The middle-aged man replied with a smile, "Thank you for your kind words, young master..."
Seeing that it was getting dark, Qin Weixi did not ask Luo Yuan to take her back to her residence after leaving the palace. Instead, she wanted to take the carriage around to the Ministry of Personnel to wait for Luo Ling, who was about to finish his shift.
When the carriage arrived at a wide alley outside Donghua Gate, under a lush old locust tree, Luo Yuan, who was usually not talkative, suddenly spoke up: "Miss, the carriage in front looks like it belongs to Lord Zhou's residence."
Mr. Zhou...
Qin Weixi hesitated for a moment, then lifted a corner of the carriage window curtain. He saw a young man dressed as a servant, his head drooping, squatting under the locust tree and sighing repeatedly.
Qin Weixi's heart stirred.
"Brother Luo, go and see what happened."
Luo Yuan quickly parked the carriage and soon returned to it, informing through the curtain, "It's Lord Zhou's carriage that's broken down, and the servants at his residence don't know what to do!"
Qin Weixi listened to every word and nodded: "Since my brother has been working late lately, I'll trouble Brother Luo to go and check on him."
Luo Yuan left again soon after.
As evening fell, the quiet alley was nearly deserted, yet it was the only route for the Luo and Zhou families to return home. Qin Weixi pondered the unusual scene he had witnessed of Chen Guiyi in the palace earlier that day, while observing the actions of the Zhou family's servants.
A moment later, she saw the servant quickly glance at her when no one was around.
Qin Weixi once again calmly took in the situation and said to Luo Yuan, "Brother Luo, could something have gotten stuck in the wheels of the carriage? I've heard that Lord Zhou is always kind to his colleagues, and my brother often praises him in front of me. Since we're passing by, there's no reason not to help. But it's already past dusk. I wonder what Lord Zhou will do if he doesn't see his own carriage outside the palace?"
Luo Yuan agreed, but his hands slowed down.
The servant bowed and thanked him repeatedly: "My master is as kind as the young lady said. It's alright, he will probably hitch a ride back home in his colleague's carriage."
Just as the servant finished speaking, the sound of clattering hooves came from the alley entrance. The three of them turned around and saw an old man driving a donkey cart piled high with baskets toward them.
Meanwhile, the "master" the servant was referring to was squatting on a basket on the donkey cart, his stance posed.
The three of them: "..."
Accompanied by a series of braying sounds from the donkey, Zhou Quan, the Vice Minister of Revenue, got off the donkey cart in a rather disheveled manner, and then gave the old man some money.
The servant's lips twitched, and he hurriedly stepped forward, saying, "Master, I told you, this carriage should have been replaced long ago after all these years. But you, instead of saving this money, would rather buy snacks for the madam. Look at what you've done now."
"Fortunately, sir, you usually do many good deeds, and you happened to run into Luo Zhanshi's carriage, otherwise..." The servant said, pursing his lips.
Zhou Quan glanced at the servant with a half-smile, muttered under his breath, "You little bastard." Then, a few steps away, he turned back and cupped his hands in a gesture of respect to Qin Weixi, smiling gently, "Are you the sister of Chamberlain Luo?"
Qin Weixi smiled and nodded.
Zhou Quan then said, "I'm sorry to have made you laugh at me, young lady."
Qin Weixi smiled gently at him with her eyes crinkling. Only then did she recognize the person, the Vice Minister of Revenue, who had been in Jiangnan for ten years and was mentioned in her brother's letter.
Despite being nearly forty, he still looked as youthful as ever. He was positive and optimistic, navigating the power struggles among officials with ease and skillfully extricating himself from them. Time had not been kind to him either; approaching forty, he still did not look a day older.
My brother once said, "Lord Zhou has a bright future ahead of him!"
Zhou Quan added, "I had long heard that Lord Luo had a younger sister who returned to the capital this spring. Since then, every time we meet in the palace, Lord Luo always looks radiant."
"Now that I have truly seen Luo Zhanshi's sister, I understand. She is indeed a wonderful person who understands me."
Zhou Quan's voice was gentle and articulate, and his demeanor was also refined, composed, and natural, just like meeting an old friend he hadn't seen for many years on the street and chatting with her.
Upon hearing this, Qin Weixi's smile deepened.
Zhou Quan said, "Well, it's good that I'm here. My wife will definitely bring people to look for me when she sees that I haven't returned home. It's getting late, young lady, why don't you go home as soon as possible?"
Qin Weixi asked, "Are you sure you don't need to inform your esteemed residence?"
Zhou Quan cupped his hands in a respectful gesture and said, "I will host a banquet for you another day, and I will also invite you, Master Luo, to a feast."
Upon hearing this, Qin Weixi looked up at Zhou Quan again, only to see that he was completely calm. After a moment's hesitation, he curtsied slightly and got into the carriage.
But just as he sat down, he heard Zhou Quan whispering to the servants outside the carriage: "Do you know why I'm riding in a donkey cart today? I haven't seen you since we left the palace, you little bastard. I knew the carriage was broken. I was just thinking of hitching a ride with Grand Secretary Liang, but who would have thought I'd see someone following your master."
The servant was dumbfounded: "Follow...follow? Who would dare to follow the master?"
Zhou Quan gave a bitter laugh: "You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask? It's all because ever since that painting, someone has started eyeing your master."
"We happened to run into an old man who was coming from the mountains and heading home. Despite his advanced age, the old man drove his donkey cart faster than a horse and quickly left the man behind." As he spoke, Zhou Quan sighed again.
The servant asked, "Master, why are you sighing like that? Are you afraid that if you come home late, Madam won't leave you any food?"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Quan reached out and kicked the servant hard.
"You little bastard, you wouldn't understand the ways of officialdom. Today was an unlucky day. I ran into the old Minister of Rites in the palace who wanted to retire and return to the capital. The Emperor was troubled by this all morning. We lower-ranking officials naturally have to watch the drama unfold."
"The old minister is a veteran of two dynasties. I wanted to persuade him to stay, but he left, which clearly shows that he was determined to go."
"Life in the capital is so carefree!"
Just as the servant was about to speak, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that the Luo family's carriage had not yet left.
Not far away, Luo Yuan fed the horses again, hitched up the carriage, and was about to leave. Zhou Quan also paused for a moment, then turned around and bowed to her.
Qin Weixi nodded calmly, returned a smile, and let Luo Yuan drive the carriage out of the alley and rumble towards the Luo residence.
A moment later, Qin Weixi lifted a corner of the curtain and turned to look at Zhou Quan, who was still standing in the same place. He saw that Zhou Quan was now standing with his hands behind his back, straight, and looking in the direction the carriage was traveling.
He wore the official robes of a third-rank official, with a peacock embroidered on his chest, a symbol of his status and power.
But as twilight descended upon this land of the capital, it also shone upon him, revealing his noble character as pure as jade branches and trees, or a tenacious flower growing tenaciously in the mud.
As the carriage rumbled along, Qin Weixi gazed at the slender figure amidst the green bamboo and pine trees, now completely obscured in the distance, and slowly lowered the curtain.
The story of Zhou Quan, the Vice Minister of Revenue, probably dates back to before she was even born.
Back then, when she was in Jiangnan, Zhou Quan, the Vice Minister of Revenue, suddenly met with Luo Ling in private and produced one of the congratulatory gifts that Duke Dingguo, Qin Heng, had given her when she married Kang. Luo Ling had written to Jiangnan years earlier, mentioning that the gift was a folding fan with an inscription personally written by the Duke Dingguo.
At dusk that day, Zhou Quan used that folding fan to recount his past relationship with the Duke of Dingguo and his wife.
Zhou Quan said that more than ten years ago, he encountered heavy snow on his way to Beijing and wanted to go there as early as possible to prepare for the imperial examinations the following year.
That day, the carriage got stuck in the snow and mud. The driver, whom he had paid, abandoned him because of the bad weather and stole all the money he had brought with him to the capital.
Later, he almost thought he would die in a foreign land in the biting cold wind, but he was fortunate enough to meet a young and loving couple.
The couple said they were going to the temple to pray for a child. They mentioned they already had an eldest son and wanted a lovely daughter.
They know that their children are a gift from God and cannot be forced, but they still feel envious when they see their old friends' well-behaved little daughters.
The young couple settled him in the warm carriage, left him all the food in the carriage, and gave him money after the snow stopped.
The young man stood nearby that day, laughing heartily and kindly. He said that he had gone out to seek a woman at the temple and had not brought much money with him. He only had two hundred taels in his pocket, which he intended to donate to the temple. So he gave him one hundred taels and donated the remaining one hundred taels to the temple.
However, Zhou Quan only took ten taels of silver, hoping that the young couple would get what they wanted.
"You two have been so kind to me in my time of need, and I am deeply grateful. Now that you are leaving, I am sure my future child will be a bright and intelligent little girl."
When Zhou Quan tried to ask their names, the young couple waved their hands and headed towards the secluded ancient temple.
"It's a trivial matter, nothing to worry about."
He had already discerned their identities from the aristocratic air they subtly exuded.
The young couple stood hand in hand on the stone steps of the ancient temple, in front of the majestic temple filled with the scent of incense. The young man turned around and smiled at him.
"Then I wish the young one that his/her journey will be as he/she desires, and that his/her future will be bright."
And so, with those ten taels of silver, he entered the court as an official, and his career flourished. He began to use his connections to try and find out who the young couple had given him the silver and food that day, and to return the ten taels of silver.
It seemed as if by divine intervention that the three of them had already preordained a karmic connection after their parting at the ancient temple that day.
One day, he met the young man in the palace. At that time, the young man had already entered the Six Ministries and become a close minister of the emperor, while he was a high-ranking duke with great power.
The two men understood each other implicitly, a tacit understanding forming between them. With no one else around, Zhou Quan asked only one question: "Has Your Excellency achieved your heart's desire?"
That handsome young man from back then is now nearly forty years old, yet he still retains his youthful good looks and possesses a unique charm.
The middle-aged man smiled and replied, "Thank you for your kind words, young master. My daughter is my darling, and she is incredibly intelligent."
Qin Heng encountered a poor scholar in distress and wanted to give him the hundred taels of silver he had intended to donate to the temple. Zhou Quan, who also wanted to help him, accepted only one tael.
She did not seek to climb the social ladder, but instead went out of her way to save the Qin family when they were in trouble. With a memorial impeaching Duke Dingguo Qin Heng, she dispelled the fury of the emperor in the turbulent capital. Thus, before the Empress Dowager could even take action, she had already protected all the women of the Qin family.
However, the women, children, and other members of the Qin clan remained unyielding, choosing death to prove the Qin family's innocence.
The Duke and his wife planted this good seed and reaped a good result as a result.
Thus, Zhou Quan, both in the imperial court and in the shadows, observed all the emperor's ministers working tirelessly for the Qin family for ten years.
Inside the carriage, Qin Weixi slowly raised her head, her eyes already red-rimmed, as the carriage curtain rose and fell, casting dappled sunlight.
She suddenly smiled again.
Well done, Lord Zhou, may your future be bright, your career soar, and your official rank be elevated to the heavens.
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