It was just dawn when Luo Guanlin was pulled out of bed by his family and asked to change his clothes and dress up to meet Governor Chang.
Firstly, the Luo family felt that Governor Chang was only seventeen years old this year. How could a girl of that age not love beauty?
In this regard, Luo Guanlin, who was pressed in front of the bronze mirror, couldn't help but feel a headache and said: "...She is not an ordinary little girl. How can her hobbies be the same as those of ordinary people? Even if there are similarities, how can they be shared with me?"
He is already this old, no matter how handsome he is, how can he be?
Luo's wife Liu looked at her husband's "middle-aged" face in the mirror and nodded slightly: "That's true..."
Normally, the beauty in the eyes of a girl of this age must be a young boy...
Liu thought about it, turned her head slightly and looked at her fifteen-year-old son beside her.
Luo Xi also subconsciously looked at his younger brother who had a handsome and clean appearance.
Luo Guanlin peeked at the expressions of the mother and daughter in the mirror, and his eyebrows twitched wildly: "...Nonsense!"
He sternly ordered him to stop, "My son will never use his beauty to please others!"
"..." Luo Ze, who originally didn't quite understand why his mother and sister were looking at him, suddenly turned red on hearing this.
"Who said that you have to use your beauty to please men..." Liu came back to her senses and said softly, "I carefully dress up for you, my dear, more to cover up your original appearance..."
Who said her husband was a "traitor who died by self-immolation"?
It is certainly not appropriate for a "deceased" person to show his true face when going out in broad daylight.
Luo Guanlin naturally knew this, so he could only patiently let his wife and daughter take care of him.
But as time went by, looking at himself in the mirror, Mr. Luo became increasingly restless.
It's fine if he shaved off the short beard he had grown for nearly twenty years, and changed his thick eyebrows into thin ones, but... wouldn't the powder he applied be too fake?
Moreover, his skin is dry, and if you look closely, you can even see some powder stuck on it!
"Fortunately, there is nothing too conspicuous about my father's appearance... This should be enough, right?" Luo Xi suggested hesitantly: "Otherwise, how about putting a mole on my father's face to confuse the viewer better?"
"What mole? Don't do that." Luo's mother came in and saw her son dressed so flamboyantly. She said disapprovingly, "Not right, not right. You are trying to cover up your mistake... Wash it off quickly!"
Luo Guanlin's frown relaxed slightly - finally someone spoke up for him! For this reason, he could consider forgiving his mother for deceiving him last night. As for how he saw through his mother's deception, it was all thanks to the horse who loved to watch the fun - the horse not only loved to watch the fun, but also had a greedy mouth, and actually licked the "arsenic" that his mother spilled on the ground clean...
He was shocked at that time. A horse that could walk freely in the governor's mansion must have some origin. If it died here, it would not be a good thing.
Just as he was hesitantly asking "Should we call a veterinarian?", he saw that the horse was still hungry and was shaking its head and begging for food at the mother whose body was covered with "arsenic". After a brief embarrassment, the mother just smiled shyly at him.
So he remained silent.
Everyone understood it tacitly, and no one took the initiative to expose anything. After all, everyone was tired.
At this moment, Luo Guanlin, who had been rescued, stood up and washed off the powder on his face. While wiping his face, he heard his mother teaching his wife and daughter: "Moles are not drawn randomly. Face shape is a person's Feng Shui..."
Hearing this, Luo Guanlin did not feel uncomfortable until he heard his mother say, "If you draw the wrong position, it is still a small matter to kill your relatives. But if it is suspected of killing your master, isn't that repaying kindness with enmity?"
Luo Guanlin: “…”
"Shave your beard and put this on." Luo's mother handed the prepared item to her son. It was half a silver mask that covered the upper half of the face, leaving only a pair of eyes exposed.
Luo Guanlin looked at the thing that was stuffed into his hands, and heard his mother saying, "Tell others that my appearance is naturally deformed, ugly and sharp, so I dare not show my whole face to others."
The Liu family members nodded.
Then, under the gaze of expectant eyes, Luo Guanlin silently put on the half mask that was meant to cover up his ugliness.
As her daughter had just said, her father had a plain face, without any memorable features. After shaving off his signature beard that had remained the same for ten years, he covered the upper half of his face with a mask. In Luo's mother's words at the moment, that was -
"If your father saw you in this state, he wouldn't be able to tell who you are."
It is only possible to identify it if you are talking to someone who is very familiar with you.
Luo's mother and her three children did not try to hide their appearance too much, they just dressed inconspicuously - they had never been to Jiangdu, and as for the capital, only Liu and her two children had stayed there for two short years. Fortunately, Liu did not like to socialize with others, and the siblings were both under ten years old at that time, and their appearance had changed a lot since they grew up.
As for why Liu only stayed for two years, it was because her husband was too fond of offending people. At first, he only scolded his colleagues and the government. One day, Liu realized that this man was showing signs of scolding the empress, so she packed her bags overnight, under the pretext of attending to her sick mother-in-law, and took her two children back to her clan to avoid the limelight.
This escape lasted for seven or eight years.
On the day she heard that her husband had rebelled, the word that came to Liu's mind before the word "finished" was "as expected" - he had indeed done something big!
Therefore, for Mrs. Liu, it is a blessing in disguise that the whole family can still be together.
"My son is too thin now..." On the way to see Chang Suining, Luo's mother told her son: "You need to eat more in the future."
Since they met, Luo Guanlin finally felt a bit of care from his mother. Thinking of the mistakes he had made, he could not help but replied with shame: "Yes, thank you, mother."
"When you can grow as fat as two people, maybe you can take off this mask." Luo's mother whispered, "It's better to be fatter, it looks festive, and it will bring good luck to the master!"
"..." Luo Guanlin felt uncomfortable after hearing this: "Mother, why does opening your mouth bring bad luck to the master, but keeping your mouth shut brings good luck to the master?"
It was as if he had become an object for others to point fingers at! "What's the matter?" Luo's mother glared at him: "You have seen a woman with high and low cheekbones in your daily life, and you still talk about whether she will bring good luck to her husband or bring bad luck to her husband. It is customary for men to pay attention to these things, but you do not allow people to pay attention to them?"
Luo Guanlin looked depressed, and wanted to ask, "What's wrong with mother now? She clearly would never argue with her son like this before." However, because he still had some self-knowledge, he did not ask and humiliate himself.
His rebelliousness completely destroyed his family's status.
Now that he has committed many sins and has no prestige at all, he has lost his former status in the clan and the prestige of his official position. It will probably become commonplace for him to be pointed at and scolded by his mother in the future.
However, as a man, how could he be like a three-year-old child, being scolded and criticized by his mother at every turn? He must regain his authority as the head of the family!
Before this, he himself had never thought that the motivation that would completely inspire him to work hard again would come from here.
With this mentality, when he stepped into Chang Suining's residence, Luo Guanlin even adjusted his facial expression to make himself look less annoying - for the next three years, he might as well just look for a better job!
Or... maybe he could convince Chang Suining to join him in finding a wise leader?
Qinghua had just led the five members of the Luo family to the courtyard when shepherd's purse came towards them. She smiled and said, "My master is practicing with spears in the backyard. Please wait for a moment!"
Instead of passing the message immediately, why not let him wait?
——Luo Guanlin subconsciously felt dissatisfied, but he could only suppress it and persuaded himself in his heart: When you are under someone's roof, three years is just three years.
Shepherd's Purse invited them to sit in the hall. Just as Luo Guanlin was about to raise his foot, Luo's mother stepped forward and stepped firmly on her son's shoe. She waved her hand at Shepherd's Purse and said, "We can't do this. How can we sit in the hall while our benefactor works hard to practice martial arts? We will just wait for Governor Chang here!"
Luo Guanlin, whose foot was being stepped on by his mother, was surprised at his mother's flattery.
Fortunately, they didn't have to wait in the corridor for long. Soon, they saw a figure appear at the end of the corridor, and heard the voice of a girl -
Qinghua said to Luo's mother proudly, "Look, that's our general."
The Luo family members all looked over subconsciously.
Among the group of people walking over, there was a young man holding a long spear, followed by two maids. Leading the group and talking were two young girls, both of whom were quite tall. One wore a phoenix-colored skirt and had two high buns; the other wore a snow-blue silk gown with tight sleeves, and her black hair was tied into a ponytail with a white jade hairpin. Her figure was like a green bamboo, and she wiped the sweat from her cheeks with a cotton towel as she walked.
With just one glance, the Luo family could tell which one was Governor Chang.
Looking at the figure that was getting closer and closer, when the owner of the figure raised his eyes and looked over, Luo Ze was stunned for a moment, it turned out... it was this kind of "indistinguishable between male and female".
All the beautiful features of a girl have not been deliberately blurred, because her aura is very much like that of a young man full of vigor and vitality.
The two are contradictory yet perfectly blended together to create a unique temperament.
In short, it was very different from what he had imagined.
"...Those salt merchants are all extremely wealthy. They say they have all their wealth, but in reality it's just a drop in the bucket...Sister Chang, please don't be soft on them!" After Li Tong finished speaking, he followed Chang Suining and saw someone waiting in front.
Luo Guanlin vaguely heard the words "salt" and "soft-hearted". While he was thinking about it, he was pushed from behind by his mother. He had no choice but to walk forward.
Chang Suining looked at the mask on his face and couldn't help but smile: "I almost didn't recognize you, sir."
Luo Guanlin suppressed his uneasiness, raised his hand and saluted her, and chose a topic that he was concerned about but not too embarrassing to start with: "...Is Governor Chang in charge of the salt administration in Jiangdu? The illegal sale of salt is unusual now, and we must not be soft-hearted!"
Chang Suining nodded and said, "Don't worry, sir. We just chopped off the heads of a hundred or so salt smugglers yesterday. Some were sent to the salt fields, some to the ferry crossings, and some were hung at the entrance of the vegetable market as a warning to others."
"..." Luo Guanlin, who was originally worried about her "womanly kindness", for a moment, doubted whether the girl in front of him was too cruel, but it was only for a moment.
"Of course I won't be soft on them. Now, all places say that it's a peasant uprising, but eight out of ten leaders are salt dealers. They have become rich, and then they sell salt to the people at a low price, mobilizing the people to rebel—" Chang Suining said, "They say they want to eliminate inequality, but they burn, kill, and rob along the way. I don't know how many innocent people have died tragically under their swords and guns."
The Dasheng government had always dealt severely with smuggled salt dealers. Anyone who smuggled more than one stone of salt could be executed on the spot. Moreover, the amount of smuggled salt that she had intercepted was staggering.
Now, everywhere is following suit to respond to the uprising. Taking advantage of the chaos to sell illegal salt is almost universally recognized as the fastest way to accumulate power, so the number of people who take risks has increased dramatically.
It was a time of chaos and what they were selling was not just salt, it was clearly a real source of trouble.
Jiangdu is close to the Yellow Sea, and most of its tax revenue comes from the salt industry. If one wants to revitalize Jiangdu, it is of utmost importance to take control of the salt administration.
"In times of chaos, severe punishments must be used. Any indulgence will be like throwing fuel into the fire. Jiangdu has a lot of work to do and we must not allow any more chaos. I must let everyone know that anyone who dares to covet Jiangdu, whether it's these private salt dealers or others, will end up like this." Chang Suining handed the cotton towel he used to wipe the sweat in his hand to Xier and said.
She also wants everyone to know that all resource allocation rights in Jiangdu are now in her, Chang Suining's hands. If anyone wants to snatch it, just come and try.
After a moment, Luo Guanlin responded, "This is what we should do now."
Looking at the girl who had walked up to him while they were talking, with those decisive words about killing methods echoing in his ears, Luo Ze didn't dare to look directly at her. Luo Xi also held his breath. The smile on Luo's mother's face did not diminish, but there was a little more genuine respect in her eyes.
Looking at the Luo family members who saluted him, Chang Suining smiled warmly: "I think you are the master's family members. Follow me to the hall to talk."
Everyone in the Luo family responded respectfully, “Yes,” and followed her into the hall.
"Sir, did you sleep well last night after being reunited with your family?" Chang Suining asked knowingly as he stepped over the threshold.
Luo Guanlin, who had not slept well all night, did not comment: "... Thank you for your concern, Governor Chang."
Luo's mother was somewhat dissatisfied with her son's attitude, and secretly twisted his lower back, causing Luo Guanlin to hiss slightly in pain.
Chang Suining sighed with relief in his heart - it turned out that it was the bloodline that was suppressing it.
As soon as she sat down, Luo's mother knelt down with her daughter-in-law and two grandchildren, kowtowed and thanked them: "Thank you, Governor Chang, for saving my life!"
Luo Guanlin also lowered his eyes, raised his hand, and bowed deeply.
In any case, it is a fact that the other party saved his family. My mother also said last night that the other party even properly resettled all his clansmen - and my mother added that this proper arrangement was not the kind of proper arrangement that he thought he had, but a truly reliable proper arrangement.
Chang Suining had the Luo family members helped up and sat down to drink tea and talk.
Luo's mother repeatedly refused with a smile and just wanted to stand.
You can drink tea anywhere. She can get a teapot or a bucket to fill it. Why is she missing this cup of tea? If she drinks this cup of tea, she will drink away her self-awareness.
Her evil son's brain is still full of water. As a mother, if she doesn't make her own identity clear and really treats herself as an elder and a distinguished guest, it may not be a big deal for the time being, but what about the future? How can it last long?
She was always right in judging people. Although this Governor Chang was a young girl, he had an extraordinary demeanor and could accomplish great things...
My son also said last night that this is an "ambitious" person, so she has to hold on to this big tree tightly.
The mother didn't want to sit down. Filial piety was the most important thing. Luo Guanlin couldn't sit down either. He could only stand and talk. He was thinking about the salt administration. It was his first day "in office". At this moment, he simply continued: "... The reason why private salt is prevalent in Jiangdu and other places now is not only that private salt dealers are rampant during the chaos, but there is another reason. I wonder if Governor Chang has thought about it."
Thanks to book friend iampetty for the 10,000-yuan reward again! Thanks to book friends Queen Xiao Miao, Xin Xinzi who is destined to be rich, book friend 20230408181915663, and Xingyue Wanli for the reward!
Thank you for your love~ I will continue to ask for monthly tickets. My wish is to try my best to keep the top ten ranking (づ￣3￣)づ╭～
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
