Chapter 62

Li Chenghuan traveled south by boat and arrived in Hangzhou Prefecture when it was already spring.

In March, the world is full of flowers that are dazzling and beautiful.

Li Chenghuan looked at this beautiful spring scenery, wondering where Lin Nanjie was at the moment? According to the time taken by water, he should be on his way from Hangzhou Prefecture to Qianzhou at this moment.

I think I must have missed it. Li Chengqian felt a little disappointed and uneasy. Floods happen every year in Jiangnan, and so does Qianzhou. When disaster strikes, ordinary people always suffer the most. He had investigated first. Lin Nanjie entered the palace when she was three years old. She had been away from home for more than ten years. I'm afraid things have changed a lot.

It's good to be able to go home and be with my family.

But he was also worried that Lin Nanjie was too young to understand the fragility of human feelings.

Li Chengqian stood on the deck of the ship, holding onto the railing, gazing far into the distance at the rich and gentle countryside before his eyes, a land of pink peach blossoms and green willows, and a bustling and romantic atmosphere.

Bai Zhang walked behind Li Chenghuan. He was wearing a casual purple suit with a white satin belt around his waist. With his good-looking face, he looked like a handsome and romantic young man.

Bai Zhang looked very respectful, and just as he was about to speak, he noticed the emperor's gaze falling on him.

To be precise, it fell on his clothes.

Li Chengqian thought: "Well dressed."

Bai Zhang chuckled and said, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Your Majesty is so handsome that he will surely make a lot of girls blush when he arrives in Hangzhou."

Maybe it can even enrich the harem.

"What's the matter? Tell me." Li Chenghuan withdrew his gaze again.

Bai Zhang immediately put on a serious look: "The prefect of Hangzhou is Xu Ying, the son of Xu Yongjie. He has been the prefect for six years. Although his achievements in governance are not great, they are still acceptable. According to the date, he should be transferred back to Beijing this year."

Li Chengqi listened and recalled the appearance of Xu Yongjie. At that time, the late emperor was still alive, and Xu Yongjie was the Minister of Rites and a scholar of the Hanlin Academy. He was a high-ranking official in the court and formulated many rules and regulations on etiquette. Many people regarded him as a great scholar in the medical field.

But what Li Chengqian remembers most vividly about him is not these.

This Lord Xu once suggested to the late emperor that he should restore the previous system of burying concubines alive with the dead, and his suggestion was almost accepted by the late emperor.

If this system was adopted, many concubines who had not left any children would be cruelly tortured to death when the previous emperor died.

Li Chengqian said, "After getting off the boat, first find an inconspicuous inn to stay in. Tomorrow, go on a tour incognito, especially along the river bank, the river dam, and the people living in the paddy fields in the key areas."

Bo Zhang said: "Yes."

After Bai Zhang left, Liao Baifan appeared quietly behind Li Chenghuan.

Li Chengqian did not turn around, but ordered calmly: "Take your men to carefully investigate the bay where the Japanese pirates can easily invade."

"yes."

"And by the way, look for Lin Nanjie's whereabouts."

Liao Baifan was slightly startled, his heart was filled with shock, but he remained calm and said, "I obey your order."

After getting off the boat, the group found an inn in the city to stay in. After they were settled in, they had their meal in the lobby on the first floor.

This inn is quite large. Although it is late, there is still a constant stream of people having dinner in the lobby. There are merchants and escort agencies coming and going from all walks of life. It is very lively and you can hear a lot of news.

"Have you heard? The fourth young lady of the Xu family is gone."

"I heard it, I heard it, this Fourth Miss Xu was really unlucky, she was only fifteen years old, and was going to get married in ten days, but who knew she would suddenly die of illness."

"It's so pitiful. I would say he didn't die of illness, but was frightened."

The diners who were listening were all curious.

"Scared to death? How do you mean?"

The man said mysteriously, "The Xu family has four daughters and two sons. The eldest son is the current governor Xu Ying. The youngest son went to Beijing to take the imperial examination, but I heard he failed. The first three daughters are already married, but their lives are miserable!"

"Misery? How miserable can a daughter of an old minister be? She will marry a high-ranking official, and have her family to support her. She will have no worries about food and clothing for the rest of her life, and will be a carefree wife of an official."

"I can tell you're from out of town. You probably don't know that three of the daughters didn't have a good ending. The eldest daughter married the son of Lord Xu's friend, who was also from a prominent, powerful family. Who would have known that the husband was a bad person at all? He beat and scolded the eldest daughter on weekdays, and even married a concubine to bring into the mansion, and they tortured the eldest daughter together until she was tortured to death."

"Master Xu doesn't care?"

"A daughter who is married off is like water spilled out."

"What about the second young lady?"

"The second young lady married a scholar from an ordinary family. Her family was barely able to make ends meet and had to rely on her dowry for support. She was also abused by her mother-in-law and husband. In the end, she had nowhere else to turn and actually jumped into the river!"

"The third young lady did find a man who is in love with her and married despite the objection of the old minister. Unfortunately, she has no dowry and her family is poor. I don't think she will have an easy life!"

"There's no need to talk about the fourth young lady. She died of illness before she got married!"

After hearing this, the bystanders expressed their regrets: "What a miserable person he is."

The people at the table looked at each other. Fang Wenjue held the cup tightly, looking annoyed. He lowered his voice and said, "This group of people is too outrageous. They actually slandered Lord Xu in this way!"

Wang Hui, the Minister of Works, also blushed: "How can a bunch of peddlers and hawkers discuss the reputation of Mr. Xu so recklessly?"

Bai Zhang quickly comforted the two adults: "Calm down, calm down, don't bother with them."

Li Chenghuan listened without saying anything and glanced at Bai Zhang.

Bai Zhang understood immediately. Fortunately, he was more flexible and did not care about his appearance like the other adults. He smiled and said to the guests, "My dear brothers, I heard that the old minister is a very virtuous person. He should not be so cold-blooded to his own flesh and blood, right?"

The man immediately said, "I can tell from the looks of it that you are from outside. You probably don't know that the fourth young lady's coffin is still at home even after the seventh day of her death."

Bai Zhang's hair stood on end, and he couldn't imagine such a scene.

He was about to ask another question when he was rudely interrupted.

"What are you talking about? Liu San, you're so bold. You stole money and were kicked out by the Xu family, so you're holding a grudge and are here saying bad things about your master, right?" Two or three young men came in and shouted.

Liu San's face immediately turned red: "What are you talking about! I didn't steal it!"

The young men said, "You dare to steal but not admit it? I will beat you to a pulp and clean up the Xu family!"

Liu San knew he was in the wrong: "Alright, alright, I have to say it."

Seeing that the other side had more people and more power, Liu San ran away in shame.

The young man said to Li Chengqian and the others, "Be objective and don't listen to his nonsense. He was caught stealing and is holding a grudge."

Bai Zhang smiled and said, "So that's how it is."

Fang Wenjue and Wang Hui's expressions suddenly brightened up, and they snorted coldly, "Just tell me, how could the old Shangshu be such a person?"

Because of this little incident, the group ended their dinner in a hurry.

In the middle of the night, there was a knock on Li Chenghuan's door, and a voice came from outside: "Your Majesty, it's me."

Li Chenghuan did not sleep. He lit a candle and sat at the table, as if waiting for someone to come.

"Come in."

Liao Baifan pushed the door open and walked in, clasping his fists and bowing: "I have already ordered people to check the whereabouts of the Japanese pirates. I have come to report to the emperor that no trace of Eunuch Lin was found from Hangzhou Prefecture to Qianzhou."

Li Chengqian's face tensed: "Did you miss anything?"

Liao Baifan said, "I need to buy a horse when I go from Hangzhou to Qianzhou. I asked around the horse-selling places along the way, but I never saw anyone who looked like Eunuch Lin."

Li Chengqian felt a little depressed and regretted extremely that he should have placed a spy following him at the beginning.

It is not known whether he escaped or was in danger.

If Lin Nanjie wanted to escape before, he would be angry.

But now, I would rather he escaped halfway, or Liao Baifan just missed it.

"Go check it out again."

Liao Baifan didn't ask any more questions: "Yes."

-

Lin Nanjie was locked up for several days, unable to leave the room, and his bones were almost numb. He faced the tablet of the fourth Miss Xu Jia all day long, and not only that, there was an urn under the tablet.

To round it off, he was living in the same room with the dead.

If it were a timid person, he would have been scared crazy.

Lin Nanjie had nothing else to do, so he burned incense at the tablet of Miss Xu Si every day with a very pious attitude.

No matter what, the dead are greater.

He inserted the three lit incense sticks into the ash burner, put his hands together, and bowed sincerely.

"We are all people with miserable fates. It is better for us to enter the cycle of reincarnation soon. I cannot accompany you to the underworld."

When the wind blew, the three incense sticks went out, leaving only curling white smoke.

Lin Nanqi was dumbfounded.

Are you really going to marry him?

Lin Nanqi said with a bitter face: "Thank you, Fourth Miss, for not giving up. Unfortunately, I am a eunuch, so we are destined not to be husband and wife."

"Your old butler is also very accurate in catching people."

He sighed, "If I were a real eunuch right now and took off my pants, I'm afraid this old minister wouldn't dare to accept me."

The tablet was still new. Lin Nanqi glanced at the words "Xianglan" on it and said softly, "You put out the incense, so you have an unfulfilled wish, right?"

He looked carefully at every corner of the house. The bright red wedding quilt, wedding silk and other items were all new. Except for the bright red crown and the bridal headpin, there were very few things that belonged to Miss Xu herself.

The Xu family was a wealthy family with no shortage of money, but they clearly did not dote on their daughter and were even less kind to her than ordinary families.

The little grandson that Lao Jiang brought on the boat was not his biological grandson, but the child left behind by the second daughter of the Xu family.

Lin Nanjie remembered who Minister Xu was.

Xu Yongjie, the Minister of Rites during the reign of the previous emperor and a member of the Imperial Academy, once suggested to the previous emperor that the harem system of burial alive with the deceased be restored. He also bluntly stated that the previous emperor's health was deteriorating because of the backlash caused by the abolition of the burial alive system by the Great Qi Dynasty.

The late emperor had been seeking immortality and medicine every day, so he believed this and issued an edict. Fortunately, the ministers in the court gave up the idea.

Xu Yongjie also wrote a widely circulated article on women's virtues. In it, he wrote that women are virtuous even if they are not talented. Men are noble when they are strong, and women are beautiful when they are weak. The husband is the guide of the wife, and even if the husband is not virtuous, the wife must be obedient. It was sought after by countless people.

Xu Yongjie was not only cruel to others, but also merciless to the women in his family. He knew that his best friend's son was not a good match, but he still insisted on marrying his eldest daughter to him, and she was abused to death. He married his second daughter to a poor student, and because of the meager dowry, she was beaten and scolded by her mother-in-law. Her husband ignored her and she jumped into the river to die because of the humiliation. The third daughter was strong-willed and insisted on marrying the man she chose. The poor fourth daughter heard that her husband was cruel, and she was locked in the room when she pleaded with her father. She was worried that she would be buried in the underworld, so she hanged herself on the beam with a white silk.

Xu Yongjie would rather violate the law and arrange a ghost marriage for the fourth young lady Xu, which makes Lin Nanjie look even weirder.

"Because the eldest son has no children and the youngest son failed the imperial examination, you think it's the fault of the wronged spirit of Fourth Miss Xu? So you thought of finding a husband for the wronged spirit of Fourth Miss Xu and letting her go to the underworld to reincarnate as soon as possible?"

"To arrange a ghost marriage for a living person, what a vicious method."