Chapter 671: Chapter 668: Beating the Grass to Startle the Snake_1

“Very well, then I won’t disturb you any longer. Farewell!” Lu Ping stood up and walked toward the courtyard exit.

Li Mingrui remained seated in his spot without moving. It wasn’t until Lu Ping had left the courtyard and the old man guarding it checked and reported back to Li Mingrui that Lu Ping had gone far away that Li Mingrui said, “Come out!”

The door of the tile-roofed house inside was pulled open, and the white-robed counselor of the Li Mansion stepped out.

Li Mingrui took a sip from his tea cup and asked, “What do you think?”

“Since the Princess of Zhen has ordered it, you should follow her instructions and properly arrange for Wang Qiulu. You can even provide for Wang Qiulu, help him marry and have children, and safeguard against the day when the Princess of Zhen takes out those letters…”

Li Mingrui raised his eyes to look at the white-robed counselor, who had a faint smile on his face. His mind suddenly became clear.

By helping Wang Qiulu marry and have children, and keeping his wife under control, in the future… if the Princess of Zhen were to produce the letters written by his father and the Second Prince, he could have Wang Qiulu turn against her. He would claim that the Princess of Zhen was framing his family because he discovered she had saved the traitorous rebel Wang Qiulu.

“But Master Tan and Lord Shoushan are both highly skilled in calligraphy. Once they see the letters and verify them, they would definitely know they are not forged.” Li Mingrui’s brow furrowed slightly.

“In that case, we need to arrange our own calligraphy expert. If the Princess of Zhen does produce the letters in the future, it’s best to have our person validate that the letters are fake!” The white-robed counselor smiled and added, “Besides, so long as you remain patient and obedient to the Princess of Zhen for a few years, why would she discard her useful pawn?”

The white-robed counselor picked up the tea cup that Lu Ping hadn’t touched and poured the water out, then played with the cup in his hand, observing it closely. “Lord Shoushan and Master Tan are not young. How many more years can they live? It won’t be long before they pass away. What are you afraid of?”

Li Mingrui chuckled softly and nodded. “Since that’s the case, then I’ll leave the planning and arrangements to you!”

“Don’t worry. I will carefully select the person to rescue Wang Qiulu. No matter what, it will be linked to the Princess of Zhen. We’ll leave traces back to her!” The white-robed counselor smiled.

“It’s better to be cautious!” Li Mingrui gazed at the white-robed counselor. “This is the first task after pledging allegiance to the Princess of Zhen. If anything goes wrong and she suspects we’re trying to frame her, it won’t be good.”

“Rest assured, I will be very careful!” the white-robed counselor said.

Lu Ping’s group had not been on the long street for long before the Bai family’s guards caught up with him on horseback. The guard beside Lu Ping said, “There was another person in that house. As soon as you left, that person came out. But I couldn’t hear what was said because I was too far away.”

Lu Ping nodded and instructed, “In the next few days, keep a close eye on Li Mingrui and that person who came out of the house. Find out who that person is!”

“Yes!”

After reporting back to Bai Qingyan, Bai Qingyan suddenly looked up at Lu Ping behind the gauze screen and said, “You said… Li Mingrui was at the Qiushan maple tree?”

“That’s correct!” Lu Ping noticed something off in Bai Qingyan’s tone and asked, “What’s wrong with the Qiushan maple tree?”

“The Qiushan maple tree, the greenwood incense…” Bai Qingyan squinted her eyes.

Lu Ping recalled Li Mingrui’s action of leaning close to the incense burner to smell the scent and nodded. “That incense seemed like greenwood incense. I’m not very familiar with incense.”

Bai Qingyan leaned against her hidden pillow and placed the book in her hand on the Western-style custard apple pattern brocade blanket on her lap. “Chun Tao, send someone to summon Wei Zhong from Grandmother’s side!”

In verifying past events, Wei Zhong was more skilled than Lu Ping.

Chun Tao responded and went to send someone to summon Wei Zhong. Lu Ping furrowed his brows and asked, “Is there something the Eldest Young Lady finds amiss?”

It’s not that anything was amiss. Rather, both the Qiushan red leaves and greenwood incense were always favored by Du Zhiwei.

Lu Ping said that the house had an old lantern with the character “Du” at the entrance, and that there was a Qiushan maple tree and greenwood incense in the courtyard, which seemed like Du Zhiwei’s style.

Li Mingrui… Du Zhiwei. Bai Qingyan wanted to investigate the relationship between Li Mingrui and Du Zhiwei.

Initially, Du Zhiwei was the Second Prince’s counselor. Since Li Mao pledged allegiance to the Second Prince, it was possible that Li Mao’s eldest son was a disciple of Du Zhiwei.

“Uncle Ping, don’t worry about it. I’m merely curious and want Wei Zhong to investigate!” Bai Qingyan’s voice was open. “These days, Fourth Brother has to inspect the Northern Frontier’s military provisions. If there’s anything that needs attention… I hope Uncle Ping can assist.”

“Rest assured, Eldest Young Lady!” Lu Ping bowed to Bai Qingyan.

Lu Ping knew that Bai Qingyan intended to train Bai Jinzhi, so he naturally did his best to assist Bai Jinzhi.

At that moment, Bai Jinzhi was leaning on the pavilion railing of the rockery in the courtyard, lost in thought as she gazed at the ginkgo leaves scattered all over the ground.

Having just come from Miss Lu’s courtyard, Bai Jinse saw her fourth sister looking worried and lost in thought. Not knowing what Bai Jinzhi was pondering over, she said something to the maid beside her before lifting her skirt and heading up to the rockery pavilion.

Bai Jinzhi, deeply absorbed in her thoughts, didn’t notice anyone approaching until Bai Jinse patted her shoulder, bringing her back to reality.

“Fourth Sister, are you here appreciating the autumn scenery?” Bai Jinse teased her on purpose. Following her gaze from earlier, she saw the golden carpet of ginkgo leaves from the ancient tree in the Bai Mansion. It was quite a sight. She smiled, “It’s a pity it’s not a sunny day. If it were, the sunlight would make it truly golden and beautiful.”

Back when their brothers were home, they loved practicing swordsmanship under that ginkgo tree. Their Fifth Uncle, who cherished the ginkgo tree, would chase them away, spending his days playing chess under the tree and guarding it against any harm.

“I’m in no mood to appreciate ginkgo!” Bai Jinzhi turned around dejectedly, slumping weakly against the lacquered railing and fiddling with the gauze draped over the copper hook beside the pillar. “Eldest Sister tasked me with investigating the sand and stones mixed into the military provisions in the Northern Frontier. She gave me money… Our mansion’s staff is ready to assist me, but I don’t know where to start!”

Seeing Bai Jinzhi’s frustrated look, Bai Jinse was about to speak but refrained, remembering this was their eldest sister’s test for their fourth sister. Instead, she laughed softly, “Fourth Sister, you’re now a Commandery Princess. If you inquire at the Ministry of Revenue, they wouldn’t dare to hide anything from you.”

Bai Jinzhi looked up at Bai Jinse. “I’ve thought about that, but I don’t have an official position to justify my inquiries at the Ministry of Revenue. It would only alert them!”

“You even know to avoid alerting them!” Bai Jinse couldn’t help but laugh.