Step on a branch

Chapter 101 Building a Wall
Deeply, Taifu Xu looked at the emperor.

The emperor leaned against the back of the chair, his face tensed and displeased.

Fan Taibao coughed lightly, breaking the dull atmosphere, and said: "Since there is a letter from Xu Kuang where you scolded the old master, why don't you send someone to Taiping Mansion?"

"Who are you going to send?" Xu Taifu asked back, "Once the fire burns and the water soaks, the old man might as well cut his heart first."

Taishi Huang watched the emperor's face, and tried to smooth things over: "The third division, the red guards, and the imperial guards, the boss chooses one?"

"Then it's Chi Yiwei," Xu Taifu said, "Boy Lin is annoying, he doesn't lie. If the old man trusts him, the emperor should also trust him, right?"

The veins on the emperor's forehead throbbed.

How could he say no to the Red Clothes Guard Commander appointed by himself?

The emperor raised his jaw at Eunuch Xu.

Eunuch Xu understood and withdrew to have Lin Fan summoned.

Lin Fan was waiting in the yamen.

When he retired from the court, he didn't follow him to the Imperial Study Room. It was not suitable for him to be too active in this matter.

The emperor called, and it would be appropriate to come again.

Xu Taifu said: "Thank you for your hard work, go to Taiping Mansion and get the letter."

Lin Fan pretended to think about it, and then said: "The Taiping Mansion said it was not close. No matter how fast the horse is, and travel day and night, it will take three or four days to come back. My lord, the letters from home come and go. Did Master Xu reply to you when he was in office?" ?”

"I'm back," Mr. Xu remembered after mentioning this, "All the family letters are stored in my study. The steward knows how to collect them, so let him find them for you."

Lin Fan asked again: "Have you mentioned it to anyone else?"

"Xu Chen, my eldest son, the letter is also in the study." Master Xu said.

Lin Fan saluted the emperor and went out to work.

Upright and aboveboard, pretending to go around Xu's house, in the afternoon, Lin Fan entered the imperial study with a stack of letters.

"The commander did things really quickly." Eunuch Xu laughed as he took the letter.

Lin Fan ignored him, and only said to the emperor: "The replies from the two prefects, Xu Chen and Xu Kuang, were taken out of Taifu Xu's study, and they sent people to Xu Chen's office. The distance is short, and it takes half a day to hurry It's over."

"Can you run back and forth in half a day?" the emperor asked.

Before Lin Fan, Qin Yin answered the emperor in a serious manner: "The cavalry ran faster than this in the surprise attack on Zhangde back then, that is to say, the old minister is not as old as before. Otherwise, the old minister will go in person, half an hour earlier, and take this The letter is delivered to you."

The emperor pursed his lips, feeling regretful.

What are you asking?

These courtiers must have known early on that Xu's family letter could prove for the old lady Fu, so how could they be unprepared?
Who knows when this letter was delivered to Beijing.

Scrolling down, the emperor saw the letter from Taiping Mansion.

Is this not pretending?
Lin Fan lowered his eyes and said: "At Shili Pavilion outside the city, I met a person sent back to the capital from the Taiping Mansion by the prefect of Xu Kuang. He said that he could not come back to accompany the old man to celebrate the New Year. He gave a New Year's gift a few years ago, and later bought a set of unique books. Thinking it would be loved by the elders, I hurriedly sent it to the capital, packed some calligraphy, paintings, and family letters, and transported them back to the mansion. The minister looked through it, and it happened to be found."

The emperor snorted: "That's really a coincidence."

He doesn't believe a word!
However, no matter when, where and how these letters came into Lin Fan's hands, it doesn't matter whether he doubts or believes them.

What matters is the content of the letter.

The handwriting of Xu Kuang and Xu Chen can be compared with previous documents, and the handwriting of Taifu Xu is even more familiar to the emperor.

In several letters, Mr. Xu's attitude was very clear.

The old matriarch was merciless when he scolded the emperor, let alone scolded his son and grandson.

Let them abide by their duties and be loyal to the emperor. These brats are young and infancy. Both Xu Kuang and Xu Chen have become officials. Don't they know how to do things?
Between the lines, there is not a single dirty word, which still makes people scolded like thunder.

These letters really proved that the old matriarch definitely did not disregard the emperor, nor did he mean to curse the emperor to die early.

On the contrary, he is extremely protective of the emperor.

The emperor put down the letter.

In fact, since Qin Yin opened his mouth on the Jinluan Hall, these things must have been sent to the imperial study.

The emperor didn't feel surprised, he just felt upset.

"Your Majesty," Xu Taifu said in a deep voice, "the sky can learn from the loyalty of the old minister, but he is so misunderstood that the old minister is heartbroken."

The emperor looked straight at Mr. Xu.

Seeing this, Taishi Huang secretly sighed.

The boss wants the emperor to admit his mistake, but the emperor, can you admit it?

"My lord," Taishi Huang continued to wink at Taifu Xu, "The emperor must trust you."

The old grand master persuaded them left and right, and signaled Fan Taibao, Qin Yin and others to help out, so they managed to stabilize the tense situation between the monarch and his ministers.

Xu Taifu finally left the imperial study room, and was with other people.

And the emperor, with a dark face, sat behind the big case without saying a word.

When Master Xu returned home, he knew that Yulin had been besieged for many days, and it was rare that he did not burst into anger.

He entered the study room, washed up briefly, and lay down on the couch.

During this trip, Mrs. Xu did not get up, nor did she show up the next morning.

The elder refused to go to court on the grounds of recuperating from illness.

The emperor's mood was worse than yesterday.

After returning to the imperial study, he said coldly: "What does the Taifu mean? Do you want me to visit him personally and make an apology to him?"

Eunuch Xu didn't dare to answer this question.

Deng Guoshi said: "Your Majesty, domineering ministers and generals will not pay attention to the emperor who made mistakes. You really apologize for this..."

"What does the national teacher mean?" The emperor's voice was icy, "Are you saying that I am an incompetent king who is oppressed by those domineering officials?"

Deng Guoshi hurriedly took a step back, burying his head low: "You are not, it is the grand master who has lost his sense of proportion, so he can't come to the court to threaten you."

"If he doesn't want to go up, don't go up!" the emperor said angrily.

At noon, Fan Taibao was still pulling Taishi Huang to think about how to resolve the conflict between Taifu Xu and the emperor, when he heard that Yulin who had withdrawn from the Xu family had returned.

This time, they also pulled two carts of red bricks.

With clanging bells, the red brick wall sealed the gate of Xu's house.

All of a sudden, people around Qianbu Corridor looked at each other in blank dismay. Before everyone could recover, there was another commotion from Xu's house.

Master Xu ordered his servants to demolish the walls of the courtyard, piece together the broken bricks, and build another wall inside the gate.

When Fan Taibao heard the news, he covered his heart and coughed for a while.

Taishi Huang supported his forehead, but couldn't say a word for a while.

This is really a teacher-student duo worthy of the name, with the same bad temper!
Between the monarch and his ministers, there was a complete froze.

In Xu's house, only the family servants built a ladder to go in and out for shopping every day, and the rest, regardless of their age, did not go out any more.

After seven days like this, Fan Taibao couldn't hold on anymore, so he asked Qin Yin to discuss.

"I heard that the Empress Dowager went to the Imperial Study Room this morning. It should be because of the Taifu's affairs. The mother and son broke up unhappily," Fan Taibao said. Will the old master come out at the funeral?"

Qin Yin shook his head.

It's not that he doesn't know, but that he has been thinking about it for the past two days.

If the stalemate continues like this, if the emperor is provoked by Deng Guoshi again, there may be an even more extreme response.

"Jie Zitui..." Qin Yin said in a low voice.

When Fan Taibao heard this, the hairs on his back stood on end in fright: "Old Hou, don't say such scary things!"

Having said that, Fan Taibao also murmured in his heart.

Duke Wen of Jin set fire to the mountain in order to force Jie Zitui out. The fire burned for three days and nights, and Jie Zitui would rather die than go down the mountain.

He just listened to the name, it really reminded the emperor of this incident, and he also imitated Jin Wengong to use fire and smoke...

Damn!
"The emperor won't be like this, like this..." Fan Taibao had a bitter face, deeply worried.

Marquis Yongning put his hands behind his back and said nothing.

If it was a few years ago, he didn't think so, but now or in the future, Qin Yin is not sure.

Now, the emperor is going further and further away.

After bidding farewell to Fan Taibao, Qin Yin returned to Houfu.

Instead of going back to the study, he went straight to the ancestral hall.

After standing quietly for a quarter of an hour, Qin Yin came out and confessed: "Go and ask the eldest girl to come."

He thought that it was necessary for him to have a careful talk with A Luan.

　Happy weekend readers.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)