Su Qi'an's motorcade slowly advanced along with the soldiers from the capital. The busy market in front had already cleared a space in advance for them to pass.
The lively market gradually fell into silence as Su Qi'an walked through it. Everyone's eyes flickered and they looked at the carriage Su Qi'an was riding.
I wanted to see the face of this famous Marquis of Dongshan, but unfortunately, he was protected by an accompanying army.
The people in the market could only watch from a distance, and finally watched Su Qian leave with regret.
After Su Qi'an left, there was a lot of discussion.
"Are you sure it's Marquis Dongshan in that carriage? Why don't I think it doesn't look like it?"
"Hey, what do you know? If you don't know, don't talk nonsense. Look who is traveling with him? That is Lingdong Hou. If Lingdong Hou can accompany him, he must be Dongshan Hou in the car."
"Yes, Dongshan Hou and Lingdong Hou are close friends. This time, Dongshan Hou is 100% back. Tsk tsk tsk. In this situation, if Dongshan Hou can come back, Kyoto is afraid that it will have to stop."
"No, but these things have nothing to do with us. It's better to keep your voice down to avoid disaster. We can just take a look."
This sentence was supported by the people around him. As Su Qi'an disappeared from sight, the discussions about him disappeared with him.
The quiet market soon returned to its former bustle.
Leaving the market, ahead is the gate of Kyoto. Su Qi'an entered the city under the leadership of the soldiers from the capital without any obstruction.
Even after entering the city, passers-by would whisper to her along the way, but no one dared to come forward and say anything.
They all retreated for fear of being affected. Su Qi'an's motorcade did not stop and walked straight into the capital, passing through the ten outer streets and arriving at the central area where a group of powerful people lived.
Entering this area, the noise outside the carriage was naturally much quieter, and some of them were housekeepers, entourage, and guards from the mansions of major princes and dignitaries.
These people, at least, have received special training and know some rules when meeting certain people.
Even though they passed by Su Qi'an's motorcade and knew that Su Qi'an was sitting in the car, they didn't say much from beginning to end. They just lowered their heads and signaled to leave first.
At most, they would wait for the convoy to go away, look at the leaving convoy with a little shock on their faces, and then quietly return home under the leadership of the leader.
Su Qi'an, who entered Kyoto City, was arranged to rest in a special garden in the middle of Kyoto City for foreign princes to rest.
The carriage stopped in front of a villa. Su Qian and Feng Zheng said hello and turned around to get off.
Through the car curtain, Feng Zheng nodded to Su Qi'an and said softly, "Master Marquis, you will stay here for a few days, and we will go back to recover. I will see you in the imperial city, and we will say goodbye."
"Farewell!" Su Qi'an nodded and watched Feng Zheng leave before looking at the Bieyuan in front of him.
This villa occupies a large area, almost like a mansion. According to the rules, Xie Cang should live in another villa.
But Xie Cang was not picky and refused the good intentions of the soldiers in the capital, choosing to live with Su Qi'an.
This villa is large enough. When everyone walks in, as far as the eye can see, it is more than enough to accommodate hundreds of people.
Su Qi'an and Xie Cang entered the Bieyuan with their respective confidants, while the rest of the soldiers stayed outside and dispersed to surround the Bieyuan and put them on guard.
Although the place where the powerful people in Kyoto live is not as noisy and lively as the ten outer streets, there are still many informants.
Especially when I learned that Su Qian had returned to Beijing and had already entered and settled in Kyoto.
The informants of the powerful people of the major aristocratic families have been completely mobilized. It can be said that they have never been so active as they are now.
Outside the villa where Su Qi'an lived, countless pairs of eyes were staring at it. It was no exaggeration to say that not even a fly could fly in under his nose.
Under their continuous surveillance, a big discovery was made in less than half a day.
Su Qi'an entered the Villa and only stayed for an hour or two. Then he and Xie Cang walked out of the Villa, got on the prepared carriage and left.
There was no guard around this carriage, only one driver, and their whereabouts were conducted openly and openly without any cover-up.
Under the surveillance of the spy, the carriage carrying Su Qi'an and Xie Cang entered the Hanlin Academy in the capital directly.
This discovery was regarded as a huge event by the insiders.
Everyone knows about the relationship between Su Qi'an and the Hanlin Academy. The master of the Hanlin Academy even accepted Su Qi'an as his personal successor. Everyone in Kyoto City knows this.
This relationship, in normal times, would definitely be a talisman, but right now, what Su Qi'an did outside has been widely spread in Kyoto.
In the court, there was even a strong tendency to punish Su Qi'an severely.
At this time, when he returned to Beijing, he didn't want to keep a low profile, but thought about how to face the next rounds of impeachment against him.
Instead, he went to the Hanlin Academy openly, which was highly suspected of collusion.
What Your Majesty hates most today is collusion between ministers. Even though Su Qi'an is a student of the Master, now he is even more like a Marquis.
With such an identity, there is no way to eliminate the suspicion of collusion between cronies, especially if he takes Lingdong Marquis with him. This is not a naked court for death.
The informants couldn't understand Su Qi'an's behavior. Based on their understanding of Su Qi'an, Su Qi'an would never do such a stupid thing.
But since he did it, it was either a failure or something big that needed to be discussed with the Master. Otherwise, they really couldn't come up with the third answer.
No matter which one, the eyeliner should consider it. The top priority is to pass the news back.
In about a quarter of an hour, the heads of the major families in Kyoto received news that Su Qi'an had visited the Hanlin Academy.
The heads of the major aristocratic families also had their eyes flashing and were quite puzzled, but they did nothing and just watched quietly.
The relationship between them and Su Qi'an was not a life-and-death enemy, only a small grudge. Even the big shots in Kyoto City had not taken action, so naturally they would not be in a hurry.
Some heads of aristocratic families are still very calm and know how to stop and wait silently, but some are obviously not so calm.
The news of Su Qi'an's visit to the Hanlin Academy was spread through various channels as soon as possible, probably with added fuel and jealousy.
The purpose is to make the noise even greater. The greater the momentum that is detrimental to Su Qi'an, the easier it is for Kyoto to fall into chaos, and they will have the opportunity to profit from troubled waters.
It's just that this expectation, as time went by, disappointed them.
Rumors that Kyoto City was unfavorable to Su Qi'an were like the wind, intensifying and sweeping across Kyoto.
However, the big shots who wished Su Qi'an would die remained motionless and did not react at all, as if Su Qi'an had never appeared.
That kind of silence is strange and confusing.
When the heads of the major families were puzzled, in a private room of a luxurious restaurant in the capital, three old men looked relaxed, drinking tea and looking out the window.
Following their gazes, there were villas outside the window, and the villa where Su Qi'an lived was among them.
After a while, the three old men looked away, and one of them said, "Old Zhaotou, let the group of aristocratic families under your command calm down. I know what you mean and want to add fuel to the fire at this juncture, but nothing is too much. If If His Majesty notices it, it will cause displeasure."
Duke Zhao was startled. Just as he was about to say something, he was interrupted by another person beside him.
"Zheng Zaifu, is this matter that serious?"
Although the person who spoke was not much different in age from them, from the questions he asked, it could be seen that this person had far less official experience than Zheng Yuan.
This man's name is Sima Yue, and he was originally a second-rank Duke in the court. However, with Chu Xiong's appointment, Zheng Yuan's ascension, and Chen Guogong's fall, only Zheng Yuan and Zhao Cheng were left as first-rank Dukes.
This situation was very unfavorable to the government. Therefore, after Chu Xiong became an official, Su Xuanyong directly promoted one of the second-rank Dukes to a first-rank Duke.
And this lucky guy is Sima Yue.
When Sima Yue was promoted, the happiest person was none other than the fourth prince Su Tai.
Without the invasion of foreign enemies, Su Qi'an fled Kyoto without knowing whether he was alive or dead. In the past three years, the court has also undergone tremendous changes.
They were completely divided into two factions, those led by Zheng Yuan supported the second prince, and those led by Sima Yue supported the fourth prince.
As for Zhao Cheng, who originally sided with the fourth prince but later turned against the second prince, he unknowingly became the balance of the game between the two parties.
After discovering this, Zhao Cheng's position became a bit subtle. Now he is no longer the first-class prince who was only loyal to one prince.
Instead, in front of the two princes, he wavered repeatedly and wavered back and forth. If it was the era of the four princes, Zhao Cheng's wavering would definitely not be welcomed.
There was even a possibility that the two princes would work together to get rid of him. But after the fall of Chen Guogong, even if a Sima Yue was promoted in the court, there would only be three first-grade princes left in the court.
In addition, Su Xuanyong was in office, so it was quite difficult to find a reason to get rid of Zhao Cheng.
Since you can't get rid of him, you can win him over. Therefore, in the past three years, Zhao Cheng has benefited the most between the two princes.
He never expresses his attitude, but he never refuses what he is asked to do. Such a person is a surefire cure-all. As long as Su Xuanyong is in power for one day, it is basically impossible for Zhao Cheng to be overthrown based on his qualifications.
If it weren't for Su Qi'an's comeback, it would have been very difficult to bring these three first-grade men together to cause such a big thing in Xijiao and Jiaozhou.
Su Qi'an disappeared for three years, and with his return, their experiences in the past three years were also revealed by them.
Even though they were hating the Dongshan Marquis who had made a comeback, they had to admit one thing.
Su Qi'an is no longer the little escort girl she was three years ago who could not catch their eyes and could be crushed to death at will.
If the three of them do not unite and continue to fight among themselves, they will most likely be killed. This is not alarmist talk, but the judgment of the three after learning almost everything Su Qi'an has experienced in three years.
This Su Qi'an is already qualified to fight them head-on. If we don't take this opportunity to defeat him severely, it will be difficult to suppress him later.
