Chapter 103: The Emperor's Way of Celebrating the New Year

Finally, the owner of the house noticed the commotion and called over a dozen strong guards to separate the group of young people.

At this time, all the heads of the families rushed over. Young Master Chen protected Young Master Chen, who had a bruised face and nose, behind him, and then looked at the several illegitimate sons of the Cui family who were also injured, with his brows wrinkled into the shape of the Chinese character "川".

Most of the young men and their families who participated in the melee looked unhappy, but considering that this was in someone else's house and the host was always there to mediate, out of respect and courtesy, they did not quarrel.

Seeing that everyone had calmed down, the host asked everyone to go back to the front yard and the banquet would start soon.

A group of people walked towards the front yard again. Where no one noticed, a black, blood-stained needle fell from the sleeve of Master Cui and fell into a pile of dry grass.

It would be bad to leave early. Even though his brother said he was not feeling well, Mr. Chen still advised him to eat a few bites before leaving, otherwise he would be embarrassed to say goodbye to the host.

Young Master Chen touched his neck. During the fight just now, he felt an inexplicable pain in his neck, as if he had been pricked by a needle.

But compared to the fists and feet hitting him, the pain was nothing, so he didn't pay attention to it at the time, but now the painful area suddenly felt a little itchy.

Young Master Chen grabbed his neck and suddenly his stomach started to hurt. He reached out to grab his eldest brother's sleeve, wanting to say that he was feeling uncomfortable, but as soon as he opened his mouth, a stream of black blood gushed out of his mouth.

A scream rang out, and Young Master Chen fell into his eldest brother's arms, his body twitching and spitting blood.

He heard his brother calling him, and he tried to respond, but he had no strength.

It hurts so much, he wanted to tell his elder brother that his whole body was in pain.

But until his last breath, Young Master Chen did not utter a single word. His eyes were wide open, his pupils dilated, and he died with his eyes open.

Someone died during the birthday banquet, and the old birthday star was so frightened that he fainted on the spot.

When the doctor arrived, Young Master Chen's body was already cold.

After inspection, it was confirmed that Young Master Chen died of poisoning. The poison was extremely toxic and once it took effect, there would be no time to rescue him.

Everyone ate the food at the banquet, and no one was hurt except Young Master Chen, so the poison was not in the food.

Young Master Chen was fine before entering the mansion, which means he was poisoned after entering the mansion. And the most suitable time to poison without being easily discovered was when the group fight just now happened.

Coincidentally, the doctor found that there was a swollen and purple area on Chen Ershao's neck, and guessed that the murderer should have stabbed Chen Ershao with a poisonous silver needle, which led to his death.

This made Master Chen even more certain that the murderer had committed the crime in the melee just now.

Seeing his brother die in his arms, Master Chen became furious and demanded that no one, whether they were fighting or trying to separate them, leave. He wanted to search them one by one to find the poisoned silver needle.

But everyone present was an important figure, and he couldn't search them just because he wanted to. Especially the Cui family, they expressed their dissatisfaction directly.

"Master Chen, although it is a great pity that Master Chen is gone, you have no evidence, so what right do you have to search us?"

"Also, the murder weapon would have been thrown away long ago after the murder. Why would they wait for you to search them? Moreover, the silver needle is tiny. If the murderer took advantage of the chaos and secretly hid it on an innocent person, wouldn't the innocent person be unable to clear his name even if he jumped into the Yellow River?"

If it was someone else who raised the question, Young Master Chen would think that his concern was justified, but it was a member of the Cui family who asked the question, so Young Master Chen knew what he really meant without even having to think about it.

The Cui family was afraid that the Chen family would plant weapons on them and frame them during the body search.

Young Master Chen's eyes were red, and he looked at the Cui family coldly: "The innocent will be innocent. Even if the situation you described could happen, my Chen family will definitely clear the innocent. But you are so eager to jump out and refuse. Do you have something to hide?"

The Cui family members sneered: "Look, you've already started to suspect this and that before you even searched me. If you really found something, you would probably just chop me to death. You wouldn't even give me a chance to redress my grievances!"

Chen Dashao retorted: "Are you the roundworm in my stomach? How do you know what I will do?"

The two men started swearing at each other, but in the end, Master Chen's idea of ​​searching him was not realized.

On the one hand, the guests refused to agree, and on the other hand, his father rushed over with government officials.

The head of the Chen family slapped Young Master Chen in public, apologized to the guests on his behalf, and then sent people to forcibly send Young Master Chen home. He reached an agreement with the host of the birthday banquet and, together with the officials who came to investigate the case, conducted a carpet search of the entire backyard.

After a whole day, I finally found the silver needle in a corner.

The murder weapon was found, but there was still no clue as to who the murderer was.

There were so many people in the backyard that day who participated in the fight and tried to stop the fight, from children of wealthy families to servants. It would take a lot of time to check them all, and it would be even more difficult if someone refused to cooperate.

While the head of the Chen family was helping to arrange the relationship with the noble families to cooperate with the investigation, he also sent people to investigate the source of the poison. This thing could not be obtained in ordinary pharmacies, so it was estimated that it was sold privately.

The case had not been fully investigated yet, so the body of the second young master Chen could only be kept in the morgue of the government office. It was not until nightfall that the head of the Chen family returned home.

He could not hide the fatigue on his face. Young Master Chen and Young Master Chen had been waiting for him. The slap marks on Young Master Chen's face not only did not disappear, but became more obvious.

Patriarch Chen sat down, his face pale, and asked in a hoarse voice, "Is your mother okay?"

When the news of her son's death reached the Chen family, Chen's mother fainted from shock and grief. The head of the Chen family could not take care of his wife, so after ordering the servants to find the court doctor, he hurried to report to the authorities.

After a busy day with nothing to show for it, the pain of losing his son eroded his soul, leaving him exhausted from the inside out.

Young Master Chen said, "Mother is still in a coma. The court doctor said that she just fainted due to anger, and there is nothing wrong with her body."

The head of the Chen family nodded, then looked at the young master Chen with tears in his eyes and said, "Do you blame me for hitting you before?"

Young Master Chen is a sensible man. He had done something offensive at the birthday party only because his brother's sudden death had disturbed his mind, causing him to do the wrong thing impulsively.

"Father is thinking about his son. I understand that as long as the murderer who killed my second brother can be caught, I will not complain no matter how many beatings I take." Young Master Chen's voice was choked with sobs. Watching his brother die with his own eyes was too much of a blow to him.

Patriarch Chen did not give his son an accurate answer, but sighed helplessly.

Because he had a feeling that this matter would end up in nothing.

Sure enough, afterwards they checked all the suspects, but found nothing. The source of the poison was not found either. Both avenues were blocked.

The Chen family knew that Young Master Chen died unjustly, but they couldn't even catch the murderer.

Mother Chen cried until her eyes were almost blinded. She grabbed the sleeve of the head of the Chen family and begged, "Grandpa, please check again. You will definitely find out. Don't give up. If the child knows about it and finds out that we didn't avenge him, he will be so sad."

The eyes of the eldest and third sons Chen were also filled with tears. The eldest son Chen said angrily, "Dad, why do we need to investigate? It must be the Cui family who did it. They were the ones who kept provoking my second brother that day. I heard it all. It was they who scolded my third brother and our Chen family, so my second brother took action to teach them a lesson. I didn't expect that I would fall into their trap!"

The head of the Chen family looked pale. After hearing what his eldest son said, his face showed no emotion, but that didn't mean he wasn't sad.

Although he had previously claimed to be calm and thought that he would never lose his mind for a son like the head of the Li family, when he saw the tragic death of his second son and knew why he had fought with several bastards of the Cui family, he still couldn't control his tears.

Although the second son is a little stupid, he respects his elder brother, is filial to his parents, and is willing to maintain the family honor, unlike Li Ao, the prodigal son.

Before, he had always compared Li Ao with his second son, saying that he was afraid that Li Ao would end up like Li Ao. Unexpectedly, his words came true, and he, like the head of the Li family, had to experience the tragedy of seeing his younger son die before his elder son at this age.

But no matter how angry he was or how much he hated the Cui family, as the head of the Chen family, he could not act on impulse.

"You said it was the Cui family who did it, do you have any evidence?" The head of the Chen family looked at his eldest son coldly, "You can go to the Cui family and make trouble, let them see the joke of the entire Chen family, and then send you to the government. Isn't the lesson your brother paid for with his life enough to wake you up?"

Master Chen burst into tears: "Are we just going to let them go like this?"

The head of the Chen family had a cold and hard expression: "The second son is gone, but we still have to live. Going head-on with the Cui family is like hitting a rock with an egg. Do you want to drag the entire Chen family to be buried with the second son?"

Young Master Chen wanted to say something, but Young Master Chen stopped him, suppressed the hatred in his eyes, and echoed what the head of the Chen family said, "As long as we are still alive, we will always find a chance to avenge our second brother in the next few decades. But if we all die, who will remember the injustice of the Chen family? Isn't the He family the best example?"

The He family's downfall was partly due to the Chen family's doing.

At first, members of the He family were either beheaded and exiled, or reduced to prostitutes and slaves. Their status fell from heaven to dust, with no chance of recovery.

If the Chen family and the Cui family were to fall out and fight openly, the Chen family's fate would probably not be any better.

The head of the He family said: "Only if you stand higher than the Cui family, you are qualified to talk about redressing the grievances. Otherwise, you will only become a laughing stock of others."

Upon hearing this, Chen's mother turned around and shed tears of despair.

陳大少則垂下眼眸，不置一詞，不知是否有将父親和三弟的話聽進了心裏去。

陳二少中毒一事成了懸案，為了讓兒子早日入土為安，沒過幾日，陳家就為陳二少舉辦了隆重的葬禮。

崔家主親自上門吊唁，并且告訴陳家主，無論他信不信，自己都沒有命誰下毒殺害陳二少，兇手肯定不是他們崔家人。

他這種高高在上的态度讓陳家對崔家的恨意又深了幾分，他的說法陳家是否相信沒人知道，不過陳家人都想把他生吞活剝了倒是顯而易見的。

不過有一說一，崔家主是真不知道兇手就是自己的二兒子。

他那天聽說陳二少被毒死以後，将前往壽宴的幾個崔家人都審問了一遍，沒人承認殺了人，他們出言挑釁陳二少，只是想殺殺他的銳氣，免得陳家老是想跟崔家作對。

打架和陳二少死亡，其實都不在他們的預料之內。

崔家主看他們實在不像是在撒謊，自己也沒查到什麽，沒辦法，只能相信他們的話。

其實就算真是崔家人殺了陳二少，崔家主也不會覺得有什麽，不聽話的家夥就是該死。

他是嫌這次下毒做得太明顯，恨不得讓全天下都知道兇手是崔家人一樣，手法太低級，容易惹麻煩，這一點才是讓他很不滿意的。

崔家主其實有一個懷疑對象，那就是自己的嫡次子崔老二，另外幾個庶子被自己審問時害怕得渾身都在抖，只有老二，冷靜得像是自己審問的不是他一樣。

不過從上次流言事件開始，老二就開始單方面跟他冷戰，對他一直是這種不鹹不淡的态度，所以崔家主一時也拿不準兇手到底是不是他。

這事兒也就讓崔家主煩惱了一兩天，因為他清楚哪怕陳二少死了，陳家主為了整個陳家考慮，也不會輕易報複崔家。

連複仇都不敢的一家人，沒什麽好忌憚的。

只能說風水輪流轉吧，去年是崔家沒過好年，陳家看熱鬧，今年換成陳家死人，崔家圍觀。

陳二少出殡那日，那白色紙錢撒得像是要跟天上的雪花争輸贏，路上鋪了一層不說，還有許多被吹到了其它街上去，看起來十分滲人。

陳家主和陳大少請了幾天病假，宗政逍也允了。

戎音看着團在自己懷裏睡覺的狗崽們，表情有些不可思議，他看着宗政逍，道：“不會真是我許的願望成真了吧？我怎麽不知道我有言出法随這個本領。”

宗政逍腿上也趴了兩只狗崽，他輕輕撫摸着他們，笑道：“說不定真是這幾個外孫給咱們帶來的好運呢。”

戎音歡喜道：“那我以後得多蹭蹭它們的好運，保佑我心想事成。”

他話音未落，忽然覺得腿上莫名一熱，低頭看去，發現三豆正翹着小豆芽往他身上尿尿呢。

“啊！不想讓我蹭好運你也別尿我身上啊！”戎音的尖叫聲傳到了外面去，緊接着就是一陣淩亂的狗崽叫聲還有宗政逍肆無忌憚的大笑。

除夕前夜，宗政逍送了一副畫給戎音當新年禮物，戎音激動地打開，結果發現宗政逍畫的是他拎起三豆，低頭看着自己被打濕的褲子哇哇大哭的場面。

戎音咬牙，一字一頓：“宗政逍！”

宗政逍還在嬉皮笑臉：“阿音，我在。”

“在你個大頭鬼！你今天死定了！”戎音放下畫，沖過去跳到宗政逍背上，作勢要用手臂“勒死”他。

宗政逍背着他跑到外面，大笑着喊：“戎音要謀殺親夫了！”

“胡說！我這明明是替天行道！”戎音鬧着鬧着也笑了起來。

“汪汪汪！”

本來在帶孩子午睡的小艾同學聽見兩位爸爸的聲音，立時站起來跑了出去，狂奔進雪地裏，擡起前面兩條腿就往宗政逍身上撲。

幾個小狗崽也不甘示弱，紛紛大着膽子奔向母親和兩個外公。

還好庭院裏的雪今早宮人剛掃過，不然他們幾個小豆丁沖進去，非得被雪堆埋了不可。

戎音看見幾個狗崽都圍在宗政逍腳邊，連忙提醒他，“陛下小心，別踩到它們了。”

宗政逍把他往上颠了颠，笑道：“放心，我會注意的。”

天上飄起小雪，宗政逍背着戎音在庭院裏繞圈子，小艾同學就領着幾個小狗崽跟在他們屁股後面，畫面看起來溫馨又可愛，引得路過的宮人都忍不住停下腳步觀看。

今年銀鲛園的除夕夜因為狗崽們的到來，熱鬧了不止一丁點，幾只狗崽邁着小短腿到處跑，大家好像又回到了小艾同學剛來的時候，誰見到狗崽們，都會忍不住摸上一把。

而狗崽們也成功遺傳了母親的社牛屬性，跟誰都親近，因此總能讨到零食吃，後面都快胖成小狗球了。

到了吃年夜飯的時候，宗政逍和戎音肩并肩而坐，互相給對方夾菜，小艾同學和狗崽們排排蹲，面前的碗裏都放着美味的食物。

飯後，又到了全園上下喜聞樂見的發紅包環節，宮人們拿着鼓鼓的紅包笑得見牙不見眼，小狗崽們的紅包則是跟母親小艾同學同款的小金鎖項鏈，一只狗一條，就挂在它們的脖子上。

夜深後，寝殿內的床帳搖晃了許久才停。

宗政逍和戎音汗涔涔地抱在一起，戎音枕着宗政逍的胸膛，慵懶地打了個哈欠，“新年第一炮，陛下你快把我給炸死了。”

宗政逍圈着他的腰肢，摸摸他微微鼓起的小腹，輕笑道：“難道阿音不喜歡嗎？”

戎音哼哼，“不喜歡我早把你踢下床去了。”

宗政逍又笑了兩聲，抱着戎音坐起來。

戎音問：“要去洗澡了嗎？”

宗政逍搖頭，掰開了戎音的腿，“不是，我想再炸阿音一次。”

戎音瞪他：“你還真想把我炸死啊。”

宗政逍道：“反正都要守歲，幹脆炸到天亮。”

戎音扶着宗政逍的肩膀，配合他坐了下去，這個時候了還不忘吐槽，“估計也只有陛下你會這麽守歲了，簡直是昏君做派。”

宗政逍動了起來，“我的阿音妖妃，可喜歡這個力道？”

戎音悶哼一聲，抱住了宗政逍的脖子，“再重點。”

“遵命，我的阿音。”

宗政逍說到做到，直到天光照進窗內，他才抱着已經睡過去的戎音去洗澡，然後熟練地換了被褥，摟着他的小魚兒睡起了懶覺。

入睡前，宗政逍俯身在戎音額頭落下一吻，輕聲道：“老婆，新年快樂。”

……

冬去春來，夏遁秋至，日子就這麽不緊不慢且充實地過着，轉眼兩年的時間一晃而過。

這是戎音穿書的第九年，也是他與宗政逍相愛的第九年。

春季，繁花盛開，戎音坐在面包店二樓，還在考慮該給雅間的花瓶換什麽新花呢，小猴子就激動地跑進來，大聲道：“來了來了！老板！狀元郎來了！”

學成文武藝，貨與帝王家。

讀書人多年寒窗，唯一夢想便是金銮殿上得君賞識，從此踏入官場，平步青雲，位極人臣後能在史書上留下一抹濃墨重彩的身影。

春季會試後便是殿試，殿試由皇帝選出前三甲——狀元、榜眼、探花，科舉考試的最高名次，即便是鄉間小兒，也能懂得狀元是頂頂厲害的讀書人。

名次公示後，前三甲穿着禦賜紅袍，在一陣陣喜慶的鑼聲中打馬過街，引來無數百姓駐足圍觀，姑娘家的香囊、手帕、春花如雨似地砸在三人身上，說這是人生最輝煌時刻也不為過。

鑼聲越來越近，戎音被小猴子拉到窗前，這才發現街道兩邊已經站滿了人，周圍店鋪樓上的窗戶也全都打開了，一顆顆腦袋從裏面伸出來，視線全都注視着一個方向。

小猴子趴在窗臺上，興奮地道：“聽說今年的狀元郎是寒門學子，不僅才高八鬥，模樣也十分俊美，要不是他的才氣比外貌更出衆，陛下都要欽點他為探花郎了。”

戎音道：“今年的狀元郎确實長得不錯，不過探花郎比他更俊。”

“他們不是還沒過來嗎？老板你怎麽知道的？”小猴子疑惑，他還不知道戎音的真正身份。

戎音總不能告訴他，殿試那天自己裝成小內侍去看熱鬧了，便打哈哈道：“我猜的，不信你待會兒看。”

“哦，這樣啊。”小猴子并沒有懷疑戎音的說辭。

沒一會兒，眼見游街的隊伍馬上就要來到面包店樓下，小猴子趕忙把手裏的春花分給戎音，道：“老板，給你，待會兒狀元郎他們路過的時候，我們一起丢到他們身上。”

戎音哭笑不得：“人家姑娘給狀元郎他們扔花是表達自己的愛慕之情，我們兩個男人扔什麽花？”

小猴子急道：“誰說扔花一定是想嫁給狀元郎了，我就是想蹭一下喜氣，他們能奪得前三的好名次，除了有本事外，運氣肯定也占一部分原因，蹭了他們的好運，說不定我們店鋪的生意會更加紅火呢。”

Thinking of how Rong Yin had used the puppy's luck before: "..."

It is true that what kind of boss you are, you will raise what kind of employees.

Rong Yin stuffed the flower back into the monkey's hand and said, "You throw it. I'm afraid I won't hit the target and this chance to get lucky will go to waste."

"That's fine. I used to shoot birds with a slingshot and I'm very accurate. I'm sure I can hit all of them this time!" The little monkey was full of confidence.

Finally, the team arrived downstairs of the bakery. The little monkey held the flower, aimed at the direction of the top scholar, and shook his wrist, and several spring flowers flew out.

The little monkey was not bragging, he threw the flowers accurately, but the bad thing was that he was too accurate, because those flowers hit the number one scholar's forehead at the same time. If someone didn't know, they would think he was trying to assassinate him.

"Oops!" Realizing that he was in trouble, the little monkey quickly squatted down and hid behind the wall.

"Hahahaha, you want to be an assassin!"

Rong Yin was still laughing at the little monkey, but when she lowered her head, she happened to meet the gaze of the top scholar who was looking at her.

After the little monkey squatted down, Rong Yin was the only one left by the window.

Rong Yin's laughter stopped abruptly: "..."

I said it wasn't me, do you believe me, brother?