When Chu Yunfei's carriage arrived at the door of Xie's house, grandma was already waiting outside and respectfully welcomed Chu Yunfei in.
Mrs. Xie was waiting in the front hall, wearing a sky-blue dress embroidered with dark flowers. She had a dignified and gentle appearance, with a bit of a smile on her face.
When Chu Yunfei arrived, Mrs. Xie stood up and saluted her: "I have met Princess Zhan."
"Madam, there is no need to be polite." Chu Yunfei handed over the greeting gift with both hands and returned the greeting, "I'd like to thank Madam for your forgiveness for disturbing me."
"The princess' words are serious. If the princess can come, the Xie family will be full of glory." Mrs. Xie said gently, "Danshu is in the garden. I will lead the princess over."
Chu Yunfei felt strange in his heart and said humbly: "I don't dare to take it seriously."
Mrs. Xie led Chu Yunfei through the back hall and towards the inner courtyard.
"Danshu went to Prince Yu's Mansion yesterday, and when she came back, she told me what happened in the Prince's Mansion. The Emperor's decree was issued yesterday. Although the punishment for the Duke's Mansion was not severe, it was still a warning." Mrs. Xie's tone was gentle and revealing. The style that everyone’s mistress should have, “What I didn’t expect was that Dan Shu praised the princess endlessly, saying that the magnanimity shown by the princess was extraordinary and admirable for other women.”
Chu Yunfei was humble: "Madam, you are flattering me. As a royal princess, if I am submissive, I will not only lose the face of the war king, but also the face of the royal family. I just do what I think I should do."
Mrs. Xie shook her head: "But under the circumstances at that time, if it were an ordinary woman, even if she did not lose her composure, she would definitely not have the courage to openly slap the Duke's face."
Slapping Zhao Yunrou was a slap in the face of the Duke's government. It was obviously a bit risky at this juncture when the War King was divorcing his wife.
"People are good at being bullied." Chu Yunfei said in a calm tone, "The more you give in and tolerate, the more others will push forward, let alone me. My father is a wise man and will not listen to their words."
Mrs. Xie smiled and said, "Is King Zhan feeling better?"
"Much better, thank you madam for your concern." Chu Yunfei nodded, "Not only has my body recovered, but I am also in a good mood recently."
Mrs. Xie's smile faded slightly: "Then he won't divorce his wife, right?"
Chu Yunfei smiled lightly: "He dares."
Mrs. Xie stopped, her eyes fell on Chu Yunfei's face, and she hesitated several times.
"Madam, you want to tell me something?" Chu Yunfei saw her expression and said calmly, "Madam, if you have something to say, it's okay to say it. Although I don't dare to claim to be kind, I can still keep my mouth shut."
Mrs. Xie pursed her lips, suddenly took Chu Yunfei's hand, turned and walked into a courtyard: "Princess, follow me."
Chu Yunfei was pulled away by her, and Shengxia, Baochan and Mo Xue were about to follow, but Mrs. Xie suddenly turned to look at them: "Please wait outside, don't let anyone get close to here."
Mo Xue looked at Chu Yunfei.
Chu Yunfei pondered for a moment: "You guys wait for me outside."
Mrs. Xie's maid also stayed outside.
Madam Xie and Chu Yunfei walked into the courtyard, which was a two-story attic style building. They turned around and looked at the scenery here: "Is this Madam's courtyard?"
"No." Mrs. Xie nodded and led Chu Yunfei up the stone staircase on the left to the second floor, "This is Dan Shu's residence."
Arriving at the corridor on the second floor, Mrs. Xie took out the key to open the door, opened a door, and motioned Chu Yunfei to go in together: "The first floor is Danshu's boudoir, and the second floor is used as a small warehouse."
Enter the attic and turn into the inner room.
Mrs. Xie walked to the corner and squatted down, using the key to open a mahogany box.
Inside the box is a collection of scrolls.
Mrs. Xie rummaged through it, pulled out two scrolls from the bottom, stood up and spread them out on the table, "Princess, please take a look. Are there any similarities between these two portraits?"
Although Chu Yunfei was puzzled, he followed him to the table and his eyes fell on one of the portraits, his eyes slightly condensed with a surprised expression.
In the portrait, the man is dressed in silver armor, with a cold and dignified appearance, and a tall and thin figure. Who else could it be besides Rong Cang?
"This portrait is of His Royal Highness the War King." Madam Xie quickly gave the answer, "When the War King returned to Beijing last year, I specially hired a superb painter. The painter had the ability to remember photographs. He sat on the second floor of the city. I watched the King of War coming on horseback from a distance, so I drew the portrait."
Chu Yunfei was a little confused. Why did Mrs. Xie let someone paint Rong Cang's portrait?
Mrs. Xie then unfolded another portrait.
The portrait shows a young man with a gentle and elegant face. He is dressed in white and is shaking his folding fan gently. He looks like a young man.
Mrs. Xie lowered her eyes and looked at the two portraits: "Princess, do you think there are any similarities between the two portraits?"
Similarities?
Chu Yunfei's heart trembled slightly, and she seemed to have guessed what Mrs. Xie meant. She quickly looked at the two portraits. At first glance, she didn't see any resemblance because the two had completely different demeanors.
Rong Cang is cold and tough, while the young man in white is gentle and noble.
Precisely because the two portraits give people completely different feelings, they don't feel anything unusual at first glance. However, if you look carefully, you can always find some similarities from the contours of Rong Cang's eyebrows to the contours of the young master's eyebrows.
"Princess, look at this picture again." Madam Xie brought another scroll and unfolded it on the case. The person in the picture was wearing a suit of silver armor, but his appearance was indeed that of a gentle young man. "How do you feel about this person?"
Chu Yunfei turned his eyes slightly, with a focused expression, and carefully compared the third painting with the portrait of the young man in white, and found that they were basically the same person, but with different clothes and different demeanor.
"Are these two the same person?" Chu Yunfei looked at Mrs. Xie, "They just wear different clothes."
Mrs. Xie shook her head: "It's not that she wore different clothes, but that she painted different clothes."
With that said, Mrs. Xie took away the portrait of the young master in white and asked Chu Yunfei to compare Rong Cang with the portrait of the young master in silver armor: "Princess, take a look again."
Chu Yunfei lowered his eyes and stared at the two portraits on the table, his eyebrows tightening little by little: "The outlines of their eyebrows and eyes are indescribably similar, but in terms of specific differences, they cannot be completely distinguished."
In fact, even if he puts on silver armor, the eyes of this gentle young master are still different from Rong Cang.
Rong Cang has the coercion accumulated from ten years of experience on the battlefield. The kind of iron-blooded momentum that is unique to military commanders cannot be faked by ordinary people. However, the gentle and harmless expression can be achieved by being more approachable. .
But when I look at it this way, I feel that there is an inexplicable similarity between the two portraits.
"They are not very similar. If they are similar enough to be seen at a glance, I don't need to ask the princess to identify them." Mrs. Xie looked slightly startled, "This is the second master of the Xie family. He had an accident ten years ago and is no longer here." passed away."
Chu Yunfei was startled.
There is also a deceased second master in the Xie family?
Ten years ago, Chu Yunfei was still a young child, and her father had a lower official position at that time. It was obviously impossible to know what happened in a big family like the Xie family, so it was normal that she had no impression.
But Mrs. Xie's behavior today is obviously too abnormal.
Chu Yunfei was silent for a long time: "What do you want to say, madam?"
