He led Xia Yuanlong to a teahouse and ordered some fine tea to be brewed; the two of them sat under the pergola and talked.
"Who are you? I see you are looking for me very anxiously."
"My name is Xia Yuanlong, and I am a friend of Wei Huai. I heard that you are very familiar with Wei Jijiu, so I came to ask you to do something."
"Mr. Wei?" Cai Xianqing thought for a while before laughing loudly: "How can we talk about being familiar with each other? It's just that I admire his ambition. Other than that, there is no other way to interact with him. I was busy building another theater troupe the past few days.
Recently I have to sell my house again, so I don’t know how Mr. Wei is doing.”
"A few of us built an academy and it's doing pretty well..."
"That's good." Cai Xianqing nodded.
"But..." Xia Yuanlong deliberately slowed down his voice to see how he would react.
Seeing that he was about to speak but hesitated, Cai Xianqing frowned and hurriedly asked, "Say it!"
"Then..." Xia Yuanlong smiled apologetically, "I just said it. Mr. Wei offended the government and was locked up in a cell by the prefect. He was convicted of a serious crime. I think the prince must have nodded in agreement, knowing that you are the most
The prince appreciates it, and I have come to ask you... to think of a way to persuade the prince to rescue Wei Jijiu."
"What's going on?" Cai Xianqing asked worriedly.
"Because Mr. Wei insisted on reform and contradicted the prefect, he was finally charged with inciting good people and was imprisoned. I tried every means to rescue Jijiu... But I have no power and power, so it's hard to do anything.
." After Xia Yuanlong finished speaking, he sighed slightly tiredly.
Cai Xianqing was silent. All he pursued was ambition. He had knelt down to please Wan Heshun for several years and just wanted to fly into the sky. But now a hero he admired was in prison, and he had to pay all kinds of risks if he wanted to save him.
He did a stupid thing that had nothing to do with his future. He was by no means the kind of free and easy righteous man who would uphold justice, so he was naturally very troubled.
Xia Yuanlong raised his eyelids and looked at him.
"It's all up to me." Cai Xianqing's eyes were sincere, without any wavering emotions.
"Great!" Xia Yuanlong smiled broadly and took Cai Xianqing's hand, "Then Wei Jijiu can be saved!"
"That's not necessarily true. If Lord Wan doesn't agree, then there's nothing I can do." Cai Xianqing said.
"Then please tell me how you want to do this. I'll help you with your advice, okay?"
"Of course." Cai Xianqing said with a smile, and took the hot tea just brought by the store, "Just drink it."
Xia Yuanlong brought the tea over and took a sip. It was very light.
"I have been invited by the prince in the past two days to take the troupe to perform there. I will take the opportunity to persuade the prince to let Mr. Wei go. I want to do this."
"Shopkeeper, we also have tea!"
Xia Yuanlong was about to answer when he heard a few officers behind him talking. He glanced at them secretly and saw that their sleeves were almost soaked with sweat and there were a lot of sweat beads on their faces.
He sat on a stool and wiped his face with the corner of his clothes.
"Hey, isn't this Xianqing!" They recognized him at a glance and blurted out.
"That's right. Brothers, have you just come back from your work?" Cai Xianqing answered fluently, without any sign of panic.
"Yes. Who did you bring with you?"
"Friend, come and have tea with me!" he laughed.
After chatting for a while, the people turned their heads and started drinking tea together.
Xia Yuanlong was afraid that they would hear about rescuing Wei Huai, and if he turned around and reported it to the prefect, things would be difficult to handle; and he did not dare to walk away with Cai Xianqing, which would arouse suspicion even more.
He could only lower his head to look at the slightly rippling tea. Suddenly, he had an idea and said in an insinuating way: "The tea is good tea," he blew on the hot air rising from the tea bowl, "but it's better to be a little lighter, a little stronger.
You have to add sugar."
Cai Xianqing had never heard of the custom of adding sugar to tea here, so he immediately ignored him and said with a smile: "There is no sugar here."
"Who said there is no need to add sugar?" Xia Yuanlong said, "If you can sing a opera to add to the fun, it will be enough as sugar. I wonder if there is a opera that specializes in this tea?"
"There must be some. Otherwise, how about I show my voice a few times and ask you to listen?" Cai Xianqing didn't know what it meant, so he asked this sentence to test.
The eyes of the policeman behind him also disappeared.
"No need for that, it's just a joke. You are going to the prince's palace in a few days, and it just so happens that you can perform a tea scene. When the prince saw it, he knew that you were secretly persuading him to drink tea, so naturally he would rather advise him directly than you.
It's better, the prince won't blame you, right?"
Cai Xianqing took a sip of tea, narrowed her cunning eyes, and said, "That makes sense."
"Should we go?" Cai Xianqing asked after finishing the tea.
"It's time to go." They smiled at each other, went to the store to pay, and then walked into a narrow alley together.
When a police officer saw them leaving, he slapped the group of people and said, "Hurry up and chase them. I think they must be discussing something!"
Several people immediately put down their tea, wiped their mouths with their sleeves, each took a knife, and ran towards the alley.
When they got closer, they deliberately distanced themselves a little further, leaning against the pink walls and using the shade of the trees to move slowly in the dark, spying on his movements.
They followed them for a while, but they couldn't see what they were talking about. It wasn't until they reached an intersection that Cai Xianqing said a word, but unfortunately it was just a farewell, and the two then parted ways. The officers were still unwilling to give in and waited for a while.
, then walked back listlessly along the same route, and said to the man waiting in the teahouse: "They have no conspiracy."
…
Three days later. In front of Prince Jiankang's Mansion.
Cai Xianqing led a group of actors from the troupe and rushed to the palace in the carriage gifted by Prince Wan.
The actors were sitting in the car telling jokes and chatting. Cai Xianqing got out of the car first amid the commotion, and they followed closely behind, chatting non-stop even as they got off the car.
"Stop chirping! This is the palace!" Cai Xianqing shouted.
Everyone kept silent.
Cai Xianqing remained silent and knocked on the door. An old servant came out. He smiled enthusiastically and said, "Mr. Xu, I'm here with my disciples. Please help us lead the way."
"Xian Qing, I've been here so many times, don't be so polite! Come, I'll show you the way!" the old man said with a smile.
"You guys, come here!" Cai Xianqing suddenly changed his expression and shouted sternly to the actors.
Cai Xianqing and others entered the two doors, passed through the reception hall, and then used the key to open the west door. They faced a wide alley with leafy giant pines planted on both sides, enough to hug each other. After walking for a long time, they walked to
Under a stone arch door, there were three characters written crookedly in the middle of the door. Cai Xianqing didn't recognize it very well. He only saw the word "Garden" and knew that this was the garden of the palace.
As soon as they entered the garden, the roads became wider and extended in all directions, surrounded by green trees, which almost covered the halls and other rooms, with only two front doors open; a lake was dug in the garden, and the south side of the lake was adjacent to
There is a rockery with thousands of layers, which is strange and steep; there is a pavilion built in the middle of the lake, the top of the pavilion is covered with gray tiles, and the pavilion pillars are painted as red as paint.
Cai Xianqing was admiring the scenery and walked to the lake when he suddenly stopped and called the old servant. The old servant quickly turned around and saw him smiling flatteringly, not knowing what he meant.