Chapter 108: Music Science Champion
Li Nuo almost forgot.
Her Royal Highness is fatter than my wife.
It would be okay if she was a little fatter, as clothes are elastic and have room for extra space, so it doesn't matter if you're a little fatter or thinner. The main problem is that Her Royal Highness the Princess is too fat.
My wife's clothes are all tailor-made, so it's really not easy for her to put them on.
The problem is, there is only one woman in the Song Mansion who is of similar height to her, and that woman is her.
When wealthy families select maids, they tend to choose petite and delicate ones.
A maid who is taller than the young lady can easily steal the young lady's limelight.
Gu Yanran is about 1.6 meters tall, which is considered tall among the maids in the Li residence.
My wife and the princess are both very tall women, both over 1.7 meters tall.
Even if she wanted to wear the maids' clothes, she would turn normal clothes into belly-baring ones.
Li Nuo didn't mind, but she definitely did.
Apart from the maids, the healthy women who worked there were tall and strong, but Her Royal Highness the Princess would certainly not wear their clothes.
Where could Li Nuo find suitable clothes for her so late at night?
Out of desperation, he could only find a set of clean clothes of his own.
Li Anning dresses in a neutral style on a daily basis. His clothes look quite pleasing to the eye except that they are a bit loose.
She took too long to shower. Li Nuo estimated that curfew was coming soon, so he said, "It's too late. Why don't you stay here for one night? Your clothes should be dry by tomorrow morning."
While Li An Ning was taking a bath, the maid from the Song Mansion had already washed her dirty clothes.
There is a slight breeze at night, so it should be enough to dry it overnight.
Li An Ning yawned and said, "Well, I'm tired too. I have to go to the Ministry of Justice to interrogate the Liyang County Magistrate tomorrow morning."
Usually, only Li Nuo and his wife live in this yard.
He cleaned up a room for Li An Ning and after taking care of everything for her, he returned to the room where Li An Ning took a shower.
Li Nuo picked up his wife's clothes and was about to go back to the room, but after thinking for a while, he got some water and wet her clothes.
It would be too hurtful to tell her the truth that Li Anning didn't wear her clothes.
After doing all this, Li Nuo returned to the room and explained to Song Jiaren who was reading, "The curfew is coming soon. I'll let His Highness stay at home for one night and leave tomorrow. By the way, your clothes got wet when she took a shower just now. I'll hang them outside for you."
Song Jiaren nodded and said nothing.
But she knows everything.
Even if he doesn't release his true Qi, the perception of the fourth level of martial arts is far superior to that of ordinary people.
If I can't even hear the voices of people in the same courtyard, wouldn't all these years of practice be in vain?
The princess' words were indeed heartbreaking.
But when she saw the clothes that he had deliberately wetted hanging out to dry in the yard, she felt warm inside again.
Mu'er was right, he was really good to her.
Looking at the figure in front of the bed, some thoughts in her mind began to waver for the first time.
An ordinary night passed like this.
The next morning, after finishing breakfast at the Song Mansion, Li Nuo and Li An Ning went to the Ministry of Justice together.
The general county magistrate is of the seventh rank. The magistrate of some small counties far away from Chang'an, with a small population and a small jurisdiction area, may even be only of the seventh rank.
Liyang County is adjacent to the capital city Chang'an. Although the area under its jurisdiction is not large, it is classified as an upper county, and the county magistrate is an official of the sixth rank.
As the tide rises, the boat rises. The rank of Liyang County Lieutenant is two levels higher than that of an ordinary county lieutenant, an eighth-rank official, which happens to be the highest official that the Ministry of Justice can deal with.
If he were to be promoted even half a level, the Dali Temple would have to intervene.
As a senior official, accepting bribes and taking human lives is not something that can be solved by just a fine.
If it happens only once or twice and there are no irreversible consequences, the offender may just be demoted or dismissed from office. The worst outcome is being stripped of his official position and never being employed again.
But if it happens more than once and has caused serious consequences, in addition to the official position, the person will also lose his head.
Li Nuo had only arrested the children of officials, but had never arrested the officials themselves.
Given his understanding of the code, even if he did not do it personally, he played a key role in the case. In this case, the code will not be stingy in rewarding him.
As soon as he arrived at the Ministry of Justice, Li Nuo heard that after the all-night interrogation last night, the Liyang County Magistrate had confessed to many crimes.
With all these charges added up, he can only hope to be a good official in his next life.
The Ministry of Justice is not the Chang'an County Government.
This is the base camp of the Legalists, and they have many methods for trying cases.
Leniency to those who confess and severity to those who resist are not just talk.
After one night in the Ministry of Justice, I'm afraid he would even remember the time when he wet the bed as a child.
Li Nuo had just arrived at the Ministry of Justice when Li An Ning came in with a file and two seals.
He placed the file and seal on the table and said to Li Nuo, "You solved this case, so you can use the seal."
Whoever solves the case gets the credit. This is the rule of the Ministry of Justice.
In principle, the people who should use seals on the files should be the assistant ministers and the chancellors.
But considering their level of cultivation, this kind of small case would not have much impact on their practice.
In order to motivate the officials below, the two adults will, after personal review, hand over the step of using the seal to the official with the greatest contribution.
Li Nuo was not polite to Li An Ning.
There is no need to be polite when it comes to your own life.
After carefully stamping the two seals, Li Nuo took a look at the code and was overjoyed.
He is worthy of being an official appointed by the imperial court. He is not comparable to those spoiled second-generation dandies.
On the cover of the code, the one hundred and forty-three days became one hundred and seventy-eight days.
It lasted a full thirty-five days.
This number has both zeros and integers.
Li Nuo estimated that in addition to catching the corrupt official, he also saved an innocent citizen and avoided a wrongful death, which should also be counted as a credit to him.
Li Nuo couldn't feel the progress of his cultivation.
But the change in lifespan is intuitive.
Although the life span of Liyang County Wei Jia was not as long as that of Li Yuan, who had no official position.
But Li Yuan is the eldest son of the family and the future heir to the title of Marquis, so it is not surprising to give him more rewards.
For officials in Daxia, there is a hurdle below the seventh rank, and there is a hurdle above the fifth rank.
An eighth-rank magistrate could get an additional thirty days or so. Li Nuo estimated that a fifth-rank county magistrate like Pei Zhe could get at least an additional hundred days.
Going further up, for officials of the fourth or third rank, killing one of them might allow him to live half a year or a year longer.
The future is promising...
After Li An Ning took the sealed file away, he came back with another one and said, "This is the death penalty file that was just delivered this morning. The Minister asked me to show it to you. See if there are any problems."
Li Nuo looked at her and asked, "Can I use the seal first?"
Whether there is a problem or not, he will know after using the seal.
Only after being stamped will the file have legal effect and can trigger the judgment of the code.
Li Anning rolled her eyes at him, thinking that Li Nuo was worried that she would steal his credit, and said, "Go ahead and use it. I won't compete with you..."
Even though Li Nuo only raised a question and it was she who was running around outside, there is no doubt that he made the greatest contribution to this case.
Without his reminder, the previous file would have been sent to the Dali Temple for review.
However, her contribution is not small.
He personally arrested an eighth-rank corrupt official and redressed an unjust case.
Apart from Li Nuo, she made the greatest contribution.
Compared with these achievements, the improvement she received from the review seal was minimal.
Speaking of which, she had wanted to ask Li Nuo to come to the Ministry of Justice more than once so that she could help him practice.
The fact is, Li Nuo really came to the Ministry of Justice, and the person being helped was herself...
Li Nuo stamped two seals at the end of the file.
The numbers on the code changed immediately.
From one hundred and seventy-eight to one hundred and seventy-nine.
One day was added.
Under normal circumstances, sentencing a person who has committed a capital crime to death would add ten days to his life.
But in this case, from beginning to end, he just stamped two official seals on it, which took only a few seconds, so it was already very good if he could add one day.
Daxia had more than a hundred states and thousands of counties.
Although some counties with good public security may not have even one death penalty case a year, there are at least hundreds of cases each year in all states and counties combined.
The case files of these cases will eventually be sent to the Ministry of Justice for review.
If all the death penalty files passed through his hands, theoretically, the longer he lived, the longer he could live.
Li Anning saw that Li Nuo was in a daze and asked, "What's wrong? Is there a problem with this case?"
Li Nuo came back to his senses, put down the file, and said, "Oh... no problem, you can submit it directly to the Dali Temple."
Li Nuo was in the Ministry of Justice all morning today.
Li Anning had nothing to do, so he taught him a few whip techniques.
Before Li Nuoxiu reached the fourth level of the Legalist school, this magic whip could improve his combat effectiveness to varying degrees.
It was almost time for lunch when Li Nuo left the Ministry of Justice.
He walked out of the Ministry of Justice and saw Butler Wu squatting across the street, chatting with the emotionally unstable old fortune teller.
Seeing Li Nuo coming out, Butler Wu patted his butt, stood up, and trotted to the carriage parked in front of the criminal department.
The fortune teller looked at the young man standing at the door of the criminal department, and couldn't help but move his fingers.
After his eyelids twitched a few times, he silently retracted his hand into his sleeve.
really.
The Yin-Yang magic has never worked on him.
Fortunately, it’s only not allowed on him.
Otherwise he would really go crazy.
This kid is too weird, it’s better to just ignore him.
On the carriage back to the Song Mansion, Li Nuo clearly felt that Butler Wu's driving skills had improved.
These masters, who study the Imperial Science, have a natural advantage. Even if they lack talent and experience, they can make up for it with their true Qi.
Li Nuo was sitting in the car, bored, and asked casually: "What were you talking about with that old man just now?"
Wu Guanjia smiled and said, "I spent ten taels of silver and asked him to calculate when the young master and the young mistress would have a child..."
There are too few people in the Li family. When the master was the young master's age, the young master was already born.
But the young master and the young mistress have not made any movement at the moment.
No one knows when the Li family will be able to expand. The master and the young master are not in a hurry, but he is.
Li Nuo was stunned for a moment: "Ten taels?"
It would be better for Butler Wu to live well in the Li family in his old age. Li Nuo is worried that no matter how much pension he is given, he will not be able to keep it.
Butler Wu said, "He said he was the descendant of a certain lineage of the Yin-Yang family. The family has been passed down for hundreds of years. In the past three generations, only he and his granddaughter are left. It is difficult to make a living, so he came out to tell fortunes to earn some money..."
All the fortune tellers who try to cheat people out of money on the streets claim that they are descendants of the Yin-Yang School.
However, Li Nuo did not ask him to go back and get the money back.
Ten taels is fine.
The old man is already old, and it is not easy for him to take care of a little girl. Butler Wu is not short of the ten taels of silver.
Li Nuo asked casually: "What did he say?"
Butler Wu said with a smile: "He didn't say when, but just said that the young master and the young mistress will have twins in the future. I think he might really have something..."
"Twins..."
Li Nuo curled the corner of his mouth. The Yin-Yang School couldn't predict everything.
Calculating offspring and marriage is more difficult than predicting one's fate.
If he really had this ability, the imperial court of Daxia would have worshipped him as an imperial teacher. How could he have fallen to the point of telling fortunes on the streets?
Butler Wu was driving the car happily.
Although the Li family has never had twins.
But the Song family has quite a few twins, so what the fortune teller said is not without basis.
So he spent another ten taels of silver and asked him to calculate a little more.
The old fortune teller said that the young master still had several destined marriages.
The other party also said that the Li family will grow stronger in the next generation.
He felt that although the old man had some stuff, it wasn't much.
How could the young lady allow the young master to have several marriages?
If the young master dares to have another marriage, given her personality, she will definitely break the young master's legs...
Although he did not believe these words, he did not ask for the silver back.
Just consider it as a way of asking for good luck.
After returning to the Song Mansion, while having lunch, Li Nuoduo glanced at the lady opposite him a few more times.
After more than a month of living together day and night, the two of them have actually gotten along very well.
Although there has not been any leap forward, it is not impossible to look forward to the future.
After hearing the nonsense from the fortune teller, he was really curious about what their future children would look like.
Is she more like a lady, or more like him?
However, judging by their genes, they would look good no matter who they resemble.
Song Jiaren picked up the last shrimp and saw that Li Nuo was staring at her. After thinking for a moment, she put the shrimp in his bowl...
…
After lunch, Li Nuo was about to go to the horse farm to supervise Zhou Yu's driving practice. Butler Wu walked in from outside and said, "Master, there is news about the official you asked them to pay special attention to last time..."
Li Nuo couldn't remember it for a moment, so he asked, "Which official?"
Wu Guanjia said, "The Grand Music Commander is Liu Shang."
Li Nuo remembered that this person was the number one scorer in the music exam of the previous imperial examination, and was also the target he was looking for for his own music exam.
Asking him for advice on Music Science was just an excuse to fool his father-in-law. Li Nuo's real purpose was to directly obtain his Music Science ability.
Hearing this, he immediately perked up and asked, "What happened to Liu Shang?"
Butler Wu said: "After he came out of the Imperial Music Bureau at noon today, he did not return home, but went directly to the brothel..."
Zhou Yu is a potential stock and his future achievements are promising.
Liu Shang is a blue chip stock and can be put to great use right now.
The matter of Le Ke finally made some progress. Li Nuo didn't want to go to the horse farm anymore, so he immediately said, "Let's go to the Dali Temple!"
Chang'an, Baihua Tower.
On the second floor, in a private room.
The charming woman was wearing a light veil, her snow-white skin faintly visible. After closing the door, she bowed to the young man sitting at the table and said, "I will play a piece of music for you first..."
The young man waved his hand and said, "No need to play the piano, just take off your clothes."
The charming woman was startled when she heard this. Although Baihua Tower was not the top brothel in Chang'an, it was only slightly inferior to those brothels.
The guests who can come here are all more or less pretentious, and it is rare to find someone as anxious as this guest.
She looked at the anxious guest and said with a blushing face: "It will come to that sooner or later, why are you so anxious, my guest? My piano skills are very good, please listen to it..."
She sat down slowly and plucked the strings with her fingers. A pleasant and ethereal sound came out from her fingertips.
To ordinary people, this music is naturally pleasant to the ear. It can make people relax and feel happy physically and mentally.
But to insiders, it is full of loopholes.
The young man sitting at the table frowned as he listened, and couldn't help but clench his fists in his sleeves.
What is that thing that is playing!
The pronunciation is not accurate, bad review!
The rhythm is chaotic, bad review!
Blindly pursuing skills without emotion, this is the worst review among the worst reviews!
The most outrageous thing was that she did not tune the piano before playing. This was the reason why the pitch was not accurate when she played. Although it was only a little bit off, it was still extremely irritating to his ears...
After the song was over, the charming woman slowly stood up, twisted her waist, walked to the young man, sat in his arms, exhaled sweetly, and asked with a smile: "How is the playing, little girl?"
The young man said expressionlessly, "You played it very well. Don't play it again in the future."
As soon as he finished speaking, he picked up the woman and threw her on the bed.
The charming woman uttered a coquettish sound, then closed her eyes and waited for his next move.
But after waiting for a long time, nothing happened.
Only a few piano notes were heard.
She got up from the bed and looked over in confusion.
I saw the guest sitting behind the piano, plucking the strings from time to time, as if he was tuning it...
After a long time, he played a few notes and a look of satisfaction appeared on his face.
Then he stood up and strode to the bed.
Pieces of clothes were thrown roughly to the ground.
Soon, another more urgent piece of music was heard in the room.
After a while, Liu Shang walked out of Baihua Tower and breathed a long sigh of relief.
At home, he has to endure the bullying of that unfaithful and fickle woman; when he comes to the brothel to seek pleasure, he is forced to listen to that woman playing the piano.
Such poor piano skills are simply unbearable to listen to. I can play better than her with my feet. How dare she say that her piano skills are good?
but.
Although she is not good at playing the piano.
But it’s really smooth.
After venting, Liu Shang finally felt better.
Looking at the bustling crowds on the street, his mind was clear, and he couldn't help but start thinking, as a human being, if you are always dominated by the desires of the body, can you still be considered to be truly alive? If living is not for satisfying desires, then what is the real meaning of life...
Unable to figure out the problem, he shook his head. Just as he was about to leave, two figures suddenly blocked his way.
Liu Shang wanted to bypass them, but was stopped by the two again.
Liu Shang frowned and was about to say something when the two of them spoke first.
"Officials of the imperial court are prohibited from visiting prostitutes. The Dali Temple will handle the case in accordance with the law."
"Master Liu, please come with us."
Liu Shang looked up at the two of them, and his vision suddenly went dark. He no longer had the mind to think about the ultimate meaning of life.
There were many officials in Chang'an who visited prostitutes, but the Dali Temple had never arrested anyone for this reason.
They didn't come to him this time just to ask him to play the piano or music.
No matter what the reason is.
There was only one thought in his mind.
It’s over!
…
Although Li Nuo had never been to the Dali Temple, there were so many government offices in Chang'an, and he only relied on his connections with the Chang'an County Government and the Ministry of Justice. The Dali Temple was the place where he had the strongest connections.
Butler Wu is also very familiar with this place.
He only needs to say a word and someone will do everything for him.
Of course, he did not take advantage of his power to do anything illegal.
He just provided a piece of information.
Liu Shang was the Minister of Music, a seventh-rank official, a legitimate mid-level official in the imperial court.
The Daxia "Official System Law" stipulated that if an official visited a prostitute, he could be detained for one day but could pay ten taels of silver to be exempted from detention.
That means one day of detention or a fine of ten taels, you have to choose one of the two.
This punishment was not severe. Compared with forming cliques for personal gain, abusing power, taking bribes and perverting the law, murdering loyal officials, and taking human lives, it was nothing. Even the censors were too lazy to care.
It’s just a matter of locking up Liu Shang for a day, and there’s no need to even alert his father.
After a secretary of the Dali Temple wrote down the result of the punishment for Liu Shang and stamped it with his seal, the number on the law code increased by one day, becoming one hundred and eighty days.
An official of the seventh rank was two levels higher than the Liyang County Lieutenant. Even if he committed a minor crime, he could actually add one day to his life.
But when Li Nuo opened the code, Liu Shang's portrait was not bright.
This made him very confused.
Liu Shang was the top scorer in the music category of the previous imperial examination. He was the first among 100,000 candidates and absolutely met the requirements of the code.
Did they arrest the wrong person?
He went to the Dali Temple's cell as soon as possible.
There are two types of cells in the Dali Temple. One is the death row, which is where death row prisoners are held. It is located underground and has poor conditions.
The other is to temporarily detain officials who have committed minor violations of the law.
This type of cell is a single room with a bed, a window, and fruit snacks. It is used for officials to reflect on themselves and is relatively comfortable to live in.
Liu Shang was imprisoned in the second type of cell.
Li Nuo stood at the door, looked inside through the fence, and asked, "He is Taile Ling Liu Shang. Did we catch the right person?"
The temple secretary said respectfully, "Sir, it is impossible that they have arrested the wrong person. Lord Liu was the champion of the music exam in the last imperial examination. I have some impression of him."
Li Nuo looked puzzled.
That's strange.
The numbers in the code have changed, which shows that arresting people according to the law is effective.
But Liu Shang's portrait is dim, which shows that Fa Dian did not think highly of him and did not think he had any special skills.
The number one scholar in Leke has no special skills, are you kidding me...
Did he get the title of top scorer in music science through backdoor?
To see whether this former music champion has real talent, just let him play a piece.
Li Nuo looked at the Dali Temple official next to him and asked, "Are there any musical instruments here?"
The man nodded and said, "Zhang Sizheng likes music and often plays it in his office. There should be a zither in his room. I will go get it."
The temple secretary left for a short while and came back soon, accompanied by a middle-aged man who was holding a guqin in his arms.
Li Nuo gave them a few words of advice and said, "Open the door."
The door of the room where Liu Shang was imprisoned was opened and several figures walked in.
Liu Shang, who was originally sitting on the bed in a daze, trembled when he heard the words and quickly hid in the corner of the bed.
Zhang Sizheng placed the zither in his hand on the table in the cell and said, "Master Liu, please play a piece of music."
Liu Shang had a dull expression.
The people from the Dali Temple arrested him and asked him to play the piano...
He still hasn't figured out the situation.
The people from the Dali Temple arrested him, but did not do anything to him.
He was not tortured, and no one even came to question him.
A few people barged in for no apparent reason and asked him to play the piano for no apparent reason, without any foreplay at all. This made him very nervous...
But anyway, things didn't seem as bad as he thought.
He got off the bed, sat upright at the table, and asked carefully, "What are you playing?"
The two Dali Temple officials looked at Li Nuo. Li Nuo did not speak. Zhang Sizheng said, "Anything is fine."
Liu Shang first tried a few times and found that the pitch of the guitar was relatively accurate, so he only made some fine adjustments.
He placed his hands on the strings, thought for a moment, and then moved his fingers lightly.
A piece of music flowed through his fingertips.
Just now his face was a little pale and he looked fearful, but when he sat in front of the piano, the fearful expression disappeared and his face turned rosy.
Li Nuo didn't know what song he was playing. The moment the sound of the piano rang out, he only felt an ancient, deep and heavy breath coming towards him.
His heart also began to surge.
As the sound of the piano reached his ears, he felt as if he were in the wilderness, with an ancient and long-lasting wind blowing from the depths of the wilderness.
He stood in the wilderness, looked up at the deep blue sky, and couldn't help but feel an urge to worship it.
Plop!
At the cell door, two bailiffs from the Dali Temple actually knelt down with a thud.
Li Nuo doesn't understand music and doesn't know how to evaluate his level.
If I have to describe it in one word.
That's awesome.
After listening to just a short section, he felt his soul was cleansed.
The Code doesn’t even look down on this level?
No, buddy, can we not have such high standards?
He didn't know if it was his illusion, but he always felt that after breaking through the realm, the code's requirements for skills seemed to have become higher.
After the song was finished, Li Nuo couldn't calm down for a long time.
Zhang Sizheng, who was standing next to him, shook his head and said, "Master Liu's piano skills are far worse than they were three years ago. This passage of "Cloud Gate" is far inferior to the level you played during the imperial examination. It seems that you have already abandoned music in the past few years..."
Li Nuo was stunned. This isn't even possible?
"Yunmen" is one of the six kinds of music, and is the music used to worship gods.
Sacrifice requires kneeling.
The urge to kneel down after listening to "Cloud Gate" shows that the player is of extremely high level and has brought out the soul of the piece.
Liu Shang was completely immersed in his own music. He was still emotionally disturbed. Hearing someone say that, he felt insulted and even forgot about his own situation. He stood up abruptly, pointed at the zither and said, "I don't play well. Come on, if you can, play a piece for me. I want to see how well you play..."
Zhang Sizheng was unmoved and said calmly: "Of course, my music is not as good as yours, but my piano skills are not as good as yours. Does that mean I can't make any comments? Sir Liu, ask yourself, have you really honed your piano skills in the past three years? You know how much your music has declined..."
"I……"
Liu Shang looked at Zhang Sizheng, lowered his head silently, and ultimately did not refute.
This person was right. His piano skills had deteriorated significantly compared to when he took the imperial examination three years ago.
Studying is like rowing against the current, if you don’t advance, you will retreat.
The same is true for Le Dao.
If you don't practice for three days, you will feel yourself regressing.
If you don’t practice for three months, you can’t hide it from your peers.
Even if you don’t practice for three years, even someone who doesn’t understand music can clearly hear the difference.
However, in order to prepare for the imperial examination, he began to practice the piano at the age of three and practiced for four hours every day.
In addition to these four hours, I have to study five other subjects and have no time for myself.
He lived this kind of life for twenty years.
Hard work pays off, his efforts were not in vain, he finally passed the imperial examination and became the top scorer in the music exam.
In the more than three years after the imperial examination, he had touched the zither very few times.
But he has been playing the piano for twenty years, and he feels like vomiting when he sees the piano. He finally becomes an official, so can’t he enjoy himself?
(End of this chapter)
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