Jinghong Tower

After many days of torture, coercion and inducement, Master Ding finally confessed.

Of course their surname is not Ding, they are all disciples of the Zhu family.

And Zeng Ziqi did not join the game without reason.

During the autumn examination, Zeng Ziqi ranked among the top. The literary style in the south of the Yangtze River was flourishing. Hangzhou also produced a female juren that year, which made all the Hangzhou students of the same year pay much attention to her. Zeng Ziqi also stood out because of this.

It was at that time that Zeng Ziqi attracted the attention of the Zhu family.

The Zhu family sent people to investigate Zeng Ziqi's background and finally came to a final conclusion.

Zeng Ziqi is the descendant of the gentleman under the banyan tree!

And the gentleman under the banyan tree was the author of "Zhushan Tower Records" which caused the Zhu family to fall into the abyss!
The gentleman under the banyan tree was originally a servant of the Zhu family. With the grace of the Zhu family, he went to school together with the other young masters. The Zhu family even supported him all the way until he became a juren.

The gentleman under the banyan tree, who became a juren, finally felt proud. His family had been slaves for generations, but now they had become masters.

He knew that this was just the beginning, and that in the future he would become a Jinshi, an official, and even a prime minister.

But he has always had a small wish. He went to propose to the master of the second branch of the Zhu family. He wanted to marry the only daughter of the second branch, Zhu Xiaomei.

Master Zhu Er never expected that the scholar he sponsored would have his eyes on his daughter.

What's more, he has no son, and he has long wanted to find a son-in-law for his daughter.

The gentleman under the banyan tree has already achieved fame and honor. According to the law, a son-in-law cannot take the imperial examination, and a scholar with fame certainly cannot marry into the family of the concubine. If he does not marry into the family of the concubine, his line of descendants will be extinct.

Master Zhu Er naturally did not agree, but he did not embarrass Mr. Rongxia. When he learned that Mr. Rongxia was going to Beijing to take the imperial examination, Master Zhu Er gave him five hundred taels of silver, which was enough for him to spend in the capital.

The gentleman under the banyan tree accepted the silver, but in his heart he hated Master Zhu Er to the core.

Although the Zhu family treated him well, he was ungrateful. While enjoying the gifts from the Zhu family, he thought that the Zhu family was rich but unkind. He wrote all his grievances in the book and fabricated all kinds of illegal behaviors of the Zhu family in the book. The Zhu family made money from him and sent him to Beijing to take the imperial examinations, but he took the opportunity to bring the book he had already written into the capital.

More than 40 years have passed, and due to the relocation of the capital, the old files of the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple were either burned or lost. Therefore, He Ran and Zhong Yi could only learn about the details of the past from the side.

In fact, Rongxia Junzi did not just put the book in the bookstore for consignment, he also gave it to high-ranking officials in the capital.

The way that Master Ding asked Zeng Ziqi to deliver books to the rich and powerful was to imitate the gentleman under the banyan tree.
The gentleman under the banyan tree was of little influence, and most of the books he gave away were thrown into the trash cans of the powerful and wealthy. However, one or two were still placed on the desks of the powerful and wealthy. It was these one or two books that almost caused the Zhu family to be wiped out!

And the gentleman under the banyan tree is Zeng Ziqi’s grandfather!
When the imperial court sent people to search for the person who wrote the book, Mr. Banyan knew that he had caused a big disaster.

He just wanted to make the Zhu family suffer a little, but didn't want to involve himself. He still wanted to pass the imperial examination and become an official. Besides, he didn't want to confiscate the Zhu family's property and exterminate them, because then the Zhu family would have no money to give him. But now the court wanted to arrest him too, so he fled the capital in fear and has not been heard from since.

Over the years, the Zhu family has been looking for this ungrateful person, but there has been no news of him until Zeng Ziqi appeared. The Zhu family was sure that this person was in Hangzhou.

Because Zeng Ziqi's face is about 70% similar to the young gentleman under the banyan tree.

However, the gentleman under the banyan tree had been dead for many years, and Zeng Ziqi was not aware of this past event.

Master Ding was originally planning to come to the capital, and Zeng Ziqi was going to Beijing to take the imperial examination, so they came together.

That time in the inn, Master Ding wanted to test whether Zeng Ziqi knew what happened that year.

If Zeng Ziqi had not reported Shen Yao, with his status as an official, he might have gone out of Beijing for internship long ago, and the subsequent events would not have happened.

Unfortunately, Zeng Ziqi not only inherited his grandfather's appearance, but also his narrow-mindedness and insidiousness.

Because Shen Yao ignored his confession, he maliciously reported Shen Yao's background, and thus lost his internship opportunity.

Master Ding took the opportunity to bring him into the Ding family. What Zeng Ziqi did in the Ding family was just a repetition of what his grandfather had done forty years ago.

Forty years ago, Master Zhu II rejected the marriage proposal from Rongxia Junzi and turned around to marry Zhu Xiaomei.

Zhu Xiaomei’s husband’s surname was Du, and he was Du Jin, a illegitimate son of the Du family in Fujian.

Zhu Xiaomei and Du Jin had just gotten married when the Zhu family's spies in the capital sent back news that the emperor had sent people to Fujian to search and confiscate the Zhu family's property.

Fortunately, the capital is thousands of miles away from Fujian, so the Zhu family still has time to get away.

So the Zhu family quickly exchanged most of their property for gold and silver, and Zhushan Tower became an empty building. From then on, the Zhu family changed their names and left Fujian.

It was not until many years later that the descendants of Zhu Xiaomei and Du Jin returned to Fujian to trace their roots. Although they were included in the Du family genealogy, their actual surname was Zhu.

On the surface, the Zhu family and the Du family have no relationship, but in fact they are inseparable. Fujian Normal University was nominally founded by the Du family, but it was the Zhu family who actually paid for it.

The head coach of Fujian Normal University has always been surnamed Du. In fact, every Du coach is a descendant of Zhu Xiaomei and Du Jin. There are so many branches in the Du family, but only this branch is qualified to become the head coach of Fujian Normal University!

Over the years, all the things that had to happen to the Du family to make them famous were attributed to that branch of the family. For example, the Concubine Shu who was sent to the palace was also from that branch of the family.

There is only one reason why the Du family was willing to give up the throne, and that is that the entire Du family is like a servant in front of the Zhu family.

As early as Du Jin's generation, the Du family had been strong on the outside but weak on the inside, and had to make ends meet by selling off their ancestral property. Otherwise, they would not have allowed their own sons to become sons-in-law.

When the Zhu family got into trouble, the Du family originally wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to make a fortune, but unfortunately not only did they fail to gain any benefits, they were also schemed against by the Zhu family and lost tens of thousands of taels of silver.

Those tens of thousands of taels were a drop in the bucket in the eyes of the Zhu family, but to the Du family, they were everything they had.

After several more battles, the Zhu family firmly grasped the lifeline of the Du family.

From then on, the Zhu family hid behind the scenes, and the Du family became the manipulators of the Zhu family.

The descendants of Zhu Xiaomei and Du Jin returned to the Du family to recognize their ancestry, but in fact they went to monitor the Du family, while the other members of the Zhu family had long since left Fujian.

Originally, the Zhu family just wanted to make money comfortably, but they didn't expect that there would be an outlier in the Zhu family. He came out once, slept with Princess Shoushan, and gave birth to the twin brothers Emperor Yonghe and Jing Lao San.

It would have been fine if the two children were taken away by the Zhu family or thrown into a charity, but they were hidden by Jing Chongguang, one of them was raised to be useless, and the other was placed on the throne. When a family with a lot of money and an army suddenly finds out that they have an emperor, and this emperor has nothing but a title, then this family has a lot of things to do.

The Zhu family has to do two things.

One is to help Emperor Yonghe get rid of Jing Chongguang's control and become a true emperor;

The second is to monitor the capital. Once He Ran takes action against the Later Zhou court, they will launch an assassination plan.

The so-called "nephews and nephews" brought by Master Ding were all killers trained by the Zhu family.

Because He Ran was a young woman, the Zhu family specially selected a young killer.

Master Ding was from the eldest branch of the Zhu family. He was still in his mother's belly when the Zhu family encountered trouble. Although their family recovered later, his mother was too frightened and gave birth before the full term. Although he survived, his mother died.

Master Ding has been an orphan since childhood. He has known the book "Records of Zhushan Prefecture" since he can remember, and he also knows the ungrateful person who wrote the book.

If that ungrateful bastard hadn't written that book, the Zhu family would still be living in Zhushan Building, his mother wouldn't have died, and he wouldn't even have to be afraid to use the last name Zhu.

Therefore, Master Ding hated that ungrateful man to death.

Upon learning that the ungrateful man had actually been living in the picturesque city of Hangzhou, Master Ding became even angrier.

So even if it was unnecessary, he wanted to involve Zeng Ziqi, and let Zeng Ziqi distribute books everywhere like his grandfather did.

This time, Zeng Ziqi was not only involved as he wished, but also not as lucky as his grandfather. Not only did he lose his reputation, but he also had to face lawsuits.

Master Ding and those assassins had been watching. Before this, He Ran had been dealing with the Northwest. He had transferred Fu Yansheng and He Dali to the Northwest. The Ministry of Industry's newly-made Thunder Cannons were also sent to the Northwest. News from the Northwest was also spread to the capital in waves. Even the new comic strips had the Northwest as their background.

Master Ding has been studying the generals under He Ran and has been keeping an eye on their whereabouts.

Master Ding knew everything, including who was fighting where and who was stationed where.

And he knew even more clearly that He Ran did not have a general who could fight a naval battle, and He Ran had not trained such a talent in recent years.

Therefore, he was still lamenting that his family sent him to the capital city just like sending him to retire, and the assassins he brought with him seemed to be useless within ten years.

Zhong Yi said in a cold voice: "You have been under our surveillance for a long time, but do you know why we have to close the net now after letting you go for so long?
Because the Ran Army Navy has already opened fire on the Fujian Army!"

Master Ding was shocked. He shook his head desperately: "Impossible, impossible, how could you have a navy? You don't even have a general who can fight a naval battle!"

Zhong Yi smiled coldly: "Of course there is no one, the Admiral Zong, the Navy Marshal, was originally the leader of the Cao Gang!"

Master Ding's eyes were dull. Zong Qi, of course he knew this person. Didn't Zong Qi go to Jiangnan? Could it be that it was all fake news? He didn't go to Jiangnan, but went to train troops?

Master Ding had too many questions, but he would never get standard answers in this lifetime. Zhong Yi was too lazy to care about him anymore. From now on, he would be thrown into the imperial prison like a stink bug until his death.

Zong Qi spent the Spring Festival of that year in Fuzhou, and large flags with the word "Ran" on them had been planted in most cities in Fujian.

Although far away from the capital, Zong Qi was not alone because Lu Chang came to Fuzhou.

This was the fourth year of their marriage and the third year of their separation. Lu Chang buried her face in Zong Qi's arms. All the way, she was thinking that when she saw Zong Qi, she would beat him up, beat him hard, beat him to death.

"The boss said that I am Wang Baochuan who digs wild vegetables. She also asked me which wild vegetables are the most delicious."

Zong Qi: She’s my sister, I can bear it!

Lu Chang: I am Wang Baochuan, can't I beat him up? Unfortunately, when I saw this man, I couldn't do it. At this moment, I just wanted to be with him.

"Will you stay in Fujian in the future?" Lu Chang asked.

Zong Qi shook his head: "No, I will return to the capital. I have already written to the eldest lady, asking her to send officials to Fujian to take over government affairs."

He wants to return to the capital, where his wife, his sister, and his relatives in this life are. He wants to spend the rest of his life protecting them. Everything he failed to do in his previous life, he wants to do in this life.

Lu Chang lived in Fujian for more than a month. She left reluctantly after the first month of the lunar year. However, she believed that she would not have to wait long. As long as He Ran sent officials over, Zong Qi would return to the capital.

Lu Chang has already decided that, while Zong Qi is still strong and energetic, they will start having children when they return to the capital. She wants to give birth to a son first, and then a daughter, so that the brother can take care of his sister, help her fight, and stand up for her.

Just like Lu Zhen and her, Zong Qi and He Ran.

Thinking of this, Lu Chang was stunned. Although Zong Qi and the eldest boss were cousins, they did not grow up together. But for some reason, Lu Chang always subconsciously felt that they should be real siblings who grew up together.

Ruyan and her team also returned to Beijing with Lu Chang.

Ruyan was sent from Jinghong Tower in Hangzhou. Normally, she should go to Hangzhou to report, but she asked Lu Chang to take her to Beijing, saying that she wanted to fulfill Mingming's wish.

She is obviously a member of the Jinyiwei and does not belong to Jinghong Tower.

Lu Chang had never seen Mingming before, and she had never even heard of this person before coming to Fuzhou.

"Among the women of the Imperial Guard, I only know He Mingyue, but I don't really know her. At that time, He Mingyue often patrolled the streets, and everyone in the capital knew her."

Lu Chang was stunned again. It seemed like she hadn't seen He Mingyue patrolling the streets for a long time.

Where did He Mingyue go?
Could it be that he is also like Mingming, going out as an undercover agent?

Lu Chang suddenly put his hands together and bowed in all directions. Ruyan didn't understand why and asked, "What's wrong? Why did you suddenly want to worship Buddha?"

Lu Chang sighed, "I am praying to the Buddha to bless He Mingyue to be safe on her mission. The Jinyiwei are different from us in Jinghong Tower. We are just collecting intelligence, but the Jinyiwei are risking their lives. Even if we are working together on a mission, they are on the front line. We support them, and they are really working on the edge of a knife."

Ruyan pursed her lips and tried hard not to cry. She thought of Mingming, who would rather be torn into pieces than let anyone use her body to make a fuss.

So she must go to the capital. She can't let Mingming die silently. She wants to hand over Mingming's belongings to the Jinyiwei messenger and tell the head of the He family about Mingming's heroic deeds in person. Oh, and she also wants to submit articles to the newspapers. She wants everyone in the world to know that behind those victory reports, there is a beautiful woman named Mingming. (End of this chapter)