The abandoned wife of the noble family, she is Black Heart Lotus

Chapter 220 Wedding Gift
After returning home from three dynasties, Xiao Mingzhang personally accompanied Gu Deyin to review his home. Not only was it a great honor, but the ceremony was no less grand than the wedding three days ago, which caused another uproar in the capital where the heat had not subsided.

Gu Deyin can be said to be the most envied person among women in the capital.

Gu Jianghuai was extremely happy. Looking at his daughter's blushing face, he knew that she was doing well, and that was enough.

Bo Qingya had a brother-like smile on his face, and he never acted out of bounds. At this moment, he truly became Gu Deyin's brother, doing his best to support her.

Xiao Mingzhang saw everything in his eyes and didn't say much. He had enough respect for his father-in-law and uncle. This was one of the signs that he valued Gu Deyin.

After the homecoming banquet, the two of them quickly returned to their normal state. They handled government affairs when they should handle it, and continued doing business when they needed to do business. The affairs of the boudoir were matters within the boudoir, and there was no need to talk to outsiders.

However, there were turbulent waves hidden beneath the calm. Gu Deyin frowned deeply as he looked at the news and financial reports from the north.

The north of the Great Shang Dynasty was actually not very peaceful. The Jin Dynasty, the regime established by the nomadic people, had always harassed the border. However, for the Gu family, border trade was also a source of considerable profits.

The Gu family brought their business to the Jin Dynasty, where they collected intelligence while doing business.

The rulers of the Jin Dynasty turned a blind eye to the Gu Family Trading Company. After all, they still needed to use the Gu Family Trading Company to bring them urgently needed salt, cloth and other daily necessities. Everyone tacitly understood some things.

But it is precisely because of this that the Gu Family Trading Company was able to collect some information that was not available to the imperial court.

At this time, this information was lying in Gu Deyin's hands.

After reading this information several times, she did not sit down and calculate the numbers on the financial report, but got up and walked directly to the front yard.

Most of Xiao Mingzhang's offices are in the front yard of the Regent's Palace. The structure of the houses here is second only to the palace compound.

After their wedding, Xiao Mingzhang and Gu Deyin lived in the same hospital. As for Princess Yuanjia, her own princess palace had already been built. However, because she had not left the palace, Xiao Mingzhang did not allow her to leave the palace to live alone, so she stayed in the regent's palace.

Therefore, including the new master Gu Deyin, there were only three masters to serve in the palace, and the palace seemed quite empty.

This layout allowed Gu Deyin to have almost no obstruction when he arrived in the front yard to find Xiao Mingzhang. However, when he arrived at the meeting hall, he was stopped by someone.

"Princess, the prince is discussing important matters of the country with all the ministers. Please tell me that no one is allowed to come in and disturb you."

Gu Deyin glanced at the little eunuch blocking her way. This was her duty, so she was not embarrassed, but asked, "Where is Eunuch Zhou?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Eunuch Zhou ran over in a hurry and gave her a quick salute.

"I have seen the princess. I went to relieve myself just now. This little thing offended the princess. I will definitely punish him as a warning to others..."

Gu Deyin was not a harsh person. She looked at the little eunuch and trembled in fear. She waved her hands and said, "Your Majesty has given you such an order. If he does what he says and there is nothing wrong with him, there is no need for Eunuch Zhou to punish him."

Eunuch Zhou responded, turned around and scolded the young eunuch, "You still don't kowtow to the princess to thank her."

The little eunuch finally came to his senses, and immediately knelt down and kowtowed several times, "I thank my master for not punishing me."

Gu Deyin waved her hand to signal him to get up. At this time, she had important matters to attend to, so she did not want to worry about the little eunuch. Instead, she said seductively to Eunuch Zhou, "Eunuch, I have something important to see the prince."

Eunuch Zhou saw that Gu Deyin's face was very serious. It didn't look like he was joking for fun. He was afraid that something really important happened, so he quickly bowed and said, "Princess, wait a moment, I will go in and report to the prince."

Gu Deyin nodded. No matter how anxious she was, she never thought of forcing her way in. Doing so would not be good for anyone's reputation, and it would also give others a reason to attack her. She would not do anything that was not worth the gain.

Besides, there are many ways to show affection.

Inside, Xiao Mingzhang was discussing government affairs with several ministers. After hearing the secret report from Eunuch Zhou, he glanced at Eunuch Zhou, who withdrew with determination.

But he said to the important officials in the court, "Let's all take a break and drink tea to relieve our fatigue. We will discuss it again in two quarters of an hour."

As soon as these words came out, the courtiers who were accustomed to Xiao Mingzhang's style couldn't help but widen their eyes. When did the regent's behavior change? So humane?

They almost rubbed their eyes in disbelief. Could it be that the Xiao Mingzhang in front of them was fake?

I took another closer look, isn't it still the same Xiao Mingzhang?
After all, anyone can be faked, but Xiao Mingzhang cannot.

At this time, Gu Deyin came in with a group of maids, smiled and said to these important officials, "I have prepared some snacks and tea for everyone. Thank you for your hard work, sir."

When the important officials in the court saw Gu Deyin, the new regent, appear, they quickly stood up to give her a gift. Then they looked at the food brought by the maids. There were both sweet and salty. It was obvious that everyone's tastes were taken care of. This was considered very good. Attentive.

After all, no one had come into contact with him before. It was quite difficult for her to take this into consideration.

This made everyone have a very good impression of Gu Deyin. Such a favored but not arrogant person was indeed worthy of the position of Princess Regent.

Xiao Mingzhang announced a break and left the hall side by side with Gu Deyin without leaving a trace, moving to his study to talk again.

As soon as he entered the study, he couldn't wait to hug Gu Deyin and kiss her.

Gu Deyin nudged him funny, "We just separated in the morning, how many hours has it been?" "One day is like three autumns, and two hours have passed. How long has it been since we last seen each other?"

Xiao Mingzhang spoke plausibly. He used to be a loner, and he couldn't appreciate the feeling of having a family. Now that they are married, they really miss each other after being separated for a while.

He still remembered that when Eunuch Zhou came in to report just now, even though he knew that Gu Deyin's sudden visit must be for something serious, he still couldn't help but feel ecstatic in his heart.

No one knew how excited he was when he announced the break, and when he saw her coming with people, in his eyes, she was a fairy.

Gu Deyin chuckled. Such Xiao Mingzhang was really rare.

The two were intimate for a while, and then Gu Deyin leaned on Xiao Mingzhang's chest and handed him the secret report just sent from the north.

"I don't know if the secret agents you sent to the Jin Dynasty have sent back any news, but the news from me is absolutely true..."

After a slight pause, she saw Xiao Mingzhang sit upright instantly with a serious look on his face, and she also sat up accordingly.

"The Jin Dynasty is making frequent moves. I guess they definitely want to take action against us, Dashang, but I don't know whether they want to take advantage of our weak recovery period just after the disaster, or they have obtained some useful information to take action. …”

Xiao Mingzhang stood up and walked to the Dashang Map and looked at it carefully.

Gu Deyin also stood up and walked over to him, and looked at it with him. She was actually familiar with this big business map. She didn't understand the military aspect, but doing business was still inseparable from this map.

After a while, Xiao Mingzhang said, "They are afraid that they want to take advantage of the fact that our strength is severely damaged by the disaster and prepare to invade south. However, I haven't received any news here yet. If you continue to investigate over there, I will ask Eunuch Zhou to cooperate with you, and there is this." Don’t let the news leak out.”

He was actually kept in the dark about such a big thing. This in itself can explain a lot. Someone was trying to blind him.

Thinking of this, he narrowed his eyes slightly. It was best not to let him find out this person, otherwise he would never be lenient. Such behavior is no different from treason.

Gu Deyin nodded, she would definitely cooperate in this matter.

"But we can't just sit around and do nothing. As the saying goes, the three armies must move forward before food and grass are used. Since there is going to be a war, we must make arrangements in advance..."

Being beaten passively will never do.

Xiao Mingzhang naturally understands this truth, but after so many years of disasters and epidemics, the grain depot has long been exhausted. If Gu Deyin hadn't been running around raising food for so many years, he would have been even more distressed. Even killing large households would take time.

Besides, growing food also takes time. It will take two or three years for the Great Shang Dynasty to completely recover. If war breaks out again, it will really make matters worse, which is not something he would like to see.

However, it is not his style to be a coward. Since others want to fight, he will accompany them to the end.

"I'll ask the Minister of Revenue to compile the latest data later, and I'll leave it to you to make overall arrangements."

He already knew how flexible the Gu family business was in food dispatching during previous disasters and epidemics. He didn't have too much suspicion about the people he loved, and he felt most at ease leaving this matter to Gu Deyin.

Gu Deyin didn't expect that she would be entrusted with such an important task, and her shoulders suddenly felt heavy. However, she was not someone who liked to push away, so she nodded immediately again.

The couple discussed for a long time, and when Xiao Mingzhang walked out of the study, he had his usual expression, without anyone noticing anything.

Gu Deyin still had a smile on her face, and she nodded to everyone who saluted her on the way back to the backyard, whether they were officials or servants.

Her gentle way of doing things, coupled with her hands-on efforts during disasters and epidemics, and her contribution of money and effort, won her a good reputation, and her reputation gradually began to spread outside.

But when the news reached Qi Meizhi who was still in the imperial mausoleum, she was so angry that she broke many porcelains.

"What a charming girl, she not only confused the regent, but also confused outsiders. If I had known that she was such a person, I should have killed her in the first place, and there would be no trouble like today."

Seeing her in a rage, none of the servants dared to touch her head to avoid getting themselves into trouble.

After a while, she finally calmed down and waved one of her confidants to come forward.

"What's going on with the Prince Regent?"

"As far as the Queen Mother is concerned, no, the prince is still handling official duties as usual, but he spends much more time in the backyard than usual..."

These words made Qi Meizhi furious again. She was suffering from the pain of being a widow here, but it was better for him to have soft jade in his arms. Is this still justified?
The confidant waited for Qi Meizhi to finish venting, and then said cautiously, "Empress, there is an urging, should we respond or not..."

"Promise them."

Qi Meizhi said cruelly that she just didn't want to see Xiao Mingzhang and Gu Deyin happy and happy. Seeing them separated made her happy.

The confidant was still a little hesitant, but seeing Qi Meizhi's expression, he knew that no matter how much he said, it was useless, so he had no choice but to accept the job.

After giving the order, Qi Meizhi drove all the servants out. She closed her eyes and tried to calm her heart full of jealousy and hatred.

The wedding gift she gave Xiao Mingzhang had just begun, and this was the price he had to pay for her.