Chapter 2620: Different (Reward for book friend "vivi涵笑")
Mr. Zhuang slowly came back to his senses, glanced at him, and asked, "Who is looking for you?"
Yao Ge shook his head. "A traveling merchant happened to visit us. He mentioned you at first, but I didn't react. Then he contacted Chen'er. Seeing that neither my father nor I reacted, he offered us some money and asked us to come to the capital."
He said, "With such a clear purpose, the identity cannot be real."
Mr. Zhuang frowned, "What's your name?"
"His name is Wan Dong. I heard he's from Luozhou, but from his accent, he sounds more like he's from the capital."
"What's the purpose?"
"Recalling what happened back then, he said the poem was written by Chen Fulin."
Mr. Zhuang smiled and said, "I didn't expect that after almost thirty years, when I brought this up again, I'd be back to square one."
Yao Ge didn't say anything.
Mr. Zhuang sighed, stood up and said, "I understand. I will be careful."
Seeing him about to leave, Yao Ge said, "I didn't agree to them. I came to Beijing this time to settle this matter. Did you receive the letter I sent you that year?"
Mr. Zhuang said "hmm" lightly.
Yao Ge exhaled and said, "You have the letter I wrote you back then, and I can testify for you. Let's put this matter to rest."
Mr. Zhuang turned and looked back at him. "It's been almost thirty years, and you've never mentioned this matter. Why are you mentioning it now?"
Yao Ge smiled bitterly and said, "Because now you are strong and he is weak."
"I'm a coward with a family to support me. If he were still an official in the capital, and you and I were commoners, I wouldn't want to be his enemy," he said. "But now, you're an official in the court, and he's retired."
Mr. Zhuang said, "It's quite clear that he seeks advantage and avoids harm."
Yao Ge did not refute, and said woodenly: "Yes, I am no longer the Yao Ge of the past."
One wrong step leads to another, and the same goes for courage and character.
How happy and free they were when they traveled together to study, and how ambitious and courageous they were.
As a result, he did something wrong, and his courage seemed to have a hole in it, his spine bent, and it has never straightened up since then.
He spent three years avoiding his mistake and refused to admit that he was wrong. Later, he wrote a letter to Zhuang Xun. He told himself in his heart that the matter was over, but deep down he knew it was not.
So he spent another twenty years deceiving himself, until someone came to him. He spent a month tearing apart the past and began to face himself and Zhuang Xun.
Seeing him speak frankly about his shamelessness, Mr. Zhuang was speechless for a long time.
This is why he can look at Chen Fulin with a smile on his face. He does not hate Chen Fulin in his heart because he is not worthy. He can think about how to deal with Chen Fulin completely based on his own interests and then choose the best way.
But Mr. Zhuang couldn't even offer a simple greeting to Yao Ge.
Because this was someone I once considered a close friend.
Mr. Zhuang's eyes were slightly red as he turned and left. When he reached the door, he said, "There's no need to talk about this anymore. Chen Fulin is not in the capital, so there's no point in bringing this up again."
Yao Ge watched him leave, opened his mouth, but in the end said nothing.
He turned his head to look at the tea that Mr. Zhuang had placed on the table without touching it, sighed slightly, and sat in the chair for a long time without responding.
Yao Chen came over and saw his father sitting there blankly. He quickly stepped forward and asked, "Father, isn't Uncle Zhuang here?"
"He came and he left."
Yao Chen was startled and asked, "Didn't he forgive you?"
Yao Ge glanced at the cup of tea and sighed, "How can I talk about forgiveness? Although he's in good spirits, his temples are graying."
He helped Yao Chen stand up and asked, "Did anyone find out?"
"No, but we are unfamiliar with the capital, so it is possible that we can't find out. Has father told Uncle Zhuang about this?"
Yao Ge nodded. Thinking of Zhuang Xun's unwillingness to communicate with him, he sighed and said, "Send him a copy of the portrait later. We don't need to worry about this matter anymore."
Yao Chen was surprised, "Don't care?"
"We don't have any manpower in the capital, so it's not easy to investigate him. It's better to leave it to your uncle Zhuang. He is now a Beijing official, and none of his three disciples are ordinary people. There should be no need for us to intervene."
Yao Chen fell silent for a moment, then nodded. "Should we go home then? Or...sign up the two children and let them take the imperial examination?"
Yao Chen was actually a little nervous when he said this. He said, "Father, I don't think Uncle Zhuang will hold a grudge against what happened back then, and Chen Fulin is no longer in the capital. Perhaps the children can try to take the imperial examination."
He said, "It's not like me. I only took the Ming law exam at the local level."
Yao Ge thought for a moment, but in the end he was reluctant to ruin the future of his two grandsons, so he nodded.
Yao Chen breathed a sigh of relief and became happy.
At this time, Mr. Zhuang was sitting in the car thinking, who on earth went to find Yao Ge and wanted to pin the incident of that year on him again?
Mr. Zhuang couldn't help but tap his fingers. He was just a small lecturer, and he was old with no hope of promotion. He only taught the prince a lesson every ten days. Maybe he would have some favor in the future, but with his age and resume, who would deal with him?
And it's such a big deal.
Now the prince's position has become much more stable, and he is indeed a popular commodity, which has also brought prosperity to the Chongwen Academy and the Zhanshi Mansion. But no matter what, he, a small sixth-rank tutor, is not worth the trouble to deal with.
If it's not him, then it's for the people behind him.
Who?
Prince?
Mr. Zhuang shook his head slightly. If he really wanted to use his teacher to deal with the prince, he should find Kong Jijiu. Regardless of the rank or because Kong Jijiu was the prince's teacher since childhood, he had to find him.
That leaves only three children.
Mr. Zhuang first excluded Bai Erlang. The child was now in his element in the Hanlin Academy. He only wanted to write storybooks and occasionally did some tasks assigned by the Hanlin Academy. The rest of his time he spent playing house with Princess Mingda.
He has no ambition for a career in politics.
Bai Shan and Zhou Man?
Mr. Zhuang fell into deep thought.
"Sir, we're home."
The servant brought a stool over and helped Mr. Zhuang get off the car.
Mr. Zhuang asked the doorman, "Have Bai Shan and Man Bao returned?"
"Sir, the young master and his wife haven't come back, and Daji hasn't come back either."
So late?
Mr. Zhuang turned his head to look at the sky and shook his head slightly, "Did they go out to eat and drink again?"
Bai Shan and Man Bao are working overtime.
The emperor was going to the Yongzhou Palace to escape the summer heat, and he was bringing not only many people but also many things.
Among the six secretaries, the emperor left three for the crown prince and took three away. However, the rotation was not fixed and had to be in shifts. Currently, it was scheduled to be every ten days.
The first time, the emperor called Bai Shan's name, so he was packing up.
I can only work overtime on the things related to the Secretariat.
Manbao is also working overtime.
The medicinal materials in Yongzhou Palace were not as complete as those in Taiji Palace, so she was checking the medicinal materials to confirm what they should bring this time.
Good night
(End of this chapter)
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