After saying that, he paused and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Zhao Zong didn't look over.
The maids buried their heads lower, and no one responded.
"When working in the East Palace, the most important thing is not to talk too much. Didn't anyone teach you when you came in? Are you allowed to criticize the master?
If I ask you properly now, if you stand up honestly, you can still be dealt with leniently." Wu Zao reprimanded: "If you ask me to find out, there will be no good fruits to be gained."
He stopped as he spoke, looked around at everyone, and then said: "Let me put it bluntly, which one of you tipped off Miss Xia about making maltose in the kitchen?"
There was silence in the courtyard, the maids did not dare to speak out loudly, and still no one came forward.
Zhao Ye stood with his hands behind his hands, a hint of impatience hidden in his eyes, and his voice was clear and indifferent: "Sell them all."
"Your Highness, calm down..."
"Your Highness, please spare this slave, I have never..."
The maids immediately knelt on the ground and begged for mercy.
"Stop arguing." Wu Zai raised his hand and took the opportunity to say, "If anyone has clues, it's not too late to tell them now."
"Your Highness, slave... I know who leaked the news..."
A maidservant walked out of the crowd in a panic. The maidservant next to her stretched out her hand to pull her, but failed.
The maidservant knelt at the front.
"Say it." Wu Zao secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
I finally asked, otherwise it would be a big trouble for so many people to check.
"It's Red Branch." The maid turned back and pointed at the person who just pulled her: "It's her!"
"Come out." Wu Zai looked over there.
He recognized this red branch. He was quite handsome and had a lively temperament. He loved to talk and laugh. Because of his good looks, he often talked to him.
He had reminded her several times, but Hongzhi didn't buy it and what she said was harmless, so he didn't take it to heart.
Unexpectedly, he got into trouble. Although it was unexpected, it was also reasonable.
Hongzhi walked out from behind and knelt down, almost paralyzed, trembling and sobbing.
"Tell me what's going on." Wu Zai looked down at them.
"It's the slave girl, Hongzhi, and Hongye who are talking on the path in the garden..." The slave girl who came out first shrank and said.
"Are there any red leaves?" Wu Zao glanced at them: "Come out too."
Hongye also lowered his head and knelt at the front with a look of fear on his face: "Slave... I just listened and didn't speak..."
"Sequoia, continue talking." Wu Zao looked at the maid who spoke first and ordered.
"That day, the three slaves were on the roadside. Hongzhi talked about Miss Qi and said that Miss Qi was really a blessing." Hongshan lowered his head and said truthfully: "The slave said that Miss Qi was a blessing, but there are only so many things in this world.
There is only one seventh girl, and we are destined to be slaves, so I advised Hongzhi not to have such wishful thinking."
"Then what?" Wu Zai asked.
"Hongzhi said that Miss Qi relied on her biological mother to make friends with Concubine Chen. If she had such a biological mother, she would be as lucky as Miss Qi..." Hongshan buried his head and trembled slightly.
Obviously she was very scared: "She also said that if she could be like the seventh girl, and the prince could make maltose with his own hands and eat it, even death would be worth it...
At that time, Miss Xia happened to come to the East Palace to play with girls. She passed by the slaves and probably listened..."
"Your Highness." Wu Zai turned to Zhao Zong and lowered his head.
The truth of the matter has been revealed, and it is naturally up to him to deal with it.
Zhao Ye lowered his eyes and glanced at the three people lying on the ground: "Send them to the Jing'an Marquis Mansion to explain clearly."
Wu Zao hesitated for a moment: "Your Highness, if the girl doesn't see or doesn't listen..."
"Then let's sell them, and the one who talks the most will have his tongue cut out." Zhao Zhi said nothing and turned around and went into the study.
"Take them there." Wu Zao ordered Wu Huang.
"Master Wu Zao, help, save this slave..." Hongye knelt on the ground and hugged Wu Zao's legs: "This slave didn't say anything, this slave was implicated..."
"My slave is also unjust. I have always worked conscientiously in the East Palace and did not dare to slack off at all..." Sequoia also cried, and complained about Hongzhi: "It's all your fault, you are wishful thinking..."
When Hongzhi heard that he wanted to cut off his tongue and sell it, he completely collapsed on the ground and couldn't say a word.
"Okay, it's useless to tell me this. If you think better, just go and beg the girl." Wu Zao took a step back and retracted his foot: "The girl has calmed down. It's easy to say anything. Why don't you help her up quickly?"
?”
Sequoia and Hongye hurriedly pulled up Hongzhi from the ground.
"Let's go quickly." Wuhuang urged the three of them from the side.
＊
As soon as Li Can entered the house, the boy next to him ran to please him: "Girl, Prince Qi is here. He is here to find you, girl. He asked the fourth girl to take you to the garden."
"I know." Li Can said casually, then walked away.
She is not interested now, no matter who comes, not to mention King Qi, even Emperor Qianyuan, she is not interested.
After she went to see her grandmother, she went straight back to Luming Courtyard along the garden. She was tired these days and planned to go back and take a good rest.
By coincidence, I met Li Xiangnan and Zhao Xun coming towards me.
"I have met His Highness Prince Qi." Li Can saluted and then called Li Xiangnan: "Fourth sister."
"Seventh sister is back." Li Xiangnan stepped forward and held her hand, with an affectionate look on his face: "His Royal Highness King Qi came to see you. Since you were not at home, I will entertain you.
It just so happens that you are back, why not go to the market together?"
Because Li Can promised not to compete with her for the position of Princess Qi, she has been more pleased with Li Can recently than before.
However, it would be better if Li Can could let her take whatever she wanted like before.
"Fourth sister, please accompany Prince Qi." Li Can showed a tired look on his face: "I'm a little uncomfortable today and want to go back to sleep first."
At the moment, she didn't have the energy to follow these two people out to make a fool of themselves.
"Seventh sister's face does look a little bad." Li Xiangnan squeezed her hand, feeling very distressed: "Should we send someone to ask Xu Yuanzheng to come and show seventh sister?"
"No, I'm just tired. I'll just go back and take a nap." Li Can said to Zhao Xunyifu, "His Royal Highness Prince Qi and Fourth Sister go to play. I'll go back to the courtyard first and say goodbye."
After she said Yifu, she went straight away without waiting for Li Xiangnan and Li Xiangnan to speak.
Zhao Xun was standing aside, his expression a bit ugly.
From the beginning to the end, he didn't have time to say a word. Li Can looked down upon him.
"Your Highness, Seventh Sister is weak and has always been outspoken. Don't be angry." Li Xiangnan quickly turned around to comfort him.
When she turned around, Zhao Xun's smile had already returned to his face. He waved his hand and said without hesitation: "It doesn't matter, I've known her since I was a child. How could I not know her temperament."
"Your Majesty King Qi, just don't blame him." Seeing that there was nothing unusual about him, Li Xiangnan said, "Then let's go to the market and have a look?"
"I remembered that there are still a few things that haven't been dealt with, so let's forget about it for now." Zhao Xun made an excuse at random: "You can go back to the yard and rest. I will come to find you another day."
Li Can was gone, and he and Li Xiangnan didn't have much to say.
He initially approached Li Xiangnan just to get closer to Li Can, and eventually married Li Can.
But right now, it seems that Li Can and Li Xiangnan are not very close, and Li Xiangnan's use value to him is much smaller.
However, he is a person who is accustomed to finding his own escape route, and will treat people gently even if they have no use value.
"Okay, business matters are important." Li Xiangnan naturally would not stop him: "Your Highness, please go quickly."
She looked at Zhao Xun's leaving figure, stood for a moment, turned around and walked forward in the direction Li Can left.
"Girl, where are you going?" The maid Xu Feng followed up and asked softly.
"Go to Luming Courtyard." Li Xiangnan quickened his pace.
Xu Feng was puzzled: "Miss Qi just said she was going back to sleep..."
"She has to take a shower and dry her hair before going to bed, so it's not that fast." Li Xiangnan replied.
Xu Feng responded, turned around and waved to Qingyu and the others, gesturing for them to follow quickly.
Li Can half-closed his eyes and lazily soaked in the bathtub, with his crow-green hair hanging loose. Aunt Zhang was taking the candy cakes, which were waiting on her side.
"Girl, the fourth girl is here and wants to see you for something." Tang Qiu reported outside the screen.
"What's the matter?" Li Can wiped off the water drops on his face, frowned slightly, a little impatient.
"I don't know, slave." Tang Qiu replied outside.
"Just say I'm taking a bath and let her wait outside." Li Can leaned against the edge of the tub again.
After soaking for a while, Nanny Zhang persuaded her in a low voice: "Girl, get up? The fourth girl is outside. The girl knows she is there, so don't keep her waiting."
"Yeah." Li Can nodded and stood up from the water.
She casually tied up her long elegant green hair that was spread around her waist. Her crystal-white skin seemed to have a layer of halo, and her snow-skin texture was so smooth that it was so translucent and dazzling that people didn't dare to look at her figure, which was stained with drops of water.
, just like a begonia flower in bud.
Aunt Zhang and Tang Cake pulled out a long towel and wrapped it around Li Can's body to wipe it.
"Our girl has grown up and is becoming more and more beautiful now." Nanny Zhang said with a smile.
She was really pleased.
She watched the girl grow up, to be honest, she was like her own child.
Now that she has grown up and has such a beautiful and radiant face, how could she not be happy?
Li Can smiled when he heard this: "It's just that grandma loves me and always praises me for my good looks."
"That's not true." Tangcai smiled and said, "The slaves also think the girl is pretty."
"I have never seen a girl who is prettier than our girl." Candy joined in and said with a smile.
"Keep your voice down!" Tangcai patted her and said, "Be careful of people outside listening."
Li Can was wearing a middle coat, with a coat casually thrown over his clothes, and went out of the inner room.
She sat down on the soft couch and looked at Li Xiangnan sitting opposite her with a smile: "Fourth sister has been waiting for a long time. I didn't know that fourth sister was coming. If I had known, I wouldn't have taken a shower."
"It doesn't matter." Li Xiangnan smiled and waved her hand.
But her smile was somewhat forced.
Looking at the candy cake, the candy was rubbing ointment on the hands and feet of Li Can, who was half squatting, and Grandma Zhang was wiping Li Can's hair. There was a maid next to her bringing things in. She couldn't help but think of the life she was living now.
Although there are maids to serve, nothing can compare to Li Can's place. Look at what Li Can uses, everything is expensive, it is really a world of difference.
Originally, she was also the one who used these things, but since Li Can took back all the shops, she can no longer use them.
She thought about it, feeling secretly resentful in her heart.
"Didn't Fourth Sister go to the market with His Highness Prince Qi?" Li Can's long eyelashes fluttered and she looked at Li Xiangnan curiously: "Why are you here again?"
In fact, she could think of the reason, and she was just asking this question to make Li Xiangnan unhappy.
Sure enough, the smile on Li Xiangnan's face disappeared in an instant, and she reluctantly twitched her lips and said: "Your Highness, he said that he still has official business, so he will go back first."
"Oh." Li Can nodded: "Then the fourth sister came to see me, what's the matter?"
"Seventh sister, I want to ask you to help me." Li Xiangnan suddenly stood up and came forward, with a look of sadness on her face.
"Fourth sister, are you going to talk about the matter with King Qi again?" Li Can wrinkled his face and was very distressed: "I have already helped you in whatever way I can, and I also promise not to have too much trouble with King Qi.
of dealings.
What else are you begging me for? I can’t do anything else."
"I won't hide it from Seventh Sister. I'm going to tell my sister something that goes deep into my heart." Li Xiangnan's eyes turned red and she was almost in tears: "Actually, even if I didn't say it, Seventh Sister's intelligence would have guessed that I was
I want to be Princess Qi.
In the past, His Highness King Qi treated me very well, and he had that intention. If it hadn't been for the trouble caused by the fifth sister, King Qi even almost made a marriage agreement with me. The matter between King Qi and me, the noble daughter of the Imperial Capital would not have.
Don't know.
But now I see that His Highness King Qi seems to have lost interest in me. Today, after many tests, I realized that His Highness King Qi is now interested in Liu Zhenlian, the only daughter of General Fuyuan.
Seventh sister, my affair with Prince Qi has been going on for a long time. I am a daughter of a family whose reputation has been lost. If I cannot marry Prince Qi, how can I have the dignity to live?"