Ninefold above

Chapter 19
After Fan Jie became Minister of the Ministry of Rites, the post of Minister of Rites became vacant. Six days later, the Ministry of Officials announced the new Minister of Rites.

In a courtyard in the east of the city, the bonsai branches in the garden were fresh and tender. Lu Chengfeng sat on a stone chair under the tree and drank tea. The courtyard was small, but everything was tightly covered by high walls and red tiles.

It is mid-May and the sun is hot.

Even if there was no one there, Qingfeng stood up straight and said: "The new Minister of Rites has a lot of background, he is the second son of the Shanxi Tan family, the Tan family is a well-known businessman in Jinxi, the eldest son Tan Dou takes over the business of the Tan family Since then, the wind has flourished, and this second son's talk about Cheng Yi has become even more famous."

Lu Chengfeng skimmed the tea foam and said, "It is indeed famous. I once heard the soldiers in the camp talk about him in their spare time."

Qingfeng pondered for a moment, and said: "Tan Chengyi is the second son of the eldest son, and he has been outstanding in learning since he was a child. He is Mingxing's Tanhua for 18 years. Since ancient times, Tanhualang must be one in a thousand, and this one is no exception. Tan Chengyi entered He has been in charge of compiling books and writing history at the Imperial Academy for five years, until this time when the Ministry of Rites was vacant, the emperor seemed to suddenly think of such a person."

Qingfeng paused, and continued: "Master, is there someone behind the scenes?"

Lu Chengfeng put down the teacup and said: "Although the matter of Fan's family has come to an end, if Fan Jie gets involved in this matter again, if Fan Jie gets involved in this matter again, he will be the next minister if he fails to keep up with Cheng Yi. This person has been in the Imperial Academy for five years. It’s the same year when I was a flower hunter, with extraordinary knowledge and foresight, I’m afraid I’m going to get something if I’m going forward this time.”

Qing Feng said: "Subordinates pay more attention to this person's movements."

Lu Chengfeng nodded lightly, got up and walked into the inner room, Qing Feng followed behind, saw her look at her expression, and said: "Although this house is not big, it is close to the moat, two streets away from the main entrance is the Ministry of Criminal Justice, but the back entrance is very secluded , the price that the original master was eager to ask for was still fair, and the subordinates thought that if the master came out of Xie's house one day, he would have a place to stay in Yanjing."

Lu Chengfeng walked around, walked out of the back room and walked towards the path, and saw a hidden back door not far away, she said, "Not bad."

Lu Chengfeng returned to the sycamore tree in the garden. It was summer, and the dense leaves were shining and swaying in the sun. With a gentle breeze, the half-yellow leaves drifted down and landed on the stone table.

Qing Feng said: "Master, can you be sure when you will be able to leave the house?"

Lu Chengfeng pondered for a moment, then said, "It's not in a hurry."

Qingfeng showed doubts on her face, silently waiting for the next sentence.

Lu Chengfeng picked up the yellow leaves to play with, and said: "I'm pretty good with Xie Jiuxiao now. Although I'm a little controlled by others, but relying on the big tree of Xie's family can avoid many troubles. Before I think of a better way, I have no plans to leave the house at the moment.”

Qing Feng naturally obeyed her decision, but she was a little worried, and said: "But Xie Cen..."

Qingfeng thought about it and said: "Xie Cen's mother died since he was a child, his father was hit hard by it and couldn't get sick, he lived in Buddhist temples all year round to chant sutras. Needless to say, Xie Yunqian, the two sons of the Xie family, was already the Secretary of the Ministry of Punishment three years ago. Everyone said that with Xie Yunqian in front of him and Xie Cen doing his own thing, I'm afraid Xie Cen will live under the light of his brother for the rest of his life."

Lu Chengfeng shook his head: "No, I don't agree."

She thought quietly for a moment, and said: "I've had a good time in Qinyuan. Xie Jiuxiao is by no means as simple as he looks on the surface. He is decisive, well-organized, and very assertive. If he becomes an official, I'm afraid Xie Yunqian will Can't stop people."

Qingfeng was surprised, he didn't expect Lu Chengfeng to have such a high opinion of Xie Cen, he paused and said, "Then why is he doing this?"

Lu Chengfeng thought for a while, and said, "It's probably for the emperor to see."

The Xie family has gone through three generations of monarchs, their status is as high as the founding of the country, and the cabinet is in charge of six ministries, Xie Yi is an important minister and even a powerful minister. The eldest grandson of this family, Xie Yunqian, is already so outstanding. If there is another outstanding Xie Jiuxiao entering the court As an official, the Xie family will suffer.

Qing Feng frowned, and was about to ask for clarification, but Lu Chengfeng had already walked out and said: "I've been out for too long, I have to go, you should keep an eye on people these days, we will talk about it next time we meet .”

Qing Feng nodded: "Yes."

After walking two steps, Lu Chengfeng thought of something again, stopped and said, "Jiuxiao is Xie Cen's nickname?"

Qing Feng said: "Yes, why did the master suddenly ask such a question?"

If Lu Chengfeng thought about it, he said, "I thought his real name was Jiuxiao, but it turned out to be a dialect. I heard the name Xie Cen for the first time that night, and I didn't realize it for a while."

Qingfeng said: "It is said that Xie Yunqian took the word Jiuxiao himself, but few people in Yanjing City dare to call him by his name directly, it's normal for the master not to know."

Lu Chengfeng narrowed his eyes and said, "I always feel that this name sounds familiar, as if I've heard it somewhere before, Xie Cen..."

Qing Feng said: "I'm afraid I heard it by accident."

Lu Chengfeng didn't take it seriously, he took out a bank note from his pocket and handed it over, saying, "This is 1000 taels. I think the installation of this garden is simple. You can buy more with the money."

Qing Feng refused to answer: "Master, I..."

"Take it as an addition for me. After I leave the mansion, I can't live in an empty house."

Qing Feng had no choice but to take it.

It was just after noon when we returned to Qinyuan. Today, Xie Jiuxiao was going to paint after dinner. Shisan was serving people in the studio. Lu Chengfeng brought two bowls of chilled sugar water from the small kitchen, knocked on the door, and did not wait for the summons. Put it on the table, and said: "San Niang made sugar, mung beans, ice, snow and cold water. I'll bring two bowls."

Shisan put away a picture scroll with a smile, stepped forward happily, and said, "Chengfeng, why did you come back so early?"

Lu Chengfeng picked up a bowl and handed it to him, saying, "I'll go back when I'm done with my work."

Thirteen took it, just took a sip, then put it down as if thinking of something: "Wait a minute..."

Thirteen took out a palm-sized bronze token from his bosom, handed it to Lu Chengfeng, and said, "Here, the token of the Xie Mansion. With this token, you can enter and leave the mansion at any time."

The waist badge representing the guards of the Xie Mansion was slightly cold to the touch. Lu Chengfeng lowered his eyes and stared at it for a while. Thirteen had already picked up the bowl again, drank half of the bowl, and complained: "This day is really getting worse. It's getting hotter..."

Lu Chengfeng put the waist card in his arms, and took another bowl to Xie Jiuxiao. On Nuo Da's long table, a picture of lotus flowers appeared vividly on the paper.

Lu Chengfeng recognized at a glance that it was a lotus pond in the garden. Summer was coming, and the white lotus in the pond was in full bloom.

"Master." Lu Chengfeng put the bowl by his hand, and walked around the table to admire the painting.

Lu Chengfeng doesn't know much about painting, but he can tell good from bad. It can be seen that Xie Jiuxiao is good at painting, and he must have worked hard since he was a child. Most of the paintings on the walls of this painting room are famous landscape paintings. There are more than ten scrolls in the painting tubes, and it is presumably Xie Jiuxiao's handwriting.

Xie Jiuxiao let her observe, took a few sips of soup, and Lu Chengfeng walked around the painting wall before returning to the lotus painting beside the table.

She had nothing to do, just looked at the painting and meditated without saying a word.

Seeing her appearance, Xie Jiuxiao said, "What's the matter? You didn't draw well?"

Lu Chengfeng looked serious and said, "It's not that it's bad, but I always feel that something is missing..."

Xie Jiuxiao said, "Oh, what's missing?"

(End of this chapter)