"Who would have thought that as soon as he arrived in the capital, he was captured by the servants of Master Qian's family!"

"Master Qian? Do you know who he is?" Song Xiang couldn't help but ask a few more questions when he heard such a familiar surname, "Is there anything wrong with Yunmei's background?"

The middle-aged owner sighed heavily, regretting the situation and saying, "If we had known this earlier, we would not have come to the capital... After Master Yunmei was captured, I made some inquiries and found out that those people were servants of the Minister of Rites, Qian Yinshu, and Master Yunmei was the son of Qian Yinshu..."

"What?" Song Xiang was slightly surprised. "Tell me his life story one by one!"

The middle-aged troupe owner looked around and saw that no one was eavesdropping, so he whispered, "After we set out from Puyang Prefecture, we headed south and arrived at Dongping Prefecture. In order to find out his background, Master Yunmei asked around in the prefecture and received an invitation to perform in a play from a wealthy family!"

"Who knew that family was exactly the mother's family of Minister Qian? The old lady of that family fainted when she saw Master Yunmei on the stage. When she woke up, she kept cursing him for his evil deeds! Later, the old lady summoned Master Yunmei alone!"

"After Yunmei came back, I learned about her life experience. It turned out that she was the son of Minister Qian and a servant in the same room. The old lady of the Qian family didn't know that the servant was pregnant at the time. After learning that Minister Qian passed the imperial examination, she sold the child out..."

"Who would have thought that the maidservant could not bear the blow, and fell ill after giving birth to Master Yunmei, and later died."

"It was the old troupe owner who bought Master Yunmei, named him, taught him skills, and raised him..."

"I don't know how Master Yunmei is doing now. I'm really afraid that the people from Qianfu will bully him!"

Song Xiang was deeply moved after hearing this. He never expected that there was such an unknown secret hidden in this.

Master Yunmei's life story is so tragic...

"Since that Minister Qian is the biological mother of Master Yunmei, I'm sure nothing will happen to Master Yunmei. The class leader doesn't need to worry. If I have the chance to meet Master Yunmei in the future, I will certainly help him out!"

After hearing this, the middle-aged class owner immediately bowed and said, "Thank you, Miss!"

Song Xiang nodded, said goodbye, then turned and left quickly.

After getting back on the carriage, Song Xiang began to doubt Minister Qian. There were very few people with the surname Qian. Could this person be Shuxing's biological mother?

The carriage continued to travel for a distance and stopped in front of a restaurant.

Song Xiang got off the carriage and saw that the men coming and going on the street were not wearing veil hats. He couldn't help but admire the open-minded customs of the people in Chaoxi City.

Wei Jianshen and Wei Jianmu got off the carriage, and the three of them went into a teahouse called Guangjuxuan together.

As they walked, Song Xiang asked Wei Jianmu, "Brother, why did you bring us here?"

Wei Jianmu smiled mysteriously, his eyes sparkling: "There are many noble ladies here, and my brother is deliberately showing off to annoy Commander Yun!"

Song Xiang touched his nose and followed Wei Jianshen upstairs. As soon as he reached the second floor, a young lady with luxurious clothes and frivolous manners came towards him.

When she saw Wei Jianshen and Wei Jianmu, she said jokingly, "Hey, whose beauty is this? She's so pretty!"

As he said this, he was about to come over and pinch Wei Jianshen’s face: “Look at this fair face…”

Wei Jianshen took a step back with a look of disgust.

The lady opposite seemed unaware and continued to stare at Wei Jianshen from head to toe: "Oh, you are still a hot-tempered man, not bad, I like him, wow, I have never seen a man with such a willow-like waist, I really want to..."

"Pa!" Song Xiang raised his hand and slapped the woman in the face, then he put his hands behind his back and scolded, "Whose animal was not locked up properly? How did it escape from the cage?"

The lady opposite was beaten, and she covered her cheek and got angry: "You dare to hit me! You are dead! Do you know who I am?"

"I'm telling you, I'm the daughter of the Duke of Anguo's mansion. How dare you be rude to me? Are you going to die?"

"Pa!" Song Xiang slapped him again without saying anything, shaking his hands and saying, "So you are just relying on others for power, no wonder you are so ignorant!"

"You!" The young lady of the Duke of Anguo's mansion covered her cheeks and said angrily, "Aren't you afraid of me? Who are you? Tell me your name!"

"Oh! Who did I think it was? It turned out to be the little playboy from the Anguo Mansion!" A noble lady from an aristocratic family wearing a blue brocade robe came out of the private room, stood in front of Song Xiang, and scolded, "Du Fangxi, you are really notorious. I can smell your stench even in the private room!"

When Miss Du Fangxi of the Duke of Anguo's Mansion saw the woman in front of her, she was furious and shouted insults: "Chen Jinzhi, who do you think you are? How dare you teach me a lesson!"

Chen Jinzhi curled her lips and looked down on Du Fangxi: "You are just a poor creature from the Anguo Mansion, not even as good as a finger of Du Fangfei, yet you dare to show off your power and bully the weak outside, pretending to be a young lady!"

"If you don't restrain yourself, don't blame me for being ruthless. I don't mind letting all the noble families in Chaoxi City see your true face!"

"You! You are so cruel!" Du Fangxi said harshly, "Don't let me meet you again next time!"

After saying that, she deliberately walked forward, pushed Chen Jinzhi's body aside and went downstairs!

Seeing that the matter was settled, Song Xiang bowed to Chen Jinzhi and said, "I am Song Xiang, thank you for your help, young lady!"

Chen Jinzhi returned the greeting and said nonchalantly, "It's just a trivial matter, not worth mentioning!"

"My name is Chen Jinzhi, and my mother is the Minister of Justice!"

"I wonder who Miss Song Xiang belongs to? Why have I never seen her before?"

Whose daughter is this? It’s really hard to say!

Just as Song Xiang was hesitating, Yun Que hurried over. She saluted Song Xiang and said, "Third Prince, I am late and have failed in my duty. Please punish me, Third Prince!"

"It doesn't matter!"

Chen Jinzhi was stunned for a moment, then reacted quickly, bowed again and said: "Jinzhi greets His Highness the Third Prince. I didn't know your identity just now, so I'm sorry for offending you. Please don't blame me..."

"Miss Chen, you are so polite!" Song Xiang raised the corners of his lips, and his words were a little more intimate. "I have just arrived in the capital and don't have many friends. I was very happy to see Miss Chen speak up for justice. I wonder if Miss Chen is willing to be my friend?"

"Be the Third Prince's friend?" Chen Jinzhi was a little surprised, but still agreed happily, "If I can be the Third Prince's friend, Jinzhi will be lucky in three lifetimes!"

"Third Prince, can we have a chat in the private room?"

Song Xiang nodded and said to Wei Jianshen, "Brother, I want to sit alone with Miss Chen. How about letting Commander Yun take you to the private room upstairs for some tea?"

When Wei Jianshen heard this, the smile in his eyes was so big that it almost overflowed.

Without waiting for everyone's reaction, he went straight to the third floor. Yunque suppressed his restless heart and followed slowly.

"Third sister, I originally came to see you with my eldest brother today. Now that I have seen you, I will go back first!" Wei Jianmu raised his head and glanced at Chen Jinzhi, a slight blush rising on the tip of his ears.

How could Song Xiang let her second brother leave alone? Thinking about what she saw on the roadside earlier, she felt that Chaoxi City did not have too many restrictions on men and women meeting each other, so she invited Wei Jianmu, "Second brother, come with me!"

Wei Jianmu bit his lip, and said with a hint of anger: "Did Third Sister not talk to Miss Chen?"

"How could that be?" Song Xiang laughed, turned around and introduced Chen Jinzhi, "This is my second brother, he has a kind personality, does Miss Chen mind if I take him with me?"

Chen Jinzhi pursed her lips and said, "Your Highness the Third Prince is joking!"

After saying that, he turned around and led Song Xiang and the other person to the private room.

Wei Jianmu followed the two of them, and thinking about Chen Jinzhi's expression, a blush appeared on his fair face: Third sister has good character, and the friends she makes are also warm-hearted good people.

Song Xiang naturally had no idea what Wei Jianmu was thinking. After entering the private room, the two sat opposite each other. Wei Jianmu sat by the window and looked downstairs through the gap in the window.

Chen Jinzhi asked for another pot of tea and filled it for Song Xiang before calmly saying, "Yesterday evening, the noble families heard the news that His Majesty had recognized his biological daughter and said that the original Third Prince Princess Letao was not His Majesty's biological daughter but the daughter of Marquis Weining. The noble families still didn't believe it. Now that I have met the Third Prince, Jinzhi knows that the rumors are true!"

"The Third Prince hates evil and hates evil, and he has the same temperament as Jinzhi!"

Song Xiang smiled and said, "I am very happy to be able to make friends with Jinzhi!"

"Jinzhi, to be honest, my common name is Song Xiang. It was only after the Queen Mother recognized me yesterday that I learned that my name is Xuan Yi! From now on, you can call me Wei Xiang or Xuan Yi!"

Chen Jinzhi understood: "I understand, Third Prince probably prefers others to call you Wei Xiang!"

"The one who understands me best is Jinzhi!" Song Xiang smiled brightly, "I never thought Jinzhi had the ability to comprehend the mind and understand the mind."

Chen Jinzhi was humble for a while before saying, "Your Highness, this is your first time in the capital, so you must not know how many interesting things have happened in the capital in the past few days!"

"Eh? What's interesting? Tell me about it, I'm just bored!"

Chen Jinzhi was rarely interested, and said to Song Xiang: "I heard that the lost child of the Duke of Mingguo's Mansion was found..."

"It was said in the capital that the Duke of Ming's mansion lost a daughter, but who knew that it was a young boy! I heard that the young boy was extremely handsome, even more beautiful than the fairies in heaven!"

Wei Jianmu couldn't help but become interested and asked, "Is the current concubine of Duke Ming's Mansion Lu Yafang? She has quite a lot of young masters..."

Chen Jinzhi quickly glanced at Wei Jianmu, then looked away and said, "It's Lu Yafang!"

"The missing young master is Lu Yafang's biological brother. Compared with those illegitimate young masters, his status is much higher!"

Song Xiang was not so curious about these things, and instead urged Chen Jinzhi: "Is there anything else? Tell me about it."

Chen Jinzhi frowned and said, "There is one other thing. I heard that the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Jiang Lan, offended His Majesty for some reason and was thrown into prison!"

"Her son, Jiang Qingyan, who is now serving as the director of the Si Tiantai, is trying to ask for help from all his connections to visit Master Jiang in the prison of the Ministry of Justice!"

"I don't know how he got to know the Highness and even encouraged him to put pressure on my mother to do something for him!"

The more Song Xiang listened, the uglier her expression became. She gritted her teeth and said, "Master Jiang and my elder sister are old acquaintances?"

"Oh, what old acquaintance? It turns out that the eldest prince admired Mr. Jiang and had been pursuing him without success. Now Mr. Jiang just gave him a little sweetness, and the eldest prince rushed to him!"

After saying this, Chen Jinzhi realized that she had spoken out of turn: "Wei Xiang, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend Your Highness..."

"It's okay!" Song Xiang waved his hand and said, "To be honest, she is not my biological elder sister, Jinzhi, don't mind it."

Chen Jinzhi breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing that Song Xiang looked very unhappy, she asked cautiously, "Wei Xiang, what's wrong with you?"

Song Xiang shook his head and asked seriously, "What has Mr. Jiang's attitude been like towards my elder sister?"

"Young Master Jiang rarely attends banquets. Every time he goes out, he goes to Dayun Temple to visit Master Wuchen. As long as Your Highness knows that Young Master Jiang is going to Dayun Temple, he will definitely follow him!" Chen Jinzhi said as he thought carefully, "But Young Master Jiang's attitude towards Your Highness has always been lukewarm!"

Song Xiang snorted coldly, with a cold aura emanating from her beautiful face: "If Jinzhi hadn't told me, I would have really thought that the two of you were willing to do this!"

"I want to see the decision made by the Queen Mother and see who dares to help him!"

Chen Jinzhi now finally figured out what was going on. It seemed that the Third Prince did not get along with the two people she mentioned, otherwise why would he be so angry!

"I heard that the eldest prince has not married the prince yet because of Mr. Jiang. Because of this, the eldest prince has been reprimanded by His Majesty many times!"

"Tsk!" Song Xiang sneered, "Is my elder sister really so infatuated?"

"I underestimated this Mr. Jiang! I didn't know he was so popular!"

Chen Jinzhi said uncomfortably, "Although Young Master Jiang is a famous handsome young man in Chaoxi City, he has rarely been seen in recent months. Instead, Young Master Shuxing, the son of Minister Qian, has become famous, and his reputation for beauty has surpassed that of Young Master Jiang!"

"Who are you talking about!" Song Xiang stood up suddenly, her eyes widened in disbelief. After a moment, she hurriedly approached Chen Jinzhi, "Who were you talking about just now? Say it again!"

Chen Jinzhi was frightened by Song Xiang's actions and expression. She stammered, "What I just said was... Master Shuxing..."

"Does your Highness the Third Prince know this person?"

Song Xiang's eyes felt sore, her chest felt swollen and there was a dull pain. The dusty memories were suddenly revealed, and she felt her eyes were misty and a little bitter.

After being silent for a while, she sat back in her seat and said to Chen Jinzhi, "What do you think happened to Master Shuxing?"

Chen Jinzhi regained the ability to organize his words, and said with some fear: "Master Shuxing is not only handsome, but also very talented. Once at a banquet, he was ridiculed and embarrassed by the young masters of aristocratic families, and forced to write a poem. Everyone thought that he came from a small place and would definitely not be able to write a poem. Unexpectedly, he not only could do it, but also did it very well!"

"What kind of poem did he write?" Song Xiang asked puzzledly.

Chen Jinzhi thought for a moment, and then slowly recited: "A masterful hand writes the truth, ink-stained eyes and red lips. I wonder if it is the girl from Song Dynasty, the neighbor from the east, only half of her body is visible over the wall. The past is bitter, who remembers the frown in the mist and black eyebrows? Everyone says there are some hateful things, heartless, but even heartless, it is still moving." (Adapted from "Nan Xiangzi: Masterful Hand Writes the Truth" by Qin Guan of the Song Dynasty)

"I heard that this poem was written because of a painting by Master Shuxing. In the painting, Master Shuxing liked the girl on the other side of the east wall, so he climbed up the wall to peek at her, and a sad story happened between them."


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