"Xiao Hei, where did you go?"
After Huangfu Yue had taken everyone to their respective living quarters, she returned to her own bedroom. Just as she sat down, she saw Xiao Hei, who had been brought into the space along with the manor's people, fly in from the doorway.
Previously, when she was arranging living quarters for everyone, Xiao Hei hadn't followed her but had flown off curiously to explore.
Since Xiao Hei couldn't leave the houses and go into the outer space, she hadn't stopped it from flying around and looking.
Because she had deactivated her connection with Xiao Hei before entering the space, she didn't know where Xiao Hei had flown or what it had seen.
"I've flown everywhere and looked around. Master, why do these rooms feel like a maze? No matter how I fly, I can't find an exit," Xiao Hei said.
Upon hearing this, Huangfu Yue smiled. She hadn't expected Xiao Hei to find the rooms like a maze. However, as all the rooms were connected and had no exits, it was indeed like a maze.
"These rooms have no exits, so they are indeed like a maze. If you get lost while flying out and can't find your way back, you can tell me, and I'll bring you back," Huangfu Yue said with a smile.
"How could I not find my way back? We crows are the best at finding paths!" Xiao Hei immediately exclaimed, looking a bit insulted.
Seeing its expression, Huangfu Yue's lips curved even deeper, and she couldn't help but laugh.
"Master, what are you laughing at?" Xiao Hei was a little dejected.
Huangfu Yue stopped laughing, reached out to pat Xiao Hei's head, and asked dotingly, "You ate so much roasted meat earlier, are you thirsty now? Do you want some water? I'll feed you."
Xiao Hei, who had been dejected, immediately became happy. Just as it was contemplating whether to act spoiled and say it was thirsty so its master would feed it water, it heard footsteps approaching outside the door.
Huangfu Yue also heard them. She and Xiao Hei looked towards the door at the same time, and in the next second, they saw Yun Niang supporting Zheng Taifei as she walked in.
"Grandmother." Huangfu Yue immediately got up to welcome her.
"This servant greets the eldest miss." Yun Niang curtsied to Huangfu Yue and paid her respects.
"No need for formalities." Huangfu Yue waved her hand kindly, then helped Zheng Taifei to a rosewood chair and invited her to sit.
"Grandmother, would you like some tea? I have fruit tea here." Without waiting for Zheng Taifei's reply, Huangfu Yue poured a cup of fruit tea for her.
"Grandmother, please have some."
Zheng Taifei curved her lips, looking pleased. She raised the teacup, took a sip, and nodded with a smile, "This fruit tea is delicious."
"Grandmother, did you come here for something specific?" Huangfu Yue sat beside Zheng Taifei and asked. "If you have something, you could have just sent someone to call me to your room. Why make the trip yourself? Coming to my room must be tiring... you climbed such a high mountain today, your legs should be very sore now."
"It's nothing much, I just saw that it's still early and I don't want to sleep yet, so I thought I'd chat with you." Zheng Taifei waved her hand.
"You don't need to worry about my legs. After resting for a long time after climbing the mountain, my legs aren't sore at all now. Moreover, climbing such a high mountain has filled me with drive; I feel energetic all over," the elderly woman said with a smile.
"Yun Niang, go and see what my granddaughters-in-law and great-grandsons are doing now," Zheng Taifei suddenly looked at Yun Niang and instructed.
Hearing this, Huangfu Yue's gaze flickered slightly. Why did it feel like Grandmother was deliberately sending Yun Niang away?
It seemed that Grandmother had come specifically to talk to her about something important.
"Yes." Yun Niang bowed to Zheng Taifei to take her leave and then retreated. She didn't forget to close the door after going out.
"Grandmother, do you need Xiao Hei to leave?" Huangfu Yue asked.
When Zheng Taifei heard her granddaughter's words, she knew that her granddaughter already knew she had something important to tell her. She thought to herself that she was such a smart child.
"No need." Zheng Taifei glanced at Xiao Hei, who was flying in the air, and shook her head.
Although Xiao Hei was a very intelligent animal that understood human speech but couldn't speak it, it wouldn't relay her words after hearing them, so there was no need to worry.
Zheng Taifei didn't know that Xiao Hei not only understood human speech but could also speak it. However, because of Huangfu Yue, Xiao Hei did indeed keep her words to itself.
"I specifically came to find you because I want to talk about what you said earlier, about being able to leave the sealed capital city within a five-hundred-mile radius tomorrow morning. After leaving the blockade, let's first find a safe enough place to settle down and not move for a while. We can continue our journey to Lingping after some time."
As soon as Zheng Taifei finished speaking, Huangfu Yue showed a somewhat surprised expression and asked in confusion, "Why?"
She hadn't expected her grandmother to come to talk about this.
"There are two reasons. First, the time required to travel from the capital to Lingping is very long. If we continue our journey after leaving the blockade, we will arrive at Lingping significantly earlier than the required time, which will arouse suspicion from the Lingping authorities.
Second, I want to know what Jiang Shangyun intends to do, what schemes he is hatching, and what his motives are," Zheng Taifei replied.
"Grandmother, do you suspect that Jiang Shangyun is being too good to Xu Yuqing and her daughter, and it might be for someone else's ulterior motive?" This was what Huangfu Yue inferred from the second reason.
Zheng Taifei nodded, "Jiang Shangyun is too good to Xu Yuqing and her daughter, so good that it's somewhat unusual. Moreover, as you've noticed, Jiang Shangyun and Xu Yuqing seem quite close, so close that it's almost intimate, making one suspect that he is deliberately being good to Xu Yuqing and her daughter with ulterior motives toward Xu Yuqing."
After speaking, she sighed, "Earlier, Xu Yuqing quarreled with Zhu Jiayi and was punished by Zhu Jiayi's maid. Jiang Shangyun protected Xu Yuqing and helped her. I thought he was just shrewd and insightful, who would have thought..."
She shook her head and sighed again.
"If it's confirmed that Jiang Shangyun is indeed harboring ulterior motives and has designs on Xu Yuqing, what will you do with him? Besides eliminating him?" Huangfu Yue asked.
"Does that even need to be said?" A hint of ruthlessness flashed in Zheng Taifei's eyes, but it quickly disappeared, replaced by a look of helplessness. "But if we eliminate him, I'm afraid there will be others. Xu Yuqing ultimately cannot remain chaste and cannot continue to be the widow of the Prince's Manor forever."
"There's no need to worry about Xu Yuqing. She is very easy to handle. If it weren't for Ying'er, she could have been eliminated at any time," Huangfu Yue said.
She had kept Xu Yuqing alive until now entirely for Ying'er.
"Speaking of Xu Yuqing, the poison you gave her..." Zheng Taifei suddenly brought up the matter of the poison, but before she could finish, she saw her granddaughter's strange smile.
A hint of confusion flashed in Zheng Taifei's eyes. Just as she was about to ask her granddaughter, her granddaughter enlightened her: "I didn't give her any poison at all."
"You didn't give her poison?" Zheng Taifei looked surprised.
Huangfu Yue nodded, "I don't have any poison, but in that situation, Grandmother, since you asked, I definitely had to produce 'poison' for her to swallow."
Hearing this, Zheng Taifei burst into laughter.
"You clever girl!" Zheng Taifei reached out and lightly flicked her granddaughter's nose. "But your acting skills are superb! You made Xu Yuqing believe that what you gave her was poison, and the most potent kind, which scared her to death."
Huangfu Yue hooked her lips, "Xu Yuqing firmly believes that she has taken poison and needs my antidote every month to suppress the toxicity. She will be well-behaved for a long time. Besides the matter with Jiang Shangyun, she shouldn't cause any more trouble. About that incense you wanted to use on her..."
"Because of the poison matter, I think we can hold off on using that incense on her for now. As you said, she should be well-behaved for a long time...
Using that incense on her during the journey to incapacitate her would make her a burden and slow us down if we encounter any danger.
Let's discuss it when we reach Lingping... For now, let's deal with Jiang Shangyun first," Zheng Taifei interrupted her granddaughter.
Huangfu Yue nodded, "Grandmother, have some tea."
She noticed that Zheng Taifei was too busy talking to even take a sip of the fruit tea.
Zheng Taifei nodded gently, raised the fruit tea, and took a small sip, once again praising, "This fruit tea is truly delicious. Yue'er, pour yourself a cup too."
"Okay." Huangfu Yue immediately poured a cup for herself. Seeing Xiao Hei flying in the air, she also poured a cup and placed it on the table, letting it fly over to drink.
Seeing this, Zheng Taifei didn't say anything, merely subtly curved her lips and smiled.