Yi Song

Chapter 117 Erlang is not here, everyone misses him

Entering mid-November, Kaifeng is getting colder and colder.

Early this morning, the gloomy sky sprinkled snow like salt grains, adding to the coldness.

Cai Chi wore a white foxtail scarf, a mink fur coat, and a fur hat. He walked excitedly to the door of Zhileju's study with a stack of papers in his arms.

Entering the outer hall, Cai Chi felt the heat wave coming. With the help of his maid, he took off his scarf, cloak, leather hat and put on a futou.

Entering the inner hall, you can see four bronze fire cages with hundreds of birds facing the phoenix scattered in the four corners, with golden charcoal burning inside, emitting billowing heat waves.

In another corner, a cool breeze was blowing, turning and passing through an aisle. There are two fire cages placed in the corridor, which heat the cool air and add it into the house through the gauze curtains, without reducing the heat in the inner hall.

Cai Jing sat behind the desk in the middle, immersed in a mountain of papers under the light of a few candles.

"Daddy!" Cai Chi stood in front of him and called.

Cai Jing had no reaction.

After shouting twice, Cai Jing raised his head, his cloudy eyes diverged for more than ten breaths, and finally focused on Cai Ji. A smile appeared on his skinny face.

"Fifth brother is here." Cai Jing put his hands on the table and struggled to get up, but his body was stiff from sitting for a long time and he couldn't exert his strength for a while.

Cai Chi quickly put down the manuscript and turned around to help him up.

"Sit down and chat, and I'll take a rest. It's the end of the year, and there are so many things to do in the three provinces, so I'm not tired of it." Cai Jing, supported by Cai Chi, hunched over and walked shakily to the seat next to the coffee table. go.

It’s only been more than twenty days, and dad has aged a lot.

The death of his fourth brother was a big blow to him.

Usually, the fourth brother helps him handle government affairs, which really relieves him of many heavy responsibilities.

But why have I never been able to help? I can’t do anything to help!

It seems that there is a reason for Daddy's partiality in the past.

I am a little jealous of my fourth brother's talent.

Ugh.

Cai Jing, who was thinking complicatedly, helped Cai Jing sit down. The maid quickly brought hot tea and cakes, which were Xianyou old tea and Tian's osmanthus cake that Cai Jing loved to drink.

"Fifth brother, are you used to drinking this Xianyou old tea?"

"Daddy, the more I drink, the better I feel."

Cai Jing smiled with wrinkles all over his face, "That's good, that's good. Come, have a piece of sweet-scented osmanthus cake."

After Cai Chi took it, he finished it in two mouthfuls. His mouth was full of powder and he almost choked. He quickly took a sip of tea to moisten it.

"Eat slowly, drink slowly, no one will compete with you." At this point, Cai Jing's cloudy eyes suddenly lit up.

He turned around and went to the table next to him to get the gavel to hit, covering up the sudden sadness he just felt.

When he turned around, Cai Jing had returned to normal, holding a mallet and gently hitting his thighs and knees.

"Fifth brother, what has Liu Erlang been doing these past two months?"

"Dad," Cai Chi stood up and went to the desk to retrieve the pile of documents, "I came here today to tell you about his activities in the past half month."

"Well, tell me." Cai Jing leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes slightly, and waved the gavel gently with his right hand.

In Xuanhuafang, at the residence of Dr. Fengzhi, Dr. Zuowu, Zhaowu Xiaowei, Xiaoqiwei, the envoys with imperial equipment, the Mingzhou military envoys, and the Mingzhou governor Liu's mansion, in the flower hall on the second floor of Wuyuan Wuxiang Pavilion in the backyard, the hot air It's so hot that I can't feel the cold outside.

There is a cylindrical iron stove on each side, with a strong fire burning inside. There is a long iron cylindrical tube on each side, which rises straight to the roof, then bends at 90 degrees, stretches along the roof beams towards the window, and passes through the two sides. The round gap above the second-floor partition window stretches out and spits out wisps of white air.

Xu Xiniang and Xiang Zhuer, um, now called Yingxiu, were wearing robes and jackets, sitting around a table, playing chess quietly.

Two maids walked in softly, carrying a basin of round coals, like lotus roots cut into sections.

First, go to the iron stove on the left, put down the coal plate, use an iron hook to remove the iron cover, use an iron clamp to pick out four pieces of red lotus root coal, and place them on the iron plate next to it.

Clip out two more pieces of lotus root coal that are only a little red and put them aside.

Put the red lotus root coal back, add two new pieces of lotus root coal, and close the lid.

"Xiniang, Qingxiu, do you want it to be warmer?"

"It's okay, sister." Xiniang replied cheerfully without raising her head, focusing all her attention on the table.

"Okay." The two maids did not change the size of the vent under the stove, and went to change the lotus root coal for the stove on the right.

"Xiniang, Yingxiu, let's go up and change the coal for the courtyard master and palace master."

"Okay, thank you for your hard work, sisters." Xiniang was still staring at the table.

When the footsteps of the two maids disappeared on the stairs, Yingxiu said, "Enter your lair, Xiniang loses!" "Ah, Yingxiu, you don't know how to let me fight six beasts in one go. I'll lose to you every time I play chess." Xi Niang raised her lips and said unhappily, stretched out her hand and pulled the chessboard away.

Yingxiu didn't say anything, she just picked up the messed up chess pieces one by one and arranged them neatly.

"Are you still going down?"

"No more, let's have a cup of hot tea and something to eat."

"Okay." Yingxiu put all the chess pieces away, then walked to the side and sat down.

While pouring tea, Xiniang said, "It's snowing so heavily outside. I wonder how they are doing?"

Ying Xiu asked with a smile: "Who are they? Erlang, Big Eye, Brother Fei or Zhou Quji?"

"What are you talking about!" Xi Niang blushed and said angrily.

"Xiniang, weren't you interested in Erlang before? Why did you change the person so quickly?" Yingxiu asked curiously.

"Brother Erlang is a hero, but that woman doesn't like him. In the past, he was from a rough background, and Xiniang had a chance. But when he became a relative of the emperor, Xiniang gave up on this unreasonable idea."

Yingxiu couldn't help but stretched out her hand and held Xu Xiniang's hand tightly.

"But it's okay. Birds of a feather flock together, and the people around Brother Erlang must be heroes like him."

Ying Xiu smiled and said: "Xiao Niang, don't blame yourself. Who is it? Brother Fei, who has delicious big eyes and pretends to be mature, ah, it can't be Zhou Quji who is as bored as a mountain, right? .”

Xu Xiniang smiled and pursed her lips, "I just won't tell you."

Unable to get anything out of Xu Xiniang, Yingxiu asked again: "Does Erlang know the intentions of the palace master and the courtyard master?"

"Brother Erlang is such a smart person, he must know."

"Who will he choose?"

"Yeah, who will he choose?" Xu Xiniang tilted her chin and fell into thinking.

Go up the stairs to the third floor, and after passing the flower hall, there are two rooms, one on the left and one on the right. Each room has an iron sheet coal stove, just like the one on the second floor.

The one on the left is simple but grand, and the other is simple but exquisite.

Murong Shisan was sitting on the left, reading stacks of account books. Magu sat next to her, also looking through the account book, and saying a few words to her from time to time.

Zhao Wuniang is sitting on the right, holding stacks of Di newspaper newsprint. Mr. Xiang sat next to her, talking in a low voice from time to time about the information in the Di newspaper.

After the maid had changed the lotus root coal, Murong Shisan stood up and said to the maid, "Bring up some hot soup and pastries."

"Yes."

"Wu Niang, take a rest.

"Okay." Zhao Wuniang responded from next door.

The four of them sat down one after another in the flower hall. There was also an iron stove here, making it no colder than inside.

"Erlang should have arrived in Kaocheng County by now." Zhao Wuniang couldn't help but speak while holding the steaming soup and looking at the snowflakes outside the window.

"It's almost there." Murong Shisan ate two pieces of pastry in one breath and replied without raising his head.

"Mr. Xiang, how do you think Taishi Cai will prevent Erlang from dredging the river?" Zhao Wuniang couldn't help but ask after taking a few sips.

"Palace Master, I think this is more than just an obstruction."

"Ah, does Master Cai have any more evil plans?"

"Palace Master, even if Erlang fails to complete the task of dredging the river, the worst he can do is to fine him his salary and reduce his rank. Master Cai is vicious. He tried his best and spent a lot of effort to only let Erlang pay his salary and lower his rank? It will definitely lead to Erlang's death. "

Murong Shisan and Zhao Wuniang couldn't help but look at Liu Baoxiang.

"Mr. Xiang, what method do you think Taishi Cai will use to frame Erlang?"

"Taishi Cai has been in high and low officialdom for decades. He has experienced the Xifeng Reform, Yuanyou Reform, and Shaosheng Shaoshu. In the Chongning Year, he launched the Yuanyou Party Case and wiped out all his opponents. What means he will use, I can't guess.

Moreover, when dealing with a smart and cunning person like Liu Erlang, a trap designed early would actually make him alert. The old slave guessed that there were many traps in the job of dredging the river. Master Cai killed Liu Erlang when he was tired of dealing with them. "

Murong Shisan and Zhao Wuniang looked at each other, unable to help but feel panic and anxiety.

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(End of this chapter)