"You girl, siding so much with A Yao, why don't I send you to the Feng family to serve her," Bai Siruo said, annoyed and embarrassed that Haitang had uncovered her little secret. Haitang, however, leaned over happily, "Miss, don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. I'll serve you forever!"
Watching the mistress and servant banter back and forth, Feng Jinyao also felt genuinely happy.
Whatever had happened in her past life, it was good that these two cared for each other in this life. This way, their marriage wouldn't turn into a resentful union.
Bai Siruo saw her back to the Feng family before turning her carriage back to the Bai family.
After everyone left, the smile on Feng Jinyao's face turned cold. She said to Yunxu, "Go find Hehuan."
"What's wrong, Miss?"
"That Lu Yuanfeng doesn't seem like a good person. I can't quite pinpoint what's wrong, but my intuition tells me my cousin is being deceived by him."
Having lived two lives, if she wasn't more discerning about people now, she would have lived in vain.
Soon, Hehuan was found. "Miss, what are your orders?"
"When you were in the capital, did you hear of the Lu family? That person is fair-skinned and handsome, looking like a refined gentleman."
"Surname Lu?" Hehuan frowned and began to recall.
Before she entered the manor, she used to wander around the capital. If asked about good food and fun places, she could manage, but finding someone directly was a bit difficult. She could only shake her head, "I don't know. There are many families with the surname Lu in the capital. I know of three or four, but none of them match the young master you described."
Feng Jinyao was not surprised by her words. "In that case, forget it. Yunxu, go to the Su family and deliver a letter for me."
"Miss wants Young Master Su to help investigate this Young Master Lu?"
"Yes. Second Brother is not here, and I have no connections. Big Brother Su has extensive connections and broad knowledge, so I can ask him for help."
Yunxu nodded and immediately prepared to fetch brushes, ink, paper, and inkstone. Hehuan didn't know why her young lady wanted to investigate someone named Lu, but she didn't say much and followed to serve with the ink.
The letter was soon written. After the ink dried, Yunxu was immediately sent out with it.
The servant from the Su family recognized Yunxu as someone from the Feng family and dared not delay. However, he looked troubled.
"Miss, it's not that I want to make things difficult for you, but our young master hasn't returned home for several days. Is this letter urgent? If it's not urgent, I'll naturally deliver it to him when he returns. But if it's urgent, I can't do anything."
Hearing this, Yunxu's heart sank. This matter wasn't life-or-death urgent, but if it wasn't handled promptly, she feared her young lady would have trouble explaining. As she was hesitating at the entrance of the Su family, Su Cheng happened to return on horseback.
He looked somewhat surprised when he saw Yunxu.
"Yunxu? What are you doing here?"
"Your servant has seen Young Master Su. It's good that you're back. This is a letter from my young lady that she asked me to deliver to you. I hope you can help a little for the sake of Second Master."
"No problem. A Yao is also my sister. Her matters are my matters! Let me see."
Su Cheng was known as a notorious dandy in the capital. His absence from home for a few days was not a big deal. It was truly Yunxu's good fortune to meet him at the entrance now.
"What's the matter? Just investigating someone. Don't worry, A Yao. I'll deliver the news to her today."
Yunxu was overjoyed to hear this and thanked him repeatedly, saying, "Young Master Su truly has eyes everywhere! Then, on behalf of my young lady, I thank you, young master."
"No need to be polite. Just wait for the news."
He was the deputy leader of the Imperial Guard camp of the Ding Prince's manor. In this capital, from royalty to commoners, anyone the Ding Prince's manor wanted to investigate could be found. Moreover, this was a household that was officially registered.
Within the Imperial Guard camp, Su Cheng obtained all the information about Lu Yuanfeng in less than an hour.
He was from a merchant family, fond of frequenting brothels. Although he had a few regular mistresses, he was still a philanderer.
Looking at his disreputable romantic history, Su Cheng felt curious why A Yao wanted to investigate such a person.
As he was wondering, he heard the returning guard report, "Some time ago, the chief steward of the Duke Wei's manor had contact with this person. They had a long private conversation. We haven't found out what they discussed yet."
The Wei family?
How did this person get involved with the Wei family?
How did A Yao know this person and want to investigate him?
"Investigate further. Check everyone he has known or met in the past two years, and don't miss any clues!"
"Yes!"
Su Cheng's face was stern, but his mind was racing.
With the army about to march, it was discovered that an unknown soldier had connections with the Wei family. This was not a good sign. The Wei family was wholeheartedly trying to secure the Ninth Prince's achievements and was very wary of his father, General Su, and Xiao Muqian, who was accompanying them. If this person was meant to deal with their two families, it would be troublesome.
While they were still in the dark, the other side had already set a trap, waiting for them to fall into it.
Feng Jinyao waited for a long time. In the evening, she finally received all the information related to Lu Yuanfeng.
As expected, the year her cousin fell into the water, he was still in Mingzhou, a thousand miles away. How could he be her savior!
What was his intention in deliberately approaching her cousin?
The thought of him pretending not to know her cousin's identity made her feel sick.
This person was malicious. She didn't know his specific intentions, but it wouldn't be anything good.
"Let's go! To the Bai family, to remind my cousin that this Lu Yuanfeng is not her savior at all, but a dissolute man!"
She rushed to the Bai family without even having time for dinner.
The gatekeeper saw the Feng family's carriage arrive and was not surprised. He thought perhaps Madam Feng and the third young lady of the Feng family had come to visit the old madam and the other madams.
He stepped forward with a smile, and Yunxu anxiously lifted the curtain to ask, "Is the eldest young lady at home?"
The gatekeeper was stunned for a moment, then said, "The eldest young lady left about half an incense stick ago. I saw someone pick her up, and they seemed quite anxious."
"Who was it! Where did they go? Was the eldest young lady accompanied by anyone else?"
Feng Jinyao, disregarding etiquette, asked directly.
The gatekeeper was frightened by her serious demeanor and stammered for a long time before saying, "He looked like a young gentleman I hadn't seen before. I saw the young lady talking to him very familiarly. She was accompanied by Haitang, and they went west."
Not good. That person must be Lu Yuanfeng. He was probably afraid of his scheme being exposed, so he used the excuse of his mother being critically ill to trick her cousin away. But what exactly did he want to do?
Her eyes narrowed, and her mind raced.
In her previous life, her relationship with her cousin was not very close, so she knew nothing about this Lu Yuanfeng and couldn't warn her cousin in advance.
But now that her cousin had been lured away, and thinking about the recent series of events, a flash of inspiration struck her. Could he be trying to deal with the Kang Prince's manor? Or perhaps Xiao Muqian?