On the way back, the young county lady told Zhao Hao that Xiao Zhuzi had said yesterday that she would come to pick him up, but today someone came to say that Mr. Zhang would not let him go out.

Zhao Hao thought to himself, wow, this is a show of strength from the idol, it looks like this level is not going to be easy...

But this is a good thing. After all, the idol has something important to discuss with me, so he would definitely not refuse to let me come.

Anyway, no matter what you do, you can't escape the idol's sharp eyes, so you might as well lie down and let him do it... Oh no, just wait and see.

As for Her Royal Highness, she has already taken the last Royal Shipping ship south for the winter. It is said that the time for my godmother to go south is getting earlier and earlier. At first it was in winter, last year it was in October, and this year she set off directly in September.

People grow old easily, but the sky never does. Double Ninth Festival comes every year. Today is Double Ninth Festival again, and the yellow flowers on the battlefield are especially fragrant.

The strong autumn wind comes once a year, not like spring. But it is better than spring, with frost covering the vast river and sky!

So after arriving in Beijing, the group went straight back to Zhaojia Hutong.

At this moment, the old man and Ye are nowhere to be found, and Zhao Shouye has been put on unpaid leave... Oh no, he resigned due to illness and has become a full-time director of the Inspection and Supervision Committee of Jiangnan Group.

In his words, his nephew had built up such a huge business, and it would not be possible without someone to look after it.

As for Wang Wuyang's disciples, they were sent to various provinces to participate in the provincial examinations and had not yet returned to the capital. Therefore, at this time, only Zhao Xian and his wife were waiting for him in the Zhao family's house.

Zhao Xian has grown a mustache and looks calm and capable, much better than before. In addition, his wife Song's belly is bulging, and she is about to give birth after the Chinese New Year.

Song was the daughter of Song Yingchang, the governor of Jiangzhou. Song Yingchang was a Jinshi in the 44th year of Jiajing. It was said that he had a strange appearance, with a purple beard and a face that looked like a god. He was also a swordsman and a natural hero. When he was working as a messenger in the Ministry of Rides, he went to Nanjing on official business and was spotted by Zhao Liben.

Zhao Liben was sure that this man would achieve great things and that the daughter he raised would be of extraordinary character, so he acted decisively and arranged such a marriage for Zhao Xian.

Once, the old man got drunk and told Zhao Hao that the key point was that the girl had a good last name, and he thought it would bring prosperity to the Zhao family. Zhao Hao was so shocked when he heard this...

But the Song family was also very particular, at least not like the two marriages that the old man had arranged for his father and his father. They broke off the engagement as soon as they saw that the situation was not good. Song Yingchang, who was already the governor of Jiangzhou, even wrote a letter to Zhao Shouye to ask about the wedding date to show that he had no intention of regretting the marriage.

What is the saying that if you compare yourself to others, you will die, and if you compare goods to others, you will throw them away? This made Zhao Shouzheng secretly complain that the old man was partial. It was fine for him, but he also found a greedy businessman as his father-in-law for Zhao Hao. As a result, he became a divorced person at a young age. I don’t know if it will affect his personality in the future.

In fact, the old man was going to die unjustly. The match he arranged for Zhao Shouzheng was the daughter of the chief priest of the Imperial College in Nanjing; the match he arranged for Zhao Hao was the daughter of the president of the Jinling Suzhou Chamber of Commerce. Which one was worse than the daughter of a newly-minted scholar?

It should be possible for the father and son to live a rich and noble life. But how can one understand human nature without going through hardships?

Besides, it was a good thing that it didn't work out in the first place, otherwise if Her Royal Highness the Princess had intervened as a third party, Mr. Zhao's life would have been in turmoil.

~~

After the family had lunch, Zhao Hao prepared to go back to his yard to rest.

The young Lord and Xiwa also wanted to follow, but the young county lady kindly reminded them: "Brother, you should go back to the palace to work."

"Oh, I've asked for leave from the prince." Li Chengen answered indifferently.

"The prince is only a few years old, what's the point of asking him for leave? If something happens to you, your lives will be in danger!" The young county lady smiled like spring breeze, but her tone was like a knife, chilling people to the bone. Especially the last sentence, she almost gritted her teeth.

Li Chengen felt a chill down his spine, knowing that if he didn't know what was going on, something bad would happen. He had no choice but to change his words: "That's right, we've been out for too long."

After saying that, he pulled Xiwa out.

"Don't pull me, I haven't been close to my uncle enough." Zhao Shixi was very unhappy.

"Alright, alright, let's kiss again later." Li Chengen whispered, "My sister is going to show her knife."

Only then did Xiwa stop struggling and followed him away obediently.

Before leaving, the young master told Zhao Hao that he had watched the Crown Prince's movies several times and urged him to release the new October series as soon as possible.

Mr. Zhao was helpless. Doesn't this little fat guy do anything else all day? He built an Ani animation group in Beijing and hired ten painters to draw for him alone, but they couldn't keep up with him. Although the otaku training plan seems to be progressing smoothly, being constantly urged to update will cause endocrine disorders.

He asked Li Chengen to tell Zhu Yijun that he was planning an exciting New Year's blockbuster, and asked His Highness to be patient and not to rush him, otherwise he would not be able to produce a good product.

After sending away the idlers, Secretary Ma and Qiaoqiao also disappeared tactfully. Zhao Hao and the young county lady were finally left alone, so they took off their shoes and went to bed... to talk.

The two of them squeezed on a Xiangfei couch, sharing a pillow, head to head, talking about their feelings after separation. As the saying goes, when you are full and warm, you want to sleep. The afternoon sun shines through the glass window onto the two of them, making them want to sleep.

Then they fell asleep...

When it was dark, Secretary Ma knocked on the door and said that the young master's elder brother had arrived. Zhao Hao got up reluctantly and asked Sister Ma to come in to help him dress and wash, and then went to the living room to meet Zhao Jin.

The older brother was wearing an official robe and sitting there drinking tea. It was obvious that he had come directly from the yamen.

Yu Jiachang's son Yu Peng stood aside, still serving as Zhao Jin's attendant.

Zhao Hao quickly walked around the screen and came out, bowing and smiling, "I was planning to send someone to pay a visit tomorrow. How dare I trouble you, my elder brother, to come in person?"

"Hahaha, stop it." Zhao Jin stood up suddenly, walked quickly forward, helped Zhao Hao up and looked him up and down with excitement on his face.

"Well, after three years, you have grown up and are now half a head taller than me."

As he spoke, he recalled, "I remember when we were in Caijia Lane, you were half a head shorter than me."

"If I don't grow up in the past few years, wouldn't that be bad?" Zhao Hao also smiled happily and said, "Brother, you look much younger than you did back then!"

This was not purely a courtesy. The thief who served in Caijia Lane had a wrinkled face and a hunched back, and looked older than Yu Jiachang.

But in fact, Zhao Jin was only fifty years old at that time. It was the mental torture and the hardship in life that made him look old and frail, as if he was about to die.

Although my brother has been in the wild land of Guangxi in recent years, as a provincial governor, his body and mind are naturally cared for in the most meticulous way.

Now he is a high-ranking official, and his spirit and body have improved. His back is straighter, his wrinkles have smoothed out, and even his eyes are brighter, as if he has gone back to his forties.

The same rejuvenation phenomenon also happened to Uncle Wu, which shows that power is indeed the best elixir of life for men.

This pair of old brothers with a huge age gap are not only friends in poverty, but also each other's most important support. Otherwise, with Zhao Tingwei's current status, how could he condescend to welcome Zhao Hao?

After a period of intimacy, the two sat down again. Zhao Hao asked Qiaoqiao, who came in to serve tea, to prepare hot pot and invite his old brother to have hot pot in the evening.

"When I arrived in the capital, I remembered the mutton hotpot dinner my elder brother treated me and my son to when he was the Minister of Imperial Households." Zhao Hao said with a smile, "We can relive it again today."

"Oh hahaha." Zhao Jin was stunned at first, then he recalled and laughed out loud, "I was in Guanglu Temple at that time, and it was indeed more convenient to eat and drink."

After saying that, he clasped his fists towards Zhao Hao and said, "I have to thank you for your encouragement to my son. This time when I returned to Beijing, I saw that he finally turned over a new leaf. Your sister-in-law and I are very happy. She has mentioned it many times, asking me to come home some other day so that she can make dumplings for you."

Just as he said, after Xiwa came to Beijing, she no longer associated with those questionable people, nor went to casinos or brothels. She returned home after work every day, and the ladies of noble families usually did not go out of the house, which really relieved the old couple of a big worry. I really don’t know how Mr. Zhao disciplined her?

"I didn't care about him. A tree grows straight when it's grown naturally." Zhao Hao spoke the truth. He thought Xiwa had changed so much because he was too unlucky...

"Ah. Time flies. Three years have passed in the blink of an eye." The elder brother sighed again: "Although I knew you were a genius at that time, I didn't expect you to achieve such a great career in three years."

"It's mainly due to luck and timing. Besides, it's just a piece of cake on the outside, but it has a lot of problems on the inside." Zhao Hao waved his hand modestly and said honestly, "I won't be polite to my elder brother. To be honest, I didn't expect that Jiangnan Group could develop so fast. According to my idea at that time, without my godmother as a backer, I would be satisfied if I could open up the situation and achieve the level of Xishan Company in three years."

As he spoke, he sighed with infinite emotion, "But Jiangnan has suffered for a long time, and its industry and commerce are highly developed, but it suffers from the lack of organization and system, and it is completely leaderless. It can be said that everything is ready, except for the east wind. The emergence of Jiangnan Group just made up for this defect, and as a result, it rose all of a sudden and could not be stopped."

"I had no choice but to slow down the pace of the group this year. One reason was to cultivate internal strength and build a system. The other was to dispel some people's concerns." Zhao Hao smiled bitterly and said, "Unfortunately, the tree wants to be quiet but the wind does not stop. People still keep an eye on it."

Zhao Jin naturally knew who Zhao Hao was referring to. As the Minister of Dali, he could well understand Lord Gao's vigilance towards officials from Jiangnan, so he attached great importance to Zhao Hao's visit to Beijing this time.

"Fortunately, this time, Mr. Gao has something to ask of you, so you can take this opportunity to improve your situation." Zhao Jin took a sip of tea and said, "By the way, you may not know that today, the court discussed Altan Khan's tribute, and the result was 16 votes in favor, 20 votes against, and 9 abstentions, and finally rejected the matter."

"Oh, so urgent?" Zhao Hao looked at the calendar hanging on the wall. Today was not the first and fifteenth day of the lunar month, but it was pushed forward in advance. Lord Gao was really impatient.

"I guess he wants to rely on himself and try to force it once." Zhao Jin sneered, "Otherwise, he will have to compromise. Gao Ge Lao is now the winner, so he naturally doesn't want to beg for mercy."

"Then how will he end up?" Zhao Hao asked.

"He had already prepared for the failure of the court meeting." Zhao Jin said with some disdain: "The result was submitted, and an imperial decree came down in the afternoon saying that the court meeting was inappropriate and should be held after the court meeting on the first and fifteenth day of the lunar month..."

P.S. I'm very sorry, I have guests at home today, and I just finished one chapter. Go to bed early tonight and write well tomorrow...