"Don't even think about it!" Xu Yanchi blurted out instinctively.
After saying that, he realized he had been too excited and quickly corrected himself. "I won't agree to a divorce."
How boring. Shen Qing turned around and was about to leave.
Since he wouldn't give her the divorce letter, what was she still doing here? Her time was precious, okay?
"Shen Qing, don't go!"
He hadn't explained his purpose to Shen Qing yet. How could he let her go?
Yingxiu instinctively tried to block her, but she wasn't Zhuxing. Xu Yanchi directly pushed her aside with his hand, almost knocking her to the ground.
"Ouch!"
"Are you okay?" Shen Qing asked.
Xu Yanchi actually dared to lay hands on Yingxiu!
Yingxiu's nose turned sour. "Miss, this servant is fine."
"Shen Qing, can we have a good talk?"
Seeing that Shen Qing completely ignored him, Xu Yanchi's anger grew. It was just a servant girl. Did she have to be like this?
"I've already promised the second aunt that I'll help inquire about the second uncle's situation. If the marquis is here for this matter, then we have nothing to talk about. Of course, if it's something else, there's also nothing to talk about."
Her words were clearly just perfunctory! If she begged Ji Junye, who else would she need to inquire from?
"Shen Qing, you clearly know..."
Shen Qing fearlessly met his gaze. "What do I clearly know?"
If Xu Yanchi dared to expose the matter between her and Ji Junye in broad daylight, she wouldn't be afraid either. Anyway, she had already decided to break off all pretense of cordiality.
Meeting her gaze, Xu Yanchi finally softened.
"Let's go inside and talk, okay?"
A faint smile curved Shen Qing's lips. She knew Xu Yanchi didn't dare to say it.
"I don't think there's anything between the marquis and me that needs to be talked about inside. Isn't it good for us to maintain this relationship? Does the marquis really have to break this balance?"
He knew what she meant.
"Why should I!" Xu Yanchi stared fixedly at Shen Qing. "You're my wife!"
Shen Qing sneered. "So the marquis still remembers that I'm your wife."
Xu Yanchi flew into a rage. Looking at the servants around, he shouted, "What are you looking at? Is there anything interesting? Get out of here!"
The servants fell silent like chickens and all trembled. Seeing that the marquis was really angry, they quickly left. When they left, they even took away those who were eavesdropping in the corner.
Unable to bear it any longer, Xu Yanchi stepped forward. "What do you want to do to help?"
Shen Qing looked at him innocently. "Didn't I already promise the second aunt? What else does the marquis want me to do?"
Xu Yanchi stared at her. "You know what I'm talking about."
What was there to inquire about? As long as Ji Junye said a word, who couldn't be released?
Shen Qing suddenly became interested. She looked at her bright red nails playfully. "If the marquis wants me to ask someone for help, he has to give me some benefits. I, Shen Qing, am not a lowly person who can be ordered around and asked to beg for favors at will."
"What do you want?"
He had already prepared himself mentally before coming. If Shen Qing asked him for something, he would consider it as much as possible.
"I remember there's a tea garden in Fuyang County in our family..."
"You want the tea garden in Fuyang County?!"
Xu Yanchi was shocked and angry. The tea garden in Fuyang County was the biggest source of income for the marquis's mansion. It brought in at least 30,000 taels of silver for the marquis's mansion every year. Shen Qing was really asking for too much!
Shen Qing said slowly, "I've stated my conditions. Whether to agree or not is up to the marquis."
After saying that, Shen Qing left, leaving Xu Yanchi standing there alone.
Why did Shen Qing suddenly want the tea garden in Fuyang County? Did she know something?
No, that couldn't be right. He had already had the tea garden in Fuyang County thoroughly cleaned up. How could Shen Qing, a woman in the inner courtyard, possibly know the secret of the tea garden?
Moreover, now that Xu Yanxing was dead, no one would know his secret anymore.
But the tea garden was so profitable. It would really hurt him to just give it to her.
It had to be said that Shen Qing really had hit upon his weak point!
"Miss, the capital is so far away from Fuyang County. Why do we want the tea garden in Fuyang County?"
Although the tea garden was profitable, they weren't short of this bit of money.
"Don't worry. I won't harm you."
Yingxiu stamped her foot. "What is the miss saying? Is this what this servant meant?"
Shen Qing smiled faintly. "I know."
Asking for the tea garden in Fuyang County wasn't just a whim of hers.
Fuyang County was the fief of the King of Jin. In her previous life, a silver mine was discovered in this tea garden. Xu Yanchi used the tea garden and the silver mine as a token of his submission to the King of Jin.
It was still several months before the discovery of the silver mine. She couldn't let Xu Yanchi have it for nothing. She was determined to get this tea garden!
After Shen Qing returned, she took her medicine. Then, after thinking for a while, she picked up a pen and wrote a letter to Ji Junye.
In the imperial study, Ji Junye looked at the letter sent by someone. A faint smile that he didn't even notice appeared on his face.
"She's becoming more and more bold. These letters are all to order me around to do things for her."
Ji Junye threw the letter back on the table. Li Quan quickly folded the letter with a smile, put it back into the envelope, and put it away properly. "Apart from troubling her husband, who else can a woman trouble? Miss Shen is willing to trouble Your Majesty, which means she already regards Your Majesty as one of her own. Your Majesty, look at the Marquis of Guangping. Now he can't even enter Miss Shen's courtyard."
Having served in front of the emperor for so long, Li Quan naturally knew what could make the emperor happy.
Sure enough, Ji Junye scolded with a smile, "You old thing. You know a lot."
Li Quan grinned. "Thank you for Your Majesty's compliment."
Ji Junye waved his hand and told Li Quan to call Zhuiyun over. But in his heart, he couldn't help but think: Since she was already so dependent on him, then he would reluctantly handle the matter better to make her happier.
The Jinyu Guards were personally trained by him, and Zhuiyun was the leader of the Jinyu Guards.
So Zhuiyun was given the order to give Xu Wei a good "welcome," as long as he left him with a life.
Zhuiyun watched their usually expressionless emperor smiling creepily. Suddenly, he had a bad premonition in his heart.
Wasn't their emperor dissatisfied with his "lover" status and hated the Marquis of Guangping, so he was looking for an excuse to torture the people of the Xu family?
Zhuiyun didn't dare to ask. As the leader, he couldn't gossip about his master behind his back. No matter how itchy he was, he had no way to find out.
"How's the investigation into the assassin going?"
Ji Junye restrained his smile.
What was wrong with his subordinate? He was actually in a daze in front of him.
Zhuiyun immediately came back to his senses. "The investigation is still ongoing, but there are already some clues. Initially, it's judged that they came from the south of the Yangtze River."
He didn't say the rest.
Who lived in the south of the Yangtze River? The emperor knew better than anyone else.
The King of Jin was the biological son of the current empress dowager. When the emperor seized the throne, he was only thirteen years old. The empress dowager exchanged her self-imposed retreat to Yuntaishan for the King of Jin's life and also obtained a fief in the south of the Yangtze River.
A vassal king couldn't return to the capital without an imperial edict. The King of Jin hadn't returned to the capital for five years. In these five years, they had never relaxed their surveillance of the King of Jin and the empress dowager. The news that came back was that the King of Jin spent his days reciting poems and playing with cats and dogs, looking like a carefree prince. But in fact, no one knew for sure.
"The south of the Yangtze River..."
"He's reminding me. Speaking of which, my younger brother hasn't returned to the capital for five years... I don't know how he's doing. Since that's the case, then issue an imperial edict to summon the King of Jin back to the capital for a report at the end of this year."