Judging from his age, he seemed to be under 20. Mingyu felt a little cold at his cold gaze, but when she thought about her brother being arrested by the dog officials, she didn't care about it anymore. She took two steps closer and said, "Brother Qi, my brother Xu Mingye was arrested by the officials from the state without any reason. Please help and save him!"
However, the nobleman with delicate eyebrows and eyes just looked at Mingyu coldly, without saying anything and without any other expression.
Lixiang stood timidly behind Mingyu and secretly tugged at Mingyu's sleeve, as if she had something to say. Mingyu did not bother to pay attention to Lixiang. Seeing that Qi Su did not respond, Mingyu was anxious to beg him again, but she heard the door curtain of the sedan chair behind it being lifted up.
A tall young man walked over steadily. He was about the same age as Xu Mingye. He wore a blue cotton gown with a dark-colored double-breasted shirt on the outside. He had thick eyebrows and big eyes, and smiled broadly. He laughed at Mingyu and said, "Hello, Xu Mingyu. It's only been a year since we last met, and I still recognize you. Why don't you recognize Brother Qi?"
Li Xiang was almost crying behind Mingyu, and whispered, "Miss, that is Mr. Qi!"
Mingyu then realized that she had recognized the wrong person. She looked up at Qi Su, who was smiling brightly, and then looked back at the nobleman in the sedan chair with a cold look. Mingyu's face turned red as if it was on fire, and she apologized incoherently: "Yes, I'm sorry, I, I recognized the wrong person..."
It is obvious that the young man in the sedan chair is more suitable for the word "Su".
Qi Su had already walked over and asked with concern: "You just said that your brother was arrested by the adults from the state. What happened?"
When Mingyu mentioned her brother, she said quickly, "I don't know either. My brother asked me to come to you for help. That adult said that my brother was inciting public resentment, which is totally false!"
At this time, the young man in the sedan chair spoke up, his voice just like his personality, revealing a hint of coldness, "What's that man's last name?"
Mingyu quickly replied, "My surname is Wei."
The young master frowned, "Wei what?"
Mingyu was still embarrassed facing the young man in the sedan chair, her whole face still flushed. Her usually flexible brain seemed to be stuck in a knot and she couldn't react at all. She was stunned for a moment and stammered, "Why? I don't know... Because his father's last name is Wei?"
Qi Su laughed so hard that tears almost came out. He couldn't help but want to rub Mingyu's head. After not seeing her for a year, the little girl had grown into a big girl and became more and more lovely. He suddenly thought that Mingyu was already a big girl now, and it was not appropriate to tease her like a little girl, so he withdrew his outstretched hand.
Looking back at the young master in the sedan chair, he was not angry, and his eyebrows and mouth seemed to be rising. Qi Su felt relieved, thought for a moment and said to Mingyu: "You go back first, we will go to the county government office immediately."
Seeing the girl's expression clearly showing worry and distrust, Qi Su patted his chest and promised, "Don't worry, your brother will definitely be able to have lunch with you at noon."
Mingyu didn't know what kind of background Qi Su had. Judging from his clothes, he didn't look wealthy. On the contrary, the young man who had been sitting in the sedan chair and had not come out looked noble. Qi Su looked at the young man's expression several times while talking, as if he was very concerned about his reaction. It seemed that this unknown nobleman had a high status.
Since Qi Su had promised so confidently, Mingyu, who wanted to go to the county government office with them, could no longer insist and could only step aside helplessly.
The sedan continued to move forward slowly. Looking from the side, the hand holding the curtain withdrew, and the curtain immediately fell down, blocking the sedan tightly, so that nothing could be seen inside.
When the sedan chair turned the corner and could no longer be seen, Mingyu sighed, kicked the stones at his feet, and said to Lixiang, "Let's go home."
Li Xiang saw that Mingyu was in low spirits, so she comforted her, "Don't worry, young lady. Since the young master said he would ask Master Qi for help, and now Master Qi is willing to help, the young master will be safe."
"How do you know?" Mingyu asked listlessly.
Li Xiang pointed to the plain and low-key gate of the Qi Mansion, and said with a very confident look, "I heard that Master Qi's grandfather was a university scholar in the capital in his early years, and even taught the prince. Although Lord Wei is a state official and bullies our master, a county official, he is nothing in front of the university scholar, and he will definitely give Master Qi face."
It would have been fine if she didn't mention that Lord "Wei What". As soon as she mentioned it, Mingyu's face, which had just returned to normal, began to turn red again. Touching her hot ears, Mingyu cried out in her heart. Apart from the fact that he harmed her brother, Mingyu hated this Lord "Wei What" even more.
When the two of them returned home, Mingyu was worried and walked very fast. She entered the house through the back door of the county government office. As soon as she entered the house, she hurriedly asked Mother Liu, "Where is my brother? Is he back?"
Mother Liu shook her head, not wanting to see Mingyu's disappointed face, and said, "The young master hasn't come back yet."
Mingyu was anxious to go out and look for Qi Su again. This guy had clearly promised Xu Mingye that he would be back at noon! However, before Mingyu turned around, she heard a smiling voice behind her, "You miss your brother so much? I'm back now!"
Looking back, Xu Mingye was standing there with his hands behind his back, looking at Mingyu with a smile, and Dongyuan was following behind him.
Mingyu strode over. Xu Mingye stood there calmly. Mingyu thought about how she had been worried and frightened all morning and how she had caused such a big mistake. She couldn't help but pull Xu Mingye's sleeve in anger and asked rudely, "What happened? How did you offend the governor?"
Xu Mingye was just a fledgling candidate. The fact that he ranked third in the provincial examination did not mean much. There were still the metropolitan examination and the palace examination waiting for him, as well as countless trials and tribulations. If he offended the governor at this moment, it would be very disadvantageous for his future.
"It's unfair!" Xu Mingye shouted exaggeratedly, pulling Mingyu's hand into the house, "It's obvious that Dad has offended his immediate superior, and that Lord Wei is taking his anger out on me!"
Mingyu couldn't help but retort, "Nonsense, Dad is not the kind of person who offends others easily! If you don't tell the truth, I will tell Dad that you said bad things about him behind his back!"
Xu Changqian is a bit stubborn and old-fashioned, and has a clean and honest character that is incompatible with the extravagant and corrupt officialdom, but this does not mean that he is a fool who offends people everywhere. Although Xu Changqian has not been promoted in the past ten years, he has not been demoted either. From this point, it can be seen that Xu Changqian is still a smart official, and is definitely not like Hai Rui who offends people everywhere.
Xu Mingye sighed secretly. It is not a good thing to have a sister who is too smart. He couldn't help but miss the days when Mingyu was not married. The little girl was delicate and silly, cute and easy to bully. When he tapped her forehead, she would look for her mother with red watery eyes, and burst into laughter when he coaxed her. It was not like now. She has grown taller and more cunning, and it is impossible to coax her even if you want to.
"A few years ago, the taxes imposed on the people by the government were already very heavy. I and several classmates from the academy jointly wrote a petition of 10,000 words and submitted it to the county government, accusing Lord Wei of extortion and asking the county governor to see through the details and reduce the taxes." Xu Mingye said, "The petition fell on deaf ears, and there was no news at all. Later... we started preparing for the provincial examination and forgot about it."
At that time, Xu Mingye was still young and didn't understand what was going on. Now, Xu Mingye knew it clearly. Without the support and connivance of the county governor, how could this Lord Wei be so unscrupulous? How much of the money he had collected went into the pocket of the county governor? They were a group of passionate students who were just starting out and didn't know much. If they reported it to the mastermind behind the scenes, there would be no result. It was just that the mastermind saw them as a group of students who had nothing to do and were too lazy to bother with them.
"It's been a few years, and he hasn't been harmed in any way, but Lord Wei still holds a grudge against him. He is really narrow-minded and petty." Mingyu frowned, still feeling a little scared. "He got away with it this time, but who knows if there will be a next time."
Xu Mingye shook his head. Originally, he didn't want to tell Mingyu about these messy things to save Mingyu from worrying. However, seeing Mingyu's clear thinking and analysis, he couldn't help but want to talk to Mingyu about these things, as if Mingyu was someone of similar age to him, and he would feel better if he talked about them, and they could discuss and analyze together.
"I think Lord Wei is just taking advantage of the situation." Xu Mingye said. Lord Wei had been in the officialdom for so many years that he would not go toe to toe with a small scholar like him. "He came to Lu'an mainly to urge the payment of this year's taxes. Now it's the end of the year, and the new emperor has ascended the throne. He wants my father to pay 60% more taxes than in previous years to fill the treasury for the new emperor, and also to prepare generous gifts to celebrate Prime Minister Dong's birthday. Several villages suffered from floods this autumn. Although there was no complete harvest, many people could only barely make ends meet. A 60% increase in taxes is going to drive people to death..." Xu Mingye shook his head and said nothing.
Mingyu understood that Lord Wei was only trying to put pressure on his father. If he did not receive the silver sent by Xu Changqian, he would hold Xu Mingye accountable at any time. Anyway, he had plenty of ready-made charges.
These people only care about their own career prospects and don't care about the lives of the people. They thought that the new emperor's accession to the throne would bring a new atmosphere, but who knew that it would be worse than before. Fortunately, the new emperor gave himself the reign title "Shun Zhao", fearing that others would say that he did not follow the will of the previous emperor to ascend the throne. What else could he be guilty of? Oh, no, the new emperor is just a little brat who knows nothing. The one who should be guilty of the thief is the Prime Minister Dong who held the emperor hostage to control the princes.
"How abominable!" Mingyu gritted her teeth and clenched her fists as she thought of her father's dilemma.
Power is a good thing. The Anxi Marquis's Mansion is powerful and can look down on Mingyu. Lord Wei is powerful and can fabricate charges at will and force Xu Changqian to do things that go against his conscience. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to subscribe and give rewards on Qidian Mobile Network (). Your support is my greatest motivation.)
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