Chapter 65 Please Speak Humanly◇

Zhu Xi held the drugged-out Mu Qingni in his arms, and looked at Zhou Yu, who was standing on the kang with a smug smile. Suddenly, he remembered that his A-Yu wasn't just one of them...

But it seemed as if he always deliberately forgot about it, and never took to heart the fact that she was different from them. He also never mentioned their story to anyone, fearing that if he did, his A-Yu would no longer pay attention to him, or even disappear from his life forever...

Sister Qingni said he was suffering from lovesickness at an age when he didn't even understand it. He felt that it was only after he left her that he realized that missing someone could actually make them sick...

…

"Ayu, my last name is Zhu Xi, and I'm sixteen. I used to be foolish and self-righteous, which made those who truly loved me feel deeply disappointed."

Zhu Xi half-knelt on the ground, holding the unconscious Mu Qingni in his arms. He looked up, and in the blazing snowlight, he asked Zhou Yu:

"I'm willing to entrust my heart to you again. I wonder if you can give me another chance next time?!"

Zhou Yu...

"Please speak human language!!!"

…

"Ayu, I know I was wrong. I shouldn't have disrespected you and disgusted you by asking you to be my maid or concubine! I'm so stupid! I'm nothing, yet I dare to look down on you!

I've reflected a lot over the past two years, and I promise I'll never do that again, and I won't dare lie to you again! Can you give me another chance and let me be your friend again?!

Zhou Yu: "No!"

…………

at the same time,

In the Qianqing Palace in Kyoto, Emperor Chengqian handed a list to a middle-aged man in his thirties.

"Take a look."

The middle-aged man hurriedly bowed to take it, looked at it carefully, then lowered his head and stood even more bent.

"Huh! Twenty people in three days, either petitioning to retire or retiring due to illness, and they're all from the six ministries!

I just want them to spit out some of what they have embezzled from the people. It is just a drop in the bucket for them, but they are making trouble for me.

They think I haven't fed them enough, so they're putting pressure on me! Humph! Do you really think I can't lift a knife?!"

Emperor Chengqian sneered.

Then he scolded the middle-aged man who was standing with his head bowed.

"Alright, stop pretending to be nice to me and give your dad some advice!"

The middle-aged man then raised his handsome face and said with a smile:

"Godfather, don't you already have an idea? Otherwise you wouldn't be so angry!"

"You little brat! You're the only one who knows!"

Emperor Chengqian cursed again with a smile, then suddenly his face turned stern again, and he said sadly:

"Now that Yunnan and Guizhou have been pacified and Liaodong is still unsettled, I have no other options except to learn from Han Xin and practice patience!

Alas! If your elder brother were still alive, I wouldn’t be in this situation now! ..."

As I spoke, my eyes turned red...

The middle-aged man below burst into tears when he heard this and fell to his knees with a thud.

"Foster father, please take care of your body! If my elder brother is still alive, he would not want to see you like this!"

…

"Alright, alright, let's not talk about that heartless guy anymore!"

After feeling sad for a moment, Emperor Cheng Qian wiped away his tears casually, waved his hand, signaled the middle-aged man below to stand up, and then continued:

"Let's talk about you! Feng'er, it's been a while since you came back, but your wife still ignores you? And Qingni doesn't even bother trying to persuade her mother?"

The middle-aged man fell silent upon hearing this. He was stunned for a moment before shaking his head and saying:

"I don't blame her. I really did let her down back then."

It turned out that the handsome middle-aged man standing below was Emperor Chengqian's adopted son, Xiping Hou Mu Feng, and Mu Qingni's father.

"Ah! Your wife is so annoying. You just married a mistress. If she doesn't want to let you take her back, that's fine. But why does she insist on leaving the family?"

But the Queen protected her back then, so I didn't even dare to vent my anger on you, alas! "

Emperor Chengqian thought of his deceased wife and sighed again, then said worriedly:

"By the way, Qingni isn't young anymore. Do you have any plans for her marriage? You know, your adoptive mother originally planned to have her marry into our family and become the wife of my eldest grandson, but unfortunately, she passed away not long after, and Ying'er also passed away, so that didn't happen...

Otherwise, you can ask her to consider Tao'er?"

Emperor Chengqian suggested,

"Xu'er from the Fourth Brother's family is also fine. I heard that guy's martial arts skills are getting better and better. Although I guess he still can't beat Qingni, he has improved after all, right?

Xi'er is doing well now. That boy has become a different person since he came back from Liaodong. But now his heart is full of that country girl. She is a little younger than Qingni. I guess Qingni doesn't like him either. Alas! "

Emperor Chengqian sighed again.

Mu Feng...

I thought to myself: Forget it! Of your grandchildren, the eldest grandson who has passed away was still okay, but what about those now? Even if you brought them all out for my daughter to choose from, she wouldn't like any of them!

But he didn't dare to say so, so he could only politely refuse:

"I promised Qingni's mother that Qingni would have the final say in choosing her future husband."

Emperor Chengqian was immediately furious when he heard this and said:

"Hmph! In my opinion, your wife has been making trouble with you for so many years because you spoiled her. It's the parents' orders and the matchmaker's words, how can you let the child make the decision herself?

With Qing Ni's personality, who could she possibly care about? She spends all day studying military operations and arranging battle formations. I do have a female general who's skilled in archery and horsemanship, but if she keeps this up, she'll end up an old maid sooner or later!"

Mu Feng complained in his heart: It is better to let her grow up to be an old maid than to marry your grandsons, but he still did not dare to say it, and could only joke:

"This is exactly what you did wrong, old man. How could you be so ungrateful? My Qingni just came back from Yunnan and Guizhou, and you gave her the job of the Kyoto Guard Battalion, and even threw the Fifth Prince into her care! Now, you're worried about Liaodong, and you've thrown my daughter there again!

How can you be like this? On the one hand, you despise my daughter for studying military books and practicing martial arts all day long, while on the other hand, you employ people more diligently than anyone else..."

Emperor Chengqian... seems to be the same,

Suddenly embarrassed:

"Hehe, after I allowed Lan Ting to return to the capital due to illness, I was worried that the new Geng Zhongwen would be too conservative, so I asked Qingni to help me keep an eye on things...haha..."

Mu Feng was just talking, how could he really blame Emperor Cheng Qian? Besides, his own girl knew that if he really asked her to follow those ladies to embroider, she would rather go to the battlefield to fight. Besides, the Fuzhou Guard assigned to her by Emperor Cheng Qian was protected by the Yangning Guard, Wanzhou Guard, and Yizhou Guard. Apart from some sporadic harassment, there was no safety issue at all. So he just laughed and talked about other things with Emperor Cheng Qian...

"I heard from Qingni that the Fifth Prince is making a fuss about going to Liaodong again because of his little savior?"

"That's right! He's been arguing with me for nearly a month, and finally he got his way!" Emperor Cheng Qian was a little tired of standing, so he casually sat down on the large table behind him, pointed to a stool beside him, and asked Mu Feng to sit down as well, then he said to Mu Feng:

"But that little girl is capable too. Not only can she detoxify snake venom, but she was also able to escape with Xi'er from the siege of dozens of Tartars. Moreover, the potatoes Zhou Zelin presented were said to have been grown by her family first!

This time, Xier went to Liaodong under the pretext of personally delivering the potato seeds!

Humph! Before leaving, he even cheated me out of five thousand taels, saying that even though I'm the emperor, I can't take that little girl's things for free!

She even said that little girl made something and sold it for five hundred taels, and I only gave her one thousand taels, which was too stingy. She even insisted that I pay her ten thousand taels! How could I have that kind of money?

In the end, he was so annoying that I had no choice but to give him all the five thousand taels in my private vault. Only then was he satisfied! ”

Emperor Cheng Qian felt a headache when he thought of the disturbance caused by his fifth grandson a few days ago, and complained to Mu Feng angrily.

沐风已经很久没见过朱熙了，在他心里那就是个小屁孩，还是看一眼就想揍他的那种，前两年听说承乾帝将他丢给她闺女管教后，他还担心承乾帝这是变相的想让他闺女嫁给他孙子呢，现在听说那小子心里有人，顿时狠松了一口气，心道，管那小子喜欢的那丫头是好是坏呢，只要不惦记他闺女就成！

So he immediately spoke well of Zhu Xi.

"Haha, Fifth Prince, don't you know that not taking things from the people for free isn't a good thing?! Why are you still angry? It just so happens that I've made some quiet money in Yunnan and Guizhou over the past few years. I'll make up for your five thousand taels tomorrow. Don't worry about your little money anymore!"

Then he thought: No wonder his adoptive father is dissatisfied with Prime Minister Hu and his gang. The dignified Emperor of Great Yan only has 5,000 taels in his entire private treasury, while Prime Minister Hu's favorite concubine can spend 20,000 taels at a time just on hairpins in Linglong Pavilion. Prime Minister Hu dotes on such an ungrateful woman, and even openly favors his concubine over his wife for her. It's really... He's looking for death if he doesn't find him!

But then he thought, wasn't he also so ungrateful back then, which is why he and his wife separated, and his wife would rather spend her whole life in a temple than return home? And he's still here making fun of others!

"Just making up for it is not enough. Miss Qingni told me that you have made a lot of money in the past few years. The jewels you sent back are so much that the box containing them can't even be closed. You should show more filial piety to your father. At least you have to fill up my private treasury!" Emperor Cheng Qian scolded with a smile.

Mu Feng's face immediately fell when he heard this, and he thought to himself, whose daughter is so disappointing? He could only grin with a face that looked uglier than crying and responded with "Okay!"

Emperor Cheng Qian was greatly amused by his behavior. He had just made a fortune and was in a good mood. He also thought that if the potatoes Zhou Zelin presented were really as productive as described in his letter, then in three to five years, he would no longer have to worry about the people not having enough to eat!

Suddenly I felt that it was okay to put up with Hu Xiang and his gang any longer.

"Hahaha, you said the Zhou family is so sensible this time, how should I reward them? Originally, I thought that the little girl from the Zhou family was so loved by Xier, so I thought I would just take her in, raise her well for a few years, and make her a concubine for Xier in the future, which would be a gift to the Zhou family.

But that guy refused to do it, and even said that if I mentioned it again, he would run away from home or stay in Liaodong and never come back! It really made me angry! Haha..."

Emperor Cheng Qian was angry when he spoke, but when he thought of his grandson's panicked expression at that time, he couldn't help laughing...

"I'd like to say that you should stop interfering in the affairs of these little kids. It won't be too late to discipline them when they come to you for help! Otherwise, it would be bad if you choose the wrong pair," Mu Feng took the opportunity to advise.

I thought to myself: Stop targeting my Qingni.

Emperor Cheng Qian thought it was right, and thought to himself that when that boy wanted to marry that girl, he would see how he would punish him! Then he asked,

"Then how do you think we should reward these potatoes for their contribution? If the potato yield is truly as high as Zhou Zelin claims, then it would be a great achievement for the entire Great Yan! This merit is enough for me to pardon the Zhou family and reinstate Zhou Zelin to his post...

If I were stingy, I'm afraid those scholars would find out and scold me again!

But it wasn't long after I exiled the Zhou family. If I let them come back now, not only would I be slapping myself in the face, but Prime Minister Hu and his men would surely cause trouble again. If they hadn't forced me back then, and if the Crown Prince hadn't suddenly passed away, I might not have killed Zhou Ruian..."

He had originally planned to let the old stubborn man live in Liaodong for a few years to clear his mind and learn the principles of being a minister. He would then recall him after the crown prince ascended the throne. But...

Seeing that Emperor Chengqian mentioned the Crown Prince again, Mu Feng hurriedly said a few words of comfort, and then returned to the Zhou family's reward, and said with a twinkle in his eyes:

"In my opinion, it will take at least a year to verify whether the potatoes are high-yielding. Why don't you take advantage of this time to see if there are any younger generations in the Zhou family who can make the move...

Rather than giving this reward to Zhou Zelin alone and letting him return to Beijing to resume his post, it would be better to distribute it to the younger generations of the Zhou family. If those younger generations rise up, the Zhou family will be close to revival.

Besides, they are just a few of the younger generation. If you promote them, how high can their official positions be? I think Prime Minister Hu and his men won't take them seriously. And if you give the younger generation of the Zhou family a chance, those scholars in the literati circle won't say anything about you. Isn't it killing two birds with one stone?!"

Emperor Chengqian thinks... that's right...

The author has something to say:

A correction: the age summary in the previous chapter was wrong. Zhu Xi is only one month younger than Zhou Jin and is sixteen years old now. The previous one has been changed. I would like to tell my friends who have read it.