Zhang Pingxu was pleaded with to investigate the background of the Yu Family. Two days later, it was the day off when he planned to personally tell the result to Shen Cangfeng.

Wei Changxing was concerned about it, so she proposed the idea that she could hear it behind the screen. Finally, Shen Cangfeng, with her, met Zhang Pingxu, a lineal son of Mrs. Zhang in the capital. His name was Luoninghep and he styled himself Pingxu. He was said to be a well-known charming talent in the Capital City. Also, he was a regular in brothels. However, Wei Changying was not a native of this city, so she could not tell the truth from the rumors about him.

In the view of Wei Changying, Princess Linchuan used to pick up Zhang Pingxu as her fiance, so he was supposed to be a pretty handsome man. Otherwise, a man merely good at writing poems would not be admired by her, let alone His Majesty who considered him as a potential son-in-law.

On this day when Wei Changying saw Zhang Pingxu, she realized he was as handsome and gentle as those men portrayed in love stories. What impressed her most was his beautiful amorous eyes.

Attractive as he was, Zhang Pingxu politely and sedately behaved. Wei Changying welcomed him with her husband. When Zhang Pingxu greeted her, he only saw her sleeves. Moreover, no matter whether he answered questions proposed by Wei Changying or not, he never saw her directly or indirectly. He was overly polite and reserved.

Wei Changying was not a narcissist who would be unhappy if someone were not attracted by her, but she was confused by Zhang Pingxu’s overly sedate manner. Was it possible that it had been false news that he had been to brothels? His charming appearance was easily mistaken by someone that he had toyed with beautiful ladies. The gossip was so overwhelming that he was tired of it. Hence, his excessively polite manner showed that he did not like this gossip and implied that people should stop making fun of him with these words.

Although Wei Changying welcomed this guest with her husband, Shen Cangfeng and Zhang Pingxu directly started their conversation. So, she could not cut in but listened to it from the beginning to the end. As soon as Zhang Pingxu sat down, he said, “Yu Fu and my uncle had lived in the same village. It was close to the highway, so his ancestors opened a small tea stall prepared for passers-by to have a rest. Jiang Zheng and his father, mentioned by you, were both armed escorts and they knew Yu Fu. They might only encounter at this stall. Two years ago, Yu Fu and his family moved from that village to the Capital City, because something fortunate had happened to them. And they were reluctant to stay at that small place anymore.”

Shen Cangfeng asked, “What was that?”

“Yu Fu has two charming daughters. The first one, who was perhaps named Yanniang, was sixteen, two years ago. Her engagement to a local man was broken off,” said Zhang Pingxu with a sneer. “It was said that she did not return the betrothal presents to her fiance, and he did not ask for it, either. He ended up marrying another lady. Since then, Yu Yanniang disappeared, and even her relatives did not know where she was. However, as I investigated around the Anshun Inn, I found a house, owned by a servant of the Eastern Palace, near the Cake Shop run by the Yu Family. Two years ago, there was a woman living there. At the same time, Yu Yanniang disappeared from the village. The woman in the house barely went out, so people guessed that she must be a secretive lover of the servant. However, during the past two years, there was half a year when some people who looked elegant even if they wore common clothes, went to the house.

The motivation was clear now. Shen Cangfeng said with a nod of his head, “The Yu Family is to blame for Jiang Zheng’s wounds. The lady looked after by the servant must be Yu Yanniang. The Crown Prince is always fickle in affection, so he flirted with her out of freshness. When he was tired of her, she would be abandoned.” He turned to the wife, “I think Yu Yanniang was reluctant to be dumped by the Crown Prince. She met Uncle Jiang and indirectly knew that he was your dowry guard. Besides, she got the news about the lotus-picking girls, so she told the Crown Prince that it was plotted by Uncle Jiang. It is the whole cause.”

Wei Changying was astonished to ask, “Why didn’t the Crown Prince bring her to the Eastern Palace? In spite of her engagement, he flirted with her. Her fiance was merely a common person, so how could the Crown Prince care about it?”

“Two years ago, when Madam Biguo died, His Majesty asked his servants to head for the Gu Mansion to express his condolence,” explained Shen Cangfeng. “The Empress Gu was extremely sad at that time, so how could she allow the Crown Prince to treat this woman as a concubine? What’s more, he could not do so, out of his fame.”

As the Empress Gu’s mother, Madam Biguo was also Old Madam Gu in Hongzhou and grandmother of Shen Xun, the Crown Prince. Shen Xun was the Crown Prince, so he naturally did not mourn for her death. However, His Majesty, who was several years younger than Madam Biguo, also asked his loyal servants to participate in her funeral. Although the Crown Prince dared to invite a common woman who had an engagement to his palace, the Empress would stop Shen Xun from doing so.

Because Madam Biguo passed away, Yu Yanniang, who was favored by the Crown Prince, could not be his concubine. Originally, after the funeral of Madam Biguo had ended, Yu Yanniang could have been a member of the Eastern Palace. But the Crown Prince was fickle in affection, so he did not like Yu Yanniang any more before their marriage. Therefore, this lady stayed alone in the house of his servant.

Yu Fu thought that he could be rich and powerful because the Crown Prince was attracted by his first daughter. Therefore, he moved from the village to the Capital City with all his family. However, the Crown Prince did not like his daughter so quickly. From then on, Yu Yanniang was in an awkward situation. The expense was greatly larger in such a big city than that in a small village. Even if they had a sum of money given by the Crown Prince, they had not enough money to live in this place within mere two years. However, they would lose face if they were to return to their village. Finally, Yu Fu opened a cake shop to make some money, near the house where Yu Yanniang lived.

However, Jiang Zheng lived in the Anshun Inn, so he met with Yu Fu and Yu Yanniang. Jiang Zheng did not know anything about the lotus-picking girls in the Spring Grass Lake. He was badly affected by his father who failed to escort, so he had to be loyal to the Wei Family. At this time, he suddenly encountered his old friend whom he had never met since decades years ago, so he talked with his friend.

The Wei Family in Fengzhou was renowned across the world. Jiang Zheng was a coach of the lineal daughter of this family. And then he came to the Capital City and was thought highly. These experiences were not shameful. Although he was an armed escort with rich experience, he did not expect that Yu Fu, his old friend, had connections with the Crown Prince. Moreover, Yu Fu hoped that his daughter, Yu Yanniang, would be beloved again by the Crown Prince, so he framed Jiang Zheng to please him. Without any caution, Jiang Zheng told Yu Fu who he was. And Yu Fu immediately told it to his daughter and even enticed the Crown Prince to take vengeance on Jiang Zheng.

After knowing what had happened, Wei Changying was speechless. She wondered it was because the Crown Prince had been enticed by malicious people or it was because he had a pretty dangerous immoral mind.

When Wei Changying pondered this question, Shen Cangfeng inquired Zhang Pingxu about the detail. Zhang Pingxu told everything he knew to him. And then Shen Cangfeng did not ask him another question, so Zhang Pingxu started making a farewell.

Shen Cangfeng did not persuade him to stay for a longer time, but said, “You have just recovered health, so you had better go back home for a rest earlier. Thanks for your help today.”

“Why are you so polite? I merely returned the favor to you,” said Zhang Pingxu with a faint smile. “One of my servants said that he had accidentally witnessed the second daughter of Yu Fu outside the Cake Shop of the Yu Family. She was nice, so the servant wanted to marry her as a concubine. But he had no chance to know her, so he inquired about her in the village where she was from. He even planned to ask a matchmaker to introduce him to her. Today, I come here because I heard that sister-in-law is close to Eighth Miss of the Duanmu Family. She even visited you yesterday. Therefore, would you please do me a favor to invite Miss Duanmu to diagnose me? I have been plagued by this illness for these days, and doctors I sought could not cure me, so I’m a little worried.”

Wei Changying knew what he had really meant. He implied that he had nothing to do with this matter. However, Shen Cangfeng was poised, without any trace of surprise. He said reasonably, “After all, Miss Duanmu is a lady, so it is not proper for her to cure you. Of course, Miracle Doctor Ji could diagnose you, but he is busy with domestic things recently. So you had better talk about it two days later.”

Zhang Pingxu responded to him and then said, “Goodbye.”

Shen Cangfeng ordered Shen Die to accompany his guest to the door on his behalf.

Obviously, Shen Cangfeng and Zhang Pingxu were common friends. However, he asked him to investigate whether the Yu Family had connections with the Crown Prince. Zhang Pingxu and the Yu Family were native of the capital, so it was easy for him to investigate this family. However, this thing was about whether the Shen Family would get involved in the replacement of the Crown Prince.

Wei Changying was confused, so she wanted to carefully ask her husband the detail. Shen Cangfeng stood up and said, “I’m going to see my father, so I will not have lunch with you.”

“OK,” said Wei Changying. She knew that he had to discuss this matter with Shen Xuan. She dared not delay him but sighed alone. After seeing him walk away, she stood in the hall for a while and then asked servants outside the room. She went back to the backyard worriedly.

Mrs. Huang and other maids did not know Shen Cangfeng’s plan. After Shen Cangfeng left alone for a moment, Wei Changying came out of the room later, looking depressed. Mrs. Huang thought that she had quarreled with Shen Cangfeng because she was worried about Jiang Zheng. So, Mrs. Huang and others looked at each other to think about how to comfort her.

When she reached the back courtyard, Wei Changying remembered Shen Cangfeng’s words, so she said, “Go tell servants to make the lunch for me. My husband has visited his father, so he will not have lunch with me.”

Mrs. Huang asked at this time, “Doesn’t young master have the day off today?”

“It is reasonable that he accompanies his parents on this day off,” said Wei Changying perfunctorily. However, she could not hide her sadness, which was seen by Mrs. Huang and other servants. They wanted to comfort her again.

After the dull lunchtime, Mrs. Huang and other servants did not know how to comfort Wei Changying yet. In the afternoon, Wei Changying was lying on the soft bed for a good rest. However, she could not fall asleep. When she tossed and turned, she heard the whispers outside, so she got up to ask Zhu Shi who served in the inner room to have a look, “Did my husband come back?”

As she asked, she sat up and arranged her hair with her hand.

Zhu Shi went out of the room to see what had happened. A few minutes later, she came back and nervously said, “Master Zhu in the hall said that Guard Jiang has had a high fever. So he is seeking help from you.”

After hearing this news, Wei Changying was also astounded. She thought for a while and then quickly ordered, “Arrange a carriage. Let’s go to the Ji Mansion in the east of this city.”

Zhu Shi was confused and asked unconsciously, “Young Madam, we don’t have any appointments with Miracle Doctor Ji.”

“I don’t have time to waste,” said Wei Changying. She ordered Qin Ge and Yan Ge to dress her, and said hastily, “Duanmu Xinmiao has saved him alive, so now how could I allow Uncle Jiang to die of fever? Bring more people, and I would see whether Ji Qubing is as tough as it is said.”

Mrs. Huang followed Wei Changying to enter the room. As she heard this, she said, “Young madam, calm down, please. Miss Duanmu has saved Guard Jiang, so in her face, Miracle Doctor Ji would not sit by.”

Because Wei Changying was worried about the important thing mentioned by Shen Cangfeng, she was a little upset, “Even if he did not want to save Uncle Jiang, he would have to do so. Come to help lift Uncle Jiang into the carriage. On it put more quilts in case there would be something wrong with his bones.”

Wei Changying hurriedly went to seek help from Ji Qubing, so she had no time to report it to Madam Su in person. She ordered Mrs. Wan on her behalf, “Granny Wan, would you please help me ask for forgiveness from my mother? Uncle Jiang has taught me material arts since I was five years. Although he is a guard, I treat and respect him as an elder. Today, there is something wrong with him suddenly, I am afraid he would be dead. When I come back, I will offer an apology to my mother in person.”

After finishing these words, Wei Changying did not wait for what Mrs. Wan answered, and quickly left with Mrs. Huang and other maids.