Tanhualang

On the second day of Feng Hong's banquet, the entire city of Nanjing was heavily guarded to welcome King Yu.

Xiaoyou and Wei Zheng finally escorted the "King of Yu" to Nanjing.

Shen Jing didn't know how to meet King Yu Qiansui with great vigor outside.He was imprisoned in the study by the King of Yu for a whole day, he did not hear anything outside the window, and carefully studied the report of the Nanjing Ministry of Finance.

It wasn't until evening that everything was settled at the Weaving Bureau, and Wei Zheng drove the carriage to pick Shen Jing up.

Nanjing Weaving Bureau, originally named Hanfang Garden, was originally a courtyard built by a wealthy businessman surnamed Han for his retirement in his later years. There are several houses with gardens, which are magnificent, exquisite and unique, and are well-known in the three provinces of Southern Zhili.

Later, the son of a wealthy businessman surnamed Han failed to keep his success, and his business gradually declined. The garden was also sold, and it was transferred to Zheng Dayong, the previous weaving eunuch, the admiral of Nanjing.

Zheng Dayong was convicted and imprisoned five years ago, Beijing did not send any new recruits, and ordered Nanjing to guard Ding Bao and take charge of the Weaving Bureau.Ding Bao has his own guarding office, so the Hanfang Garden is vacant, and now it is just to entertain King Yu.

The big house in the north of the garden was naturally reserved for King Yu, while Shen Jing and Xiao You were placed in the small courtyard on the west side of the big house according to the layout of the capital's palace, named Qingliu Court.

Shen Jing went to the courtyard, put her luggage in order, tidied up the house a bit, and then followed Wei Zheng to see King Yu, and saw that Ding Bao was also there.Shen Jing entered the door and stood still, just as she was about to say hello, she saw Xiao You hurried in to report:

"Your Highness, there are people from Henan."

Shen Jing was wondering, but King Yu had already waved his hand:

"Call in."

After a while, a young man came in, dressed in dust and dust, he seemed to be out of breath, and hurriedly knelt down to salute:

"Your Highness, the villain He Yong is General Fang's subordinate Qianhu, and he was ordered to see you."

Zhao Heng asked concisely:

"what happened?"

He Yong got up and said:

"General Fang taught the villain to ask the prince to show me: Wang Biao refused to confess, and he searched his house and found no trace." He Yong lowered his voice, "He has already put his subordinates under house arrest, and they are questioning them one by one. "

"What didn't come out?"

"……No."

Upon hearing this, King Yu frowned, leaned on the back of the chair, put his hand on the armrest, and knocked once and for all:

"This old fox."

He Yong hesitated and said:

"Your Highness, General Fang and we all feel—"

After speaking halfway, he stopped again, King Yu glanced at him:

"Say something."

"Could it be that Wang Biao caught the wrong one? Jin Yiwei may not be right about everything." Under the majesty of King Yu, He Yong spoke a little hesitantly. Not necessarily and will not kill—”

Zhao Heng's face darkened, and he turned to Ding Bao:

"Ding Bao, tell him. Since the establishment of my dynasty, there have been five or six famines in Henan in ten years. Has there ever been a time like this, where the chiefs of five counties were killed by refugees one after another?"

"Returning to Your Highness, there has never been such a thing."

"Three prefectures and five counties, [-]% of the fields are not harvested, and the people have robbed the granary, yet they still have the strength to kill people?" King Yu frowned, got up and walked around the desk twice, walked around the desk and walked to He Yong, stretched out his hand Dong Bian pointed, "Didn't you see the refugees who were arrested that day? Don't those two strong people seem to have been hungry for many days?"

"..."

"Go back and tell Fang Tingxiang. If he fails to interrogate, I will hand it over to Cao Feng." King Yu straightened his waist, his tone was a little cold, "What about the imperial court order? Wang Biao is so capable, let him try Jinyiwei's methods."

Standing aside, Shen Jing couldn't help shivering when she heard this.

Coming out from King Yu and returning to the courtyard, I saw Xiaoyou also there.

I haven't seen him for many days, Xiaoyou saw Shen Jing, the joy of reunion was beyond words, he asked King Yu about the road to Nanjing, and asked about what he saw and heard in Nanjing.

Shen Jing was always absent-minded. After Xiaoyou finished asking, he saw that there was no one outside, and pulled Xiaoyou to him by pulling his sleeves:

"There's something—"

"how?"

Looking at him quietly:

"Your Highness came to Nanjing this time, isn't it for Pingwa?"

Xiao You laughed when he heard that:

"I thought you were asking something important, but it turned out to be this."

Instead of answering in a hurry, he stood up easily, went to the table to pick up the teapot, poured tea for Shen Jing and himself, handed a bowl to Shen Jing, and said with a mocking face:

"Didn't you always stay away from the matter of the prince and stay out of it? In the past month, you followed the prince all the way from the capital to Henan, and from Henan to Nanjing in disguise. No matter how weird and weird it is, you They can hold their breath and say nothing. Why do you care about this now?"

Shen Jing was taken aback by his question, and then said after a pause:

"How can you not care about the reward of eating the emperor and the matter of loyalty to the emperor?"

But Xiaoyou made up his mind to show off:

"Then you can take your time to read. Your Highness has a heavy responsibility, how dare I reveal it at will?"

Seeing that he refused to speak, Shen Jing knew that there must be a reason why he could not speak, so she stopped asking.

When it was time for dinner, Xiao You called Shen Jing again:

"Your Highness invites you to have a meal together."

"Do you want to see a guest?"

"It's all my own. Your Highness, you, me, Wei Zheng." Xiao You said with a smile, "Let's have a meal together."

Shen Jing was stunned.

Since his parents passed away, he has been wandering outside alone for the past few years, and now he hears that Xiaoyou counts himself as "one of his own", and he feels a little warmth in his heart.In addition, he got a little more familiar with King Yu these days, so he didn't refuse, changed his clothes immediately, and followed Xiao You to the front yard.

It's almost June, and with the recent rain, the weather is humid and hot.It rained for a while in the afternoon, and it happened that the rain stopped at this time, and there were a few cool breezes outside, dispelling the heat.

When the two arrived, King Yu had ordered the tables and chairs to be placed in the courtyard. Lanterns were hung in front of the halls on all sides of the courtyard, illuminating the tables covered with dishes in front of the flower hall, and King Yu and Wei Zheng who were already sitting in front of the tables. , Wei Zheng was pouring wine for King Yu.

The two saluted and sat down, King Yu pointed to the wine glass on the table:

"It's all full."

Xiao You picked up the flagon and filled the cup for Shen Jing and himself.King Yu picked up the jade cup, still speaking concisely:

"Today, everyone is gathered, let's have a light meal together, and all the formalities will be avoided."

The three of them thanked each other and drank the wine in their glasses.

King Yu didn't speak much.Wei Zheng was rigid, calm and composed, and he didn't speak much.During the banquet, there is only a small meal, pouring wine for a while, serving dishes for a while, interspersed with a few gossips, so as not to be particularly cold.

It's just strange to say that Shen Jing didn't feel restrained even though he obviously didn't talk much, and as King Yu drank one glass of wine after another, he gradually felt somewhat carefree.

Halfway through the meal, a gust of wind suddenly picked up, blowing the whole courtyard cool, and the stratus clouds gradually dispersed in the mid-air, and under the cover of thick and light colorful clouds, a round moon appeared.Shen Jing was slightly drunk, seeing this scene, put down his chopsticks, squinted at the bright moon, and slowly recited:

"The bright moon rises from the Tianshan Mountains, among the vast sea of ​​clouds."

As soon as the words came out, both Xiaoyou and Wei Zheng stopped their chopsticks and looked at him in surprise. Xiaoyou looked at Shen Jing and then King Yu, and couldn't help laughing:

"Mr. Shen, did you drink too much? Why did you suddenly become bold?"

King Yu put down his chopsticks very calmly:

"This is the real face."

"Really," Xiao You smiled in surprise, "Your Highness has seen it before?"

"I've seen it." King Yu cleared his throat and smiled a little, "When he first arrived in Nanjing, he fell into a coma for two days. Ding Bao was so frightened that he invited the doctor. The doctor came to see him for a long time. It’s okay, but I’m so sleepy that I overslept.”

Xiaoyou almost patted the table to applaud, and laughed loudly at Shen Jing:

"Mr. Shen! Brother Shen! You still have such a thing!"

Shen Jing: "..."

King Yu didn't let him go, holding a wine glass and said with a smile:

"Later when I went to visit him, he thought it was just a dream. He fell asleep in a daze and said he wanted to make bean paste cakes for me."

"Hahahaha!" Xiao Youxiao's tears were about to flow, but she suddenly approached Shen Jing, "Oh, Mr. Shen is blushing?"

"..."

Although Shen Jing was a little drunk, she knew very clearly that King Yu was making fun of herself, and she was a little annoyed, but she didn't want to face King Yu, so she just raised her hand and pushed Xiao You:

"Nothing. Your Highness is just joking."

Now even Wei Zheng couldn't help laughing:

"Mr. Shen is going to deny it—His Highness never jokes, this must be true!"

Just talking about being happy, someone outside suddenly came to report:

"Your Highness, Xu Peng, Minister of the Ministry of Rites of Nanjing, seeks to see you."

Xiaoyou and Wei Zheng stopped talking and laughed, and looked at King Yu.King Yu and Shen Jing knew why Xu Peng came here.Zhao Heng put down his wine glass, his face darkened:

"not see."

King Yu was clearly still angry.

But this matter happened because of Shen Jing, Shen Jing naturally couldn't stay out of it, and immediately persuaded:

"Your Highness, Master Ding said that Master Xu is a loyal person. It's not his fault at all."

King Yu snorted:

"The child does not teach, the father too."

Standing up quietly, he bowed to King Yu:

"Junjunchenchenchen, father, father and son. According to His Highness, the fault of the minister is also the fault of the king?"

Zhao Heng glanced at him:

"You're especially articulate when you've been drinking."

"..."

"Ask Xu Peng to wait a moment. I'll pass here." Zhao Heng got up while talking, "Shen Jing, you can come too."

Shen Jing immediately followed up:

"Yes."

Zhao Heng got up and walked to the door, then stopped suddenly, turned around and said:

"Wei Zheng, ask Shen Jing to go out with you for morning exercises from tomorrow. With this appearance, no one dares to bully you twice."