The exquisite craftsmanship of the four-legged beast's small golden furnace was filled with green smoke, and the gentle wind blew in from the window, and the clear and gentle fragrance moved with the wind and drifted out of the room.
The cold-faced young man behind the bright yellow gauze slightly curled his lips, and his deep and focused gaze fell on the letter. When he read something interesting, the curvature of his lips couldn't help but expand.
The servant on the side stood with his head down, with a humble appearance but a galloping heart.
Oh my God! It happened again!
Who was the sender of this letter? Why was the master, who had always looked dignified and cold, and rarely smiled, softened the corner of his mouth every time he read this letter?
Having been for so long by the master's side, he dared to say that there was nothing that could make the master happier than reading a letter!
The servant lifted his eyes slightly, all he could see was a bright yellow brocade, on which was embroidered with a pattern of dragons in the sea with gold thread, and the golden waves of the robe corners were surging...
"Xiao Chunzi."
A deep and magnetic voice came, and the servant drew a sigh, busy converging his mind, and stepped forward. He said, "The slave is here!"
The young man folded the letter slowly and put it back in the envelope. The envelope style was ordinary, but the recipient's name on it was shocking.
Dear A-Heng.
Heng, this was the character of the name for the master when he was still young.
"Call Zhang Dàrén in." The young man opened the small ebony box decorated with precious stones and put the letter in. There were many letters in the box and some gadgets.
"Yes!"
The servant bowed and retreated. Then a middle-aged man dressed in a navy blue official uniform with a flying crane pattern embroidered on it knelt down in fear. "Minister Zhang Youzheng sees the emperor."
"Something?" The young man raised his eyelids and looked at the middle-aged man with a cold expression.
"This Minister..." The middle-aged man's scalp tightened, and seemed that he was hesitant to tell the truth. Seeing the young man's sword eyebrows furrowed, and his eyes condensed like ice, he gritted his teeth, as if death came to him. "Your Majesty is at the peak of youth when he is most energetic. So I deeply request to open the harem, so that Your Majesty can add branches and leaves, and add blessings and luck to Your Majesty's great prosperity..."
After saying this, the middle-aged man bowed his head and knelt there, sweaty on his forehead, wailing in his heart. What a shame! So many people grab the lotteries together, why his hand was so stinky that he was the one who got it! He wondered if these old guys deliberately colluded just because he was a newcomer!
The room was so quiet that fallen needles could be heard, and the middle-aged man did not dare to breathe. The elders had persuaded the emperor to open the harem before, if the emperor did not want to accept the concubine, they would say they would be ashamed of the first emperor and ashamed of the great Qi. Then they would kneel down until the emperor agreed. As a result, the emperor coldly lost a sentence: I have my own thinking! Later, he waved his sleeves and left, leaving the people to keep kneeling on the ground. The elders' knees become stiff after kneeling for a few hours. Because their bodies had been over half of a hundred years old, they finally fainted. The imperial doctor who had stood by side came forward to treat people. Eventually, this kind of method had no effect at all! But now these people actually played tricks on him and made him come to make admonishment*! But the emperor actually wouldn't listen! So he only hoped that the emperor wouldn't punish him too hard for the sake of his son and his pregnant wife.
*jìn jiàn: advice with faithful words (monarchs, elders, etc.).
Just as the middle-aged man waited tremblingly, the young man opened his mouth. "I heard that your fūrén is pregnant, so many people have recommended beautiful maidservant for ài qīng*, but ài qīng declined it?"
*The monarch's nickname for the minister. Seen more in novels and operas.
Hearing that, the middle-aged man was taken aback for a moment and hurriedly said, "This minister is too old for that, so this minister doesn't want to take advantage of these beauties!"
"The spread rumors say that your fūrén is a jealous woman and you are not allowed to get close to other women?" The young man's expression was faint, and there was no happiness or anger.
"Really nonsense! Just because this minister doesn't like other women, they dare to say my fūrén is a jealous woman !" The middle-aged man sneered, but wondered in his heart, why did the emperor ask about his family affairs? Thinking of this, the middle-aged man felt a thump in his heart, cold sweat broke out.
Would the emperor punish him by telling him to not bother his family affairs?
Nevertheless……
"It seems that fūrén is ài qīng's soft spot."
The middle-aged man sneered and said, "This minister had promised to the fūrén to join hands with the white head. So this minister dare not break his promise."
The young man's stern expression eased a little, and he looked at him with a serious expression. "Zhèn already has someone in the heart and will marry this person soon. Tell the elders to stop worrying about me."
The middle-aged man was stunned, and then he said happily, "Congratulations to the emperor! Congratulations to the emperor!"
The young man nodded. After the middle-aged man stepped back, he got up and left the imperial study room. There was a delicate birdcage hanging under the corridor of the hall, a beautiful blue bird tilted his head and looked around. Its black eyes blinked, which looked very cute. The young man fed the bird, his dark eyes looked at the vast sky outside the palace wall, his expression soft and slightly apologetic.
"xiǎo dōngxī, I can only let you play for a while..."
Suddenly, a black figure came and stopped a step away in front of the young man.
"Master, there is news from Eleven." The man in black respectfully presented a letter sealed in lacquer.
The young man took it and immediately unpacked it for inspection. While reading the letter, the young man's originally calm eyes suddenly became cold and sharp, and the whole body released a murderous intention. The man in black knelt there, bowing his head respectfully and readily accepting the orders.
"Someone dares to think about my people heedless of consequences." The young man calmly crumpled the letter paper into a ball. Thinking of the other thing mentioned in the letter, his face slightly sullen, and said to the black man, "Go check if there is someone about eight feet tall, has a sharp face, robust and strong body, and excels in martial arts in the capital."
"Yes." The man in black replied and disappeared before the young man's eyes in the next moment. The young man turned around and entered the room, sat behind the desk, and shook his ink. After a short time, a letter was written, the young man took out his seal, stamped it at the place where it was signed, and then ordered his servant to send it. The letter was quickly delivered to the recipient through a special channel.
"It's strange. Aren't people on the way home? Why are you still sending a letter to me?" Li Zhiyuan opened the letter suspiciously, and let out a cold sweat after reading it.
"My goodness, how did he know about this?" Li Zhiyuan wiped the sweat from his forehead. No one dared to leap on an earth god's head to make trouble*. It was just some people being reckless with greed wanted to make a bad idea. He thought it was just a trivial matter so he didn't report it. ...
*provoke someone far superior in power.
"If the king has to die, the minister also has to die!" Li Zhiyuan said coldly. He kept the letter and let the secretary come to discuss the matter.
This was the golden autumn in August when the sweet fragrant of osmanthus was on the peak. The sweet-scented osmanthus in Shenjia Village was blooming very brilliantly. Shen Yanbei planned to pick some sweet-scented osmanthus to make sweet-scented osmanthus cakes and make sweet-scented osmanthus wine. A large piece of cloth was spread under the sweet-scented osmanthus tree. Shen Yanbei took a long bamboo pole and beat the sweet-scented osmanthus vigorously, while Gu Changfeng stood on the tree and shook the branch vigorously, while Zhou Yu carried a big cloth bag to keep the sweet-scented osmanthus.
"Wow..."
The golden sweet-scented osmanthus fell from the tree like golden rain, and in a short while, the ground was golden. Under the tree, Shen Yanbei's clothes were covered with sweet-scented osmanthus, Gu Changfeng leaped lightly and landed firmly in front of him.
The young man was dressed in elegant spring clothes, and his posture was as straight as bamboo. The ink hair was lightly put in a bun behind his head, which made him look gentle and casual. The young man's handsome eyebrows were smiling, and his eyes were soft. The osmanthus flowers fell on his eyebrows, but it seemed to fall on the lake of his heart, gently swaying a circle of ripples...
"What's the matter?" Shen Yanbei couldn't help but ask when he saw Gu Changfeng staring at himself in a daze.
Gu Changfeng didn't speak and reached out his hand to pluck a piece of osmanthus petals from his eyebrows. Shen Yanbei raised his eyebrows, and the corners of his lips curled slightly. "It looks good?"
Gu Changfeng nodded honestly, his face a little hot. Shen Yanbei chuckled lightly and asked him in a low voice, "Do I look good in clothes or not in clothes?"
Gu Changfeng was taken aback for a moment, and a thin layer of red appeared on his honey-colored skin. If the young man wore clothes, he was like a vigorously growing green bamboo, with elegant eyebrows, which showed a kind of intellectual and a bright unique aura as a scholar. If the young man undressed, he was like a wolf with sheep's skin, wild and unruly...
Thinking of the body covered with thin muscles under the clothes, the enthusiasm on Gu Changfeng's face was soaring, and he hurriedly stopped looking at Shen Yanbei.
Looking at the red ear, Shen Yanbei's eyes became more smiling. "Why don't you answer?"
Zhou Yu pretended not to see the embarrassment of his Shīfu, lowered his head, and put silently the sweet-scented osmanthus on the ground into the cloth bag. Gu Changfeng looked at the back of the young man's head, his eyes flickering, his face blushing, but he didn't make a sound.
Shen Yanbei liked to see him like this and quickly kissed him on the cheek. "If you don't tell me, then I will tell you!"
"You look good in clothes, but you look better when you are naked!"
Gu Changfeng’s face burst into flames, and Shen Yanbei took his hand and laughed. “Okay, I won't tease you. Let’s take the sweet-scented osmanthus back to clean up. Then dry it under the sun."
After putting the sweet-scented osmanthus into the cloth bag, it filled a big bag full.
"Are you picking sweet-scented osmanthus?" Seeing Shen Yanbei holding a long bamboo pole, Zhou Yu and Gu Changfeng carrying big bags, Aunt Li asked from a distance.
"Yes, Aunt Li." Shen Yanbei replied with a smile.
Aunt Li glanced at the three people, and said mysteriously to Shen Yanbei, "You don't know yet, do you? Something has happened!"
Shen Yanbei was very cooperative and made a curious look. "What happened?"
Aunt Li frowned and said, "Lijia Village is over!"
Shen Yanbei appropriately expressed his confusion. "Social drama will be held in Lijia Village in two days. How can Lijia Village be over?"
Three days before the Mid-Autumn Festival every year, everyone in several villages near Shenjia Village would gather together. They also invited the opera troupe to entertain people. On the day of the social drama, they also slaughtered pigs and prepared wine to worship heaven and the earth, to pray for a good harvest in the coming year. This event definitely would be very grand and lively. This was a major event in several villages and everyone valued it very much. With so many villages, where would the social dramas be held? Just as in modern times, to show the strength of their country to the world, each country competed for the right to host the Olympic Games. Several villages participated in the competition, and the most powerful village finally got the right to host the social drama. Two years ago, Li Yuanwai who was the owner of the most famous restaurant, Changsheng restaurant, was from Lijia Village. Last year, Li Yi was the first person in these ten miles and eight townships who became Juren. In the past two years, the social drama was held in Lijia Village. This year, Lijia Village was still the host of this event.
"Lijia Village's biggest support has fallen!" Aunt Li's voice suddenly rose.
Shen Yanbei was taken aback, this time he was really curious. "What happened to Li Juren?"
"What Li Juren? There is no Li Juren in Lijia Village anymore!" Speaking of this, Aunt Li no longer stopped a story at a climax to keep the listeners in suspense but told the cause and effect as if she poured beans.
There was a lot of friction between Shenjia Village and Lijia Village, the two villages firstly became incompatible because of one thing- there was a woman named Shen Ru in Shenjia Village. Shen Ru was called an idiot because she had a brain problem. The idiot was washing clothes by the river one day and was humiliated by the villager of Lijia Village who drank too much. Afterward, the Lijia villager was afraid of being criticized, and even more afraid that the Shenjia villagers wanted him to marry an idiot, so in despair, he drowned the idiot in the river!
This matter was seen by others. As a result, Lijia Village used the money to plug the man's mouth, and Li Yi used his power to oppress him to change his confession. The former county magistrate, Zhang Dàrén, who got benefits from Lijia Village turned to Lijia Village's side and let the villagers of Lijia Village to acquittal!
The villagers of Shenjia Village were filled with righteous indignation but helpless. Just because the murderer was Li Yuanwai's son? Just because Lijia Village had a Juren? No one had power and influence in their Shenjia Village, so they deserved to be bullied!
"The county magistrate turned the file and felt that the case was full of doubts, so he sent someone to check and finally found out the truth!" Aunt Li was very relieved. "Li Juren was immoral and not virtuous, and abused power so his title was taken back!"
"Is that true?" Shen Yanbei was slightly surprised.
Aunt Li snorted. "There's more! Didn't he say that we had to collect money for building a school? Actually, this school was not gonna be opened. Instead of returning the money to everyone, Li Juren put it in his pocket. He wanted to use this money to buy an official position!"
"Fortunately, the county magistrate arrested him! Otherwise, everyone's hard-earned money will be gone, and we Shenjia Village can't bear it!"
Shen Yanbei frowned.
"It is said that you will reap what you sow. This Li Juren has done a lot of wrongdoing, and now he has finally been punished!" Aunt Li looked at Shen Yanbei with a sincere tone. "Shen Yan, you have a good heart and help many people. God sees it, and will bless you to be selected in the imperial examination!"
Shen Yanbei smiled. "Thank Aunt Li for the kind words!"
Aunt Li waved her hand. "I just came back from the county. So I still have to tell the villagers about this. I'm going first!"
"You go slowly." Shen Yanbei said politely.
"He deserves it!" Zhou Yu spat fiercely.
Shen Yanbei glanced at Gu Changfeng. "Why do I feel a bit weird about this?" Even if the new official looked through the files after he took office, he generally paid attention to looking up those unsolvable cases. The Shenjia Villager case had been settled for so long, and it also involved the former county magistrate. Why did Li Zhiyuan take a risk offending the former county magistrate to reverse the case for the Shenjia villager without doing an appeal?
He felt that this was deliberately aimed at Li Yi!
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