Zhao Liben's taking a walk to digest his food was just an excuse. Having achieved his goal, he was no longer interested in standing outside in the fresh air.

The wind at the end of October is cold enough even in Yangzhou.

After returning to the main room, Zhao Liben asked the pretty maid to lead Zhao Hao to the bedroom to rest.

"My dear grandson, take a nap first," Zhao Liben said to Zhao Hao with his hands behind his back, smiling, "We have a meeting tonight, so you better stay alert."

Zhao Hao felt a chill and a little creepy.

But in the old Zhao family, he has the final say when Grandpa is not around. When Grandpa is around, he has no final say. Zhao Hao still knows this position clearly.

Then I went into the bedroom, the maid made the bed, filled the hot water bottle with boiling water, put it into a soft Songjiang cotton bag, and stuffed it into the quilt to warm the bed.

Then she helped Zhao Hao take off his shoes, made him a pot of tea, and said softly, "Master, please take a rest. I will be waiting outside. If you need anything, just call me."

Zhao Hao nodded, lying flat on the soft Qiangong bed, staring at the silken cloth on the ceiling of the tent, and in a trance he seemed to be back to the time when he first arrived in the noble realm.

The mulberry silk quilt was as light as a feather and the hot water bottle continued to emit warmth, but Zhao Hao had no desire to sleep at all. His mind was rapidly thinking about the old man.

Obviously, the incident at the beginning of the year was a sudden disaster for the descendants of the Zhao family. But Zhao Liben had anticipated it and even deliberately exposed his flaws in order to retreat in order to advance.

This was not Zhao Hao's imagination, but was deduced from Zhao Liben's current situation. In fact, considering Zhao Liben's experience in the dangerous political world, it was not surprising that he would make such an arrangement. After all, Gao Gong was promoted to Minister of Rites two years ago and was about to join the cabinet. If the conflict between the two was really irreconcilable, how could Zhao Liben sit there and wait for death? He would definitely prepare for a rainy day!

Combining his elder brother's analysis, Zhao Hao estimated that Zhao Liben had done at least three things, including secretly transferring his property to Yangzhou in advance, using the South Ministry of Revenue deficit incident to punish himself with three cups of wine in exchange for a safe retreat, and creating public opinion that he was persecuted by Gao Gong.

In the end, a catastrophic disaster was averted at the cost of just 50,000 taels of silver.

After all, if he waited for Gao Gong to launch an attack from Beijing, the situation would get out of control and he would probably end up in jail and have his family destroyed because of the stolen money.

In this case, the old man must have a lot of cards in his hand.

Wu Ji has one share, and those censors who spoke for him before were probably not just doing it for the sake of justice. Maybe they had some shameful dealings with the old man.

And the timely appearance of the secret letter showed that the old man had not only been secretly observing his father and son, but also knew everything that happened in Jinling City.

How secret was it that Zhou Jijiu secretly met with a famous prostitute? It was chilling to think that the old man could get the poem he wrote to Zhu Taiyu.

"It turns out that my Zhao family is not as pitiful, weak and helpless as I imagined."

"With such a strong backer, I can take bigger steps and don't have to be as cautious as before."

Zhao Hao was secretly happy at first, but then he thought that in less than two years, Gao Xinzheng would make a comeback.

I couldn't help but feel discouraged again. I didn't dare to take too big a step, otherwise I would definitely get my balls pulled...

"Oh my, when will this end?"

Zhao Hao was twisted into a dough twist in the **.

~~

In the evening, the maid called Zhao Hao.

Two more maids came in, holding new robes. After helping Zhao Hao wash and dress up, they took him back to the main room.

In the main room, Zhao Liben was drinking tea alone, but there was no sign of Zhao Shouzheng and Zhao Xian.

"Grandpa." Zhao Hao bowed to the boss politely.

"Well, are you up?" Zhao Liben put down his teacup and looked Zhao Hao up and down. He saw that Zhao Hao was wearing a snow-white silk robe embroidered with dark green bamboo leaf patterns, a mutton-fat white jade hairpin on his head, and a emerald green jade pendant hanging around his waist. His red lips and white teeth made him look even more luxurious and extraordinary.

"Well, not bad. It has the charm of me when I was young." Zhao Liben praised and nodded with satisfaction.

"Grandpa, why do you want me to dress like this?" Although Zhao Hao is also a show-off, he can't help feeling uneasy when letting the old man dress like this.

"Didn't I tell you? We have a game tonight." Zhao Liben stood up slowly, and Zhao Hao hurried forward to support him.

"Mrs. Ye, the major shareholder of Wu Ji, heard that you were here and wanted to treat you to a meal."

"Oh..." Zhao Hao had been hanging around in Jinling City for some time and had already heard of the name of Widow Ye.

Considering that the salt merchant who brought them here was also named Ye, and that the gardens of the two families were actually connected, Mr. Zhao, who loved to fantasize, had to wonder if his grandfather, the old widower, had an affair with the widow Ye.

Of course, he didn't dare to say it out loud. He just asked quietly, "What about father and elder brother?"

"They have other social engagements. A few fellow townsmen from Xiuning invited your father to dinner, and your eldest brother went to join them." Zhao Liben answered casually as he walked out.

As they were talking, the grandfather and grandson came outside and saw hundreds or even thousands of colored glass lanterns lit up in the garden, illuminating the entire garden with bright lights, as if it were a fairyland.

Zhao Hao couldn't help but secretly gasp, wondering how much money the old man had? How dare he spend so much?

Zhao Liben was used to it and didn't think it was a waste. He just kept talking to Zhao Hao, "Later, you can call Madam Ye Grandma Ye."

"Yeah." Zhao Hao nodded, further confirming his guess.

He thought to himself shamelessly, Widow Ye is so rich, so what's wrong with calling her grandma?

The two of them walked to a brightly lit waterside pavilion, and Zhao Liben stopped. He slapped his head as if he had just remembered something and said:

"By the way, Madam Ye's granddaughter is here too."

"Well……"

Zhao Hao’s eyes immediately widened. What was going on?

Zhao Liben turned his head and looked at him, smiling faintly, "My dear grandson is very smart, you should know what grandpa means, right?"

Zhao Hao thought to himself, of course I understand!

Isn’t it just a blind date?

I'm not bragging, but the number of people I dated in my previous life must have been a whole platoon...

I thought that after arriving in the Ming Dynasty, I could finally escape the fate of endless blind dates, but who would have thought that less than a year later, I would be arranged to go on another blind date?

"Speak?" Zhao Liben urged impatiently.

"Uh, Grandpa, I understand." Zhao Hao scratched his head awkwardly and said, "But you see, I'm still young. If there is really a need for an alliance, I think my brother is the right person..."

"If you keep talking nonsense, I'm going to beat you up!" Zhao Liben raised his hand and said with a smile, "You broke off the engagement, but Zhao Xian didn't! I've already picked a date for him, and they'll get married next year!"

After a pause, Zhao Liben sighed and said, "Besides, your brother is such a coward, so even his granddaughter has to be pleased with him."

ps. Chapter 8, 1800 votes and more updates delivered, please give me monthly votes and recommendation votes~~~~