"Can you please do me a favor, Fifth Master?" Eleventh Lady placed Xu Lingyi's changed clothes on a small stool beside her and turned to look at Xu Lingyi with some surprise.

Xu Lingyi nodded: "In addition to asking Fan Weigang and Wang Li to help stir up this mess, I also asked Xiaowu and his friends to make a fuss in private."

Eleventh Lady’s mind was racing.

Fan Weigang and Wang Li were both trusted ministers of the emperor, and they were also good friends with Xu Lingyi. They could make a comment, but they could not go into too much detail. Otherwise, it would give the emperor the impression that they were forming a clique and acting in a private capacity.

Xu Lingkuan was different. First, he was Xu Lingkuan's younger brother, and second, although his friends were of all kinds, most of them were playboys. When they made a fuss in private, others would think that Xu Lingkuan was speaking up for his brother and trying to link the matter to a romantic affair. The effect would be a hundred times better than if Fan Weigang and Wang Li came forward.

Xu Lingyi felt very disappointed when he said this.

He had been responsible for all the family affairs by himself before. Although he considered that his third brother Xu Lingning was honest and kind, and his youngest brother Xu Lingkuan was lazy, and they were not good candidates for him to work with, the more important reason was that since he had inherited the title, he should take the responsibility of revitalizing the family business and taking care of his brothers and relatives. But he did not expect that things would go against his wishes. The more he did, the further the brothers drifted apart. Not to mention Xu Lingning's passive behavior and Xu Lingkuan's troublemaking. He fought four fists with both hands, and although he had a good time, he couldn't help feeling tired and a little confused when he was alone in the dead of night.

Later, with Shiyi Niang's reminder, she first used the moldy rice incident to talk to Xu Lingning, breaking the invisible, intangible, but frustrating barrier between the two of them in the past few years. She also regarded Xu Lingkuan as a colleague who was targeting her everywhere, and used the methods she used to subdue the rebellious generals when she suppressed the Miao Rebellion. Not only did she make him feel ashamed, but he also took the initiative to admit his mistakes and sincerely reviewed his past words and deeds in front of her for the first time.

He felt something in his heart at that moment.

Xu Lingkuan went from being a smart and clever boy to a dandy who only knew how to eat, drink, play, and fly hawks. In addition to the lack of strict discipline, it also had a lot to do with the fact that he was the youngest son, and his wife and he only knew how to spoil him and never taught him seriously. If he could find something to do...

The thought flashed through his mind, and he thought of asking Xu Lingkuan to help him do something.

As soon as he let out the secret, Xu Lingkuan immediately agreed. He also immediately proposed a solution - which of his friends had a more impatient personality and was suitable for arguing in public; which one was eager to cause chaos and would talk about one family and then talk about another family, making the incident more serious; which one was greedy and was willing to do anything to get humiliated as long as he could afford it... It was clear and explicit. He even explained what he was going to do.

He was stunned at the time - he didn't expect Xu Lingkuan knew so much about the people around him.

"If you know this clearly, why do you still hang out with these people?"

Xu Lingyi put down his brotherly airs, and Xu Lingkuan felt much more at ease. He replied directly: "If I don't play with them, who can I play with? Besides, we are all just playing together, and we don't expect anyone to be sincere to anyone else!" His tone sounded indifferent, but there was a hint of self-mockery in his eyes.

He was speechless.

The feeling of guilt in my heart couldn't go away for a long time.

Taking the opportunity to come back and change clothes, he told these things to Eleventh Lady: "Before, I only saw him calling friends and living a life of drunkenness and depravity, but who knew that he was not happy either..."

"It's not too late for the Marquis to know now!" Eleventh Lady smiled and helped him change into a newly made dark blue plain brocade robe. "And the Fifth Master also knows the Marquis's difficulties and the Xu family's difficulties. In the future, you will have the Fifth Master to help you, and you can worry less."

"I don't even dare to think about helping me." Xu Lingyi sighed, "I'll be satisfied if I just hope he doesn't cause trouble everywhere in the future."

A helpless fatherly tone.

Eleventh Lady couldn't help but smile. Then she hesitated and said, "But if we do this, everyone will say that Fifth Master is reckless and not someone who can accomplish great things. Should we say hello to Old Marquis Sun in Hongdeng Hutong..."

Although she had only met the old Marquis Sun once, she always felt that the person who could raise a daughter like the Fifth Lady must be no simple person.

"No need." Xu Lingyi smiled and said, "Don't be fooled by the careless appearance of Lord Sun. He knows everything in his heart! You know, the late emperor killed countless princes and ministers in his later years, but he never doubted him."

It seems that my feeling is quite correct.

Eleventh Lady smiled and nodded, helping Xu Lingyi straighten his clothes, and casually replied, "My Lord, you have considered everything carefully. I only hope that my family will be peaceful and prosperous, and that I will be satisfied with enough food and clothing."

"Peaceful and safe, well-fed and well-clothed..." Xu Lingyi laughed, "This is not an easy thing. If you want peace and safety, you must ensure long-term prosperity. If you want to have enough food and clothing, you must ensure continuous wealth..." He looked quite emotional.

Eleventh Lady was stunned.

She was just making small talk, but she didn't expect to elicit a word from Xu Lingyi.

The "glory" he mentioned refers to "power" and the "wealth" refers to "money", right?

If you think about it carefully, it is true.

Without power, who would take you seriously? In this society where there is a saying of "a broken-door county magistrate", even a petty official of the seventh rank can find an excuse to falsely accuse you of rebellion. Without money, even if you are a third-rank official in the court, how can you have enough food and clothing if you don't get greedy or take things? If you are greedy and take things, you lose the way of a gentleman and become lowly, which will inevitably make people look down on you. One day, your crime will be exposed and you will lose your power.

I don't know how many people are eager to pursue wealth and glory. In the final analysis, they just want to live a more comfortable, down-to-earth and safe life. But as time goes by, they forget their original intentions, put the cart before the horse, and become slaves to wealth and glory, forgetting that the pursuit of these external things is to make themselves live a happier life...

Just like me. I tried very hard to gain the trust of the lady, and tried very hard to become Xu Lingyi's confidant. The ultimate goal was just to live a leisurely life of "watching flowers and drinking alone". But before that, I had to obtain the qualifications to "live a leisurely life".

Thinking about it this way, my situation is similar to Xu Lingyi's.

Xu Lingyi wanted the Xu family to become a leisurely and wealthy family, so he had to obtain such qualifications first.

If the family has no talented and ambitious people, no matter it is the emperor or the nobles, no one will take this family seriously, and even if something happens, this family will be the first to be eliminated. If there is a person in the family who can be appointed as a prime minister or a marquis and influence the political situation of the court, the emperor is afraid that you will form a clique and control the government, and the duke's family is afraid that you will be too arrogant and dominate the family and seize their own interests... How to grasp this balance is the Xu family's top priority.

I hope Xu Lingyi can seize this opportunity, find a balance point, and make the Xu family stand more stable.

As she thought about it, she smiled and said, "After all, I am shallow-minded and don't have the mind and vision of the Marquis."

"That's not the case." Xu Lingyi smiled and pulled at his sleeves. "You are just a gentle person and don't like to argue with others. You didn't think about it."

Eleventh Lady was stunned.

She just felt that some things should not be rushed. How could she give Xu Lingyi the impression that he was "gentle"...

Before Eleventh Lady had time to think about it, Xu Lingyi had already changed the subject: "Are you ready for everything? If you are, come to your mother quickly!" With that, he turned and left the inner room.

She hurriedly responded and followed him out of the inner room.

Seeing that the three concubines were all present, Eleventh Lady put on her cloak, asked Amber to hold Xu Sijie, and the group went to the lady's place in a grand manner.

This time they arrived earlier and the lady was changing her clothes.

Zhun Ge was already waiting in the hall. He bowed to Xu Lingyi and Shiyi Niang, but his eyes were fixed on Xu Sijie.

Eleventh Lady knew that he was always afraid of Xu Lingyi. He must want to play with Xu Sijie but was afraid that Xu Lingyi would be unhappy. She pushed Xu Lingyi to sit in the east side room and said, "I'll wait for Third Master and the others here."

Seeing that there were either women or children in the room, Xu Lingyi felt bored and went to the east room.

As expected, Zhun Ge ran to Amber and said, "Jie Ge'er, quickly bow to me." He couldn't hide the pride in his eyes.

However, Xu Sijie didn't even look at Zhun Ge.

Zhun Ge couldn't hide his disappointment and looked at Shiyi Niang. He seemed to be asking, why didn't he play with me?

Eleventh Lady smiled and led Xu Sijie to Zhun Ge, saying softly, "This is your fourth brother. You should call him fourth brother when you see him in the future!"

Xu Sijie hesitated for a while and called out softly, "Fourth Brother."

Although the voice is low, it is very pleasant to hear.

Zhun Ge was very surprised, he looked up and said to Shiyi Niang: "Fifth brother's voice is more beautiful than that of a yellow oriole."

Eleventh Lady couldn't help but smile bitterly. Fortunately, Zhun Ge's compliment was sincere, and he didn't think too much about it. He took out a small oil-paper bag from his arms and said, "If you call me Fourth Brother, I will give you some rose juice candy." As he said that, he opened the oil-paper bag, revealing the rose-red, crystal-clear candy inside.

Not to mention the very young Xu Sijie, even Madam Wen and Madam Qiao looked over curiously. Only Madam Qin stood on tiptoe to look outside, muttering to herself, "Why hasn't the second young master come yet?"

As expected, Xu Sijie was bribed by the candy. He stared at the candy and immediately called Zhun Ge "Fourth Brother".

Zhun Ge smiled happily and gave a candy to Xu Sijie.

Who knew that Xu Sijie was not satisfied. He put the candy in his mouth and stretched out his hand towards Zhun Ge, meaning that he wanted more.

When Zhun Ge saw it, he immediately gave him another one.

Xu Sijie clenched his hand tightly and stretched out his other hand.

Zhun Ge hesitated for a moment, took a candy himself, thought about it, took out a few more, and then gave the rest to Xu Sijie.

Xu Sijie immediately put the candy in his arms.

Everyone in the room burst into laughter at his amusement.

Zhun Ge also laughed heartily and pulled Xu Sijie's hand nonchalantly: "I still have some osmanthus cakes. They were also given by the palace." Then he was about to go to his room with Xu Sijie.

The mother at the side hurriedly stopped him, "My little ancestor, we are going to have the New Year's Eve dinner soon. You can't let the Madam wait. After the New Year's Eve dinner, it won't be too late for you to find the sweet-scented osmanthus cake for the fifth young master."

As they were talking, the Third Master and the Third Madam came in with Xu Siqin, Xu Siyu and Xu Sijian.

Aunt Qin, who was standing behind Eleventh Lady, let out a long breath.

Today is New Year's Eve, and everyone is going to gather together to have a New Year's Eve dinner. We can't be late at this time and leave a bad impression on the elders.

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Sisters, please give me votes...