"My son, my son."
When Chen Yingliang was sighing quietly, a servant suddenly came in outside the door and said to Chen Yingliang: "My lord, a group of people came to our house. His son and daughter-in-law are here to visit you, please be sure to meet them. The villains have heard about you and the Chai family, so they are not allowed to come in, and Sanbo also asked us to ask you first."
"Chai Shen? Chai Shao and Li Xiuning?" Chen Yingliang was taken aback for a while, and then said angrily, "Visiting me? I'm afraid they have no good intentions?"
"My dear brother, you are wrong this time. If you are not bad, the Chejun family should come to apologize and thank you this time." Fang Xuanling shook his head, and explained: "My dear brother may have something wrong. I don’t know, the day before yesterday, when Fan Zi Gai Fan stayed at the Golden Luan Hall to bid farewell to His Majesty, he and Wei Liushou jointly impeached the Chai family, accusing Chai Shen and Chai Shao of scaremongering and implicating innocent people indiscriminately in your incident. Shake the foundation of the imperial court, and ask His Majesty the Emperor to impose additional punishment on the Chai family and his son."
"In the end, the emperor said with a smile, even you, my dear brother, have forgiven the Chai family. As the king of a country, how can he be more narrow-minded than his servants? Hewei stayed behind. Therefore, if Brother Yu’s expectations are correct, the Chai family must have heard the news, and then they made up their minds to save face and come to the door to apologize to you in person. It should also be a sincere thanks and apology. "
Fang Xuanling said that Chen Yingliang knew about this beforehand, so of course he wasn't surprised by it, but Du Ruhui was slightly surprised—surprised that Emperor Sui Yang suddenly changed his irritable temper? Then Du Ruhui came to his senses immediately, and said with a smile, "Mr. Chai Shao is really lucky. He hit the right angle, which is just right for the emperor. It is impossible for the emperor to investigate the family of the traitor Yang Xuangan, but he can't help it." A warning from the family of the traitor, forgiving Mr. Chai who first mentioned this matter is the best warning."
"What the emperor thinks, we don't need to guess, it has nothing to do with us." Fang Xuanling shook his head, and then said to Chen Yingliang: "My dear brother, when the Chai family forced you to hang yourself, you still smiled and went out to welcome Chai." Young master, later the Chai family slandered you as an accomplice of thieves and tried to kill you, but you still forgave them with kindness and generosity, and even today’s emperor praised you. Now that the Chai family comes to apologize, if you don’t come out in person Welcome, but we can't start well and end well, go and welcome them."
Chen Yingliang nodded, and invited Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui to meet him together, Fang Du and Du readily obeyed, the three of them left the room together, and went outside the gate of their house to meet Chai Shen's family. As a result, when I went outside the door, I saw that Chai Shen, who was wearing casual clothes, was waiting outside the door, followed by Chai Shao and Li Xiuning, who were also in casual clothes, and some maidservants of the Chai family who had been entangled with Chen Yingliang for a time. Chai Qian was nowhere to be seen. In addition, to Chen Yingliang's surprise, Chai Shen and his son brought a servant who was tied up by Wuhuada, and was forced to kneel in front of the Chen family's door.
Not seeing each other for less than a month, Chai Shen, who almost became Chen Yingliang's father-in-law, seemed to have aged several years all of a sudden, and his once black hair had also faintly turned gray. After meeting his former future son-in-law, Chai Shen opened his eyes. He wanted to say something, but he swallowed the words, and his expression became very awkward. Chen Yingliang also understood his difficulties. Considering his age, he knelt down on one knee to Chai Shen, clasped his fists and said loudly, "My nephew Chen Yingliang, I have met Chai Shishu and Shishu Jin'an."
Seeing Chen Yingliang showing face like this, and hearing Chen Yingliang call him Uncle Shi, Chai Shen, who was already ready to shut the door down, had red eyes and almost burst into tears on the spot. Nephew please hurry up, the old man is ashamed, I just came to the door today to make amends, I am impolite, Wanwang my nephew Haihan."
"Uncle Shi, you don't need to be so polite." Chen Yingliang said very politely: "Let's not talk about other things, the Chai and Chen families are family friends after all. It is a friend of eight obeisances, and the ancestral friendship is so deep, if Shishu is more polite to my nephew, then he will not recognize my nephew as a younger generation of family friends."
Chai Shen's eyes were filled with tears, thousands of words were in his heart, but he couldn't say a word, and Li Xiuning behind him also understood the embarrassment of his father-in-law's position, so he hurriedly stepped forward to salute Chen Yingliang, and asked with a smile: "Brother Yingliang, I heard that you are sick, how is the situation now?"
"How does sister-in-law know that I'm sick?" Chen Yingliang was taken aback.
"I went to Yanxi Gate to wait for your business again today, and invited you to a banquet at the mansion." Li Xiuning replied truthfully: "I never saw you coming out of the imperial city, so I asked your colleagues about the news. After knowing this, I decided to visit you together, and also apologize to you by the way."
"My sister-in-law is waiting." Chen Yingliang said hypocritically, "It's not really a disease, it's just that I feel a little uncomfortable. I'm afraid it will affect the majesty of the imperial city, so I asked for leave and went home first."
Li Xiuning nodded, and quietly pulled Chai Shao beside him. Chai Shao, who had been twisting his face on purpose, turned his face away, saluted Chen Yingliang reluctantly, and called out, "My dear brother."
"Brother." Chen Yingliang just yelled, and then closed his mouth—it wasn't that Chen Yingliang, who was hypocritical by nature, didn't want to continue acting magnanimously, it was that Chen Yingliang really couldn't find anything to talk to Chai Shao.
"Mr. Chai, long time no see, long time no see." Fang Xuanling stood up to resolve the embarrassing situation, first greeted Chai Shao who had met before, then turned to Chen Yingliang with a smile: "My dear brother, why are you still staring? Why don't you invite your Uncle Chai in, and stand outside the door and talk, is that the way to treat guests?"
Chen Yingliang habitually smirked to resolve the embarrassment, and then hurriedly invited Chai Shen's family in. Chai Shen, Li Xiuning and others readily obeyed, and specially ordered the servants to bring the servant who was tied up by Wuhuada into Chen's house, and knelt down on his knees. In the front yard of the Chen family. At the same time, Chen Laosan also found an opportunity to whisper into Chen Yingliang's ear, and said in a low voice, "My lord, the servant who was tied up was the one who broke the old slave's leg back then."
Chen Yingliang glanced at the servant, and found that he was about twenty-five or six years old. Treat Lao Chai's family once, and consolidate his good reputation of generosity and generosity.
After entering the hall, Chen Yingliang sat down according to the positions of host and guest. Chen Yingliang first introduced Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui to Chai Shen, and explained that they happened to be guests at his home. Xuanling made amends, and Fang Xuanling, who had just had a quarrel with Chai Shao, laughed, and dismissed the matter lightly. Then Chai Shen gave instructions to the accompanying servants, and the servants immediately brought up ten large wooden boxes and placed them in the middle of the hall, and then Chai Shen said with an embarrassed expression: "Nephew, this is the order of His Royal Highness, the order The old man compensated your high servant Chen Sanbo with a thousand guan, please order Gao servant to accept it."
It was about Chen Laosan, Chen Yingliang was not polite, he immediately turned to Chen Laosan and said, "Uncle Chen, this is your money, you can accept it."
The timid and cowardly Chen Laosan dared to accept it, but refused to accept it. It was not until Chen Yingliang explained that this was the order of the acting king Yang Youjun, and that not accepting it would be tantamount to resisting the order, Chen Laosan reluctantly accepted it. Chai Shen heaved a sigh of relief, and hurriedly flirted with his son. Chai Shao knew what his father meant, so he reluctantly went out, took a gift box from the servant, took it back to the hall with both hands, and said in a forced but blunt tone : "Brother Yingliang, this is Brother Yu's kindness. In the past, Brother Yu lived a lot of his life to be a dog, which offended you so much, but you repaid Brother Yu with kindness and saved Brother Yu's life. Brother Yu didn't think so. Report, a little heart, please be sure to accept it."
"No need." Chen Yingliang, who was no longer short of money, was too lazy to accept Chai Shao's favor, and refused: "Brother Shi, you don't have to be so polite, let him go about the past, and you and I will continue to talk about each other in the same generation, so there is no need to thank you .”
"Nephew, you must accept it." Chai Shen opened his mouth and said very sincerely: "Nephew, you saved the father and son more than once. I have heard about it. The morning before yesterday, someone mentioned the stupidity of the father and son. Behavior, I request that today's son personally decree to severely punish the old father and son. The Holy Majesty is thinking of your generosity to the old father and son, so he decreed not to pursue it. If it weren't for the kind nephew's kindness, the old father and son would have already lost their heads. Twice."
"Uncle Shi is overwhelmed." Chen Yingliang said modestly: "This matter is due to the kindness of today's emperor, and has nothing to do with my nephew. If Uncle Shi wants to thank you, you should thank the Holy One."
"Thank you, thank you." Chai Shen hurriedly agreed, and repeatedly begged Chen Yingliang to accept his thank you gift. Li Xiuning also stood up to help, but Chen Yingliang insisted on refusing to accept it. Forgot one thing too. In the end, it was Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui who spoke up and said nonsense about not reciprocating kindness and great kindness without saying thank you for Chen Yingliang. In addition, Chen Yingliang was determined not to accept it, so Chai Shen had no choice but to ask his son to take back the thank you gift.
The atmosphere that followed was a bit subtle. Chai Shen obviously had something to say, but after opening his mouth a few times, he took it back. Finally, he just winked at his son and asked Chai Shao to speak for himself. The arrogant Chai Shao Ze pretended not to see it, lowered his head slightly and said nothing, completely turning a blind eye to his father's winks wiping his neck. In the end, it was Li Xiuning who couldn't bear the embarrassment of her husband and father-in-law, and said: "My dear brother, sister-in-law and your uncle and brother are here today. Apart from thanking you and making amends, there is one more thing I want to discuss with you."
"Sister-in-law, please tell me, don't worry about it." Chen Yingliang nodded.
"It's about you and Sister Qian'er." Li Xiuning was also calm, as if she said confidently: "What happened between you and Sister Qian'er has long been known in the whole city of Daxing, and my sister-in-law will not repeat it today. But there are Some things, my sister-in-law really didn’t know until later, that day Qian’er was caught in a torrential rain in Qujiang Lake and suddenly fell ill. I don't know your true identity, but I still miss you all the time, does my virtuous brother know this?"
"I don't know." Chen Yingliang shook his head, talking nonsense with his eyes open.
"My dear brother, don't you really know?" Li Xiuning smiled slyly and raised her voice on purpose, "That day, Sister Qian'er was hugging you tightly in the carriage because of her cold illness and drowsiness, but because of some erroneous circumstances That's why, your appearance at that time was seen by many people—Qian'er is a girl, after encountering such a thing, do you think she can never forget you?"
After all, Li Xiuning turned to Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui, and asked with a smile: "Young Master Fang, Young Master Du, you are all experienced, what do you think of such a thing?"
Of course, Li Xiuning asked this to drag Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui into trouble, and let them put pressure on his good friend Chen Yingliang. Unfortunately, Li Xiuning made the wrong idea. The two future sages, who are better than the monkey spirits, all kept their mouths shut and kept silent. , refused to get involved in this bad thing.
Li Xiuning waited for a long time for no response, and was also a little disappointed, so she turned to Chen Yingliang again, and said softly: "My dear brother, let's be clear, Qian'er is interested in you, and she has never seen you before, otherwise, there will be nothing between you two." It may have been married long ago. Now that things have come to this point, you can even forgive Chai Lang and your father-in-law, so why don't you consider renewing your marriage with her?"
"That's what it really means." Chen Yingliang smiled bitterly, and then said to Li Xiuning: "Sister-in-law, it's not that my younger brother deliberately refused your kindness, but you were a step late, so younger brother can only refuse."
"One step late? What do you mean?" Li Xiuning was confused.
"I'm already engaged." Chen Yingliang replied with a wry smile: "Just yesterday, at this time yesterday, I had already made an engagement with another girl, so I couldn't get back together with Miss Chai."
Everyone at the scene was dumbfounded, including Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui who had been watching coldly. Immediately afterwards, Chen Laosan simply shouted happily, "Young master, you are already engaged? Why didn't I know?"
"Forgive me, Uncle, the matter is too hasty, so I haven't had time to tell you." Chen Yingliang smiled bitterly and said, "You have seen that girl before, the eldest grandson girl who often came to our house a few days ago, and her nickname is Guanyin servant girl." Girl, her uncle Gao Shilian Gao personally acted as a matchmaker yesterday and promised her to me, and I agreed."
Hearing Chen Yingliang's words, Chen Laosan was so excited that he shed tears and murmured that the old man could rest in peace. Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui looked at Daqi and admired the good brother's way of picking up girls together. Chai Shen was so disappointed She almost cried out, but the one who was most shocked was Li Xiuning, who blurted out and exclaimed: "Guanyin maidservant? How is it possible? Isn't she He Erlang...?"
Speaking of this, Li Xiuning managed to stop himself from screaming inappropriately, feeling extremely suspicious in his heart. Seeing her surprised expression, Chen Yingliang was also a little suspicious, so he tentatively asked: "Sister-in-law, have you not returned to your mother's house for a while?"
"No." Li Xiuning shook her head, and replied: "Father returned to Beijing this time, Chai Lang and I visited him once on the day he returned to Beijing, and then we never visited his old man again, even the day he took office in Honghua, because For some things, Chai Lang and I didn't go to see him off."
"Then sister-in-law, you can go home and ask." Chen Yingliang said calmly: "Sister-in-law, it seems that you really don't know about this.
Li Xiuning is so smart, when he heard Chen Yingliang's words, he immediately understood that this matter had something to do with his natal family, so he immediately shut his mouth, feeling more and more suspicious, he couldn't guess what happened between his natal family and Chen Yingliang What's up. Chen Yingliang took out the engagement jade pendant that caused countless troubles from his bosom, held it in front of Chai Shen with both hands, and said sincerely: "Uncle Shi, it's not that my nephew refuses to accept your kindness. , the jade pendant from back then will be returned to its original owner, please accept it. But please rest assured, from now on, you will still be my uncle, and I will still be your nephew."
Looking at the jade pendant handed down by his ancestors, Chai Shen was completely desperate. Originally, after hearing the news that Emperor Sui Yang personally forgave his father and son, Chai Shen planned to try his best to let his daughter continue the marriage contract with Chen Yingliang, so that the Daxing court could see Seeing the repentance of his Chai family, he also fought for a glimmer of hope for his son's comeback. but now…
When he took back the jade pendant with trembling hands, Chai Shen shed tears directly, and the old man cupped his hands to Chen Yingliang with tears and said: "Nephew, it is our Chai family who is sorry for you. Don't blame me. This is the end of the matter, and I have no face to say anything." .Let me take my leave first, and I will come to apologize to you sometime later.”
After that, Chai Shen got up and walked away, Chai Shao gritted his teeth and got up to follow, and when Chai Shen was about to walk out of the hall, Chen Yingliang suddenly said: "Uncle Shi, please wait a moment, after Uncle Shi returns, please be careful Sister Chai Qianxian, don't let her do anything stupid. Please also bring a word to her. In this matter, I am the one who is sorry for her. Choose a spouse, I wish her happiness."
Chai Shen just paused for a moment, and then left without looking back. Chai Shao and Li Xiuning followed with different expressions. Looking at their leaving backs, Chen Yingliang couldn't help but shook his head, and couldn't help but He let out a long sigh.
Before sighing, Chai Shao suddenly strode into the hall of the Chen family, and brought in his own servant, who was tied up, and threw the servant into the hall of the Chen family. With a livid face, he said stiffly: "This dog Slave, the person who broke your third uncle's leg, I will leave it to you now, and you can deal with it as you like! Also, let me state first, it was my idea to burn your house, and I can pay you whatever you want! Hit your third uncle He made the decision in private, behind my back, it has nothing to do with me! Find him to settle the score!!"
After finishing speaking bluntly, Chai Shao kicked his servant who had just got up from the ground viciously, and said viciously: "You dog slave! After receiving the punishment from Deputy Chen, you are no longer from my Chai family! I'll get out of Chai's house, find my own way out, and take care of my own life and death!" After shouting, Chai Shao turned his head and left quickly.
Chai Shao left angrily, and the servant of the Chai family who had injured Chen Laosan hurriedly got up, kowtowed desperately, and begged repeatedly: "Deputy leader, spare my life! Deputy leader, spare my life! The villain was confused at the time, right The third uncle was a bit harsher, and accidentally seriously injured the third uncle, the villain deserves to die, the villain deserves death, please spare the life of the deputy leader! Please spare the life of the deputy leader!"
Chen Yingliang was not polite either, he went up and gave the servant a kick, first kicked him over, then kicked him up, punched and kicked him unceremoniously until his nose was bruised and his face was swollen, and his mouth and nose were bleeding. Then he kicked him over again, and shouted: "This beating is for me to vent my anger on my third uncle, go and kowtow three times to my third uncle! Then get out!"
The family Ding agreed repeatedly, struggled to get up, walked up to Chen Laosan on his knees, kowtowed far more than three heads, and begged with a mournful face: "Chen Sanbo, the small one is not a human being, but the small one is a beast. The small one apologizes to you. I beg you to forgive me, the little one offended you by being blind, the little one deserves death."
"Forget about the past." Chen Laosan was a genuinely kind person, and quickly helped the servant himself, and comforted him in turn: "It's okay, my leg is almost healed, is your injury okay? Do you want to take medicine?"
"Chen Sanbo..." The servant was very cunning, and immediately wept in a decent manner, crying, "Sanbo, I, a bastard, injured you, and you asked about my injury in turn. How can there be such a good person as you? The little one was cheated by eating lard before, I’m sorry, you beat me yourself, even if you beat me to death on the spot, I will never complain! The little one used to interrupt I lost one of your legs, today you can break both of my legs, only in this way can I feel good about my conscience."
"Forget it, our son has such a big enmity with your Chai family, and you have forgiven your Chai family, what is your matter?" Chen Laosan is also easy to be coaxed and satisfied, not only continuing to comfort the family member, He even untied the rope for him with his own hands, and said gently: "It's all right, it's all over, it's so late, you must not have eaten yet? I'll ask someone to prepare wound medicine and dinner for you. go home."
"Sanbo, I'm homeless." The servant cried and said, "Young master has kicked me out of the house just now, and I'm homeless."
After being reminded by the servant, Chen Laosan remembered that Chai Shao had kicked him out of the Chai family just now, and out of sympathy, the kind-hearted Chen Laosan simply turned to Chen Yingliang and said, "Young master, this man is also pitiful. It's already so cold, and there's no place to go back, why don't you let him stay, anyway, our family is short of people."
"Uncle San, you are really kind." Chen Yingliang, who had already seen that the servant was hitting a snake with a stick, gave a wry smile, but it was impossible to refuse Chen Laosan's request, so he held up his teacup, nodded and said: "Okay, since Uncle San has opened his mouth, let him stay. Uncle San, make arrangements and see what he can do at home."
Chen Laosan nodded in agreement, the family member was even more overjoyed, and immediately burst into laughter, knelt down to Chen Yingliang, kowtowed and thanked: "The villain kneels to thank the young master for his great kindness, kneels down to thank the third uncle for the great kindness, please rest assured, the young master and the third uncle. From now on, as long as you are sent, Ma Sanbao will go through fire and water, be smashed to pieces, and he will not hesitate!"
With a bang, the teacup in Chen Yingliang's hand fell to the ground and shattered, shocking everyone present. Chen Yingliang himself was stunned. He looked at the Dingma Sanbao in disbelief, and murmured in his heart, "How did I forget? He appeared in "The Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties" and was known as the general of the Tang Dynasty. Ma Sanbao, now he is the servant of Lao Chai's family!"
…
More than 800 miles away, outside the city of Luoyang, the eastern capital of the Sui Dynasty where Chen Yingliang made his fortune for the first time, in a small temple called Jingtu Temple 20 miles south...
With a bang, the olive-shaped wooden club slipped from his hand and hit the wooden fish that was already full of potholes, making a deep sound unique to wooden fish. A young monk who was only thirteen years old also fell on the floor in front of the Buddha. Exhausted, he muttered silently, "...it can get rid of all suffering, and it is true. Therefore, I say the Prajna Paramita mantra. That is to say, the mantra is: Uncovering the Truth and Uncovering the Truth, Paramita revealing the Truth, Parasangha revealing the Truth, Bodhisattva He. "
After reading the last word of the scriptures, the exhausted little monk smiled gratifiedly. He lay on the floor, looked up at the solemn face of the Buddha statue in front of him, and murmured softly, "Buddha group, Chen benefactor repays grievances with virtue, saves the life of the enemy's family. The kindness of Buddhism, the little monk felt his compassion, and chanted sutras for him a thousand times, praying to drive away disasters. Please, the Buddha must bless Chen Benefactor with a long life, turn bad luck into good luck, good will be rewarded with good, Amitabha Buddha."
After muttering, the little monk, who was exhausted physically and mentally, fell straight down on the cold floor and fell asleep. The solitary lamp flickered, and there was silence in the Buddhist hall. monk. After a long time, an inaudible but clearly felt voice suddenly reverberated in the Buddhist temple where dripping water could be heard...
"Just this time, not next time."