The subtle fragrance of cotton needles

"Xia Pinxiang has been granted marriage to Prince Yuan, but she is a concubine and a concubine after all. Even if she marries Prince Yuan, she won't get any help from us." Tu Song said with some difficulty, "Besides, if Prince Yuan wants to marry Yan'er, he will naturally find a way to get rid of Xia Pinxiang quietly."

"But if Prince Yuan goes to the emperor himself to ask for Yan'er's hand in marriage, I'm afraid the emperor won't agree, right?" Xia Zhibai said.

"This is the difficult part," Tu Song has been working in the capital for many years, but he still can't figure out Mo Cheng's thoughts. "The emperor is suspicious and uncertain. If Prince Yuan asks for marriage, the emperor may agree."

Xia Zhibai didn't say anything else.

Tu Xiao listened for a while, and then expressed his thoughts: "We are powerful now, and we will have to take sides in the future. It is better for us to see which prince we choose, and then find a way to let Sister Yanxiang marry him."

Tu Song frowned and thought, but didn't say anything.

Xia Zhibai didn't say anything either.

Tu Xiao looked at their expressions and reconsidered his previous thoughts.

For a moment, the study was silent.

"Uncle, Changyu is right." Xia Zhibai finally broke the deadlock. "Instead of sitting still, we should take the initiative. We should first look for a prince and then extend an olive branch. If this is successful, Yan'er's position will not be easily shaken."

Tu Song obviously didn't agree completely: "It's not bad to take the initiative, but the emperor is suspicious, especially because at the Dragon Boat Festival banquet, I forced the emperor to investigate Yan'er's poisoning in the name of Bai'er, which has already caused the emperor's dissatisfaction. The emperor will definitely keep an eye on our actions. If he finds that we have too close contact with the prince, I'm afraid he will be more suspicious that we are going to rebel, which will only bring disaster upon us."

Xia Zhibai and Tu Xiao were both silent.

"Now we have no choice but to keep our troops in place for the time being, not to attract the emperor's attention, and not to have close contacts with the aristocratic families." Tu Song had no good solution for the time being and could only give this advice.

Xia Zhibai nodded silently.

"Where's Yan'er? Is she feeling better? I heard from your aunt that she woke up yesterday. Is she able to get out of bed?"

Xia Zhibai nodded: "It's fine now. He wanted to come with me, but I ordered him to rest at home."

"..."Tu Xiao touched his nose guiltily and didn't dare to tell the truth.

Tu Song noticed Tu Xiao's little move. He hadn't been too worried after hearing what Xia Zhibai said. But when he saw Tu Xiao's expression, he asked, "Did you do something wrong?"

Tu Xiao was caught and felt very embarrassed. Seeing Xia Zhibai looking over, he quickly looked away: "No, no."

Tu Xiao has always been frank and honest, and rarely appears so unnatural. Tu Song knew at a glance that he must have done something wrong: "Tell the truth!"

When Tu Song became stern, Tu Xiao became a little timid: "It's nothing, just, it was just that sister Yanxiang wrote to me yesterday and asked me to quietly take her to the city gate to see my cousin enter the city this morning."

Originally, Tu Xiao was planning to reject Xia Yanxiang. After all, Xia Yanxiang was not fully recovered yet, and taking her out was not an option. Firstly, he had to consider Xia Yanxiang's health, and secondly, he would definitely be scolded if the elders knew about it.

However, Xia Yanxiang promised him a wish that he could not refuse, and he was reluctant to refuse, so he took Xia Yanxiang out. Anyway, he could protect sister Yanxiang well, and at most he would just get scolded. What's the big deal?

However, when Tu Song really asked, Tu Xiao didn't have the confidence.

"You! You are so willful! Yan'er just woke up yesterday. She asked you to take her there, so you took her there!" Tu Song was really angry when he heard this. "There is no rush. Bai'er will only be in the city for a short while. You might as well wait in the mansion instead of fighting for so much time! You too, as a brother, why don't you give her some advice?"

After hearing this, Xia Zhibai stared at Tu Xiao: "Tu Changyu, you are really great!"

Tu Xiao felt so guilty that he didn't dare to refute a word.

"Forget it, just go! This won't happen again!" Tu Song was a little depressed and didn't dwell on the matter anymore.

"Thank you, father." Tu Xiao quickly went down the stairs.

However, Tu Song letting Tu Xiao go did not mean Xia Zhibai let him go. Xia Zhibai still glared at Tu Xiao and did not intend to let him go. "Tu Changyu, we haven't seen each other for so long. This time, my cousin came back and brought you a big gift. I will have someone deliver it to you in a while."

Tu Xiao felt a chill on his back when he heard Xia Zhibai's words. He didn't dare to look Xia Zhibai in the eye, so he could only pretend to be calm and thank him, "Thank you, cousin."

Tu Song understood what the two brothers meant to each other and smiled, which was rare for him. He probably found it fun to see Tu Xiao being humiliated.

"Uncle, my mother asked me to go back home for dinner today. I will go and greet my aunt and then go back."

Tu Song nodded in agreement: "Okay, I wanted to keep you for dinner, and since your mother said so, you should go and have dinner with your mother! When your wife comes back another day, I will invite you and your mother and sister to have dinner at my house."

"it is good."

When he returned to the Xia Mansion, Xia Liu had already dealt with government affairs and went to Wenti Pavilion early. Now that Xia Zhibai is back, no matter how reluctant he is, he has to maintain a good relationship with Tu for Xia Zhibai's sake.

When Xia Zhibai arrived outside Wenti Pavilion, he happened to meet Xia Yanxiang coming from Ao Yanxuan. She must have gone back to Ao Yanxuan to change clothes.

Xia Zhibai saw her coming, so he stopped and waited for her.

When Xia Yanxiang walked in front of Xia Zhibai, she smiled brightly. She was always serious and calm, and was too embarrassed to act like a spoiled brat in front of Xia Zhibai, so she just smiled and called Xia Zhibai, "Brother."

Xia Zhibai thought of what Tu Xiao said and deliberately put on a stern face, as if to teach him a lesson: "I heard from Tu Changyu that you went to see me go into the city today?"

Xia Yanxiang blushed. She didn't expect Tu Xiao to betray her so quickly. She muttered softly, "Why did my cousin betray me so quickly?"

It was rare to see Xia Yanxiang blushing, so Xia Zhibai could no longer pretend to be angry, and touched Xia Yanxiang's head: "Okay, I'm not teaching you a lesson. You're not well yet, so why bother squeezing in with so many people?"

"Don't I just want to see my brother earlier?" Xia Yanxiang was not good at acting like a spoiled child, and she felt a little uncomfortable speaking in a tender voice at this moment.

Xia Zhibai smiled. After not seeing his sister for so many years, why did she act like a spoiled child?

"Okay, let's go in, Father and Mother are waiting for us to have dinner!"

Xia Yanxiang nodded embarrassedly, quickly calmed herself down, and followed Xia Zhibai in.