Overlord's Road to Ancient Emperors

By the end of the year, the taste of the new year has become stronger, and there are obviously more people playing and bickering in the streets and alleys. The adults who are in charge of law and order in the yamen have recently had their heads quarreled. The west family will be noisy, and the dog of the west family will also be noisy when it urinates at the east house. Moreover, because of the atmosphere brought about by King Shun, the common people are not as cowardly as they used to be. Suspected of contempt of court.

Fortunately, all the performance bonuses at the end of the year have been paid, and the officials are embarrassed to stop working after receiving the rewards. Instead, the days before the seal are the most efficient time of the year.

The two straight and wide cement avenues in Minzhou City are now the busiest commercial streets, and the residential buildings along the streets have almost been converted into shops, which are either sold or rented, and they build new buildings with a lot of money went.

Cement is still not sold to the outside world, and people who build new buildings can still only build old-fashioned houses. However, after seeing the new palace, many people have omitted the complicated carvings and depictions to improve the living facilities in the house. , but also installed transparent glass windows.

There is also a new type of toilet and bath tub that quickly became popular. Li Xu did not ask for this craftsmanship to be kept secret. people's approval.There are also earth dragons. Originally, this thing was only available to rich and noble families in the north, but after the news from the palace, many people are willing to put earth dragons in one or two bedrooms to keep them warm throughout the winter.

The factory is on holiday on the [-]th day of the Chinese New Year, and it will last until the Lantern Festival. This is a relatively rare long holiday in modern times, but they only have this holiday throughout the year. If they did this in their previous life, they would have been invited to drink tea by the Labor Bureau. up.

But the workers didn't feel tired, because they got a good bonus and daily necessities such as rice, flour, grain and oil, and there was no employer more generous than Shun Wang.

So this year ago, the palace received a lot of gifts from the people, most of which were live chickens, ducks and fish, as well as homemade snacks, which were often eaten in South Vietnam. Although Liu Shu could not see The most important thing is these things, but they didn't throw them away. Instead, they picked some for the servants to taste before sending them to Li Xu.

As the Chinese New Year approaches, it starts to rain, the sun has no smiling face, and it is cold and humid everywhere. The little princess can no longer play games outside, so she invites her friends to have fun indoors. Every day is her happiest Even the wife can't help getting into her little tree house and telling stories to a group of children.

Sometimes he would tell ghost stories, scaring a group of children so much that he would be happy. He was bumped into by Li Xu once and deducted a month's monthly payment, but it didn't help.

Sometimes Li Xu would ask the little princess: "Do you miss Master Ji? Let Master Ji go to class."

The little princess shook her head shyly, "Master Ji is naturally good, he is a good person and knowledgeable, but he is too old to play with us, so we can only play shuttlecock together. The new master is very interesting."

After hearing her words, Li Xu was not at ease but a little worried. He even asked Liu Shu to arrange two more steady and reliable maidservants to watch over the little princess to prevent her from being seduced by that brat.

Kou Xiao joked that he was worrying unnecessarily, "The little princess is only six years old, you are too worried too early."

Li Xu corrected him, "I'll be seven years old soon after the new year, and seven-year-old men and women have different seats." God knows why he, a modern person, has such old-fashioned and pedantic thoughts.

"Hahaha... This is the first time I've heard of this. According to the prince, next year the little princess has to be replaced by a wife. There are many illiterate women in South Vietnam, so it may be difficult to find a suitable one."

Of course Li Xu didn't really want to change wives, it's just that in ancient times, girls had too few contacts with the opposite sex, and it was inevitable that they would fall in love with each other day and night, and this is an era when they can get married and have children at the age of 14, can Li Xu not worry?

He also wanted to keep the little princess by his side for a few more years.

"Next year, pick a few boys of the same age to play riding and archery with her, and it would be good to get in touch with more playmates of the same age."

Kou Xiao mistakenly thought that he was going to start seeing his son-in-law. Thinking about it, it seemed that other families would also make baby marriages from an early age. As long as they saw a suitable son-in-law at any time before the daughter became an adult, they could make an appointment first. From this point of view, Li It's not too early for Xu to pick a son-in-law.

Kou Xiao thinks that he is also one of the old fathers, so of course he has to take the matter of choosing a son-in-law to heart, so when the next spring, when King Shun proposed to recruit male companions for the little princess, Kou Xiao personally reviewed them one by one. Not one who is too ugly, one who is too short, one who is too elegant and thin, one who is too rough and sloppy, one who can be both literary and martial, and none of them can pass the test, and they are all laughed at by the people of the city for a month.

Three days before the New Year's Eve, the sea was still calm, and Li Xu was worried that the winter thing hadn't happened.

"It seems that this king is wrong. Shelter Island is not going to make any big moves this year."

Kou Xiao is not as optimistic as he is, "This group of thieves have never had the concept of Chinese New Year. What they like most is to set fire to others when others are busy. If they don't come today, it doesn't mean they won't come tomorrow."

Li Xu shook his head, "There are ships patrolling along the coast every day, and the first line of defense has also been built on Chenxi Island. If there is a fleet of ships coming over, they will definitely be found."

"Then don't think about it, the prince's first year in Nanyue, it's best to be safe and sound."

"Wrong, last year was the first year this king spent in Nanyue." And it was a thrilling year. After all, they also met that day, and it has been a year.

As for Li Xu last year's New Year's Eve, he absolutely never imagined that he would find a man to fall in love with, or even live together blatantly.

Kou Xiao also recalled the scene when the two met for the first time. He was very glad that he passed by that town that day and received a call for help. Thinking of the scene of Li Xu falling into his arms from the wall, he couldn't help laughing.

He moved to Li Xu's side, leaned against his face and said: "When I first met, I was thinking, how can there be such a delicate and handsome man in the world, who is still fragrant and more delicate than a daughter, but he has a bit of a temper .”

Li Xu rolled his eyes at him, "No one will have a good temper with hooligans."

"This shows that I will fall in love with you at first sight. I will never forget my goodbye. I miss you like crazy."

Li Xu covered his mouth to prevent him from chattering nonsense, Kou Xiao could easily come up with such words, if countless people hadn't testified that he was single until now, he would have thought Kou Xiao was a seasoned lover.

Moreover, he is so self-confident in himself, love matters seem to be innate, self-taught, the two of them have not broken through the last step in their night activities, probably because of their self-esteem, neither of them is ready to lie down and do things, so It can only be relieved in other ways, but it is also very happy.

On the day of New Year's Eve, a few grains of sleet fell in Minzhou, and the originally cold weather made people shiver. Li Xu was busy with humanistic care during the day, went to the Salesian Bureau to visit those orphans, and sent them to the Food and new clothes to keep warm, and went to Zhong's house to visit Mr. Zhong who has been bedridden.

The last time the dead body matter ended without a problem, although it was found out that the person was from Shelter Island, but the person who was connected has never been found out. Li Xu has always suspected that the reason why they did not take the next step is that the old man Zhong is sick, and he really can afford it To the point of not being able to make a bed, he thought, this hurdle might be disintegrated without his own action.

Tian Xieliang's family has been under Kou Xiao's surveillance, and occasionally the two families will flirt with each other, but since they don't play with the Zhong family, they know that it is impossible for the three families to cooperate.

Not only that, the Xie family took the lead and sent all the 14-year-old boys of their grandchildren into the military camp. A group of fresh and tender young men were thrown into the military camp, like water dripping into a boiling oil pan, completely disrupting the situation. The rhythm of the barracks.

Kou Xiaote wanted to kick this group of boys away, but Li Xu accepted a heavy gift from Xie's family on his behalf, saying that he would train these boys for a year, so he could only grit his teeth and send them away to wash horses and vegetables. Grinding, I didn't say that it must be practiced.

After hearing this, Li Xu didn't object. Young and young, it's normal if you can't bear the pain, and it's normal if you can't bear it and want to leave.

Seeing that the Xie family was so willing, the Tian family gritted their teeth and sent most of the young children to the military camp. Kou Xiao received the gift softly, and started a side business for the military camp. He recruited 14-year-old boys from all the official families, saying that he wanted to hone their skills. Will, exercise their souls, exercise their bodies.

Surprisingly, there were still a lot of people responding, and then Kou Xiao rebuilt a simple camp near the military camp, and sent two young generals to be the head coaches, and didn't teach them anything, just let them work, and if they couldn't stand it, they packed up and left People, if you still persist after a month, then change the method to teach.

Not to mention, rich children are taller than ordinary people, and they have been exposed to many things since they were young. No matter how poor their knowledge is, they will not be illiterate. After half a year, they actually let Kou Xiao straighten a few trees with crooked necks. A young general who can stand on his own.

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After returning home, Li Xu didn't see Kou Xiao, so he didn't pay attention at first, but when he finished bathing and changing clothes, he sat at the dining table and found that he hadn't appeared yet, so he asked in surprise, "Where's Kou Xiao?"

Liu Shu poured a glass of wine for him, and replied with a smile on his face: "My lord, you forgot that General Kou has a family. On New Year's Eve, he will definitely go home to reunite with his elders."

Li Xu really forgot about this episode. Kou Xiao lived in the palace for a long time and rarely went back to Kou's mansion. The people in Kou's mansion seemed to acquiesce in his sexuality. He didn't make any trouble or look for him for such a long time. He didn't know the same thing, so he forgot about the existence of the Kou family.

It stands to reason that he and Kou Xiao have confirmed their relationship, and they should come to the door with gifts before the new year. He asked Liu Shu: "What did you give to Kou's house for the annual gift? What did the other party return?"

"My lord was joking. Naturally, the Kou Mansion gave you a gift. I gave you a box of good-quality pearls, a few sets of the Four Treasures of the Study, a few rare books, and a set of chess records. thing."

"After all, they are members of the aristocratic family in South Vietnam. How could they have no family background and return the gift?"

Liu Shu tilted his head to look at him, and said obediently: "According to your instructions, if you receive a light gift, you will return some cloth sweater or the like; if you receive a heavy gift, you will return it. The gift was a little heavy, so I returned it."

Li Xu could already imagine the Kou family's expressions when they received the return gift, he secretly smiled, "Okay, let's forget about it, let's start the banquet."

This night's New Year's Eve dinner was not as lively as last year's. The whole family gathered around to eat hot pot. Most of the servants went back on vacation, and the rest ate in the kitchen at the back. Although there were few people, Li Xu still felt quite happy .

It has been more than a year since he was reborn, and he is basically used to the life of this era. Compared with the deserted lonely family in his previous life, it is very wonderful to have his family sitting together to celebrate the New Year.

Kou Xiao came back not long after, and Liu Shu hurriedly set the table and chopsticks for him, as if he knew he would come back.

He changed into a new set of clothes, which Li Xu specially asked someone to make for him. The two of them used the same piece of fabric, so they could barely be regarded as couple clothes.

But there was a tea stain splashed on his new clothes, which looked like it was splashed by someone, and there were only two people in Nanyue who dared to splash Kou Xiao's tea.

"Are you angry?" Li Xu asked without any sympathy.

"No, it's just that the old man is too pedantic. I recommended a good grandson-in-law to him, but he rejected it."

Li Xu knew that he proposed to let the girl in the family recruit a relative, so he asked, "Who did you recommend?"

"Master Ji." Kou Xiao glanced at Ji Hanyu who was sitting beside him.

The latter raised his head in astonishment, "General Kou, are you joking?"

"I'm not kidding. You are the youngest and most promising person in Nanyue, except King Shun. Who do you recommend?"

"But..." Ji Hanyu thought he didn't know that he liked men, so he glanced at Li Xu.

Kou Xiao drank a bowl of hot soup, before dispelling the cold air all over his body, "Anyway, it's just a proposal, they will always reject it, just use it in your name."

Only then did Ji Hanyu heave a sigh of relief. Seriously, if Kou Xiao really pushed for this marriage, his refusal would definitely hurt the face of the Kou family, and even King Shun's face would be ugly by then.

Li Xu suggested to Ji Hanyu: "You should ask General Kou for reputation loss. If the Kou family really proposes marriage to you, the loss fee will have to be doubled, otherwise it will be too bad."

Ji Hanyu knew that he was helping him to refuse, so he bowed his hands to Kou Xiao and said, "It's Ji's honor that General Kou sees Ji. As for the proposal of marriage, it is definitely not possible."

Kou Xiao held Li Xu's hand under the table, squeezed it hard, and said in a low voice, "My lord's elbow is turning outward, why don't you help me but help him."

Li Xu replied very solemnly: "I'm helping the manager but not the relatives."

"Hehe." Kou Xiao overturned the vinegar jar, and then pestered Li Xu to fight for wine. This year's grain harvest was bumper. Although Kou Xiao didn't issue a hangover order, many people secretly brewed wine. The annual gift Li Xu received There are several carloads of wine in there, filling a cellar.

He used other people's wine to refine it, and the taste of the wine became much stronger immediately. Kou Xiao fell in love with it the first time he drank it, but he was surprisingly good at drinking, and he didn't get drunk after drinking a catty of baijiu.

Today, the jar of vinegar was bound to be suppressed with a wine glass, Li Xu saw that he couldn't shirk it, so he had to drink with him, he had practiced his drinking capacity, and the two of them were still sober halfway through the drink.

"Stop drinking, I'll give you a gift." Li Xu took out the gift that he planned to give to the little princess to coax Kou Xiao, and he took Kou Xiao to the front yard, and with an order, the fireworks were arranged all around It was set off, illuminating the sky above the palace.

Kou Xiao couldn't stand the most classic and enduring romantic means of modern people, so he hugged Li Xu and kissed him immediately. The relationship between the two of them has gone through a clear road in the house, but this is the first time that they have shown their affection in public. .

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On the day of the Chinese New Year, Lin Zhao had to be on duty in the palace, and could not go home to rest until the banquet in the palace was over.He has never married a wife, and there used to be an adult adopted son in his family who could talk to him, but now his adopted son is far away in South Vietnam, and Lin's residence has always been deserted.

"Master is back, you are exhausted. The dishes are heating up in the kitchen, waiting for you to come back for dinner."

Lin Zhao was really tired. Whenever there was a banquet in the palace, the Habayashi army was the most tired. They had been working overtime and deploying defenses a month ago, and they didn’t even dare to blink their eyelids tonight. Deadly enough.

He waved his hand and said, "Don't eat now, get some hot water for me to take a shower."

The butler looked a little excited, but also forbearing, and retorted with a smile: "How can you not have a reunion dinner on New Year's Eve, you go take a bath first, and call you when the dishes are hot."

Lin Zhao smiled self-deprecatingly, he was the only master in this house, so where did the reunion dinner come from?

Regardless of these things, Lin Zhao went to take a bath in the house, and there was a young servant waiting on him. He suddenly remembered the days when he went south with King Shun. Speaking of which, the prince was really able to endure hardships, and he never disliked the fact that there was a little eunuch serving him. , I heard that South Vietnam has changed a lot this year, and I don't know how much credit King Shun has.

Eyelids became heavier and heavier, and Lin Zhao seemed to hear the bathroom door being pushed open, hot water was slowly poured into the bucket, and the temperature increased a little.

He slowly opened his eyes, but without looking at the person behind him, he just said: "Go down first, master, I will soak for a while."

A pair of hands rested on his shoulders, Lin Zhao subconsciously held that hand and turned his backhand, trying to lift him up, but was caught by the other hand.He looked up, just in time to see a familiar face, but this familiarity was mixed with a little strangeness, and he was immediately stunned.

"you……"

"Father, although you are in good shape, it's not good to be so exposed all the time."

Lin Zhao withdrew his hand, pulled the clothes on the side to cover his body, and cursed, "When did you come here?"

"It's already noon, I took a nap, and wanted to have New Year's Eve dinner with you, but I waited until now."

Lin Zhao came out of the water, went to the bedroom to change his clothes, and then asked someone to bring food into the house. Ye Changqing's identity must be kept secret. Although there are few people in his house, it is not that there are no eyeliners planted by others.

The two sat facing each other, Lin Zhao looked at his dark and thin cheeks, and asked distressedly: "Do you regret it? The prince didn't dare to write the letter directly. It was sent by someone else, and there is not much to say in the letter. What happened to you?"

Ye Changqing explained the matter simply, "It's all over, let's not talk about it, I'll leave after this meal, please take care."

Lin Zhao sighed, and took his drink, "Then don't drink, and I won't ask you what you are doing in the capital this time, if you need help, just tell me."

Ye Changqing smiled and showed off to him proudly, "Actually, it's not a big deal, but the prince didn't want to make King Qi too easy, so he married him a good wife."

Lin Zhao frowned and asked, "Aren't you contradicting yourself? What do you mean? If you interfered, why did you let him marry Xue's daughter?"

"Don't worry about it, you'll know later."

Lin Zhao didn't ask anymore, but he knew that he was far away from King Qi. As the commander of the Yulin Army, King Qi often wooed him, but he always claimed that the emperor was close to his ministers, and he never pretended to be polite to the princes. It didn't bother him much.

The two said they were adoptive father and son, but there was not much difference in age, and they always spoke in the same way.

A New Year's Eve dinner was eaten until dawn, and more than half of a pot of wine went into Lin Zhao's stomach. Ye Changqing only drank a few glasses. When he was young, he didn't even drink at all, but he also grew up in a nest of gold and silver, and it took a little more perseverance than others to endure.

"It's almost dawn, and I'm leaving. It may be a long time before I come to the capital next time."

Lin Zhao was already drunk, and supported his head to look at him, "All right, pay attention to safety when you are outside, remember, this will always be your home."

Ye Changqing put on a fur coat for him, and said softly, "Hurry up and marry a wife, have children, spread branches and leaves, and when I come back, my younger siblings will play together, how lively it is."

"Worry about it, let's talk about it after two years, I'm tired." Lin Zhao has his own ideas, he is determined to support King Shun, if King Shun fails to succeed, his family's life will be ruined, why bother What about other girls?

Ye Changqing left, walking amidst the deafening sound of firecrackers, a new day and a new year, a more colorful life will greet them.

——Volume [-]: Making a Fortune in Silence·End——

Volume Three: The Thorn Road Home