No, gentlemen also guard against

Chapter 733: If not on the table, then on the recipe [asking for a monthly ticket! ]

"Squeak-"

"Prince, Your Highness, I've been waiting for you for a long time."

Behind the main hall, after passing through the patio, is the innermost side hall.

Ouyang Rong pushed open a tightly closed wooden door, walked in quickly, and closed the door heavily at the same time.

In the side hall, the figures of Li Dalang, Li Guoer and the little junior sister came into view.

All three were waiting for him.

Outside the side hall, Zhen Shuyuan watched Ouyang Rong go in, then turned back to the main hall. On the surface, she was ordering the maid to see off the guest, but in fact she was just standing there quietly.

This side hall is located in the most remote corner behind the main hall. It is very quiet and is where Ouyang Rong specially uses to discuss matters with guests. Sometimes when something urgent happens, such as when Yan Liulang and Pei Shisan Niang have important information, Ouyang Rong will bring them directly in to discuss.

Zhen Shuyuan was responsible for guarding outside, acting as a keepout for them.

Because there were some close and distant guests last night, such as Li Dalang and Li Guoer, who all lived in the Huaiye Lane mansion, so Zhen Shuyuan and Yan Liulang got busy early this morning. The former saw them off, and the latter sent them to the dock to board the ship to leave Xun. They both performed Ouyang Rong's duties as hosts and saw everyone off, so Zhen Shuyuan got up quite early today. Li Dalang and Li Guoer had urgent matters to discuss, so she also arranged for them to come over...

"Dan Lang, I hope I didn't disturb you?"

Li Dalang was about to speak, but paused, as if observing Ouyang Rong's mental state. He couldn't help but ask first.

"What do you mean by not disturbing me?"

Ouyang Rong shook his head and said bluntly:
"Business is important. What letter did the palace send over early in the morning? What did it say?"

Li Dalang looked at Li Guoer.

Ouyang Rong also looked over there.

I saw Li Guoer, similar to yesterday, dressed in men's clothes, holding a cup of hot tea and looking down at something.

Ouyang Rong saw that she seemed to be holding a piece of letter paper with a few lines of words on it.

Xie Lingjiang sat aside, also tilting his head, and looked through the letter in his hand with Li Guoer.

After Ouyang Rong came in, neither of them greeted him. Only Xie Lingjiang subconsciously called out, but was suppressed by Ouyang Rong immediately.

She didn't move at all when Li Guo'er said that. When Ouyang Rong came in and called her, she just said "hmm" with her pretty face still showing a thoughtful look. Her mind seemed to be completely focused on the letter paper in her hand.

Ouyang Rong looked at him and asked:
"What did the letter say, and who was it from?"

"I don't know who it was. The letter was found at the gate of the palace. My mother found it when she was leading people out this morning. After seeing the content, she immediately gave it to my father, who then sent someone to deliver it in a hurry..."

Li Dalang smiled bitterly and said, then shouted to Li Guoer:

"Sister, believe me."

Before Li Guoer handed it over, Ouyang Rong had already strode up behind her.

Li Guo'er was sitting on a chair reading a letter. Ouyang Rong was behind the chair, bending slightly to check the letter in her hand.

Today, the girl with plum blossom makeup, who is still wearing a blue men's suit, seems to have just come back to her senses, still maintaining the posture of "a beauty sitting deep with frowning brows". At this moment, facing the man's breath, Li Guo'er slightly tilted her head, glancing at the handsome young man who is somewhat close to her, wondering what she is thinking at this moment.

"Leave……"

Ouyang Rong's attention was completely focused on the letter. He wanted to read it out loud, but he found that the first sentence of this mysterious letter was not suitable to be read out loud.

No wonder Dalang, the little princess and the little junior sister didn't say much and gestured for him to look at it himself.

Because this kind of name-calling is very impolite, but at the same time, the content of the letter is also very simple, just a few words:

[Li Xian, palace guards, don't be gullible. When a banquet begins, everyone should know which table they are sitting at. If you don't know which table you are sitting at, then you are the recipe on the table.]

In a word.

There is no signature or other superfluous content.

There is only this one sentence on such a big piece of letter paper.

It gives people the feeling that it was written casually and left behind when one happened to pass by the palace. It is a bit confusing at first glance.

Ouyang Rong was bent over with his hands behind his back, like an old man taking a hunched walk, and his posture did not change.

Xie Lingjiang turned his head and found that the eldest brother's eyes were narrowed.

After waiting for a while, no one spoke and the atmosphere became quiet.

"The latter part is a bit like a two-part allegorical saying."

Xie Lingjiang summarized first and broke the silence.

Li Guoer nodded slightly, speaking succinctly and concisely:
"Either sit at the table or serve on the menu. This is the truth, simple but not simple. We need to think about why the owner of the letter told us.

"Combined with the previous sentence, which warned father not to trust the palace guards, the latter sentence is a subtle indication of danger."

Li Dalang interrupted: "Why are you so sneaky and anonymous? Why don't you explain it clearly? It's so weird."

Xie Lingjiang frowned and asked, "Is it strange, bluffing, or a reminder? Is it a good guest or a bad guest? Why do we have to hide the words of a good guest? If it's a bad guest, who could it be? Who has a rift with us and is playing such a prank? Is it to sow discord between us and the guards of the palace?"

The three of them each had their own guesses. They looked at each other, shook their heads, and turned their gazes to Ouyang Rong, as if waiting for him to make up his mind.

"Where was the letter found?"

Ouyang Rong asked again.

Li Dalang replied, "At dawn, around 12:00 a.m., at the gate of the palace."

"Did the princess just happen to come across it?"

"Yes, mother, that's right."

Ouyang Rong straightened up, stretched out his hand and gestured for the letter paper.

Seeing this, Li Guoer handed over the letter.

Ouyang Rong glanced at the letter, which had black ink characters in unclear handwriting, and folded it up and put it in his arms.

"Let's go to the palace and see the prince first."

Li Dalang asked, "Tanlang is not going to the Big Buddha Festival?"

Ouyang Rong shook his head: "No hurry, on the way, let's go to the palace first. There will be a celebration in the morning, so I don't need to go too early."

Li Dalang and Li Guoer looked at each other, nodded slightly, and stood up to leave.

The four of them quickly went out and walked out of the side hall.

Ouyang Rong first signaled Xie, Li and the other two to wait for a moment. He went to get some things and then found Zhen Shuyuan to give her some instructions.

Moreover, the four of them gathered and set off, politely declining Zhen Shuyuan's polite offer to keep them for breakfast, and went to the stable at the back door, where they each climbed onto the carriage.

Soon, two carts, one small and one large, started and drove out of the Huaiye Lane mansion.

Ouyang Rong and Xie Lingjiang rode in a small carriage, driven by Ali.

Li Dalang and Li Guoer rode in the same car.

As soon as he got in the car, Ouyang Rong took the violin case from Xie Lingjiang's arms, which he had given to her before she left.

Ouyang Rong stuffed the full Mohist sword box into the old place under the seat.

Xie Lingjiang looked at it with a slightly frowned brow. She had just picked up the violin case and felt that it was heavier than usual. She wondered what extra stuff the senior brother had stuffed into it.

"Big Brother, this letter... is there any danger? Have you found any clues? Will something happen today?"

Ouyang Rong shook his head slightly but did not answer.

He touched the sword case under his seat and straightened his back again.

This zither-shaped sword box was almost filled up by him, and there were not many things left in the study of Yinbingzhai. This was not to prevent Xiu Niang, but because he had made preparations a few days ago, both for the birthday gift and for the celebration ceremony, in order to carefully spend these critical days.

He did not dare to be careless. For the birthday ceremony that was successfully concluded yesterday, he had observed the terrain early and prepared the six points, taking a steady and cautious approach.

As for the bronze mask and other items, he carried them with him and put them in his sleeves.

There is also a certain little ink spirit.

Ouyang Rong took out a small ink stick from his sleeve and scratched it with his fingers to wake it up. "Little Rong, take your dog's paw away! Where are you scratching? Xie girl, you don't care about him..."

Miao Si woke up drowsily, and after transforming, she stomped on his knees, put her hands on her hips, and cursed.

As expected, the person is small and his mind is small.

Ouyang Rong nodded.

Xie Lingjiang coaxed him: "Okay, don't be angry, Senior Brother may have learned some courage..."

Miao Si immediately crossed his arms and groaned:
"Hmph, it's useless to learn. I'm not afraid of it at all. I won't fall for it..."

The little ink spirit turned his head away with disdain.

Ouyang Rong took out the mysterious letter, folded the paper and tapped her forehead.

"Can you locate the owner of this letter, Lady Fairy?"

Miao Si saw that the two of them looked serious, so she said nothing. She skillfully pushed open the folded letter paper on Ouyang Rong's knees, sniffed the ink left and right, and from time to time she lay down like a fish, looking at the ceiling and touching her chin.

It was just like how Ouyang Rong used to lie on the bed and slack off under the pretext of thinking about difficult calculus problems when he was doing his calculus papers.

"Well."

Miao Si nodded thoughtfully, stood up, and put her hands behind her back.

Xie Lingjiang asked expectantly: "How is it?"

Miao Si nodded seriously: "I can't pinpoint it. The person who wrote the letter was very cautious. It seems that he tampered with it. There is no trace of the atmosphere and no literary style."

Xie Lingjiang looked disappointed.

Ouyang Rong asked, "Is it a boy or a girl?"

Miao Si said: "A woman, at least the writer is a woman, but she wrote with her left hand which she doesn't use often, so there is no obvious trace of a woman's handwriting, but I can't hide it from this fairy, besides..."

She glanced at Ouyang Rong and suddenly asked:

"Did you see that too?"

Xie Lingjiang looked around at them in confusion: "What did you see?"

Miao Si pointed at the inconspicuous piece of paper and said:
"This kind of paper is commonly used by government offices. Anyway, I have seen Xiao Rongzi use it a lot in his daily office work. It seems that all government offices in Jiangzhou use this kind of paper."

Xie Lingjiang discovered that the eldest senior brother's expression did not show the slightest bit of surprise, and it was obvious that he had already discovered it.

"arrive."

Ouyang Rong suddenly spoke, put away his thoughts, and got off the car first.

After a stick of incense.

Everyone gathered in the study of the palace.

Ouyang Rong took the lead in talking about the origin of the paper, which was consistent with what Miao Si had just said.

However, the reason why he was able to see through the paper at the first time was because when Rong Zhen was tracing the aura of the torn paper of the owner of Butterfly Love Flower, he investigated the texture and origin of the paper, and Ouyang Rong also learned a lesson.

Ouyang Rong said directly:
"Obviously, the person who left the letter was most likely a member of an official family, and judging by the handwriting, it could be a woman...

"There is another detail. This letter was not just dropped at the door. There would be a lot of people coming and going at the gate. The timing was so good that Li Congshan, Miaozhen or the patrolling White Tiger Guards would not find it.

"Obviously, this person is very familiar with the defense system of our palace, and he also clearly knows the princess' habit of going out in the morning these days. In the letter, this person also reminds us not to trust the palace guards..."

Having said this, Ouyang Rong stopped talking.

Everyone looked at each other.

It seemed like he was thinking of something.

Xie Lingjiang Qiao had a complicated expression on her face and asked, "Last night, Rong Zhen seemed to be staying in the city."

Ouyang Rong lowered his eyes: "Yes, I heard from Liu Lang that it's from the Supervisory Council."

Li Dalang couldn't help but say:
"So, she didn't just come here to give Madam Zhen a gift, but actually had this other purpose? No wonder she was so low-key at the dinner party yesterday, and there wasn't much noise..."

After hearing the latter sentence, Ouyang Rong, who had been thinking calmly, looked over with a frown. Li Dalang immediately covered his mouth and coughed, looking around.

Li Guoer, who was standing next to him, relaxed his frown a little:

"It is possible, but it is hard to prove. Since she gave the tip anonymously, she probably didn't want us to find her. There is no point asking. I just don't know what rumors she heard that prompted her to make an exception and give the tip."

Xie Lingjiang nodded seriously: "No matter what, it has verified our concerns to some extent. Ever since Li Congshan and Miao Zhen brought people here to protect the palace, we have never fully trusted them, and our eldest brother has already made arrangements."

After a pause, she said in a somewhat inexplicable tone:
"From this perspective, she left this letter, no matter whether the information is accurate or not, at least she has good intentions."

Everyone nodded in approval.

Li Xian pondered and asked:
"Tan Lang, tell me, is Rong... is this person reminding me of the celebration ceremony?"

Everyone couldn't help but look at each other, and their eyes were all cast on the calm Ouyang Rong.

Ouyang Rong was silent for a moment and was about to speak when the palace's old steward Shun Bo suddenly rushed in from outside.

He sent the message:
"Tan Lang, someone is looking for you outside."

Xie Lingjiang tilted his head: "Who is it?"

Shun Bo said respectfully:
"It was a lady from the Overwatch Council named Rong Zhen. She said she was very familiar with you and that she had some urgent official business and had to see you. She seemed to have gone to Huaiye Lane but didn't find you..."

Inside the study, the air suddenly became quiet.

Everyone looked at Ouyang Rong.

If I remember correctly, this Ms. Rong Zhen seldom comes to Xunyang Palace. Unlike Miao Zhen who likes to come and spy, she almost never takes sides in public. The last time she came was on the night of the Lantern Festival dinner at the palace, when she came to look for someone, also in the name of official business, to find Ouyang Rong.

I don’t know if he is a workaholic or if he makes an exception for someone specifically.

It was Xie Lingjiang who spoke first:

"Go ahead, big brother. At this critical moment, it is probably an urgent matter."

Li Guoer chuckled when she heard this.

Li Xian, Li Dalang, and Wei Mei also heard something strange in the last sentence. What did "it is very likely an urgent matter" mean? Was it definitely not the case last time?

Ouyang Rong wanted to speak: "Junior sister..."

Xie Lingjiang stretched out her hand to interrupt him. She stuffed the letter from the mysterious man into his hand and calmly ordered:
"That's great. Let's test it out and see if it's her."

Everyone nodded: "That's right, Tan Lang, go and try it."

Ouyang Rong looked around.

"Wait a moment, everyone."

After leaving this sentence, he quickly left.

……

Huaiye Lane, Yinbingzhai.

In the bedroom, the embroiderer was packing up her things. She sat sideways on the edge of the bed and quietly folded clean clothes.

After Ouyang Rong went out, she spent the whole morning in the house, cleaning it thoroughly.

At this moment, a voice sounded from outside the door:
"Where are you going, Sister Xiu Niang?"

Zhao Qingxiu's back paused slightly.

Ye Weilai crossed her arms and leaned against the door, staring at the back of a pretty girl who was doing housework inside the door.

Her eyes fell on Zhao Qingxiu's tied-up hair.