629 Do you have any good ideas?
Master Tu and young master, being men, naturally despised the imperial consort’s actions.
In their opinion, a woman should stay in the backyard to help her husband and take care of the children. After her husband passes away, she should also be a widow.
Not to mention that her husband was the late emperor, once the most honorable man in the world.
The imperial consort must be very courageous to have the guts to make the late emperor a cuckold.
Tu Lihuan pursed his lips. “Such a promiscuous woman should be drowned. Prince Yi is too kind.”
The master of the Tu family cast a glance at him. “Trouble comes from the mouth. No matter what, she’s still the imperial consort, not someone you and I can talk about.”
Although he agreed with his son, he was more cautious.
“Alright!” Tu Lihuan was still a little afraid of his father.
Master Tu sat down and said to the two of them with an unsightly expression, “The situation in Northern City is getting worse. Prince Jin might be finished.”
Madam Tu was stunned. “Is Prince Jin too deeply poisoned to be saved?”
Otherwise, how could Prince Jin be finished? This was Prince Jin’s territory.
“My men received the news that not only is Prince Jin in bed, but he also needs someone to feed him. He can’t even speak,” Master Tu replied.
“Prince Jin’s residence has already fallen into the hands of the crown prince, Liang Mingyu.
He’s been very close to Prince Yi recently. I suspect that he might have sided with Prince Yi so he could control Prince Jin’s mansion and Prince Jin so quickly with the help of Prince Yi.
“If Prince Jin is crippled, we’ll lose our backing as well. Our Tu family will be in danger!”
The Tu family’s current status was mainly due to the benefits that Prince Jin had brought them.
There were many aristocratic families waiting to pull the Tu family down from their position.
Madam Tu and Tu Lihuan weren’t stupid, and their expressions changed when they heard this.
They also knew that if Prince Jin was crippled, the Tu family would be in trouble.
“What should we do then, father?” asked Tu Lihuan. Is it too late to join Liang Mingyu now?”
Master Tu shook his head and said, “It’s too late. Besides, if we side with Prince Yi, that’s the same as siding with the imperial court. Prince Jin’s residence can’t yield any more great achievements.”
In his mind, he was cursing Prince Jin for being so careless. Not only did he cripple himself, but he also tricked his followers.
“Then, can we think of a way to pull Liang Mingyu down and replace him with another young master from Prince Jin’s residence?” Tu Lihuan asked after some thought.
He was previously close to the fifth young master of Prince Jin’s manor. If the fifth young master could rise to the top, the Tu family would not be finished.
“I’ve already contacted those who don’t want to rely on Liang Mingyu to see if we can change the candidate to someone else,” Master Tu said after some thought.
“But I still have to leave a backup plan.”
He then turned to Tu Lihuan. “find an opportunity to get close to Xiao Baili. Make her want to marry you, or even force her to marry you. The sooner the better.
“As long as our family marries her, even if we can’t rely on Prince Jin’s mansion in the end, our Tu family’s position as the number one family in Northern City will not be affected if we are related with Prince Yi.”
Prince Jin had been crippled too suddenly, and they were not prepared for it at all. They could only look for a way out.
Tu Lihuan understood his father’s intentions. He nodded and said, “Okay, I will marry Xiao Baili.”
Master Tu reached out and patted him. “I’ll have to trouble you.”
In the past, he had thought of letting his son marry another woman after Prince Jin had ascended the throne.
Now that Prince Jin was crippled, the rebellion could not continue. So as long as Prince Yi still loved his stepdaughter, Xiao Baili, and Xiao Hanzheng continued to be an official, his son could not let Xiao Baili die of illness.
Tu Lihuan smiled nonchalantly. “For the sake of our family, it’s not a grievance.”
If Xiao Baili was very ugly, he would be a little disgusted.
Fortunately, Xiao Baili was pretty, so he could accept her.
If he had to marry a woman for the sake of his family and rely on her to maintain the glory of his family, he really couldn’t fall in love with Xiao Baili.
Madam Tu also felt that her son was at a disadvantage. She said to her son, “If Xiao Baili marries into our family but is unable to bear children, I will let you marry a few concubines you like in the next two years.
“If she can’t give birth to a son to carry the family name and you want to take in concubines, the Xiao family and Prince Yi can’t do anything about it.”
She hated Shi Qingluo, and she didn’t like Xiao Baili either, so she didn’t want her grandson to be born from Xiao Baili’s womb.
“I’ll listen to you, mother,” replied Tu Lihuan with a smile.
He couldn’t be bothered with these matters in the back residence. He would just leave it to his mother.
Master Tu would naturally not care about such a small matter.
Therefore, in the next few days, whenever Xiao Baili went out, she would run into Tu Lihuan.
Both Prince Yi and Xiao Hanzheng had spies in the Tu family, so they knew the conversation between the three people very quickly.
Of course, the two of them were unhappy that their elder daughter or sister-in-law had been schemed against.
Shi Qingluo also heard about this from Xiao Hanzheng and was lost for words. “The Tu family is too arrogant. They want to marry, but would our Baili be willing to?”
She was a little angry. “Furthermore, if she didn’t bear a son, they’re even using this as an excuse for him to take in concubines. They’re crazy.”
Xiao Hanzheng sneered. “They think too highly of themselves. They’re always flattering others. They really think that their Tu family is a good family and that it’s an honor for whoever that marries into their family.”
Shi Qingluo squinted her eyes. “Since they’ve taken the initiative to send themselves to our door, we’ll be letting them down if we don’t return the favor.”
If they wanted to extend their tactics to her sister-in-law, they would cut off their paths to do so.
Seeing his wife like this, Xiao Hanzheng put away the coldness in his eyes and asked with a smile, “Do you have any good ideas, my wifey?”
Shi Qingluo beckoned at him, and Xiao Hanzheng leaned over. She then told him a whole bunch of ideas.
“Smart girl, that’s a good idea!” Xiao Hanzheng chuckled.
After the meal, Shi Qing went to Xiao Baili’s room and had a chat with her sister-in-law.
She didn’t want to raise her sister-in-law into a silly, sweet girl. She couldn’t be too naive.
Especially if someone wanted to plot against her, she had to let her sister-in-law know.
The two of them chatted for more than two hours before Shi Qingluo left the room.
Xiao Hanzheng and Shi Qingluo went to work a few days later. Prince Yi had to send the North Prince and the princess from the previous dynasty to the capital, so he had an appointment with Kong Yuelan to go for a walk.
Xiao Baili didn’t go. She went to the temple in the suburbs with her servant maids to offer incense.
On the other hand, Xi Rong had brought her people to the border to train her troops the day before.
She heard from her royal uncle that a war might break out at the border at any time, and this was an opportunity for her.
Recently, Xi Rui had been helping Shi Qingluo keep an eye on the school of craftsmen. When he saw that Xiao Baili wanted to go to the temple alone, he offered to go with her.
Because of the difference between men and women, Xi Rui also got Xiao Erlang, who was taking a break from the academy to come along so that no one would gossip.
Xiao Baili sat in the carriage with her maidservants, while Xi Rui rode the horse with XIao Erlang.
When Tu Lihuan of the Tu family received the news, he asked his younger sister to invite her friends to offer incense. He also asked a few of his friends to accompany them.
There were quite a few people in the group. It looked like a coincidence, not like they had gone to meet others on purpose.
After Xiao Baili finished burning incense in the temple, she went to have a vegetarian meal with Xi Rui and her younger brother.
Tu Lihuan and the others had also arrived at the temple.
Tu Lihuan had asked someone to keep an eye on Xiao Baili. When he heard that they were going to have a vegetarian meal, he also suggested that they would eat first before offering incense.
