Chapter 150: Meeting a Noble Person
Chang'an City, Lu Family
"A-choo--A-choo--" Lu Desheng, who was reading a book, sneezed twice in a row.
Jiang stopped sewing and looked at him suspiciously, "You didn't catch a cold, did you?"
Lu Desheng waved his hand. "I'm not cold. I usually dress warmly. Look, it's not cold in our house."
He thought to himself, it must be some old bastard or little bastard who is thinking about him. Let him dig around and see who is most likely thinking about him, Grandpa Lu.
Jiang touched the back of his hand and found it was quite warm. After confirming that he didn't catch a cold, her thoughts turned to other things. "I wonder where my daughter and son-in-law are?"
When this was mentioned, Lu Desheng no longer wanted to read the book. "Let me take a look."
Lu Desheng found a map, did some calculations, pointed at Luoyang on the map, and said, "Even if we are slow, we should reach Luoyang."
Jiang also came over and looked at the map. The route from Chang'an to Pingzhou was marked by her husband as a crooked red line. Her eyes fell on where his finger was pointing. "Are we about a third of the way there?"
"About the same." Lu Desheng replied.
This year, apart from the couple, only the eldest son's family was present for the Lu family's Lu New Year celebrations. This was the year the Lu family had been least together, and the most lonely year in years. Although their eldest daughter, Lu Songyun, returned with her uncle and three grandchildren on the second day of the Lunar New Year and stayed overnight, the two elders still missed their youngest son and daughter who were away.
"You have to keep a low profile recently." Jiang warned him. The new emperor didn't know whose advice he listened to and promoted a capable minister to compete with the four regents. Now the court is very lively and their Lu family cannot be involved.
Lu Desheng felt wronged. Wasn't he being low-key enough? Except for the Grand Court, he would not show up if possible. Even when he did go to court, he would not speak a word. He had become a talkative person.
"Be good, let's not show up for a while." His daughter was away, what if he accidentally showed up and got tricked? Just stay hidden. After this period of time, they can leave Chang'an City.
"If you are bored, help your eldest son. He has become thinner and tired recently," said Jiang.
As early as when they had the plan to be transferred to the Northeast, they had already begun to sell off their family properties one after another, mainly land, shops, farms, etc. around Chang'an City, and these matters were left to the eldest son to handle.
Lately, the eldest daughter-in-law has been quite silent regarding their parents' decision to move their family out of Chang'an. Jiang understands that she's reluctant to leave her family behind, and once they leave, they'll be far away. After all, Pingzhou is over 3,000 miles from Chang'an. She asked her husband to go and help, and at least get her eldest son to take some time off to comfort his wife.
People have different ideas.
On the second day of the Lunar New Year, when the eldest daughter returned home for a visit, she secretly told her that her mother-in-law and father-in-law had also been considering leaving Chang'an City with them. However, they wanted to wait for their uncle Xu Zheng to return and see how the situation in Pingzhou was before making a decision. However, they were already quietly gathering their wealth. Chang'an City had been so turbulent recently that it was no wonder they had such thoughts.
"No help! Don't feel too bad for him. It's normal for men to have fights outside. It's normal to be tired." Isn't he tired in the court? He is walking on thin ice, not only physically but also mentally.
Lu Desheng now uses his eldest son without any mercy.
When he kicked his youngest son out of the house, his attention was all on his eldest son, Lu Zhiyuan.
At first glance, the eldest child seems fine, just a few minor flaws: he's not very bright, stubborn, and easily influenced. Considering the family's financial difficulties when his eldest son and daughter were born, he didn't have much to eat in his wife's womb. Perhaps this is why the two older children weren't particularly bright after they were born. With this underlying reason, the eldest child's minor flaws seem understandable.
If the eldest daughter-in-law has the right ideas and the eldest son listens to her, then that's fine. But the problem is that the eldest daughter-in-law herself is not someone who can make decisions.
After Lu Desheng realized this problem, he thought about some things recently.
He would eventually grow old and die. The thought of not having raised his eldest son well before his death filled him with anxiety. After his death, there would be no one to look after him. His eldest son would become the oldest of the family. What if he got angry and hindered his grandson, Lu Xiao? What if he caused trouble for his daughter, his youngest son, and the others?
When he thought of this, he, as a father, would die with regrets.
So, he decided that he couldn't go on like this. Since he had some free time now, he decided to pick up his eldest son and give him some training.
In fact, he as a father and Lu Xiao as a son don't mind providing support to the couple, provided that the two have self-awareness, understand their own strengths and weaknesses, and don't cause too much trouble.
So, he had recently sent his eldest son out to gain experience. He wanted him to learn as much as he could, not asking him to achieve anything great. He no longer expected him to become very skilled, but he hoped he would understand the difficulties of life and that his own abilities were average.
Lu Zhiyuan: ...Dad, you are such a good dad to me!
Yanzhou, Tonghua County, County Government Office
Zhang Xian looked at himself in the mirror and saw his temples already covered with white hair, feeling sad.
He is only in his early thirties, but already there are gray streaks in his hair. Unfortunately, he has been in the government for over ten years and is still only a county magistrate with a salary of 500 dan. His career has not been smooth.
He recalled that when he was an official, a blind man passed by their village. His parents took pity on him and asked him to bring a bowl of rice to the man.
After the blind man finished eating, when he returned the bowl, he looked at him steadily and said that he was a handsome man with great literary talent and would enter the government through his literary talent.
He smiled reservedly at that time.
The blind man later said, "What a pity! He was born into a bad family. His career was not smooth from the start and was destined to be a waste of years. Only after he turned thirty would there be a turning point. In the year of Jiazi, he would meet a noble person. If he could get their help, then his career would begin to flourish..."
The other party called himself Wu Daozi, and after he finished speaking, he left.
At that time, he did not care about what the other party said and just laughed it off.
However, he didn't expect that his career was really as he said. When he wanted to find the other party again, he had nowhere to find him.
He reached out and pulled out a strand of white hair from his temple.
At this moment, his wife Zhang pushed the door open and walked in, holding a bowl in her hand. She spoke gently, "You've had a cough these past two days. I made some pear juice. Would you like to have a bowl?"
Zhang Xian stepped forward to take it, "Thank you for your hard work."
His wife is gentle and virtuous. Over the years, he has been serving as an official in the most border area of Dali. She has always followed him and never complained about the hardship. He also loves her very much.
At this time, his confidant Yan Liang came knocking on the door.
He glanced up at the sky. It was already dark. He knew that his confidant had come at this time because of something important.
This was not the place to discuss matters, so he planned to take Yan Liang to the study.
His wife handed him the pear juice, and he took it and drank it all. Before leaving, he asked her to rest early and not wait for him.
On the way, Zhang Xian learned that Yan Liang had come to him with a letter, saying that it was Lu Mingzhi, the youngest son of Lu Desheng, the Censorate, who had asked someone to deliver the letter to him.
Zhang Xian was surprised to hear this. Upon asking, he learned that Lü Mingzhi had already arrived in Tonghua County, Yanzhou, and was currently staying in Qingxi Village. This meant that he was in his territory. Zhang Xian wondered what he wanted from him, and if it wasn't difficult, he would do it.
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