In a small eatery in Yongcheng.
Everyone sat in a private room, the table laden with roasted meat and grilled fish.
"The Prince knows me?" Hua Yao asked, holding a skewer of roasted meat in her left hand and a flask of Bai Hua Niang in her right.
Lu Wuxie poured more clear wine into Zhong Li's cup, then looked up at Hua Yao and said, "How could I not know you? In this Jincheng, anyone who knows Lan Heng knows Hua Yao."
Lan Heng's hand, holding his clear wine, paused. He subtly glanced at the three people opposite him.
Hua Yao looked at Lan Heng. Seeing that he had no reaction, she then said, "How does the Prince plan to deal with the Beichuan Gang this time?"
Lu Wuxie raised his eyes, his gaze sweeping past Hua Yao to look at Lan Heng opposite him.
Lan Heng gave a light cough and said to Hua Yao, "Miss Hua, be careful, walls have ears. Do not speak such words here."
Hua Yao pouted and continued eating the roasted meat in her hand.
Lu Wuxie lowered his gaze, placed the grilled fish he had deboned onto Zhong Li's plate, and casually picked up a skewer of vegetables to eat.
Although all of this seemed perfectly normal to Hua Yao or the shop's attendants, Lan Heng slowly narrowed his eyes.
"Li'er."
Just as Zhong Li was about to put the fish in front of her into her mouth, Lan Heng suddenly spoke, "I heard about the case in Jinzhou. Miao Fenghua was also sent to Dali Temple a few days ago, and Xu Qing has gotten some clues from her interrogation."
"Oh?" Zhong Li put down her wooden chopsticks.
Lu Wuxie's action of eating vegetables paused.
"What did Miao Fenghua confess?" Zhong Li was, in all honesty, very curious about what Miao Fenghua could confess to Dali Temple. After all, she hadn't said anything in Jinzhou at the time.
"It's about the Yue family." Lan Heng said, placing a peeled shrimp he had just prepared onto Zhong Li's plate, covering the piece of fish. "Li'er, you also know that the Yue family runs tea houses. From the grand Hongyun in Jincheng to the tea stalls on Madao, they don't just sell tea."
"What else do they sell?" Zhong Li asked curiously.
"They probably sell information, right?" Lu Wuxie, without waiting for Lan Heng's reply, glanced at the food on Zhong Li's plate, picked up the shrimp on top, and popped it into his mouth. He then shook his head, looked at the man opposite him, and said,
"Lord Lan, these shrimp have garlic on them. Li'er prefers bland flavors, but this Prince likes them very much. If it's possible, could you please peel all the shrimp in your bowl for me?"
Lan Heng looked at Lu Wuxie's moving mouth and his look of enjoyment, which caused everything he wanted to say to be choked back.
"Selling information? Isn't that the Feiyuan Pavilion?" Zhong Li looked sideways at Lu Wuxie.
Lu Wuxie narrowed his eyes and glanced at Lan Heng. Seeing that the joy he had when he first saw Zhong Li was long gone from his face, he couldn't help but curve his lips and say, "Selling information is just jargon. The Yue family probably transmits information outwards, right?"
"How do you say that?" Zhong Li asked again.
Lu Wuxie replied, "Li'er, do you remember what I told you? Twenty years ago, when Emperor Jing's foundation was unstable, the Northern Di invaded Southern Yue?"
Zhong Li nodded.
"For them to act so promptly and decisively, and even to have the Northern Di press almost their entire military strength into invading the Southern Yue Kingdom, it was inseparable from their ability to obtain accurate information." Lu Wuxie reminded her.
Hearing this, Zhong Li finally understood. The Yue family was very likely engaged in treasonous activities behind the scenes.
"Not just the Northern Di twenty years ago. This time, finding Southern Yue weapons on the merchant ships that the Beichuan Gang was transporting to Yingzhou, it's highly likely that this deal is inextricably linked to the Yue family." Lan Heng added.
Zhong Li frowned upon hearing this. She had actually guessed to some extent that the major escalation of the *Qia Te Cao* incident was inseparable from the Yue family, and Miao Fenghua was merely a pawn used by the Yue family.
On the surface, the Yue family seemed to have been rectified by the court. However, they were deeply interconnected. It was still necessary to dig deeper to find out who was backing the Yue family.
"By the way, I heard that you and the Prince encountered a shipwreck this time. Were you injured?" Lan Heng looked at Zhong Li with concern.
Zhong Li bit her wooden chopsticks, glanced at Lu Wuxie, and said, "Lord Lan, I am fine. I merely caught a cold from the sea breeze and had a fever once. However, the Prince was injured."
"Is that so?" Lan Heng heard this and followed her gaze to the man sitting beside her, saying, "So, even someone as tough as the Prince could get injured?"
Lu Wuxie raised his eyes to meet Lan Heng's gaze. He sneered and said, "Yes, otherwise how could I have stayed on Xiao Yu Island for a few more days, enjoying a few days of sweet, idyllic life, and coincidentally spent the New Year in Yongcheng watching the lantern festival? It's better than being ordered around like a horse in Jincheng."
Lan Heng gave up on picking up food. The meat slices in his mouth suddenly lost their flavor under the man's string of subtle boasts.
"Does the Prince mean that we who work for the Emperor are like livestock..."
"Stop talking!" Zhong Li put down her bowls and chopsticks, her gaze shifting between the two men. If Lan Heng's question earlier was considered official business, then Lu Wuxie was using official business as a guise for pure provocation.
But so be it. This rogue was always like this. But Lan Heng, who was always steady, how could he be so easily provoked?
"Miss Hua!" Zhong Li stood up, walked to Hua Yao's side, and said, "Let's go eat somewhere else. There's a good copper pot hot pot restaurant on Fenghe Street."
After saying that, she pulled Hua Yao's arm, preparing to walk outside.
"Li'er."
"Li'er."
Lu Wuxie and Lan Heng spoke in unison.
Both of them frowned simultaneously and looked at each other with disgust.
"I'll go with you," Lu Wuxie said first.
Zhong Li narrowed her eyes and remained silent.
Lu Wuxie added, "That copper pot hot pot restaurant is quite expensive. I'll go and..."
"My monthly allowance is enough for more than ten meals. The Prince is kind to worry." Zhong Li coldly refused, pulling Hua Yao and continuing to walk.
Lan Heng seized the opportunity and said, "Then I'll go. I can..."
"Lord Lan." Zhong Li gave Lan Heng a sideways glance and politely declined, "Doesn't Lord Lan dislike extravagance and waste the most? Let's finish eating all this before we talk about it."
"Let's go!" Zhong Li opened the door of the private room and turned to leave.
Lan Heng and Lu Wuxie exchanged a glance and remained seated at the table, not touching their chopsticks.
Lu Wuxie, however, was quite at ease. He picked up a piece of meat and put it into his mouth, saying, "Lord Lan, hurry up and eat. Extravagance and waste are not good!"
"Hmph, the pot calling the kettle black!"
Zhong Li pulled Hua Yao along the street. It was the Rain Water period in the lunar calendar, and there was still a slight chill in the air.
'Achoo!' Hua Yao sneezed.
Zhong Li quickly took off her outer cloak and draped it over her, asking, "Are you catching a cold?"
Hua Yao shook her head and said, "It's alright. It's just that I was born prematurely, so my constitution isn't as good as Miss Zhong's."
Upon hearing this, Zhong Li hugged Hua Yao tightly and entered a small copper pot hot pot restaurant, saying, "The Prince and I often eat here. The taste is quite good."
"Miss Zhong." Hua Yao looked at Zhong Li, who was busy arranging tea bowls opposite her, and said, "So, when you were at Lingshan, Miss Zhong, you deliberately cross-dressed, causing Hua Yao to almost believe she was violated and unable to marry Lord Lan, so you could take advantage of the situation and get in, right?"