The Little First Grand Secretary in My House

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He knew he was dreaming again.

This dream appeared in his life for decades, day and night, entangled, as if it had penetrated into the bone marrow, and seemed to be flesh and blood. You can't throw it away, you can't dig it away, and if you don't come back for a day, it feels like something is missing.

But he had never had such a clear dream, so clear that it seemed like it was real.

Dog, why are you so stubborn? Isn't my money your money? Why do I make money? Isn't it just to support your education and make you feel proud?

Why are you so stubborn? You said you are so stubborn. Who are you showing your stubbornness to?!

I know you don't like me, but I've been like this for many years and I can't change it! I don't plan to change it either!

Look at Hong'er, does he look like you?

…

Xue Tingyan suddenly felt someone shaking him, and when he opened his tired eyes, he saw the dim inner room. Hu San's face that was no longer young, and even the lines on the tent were so familiar, he knew He was just dreaming.

It's just that the dream was too clear. The scent of sorghum in the air and the stubborn curve of her mouth made him immersed in it. There were also her tears of anger, which were crystal clear and shining with colorful light. He wanted to reach out and touch them, but was shaken awake.

Sir, it's time to drink medicine.

Xue Tingyan was propped up and given medicine. He was extremely ill and had to be served by someone even to drink medicine. How could he look like Xue Shoufu, a highly respected minister who had dominated the court for decades.

Oh, no, he is no longer the chief assistant.

He has written to beg for his body and plans to return to his hometown for retirement, and the Holy Spirit has approved it, but he has no place to return to and no relatives to rely on.

In fact, he had no intention of going back.

Master Zhang, Master Wang and Master Li and Master Cao all came to visit you, but they blocked the door according to your orders. They have been here every day, and they are here again today. Do you want to see them?

What can they do? They didn't think that his illness was a stopgap measure, waiting for him to stand up and continue leading them to fight against the emperor, but he was really ill, terminally ill, and medicine was ineffective.

not see.

Then, sir, please sleep a little longer.

The room became quiet again, and Xue Tingyan's eyelids became heavy again. He blinked again and again and fell into sleep again.

…

How can Mr. Wang have time to see me?

Wang Mingsheng's eyes were a little complicated, but there was a smile on his face: After all, we are ministers of the same court, so I should come to visit the Chief Assistant due to both emotion and reason.

I didn't expect you, Wang Mingsheng, to say such hypocritical words, but are you here to see if I am dying for the emperor? Xue Tingyan said sarcastically.

He was obviously an old man with a haggard face and was obviously on the verge of death, but just because of his unfazed, calm and somewhat unfathomable eyes, people didn't dare to ignore him in the slightest.

After all, this is Xue Shoufu, and this name alone is enough to intimidate everyone. It was the deep-rooted legacy left by Xue Tingyan's three dynasties and decades of experience in the court. It was like a towering ancient tree with intertwined roots. He didn't have to do anything, just standing there was enough to scare everyone.

Otherwise, why would the new emperor have exhausted all his means, yet he still dared not act rashly and only dared to take that roundabout strategy.

It seems that your Majesty has a lot of misunderstandings.

Xue Tingyan chuckled, half-closed his eyes, and said nothing, apparently too lazy to pay attention to him.

Actually, I'm here for myself. I'm just here to see how the little man who abandoned his wife and children to become a dragon and a phoenix is ​​now in a miserable state of being alone. I'm afraid Mr. None. In fact, Mr. Will my true identity be known to the world, be reviled by others, and be infamy for eternity?

you……

To say that you abandoned your wife and son is too embarrassing for you. You should kill your wife and son, right, Master Xue?

No one knows all this. The world only knows that Mr. Xue had a first wife before Mrs. Xue, but they don’t know what happened to that first wife. After all, it has been too long. Xue Tingyan has stood in the court for decades, and all his former, former, and current opponents have been trampled under his feet.

The world only knows that the First Assistant is friendly and courteous to others, but they don't know that the First Assistant also has a sinister side. In recent years, anyone who tried to make a fuss out of his past events ended up being a ghost. No one knows how many innocent souls have been added to it. The only one who knows is probably Wang Mingsheng, the ‘sufferer’.

You, you are...

Wang Mingsheng came close to his face: It's a pity that my mother's fate is great, and my fate is also great. The sunken ship did not kill us, but was saved by others. Do you know that for so many years, I have been doing this day and night? I want to see this scene every night. Unfortunately, you live too long and have all the power. I can only climb up step by step until I can step down on you...

You are... Hong'er... Xue Tingyan said this with great difficulty.

Wang Mingsheng stood up straight and smiled happily: My name is not Hong'er, and my surname is not Xue, my surname is Wang. My mother remarried, to the man who saved us... Don't get excited, even if You are dead now, and I am not your son...

Wang Mingsheng has always been known for his calmness, restraint, and concealment. This is probably the first time he has laughed so freely in front of others.

By the way, you don't have to think that even if my surname is Wang, I can still carry on the Xue family lineage for you. Let me think about it. It seems that you ordered someone to do it when Yao Ji released the rumor that I had a good reputation in Longyang. . You really hit the mark. I don’t like women, so I haven’t married for many years...

He smiled and looked at the old man on the bed, seeing how shocked, sad and regretful he was.

But so what?

He suddenly found that he was not as happy as he had imagined, and even this smile seemed too fake. He suddenly lost interest, straightened the corners of his mouth, dusted his sleeves, and said, Since Mr. Xue is okay, I will take my leave.

…

I didn't, I didn't...

My lord, what are you talking about?

Hearing this voice, the fog in Xue Tingyan's eyes suddenly dispersed, and he suddenly woke up from his dream with a start. The dark inner room came into view again, with Hu San's unattractive and even ugly face. There was a bitter medicinal smell in the air, and there seemed to be a rotten breath floating gently.

Xue Tingyan moved his lips, but no sound came out.

Sir, what did you say?

Hu San was very anxious and kept asking, but Xue Tingyan was speechless at all. Hu San could only ask based on his own guess: Are you thinking about what happened before? Don't worry, your words have been passed on to Master Zhang. , he already knows that Mr. Wang is your only son and will do what you ask.

Xue Tingyan blinked. Hu San thought he had something else to say, so she put her ear next to his mouth, but all she heard was: I don't...

Nothing more after that.

When Hu San looked up anxiously, he saw Xue Tingyan's wide-open eyes and gray-blue face.

He stepped forward with trembling hands and touched the other person's breath, but was so shocked that he sat down on the ground.

*

The cold wind penetrated through the holed window paper, giving Xue Gouzi a cold look on his face.

With a start, he opened his eyes.

What caught my eye was a small house with blue brick walls and a black tile roof. The walls were plastered with white dust, but it looked gray. The beams were of a log color and were exposed because they had no bearings. There were several bamboo baskets hanging on them. There seemed to be something in the baskets and they were covered with blue cloth.

He was lying on a kang, covered with a quilt that was not old and new. The quilt looked clean and tidy, but in fact the cotton material inside was already hard.

Facing the foot of his kang, there is a row of dark brown kang cabinets. The cabinets are embedded with hinges with bare brass nails and copper spike handles. Simple patterns of auspicious clouds and flowing water are carved on them, making them look heavy but elegant. . Although it is nothing in a rich family's home, it is already a piece of furniture that can be obtained by a farmer's family.

It can be passed down to several generations without any problem!

This is what his father said back then. His father was the best carpenter in the village.

Xue Gouzi felt that his head hurt, as if someone had hit him hard with a hoe. He tried to sit up, but he was too weak and fell back onto the kang.

Only then did he realize that he was Xue Gouzi, the eldest son of the second wife of the Xue family. Because something happened, he couldn't think about it and became angry and heartbroken. He had been ill for many days.

He is not Xue Tingyan, that Xue Tingyan is the person in his dream.

How could he be such a person?

To prove that it was all just a dream, he raised his hand and looked at it.

really! The hand in front of me is slender and white, and has not yet developed the muscles and bones that a man should have. He is only fourteen years old, how could he live to be over seventy years old and still die in peace in the end.

Xue Gouzi let out a heavy breath and looked around again, finally feeling a little calmer.

Someone was talking outside, and the voice came in through the cracks in the window.

I said Zhao'er, it's not that my fourth aunt said that about you. Look what you have become now. A girl who has never left home all day long has actually learned how to do business like those small merchants and hawkers. That business is something you can do Did you do it? Look at your fourth uncle, you can’t lose a lot of money even if you are running around here and there during the day, so stop fussing, and if you have some time, you can help fourth aunt with some work!”

The voice sounded like that of a young woman, but the sarcasm in her words was too strong. It is said that appearance comes from the heart, so it is no wonder that Mr. Sun has a mean face.

This thought flashed through Xue Gouzi's mind subconsciously, and then he was stunned. It was true that he hated his fourth aunt, but how could he miss her so much?

Before he could figure out the reason, he heard the voice in his dream.

Fourth Aunt, I would like to help you with some work, but you also know that the dog has been sick for many days. At first, the family gave him a few cents for medicine, but he only took it for half a month. Grandma said that the family If you don't have the money, I'll stop taking the medicine. Gouzi is my man, and I can't just let him be so sick. It's not impossible for my fourth aunt to ask me to help with the work. Why don't you lend me some money to buy the medicine? Can I pay you back slowly in the future?

The owner of the voice was a young girl, and her tone revealed a sense of competence and sharpness, mixed with a bit of teasing.

Yes, Zhao'er deliberately ran against the Sun family.

Mrs. Sun has always had a temperament that is all about getting in and out. It is extremely difficult for her to give out a penny, let alone lending it to the two half-year-old children of her second wife.

Now there are only two people left in the second house. The top family is only fourteen, but there is an older one, who is only sixteen and still a girl. Whenever Mrs. Sun heard rumors from the villagers that Zhao'er, a dead girl, had done some business to make money, she would look in disbelief.

What kind of business this damn girl can make to make money is just digging three melons and two dates from the wild and using it to defraud the people in the city in exchange for a few pennies.

Your fourth aunt doesn't have any money to lend you. All our money is at my mother's place. It's up to you to take care of your mother! Mrs. Sun patted her butt and stood up and went into the house, too lazy to talk nonsense with Zhao'er.

Since the fourth aunt has no money to lend me, and I dare not ask what grandma wants, I can only figure out where to get some money to give the dog medicine!

Zhao'er's voice was particularly loud, so naturally he was not only speaking to Mrs. Sun, but also to Mrs. Zhao who was sitting in the main hall.

Sure enough, Zhao'er walked into the house with his front legs, and Mrs. Zhao stood at the door and scolded Mrs. Sun: You haven't washed the pigsty yet, why are you going back to the house to dig out the corpse?

Zhao'er pouted, lifted the door curtain and walked in. She met Xue Gouzi's eyes looking at her.

Zhao'er came all the way to the south of the city. Before he entered the archway where the Shen family was located, he saw two large flags over five feet high erected in front of the Shen mansion.

This is the Jinshi and rank flag. Only someone in the family can set up this flag.

This merit flagpole is divided into two structures, the flagpole sandwiching the stone and the flagpole.

The flag poles on the flagpole are also very particular. If you have a formal imperial examination background and pass the imperial examination, you can have two flagpoles with flag poles. If he is the number one scholar, he will have three flagpoles. If there is a member of the third rank or above, he will have four flagpoles.

There are two big flags in front of Shen's house, one with three buckets and the other with four buckets. In other words, the Shen family had a champion and an important minister in the court.

The reason why Zhaoer, a country girl, knows this is because her second sister told her when she came to visit her.

The main entrance, the side entrance and even the corner entrance were not accessible to Zhao'er's status. She went around in a long circle before arriving at the back entrance of Shen's mansion.

The back door was ajar, and Zhao'er didn't dare to barge in. He respectfully went over and knocked on the door.

The door creaked open, and a chubby woman walked out and asked her, Who are you looking for?

This woman was just a doorkeeper, but she also wore a satin gown and jewelry on her ears and hands, which was enough to show the wealth of the Shen family.

The Shen family is indeed wealthy. In this Xia County, it can be said that if you stomp your feet, the county will tremble. The Shen Mansion here is the ancestral home of the Shen family. Except for the eldest and second masters of the Shen family who are working as officials, everyone else in the Shen family lives here.

Hello, mother-in-law, I'm looking for Su Lan. I'm her brother and I came here to see her.

This mother-in-law's attitude cannot be called warm, but she doesn't look down on others. At least from this point of view, it can be seen that the rules of the Shen family must be very strict. She asked Zhao'er to wait, then closed the door and went inside.

Zhao'er waited for a full stick of incense before the back door opened again, and a very beautiful woman walked out. I saw that her skin was as bright as snow, with phoenix eyes and red lips. She was wearing a water-red jacket and a moon-white pleated skirt. Her long, thick black hair was simply pulled into a bun, with a gold hairpin inserted into it.