Lei Yue Longmen

Inside the palace, in the imperial study room, the candles were all extinguished.Emperor Li Pinghong habitually sat in the dark thinking about things all night.As soon as the fifth watch arrived, Cai Ya, the head of the imperial court, came in and reported in a low voice: "Your Majesty, Concubine Pei has brought ginseng soup and is waiting outside the hall."

"What ginseng soup to send at this hour, tell her to go! From now on, without my permission, you are not allowed to set foot in the imperial study room again!"

"Yes!" Director Cai knew that the emperor's mood at this moment would never allow anyone to disturb him.Coming out to tell the emperor's intentions euphemistically, Concubine Pei squeezed out an ugly smile on her well-dressed makeup, "Did the emperor order you, or did you decide on your own that you don't want me to see the emperor?"

"This, I don't dare." Cai Ya wrung a drop of sweat from his forehead, "It's really, it's really... Your imperial concubine, please be sympathetic to this slave, the emperor really doesn't want to see anyone."

"Don't play this game with me. I don't know that you people are all fools. If you see Concubine Wen Gui gaining power today, you will go to curry favor with Concubine Wen. Tomorrow, you will go to curry favor with Princess Eldest Princess when you see Princess Eldest. Let me tell you Cai Ya, even if my maiden’s house is down, I’m still the master of the sixth house, not to mention my maiden’s house hasn’t fallen yet, a skinny camel is bigger than a horse, if you dare to play tricks with me, I’ll be crushed to death You're like crushing an ant."

"The empress is the bright moon in the sky, and the servant is the loach on the ground. How dare you play tricks with the empress. The servant never dared to have such thoughts."

"Huh, it's best not to have one. I advise you not to have one." Reason? Reason? Yun Bin, who was not in a mess at all, "Since that's the case, I trouble you to tell the emperor that the concubine has come, and the concubine will leave." , head held high and quickly left here.

However, compared with the arrogance and arrogance of a year ago, her swaying steps at this time are unavoidably a bit outwardly?Manager Cai shook his head, why bother!

"How long until morning?"

"Back to the emperor, there is still half an hour." Cai Ya still performed his errand conscientiously, as if what happened just now had never happened.

"I can't wait any longer, go and pass on Ji Wenkui's entry into the palace."

Two quarters of an hour later, Ji Wenkui, a cabinet scholar in a purple robe and jade belt, entered the imperial study room, where a group of court ladies and eunuchs were serving the emperor to change his clothes and wash his hands.Ji Wenkui looked at the study furnishings and knew that Li Pinghong probably hadn't slept all night, so he said worriedly: "The emperor's diligence is the blessing of the people in the country, but it is also important to take care of the dragon's body, and the health of the dragon's body is the foundation of everything. "

Li Pinghong indifferently supported the Shuanglong Xizhuyi Shanguan on his head, "I am in good health. I can stay up for three days and three nights, believe it or not?"

Ji Wenkui smiled and said: "I have heard for a long time that the emperor is a genius? He can sleep for several days. However, no matter how good the body is, it can't stand the passing of time. The emperor should pay attention. If I remember correctly, the emperor Nine out of forty this year."

"You are the only civil and military man in the Manchu Dynasty who dare to talk to me like this." Li Pinghong put on a straight face, but he didn't think he was disobedient, but gave him a trusting look.

Suddenly sighed: "Yeah, I'm already 49. If you don't remind me, I thought I was only 23! I didn't expect that 26 years have passed since I succeeded to the throne." He seemed to be caught in a long-term memory, and his eyes were blurred The color, "Do you know what this means?"

"This minister doesn't know, please show me the emperor."

"You don't know?" Li Pinghong sneered, "Since the beginning of Chaosi? I have to hurry up, otherwise, there is really no time."

Ji Wenkui was stunned, and wanted to comfort him, but Li Pinghong didn't seem to want to linger on this topic, so he turned a serious tone, "What do you think of the memorial to save military expenditures posted by Cen Zhu a few days ago?"

"The minister thinks it is feasible, but it is not feasible."

"It's like saying nothing."

"What is feasible is the plan, what is not feasible is the person."

"Still didn't say anything."

"If the plan is pushed to the feasible person to implement, maybe this plan will be feasible."

An intriguing smile appeared on Li Pinghong's face, "Who do you push it to? Let's talk about it in detail."

Cen Zhu learned from Cui Moxian that "the emperor appointed the empress dowager to take over the household department". The Ministry to deal with? The thorny problem of excessive military expenditures, to deal with the military forces headed by the Tu family, using their strength to fight, this move is really clever, but also insidious enough.

"Cen Zhuo, you have hurt me!" Cui Moxian, the left servant of the household department, took a fish scale album, a household registration yellow book, and a real estate deed with official seals to "condemn" Cen Zhuo.

"What's wrong?" Cen Zhu was still immersed in some complicated and unspeakable emotions, not knowing why.

"Do you think who you are introducing to me?" Cui Moxian unfolded the atlas that drew the land, mountains and ponds like fish scales, turned to the area of ​​Yanhu Lake, and pointed to the small square in the north of Cen Mansion , with Xiang Ming's name written on it, that is, the owner of that house.Then he opened the yellow book of household registration, found Xiang Ming's name, and threw over the stack of paper deeds at hand.

When Cen Zhu saw that Xiang Ming, male, 27 years old was written on the contract, the young man who knocked on the door that day automatically appeared in his mind. He didn't expect that they really bought the house. Is there really such a person who is taken advantage of in the world?

"Look, apart from name, gender, and age, other important information about the head of household Xiang Ming, such as birthplace, ancestral property, occupation, and family population, are all missing. After checking all the items of the household department, I somehow found this omission, and called me to reprimand me on the spot. This is the first day, and I don’t even sit in the office, so I hurried over to make up the account of this householder. Information, but, there are only some craftsmen in this house, and the owner is not at home at all! Ask them if they don’t know where they are, what can you do!”

"You didn't tell her that Xiang Ming might be widowed or lonely. There is only one person in the family, so there is no need to fill in items such as the names of the members and the relationship with the head of the household."

Cui Moxian looked at her with mentally retarded eyes, "Aren't you talking about it? If he is really widowed and lonely, do I need to be so anxious? The problem is, no one knows if he is."

"It's not an option for you to wait here. How about this, I'll be a good person to the end. You go back first, and when they come back, I'll go and make up a re-recording for you, and then send the re-recording content to your house. How? ?”

"Okay, that's the only way to do it now. I have to go back quickly, maybe the empress dowager finds out something else, so I can't eat and walk around." Cui Moxian packed up the household registration album and stood up, wearing a bitter gourd. He was about to leave, but before he left, he suddenly smiled at Cen Zhu and said, "Speaking of which, now even Mr. Wang is like his grandson, working in the yamen every day, and even the cabinet is not big. Everyone is looking forward to you Hurry back and experience the winter atmosphere in the yamen in advance. I'm leaving, so I don't need to see you off!"

Cen Zhu looked at his back as he left gracefully, but the hands in his sleeves trembled. "Winter? A little bit, I can't wait!"

It was not until the evening of the third day that Cen Zhu caught the sound of ruts in the alley at the north gate, which was different from the relocation of craftsmen.

She specially wore an official uniform, and when the carriage stopped at the gate, she appeared to intercept it, and she saw the young man knocking on the door that day.He jumped off his horse and looked at her inexplicably.

"Your Excellency finally showed up, I have been waiting here for a long time." Cen Zhu said happily.

"Are you...?" After changing his clothes, the young man seemed to be unable to remember her.

"Who is it?" An old lady asked in the carriage.Cen Zhu thought to himself that it should be the wife that the young man was talking about, the actual owner of this house?He hurriedly went up to pay homage: "My surname is Cen. I live in the old lady's neighborhood. To the south is my house. The day before yesterday, I was entrusted by a friend from the household department, and I came here to ask the old lady to make up the yellow book of fish scales."

There was silence in the carriage for a while, "Is there a problem with the old man's land deed?"

"Oh, it's not a big problem. It's just that the friend said that the contents registered in the yamen when the honored master bought the house were not complete enough, so he needed to make a supplementary record. He specially visited the house a few days ago, but the old lady was not there. Your honor is next to each other, and it is convenient to communicate with each other, so I specially asked me to help make up the record. I am also an official of the household department, and I have the official seal as proof, so the old lady can rest assured to check."

As he spoke, he handed over the official seal, and the coachman helped him into the car, and returned it shortly afterwards, "It turns out that it is Mr. Cen, the servant of the household department, so I will be in trouble. Xiang Ming, you can follow Mr. Cen to make up the recording. New residence As a first-timer, I hope Mr. Cen will not be offended by the inconvenience of entertaining guests. When the house is opened in the future, I will do my best as a landlord, so please invite Mrs. Cen to visit our house."

"The old lady is serious, the younger generation will definitely visit." She has a good attitude, unlike some officials who are always domineering, so it is easy to win the favor of these people.The young man handed over the horse to the coachman, followed Cen Zhu to the house, and asked politely, "What do you need to make up?"

Cen Zhu was surprised: "You are Xiang Ming?"

The youth nodded.Cen Zhu recalled the information about the head of the household recorded in the booklet, and the age matched it, but he was just curious: "I don't know what is the relationship between the old lady in that car and Xiongtai...?"

"Ma'am." The young man replied concisely.

This is equivalent to not saying anything, and Cen Zhu was at a loss, so he couldn't ask any more questions.Ask the other party to enter the study.

And just after they left, an old woman in her sixties was slowly helped down from the carriage, looked at the stone plaque on the lintel, and couldn't help but smile.Turning around, I couldn't wait to open the car curtain, and said excitedly: "Madam, come and have a look at this new house? It looks really good from the outside."

The jade bell hanging in front of the car jingled a few times, and with the creaking sound of feet stepping on the car, a middle-aged woman wrapped in a black feather cloak bowed out from behind the curtain.The tall and slender Ziying stopped in front of the car, glanced at the bold and eye-catching words "Bu Lao Di" on the door plaque, and then, under the persistent guidance of the old woman, stepped on a stool and landed on the steps of the door.

The old woman explained with a smile: "Since we want to live here forever, the old one can't be used anymore. I'm thinking about choosing a name that can be used as a house. After thinking about it, I can't use it for a long life. Madam always I'm used to being low-key, but I still deserve the word "not old". Coincidentally, there is a house in the east called Baitouju, where a white-haired old man lives. Since his home is realistic, let's give it a realistic look. How about it? , I did a good job on this plaque, right?"

This move of chopping first and playing later is really good, anyway, it has already been engraved, and it cannot be removed unless the lintel is dismantled and re-engraved.

The old woman looked at those three words again and again, and the more she looked, the more satisfied she became.The lady didn't stay on the steps, but pushed open the two black-painted doors, and what she saw was the overlapping and scattered silhouettes of the buildings in the setting sun, and the sound of the peaceful evening drum in Jiankang City could be heard in her ears. Familiar and strange.Suddenly, a gust of wind rushed in from behind as the cave door opened wide, dragging her to the deep courtyard involuntarily.