Funing Hall

Since taking office, Zhao Cong has not forgotten the state school and county school that he had been thinking about before.Nowadays, county schools have been established in many counties in remote places.Huainan is originally a place with many scholars, and everyone knows that reading is good, but in Chuzhou area, there are many salt fields and salt people, and there is a little lack of reading atmosphere, and the county school is sometimes dissatisfied.

Zhao Cong linked the salt field and the county school together, but he also expected to play a role of mutual support and progress.

In the salt field of Yancheng Supervisor, the salt people signed paper contracts with the county government one after another.Just as Zhao Cong expected at the beginning, due to the normal household registration, he has to pay various taxes, and he has to perform military service in case of war, and besides that, he has to find a new livelihood.After careful consideration, the salt people are all willing to stay in the salt field. After all, as salt households, they have the salt capital distributed by the imperial court every year.

Master Jingzhong even said that no one would be greedy for their capital, and even punished those county officials who were greedy for their capital, so what worries them?

Now the salt people are full of energy in their work, and the saltworks are very peaceful.

Zhao Cong went to visit it several times, and even took a look at the county school.

The school in Yancheng County is well built, with orchids and bamboo planted around the walls, and many peach trees in the courtyard.The teacher in the school told him that this is a peach tree that can bear fruit, and the peaches that bear fruit are extraordinarily sweet. When they bear fruit, they are picked and sold in the market, earning money, and even buying some paper and pens for the students.

Zhao Cong nodded approvingly.

It was the end of March, and the peach blossoms hadn't come to an end. Amidst the crisp sound of children reading, Zhao Cong looked up at the glowing peach blossoms, and smiled again.

He thought that this should be the most memorable spring since he came here 21 years ago.

The matter of the salt registration was gradually settled, and the matter of the salt official was still to be dealt with slowly. The letter between Du Yu and the money merchant also came from Kaifeng.

Du Yu self-reflected, and had taken the initiative to shut the door at home and ignore political affairs, saying that everything will be dealt with by His Majesty when he returns to Beijing.Zhao Cong looked at Qian Shang's letter again. Qian Shang first talked about the addition of new officials, saying that he had sent people from central Beijing to serve in Chuzhou, Yangzhou and other places. Please rest assured, Your Majesty.In addition, even when he told him about Du Yu's resignation, Qian Shang firmly believed that Du Yu would never do such a thing, but he did not intercede for Du Yu, only asking His Majesty to see clearly.

Zhao Cong put down the money merchant's letter, and then read Du Yu's letter.Du Yu is very smart, he took the initiative to resign first, and he did not shy away from the matter of his disciple being implicated, so he asked him to investigate thoroughly.

Zhao Cong carefully read Du Yu's letter several times before putting it down.

Qian Shang had also been an examiner, but Qian Shang had almost no disciples, but Du Yu had many disciples.

Du Yu is really very smart, knowing that Zhao Cong does not shy away from cronies and disciples, and also knows that Zhao Cong's bottom line is not bad at all.

It's not a good thing to be too smart. It's a good thing to be smart enough to think about his thoughts, but it's not good to make profits for yourself after thinking about it.The person who framed Du Yu was also smart, he knew that as an emperor, he would have other ideas after such a disturbance.

Zhao Cong stuffed the two letters back into the envelope again, leaned back, and let out a long sigh.

Fortunately, the matter of salt registration has been settled, and tomorrow I will go to Hangzhou with Xiao Shiyi, so that I can rest my head for a while.

Zhao Shiqi and Xiao Tang put their tails away, they came back from the salt field, on the way, Xiao Tang hesitated for a while, and asked, "Xiao Langjun, can I go to Hangzhou together?"

"You're not going?"

"I'm going!"

"Originally I thought you were going." Zhao Shiqi was riding on the horse, the horse was swaying slowly, and he also looked very leisurely. He turned to look at Xiao Tang, "Sister Rantao still doesn't understand your intention?"

"..."

"Can I send the flowers I bought?"

Xiao Tang sighed: "I forced it to her, she might not like it, the silk flower is only a few pennies."

Zhao Shiqi smiled: "I'm afraid you are stupid in reading. When you give gifts to your loved ones, you never ask about the value, but about the meaning."

Xiao Tang was taken aback for a moment, and thought to himself, this is the truth!

Zhao Shiqi said again: "Sister Rantao has not returned you, so she must love you."

Xiao Tang grinned, and after laughing, he became curious again: "Young Lord, you don't even understand the feelings of joy, how do you know so much?"

Zhao Shiqi thought to himself, after living for so many years, have you never eaten or seen it?If you watch more, you will naturally know how to coax.He didn't bother to explain, but clamped his horse's belly and speeded up.

After arriving at Li's house, he got off his horse and was going to find Zhao Cong, when a guard with a knife came in, saw him and said, "Young Lord, there is a letter from Yangzhou for His Majesty."

Fearing that it belonged to Si Lang, Zhao Shiqi stretched out his hand towards him.The guard gave it to him at ease, and Zhao Shiqi took it in his hand and glanced at it casually, and he stopped when he saw it.

In his previous life, Si Lang was also Zhao Shiqing's husband-in-law. He didn't like Weijun's palace, and he even hated Duke Qi Jiang's family, but Zhao Shiqing treated him well.After he ascended the throne, he only left Zhao Shiqing, her mother, and her husband's family alive. If it wasn't for Zhao Shiyuan and his younger brother who had to die, he would have kept them alive.

Si Lang is a truly elegant person. He has seen many of Si Lang's paintings and calligraphy, and he can recognize Si Lang's handwriting.

This letter was not from Si Lang.

But if the letter from Yangzhou wasn't written by Si Lang, who else could it be?

It must be the number one scholar.

Zhao Shiqi couldn't help sneering, he directly rubbed the letter into his hand.No matter whether this Yi Yu is crazy about climbing up, or has other goals, with him around, this person will not be able to succeed.The desire and ambition in Yi Yu's eyes were too strong, too strong to be concealed.

No wonder he always looks down and doesn't look at people.

Zhao Shiqi sneered again, pinched the paper ball even tighter, and lifted his foot to meet Zhao Cong.

After getting ready here, they originally planned to go to Hangzhou from Yancheng County.

Zhao Cong has been living in Li's house these days, so he has a good impression of Li Zhicheng.Although he doesn't have great skills, he has done a solid job as a conservative magistrate.Thinking of Li Zhicheng's contribution, Zhao Cong decided to go to Chuzhou to stay for half a day, to have a look around, and then go to Hangzhou from Chuzhou.

The boat trip from Yancheng County to Chuzhou is very cheap and not tiring. Zhao Shiqi also agreed.

On the way to Chuzhou, Zhao Cong said to Rantao with some guilt: "I wanted to let you go back to Yangzhou's home, but I didn't have enough time." He actually regarded Rantao as his family in his heart, so he felt guilty meaning.

Rantao immediately said in shock: "Your Majesty, how can you say that! A few days ago, thanks to His Majesty's grace, the father and mother of the servant girl came to Yancheng County and met once. The servant girl also saw the nephew at home. Although the father and mother Already old, but also energetic. And the family does not have to worry about food and drink, and the nephew can recite poems at a young age, so the servant girl is very relieved! His Majesty also gave gold to the parents, and even gave the nephew ink. I am very grateful to Your Majesty."

Zhao Cong wanted to help Xiao Tang, and said: "I really didn't think about it, Zifan reminded me."

When Rantao heard this, he immediately lowered his head and did not speak again.

Seeing that she only had a golden hairpin in her hair, Zhao Cong thought to himself, at some point, Rantao would be willing to wear the jasmine flower that Xiao Tang gave her as a hairpin.He looked at Rantao for a while, then slowly withdrew his gaze, but met Zhao Shiqi's gaze.

The two of them were sitting on the same boat, and he was the only one talking to Rantao, not paying attention to Zhao Shiqi.

Zhao Shiqi sat by the window, watching the two of them talk quietly.

When he turned around, he was right.

Zhao Shiqi was neither flustered nor surprised, but smiled at him instead.

Zhao Cong suddenly felt a little thirsty... Sometimes he would rather Zhao Shiqi treat him as fiercely as he treats outsiders.

Instead, he hurriedly reached out to get the teacup. Seeing that he wanted tea, Rantao picked it up and handed it to him first.He picked up the teacup, took advantage of drinking water to raise his head and peeked at Zhao Shiqi again, but he was still looking at him!

Zhao Cong's hand trembled slightly, he put down the teacup as calmly as possible, got up and said, "I'm going to rest for a while."

"The servant girl is going to pack the bedding." Rantao said and went to tidy up.

Zhao Cong also wanted to go in, and when he was about to go in, he turned his head and asked curiously, "What are you looking at while sitting by the window?"

"Your Majesty, there are peach trees and willow trees on both sides of the bank. I look at the willow branches on the bank and the peach blossoms on the water."

Zhao Cong's heart moved, he also walked to the window of the boat, and looked out, it was indeed so.The tender green buds of willows flutter with the wind, and the petals of peach blossoms blown by the wind ripple with the waves.

Zhao Shiqi pointed to the distance: "Your Majesty, that's a field. Look, it's a buffalo." Zhao Cong looked at it, and Zhao Shiqi pointed to the water again, "Your Majesty has never seen the ducks raised in the people's homes?" He looked proud look.

Zhao Cong laughed: "It sounds like you often say it."

Zhao Shiqi smiled and said nothing, and then pointed to the bustling crowd outside the boat, the old man selling food outside the boat, and the little lady who was selling peach blossoms on the far side of the pier...Zhao Cong was a little obsessed. These were things he had never seen before, and things he had always wanted to see.

He couldn't take his eyes off him, and he didn't know that Zhao Shiqi was also staring at him.

Zhao Shiqi looked at his eyebrows, at his trembling eyelashes from time to time, at the bridge of his nose, at the tip of his nose, and at his lips.The spring day was warm, and the outside of the boat was full of spring, Zhao Cong's complexion was much prettier than usual.His lips were no longer pale, but ruddy.

Their boat finally arrived at the pier, and the little lady holding flowers outside saw Zhao Cong's face by the window, and immediately said crisply: "Your Majesty! Do you want to buy flowers? In a few days, this year's peach blossoms will be gone! You can buy three for ten coins!"

Zhao Cong laughed.

"Lang Jun! Buy the hairpin and put it on the sideburns, it looks great!"

When Zhao Cong saw such a smart little lady, he liked it too, so he turned around and ordered people to go down to buy flowers.The boat stopped for a while, and Lu Yuan and Rantao were about to go down. The young lady knew that he was going to buy flowers, so she picked out three of them and waved to him: "Lang Jun! Look, I picked the three most beautiful ones! "

Zhao Cong smiled again, and when a spring breeze passed by, the petals on the peach blossoms were blown up a little, and some petals swayed to the window with the wind.Zhao Cong looked at the petals, but one of them might have gone straight into the boat and stuck to his lips.

He reached out to take it off.

A hand was stretched out.

He turned his head, thinking that Zhao Shiqi was going to help him get the petals, he smiled at Zhao Shiqi, the petals were about to fall.

Zhao Shiqi stretched out his hand to hold the petal.

Zhao Cong stared at him with widened eyes.

Zhao Shiqi seemed to be dazed, his eyes moved from Zhao Cong's eyes to Zhao Cong's lips.

Zhao Cong's lips are more beautiful than March's peach petals.

With a slight force on his fingers, his fingertips touched Zhao Cong's lips through the petals.

Zhao Cong grabbed the window lattice with his backhand, his mind went blank.

Zhao Shiqi seemed to be in love with this kind of behavior, he seemed to be extremely puzzled, instead he frowned, and then rubbed Zhao Cong's lips with his hands.

At this time, Rantao and Lu Yuan had already bought flowers, and the little lady shouted happily again: "Mr. Lord! The flowers are for your maid!"

Zhao Cong suddenly regained his senses, he withdrew his hand, pushed Zhao Shiqi away, and strode into the depths of the cabin in embarrassment.

He immediately turned over and lay down on the boat paved with dyed pottery, but his heartbeat couldn't stop.

It was the first time in his two lifetimes that he was in such a mess.

What is Zhao Shiqi going to do? !

Zhao Shiqi didn't know what to do.

Zhao Cong hurried into the inner room, and he came back to his senses. He looked down at his fingers in puzzlement, and the touch seemed to be still there.No matter how puzzled he looked at the bouquet of peach blossoms in the hands of the young lady by the pier, for some reason, he didn't want those flowers to be bought by others, so he simply walked off the boat.

Zhao Cong lay on the bed for a while, but no one came in, he gradually calmed down, and just felt surprised.

Rantao lightly lifted the curtain and walked in, calling him softly: "Your Majesty."

Zhao Cong opened his eyes to look at her, but was taken aback for a moment, Rantao was holding a large bouquet of peach blossoms in his arms.She smiled and said: "Young Lord, go down and buy all the peach blossoms of that little lady, they are really beautiful!"

The peach blossom branches are tied with a black silk cloth.

Rantao still laughed: "Too many, I couldn't hold them in my arms, and I couldn't find the silk rope for a while, so I simply untied my belt as soon as I got on the boat!" She said, and passed the flowers forward again, "Your Majesty, you look!"

Zhao Cong looked at it for a long time. After a long time without making a sound, he closed his eyes again and said softly, "Let's sail."

"Okay! Your Majesty, where do you put the tweed?"

Zhao Cong wanted to ask her to take out the flowers, but he was reluctant, and finally said: "Put it by the bed."

"Yes." Rantao placed the flowers on the small table beside the bed, adjusted the quilt for Zhao Cong, and then walked out carefully.

The boat sailed forward again, Zhao Cong listened to the sound of water and the voices of people by the river, his mind was a little confused.

He looked at Peach Blossom by the bed again.

The peach blossoms are beautiful, but not weak. They are still blooming lively when they leave the branches.

Such a bustling flower is in front of him, Zhao Cong is more and more confused, Xiao Shiyi, what's wrong?

The fragrance of peach blossoms is faint and lingering, like a thin barrier, right in front of you.

It seemed that the truth was behind it, but he dared not touch it.