Chapter 130: Advice

"Youqi, do you know what happened to Xiao Anzi recently? His mother came to me today and said that Xiao Anzi has been listless these past two days."

It was the time when every household had dinner at the You hour, and the same was true for the Princess's Mansion. Xie Hui was having dinner with his parents.

Hearing his mother's words, Xie Hui thought that he hadn't seen Zhou Zhongan for several days. During the New Year period, Jingzhao Prefecture was so busy that one wished he could be torn into two halves. Just the people who made trouble when drunk could be caught in large numbers every day, not to mention other things.

However, it was easy to guess what Zhou Zhongan might be unhappy about. After all, as far as he could remember, the last time Zhou Zhongan was unhappy was ten years ago, when he was beaten by his father for skipping school.

Recently, it could only be that one thing.

"They have been very busy in Jingzhao Prefecture, and I haven't seen him for a while. I'll go talk to him in a couple of days when I have a day off." Xie Hui didn't plan to tell his mother that Zhou Zhongan had developed feelings for his cousin Manman for the time being.

Xie Yuan listened for a long time before pretending to be profound and said, "Xiao Anzi is so happy all the time, how can he be unhappy? In my opinion, a child of this age is probably trapped in love."

Xie Hui continued to pick up the food as usual. When he heard his father's words, he said casually, "Maybe. I'll ask him some other day."

Xie Yuan and the princess and her husband could never have imagined that their son had mastered the art of lying with his eyes open, and they really thought that he knew nothing.

The princess frowned in distress, "I don't think so. I heard from Ruotong that Xiao Anzi only started to act strange after the New Year. The Jingzhao Prefecture is busy these days, so how could he be trapped in love? He can't have fallen in love with a female prisoner, right?"

Xie Yuan actually nodded when he heard this, "It's not impossible. And it could be a male prisoner, right?"

"Don't let Ruotong hear you. She was suspicious last time about what happened at Minister Wang's house."

Xie Hui realized that his parents' conversation had gone off topic, so he felt relieved and ate his meal in silence.

The ministers started their duties on the 16th and had a day off on the 20th. The holiday had just ended and the ministers were still very lazy. When they were attending court on the 16th, there was an official whose belt on his official uniform broke in the hall, perhaps because the food was too good during the New Year, which made a big joke.

Therefore, in the first few days, all departments reached an unwritten consensus that it was okay to be lazy during these few days, but after the 20 rest days, they had to start working hard.

Xie Hui sent a letter to Zhou Zhongan early in the morning, inviting him to meet at Shen's Tavern on his day off.

When Xie came back, Zhou Zhongan seemed to have been drinking for quite a while.

Xie Hui walked over, took the wine glass from his hand, poured a cup of tea and placed it in front of him.

"When did you learn to drown your sorrows in alcohol? Have you forgotten the last time you got drunk and climbed onto the rooftop to act like a bird?"

That was a few years ago. Xie Hui had not yet gone to the northwest, and Zhou Zhongan had not yet gone to Jingzhao Prefecture. They had nothing to do, so they just wanted to do something stupid.

I stole his father's wine from home and told him that his father kept it well hidden and it must taste great, so I insisted on dragging him to drink it with me.

As a result, he was drunk and not paying attention, so Zhou Zhongan climbed onto the roof, took off his clothes and shouted, "I want to fly."

In the end, he was dragged back by his mother's ears. I heard that he was beaten again for stealing his father's collection of fine wine.

"I know I can't get drunk."

Having said that, Zhou Zhongan stopped drinking and just drank his tea obediently.

"Your mother has found my mother and asked you what happened. I didn't tell her, but you should be careful and don't let your parents worry about this. Besides, if this matter gets out, it won't be good for the third girl."

This was outside, so Xie Hui only called Shen Xi "Third Miss".

This is the way the world is. If people knew about Zhou Zhongan's affair with Shen Xi, outsiders would only say bad things about Shen Xi. Zhou Zhongan is the Shao Yin of Jingzhao, a young talent. His father is a powerful duke and a senior official. Even the emperor has to respect him. Is there anyone who dares to say bad things about him?

"I know, you made me sound like a jerk. I feel bad. I finally found a girl I like, but why did I have to get engaged?"

"If lovers could always marry, then those stories and legends about talented men and beautiful women would not have been passed down through the ages and would not have been popular for so long."

"I sent someone to Jinling." Zhou Zhongan took the teapot and poured himself a cup of tea. His eyes were clear now and he didn't look like he had drunk a lot of alcohol at all.

"Why are you looking at me like that? I'm not trying to steal her bride. I just want to check who she's engaged to. In February, the students who are taking the exam should be heading to Beijing... I just want to see if that man is worthy of her."

Xie Hui couldn't help but pour cold water on him, "Even if she's not worthy, what can you do? Besides, the Shen family loves their daughter very much. They wouldn't be the kind of family that would just casually arrange a marriage for their daughter. They must have carefully selected her."

"Xie Youqi, you did it on purpose. It's fine if you insult me, but why do you secretly praise yourself?!"

"I'm just telling you the truth. I'm not trying to persuade you to forget about him right away. Just don't do anything stupid."

"I know. If I don't think about myself, how can I not think about her? I won't do anything." Zhou Zhongan stood up. "I want to go home and let my mother see her good son. Nothing is wrong with him."

Now that Zhou Zhongan was fine, Xie Hui had to go home. Before leaving, he did not forget to collude with the witnesses. "How are you going to explain when you go home?"

"Just say that working in Jingzhao Prefecture is too tiring and my mother is best fooled. You can say anything you want."

"Thanks, brother." Zhou Zhongan patted Xie Hui's shoulder and said, "I am very grateful that you didn't spend today's day with me and came to accompany me."

"Manman should be the one you call?"

Zhou Zhongan rolled his eyes, "Fourth Miss Shen! That's enough!"

Xie Hui glanced at him and said, "She and her family went to stay at the farm for a while and are not in the capital." The implication was, otherwise who would have the time to take care of your business.

Shen Yuan, his grandmother, aunt, sister-in-law, and elder sister went to the farm yesterday.

This manor is indeed as his father said, very close to the capital, almost just outside the city, and it seems that there is more than one manor nearby, but I don’t know if anyone lives in the others.

Not only does the Apostles come here to patrol, but every afternoon, their troops also go to the nearby mountains for training.

Shen Yuan knew at a glance that the plaque on the manor was written by her father. The manor was named "Huanqingxi", probably because of the stream that passed by the manor.

But it was winter now and the creek was frozen. As soon as Shen Yuan arrived, he ran to the creek to play with ice before entering the farm, which made Old Madam Shen very worried.

"It's so cold, you better be quiet. If you fall down, no one will catch you!"

"Grandma, the water is very shallow. You won't drown if you fall in."

"You're afraid of water that can drown you, right? It's winter now, and you get wet and get sick for ten days or eight days. Who would feel uncomfortable?"

"You feel uncomfortable!" Shen Yuan ran over and grabbed Madam Shen's hand with his hand that had touched the water.

This gave Old Madam Shen a chill, and Shen Yuan ran into the manor. He could still hear his grandmother scolding people behind him.