Although the snow had stopped, the night wind was a bit colder than yesterday.
Zhao Baogen was reclining on the soft slump, holding the stove in his hand, as if a cotton ball was wrapped in a quilt, but the door was left open, allowing the cold wind to pour in wantonly.
He did this, naturally, not because he was full, but to ensure that when the master of the study opened the door to say hello, he could rush over as soon as possible.
ah~
It's not easy being a tyrant.
I don't know if it's self-deprecating or self-satisfied thinking, when I hear a few gongs of 'Bangbangbang', but it's already the third watch.
Zhao Baogen got up hesitantly, wrapped himself in a quilt and walked to the door, looking at the candlelight in the study and was in a dilemma.
According to Madam's instructions, it is time to go over and remind the master to rest early.
But recently, there has been a lot of discussion between the top and bottom of the household department, and they all say that there is a big fraud case, otherwise no one would take the big blame and kill Lu Mingsi's life in the case of the household department.
As the minister of households, the master's mood these days can be imagined.
If it is just for a reminder, it is not very cost-effective to endure a few boards.
While hesitating, I suddenly saw a stream of fire from the north coming straight here, and the shadows were like two lanterns.
At this point in time, the only person who has the courage to come to the study to disturb the master is the wife!
Zhao Baogen hurriedly threw the quilt on the bed, and left the stove behind. He didn't care about going around the corridor, and trotted all the way to meet him.
Sure enough, when he got close, he saw two maids and a woman, surrounded by the white-haired mistress, rushing over.
Without waiting for Zhao Baogen to greet him, the old lady made a silent gesture, pushed forward the door alone, and walked in quietly.
As soon as I entered the door, I saw four butter candles lit on the left and right of the desk, and the flames were swaying upwards.
The old lady sighed secretly, went to the table silently, took wick cutters that resembled crooked tweezers, and cut the wicks of the butter candles one by one.
"Come and study ink for me."
Seeing that the candle flame had stabilized, the old man behind the desk suddenly gave a light command, obviously already aware of the arrival of the old wife.
The old woman was not surprised, she walked around to the side of the desk, picked up most of the ink on the inkstone, and began to grind it.
The old man was annotating official documents as usual.
After a quarter of an hour or so, I saw the old man sitting at the desk raised his head, let out a long sigh, stretched out his hand to remove the eyes on the bridge of his nose, and tried to rub his eyes with his hands.
"Here."
The old woman seemed to have expected it long ago, and immediately took a cup of half-warm tea and stuffed it into her husband's hands.
The old man put the teacup on the table, first soaked the thumb and index finger of his right hand, rubbed it back and forth a few times, and then dipped the tea to wipe his eyes.
“Tea improves eyesight…”
Muttering like singing and babbling, the old man closed his eyes and stretched out to the side.
The old lady with a good heart immediately put her handkerchief on, but she couldn't help but said angrily: "If you spit in the future, let someone replace it with a new one - you don't mind it yourself, my children and I are still afraid. I'm sick."
"Save it, save it."
The old man was perfunctory, suddenly remembered something, looked back and smiled: "I remember the first time you read and wrote with me at night, it seems that it was also the first sunny day after the snow, right?"
"Forty years ago, who can still remember clearly." The old lady's mouth was hypocritical, but her eyes showed an inexorable passion.
The two sixty-year-old elders looked at each other and smiled, although they never spoke again, they were worth a thousand words.
It's a pity that this quiet and peaceful scene was soon broken by the shouts from outside.
"Master, master!"
Before the old man frowned, someone outside the door reported loudly: "The people in Dali Temple don't know what's going on, but in the middle of the night, they suddenly sent someone to ask the officials of the Ministry of Household, and from the fifth to the eighth rank, the I caught a dozen or so!"
The old man was stunned when he heard the words, and then his face turned gloomy.
This evening, the direct dispatch of people to ask questions must have a certain degree of certainty—could it be that the Ministry of Household under his own control has made a case? !
Thinking of this, the old man, Zhao Hong, the minister of households, couldn't help himself, and walked around the desk and strode to the door.
Just as he was about to stretch out his hand to open the door, he suddenly stopped, frowned and pondered for a while, then sat down at the desk to himself, and replied casually, "Since it was Dali Temple who took people, it must have been someone else. Proof - if you find our mansion later, you just need to cooperate, if it has not affected the old man, then everything will be discussed tomorrow."
"Master, Zhou Shilang is in the front hall now..."
"Confused!"
Zhao Hong's voice suddenly increased a lot, but he calmed down again, and said lightly: "Go and tell Zhou Chang, if this matter is related to him, go directly to Dali Temple to surrender - this old man only cares about financial affairs, not palms. Punishment!"
It was quiet for a while outside, before the sound of hurried footsteps could be heard.
When the footsteps drifted away, Mrs. Zhao, who was on the side, said, "Isn't that little Sun Shaoqing suspended for impeachment? Why did it suddenly make such a scene?"
The old man wondered, "How do you know it's him?"
"It's not him, could it be Wei Yicheng?"
The old lady gave her husband a sullen look, as if resenting him for insulting her IQ.
Zhao Hong laughed, raised his head and lay on his back on the back of the chair, staring at the beam without knowing what he was looking at. To meet him face to face theory theory."
"At this age, it's just bragging."
The old lady slammed it down one after another: "Thirty years ago, you were still a county magistrate in another place, and when you met a high-ranking fourth-rank official, you wouldn't even dare to breathe!"
The old man smiled, but then said sternly: "But this young man has achieved his ambition, and he has not seen it, which is a good thing. If this matter is stable, it will be fine. , I'm afraid it's enough for this Sun's Erlang to drink a pot."
Having said this, he suddenly regained his energy, and with a little effort, he wrote an impeachment memorial.
Zhao Hong dried the paper, looked at it carefully, turned around and warned, "If I hand over this impeachment tomorrow, you should go to the Sun family to propose marriage."
"Propose marriage?"
Zhao's wife was really confused by her husband this time, and said in surprise, "Who do you propose?"
"Who else could be, of course your precious granddaughter!"
"Are you out of your mind?"
The old lady said angrily, "You are sending someone to propose marriage while you play the table to impeach others. Are you not afraid that Ying'er will be rejected by her husband's family after she really gets married?"
"Hey, you don't understand now."
Zhao Hong smiled: "There is a saying that Mu Xiu will be destroyed by the forest wind, and it is better to learn a lesson at this time than to fall to pieces from a height - according to this Sun Jia Erlang's ability, it is only a matter of time to recover. "
"At that time, our Ying'er will be the 'wife in distress'!"
When Zhao's wife heard this, she finally came to a realization. She couldn't help but shoved her husband and scolded her with a smile, "You are the only one who has so many tricks."
But after thinking about it, she hesitated again: "But if that little Sun Shaoqing, this time the real culprit has been successfully found out?"
"Is this..."
Zhao Hong faltered, and then picked up the pen again, but this time it was a memorial to voluntarily plead guilty.
The old lady said dissatisfiedly: "I'm not asking you this, I'm saying that if he makes another contribution, Ying'er's marriage..."
"Let's quit."
Zhao Hong spread his hands and said helplessly: "Our Ying'er is a bit stubborn, and in terms of appearance and talent, it's not satisfactory..."
"That's not all with your appearance!"
"My son is also with me, but isn't he a talent?"
"Bah~ obviously follow me..."
The in-laws were choking when they heard someone report from outside: "Master, Shilang Zhou really went to Dali Temple, but he said that he didn't surrender to the crime, but refused to sit back and watch his colleagues and subordinates, and was arbitrarily made trouble by Dali Temple. ."
Zhou Chang went to Dali Temple
Zhao Hong frowned when he heard this. Zhou Chang has always adhered to the golden mean. Although it cannot be said that he has no responsibility at all, he rarely takes responsibility for himself.
Now that he is suddenly so positive, is it that...