Chapter 329 Start taking action
Ye Jiayao couldn't help laughing. The wife of Marquis Yongning was quick-witted and quite amusing.

Zhao Qixuan said embarrassedly: "Mom, please go and prepare dinner. I'm hungry. I was standing at the door of the dessert shop, but I only smelled the fragrance but didn't eat anything."

Madam Yongning said with a smile, "You deserve it. The shop rules are posted at the door. Didn't you see them?"

Then he said to Ye Jiayao, "It's rare for you to come here, so stay here for dinner today, and don't refuse."

Ye Jiayao smiled: "Then I will respectfully obey your command."

After sending the wife of the Marquis of Yongning away, Zhao Qixuan winked at Ye Jiayao and deliberately said, "This must be your first time here. Our back garden is the only one in Jinling City. Do you want to visit it?"

Ye Jiayao understood and followed suit: "Okay!"

The two walked towards the garden one after the other. Qiao Xi stopped at the corridor, knowing that the Second Young Mistress had something to say to the Prince of Yongning.

After passing through the nine-turn corridor, we arrived at a waterside pavilion, which had a wide view and was quiet, so there was no need to worry about anyone eavesdropping.

Zhao Qixuan said: "Susu and I will go to Nanshan to take a hot spring bath tomorrow."

Ye Jiayao was puzzled. Was there any need to say this here?

Seeing that she was puzzled, Zhao Qixuan said, "I heard that the emperor has been feeling depressed recently, and Concubine Shu suggested that he go to the Nanshan Palace to recuperate for a few days. It just so happens that I have a villa there."

Ye Jiayao suddenly had an idea in her mind, and her heart suddenly rose to her throat. She thought of a possibility, but seeing Zhao Qixuan's serious expression, she became more certain of her guess.

They are about to take action and implement that bold plan.

My heartbeat accelerated uncontrollably, like a drum beating on a mountain, boom, boom, boom...

"Have you planned everything carefully?" Ye Jiayao felt that her voice was a little shaky.

Zhao Qixuan said: "I have deduced it countless times, but whether it can succeed in one fell swoop depends on God's will."

Ye Jiayao didn't know what to say. Now that even her best friends were involved, she felt like two wolves and a half were tied to the same rope, and they were in the same boat for life and death.

"Do you need my help?" Ye Jiayao forced herself to calm down and asked.

This idea was proposed by her. Although Chunyu was not in Jinling, he must have made some arrangements.

"No need. Even if things don't work out, Susu and I are sure we can stay out of it. You don't have to worry. Just focus on your own business." Zhao Qixuan said.

Hearing him say this, Ye Jiayao felt a little more at ease. She must not let anyone get involved, as the better the situation, the easier it will be to survive.

"Then...you guys better be careful." Ye Jiayao took out a banknote and gave it to him.

"This is 800,000 taels of silver. 600,000 is to pay you back. You can do with the rest."

There is no need to say much between friends, absolute trust is enough.

Zhao Qixuan took it and said, "Then I won't be polite. To be honest, I'm really short of money right now. As long as things here can be resolved, I'll use the remaining 200,000 yuan to buy you shops and land when I return to the south next year."

Ye Jiayao understood that what they had to do now would not only consume manpower, but more importantly, financial resources. Without money, they would be unable to move forward. This was why she was in a hurry to take out all her savings. Money should be spent wisely.

As long as you can make up for the disadvantage, there will be plenty of opportunities to make money.

After finishing the business, Ye Jiayao gathered her cloak, took a deep breath, and looked at the sunset in the sky that was as gorgeous as a colorful brocade. The dusk in Jinling was so beautiful. It would be great if it could always be so peaceful and tranquil.

A breeze blew by, and ripples appeared on the surface of the pond.

"Is this the lotus pond where you fell?" Ye Jiayao asked with a smile.

The corners of Zhao Qixuan's mouth twitched again and again, and he looked at Ye Jiayao speechlessly: "The past is too painful to look back on, can we talk about something happy?"

Ye Jiayao sneered and said, "Then what do you want to say?"

"I want to join the club, and I want to go to the dessert shop to eat." Zhao Qixuan said seriously.

Uh... Damn, you are really persistent!
"Okay, when you're done, Ye's Dessert Shop will be closed for a day to entertain you, the VIP guest." Ye Jiayao said straightforwardly.

Zhao Qixuan then smiled: "That's more like it, there's also Su Su!"

Ye Jiayao held back her laughter. Of course, there was also Su Su. These two were now inseparable.

Seeing someone coming towards them from afar, Ye Jiayao recognized it as the maidservant of the wife of Marquis Yongning. She was probably here to call them for dinner.

The two looked at each other and walked back tacitly.

When I came back from Yong'an Marquis's Mansion, it was already dark. As soon as I entered the courtyard, Xiang Tao came up to me excitedly: "Second Young Madam, the young master has sent a letter."

Ye Jiayao was overjoyed and asked anxiously, "Really? Where's the letter? Show it to me."

Xiang Tao took out the letter and handed it to her. It turned out to be two letters. "The other letter is from Yangzhou."

Ye Jiayao hurried into the house, sat down, and couldn't wait to open Chunyu's letter.

"Yaoyao, everything is fine here. I just miss you and think about things at home... You have to be well and take good care of yourself. Don't forget to eat when you are busy, don't stay up too late writing lecture notes at night, don't lose weight, wait for me to come back peacefully, don't reply to my letter, I will be moving tomorrow and I won't be able to receive it... Chun Yushang."

The letter was not long, but it was filled with deep love and care. Ye Jiayao pressed the letter to her chest, feeling a warm feeling in her heart.

This time Chunyu went to Jiangxi to suppress bandits. Ye Jiayao had been comforting herself that Chunyu had been through many battles, had strategy and courage, and had extraordinary martial arts. Wouldn't it be a piece of cake to defeat a few bandits? But she still couldn't help but worry. In this day and age, without telephones and the Internet, people had to rely on letters to communicate when they were away, which was too inconvenient.

He folded the letter carefully, put it in a box, and then opened the letter from Yangzhou.

It was written by Zhongyuan. First, he told Ye Binghuai that he was planning to move up the wedding date to the end of the year. Secondly, Jinyao was going to get engaged. The other party was the stupid son of a Yangzhou politician. Jinyao had tried to commit suicide once but failed. Zhongyuan was still living in a hut in the mountains to mourn. He wanted to help but couldn't. He also asked the eldest sister to plead for Jinyao for the sake of brotherhood. Jinyao had made many mistakes, but she was still young after all. Give her a chance to correct her mistakes. Jinyao would be grateful for her whole life, and he would also be grateful to the eldest sister for his whole life... In addition, there was no news about the second sister. I wonder if the eldest sister knew the whereabouts of the second sister...

After reading Zhong Yuan's letter, Ye Jiayao fell into deep thought.

Everything was just as she expected. Without the protection of the Ning family, Jin Yao's fate was unbearable. But who made Jin Yao do those things? She brought this upon herself. Who else could she blame?

However, Zhong Yuan's words touched her. No matter how wrong she was, she was still young after all.

Should I help with this? Ye Jiayao hesitated.

So much time had passed since the incident, the hatred and anger in Ye Jiayao's heart had gradually faded. Did she really want Jin Yao to pay for the mistakes she had made with her life's happiness?

Is it too harsh?
Ye Jiayao thought for a long time, asked Qiao Xi to grind ink, and wrote a letter to Ye Binghuai.

She would only help him this time and hoped that Jin Yao would take care of herself.

As for Ye Binghuai's remarriage, she no longer wanted to care. The only person she cared about in this family was Zhongyuan. It was rare to have a sensible and motivated child.

After writing the letter to Ye Binghuai, Ye Jiayao wrote another one to Zhong Yuan.

She told him that the days of mourning would be hard and that he should take care of his health and not fall behind in his studies. She also told him that his place in the Imperial College would be reserved for him, and that she would tell him about Jinrong's whereabouts and that Baoer was being raised by her.

Finally, he wanted to write a letter to Chunyu, but when he thought that he had already left his original place and could not receive the letter, he had to keep all his words in his heart.

Three days later, I heard that the emperor went to the Nanshan Palace.

Ye Jiayao's heart was always hanging.

In the Nanshan Palace, the emperor leaned on the dragon couch and read the memorials, frowning from time to time. It was obvious that the contents of the memorials made him unhappy.

Concubine Shu brought in a bowl of longan, lotus seeds and wolfberry soup. She smiled gently and said softly, "Your Majesty, take a rest! You said you came to the palace to recuperate, but you are more tired than in the palace."

The emperor put down his pen, rubbed his swollen head, and sighed: "State affairs are busy, and the prince used to share the burden, but now..."

Concubine Shu smiled and said, "What really worries His Majesty is the Crown Prince's matter! Since there is no evidence, His Majesty should not wrongly accuse the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince has always been steady, benevolent and filial. The court officials have high expectations of the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince should not be so inconsiderate."

On the surface, these words sounded like good things for the prince, but the fact that the court officials had high expectations for the prince really hit the emperor's sore spot. The prince's prestige was gradually increasing, which was both a good thing and a bad thing. It was precisely because of the support of the court officials that the prince had a different mind. The prince was placed under house arrest, and some court officials even risked their lives to make suggestions. The idiots in the Censorate actually wanted to learn from the ancient sages and threaten to die in the Golden Palace.

"What do you know? The absence of evidence does not mean that it did not happen." The emperor said unhappily.

Concubine Shu's attitude became more and more docile: "I just don't want to see the emperor upset about this. Seeing that the emperor can't eat or sleep well, I feel uncomfortable."

The emperor's expression softened a little, and there was a little more tenderness in his eyes: "Fortunately, I have my beloved concubine who can solve my troubles."

Concubine Shu smiled and brought the longan and lotus seed soup to the emperor: "May I feed it to the emperor? This is made by my own hands. Please give me a favor, emperor."

The emperor also smiled and obediently drank the lotus seed soup fed to him by Concubine Shu.

Suddenly, a pleasant sound of piano came from the distance, long and distant, sometimes gurgling like flowing water, sometimes as elegant as flowing clouds.

The emperor stood up and listened carefully, then asked Eunuch Wei, "Who is playing the zither?"

Eunuch Wei walked to the palace gate, looked in the direction where the piano sound came from, and said, "How about I send someone to take a look?"

The emperor said, "Go quickly."

Not long after, someone came to report that that was the villa of the Yongning Marquis's son, not far from here. The Yongning Marquis's son and Prime Minister Su Yi had come to the villa for vacation a few days ago.

The emperor was surprised: "I thought that such superb piano skills belonged to Su Yi."

Eunuch Wei said with a smile: "Mr. Su San is extremely talented and has excellent piano skills, but it's a pity that he has no interest in a career in politics."

The emperor also sighed with regret: "Let them come and talk to me. I haven't seen them for a long time."

(End of this chapter)