The more Lin Shuhan talked, the more annoyed he became, and he shouted loudly: "What happened to the brothel? He is also a man who has read poetry and books. How can he not know the principle of 'coming out of the mud but not staining'? I think there are some literati among the scholars who pride themselves on being noble. A A sweet talker but a sharp sword is really not as good as a prostitute in a brothel!"
Wu Ruofei listened blankly on the side, and was very touched in his heart. His eyes were filled with tears, and he was almost crying.
Qiu Yizhi said: "Mr. Lin is wrong! Mr. Lin said that your father is obsessed with worldly prejudices. Is he himself detached?"
Qiu Yizhi's words were like a wake-up call, which made Lin Shuhan freeze on the spot. After a while, he asked, "Master Qiu, what do you mean?"
Qiu Yizhi said with a smile: "What I mean is that Mr. Lin won't let Miss Wu enter the Lin family because he is obsessed with her identity; why should Mr. Lin be obsessed with the word 'status' and let Miss Wu know that she is marrying you?" What about the Lin family? There is a saying that "if love lasts for a long time, how can it last forever?" Mr. Lin and Miss Wu can stay together for a long time. Compared with those so-called couples who treat each other as if they are guests, I don't know how much better they are. !”
When Lin Shuhan heard Qiu Yizhi's words, he was really enlightened. He immediately broke down in tears and smiled, saying: "Master Qiu is indeed far-sighted. Today, I, surnamed Lin, have had an enlightenment. I don't think I boasted about 'respecting each other as guests' and 'bringing eyebrows together' Yes, I don’t know what happened behind the scenes! Even if it’s true, it’s really not interesting at all for the couple to be so pretentious.”
"Sir, what you said is right." Qiu Yizhi took over and said, "I remember that before I went to Beijing, I invited Mr. Lin to live in our Shanyin County. Now it seems that I can just avoid the eyes and ears of your father and have a good relationship with Wu Wouldn’t it be beautiful for a girl to sing a poem together?”
Lin Shuhan thought for a while and then smiled and said: "Master Qiu, what a good idea. I said that the city of Jinling is in a mess and it is not conducive to review my homework, so I asked the old man for leave and went to Shanyin County Middle School to study hard for the exam. The old man listened, It’s not too late to be happy! You must let me go immediately.” After that, he laughed.
Wu Ruofei saw that Lin Shuhan's mood had improved, and he also laughed for a while, but then he seemed to think of something on his mind, and a haze appeared on his face. I just heard her say quietly: "Sir, go and prepare first. When I collect enough money to redeem my life, I will come and meet you."
Qiu Yizhi had known early on that Wu Ruofei was the top oiran in Jinling City, and the silver to redeem his life must be extremely expensive. It was not surprising that it was difficult to get together for a while, so he smiled and said: "The big thing has been settled. Miss Wu has a lover, and she still has a lover." Can you stumble on such a ruthless thing? I also have a lot of savings. I'm not afraid that he will run away first, but I don't know how many vacancies are left."
Wu Ruofei glanced at Qiu Yizhi, with hope in his eyes, and said: "I begged my old mother for a long time before she was willing to let me out. She just asked for 300,000 yuan of redemption money - the money I have accumulated in the past few years, together with The jewelry is probably worth 70,000 to 80,000 yuan; Mr. Lin can spend 50,000 yuan here, which is less than half. I don’t know when I can get it all... "
Qiu Yizhi was stunned after hearing this, and stammered: "I... I can only come up with thirty or forty thousand taels in total, and it's the salary I paid in advance... I didn't expect that this old bustard has such a dark heart, he is like a lion. !”
Wu Ruofei lowered his head and said: "Although my mother is greedy for money, she is not a bad person. She has never forced anyone I don't want to accept. What's more, in the past few years, the income I have brought to Jiangyun Tower has increased every year. At around one hundred thousand taels, the price she offered is not too much..."
Qiu Yizhi was shocked when he heard this - he knew that the Han Dynasty's tax revenue was only five to six million taels of silver per year, and after spending the whole year, there would be a balance of two or three hundred thousand at the end of the year, and sometimes it would be unavoidable. deficit. But he didn't expect that the money earned by Wu Ruofei every year could account for about half of the national treasury balance. It was really shocking.
Qiu Yizhi was stunned for a long time, and then said: "That's okay. His Highness has arrived in Jiangnan. He has money and can't wait. I'll temporarily borrow a hundred thousand taels of silver from him. I'm afraid it won't be much different." What's more, after the emperor issued a decree to pardon Miss Wu, the old bustard would no longer have any reason to hold her captive. The girl would then run away and go to my Shanyin County. If the old bustard comes to provoke her again, it will be natural. Please pay attention to her!"
After listening to Qiu Yi's words, Wu Ruofei felt a little relieved in her heart, and sighed softly: "That's all we have to do now..." She saw that there was a table of dishes but no one was using their chopsticks, and she added, " You all blame me for delaying the adults' meal for this trivial matter. You see, these dishes have lost their original flavor after being heated. How about I go back and make them again?"
Qiu Yizhi hurriedly waved his hands and said: "If Miss Wu does it again, I'm afraid I will really starve to death." After that, he picked up a piece of sweet and sour pork ribs wrapped with rock sugar shreds, put it into a bowl and ate it He stood up and shouted while eating, "It's delicious, it's delicious!"
Yuchi Jiming on the side was also hungry, but because his uncle Qiu Yizhi didn't take down his chopsticks, he couldn't bear it. Now seeing Qiu Yizhi eating happily, she couldn't wait to pick up her favorite food and stuff it into her mouth, without any regard for lady etiquette.
When Lin Shuhan and Wu Ruofei saw that they were eating well, their worries dissipated a little, so they talked for a while and then went to bed.
Qiu Yi got up very early the next day and talked with Lin Shuhan about the scenery of the capital and the allusions to Jinling. The two of them were talking very speculatively, and it was already noon before they knew it. After lunch, they were about to find a nice place to continue talking, but someone from Zheng Xin's house came to deliver an order, saying that Yin Chengliang had led hundreds of Jiangnan officials back to Jinling. , Zheng Xin was about to convene a Jiangnan civil and military lecture at Qixia Temple and asked him to rush there quickly.
When Qiu Yizhi heard this, of course he didn't dare to be negligent. He quickly called Yuchi Jiming and rode their horses to Qixia Temple.
The gate of Qixia Temple is already filled with sedans and horses used by civil and military officials at all levels in Jiangnan. When Qiu Yi saw that the old housekeeper Zheng Xin was responsible for the order at the scene, he hurriedly went up to inquire about the situation. Only then did he realize that all Jiangnan officials had arrived, and they were just waiting for Qiu Yi.
After Qiu Yizhi heard this, he didn't dare to delay anymore. After thanking him, he dismounted and hurried to the temple.
After entering the temple gate, Qiu Yizhi saw Zheng Xin leading nearly a hundred civil and military officials from Jiangnan Province to view the garden landscape in the temple. Yin Chengliang, Cai Min and others were also among them, and many of them were the same officials as him. Just had a confrontation.
Qiu Yizhi was not afraid of embarrassment, and ran forward with a smile on his face. After saluting the adults of Jiangnan Dao, he bowed to Zheng Xin.
Zheng Xin hurriedly supported Qiu Yizhi and said: "Aren't you Qiu Yizhi, the magistrate of Shanyin County appointed by the emperor? The emperor gave you a gift to see officials without bowing. Although I am a prince, I am still a minister of the Han Dynasty. , How dare you disobey the holy will? I wonder if your foot injury is better?"
This rhetoric was already discussed by the two brothers.
Qiu Yizhi also followed what he said yesterday and said with a smile: "Thanks to Your Highness for thinking about me, the official's foot injury is almost healed. Let's salute His Highness first!"
After saying that, Qiu Yizhi knelt down and bowed to Zheng Xin.
Zheng Xin felt indescribably happy when he saw Qiu Yizhi, an adopted son who was so favored by his father, bowing at his feet. However, he suddenly remembered the importance of his adopted brother in front of his father, so he hurriedly bent down and handed over Qiu Yizhi. He helped him up and said, "Master Qiu, why is this necessary?"
As soon as he finished speaking, he half-jokingly said to the Jiangnan Dao officials present: "Don't spread this matter outside. If the emperor finds out, I won't be able to explain it..." After that, he laughed "haha".
Jiangnan officials didn't know the reason, so they could only laugh a few times.
After laughing for a while, Zheng Xin said to the leader Yin Chengliang: "Investor Yin, are there any officials from your Taoism who are absent? If not, why don't we discuss matters in front of the court?"
When Yin Chengliang heard this, he bowed to Zheng Xin and said, "Go back to your highness, the civil and military officials from the eight states and forty-seven counties in Jiangnan Province, except for the four who are sick and the five who are worried, have all arrived." He had just been in the mountains. Yinxian County suffered Qiu Yizhi's mistake. He looked at Qiu Yizhi with eyes full of resentment and added, "Master Qiu is the last one to arrive. Please give me instructions from His Highness."
He originally wanted to point out this sentence specifically to make Qiu Yizhi leave a bad impression in front of Zheng Xin, but unexpectedly, the powerful His Highness didn't seem to hear it and said to the officials with a smile: "That's good. , there is no instruction. I just followed the emperor’s order and came south to take a look at the folk customs in Jiangnan. I think the sun is rising now, why don’t we wait until we talk in detail? "
Without waiting for Yin Chengliang and others to agree, he walked towards the depths of Qixia Temple.
Of course, everyone did not dare to disobey and quickly followed him step by step.
Qixia Temple has already followed Zheng Xin's instructions and set aside a side hall that originally housed several Arhats for Zheng Xin's use.
It is said that although this Arhat from the Buddhist country has "great supernatural powers", he is still not as powerful as the authority of the earthly prince. Qixia Temple has been in Jinling for a long time, a land of golden powder in the Six Dynasties. Even the abbot who presided over the temple was very considerate and led the monks to invite several Arhats out overnight to make room for the elder in the side hall. However, more than a hundred officials from Jiangnan Province swarmed in, but they still filled the palace to the brim.
Although Qiu Yizhi's actual status was extremely noble, on the surface he was the lowest-ranking and most junior among the officials. He had to stand at the end of the queue of civil servants according to the rules and listen to Zheng Xin's speech from a distance.
Just listen to Zheng Xin's words with great enthusiasm: "I have been here for a few days to inspect the people's situation in Jiangnan. Jiangnan Road is indeed a place of natural treasures and a gathering of people. Take Jinling City as an example, it is so prosperous The scene may not even be comparable to that of Luoyang, the capital city. In my opinion, this is all the result of Governor Yin’s good governance and the hard work of officials at all levels!”
Zheng Xin, consciously or unconsciously, imitated his father Zheng Rong's style of speech and mannerisms in every aspect. Although he was sometimes a little exaggerated and artificial, he did develop an awe-inspiring nobility unique to Tianhuang nobles.
After hearing this, Yin Chengliang, who was standing at the top of the list, took a step forward and said humbly: "I am honored to be praised by His Highness. These are all the result of the Emperor's teachings. What I did was just follow the plan and follow the steps. If there is any merit, If so, it’s just a matter of being an official.”
After hearing this, Zheng Xin sneered in his heart and thought: You are an old man who talks beautifully, but you have done so many evil things behind your back. Otherwise, how could I have come to investigate you under the emperor's secret order
However, he couldn't mention names in this regard, but said: "Master Yin is too modest. It's just that when I left the capital, I had a long talk with the emperor. The emperor said that the wealth in Jiangnan is the best in the world, and new scholars would rather come here I don’t want to be a county magistrate in Jiangnan, but I don’t want to be a state pastor elsewhere. Is there such a saying?” (To be continued)