My wife has a secret

Chapter 74 Beyond Calculation
Shen Shuangxu didn't look away, trying his best to make Xu Qing disappear from his sight.

She said in a light and calm tone: "This is your own idea."

"So what's your idea?"

Shen Shuangxu had expected Xu Qing to have doubts, so he said calmly, "I want to know what the White Lotus Sect's Envoy Chunsheng is planning."

Xu Qing was confused and asked, "Wasn't the Spring Envoy arrested and taken to the Ministry of Justice? The remaining Spring Envoy can't perform evil magic, so what is there to worry about?"

"The circumstances under which Chunsheng was caught were different from those of others."

Shen Shuangxu flipped through the intelligence letters in front of him, making a rustling sound.

"According to the case records of the Dali Temple, the Chunsheng Envoy was arrested during a gathering to summon wind and rain, and drive away thunder and lightning. Intelligence said that the two Chunsheng Envoys happened to summon thunderclouds, exhausting their energy, so they were able to capture the main envoy."

“At first glance, there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong.”

Shen Shuangxu raised her head slightly and glared at Xu Qing with her beautiful eyes.

She didn't know whether this annoying guy really didn't understand or was pretending not to understand in order to make her waste more time talking to him.

"Judging from the White Lotus' past style of doing things, the Envoy of Four Seasons and the Lord of the Big Dipper have a high status in the sect, especially the former... who leads the specific steps of the White Lotus' various plans and is unlikely to be a pawn that is casually abandoned."

"For example, the Winter Hidden Envoy we found in Suzhou hid his identity. If it weren't for the relationship with the Third House, Chengxuanfang wouldn't even know who Master Liu was."

Thinking of the Winter Storage Envoy, Xu Qing couldn't help but feel a little scared.

Thinking about it afterwards, the reason why we were able to uncover Master Liu's true identity was because of the layout of the first wife, Shen, and the flaws he revealed in the backyard.

If Master Liu did things without considering their old friendship, the result would be different.

"The Winter Hidden Envoy is the least experienced of the Four Seasons Envoys. You can imagine the strength of the other three Envoys."

Shen Shuangxu said slowly, "From the records in the case file, it was too easy for the Dali Temple to arrest him. Besides...calling the wind and rain, driving thunder and lightning, these things are not sustainable. The Dali Temple's files and records are not credible."

Although Shen Shuangxu's statement was just her own guess, her suspicion about the case was logical.

Xu Qing also didn't believe that the two envoys of Chunsheng could call the wind and rain and had magical powers like gods.

"Assuming that Envoy Chunsheng was arrested on purpose and imprisoned in accordance with the cult's plan, then all of this makes sense."

When Xu Qing was listening attentively, Shen Shuangxu stopped talking abruptly, put his hand on his knees, and brushed off the dust on his legs.

Xu Qing waited for a while, but heard nothing further.

"Gone?"

"if not?"

"Why did the two envoys of Chunsheng let the brothers enter the prison of the Ministry of Justice alone? There must be torture inside... And the time of hiding is too long, isn't it?"

Facing Xu Qing's question, Shen Shuangxu frowned and said, "It is precisely because I don't know that I sent you to the prison to look for clues."

Xu Qing was about to say something when the carriage suddenly jolted and stopped on the road.

Then, a broad and calm middle-aged male voice came out.

"I am Fang Ziqian, the governor of Jingdu Prefecture, and I have come to the city gate to welcome the Prime Minister's daughter, Ms. Shen. May I ask if the people in the carriage are Xu Qing, the son of the Xu family, and Ms. Shen's Shen Shuangxu?"

"Yes."

Shen Shuangxu remained as indifferent as ever towards outsiders and didn't want to say even a single word.

"Great! I have been waiting here for a long time and finally got to see you two adults... By the way, why are the Royal Guards and Yinshan Tiger and Leopard Cavalry not here? Didn't they say they were here too?"

The man in official uniform outside the carriage wiped the sweat off his face and looked around.

The Tiger and Leopard Cavalry are the personal soldiers dispatched by the emperor himself and have an important status. He does not want to offend them.

"A hundred miles from the capital, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry turned back to Yinshan... The laws of the Great Qi Dynasty strictly prohibit the stationing of any guards and entry of any army other than the imperial guards in the capital."

Fang Ziqian put down his bow and looked towards the source of the voice, where he saw a strong woman eight feet tall.

The other person was muscular and had a square face like a man.

"This is... the legendary strongman Mingzhu, right? I have heard of your name for a long time and admired you for a long time..."

Mingzhu is quite famous in the capital, and since she is always by Shen Shuangxu's side, she is very recognizable.

Fang Ziqian smiled and said, "I didn't expect Miss Mingzhu to be not only strong and brave...but also so clear about the military rules. She is worthy of being Miss Shen's close friend."

Mingzhu sat astride the front row of the carriage, looking at Fang Ziqian with cold eyes, her expression not softening in the slightest.

She said in a cold voice: "Here are the customs documents along the way, with the official seals and emblems of various prefects... Do you know that the person you will be escorting is my young lady's husband, the nephew of the current empress dowager?"

Fang Ziqian smiled and said, "I understand."

"If anything goes wrong, I will go to Kyoto Prefecture to ask for someone."

Fang Ziqian was so frightened that he was sweating profusely, but he still forced a smile and nodded repeatedly, saying, "I understand, Miss Mingzhu, please rest assured... and Miss Shen, please rest assured!"

After Fang Ziqian bowed to Mingzhu, he bowed deeply towards the direction of the carriage.

After a while, the curtain door was opened from the inside, and a young man walked slowly out of the car.

"Mr. Xu, please come this way..."

Fang Ziqian waved his hand quickly, and his men in the back drove out an airtight ox cart and drove it to the front.

This oxcart is a special vehicle used by the Ministry of Justice to escort difficult targets. The vehicle body is long and narrow, and opaque.

After seeing Mr. Xu leisurely get into the carriage, Fang Ziqian dared to wipe his sweat and bid farewell to Shen's carriage.

The escorted convoy walked forward for a distance and entered a remote street in the capital. One of the subordinates rode forward on horseback.

"Sir, isn't the Xu family going to fall? Was our attitude just now too humble?"

Fang Ziqian glanced at him and asked, "Old Zhao, as the governor of Jingdu, I didn't know that the Xu family was going to fall. Where did you hear about it?"

"Hmm? But isn't it said in the streets and alleys... that the young master of the Xu family was implicated because of those poems, and that he is about to be executed by the emperor..."

The subordinate called Lao Zhao said a few words, but knowing that the topic was sensitive, he concealed the key points.

Fang Ziqian sighed and said, "Things in the court are not as simple as the rumors in the market. If you stand on the wrong side... you will be beheaded."

"Your Excellency is exercising caution?"

"What do you mean by being cautious? Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the Xu family is not doomed...Have you heard about the society in front of Xuefu Street last night?"

"heard."

"Doctor of Imperial College, Master Nie convened this meeting... But who was the real speaker standing on the stage? It was the third wife of the Xu family, Lu."

Fang Ziqian rode his horse and said swayingly, "A woman, using the influence of the master, can call on all the scholars in the capital to write a letter together. Can this be an ordinary person?"

The academic meeting in Beijing yesterday has become the hottest topic at the moment.

I heard that the list compiled by thousands of students was presented to the palace, keeping the lights in the Xuanzheng Hall on all night.

"You have to know that the third room that has caused unrest in the palace is just the least prominent concubine of the young master of the Xu family. If he really has something wrong, can Shen, as the legal wife, still sit still?"

"Your Excellency's opinion is brilliant, and I cannot surpass it."

Fang Ziqian waved his hands with a dejected look on his face.

"What insight? It's just that after spending more time here, I know how to speak to people in a human way and to speak to ghosts in a ghost way."

……

Watching the official convoy going farther and farther away and gradually fading out of sight, Mingzhu asked anxiously: "Miss, the governor of Kyoto should be a smart man, right?" Shen Shuangxu said lightly: "If you are worried, you can accompany him to the Ministry of Justice Prison."

"Miss, I'm worried that you won't be able to explain yourself when you return home. Given the master's temper..."

"It doesn't matter."

Hearing the young lady's catchphrase, Mingzhu knew that the young lady had made up her mind, so she said nothing more and drove towards the Shen Mansion.

As the carriage passed through the main street at the city gate, Shen Shuangxu seemed to have remembered something and asked, "We have been out for so long, why is there no news from the Xu family?"

Shen Shuangxu was in charge of Chengxuanfang and closely monitored Suzhou's every move.

But what surprised her was that during the time she sent Xu Qing to Beijing, there was no news from home at all.

Judging from the personalities of the third and fourth wives, neither of them seems like the kind of woman who would sit there and wait for death, accepting her fate.

Especially since the Third House had deep feelings for Xu Qing and had connections with her master in the capital, how could they just watch Xu Qing go to jail and do nothing?
"Miss, I don't know either."

Just as Shen Shuangxu was frowning, a carrier pigeon flew into the car window and landed in front of her.

Shen Shuangxu stretched out her slender, white jade-like hand, removed the envelope from the pigeon's leg, and read the contents.

The message in the letter was extremely ordinary, but the perceptive Shen Shuangxu sensed something strange.

Because the time in the letter did not match the time of the last intelligence she received, there was a three-day gap between the two.

"The news from Chengxuanfang has been cut off..."

"How could that be? Miss, you are the owner of Chengxuanfang. Who can cut off your news..."

Mingzhu stopped the carriage halfway through her words.

Born in Chengxuanfang, she knew very well that although the owner of the square was the highest-ranking official in Chengxuanfang, the entire Chengxuanfang served the Empress Dowager.

The person who could suppress the news was naturally the Queen Mother herself.

"Miss, you..."

Shen Shuangxu bit her thin lips lightly, and her fair lips revealed bright red blood, which dyed her pearly teeth bright.

She knew in her heart that this was the Queen Mother's dissatisfaction with her behavior.

Although the Queen Mother favors me, it does not mean that I can do whatever I want and not act according to her wishes.

The previous incident of Xu Qing being poisoned had displeased the Queen Mother Feng Yan, who called her over and gave her a beating.

Now that the intelligence in the market has been suspended, the meaning is self-evident.

"No, she is not such a simple person... The intelligence suppressed by Chengxuanfang must contain more important information. Mingzhu, change the car and go to Kang's Rice Shop."

"Yes."

Kang's Rice Shop was a secret communication base in Chengxuanfang. Although Mingzhu didn't understand why the young lady was so nervous, she still changed the direction of the carriage, turned around along the street, and came to the rice shop.

When the clerk at the door of the rice shop saw that it was the Shen family's carriage coming, he put a closed sign on the door frame.

Mingzhu jumped off the carriage and rushed into the door in a hurry.

"Give me intelligence on the capital within three days, from any channel."

The owner of the rice shop standing at the counter looked up at Mingzhu, then lowered his gaze and continued calculating on the abacus in front of him.

"Can't understand what I'm saying?"

The boss said calmly: "Chengxuanfang has issued an order that any news about the capital city must be banned for three days. There are still three incense sticks left until the fourth day, so please be patient..."

"boom!"

Mingzhu clenched her fists and jumped out.

Her tremendous strength crushed the counter to pieces and even reached the top of the boss's head.

Then she hung him up like an eagle lifting a chick.

"Either give me the news, or I'll roll you into a meat pie."

The boss swallowed and his Adam's apple moved up and down.

Although he was not afraid of life or death, he did not want to die so miserably.

What's more, Miss Shen is her immediate superior, and she can get the information she wants by just asking around on the street.

"Put me down... and I'll give it to you."

Mingzhu took a few pieces of letter paper, confirmed the special mark of Chengxuanfang on them, turned around and went back to the car.

"Miss, here are the things."

"Ah."

Shen Shuangxu took the letter and read what had happened in the capital in recent days.

Sure enough, Lu arrived in the capital as she expected.

The other party contacted Master Nie and gave a lecture in front of Xuefu Street, where he came up with a set of saintly truths.

"The third room has a reserved and gentle personality, so it's hard for her to achieve this."

Shen Shuangxu made a comment and casually turned to the next page.

Suddenly, her pupils shrank and her heart started pounding.

"Qin has also returned to the capital."

Mingzhu, who was waiting outside the door, was a little confused.

In her opinion, the third room had never traveled far, and coming to the capital might surprise the young lady.

The fourth branch was originally from Wangyue Tower in the capital, so returning to the capital was not something worth mentioning.

"The letter said that she had resumed her old job and had called on all the nobles in the capital to come and show her support..."

"Miss, it seems that the fourth house Qin Shi is a dog that can't change its nature. As soon as she saw that the Xu family was weak, she wanted to give up on him. It's a pity that you deliberately arranged her to be with the young master, giving her a chance to rise to prominence in vain."

Mingzhu felt that the fourth room's behavior was not surprising. A dissolute woman who came from a brothel was such a snobbish person.

"Mingzhu, go to Wangyue Tower, quickly!"

Hearing the young lady's anxious voice, Mingzhu did not dare to slack off and hurriedly sat in the front of the car.

On the way, she asked in confusion: "Miss, why are you so concerned about a prostitute?"

There was silence in the car for a while, and then Shen Shuangxu asked a question.

"Do you know... why I used Qin as bait in the trap I set up in Suzhou?"

"I don't know."

"Then you know that the White Lotus Sect's Yaoguang Xingjun is an expert in assassination. Why did he choose to jump out of the window and leave when you and I appeared... instead of killing Qin and then leaving?"

Mingzhu had read the intelligence about the White Lotus Sect and knew that Yaoguang Star Lord could kill one person every ten steps, so he was no ordinary person in the martial arts world.

If he wanted to, he could just cut off Qin's head and run away.

(End of this chapter)