When a fourth-rank official invites you to dinner, it is definitely not as simple as just eating.

After lunch, the three of them moved to the flower hall to have tea. Wu Shilai found an excuse to send his nephew away.

Wu Kangyuan was a little surprised when he heard that. He looked at Zhao Hao apologetically and then left unhappily.

When they were the only ones left in the hall, Wu Shilai brought up the topic of Zhao Hao's "First Encounter" and said with a smile, "No wonder the ancients said 'poetic talent is a gift from heaven'. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I really couldn't believe that a young and romantic man like my nephew could write a poem as profound and sad as "Last Night's Dream of the Red Chamber."

"Well, my family encountered some misfortune this year, and I just have some feelings." Zhao Hao knew someone would ask this question, and he had already thought about how to respond.

"Yes, Mr. Zhao has suffered an unexpected disaster." Wu Shilai looked at Zhao Hao and said slowly: "My teacher often said that the Ming Dynasty is now spending more than it earns, and it needs a financial expert like Mr. Zhao."

The teacher Wu Shilai mentioned was naturally Elder Xu...

When Zhao Hao heard this, the blood in his body stopped flowing. He could naturally hear the hidden meaning behind the other party's words.

This is a hint to myself that Lord Xu might be able to help the old man make a comeback!

If the old man could be reinstated, why would he bother to cling to others? Wouldn't it be nice to just be a yamen son and wait for others to cling to him?

But soon, his boiling blood calmed down. How can there be a free lunch in the world? This matter can't be that simple.

He pretended not to understand and said to Wu Shilai with a sigh, "My father-in-law was sent to Beijing for investigation. I'm afraid he can no longer serve the court."

"Alas, my nephew only knows one side of the story." Wu Shilai shook his head and smiled slightly, "It is true that your grandfather was sent to the capital for investigation, but the punishment he received was a bit heavy. I am afraid that someone is taking the opportunity to curry favor with the authorities. Now that the elder knows about it, he will naturally report it to Your Majesty at the appropriate time."

After a pause, he glanced at Zhao Hao and said meaningfully, "By the way, Your Majesty has read "First Encounter Collection"."

"Oh? Such a humble work actually alarmed His Majesty?" Zhao Hao couldn't help but be shocked.

"It was presented to Your Majesty by the eldest princess. She said that once the new emperor ascended the throne, a poet would emerge in the Ming Dynasty, which was a good omen. Your Majesty was very happy." Wu Shilai chuckled and said, "As the saying goes, 'If the emperor likes it, the people below will be interested in it.' I believe that from now on, your masterpieces will be heard by Your Majesty as soon as possible."

“Then I won’t dare to write random poems from now on.” Zhao Hao couldn’t help but smile bitterly. It has only been more than a month since "Collection of First Sights" was published. The speed of cultural dissemination in the Ming Dynasty was too fast.

"Alas, nephew, what you said is wrong. This is your advantage. You should make good use of it and do more good things for the people of the world." Wu Shilai finally got to the point and asked in a low voice, "What do you think of Lord Xu, nephew?"

"A good prime minister who restores order and saves the time." Zhao Hao answered softly, and he felt no guilt in saying this.

"Yes, at that time, the Ming Dynasty was in turmoil from the Japanese in the south, border troubles in the north, rampant corrupt officials outside, and treacherous officials in power inside. If it weren't for the gift of God, Lord Xu, who worked hard to manage and regulate yin and yang, our Ming Dynasty would have been gone long ago." Wu Shilai sighed deeply, looked deeply at Zhao Hao and said, "Unfortunately, because of Gao Xinzheng's previous incident, Your Majesty has some misunderstandings about my master. In addition, the treacherous officials around Your Majesty did evil things that happened to the emperor, and most of them were discouraged by the censors. Your Majesty actually thought that it was my master who instructed them to do it behind the scenes..."

Zhao Hao nodded slightly, but sneered secretly in his heart. As the saying goes, 'You rise by this, and you must fall by this'. Since he, Lord Xu, relied on the channels of speech to bring down Gao Xinzheng, he would naturally have to bear the evil consequences brought about by the censors' unscrupulousness and pursuit of reputation for being upright.

"My dear nephew and my Zhaodong are close friends," he was just daydreaming when he suddenly heard Wu Shilai whisper, "Please do me a favor."

Zhaodong is Wu Kangyuan's pen name.

"Uncle, please tell me. As long as I can do it, I will do it." Zhao Hao sat up straight, but he was extremely alert. He thought to himself, this guy will not let me write a poem to satirize the emperor!

You can't do that no matter what.

"Please write two poems to accompany my teacher." But Wu Shilai said, "This should be easy for me."

"Fortunately..." Zhao Hao secretly breathed a sigh of relief. At any time, the risk factor of flattery is much lower than that of criticism. But he still said with embarrassment: "I'm afraid this is not appropriate. I'm still a child. How can I sing with the prime minister?"

"Ah, it's very suitable." Wu Shilai waved his hand and smiled, "In terms of age, official position, and moral prestige, who in the Ming Dynasty can compare with Yuan Fu? But the literary world is not the officialdom. As long as you write good articles and poems well, your status is higher than others. Otherwise, there are countless people older than Wang Yanzhou in the literary world, but why did they elect him as the leader?"

"That's right." Wu Shilai slapped his head as if he remembered something, stood up, took out a pile of poems from the bookshelf, handed them to Zhao Hao for review, and said, "Alliance Master Wang also wrote a lot of poems for my master, take a look."

Zhao Hao took it with both hands and read it seriously. There were more than 30 poems in the pile, all of which were flattering and made people blush. He didn't know how Alliance Leader Wang wrote them.

Of course, it is understandable that Lord Xu helped to rehabilitate Alliance Leader Wang's father, and that he wrote such a flattering poem in gratitude to express his gratitude.

~~

Obviously, Wu Shilai took out Alliance Leader Wang's poem and showed it to Zhao Hao just to set an example for him - look, Alliance Leader Wang has no shame, so what do you have to worry about as a little kid?

Zhao Hao thought to himself that this was true. As long as he could help the old man get back to his old age, it wouldn't be shameful to call Xu Jie "grandpa"... But Xu Jie is actually the same age as his grandfather.

Thinking of this, he asked in a deep voice: "Can Yuanfu really restore my father-in-law?"

Wu Shilai was slightly stunned when he heard this. He thought poets were ashamed to talk about profit, but he didn't expect that this guy treated writing poetry as a business.

Although it is essentially a business.

"It is not appropriate to take action this year." He nodded and smiled, "After the beginning of spring, the position of Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue will be vacant. At the same time, the Secretary of the Ministry of Personnel will find that the treatment of your grandfather was wrong. At that time, the Prime Minister will go with the flow. Please consider showing some mercy and compensate your grandfather. Your Majesty has always been willing to accept good advice, and will definitely make special arrangements for your grandfather."

"Okay then..." Although Zhao Hao knew that the situation next year might not be optimistic, he still agreed to the other party's proposal.

Because even if the other party did not give him any promise, Zhao Hao would agree to sing the same tune with Xu Ge Lao. As the saying goes, the arm cannot bend the thigh, he dare not offend even Wu Shilai, let alone offend Xu Ge Lao.

And don't forget, his thin arms are for hugging thighs...

ps. The eighth update, 3000 votes plus update, I was confused just now, I couldn’t calculate the number of votes after a long time... I continue to ask for monthly votes! Recommendation votes!!