The Cloud Feather of the Red Chamber: A Marriage Arranged with Gong Yuanzheng at the Start

Inside the Eastern Palace, the Crown Prince toyed with the medicine bottle in his hand, listening to Qi Yan'an recount what had happened inside the palace gates.

“Brother, I don’t think we need to worry too much. The marriage between the Gong family and the Lin family is definitely secure.”

The Crown Prince smiled slightly as he looked at Qi Yan'an and brought up another matter, "I feel that you treat that Miss Gong with special favor."

Mentioning Gong Zishang, a smile unconsciously appeared on Qi Yan'an's face.

“Brother, Miss Zi Shang is indeed a very special girl. She is unlike any other woman I have ever met.”

Unlike the refined and knowledgeable young ladies, or the bold and forthright female warriors of the martial arts world, she was different.

She was a vibrant, interesting, and intelligent girl he had never seen before.

She may seem carefree and unconcerned with details, but in reality, she has a profound understanding of things.

"Brother, this is a hidden weapon she developed; its ingenuity far surpasses that of the firearms battalion."

As he spoke, he picked up a small round plate that was placed next to him, which he had taken along with the poison from Gong Yuanzheng.

No one knows how Qi Yan'an did it, but a needle as thin as a cow's hair shot towards an orchid.

In the blink of an eye, the orchid turned black and withered.

The prince's expression changed slightly. What an ingenious hidden weapon! What a potent poison!

The disc was about the size of a Western pocket watch. He initially thought it was a pocket watch or something similar, but he never expected it to be a hidden weapon.

“Every single person at the palace gate is a talented individual.”

Qi Yan'an thought of Gong Ziyu and silently added in his mind, "Not entirely."

The Crown Prince's smile remained unchanged. He put down the medicine bottle in his hand and said, "You are not young anymore, it's time for you to marry a proper wife."

Qi Yan'an frowned. "Brother, the court and the martial arts world are unstable right now, so my matter is not urgent."

The Crown Prince said solemnly, "If it weren't for the master saying that you shouldn't marry so early, you would already have a large family of children at your age."

"You've been traveling all these years. Now that you're back, why don't we settle this marriage first?"

"Brother." Qi Yan'an's expression was somewhat solemn. He hesitated for a moment, then looked at him earnestly and said:

“Brother, I have gotten used to a life of freedom. I will definitely not stay in the capital for long. My wife will also travel the world with me. I'm afraid no noble lady in the capital can do that.”

Seeing the Crown Prince's expressionless face, Qi Yan'an continued:

"If I were to marry, I would certainly marry someone who shares my interests. These days, I doubt that even a respectful relationship with a noblewoman in the capital would be possible."

The Crown Prince chuckled softly, "Shared interests? Yan An, a lifetime is long, how long can your interests last?"

"When you marry, choose a virtuous wife. You will have your own royal palace in the future, and your queen will inevitably help you handle all the affairs of the palace. She will have to deal with the social interactions in the capital and manage the relationships between superiors and subordinates."

"If you're just looking for fun, the position of a concubine is enough."

Qi Yan'an frowned. "Brother, the manager can do these things, and so can I. It's not just my wife's responsibility."

The Crown Prince looked up at Qi Yan'an. This was the first time his younger brother had so resolutely opposed his views.

Meeting his younger brother's resolute gaze, the Crown Prince sighed, "I sent you to help me handle matters in the martial world, and now I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing."

"Brother." Qi Yan'an opened his mouth, but only managed to utter one word.

"Never mind." The Crown Prince waved his hand. "Go see your mother. She misses you very much."

Qi Yan'an nodded, "Tomorrow, I'll bring Young Master Yue along too, so he can take the pulse of my brother and my mother as well."

The crown prince shook his head; he did not want anyone from the palace gates to appear in the palace.

"There's no need to send him to the palace. In half a month, it will be the birthday of the old lady of the Duke of Chengen. The Empress Dowager will be leaving the palace then, so let's meet at the Duke of Chengen's residence."

"Alright, I'll listen to you, brother. I'll go see Mother first." Qi Yan'an stood up to take his leave. Before leaving, he glanced at the medicine bottle on the table. His lips moved, but in the end, he didn't say anything.

The Crown Prince also looked at the medicine thoughtfully; he couldn't have missed Qi Yan'an's last glance.

He was thinking the same question: should he use this medicine?

------

I thought Situ Hong was a tough nut to crack, but after only three bowls of medicine, she confessed everything.

It's not surprising that she agreed so quickly. After all, she's been pampered for over a decade, and it's normal that she couldn't bear such hardship after suddenly suffering like this.

Gong Yuanzheng arrived at the Zhiren Hall with the confession, only to find it empty.

Gong Yuanzheng stood silently at the door. He knew without guessing that Gong Zishang must be in the corner palace!

He immediately used his lightness skill to rush to the corner palace, where he saw Lin Qingyue, Gong Zishang, and Xue Gongzi in the pavilion.

Gong Yuanzheng narrowed his eyes slightly. Why is Young Master Xue here instead of at the back mountain?

Young Master Xue noticed Gong Yuanzheng first. Just as he was about to wave and greet him, he saw Gong Yuanzheng turn around and enter the Corner Palace.

Young Master Xue was stunned. "Young Master Zheng saw us, so why didn't you come over? Instead, you went inside."

Gong Zishang smiled and handed Xue Gongzi a piece of pastry, "Little Xue, you don't understand, do you? Tell me, where did Yuanzheng come from?"

"Young Master Zheng is interrogating Situ Hong, so he must have just come out of the dungeon."

"Yeah, since he came out of the dungeon, what do you think was the first thing he did?"

Young Master Xue immediately thought of what had happened before; Young Master Zheng had gone straight back to Zheng Palace to change his clothes after arriving at the Blade-Holding Hall.

Lin Qingyue's cheeks flushed slightly. She handed the documents in her hand to Xue Gongzi and changed the subject, "Have you understood all these issues?"

Young Master Xue took the document and carefully looked at each of the processing methods. He nodded to Lin Qingyue in thanks.

"Thank you for teaching me, Miss Lin. I understand now."

After explaining the affairs of the Snow Palace and the Moon Palace to him, Yukishigeko hurriedly went to practice her skills.

At first, Xue Gongzi remembered everything, but after dealing with a few things, he suddenly realized that he seemed to have lost his memory. He suddenly forgot everything Xue Chongzi had said.

Without further hesitation, he decisively took the documents and headed straight for the Blade Master's Hall.

Knowing that Gong Zishang was in the Corner Palace, he immediately turned around and ran to the Corner Palace.

After taking a sip of the tea brewed by Mei Xue, I never wanted to leave.

Mmm, this black tea is so delicious!

I'll just take one day off; I hope Daxue won't be angry.

Gong Zishang diligently poured tea for Lin Qingyue. Originally, when Xue Gongzi came to find her, she was busy brewing tea and had passed the task on to Lin Qingyue.

"Thank you for your hard work, Qingyue. You are indeed very intelligent and handle these matters with great ease."

Lin Qingyue smiled and said, "I started learning how to manage a household from my mother when I was eight years old. After Qingyu was born, I took care of all the household affairs."

“When Yuanzheng was handling the affairs of the Zheng Palace, he never avoided me. Now, when he is too busy with the affairs of the Jiao Palace, he will also hand them over to me.”

"Although the affairs of the martial arts world are somewhat different from those I have encountered before, they are all similar in principle. When dealing with them, the basics remain the same."

Gong Zishang's eyes darted around, "I wonder if my sister has time to visit the Blade-Holding Hall..."

"Yue'er is busy!" Before Gong Zishang could finish speaking, Gong Yuanzheng interrupted her directly.

Don't think he doesn't know that Gong Zishang wants to push the affairs of the Blade-Holding Hall to Yue'er and then go to the Guard Camp to enjoy himself!

He walked over and sat down next to Lin Qingyue, his eyes filled with threat as he looked at Gong Zishang.

"If you dare to put the matter of the palace gates behind the imperial guards, I will immediately write to my brother!"

Gong Zishang coughed lightly, thinking that Gong Yuanzheng had seen through her thoughts. She was indeed thinking of taking Lin Qingyue to the Zhiren Hall so that the two of them could finish dealing with the matter together, and then go to the guard camp together.

The shortest route is from the Blade-Wielding Hall to the Guard Camp. If you're coming to the Corner Palace to pick up Qingyue, you'll have to take a longer route.

Young Master Xue was somewhat confused. "The matter of the Imperial Guard is also very important. Young Master Jiao said that the guards have been too lax before and need to be trained properly."

Gong Zishang, Gong Yuanzheng, and Lin Qingyue: "..."

Gong Yuanzheng shoved a plate of pastries into Xue Gongzi's arms, saying, "It's getting dark, let's hurry back to Xue Palace."

Gong Zishang covered her mouth and smiled faintly, looking at Xue Gongzi with a hint of affection in her eyes, "Tomorrow I will have someone send you a few storybooks, you can read them when you have nothing to do."

Gong Yuanzheng stopped talking and handed Situ Hong's confession to Gong Zishang.

"These are what Situ Hong said. After all, she hasn't been back to Wufeng for more than ten years, so what she said can only be taken as a reference."

"How's the interrogation of those two crows going?"

As Gong Zishang looked at the confession, he said, "No rush. We can't deal with them by torture; we have to win them over psychologically."

Gong Yuanzheng rolled his eyes and pursed his lips. Isn't it tiring to go through all that trouble? As long as you get the desired result, the process doesn't matter at all.

"So what are you planning to do now?"

When the conversation turned to business, Gong Zishang's expression became serious. "The most important thing is to find out the identities of those two spirits. Even Situ Hong, who became a spirit, had never seen these two spirits, which shows how well they have hidden their identities."

"The four demons are already so skilled in martial arts, this demon must be..."

Situ Hong's confession clearly described the situation of the other three demons, and their martial arts styles were obvious.

This was their strength ten years ago; they're probably even stronger now.

"I will pass all this information on to Shangjiao and Yuanzheng. You also need to develop an antidote for the Half-Moon Fly as soon as possible."

Gong Yuanzheng smiled confidently, "Don't worry about that."