Prince! The political conspiracy is not a play, the show is real

The New Year's Eve dinner was held in the main hall of the Shi Mansion.

When Tao Yao arrived, everyone else was already there.

In the hall, there was a large pear wood octagonal table covered with a maroon brocade tablecloth with splashes of gold. There were more than fifty dishes on the table.

Although Shi Yiqian held an important official position and earned a lot of salary over the years, he always ordered that everything in the Shi family's household affairs be kept simple. This was the first time he had been so extravagant as today.

Following Shi Yiqian's instructions, Tao Yao did dress up nicely today.

She did not wear the dress that Shi Yiqian gave her, but a peach-pink dress with butterfly patterns and flowers. Her black hair was half tied up and half loose, with a water-red peach blossom pinned on her temples. She had a little makeup on her face, and the light pink lip balm made her cheeks look like snow.

The most beautiful thing about her is her eyes, just like her name, as beautiful as peach blossoms and full of spring.

A familiar voice reached Taoyao's ears from the banquet: "In the dead of winter, where did such an intoxicating peach blossom appear?"

Tao Yao looked in the direction of the voice and found that it was the man she met in the pavilion by the pond in the back garden that morning.

When Shi Yiqian saw her arrive, he said with a slight annoyance, "Why are you so late? Everyone is waiting for you."

Tao Yao bowed and was about to apologize when she heard the man say, "Hey, General Shi, please don't make things difficult for her. A beautiful girl like this shouldn't have a sad look on her face."

Shi Yiqian couldn't refute the man, so he winked at Tao Yao and said, "Hurry up and take a seat!"

Tao Yao looked around the table and found that it was full of people except for the seat next to the man.

Shi Lanxin was sitting next to Shi Yiqian at this moment. She never missed any opportunity to show off, and she was dressed up tonight.

Not to mention her hair full of gold and silver jewellery, and her bright red jacket and skirt with golden butterflies and flowers, the bright red lipstick she used on her lips today was enough to make her the most eye-catching person at the table.

Huai Ling held a grudge against her and cursed inwardly, "Conspicuous bag."

Tao Yao immediately pinched Huai Ling's palm in the dark, and warned her with her eyes not to talk nonsense. The atmosphere in the scene today was not right. Tao Yao just wanted to eat in peace and not cause any more trouble.

Shi Yiqian coughed and cleared his throat, then introduced the man to Tao Yao, "This is Mr. Zhou Yan, the general merchant of the Hangzhou Dyeing and Weaving Workshop."

In the dim candlelight, Tao Yao looked at the face of the man named Zhou Yan, but a strange feeling arose in her heart. She had just seen him in the morning, so why did he seem like a different person when she saw him again at night?

Seeing that she was dazed and stunned, Shi Yiqian coughed a few more times and reminded her, "Why don't you bow quickly?"

Tao Yao then bowed to Zhou Yan again. Zhou Yan smiled warmly, pulled out the chair next to him, and said softly to her, "Come and sit down."

Tao Yao hesitated for a moment, but finally went over and sat down obediently. As soon as she sat down, Zhou Yan handed her a cup of hot tea.

Shi Yiqian quickly said, "Mr. Zhou, please don't frustrate my daughter."

Zhou Yan, however, was completely unconcerned and said in a familiar voice, "Tao Yao and I have already met before. Alas, I heard earlier that the second young lady of the Shi family was a monster that consumed the five poisons. Although I always thought it was just a rumor and a joke, now that I see her, there is no such thing as a scary monster at all. She is clearly a fairy as beautiful as jade and as pretty as a flower."

Tao Yao was surprised that even though she was a little late, Zhou Yan already knew her name.

As he spoke, Zhou Yan fixed his eyes on her face with an ambiguous look that made her feel uncomfortable all over.

At this time, Shi Lanxin's face looked a little ugly, and the bright red lipstick could not cover the slightly trembling corners of her mouth. But as she put the wine into her mouth, her eyes were full of smiles, and she looked towards Tao Yao as if she was watching a show.

Tao Yao was under the dual gazes of Zhou Yan and Shi Lanxin, and she couldn't help but feel uneasy in her heart.

Tao Yao buried her head in her food, and secretly looked at everyone at the table with the rim of the bowl that covered half of her face. Except for Shi Yiqian, Zhu Fengsheng, Shi Lanxin and other people from the mansion, she didn't recognize the others - judging by their clothes and conversation, they seemed to have come with Zhou Yan.

There was a woman in her thirties or forties sitting at the table on the other side of Zhou Yan. She would glance over at Tao Yao from time to time.

Whenever Tao Yao noticed someone looking back, she would hurriedly glance aside, pretending to stand up generously and go with Shi Yiqian to serve tea.

From listening to their words, Tao Yao vaguely learned that this woman was Shi Yan's wife, and everyone just called her Mrs. Zhou.

The meal was quite bland.

There were more than fifty dishes on the table, but the people eating at the table were not paying attention to the food at all.

Tao Yao originally wanted to eat to her heart's content, but now that she was arranged to sit next to Zhou Yan, a strange man, she couldn't help but feel a lot more restrained. She imitated the other people at the table and ate slowly, taking only a little bit of each dish with one chopstick.

While they were talking, Taoyao just lowered her head and ate in silence.

After a while, Tao Yao heard again that the dishes on this table were all cooked by famous chefs from Jiangnan invited by Zhou Yan. No wonder they were not like the simple and frugal style of the Shi Mansion in the past.

At this time, Zhou Yan picked up a piece of Wensi tofu and put it in Taoyao's bowl. He said softly, "Why are you eating so little? You are too thin. You should eat more."

Tao Yao smiled mischievously, not knowing what to say, so she could only agree with "Okay, okay".

"Why don't you wear new clothes?" Zhou Yan's eyes were glued to her, never moving away for a moment. "Well... well, you look good in this dress too."

Tao Yao then realized that the beautiful dress with exquisite embroidery was given to her by Zhou Yan.

Tao Yao couldn't stand Zhou Yan's intimate words and couldn't help but move to the side. This small movement caused Zhou Yan to tut an unhappy sound.

"In that case, let's finalize the marriage in the spring after the new year." Zhou Yan suddenly looked up and said to Shi Yiqian.

Marriage? What marriage? Tao Yao looked up, confused, and saw that everyone's eyes were on her.

Shi Yiqian nodded without saying anything, as if he agreed.

At this moment, Zhou Yan's hand landed on Tao Yao's shoulder without anyone noticing. He patted her three times and said, "Next spring, there will be several auspicious days. I will ask the best Taoist priest in Hangzhou to calculate and choose the best day to marry Tao Yao into my family. Peach blossoms bloom first in the warm spring, and who wouldn't want to see their beauty? Spring is the best time to pick peach blossoms."

Tao Yao was shocked, it turned out to be her marriage with Zhou Yan.

She looked up in surprise, and when she looked at Zhou Yiqian, his eyes were evasive with a guilty look.

Looking at everyone at the table again, apart from Zhou Yan's wife, he had four or five concubines. Tao Yao was the sixth one.

She wanted to get married, but she didn't want to marry a man with so many wives!

The consequences of marrying him are already before her eyes. She will be killed by jealousy among these women, and no one may even know how she dies.

She wanted to find a place where she could live out the rest of her life in peace, not to go to the Shura Field and get jealous.

At that time, Shi Yiqian and Zhu Fengsheng stood up and wanted to toast Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan also stood up. The three of them paused there, holding their wine glasses. Shi Yiqian winked at Tao Yao, who was still sitting in her chair, "Why don't you get up and toast?"

Tao Yao felt dizzy. From the moment she sat down at the table, Shi Yiqian had been ordering her around to serve tea and perform other rituals, like a puppet. She had no idea what was going on as Shi Yiqian was sending her out like a New Year's gift.

Someone pushed her, forcing her to stand up, and a wine glass was stuffed into her hand.

The four wine glasses collided with each other, making a crisp sound.

Tao Yao turned around helplessly, and met Zhou Yan's ambiguous gaze. Her heart tightened, and she said quickly, "I need to... I need to go to the bathroom."

Zhou Yan's eyebrows raised, his brows twitching slightly, as if he was a little unhappy. Shi Yiqian said from the opposite side, "Don't be ignorant of etiquette! Go after the banquet."

Tao Yao felt her heart beating violently, her face turned pale, and she looked like she was about to faint.

"No, I can't hold it anymore!"

Zhou Yan waved his hand: "Let her go."

Tao Yao no longer cared about anything else. She pulled out a chair and ran out. Someone was saying something behind her, as if talking about her, but she just felt that she couldn't control her pace and she had to leave here as soon as possible.

Behind the main hall was a courtyard, bathed in moonlight. A clump of bamboo swayed in the wind, like countless black claws reaching out. In the distance, a dark figure seemed to stand beneath the moonlight.

Tao Yao looked closely and found that the figure was familiar, a man.

When the man saw Tao Yao, his whole body froze and he shouted in surprise, "Arnold! You are here after all!"

Tao Yao was still in shock from what had just happened, and was troubled by her worries. She had no idea that the person in front of her was not from the Shi Mansion.

As the man approached her, his dark green eyes gradually became clearer, and Tao Yao suddenly remembered that this man was the man in black who had attempted assassination in Chunfeng Tower that day.

He walked over and whispered something in a language Taoyao couldn't understand. After he finished speaking, he looked up at Taoyao's reaction. Seeing her stunned, he shook his head and said in Chinese: "You really don't remember."

Tao Yao suddenly remembered the confusing dream she had that day. Could it be that she had some entanglement with the man in black in the past?

Oh my God, Chu Huanjun alone was not enough to bother her, why is there another one now?

How many men had Shi Taoyao been involved with at this time?

In order to avoid getting into trouble, Tao Yao quickly hid aside and said hurriedly, "What do you mean by remember or not? You've got the wrong person. No, with the way you're dressed... could you be a thief?"

The two looked at each other in silence for a moment, and Tao Yao immediately shouted at the top of her voice: "Help, there's a thief! Ugh..."

The next second, Tao Yao's mouth was covered tightly by the man's big hand.

When Tao Yao shouted, someone came to look for her.

When the man saw someone coming, he quickly grabbed Taoyao by the collar and lifted her up like a chick, saying calmly, "Come with me."