Climbing on the Sparrow Branch – CH 124

Chapter 124: Thoughts

Binglu took the note. In order to prevent it from getting dirty, she opened it for her young lady and then spread it out in her palm for her young lady to see.

“East City Gate Teahouse, private room on the second floor.” An Zhi read the words on the note.

Binglu withdrew her hand, “Miss, do you recognize the writing?”

“I recognize it.” An Zhi opened the window halfway and looked at the teahouse across the street. “It’s An Rong’s.”

She could recognize An Rong’s writing at a glance. After all, that was the person she hated to the core.

“How dare she come see you? No, shouldn’t she be keeping a low profile?” Binglu was puzzled.

“Ordinary people would keep their tails between their legs, but An Rong is not ordinary. She is different.” An Zhi lowered the window, so she couldn’t see anything from outside. “But I am really curious about what she wants to talk about when she asks me to meet her now.”

An Zhi thought that between her and An Rong there was nothing much to talk about. They both regarded each other as enemies. There was no need to be polite. They could just start a fight directly. Going through the hypocritical process would only disgust each other.

Binglu didn’t understand why An Rong wanted to see the young lady at this time, “Then will you go?” There was only one Fusheng beside them. If An Rong had prepared some people in the teahouse, they would not be able to escape.

“Of course not. It’s not like she can see me whenever she wants.” An Zhi didn’t agree with An Rong and called out, “Let’s go, Fusheng, let’s go back home.”

After hearing this, Fusheng drove the horse back home.

Binglu frowned, “Miss, if An Rong has something important to say, won’t we miss it?”

“Don’t worry, An Rong approached either to show off, threaten, or challenge me. None of these are worth listening to. Don’t think she can say anything useful to us. She won’t suddenly be kind enough to help us.” An Zhi knew An Rong very well.

After hearing what her young lady said, Binglu realized that this was indeed the case, so she didn’t ask any more questions and tore up the note.

At this time, it wasn’t just An Rong sitting in the private room at the second floor of the teahouse. Yuan Beiming waited for a while, but An Zhi did not come. The servant he sent out to keep an eye on her came back and said that An Zhi had already left.

“Bang!”

He smashed his wine glass.

An Rong was also startled.

Yuan Beiming slammed the table. “Didn’t you say she really wanted to know where you were and would definitely come see you?”

“It stands to reason,” An Rong whispered. “She hates me to the core. Now that she has finally gotten some news about me, she should come see me. Even if she doesn’t come, she’ll at least send a servant to come over.”

What An Rong didn’t understand was that An Zhi had already sent people to follow her, so An Zhi would not send anyone else at this time.

Yuan Beiming snorted coldly, “You’re so useless! You made me waste so much time. Now… forget it, you can go back first. I have other things to do.”

An Rong fumed, but did not dare to go against Yuan Beiming’s wishes, so she had to put on the gauze hat and walk out.

Damn An Zhi, she cursed in her heart.

However, she did not go home, but pretended to go to the silk shop opposite the teahouse to buy cloth.

About a quarter of an hour later, she saw a man in gorgeous clothes entering the teahouse. Her intuition told her that the man in gorgeous clothes must be there for Yuan Beiming.

However, because someone was following her, she couldn’t stay for long. She bought two pieces of cloth and left first.

~

After An Zhi returned home, she asked someone to get some hot water. She was exhausted after a long day out. She also asked Fusheng to return the deed to Pei Que.

While taking a bath, she thought of An Rong’s note.

She was so arrogant. She knew she was looking for her, but she still dared to bump into her. This showed that An Rong is fearless.

Or maybe… there was more than just An Rong in the teahouse?

When this thought came to her mind, An Zhi sat up straight instantly.

If it wasn’t just An Rong who wanted to see her, but there were other people behind the scenes fanning the flames, then it meant that while she was staring at An Rong, there was someone else staring at her.

No wonder Pei Que both waited for and got off the carriage outside the city gate.

It turned out that Pei Que already knew that there was someone else behind An Rong.

But why didn’t Pei Que tell her?

An Zhi thought about it and felt that Pei Que wanted to investigate on his own again, just like she had said before that she would find out where An Rong was residing, but Pei Que still helped her find it.

Thinking of this, An Zhi slowly leaned back and began to think about who else was behind An Rong besides Yuan Beiming. An Rong must have used her utmost ability to get with Yuan Beiming, so after thinking it over, she felt that the key point should be who was behind Yuan Beiming.

Thinking of this, she felt it necessary to meet Madam Yuan by chance.

She certainly wouldn’t be able to get any useful information from Yuan Beiming, but that wasn’t necessarily the case from Madam Yuan. After all, Yuan Beiming had a mistress, and the relationship between the couple wasn’t very good.

An Zhi had thought so much about this, but Pei Que on the other side had already known all this.

As soon as he entered the city, he was called to a separate courtyard by Li Da’s men.

At this moment, the two of them sat facing each other at the table. Li Da fiddled with the teacup in his hand and said, “You really have the leisure time. Even at this moment, you still took a girl to climb the mountain to enjoy the scenery.”

Pei Que smiled lightly, “Some things, if you don’t do them in advance, you will always feel uneasy.”

“Do it in advance? Do you mean you have already given yourself to An Zhi?” Li Da suddenly became excited. This was a big deal. He was really excited that the usually boring Pei Que could make a breakthrough.

Pei Que snorted in disdain, “Your Highness, don’t get the wrong idea. I only gave a betrothal gift. I am a well-behaved person with good character.”

“Haha.” Li Da clapped his thigh and laughed. “You’re the only one who behaves well. Pei Que, ah Pei Que, you’re really in An Zhi’s hands. You took the girl out for a whole day and did nothing. I guess you didn’t tell An Zhi about the information you collected with great difficulty?”

Pei Que really didn’t tell An Zhi, and he didn’t want to tell An Zhi, “Your Highness asked me to come, so stop teasing me. Let’s talk about it.”

Li Da called him over in a hurry, so there must be something important.

“There is indeed something going on.” Li Da sighed. “I heard from the Imperial Medical Bureau that the Emperor has been drinking stimulants recently, which means his health is getting worse. So I’ve been keeping a close eye on the Fourth and Eighth Princes. I haven’t found anything wrong with the Fourth Brother. He’s as steady as a rock and hasn’t made any moves. But the Eighth Brother is very active. One foot has been linked to the Minister of Revenue, and the next foot has been investigating your Pei family’s past. Wait a minute, you heard about the Eighth Prince and the Minister of Revenue, why don’t you react at all?”

Li Da stared at Pei Que, trying to find some clues on his calm face. He raised an eyebrow suspiciously and asked, “Did you do this?”

“Yes.” Pei Que replied, “I arranged a good marriage for him, how wonderful.”

“Haha, Pei Que, you really hold a grudge.” Li Da knew what the eldest daughter of the Minister of Revenue was like. “You’re too mean. Just because the Eighth Prince fell in love with An Zhi, you pushed the Eighth Prince into the fire pit.”

Pei Que said calmly: “Although the Minister of Revenue loves money, he also has some influence in the court. He is not a pit of fire.”

“Fine, fine. If you say it’s not true, then it’s not true.” Li Da was still laughing. “But you really should worry about yourself; the information Eighth Brother found this time is no ordinary thing.”