No. 1 Girl in the Imperial City

Chapter 431 The Second Son of the Cao Family
In the study of the Liao Mansion, Liao Wei looked at the strange man in front of him solemnly.

The appearance of 27 looks somewhat similar to his son-in-law. Although he has never seen this person before, Liao Wei can tell from his face that even if this person is not Cao Mian's biological son, he should at least be a nephew.

Sure enough, the young man respectfully bowed and said, "Cao Mao, my junior, has met Mr. Liao."

Liao Wei raised his eyebrows and said, "Are you Brother Cao's...nephew?"

The young man named Cao Mao said: "Back to Uncle, he is exactly the brother of my father and uncle. The younger generation is now accompanying Uncle, helping with some chores."

Hearing this, Liao Wei frowned and said, "I think you have read some books. Since you have this family background, why didn't you become an official?" With the status of steward, clerk, staff, etc.

Compared with the auxiliary officials appointed by the imperial court, these talents are the real confidantes.

There are such people around Liao Wei, but in his opinion, these people either lost confidence in the imperial examination, or could not take the imperial examination for some reason, so they chose this path.As Cao Mao is Cao Mian's nephew, and at this age, naturally these problems do not exist.

Cao Mao bowed his head in embarrassment and said, "The younger generation is not very successful in studying, and it is already the limit to be a scholar. But the two cousins ​​are very talented, and they will definitely be named in the gold list in the future."

Liao Wei frowned and said, "Cao Meng is [-] this year, why don't you participate in this year's spring?" Cao Meng is the second son of the Cao family and Liao Wei's son-in-law.

Cao Mao said with a smile: "Uncle said that the second cousin is still young and his foundation is not solid enough. Although he can take the exam this year, he may not rank too high. He wants him to study hard for another three years. The next one must be more confident. Some."

Liao Wei nodded when he remembered the character of his in-laws.

The son-in-law is only 21 years old, and will be 24 three years later, which is not too old.As for Cao Jie, the eldest son of the Cao family, it has nothing to do with him, so naturally he wouldn't ask too much.

"Sit down and talk." Liao Wei pointed to the chair next to him.

Cao Mao thanked him respectfully and sat down. As soon as he sat down, he heard Liao Wei say, "Brother Cao just sent someone back a few years ago. Why did he send you to the capital again at the beginning of March? But what's the matter?"

There was no real content in the two letters, and the letter from the daughter and son-in-law was naturally a greeting.Cao Mian's letter was just gossip, and although it had something to do with the situation in the court, in Liao Wei's opinion, it was far from the point where he needed to write a special letter to be sent to Shangyong.

The most important thing is that Cao Mian sent a letter just after the regent asked Cao Mian, which inevitably made Liao Weiduo pay attention.

Cao Mao said respectfully: "Master Liao, March [-]th is Master Feng's birthday. Uncle and two cousins ​​have no time to return to Beijing, so my uncle sent me to the capital to celebrate Master Feng's birthday." Without waiting for what Liao Wei said , He hurriedly said again: "After entering Beijing, I heard that...the Feng family seems to be busy with some things. This junior is afraid that Mr. Feng won't be in the mood to meet guests these days, so he has no choice but to disturb Mr. Liao first."

Liao Wei lowered his eyes, the Feng family has been in trouble recently.

Because of the fact that Zou was demoted by the regent, the old lady of the Zou family went to Feng's house every now and then to make trouble.Compared with the troubles of the Feng family, the losses he suffered at the hands of An Lan Academy and the Princess Regent were nothing.

At least the regent princess can't do the thing of yelling and scolding at the door of your house every day. Liao Wei chooses the former when she loses face every day or loses face every day.

"Is there really nothing else?" Liao Wei asked, looking up at Cao Mao.

Cao Mao was startled, looked at Liao Wei as if puzzled, and asked, "What is Uncle referring to?"

"It's nothing." Liao Wei said indifferently, "What are the eldest son of the Cao family and Cao Meng doing? They don't even have time to celebrate their grandfather's birthday?"

Cao Mao said with a smile: "Back to uncle, the second cousin has just won the favor of a great Confucian, and it is really hard to leave. As for the first cousin... the sister-in-law is pregnant again, but the situation is serious and tossing every day. The two All the cousins ​​have written apology letters, please let me forward them to Mr. Feng."

Liao Wei nodded, "So it's a happy event, Mr. Feng probably won't care about it."

"That's what the lord said."

After Cao Mao was dismissed, Liao Wei's brows furrowed even more. A moment later, he summoned his confidant who whispered a few words, wrote another letter and handed it to him.

The confidant took the letter solemnly, nodded silently, turned around and left.

In the dungeon of the Prince Regent's Mansion, Luo Junyao looked thoughtfully at Cao An who was tied to a pillar.A few days passed, and Cao An didn't seem to have suffered anything, but his face was a little gray and dejected.

"Is he still unwilling to recruit?" Luo Junyao asked.

Qu Tiange stood by, and said indifferently: "He may not know." Of course, it is impossible to recruit something that is not known.

Luo Jun shook his head: "If he doesn't know anything, why would Cao Mian let him chase after him? Wouldn't he be asking for trouble if the news leaked out?"

Qu Tiange handed over a confession and said, "Princess, you can take a look at this." This is the new confession that Cao An has revealed one after another in the past few days, ranging from who Cao An killed to how many taels of private money he hid All explained.

But things related to those things Chen Xun said were still somewhat vague.

Qu Tiange's methods of judging people are well known in his heart. It is not that there are no people in this world who can withstand his methods, but Cao An certainly does not exist among them.

Luo Junyao took it and flipped through it carefully, frowning while looking at it, and asked his own question, "Young master...referring to Cao Jie, Cao Mian's eldest son? So, is it Cao Mian's order or is it Cao Mian's order for you to come to Shangyong? Cao Jie's?"

Cao An, who had his head down, raised his head to look at Luo Junyao upon hearing this, with a bit of resentment in his eyes.

If it wasn't for the regent princess, he wouldn't have fallen to this point.

Meeting his gaze, Luo Jun couldn't help being amused, and said with a smile: "It's no fault of me, who let you bump into my hands. I advise you to answer my question carefully, I know you have already tried Mr. Qu's method Yes, but you probably haven't learned my methods yet."

Cao An snorted softly, gritted his teeth, and said, "It's the order of the eldest son. The affairs of the governor's mansion are decided by the elder son. I don't often see the governor."

"Cao Jie?" Luo Jun frowned, and Zhu Siming beside him had already handed in the dossier about Cao Jie.

"Cao Jie, the eldest son of Cao Mian, the governor of Qingzhou, Wending Hou, is 24 years old. His wife, Xunshi, is the eldest daughter of the Xun family, a local prominent family in Qingzhou. On the contrary, Cao Meng, the second son of the Cao family, passed the Juren examination at the age of 16."

Luo Junyao was a little curious, "Could it be that this Cao Jie is not good at reading, and he plans to wait to inherit the title of Marquis Wen Ding?"

Zhu Siming coughed lightly, and reminded: "Princess, a 16-year-old scholar can be considered a young talent, and Cao Jie won the exam once, and it is said that he was also among the best at that time. And he is only 24 years old, even if he really can't do it. As for giving up now."

Luo Jun shook the file in his hand, "Why is that?"

It is impossible for a civil official in the Dasheng Dynasty to become an official without going through the test, even if the court grants favor, it will not give you a real shortage.

If Cao Jie didn't take part in the imperial examination, his father's official contacts in Qingzhou would be half-wasted or handed over to Cao Meng. In the future, he would inherit at most one earl.

You can see how much the Chun'anbo mansion has put in effort for Xu Zhaolin's failure. The lord is beautiful, but the real power is what is really useful.

Zhu Siming shook his head, he didn't know either.

Luo Junyao asked: "Then, was it Cao Mian or Cao Jie who did the abduction of a girl from a good family?"

Cao An gritted his teeth and said, "That surname Chen is so bloody! How much money can one person sell? Is the Cao family short of that money?"

Luo Jun shrugged and said, "All right."

The door of the dungeon was pushed open, and Duoying walked in from the outside, seeing Luo Junyao inside and couldn't help being startled.

Luo Junyao waved to him with a smile and asked, "What's the matter?"

Folding Shadow clapped his hands and said: "Back to Wangfei, I just received the news that Cao Mian's nephew Cao Mao has come to Shangyong."

Luo Jun rolled his eyes, looked at Cao An with a half-smile, and asked, "Guess, does that Cao Mao know that you have fallen into the hands of the Regent Palace?"

Cao An suddenly opened his eyes wide, with vigilance written all over his eyes.

Luo Jun said: "I can also see that you really don't know much about Chen Xun, so you have to try someone else."

Luo Junyao raised his hand and pointed at Duoying: "Think of a way to let Cao Mao know that their people have fallen into our hands."

Die Ying was taken aback, "Princess, now the enemy is open and we are in the dark, won't you expose yourself like this?"

Luo Junyao sighed, and said: "Let Cao Mao know that his people have fallen into our hands, but who said that we must be from the Prince Regent's Mansion?"

Only then did Die Ying suddenly realize, Zhu Siming also clapped his palms and smiled and said, "What the concubine said makes sense, why don't we leave this matter to the lower officials?"

Luo Jun shook his head and said: "I can rest assured that Mr. Zhu will handle the matter, thank you for your hard work."

"Don't dare." Zhu Siming said with a smile: "It's all a matter of habit."

Luo Junyao pointed out: "He's useless anyway, let's throw him out as bait and see what the Cao family thinks."

"Yes."

"Wait...wait!" Seeing Luo Jun shaking his back and leaving, Cao An suddenly panicked. Of course he didn't know what would happen to the person who was regarded as a traitor by the Cao family.Although he didn't say what the Regent Palace wanted to hear these days, he said a lot about the Cao family.

Most importantly, would the Cao family believe that he didn't say anything?
Even if he goes back safely...

Thinking of the method of that eldest son, Cao An couldn't help but shudder.

Luo Jun shook his head and glanced at him, and said, "What do you remember again?"

Cao An gritted his teeth and said, "I didn't lie to you, I really don't know what Chen Xun said about selling women from good families, but about Yunhai Academy... I know something."

Only then did Luo Junyao turn around and sit back down again, saying, "Tell me."

Cao An swallowed his saliva, and said: "My lord...has been dissatisfied with the head of Yunhai Academy for a long time. On the night when the teachers and students of Yunhai Academy were arrested in the sky prison, the head of the mountain... died already."

"Dead? How did you die?" Luo Jun said in a deep voice.

Cao An said: "I was strangled to death by the eldest son..."

Luo Jun shook his brows and frowned slightly, and asked, "What's wrong with Cao Jie and the head of Yunhai Academy?"

Cao An shook his head and said, "I don't know, it's just that once... I accompanied the eldest son to visit the mountain chief in Yunhai Academy, and after he came out, the eldest son's face was very ugly. The eldest son is not usually a person who calms his anger, but that day he Perhaps he was so angry that he even said something like, "Sooner or later, I will kill that, that old bastard."

"When did this happen?" Luo Junyao asked.

Cao Andao: "It was less than a month before Yunhai Academy was burned."

Luo Jun shook his head and looked at Zhu Siming. If that's the case... Was the Yunhai Academy burned because of the grievances between Cao Jie and the head of the academy, or because the students of the academy saw something they shouldn't?

"Did the academy burn down by the people from the governor's mansion, or the governor's yamen?" Luo Junyao asked again.

Cao Andao: "The ones who took the head of the mountain and that student and burned the academy were the governor's mansion, and the rest are the officers and soldiers of the governor's yamen."

"What did Cao Jie say to you when you left Qingzhou?" Luo Jun shook his head.

Cao An was silent for a while, and said: "The eldest son said...the escaped students must be found...kill them! Absolutely must not alarm the local government. If the government finds out, we cannot say that we are from the Governor's Mansion of Qingzhou."

"You must not disturb the local governments..." Luo Jun repeated his words leisurely, Cao An's expression changed and he lowered his head slowly.

In fact, he already knew well that if the Cao family could have the slightest reason for this matter, even if the governor's office accidentally burned Yunhai Academy on the way to arrest the prisoner, it would not be so secret.

Cao An's heart trembled, but he didn't betray the panic of the Cao family, on the contrary he breathed a sigh of relief.

He has already fallen into the hands of the Prince Regent's House, even if he goes back, he will die.

What's more...who hasn't heard of the reputation of His Royal Highness the Regent even in Qingzhou?Can the Cao family really beat His Royal Highness the Regent?

The Prince Regent had his family arrested, so...not a bad thing.Once his news is sent back to Qingzhou, the Cao family will not let them go even if the Prince Regent's House does not arrest them.

Coming out of the dungeon, Luo Junyao raised his hand to block the light from the warm spring sun, narrowed his eyes slightly and said, "This young master of the Cao family is quite interesting."

Zhu Siming said: "What do you think the princess said?"

Luo Jun shook his head and said with a smile: "This Cao An is considered to be a relative of the Cao family, so logically speaking, he should be the confidant of the Cao family, right?"

Zhu Siming said: "It's hard to say. People who can be sent to carry out this kind of mission are sure to be loyal and reliable, but they may not be valued."

This kind of task that would take several months to eat and sleep in the open air without going out would definitely not be done by a favored person.This Cao An can be regarded as confirming this point, he really doesn't know much about the inside story of the Cao family.

Luo Jun shook his head, "I can only see if that Cao Mao knows more."

Zhu Siming cupped his hands and said: "Princess, don't worry, the next official will definitely take care of it."

　Meh~(*￣3)(ε￣*) It’s the end of the month, my dears, please ask for a monthly pass~~~(﹃)
　　I have to do the calculation again~
　　I wish the world no new crown~~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)