Chapter 46 Qin Ji seemed somewhat rushed…

Chapter 46 Qin Ji seemed somewhat rushed…

When Qin Ji emerged from the bathhouse in a slightly hurried manner, he glanced at the time and summoned a servant in the courtyard to ask, "Has the Third Miss of the Xiao family had lunch yet?"

"My lord, the third young lady has already finished her lunch. She repeatedly praised the wild mushroom stewed chicken, saying it was especially delicious. She is currently being taken to Guanxue Garden for her afternoon rest by the maids from the villa." These words were not spoken by a servant from the villa, but by Qin Xi, who had just stepped into the courtyard.

This report made Qin Ji immediately stop adjusting his clothes.

"She really didn't intend to wait for me at all."

A hint of helplessness flashed through his mind, but of course he didn't say it aloud. He just gave Qin Xi a sharp look: "How did you come to see Miss Xiao San?"

Qin Xi was the one who arranged the carriage for Liang Zhao and the others today. She should have finished cleaning up all the mess and returned by now, so she shouldn't have run into Yan Hui.

After being glared at like a knife by her master, Qin Xi immediately regretted her words and scolded herself in her heart: "Just report the mission, why did you have to talk so much?"

But since his lord had asked, he couldn't refuse to answer, so he vaguely replied, "Your subordinate... just felt that coming from the south side was closer, so I entered the villa from the horse farm."

As for how she got in, well, she climbed over the wall, of course. This was obviously against the rules, and to avoid being whipped by her master, Qin Xi quickly added:

"When I passed by the horse farm, I happened to run into the cat who serves the Third Miss. She said that the Third Miss chose the Nine Horses Terrace for the meal. The Third Miss then called me over to ask if you had eaten lunch, and she even praised a few dishes. I told her to tell her that she liked them very much and thanked you for your thoughtfulness."

"Why so much formality?" she said, seemingly complaining, but her eyes were no longer as sharp as before.

Qin Xi still needed to be firm: "When using the identity of Qin Xi, don't do anything that doesn't fit that identity, or you'll have to go back to being the Fifteenth Prince, understand?"

"Yes, my lord. I know I was wrong." Qin Xi was startled and realized that he had been negligent recently. He quickly knelt on one knee and respectfully admitted his mistake.

"My lord." With a flash, Wei Sa appeared in front of Qin Ji.

Qin Xi immediately and tactfully stepped aside.

Once back in the room, Qin Ji asked, "What did Su Mingyue say?"

"The Su family isn't just contacting us; the Fifth Prince and the Seventh Prince have also sent people. It seems they want to cast a wide net."

According to Su Mingyue, it was because the concubine daughter of the Su family in the Second Prince's residence was becoming increasingly out of favor. A few months ago, she even lost a six-month-old male fetus for unknown reasons. The Second Prince's attitude towards the Su family had also become distant, but his admiration for the Xie family's daughter was known throughout the capital.

They began to worry that supporting the Second Prince would not only bring them no benefit, but also risk them being suppressed, so they were carefully selecting their benefactors.

"Heh, they've become picky. But that's something they're capable of doing. However, the entanglement between the Second Prince and the Xie family's daughter has been going on for a while now. Why is the Su family only now thinking of choosing a different tree to perch on?" Qin Ji asked.

“The Second Prince is not infatuated with the eldest daughter of the Xie family, with whom he had a previous entanglement, but rather with the second daughter of the Xie family. These private affairs were not within our intelligence scope before, so no news about them has been sent from the capital. Please forgive me, Your Majesty; it was my dereliction of duty.” Wei Sa clasped his hands in apology.

"There's no need for that." Qin Ji waved his hand. "The Second Prince has always been a romantic. So many women have come and gone in his life, and he loves each one of them. If we let our intelligence network collect this information, then we won't have to do anything else."

Qin Ji paced slowly around the room a few times with his hands behind his back before saying slowly, "Send a message to the capital to investigate the Su family. This matter doesn't seem like the Su family is trying to choose a better tree; rather, it seems like they have internal disagreements and are each betting on something different. Investigate whether there have been any unknown conflicts or disputes among the different branches of the Su family recently."

At this moment, Qin Ji's eyes gleamed with excitement, the light of a predator smelling its prey. He had a keen intuition that he could profit from this.

"yes."

Qin Ji continued walking slowly around the room, pondering what would happen if the Su family truly had internal problems.

"Wei Sa, is Su Mingyue preparing to return to the capital?" Qin Ji stopped walking again.

"Yes, ever since you agreed to their conditions and gave the Su family a 30% share of the snowflake salt sales in Jiang County, his servants have been preparing to return to the capital. He should be traveling by water this time, and judging by the time it takes, he should set sail within ten days," Wei Sa replied after calculating the time in his mind.

"Have Wei Xun lead some men to secretly follow him, ensuring he returns to the capital alive. Make him only act when Su Mingyue's life is in danger." After a pause, Qin Ji continued, "If everything goes smoothly along the way, find an opportunity to cause them some kind of accident."

"Understood, sir." Wei Sa was secretly pleased to hear this. However, his joy had nothing to do with Su Mingyue, but rather that his lord had ordered Wei Xun to do this, which meant that the mistake Wei Xun made last time had been put behind him by his lord.

As for Su Mingyue, he understood. They always wanted to stir up trouble, but they couldn't actually cause any real harm to anyone.

However, since the lord has said "in case" the journey is safe, then it seems that the guards will not need to cause any trouble. Su Mingyue's journey will inevitably be dangerous, and she will most likely have to rely on the guards to save her life.

The two had almost finished discussing their business when Qin Xi's voice rang out from outside the door: "My lord, Miss Xiao San has come over here. Shall we invite her into the courtyard?"

"Please invite her in... No need." Qin Ji had just said "please invite her in" when he refused before he could finish speaking.

......

Xiao Yan Hui was being led by a maid from the villa, walking slowly along the pebble path decorated with flowers, birds, insects, and fish. It wasn't that she didn't want to speed up, but rather that she was quite full and was afraid that walking too fast would make the soup in her stomach slosh around.

After lunch, she originally planned to rest directly at Jiujutai, but because she ate too much, she could feel her stomach was a little bloated. Since Qin Ji had originally prepared a place for her to rest at Rongxue Garden, she simply walked there and could also take a walk to aid digestion.

"Hey, young lady, isn't that Qin Langjun standing by the moon gate ahead?" Cat's eyesight is always excellent. Before others could even notice, she had already spotted a white figure standing by the moon gate ahead.

"No way, wasn't Qin Ji dressed in black today?" Hearing Mao'er say that, Xiao Yan looked in the direction she was pointing. There was indeed a white figure there, but it was mostly blocked by flowers, trees and rockeries, so she couldn't see it clearly for a moment.

She gestured for the cat to step back, then stood where the cat had been and tilted her body slightly to look forward. Now she could see the whole person clearly, and it really was Qin Ji standing there.

Qin Ji seemed to notice the gaze directed at them, and as he turned around, their eyes met.

Xiao Yan saw a smile spread across Qin Ji's eyes, and then she imitated her by tilting her body slightly and waving in their direction.

"Pfft!" This action immediately amused Xiao Yan: "Like a lucky cat."

"Cat?" The cat was clearly very perceptive to this word, and immediately looked up to ask its daughter, "What kind of cat is a lucky cat? Is it a cat that brings wealth? Is it a cat spirit? Like the cat goddess worshipped in the village?"

"It's a very cute cat." Without much patience to answer the little girl's question, Xiao Yan smiled and left with that sentence before lifting her skirt and walking briskly toward the moon gate.

"How is Qin Langjun like a cat? Cats are the cutest cats." The little girl pouted with her round eyes and muttered under her breath behind her young lady, a hint of jealousy in her eyes as she looked at Qin Langjun, who was smiling so handsomely in front of her.

"Little girl, you have no sense of propriety." Green Moth, who deliberately slowed down and lagged a few steps behind, smiled and lightly tapped Cat's head before leisurely passing by her.

"Nonsense, I'm very perceptive." Didn't you see she also deliberately stopped? How could she not be perceptive?

"Qin Ji, did you handle them? What are you doing here? Have you had lunch?" Before she had even fully reached Qin Ji, Xiao Yan had already thrown out the question.

"I went to drink a cup of wine with you, and left everything else to the steward. This is my courtyard at the villa. I was just about to go to Jiuju Terrace to find you, but I didn't expect you to come here first." Qin Ji pointed to the courtyard behind the moon gate.

"Are you heading to Rongxue Courtyard?" Qin Ji gestured for the way, "Third Miss, please."

Xiao Yan walked up to Qin Ji with a smile, and was about to follow his lead when she seemed to smell a special fragrance in the wind.

She stopped and sniffed hard. Sure enough, there was a fragrance: "Qin Ji, what kind of flowers do you grow in your yard? I think I smell a sweet fragrance."

Upon hearing her words, Qin Ji's body stiffened almost imperceptibly for a moment.

A sweet scent! He had already bathed and changed, yet the fragrance still lingered?

A gust of wind blew, causing the hairband to flutter. Seeing the hairband lying on his shoulder, Qin Ji's hands, which were behind his back, suddenly tightened. He knew what was wrong.

His hair also smelled of that fragrance, but he didn't have time to wash it.

At that moment, the wind was blowing from Qin Ji towards Xiao Yan Hui, and this time Xiao Yan Hui could clearly smell the source of the fragrance.

The smile on his face had faded, and his suspicious gaze fell on Qin Ji's hair and his obviously changed clothes.

It was common for men to wear perfume in this era. In the past, one could smell a faint fragrance on Qin Ji, but today's fragrance was different. Although it was very faint, one could still smell a very sweet scent if one paid attention.

A fragrance that is cloyingly sweet, completely contrary to Qin Ji's aesthetic sense.

"Isn't it a bit cloying?" Qin Ji smiled wryly: "I don't know who tricked the person who bought the goods for the villa. I heard that this kind of sweet fragrance is popular in the capital. It just so happened that Mr. Su was coming today, so they specially lit this kind of fragrance. It's making my nose feel terrible. I even changed my clothes, but the smell still hasn't dissipated."

This is mostly true. The fragrance served in the front hall today was indeed a sweet incense from the capital. Although it wasn't as cloyingly sweet as the medicine, it was still about 70-80% similar. This was to mask the smell of the medicine.

But at this moment, facing Xiao Yan Hui's gaze, Qin Ji felt a little guilty for some reason.

"So sweet, I thought you'd just come back from some crazy adventure!" A smile returned to her face, and she spoke as if it were a joke, but her eyes were icy cold.

The implication that if you actually go out and fool around, you're doomed is crystal clear.