My wife has a secret

Chapter 240 Family Banquet
"The most important point is that there is more than one person in the Si Tian Jian who can understand the secret code. There are several high-ranking people in the Si Tian Jian who are well versed in this matter and are responsible for calculating the weather and drawing the Ziwei constellation."

Cao Teng now finally understood why the saint who was worshipped as a god in the White Lotus Sect fell into the hands of Shen Shuangxu.

When he was previously accepted into Chengxuanfang, he did not care about the reputation of this talented lady from the capital because the two had little contact.

Now it seems that I underestimated the enemy.

"I've told you everything you want to know."

Shen Shuangxu asked slowly, "Now it's your turn to tell me how the White Lotus Cult infiltrated the Imperial Observatory and got so many people to work for them..."

Cao Teng's expression eased slightly, and he grinned, "So what if I fall into your hands? Do you think that I, Cao Teng, who has seen three emperors and is a well-known figure in the palace, will listen to a rebel like you who relies on others' power?"

Facing the eunuch Cao Teng's shrill insults, Shen Shuangxu's expression remained calm and he did not cause any ripples.

She just emphasized to Cao Teng: "The emperor has limited tolerance for the White Lotus rebels. He has issued an oral order that any traitor who is captured and brought to justice can be tortured to death and sentenced to death."

Cao Teng's originally somewhat smug expression turned into gloom and embarrassment at this moment.

He has always been proud of his identity and status in the palace, but after becoming a prisoner, how can he still have these things?

In order to get the White Lotus' hidden methods and intelligence, Chengxuanfang will definitely stop at nothing.

"It's been a long time... No one has dared to be so rude to me."

Cao Teng was halfway through his words when he straightened his back as if he had made up his mind and took out a small bottle that he had prepared long ago.

What is contained in it is a poison specially made by the palace. As long as you bite the black shell of the pill, the legendary poison will flow down the throat into the stomach and spread to the internal organs.

"Cao Teng."

Hearing the shout, Cao Teng sneered disdainfully, thinking that Shen Shuangxu saw that the situation was not good and was preparing to use some method to persuade him to surrender.

But when he caught a glimpse of a thin figure, his originally calm expression completely disappeared, leaving only horror and disbelief.

A man appeared in the originally empty space.

I had met the other party once when he briefly took over Chengxuanfang. I knew that this man was the saint's nephew, the current celebrity Xu Qing.

But he suddenly appeared here, without any soldiers, but holding the hand of a young child.

"As smart as you are, you should know the identity of this child, right?"

Seeing the weak spot in front of him, Cao Teng’s pretended calmness could no longer be controlled. He collapsed to the ground with a pale face, muttering: "Don't touch her, I will tell you, I will tell you..."

Xu Qing looked at the black pills scattered all over the ground, and his anxious mood calmed down at this moment.

Finally, at the most critical moment, he completed the task assigned to him by Shen Shuangxu.

……

When Shen Shuangxu returned to Beijing two days in advance, he suspended all intelligence from Chengxuanfang, closed all channels, and prepared to conduct a thorough investigation of the White Lotus spies entrenched in the square.

Before Ming Shan Yongpei started to examine herself, she focused her gaze and attention on the Sitianjian.

After all, the Sitianjian was an idle position that only dealt with astronomy and fortune-telling, and the number of people working there was limited. Therefore, after conducting an investigation, Shen Shuangxu set his sights on Cao Teng.

The roster said that Cao Teng had briefly served as a personal eunuch of Emperor Heng of Qi. He was good at guessing other people's minds and was a capable person.

However, in his entire resume, there is a brief record that when he was out of the palace to handle his own family affairs, he bought a house in a county near the capital.

This is extremely abnormal.

Because the eunuchs selected into the palace were all castrated at a young age, even if they had elderly parents at home, they would not leave their hometown to live in an unfamiliar place for a long time if they had lived to his age.

Therefore, Shen Shuangxu, who found the clues, asked Xu Qing to investigate the matter, while he continued to stay in Chengxuanfang, pretending to be investigating within the square to prove his own identity.

When Xu Qing arrived at the residence, he inquired through various means and found out that the woman living there was Cao Teng's old friend and had a daughter with him.

At the beginning, Cao Teng's father had bribed the eunuch in charge of the matter with a large sum of money, which resulted in incomplete castration. Therefore, Cao Teng was able to recover some functions in the following days and made the wife he married from his hometown pregnant.

However, due to the exposure of this matter, he lost the favor of Emperor Heng of Qi and was exiled to the Imperial Observatory as a eunuch with an idle position.

It took Xu Qing a whole day to rush to Chengxuanfang with the young girl, which was quite a coincidence.

"how?"

When Shen Shuangxu came out of the interrogation room, Xu Qing, who had been waiting at the door for a long time, couldn't help but ask: "Is there any key information in what Cao Teng confessed?"

The biggest characteristic of the White Lotus Sect is its mystery, hiding in dark corners.

As long as he knew where these people were entrenched and where the key teaching platform was, Xu Qing could report to his aunt and mobilize part of the army to deal with this hidden danger.

"No."

Shen Shuangxu shook his head, his cold face showing no change in expression.

"We already knew about the general structure of the White Lotus Sect, the existence of the Four Seasons Envoy and the Big Dipper... The person who was responsible for connecting with Cao Teng's intelligence and sorting out the secret documents and conveying the instructions in the palace was also the Princess Danyang who had been under house arrest for a long time."

Although Xu Qing had long ago given up hope for the traitor's confession, he still felt a tightness in his heart when he heard the news.

Then, his eyes became a little confused. He felt that the information from the White Lotus Sect had been interrupted and there were no other clues.

After all, Princess Danyang had confessed to him in person that Envoy Xia Chang, who was now leading the troops in rebellion, was no longer Envoy Si Ji who obeyed the orders of the White Lotus Sect.

"But not all the information in Cao Teng's confession is useless. At least Chengxuanfang is back under the control of Qi State, and there is no need to worry about information leaks. Moreover... three of the Four Seasons Envoys of the White Lotus Sect have appeared, and the Seven Star Gods have also shown up to varying degrees."

Shen Shuangxu speculated, "To this day, the only ones whose whereabouts remain mysterious are... the leader of the White Lotus Sect and the last Autumn Harvest Envoy."

"No, there is one more person."

Xu Qing's eyes were filled with vigilance as he reminded, "The White Lotus Sect's most powerful star master, Tianshu, has never appeared before."

……

Although the entire capital was shrouded in the pre-war haze, the backyard of the Guangping Marquis's Mansion was still decorated with lights and a little red cloth.

The reason why it went against the government's curfew order was that this was the first time Xu Qing and Shen Shuangxu stepped into the gate of the Marquis' Mansion after returning to the capital from Chengxuanfang.

Qin Shuying felt that this could be considered a happy occasion of moving into a new house.

Therefore, she specifically ordered Cui'er and Yang Liu to take out the wine hidden in the wine cellar, and ordered the servants in the kitchen to prepare six dishes and a soup, which were placed on the table in the backyard to welcome the two of them.

Therefore, Xu Qing, who had just got off the carriage and learned about this from Xiaohuan, was slightly stunned, and blamed Qin Shuying in his heart for meddling in other people's business.

Everyone knew that Shen Shuangxu was a very cold and indifferent person. She had lived a life of abstinence in the Shen Mansion and never participated in any activities organized by Shen Nianyan. Now the two of them had only formed a short-term alliance to jointly deal with the White Lotus Sect, and they had not broken their apparent husband-and-wife relationship.

Why did Qin Shuying feel that Shen Shuangxu would attend the family dinner at the Guangping Marquis' Mansion?
After informing Xu Qing, Xiaohuan lifted up her emerald green pleated skirt and trotted back a few steps.

Before she could stop in front of the carriage and greet Shen Shuangxu in the carriage, the muscular woman driving the carriage turned her eyes and looked up and down at the delicate girl who jumped out of Xu's mansion.

It must be said that Mingzhu's physique and appearance were so intimidating that Xiaohuan was frightened. She stood there, stammering and unable to utter a word.

Finally, Xu Qing couldn't bear it anymore and coughed lightly to remind her. This made the little girl blush and she quickly bowed her head to greet Shen Shuangxu.

"Hello, Madam."

Shen Shuangxu's reputation in Suzhou had left a deep impression on Xiaohuan, so her etiquette movements were extremely neat, not daring to show the slightest disrespect.

"Get up."

Shen Shuangxu spoke in her signature indifferent tone. After all, she was like this on a normal day and had no interest in most things, so there were rumors that she was an iceberg beauty who was out of reach.

"Thank you, Madam."

Xiao Huan kept in mind the task that the Fourth Young Madam had given her, and said, "Madam, the Fourth Young Madam said that the mansion has found a famous chef from Guanzhong today, who has specially prepared delicious dishes and famous wines... Please taste them, Madam."

Shen Shuangxu originally lifted the curtain of the carriage, preparing to order Mingzhu to drive the carriage back to the Shen Mansion to continue handling the affairs of Chengxuanfang.

After all, she was most familiar with the environment of the Shen Mansion, and all the idle servants there had been dismissed by her father, so no outsiders would interfere with her.

But when he heard the dish in Xiaohuan's mouth, he swallowed unconsciously.

"Today... I have traveled for such a long time and I am very tired."

After saying that, Shen Shuangxu turned his eyes to Xu Qing, who had already gotten off the car and was watching the show on the side.

Xu Qing, who originally thought that Shen Shuangxu would never enter the mansion, was dumbfounded when he saw this scene, but at this juncture, he couldn't think of a reason to refuse the other party, so he blinked and said, "In this case, why don't you go into the mansion to eat something and rest?"

When Xu Qing said this, there was still some uncertainty in his heart.

He was the Marquis of Guangping Marquisate, but Shen Shuangxu was also nominally a marquise, so she had good reasons to stay overnight in the mansion.

"Alright."

So after Shen Shuangxu nodded in agreement, Mingzhu drove the carriage without changing his expression, passed Xu Qing's shabby carriage, and drove into the Guangping Marquis Mansion through the main gate.

Xiaohuan looked at this scene, jumped happily, and returned to Xu Qing.

The pendant on her hairpin also swayed, like two little rabbits moving up and down, which was very cute.

"Master, the eldest young lady has been invited to the Marquis' Mansion by Xiaohuan."

"Well, you're awesome."

Xu Qingchao gave her a thumbs up, but his face was full of helplessness and reluctance.

When he came to the capital from Suzhou, he had traveled with Shen Shuangxu and had meals with him... That guy didn't have any fun or humanity at all, like a piece of cold ice.

I had thought that returning to the Marquis' Mansion, I might be able to improve my relationship with the Third Wife, Lu, whom I had been thinking about day and night. But the whole plan was ruined when the First Wife came to the table for dinner.

Xiaohuan thought that her young master was praising her for being smart and capable, so she lowered her head shyly and pinched her fair and tender hands.

……

Guangping Marquis Mansion, the main house in the backyard.

The place where the family dinner was held was the house where the Prince of Dongwan lived previously. Because it had the largest space, it could not escape Qin Shuying's arrangement and was transformed into a main hall.

After all, the location of this house is too convenient in the mansion, and it is almost the same distance to everywhere. It is just right for everyone to come here to eat and chat after finishing their work.

At this moment, this renovated room is filled with aromatherapy, the fragrance is thick and refreshing.

In the room filled with fragrance and wisps of smoke, many young girls gathered around the table.

From a distance, it looks like a paradise on earth.

Of course, except Xu Qing.

"Hello, husband."

Xu Qing took Xiaohuan to take a seat, and Shen Shuangxu, Lu Wanhe and Qin Shuying sat down in the order of the first, third and fourth rooms and sat in their own seats.

Because the etiquette rules of wealthy families are rather rigid, even though the second branch did not attend the family dinner, a set of empty bowls and chopsticks were still placed on the table, indicating that each chair had its own owner.

Behind each room stood a personal maid, who was responsible for picking up dishes that were too far away for their master, or serving rice and pouring water. Behind Lu Wanhe also stood Ji Xia, whom he had not seen for a long time.

"They are all familiar faces."

Xu Qing suddenly discovered that this lineup was not much different from the scene when he first traveled through time and arrived at Xu Mansion in Suzhou.

Qin Shuying turned her round and smooth body, placed her slender hands on her well-developed chest, covered her lips with her hands and smiled softly, "Husband, what are you talking about?"

For some reason, Xu Qing felt that Qin Shuying had become the same as when they first met, more charming and gorgeous.

The two of them had just met in the mansion in the morning, and the makeup on her face was not as delicate and charming as this one. How come it changed after a few hours?

"Um……"

Xu Qing didn't know how to answer, but Qin Shuying took the initiative to stand up and recommended herself to Shen Shuangxu who was sitting next to her: "Sister Shen, today's dishes are all prepared by our fourth room. Why don't I introduce these specialties to you?"

Relying on his keen sense of smell, Xu Qing sensed a hint of gunpowder.

He hoped he was wrong.

"it is good."

Shen Shuangxu responded indifferently, and Qin Shuying's beautiful face showed no displeasure or disappointment. Instead, she smiled enthusiastically and said, "Sister Shen was born in the capital like Shuying, and has lived in the capital for a long time. She may not have a detailed understanding of her husband's hometown. Therefore, the chef we hired this time cooks the best Jiangsu and Zhejiang cuisine in the capital, and the pot-sticked chicken and squirrel mandarin fish are the most famous."

Shen Shuangxu listened to Qin Shuying's recommendation, took a few bites and said, "That's thoughtful."

She was not good at praising others, but in Mingzhu's opinion, this evaluation was already a good one.

"As long as Sister Shen likes it."

(End of this chapter)