Do you know the long song of laughter?

Chapter 496 Lianghuai Salt Field
Mr. Bai took his hand back, put it to his nose and sniffed it, looking at Man Niang with lustful eyes: "You followed Gu Tingye for the sake of wealth and glory, but it's a pity that Gu Tingye doesn't want you, so you might as well follow me."

After saying this, he extended his hand to Man Niang.

"Second Master, please respect yourself!"

Man Niang dodged Second Master Bai's hand and said coldly, "Second Master is wealthy, so he has all kinds of women. If Second Master continues to be like this, then we can call off our cooperation."

Bai Er is already old, but he still has his eyes on her. It's disgusting.

When Master Bai saw the disgust in Man Niang's eyes, his anger rose.

He raised his head and drank from the wine glass, then said in a cold voice: "You have been keeping your virginity for Gu Tingye, but you are not still fantasizing that Gu Tingye will want you, right? In this case, I can't believe what you said before."

"I advise you to give up this idea. You are just an actor, yet you still dream of becoming the principal wife."

Although Man Niang kept saying that Gu Tingye had betrayed her, she hated Gu Tingye to the core.

He wanted to join forces with them to take revenge on Gu Tingye.

But Mr. Bai was not really stupid, so he naturally saw that Man Niang’s thoughts were not that simple.

Apart from anything else, ruining Gu Tingye's reputation would be good for them, but what good would it do for Man Niang?
Even though Gu Tingye was disgraced, it was still very easy for him to take revenge on Man Niang.

"This is not a problem for Mr. Bai to worry about. If Mr. Bai doesn't believe me, I will just leave." Man Niang said.

"go!"

Mr. Bai sneered, rushed over to hug Man Niang, and said with a smile: "You stay with me first, and I will let you go after that."

"let me go!"

Man Niang struggled violently. Mr. Bai Er did not expect Man Niang to react so strongly and he was freed by her.

After Man Niang broke free, she pulled out a broken dagger from her sleeve.

"Don't mess around!"

Mr. Bai's face changed, he stepped back repeatedly and opened his mouth to call for help.

Man Niang put the dagger against her neck and said coldly: "I gave you some advice, do you think I'm useless and want to humiliate me? Do you think Xiao Qinshi will cooperate with you if you go to Bianjing?"

Mr. Bai looked at Man Niang with a gloomy face and said nothing.

"What Xiao Qin wants is the title. Gu Tingye is close to the current emperor. Even if you ruin his reputation, he will have no problem inheriting the title. Xiao Qin can't get the title, so why would she care about you?" Man Niang said sarcastically.

Mr. Bai's face changed after hearing this. He pondered for a while and said, "What about you? I don't believe you are just trying to get revenge on him. What are you planning?"

"Whether you believe it or not, my goal is to take revenge on Gu Tingye and get my child back! If you force me again, I will commit suicide. Then let's see if Xiao Qin will pay attention to you! You can't let Gu Tingye be ruined. How long do you think you can hide? You will be dead by then!" Man Niang sneered.

Mr. Bai's face looked very ugly. He naturally knew all this, otherwise why would he take such a big risk to go to Bian Jing?

After hesitating for a long time, Mr. Bai slapped himself and said with a smile, "I drank too much and was bewildered for a moment. I'm sorry for accompanying you."

"Then Second Master, you should drink less. It's getting late. I'm going to go back to sleep first." After saying this, Man Niang walked out.

The door was opened and a gust of cold wind blew in from outside, making Bai Er shiver.

The flame of the oil lamp was swayed left and right by the wind, making the cabin flicker.

Mr. Bai's gloomy face looked even darker in the flickering light.

"Hmph, wait until this is over and see how I deal with you."

…………

Ningyuan Houfu
In a room in the backyard, Xiao Qin was kneeling in front of the Buddha statue with her eyes closed.

Holding a string of Buddhist beads in his hand, he slowly turned them and muttered something.

Mother Chu walked into the Buddhist hall quietly and stood not far away without disturbing them.

After a while, Xiao Qin stopped chanting, opened her eyes, and asked, "She doesn't want to see you again?"

"The eldest lady said she was not feeling well and did not see me." Mother Chu said.

Xiao Qin stretched out her hand, and Mother Chu hurried forward to help her up.

Xiao Qin came and sat on a chair beside her, sneering, "It seems that it is impossible to expect Dalang to be adopted."

"The eldest lady was quite interested before, I don't know why she suddenly changed recently." Mother Chu asked puzzledly.

Xiao Qinshi hinted to Shao Shi many times that she wanted to be adopted. Although Shao Shi did not agree or express his opinion, he looked very excited.

"Haha, it's not that she is unwilling, but Dalang is unwilling. I underestimated him. He is the most hidden one in this family. I thought the suicide note was burned, but it is obvious that he kept it!" Xiao Qin sneered.

In order to save her son, she had to admit the authenticity of the suicide note.

Even if she doesn't admit it, the fourth and fifth rooms will have to admit it.

When Gu Yankai was alive, Xiao Qinshi had thought of adopting Gu Tingyu.

Later, Gu Yankai died, and Gu Tingye was accused of angering his father to death, so she was no longer so enthusiastic about the adoption.

After all, if he is adopted, Gu Tingyu's lineage is nominally the main branch, and Gu Tingwei can only be a side branch.

Even for Gu Tingwei's child, it is nominally the same.

If there was no other way, she would naturally be willing to do so, but at that time she felt that it was not necessary to do so.

Gu Tingye has been separated from the family and is also accused of angering his father to death. As long as there is no suicide note, it will not be Gu Tingye's turn to inherit the title.

However, the appearance of the suicide note disrupted all her plans.

The suicide note clearly stated that the title would be inherited by Gu Tingye.

Although this cannot prove that Gu Tingye did not anger his father to death, Gu Yankai’s death had nothing to do with Gu Tingye.

But anyone with a discerning eye knows that Gu Yankai’s death had nothing to do with Gu Tingye, otherwise why would Gu Yankai leave a suicide note before his death, asking Gu Tingye to inherit the title?
But even with the suicide note, she was not completely without a chance.

The succession to the title was not directly designated, but had to be reported to the Ministry of Clan Affairs.

If this suicide note had been submitted to the clan office when Gu Yankai died, it would have been a natural progression for Gu Tingye to inherit the title.

However, the suicide note was not taken out at that time. According to the system of primogeniture, the title was inherited by Gu Tingyu.

This has been approved by the imperial court, so naturally there is no room for change.

And now that Gu Tingyu is dead, according to the rules his descendants should inherit the title.

So she thought about adopting a child again.

Unfortunately, after many attempts, Gu Tingyu never gave in. Even Shao, who was originally interested, now avoided her.

"Now Dalang's condition is getting worse and worse. If he dies, it will be too late." Xiao Qinshi became more and more anxious and asked, "What's going on next door?"

After the suicide note was published, Gu Tingye moved into Orange Garden.

After the orange orchard was given to Gu Tingye, Gu Tingye had it renovated, but he did not move in because of his father's death.

Now that his charges have been cleared, he will naturally move here.

However, as he was still in mourning, no guests were invited to a banquet.

"The Second Madam rarely goes out. When the Second Young Master left, he left many people behind. They were guarded tightly and it was impossible to get any news." Mother Chu said, "But I heard that the eldest lady of the Li family gave birth two days ago."

"Oh?"

Xiao Qin was delighted when she heard this and said with a smile, "Erlang's wife is not cunning and is easy to deal with. Before, it was always this Madam Li who gave her advice. Now that Madam Li has given birth and needs to stay in confinement, this is a good opportunity. Send someone to talk to the servants of the fourth and fifth rooms about this. The two people in the fourth and fifth rooms have been exiled, and they will definitely not miss such a good opportunity."

Gu Tingye was deprived of his love and reinstated, and accompanied King Huan to thoroughly investigate the salt business.

As soon as she left, she sent some servants over to the orange orchard.

Yu Yanran, however, said that they were still in mourning and it was not appropriate to indulge in extravagance, so she rejected all of them.

No matter how Xiao Qinshi persuaded her, Yu Yanran refused to give in. However, Yu Yanran kept talking about filial piety, and she could do nothing about it.

Xiao Qin also knew Yu Yanran, who was weak and indecisive, and had always been bullied by her stepmother and younger brothers and sisters.

Otherwise, she would not have taken the initiative to suggest that Gu Tingye marry Yu Yanran.

She didn't expect Yu Yanran to be so difficult to deal with. She thought she had misjudged her.

Later she found out that it was the eldest lady of the Li family who gave her the idea.

Now that the eldest lady of the Li family has given birth and is in confinement, it is too late to help even if we want to.

"Yes!" Mother Chu hurried away after hearing that.

Now the fourth and fifth rooms have moved out of Ningyuan Marquis Mansion.

In Gu Yankai's suicide note, not only did he say that Gu Tingye would inherit the title, he also said that the fourth and fifth rooms would be separated.

Their father had already divided the property for them before he died, but Gu Yankai, considering their brotherly friendship, let them continue to live in the Marquis' Mansion.

The expenses over the years were also provided by the Marquis' Mansion.

Gu Yankai knew clearly that he could keep them, but no matter who inherited the title in the future, they were the elders. If he did not leave a will, it would be inappropriate for the younger generations to drive them away.

This is also the reason why the fourth and fifth rooms helped conceal the suicide note.

Gu Tingye agreed to plead for them, with the only request being to gather the elders of the clan and make the suicide note public.

When the suicide note was published, it not only meant that they would no longer be able to enjoy their wealth and luxury, but the most important thing was their reputation.

Hiding the head of the family's suicide note is a serious crime in violation of clan etiquette.

Although no action was taken, they continued to live in the Marquis' Mansion.

It would have been fine if Gu Tingye had saved their children, but in the end the children from both families were still exiled.

Gu Tingye said that if he didn't plead for mercy, both of them would die, and exile was already a light punishment.

But the fourth and fifth rooms didn’t think so. They felt that they were deceived by Gu Tingye and that Gu Tingye had not contributed anything at all.

For this purpose, he also wanted to contact Xiao Qinshi to deal with Gu Tingye.

But Xiao Qin was also angry with them. At that time, Xiao Qin didn't want to agree to make the suicide note public. Even if Gu Tingyu had a suicide note, what could it do?

This suicide note was not written by Gu Yankai himself, and only a few of them were present, so he would just deny it even if he took it out.

She was just gambling that Gu Tingye would not just ignore it.

However, the fourth and fifth rooms were unwilling to gamble and were willing to prove the authenticity of the suicide note.

It can be said that she was tricked by Gu Tingyu and betrayed by the fourth and fifth rooms.

Rooms four and five have already moved out and are of no use to her, so why would she bother with them?

What Xiao Qinshi is best at is killing with a borrowed knife. She used the knife of the fourth and fifth rooms to flatter and kill Gu Tingye.

Many things were not done by Gu Tingye, but by the younger generations from the fourth and fifth rooms. She knew about it but didn't care, and even cleaned up the mess for them.

On the surface, it was to cover up for Gu Tingye, which touched Gu Tingye deeply, and his reputation as a virtuous man also spread outside.

He can also indulge the people from the fourth and fifth rooms, allowing them to become even more outrageous.

Now that the fourth and fifth rooms are useful again, she will naturally use this knife.

However, the result this time was somewhat beyond her expectations.

Although the fourth and fifth rooms moved out, their servants were taken away from the Marquis' Mansion.

He is very familiar with the servants at Ningyuan Marquis Mansion, and they would communicate with each other when they meet privately.

She asked Mother Chu to send someone to contact the servants there, hoping to instigate the fourth and fifth rooms to make things difficult for Yu Yanran.

If he took advantage of Gu Tingye's absence from Bian Jing to make Yu Yanran angry, given Gu Tingye's temper, he would probably kill someone when he returned.

The crazier Gu Tingye is, the better, no matter whether he kills people from the fourth and fifth rooms or kills her in his madness.

Whether he succeeds or not, Gu Tingye can forget about inheriting the title.

Xiao Qin was driven a little crazy by a series of misfortunes, and she even ignored her own life for the title.

However, this time the fourth and fifth rooms were not fooled. After a few days, there was no response, as if they had not heard the news.

But Xiao Qin knew that they must have heard it, but they just didn't do anything.

Xiao Qin could no longer sit still, so she went to the fourth and fifth families in person to persuade them.

But she was turned away at both houses and no one wanted to see her at all.

"Is this his arrangement?" Xiao Qin murmured.

The fourth and fifth rooms behaved very abnormally, and Xiao Qin knew the personalities of the people in the two rooms very well.

Some people may be able to resist retaliating, but others cannot.

But this time, both rooms held back and didn't even want to see her.

Xiao Qin was a little suspicious whether Gu Tingye had said anything to them before he left.

"Humph!" Xiao Qin sneered, "You are not even in Bianjing, how can you defeat me!"

The carriage stopped at the Ningyuan Marquis Mansion and Xiao Qin got off.

"Madam, someone just sent a letter over, saying it was for you to review, but no name was left." The doorman came running up with a letter in his hand.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Qin hesitated for a moment and looked at Mother Chu.

Mother Chu understood, walked forward to take it, opened it and started reading.

When she saw the contents of the letter, Mother Chu's face changed and she winked at Xiao Qin.

When Xiao Qin saw this, she walked in without saying a word.

Arriving at the backyard room, Mother Chu stopped the other maids and closed the door.

"Look, old lady."

Xiao Qin took the letter and smiled after reading it.

…………

The Lianghuai Salt Field does not refer to a single salt field, but to all the salt fields in a sea area.

Among them, the county with the most salt fields is Yancheng County in Chuzhou. This Yancheng is the Yancheng of later generations.

Yancheng was originally called Yandu County. Because “there were salt fields all around the city”, it was renamed Yancheng County during the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

Li An followed Zhao Ceying to Yancheng County, but did not enter the county, but went directly to the salt field.

The salt fields were under the jurisdiction of special officials and were not under the control of local governments.

There are many salt fields in Yancheng County. Zhao Ceying did not have a specific target and just chose a salt field at random.

When thousands of imperial guards escorted the emperor to the salt field, the officials of the salt field seemed to be unaware of the situation and hurried out after hearing the news.

"Your Highness Prince Huan, I pay my respects to you!"

The leader was an official in his early thirties, his skin was a bit dark, perhaps because the salt field was close to the sea.

"No need to be polite!" Zhao Ceying waved his hand and said, "I am here to inspect the salt field. Please take me for a look."

(End of this chapter)