Entering October, with the issuance of banknotes, the construction of Guanzhong Water Conservancy and other matters progressing, various government offices in Chang'an were extremely busy.
The same is true for the Grinding Institute. Even Qin Jiushao, who usually handles official duties with ease, seems a little overwhelmed.
Jiang Di was already very stressed out with such heavy official duties, but on the ninth day of October, she had to put on women's clothes and go to the Qin Palace with her mother Mou Zhu for a party.
In their early years in Qingfu County, the Jiang family and Li Xia had a relationship, including the fact that Jiang Chun recognized Han Qiaoer as his adopted daughter, which made the Jiang family and Li Xia as close as relatives in private.
Mou Zhu naturally tried his best to maintain this relationship.
She would find opportunities once or twice a month to meet the princess, chat with the princess, and talk about old times.
Jiang Di usually went her own way, often wearing an official uniform and going to the government office to do things, and Mou Zhu couldn't control her. But whenever she wanted to go to the Prince of Qin's palace to see the princess, if Jiang Di dared to refuse, she might be beaten to death by Mou Zhu.
In short, for Mou Zhu, communicating with the family members of King Qin is a big deal...
"Mother is very happy. When I comb my hair in this bun, will my face look square?"
"Where is the best?" Mou Zhu was concentrating on looking at the pieces of cloth held by the maids, without looking at Jiang Di, and said casually: "You are very beautiful. If you often dress like this, you can be said to be a good family.
.”
Jiang Di was too lazy to talk to his mother and walked away with his hands behind his back.
After a moment, Mou Zhu slapped her hand down.
"It looks a bit like a daughter's home."
After entering Prince Qin's Mansion and walking on the path, Mou Zhu began to murmur again, saying that he had met Wu Ding's wife a few days ago, and that Wu Baoqian, the eldest son of Wu Pu, had lost his wife when he was young and wanted to have a new wife.
Jiang Di then responded jokingly, saying that she didn't care about being remarried, but because Wu Ze's wife was very beautiful, she didn't want to be compared to her as a sister-in-law by others.
Mou Zhu was furious and cursed: "As long as you like it, it doesn't matter what others say."
"What mother said is that I don't want to marry if I like it, no matter what others say."
Mou Zhu was so angry that she wanted to beat her daughter to death.
The next moment, a beautiful maid ran past the yard and shouted: "Hurry, hurry, hurry, there are a lot of boxes to be moved in, I'm afraid they won't be able to pile them up in the yard over there."
Soon, Prince Qin's palace became busy.
Big red boxes were brought in and placed in the courtyard. The two managers, Hu Zhen and Guan De, were very busy.
Jiang Di happened to be walking on the corridor, turned around and saw Guande opening several boxes one after another.
Silk and satin, ginseng and deer antlers, jewelry and jade, books, calligraphy and paintings...
When he saw Guan De opening a scroll again, Jiang Di's eyes were fixed, and he was already there in a daze.
"A picture of spring with cranes and deer?"
She pulled Muzhu and murmured: "Mother, is that the "Crane and Deer in Spring" picture?"
Mou Zhu didn't answer, because not far away, Princess Zhang Wenjing was standing there dignifiedly, receiving a long gift list.
There was also a faint sound of reporting.
"Alang said that he had wanted to send the dowry for a long time, but the journey was inconvenient before, so he might as well send it together with the full moon gift for the young master..."
Mou Zhu and Jiang Di were a little frightened when they witnessed all this.
It was Gao Mingyue who noticed this first and sent his maid over to greet them into the hall.
Mou Zhu glanced into the yard again. The large mahogany boxes had not been moved yet, and she didn't know how long it would take to move them. She couldn't help but muttered to herself.
"Tsk, tsk, how can you transport it this far away?"
Jiang Di suddenly thought of something, stopped, turned around and rushed towards the outer hall.
"Hey, where are you going?"
"Sister Lin is back? I want to see Secretary Lin..."
~~
Arriving all the way to the lobby of the Prince of Qin's Mansion, Jiang Di was stopped by the guards, saying that the Prince of Qin was discussing matters and it was not appropriate to meet him.
She had to wait outside in the yard.
After a while, I saw Yuan Yan coming too.
Jiang Di hurriedly greeted him and asked, "Sister Yuan, can you take me to see King Qin? I have something to ask Secretary Lin."
"Don't worry, I don't know what happened yet. Can you wait until I see King Qin to talk about it?"
As soon as Yuan Yan finished speaking, a middle-aged man came out of the lobby of Prince Qin's Mansion. Judging by his attire, he was from the Military Intelligence Department.
First, Yuan Yan was invited to enter the hall. He raised his hand and invited Jiang Di to talk in the small hall next to him.
"Mr. Jiang, please."
"I want to see you, Commander Lin, and I have something to ask him."
"Okay, but don't worry. The envoy has something important to report to the King of Qin. But I have a few words to remind Mr. Jiang first... Anyone who can enter the Prince of Qin's palace today is a trustworthy person, but no matter what you see, please
It must be kept secret. Otherwise, the Military Intelligence Department will punish you severely."
"I understand." Jiang Di responded.
"That's good. I'll ask Mr. Jiang to tell me what you know."
"good."
Jiang Di was a little scared, but she still spoke.
She heard some of the things when Li Zhaocheng asked Wang Xun last time.
Not long ago, Wang Xin was severely punished by Li Xia. Li Zhaocheng, Sun Deyu, Jiang Di, and Jiang Cang were also punished for leaking and inquiring about secrets.
In fact, it was not a secret. It was just because they were afraid that Yanjing, thousands of miles away, would know that a certain prince was smuggling with Li Xia. Speaking of which, Li Fen acted much more boldly than Li Xia back then.
"I know that Yu Dechen followed Wang Xun to the north to contact the princes of the Central Plains and establish a smuggling trade route. Wang Xun did not succeed, but someone did."
"Do you know exactly where to open up business channels?"
"I don't know." Jiang Di said: "But first, the Zhang family from the north was able to transport a large number of objects, and then King Qin invited Sister Yuan to discuss matters. It can be seen that this matter was done."
"So, what do you want to find out?"
Jiang Di said: "I want to know if Yu Dechen stayed in the north and did this? Has he come back?"
"that's it?"
"that's it."
"Okay, anyway... Mr. Jiang, please keep it a secret. Please wait here."
Jiang Di quickly agreed and sat in the small hall to wait.
She waited for a long time before she saw someone enter the hall.
Jiang Di was overjoyed, but when he stood up, he found that it was Wu Ze who came, so he had to salute quickly.
"No need to be polite, Doctor Jiang must be here for the Guanzhong water conservancy matter, right?"
Wu Ze said, sat down on the chair, yawned, and said: "I also came to see the king for this matter. I think the Mokan Institute has been busy recently..."
"Yes, there are too many things that need to be planned and reviewed. Just hiring labor is a complicated matter..."
When we talk about official business, there is a lot to discuss.
It was not until evening that Jiang Di finished talking about her estimate of the money and food consumption for the water conservancy project. When she turned around, she suddenly felt a figure standing at the hall door.
This man's back was facing the setting sun, so he couldn't see his face clearly.
Jiang Di took a closer look and couldn't help but be startled when she saw his appearance clearly.
She rubbed her eyes.
The person in front of me is not Yu Dechen, but who is it?
"When you come back, I will tell you that you can come back."
Before Yu Dechen could speak, someone had already arrived in a hurry and asked Wu Ze to go to the lobby.
Wu Zeyin saw that Yu Deshen was injured, so he saluted, nodded politely, and then went to the hall.
Yu Dechen turned to look at Wu Ze's back, feeling the respectful look just now, and couldn't help but feel very satisfied...
When he turned around again, he saw Jiang Di smiling and saying, "I knew you could come back."
~~
"Let's go and find the little Taoist priest and Brother Li. By the way... when did you arrive at the entrance of the hall just now? I was too serious about discussing matters with Councilor Wu, and I didn't even see you."
"Just arrived."
"A few days ago, Wang Xun came back and said something must have happened to you. But I didn't believe it. Sure enough, you did what he failed to do."
Yu Dechen shook his head and said with a bitter smile: "It was not made by me, I was just saved by someone."
He usually doesn't talk much, but he really wanted to say something at this time. After being bored for a while, he said: "However, I have also accomplished a lot of things. Unfortunately, it is confidential and I can't tell you."
"It doesn't matter." Jiang Di put his hands behind his hands and said with a smile, "As long as you can come back, I won't ask for secrets."
Yu Dechen maintained the calm attitude of a Taoist, with the corners of his mouth raised unconsciously. After thinking about it, he still boasted again.
"Actually, I am very good as an assassin and a craftsman..."
~~
Li Xia was also very busy that day. After discussing the matter, he went back to the backyard, only to find that there was no place to stay.
I had no choice but to wave and say hello to the wives and concubines on the other side across the rows of mahogany boxes.
I had no choice but to go out through the main entrance of Prince Qin's Mansion, and then go back to the backyard through the small door next to it.
Regardless of other things, he first talked to Zhang Wenjing about the Zhang family in Baozhou...
"I've never heard you talk about your second brother in detail."
"Why haven't you said that?" Zhang Wenjing said: "I often say that my second brother wanted to marry Sister Yuan back then, but she was forced to back down by a poem by Sister Yuan, 'The means of mending the sky are temporarily applied, and no dust is allowed to fall into the painting hall'."
Why didn't you say that?"
Li Xia said: "Apart from this, I haven't heard you say anything else about him."
"Actually, I don't know my second brother very well. We don't have the same biological mother. He is also much older than me. He is not in good health and has been recuperating in his hometown in Baozhou."
Li Xia didn't know where to start for a while, so he could only deduce the general context of the Baozhou incident from the descriptions of Lin Zi, Dong Wenyong, and Yu Dechen.
"This time, it seems that your second brother is very capable..."