Ch. 507 - Shifting the Blame

Although wives were better than concubines, and concubines were better than stealing, but when it came to being comfortable, it really had to be at home.

At the backyard pavilion, Sun Shaozong lazily leaned on a carefree chair, while Ruan Rong led a group of women soldiers around several small red clay stoves, discussing various methods of making antique soup.

The full moon banquet at night was a banquet to entertain outsiders, and it must go towards prosperity. However, this noon meal was a family gathering, and according to Sun Shaozong's wishes, it was naturally arranged simply.

It was just that the hot pot of this wealthy family was not something that could be easily cooked.

Not to mention various flavored seasonings, the oil added alone could be divided into more than ten types, including butter, dog oil, lard, sheep oil, duck oil, goose oil, deer oil, soybean oil, sesame oil, etc…

The bottles and jars were placed together, making Sun Shaozong dizzy.

Fortunately, these days, men have a high status and emphasized the importance of gentlemen staying far away from the kitchen. Therefore, he only needed to wait for the women and present the cooked food with both hands.

"Xiangling, bring two cans of sesame sauce over."

Originally, Sun Shaozong was calmly closing his eyes and recuperating. When he heard Ruan Rong instructing Xiangling to take something, he lifted his eyelids and saw Xiangling passing by the carefree chair. He immediately lifted his foot, lightly hooked Xiangling's waist, and patted his thigh.

After hesitating for a while, Xiangling blushed and leaned forward, obediently sitting on Sun Shaozong's lap.

Sun Shaozong lazily said, "She just finished her confinement, and you've managed to instruct people around."

"Just taking two cans of peanut butter, can I still tire her out?"

Ruan Rong rolled her eyes, and next to her, Sister You obediently handed her two cans of peanut butter.

Ruan Rong poured out some peanut butter from the jar, mixed it with water, and vigorously stirred it with a pair of silver chopsticks, then said, "Besides, women need to be more active after giving birth. Isn't that what you told me back then?"

Sun Shaozong smiled shamelessly and said, "Isn't it already decided tonight to have a good life and activities? How can we not save her some energy during the day?"

Xiangling blushed and thrust straight into his arms, while Second Sister You covered her mouth, chuckling.

Ruan Rong put peanut butter on the coffee table, then added a few fried cornels and said angrily, "Are you not ashamed in this blue and white sky? Are you not afraid of being laughed at if it spreads?"

Sun Shaozong still smiled shamelessly, but Xiangling in his arms became even more embarrassed. She raised her fair neck and tried to put her head closer to Sun Shaozong's ear. She murmured a few words in a low voice, then shyly said, "I'll wait for a while before serving you."

Sun Shaozong smiled dumbfounded and wrapped his arm around her waist. He rubbed her lower abdomen, which had just given birth and had not yet returned to its original state, and said, "Your belly has just done a service for our family. How could I despise it? Besides, this is still a long way from a bucket waist."

Ruan Rong finally realized that she was worried about her body shape. While adding various ingredients to the sesame sauce, she smiled and said, "What's this? When I first gave birth to Yi'er, didn't my waist also thicken a circle? Let the master give you that *'yoga'* at night, and after practicing for some time, you can lose more than half of your weight."

As she spoke, she took another pair of new chopsticks and dipped them into the peanut butter. She pursed it in her mouth and decisively ordered, "Go, take this bowl of sesame sauce to the kitchen and see if they can still use it. If they don't need it, then feed it to the dog."

This was already the sixth bowl…

Sun Shaozong rolled his eyes silently, intending to persuade her not to trouble herself, but seeing that she seemed to be enthusiastic and insisted on matching a satisfactory dipping sauce, he swallowed back the words on his lips.

Forget it, anyway, their family usually wasted a lot of food, and they didn’t care about this one either.

Just as Sun Shaozong was about to hold onto Xiangling and continue to rejuvenate, he heard a burst of *’babbling’* sounds. He turned around and saw that his son was carried out by Qingwen.

"This boy has been getting more and more active recently. When he wakes up, he makes a fuss and runs outside!" Sun Shaozong said, his copper bell-like eyes curved into a crescent shape.

Ruan Rong even ran those seasonings aside, took her son over, kissed his plump little face twice, and smiled, saying, "What's it like for a boy to always stay indoors?"

*Why doesn't she mention that our son should just study hard and become the top scorer when he grows up?*

Sun Shaozong rolled his eyes and was about to argue with her when he saw Zhao Zhongji peeking in from outside the gate as if he had something to report.

"What's up again?"

Sun Shaozong raised his voice to inquire, and Zhao Zhongji hurriedly ran to the outside of the pavilion. He bowed without looking askance and said, "Report to the Second Lord, the Chief Minister of the Zhongshun Prince's Residence, Mr. Zhou, has arrived. He said he came specifically to congratulate the Young Lady on her full moon."

Zhou Mo was here?

And he came specifically to congratulate his daughter on her full moon?

Sun Shaozong immediately frowned, not to mention his relationship with Zhou Mo, whom he had not yet become familiar with to the extent of inviting each other during the full moon banquet of his illegitimate daughter.

Speaking of being well-informed of the Zhongshun Prince's Mansion, Zhou Mo could not have been unaware that he was setting up a full moon banquet at night.

He was afraid that this guy had ulterior motives, maybe it was from the instructions of Prince Zhongshun.

Thinking of this, Sun Shaozong naturally didn’t dare to neglect, quickly got up from the carefree chair, and hurried to the front yard with Zhao Zhongji.

When they arrived outside the living room, they saw Zhou Mo sitting alone, with two gift boxes placed on the coffee table next to him, which should have been gifts he had brought.

Before crossing the threshold, Sun Shaozong smiled heartily and said, "Chief Zhou, you haven't seen me for many days, how are you?"

"I’m fine."

Zhou Mo was less domineering this time and greeted him with a smile on his face. He arched his hand and said, "If it weren't for Lord Sun's efforts to turn the tide, I might not have had a peaceful life long ago."

This clearly referred to Sun Shaozong's forgery of the Imperial grandson.

Although this matter was done, it was hard to say. Sun Shaozong quickly laughed it off and first asked about Prince Zhongshun’s regards, and then invited Zhou Mo back to his upper seat.

When he was firmly seated in that position, he began to cautiously probe, "I can't believe that my daughter is a month old, and even achieved your congratulations. It really surprised me."

"What's more..."

Zhou Mo arched his hand upwards and smiled, "Even our Prince has been surprised."

As he spoke, he lightly patted the two gift boxes and said, "There is a wish from the Prince here. ***Tch tch*** Even a daughter from a concubine can startle the Prince during her monthsary. You are the only one!"

This honor was not uncommon to Sun Shaozong at all.

By listening to this, it was almost certain that Zhou Mo came here to convey the meaning of Prince Zhongshun.

Therefore, Sun Shaozong quickly put on a look of fear and stood up, saying, "The great kindness of the Prince is beyond my ability to repay. I kindly request that you report back on my behalf. If the Prince is free someday, I will personally go and thank him."

"There's no need to express gratitude in person."

Zhou Mo smiled and said, "As long as Lord Sun is a solid official who deserves the cultivation of His Majesty and the Prince, it will be enough."

As he spoke, he leaned forward and said mysteriously, "By the way, you should have heard the news of the sudden passing of Old Lord from the Zhenguo Mansion, haven't you?"

Upon hearing these words, Sun Shaozong knew that the show had come.

He secretly increased his vigilance and nodded, saying, "I heard about it yesterday, but this Old Lord Wu is already old and can barely be called a joyous funeral..."

"Joyous funeral?"

Zhou Mo sneered, "It's not too early or too late. By the time His Majesty sent someone to investigate the Zhenguo Mansion, the Old Lord had passed away. Don't you think this is too coincidental?"

This seemed to be said by the Niu brothers, right?

As the confidant of Prince Zhongshun, did Zhou Mo still want to get revenge from the Niu family?

Sun Shaozong hesitated and said, "Your meaning is..."

"In the second year of Yongning."

Zhou Mo didn't speak directly, but instead talked about the past. He listened to him shake his fingers and said, "It's been about forty years since then. Not long after the Emperor ascended to the throne, two Prime Ministers in the court competed, causing chaos and endangerment for everyone."

"At that time, Guo Heng, the Imperial Censor in Chief, was pushed to the forefront of the storm, and his family and life were in danger. To protect himself, Guo Heng carried out a terrifying animal act—he forcibly drugged his birth mother to death, intending to leave the Capital under the name of mourning for death to avoid danger!"

The story of Guo Heng was widely circulated during the Great Zhou Dynasty, and even when the Imperial Censorate was changed to the Department of Supervision, it arose from this. However, the question was, what was the purpose for which Zhou Mo suddenly mentioned this matter?

Was he trying to say that...

Sun Shaozong widened his eyes and lost his voice, saying, "Could it be that you suspect that the death of the Old Lord was not an accident?"

Zhou Mo smiled lightly, picked up his teacup, and blew it, calmly saying, "I didn't say that, but if Lord Sun has such doubts, you might as well start investigating."

He did not say it, but the expression on his face was telling Sun Shaozong, *‘You guessed right, hurry up and follow this train of thought to investigate.’*

This was ruthless.

To be able to accuse Niu Jizong of matricide, there was no need to investigate other criminal evidence; it would be the result of countless cuts and tribulations.

It seemed that Prince Zhongshun was eager to completely knock down the Niu family.

Correspondingly, the risk of this matter was also extremely high. If one of them didn’t get along well, it could cost Sun Shaozong's life and fortune.

Sun Shaozong frowned and said, "This is a serious matter. If there was no reason, how can we investigate? The reason why Guo Heng exposed his wrongdoing back then was also because his family took the initiative to report, which attracted the court's investigation..."

Zhou Mo interjected, "Maybe the servants of the Zhenguo Mansion are willing to come out to report too."

Maybe…

He was afraid that he had already arranged for the servants of the Niu family to testify.

Sun Shaozong now fully understood that Prince Zhongshun had already arranged the matter privately. Currently, only he, who has the reputation of *’Divine Judgment,’* needed to expose and confirm this matter.

This was simply putting ducks on the shelves.

It seemed that no matter how much he valued himself, Prince Zhongshun only saw him as a chess piece, even if it was a more important piece, as long as the owner made up his mind, he was still destined to be cannon fodder.

If it were an ordinary chess piece, one could only obediently submit.

Fortunately, Sun Shaozong was different from before. He has the Capital to compete with Prince Zhongshun now.

"I'm afraid I’m powerless in this matter."

He said seriously, "The Crown Prince's case has not been traced yet. There is another big mess in the Central Judicial Office, and I am lacking in skills."

The smile on Zhou Mo's face suddenly froze. He slammed the teacup onto the table and glared at Sun Shaozong, saying, "Are you trying to use the Crown Prince to crush our Prince?!"

"I dare not."

Sun Shaozong said calmly, "The Crown Prince and the Prince are close relatives. By sharing the Crown Prince's worries, I’m also helping the Prince solve difficulties."

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