After dinner, Zhou Shuren kept Chang Lian and told him the choice given by the emperor, and asked, "Where do you want to go?"
Chang Lian looked at his father's expression carefully. He was more nervous than excited about this news. His father must have made a choice in his mind, and now he was being tested. The two destinations did not depend on rank, but only on power and position. He was a man with ideas. He had been learning from his father for so many years, so naturally he hoped to follow the same path as his father, but he did not have his father's ability.
Seeing that his father was still drinking tea, Chang Lian could not help but look at his mother. His mother seemed not to hear the conversation and was drawing the patterns for embroidery. He did not get any hint.
Chang Lian lowered his head, then raised it again, "Dad, I will choose the person in charge."
Zhou Shuren put down his teacup and asked, "Tell me the reason?"
Chang Lian felt relieved when he heard this. He had known his father very well over the years. "My son needs training. The Maritime Affairs Bureau can give him better training."
Zhou Shuren was satisfied. "It's good that you think this way. It shows that you are indeed mature. I am your father in charge of the capital. As long as you accumulate enough merits in the Maritime Affairs Bureau, you can be transferred and gain experience slowly. Your career will be smoother."
He had planned it out. He had helped with the achievements in maritime affairs, and after Chang Lian had worked in the Maritime Affairs Department for a few years and had been promoted, he would find a way to become the prefect of Sanzhou. He would use the prefecture of Sanzhou as a stepping stone and move up step by step. This would save him a lot of detours. Although he could not replicate his career path, it would greatly reduce the years required.
Chang Lian grinned. He knew his father had made plans for him. "Son will definitely not let you down."
Zhou Shuren stroked his beard and said, "Okay, it's getting late, you should go back and rest."
"Dad, Mom, you two should go to bed early."
Zhulan waited for Changlian to leave before saying, "If Changlian leaves, let Shenxing go with him. Although there are a few people in our family who are good at fighting, Shenxing is the one who knows everything."
Zhou Shuren said: "You only know how rare it is to be a master when you train yourself. You said the emperor is a little afraid of me, can I trick a few of them back?"
The only people in this family whom he truly trusted were Jinyan and Shenxing. Jinyan followed him closely, and Shenxing mostly stayed at home. There were really not enough people. Changzhi would return to his hometown to take part in the provincial examination next year, and he needed someone reliable to be by his side.
Zhulan, "If you have the ability, go ahead and cheat. There are no secrets in the family anyway."
Zhou Shuren was really tempted, "Let me think about it, let me think about it."
The next day, at the Ministry of Revenue, Wang Ju came over during the lunch break and asked, "I heard that you followed the prince to the Rong family yesterday?"
Zhou Shuren hummed, "You are slow in delivering news."
Wang Ju rolled her eyes. "I was in the Ministry of Revenue all day, so I naturally didn't have much information. I only heard from my father when I got home. My grandfather said that the Rong family was coming back. You went to the ruins of the Rong family with the prince. Did you hear any news?"
Zhou Shuren knew that this girl was here to get information, and thinking of how much Old Master Wang had taught him, he held back his words and said to Wang Ju, "No one from the Rong family has returned."
Wang Ju was surprised. "Why are they clearing the ruins? And it looks like they are going to rebuild. My father said that when the dynasty was founded, someone wanted to take over the Rong family's residence. Then you know what happened. The emperor was furious. Since then, no one has dared to take over the residence. It has been abandoned for many years. Suddenly it was cleared. People speculated that the disappeared Rong family was coming back."
Zhou Shuren, "The old man knows a lot."
Wang Ju said in a low voice: "Our Wang family has always been in the capital, so we naturally know a lot. I don't know much, and what I say now is what I heard from my father. My father said."
Zhou Shuren was listening when he saw Wang Ju stop talking. "Why don't you say anything?"
"It's just a little sad. Do you know how many people there are in a family over hundreds of years, including direct descendants, branches, distant relatives, and fellow clan members?"
Zhou Shuren could imagine that the Zhou family had developed well in recent years and now had several hundred people, not to mention the aristocratic families.
Seeing Zhou Shuren was silent, Wang Ju said, "Take our Wang family for example. There are five lists including some of our clansmen. This is because many people died and were injured during the war. Otherwise, there would be more. But the prosperous Rong family was destroyed just like that."
Zhou Shuren thought that the royal family of the previous dynasty must have been involved, otherwise the Rong family would not have been destroyed so easily. The dynasty was corrupt, but a lean camel is bigger than a horse. Coupled with some aristocratic families who had been eyeing the Rong family, the Rong family was doomed.
Wang Ju asked, "Is it really not the Rong family who came back?"
"I just said that no one from the Rong family is coming back."
Wang Ju believed it this time. "What about the emperor's actions?"
Zhou Shuren did not hide it. Now everyone was guessing that they would know it sooner or later anyway, "The emperor wants to build a garden, Rong Garden."
This time it was Wang Ju who was silent. Rong Yuan and the Rong family lived in another way!
In the Ningguo Mansion, Ning Xu looked at his father, "Dad, are you saying that there is really no one left alive in the Rong family?"
For so many years, the emperor has not touched the ruins. He thought the emperor was waiting, waiting for the surviving members of the Rong family, but now it seems that is not the case.
Duke Ning's thoughts drifted away. The Ning family was not a family of the capital. They had occupied a region for generations and did not know much about the Rong family. What he knew was because of the emperor. "If the emperor had not built a garden, I would have forgotten about the Rong family. Some people mentioned it when the dynasty was first established. It has been almost twenty years now."
Ning Xu, "Dad."
Duke Ningguo said, "I don't know much about what happened back then. As for whether anyone is alive, they should be gone. If there was, they should have come out long ago. You have to know that the emperor has been on the throne for many years. No one has come out in all these years, so they should be dead."
Ning Xu sighed, "The emperor is still concerned about the Rong family."
Duke Ningguo didn't care about the Rong family, as the Rong family was a thing of the past. Instead, he was more concerned about Zhang Yang. "Is Zhang Yang's concubine really pregnant?"
Ning Xu said, "My son thinks this is strange. If she is pregnant, according to Zhang Yang's personality, he should treasure her. Why would he let his concubine leave the house?"
Duke Ningguo also thought so, but he didn't know what the princes thought.
At Zhou's house, Zhulan had already piled up more than a dozen notes on her desk. She pointed them out to her daughter and said, "These are all from people who want to get information."
Yesterday, Shu Ren stayed in the palace for a long time, and then went to the Rong family’s residence with the prince. She knew that her home was going to be lively again.
Xue Han asked, "Mom, this is the first time I've heard of the Rong family?"
Zhulan signaled the maid to take the post down, "This is the first time that mother has heard of the Rong family. Your father doesn't know much either. The only thing he knows is that the royal family is going to build the Rong Garden."
Xue Han made a note of it. She could ask Rong Chuan to find out. The Ning family should know a lot. "Mom, my elder sister hasn't come since your birthday. Has her family not finished the autumn harvest yet?"
Zhulan, "She's done. She's been busy buying land these days."
"Big sister wants to buy land again?"
"Well, she thinks it's better to buy some land than to keep the money. Even if she rents it out for a year, she can still make some money. She has been looking at land with her parents-in-law these days."
Mrs. Song came in at this time and whispered in Zhulan's ear. Zhulan opened her eyes wide, "Did the Princess of Qi go there in person?"
Mrs. Song nodded, "Yes."