Xue Shu did not leave until the young eunuch came to the warm room to clean up the mess, taking with him the dish of dragon beard cakes that he had not yet finished.

He was wearing the clothes of a servant of the West Factory, with a stern look on his face, but he was holding a plate of snacks in his hands. On his way back to the West Factory, he attracted a lot of attention.

Even Yin Chengjing, who had just returned to the palace, noticed it. He held a folding fan in his hand, leaned drunkenly against a beautiful actor, squinted his eyes and looked at her for a long time, then asked the servant beside him: "Is that Xue Shu?"

"Yes, right." The waiter actually didn't quite recognize Xue Shu's appearance, but he had heard people mention him several times in the past two days.

On the night of the New Year's Eve banquet, Xue Shu single-handedly killed the demon fox. His sharp sword and bloodshot eyes left an indelible impression on many people present. In addition, the emperor later appointed him to investigate the demon fox case, so Xue Shu's name could be heard from time to time in the past few days.

It is said that he was only sixteen or seventeen years old, and just after entering the palace, he offended the steward of the East Palace and was sent to the West Factory to eat dust. If nothing unexpected happened, he would have wasted his life in the West Factory until he died. Who knew that he had such a talent, and he climbed out of the mud with a knife.

Many people even speculated that with such a figure, the long-dormant Xichang might rise again.

"My good elder brother can also make mistakes sometimes. No wonder he has been summoning people to the East Palace these two days. I'm afraid he is busy trying to win us over. Let's go and meet him."

Yin Chengjing snorted and laughed, pushed away the actor who was supporting him, straightened his clothes, and walked forward waving his folding fan, blocking Xue Shu's way: "Young Eunuch Xue, are you going back to the West Factory?"

?

It was the first time that Xue Shu was addressed like this. He was stunned for a moment before he reacted. Although he had not undergone the purification, he was now a eunuch. He lowered his head to hide the emotions in his eyes and said in a neither humble nor arrogant manner: "To the Third Prince, that is right."

Of course he recognized Yin Chengjing, and he even remembered that on the night of the New Year's Eve banquet, the prince kept glancing at him intentionally or unintentionally.

"Is that a dragon's beard pastry in your hand?" Yin Chengjing looked at it and said, "Big brother always likes to eat this stuff. Could it be that big brother gave it to you as a reward?" He raised his eyebrows and said in a surprised tone, "I heard that you just solved the demon fox case, and big brother gave you this as a reward?" He said in a half-truthful way, "You are too stingy."

Xue Shu frowned. He couldn't bear to hear anyone say anything bad about Yin Chengyu.

"I like to eat it, so I asked His Royal Highness the Crown Prince for it."

However, Yin Chengjing obviously didn't believe it. He covered his lips with his fan and smiled with an ambiguous meaning: "Young Eunuch Xue is content."

Xue Shu quickly raised his eyes to look at him, and his patience began to run out: "If the Third Prince has nothing else to do, I will take my leave first. The files on the Demon Fox Case need to be sorted out and reported to Your Majesty as soon as possible."

His tone was not respectful, but Yin Chengjing was not annoyed at all. He made way for him gracefully and said, "Then I will not delay Eunuch Xue from doing my duty for my father. Please."

Xue Shu brushed past him without any courtesy.

Yin Chengjing watched his back go away for a long time before he turned to the actor who was supporting him and ordered: "Pass today's news to the second brother and say... Xue Shu made a contribution, but was dismissed by the prince with a plate of snacks."

As for the rest, just let his second brother do it.

Because he recalled his past life and was filled with depression, Yin Chengyu did not summon Xue Shu again in the next few days, but the news about Xue Shu continued.

Taoist Wangchen "committed suicide out of fear of punishment", and Emperor Longfeng was furious. Not only did he drive out the masters who were previously invited back to worship him, but he also ordered people to throw Taoist Wangchen's body into a mass grave to feed wild dogs. In a short period of time, he probably wouldn't trust those masters anymore.

Because of this incident, Dongchang and Jinyiwei were also implicated. Gao Xian and Gong Hongfei were reprimanded by Emperor Longfeng for their negligence and were both fined one year's salary.

As the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department and the commander of the Imperial Guard, they certainly did not lack this little salary, but what they worried more was the loss of face and the fear of losing the emperor's favor.

Xue Shu, who was responsible for solving the case, unsurprisingly won the favor of Emperor Longfeng.

He was so brave in killing the fox demon that Emperor Longfeng was delighted when he later learned that he was not a foreign soldier transferred from the Jinyi Guard to the Western Factory, but a eunuch in the palace.

He felt that he had reasons to favor the eunuchs. It was not that he relied on the eunuchs, but that the Jinyiwei and court officials were too useless!

He even let Xue Shu compete with a dozen Jinyiwei warriors in the training ground in the name of a test.

The result is naturally that Xue Shu wins.

Xue Shu had acquired all his martial arts skills through more than ten years of hard work in the market. He was naturally ruthless and merciless in his attacks. All the powerful guards who came into the fight were eventually carried away by others.

Emperor Longfeng was very pleased and issued an edict on the spot, promoting him to be the Supervisor of the Guarding Horses and the Commander-in-Chief of the Four Guards Camps; he was also concurrently appointed as the Thousand Household Inspectors of the Western Factory, a position just below that of the Commander-in-Chief of the Western Factory, which shows how much honor and favor he enjoyed.

"Seeing that His Majesty might want to re-employ the Western Factory, people inside and outside the palace are uneasy. Some quick-witted people have already started looking for ways to get close to Supervisor Xue. I heard that the Second Prince also sent people to send gifts for his promotion, and Supervisor Xue accepted them all."

Talking about this, Zheng Duobao was quite angry. He knew best how Xue Shu got promoted all the way. Wasn't it all paved by their Highness?

Now that the fruit has grown, some people want to pick the peaches, which is really annoying.

And Xue Shu, who was originally thought to be loyal, turned out to be so short-sighted and greedy! He just started to accept gifts when he was in power!

On the contrary, Yin Chengyu did not seem to be in a hurry. He turned a page of the book slowly and said, "Why are you in a hurry? Xue Shu doesn't think highly of them."

It's not that he was too confident in his ability to control people, but these people had all tried to restrain Xue Shu in their previous lives, but they all failed.

Regardless of past and present lives, Xue Shu is still the same Xue Shu. It is impossible for someone you looked down upon in your past life to look up to in this life.

Moreover, the reason why Emperor Longfeng reused Xue Shu and reopened the West Factory was not just because Xue Shu had saved the emperor. Emperor Longfeng had always been suspicious, and now he was stimulated by the case of the demon fox. He probably still suspected that the remnants of Emperor Xiaozong were secretly trying to kill him, and he thought everyone he saw was a traitor.

Xue Shu had made great contributions in rescuing the emperor, but he was of humble origin and had no connections with either the inner court or the outer court. There was no other candidate that Emperor Longfeng could trust more than him.

At a time when Emperor Longfeng was suspicious, whoever tried to pull Xue Shu back would be clearly telling Emperor Longfeng that he had ulterior motives.

It must be that the second child is simple-minded, so he would do such a stupid thing.

Zheng Duobao was not as reassured as Yin Chengyu at this moment. He felt that Xue Shu would be blinded by the glory and not recognize who his master was. But the prince did not care, so it was useless for him to say more. He could only change the topic to another matter: "The subordinates reported that there is news about the matter that the prince asked to investigate."

"Tell me about it," Yin Chengyu became interested and put down the book in his hand.

"The Taoist Wangchen is not from Wangjing, so it is more difficult to investigate, and he has not yet sent back the exact information. But we have some clues about the scholar named Zhao. The Zhao family was wiped out, and the fox demon killed people just to cover up the truth."

The Zhao family moved to Wangjing a year ago. They were originally from Tianjin Wei, and after making a fortune from the canal transportation business, they moved to Wangjing with their family. The Zhao family is well-known in Wangjing for their generosity and charity.

Later, it was rumored that the fox demon had wiped out the family, and the people who had benefited from it sighed and lamented for a while.

But these were all things on the surface. After the people sent by Yin Chengyu dug deeper, they found out that the fox demon's evil deeds were false, but the Zhao family's annihilation was true.

"He's from Tianjin. He made his fortune from the grain transport business?" Yin Chengyu tapped the table with his fingers. "What are you transporting? Where are you going?"

Zheng Duobao said, "Take the Lucky River and head south. On the surface, they are transporting wine, noodles, glutinous rice and other things, but in fact, they are transporting Changlu salt."

The Changlu Salt Field was under the jurisdiction of the Changlu Salt Transport Administration, whose office was located in Tianjin.

"Salt poisoning?" Yin Chengyu raised his eyes suddenly and understood everything in an instant.

Dayan established five salt transfer offices in Lianghuai, Liangzhe, Changlu, Shandong, and Hedong. The control over the sale of official salt was very strict. Not only were there restrictions on salt permits, but there was also a policy of "exclusive sales on shore".

However, according to the policy of "exclusively selling on shore", Changluo salt can only be sold to northern Zhili, Henan and other places.

However, in recent years, because of the huge profits from smuggling salt, smuggled salt dealers have been banned repeatedly. They often transported smuggled salt to various places in the south and made huge profits. Some officials of the Salt Commissioner's Office colluded with the local gentry and the grain transport gangs to resell salt permits, sell smuggled salt, disrupt the salt market, and drive up prices.

In the previous life, the Salt Inspector Fang Zhengke was ordered to go to the Changlu Salt Commissioner's Office to inspect the salt tax. However, one month later, he sent back an urgent memorial in 800 li, denouncing the Changlu Transport Commissioner for colluding with profiteers to privately sell salt permits and make a huge profit of several million taels of salt.

When this incident happened, the court was in an uproar, and Emperor Longfeng was even more furious. He ordered a thorough investigation, and no one in the Changlu Salt Administration was spared from it, from top to bottom.

However, the then Changlu Transport Commissioner Wan Youliang cried and protested his injustice after being escorted to the capital. He produced a lot of evidence and pointed out that only a small part of the millions of taels of stolen money went into his pocket, and the majority was actually embezzled by the previous transport commissioner. He also participated in the private sale of salt permits because he was deceived by the other party.

The term of office of the Transport Commissioner of the Dayan Salt Administration is three years, and my uncle Yu Chen was the previous Transport Commissioner of the Changlu Salt Administration.

At that time, Wan Youliang wept and pointed out the truth in court, and there were also many letters and evidences of his exchanges with Yu Chen. However, everyone knew that Wan Youliang was a student of Yu Shoufu and had many exchanges with Yu Chen, so he had no reason to frame Yu Chen.

Yu Chen, who was suddenly implicated, had no way to defend himself and was immediately imprisoned.

Afterwards, the three courts held a joint trial and Emperor Longfeng personally made the verdict. Everything was done in a hurry.

Selling salt permits illegally, selling smuggled salt, corruption and bribery were all serious crimes that could lead to the confiscation of property and extermination of the family. The reputation of a virtuous man that my grandfather had built up throughout his life was destroyed in one day, and the entire Yu family was exterminated, leaving them in disgrace.

On the contrary, Wan Youliang, who was dragged out first, was only sentenced to exile because of the Yu family's support.

The person behind the scenes was not hurt at all.

The loyal and good bear the stigma, while the villain sits in the high hall.

Thinking about it now, Yin Chengyu still gnashed his teeth in hatred.

He lowered his eyes and thought for a long time before he said in a cold voice, "Prepare the carriage. I want to go to Nanxunfang."

——The Yu Mansion is in Hongchang Hutong, Nanxunfang.

The fact that he failed to save the Yu family in his previous life has always been a source of worry for him.

Later, when he ascended the throne, he wanted to thoroughly investigate the old case, but due to the long time, the files and evidence at that time were burned by those with ulterior motives, and Wan Youliang had died in exile long ago. There was no evidence, and he couldn't even overturn the case for the Yu family and clear their name.

If Xue Shu had not found the only remaining bloodline of his uncle later, he would probably have never been able to let it go until his death.

Yin Chengyu got off the sedan chair, looked at the plaque "Yu Mansion" above his head, closed his eyes to calm his mind, and then walked in.

In this life, whoever you are supposed to be is who you are.

No one can escape.

Yin Chengyu had a long talk with his grandfather and two uncles, and it was already past midnight when he left Yu Mansion.

He leaned against the wall of the carriage. Although he looked a little tired, he was not as tense as when he came. He seemed much more relaxed.

So when the sedan chair stopped in front of the gate of Ciqing Palace, Yin Chengyu didn't feel angry when he saw that it was Xue Shu who opened the curtain of the sedan chair. There was even a hint of smile in his eyes. If Xue Shu hadn't been smart and found the guide paper, he might have managed to save his uncle from the disaster, but it certainly wouldn't have been so easy.

"You stayed up so late at night just to wait here and open the curtains for me?"

Xue Shu shook his head: "I have something to give to Your Highness."

After saying this, he looked at Yin Chengyu intently, waiting for his response.

Yin Chengyu glanced at him and did not rebuke him for his offense: "Come in and talk."

The flowing clothes passed by in front of him, and Xue Shu smelled the cool fragrance of plum blossoms again.

Very sweet and smells good.

He greedily caught the faint fragrance and followed behind with big strides.

Yin Chengyu was very tired after spending a lot of energy today. He was too lazy to keep talking to Xue Shu in the main hall, so he led him to the side hall of the bedroom.

The dragon stove in the hall was burning fiercely. He took off his cloak, changed into a light casual suit and soft-soled shoes, and then went out to see Xue Shu.

"What do you want to present to me so urgently? Bring it up." Yin Chengyu lazily leaned back in the armchair, picked up the teacup and took a sip.

He originally had a delicate appearance, and now he took off his hair crown, letting his black hair down, which made his skin look like jade and his eyebrows and eyes look beautiful. But he was unaware of it, and his posture was lazy, his eyes were sparkling, and under the flickering candlelight, he was so beautiful that it could captivate the soul.

It was as if a tree full of red plum blossoms blossomed overnight in the snow, dazzling the eyes.

It was the first time Xue Shu saw him like this. He couldn't look away for a moment, and a wave of emotions suddenly appeared in his dark eyes.

Yin Chengyu inadvertently raised his eyes and met his gaze. His brows immediately darkened and he put down the teacup heavily: "Xue Shu!"

The teacups made a clanging sound when they collided with each other. Xue Shu then retracted his gaze and held the box at his feet in front of Yin Chengyu.

The box was one foot high, two feet long and wide, and looked quite heavy.

"Open it and have a look."

Yin Chengyu raised his chin, and Zheng Duobao understood. He stepped forward to open the box, and was immediately dazzled by the gold, silver and jade artifacts inside.

"This is..." He looked at Xue Shu, puzzled.

If it's a gift, I've never seen anyone just throw a box of gold, silver and jade together and send it over. That's too indecent!

But if it wasn't a gift, why would he bring such a big box here in the middle of the night? Could it be a bribe?

"Whatever His Majesty gave me, I will give to Your Highness."

Xue Shu took two steps forward holding the box and placed it on the small table next to Yin Chengyu.

Yin Chengyu picked up a white jade lion and squinted his eyes to look at it for a while, then smiled: "Did Yin Chengzhang give it to you?"

He had seen such a white jade lion at the second brother's place. The white jade used to carve the lion was extremely rare. It was smooth and flawless all over, except for two green spots. The skillful craftsman carved it into the shape of a male lion according to the shape, and the two green spots became the eyes of the jade lion.

Because it was very rare, the second brother liked it very much. He didn't expect that he would be willing to use it to restrain Xue Shu.

"Some were given by others." Xue Shu said, "Hmm," and said, "I have reported it to His Majesty, and His Majesty told me to do whatever I want with it."

Yin Chengyu laughed again when he heard this and glanced at him: "Cunning."

When someone gave him a gift, he would report it to Emperor Longfeng. He not only gained the trust of Emperor Longfeng, but also received tangible benefits.

But if you think about it carefully, Xue Shu was like this in his previous life, with a dog-like temper that would pluck the feathers of a passing goose.

In his previous life, the second brother had given Xue Shu many gifts in order to win him over.

I still remember that not long after he was welcomed back to the East Palace, the outside world was speculating about his relationship with Xue Shu, and because Xue Shu stayed overnight in Ciqing Palace, many rumors spread. For this reason, the second son specially sent people to the south of the Yangtze River to find two well-behaved young men, and after training them, he eagerly sent them to Xue Shu.

Unexpectedly, Xue Shu did not play by the rules. He drew his sword and killed the man on the spot. He cut off his head and sent it to the second brother's house, saying that the person he sent intended to assassinate him.

Finally, the second brother spent two hundred thousand taels of silver to redeem the bodies of the two men, and the matter was finally settled.

I didn't expect that in my next life, I could still see the fun of the second brother.

If the second brother knew about this, he would probably be so angry that he would vomit blood.

Yin Chengyu's mood suddenly improved, and he looked at Xue Shu with appreciation: "Not bad."

After saying this, he looked at Xue Shu again and asked tentatively, "Yin Chengzhang treats you so well, are you really not tempted at all?"

Xue Shu shook his head, his eyes fixed on Yin Chengyu's face: "I just want to serve Your Highness."

If Yin Chengyu had not disagreed, he would have preferred to stay in the East Palace.

"The reason." Yin Chengyu's heart moved, and his eyes couldn't help but show inquiry.

Xue Shu thought about it, but said there was no reason.

He did what he thought.

From the first moment she saw Yin Chengyu, she couldn't help but want to get closer to him and bring everything in the world to him.

People in the world say that demons and monsters confuse people, but he thinks that the real ones who confuse people are the gods above the nine heavens.

Yin Chengyu was his god. Just one encounter would make him bow down and willingly submit to him.

The author has something to say:

#On the love of the beautiful dog#

Your Highness: What do you like about me?

Gou Gou: I like you because you look good.

Your Highness: