The scheming empress starts by conquering men

All the guards paused, holding their knives, with very grim expressions on their faces.

Has this been exposed?

This is too fast. How can I explain this to the Marquis?

Just when they were wondering whether to continue, the footsteps and shouts of guards were heard nearby.

"Catch the assassin quickly and protect His Highness the Sixth Prince!"

They were originally guards, and they understood something instantly and looked at each other.

"withdraw!"

Leave quickly.

Shao Jincong hurriedly ordered the guards, "Chase them quickly, don't let them get away!"

At this time, Shao Jincong didn't know that those sudden assassins were deliberately arranged by his mother.

Marquis Shao Bo came quickly from the group of guards, ignoring his son, and walked quickly towards Shaodian Sishui.

In the blink of an eye, the stupid farce was over. Shaodian Sishui looked at Shao Bohou indifferently without saying a word.

Shao Bohou's face was full of anxiety, and he stepped forward and bowed.

"I am late in coming to your rescue and have disturbed Your Highness the Sixth Prince. I hope Your Highness will forgive me."

Shaodian Sishui walked forward a few steps with a half-smile in his eyes, ignoring Shao Chaogan who was bowing beside him, and spoke sarcastically.

"I have seen all kinds of clowns, but I didn't scare them."

"But... Marquis Shao, your guards are a joke. They let the assassins come and go freely, but they were so late. They are worthy of being the guards of my Marquis Zhou's mansion. Their mobility is really different from that of ordinary people."

"I thought it was you, Marquis Shao, who was leading the guards to play house for me."

Shaodian Sishui's words were a double entendre, satirizing both Shao Bohou's deliberate probing and the fact that the guards around him were all clowns.

Shao Chaogan's test was fake. The real purpose was to see whether she would cooperate in the acting just to take advantage of Shao Jincong. If she took advantage of Shao Jincong to cooperate in the acting, Shao Bohou would think that she did not really like Shao Jincong.

If she had not cooperated but exposed the whole thing, it would mean that she still cared about her son and was not the kind of person who would never give up to achieve her goals.

By then, Shao Chaogan will definitely give her a big gift.

She had long seen through Shao Bohou's thoughts, so she cooperated with the performance and waited for Shao Chaogan to give her a gift.

When Shaodian Si Shui pointed out that he had directed and acted in the drama and ridiculed him, Shao Chaogan was not angry at all. Instead, he had a gentle smile on his face.

She lowered her head slightly, the smile still in her eyes, but her face became serious.

"Your Highness, please forgive me. I already knew that the group of assassins would appear. They were sent by the Nong, Jia, and Lou families to assassinate Your Highness in order to delay the wedding."

"I had already ordered people to ambush in secret, so that His Highness would not be hurt. That's why I arrived a little late just now."

"Your Highness, rest assured, they can't escape. I have ordered people to arrest all the people from Yang, Nong, and Lou and put them in the dungeon. It is up to Your Highness to deal with them."

Shao Chaogan confused right and wrong, but Shaodian Sishui did not point it out and instead looked angry.

"How dare they to commit treason and murder the princess!"

Shaodian Sishui had a gloomy expression and looked coldly at Shao Chaogan.

"Marquis Shao, I was nearly assassinated by a group of traitors in your territory. If you cannot give me a satisfactory answer to this matter, I will report it to the emperor and sue you, Shao Chaogan, for the crime of shielding and harboring the murderer."

Shao Chaogan bowed again with a serious look on his face.

"Your Highness, please rest assured. I will never let the person who murdered Your Highness go unpunished."

After saying this, Shao Chaogan bowed to Shaodian Sishui and turned away, heading to the dungeon to kill and silence the witnesses.

This was the deal between him and Shaodian Sishui. Today’s deal was the only benefit she could give to His Highness.

Shaodian Sishui raised his eyebrows, looked at Shao Chaogan's departing back, and a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

Shao Chaogan is indeed an old fox and he is good at using open strategies.

This was clearly giving her benefits, and also telling him that he wanted to make a deal with her.

Since she is so sensible, the deal is done.

There are no eternal friends or eternal enemies in the world, there are only immediate interests.

However, in order to speed up the progress of subsequent plans, Shaodian Sishui sighed slightly in his heart.

It's time to make things a done deal. She turned around and looked at Shao Jincong.

I saw Shao Jincong standing nearby, looking confused.

He seemed to be thinking, what's going on?

Didn’t the group of assassins just now come to assassinate him? How did they turn to assassinating His Highness?

And what mother said to Your Highness, the Yang, Nong, and Lou clans, aren’t they the vanguard guards around mother?

How could they possibly assassinate His Highness?

Shao Jincong was confused and couldn't figure it out.

Even Shao Yujie, who was thinking more, couldn't figure it out. Why would the three clans, Yang, Nong, and Lou, send people to assassinate the Sixth Prince for no reason?

This is totally unreasonable. What's more, even if people from these three clans really assassinated the Sixth Prince, these people are the right-hand men of my aunt.

How could my aunt choose to cut off her own arm just because of a mere Sixth Princess?

When he saw his aunt just now, she didn't seem to be unhappy or displeased.

What does this mean?

This shows that my aunt was not worried about the deaths of those three families, nor was she forced to do so.

That means willingly eliminating one's own right-hand men and left-hand men. This... this is totally unreasonable.

Shao Yujie couldn't understand it and found it unbelievable.

Shaodian Si Shui's gaze switched back and forth between Shao Jincong and Shao Yujie, with a slight flicker in her eyes and a hint of politeness.

"I didn't attend the banquet, nor did I eat. I'm a little hungry now. I happen to have a cooking skill. Would you like to try it?"

Shao Jincong was looking forward to it and said eagerly, "Okay, I didn't eat anything at the banquet, so I am a little hungry now."

Shao Yujie, who wanted to leave, looked at Shao Jincong thoughtfully.

His brother is so stupid!

Shaodian Sishui was just being polite, but he took it seriously?

He originally wanted to leave, but Shao Jincong foolishly insisted on staying. If he left as a younger brother, wouldn't the Sixth Prince think that he was too cunning, or that he disliked the Sixth Prince's craftsmanship?

Shao Yujie stood up and saluted very politely.

"Thank you, Sixth Prince. It is Yujie's honor to taste your cooking."

Shaodian Sishui asked someone to take out the simple barbecue grill that had been made a few days ago. It was carved from stone, not bronze.

She also asked someone to bring out the mutton skewers that she had ordered people to prepare with branches.

She marinated the mutton overnight with dogwood, cinnamon, poppy powder and fine salt.

The Great Zhou Dynasty did not discover chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns, but did have dogwood.

It's just right. Cornus officinalis tastes sweet, sour, numbing and has a slight aftertaste, so it can be used to marinate mutton.

Looking at the mutton mixed with wild grass and tree bark, Shao Yujie's mouth twitched.

What kind of dark cuisine is this? Can you eat roasted meat like this?

He covered his mouth, a look of disgust on his face.

Even Shao Jincong, who was secretly expecting something, looked at the meat with a strange look on his face. Can it still be eaten?

He did not ask, but watched the Sixth Prince skillfully light the charcoal fire and roast the hot food skewered with branches on the charcoal fire.

Whenever the charcoal fire turned into a blazing flame, Shaodian Sishui would pick up a cup of water from the side, pour it into the charcoal basin, and continue grilling the meat.

Shao Jincong looked at Shaodian Sishui's series of actions in confusion.

Shao Yujie was also curious and asked questions.

"Sixth Prince, can this meat be roasted without an open flame?"