Tianliangyuan

Chapter 150 The Ningguo Duke's Mansion is long gone, how can we investigate?

Jiang Yanping entered a seemingly ordinary house, while the servant drove the carriage around to the back gate.

A beautiful woman was dressing up in the house, but there was a hint of sorrow in her eyes, which made her even more pitiful to men.

There was a lame old man in the outer courtyard who was mainly responsible for guarding the gate, and a child of about seven or eight years old who usually ran errands.

"Master is here!"

Jiang Yanping simply gave a faint "hmm" and then headed straight for the second gate.

An old woman was guarding the second gate. When she saw that her master had arrived, she was about to go in to announce his arrival when Jiang Yanping stopped her.

"Alright, where is Madam?"

"She's inside. Ever since you brought Miss into the palace, Madam has rarely gone out and has lost interest in everything."

"Understood. Don't let anyone disturb us."

"Yes, sir."

As soon as the old woman finished speaking, seeing the master enter the main courtyard, she immediately instructed a maid to stand guard outside the side courtyard to avoid any further chaos later.

After arranging all this, the nanny hurried to the kitchen, for at this hour, the master certainly hadn't eaten yet.

The beautiful woman listlessly put the snail-shell ink back into the box, and sighed softly, "What good is it if the painting is so beautiful? It can't keep the master, nor can it keep the daughter."

Before he could finish speaking, Jiang Yanping strode in: "What are you saying! Our daughter is perfectly fine, don't overthink things!"

The beautiful woman turned her head with a look of surprise, then put on a pitiful look and threw herself into his arms.

"My lord, do you still remember that I'm waiting for you here? It's been so long since you last came!"

Jiang Yanping kissed her on the forehead, then put his arm around her waist and leaned her onto the couch next to him.

"Well, here I am! How have you been? The servants say you haven't been going out much. That won't do. Staying indoors all the time will make you feel stifled."

"How could I possibly want to go out! My lord, how is our Yu'er?"

"She's doing great! Don't worry, Yu'er is pregnant with the emperor's child, she's very precious!"

"really?"

"Why would I lie to you! If Yu'er's baby is a prince, he will surely be promoted in rank once he is born. Besides, there is Consort Jiang in the palace. She can whisper in the Emperor's ear and Yu'er will not be treated badly."

The beautiful woman was both delighted and alarmed. She worried that her daughter would not receive the emperor's attention because of her humble origins, and she also worried that her daughter would be weak and helpless and would not have a good life in the palace.

But no matter how surprised they were, nothing was as exciting as the joyous news that their daughter was pregnant with a dragon child.

"Master, is it really possible for Yu'er to give birth to a dragon prince?"

"Of course! Now that the pregnancy is stable and Consort Jiang is watching over things, who would dare to cause trouble? I heard that His Majesty is quite looking forward to this child, after all, there has been no one born in the palace for the past two years. Yu'er has only entered the palace once and is already pregnant with the imperial child, so she is truly blessed."

The beautiful woman was quite pleased to hear this.

So what if Consort Jiang was the legitimate daughter of the Jiang family?

After many years in the palace, she only gave birth to one princess.

It has to be her daughter who is capable. That's why she entered the palace and is about to give birth to a prince. At that time, won't she rise in status because of her son?

"My lord, I don't understand those big things outside. I only know that Yu'er is our child, your own flesh and blood. We can't let our Yu'er suffer any injustice."

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

The woman who was resting in the palace to prepare for childbirth was a relative of the same family who had been brought into the palace by Madam Jiang to talk with Consort Jiang. I'm afraid that Madam Deng probably never imagined that the woman she sent to the Emperor with all her scheming was one of her husband's concubines!

How ironic!

Ironically, Jiang Yanping not only had a mistress, but also a son.

Now that the Deng family is in decline, Jiang Yanxing has become more casual in his actions. He even took the initiative to propose taking a concubine. What could the Deng family do about it?

Ultimately, the Deng family lacks confidence, and their eldest son is useless, having been dismissed from his post and staying at home. Everything still depends on their father-in-law and grandfather.

Unbeknownst to anyone, Xu Zhaozhao, riding in her own carriage, leisurely passed through the alley and even stopped to admire a hawthorn tree outside her house.

Back at Ziyuan Garden, Xu Zhaozhao almost burst out laughing.

These two Jiang brothers are really interesting!

They all have a preference for keeping mistresses.

You're a grown man, and your wife isn't even that jealous, so why are you so upset?

Why not just take it home and enjoy it yourself?

He insisted on keeping a mistress, and once he did, he kept her for more than ten years.

Now Xu Zhaozhao understands why she felt that the woman surnamed Jiang looked familiar that day, because she looked somewhat similar to Consort Jiang and also somewhat similar to Jiang Ning.

Because they are blood relatives!

They even said it was some junior member of the clan who went to pay respects to the Imperial Concubine. Tsk tsk, that's ridiculous!

However, Xu Zhaozhao couldn't understand why Jiang Yanping was going to such lengths to send his daughter into the palace.

Is it all just to have a dragon prince with the bloodline of the Jiang family?

Even if it was born to Consort Jiang, it would only be a son born out of wedlock. Moreover, Prince An and others are already adults and have gradually built up their own power. So what difference would the birth of another prince make?

In the palace, there are quite a few princes who don't live to adulthood.

Xu Zhaozhao always felt that Jiang Yanping was brewing some big conspiracy, but she had no clue what it was, so she could only observe and wait, hoping to gather more useful information later.

"Miss, Xie Sanlang has arrived. Madam wants to speak with you in the flower hall."

"understood."

The flower hall has doors on all four sides that can be removed, so since Xie Sanlang has come, all four sides must be open.

Xu Zhaozhao spotted Xie Zheng from afar. He was pacing back and forth in the flower hall with his hands behind his back. Although she couldn't see his expression, she could tell from his posture and gait that he must have run into trouble.

As expected, Xu Zhaozhao's intuition was always accurate.

“We’ve tried everything, but we still don’t know what secret Cheng Yuan has. We’ve always suspected that she has a register on her, but she herself doesn’t know about it. We’ve also checked everything she brought from the Cheng residence, but we haven’t found anything.”

Xu Zhaozhao slowly poured herself a cup of tea, then brought it to her lips, enjoying the aroma before taking a small sip.

Xie Zheng clearly couldn't understand her good mood.

"What does Prince Qi mean?"

"Yunze wants to explore the former Ningguo Duke's Mansion."

The Ningguo Duke's Mansion is actually the Cheng Mansion. People often call him Duke Cheng, but the emperor actually conferred the title of Ningguo Duke on him.

"Hasn't the Ningguo Duke's mansion changed hands long ago? How can we investigate?"

The Ningguo Duke's Mansion has long been transformed. It was bestowed upon Princess Ningshuo by the Emperor and expanded by the Ministry of Works two years ago, eventually becoming the current Ningshuo Princess Mansion!