Zheng Xiao Mistake: The Mistake of Rebirth Provoked the Cold Master

An Fengxue followed Zhu Zheng into the carriage and said to her, "Miss, would you like to go back to Tingxiao Garden first? I'll send someone to inform the adults."

Zhu Zheng shook her head, her face showing a bit of urgency, "Let's go to the Taifu Mansion, it will be faster."

"it is good."

"Thank you."

The carriage turned and headed towards the Grand Tutor's Mansion. An Fengxue sat opposite Zhu Zheng, looking at her blushing face. Although there was a hint of uneasiness in the corners of her eyes and brows, there was an uncontrollable smile at the corners of her lips.

Different from the aloof and polite smile seen in Tingxiaoyuan, the fourth girl's smile at this moment, with her black eyes curved, was truly happy.

An Fengxue not only knew these things, she also knew that Zhu Zheng was afraid of snakes but not insects, ate sweet food but not sour food, could climb trees and swim, caught cicadas and butterflies but never caught fish, because she would get a rash if she ate too much fish...

To be specific, Zhu Zheng could even be considered one of the people she was most familiar with.

The origin of this relationship started when An Fengxue met Rong Yan.

When An Fengxue saw the man who bought her for the first time, he was younger than she had imagined, too young, perhaps only eighteen or nineteen years old. Even though he tried hard to make himself look calm and mature, his face still looked childish.

When An Fengxue learned that he was the personal tutor of the crown prince, he frowned, realizing that the dynasty was in danger.

But it didn't take long for her to realize that she shouldn't have judged people by appearance and underestimated this young "Master Taifu."

There were many orphans like An Fengxue who were bought or rescued. They all received the best education. Those who valued literature went to academies, and those who valued martial arts went to martial arts schools.

After they had completed their studies, Rong Yan only said one thing: those who wanted to leave could leave, those who wanted revenge could take revenge, and those who wanted to make a living could make a living, and he would not ask. But if they didn't want to do any of these things and didn't know what to do, they could stay here and get a long-term job.

An Fengxue chose to stay.

Liu did not stay in the Taifu Mansion, but became a secret guard and was placed in different places. Several people who studied martial arts with An Fengxue, Tan Yu, Zhui Wu, Shi Fushuang, entered the palace, and went to sea, each of them planned their future.

Rong Yan did not interfere with what they did, but only asked them to send back a report every five days, recording all the things they saw and heard, and sealed it with a wax tube and sent it back to the Taifu Mansion.

Because of An Fengxue's unusual appearance and short stature, it was difficult to arrange for her to enter the palace, so she had to stay in the Taifu's mansion and do some cleaning.

A calligraphy scroll hung in the master's study reads, "Those who plan for the overall situation must plan for a specific area."

She gradually understood what it meant and how the adults' future plans came about. Each plan was built up from thousands of official reports. The overt and covert entanglements formed a dense network from top to bottom in the Dayong Dynasty.

In front of the dense network, there are countless late nights, lamps burning to prolong the day, and a lonely long shadow projected on the study window.

An Fengxue stayed in the Taifu Mansion for a long time before he finally received his assignment.

She was assigned to guard Zhu's mansion.

Compared with other people's assignments, the government office that An Fengxue was assigned to was neither a key position in the imperial court nor had any signs of unrest, and seemed quite mediocre.

So he couldn't help but ask a question, and Rong Yan just told him, "Report every three days, no matter how big or small the matter is."

An Fengxue followed the Zhu family for half a month and quickly figured out the ins and outs of the mission assigned to her.

The third young lady of this mansion, Zhu Qing, replaced the second young master Zhu Long's name and went to Sihai Academy, where she became a classmate and roommate with His Royal Highness the First Prince.

It was such a crude and obvious trick, I'm sure the adults knew what was going on.

Tan Yu told her that the Lord has always been strict with the people who appear around the prince, and it is necessary to find out which force is behind this as soon as possible.

This was An Fengxue's first job, so she took it very seriously.

Although the Zhu Mansion is now in decline, it has produced several military generals and is heavily guarded, so it is difficult for her to sneak in. She had no choice but to squat in front of the mansion every day, recording who everyone met and what they did when they left the mansion, especially the movements of the younger generations headed by Zhu Qing.

The second young master Zhu Longcheng lives a life of debauchery, while the third young lady Zhu Qing seems like an ordinary lady. At most, she would secretly bring back books from the academy when she goes home on vacation, but otherwise she behaves according to the rules.

As for the Fourth Miss...

When An Fengxue first met Zhu Zheng, she was about ten years old and was climbing over the wall to leave the house. She scared An Fengxue, who was trying to climb over the wall to get back into the house, so much that she rolled over and jumped into the bushes.

Zhu Zheng moved her ears alertly, "Who's there?"

An Fengxue didn't dare to say anything. Zhu Zheng took a stick and poked the bush. As expected, he hit someone. He asked directly, "Are you a thief? Did you come to the Zhu Mansion to steal things?"

When An Fengxue saw that he was caught, he felt annoyed. He did not show his head, but shrank back and made a muffled "hmm" sound.

Zhu Zheng recognized the voice as that of a little girl. She was stunned for a moment, but did not scold her to come out to see the official. Instead, she took off the jade hairpin on her head and threw it into the bushes, whispering, "Don't come to the Zhu Mansion. If you are caught by the guards here, they will beat you to death."

This emerald jade hairpin was finally presented to Rong Yan along with the imperial report.

An Fengxue had never seen how other people's reports were written, perhaps there were some thrilling events to tell.

But the Zhu family didn't have these, so her reports were full of useless information like what Zhu Qing, Zhu Long, and Zhu Zheng ate, what they did, and how they felt. If you read them enough, you could even figure out their temperaments.

Rong Yan looked at it but didn't have any special explanation. His energy had been too fragmented and he had no time to take care of it.

The incident happened during the twelfth year of the Qingli period.

The eldest prince suddenly fell ill and became blind, then the crown prince was deposed and the second prince was made the heir. He petitioned the palace and asked the Grand Tutor to continue teaching him so that he could become like his elder brother.

Rong Yan did not comment, and Gongyi Helu issued an imperial decree to agree on his behalf.

From then on, it was like falling into a devil's den. Compared with the eldest prince, the second prince was more moody and two-faced. He was simply the reincarnation of a troublemaker.

Just cleaning up the mess he had created was enough to overwhelm Rong Yan.

The palace was in turmoil, and unexpectedly, something happened to An Fengxue.

Zhu Long is dead.

When An Fengxue returned to report, she said that Zhu Long had died in the Grand Prince's Jinxiang Tower. Rong Yan frowned and asked, "Has the Grand Prince been to the Zhu Mansion?"

An Fengxue replied, "No."

Rong Yan said "hmm" and asked her to keep a close eye on it and change the reporting schedule from once every three days to once every day.

Time flies, and three years have passed in a flash.

In the past three years, the eldest prince's temperament has changed drastically and he has rarely gone out. The emperor has become obsessed with the art of making medicine and elixirs, and his health has gradually deteriorated. The second prince is also useless, so almost all the affairs of the court have been left to Rong Yan.

Once adults become busy, their daily lives become terribly simple, and they often neglect sleep and eat for a long time.

Liu Feng couldn't stand it anymore and complained treasonously, "I think the Second Prince is not a talent for governing a country, but you are working so hard for it, why?"

Rong Yan rested his hand on his forehead and leaned back in the chair for a short nap. It took him a long time to give Liu Feng an answer.

"For the sake of world peace..."

Liu Feng said bluntly, "But this world is not yours. If things are peaceful, will anyone remember your kindness?"

Rong Yan was silent for a while, then sent Liu Feng out to water the flowers and told him to talk less.

An Fengxue had caused trouble, and the official report of the Zhu Mansion had not been read for a long time, but she was not withdrawn. I don’t know if she forgot or had other arrangements. One day when she followed Zhu Zheng to Pingshui Lane, she saw her fall from a tree, and she couldn’t help but show up and meet her face to face.

The secret guard must not be discovered, this is indeed a huge mistake. An Fengxue wrote down the whole cause and effect, and let the adults decide her fault.

Rong Yan had been dealing with the mutiny in Xiangnan recently and hadn't slept well for three days. When he heard her mention the little daughter of the Zhu family, it was as if he suddenly remembered such a person and finally raised his head from his official duties.

Following the adults' instructions to pay attention to every detail, An Fengxue wrote down in detail how he showed up because of picking a green tangerine, and also attached an extra green tangerine that he and Zhu Zheng had obtained with the report.

Rong Yan glanced over the words on the secret report. He was silent for a long time, looking at the shadows of the trees outside the window, and suddenly said, "It turns out to be July already."

A small green tangerine was placed on the table. Rong Yan reached out to take it, peeled a slice and put it into his mouth. When An Fengxue wanted to stop him, she saw that the adult had frowned.

It was still early in July, and the tangerines were not yet fully ripe. They were sour, astringent, and slightly bitter.

Between the lines there is a girl who throws the green tangerine over with a smile, certain that it must be very sweet, and coaxes the person to taste it with her.

And Rong Yan was deceived by a belated scam. Although they were far apart, he still took the initiative to accept it.

Tasting the sour and bitter taste in his mouth, Rong Yan frowned, not knowing what he was thinking. He did not stop, but continued to peel the petals one by one, and slowly finished the whole green tangerine.

Rong Yan paid extra attention to what she said, "We share the same taste."

It’s an excellent word.

An Fengxue remembered his mistakes and knelt on the ground to blame himself, "I failed in my duty, please punish me, sir."

Rong Yan had no intention of pursuing the matter, and said calmly, "She tricked you into eating this, so just consider it as a punishment."

Because he borrowed her name, Rong Yan also paid close attention to the name of the Zhu family's youngest daughter.

He has always had a good memory, and this was not the first time he had heard this name, but there were so many names in the dense network, so this one was no different to him.

Rong Yan opened his lips and recited, "Zhu Zheng."

The two words were tinged with a different flavor, sour and bitter, rolling over the tip of the tongue, with a sweet aftertaste of fruity aroma, floating in the air.