Li Daozong put away the sword and gave it to his servant to take away. He deliberately walked to Chen Yan and said to her: "Yan'er, I gave you the 'Love-Severing Sword', not to make you unfeeling and loveless. In fact, emotions are just like this sword, one sword has two edges, it can kill the enemy. It can hurt yourself. At the same time, emotions are also a great force in this world. How to grasp the impossible becomes possible. I only hope that you will not live in the memories of the past forever and face today calmly. The most important thing is to live bravely and optimistically.”
"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your teaching. Chen Yan will always remember it." Chen Yan agreed softly and glanced at Qin Mubai inadvertently, feeling a little entangled in her heart.
In fact, Chen Yan heard the meaning of Li Daozong's words, which was undoubtedly to let her forget the dead Zhu Chengwen, start a new life, and try to contact other men. The implication was that Chen Yan should think carefully about the man "Qin Mubai", but she just missed the point.
Qin Mubai didn't understand why Li Daozong talked about this in front of him. He clearly intends to bring himself and Chen Yan into a good relationship, which can be easily seen from the gift of swords. In his heart, Qin Mubai really likes Chen Yan, a passionate woman with mature charm, intelligence and rationality, but who also values love and justice. However, at this moment, Zhu Chengwen was probably the only one who occupied all of her heart, so how could she find a foothold for a while
Qin Mubai has always believed that it is easy to snatch women from other men; but it is much more difficult to drive another man from a woman's heart and replace her. Especially a woman like Chen Yan who values love and justice. This kind of woman should be respected first, not the kind of woman who is flirtatious and courteous to Qin Muchu, who can be easily included in the tent.
At this moment, although Qin Mubai had a good impression of Chen Yan, he only respected her more.
…
The three of them walked and chatted, heading to the backyard guest house. At this time, Chu Suiliang came towards him. He first greeted Li Daozong and then said to Qin Mubai: "General Qin, I wonder when you are going to say goodbye to the prince and set off?"
"Sir, are you eager to leave?" Qin Mubai asked. I thought to myself, it's really interesting that you clearly want to say goodbye to the prince, but you have to ask me to say it. I'm not in a hurry, so there's no harm in staying in this palace for two more days.
Chu Suiliang had no choice but to say: "I just received a Kuai Ma letter from Jiangzhou Prefecture, saying that I have some urgent matters that I will handle when I go back."
"In this case, it's hard for me to keep you here." Li Daozong said cheerfully, "Chu Suiliang and Qin Mubai, since you two have been entrusted by the emperor, you should take state affairs as your top priority. I'm so humble, can you come here? I'm very happy. I will keep you here for a few more days, but I don't dare to interfere with your business. "
Qin Mubai cupped his hands and said, "In this case, we have no choice but to say goodbye!"
"Wait until I send someone to prepare chariots and horses for you!"
After a while, Qin Mubai and Chu Suiliang both boarded the car, bid farewell to Li Daozong, and returned to Jiangzhou. Li Daozong and Chen Yan saw each other off in person until they left the palace.
"Yan'er, don't you want to go back with Qin Mubai?" Li Daozong asked.
Chen Yan smiled slightly: "He has Chu Suiliang accompanying him, where will he put me?"
"You'd better not be too withdrawn." Li Daozong said with a smile and sincere words, "I know you have a loyal heart and hate evil, but no one is perfect in the world. Everyone has their own shortcomings. To be tolerant and tolerant towards others is to be kind to yourself. . Especially when it comes to officials, I find that you are particularly prejudiced against them, including me at first. You should change this. In fact, there are still many good officials in the Tang Dynasty, otherwise there would be no balance. The prosperous dynasty?"
"Your Majesty taught you a lesson. After experiencing the Jiangzhou incident, my views have changed a lot." Chen Yan frowned and looked into the distance, and said leisurely, "Maybe there are no absolute good or bad people in this world. Good people also make mistakes, and bad people sometimes find their consciences out of control. People in the officialdom also have no control over themselves.
Li Daozong smiled slightly: "It was Qin Mubai who made you change."
"..." Chen Yan was startled for a moment, a blush appeared on her face inadvertently, she chuckled to cover up her embarrassment, and said, "He is a very strange person, different from what I have met before. Until now. , I don’t know whether he is mostly a good guy, or whether he is more of a bad guy.”
"There are no absolute good or bad people in the world, haha!" Li Daozong laughed and walked away, "How wonderful this sentence is! - Remember it, Yan'er!"
Chen Yan looked at Li Daozong's back, showed a smile of relief and gratitude, and said softly: "I understand, foster father... Why can I call you this name only when my back is turned to you?"
The carriage meandered all the way south, and when it arrived at Zhoucheng in the evening, Chu Suiliang invited Qin Mubai to stay in the city for one night, and then set off again tomorrow, so that he could show his friendship as a landlord. Qin Mubai thought that since he had no worries about military strength, it would be a good thing to reward him, so he readily agreed.
Chu Suiliang, the imperial envoy, temporarily took over the post of governor of Jiangzhou, and his office and residence were in the governor's mansion. After the two got off the carriage, Chu Suiliang hurriedly went to deal with some urgent business, leaving Qin Mubai to rest in the guest room for a while and have a dinner together later.
It was true that he was a little tired from running all the way. Qin Mubai took a shower and prepared to take a nap. Before I fell asleep completely, someone called me from outside the door.
"Excuse me for disturbing you. May I ask General Qin if he has gone to bed?"
"who?"
"I am an official under the command of Mr. Chu. I am here to deliver a message to the general on the orders of Mr. Chu."
Qin Mubai had no choice but to get up and open the door. He saw a green-robed official in his forties standing at the door, bowing his hands.
"Tell me, what's the matter?"
"The Lord of the Prefecture specially invited the General to come, saying that there is an important official matter related to the General, and he needs to listen to the General's opinion before making a decision." The official said.
"Is Jiangzhou official business related to me?" Qin Mubai wondered for a long time and said, "I'll be here later."
After packing up his clothes, Qin Mubai went to the Governor's Yamen with the government officials, and Chu Suiliang was waiting in the study.
"General Qin is here. It is wrong to disturb the general's rest. But now I have a dilemma in my hands. I don't know how to solve it. I would like to ask the general to resolve it for me." After that, Chu Suiliang said meaningfully. Smiling, he handed Qin Mubai a booklet.
Qin Mubai opened the booklet curiously and couldn't help but feel happy.
A big businessman, after hearing about the floods in Jiangzhou, came to donate money to the Yamen to help with the disaster relief and the people. There were quite a lot of money and materials donated, including 10,000 guan of copper coins, 50 cartloads of chestnuts, 30,000 pieces of cold clothes, more than 7,000 sets of bedding, and more than 300 sacrificial lambs to reward disaster relief officers and soldiers.
These things are worth at least 20,000 to 30,000 guan. When the imperial court allocated money to build the Jishan flood control dam, it was only 50,000 guan. It is really rare for someone to spend so generously, it is shocking!
But the person who took action made Qin Mubai dumbfounded - the signature was signed, Chang'an Wuzhao!
"General, have you seen it?" Chu Suiliang said with a smile.
Qin Mubai shook his head and smiled bitterly, then threw the book on the table: "What does she want to do?"
"It's a great thing to contribute to the country and relieve the king's worries!" Chu Suiliang said with a smile, "Maybe it's also for you!"
Qin Mubai shook his head and smiled, and said: "She is deliberately building momentum for herself, for fear that others will not know that she is a big businessman. Mr. Chu, thank you for telling me this news. I wonder how you are going to make a decision?"
"I also want to ask the general what he means." Chu Suiliang said, "At present, you and I are on errands under the emperor's orders. If you accept this batch of money and goods, the favor will go to the emperor; if you don't accept it, It will definitely make Wu Zhao unhappy, and he may also misunderstand you. Therefore, I would like to ask the general to make a decision first, and then I will obey you."
"Where is she? Have you ever seen her?" Qin Mubai asked.
"She lives in a small house in Pingyao in the south of Jiangzhou City." Chu Suiliang said, "I haven't met her yet, but I just accepted the folded book first."
"Okay, let me go see her first and then I'll do the rest." Qin Mubai was about to leave, thought for a moment, and asked, "Chu Suiliang, what if we accept this batch of money and food? "
"Such a good deed must be rewarded by the court." Chu Suiliang said, "Generally speaking, at least one should be given the title of 'Datang Yishang'. In the future, it will be more convenient to do business. That status and identity are also the same as those of ordinary businessmen. It’s different.”
"Thank you, I understand. Then I will go see her now. Please sir, please send a local to guide me."
"good."
Later, Chu Suiliang sent a small official to prepare a carriage and horses to send Qin Mubai to Pingyao Xiaozhu in the south of the city to find Wu Meiniang. Qin Mubai was wondering along the way, why did Wu Meiniang suddenly come to Jiangzhou? As early as more than two months ago, she left Chang'an and went to her hometown in Wenshui, Bingzhou... That's right! Bingzhou is not very far from Jiangzhou. Did she come directly from Bingzhou
She came here specifically to provide disaster relief, and it seemed that she also wanted to make a name for herself and get rid of her status as an ordinary businessman who was discriminated against... Wu Meiniang was a person with lofty ideals after all. At a young age, she knew how to run a family family. This trick was indeed used well in providing disaster relief and appeasing the people at all costs. Winning a reputation for her martial arts family will also allow me to gain a good impression from the emperor.
"I haven't seen her for a few days, and I don't know how she is?" Qin Mubai smiled to himself as he thought, "Will this guy still only care about me like before? Gao Yang and I The incident about the princess has caused quite a stir in the city, and I wonder what she will think about it?"
It didn't take long for the carriage to arrive at the south of the city. The clerk pointed to a unique and elegant balcony and said to Qin Mubai: "General, that's Pingyao Xiaozhu. It's a place where wealthy families or wealthy businessmen like to stay. Inside. The music is beautiful, the singing and dancing are pleasing to the eye, and it is a good place to relax and enjoy.”