Lei Yue Longmen

Palace courtyard.

It's a fine night tonight, and the moonlight alone can light up the strings.Yun Zai couldn't wait to help Hua Qing set up the tables, chairs and piano case, just like when he was in Lu Mansion, he stared wide-eyed and waited quietly for her to play the music.But Hua Qing just adjusted the strings like no one else was there.

When Li Jingchen changed clothes and came out, he saw that everyone had already taken their seats, leaving only one seat in the middle waiting for her.Feeling a little embarrassed, after taking his seat calmly, he couldn't help but gouged out the little girl's eyes, the seat was placed too far forward, is this going to play chess with the opponent?But she didn't move back any further, just like treating those optional things, because she didn't care, so she didn't care.

The sound of the zither was slightly different from that of Lufu, the sound was more melodious, even a little soul-stirring.

Yun Zai held his chin and listened to the music while admiring Hua Qing's calm face. He felt that she looked even more beautiful when she played the piano. Her whole body was shrouded in a layer of soft light, and there was a natural, pure dizzying glow flowing on her face. beauty of.

Little General Yun Zhong closed his eyes and listened intently with his ears, with a rarely seen relaxation, joy and enjoyment on his face.

The brothers and sisters of the Mu family always listen to the music only if the emphasis is good or not, as for the true meaning of the music, they often don't understand it.Therefore, neither of them noticed the panic lingering in His Highness's heart at this moment.

This is a song "Phoenix Seeking the Phoenix", which is often used on occasions when a talented man woos a beautiful woman.Doesn't seem to fit the theme of the night.But she played without scruples, like a deliberate hunter, weaving her traps carefully.

Li Jingbai seemed to be dragged into a bottomless abyss, stared at by a pair of invisible eyes, wandering in panic, with nowhere to hide.

Her eyes are spears, and her dodges are shields.She was secretly frightened but did not express it, she had planned it for a long time but was calm and calm.

In terms of piano art alone, she does have one of Yurui's superb skills, but emotionally, she is like a fledgling child who only rushes to rush to express her heart to the other party, but unconsciously exposes her own weaknesses out.

After several rounds of confrontation, she gradually lost ground and became cautious, walking on thin ice.

The crown princess also mastered the secret of winning, and she never gave the slightest response to the green eyes of the other party.

At the end of the song, Yun Zai asked: "Sister Hua, what's the name of this song, it's even better than the one at the banquet!"

Hua Qing took a deep breath, pursed her lips and said, "This song is called "Huang Qiuhuang", and it is a farewell to the ancient masterpiece."

"Yellow ball yellow? What kind of ball? Why haven't I heard of it before?"

Li Jingchen heard her blatantly tampering with the meaning of the song, it was really audacious.His eyes turned cold for a moment, and he stood up, "I'm tired, so I won't accompany you any more. After the horses and chariots are ready tomorrow, you can come to the study to find me." The last sentence was said to Yunzhong, but it was deliberately emphasized that "the horses and chariots are ready." The weight of the words "Qi" makes people almost forget the sorrow of parting, and it comes up again, which is inevitably sentimental.

Hua Qing lowered her head as much as possible, so as not to let others see her humbleness at the moment, when the footsteps went away, two drops of dew dripped on her eyelashes invisibly.

Perhaps the sound of the piano was so intoxicating, and when Yun Zai climbed into the tent, she suddenly remembered that she forgot to ask about the relationship between Hua Qing and Mr. Lu, but it was a pity that the night was already deep at that time. The answer, then calmly fell asleep.

It's just that they didn't expect that after this night, each of their schedules would be interrupted by another accident.

Li Jingchen sat silently in the study, with a sharp look on his face.

Last night, it was revealed that Mr. Lu had illegally occupied fertile land and caused two deaths.This incident was suppressed by the county magistrate at the time, and after being reported, it immediately caused an uproar in Kangyang County.

As expected, after the incident, the grain that was originally planned to be transported to the north was suspended, and the grain that had already been warehoused was also moved down and smuggled back.Li Jingchen had to send troops to guard the grain that had already been put in place, but those who hadn't entered the warehouse all returned to the warehouses of major grain merchants.

Seeing that the results of several months of food raising were in vain, the empress dowager, who had never experienced such a setback, was extremely worried!

The staff quickly found out the identity of the whistleblower, and as expected, it was the son of the official Du who had been taunted by him all night.Thinking of his ostentatious drunkenness that night, Li Jingchen didn't even bother to sneer.

Gu Mian hit the nail on the head and said: "On the surface, it seems that the Du family is unbearable to be humiliated and waiting for an opportunity to retaliate. In fact, it is not easy to collect all the evidence in a short time and catch someone by surprise. There must be someone behind the scenes. Their goal is not Lu Chaisheng is coming towards His Highness."

"A game? Who has the guts to play His Highness's game?" Yun Zhong gritted his teeth, wishing he could find out this person and dismember him on the spot.

"That's right, who is so bold as to dare to play tricks for His Highness?" Gu Mian asked knowingly: "The person who set up the tricks is well versed in all kinds of entanglements in the Jiangnan grain and commercial circles, and he knows His Highness's itinerary like the palm of his hand, so he must have influence in the capital and Jiangnan. In this way You can count all the people in the court with a slap, and find out who the senior official Du has been in close contact with recently, and everything will be clear."

Li Jingchen couldn't help but secretly startled.

Yun Zhong: "The matter has come to this, how can we break the situation?"

Gu Mian took a deep look at Li Jingzhu: "Now, there are two paths before Your Highness. One, use all the power of the Eastern Palace to keep Lu Chaisheng at all costs. To keep him is to keep the hard-won results of raising food. Second, draw a clear line with Lu Chaisheng, and declare to the outside world that Lu Chaisheng's downfall is his own uncleanness. But in this way, everyone in the grain and business circles in the south of the Yangtze River must be in danger, and no one dares to venture into this muddy water again. Your Highness The food-raising plan that has been going on for months will also go to waste."

Everyone turned their attention to Li Jingchen. In the past few months, she has been sleeping all day long, just to transport the food back to the north as soon as possible, so as to solve the immediate urgent need of the court.The two are in power, and it seems to be the most beneficial to keep Lu Chaisheng.

Li Jingchen's eyes sank and sank, and he finally asked the case: "But any other matter, I can settle it for him. But human life is at stake, how can we just tolerate it. If we establish the door of our East Palace in this way, what will we look like in the future? World!"

Gu Mian seemed to have expected it a long time ago, and said: "Since Your Highness has made a decision, you must stick to it to the end, and don't hesitate."

Li Jingchen said: "Don't worry, it's my fault for reusing Lu Chaisheng, Gu would rather go back to Beijing to plead guilty, and definitely won't be coerced by him."

"Your Highness has this determination, so it's not too late to make up for it."

Li Jing's eyes lit up, "Could it be that Mr. Gu has a clever plan?"

Gu Mian smiled and said: "I don't know if it's a good idea or not. His Highness started to use road firewood to raise food. Although it was improper to use people, the general direction was correct. The grain business in the south of the Yangtze River was originally a pool of stagnant water, and people had nowhere to start. Now that Lu Chaisheng's downfall is like throwing a stone into a lake, no matter who casts it, it will be very difficult to maintain the original peace."

"Sir, you mean..."

"Follow the plan and lead the snake out of the hole."

It was the first time that the 17-year-old crown princess had such a big setback in government affairs, so she was naturally very upset.It is said that she personally attended the case of Mr. Lu and ordered the county government to give a heavy sentence.Although Gu Mian reminded her that there is no need to vent her anger like this, Donggong is recruiting talents in the south of the Yangtze River, so suppressing an old man like this may discourage those who are willing to take refuge.But the Crown Princess firmly believes that this is the only way to clear the lintel of the East Palace and prevent moths like Lu Chaisheng from breeding.The two had many quarrels in the hall because of this, and Gu Mian was so angry that he returned to Beijing with an illness.When the business community in Kangyang heard about this, they all lamented that the empress dowager was still too young after all...

That day Li Jingchen was practicing calligraphy in the study, and she practiced the words Taifu Tan told her before she left: "If she is upright, she will follow orders. If she is not upright, she will not obey orders." Take it for granted.

At this time, Yun Zhong came in and handed over a greeting card, Li Jingchen didn't stop writing, but asked:

"Who is it?"

"The person here claims to be the shopkeeper of Fufeng Rice Grain, Bao Siniang."

Li Jingchen was slightly puzzled when he heard the words, so he put down his pen, changed his clothes, and went to meet him in the hall.

Looking at the woman in her early twenties at the bottom of the steps, wearing a light green dark dress, her figure was in the middle, and she was amazed at her youth at that time and Shen Ding, who was not commensurate with her age.According to her limited information, she is the fourth person in the Jiangnan grain business circle, and the only female grain merchant among the top five.

Because she is a woman and has lived in seclusion all year round, she has enough reasons not to participate in the entertainment of the Crown Princess, so naturally she did not get involved in the last food-raising matter.However, Li Jingchen seemed to remember seeing this female shopkeeper at the banquet in the Lu Mansion, at that time he thought it was a female family member of that mansion, so he didn't care.

"Treasurer Bao, why did you suddenly visit me?"

"The daughter of the people has the courage to recommend herself to be the host of the food gathering meeting, and to share the worries and problems of His Royal Highness." The visitor was so blunt and revealed the purpose of this trip, it was beyond Li Jingchen's expectation.

"In order to show the sincerity of the women of the people, Fufeng Miliang is willing to donate 30 tons of grain to relieve His Highness' urgent needs."

Li Jingchen couldn't hide his surprise, 30 dans of grain was definitely not a small amount, and it was unexpected that this young female shopkeeper would be so courageous.But she still has doubts: "Why is the shopkeeper willing to give generously?"

She smiled slightly and said: "Folk girls often hear that 'a good bird chooses a tree to live in, and a virtuous minister chooses a leader to serve'. People's girls are not talented, and they only learned business since they were young. They originally only wanted to protect this family business. It is expected that there will be red-eyes in the fights in the shopping malls, and women want to find a place to settle down in order to protect themselves, so they want to do long-term business with His Highness."

The visitor also confessed that he wanted to embrace the big tree of the East Palace.It's just that with the lessons learned from senior officials Lu, Li Jingchen didn't want to solicit trouble for himself.

Bao Siniang seemed to know what she was worrying about, and said decisively: "Your Highness, don't worry, the family background of the people's daughter is clean, and the ancestors have been merchants for generations, and there is still a plaque in the family that says 'Benefiting the World', which was bestowed by the emperor. , but never dared to forget the legacy of the ancestors. In the first year of the first emperor, the great-grandfather’s family moved from the capital to Kangyang, and they have been doing business here since then. There are no brothers in the father’s generation. Minnv alone inherited the family business. Minnv is not talented, and has taken over Fufeng Rice Grain for more than ten years. Although the scale is not as good as that of her late father, all the businesses she has handled are clean. Your Highness is causing trouble."

Her eyes were calm and calm, she looked directly at Li Jingyu who was in a high position, she was not timid because of her humble position, she exuded a flamboyance and confidence rarely seen in a boudoir girl.

Although Li Jingchen didn't show it on the surface, he had a decision in his heart.

"You are very frank and sincere. I heard that all the grain merchants in the south of the Yangtze River regard this palace as a rare commodity to live in, and they can't wait to rush to it. Why didn't shopkeeper Bao make a move until now?"

Bao Siniang pursed her lips, and only then did she reveal a bit of her daughter's reservedness: "To be honest, it wasn't that Minnv didn't want to make a move before, but there was someone more suitable than Minnv. Even if Minnv wanted to join His Highness, His Highness would You may not be able to see me. Minnen has actually admired His Highness for a long time, and it is her supreme honor to be able to serve His Highness, this is what Minnv said from the bottom of her heart."

Her gaze suddenly became warm and sincere, filled with a kind of excitement and gratitude similar to meeting a confidant, which is almost the same as many virtuous ministers who have taken refuge in her Eastern Palace, because their official careers are guaranteed and they can't help but be excited.

Li Jingchen smiled, "Since shopkeeper Bao has said so, there is no reason why Gu can't do it. Shopkeeper Bao's sincerity is accepted by me, so Gu can also give shopkeeper Bao a sincere word, as long as Gu still believes that you are Donggong If you have the East Palace in the future, you will be able to protect the Bao family from any danger. Of course, the premise is that you will not let down the trust that this Palace has placed in you."

It's really strange, a very difficult matter was solved so easily because of a person, not only did the empress dowager not feel at ease, but she felt as if she was stepping on cotton, faintly feeling that her heart was not at ease.