A pair of dark-bellied siblings

  Like a sunny double row of teeth, he was struggling with a piece of beef jerky. Upon hearing this, she almost choked to death. She painfully swallowed the whole piece of beef jerky, patted her chest and looked at her brother with tears in her eyes, still expressionless. "Brother, it's now the fourth year of Tianqi, third month, no festivals outside, no happy events inside, why are you setting off firecrackers?"

  Zhi Yi took a sip of the old plum wine, the faintly sour taste mixed with the mellow and strong liquor, it was extremely refreshing to drink. "For my sister, Li Xiang leaving Datong, and the county princess of Daiwangfu being jilted by her future husband's family, should be considered a huge joyous event, right?"

  Suddenly, her eyes lit up, and she forgot about the pain in her throat from being choked by Niu Banjin's cow tendon. Excitedly, she asked: "Really? Really? Does the Hong family dare to break off the engagement with the Dai Wangfu?"

  Zhi Yi smiled faintly: "After the New Year, Lord Hong's term has expired and he has made a successful retreat. He was summoned by the Emperor himself. According to reliable news from the palace, the Emperor personally inquired about the marriage between Young Master Hong and Princess Jing. But then, Lord Hong suddenly knelt down before the Emperor, begging him to take charge and asking to dissolve the engagement with Princess Yingcheng of the Dai Wang Fu."

  How could the dignified Princess of the Wang family, the number one in the imperial court, be jilted again? Is this Lord Hong's brain damaged from being squeezed by a door or is he mentally deranged?

  Zhī yì wàng le rú qíng yī yǎn, yǔ qì hěn shì yú yuè, "huáng shàng lì jí wèn qí yuán yīn, hóng dà ren shuō……"

  Translation:

  With a bright and clear gaze, his tone was very pleasant. "The Emperor immediately asked the reason, Mr. Hong said..."

  "What did you say?"

  Zhi Yi's face was strange, "It turned out that the county master relied on her identity, wantonly bullying the weak and small, with a poisonous heart, even in the midst of a grand court, she dared to poison the imperial officer's female relatives, especially that poor innocent girl who had nothing to do with the county master."

  As if struck dumb, could it be that the poor and pitiful girl in Lord Hong's words was actually herself?

  At this point, Zhi Yi suddenly sank his eyes and stared at Ru Qing, "Why didn't you tell me that the Princess of Ying Cheng dared to poison you in public?"

  Her face changed color, and she saw Zhiyi's murderous gaze. She swallowed her saliva and stuttered: "But she is the princess of the kingdom, how can I confront her? Moreover, I have already taken precautions." The princess of Tianzi No. 1 Wang had the same rank as a national duke. Even if she was really poisoned to death, it would not be a big deal for the palace to offer some silver and apologize. Could Zhiyi lead his troops to attack the palace and let the princess pay with her life? This was simply impossible. Besides, she had not been poisoned, right? It was not necessary to tell Zhiyi about this matter. She really did not want Zhiyi to ruin his future for her sake. After all, although the Daiming Palace was not favored by the emperor, it was still a palace of a close relative. If Zhiyi provoked the Daiming Palace as a military general, it would be no different from treason.

  Her eyes narrowed, and she sneered: "Although you didn't tell me, I later heard General Lu mention it. Your brother was scared out of his wits on the spot. You're a handful, really not making things easy for people. Fortunately, you're clever enough and weren't taken advantage of. Otherwise... humph..." The rest of her words were left unsaid, but they still made Ruo Xin shudder.

  She said blankly: "How would Old Lu know about this?" At that time, she was not sitting at the same table as Mrs. Lu.

  Zhi Yi said coldly: "It was spread by Mrs. Hong."

  As if she was in a daze, Mrs. Hong secretly felt pleased with herself, indeed knowing her own mind, and following the path she had designed for herself.

  "What... next?"

  Zhi Yi gazed at the girl, his eyes sinking: "After hearing this matter, I immediately dispatched someone to contact Lord Hong. At the end of last month, Lord and Lady Hong arrived in Shanxi and visited Governor Fu at the Provincial Governor's Mansion, as well as Imperial Guard General Zhang and Military Inspector Wang."

  Ru Qing softly exclaimed "oh" and continued to listen carefully.

  "As for what's next... " Zhi Yi said: "We all sat together and analyzed the situation with Lord Hong, explaining that if the Hong family were to form an alliance with the Dai Wang Fu through marriage, it would inevitably affect their official career, and might even cause them to lose the emperor's favor. Then, Lord Hong expressed his intention to propose to the emperor to cancel the engagement with the Dai Wang Fu when he goes to Beijing for his official duties."

  Looking up at her brother with a sunny and clear expression, she said with a smile, "Brother is so sinister, shameless, despicable and vulgar... But I like it."

  The girl behind Ling couldn't help but twitch her lips, this young lady was too shameless, how could she plagiarize her words?

  Zhi Yi's lips also twitched slightly, but he didn't say much, just glared at her and continued: "It was the day before yesterday, the Hong family had a matchmaker bring the cancellation documents and the betrothal gifts from the Dai Wangfu, all sent to the Dai Wangfu. The Dai Wangfei fainted on the spot, and the Ying Cheng Junzhu was also furious, fortunately the matchmaker was prepared in advance, otherwise she would have been stabbed by the Junzhu.

  This county master is really arrogant and has a bad temper.

  However, a girl's family was publicly jilted, and with such a glorious reason, how could she not be angry?

  It's just that, although the Regent's Mansion is under the Emperor's suspicion, it is still a majestic and dignified place. This Hong gentleman was previously in charge of the political affairs of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. Even if he had achieved great merit, the Emperor would at most promote him one rank, and at worst, he would be a second-rank official. How dare he humiliate the Regent's Mansion like this? He must have eaten the heart of a bear or the gallbladder of a leopard!

  Zhi Yi smiled and explained, "This old man Hong is a sly one, in the official circles he's an old hand. However, people like him who are so oily, they love to protect their own feathers, even valuing fame, power and influence more than anyone else. I just mentioned a few things to him, and this person took action right away. Indeed, he's an old slippery fish in the official circles, doing things without any hesitation or delay."

  As if awakened by a loud "ah", he hastily asked what was said, and surprisingly, it had such power.

  He took another sip of wine, he was never a talkative person, always advocating for simplicity in everything, including storytelling. After filtering out the main points in his mind, he slowly began to speak: "I showed the evidence of Huang Zijun's collusion with the Tartars to Old Man Hong, and also informed Wang Gonggong and Zhang You that the current emperor had long intended to reduce the power of the regional kings who held heavy arms. Huang Zijun's collusion with the Tartars would be considered treason if exposed, punishable by death and possibly extending to his entire clan of nine generations. This person is also related to the Prince of Dai, and they are close. The benefits and harms have been carefully calculated, there is no need for me to explain in detail, Lord Hong naturally knows what to do."

  As if it were a sunny day, she gave her brother, who still had a poker face, a big thumbs up. She was able to set up the entire formation without making a sound and use the second-grade official of the imperial court as a chess piece to directly attack the heart of the Wang family's mansion. Although the county lord's daughter was only jilted, she didn't suffer any physical harm, but her face was completely lost.

  The Dai Wang Fu suffered a great humiliation, but could only direct all his resentment towards the distant Hong gentleman in the capital, while the real mastermind behind the scenes was watching the joke with cold eyes... Ah-choo. Ruo Qing secretly glanced at her brother and felt more and more that this second brother was simply a sinister expert.

  Previously, I had heard that the deputy general beside Zhī Yì mentioned that since Dài Lǎo Wáng Yé was confined to the imperial villa, the current king has been cautious and careful in his actions. However, as a dignified king who is accustomed to having absolute power and authority over life and death, how can he not feel pain and resentment after being suddenly stripped of his powers? Therefore, in order to continue enjoying the benefits brought by his power, he began to form connections with local wealthy and powerful individuals, including officials and military officers. Among them, Huáng Zǐ Jìng, who was the leader of the officials, and Zhī Yì, who was the leader of the military officers, became the targets of his efforts to form alliances. As Huáng Zǐ Jìng and Dài Wáng were related by marriage, they naturally joined forces.

  But knowing the meaning, cough... ...It's been over a year since I arrived in Datong, and I've finally seen this brother's peculiar personality that is impervious to flattery. Although such a temperament is not very suitable for being an official, as a military general, it is the most wise way to protect oneself, not participating in factional struggles, not socializing with the powerful, everything, only loyal to one's superiors, how can this not delight the emperor? I estimate that Lord Hong will speak highly of Zhiyi's merits in front of the emperor.

  Digression

  This article continues from the legend of a brave woman. Now, Ruyi is 14 years old and has reached the age of marriage. Ha ha, next year when she returns to Beijing, she can get married!