The weather is getting colder and winter is coming.
It snowed on the first day of the twelfth lunar month. This was the first snow since the beginning of winter. It snowed all day and all night. The entire capital was instantly covered with snow. Looking around, it was all silvery white, which looked very beautiful with the green tiles and red walls. It was an indescribable poetic beauty.
You Shu heard from the old people in the mansion that snow before spring was a good thing, as it meant a good harvest for the coming year. He felt relieved thinking that the severe drought in the north could finally be resolved, and at least so many people would not starve to death anymore.
It turns out that peaceful and prosperous times are more worth cherishing.
The Chinese New Year is still a month away, but the atmosphere in Beijing is already very lively. Ancient people attached the most importance to the Spring Festival, so the festive atmosphere is even stronger than it is today. As long as they can go home, they will cross mountains and rivers to return for a reunion with their families no matter how far away their home is.
It's just that some are happy while others are sad. Xia Huaizhang had been depressed at home for more than a month because of the scandal. Perhaps he had forgotten the pain recently and started to harm people again. You Shu heard that he had robbed a good girl two days ago and forced her to jump into the river and die. However, he rudely drove his brother who came to the house to ask for justice out of the Xia Mansion and sent him away by throwing ten taels of silver.
In ancient times, human life was worthless. In the eyes of the powerful, the life of a young girl was worth only ten taels of silver.
"Who allowed you to be in a trance while fighting with me?" Xiao Weixin was very dissatisfied. He could feel that the person fighting with him was in a trance. How could he be so bold as to look down on him
You Shu came back to his senses and quickly bowed his head to apologize: "I know I was wrong."
"I find that... you always admit your mistakes quickly." Xiao Weixin looked at him coldly and said harshly, "You don't really take it seriously at all, do you?"
This statement really wronged You Shu, he just reacted faster with his mouth than with his brain. It was always better to confess guilt first than to confess guilt after being scolded, at least he could earn a good attitude.
The closer it got to the New Year, the worse Xiao Weixin felt. Just like now, although You Shu was distracted for a moment, it didn't actually affect his sparring work. But he just wanted to take advantage of this, he threw away his sword and walked into the house, it seemed like he didn't want to pay any attention to him.
Sigh... this temper.
You Shu sighed deeply, and resigned himself to picking up the sword he had dropped on the ground. Without the master's summons, the shadow guards were not allowed to enter the house without permission, so he could only stand quietly in the yard holding the sword.
The pear tree in the courtyard was covered with white snow. At first glance, it looked like it was blooming again. You Shu liked this tree very much. When it bloomed in spring, it was white and beautiful, and most importantly, the pears it produced were very sweet. He tasted it secretly while on night duty once. It was sweet and juicy. He kept thinking about it afterwards. Unfortunately, he never had the chance again because the fruit yield was too low. The only ones left were left for Xiao Weixin.
He stood under the pear tree for a while, and before he could finish expressing his feelings, he heard an impatient voice coming from inside.
"Why don't you get in here!?"
You Shu regained his composure, shook his head and walked in helplessly.
Ying Liu, who was squatting on the roof, was thinking about something, and said to Ying Wu beside him: "Do you feel that our prince treats the third brother differently?"
"What's the difference?" Yingwu's mind was full of the casino's affairs. He was as thick-skinned as a rope. Unlike Yingliu who could write storybooks and was delicate, he couldn't see the difference. "Isn't the prince like this to everyone? The third brother was scolded a lot."
"You know nothing." Ying Liu rolled his eyes disdainfully, "You just haven't read enough novels. The prince obviously treats the third brother differently. I think... the third brother will definitely be very successful!"
Yingwu didn't understand where Yingliu got his confidence from, so he rolled his eyes and said, "Forget it."
The two of them don't get along very well, they look down on each other, turn their heads away and ignore each other.
Inside the house—
You Shu walked into the inner room. Xiao Weixin was sitting at the table drinking tea. There were incense burning in the room, thick blankets underfoot, and stoves around for heating. Even You Shu couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
"I heard that Xia Huaizhang has been fooling around again recently?" Xiao Weixin suddenly asked.
The Shadow Guard Battalion's intelligence network is very mature, and there is basically nothing they can't find out. You Shu also knows this and whispered, "Yes."
"Ha." Xiao Weixin sneered, "You never change your bad habits."
You Shu lowered his brows and did not respond.
Wang Shunzhi, the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, was just a minor local official in those days. By chance, he bribed Prime Minister Xia and was favored by him. He was promoted to an official in the capital as an exception. A few years later, he was promoted to the position of Assistant Minister. He did all this to enrich Prime Minister Xia and committed many corrupt and law-breaking things.
Xiao Weishen had been in a high position for a long time and might not be unaware of this, but he had no choice because he had no capable people of his own and could only rely on Prime Minister Xia to control this area. So Xiao Weishen spotted this loophole and attacked Wang Shun first.
On the third day after the snow stopped, You Shu and Ying Er went out.
Although Wang Shunzhi did not have much talent, he was tactful, worldly-wise and cautious. He had never made any major mistakes during his tenure. Therefore, Xiao Weishen had no excuse to deal with him, and it was indeed a bit difficult to get rid of him.
However, Wang Shunzhi had a shortcoming, which was that he was greedy for money. He was extremely greedy. As long as someone gave him something, he would accept it and then put it all into his own small treasury. There was no telling how many good things were hidden in that small treasury.
You Shu avoided the guards in Wang Shunzhi's house and worked with Ying Er, one of them secretly guarded outside while the other went in to check. The vault was full of things, and You Shu's eyes were dazzled. Fortunately, he was not the kind of person who loved money, otherwise it would be difficult to resist those temptations after entering. Even if the emperor Xiao Weishen came, he might be amazed at the preciousness of the things here.
You Shu searched carefully for a while and found a secret compartment under the cabinet. He took out a small wooden box from it, and after prying the lock open with wire, he saw a bead.
This bead looks no different from an ordinary night-shining pearl, but if you look closely you will see that its surface is glittering and shining. Even if the room is dark and there is no sunlight, this bead can glow by itself. Although it is not dazzling, it is enough to attract the attention of others, and it also brings a subtle warmth when you hold it in your hand.
You Shu knew that the pearl came from the East China Sea. It was said to be called Mermaid's Tears and was extremely rare. Wang Shunzhi got this good thing from somewhere but did not present it to Prime Minister Xia. Instead, he kept it for himself. Xiao Weixin found out about this early on and waited until today to take action.
You Shu carefully put the empty box back, left the room without triggering any mechanism, and met up with Ying Er who was hiding in the dark, and the two of them ran to another place.
At the end of each year, it was the time for all places to pay tribute to the court. Officials would also send something to the emperor as a New Year gift. Wang Shunzhi's gift to the palace was to be sent in the afternoon. You Shu sneaked into the room where the gifts were kept, and switched the box containing the jade pendant, stuffing the priceless bead inside. Generally, such things had to be included in the gift list. Xiao Weixin even imitated Wang Shunzhi's handwriting and rewrote a copy. After You Shu went to the palace, he also switched the two different gift lists.
Only after doing all this did they leave Wang Shunzhi's house. Everything was done very carefully without alarming anyone, and even the watchdog did not notice anything unusual.
The two of them quickly returned to the palace to report. Xiao Weixin was very satisfied, "The next step is just to wait for the first step to be completed."
You Shu was also waiting for tomorrow with a watch-the-show mentality.
The next day, Xiao Weishen was delighted to praise Wang Shunzhi in the court, saying that it was a rare and sincere act for him to be able to offer the mermaid's tears, which were worth a fortune and were said to prolong life. He would promote him to a higher rank after the new year.
Wang Shunzhi was confused and had no idea when he gave away the pearl he had kept for so long.
The person who was even more angry than him was Prime Minister Xia.
Prime Minister Xia was a man of deep thoughts and shrewdness, but he also had a fatal flaw, which was his fear of death. As he grew older, his body and spirit were no longer as vigorous as when he was young, so he asked people everywhere to find a prescription for longevity and immortality, but he tried almost all methods but none of them worked. Hearing that there were mermaid tears in the East China Sea, he specially asked Wang Shunzhi to investigate, but in the end he returned empty-handed.
Who knew that Wang Shunzhi had found it long ago but lied that he didn't have it. It turned out that he had hidden it secretly and presented it as a tribute to flatter the emperor. This made Prime Minister Xia extremely angry. Wang Shunzhi climbed to his current position through his connections, but now he dared to bypass him to please the emperor!
Prime Minister Xia had to wonder if he wanted to betray him. He and Xiao Weishen were nominally monarch and subject, and they also had a deep bond through marriage. Their alliance seemed unbreakable, but there was not no struggle behind the scenes. Xiao Weishen had long wanted to take back the imperial power, and he had always known about it but had never let go, turning a blind eye. The two maintained this delicate relationship of mutual reliance and trust yet mutual vigilance.
Xia Huaizhang didn't have much brains, and he hated people like Wang Shunzhi, so he said bluntly, "Dad, I think that bastard just saw that you were old and useless, so he wanted to take the opportunity to seek another way out by joining the emperor. You didn't agree to his promotion, but he turned around and showed his goodwill to the emperor. Isn't he going to be promoted next year?"
"You spent a lot of money to get that bead from someone else, but he used it to show his love to others. This bastard is so useless!"
"We were so blind to like him back then!"
Prime Minister Xia had a gloomy face, and it was unknown whether he had taken the words in. Although Wang Shunzhi ran to kneel on the ground after the court session to explain that the beads were indeed not given by him, Prime Minister Xia got the gift list from the eunuch and threw it in his face. It was clearly written in black and red on red paper, so how could it be false
Wang Shunzhi couldn't explain that this wasn't the one he wrote, because the handwriting was exactly the same as his, even the strokes were exactly the same. Seeing that he couldn't explain why his son appeared in his house, Prime Minister Xia gradually determined that he wanted to be a fence-sitter.
He was able to bring Wang Shunzhi out of the poor and destitute place of Li County, and he could also pull him down again. A disobedient dog can be killed and replaced with an obedient one, but a disloyal person... cannot be kept.
Xia Huaizhang also advocated killing him. Wang Shunzhi had done dirty things over the years, and there was a lot of evidence of corruption between father and son. What if he turned against them completely and handed the money over to Xiao Weishen? Even if Xiao Weishen would not do anything to them openly, it would be difficult to deal with him if he became alienated from them.
So a few days later, Wang Shunzhi's old illness suddenly relapsed and he died.
Xiao Weixin listened quietly to Xie Feiyuan's report on the matter. While practicing calligraphy, he asked in a deep voice, "Who is his favorite successor?"
"It's Zhang Bing." Xie Feiyuan replied.
"Another idiot." Xiao Weixin said sarcastically, "We can't find a way to get him to leave."
Xie Feiyuan took the order and stepped back. He happened to meet You Shu who was squatting outside the study watching the snow. He walked over and kicked You Shu on the butt and cursed: "Why are you here if you don't want to do your job properly?"
You Shu turned around and saw him, then stood up and whispered, "Sir, am I not guarding the door?"
"Don't think I don't know what you're thinking." Xie Feiyuan rolled his eyes, "Don't even think about those pears. It's useless to even look at them."
You Shu smiled and said, "Master Yingshou, do you really think I am a greedy child? I just think the snow scene is really beautiful."
Xiao Weixin heard the faint voices at the door, frowned and walked out, intending to curse a few words, but as soon as he opened the door, he saw You Shu turning around and giving Xie Feiyuan a faint smile, and he was stunned at the time.
This was the first time he met You Shuxiao.
So... he can laugh too