Do you know the long song of laughter?

Chapter 482 Method
After seeing Zhao Ceying off, Li An returned to the backyard.

Seeing Li An coming back, Minglan asked curiously, "Your Highness Prince Huan came to see me so late at night. What happened?"

"It's not a big deal, but it's a troublesome matter." Li An briefly recounted the incident.

"Now the Queen Mother and the Emperor are fighting for power. It seems that the Queen Mother has the upper hand, but in fact it is the Emperor who has the upper hand. And there is a flaw on the side of Uncle Shen, so it is normal for the Queen Mother to take advantage of it." Minglan said.

"My wife is so smart. If you were a man, it would be no problem for you to become the top scorer in the imperial examination." Li An said with a smile.

"Sir, please stop teasing me. Prince Huan asked you to persuade Uncle Shen. If you do a good job, the Queen Mother will definitely be unhappy. If you don't do a good job, the Emperor and Prince Huan will be unhappy. You'd better think of a solution quickly." Minglan said.

"That's why I said this is a tough job." Li An shook his head and said, "I don't have any ideas right now. My wife, you are so smart, help me think of a solution."

Minglan pondered and said, "There really is no good way to deal with this matter. It seems that there are three choices, but in fact there are only two, one is the Queen Mother and the other is the Emperor."

Li An nodded. Minglan was right, and that was why he did not refuse.

If he refused, he would actually be siding with the Queen Mother.

At least Zhao Zongquan would think so.

"Then we can only help the emperor." Minglan said.

"I think so too, but I don't know how to persuade him." Li An said.

If everything had developed as it was originally supposed to, this job would have been done by Gu Tingye and Minglan.

The two of them persuaded one of them each and arranged a few polo games before Shen Congxing and Zhang Guifen could get along well.

He and Minglan could also persuade her, but Minglan was pregnant now and couldn't play polo at all.

Minglan thought for a moment and said, "Today, Xiao Zou was beaten because she, a concubine, went out to show her face and disrespected the wife. Uncle Shen will definitely blame this on Sister Zhang San. No matter what, we can't let the conflict between the two get deeper and deeper. Why not hold a banquet at noon tomorrow and invite Uncle Shen and Sister Zhang San to come over to ease their conflict first."

"This is the only way. Tomorrow I will ask Desheng to ask for leave for me and invite these two to give it a try." Li An said.

That night, the couple discussed until late at night before falling asleep.

The next morning, Li An sent Desheng to the palace to ask for leave. When he came back, he asked him to deliver the invitation to the Weibei Marquis' Mansion.

It was almost noon when Shen Congxing and Zhang Guifen came directly over.

The two houses are close to each other, so it is not troublesome to take a carriage.

Li An had long ago instructed the doorman to keep an eye on the Weibei Marquis Mansion. When he received the news, he and Minglan came out to greet them.

The two are obviously husband and wife, but there is a huge distance between them, and both of them look unhappy.

Only when he saw Li An and his wife did Shen Congxing smile and say, "Ziqian, your wife is pregnant, how can you let her come to greet you?"

"The king's uncle and his wife are distinguished guests, so of course we have to welcome them." Li An said with a smile.

"Haha." Minglan smiled and said, "Thank you for your concern, Marquis Weibei. The doctor also said that I should move around more often. It won't be a problem."

After a few pleasantries, Li An invited Shen Congxing and his wife in.

"Uncle, my wife is pregnant and can't stand the smell of alcohol. Let them eat in the backyard and we can have a drink." Li An said.

"Okay, I'm feeling upset. If you hadn't invited me, I would have been drinking at home." Shen Congxing said.

When they arrived at the middle courtyard, Minglan said something and took Zhang Guifen to the backyard.

Arriving at the main hall in the backyard and sitting down, before Minglan could speak, Zhang Guifen said, "Minglan, I'm sorry to embarrass you and your wife."

She was also a smart person and guessed that it was the government that asked Li An and his wife to mediate.

Minglan looked at Zhang Guifen's melancholy expression, sighed and said, "Sister Zhang is smart, I won't hide it from you. Last night, His Royal Highness Prince Huan came to my house after leaving Weibei Marquis's Mansion, and asked the official and me to persuade you and the prince."

"If His Highness comes to ask again, let your husband tell His Highness that I will survive no matter what." Zhang Guifen said.

Minglan could hear the determination in Zhang Guifen's tone and sighed, "Sister Zhang, you are so smart. You can't be unable to deal with that short-sighted young Zou. Why do you have to do this?"

"I originally thought that he just owed the Zou family something, and that as long as I was more generous, everyone could live in peace. But not only did he favor Xiao Zou, he also blamed my existence for preventing him from marrying Xiao Zou. Do I have to compromise to please him?" Zhang Guifen said self-deprecatingly.

"Sister Zhang, if I were you, I would never give up easily no matter what. You can choose not to compromise, but there is no reason to compromise yourself. You are the principal wife, not a concubine. Compromising yourself will only make the other party become more and more demanding." Minglan said.

"Minglan, thank you." Zhang Guifen was silent for a while, then said, "But that's just my temper. Don't try to persuade me anymore."

…………

While Minglan and Zhang Guifen were chatting, Li An and Shen Congxing also started drinking.

Li An did not rush to persuade him, but just drank with Shen Congxing.

"Zi Qian, my wife died to save my sister. If it weren't for her, how could our Shen family be so rich and powerful today? What's wrong with me wanting to give her some respect?"

"The emperor wanted to win over the Duke of Ying and asked me to marry his daughter, so I did. But Xiao Zou became a concubine, so isn't it normal for her to feel a little dissatisfied? The queen mother sent someone to punish her, and the emperor also asked King Huan to warn me."

If the wine is not intoxicating, everyone will get drunk.

After a few drinks, Shen Congxing drunkenly told Li Ang about his troubles.

Perhaps he knew that what he said was somewhat disrespectful and pretended to be drunk on purpose.

"Uncle of the Emperor." Li An put down his wine glass and said, "If you want to give honor to the Zou family, there are many ways. You don't have to take Xiao Zou as a concubine."

"I know, but my two sons are still young. If I marry someone else as a second wife, she will definitely think that my two sons are redundant. I can only feel at ease if I let Xiao Zou raise them. I can't let my wife die with regrets." Shen Congxing said.

"This shouldn't be something that the prince-in-law thought of himself, right?" Li An asked.

At that time, Shen Congxing was immersed in the sorrow of Da Zou's death, so he didn't have time to think about these things.

Shen Congxing picked up the wine glass and drank it, saying, "My father-in-law said that, but when I think about it carefully, it makes sense."

"Uncle of the Emperor!" Li An shook his head and said, "You should know about the mess in Zhong Huai's family, right?"

"Zhonghuai is not the son of his stepmother's sister." Shen Congxing said.

"You are right, but in order to kill Zhong Huai's mother, Xiao Qin had already instilled in Gu Tingyu the idea that his mother was killed by Gu Tingye's mother. This made a frail and sickly child bear the hatred since childhood. Do you think this is a good thing?" Li An asked back.

"Mrs. Zou is not that kind of person. She is really good to my two sons." Shen Congxing said.

"That's just what you see," said Li An.

"What do you mean?" Shen Congxing stared at Li An with an ugly look on his face.

Li An was not afraid and said, "Uncle, for many things, what you see with your eyes may not be true. That's all I have to say. Please think about it carefully."

He remembered that the Zou family used the names of Shen Congxing's two sons to lend money at high interest rates.

As a result, some people were forced to death.

Although this matter was covered up, it was uncovered during a thorough investigation of the salt administration.

As a result, Shen Congxing was unable to accompany Zhao Ceying to take charge of the salt affairs.

He wasn't sure if it was happening now, but loan sharking might have already begun.

But as he was not 100% sure, Ang Lee could only be vague.

If it really happened, Shen Congxing would be able to find the problem as long as he checked.

"Ziqian, I know that King Huan asked you to come and persuade me, but you can't slander others." Shen Congxing said unhappily. "I spoke out of turn after drinking."

Li An was a little speechless and changed the subject, "By the way, the daughter of the Duke of England, born into a prominent family, and well-educated, why does the uncle of the king have such a big prejudice against her?"

Shen Congxing felt that Zhang Guifen would not be good to his son, which Li An could understand.

After all, even biological mothers can be bad to their children, let alone those who are not their biological children.

However, Zhang Guifen had just entered the family and there was no conflict between her and Shen Congxing's sons, let alone abusing them.

Although Shen Congxing was worried, he would not have a prejudice against Zhang Guifen because of this.

"She comes from a famous family and is a lady from a noble family. How could she look down on people like us who are from Yuzhou? In her eyes, I'm just lucky. Who am I trying to show off to by putting on a sour face all day long and pretending to be noble?" Shen Congxing showed a hint of sarcasm.

Li An: "..."

It seems that Shen Congxing still has an inferiority complex and thinks that Zhang Guifen looks down on him because she comes from a prominent family.

In fact, this is normal. Even after Zhu Yuanzhang became the emperor, there were still many literati who said that he was a peasant and could not be the emperor, and they did not want him to serve them.

This long-established class concept and sense of superiority are innate.

Zhang Guifen might not think so in her heart, but she may have that in her.

However, Li An felt that Shen Congxing's statement that Zhang Guifen looked down on her because she had a stern face was a bit far-fetched.

Don’t you have any idea about how others treat you?

What's more, Xiao Zou has been riding on her head and doing her dirty work, so is it possible that she will still greet her with a smile every day?

At this point, Ang Lee somewhat understood why Gu Tingye in the play had asked the couple to play polo.

There are many reasons why Shen Congxing had a prejudice against Zhang Guifen, but one of them was Zhang Guifen's background.

As Shen Congxing said, he was just lucky.

Otherwise, with his status, let alone marrying Zhang Guifen as his second wife, even if he wanted to marry a normal wife, he would not be worthy of her even if he tried his best.

Because of the difference in their backgrounds, everything about Zhang Guifen seemed artificial to Shen Congxing.

To make a simple analogy, the two of them are like a poor boy who suddenly became rich and married a beautiful, rich and beautiful woman.

Although they may be equal in wealth, the poor boy feels that the rich and beautiful girl is not down-to-earth enough.

Gu Tingye organized a polo club so that Zhang Guifen could show her down-to-earth side.

Unfortunately, Li An was unable to organize a polo club, after all, Minglan couldn't play at all now.

He can't possibly find a team of men to fight against the couple.

"Uncle, you should know the importance of your marriage, right?" Li An said.

"I know." Shen Congxing said self-deprecatingly, "So I can only endure it. Don't worry, I will naturally pretend to be respectful to her in front of outsiders in the future."

"Uncle, this is not enough. If you want little Zou to be safe, you'd better be nicer to Madam Zhang." Li An reminded.

"What do you mean?" Shen Congxing frowned.

"Since the King's uncle knows the importance of your marriage, he should understand that the punishment sent by the Queen Mother is still a light punishment. If little Zou does not restrain herself, the Emperor will probably not allow her to exist." Li An said.

Shen Congxing opened his mouth when he heard this. He wanted to refute, but didn't know how.

Couldn’t he have thought of the problem that Ang Lee mentioned?
No, he could think of it.

However, his previous series of actions and indulgences, in addition to his debt to the Zou family, were actually partly due to his dissatisfaction with Zhao Zongquan forcing him to marry Zhang Guifen.

He was like a rebellious child, expressing his dissatisfaction in this way without thinking about the consequences.

At this point, Ang Lee understood the essence of the matter before he thought about the consequences.

…………

"Guanren, are you okay?"

After seeing off Shen Congxing and his wife, Minglan saw that Li An's face was red, so she supported him and asked.

"It's okay, I just drank too much." Li An shook his head and said, "I'll go wash up first so I don't stink you."

Li An took a shower, changed his clothes, returned to the main hall, and sat down next to Minglan.

"Sir, please have some sobering soup." Minglan picked up the prepared sobering soup and handed it over.

Li An took a few sips and drank it, and felt his mind was much clearer.

"What did Madam Zhang say?" Li An asked after putting down his bowl.

Minglan shook her head and said, "Sister Zhang won't listen to my advice. How is the master doing?"

"Almost." Li An said, "Uncle Shen has too deep a prejudice against Madam Zhang. It's useless to just persuade her."

"Alas." Minglan sighed, "Sister Zhang looks so sad. I'm really worried that she'll get sick if she keeps holding it in."

"Don't worry too much. I have an idea, but I don't know if it will work." Li An said.

"What method?" Minglan asked.

"It's hard to say for now, we'll know when the time comes." Li An said.

He planned to have someone investigate whether the Zou family was using the name of Shen Congxing's son to lend money at high interest rates.

Shen Congxing did not like Xiao Zou. His tolerance for her was just a reflection of his love and guilt towards Da Zou.

This is somewhat similar to Gu Yankai.

In Shen Congxing's eyes, the most important thing is definitely not the Zou family or the Zou family, but his two sons.

As long as he finds evidence, Shen Congxing will definitely not indulge Xiao Zou like he did before.

However, he was not sure whether the Zou family had lent money at high interest, and he had no evidence, so he did not tell Minglan.

"How can King Huan respond?" Minglan asked.

"Just reply as you should. King Huan also knows that this matter is not easy to resolve, otherwise he would not have found me." Li An said

"Then sir, you should take a nap." Minglan said.

"Yeah." Li An nodded and said, "I'll take a nap and go find King Huan to tell him about the situation. Although I took a bath, I still smell of alcohol, so I'll go to the west courtyard to take a nap."

"Well, sir, please go quickly. I also want to take a nap." Minglan said with a smile.

Li An came to the west courtyard and took a nap while holding Ruichu in his arms.

It was already dusk when I woke up.

He asked someone to prepare a carriage and drove to Prince Huan's palace.

Zhao Ceying happened to be at home. After informing the doorman, he led Li An in.

(End of this chapter)