The Chinese New Year was coming soon. Because so many things had happened this year, Yun wanted to have a lively party to get rid of the bad luck.

Lu Che felt better and was helped by Pei to the main hall. Lu Zheng was setting off fireworks in the yard with his two nephews and nieces. He was only sixteen after the Chinese New Year and was not much different in age from Lu Yan. They looked like two half-grown boys. Lu Zhiyuan was not held by her nanny, but was running behind them.

Pei wanted to say something about her daughter's unladylike behavior, but thinking about the Chinese New Year, she held back her words.

Lu Qing looked at his children and grandchildren in the yard and said with emotion: "Although there are many things to do this year, the third brother has become much more sensible. He is not young anymore. If he gets married in the future, the family will only be more lively."

Old Madam Lu smiled and said, "That's right, that's right."

On the contrary, Yun, who always cared about these things, did not respond. Lu Che glanced at his mother, smiled faintly and changed the subject: "The third brother has some talent in solving cases, I thought that when he is older, it would be better to let him go out to exercise."

Old Madam Lu immediately retorted: "I think it is good in Yanjing, why should he go out to suffer."

Lu Zheng walked in sweating and asked with a smile: "I heard grandma talking about suffering, who suffered?"

Lu Che glanced at him: "I am praising you for being sensible this year."

Lu Zheng rarely gets such compliments from his elder brother, and he was flattered immediately.

Yun looked at the time: "Okay, stop being naughty, Lianxin, let someone call back the young master and the young lady, and let the servants serve the dishes."

Although there are not many masters in the Duke of Ying's Mansion, the dishes are served like water. Lu Qing is frugal on weekdays, but he still pays attention to a lively New Year.

After dinner, several young people came to wish Madam Lu a happy new year. Madam Lu smiled and gave them red envelopes: "Good, good, you are all good children."

Several people ran to Lu Qing and his wife, and the two of them also gave them red envelopes with a smile.

Finally, it was Lu Che and his wife's turn. Lu Che looked at his younger brother helplessly, "You are so old, and you still ask your elder brother for red envelopes?"

"I'm still young!" Lu Zheng said shamelessly, "I'm afraid my elder brother will have to give me red envelopes for a few more years."

"You!" Lu Che shook his head helplessly. Pei Shi held back her laughter and handed the red envelope to Lu Zheng. Not only that, she also teased Lu Che, "Don't listen to your elder brother's nonsense, he has prepared it for you a long time ago."

The whole family was happy. In the second half of the night, the old people and children could not hold on any longer and went to sleep. Only Lu Che and Lu Zheng were on guard.

After Lu Che was poisoned, his health deteriorated. Lu Zheng went to get a cloak and covered him. Lu Che said with emotion: "You have really grown up. You were not so considerate before." Lu Zheng

shook his head and said: "It was my younger brother who was ignorant before and made me worry."

Lu Che smiled and said: "I am flattering you, but you are humble now."

The two began to chat. Lu Che asked: "You have grown up now. What are your plans for the future?"

Lu Zheng was a little confused: "What plans?"

"Yanjing is too complicated. I plan to find an opportunity for you to go somewhere for exercise in a few years. What do you think?"

This was not a discussion with him, but a notification to him. Lu Zheng was speechless, but he also thought so. After these two cases were solved, Lu Zheng clearly felt that the eyes of those who once looked down on him had changed, but this change made him feel uneasy.

Seeing that his brother didn't say anything, Lu Che couldn't help but ask: "Are you unwilling?"

Lu Zheng shook his head: "It's not that I don't want to, I just think I have some ability in solving cases, but other things..." He knew that if Lu Che really wanted to let him go to the local area, he would definitely be a county chief. In modern times, he is just an ordinary citizen. Let alone a county chief, the highest official he has ever seen is probably their school principal.

Lu Che laughed: "Do you think I will let you take office alone?"

"Uh..."

"Okay, let's not talk about these things for now." Seeing that his brother looked confused, Lu Che thought he should first give him some knowledge about officialdom, "Do you know what the current political situation is like?"

During the bedroom talk party in Lu Zheng's bedroom, several otakus were still pointing fingers at the country, but when they came back to ancient times, the original owner was a person who didn't care about anything, and he didn't understand the political affairs for various reasons, so when Lu Che asked, he shook his head honestly.

Lu Che was not surprised and said directly: "The current emperor has been on the throne for nearly 20 years. He is a saintly monarch with his civil and military achievements. The queen died young without a child. Now the princes are divided into the eldest prince and the fourth prince. The eldest prince's mother is not of high status, but he has the reputation of being older and has a group of civil officials supporting him. The fourth prince's mother is a noble concubine, and his mother's family is even more famous. Your Majesty's attitude is ambiguous, so the two sides are evenly matched."

Lu Zheng noticed that Lu Che did not mention the military generals, and couldn't help but He asked, "What about the military generals? Who do they support?"

Lu Che nodded and said, "Among the military generals, our Duke of Ying's Mansion is neutral. The troops under the command of His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu also have to guard the northern border, so they are not counted among them. The rest are the three guards of the capital and the palace soldiers of various county towns..."

After Lu Che's explanation, Lu Zheng understood that now the faction of the eldest prince and the faction of the fourth prince are incompatible, but Emperor Yongning's delay in appointing a crown prince has made both sides mistakenly believe that they have a chance, so they keep fighting.

The status of the Duke of Yingguo is special, and it is not appropriate for them to take sides. However, Lu Zheng felt that his brother had a hidden meaning. He remembered that Lu Che had seen Jian Yu when he was ill, and blurted out: "What about big brother? Have you taken sides yourself?"

Lu Che paused: "Why do you say that?"

"Like you said, the Fourth Prince has the support of the noble families, who have won the support of most of the county governors for him, so the eldest prince is at a disadvantage in terms of military power. But you said that they are now evenly matched, so among the three guards in the capital, one must support the eldest prince." Lu Zheng analyzed, "The Black Armor Guard is secretive and has always been used to protect the emperor. Let's not talk about it. The Golden Armor Guard has always been led by the Chengguo Mansion, and Chengguo has never been involved in these matters, so there is only the Red Armor Guard left."

Lu Zheng lowered his voice and looked at Lu Che seriously: "Brother, have you secretly defected to the eldest prince?"

Lu Seeing his nervous look, Che couldn't help but laugh: "I was going to tell you something about the court situation, so that you wouldn't be taken advantage of by others because you know nothing. How come you are the one who blames me?"

Lu Zheng now understands his elder brother. He always says what he means and never changes the subject in such a way. His doing so can only mean that Lu Zheng's guess is correct. Lu Zheng's heart sank to the bottom. Whether it is history books or TV dramas, they all told him that in this situation where two tigers fight, those who jump out are cannon fodder, and there must be a fisherman who benefits from the fight between the snipe and the clam. Lu Zheng did

n't understand, how could such a smart man as his elder brother make such a mistake?

With such worries, he passed the New Year, and soon it was the Lantern Festival.

Every year during the Lantern Festival, there would be a lantern festival in Yanjing City. There were even artisans in the palace who made exquisite lanterns and hung them at the city gates for the people to enjoy together.

This year was no exception. Lu Yan had inquired about it early on. Not only did the palace make a large lantern of Chang'e flying to the moon, but the people were not to be outdone. Many businesses had already said that they would make lanterns that were better looking than those in the palace.

Emperor Yongning was always generous about these things. After hearing this, he even took out a night pearl and 100 taels of gold from his private treasury as a prize for this year's Lantern King.

As a result, this year's Lantern Festival was particularly lively.

Lu Che was still a little weak and couldn't go out. Lu Qing and others were afraid of making noise because of their age. In the end, only Lu Zheng took Lu Yan and Lu Zhiyuan out to play.

Pei was still a little worried, but she felt relieved when she saw the circle of guards following closely. She also told Lu Zhiyuan's nanny: "You must take good care of my sister, and never let her go to bed."

Lu Zheng patted his chest and said: "Don't worry, sister-in-law, I'm here!"

Pei scolded: "You, you are still a child, just take care of yourself."

Lu Zheng smiled and didn't refute.

Because the Lantern Festival was held in the outer city, the carriage was only sent to the inner city gate. Because of the Lantern Festival, the curfew was cancelled for the past two days, so after getting off the carriage, several people hurried out of the city gate and were immediately stunned by the scenery in front of them.

Various lanterns were hung on every tree on the roadside, and the Chang'e flying to the moon, which was more than a person tall at the city gate, was even more lifelike, attracting many people to watch from below.

Lu Zhiyuan pointed with her finger: "It looks good!"

Lu Zheng looked in the direction of her finger and found that a skilled craftsman had actually made various flowers with lanterns, and the clusters of flowers together looked so real.

The vision of the few people is not low, but they were really shocked by this year's Lantern Festival. Lu Zheng was careful not to let his nephews and nieces leave him at first, but he was gradually attracted by the lanterns around him and gradually distanced himself from them.

At this time, he suddenly heard someone shouting from behind: "Quick! Walk on the Hundred Bridge!"

The crowd rushed over immediately. Lu Zheng was startled and was squeezed out by the crowd before he could react, and he was directly separated from Lu Yan and the others.

Seeing Changshan and Changshui trapped in the crowd and trying to squeeze out, Lu Zheng tried to prevent himself from falling while shouting, "Watch the kids! See you at the city gate!"

Although he didn't know if they heard him or not, when Lu Zheng came out of the crowd, he was sweating profusely, his clothes were full of wrinkles, and the jade hairpin in his hair was stolen by someone.

Lu Zheng took a deep breath and felt unusually refreshed. However, he did not walk around anymore, but walked slowly towards the city gate. He thought that if everything went well, Changshan and Changshui should have arrived by the time he reached the city gate.

Who knew that when he passed an alley, a hand suddenly covered his mouth from behind and dragged him into the alley.