Su Xiyao smiled and spat: "He is really not afraid of losing his heart! I should have stopped him at that time and not allowed him to go to Xiping to pick you up."

Mrs. Nuanyu pretended to be a little polite and said: "Or maybe I borrowed the eldest princess's favor. Nuanyu thanks the eldest princess for her kindness."

While the two of them were playing around, Mingqin Chaduo was leaning on the railing, looking at the cluster of brightly blooming flowers outside the pavilion, lost in thought. Mrs. Nuanyu's words made her seem to suddenly understand a lot, and she also had feelings for He Ran.

With a deeper understanding, no wonder the military adviser's office is so harmonious. It turns out that he spends most of his thoughts on people like them, unlike other high-ranking officials who spend all their energy on official career and fame.

It has been some time since I came to the Central Plains. When I think about it carefully, although there are many beauties around him, I have never felt left out. Almost every day, he will stay alone with me for a while. How can this kind of care not be touching?

, this should not only be explained by the word "careful", but also because of cherishing it. Her feelings were vague before, but after hearing Mrs. Nuanyu's words, she felt suddenly enlightened.

"So you are all here!"

The cheerful words brought Mingqin Chaduo back from her thoughts. She turned around to see that Lu Sheng'er was coming with her best female companion, Xiao Hong. Xiao Hong was inseparable from her, and everyone jokingly called her Red Sheng.

Er, she is Lu Sheng'er's partner and maid. She has officially received her monthly payment from the government two months ago.

Lu Sheng'er put several oil packets in his hand on the stone table, opened them one by one and said, "Come and try them, they are delicious."

Mingqin Chaduo looked at the green, crystal-clear, fat-like substance in the paper bag and asked, "What is this?"

Su Xiyao took a bag and handed it to her, and explained in a very expert manner: "It's spring cake. The spring cake in Mingzhong City is the most famous. It is made with the juice of seven kinds of seasonal fruits and vegetables, so it is also called Qiguo Cake."

, especially the fruit paste inside is only available in this season. The paste produced nearby has a lot of juice and no peculiar smell. The ones I ate in Dingyang were astringent, so give it a try."

Mingqin Chaduo took it and took a tentative bite, savored the taste, nodded and said: "Well, it's really delicious, smooth and elastic, sweet and sour, um... there's another one I can't name.

It’s the first time I’ve tasted this taste.”

Mrs. Nuanyu took the paper bag from Xiaohong and joked to Mingqin Chaduo: "You are really delicious. Previously we were worried that you were not used to the food here, but now you have almost become a foodie.

There’s nothing you don’t like to eat.”

Mingqin Chaduo looked a little shy and said: "How can we have so many delicious food over there? You can't laugh at me."

Su Xiyao snorted and said: "You still have the nerve to criticize others, but you are not the greediest person. I have not seen Jing'er running in and out to buy snacks in the past few days since I came to the city, but this greedy person did not

Sister Lu Sheng'er is so kind-hearted that she only eats it for herself and doesn't know how to share it with everyone."

When the greedy thing was exposed, Mrs. Nuanyu was stunned and speechless. Sijing swallowed the spring cake in her mouth, laughed and said: "The eldest princess is wrong, it was me who bought it for Greedy to eat."

Yes, it’s none of Madam’s business.”

Su Xiyao smiled and glared at her, and said: "You are such a loyal girl that you have to bear all the scandals for her. It's not worth it for me to be with such a master."

Mrs. Nuanyu felt too guilty to refute, so she handed the uneaten spring cake to Xiaozhu and warned: "Xiaozhu, you must remember that you can't be as mean as her in the future."

Lu Sheng'er took a bag of spring cakes and handed it to Mrs. Nuanyu, blinked and said: "Madam has eaten so many delicious things, please tell me which ones are delicious. I will buy them right away."

Mrs. Nuanyu smiled and pretended to hit her, scolding: "Damn girl, you are laughing at me too!"

In the midst of laughter, Lu Sheng'er saw He Ran walking towards this side and hurriedly gave one of the remaining two packages of spring cakes to Mingqin Tea Duo and the other to Sijing, "Eat quickly, don't worry.

Leave the rest for him." After saying that, he took Xiaohong and walked towards He Ran.

"You two, don't run around. You have to bring a guard with you when you go out, you know?" He Ran didn't even stop when they met, and just said one sentence.

Green Sheng'er stopped and looked at his back and said to Xiaohong: "Look, something must have happened again, otherwise he wouldn't have left without ridiculing me."

Xiaohong asked: "Should we go over and listen?"

Lu Sheng'er pursed her lips and said: "Forget it, it might be inconvenient for him to say that we are going, let's go." Although she said this, she frowned and looked at the pavilion for a long time.

Take steps.

When He Ran entered the pavilion, Su Xiyao's bright eyes glanced at his face and said, "Stop playing chess if you have something to do."

"It's nothing big." He sat down in front of the stone table and said to Xiaozhu while placing the chessboard: "Help me pack my bags, I have to go out for a few days."

"Where to go?" Mrs. Nuanyu asked anxiously.

"Dongzhi City." He Ran said, pointing to the seat opposite Su Xiyao.

"Where is Dongzhi City? What happened?" Mrs. Nuanyu asked.

"It's more than two hundred miles southeast. Nothing serious happened. I just took this opportunity to avoid Zhao's envoys." He Ran casually placed a child on the star.

Su Xiyao also responded to the star position and asked calmly: "How big is it if it's not big?"

He Ran made the second consecutive star and said: "The criminal I wanted to interrogate died in prison. They were two brothers. The jailer said that the two of them had fought each other. The younger brother was beaten to death on the spot, and the older brother died later.

"

"You think there's something fishy?" Su Xiyao responded with a small eye.

"What's so strange is that he died sooner or later, but he died just when I was about to be interrogated. Besides, it's hard to find anything that I can take advantage of in prison. How can we both die after fighting each other with fists and kicks?"

"It's not impossible for them to all have martial arts skills." Mrs. Nuanyu frowned.

"You have martial arts skills, but I don't believe it. Hmm, I've seen a lot of more despicable things than this. I've even heard of people who died in prison after drinking water. This is blatant murder and silence."

Mrs. Nuanyu looked at him and said: "If it is to kill people and silence them, then this matter is not a trivial matter. It may have far-reaching implications."

"So I want to check it out myself." He waved his hand next to Su Xiyao's star position.

Su Xiyao stopped her hand and said: "Even so, you don't need to go, right? It's enough to ask the Ministry of Punishment to send people there. If you don't worry, just ask the Supervision Department to investigate together."

He Ran shook his head and said: "The city guard of Dongzhi City is Xu Tong's old department, the supervisor there is Pingjiang's former chief of guards, and the criminal minister who reviewed the case is Su Ge's confidant. Alas, the official election system will not change

, it will never be possible to get rid of this intricate relationship in the officialdom, and the case will be left unsolved in the end. Now that all factions are as close as one family, it is inevitable for officials to protect each other."

Su Xiyao frowned, and Mrs. Nuan Yu said: "This is the case in all official circles in the world. Do you really think you can turn things around?"

"It depends on other people's dedication. Anyway, I won't spend too much energy on this kind of thing. I will point out the way and give some examples. Now it's up to Yin'er and the others. I won't always care about it.

Going down."

"Of all the ministers in the world, you are the one who puts on the most airs." Mrs. Nuanyu said with a smile, "I also heard Yin'er say something. In my opinion, the officialdom of Yi State is the cleanest."

He Ran nodded and said: "Sister, I have been in the officialdom for a long time. I believe what you say, but the current situation is still far from what I want. It will not be safe for a hundred years without rectification."

"How long will it take?" Mingqin Chaduo finally couldn't help but ask.

He Ran saw her frowning expression, winked at her and said, "I'll take you with me."

Mingqin Chaduo's pretty face immediately turned red, and she nodded shyly, her eyes full of joy.

"I want to go too." Sijing pursed her lips and looked at him.

Mrs. Nuanyu knew that she was speaking for herself, looked at her with a smile and said: "If you want to go, I will allow you to go."

"Madam!" Sijing called out dissatisfied.

Su Xiyao's lips dropped into a smile and she said, "This girl is so pitiable. Jing'er, why don't you come to Qingyu Garden and be Xiaozhu's companion."

Mrs. Nuanyu put her hand lovingly on Sijing's shoulders and said, "It's not difficult to get her to stay with Xiaozhu, as long as you exchange yourself for her."

"You want me to be your girl? Can you handle it?" Su Xiyao rolled her eyes and looked at her.

"If you really want to be this girl, I'll dare to do whatever you want. I'll beat you or suffer you. No one in the world can stop you from saying 'yes'."

Su Xiyao smiled and said: "Okay, Jing'er, you and Xiaozhu can go back to Qingyu Garden in a while. I'll be her maid. I want to serve her well."

Sijing giggled and leaned against Mrs. Nuanyu.

"Then I'll bear it, Jing'er, if you have any unfinished business at hand, you can explain it to her later, and teach her the rules she should abide by." Mrs. Nuanyu ordered with a smile.

He Ran raised his eyes and stared at the chessboard and said to Su Xiyao: "I guess the first thing she did was to ask you to go out and buy snacks for her."

Su Xiyao smiled sweetly and said, "So you already knew she was greedy!"

Mrs. Nuan Yu felt embarrassed and spat: "You are not a thing!" Then he picked up the tea cup of Mingqin and said, "Sister, let's go. We have to hug each other when playing this chess. Let's not act like ignorant people."

He Ran looked at the spring cake in Mingqin Chaduo's hand and seemed to have some realization: "Is this what you were talking about just now?"

Su Xiyao smiled happily and kept nodding, "I thought she was eating alone, but it seems that she gave you some food. It's the two of you who are eating alone."

Mrs. Nuanyu knew that the defeat was irreversible. She smiled and pulled Mingqin Chaduo out of the pavilion. After taking a few steps, she turned around and said: "After playing chess, come and be my girl. There are a lot of jobs waiting for you."
Chapter completed!