Chapter 71 If my wife doesn’t fall asleep, he will have a sleepless night.
The sudden rain has just stopped.
The long branches are dyed with fresh green, and the beautiful pearls are full of beauty.
Ye Jindian couldn't stand the sight of his red tongue moving in and out, so she put on her clothes, stood up, and opened the window to drive away the stuffiness.
The chirping of insects outside the window has stopped, and it is so quiet that it seems as if there is no one around, yet it seems particularly clean and pleasant. Even the water drops hanging from the treetops look like glass, and with a "tick-tock" sound, they fall into the new load in the courtyard pot, stirring it.
"My wife."
Zhang Min was worried that she would catch a cold, so he put on another coat from behind, wrapped her up, and held her in his arms.
"My wife—"
He seemed to be addicted to these two words. He shouted them countless times in just one night.
Ye Jindian reached out to touch the head that was rubbing against her neck.
His breath pressed against her collarbone.
A little itchy.
"Ahem." She reached down to the round head and pinched someone's earlobe, which was as smooth as white jade. "I'm hot."
Zhang Min moved away somewhat reluctantly.
Ye Jindian tilted her head to look at him.
He was dressed in rags, his robe half-undone, his raven hair disheveled, a few strands of black hair straying out of the way and sticking to his flushed chest.
The black and white are instantly distinct, which is particularly eye-catching.
Looking at those bright big eyes, they look at people with clarity and innocence.
"Why are you looking at me like that, my lady..." He just stood there motionless, tilting his head in confusion. "I'm far enough away."
Ye Jindian looked at the hand on her waist, her half-circled arm on the windowsill, and then moved it to her chest half an arm's length away, which was shiny with sweat.
Looking up along the chest, she met a pair of round black eyes again.
She suddenly became curious.
I don't know what my husband smells like.
Without warning, she closed the distance between them, pressed the tip of her nose against Zhang Min's neck, twitched her nostrils, and sniffed carefully.
——Like apricot blossoms dried in the sun in the wilderness.
The taste is light, but not too mild, rather a bit strong.
The veins in my neck and eyes bulged, like a winding river rushing endlessly.
Ye Jindian raised her hand and touched the smooth neck and shoulders.
"M-Madam?"
Her hair slid down from her shoulders and poured into Zhang Min's clothes, moving with her and gently tickling his waist and abdomen.
"Hmm?" Ye Jindian responded.
Her peach blossom eyes, moistened with moisture, gently lifted upwards, her gaze clear and bright, as if she was unaware of what she had done.
Seeing that the blush on her face had faded slightly, Zhang Min coaxed her back to lie down on the couch on the grounds that "the night wind is very cold and it is easy to catch a cold."
If his wife doesn't fall asleep, he will have a sleepless night.
Zhang Min brought a clean towel with warm water, wrung it out, and carefully scrubbed her inside and out so that she could fall asleep refreshed.
Before falling into a dark dream, Ye Jindian seemed to hear the window hinges squeaking softly.
*
The next morning.
At the end of the alley, there is a scholar's house.
Li Wuzhi munched on the tasteless pancake while lying on the slippery roof after the rain.
He held on to the roof tightly with one hand and nodded to the black falcon hiding in a tree not far away. As expected, there was no response from the other party.
Xuan Falcon was one of Zhang Min's two secret guards. His lightness skills were exceptional, and his tracking abilities far surpassed those of ordinary people. There was practically no one he couldn't catch up to in secret. If he wanted to hide, even if he was within a one-mile radius, no one would be able to find him.
However——
This person is usually aloof and taciturn, even colder than the other secret guard captain, Cang Ying.
Goshawk is skilled in martial arts, cruel and ruthless, and specializes in torture. Although he treats people coldly, he can occasionally drink with them and chat with them.
Xuan Sun only appears during Qingming Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival and New Year's Eve dinner. Only Zhang Min knows what he does on other days.
So unique that it makes people jealous.
So——
The guards of the Right Prime Minister's Mansion once made a bet: whoever forced Xuan Falcon to say the number ten would win the whole bet in one round.
However, Zhang Min was strictly prohibited from participating in this game.
Li Wuzhi counted on his fingers, but he couldn't quite tell how many years had passed since the gambling game was set up before the founding of the country.
Anyway, the money privately minted by various noble families is in Fufeng's hands, so no one is afraid that it will be embezzled.
Today is not Qingming Festival, nor Mid-Autumn Festival, nor New Year's Eve, but Li Wuji was extremely shocked that Xuan Falcon could appear.
He raised his arm and nudged Luoying beside him, motioning him to look at the tall tree next to him.
Luoying: “!!”
What the hell is going on? Why did the Prime Minister send him out?
A man who bears the title of Chief of Guards, but his men are almost all controlled by Goshawk. He only appears in public a few times a year and has no friendship with his brothers at all.
The two men put their ears to the tiles, eavesdropping on the conversation inside, and "chatting" for a while by winking and making eyes.
The main reason was to speculate why the Black Falcon had appeared, and why he had deliberately let them see it.
A figure sneaked out of the scholar's inner room and climbed over the wall to escape.
Li Wuzhi slapped the dry pancake that was so choking that it made him choke, pressed Luoying's shoulders, and made a gesture of leaving first with two fingers.
Luoying nodded, and he jumped off the green grass and followed the man quietly.
Looking at Xuan Falcon on the left and the secret guards staring at the scholar on the right, Luo Ying was able to see from one family the delicate situation of three kingdoms standing side by side and restraining each other.
*
The astronomical phenomena and phenology before Grain in Ear have always been windy like yellow birds, rain washing branches, and the world full of new green and vitality.
Oh, I mean—
During these days of surveillance, almost all of them were soaked.
The strong winds and heavy rains lasted for three or four days, and almost all the water supervisors under the Ministry of Works went crazy.
Documents poured into the Right Prime Minister's residence like heavy rain, one after another, making Zhang Min's head swell up as he was busy catching spies.
He kept his eyes on the documents as they were being reviewed, and his ears were also listening to the reports from the guards.
Xie Zhaoming and Gongsun Shuo listened to the news that came in one after another and had a rough guess.
"So, even if this scholar was the one behind your plot, he most likely didn't know he was working for the Northern Wan Kingdom. Otherwise, the traitor wouldn't have gone to him to insinuate himself and try to find out if he had leaked any secrets.
"He probably thought he was writing a storybook for some wealthy young lady, hoping to fulfill her dream of love. The fact that some of your habits were incorporated into his other stories is simply due to the influence of repeated writing." Xie Zhaoming drank a cup of tea and said pointedly, "We still need to keep an eye on the people in the Prime Minister's Mansion to see how he is colluding with the outside world."
This person was also very calculating. He knew that none of them read the storybooks, and the rumors had reached their ears from the streets and alleys. It would be inappropriate to disturb the people and conduct a thorough investigation, so he gave him the opportunity to fish in troubled waters.
Even if the scholars and ladies who held the books knew the source, they would feel ashamed to read these inferior books and would never make them public.
As for others asking about it, just say that it's just what people in the market hear.
If it is then passed down by the servants and maids around them, it will be impossible to find the source.
Anyway, everyone just "hears what others say".
Gongsun Shuo pinched a piece of pastry and threw away the notebook in his hand. "Back then, although the story of you being trapped by the Great Prince of Beiwan was widely publicized, the only people who knew that you were shot by a hidden arrow and nearly bled to death were Your Majesty, my sister, Xie Huli, Li Wuji, Du Junze, the old Minister of Works, the Minister of the Central Secretariat, Mingyu, Luoying, Fufeng, Cangying, Xuanshun, and you and me."
"The book mentions several times that the treacherous prime minister was afraid of losing his composure in front of the emperor, and also felt disgusted with himself because Bai Yu had a flaw. Therefore, he loved to wear high-necked robes. I guess he didn't know that the scar on your neck had long disappeared." Xie Zhaoming said.
Zhang Min leaned on the couch, knocked his forehead on the table, and took the opportunity to give him a blank look.
It seems that there are too few documents for this guy to handle, and he still has the leisure to tease him.
"Your Majesty and my sister would never treat me like this. Luoying and the other four are my brothers whom I rescued and raised, and Mingyu is my sister, so there's no way they would harm me. Besides, they all know I won't scar." He glanced at the two of them, a hint of disdain in his eyes. "You and the old Sikong and Zhongshu Ling will be determined."
He calculated the cost of repairing the canal and put it at the top of the documents for urgent matters.
Xie Zhaoming stood up, straightened his robe, and fanned himself. "Alas, these words are truly hurtful. A document just mentioned that the dredging and repair of the capital's moat are not going smoothly. I will no longer be associated with you, a treacherous minister. I should go to the old Minister of Works to learn from him as soon as possible, lest others accuse me, the concurrently appointed Minister of Works, of neglecting my duties."
Gongsun Shuo also jumped up and tightened his leather arm guard.
He flung his coat back and leaped off the couch. "Since that's the case, I'll ask the Minister of the Central Secretariat to teach me what the finer points are when it comes to drafting documents. It's unbecoming for me, the uncle of the emperor, to always have my work rejected by the academy."
Zhang Min: "...Mingyu said that you are the top of the Men's College list. It's really annoying to be listed next to her name in the Women's College. How can your homework be rejected?"
This excuse is too obvious.
Even if it means alerting the enemy, you should not act like this.
Gongsun Shuo's eyelids twitched.
"You treacherous prime minister, stay out of my business, my uncle." He snorted coldly, walked past the long table, snatched the fruit from his hand, stuffed it into his mouth, bit it with a "crunch", and then walked away.
Zhang Min: “…”
It's really the nature of a young man.
Extremely childish.
After he finished dealing with the documents on the desk, he asked Fufeng to take everything with him and go into the palace together.
After getting Xiao Min's consent, he took the documents handed over by the Water Conservancy Bureau and rode directly to the Left Prime Minister's Mansion.
The doorman lowered his head and ran into the hall to report. When he raised his eyes, he saw the golden mask dangling in front of him.
“…”
The concierge was speechless.
Du Junze remained calm and told the officials to continue with their duties while the doorman went down to do his work.
He raised his eyes to the man who came forward without any courtesy, "Right Prime Minister, according to the Book of Rites, when scholars meet, they hold a pheasant to ask for an audience, and you come in person this time..."
Zhang Min rested his hands on the long table and interrupted him, "The water conservancy project has not been resolved since the beginning of spring. I think the Ministry of Revenue must be facing some difficulties, which is why they are unwilling to spend money."
"Then last year we had a good harvest, and this year is barely halfway through, and we've already encountered our first natural disaster. How could this money not be enough to go to the Water Conservancy Bureau to dredge the river? As the head of the civil service, how could the Left Prime Minister, seeing the torrential rain sweeping across the sky, the haze obscuring the sunlight, ignore this matter?"
Du Jun pushed away his hand that was pressing down on the document and said, "Since it hasn't been resolved, has the Water Conservancy Bureau reflected on this?"
He smoothed the paperwork.
"Of course. As the current Minister of Works, it's my duty to reflect on this with him." Zhang Min reached for a wolf-hair brush from the pen holder and toyed with it. "But it's strange. After we repaired the tail end of the river, the middle section was washed away again. After we repaired the middle section, the lower section accumulated a huge amount of silt... We have no choice but to ask for funds again and again."
At first, he thought he was too young and did not understand the problem of Zishui River, so his dredging and repair work were not successful.
It seems now.
Maybe someone is unwilling to clear the river all at once and has to wait several years before clearing the sand and building the embankment.
Du Junze's forehead twitched.
Where did this person get so many rude and bad habits!
He reached out and pressed the wolf hair brush that had brushed past his eyelids several times, then looked up at him. "Since you have no choice, Right Prime Minister, just submit the document according to the rules, or raise it in the court. Why are you looking for me?"
Zhang Min was lying between two stacks of documents. He raised his eyebrows and winked at him, then quickly stood up with his hands. He naturally snatched the paperweight from his hand, weighed it twice, and put it back.
It was as if he had just gotten down to grab the paperweight to play with.
Du Junze: "..."
He raised his clear and cold face and looked at him expressionlessly.
If you want to warn him, just point at the table. Why grab the paperweight from his hand?
childish.
"When the old Sikong was in office, the Minister of Revenue would not be so slow in allocating money." Zhang Min took two steps back, strolled in the inner room, turned around in a disgusting manner, and attracted several impatient looks.
He curled his lips under the mask, stopped in the hall, and stopped adding fuel to the fire.
Du Junze sat silently, staring at his leisurely figure wandering around, the ink pen in his hand hanging motionless.
He understood.
This is to ask him to help investigate whether the old Sikong is colluding with the Minister of Revenue.
"Now that Beiwan is ready to make a move, it's time for everyone to unite. If the imperial court is in chaos, how will it end?" Zhang Min casually tossed the wolf-hair brush back into the pen holder. "Unless someone wants to help Beiwan."
He said the last sentence very lightly.
The wolf-hair brush hung on the wooden hook swayed, leaving an afterimage and hitting the pen holder with a "dangdang" sound.
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