Chapter 279 The Prince's Painstaking Efforts
Gao Ji turned his head and tried hard to wink at Xiao Xiangshuo, gritted his teeth and forced his tone to be as calm as possible.
"Master Xiao, what's going on? The Lord is the only one who wants to see you, why would you lie about others?"
Xiao Xiangshuo didn't think much about it and blurted it out.
"You all misunderstood. This was Lord Bo's plan. Lord Ning is sincere in his heart. There is no need to hide it from the prince and deliberately reject him."
Gao Ji was really frightened and hurried away, subconsciously wanting to cover his mouth.
"Master Xiao, be careful with your words!"
Gao Jing stared blankly, unable to conceal his guilty conscience any longer.
Yan Yu understood what he meant and became angry.
"What did you say? Say it again."
Xiao Xiangshuo reacted, his eyes darted around, and then he realized his mistake and felt depressed.
"I didn't say anything."
Gao Ji's movements were awkward. He stopped for a moment, slowly withdrew his hands, tied them in front of his body, buried his head deeply, and dared not speak.
Yan Yu was so angry that he slammed the table, as if the world was turning upside down.
"I command you to tell the truth!"
The three of them fell to their knees in panic.
"Your Majesty, calm down!"
Xiao Xiangshuo was somewhat frightened and embarrassed. After hesitating for a long time, he finally told the story.
"We are deeply afraid that Lord Ning is lying dormant under the pretext of surrendering, and therefore he is acting on his own. If he comes to see us, we will not allow him to report to us and will drive him away directly."
Yan Yu was filled with anger and a bit of self-mockery. For a moment, she didn't know whether to cry or laugh.
"You have done a great job in undermining me and ostracizing my colleagues."
"Excuse me, whose idea was this?"
Gao Jing stepped forward.
"Reporting to the prince, I made the decision on my own. The gentlemen took care of me because I was a junior, so they kindly accompanied me in the fun."
Gao Ji felt sorry for his son and volunteered.
"Jing'er is filial and is determined to take the blame for his father. Your Majesty, please don't believe it."
"Everything was done by me."
Xiao Xiangshuo felt guilty and volunteered to take the blame.
"Your Highness is wise. The two Lords Gao are righteous and willing to cover up for me. In fact, this idea was all my own. I despise Lord Ning from the bottom of my heart."
A sad look appeared on Yan Yu's face as he forced himself into a wry smile.
"You treated Ning Aiqing with tyranny and behaved so sinisterly, which shows that you have low character. At this time, you should have been fighting against each other, but why did you learn to unite and live in harmony?"
"Please do not misunderstand me. When I ask whose idea it is, I am not blaming them, but I am rewarding them generously."
"Tell me, whose idea was it? Tell the truth and don't lie."
Xiao Xiangshuo and Gao Ji were both silent.
Gao Jing didn't understand and was fooled immediately.
"So the prince intends to reward you handsomely. I am really frightened."
"Tell the truth to Your Majesty. This was Second Uncle's plan. Your Majesty, just reward him."
Gao Ji glared at him fiercely and reminded him softly.
"Can't you hear that the prince is speaking in a sarcastic way? How dare you betray my second brother?"
Gao Jing was stunned and couldn't believe it.
"what?"
Yan Yu glanced at Gao Jing and gave instructions softly.
"Go to Gao's house and pass on the message. Sir Gao Nan, please come and see me."
Gao Jing didn't know how to respond, so he just told the truth.
"No need to go to the Gao Mansion to pass on the message. Second Uncle is in the Dijin Palace. He and Lord Xiaochi take turns guarding the back door."
Yan Yuhuan looked stubborn, and stood up slowly while speaking.
"Lord Gao Nan set an example by staying on duty even though it was not his duty day. He is a role model."
"In that case, there is no need to invite me. I will go see him myself."
Gao Ji looked worried. He stood up and walked over quickly, cautiously and politely to stop him.
"Please wait, Your Majesty. I will go and call my second brother."
After a while, Gao Nan arrived.
On the way, Gao Ji had already informed him of the emergency.
Just as he was about to salute, Yan Yu stopped him in time, took out the jade seal he carried with him, along with the gold seal in the secret compartment, and handed them all to Gao Nan.
"From now on, you are King Dijin. Thank you for letting me have some free time."
Gao Nan couldn't refuse, so he knelt down tremblingly, extremely terrified and almost collapsed.
"Your Majesty, please calm down. I would never dare to do that!"
Gao Ji knelt down again and begged earnestly with a little cry in his voice.
"My second brother really means well and has no intention of being disloyal. I beg Your Majesty to show mercy!"
Gao Jing's worry and trouble were evident on his face.
"My second uncle came up with this idea, but he just said it casually and didn't take it seriously. It was me who insisted on carrying it out. If the prince wants to punish me, I should bear the responsibility!"
In the past, as long as Fang Renshu was brought in, the problem could be solved. Xiao Xiangshuo used the same trick again, and he was filled with worry and concern.
"I have something to say, Your Highness. When Lady Fang was alive, the person she valued most was Lady Gao Nan. She once praised that Lady Gao was a capable general, but it was a waste of his talent to be promoted to the position of the Minister of the Central Court. Since last year, Lady Gao has been humble and hardworking. If Your Highness suspects that he has ambitions for a higher position, I will be the first to disagree!"
Unexpectedly, Yan Yu remained angry and responded harshly.
"Well, okay, are you telling me that you are officially supporting the new King Dijin?"
Xiao Xiangshuo was at a loss and felt helpless.
"My lord, you..."
The green mountains are hidden and the green water is sparkling.
In the guest room at the west door, Zhuang Shao had a plan in hand and was free from worries. He then ate the snacks with relish.
Seeing the afterglow of the setting sun, the beautiful courtyard lake was covered with a thin layer of sunset glow, and Ning Fengzhe noticed that the time was wrong.
"Master Xiao has been gone for a long time, and he hasn't come back yet?"
Zhuang Shao was enjoying himself without realizing it.
"Really? How long have you been gone?"
He was shocked when he looked down and saw that there were only a few snacks left.
"It did take a long time. Before, every time I waited for an audience, I couldn't eat so much. I had to ask someone to put it in a food box and take it back to the mansion."
"Did Lord Xiao regret his decision halfway through his journey? Or did he accidentally run into Lord Gao and was stopped by him?"
Ning Fengzhe thought carefully and analyzed the matter carefully.
"First, Lord Xiao trusts you and will not regret it. Second, the other lords are guarding the main gate and doing their own jobs, so they have no time to meet by chance. Third, after the supervisor has investigated the situation and reported, he should have entered the mansion through the main gate, which is different from the west gate, so it is even more impossible for us to meet by chance."
"I have some guesses in my mind that the prince is angry now."
The piece of cake that Zhuang Shao had just picked up fell back onto the plate as his fingertips trembled with fear.
"Why is the prince so angry for no reason?"
After a little thought, he figured it out.
"Could it be that Lord Xiao accidentally let something slip?"
"You all are sincere and have no ill intentions. Why is the prince so harsh? I will go and persuade him."
Ning Fengzhe smiled faintly and added a correction.
"The prince used this incident to deliberately get angry and give me a chance to persuade you to help you out. I owe you a favor, so even if they are dissatisfied, they can't exclude me at will."
Zhuang Shao nodded suddenly and sat back.
"So this is what the prince meant."
"Your Majesty has given us great care, and we should not let him down. I will continue to eat my snacks, and you can go and persuade him. When you are done, come and call me."
"I usually don't have the appetite, but I really like the snacks from Prince Dijin's Mansion, so I rely on them to fill my stomach."
Ning Fengzhe was amused by him. He stood up, picked up the plates of snacks in front of him and placed them on his coffee table.
Zhuang Shao smiled innocently and waved at him.
"Thank you very much. I'll skip the formalities to save you time. Go now."
Ning Fengzhe responded with a smile, then silently handed over a piece of paper.
"Yes."
Zhuang Shao took it in confusion, lowered his eyes to read it, and saw the black and white words clearly written:
In order to drive Dongshan away, the Supervisory Office mobilized most of its troops, leaving the Emperor Jin Palace somewhat empty. At this time, Feng Yihe had an opportunity to take advantage of it, and he might have arranged an informant to hide inside.
Please follow this method and meet with the Inspector General Wen, and instruct her to mobilize her soldiers to prevent informants from eavesdropping on secrets.
This is a precautionary measure, and there is no way to deal with the informant. The person set up by Feng Yihe is not easy to find and is difficult to deal with. I will find a way to test and confirm the location of the informant, and then decide on a solution.
……
Zhuang Shao quickly memorized the plan, got up and went to the guest room where Wen Yan was.