Wei Shuyi walked out of the courtyard and walked straight forward.
He had no clear destination in mind. He just felt that all the mixed feelings in his heart had formed a huge net that enveloped and trapped him. He could not break free for the moment, and he did not know what to do.
He didn't say a word, but his heart was extremely noisy.
After the rain, the afternoon sun was particularly dazzling. Although the rain had stopped, the remaining raindrops were still hanging on the branches and leaves, flowing between the eaves of the roof, and hiding in the cracks of the blue brick rockery. Under the refraction of the sun, the wind sometimes blew, and the light and shadow of the water droplets swayed gently, as if the whole world was shaking with his heartbeat.
Wei Shuyi walked to the outer garden, where spring was in full bloom, and the exotic flowers and plants that bloomed competed with each other, creating a scene of splendid splendor.
He walked through that gorgeous place and stopped beside a lotus pond.
The pond is filled with lush green lotus leaves, holding up plump raindrops. When the wind blows, the raindrops slide among the lotus leaves, two of them roll into one, and after shaking a few times, one drop of water breaks into several petals and rolls around again.
Wei Shuyi looked at a pavilion on the opposite bank through the swaying waves in the pond.
Looking towards the sunlight, with blurred vision, he seemed to see a girl sitting alone in the pavilion. She was looking at the koi in the pond and yawning out of boredom - this scene had appeared at the spring flower show held at their Duke Zheng's Mansion two years ago.
As light and shadow overlapped, a hazy halo enveloped the girl in the pavilion, like the lingering and interweaving sunlight, or like the cold light coming from the snowy plains of Beidi. It made people dare not peek, but also difficult to look away.
Wei Shuyi stared at this illusory image and felt an indescribable sense of injustice in his heart. Her deeds and achievements should have been fully recorded in history books, rather than buried in the ice and snow of the northern frontier.
In a trance, he seemed to see the figure in the pavilion slightly turn his head and look at him from a distance.
The sight was so illusory, yet so fascinating.
Wei Shuyi then stepped forward.
"...My dear!"
Changji, who was following not far away, saw this and suddenly screamed in surprise. He ran forward and stretched out his hand.
"thump!"
Wei Shuyi stepped into the pond and fell into the spring water.
"Someone come quickly, the man has jumped into the pond!" Before Changji jumped into the water, he shouted for help.
What the hell did the lady talk about with the husband that made him want to commit suicide?
But Changji quickly overturned this conclusion, because when he stepped forward to rescue him, he saw that his husband already had the consciousness to go ashore on his own initiative... If he didn't intend to commit suicide, then he was possessed by evil spirits?
Thinking back to how her husband looked dazed along the way, Changji became more and more certain.
So when he helped his husband ashore, Changji nervously urged several servants who had gathered around him after hearing the noise, "Hurry, the husband is possessed by evil spirits!"
Several servants were shocked when they heard this, wondering whether they should call a doctor or a Taoist priest?
After being shocked by the cold water, Wei Shuyi, who had already sobered up, raised his hand to stop Changji from pinching his philtrum: "I'm fine, don't talk nonsense..."
Perhaps his body had not fully recovered from the cold, or perhaps he had indeed suffered a great shock mentally, for Wei Shuyi fell ill again afterwards.
During the few days when he was on sick leave, the court had already issued decrees to reward the officials who were sent on a diplomatic mission to Eastern Romania.
Historically, officials of the Dasheng Kingdom who were sent on diplomatic missions to foreign countries would be promoted to some extent after returning, and this time was no exception.
As the leading official of this mission, Wei Shuyi's promotion was inevitable. Although he was young, he had been in the position of Menxia Shilang for four years. The so-called Dongtai Menxia Shilang was the deputy officer of the Menxia Province, with two superiors, Menxia Shizhong, who were in charge of the government affairs of the Menxia Province and were equivalent to the left prime minister. However, due to the extremely fierce party struggles in recent years, the position of Menxia Shizhong changed frequently. On the contrary, Wei Shuyi, the Menxia Shilang, remained unchanged and stable like an old dog. Therefore, when the position of Shizhong was vacant, the affairs of the Menxia Province were mostly decided by Wei Shuyi.
Now, there is only one Minister of the Palace, his name is Cui Hao, who is from the Qinghe Cui family and is of the same generation as Cui Wei.
At the morning court session, Emperor Shengce praised Wei Shuyi for his contribution to the diplomatic mission, as well as his outstanding political achievements and virtues in recent years, and promoted him to the position of Shizhong of the Menxia Province, to jointly manage the affairs of the Menxia Province with Cui Hao.
From then on, the youngest number one scholar since the imperial examination was introduced in Da Sheng, Wei Shilang, became the youngest left prime minister in the history of Da Sheng.
This move demonstrated that the empress only employed people with merit, and also represented that Wei Shuyi would formally engage in a power-sharing game with the Cui family.
The situation was turbulent, and the empress knew that it was no longer appropriate to start a war in the court, but her desire to compete for power with the nobles had never subsided, and she was never careless for a moment.
In addition, Lu Chong, the commander of the imperial guards who was responsible for escorting the envoys to Dongluo, was praised and affirmed by Wei Shuyi and others more than once. In the assassination of the people under Kangdingshan, although Chang Suining helped him later, he was calm and courageous from beginning to end before the arrival of the reinforcements, and tried his best to protect the officials. On the way back and forth, he made correct decisions, which helped the envoys escape danger several times.
The envoys were able to return safely, thanks to his contribution. After discussion, he was promoted from Lieutenant General of the Left Tunwei to General of the Left Tunwei, one of the sixteen generals of the imperial guards in the capital.
Song Xian, who was also among the officials sent on the diplomatic mission, was transferred to the Palace Court of the Censorate, where he served as Assistant Censor, supervising all officials. He was below the Chief Censor and held the sixth rank.
Tan Li was promoted to the position of Yuanwailang of Duzhi in the Ministry of Revenue, which was also the sixth rank, in charge of taxes, salaries, rewards and other matters.
On his first day in office, Tan Li looked at the thick account book left by the previous Duzhi Yuanwailang, and couldn't help but stare in amazement. He tried to ask: "...did this former colleague not even hand over the account book before he left?"
The official who was helping him sighed and said, "He really left in a hurry..."
If you ask how urgent it is, it is like this: sitting here on duty in the morning and lying in the coffin at night.
"He died of an acute illness..." the official said, looking at the bottom of Tan Li's buttocks, and sighed, "He was sitting right where you were sitting."
Tan Li's face suddenly changed and he stood up.
The official hurriedly comforted him: "Don't worry, sir, the tables and chairs have been replaced... Our Ministry of Revenue has always been very particular about Feng Shui."
As he spoke, he raised his hand and pointed to a portrait secretly hanging in the corner. The portrait was painted very beautifully. At first glance, it looked like the God of Wealth, but upon closer inspection, it had the appearance of a military general. Looking even more closely, it had the charm of Governor Chang.
Looking at the portrait, Tan Li calmed down a little. He bravely sat back and flipped through two account books. He saw that some of them were about collecting salaries and military pay, while others were about calculating deficits. He couldn't help but feel that the former colleague had left in such a hurry for a reason and it was just human nature.
After reading this for half a day, Tan Li suddenly had a new understanding of how wealthy he was - although he was poor, he didn't owe so many bad debts. If all these debts were on him, he wouldn't know how to survive.
The first day in office was spent frowning and sighing.
When it was time to leave, several officials and clerks came in and said that the new vice minister of the Ministry of Revenue had been selected.
When Tan Li heard this, his mind buzzed - the new minister? What about Minister Zhan? Could it be that... in a hurry, he also gave up? Minister Zhan is a good man!
Looking back to last year, when he had just entered the officialdom and knew nothing, it was Minister Zhan who raised him!
When we last met, Minister Zhan did look a little tired, and his hair was a little thinner, but how could it be so...
Tan Li's eyes quickly turned red, but because he had not heard the news, he still held on to a glimmer of hope. He went forward to ask and found out that Minister Zhan was still alive, but was in the palace at the moment.
Zhan Mian was not in a hurry to leave, he was just preparing for a promotion.
The former Minister of Revenue was old, and due to the increased pressure in recent years, his hearing and brain power were not very good. When he spoke to the sage in the morning court, he always got the wrong answer. When he returned to the Ministry of Revenue, he would always sit there and sigh and mutter when listening to his subordinates reporting their accounts: "It's difficult, too difficult."
Or: [Poor, too poor. ]
He repeated this phrase no less than fifty times a day for two months.
Therefore, he is now in a state of semi-resignation, staying at home to recuperate, and has hired a doctor from the Rejuvenation Hall to come to his home every day to take his pulse and regulate his condition.
Tan Li had just returned to Beijing a few days ago and was so busy that he had no time to understand the news.
But Zhan Mian obviously knew everything. First, his subordinates died suddenly, and then his superiors became mentally ill. To put it simply, isn't it that some died and some went crazy? Due to the circumstances, although Zhan Mian took over the position of Minister of Revenue, it was difficult for him to feel the joy from the bottom of his heart.
Now, he has progressed from worrying about the amount of his hair to worrying about the length of his life.
The affairs of state are far beyond the control of one person, so how to survive seems to be the most urgent thing to think about right now.
While worrying, Zhan Mian thought of his teacher. He was the oldest person in the court. He also held the position of Shangshu. Why could he still be energetic and clear-headed? What was the secret? Zhan Mian went to ask for advice humbly.
Tutor Chu was also generous in giving two pieces of advice, which were very concise and to the point. The first one was titled "Don't hold it in" - as the name suggests, you should not keep the pressure in your heart, and you should master the virtue of going crazy anytime and anywhere. I would rather offend the world than let the world get angry with me.
The second one is called [Don’t be stingy].
Zhan Mian didn't understand for a moment: "Teacher, what is the meaning of this? Is it to let students understand how to be kind and generous and accumulate merits?"
Seeing his pious and stupid look, Master Chu lost his patience and said, "I want you to pay a few retainers to help take care of the chores."
Zhan Mian suddenly understood.
The Wu family is currently considering and discussing the issue of asking retainers to help with trivial matters.
Wu Yu, the Minister of Wu Temple, was also promoted and was transferred to the Ministry of Revenue, replacing the position of Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Revenue vacated by Zhan Miangang.
Upon hearing the good news of his father's promotion, Wu Zhaobai was very happy and hurried over to congratulate his father. He just heard his grandfather talking about asking someone to introduce several literary aides to the government.
While Wu Zhaobai was still thinking, he heard his sister say, "I am willing to share your father's worries."
Wu Zhaobai was stunned: "Chunbai, why do you want to take on such a thing..."
As the only legitimate grandson of the Wu family for three generations, he hadn't even had the chance to recommend himself.
"Chunbai can try to learn it." Old Master Wu took the lead and looked at his granddaughter with admiration.
Wu Zhaobai hesitated to speak and finally did not utter any rebuttal.
Chunbai has become different after returning from Dongluo. He always felt that Chunbai was pretentious before, but now Chunbai makes him feel that he doesn't even pretend at all and almost puts his competitive spirit on the table.
Moreover, my father said that Chunbai pushed him away from the knife and saved his life. What was even more cruel was that Chunbai also killed someone with the knife...! She killed someone!
She had killed someone before, so wouldn't she dare to kill people? Wait... that was a wrong sentence... wouldn't it mean there was nothing she wouldn't dare to do? Whenever Wu Zhaobai thought of this, he felt inexplicably terrified, even though he had never killed a chicken.
And after the long reflection last year, his high self-esteem had been largely crushed.
Therefore, although he had something to say in his heart, he didn't dare to say it.
"Grandfather, let my brother come with me." Wu Chunbai suggested.
Wu Zhaobai couldn't believe his ears.
He looked over and saw his sister smiling at him politely: "Even if you ask your brother to help grind the ink, it's better than him being idle all day long."
Wu Zhaobai's expression twisted when he heard this - how could there be a sense of recycling waste in his words? He was well-read, and he knew more than just grinding ink!
Old Master Wu, who was sitting at the head of the table, looked at his granddaughter with an increasingly satisfied look in his eyes.
When Wu Chunbai returned to her residence, the maidservant asked after she had finished bathing and was wringing her hair dry: "When I was packing up your things, I didn't seem to see the dagger you took with you before you left... Did you leave it outside?"
That dagger has some different meaning to the girl.
Wu Chunbai said: "That's right. It's not a big deal if it's lost."
When the situation became critical that day, she secretly handed the dagger to Lord Song, but he probably lost it in the panic.
She was frightened that day, and seeing corpses everywhere, she had no time to look for them.
Thinking of this, Wu Chunbai couldn't help but recall his experience that day while lying on the couch.
At the same time, Song Xian, who had just closed the official document, looked at the box next to the desk, and suddenly recalled the thrilling situation when he had a close brush with death in the snow and ice.
Whenever he thought about this incident, what appeared most often in his mind was the woman who pretended to be a close follower, who stabbed the knife into the rebel's body with both hands and then looked at him with a pair of terrified eyes.
Looking up, the moon is bright and the wind is calm outside the window.
This rain took away the last bit of coolness in late spring. It is almost the beginning of summer, and everything is growing lush and prosperous.
Far away in Yizhou, in the Rong Prince's Mansion, the flowers and plants in the back garden were also competing for beauty. Rong Prince Li Yin, wearing a navy blue wide-sleeved robe, stood in the pavilion to watch the scenery. A man in a black robe appeared behind him and knelt down in the pavilion to apologize.
Li Yin did not turn around, and asked without anger: "Did you fail?"
The man replied: "Your Highness, someone must have taken action before us."
Upon hearing this, Prince Rong's eyebrows twitched slightly and he tilted his head slightly.
The man then described what happened in detail, and finally said: "...When we arrived, only Yu Zeng's mutilated body was left under the cliff, and his head had been taken away by someone."
Prince Rong's clear voice had no fluctuations in tone: "Since the head is gone, is the body really Yu Zeng?" (End of this chapter)
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