After Ji Yunxi returned to the mansion, she thought long and hard and always felt that this matter was somehow related to the Prime Minister's Mansion.
So the next day, she hurriedly sent someone to the palace to deliver a message, asking Li Jiuge to meet.
Li Jiuge managed to get rid of the wet nurses who were keeping an eye on her in the palace, changed into a set of palace clothes, and went out alone.
When Ji Yunxi saw her in the yard, she almost didn't recognize her.
"Why are you dressed like this?"
Li Jiuge took the water handed over by Chunyuan and took a big gulp. "Brother Emperor always asks me to stay in the palace obediently these days and has even found a group of wet nurses to teach me manners. It's really boring. When I received your message today, I originally wanted to tell Brother Emperor before coming, but then I didn't want to say anything. I just wanted to disappear and make him worry."
Ji Yunxi didn't agree with Li Jiuge's way of doing things, but she knew that her best friend had a strong - willed personality. If she forced her rashly, it might only make her more dissatisfied.
So while Li Jiuge wasn't paying attention, Ji Yunxi quietly pulled Chunyuan aside and told her to go to the palace to inform Feng Jiangming.
"Yunxi, you haven't told me what you asked me here for yet," Li Jiuge said.
Ji Yunxi looked around, then pulled Li Jiuge straight to the storeroom.
"This matter is of great importance, Jiuge. Take a look. Is this something from the palace?"
Ji Yunxi took out the paper with gold foil on it and handed it to Li Jiuge.
"Jiuge, do you know about this?"
Li Jiuge took the letter paper and looked at it carefully. "I wondered what it was. Isn't this the paper that was used in the palace before? The imperial merchant came up with a trick. After the paper pulp was washed clean, they crushed the gold foil and added it to the pulp, which created this kind of paper. But His Majesty said that we should be thrifty and not advocate the luxurious style, so later on, adding gold foil was not allowed."
As if remembering something, Li Jiuge said, "I remember. The last batch of this paper in the palace was exactly sent to your mansion. There was a blind - eyed beauty in the palace at that time. Relying on her youth, she asked His Majesty for this paper and was even punished."
Li Jiuge told everything she knew.
Ji Yunxi frowned slightly. That meant that even the palace didn't have this kind of paper anymore, and only the Prime Minister's Mansion had it?
Just then, the steward happened to come to get an inkstone for Ji Yuchen.
"Eldest Miss? Ah, this old servant pays respects to the princess."
Li Jiuge waved her hand indifferently.
The steward stood up and saw the paper in Ji Yunxi's hand. "Is Eldest Miss going to take an inventory of the storeroom?"
Since there were no longer any elders in the family, as the legitimate daughter, Ji Yunxi naturally took charge of all the affairs in the inner courtyard.
Ji Yunxi said, "Yes. I just came to have a look. What has come in and out recently?"
The storeroom of the Ji Mansion always kept accurate records. Ji Yunxi asked casually.
The steward replied, "Recently, only Second Miss has taken this gold - foil paper."
Ji Yunxi's eyes widened, and she held up the paper in her hand. "Ji Yuyan came to take it?!"
"Yes. She came several times."
Ji Yunxi fell silent for a moment, which made Li Jiuge feel a bit uneasy.
After a while, Ji Yunxi told the steward to leave, looking a bit grim.
Li Jiuge quickly asked, "Yunxi, what's wrong with you? Is there something wrong with the paper?"
Ji Yunxi had a dark look on her face. She was almost certain that this matter was related to Ji Yuyan, but this matter still needed to be discussed with Feng Xingzhi.
"Jiuge, I went to Prince Feng's Mansion yesterday," Ji Yunxi said.
Hearing this, Li Jiuge's eyes lit up. "What? Do you miss my brother?"
The words on the tip of Ji Yunxi's tongue took a turn. "Don't talk nonsense. Yesterday I heard that there was a guest in Prince Feng's Mansion, and even the prince stayed to accompany the guest. So I thought it was an elder of the clan, so I went there with gifts to pay a visit."
Li Jiuge listened to her story with great interest and didn't notice anything wrong yet.
"There was a woman in Prince Feng's Mansion," Ji Yunxi said.
"Oh, a woman... Ah?" At first, Li Jiuge didn't react. Suddenly, when she heard that it was a woman, alarm bells rang in her mind.
"This... Yunxi, don't misunderstand. Cousin is not that kind of person."
Hearing this, Ji Yunxi smiled. "Of course I know he's not."
Only then did Li Jiuge gradually relax.
"The woman's name is Jiang Yaoji. She's my brother's childhood sweetheart," Ji Yunxi said, with a hint of jealousy in her tone. After all, the friendship between Feng Xingzhi and Jiang Yaoji since childhood still bothered Ji Yunxi a bit.
Li Jiuge knew about this Jiang Yaoji.
She had heard Feng Jiangming mention it before. He said that the Jiang family in Xirong was a big family of doctors for generations. They were not only prestigious in Xirong but also well - known in the three countries of Nanyan, Beidi, and Dongjin.
Feng Jiangming said that Feng Xingzhi had a poor health and needed long - term medication and treatment from a divine doctor. So when Feng Xingzhi was a child, he was sent to the Jiang family in Xirong to be raised.
Now the head of the Jiang family in Xirong was this Jiang Yaoji. She was capable, had excellent medical skills, and her spiritual power should not be underestimated.
Li Jiuge thought that since Feng Xingzhi had lived in the same mansion with Jiang Yaoji when he was a child, it was inevitable that they had contact. But Feng Xingzhi had been back in Nanyan for a long time, so there shouldn't be any other relationship...
"Well... But Yunxi, what does Jiang Yaoji have to do with this paper?" Li Jiuge thought carefully but really couldn't figure out the relationship.
Ji Yunxi's eyes turned cold slightly. "She had a letter on her, and it was written on this kind of paper. She wanted me to think that it was written by the prince for her, so she was very deliberate. But later I asked the prince, and he said he had never written a letter to Jiang Yaoji. Then how did she get such a thing?"
"Do you mean that someone is in contact with her and wants to target you and cousin?!"
"I'm just speculating. I'm not sure yet. But after hearing what you said today, I think this letter of hers might not have come from anywhere else. Instead, it's more likely to have flowed out from our Prime Minister's Mansion."
Li Jiuge's eyes flashed sharply. "Ji Yuyan?!"
Ji Yunxi didn't answer, but her silence meant that she thought Li Jiuge was right.
Taking a deep breath, Li Jiuge still couldn't hold back.
"What on earth does this Ji Yuyan want to do? Her mother did such a thing, and the three of you siblings have never blamed her. But why is she like this, this..."
Li Jiuge couldn't even find the right words to describe Ji Yuyan for a moment.
Ji Yunxi sneered. "She, Ji Yuyan, is not satisfied."
The two of them took away all the gold - foil paper and emptied the storeroom.
On the way back to the room, seeing Ji Yunxi looking unhappy, Li Jiuge patted her on the shoulder and joked, "Yunxi, do you know what you looked like when you just mentioned Jiang Yaoji?"
Ji Yunxi was stunned. "What did I look like?"
"Like someone who's jealous."
A blush gradually crept up on Ji Yunxi's face, but she still pretended that nothing had happened.
"Don't talk nonsense. There's nothing for me to be jealous about."
"Really not?" Li Jiuge whispered in her ear. "Although Cousin Xingzhi's spiritual cultivation is not very high, he's really good - looking..."
Ji Yunxi's ears were burning as if they were about to boil.
She reached out to cover Li Jiuge's mouth. "Stop talking!"
"Hahaha!" Li Jiuge laughed muffledly. "Don't worry, Yunxi. I can tell that Second Cousin likes you very much! Moreover, your spiritual power is definitely higher than that of Jiang Yaoji. If she dares to do anything, just beat her into submission!"
"... Tomboy!"