Yu Tang looked at Pei Yan with eyes wide open.

She didn't know how seductive her big wet eyes were. She just thought that she clearly heard Gu Xi say that he could hear what was happening over here. Let's see how Pei Yan would make up this story.

Pei Yan was so in love with her when he saw her like this. He bent down and kissed her cheek again, then whispered in her ear: "The planks of this cabin are double-layered, and there is something padded in the middle. If the window is not opened, the sound cannot pass through. It is precisely because of this that the sound is louder than in ordinary cabins when the window is opened."

Yu Tang didn't understand.

Pei Yan could only sigh, bit her white and round ears angrily, and said helplessly: "Just believe me."

Yu Tang was a little hesitant.

She believed him on everything else, but on this matter, she always felt that Pei Yan liked to tease her, just like teasing a kitten or a puppy. He liked her, but sometimes he was afraid that he would lose his sense of propriety.

Pei Yan was so angry that he lay aside, his arms across his eyes, and said in a muffled voice: "I'm crazy, letting others listen to my spring palace."

Yes!

He didn't even want anyone to know what he ate and when, let alone this kind of thing.

Yu Tang's face suddenly turned red, and he felt guilty and ashamed. Seeing that Pei Yan was very angry, he quickly crawled over and held his hand.

Pei Yan remained unmoved.

Yu Tang had no choice but to apologize softly in his ear: "I was wrong! I was wrong! Don't be angry! Just forgive me this time. I will listen to you in the future."

Pei Yan continued to ignore her and couldn't coax her for a long time.

Yu Tang had no other choice but to grit his teeth and hug his neck without thinking twice, humming in his ear.

Then, she seemed to hear Pei Yan's muffled laughter.

Yu Tang became suspicious and wanted to pull Pei Yan's arm off to take a look.

Pei Yan's arm was like a stone pillar, stuck there and couldn't be moved away.

But Yu Tang noticed the corners of his mouth curled up.

Yu Tang was embarrassed and poked Pei Yan's arm with his fingertips: "Okay! You lied to me again. Let's see if I will pay attention to you..."

Before she could finish her words, Pei Yan hugged her across the waist.

Yu Tang screamed.

Pei Yan laughed again and said, "Who made you so stupid? Now you know you were wrong, right?"

Before, Yu Tang thought she was wrong, but now, Pei Yan also lied to her, so they should be even, right?

Two of us were on the bed, you pulled me and I pushed you, and then we started fighting.

The next day, Yu Tang was determined to go and see for himself whether what Pei Yan said was true.

Gu Xi lived on one side of her house, and the second wife lived on the other side. She naturally went to the second wife's room. She ran in and out, and found that it was just as Pei Yan said. If they closed the windows, they could not hear any sound from next door. If they opened the windows, they could hear what they said here more clearly than in the cabin where the second wife lived.

Yu Tang was amazed.

The Second Lady didn't understand and thought she was interested in such a big ship, so she told her, "This is a ship bought from Nanjing. If you want to build a ship, Nanjing is the place for us. The Ministry of Works has a shipyard in Nanjing." Then she said with the same regret as the Fifth Lady, "It would be great if your Second Uncle became an official in Beijing, then we could go to Beijing together and rest in Nanjing for two days. I'll take you to my mother's house. My mother's house has a small shipyard. Although it can't build a big ship, it can build a three-masted ship like this."

That's pretty impressive too.

Yu Tang praised him highly.

The second wife was very proud of her family and said, "Except for the official family, our shipyard is indeed the most powerful. When the Song family builds ships, they sometimes have to borrow boatmen from us."

No wonder the Song family is so dependent on the Pei family.

Then the Pei family’s ship was stopped in Suzhou by the Song family.

The fourth master and fourth wife of the Song family came to the boat to visit them in person, but Pei Yan's expression looked very unhappy.

Yu Tang knew that he was in a hurry to leave, so he quietly pulled his sleeve and advised him: "Since it has come to this, don't lose your temper and get rid of them quickly."

Pei Yan was still very angry, but he endured it again and again. Finally, he calmly accepted the ceremony sent by the Song family, declined the invitation to the banquet from the fourth master Song, and left Suzhou and Hangzhou overnight.

Yu Tang breathed a sigh of relief.

Pei Yan sent someone to deliver a letter to the governor of Jiangsu, telling him about the Song family's blocking of his ship.

The Song family thought it was a small matter as they were used to doing this kind of thing. However, if someone with ulterior motives saw it, it would be a big deal - the fourth elder of the Song family was neither a government official nor a guard commander, so how could he stop a boat on the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal?

This is a later matter.

At this time, Pei Yan was really anxious.

The three courts reviewed Sun Gao's case back and forth for more than half a year, and finally reached a verdict a few days ago.

Sun Gao's entire family was confiscated and exiled.

But before that, Sun Gao hastily married off his two daughters.

His second daughter was easy to deal with, marrying one of his students, but his eldest daughter married into the Peng family in Fujian, becoming Peng Yu's second daughter-in-law. Moreover, the wedding was held in the capital without the presence of Peng Yu's second son, who was still studying in Fujian.

This is totally a last-ditch effort to entrust someone to someone else.

Pei Yan felt very uneasy.

He called Mr. Chen to his study and asked, "You said that Mr. Shen is about to retire. Is that your own judgment? Or is it your teacher's judgment? Or did you hear some news?"

Mr. Chen spoke confidently, "It was my and Lord Zhang's guess. Lord Shen was able to become the Prime Minister because of his seniority and outlasted the other Lords. If it weren't for the several great scholars in the court who always advised the Emperor to appoint a crown prince, the Emperor would never have allowed Lord Shen to be the Prime Minister. He also has no ability to be the Prime Minister. He is too indecisive. When Lord Zhang approached him about Little Lord Zhang, he agreed, but the Peng family pushed him and he changed his mind."

At this point, he looked helpless and said, "You may not know yet, but Old Master Zhang was very angry about Little Master Zhang's matter, and went to see Master Shen. As a result, Master Shen changed his mind and said that he would definitely help Little Master Zhang to fight for the position of Minister of Works. But just a few days ago, he just promised Master Li to let Master Li's student, Jiang Chunhe, who was a student in the Hanlin Academy and was the top scorer in Jiangsu that year, become the Minister of Works. That's why our Old Master Zhang wants you to go to the capital as soon as possible. Now that Master Fei is not in charge, if the Ministry of Personnel cannot be held, the situation may be even more unfavorable to us."

Pei Yan looked at Mr. Chen dimly without saying a word.

Mr. Chen felt a chill in his heart and couldn't help but ask in a tense voice: "You, do you think what I said is wrong?"

He had been with Zhang Ying for several years. Every time he saw Pei Yan and Zhang Ying together, Zhang Ying would scold Pei Yan, while Pei Yan would stand respectfully beside him and listen, looking like an obedient person who loved to be taught.

Therefore, although he was entrusted by Zhang Ying to bring Pei Yan to the capital no matter what and by what means, he did not really take Pei Yan to heart. He always felt that Zhang Ying had lost his eldest son and suddenly fell in love with Pei Yan, his closed disciple who was like his youngest son.

Mr. Chen showed more respect than awe for Pei Yan.

Pei Yan is a person who doesn't care if he doesn't care, but if he does care, he will do it well.

Since he has decided to go to the capital, he must clear all obstacles along the way.

Including Mr. Chen.

He did not hide his attitude and said in a domineering tone: "Do you think Lord Shen can become the Prime Minister because of good luck? But do you know that luck is also a kind of ability? Outlasting his peers is also a skill. No wonder you are still passive and beaten everywhere after Senior Brother Zhou went to the capital. I think you underestimated the enemy."

Mr. Chen was stunned.

Pei Yanyi said: "He promised the Zhang family, promised the Li family, and was able to satisfy the Peng family. His method of smoothing things over is really powerful! With his attitude of blowing the east wind when the east wind is strong and blowing the west wind when the west wind is strong, I think he can continue to stay in the position of Prime Minister as long as he can breathe. Anyway, he is just a decoration, and he will listen to whoever is stronger among you. Right?"

Mr. Chen was stunned.

They really do think so.

Moreover, Zhang Ying did not want Li Xun or Jiang Hua to be the first assistant. Li Xun was too capable. He had been a chief examiner and had his own students. If he became the first assistant, the Zhang family might be marginalized. Although Jiang Hua was Zhang Ying's student, he and Zhang Ying had great differences in political views in recent years. If he became the first assistant, Zhang Ying's own glory would reach the peak, but the life of the Zhang family's children would not be too easy.

In the past, Zhang Ying used Fei Zhiwen to balance Jiang Hua.

Now that Fei Zhiwen has become decadent and the balance has been broken, Zhang Ying is worried that Jiang Hua will show his strength and form an alliance with other cabinet scholars.

Zhang Ying would rather let Lord Shen stay in the position of Prime Minister.

The more Mr. Chen thought about it, the more scared he became.

That's what they had planned before.

A layer of sweat broke out on his vest.

"Mr. Pei," Mr. Chen did not dare to neglect Pei Yan anymore. He bowed deeply to Pei Yan and said, "You, you must help Mr. Zhang. Mr. Zhang has been exhausted because of Mr. Zhang's death. He has aged ten years in an instant. You, you will understand when you see him." When he said this, he shed a few tears.

No wonder Mr. Zhang strongly recommended his brother to be the governor of Shandong.

Pei Yan nodded and said, "Since I have agreed to go to the capital with my master, I will definitely do my best to help. I am just afraid that my ability is limited and I can't help much."

He wondered if he could take advantage of the situation and create an opportunity for his second brother.

Mr. Chen was filled with gratitude and talked to Pei Yan about many things in the capital before he left.

Pei Yan stayed in the study alone for a long time, writing and drawing for a long time, and then burned the papers he had written and drawn on himself before returning to his room.

Yu Tang closed his eyes and listened to Ah Xing reading the picture book.

Because of what happened in her previous life, she took good care of Ah Xing. When she accidentally discovered that Ah Xing could read, she occasionally asked her to help read picture books to encourage her to continue learning to read. Unexpectedly, her unintentional act inspired Mei'er's determination to learn to read, and she began to learn to read with Qingyuan.

Yu Tang didn't care about them. As long as they liked, she would encourage the Pei family to teach them.

These days, Pei Yan heard the sound of reading when he returned to his room.

Seeing Pei Yan coming back with a sullen face again, Yu Tang sent Ah Xing away and asked Pei Yan if anything happened.

Pei Yan was filled with anger and complained to Yu Tang for a long time. The main point was that Zhang Ying was old and always nostalgic. He thought that an aide like Mr. Chen was very inappropriate for him, and keeping him around would only harm others and himself.

Yu Tang had no choice but to comfort him: "Old Master Zhang has retired, and the staff around him will not be able to gain anything in their official careers. Those who are ambitious have all left, and only those who want to retire will stay. Don't force it."