"There are so many eyes staring at us inside and outside the court!" Xu Lingyi pulled Shiyi Niang's hand, "We must not panic at the slightest sign of trouble. If we panic, we will easily make mistakes. Once we make mistakes, it will be easy for others to catch us. Once we catch us, even if we didn't do it, it will be considered as ours." He laughed, "We should use stillness to control movement. No matter which direction the wind blows, I will remain unmoved."

Eleventh Lady had been married to the Yongping Marquis's Mansion for so many years, and one thing after another, each of which seemed insignificant, eventually caused a big storm. As for the matter of Jin Ge'er, she naturally regarded it as a political matter. After hearing what Xu Lingyi said, she focused on the affairs of the court.

"Let the wind blow from all directions," she couldn't help but tease Xu Lingyi with a smile, "My Lord, will you really not do anything?" Her eyes twinkled, looking very playful.

Xu Lingyi laughed: "Anyway, people just watch me and I don't do anything!"

This is Xu Lingyi!

Eleventh Lady pursed her lips and smiled.

Xu Lingyi told her, "Keep an eye on Jin Ge'er these few days and don't let him go out. Since this came from Jin Ge'er, I'm afraid someone might want to take advantage of him."

Eleventh Lady nodded, and used the excuse of visiting Madam Gan to bring Jing'er with her.

Jin'er was fine at first. He just stood quietly aside when his mother was talking to her sisters. But everyone smiled and pulled his hand to ask his mother if he was engaged. Most of them looked at him as if they were a hungry man seeing a plate of delicious snacks. He couldn't bear it anymore.

"I want to play Cuju at home." When Eleventh Lady wanted to take him to Twelve Lady, he couldn't hold back any longer, "The eldest princess said that if we lose, I have to run around the West Garden. I don't want to run!"

"Aunt Twelve saw you last year during the Chinese New Year," Eleventh Lady advised him, "She asked about you every time they met. When you were appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Xiaoling Guard, your uncle Twelve sent a gift. We are taking this opportunity to thank Aunt Twelve. How can you not go?"

"We can meet her on the third day of the Lunar New Year anyway, why do we have to go before the New Year?" Jing'er said disapprovingly, "It won't be too late for me to thank Aunt Twelve then!" Xu Lingyi looked at him coldly. Feeling guilty, Jing'er's voice gradually lowered and finally turned into a whisper, "We'll go, but we'll come back after greeting Aunt Twelve. Don't always chat with her about family matters, and you never stop talking..."

"How can you talk to your mother like that?" Xu Lingyi frowned. "You're getting impatient when it comes to visiting relatives. So tell me, why are you so impatient?"

Jinger felt that what he said about his father was wrong, but he also felt that he couldn't explain it to his father clearly. Maybe he even reminded his father to arrange a marriage for him...

"I was wrong!" He apologized to Shiyi Niang, but his tone was a little aggrieved, "I will never do this again!"

"Okay, okay." Eleventh Lady smiled and walked forward, put her arm around her son's shoulders, and said to Xu Lingyi, "It's not that he doesn't want to accompany me to visit relatives, he's just afraid that others will ask him if he's engaged when they see him!" She rescued Jin Ge'er.

Jing'er's face suddenly turned red.

Xu Lingyi raised his eyebrows in surprise, then smiled and said, "Our brother Jing has grown up too!"

Jing'er's face turned even redder, and he said hesitantly, "I'll go see if the things for Aunt Twelve are ready," and ran away.

Xu Lingyi and Shiyi Niang burst into laughter.

The door curtain was suddenly lifted, and Jing'er poked his head in: "Dad, Mom, I don't want to get married, I want to be the general of Jiayuguan!" As he said that, the door curtain shook, and Jing'er ran away again.

Eleventh Lady was overjoyed.

Xu Lingyi also laughed and said, "This bastard, just because he got married, he can't be the general of Jiayu Pass anymore?"

* * * * * *

Before Eleventh Lady and Jing'er returned from Twelfth Lady, the news had spread throughout the Marquis' Mansion.

The old lady laughed when she heard this, "Our Jin'er is not young anymore, it's time to find a partner." Then she discussed with the second lady, "...she must have a good temper...and she can't be too bad looking, otherwise, our Jin'er will be too wronged...we should marry a wife of virtue, and the dowry and other things are all fine, but her family background must be clean...it's best if she's one or two years older, so that she knows how to care for people..." The old lady became more and more excited as she spoke, and she wished she could find a suitable match for Jin'er right away. She hurriedly called Mother Du, "as soon as Eleventh Lady comes back, ask her to come to me. I want to discuss this matter with her."

The second wife laughed at the side: "The New Year is coming soon, and she has a lot of things to do. Let's wait until the tenth day before talking about it! By then, every family will have a lantern festival, and we can take a look at what it looks like first."

"You have to wait until after the tenth day!" The lady was disappointed. "There are still more than twenty days!"

"You can't eat hot tofu in a hurry!" The second wife laughed, "If you find someone with a bad temper, it will be too late to regret. A daughter takes after her mother. If the mother is virtuous, the daughter can't be much worse! There are still more than 20 days, right? Let's go through all the ladies who are virtuous and have daughters of marriageable age. Then we can focus on them and not be dazzled!"

"That's a good idea!" The old lady immediately became excited after hearing this. She excitedly asked Zhihong to grind ink and said to the second lady, "Let's discuss it!"

How could Jin'er's marriage be so simple? It was just to accompany the lady to have fun.

The second wife smiled and replied "yes", then she sat at the table with a pen in her hand, and followed the tone of the wife to talk to her about the background of each family...

* * * * * *

The emperor kept all the memorials impeaching Xu Lingyi in his palace, and the people in the Censorate also saw something. Some people thought that this was just a case of the pot calling the kettle black, and it was not worth mentioning in the court. They were very disdainful at this time, and even the bystanders found it boring; some people thought that the Yongping Marquis's mansion was dismissive of the censor's impeachment, and it could not be easily let go at this time, and the wording of the memorials became more and more intense; some people thought that in terms of arrogance, the governor of the grain transport was even more arrogant than the Yongping Marquis, and Chen Bozhi wanted to use the merits of dredging the Huitong River and the Yongping Marquis as a stepping stone to establish his strong and fair style of doing things, so as to intimidate his subordinates and consolidate his position of having the final say in the grain transport, so they simply submitted a memorial to impeach Chen Bozhi; some people observed the emperor's facial expressions, guessed the emperor's intentions, and began to play dumb; and some people who had been stirring up trouble in the past were in a state of confusion and had no opinion.

No matter what the situation was, the 20th year of Yonghe arrived as scheduled amid the sound of firecrackers.

Fang Yi withdrew his gaze from the snow outside the window, picked up the sweet white porcelain crabapple wine cup filled with daughter's red wine and took a sip. The rich and mellow taste made him sigh with satisfaction: "Wenming, I have to say that your old man is really good at this."

Wenming is the name given to Xu Siyu by Mr. Jiang.

Xu Siyu was not as optimistic as Fang Yi: "I'm afraid things will gather in mid-February - if I'm not mistaken, Chen Bozhi will come to Yanjing to report on his work!"

Fang Yi laughed loudly: "So I say, your old man is amazing - instead of wasting time arguing with the Censorate now, it's better to wait until Chen Bozhi comes to Yanjing before protesting!"

Xu Siyu couldn't help laughing when he heard this: "Look at your tone, it seems as if you have nothing to do with the Censorate?"

Fang Yi just smiled and said nothing.

Xu Siyu's heart moved: "Are you going to change places?"

Fang Yi nodded, then smiled and said, "Guess where I'm going?"

Xu Siyu thought for a moment and said with a smile: "Huguang!"

Fang Yi couldn't help but clap his hands: "Civilization has been calculated without omission!"

"Don't play tricks on me!" Xu Siyu said with a smile, "Where are you going to get a good job?"

"Tongzhi of Wuchang Prefecture."

"Congratulations," Xu Siyu raised his glass, "You have stepped into the sixth rank in one step."

"After all, I'm not the local official who dominates a region." Although Fang Yi was happy, he did not look complacent. "If I want to move up further, it might be difficult without the experience of being an official in a prefecture or county. You have to lend me a helping hand at the critical moment!" He treated Xu Siyu as a friend and was not polite to him.

"Of course." Xu Siyu also hoped that Fang Yi's career would go smoothly. "I will write a letter to my father-in-law right now."

"It's not the right time yet." Fang Yi said with a smile, "Let's wait until there is a vacancy over there."

"Alright!" Since Fang Yi had his own plan, he just had to cooperate. Xu Siyu smiled and said, "Just let me know when the time comes."

Fang Yi nodded and whispered a name: "...Stubborn and self-willed, a good chess piece." Then he said another name, "Hate evil as much as you hate it, you can also use it."

Xu Siyu bowed and said, "Thank you, Brother Fang."

"No thanks, no thanks!" Fang Yi raised his glass, drank it all, talked about poetry and lyrics, and when it got dark, he went home.

Xu Siyu rinsed his mouth and felt that the alcohol was no longer there, so he went to Xu Lingyi.

Xu Lingyi and Shiyi Niang had just returned from Prince Shun. Xu Lingyi looked normal, but Shiyi Niang, who had drunk a little wine, looked as beautiful as a peach.

The father and son went to the east room to talk.

Xu Siyu conveyed Fang Yi's words, and Xu Lingyi just nodded and said "I know", his expression seemed very calm. Xu Siyu was inevitably a little disappointed, and saluted to leave. When he walked to the door, he heard his father calling him: "Wenming, you know how to take care of your brother, very good!"

His father called his name...

Xu Siyu was stunned, his nose felt sore, and his vision suddenly became blurry.

He quickly lowered his head and said, "I'm your elder brother, it's my duty." He bowed and hurried away.

Xu Lingyi sat behind the large desk in silence for a long while.

* * * * * *

When I returned to the inner room, the youngest son had already returned from the palace. He was leaning against his wife and whispering, "... He kicked over there several times. Fortunately, I was smart and didn't take it head-on, so the ball hit the guy on the head. But the eighth prince was unlucky. The eldest princess' eyes were wide open, and she wanted to eat him up in one bite. The guy has a good temper and didn't get angry even after being hit. He is also handsome. I saw the eldest princess hiding behind me with a blushing face, and her voice suddenly became soft. She must have taken a fancy to him!"

Eleventh Lady hugged her son and said, "You still know these?"

"I'm not stupid!" Jing'er muttered. Seeing his father coming in, he stood up quickly and said, "Dad, when did you come in? You didn't even make a sound and scared us!"

Xu Lingyi nodded slightly: "Have you seen the Queen?"

"I saw it!" Jing'er sat down next to Shiyi Niang. Seeing his father's eyes on his shoulder, he quickly moved his body and put a fist distance between him and Shiyi Niang. "He also rewarded me with four gold ingots of the first place in the imperial examination. He asked me to go to the palace again on the sixth day of the first lunar month."

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Being debt-free makes me feel lighter...O(∩_∩)O~

Post a draft first!