Jiang Qing

Zhou Mao shrank his head like a quail, and stood respectfully at the gate of Qinzheng Palace, waiting for Zhao Zhen to see him.

The wedding day of Jing and the eldest princess is approaching. Zhou Mao is so busy these days that he has not stayed in the room of his wife and concubine for seven or eight days. When he is sleepy, he rests in the hut Every day, he led people to run around the princess mansion and the general mansion.

The Ministry of Rites originally had the least number of staff among the six departments, and Zhou Mao refused to delegate power on weekdays. The people under him were in a mess when encountering such an urgent matter. .

Zhao Zhen attached great importance to this marriage, asked questions from time to time, and let Queen Bai Zijin take care of the wedding and the wedding, which was a great honor to her.

It's just that the newlyweds are a little strange. Even though the son-in-law is reticent, every time Zhou Mao sends him the wedding booklet, he doesn't show a cold face.But today when he went to give Ling Che the wedding gown, he suddenly became irritable, and entered the palace immediately without trying on the auspicious clothes.

Afraid that he was not thoughtful enough to anger the son-in-law, Zhou Mao also entered the palace tremblingly and waited outside the Hall of Qinzheng.

He was typing the draft of his confession in his stomach, when the sound of the broken teacup lifted his heart to his throat.

The wrath of the emperor, he, a second-rank Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites, can't bear it.

Zhou Mao typed up the draft for a long time, but he was so scared that he lost his life all of a sudden.He shrank his neck and waited for a while, but before Ling Che could come out, he saw the little eunuch from Qinzheng Palace leading Mei Shao in.

It's not yet summer, and the warm spring is a time of relaxation, but Zhou Mao feels a layer of cold sweat on his back.If he hadn't been concerned about the etiquette in the palace, he really wanted to walk around the door a few times to ease the uneasiness in his heart.

The time for half a cup of tea was extraordinarily long, Ling Che and Mei Shao finally came out of the hall one after the other, Zhou Mao rushed up to meet him, and before he could open his mouth with a sad smile, he was stopped by Ling Che's salute.

"Thank you Zhou Shangshu for making this trip to give away the wedding clothes. I'll try them on when I get back." Ling Che dismissed Zhou Mao politely and hurriedly left.

Zhou Mao stared dumbfounded at Ling Che's hurried back, and before he recovered, a hand was vaguely put on his shoulder.

"Mei..." Zhou Mao had just finished speaking, and suddenly thought that Mei Shao hadn't held an official position until now, and he didn't know how to address him after vomiting his last name, so he rubbed his hands together in embarrassment.

The visitor didn't care, relying on his height, he carried Zhou Mao to the side of Qinzheng Hall, looked at the guards guarding the gate, and then lowered his head and said, "Did Zhou Shangshu come here for General Ling's affairs? "

"I don't know what Mr. Mei's opinion is?" Zhou Mao also glanced at the Hall of Qinzheng, "Your Majesty is angry because of the marriage between Jing and the eldest princess?"

"Don't worry about Zhou Shangshu, what His Majesty is worrying about has nothing to do with marriage."

Hearing Mei Shao's affirmative words, Zhou Mao was a little relieved, but he was still apprehensive after thinking about it: "Then..."

"Your Majesty will deal with this kind of matter. Zhou Shangshu should be worried. Shouldn't he be at the Princess Mansion?"

Hearing this, Zhou Mao raised his head and glanced at Mei Shao warily.

The eldest princess was very dissatisfied with this marriage. She didn't say anything publicly, but Zhou Mao didn't accept anything he sent. The wedding dress is for her to try on herself.

Zhao Jinghe is now behind closed doors, not accepting invitations, not accepting things, and the wedding is imminent, Zhou Mao has been roasted on the fire for several days, and his gray hair is even more worried.

At this time, seeing Mei Shao point out his heart disease all of a sudden, being caught in the pigtails, he jumped a little, and subconsciously denied it.

Seeing his guilty look, Mei Shao didn't push her, and pointed out: "What is in the eldest princess's mansion is ultimately the empress's business."

What he meant was to make a detour for himself, don't show up frontally, give the wedding dress to Bai Zijin, let her show up?

It's a bit of a stretch, but it's an idea.The White Queen is gentle and virtuous, she has always been considerate to her next three years, and has a deep relationship with His Majesty, so she would not refuse such a thing.

Zhou Mao has been astute as a monkey for a long time after struggling in court for most of his life. He immediately knew that this point was not for nothing, and asked, "Mr. Mei's ingenuity, how can I repay it?"

"Why Shangshu Zhou is being polite? In terms of seniority, you are still my elder. It is not an exaggeration to call him Uncle Shi. In the future, I will rely on Uncle Zhou to raise more points." Mei Shao spoke smoothly, with a pair of beautiful eyes With a smile, he really looks like a kind of well-behaved nephew.

The aristocratic families in Pingdu had to be lined up with the genealogy, which one was not related, and this little bastard got married to him here.Zhou Mao cursed inwardly, with his usual smile on his face, he said perfunctorily, "It's easy to say."

Mei Shao frowned, as if she had seen through his thoughts, and said softly, "Mei, a commoner, has no official position now. But after all, he works under Zhang Xiang's subordinates with your lord, and he can barely be counted as half of his colleagues. Naturally, we have to point them out to each other, what do you think, Uncle Zhou?"

After returning to the capital for so long, the little criminal in front of him actually climbed up the big tree of Zhang Xiang without making a sound.

Zhou Mao saw that he spoke generously, not like a fake, even the smile on his face was a bit real, and his expression suddenly became lively, and he stretched out his hand to pat Mei Shao on the back: "Nephew Mei is a pillar of talent at first glance, There is no need for the old man to mention something, if you don’t mind, there are some vacancies in the Ministry of Rites, but I’m afraid that the nephew will not like it.”

What he said this time was somewhat sincere. It seemed that Zhou Mao really belonged to Zhang Jiudai.After Mei Shao confirmed it, he said a few more polite words to him, and only turned and left when the inner prisoner called him in.

The Hall of Qinzheng has been cleaned up long ago, and there are no traces of broken lamps.

After Zhou Mao saluted, he looked at Zhao Zhen's face, not seeing the cloudy or sunny, so he had to report the progress of the marriage in a regular manner.

Approving the memorial in his hand, Zhao Zhen let Zhou Mao talk for a long time before he opened his mouth and said, "What does Zhou Aiqing think is the most important thing to be a minister?"

Such a sentence suddenly made an old fox like Zhou Mao stunned for a moment.

Throughout the ages, the courtiers who talked with the emperor about how to be a minister did not end well. Zhou Mao felt that most of the sweat on his back was already wet.

He replied with the right words: "Naturally, it is loyalty."

"The loyalty of a subject is loyalty to the emperor or loyalty to the country?" Zhao Zhen seemed to be interested in this answer, so he refused to approve the memorial and asked.

It was a weird question, but Zhou Mao didn't have time to think about it, and he replied indiscriminately: "The king is the country, and being loyal to the king is loyalty to the country."

After hearing the answer, Zhao Zhen didn't speak, but just glanced at him with a half-smile, which made him feel a little nervous.

"The governor of Wudu returned to Pingdu this time and sent an opera troupe to Jinghe Hexi. You arrange to live there, and wait for Jinghe's good days to make her lively. Remember to arrange a seat for Tong Shen and him."

Local officials returned to the capital to report that there was a fixed amount of time for political affairs. Counting the days, Tong Shen should go back in the next few days.Unexpectedly, it happened to coincide with Jing and Princess Chang's marriage, and as soon as Zhao Zhen was happy, he asked him to stay to have fun.

"Concubine Jing and mother passed away early, and she was raised by Concubine Mei for a period of time. She is also a nostalgic, let King Xie En take Mei Shao to see it on the wedding day." Zhao Zhen mentioned again said a word.

Zhou Mao suffered a lot from the fright for half a day. Seeing that Zhao Zhen had finished explaining the matter, he didn't even have time to wipe off his sweat, and retreated as if fleeing.

Glancing at Zhou Mao's hurried back, Zhao Zhen smiled, took the tea handed over by the eunuch Fushun, and took a sip: "Do you think Zhou Mao is a loyal minister?"

Fushun bowed respectfully, held the teacup in Zhao Zhen's hand, handed it to the little eunuch behind him, and replied with a smile: "This old slave doesn't understand, the old slave just feels sorry for the teacup that His Majesty dropped, that's the same as the teacup." There is a couple in the queen's palace."

Taking a meaningful look at Fushun, Zhao Zhen said with a smile: "I think you know a lot. But this teacup is worth falling, and I can only reluctantly part with it."

It had been several days since he had returned to the mansion, after such a shock in the morning, Zhou Mao felt a little homesick, so he went to the mansion immediately after leaving the palace gate, thinking that he would return home quickly.

Originally, the sedan chair was moving steadily, and Zhou Mao felt a little drowsy due to the shaking. Suddenly, the horse neighed, and the sedan chair stopped abruptly, Zhou Mao almost flew out.

"What's the matter, I can't drive well!" Everything was going wrong today, Zhou Mao was so angry that he had been holding it all morning, and he had nowhere to vent his anger, so he cursed when he lifted the curtain.

"My lord, this..." The boy driving the car looked at the officers and soldiers blocking the road with some embarrassment, at a loss.

Seeing Zhou Mao showing his face, Wang Zhen, the leader of the patrol battalion at the side, came to greet him personally: "Where did Zhou Shangshu come from?"

"I just entered the palace to see His Majesty." Zhou Mao poked his head and looked around. There were several times more officers and soldiers in the patrol battalion on the street than usual, and they were going from house to house to check. There were still guards setting up roadblocks in the distance. , Interrogating the people in the past.

He had only been in the palace for half a day, and there was such a big battle outside, Zhou Mao wondered: "Commander Wang, this is..."

"Zhou Shangshu just came from His Majesty, and he didn't know about it?" Wang Zhen was startled, and the voice of the book became brighter, attracting passers-by to look at it.

Apparently, his superiors had something to say, Wang Zhen drove his horse closer, and deliberately lowered his voice: "The general's mansion has been thieves! General Ling Che's badge was stolen by the thieves."

As if he was afraid that the civil servant in front of him would not know the importance of this as a token of the general, Wang Zhen added another sentence: "That is General Ling's badge, the tiger charm of the Jinxi Army! His Majesty was furious and ordered the patrol battalion House-to-house investigations were carried out, and even the imperial guards were sent out to guard the city gates to interrogate the people in the past. Pingdu City has only been able to enter and cannot enter the past few days. I can't eat and walk around."

Wang Zhen spit and flew straight, complaining about the difficulty of the errand, Zhou Mao's thoughts had long been lost. He looked back on what happened to him today, and everything was connected. No wonder Ling Che was anxious, and His Majesty was furious. It's such a big deal.It's just that His Majesty summoned Mei Shao to do something. Could it be possible that he really wanted to use him? Zhang Xiang also took him into his command because of this?

"General Ling's overjoyed juncture like this is really disturbing." Wang Zhen's exclamation brought Zhou Mao back to reality.

"It's going to be hard work for the king." Zhou Mao came back to his senses and expressed his condolences.

Wang Zhen was also on official business. After searching Zhou Mao's sedan chair, he led his troops to another place.

It was not yet noon, and the sun was lazy and not dazzling.

Zhou Mao looked up at the sky, the sky was clear and blue, as pure as washing, but there were dark clouds rolling in his heart, thunder and lightning roaring.

"It's going to change," he murmured.