Records of the Cattle and Horses of Chang'an

Chapter 396 Zhao Sheng

The two portraits were placed on top of each other, and the one on top showed Wu Sanniang's current appearance.

Liu Manqiang squinted her eyes and looked at him for a while: "He looks familiar, he seems to be from the third room..."

She was not too sure. After Zhao Yue got married, she either returned to the Liu family's old house or stayed in her own yard, rarely interacting with the Zhao family.

Upon seeing this, Cui Bianxu immediately pulled it out, revealing Zhao Dieniang's portrait: "What about this? Grandma, take a closer look. Can you remember it?"

"This one seems to also belong to the third room..."

Liu Manqiang was a little confused. Apart from the slight difference in the nose, the two portraits were only about fatness and thinness. This kind of portrait was really different from the modern one and was not realistic enough.

Judging from the portrait alone, Wu Sanniang now looks 90% like Zhao Dieniang.

"This looks like Dieyi from the third house. Where did you find the portrait? If you think about it, she can be considered as your aunt." Although she hadn't seen Zhao Dieyi for several years, and because she had no contact with the third house, Liu Manqiang didn't remember which young lady from the third house this was at first, but after a brief recollection she was able to identify the person.

"Could it be that she shamelessly came to your house to ask you to do something for her?" This was the first thought that flashed through Liu Manqiang's mind.

At this time, relatives, friends, clans, and bloodlines are important. If Zhao Dieyi knew that Cui Bianxu's career was doing well now, he might really come to him for help.

After all, the relationship between the two can be considered close relatives.

"Zhao Dieyi..."

It seemed Wu Sanniang hadn't lied about this: "Grandmother, do you know which family she married into?"

"I heard that it seemed like she was from Jiangling Prefecture in Shannan East Road, but I can't remember which family she married into." Liu Manqiang really didn't care about the people in the third house. Zhao Dieyi got married a few years ago, and she has never returned to Guazhou since her marriage. If Cui Bianxu hadn't mentioned it, she would not have remembered the existence of this person at all.

Jiangling Prefecture in the eastern Shannan Road is quite far from Chang'an City. Is this the Zhao family's explanation? Or is it the Zhao family's third branch's explanation?

Cui Bianxu relaxed the stiffness on the back of his neck and confirmed with Liu Manqiang: "Does the eldest wife still have the final say in the Zhao family?"

"That's natural."

Liu Manqiang sneered disdainfully. The old man was quite good at pretending. If she hadn't made a real play and staged a poisoning, she really wouldn't have known that her uncle still had control over the family.

That is to say, it is absolutely impossible for the Third House to marry Zhao Dieyi to Li Xingquan as his second wife without the permission of the First House. Then why did Liu Manqiang say that Zhao Dieyi was married to Jiangling Mansion?

There is only one possibility!

Cui Bianxu's pupils shrank slightly - the Zhao family announced in Guazhou that they had married Zhao Dieyi to Jiangling Prefecture, but in fact they secretly brought her to Chang'an City and married her to Li Xingquan.

He quickly recalled what was written in the case file at that time. Zhao Dieniang fell in love with Li Xingquan at first sight when she went to Chang'an to visit relatives with her father-in-law and mother-in-law, and thus entered the Li family.

I felt strange at the time. How could such a beautiful young lady fall in love with an old man like Li Xingquan at first sight? It seemed that this was planned long ago, and the Li family was probably aware of it.

"What's wrong? Is there something wrong?" Seeing that he didn't speak for a long time, Liu Manqiang became worried.

Cui Bianxu spread out the portraits in his hand and placed them side by side on the table. He reached out and pointed at Zhao Dieniang's portrait. "A few years ago, a woman named Zhao Dieniang came to Chang'an with her relatives. There, she fell in love with Li Xingquan, the chief clerk of the Capital Water Conservancy Bureau, at first sight. She married into the Li family and became his second wife."

"what?!"

Liu Manqiang straightened her expression, turned around, and stared at the portrait carefully, turning it over and over. The person in the portrait was indeed Zhao Dieyi. Although she looked a little different from a few years ago, a woman's appearance would change a little bit, especially in her teens and twenties, when she was growing up...

Her reaction was much calmer than Zhao Yue's, and memories kept turning in her mind: "Zhao Ji and Sun Shi never left Guazhou."

Guazhou is thousands of miles away from Chang'an, and the third wife is not a bird that can fly with wings. It is impossible for her not to hear any news after being away for so long.

"Zhao Sheng..."

Liu Manqiang raised her head suddenly: "After Zhao Dieyi got married, Zhao Sheng left for a while."

But at that time, there was nothing unusual in the entire Zhao family, at least not in her opinion.

Zhao Sheng was still serving in the army at that time, and it was common for him to live in the barracks and not go home. She didn't care about it at all.

"If that's the case, then it should have been Zhao Sheng who brought Zhao Dieyi to Chang'an..."

The doubts in her heart were no less than Cui Bianxu's. As the legitimate daughter of the third house, Zhao Dieyi should have been relatively favored at home, at least within the third house. How could the couple be willing to give their daughter to the old man as a concubine?

There was only one possibility - it was profitable, and the benefits were staggering, far outweighing their love for their daughter.

The old ones are still the wisest. Liu Manqiang quickly grasped the key point: "Who does Li Xingquan work for?"

She had seen through the people of the Zhao family. They would not do anything without profit. Whether it was the third wife agreeing to this matter, or Zhao Sheng personally sending Zhao Dieyi all the way to Chang'an to "find" such a marriage, they must have had some ulterior motive.

A trace of embarrassment flashed across the face of little Cui Jun, who was not very popular in the workplace, but three generations of their family had inherited a gene to some extent - never to admit defeat easily.

Cui Bianxu quickly adjusted his expression to a blank one, exhausting his brain cells to analyze: "Last year, Zhao Dieyi was involved in a case..."

Liu Manqiang was also surprised by the news of Zhao Dieyi's death, but her surprise was different from Zhao Yue's. Zhao Yue was angry and unwilling to admit it, while Liu Manqiang was just enjoying the melon, eating it like crazy: "Tsk, I said the Zhao family is a bunch of lowly bastards, they are capable of all kinds of shabby things, and they are not afraid that they will not be able to see their ancestors in the underworld after they die, tsk tsk tsk..."

Cui Bianxu: ...His mother's surname seems to be Zhao as well, right?

"Tsk tsk tsk, your mother is lucky. You crawled out of my belly, so you follow me. If you were born into that ragtag family, tsk tsk tsk..."

Manman, who had fallen asleep, was awakened by the sound of "tsk tsk tsk". The whole cat exuded a sense of speechlessness and despair. He glanced at the closed door and then at the two humans who were still talking frantically. Finally, he sighed like a cat and quietly walked to the corner and coiled up in a circle.

"Li Xingquan is still in the Dushui Supervisor..."

This matter needs to be investigated secretly. The current emperor is really fierce. Except for those officials who are assigned to serve in the various princes' palaces, the rest of the officials in the court are all "loyal ministers" who do not take sides on the surface.

However, the two brothers Li Xinglian and Li Xingquan can investigate together. It may take some effort to find out the truth of this matter.