Princess Menglang is hard to change, the whole capital is embarrassed for her

Xiao Chenze turned his gaze outside and watched Shen Li walking towards him from afar.

Cui Lan'er kept asking, "You haven't told me what's going on with your cousin yet. I'm telling you, if you can't explain it clearly, Sister Li can still cancel the engagement."

Afraid that Xiao Chenze would be unconvinced, she added, "This is what my father told me. He said he knew about the imperial decree granting the marriage. To show their appreciation for Sister Li, the Empress Dowager and the Emperor specially attached a separate decree to Sister Li. It said that Sister Li could change her mind before the wedding. Am I right?"

Unexpectedly, she even knew this. Xiao Chenze nodded helplessly, "Miss Cui is right."

"Humph, that's natural. How could my father be wrong?" Cui Lan'er looked at Shen Li who walked in proudly and said happily, "Sister Li, I'm asking about the eldest prince and his cousin. It's a good opportunity for you to come and listen."

Without waiting for Shen Li's response, Xiao Chenze became anxious, "Don't talk nonsense, there is nothing between me and my cousin, this... Miss Shen also knows this."

He stared at Shen Li nervously, trying to see from her face whether she was angry.

Unfortunately, Shen Li's face showed no expression. She glanced at him calmly, put down the things in her hands, and said to Cui Lan'er, "Bring all your snakes, insects, rats and ants here tomorrow. I want to select some for self-defense. In a few days, I will take the kids out for training. Who knows what will happen. It's better to be prepared."

She didn't bother to care whether Xiao Chenze was her cousin or not.

It doesn't matter to her whether the engagement exists or not. If she wants it, she can have it. If she doesn't want it, no one can force her. She has plenty of ways to cancel it.

"Sister Li, when are you planning to leave? I want to go with you, too." Cui Lan'er pricked up her ears when she heard they were going out, and said hurriedly, "I'll take all the insects from home with me, and I can catch some more on the way. How about we ask Qili to help disguise ourselves as... as a young man going on a study tour?"

Phew.

Fang Mingwan was immediately amused by her, "Whose son is traveling for school with a bunch of wolf cubs following him?"

"Uh..." Cui Lan'er was stunned by the question and scratched her head. "Yeah, how about we pretend to be hunters? No, no, that's not possible. We are too thin and short compared to hunters. We don't look like hunters at first glance. So, what should we pretend to be?"

As long as he is followed by a group of wolf cubs, no matter how he dresses, he will be the focus of passers-by and will inevitably be watched by people.

Once you are targeted by someone with ulterior motives, trouble is inevitable.

"Well, can I say a few words?" Xiao Chenze saw that Shen Li hadn't spoken to him since she entered the room. Thinking of the Empress Dowager's instructions, he secretly told himself to keep calm and find a way to win Shen Li's favor.

Hearing what the girls were talking about, his interest was piqued. "When we were in the North, we often went hunting on horseback, and each horse was accompanied by several hounds. I suggest you pretend to be a young man going out of town hunting, ride a horse, and take the cubs with you."

Cui Lan'er was quick-witted. She clapped her hands excitedly upon hearing this and exclaimed, "Oh, yes, that's a good idea. This way, no one will think we're pretending to be those young masters, and we can get out without anyone noticing. What do you think, Sister Li?"

Shen Li still felt it was inappropriate, and after thinking for a while, she said, "But there are still people who can recognize the difference between wolves and dogs. What's more, whose young master is leaving the city with such a big fuss? Just a little inquiry will reveal the truth, not to mention that I want to be alone..."

She originally planned to go out alone and hadn't thought of bringing Cui Lan'er with her.

The place she was going to was Michigan.

After returning to Beijing for so long, she has been thinking about Brother Dayong and the big yellow dog in the farm.

The last time my uncle went to Mizhou to investigate a case, Shen Li asked him to help deliver some money to Brother Dayong.

I heard from my uncle that Brother Dayong managed the farm in perfect order and even fell in love with the daughter of a tenant farmer from the neighboring farm who was divorced and sent home.

The woman was unable to bear children and was despised by her husband. His family wanted to marry another woman and make her a concubine. The woman was ambitious and immediately started fighting with her husband. She was then divorced and sent back home.

She has a brother and sister-in-law in her mother's family. As a divorced daughter, she has to rely on them and be careful in everything. Even so, she is often ridiculed by her sister-in-law, and her parents also suffer as a result.

It just so happened that Dayong's farm wanted to hire a few more people to work. When the woman heard the news, she packed her clothes into a bag and went to work that day.

Unexpectedly, she is not only efficient at work, but also a good cook. She is also very kind-hearted. She can't bear to see the clothes that Dayong has mended himself become a mess, so she often quietly helps him wash and mend them, and then quietly leaves.

She thought no one knew what she did.

Little did she know that Dayong had liked her a little before she got married. At that time, Shen Li and her daughter didn't know what would happen. Life on the farm was difficult, and Brother Dayong didn't dare to mention it.

It's different now.

Brother Dayong not only felt more confident, but also knew that she was secretly mending his clothes.

So one night, Dayong intercepted the woman who was about to sneak away again, and after a long pause, he said, "I like you. I want to marry you. Are you willing?"

The woman screamed and ran away with a blushing face.

......

My uncle said that when he went there, he asked someone to call the girl's parents, brother and sister-in-law to the farm, saying that he wanted to take a look, but in fact he wanted to support Brother Dayong.

They were just peasants, how could they have ever seen such a high-ranking official? Everyone was so frightened that they didn't even dare to raise their heads.

The sister-in-law was very cautious in front of the woman, and even her tone of voice was flattering.

......

For many days, Shen Li has been thinking about returning to Mizhou.

In addition to dealing with the matter with Zhuangzi, there was another more important matter that she didn't tell anyone.

My cousin Fang Jitao quietly left in the middle of the night at the end of last month.

His uncle secretly sent him to the iron mine, pretending to be a prisoner in the jail and doing hard labor, secretly investigating the affairs of the nobles in Beijing.

Ever since Fang Yao personally went to investigate the case and was assassinated, such a long time has passed and there has been no movement from this nobleman in the capital.

According to the emperor, this person cannot be killed for the time being. He must be kept alive and the person behind him must be found out.

Everything was done quietly. If Fang Yao hadn't wanted to ask Shen Li for a few grenades for Fang Jitao to use for self-defense, he wouldn't even want to tell Shen Li.

It was fine during the first few days after Fang Jitao left, but these days, Shen Li often heard her grandmother and grandfather say that her right eye kept twitching, which made them feel irritated.

Some things are mysterious, like Shen Li's time travel. So, when the two old men's right eyes kept twitching, Shen Li had to think it was a disturbing sign.

Not only the two old people, but even my uncle seemed to be worried recently.

When asked what happened, his uncle didn't say anything at first, but when Shen Li asked him urgently, he told the truth. It turned out that Fang Jitao had lost contact.

Shen Li immediately decided to go to the Mizhou Iron Mine in person to see what was going on.