sbdcsierra Chapter 314: Having fun alone is not as good as having fun with everyone
Chapter 314: Having fun alone is not as good as having fun with everyone
Shen Qionghua would naturally not sit idly by and wait for death in the face of such a blatant conspiracy.
After the court received the memorial requesting food from the border, but Xie Qian'an postponed the request, Shen Qionghua asked Pei Liangchuan to take some secret guards to a farther village to collect a batch of food.
Ensure that there is enough food in the farmlands outside Beijing to feed the troops at the border for twenty days.
But how to transport it to the border is a problem.
Originally, Shen Qionghua placed the grain on the farm, firstly to avoid attracting the attention of Prince An's party and to avoid alerting them, and secondly to facilitate transporting it to the border in the future.
But who knew that Xie Qian'an was so suspicious.
During this period, not only the capital, but also several cities surrounding the capital leading to the border were guarded at the city gates, and any large amount of food coming in or out would be subject to strict inspection.
Most of these people were grain merchants. Since ancient times, people have never fought against officials, so they could only accept the interrogation. Shen Qionghua heard that they even had to explain the location of the grain shop and the merchant they were going to resell it to clearly.
The excuse was that there was a war at the border and they were afraid that someone would betray the country and transport food to the State of Chen, but Shen Qionghua knew exactly what was going on.
Isn't it just to prevent King Rui from finding other ways to make up for the food shortage in the army?
Are you preventing her from transporting food to the border?
Although the practice is shameful, no one can point out its mistakes openly.
The grain that Shen Qionghua had on the farm couldn’t be transported out in a short time.
Otherwise, wouldn't it be like handing the Shen family's secrets to Prince An?
With the charge of aiding the enemy, even though Shen Qionghua is now nominally the county lord, she cannot save the Shen family.
The only way to break the deadlock is to wait until King An relaxes his vigilance and then transport the grain out.
Therefore, Shen Qionghua and Luo Xiyao were extremely well-behaved during this period, and did not seem to be affected by the memorial requesting food from the border.
Perhaps it was because Shen Qionghua and others behaved too honestly, which made Prince An believe that Shen Qionghua did not hoard grain, or perhaps it was because Prince An was very confident in the many measures he had arranged.
In short, after the grain-carrying team left the capital at noon the day before, the guards in the capital and several surrounding cities relaxed a lot.
To be on the safe side, Shen Qionghua waited for another day before letting the secret guards on the farm pretend to be from the escort agency and escort the grain on the farm to the border.
The imperial court was transporting several months' worth of food and fodder for the army, while Shen Qionghua was only preparing a mere twenty days' worth of food for transition. The volumes of the two were clearly incomparable.
The secret guards who pretended to be from the escort agency were top-notch fighters around King Rui, and were naturally better than the ordinary soldiers of the imperial court who were transporting grain.
Those secret guards were loyal to King Rui. When they heard that King Rui was short of food, they all wanted to fly to the border immediately.
Due to various factors, even if the weather suddenly turned bad on the way, and the imperial court's food was sent out two days earlier than them, Shen Qionghua estimated that it would not take long to catch up.
The imperial court's food and fodder would take at least ten days to reach the border, but these ten days meant that the soldiers had to take turns escorting them day and night. It was obviously impossible to expect the soldiers to do this.
Prince An was also obstructing the process. If the weather delayed any further, we might not arrive in the 20th day.
But Shen Qionghua estimated that even if the weather was bad, the food she had prepared should arrive in eight or nine days at the latest. Once the food arrived at the border, she would...
"Have you explained clearly to them what I instructed them to do?" Shen Qionghua asked An Yi.
"I've given them clear instructions. Once they reach the border, they will do as you say." An Yi said, "We are all very grateful for your help this time. An Yi would like to thank you in advance."
Shen Qionghua shook his head and said, "This is what I should do. There's nothing to be ungrateful about. If you really want to thank me, then do what I asked you to do. The next step is a tough battle."
"Yes!" An Yi responded.
If An Yi obeyed Shen Qionghua's orders before, it was because of Xie Nanyuan's order and because Shen Qionghua was very likely the mistress of Rui Wangfu, but from this moment on, he was truly convinced.
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Time passed quickly, and ten days had passed since the grain and fodder from the farm were shipped out.
During this period, Shen Qionghua heard two things even though she did not leave the house.
One thing was what Luo Xiyao told her.
It is said that a ridiculous story is circulating in the capital.
General Lin's jewel in the crown, the future Princess An, Lin Xiyan, didn't know what had happened to her. She opposed Zhou Lingyi of the Yongning Earl's Mansion at every turn, and repeatedly made Zhou Lingyi lose face in public.
The two of them changed their previous intimate attitude and even went to the palace to see Concubine Zhou a few times.
It is unknown how Concubine Zhou dealt with the matter in the end. All we know is that both of them took a carriage back to the mansion and stayed there for a few days, but then they returned to their cute ways.
He was invited to the palace again.
This cycle has become a major attraction in Beijing.
Some people say that Concubine Zhou will definitely favor her own niece and accuse Lin Xiyan of being ignorant. Since the emperor has already granted her marriage to Prince An, she naturally has to put Prince An first and be a dignified and sensible royal daughter-in-law.
We should respect our elders and be friendly to our juniors. As Miss Zhou Er's future cousin-in-law, why is it that instead of being humble and kind, she fights like a black chicken all day long?
Some people also said that Concubine Zhou would definitely not blame Lin Xiyan. Prince An returned to Beijing after being defeated, but General Lin was still at the border. The Lin family was now at its peak, and Prince An had no time to win them over. Even if Lin Xiyan was a little angry, Concubine Zhou would stand on Lin Xiyan's side for the support of General Lin and would not dare to show her displeasure.
As for Miss Zhou Er, as the niece of Concubine Zhou, if Concubine Zhou does not help Miss Zhou Er, will the Yongning Earl's Mansion be able to turn against her?
Of the two options, comforting Lin Xiyan is naturally more important.
Rumors were flying everywhere outside. Luo Xiyao was laughing so hard at these jokes that she clapped her hands on the table and cheered.
Others were not aware of the inside story, but as bystanders and half-participants from beginning to end, Shen Qionghua and Luo Xiyao knew it clearly.
It was nothing more than a fire in Prince An's backyard. After Lin Xiyan realized that she had been fooled, she vented all her anger on Zhou Lingyi.
At first, Zhou Lingyi pretended to be aggrieved, saying that he was being wronged. Later, Lin Xiyan became more and more excessive, and Zhou Lingyi gave in step by step.
It was not until a lady in the capital hosted a banquet and invited dancers from Yuegefang to dance that Lin Xiyan told Zhou Lingyi in public to learn more, perhaps the dancers would catch a second look at her and would be useful in serving others in the future.
These words were extremely insulting to a noble lady who was still in the boudoir.
What's more, it was a banquet where most of the powerful and wealthy families in the capital were present.
Perhaps Zhou Lingyi had endured too much humiliation for a long time, or perhaps the ladies at the banquet gave her strange looks when she heard this, which made her feel uneasy and humiliated.
In short, Zhou Lingyi was so embarrassed to make the promise that he forgot about the idea of lying dormant and slapped Lin Xiyan directly.
Except for the time when Lin Xiyan suffered at the hands of Shen Qionghua, she had never suffered such an injustice.
What's more, Zhou Lingyi had always been the one who was humble and trying to please her before, but suddenly he wanted to steal her man, and he even dared to hit her after just a few words.
Lin Xiyan was at a disadvantage against Shen Qionghua before because although the Shen family was a merchant family, Shen Qionghua was a county lady personally appointed by the emperor and had the support of Prince Rui. If it were to be reported that she had beaten Shen Qionghua, she would not be in the right.
If the emperor heard that she even dared to hit the county lady appointed by him, he would inevitably think that she was committing insubordination and leave a bad impression. Lin Xiyan was worried.
But Zhou Lingyi was different. Although the Yongning Earl's Mansion was far superior to the Shen family, it was not as good as the Lin family. Although Zhou Lingyi was a noble lady from an aristocratic family, she had no title or imperial edict.
Zhou Lingyi couldn't suppress Lin Xiyan because of his family background, and he couldn't do anything to Lin Xiyan himself.
Moreover, she believed what Xie Qian'an said, thinking that Xie Qian'an was on her side and that Zhou Lingyi was shameless and seducing her, so naturally she was unwilling to swallow this loss.
It is said that because of this slap, Lin Xiyan grabbed Zhou Lingyi and beat him up at the banquet. The two had a big fight and were later summoned to the palace by Concubine Zhou.
It was from this day that the two of them completely fell out. Even with Xie Qian'an trying to mediate, it was useless and they made a lot of jokes.
Luo Xiyao listened to these jokes with great interest. Not only did she listen to them herself, she also ran to tell them to Shen Qionghua.
Not only that, he also sent his confidant to An Jin's small house to tell Zhou Lingfu, under the pretext that: happiness is shared with others rather than enjoyed alone.
This made Shen Qionghua feel helpless.