Governor Lin's boat sailed down the river and arrived at the Huating County official wharf at dark.

The dock was brightly lit and heavily guarded.

Songjiang prefect Zhong Zhenji, Huating county magistrate Zheng Yue, retired music minister Xu Fan, Shangbao minister Xu Ying and other Songjiang officials and gentry had been waiting at the dock for nearly an hour.

Watching the double-decker official ship slowly approaching the shore, Xu Ying, whose wounds had not yet healed, snorted in dissatisfaction.

"Finally, we're here. We've been waiting for so long."

Xu Fan, who had just recovered from his club sore, was also very unhappy. At the beginning, Lin Run was just a knife in his father's hand, but now he had to wait so long.

Don’t you know that my legs and feet are still not in good condition?

However, after being scolded by the old man, Xu Fan's temper has been restrained a lot. He still has a smile on his face, and follows the prefect to bow deeply to Governor Lin.

"Please don't be polite, everyone." Lin Run walked down from the boat with a loud laugh. The evening breeze was chilling to the bone. He put on an ink-black brocade cloak over his crimson official robe. He was still outstanding even in the night.

"We were delayed in Kunshan and kept Prefect Zhong and Lord Xu waiting for a long time."

"You are too kind, Zhongcheng. You have devoted all your energy and worked day and night for the ten prefectures in the south of the Yangtze River. What does it matter if we wait a little while?" Zhong Zhengji was also an old flatterer.

"Yes, it is a blessing for the people of Songjiang that the Zhongcheng can come to inspect." Xu Fan smiled and made a gesture of invitation to Lin Run.

"My father has specially prepared some wine in my humble abode, waiting to welcome the Prime Minister."

"Then it's better to be smart than to be respectful." Lin Run happily got into the sedan chair, and Xu Fan and others also got into their own sedan chairs. The team marched towards Tuisi Garden in the east of the city.

The roads in the city had long been paved with yellow earth, and idle people were driven out. The militiamen, wearing the blue cloth uniforms of Songjiang, stood guard every three steps and every five steps, all the way from the dock to Tuisi Garden.

Lin Run opened the curtain of the sedan chair and saw the grand scene of Songjiang Prefecture outside, and couldn't help shaking his head.

He knew clearly that Zhong Zhengji and his gang were making such an exaggeration not only to please him, but more importantly to prevent unruly people from stopping the sedan chair in the street to file a complaint.

The people of Susong are always litigious. Now that Beppu has completed the land survey, only Songjiang has not yet taken any action. The people must be very angry. If Zhong Zhenji does not defend it strictly, it will be very embarrassing.

While I was daydreaming, the sedan chair arrived outside a luxurious garden. The entrance door, illuminated by lanterns and torches, was as bright as day.

Elder Xu, dressed in a Taoist robe and a square scarf, was leaning on a rattan cane. He was standing between the pair of large stone lions with a smile on his face, nodding to Lin Run.

"Mr. Yuan, I missed you very much after not seeing you in Nanjing for several months. I wonder how you are doing?" Lin Run quickly got out of the sedan chair and rushed forward to pay his respects as a junior.

"Oh haha." Xu Jie smiled and helped Lin Run up, saying, "Thanks to Zhong Cheng, I feel much better recently."

After saying this, he took Lin Run's hand and walked into the garden with her.

On the carefully trimmed trees in the garden, there are colorful lanterns made of gauze; in the holes of the Taihu stone rockery, there are also various ancient incense burners.

There are curls of incense smoke, colorful lights, lights everywhere, and loud music from time to time. There is endless peace and endless wealth and elegance.

"They specially prepared this to welcome the Zhongcheng. The garden is usually dark and gloomy, so I am lucky to have the Zhongcheng here." Lord Xu explained with a smile:

"In my garden, apart from three halls and one building, there are bamboo fences, thatched pavilions, and thatched cottages. It is about the natural wildness, which is out of tune with these exquisite things."

"Mr. Yuan has worked for the country for half his life, so he shouldn't be too frugal in his daily life." Lin Run also advised Lord Xu in return.

The crowd followed the winding path with beautiful lights, walked for a cup of tea in the "simple and natural" "humble home" of Lord Xu, and arrived in front of the "Xianyun Hall" located in the center of the garden.

At the entrance of the brightly lit building, there was a pair of sandalwood couplets hanging, which read:

'The refreshing air cools down the hot autumn, and a piece of idle cloud separates the sky and water from afar.'

Walking into Xianyun Hall, you will see a total of thirty-six crystal glass lamps hanging on the beams. Each lamp has several lamps hanging on it, all made of colored glass, and all of them are exquisitely shaped.

Two or three hundred glass lamps were lit up at the same time like silver flowers and snow waves, the lamps vying for brilliance up and down, just like that glass world and the Buddhist treasure universe.

As for the exquisite bonsai lamps, pearl curtains and embroidered screens in various places in the hall, they are all ingeniously displayed, just like a painting.

Amid the melodious humming of Kunshan dialect, pretty maids with jingling jewelry walked around with trays of various colors in their hands, adding delicacies and fine wines to the guests' tables.

After the guests of honor were seated, Prefect Zhong gave a welcome speech first, and then everyone toasted Lord Xu for health and longevity, and the banquet officially began.

People in Songjiang don't force others to drink, so after several prominent figures toasted Lin Zhongcheng, everyone else drank as they pleased.

Xu Jie and Lin Run sat together and had a very pleasant chat.

The two had a deep relationship. The greatest achievement of Xu Ge Lao's life, "overthrowing Yan", can be said to be "started by Zou Yinglong and completed by Lin Run."

When Yan Shifan was impeached and fell from power by Zou Yinglong, he was supposed to be exiled to Hainan. However, he and his accomplice Luo Longwen did not go to the garrison at all, but wandered around Jiangxi and Jiangnan, recruiting bandits under the pretext of buying houses, intending to flee to the sea and establish a base overseas like Wang Zhi.

However, the two's plot was discovered by Lin Run, who was inspecting Jiangnan, and he immediately reported to the court. In the name of the emperor, Xu Ge Lao secretly ordered Lin Run to arrest the two and send them to the capital.

At that time, Yan Shifan had recruited more than 4,000 warriors. In order to avoid forcing him into a desperate situation, Lin Run sent people to keep a close eye on Yan Shifan while deliberately leaking the news to Yan Shifan's son, Yan Shaoting, who was then a captain of the Imperial Guard.

Yan Shaoting didn't know it was a trick, so he quickly passed the news to Yan Shifan. As he expected, Yan Shifan didn't dare to confront him, and chose to escape to avoid the wind, but was captured by Lin Run on the way.

Luo Longwen fled to Wuzhou, but was also captured by Lin Run's men.

What happened back then is now just a dinner table anecdote, but Xu Jie and Lin Run, the two eyewitnesses, still remember the tension and worry at the time.

At that time, the Japanese invasion in Jiangnan had just been settled, and monsters were rampant. If we were not careful in handling the situation, it would cause chaos, or allow Yan Shifan to escape to the sea and become a pirate leader more terrifying than Wang Zhi...

No matter what the result is, it is unbearable for Xu Ge Lao and Lin Run.

Recalling the past, Xu Jie couldn't help but praise: "Ruoyu was only in her early thirties at the time. She was really mature and courageous!"

When Lin Run heard this, the image of the fifteen-year-old boy emerged in his mind, and he thought to himself that this was the true maturity of a young man...

"Isn't it all thanks to Mr. Yuan's full support?" He smiled modestly and said, "Otherwise, even if you give me courage, I wouldn't dare to take such a risk."

"Fortunately, there was no danger, and we successfully escorted Yan and Luo to the capital, which also made you, Lin Ruoyu, famous in history." Elder Xu laughed loudly, clinked glasses with Lin Run, drank it all in one gulp, and said with a smile:

"After returning home this time, being able to drink and chat with Ruoyu again is really a great pleasure in my life."

"That's right." Lin Run put down his wine cup, smiled and said charmingly, "I came here not only to visit Yuan Fu, but also to discuss something with you."

ps. The first of three consecutive updates.