When Feng Shuo came over, the Chu family had just set off firecrackers to welcome the new year, and the door outside which was pasted with new Spring Festival couplets was covered with red shredded paper left over from the firecrackers.
It is said that the first day of the first lunar month is the "birthday of the broom". You cannot sweep the floor on this day, otherwise you will sweep away the fortune for the year. Therefore, no one came down to sweep the thick snow in the Chu family courtyard. The withered red plum petals fell on the snow, which was surprisingly beautiful.
Feng Shuo was of noble status, and even Old Madam Chu and Old Grandpa Chu came to the gate to greet him personally. Jiang Yanyi stood with the younger generations. He felt that he looked very ugly after staying up all night, so he kept nodding his head and did not dare to look up at Feng Shuo.
Her rare and graceful posture attracted Feng Shuo's attention.
Feng Shuo looked at her calmly for a few more seconds and found that she had rouge on her face, which was different from her usual plain face. He thought that she was wearing makeup and was embarrassed to be seen by him, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but pull up a slight curve.
During Chinese New Year, opera troupes were not accepting any work, so even if one wanted to invite one to liven up the house, it would not be possible. As soon as Feng Shuo arrived, everyone in the Chu family, except Chu Changping and his son, became visibly restrained.
After inviting Feng Shuo to the reception hall, Old Master Chu was silent for a long time and could only utter two words: "Have some tea".
Feng Shuo also noticed the restraint of this family, so he deliberately avoided the topic of political affairs and only talked about daily family matters.
Unfortunately, before we even finished our cup of tea, we had already talked about almost all the topics we could.
Except for the "sick" Chu Chengbai and Chu Yangui who had difficulty walking, all the male members of the Chu family were in the front hall to entertain the guests.
Feng Shuo said, "Why don't I see your young master? Duke Chen said that his chess skills have improved a lot. I have some free time today, so I can play a few games with him."
These seemingly unintentional words made everyone in the Chu family pay attention to Chu Yangui, a young man whose future seemed ruined.
Being able to have Duke Chen as his teacher and being favored by Feng Shuo, Chu Yangui will definitely be an adviser under Feng Shuo no matter how incompetent he is in the future.
Compared with Chu Yangui's bright future, Uncle Chu's face has been unhappy since he thought of his son who was beaten so hard that he couldn't get out of bed on New Year's Day. His dissatisfaction with Chu Changping was almost completely shown on his face, but he didn't dare to act rashly in front of Feng Shuo. He just made an excuse that he was not feeling well and left early.
Chu Changping didn't ask Chu Yangui to come over because he was worried that his leg injury would make it inconvenient for him. Since Feng Shuo had asked him to come, he asked Chu Chengmao to go over and bring Chu Yangui over.
After Chu Chengmao met Xie Chuji, his mind was full of thoughts of helping her to make connections and telling Feng Shuo that there was hope for the Mu family to be rehabilitated. However, just in case, Xie Chuji's affairs at home had to be kept secret, and there were many people in the front hall, so he had not found a chance to introduce her to Feng Shuo.
Now he went to pick up Chu Yangui. Thinking that Chu Yangui would have to play chess with Feng Shuo in a while and he would have a chance to meet Feng Shuo alone, he asked Chu Yangui to tell Feng Shuo on the way.
After sending Chu Yangui to the front hall, he went back to the backyard to find Jiang Yanyi. He wanted Xie Chuji to pretend to be Jiang Yanyi's maid. After Chu Yangui sent a message to Feng Shuo, Jiang Yanyi would take Xie Chuji over.
Although introducing Xie Chuji was just for official business, this arrangement would not keep Jiang Yanyi in the dark.
When Chu Chengmao came over, Jiang Yanyi was talking to Chu Shubao and her sisters, and Xue in the old lady's yard. Chu Chengmao asked her to go to the front hall to deliver a plate of rice cakes. The female relatives thought that the King of Liaonan wanted to see Jiang Yanyi. Chu Shubao and Chu Jiabao both showed gossipy smiles on their faces.
Chu Huibao had been stuck in the room for a long time and wanted to go out for a walk, so she clamored to go with Jiang Yanyi.
Chu Shubao threatened her: "Are you not afraid of the King of Liaonan?"
Chu Huibao scratched her hair and thought for a long time before finally coming up with an idea: "Don't be afraid, he looks as good as my second sister."
The grandparents and grandchildren in the room all laughed. Old Madam Chu said, "You silly girl, good-looking cannot be used to describe a man."
Chu Huibao was puzzled: "Then what should I say?"
Madam Chu said, "We have to say he is heroic."
"Parrot? Doesn't he look like a parrot?" Chu Huibao looked silly and cute.
Chu Shubao didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Okay, Huibao, stop embarrassing yourself. I'll find you a teacher in the spring. At least you can learn a little bit so that you won't be laughed at in the future."
Chu Huibao pouted unhappily, "No, if I can't write big characters well, the teacher will hit my palm again."
Chu Jiabao smiled and said, "Then you have to practice your calligraphy. When you were in the capital, three teachers left because of your ugly handwriting."
Madam Chu was so amused by her granddaughters that she couldn't stop grinning: "Then Huibao should learn from your second sister. Your second sister's handwriting used to be so ugly, but now it's quite decent."
Chu Huibao turned her head and looked at Jiang Yanyi pitifully: "How did Second Sister learn to write such good characters?"
Jiang Yanyi said with a smile: "Practice more calligraphy."
Chu Huibao's chubby little face fell in an instant.
Chu Shubao and others couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Chu Chengmao urged him at the door, so Jiang Yanyi got up and followed him.
Chu Huibao wanted to follow along, but was stopped by her sister Chu Shubao.
***
Jiang Yanyi and Chu Chengmao were walking in the corridor together. She had some understanding of Feng Shuo. Feng Shuo could sometimes act frivolously behind other people's backs, but he was definitely a calm person in front of others.
She guessed that this was probably Chu Chengmao's idea, so she asked him, "Second brother asked me to go over there. Is it related to Miss Xie?"
Last night, Xie Chuji asked to see Feng Shuo, so it was not surprising that Jiang Yanyi could guess that it was Chu Chengmao.
As he walked, he said, "She said she has evidence to vindicate the Mu family and wants to meet the King of Liaonan."
This answer surprised Jiang Yanyi a little, but after thinking about it carefully, everything seemed to make sense.
After the Mu family was raided, Duke Chen took great pains to replace Chi Qing and Master Mu with two death row prisoners. Since then, the two brothers have been living in hiding under different names under the command of Feng Shuo.
Xie Chuji was deeply in love with Master Mu, so it was not surprising that Master Mu revealed his whereabouts to her.
When she arrived at the guest room where Xie Chuji lived, she had no complaints about Chu Chengmao's arrangement. She quickly changed into a maid's clothes and followed Jiang Yanyi to the front hall.
lobby.
Feng Shuo had already finished a game of chess with Chu Yangui. He had taught Jiang Yanyi how to play chess. Jiang Yanyi was very smart, but his chess style was always conservative and gentle. Chu Yangui's chess style could be said to be completely opposite to Jiang Yanyi's. He always took an unconventional approach and risked everything.
The black and white pieces on the chessboard were fighting bloody battles. Compared to Chu Yangui's fight to the death, Feng Shuo's every move seemed to be carefully planned, as if he had already calculated all the possible options Chu Yangui could take.
When Chu Yangui's black piece was finally trapped by the white piece, Feng Shuo said meaningfully: "The path of chess is also the path of the heart. You can break out of the current siege with just a ruthless force, but in a person's life, there are more obstacles to overcome than just the one in front of you. Before you act ruthlessly, you must see clearly the path ahead."
Outside the half-open window, heavy snow was flying like cotton wool. Occasionally, a snowflake fell on the window frame, but was instantly melted by the heat from the charcoal basin in the room.
After a game of chess, Chu Yangui's back was almost soaked with sweat.
He looked at the man sitting opposite him and suddenly felt that he was a mountain that he would never be able to climb in his entire life.
People only talk about how cruel and violent the King of Liaonan is, and court officials also call him a mad dog. But no matter how much abuse he suffers and how many people wish to take his life, he is still the greatest king in this chaotic world.
He walked forward step by step through mountains of corpses and seas of blood. He is indeed ruthless, but the reason why he has remained undefeated so far is not only because he is ruthless, but also because he had already planned and grasped the overall situation.
Chu Yangui looked at Feng Shuo, pursed his lips and nodded: "I remember."
There was a knock on the door. It was Jiang Yanyi and Xie Chuji coming to deliver some cakes.
The servants in the room had been sent away by Chu Yangui on the grounds that they would not disturb the chess game. Old Master Chu sat there for a while, and he really couldn't think of anything to talk about with Feng Shuo, so he left the front hall while Chu Yangui and Feng Shuo were playing chess. Not to mention that Second Master Chu was a drunkard, so he went back to his own yard early to drink.
Jiang Yanyi came in with rice cakes, saw the chessboard, and asked with a smile: "Did Yangui lose?"
Feng Shuo said: "He plays better than you."
Jiang Yanyi was concerned about giving Feng Shuo some face in front of outsiders, so she just glared at him. After she put the rice cake plate on the low table beside her, she asked Chu Yangui, "Are you bored? Should I push you out for some fresh air?"
This means he wants to avoid the question. After all, what Xie Chuji said might be confidential.
Without waiting for Chu Yangui to reply, Feng Shuo said, "The window is always open, so it's not stuffy."
He pointed to the pearwood chair beside him and said, "Sit down. You might as well help Yan Gui watch the next game."
Xie Chuji was also a very smart person and he immediately understood Feng Shuo's attitude—he had no intention of asking Jiang Yanyi and his sister to avoid suspicion.
After Jiang Yanyi sat down, Xie Chuji bowed to Feng Shuofu and said, "Greetings, King Liaonan."
Chu Chengmao is guarding outside the door, no one will come here.
"Xie Er Xiao Miss, there's no need to be so polite." Feng Shuo had only looked up at her since she entered the room. "It is said that you have obtained evidence to vindicate the Mu family?"
Xie Chuji straightened his thin back: "Yes, I would like to ask the prince to overturn the case for the Mu family."
Feng Shuo asked: "Evidence."
Xie Chuji took out a stack of letters from his bosom and handed them to Feng Shuo: "Marquis Mu Wu once had a lieutenant general named Liao Kun under his command. When Marquis Mu Wu was defeated, it was not because Marquis Mu Wu committed treason and committed suicide as the late emperor had concluded, but because he was framed by this villain!"
"Liao Kun?" Feng Shuo frowned. "After the Mu family was raided, he was the only one in the court who dared to risk his life to plead for the Mu family."
Xie Chuji's eyes were red, and hatred was boiling in his eyes: "He is just pretending! Back then, Marquis Mu Wu used another lieutenant general under his command, and he held a grudge against him. At that time, the late emperor was ill, and several princes were secretly fighting. Although the prince's orphan was loved by the late emperor, he was afraid of his relatives by marriage and had been suppressing the Gao family. The Gao family had many empty titles but no real power."
"In order to help the grandson of the emperor seize the throne, the Gao family set their sights on the military power of the Mu family and bribed Liao Kun, a lieutenant general under Marquis Mu Wu. In the battle where Marquis Mu Wu was defeated, it was Liao Kun who opened the city gates for the enemy at night. Countless Daxuan civilians and soldiers were beheaded in their sleep. The letter accusing Marquis Mu Wu of treason was also sent by him to contact the Southern Border Minghan Kingdom in the name of Marquis Mu Wu..."
The ironclad evidence that convicted the Mu family back then was a letter personally written by the Marshal of the Southern Border Minghan State to Marquis Mu Wu.
After Marquis Mu Wu's death, Marshal Ming Han instinctively wanted to attack the next city directly, but he took the initiative to stop the troops for three days, saying that he admired Marquis Mu Wu and mourned the loss of such an ally.
This move made the officials in the court who had originally pleaded for Mu Wuhou's family no longer dare to submit petitions for mercy, as they believed that Mu Wuhou was really collaborating with the enemy and committing treason.
Feng Shuo has been looking for evidence to exonerate the Mu family over the years. He originally thought that the letter was a frame-up by Minghan Kingdom, and that the ceasefire by the Marshal of Minghan Kingdom was just a show.
It's a pity that he sent countless people to investigate, but couldn't find any breakthrough. When he almost killed the Marshal of Minghan Kingdom, he also questioned the other party on the battlefield. The Marshal of Minghan Kingdom insisted that Marquis Mu Wu was his ally. All the facts made it clear that Marquis Mu Wu really collaborated with the enemy and committed treason.
If Feng Shuo had not trusted Mu Wuhou's character, he would have been convinced by the evidence.
Now Xie Chuji found out that someone was using the name of Marquis Mu Wu to communicate with Marshal Ming Han State, and the mystery was finally solved.
Feng Shuo never imagined that the old subordinate who seemed loyal to Mu Wuhou was the real culprit who put the entire Mu family in ruins.
He read the letters handed to him by Xie Chuji one by one. His expression became worse and worse. In the end, it was already cloudy. "Back then, Xuan Qing took the initiative to find Liao Kun. It turns out that from then on, the Gao family knew that their brothers were not dead."
On the surface, Liao Kun is at odds with the Gao family, but in fact he is a running dog of the Gao family.
Back then, Mu Xuanqing thought he was a trustworthy person, so he pulled out all the clues he found, thinking that he really wanted to help the Mu family get justice. However, Liao Kun reported all of Mu Xuanqing's movements to the Gao family.
Duke Chen, who replaced the Mu Xuanqing brothers with death row prisoners, also became a thorn in the eyes of the Gao family. However, Duke Chen resigned and retired before the Gao family found evidence, thus avoiding the Gao family's calculations.
Mu Xuanqing trusted Liao Kun too much and always suspected that there were spies around him. He tried to eliminate them several times and weakened his own power but to no avail. Little did he know that the real traitor was the destination to which all his letters were sent.
Xie Chuji smiled bitterly and said, "The letter on the arrow that the prince received in the army three years ago was also written by the Gao family. The Gao family knew that the prince was determined to find out the truth and vindicate Marquis Mu Wu, so they came up with this plan to kill both the prince and you in that battle."
Feng Shuo was not the commander-in-chief in that battle. After months of fighting, he only had a few thousand remnant soldiers left. The imperial reinforcements were slow to arrive, while Ming Hanguo had an army of tens of thousands of powerful soldiers. The commander-in-chief even abandoned the city and fled.
In the end, Mu Xuanqing died in the battle, and Feng Shuo was seriously injured and half lost his life.
The truth that had been investigated for several years finally surfaced, but it was bloody, just as glaring as the blood that flowed to the entrance of the vegetable market when hundreds of members of the Mu family were sent to the execution ground and beheaded.
Feng Shuo's knuckles were so tight that they wrinkled the letter paper, but his eyes were calm before a storm: "It's time for them to pay back what they owe to the Mu family."
The author has something to say: Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated nutrient solution during 2021-01-28 23:59:26~2021-01-29 23:59:54~
Thanks to the little angel who threw the rocket launcher: pp 2;
Thanks to the little angel who cast the mines: 1 at the bridge head under the old orange tree;
Thanks to the little angels who irrigated the nutrient solution: Xiaoxianme and Sahuaner's Turtle 20 bottles; Xiaohongchen 19 bottles; Qingyan, Six Yuan a Jin Shrimp, Yuancong Bencong 10 bottles; Jinxi 9 bottles; Qiyanle and Tianzi No. 1 Worker 5 bottles; Shengluo 1 bottle;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!