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Su Xiaoxiao said, “So the Wei family chose the wrong side.”
“You could say that.” Wei Ting added, “After Prince of Ruyang took the throne, he tried to strip the Wei family of its military power.”
“Did he succeed?” Su Xiaoxiao asked.
Wei Ting gazed at the endless night sky. A storm brewed in his eyes. “He took some parts of it.”
After all, the Wei family had served under Prince of Nanyang. It was no surprise that the emperor remained wary of them.
Su Xiaoxiao added, “He gave some of that power to the Qin and Su families?”
“And to the Leng family,” Wei Ting added, “The Leng family were on the same side as the Wei family, so at least the power stayed within the circle.”
Su Xiaoxiao frowned, “If it was just political differences…”
“There’s more to it,” Wei Ting said.
But he didn’t elaborate on what other irreconcilable conflicts existed.
Su Xiaoxiao didn’t push him.
She could tell that he wasn’t in a good mood. Just tolerating Qin Canglan under the same roof was already his biggest compromise.
“Oh, by the way.”
Wei Ting hesitated for a moment before sharing what he had found out earlier, “Some guards from the Duke’s estate came by, but they didn’t seem like Qin Canglan’s men.”
If they were truly Qin Canglan’s men, they would be guarding him closely.
Wei Ting continued, “There’s something else you should know.”
Su Xiaoxiao blinked, “What?”
“Qin Canglan was originally supposed to stay at a countryside estate today, it was Qin Che who arranged it. But for some reason, he turned around and ended up on Lihua Lane instead.”
After spotting the unfamiliar guard earlier, Wei Ting had sent his shadow guards to track and investigate. They uncovered part of Qin Canglan’s movements.
Su Xiaoxiao paused in thought and said, “He… probably came to return Erhu’s little stone.”
Suddenly, everything that didn’t make sense… made perfect sense now.
It turned out that it was Erhu who had accidentally led him here.
Wei Ting glanced at her, then warned, “Be careful. It’s possible that Qin Che already knows about dad’s existence.”
Su Xiaoxiao gave him a meaningful look. “You’re getting pretty comfortable and natural calling him ‘dad’ huh?”
“Oh?” Su Xiaoxiao raised an eyebrow, “But you do say it so naturally!”
Wei Ting: “……”
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Wei Ting had a mission that night and went out again after midnight.
Su Xiaoxiao once again sighed, since coming to the capital, Wei Ting had been much busier.
“No more morning eye-candy again…”
She yawned, grabbed a pillow, and soon fell asleep, snoring softly.
Before dawn, Su Mo arrived.
Su Xiaoxiao was in the kitchen preparing breakfast.
Seeing her, Su Mo was a little surprised. “You slept well last night.”
After going through such a major event, this girl could actually still sleep soundly?
What kind of steel-forged mindset was this?
“Not bad.” Su Xiaoxiao replied.
It’s not like she could do this and that with a man anyway, might as well sleep till morning. Why spoil her sleep quality?
“How is uncle?” Su Mo asked.
“I haven’t told my dad yet.” Su Xiaoxiao said.
Su Mo nodded, “It’s fine to wait a bit. Let Uncle slowly adjust before you tell him. How’s Granduncle doing?”
Su Xiaoxiao cut the prepared dough into strips as she replied, “He was kept under observation. He’s fine. The medicine I gave him has sedative properties. So he’ll probably sleep for another one or two hours. Do you want to eat breakfast?”
Su Mo had rushed over and hadn’t had a bite.
Su Xiaoxiao said, “I’ll make something for you.”
Su Mo… didn’t refuse.
Su Xiaoxiao made two scallion pancakes and served them with a small plate of pickled radish, placing them on the small table in the kitchen.
“Do you want to eat in the main hall?”, she asked.
As a noble heir of a marquis, Su Mo had likely never eaten in the kitchen, and certainly never had street food like scallion pancakes.
He showed a rare moment of dazed confusion.
He glanced at Su Xiaoxiao, who was already back at the stove, getting busy. “You’re not eating?”
“I’ll have this.” Su Xiaoxiao pointed at the freshly steamed sweet potatoes on the stove. “I’ll eat later, I need to finish cooking for everyone else first.”