Border Cook

He Lingfeng took the order and immediately arranged for people to take Xiao Luochen and Wen Yongze to Yuquan Palace. He also ordered people to go to the Wen family residence immediately and surround it, not allowing anyone to enter or leave.

Wen Liyan and others were also taken back to the Wen family residence by He Lingfeng and questioned carefully.

Concubine Shu was already pale at this time, crying like a pear blossom in the rain, "Your Majesty..."

"Noble Concubine Shu is not in good health. She should stay in the palace to recuperate in the near future." The emperor interrupted Noble Concubine Shu.

Upon hearing this, Concubine Shu collapsed to the ground.

It’s over. It’s all over…

Concubine Shu only felt a darkness before her eyes.

Immediately, palace maids came in and carried Concubine Shu back to the palace.

As the relevant people left one by one, the entire Chongyang Hall became much emptier, and the atmosphere became very depressing and low because of the sudden incident.

No one dared to make any sound and just waited quietly for the emperor to speak.

After sighing, the emperor spoke again, "I am suddenly ill and cannot stay with you all to celebrate the New Year. Please do as you please."

This means that the New Year's Eve banquet will end early.

Tonight was indeed a special situation, and no one had any regrets. Instead, they wanted to leave this place of trouble as soon as possible and only paid respectful tributes to the Emperor and others. After the Empress Dowager, the Emperor, the Empress, and all the concubines had left, they left Chongyang Palace one after another according to their rank.

Unlike when they entered the palace, all happy, relaxed, and talking and laughing, when they left, everyone had serious faces and acted cautiously.

Even after Xia Mingyue and others left, he remained silent. After leaving the palace, he got on his own carriage.

The night was cold, and the summer clouds gathered together and traveled by car.

The carriage was spacious and even if three people sat together, it was not crowded.

The charcoal stove in the carriage was burning brightly, and it was warm like spring. Because of some spices put in it, the fragrance was everywhere, making the people outside the carriage feel a little drowsy.

But at this time, Xia Mingyue and the other two were very awake and not sleepy at all.

After a long silence, Xia Mingyue couldn't help but speak, "This Third Prince..."

Did something unexpected really happen?

"We don't know yet." Lu Qiyan said, "I just asked around and they said that a letter said that the Third Prince and others were massacred and burned to death. The reason why they were able to identify their identities was based on their height, body shape, and the clothes they wore."

"In other words, there is no real confirmation that the Third Prince has met with an accident?"

After all, I didn't really see his true appearance.

However, if one wants to find someone to replace them, it would be very difficult to find someone with a similar body shape and appearance to Madam Cen, Ruan Zhiheng and others.

And if the Third Prince really wanted to conceal the truth, what was his purpose?

And how did his jade disk end up in Xiao Luochen's hands, and was hung on his body without anyone noticing?

Xia Mingyue couldn't figure it out, and even felt her head a little swollen. She reached out and rubbed her forehead.

Lu Qiyan held Xia Mingyue in his arms, letting her lean her head against him to rest for a while, and said softly, "Don't think about it, the truth will come out one day."

"Other matters may be complicated, but one thing is very clear." Xia Yunji interrupted, "The emperor has no intention of going easy on the Wen family this time."

"After all, this involves the life of the prince, and there is also treason, so it is normal for the emperor to have such an attitude." Xia Mingyue said, "But when the Wen family encounters such a thing, the other members of the Wen family probably won't just sit there and wait for death."

"Of course not. We should take action in the next two days." Lu Qiyan said, "We probably need to prepare well to welcome the guests."

"Guests? What guests?" Xia Yunji was a little puzzled.

Lu Qiyan and Xia Mingyue just smiled at each other without answering.

This made Xia Yunji even more confused and bewildered, and he couldn't help but curl his lips.

Is this way of dog abuse going to escalate?
But it doesn’t matter, he will be able to do it soon, so just don’t think their dog food is too sweet!

The carriage went all the way from outside the palace back home, and the three people were a little hungry at this time.

Although the dishes at the banquet were exquisite, the portions were very small and had been left out for quite a long time, making them a little difficult to eat. In addition, everyone was chatting and laughing at the banquet, so there was not much time to pick up their chopsticks, so naturally they did not feel full.

Xia Yunji, in particular, had fought with Fan Jinglan during the meal, which consumed a lot of his energy. He was now extremely hungry.

Xia Mingyue asked Yin Qiao to ask the kitchen to bring food over.

Tonight is New Year's Eve, and the staple food is naturally dumplings.

There are several kinds of dumpling fillings, the sour and delicious sauerkraut pork filling with overflowing gravy, the delicious leek, egg and shrimp filling that you never tire of, the meat is not chopped so finely that you can feel the chewy texture of the meat, the fragrant radish and mutton filling...

No matter what kind of filling it is, Xia Mingyue had people prepare all kinds of ingredients before leaving for the banquet. She personally adjusted the flavors, and the thin and tough dumpling skins were rolled out by the cook's skilled craftsmanship. At this time, the dumplings tasted really thin in skin and large in filling, and were delicious.

In addition to dumplings, there are also refreshing vegetarian dishes such as smashed cucumbers, pickled radishes, pickled cabbage, celery and dried tofu.

At the same time, there are garlic cloves, which are indispensable when eating dumplings on New Year’s Eve.

The garlic cloves are genuine Laba garlic, which Xia Mingyue pickled on her way to Beijing with the peace negotiation delegation.

On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, select the whole garlic harvested in early summer that are intact and undamaged, peel the garlic skin clean, and soak them directly in vinegar. You can take them out and eat them on New Year's Eve.

After a long period of soaking, the originally white and tender garlic cloves have turned into emerald green, which looks extremely refreshing and mouth-watering. When you take a bite, the first thing you feel is the crispness of the garlic cloves, followed by the sourness of the vinegar. It is a perfect match with dumplings.

Moreover, the pickled Laba garlic does not have the spicy taste that garlic should have. Even if you eat a few more, you will not feel uncomfortable with the spiciness. Instead, it will feel extremely refreshing.

When Xia Mingyue was soaking Laba garlic, she also put in some peanuts. The peanuts at this time tasted juicy, crispy, and had a very strong garlic flavor. They also had a unique flavor when eaten with dumplings.

Because of the presence of Laba garlic and pickled peanuts, the dumplings tasted particularly fresh and delicious. They accidentally ate a little more, so much so that when they put down their bowls and chopsticks, the three of them rubbed their round stomachs and burped.

"I'm probably not going to sleep right away after eating so much." Xia Yunji sighed.

"Of course we can't sleep. Tonight is New Year's Eve, and we need to stay up all night." Xia Mingyue said with a smile, "Let's stay up together, so that next year will be filled with blessings."

"But it's a bit boring to simply stay up all night like this. Why don't we find something entertaining to kill time and not be so tired?" Lu Qiyan thought for a moment and said, "How about playing Go?"

"No, no." Xia Yunji refused without even thinking about it.

Now that I can't beat my brother-in-law at Gobang, it's really boring. "Then let's think of something else." Xia Mingyue thought for a while, "Why don't we play poker? How about Landlord?"

Poker, Landlord?
What a novel name, never heard of it before.

However, they had never heard of the name Gobang before, but after playing it, they found it very interesting. They thought that playing cards, Landlord and other games must be fun as well?

Lu Qiyan and Xia Yunji agreed quickly and kept urging Xia Mingyue to teach them how to play.

"The gameplay is not difficult, but first we need a deck of playing cards..."

Xia Mingyue began to look for materials to make playing cards.

Find a piece of paper similar to cardboard, cut it into the appropriate size, and then draw two colors and four styles of patterns on it according to the appearance of modern playing cards, and then write the corresponding numbers.

As for the complicated patterns like JQK, Xia Mingyue herself did not remember them clearly, so she simply used the numerical method and drew eleven, twelve, and thirteen patterns respectively, while the big and small kings were replaced by patterns of gold and silver cats.

The original Arabic numerals also adapted to local customs and became uppercase numerals.

After the three of them were busy for half an hour, a deck of homemade playing cards was completely completed and became a toy in the hands of the three of them.

Xia Mingyue taught Lu Qiyan and Xia Yunji how to play Landlord by explaining and practicing at the same time.

Lu Qiyan and Xia Yunji learned very quickly. After just a few games, they had mastered the technique and were able to play with Xia Mingyue very smoothly.

After a few more rounds, Xia Mingyue became a little uneasy.

Lu Qiyan and Xia Yunji's card skills have improved significantly, but she seems to be unable to keep up, and there are more and more notes stuck on her face.

As expected, teaching the apprentice will lead to starvation to death of the master!

Damn it, she's going to turn the tables!
Xia Mingyue sat up straight, gathering all her strength, determined to win back all that she had lost.

She didn't believe it!
So, Xia Mingyue's house was brightly lit throughout the night.

The same is true for most of the houses in the capital.

In addition to the custom of staying up all night on New Year's Eve, many people were unable to sleep because of the changes they saw in the palace tonight.

This is especially true for the Wen family at this time.

He Lingfeng led his men into the Wen family mansion and ordered them to search the mansion while questioning Wen Liyan and others.

Wen Liyan was anxious and worried about what happened tonight, but he also felt that things had not yet been concluded, so there was still room for maneuver.

Therefore, no matter how He Lingfeng asked, Wen Liyan remained silent and did not answer anything.

Seeing that the inquiry had yielded no results and the sky was gradually getting brighter, He Lingfeng yawned, "Since Master Wen is unwilling to say anything, then I won't waste my efforts. Master Wen, please think carefully about what is appropriate to say. If you have thought it through, please have someone tell me."

"If Master Wen doesn't want to say it now, that's fine. But I also want to warn Master Wen that some things will have completely different consequences if you say them in advance or later. Master Wen had better think carefully about what's more important and what's the right choice."

Faced with He Lingfeng's threat, Wen Liyan didn't take it seriously at all. He even refused to look at He Lingfeng. He just drank his tea leisurely.

It was as if these things had nothing to do with him at all.

He Lingfeng curled his lips and said, "Then Master Wen should have a good rest. Of course, this is assuming that Master Wen can still sleep."

After saying this, He Lingfeng left Wen Liyan's study.

The guard at the door slammed the door shut, and there was a very obvious sound of the door being locked.

Wen Liyan's expression suddenly darkened.

This is real, he is going to be put under house arrest here.

The current situation is not optimistic, but fortunately, according to the original plan, Wen Lixin will lead his men into Beijing quietly. After he hears about this matter, he will definitely act more carefully.

The key point now is to find a reasonable reason to explain the matter of the jade bi.

This jade disk was clearly placed in the secret room by him, and now it appeared on Xiao Luochen's body...

It is conceivable that someone must have stolen this jade disc from the secret room and deliberately hung it on Xiao Luochen's body.

During the New Year's Eve banquet, Xiao Luochen was provoked by Xiao Luohe's words and lost control of his emotions. It was understandable that he did not notice that the jade disk had been replaced at that time.

Speaking of which, it was Xiao Luohe who pointed out that there was something wrong with the jade disk on Xiao Luochen's body...

So, the one who stole the jade from the secret room and took the opportunity to put it on Xiao Luochen was a member of the Cui family?

However, how could the Cui family determine that they would kill Xiao Luoan and take back Xiao Luoan's jade disk?

Wait, why did Ma Liu take Xiao Luoan’s jade disk back when he came back to report? Was it to prove that he had completed the mission?

Ma Liu has always been cautious in his work, and he rarely verifies anything he is assigned to do. This time, Ma Liu has made a decision on his own...

Just as Wen Liyan was thinking about this, there was a sudden sound of unlocking the door outside. After the door was opened, the steward came in with a food box and delivered the food that Wen Liyan needed.

"Master." The steward deliberately lowered his voice, "Are you okay?"

"It's fine now, but I suddenly remembered something." Wen Liyan frowned and whispered, "How many people were there when we dealt with Ma Liu's men?"

"Four hundred and ten people," the steward replied.

"But I remember that when Ma Liu was sent out, he led 410 people with him."

"That's right." The steward nodded, "So I was a little surprised at the time, but I remembered that the master had ordered that I only needed to deal with all the people, so I didn't tell the master deliberately."

"Stupid!" Wen Liyan's face was suddenly filled with anger.

The steward was a little confused, "Master, do you think there is something wrong?"

Of course there is something wrong!
So many people went out, and so many people came back. After such a fierce battle, how could no one die?
It can only be said that this Ma Liu might not have really gone into the fight.

A bold guess is that when Ma Liu arrived, Xiao Luoan and others had probably been killed. Ma Liu wanted to claim the credit, so he took the jade disk from Xiao Luoan and returned to report.

Then, there came the following troubles.

After Xiao Luoan and the others were massacred, they were burned in a fire, but the jade disk they brought back was intact, which fully proved that this was a trap! (End of this chapter)