Rebirth of the Merchant Woman's Revenge

As I walked in, I saw Gu Qiongsi with her back exposed, and Dingxiang was helping her apply medicine.

Xie Rui was crying alone on the small bed in the corner.

He quickly turned his head away again, and without waiting for their reply, he continued, "Applying the medicine is not a rush. We can wait until Rui'er falls asleep before applying it."

In the era of Great Chu, no matter what time it was, no woman would expose her skin in broad daylight to have medicine applied to her, not to mention that Gu Qiongsi didn't even lock the door.

When Gu Qiongsi saw him come in, she stood up quickly, not caring whether the medicine had dried or not, and put her shirt down. She winked at Ding Xiang, asking her to go over and carry Xie Rui out. Then she stood up and said, "Sanlang is right. I was not thoughtful enough."

She simply straightened her clothes again, and then continued, "I went out today, and maybe I walked too much, so the wound on my back was a little affected. I felt very uncomfortable after I came back, and I couldn't stand it, so I forgot the etiquette. Please don't blame me, Sanlang."

After hearing what Gu Qiongsi said, Xie Cheng'an immediately asked about what happened outside today. After listening to Gu Qiongsi's brief description, Xie Cheng'an felt relieved.

"If Sanlang goes to a wine shop or teahouse this afternoon, he might hear the news. It will definitely become the focus of everyone's discussion in the next two days. After these two days, few people will mention the troubles of the Xie family anymore."

Xie Cheng'an had been studying hard in the previous years and had never been exposed to these things, so he thought that Gu Qiongsi's way of doing things was very unique.

Last time, it was she who thought of spreading those poems to build up momentum for herself, but this time she was spreading other news to suppress her bad reputation.

Living in Beijing, I know too well the impact of public opinion on a person, especially an official. No matter whether it is true or not, it may become a sharp blade in everyone's mouth.

At that time, the daughter of Sima of Liuzhou was maliciously spread with rumors that ruined her reputation. In the end, she could not bear the humiliation and hanged herself.

Thinking of this, Xie Cheng'an suddenly felt a little uneasy. The young lady of the Sima family in Liuzhou was named Liu Zijin. She was a straightforward woman and once had an argument with Gu Qiongsi on the street over a piece of jewelry.

Could it be that Gu Qiongsi was the one who spread those rumors back then?

But she didn't have time to think about it, as Gu Qiongsi's words attracted his attention again.

Then she continued, "Hasn't Sanlang ever thought about what kind of news we are spreading this time?"

"The reason why the news was suppressed and everyone is talking about it must be the conflict in some high-ranking officials' families." Xie Cheng'an was not stupid. He had a general idea after thinking about it for a while.

"Sanlang is indeed amazing, but this time the news is about the royal family."

"What? You are so bold! How dare you talk about the royal family's affairs? What if someone finds out?" Xie Cheng'an's eyes widened when he heard it.

I've known for a long time that Gu Qiongsi is bold, but I didn't expect her to be so bold. To make irresponsible comments about the royal family is a matter of life and death.

"Don't worry, Sanlang. The news we spread is not groundless speculation, but the truth. It happened at the Queen Mother's birthday banquet. So many eyes in the hall saw it. If we really investigate, we may not know who will be the one to find it."

"Moreover, the news has already spread among the circles of those officials, but it's just private discussions and has not really been spread. As the saying goes, the law cannot hold everyone responsible, so the matter will just be left unresolved."

Gu Qiongsi smiled and comforted him.

Even so, Xie Cheng'an was still worried, so he took Shuangrui to a small teahouse early in the afternoon, ordered a pot of tea, and sat quietly in the corner listening carefully to the guests' conversations.

"Have you heard? Something big happened at the Queen Mother's birthday banquet..." someone said in a low voice.

"Yeah, I just heard about it on the street. Now even the street vendors have heard about it. It's really eye-opening." Another person also answered with interest.

"It's no wonder that everyone is talking about this. The main reason is that this matter is too strange. The emperor issued an imperial decree to grant marriage, but he could have gotten the wrong person? The Crown Princess who was supposed to be married to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was actually betrothed to His Royal Highness Prince An. Tell me, is the emperor partial to me?"

"Biased? How can this be biased? I think it was intentional. I heard that the Imperial Astronomical Observatory even compared the horoscopes before the marriage. How could there be a mistake?" An old man shook his head. He thought more about the news.

After he finished speaking, the younger man immediately asked him, "Uncle, you said it's not partiality, then what's going on? We've discussed it for a long time, but we still don't understand it."

The old man stroked his beard and said, "It's okay if you don't understand. Have you heard what happened later?"

The people at the same table all shook their heads, and the old man continued, "The imperial decree granting marriage had only been read halfway, and Miss Sun Wanqing, who was supposed to be the Crown Princess, directly disobeyed the decree and threatened to hit her head against a pillar to commit suicide. This shows that Miss Sun Wanqing is deeply in love with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

"Oh oh..." Someone shook his head after hearing this, "Could it be that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Miss Sun Wanqing are..."

Secretly having an affair, secretly falling in love, and secretly getting married?

He didn't finish his words, and he didn't dare to say the rest.

The old man did not answer his question. He took a sip of tea and continued, "It is said that this incident directly angered the Empress Dowager and made her sick, but Miss Sun Wanqing who disobeyed the order in the palace was also convicted. So, this matter has a lot of twists and turns."

"If you ask me," someone raised his voice to attract the attention of the others, then realized that his voice was too high, so he quickly lowered it and said, "If you ask me, the emperor is partial to Prince An, and maybe he has other plans for him in the future."

As common people, they naturally had no idea about the intricacies of the court, let alone the turmoil in the palace about who would be the crown prince. They just made random guesses based on these few words.

Xie Cheng'an was shocked as he listened. He didn't expect that the news would attract so much attention among the people, and the various speculations of the people should be the final destination of the spread of the news.

The news that came out was obviously beneficial to Prince An, and was also gradually guiding everyone to speculate in a direction that was beneficial to Prince An. This would be of great benefit to Prince An's future turnaround and even some of his future actions.