But I'm a male fox

Li Cheng got out of the bed, patted the dust, and said apologetically, "My lord, my subordinate..."

"Needless to say."

Cao Yueying concealed her excitement just now, and put on her calm but majestic expression in the past and said: "You know this and I know it, so don't let the third person hear it, otherwise... don't blame me for being rude!"

"The subordinates will never dare to talk too much."

"Okay, then you go, just pretend that this never happened."

After Cao Yueying finished speaking, she lay back on the bed, closed her eyes, and said nothing more.

Li Cheng immediately walked out of the bedroom and closed the door as if he had been pardoned.

As soon as he turned around, he saw Cai He bouncing towards the gate of the courtyard.

The round-faced maid wiped off the crumbs from the corners of her mouth, and said with a smile, "Ah, Mr. Li, have you finished the book?"

Li Cheng replied unhappily: "You, you will be punished soon!"

"Huh? Why?"

Li Cheng didn't explain, and strode away, leaving Caihe alone in a daze, scratching his hair.

Sure enough, that night, Cai He was punished and ordered to clean the front yard.

On Li Cheng's side, there is some good news.

Although the results of the joint search by the Night Watch Division and the Demon Slayer Division last night were "very fruitful", and Cao Yueying was also injured as a result, the court did not seem to be outraged, and instead stopped further large-scale searches.

I don't know whether it was Cao Yueying's announcement that she would thoroughly investigate the loss of the treasury that attracted the attention of the court officials, or that some people were afraid to continue the search in case something was found and it would be difficult.

In a word, when the rumors eased, Li Cheng and Bai Yutang's actions became easier.

The next afternoon, after he told Cao Yueying a story, he left Cao's mansion under the pretext of going to Guozi to learn martial arts.

In the Imperial College, he left behind a false body, carrying a talisman and a cloud-piercing arrow, and asked Xiao Wan'er to cover it, while his real body quietly came to the appointed place and left a mark.

After a while there was a response.

That night, Li Cheng turned into a sparrow, went to the restaurant, and landed on the roof.

"Senior, here!"

Bai Yutang poked his head out from the kitchen in the backyard, waved at him, and said, "Everyone in the restaurant has been drugged with sleeping pills, and they will definitely not be able to wake up at night."

Li Cheng followed into the kitchen and saw many locks on the stove.

"Senior, today I'm going to teach you the first secret technique in "Kong Kong Yaoshu"!" Bai Yutang puffed up her chest and said, "Spiritual mind drawing silk!"

Because there is no family opinion, even if it is housekeeping skills, the dog-eared girl taught Li Cheng without any grievances, and she had to demonstrate it herself.

I saw her pick up a lock on the stove, and pull out a hair from the back of her head. The fingertips released an undetectable demonic power, which melted into the bright yellow hair according to the guidance of divine thoughts.

Then, the hair moved as if it came alive.

It got in through the hole in the lock, and with a click, the lock opened.

"I see......"

Li Cheng guessed: This is a combination of weak demon power and divine thoughts, using hair as a medium to simulate the effect of thoughts or tentacles, which is much stronger than the wire used by ordinary thieves.

It looks a bit like a weakened version of Chen Youxi's red line magic weapon, but it seems to be more refined and sensitive...

"Senior, don't underestimate my trick!"

Bai Yutang continued to explain: "Many organs of the immortal family are isolated from the spiritual sense, but after I hide the divine sense in my hair, I can bypass their isolation, and through the gap, I can see its internal structure, um, not only It’s hair, you can use cotton or twine, you can use any medium.”

Ah, how is this done?

Li Cheng's curiosity was finally aroused, and he quickly asked Bai Yutang to explain the key points.

"What a magic technique!"

Two quarters of an hour later, Li Cheng initially understood the method of casting the spell, and couldn't help sighing, then looked at the row of locks on the stove.

These are "homework".

Tonight he will use a new trick to pry all the locks open!

..................

Chapter 140 Infighting is Our Fine Tradition

Ideal is full, the reality is very skinny.

After working hard for a long time, Li Cheng only managed to pick four locks open, one of which was broken because he was so angry that he used too much force.

However, there was no rush for this kind of thing, and he was already very satisfied that he could do this in one night.

In the end, he and Bai Yutang carefully wiped away the traces, and then fled separately and returned to Cao's mansion.

Sleep soundly until dawn.

The conversation was divided into two parts. Unlike Li Cheng, Cao Yueying got up early that day.

She bathed and changed her clothes, and with only Cai He by her side, boarded a carriage and headed straight to the Cao Mansion in the north—this Cao Mansion was not the other Cao Mansion, but the famous Jichuan Hou Mansion, where the Cao family's main family was located.

From a distance, she saw the familiar courtyard wall and the tall lintel that was not inferior to the Hunhe Palace.

There were servants waiting at the gate, and when the carriage came, an old servant immediately greeted him with a smile:

"Miss San is back!"

"It's gone some days, Uncle Joe."

Cao Yueying got out of the car, greeted her acquaintance softly, and walked into the mansion under his guidance.

As soon as she entered, she frowned.

The layout of the mansion and the clothes of the servants are much better than before I moved out...

It's a little more luxurious...

Is all the money earned by Xiao's mother and daughter used in this kind of place?No... probably not just with their money.

"Miss, Master is waiting for you in Guanchao Pavilion."

The old servant led the way to a small building, Cao Yueying asked Caihe to stay outside, and walked in alone.

There is a hut in the building, and there is a stove burning in the room, and there are two people sitting around the stove, one is tall and thin, with a white beard, but he is the current minister, the helm of the Cao family, and also Cao Yueying's uncle, Cao Ming.

Cao Yueying's parents died early when she was young, and she was raised by her uncle, she respected him very much, so she immediately paid her respects.

"Haha, niece Xian is getting more and more imposing..."

Cao Ming was very happy, stepped forward to help Cao Yueying up, and then extended his hand to introduce the second person: "You should have seen this one before, it is Wang Zihui from the Wang family."

Wang Zihui saluted and said, "Long time no see, cousin."

Because there are many intermarriages between the Wang and Cao families, and his mother is Cao Yueying's aunt, so he can really climb the sibling relationship.

But when Cao Yueying faced him, her expression suddenly turned cold, she just nodded slightly and stopped talking.

It wasn't that Miss Cao was rude to others, but she knew that the loss of the heavy crossbow in the army was inseparable from the Wang family...

In the memorial she just gave, the people who said that they would be strictly investigated probably included many Wang family members.

Faced with a cold reception, Wang Zihui was a little embarrassed, but she was mentally prepared, and turned to Cao Ming to ask for help.

Cao Ming raised his eyebrows slightly, and ordered the servant to take a jug of wine from the stove, and poured a glass for each of the three.

Then he raised his wine glass and said softly: "Now that the enemy is at hand, how can the young talents of our two families have a quarrel with each other? Isn't this a joke for the enemy?"

"Ugh......"

Cao Yueying sighed and understood what her uncle meant.

It seems that the Wang family has already decided to join the faction that the Cao family belongs to. If that is the case, it would be disregarding the overall situation to pursue the matter of their failure to take care of the treasury...

So disgusting.

Although disgusted in her heart, she still raised her glass and drank it down.

Seeing this, Cao Ming smiled with satisfaction, and after a few words of relief, discussed the important affairs of the dynasty...

The current court situation in Dagan is simple to say, but it is nothing more than an internal struggle between two factions.

The first faction, also known as the enemy in Cao Ming's mouth, is the party of the general and the queen mother.

Since the new emperor Deng Ji, because he was too pure of the ancients (a fool), it was difficult to discern the truth, so he had to let the queen mother listen to politics behind the curtain.

However, the Empress Dowager's level is worrying, and she likes to appoint relatives. After a few years, she has many conflicts with the royal family.

Although the empress dowager has a high status, her foundation is still weak, and she gradually lost the wind when confronting the family. Just when the general was successful in suppressing thieves, she called him into the court, made an alliance, and became powerful for a while, completely controlling the court.

The other great families, including the Cao family, suffered greatly from it, and became more united. They also found a queen who was also dissatisfied with the queen mother, and thus became the second faction, that is, the party of the family and the queen.

As a result, a pattern of internal fighting between the two factions was formed, with the general on the outside against the family, and the empress dowager on the inside—because the two women lived in the palace, this was also known as the struggle between the two palaces.

Of course, this division of camps is not absolute. For example, although the Wang family is an aristocratic family, they were originally separated from the two factions.

But now that they have sent Wang Zihui to find Cao Ming, their position has changed...

"My family controls a quarter of the soldiers and horses in the Beijing camp. As long as the lords have orders, they can bring troops into the city, and the Qing emperor will side with Kuang Sheji!" Wang Zihui asserted as he drank the wine in his glass, suddenly full of pride.

"Ah."

Cao Ming nodded slightly: "The Night Patrol Division, the Beijing Camp, and the retainers and private soldiers of each family are already more than the General's subordinates. In this way, as long as the top three ranks express their willingness not to intervene, our chances of winning will be even greater. Over fifty percent."

Then he praised Wang Zihui a few more words, poured out the wine in the jug, and ended this small meeting.

Cao Yueying was in a bad mood, and she only said a few words the whole time, and remained silent for the rest of the time.

She couldn't help but think, even if the family alliance got rid of the party members of the general and the queen mother and took control of the government, would it really be able to help the country?

Just relying on the Wang family who didn't even look down on the warehouse, and the own family who used the money to buy silk clothes for the servants?

It sounds ridiculous.

She sighed softly, bid farewell to Cao Ming, and relaxed in the yard of her hometown.

Go to another courtyard.

But there are more than a dozen of Cao's housekeepers, together with several cousins ​​of Cao Yueying, sitting around the gazebo, drinking and having fun.

Tsk, it's still broad daylight...

Getting a little closer, Cao Yueying could hear them competing with each other for poetry on the topic of wine.

It's just that these poems written by these people on the spot sounded mediocre to her.

She recalled someone's handsome face, and said softly:

"If you don't see it, the water of the Yellow River comes up from the sky, rushing to the sea and never returning. If you don't see it, the mirror in the high hall is sad and white-haired, like blue silk in the morning and snow in the evening..."

It was a poem that Li Cheng told her not long ago, called "Jiangjinjiu".

Everyone at the banquet immediately turned their heads and listened attentively.

When the last sentence "five-flowered horses, rich gold, Hu'er will exchange for fine wines, and sell eternal sorrows with you." As soon as it came out, the audience applauded and praised:

"Third sister, what a poem!"

"Miss San's poem is bold and unrestrained, extraordinary! There is no other person in the entire capital who can achieve this level!"

Hearing the compliments, Cao Yueying shook her head slightly, and said slowly: "I didn't write this poem, it was written by my guest Li Youxin..."

"Who is that?!"

"Who has this talent but doesn't have a reputation?"

"I've heard of it, it's a little storyteller and singer... ah!"

Before a certain cousin said those three words, Cao Yueying suddenly raised her fist, and slammed it on the rocky mountain beside her, leaving a fist mark on the surface.

Turning her head, she smiled and said to everyone at the table: "Mr. Li is a great talent, and he is a guest I hired with great difficulty. His reputation is my reputation. Before you slander him, you may as well ask yourself if you have the ability to make a big deal. The horizontal verse just now came.

If anyone spreads bad things about him in the future, I will hear it like this stone! "

After finishing speaking, Cao Yueying was in a much happier mood, and left the Hou's mansion with great strides, leaving a group of Cao's guests behind, looking at each other in blank dismay.

Soon, Li Cheng's reputation spread.

But Li Cheng himself, at this moment, is...

In the alleys in the south of the city, practice the art of sliding doors and picking locks!