Do you know the long song of laughter?

Chapter 144 Sheng Hong’s plan

Mrs. Wang and her maids helped Sheng Hong change out of his official uniform and arranged his clothes. Seeing that Sheng Hong had a smile on his face since he came back, she asked doubtfully: "Why is the official so happy today?"

"Cough cough~"

Sheng Hong put away his smile and said calmly: "I met Mr. Lu today and had a great conversation with him."

"This Mr. Lu, Master Lu, will be serving as an official in a few years. What's there to talk about with him?" Mrs. Wang lost interest immediately after hearing this.

The so-called "happy conversation", to put it bluntly, means that you can be flattering, but scholars like to say this in a more elegant way.

Even though Sheng Hong was just a minister of the sixth rank, the minister's desk was the center of the imperial court. It was easy to come into contact with the six ministers and the ministers in the court.

In Mrs. Wang's opinion, instead of chatting happily with an old minister who is about to become an official at this age, it is better to have more friendly relations with those husbands.

"What do you know? Mr. Lu, the Minister, is a highly respected elder of the two dynasties. He also served as the Minister of Rites before, and his disciples and former officials are all over the world." Sheng Hong said angrily.

Mrs. Wang curled her lips and said, "Then you are not the Minister of the Ministry of Industry now."

It was agriculture, industry and commerce. The status of merchants in the Song Dynasty was much higher than that of other dynasties, and there was no so-called Ministry of Commerce. The Ministry of Industry had always had the lowest status among the six dynasties.

In Mrs. Wang's view, the government's appointment of Mr. Lu as the Minister of Industry was actually to allow him to retire in this position and wait for his official career.

"It's really a woman's opinion."

Sheng Hong shook his head and was too lazy to say more to Mrs. Wang.

Now King Yong and King Yan are fighting endlessly for the position of crown prince, and they have been wooing courtiers.

They don't dare to win over the ministers and ministers of the various ministries yet. Someone like Sheng Hong, who has a low position but is more important, is naturally their first choice to win over.

During this period, Sheng Hong received many hints from people who had taken refuge with King Yong or King Yan, and they were trying to win over him.

Sheng Hong was very aware of the dangers involved, and with his cautious temperament, he naturally did not want to get involved.

However, if he refuses blindly, he will easily offend the two of them. Who knows whether the person who eventually ascends to the throne will hate him for this.

He was an official and couldn't leave the muddy waters of Bianjing. And he finally became a Beijing official, so he didn't want to leave either.

After thinking about it, Sheng Hong thought of a way.

The reason why King Yong and King Yan wanted to win over him was because of his current position.

As long as he changes to a position that the two of them don't like, they will naturally not spend more time on him.

Among the various yamen in the capital, the one with the least win-win potential is the Ministry of Works.

Sheng Hong relied on his connections with the Wang family and had made many connections over the years. With his current official position, if he wanted to go further, even if these connections could help him, the price required would not be something he could afford.

But the Ministry of Works is different. Normally, the Ministry of Works actually has a lot of money. However, today's officials are always frugal. If some parts of the palace are broken, they just repair them, let alone carry out major construction projects.

The positions in the Ministry of Industry have less power than other yamen, and there is no money and money, so many officials are unwilling to go.

If it was a matter of giving gifts and trusting the relationship, Sheng Hong felt that there was still great hope for being promoted half a level to the Ministry of Industry.

In this way, he can be his official in the capital, and King Yong and King Yan are not interested in wooing him.

As for the fact that the Ministry of Industry is a Qingshui yamen, it is not a problem at all in Sheng Hong's view. Anyway, he has the support from the big house and plus his salary, he is not short of money and has no idea of ​​making money.

And he would stay in the Ministry of Works for a few years. When things were settled, he would have enough qualifications. Not to mention promotion, he would still have a chance to be transferred to another yamen.

It was with these calculations in mind that Sheng Hong deliberately made friends with Mr. Lu.

Originally, Sheng Hong wanted to show off in front of Mrs. Wang, but seeing that Mrs. Wang was so short-sighted, he didn't bother to say anything.

"Okay, I'm going to the study to handle official business."

Seeing that the clothes had been sorted, Sheng Hong waved his hands and left the room.

Dongrong, who was waiting at the door, quickly followed.

"The daughter has met her father."

As soon as I left the yard, I met Ming Lan walking towards me.

"Haha, it's girl Ming. I've worked hard on you during this period of time when I accompanied your grandmother back to your hometown in Youyang. You seem to have lost a lot of weight. You need to make up for it when you come back." Sheng Hong said with a smile.

"Thank you father for your concern. Honoring your grandmother is what a daughter should do. It's not hard." Minglan said. "You're here to see the eldest lady, right? She's inside. Go quickly. Dad still has official business to deal with, so he's going to do it first," Sheng Hong said.

"Father, my daughter is here to see you." Minglan said.

"Find me?"

Sheng Hong was stunned and said, "Then go to the study with me and talk."

"Yes." Minglan responded and followed behind.

When he came to the study, Sheng Hong sat down and said, "Tell me, what's the matter?"

"My daughter dozed off during class today. My father invited Zhuang Xuexue to come to our home to teach us how to study. He had good intentions, but my daughter has let down her father's good intentions." Minglan blamed herself.

When Sheng Hong heard this, he wanted to reprimand him, but seeing Minglan's sincere attitude in admitting his mistake, his heart softened and he asked, "Has Xuexue Zhuang ever punished you?"

"Zhuang Xuejun punished the fourth sister, the fifth sister, and me to copy the Analects." Minglan said.

Minglan was a little confused. When she learned that Sheng Hong had returned to Wei Ruixuan, she deliberately didn't come over immediately because she thought Ru Lan would tell Mrs. Wang what happened in school this afternoon.

With Mrs. Wang's character, she would naturally tell Sheng Hong in front of her when she comes back.

She was deliberately stuck in the situation where Sheng Hong learned about it from Mrs. Wang and came to Sheng Hong to admit his mistake before going to Lin Qige.

It was because she knew that with Mrs. Wang's temperament, she would definitely be sarcastic when telling the story, which would annoy Sheng Hong.

When Sheng Hong was angry, he would not believe Mrs. Wang's words at all.

When she came to admit her mistake, Sheng Hong would inevitably ask her to tell her story again, so that Sheng Hong would not believe Lin Xiaoniang's words because she was angry with Mrs. Wang.

But now it seems that Sheng Hong doesn't know about this. Didn't Madam Wang say anything?

With Mrs. Wang’s temperament, this shouldn’t be the case.

Minglan couldn't figure out which link went wrong for a while.

In fact, Minglan didn't know. It wasn't that Mrs. Wang didn't tell her, but that she didn't know about it at all.

Ru Lan felt that she had taken advantage and had no intention of complaining to Mrs. Wang. After school, she went back to her room to copy books.

Sheng Hong was a little confused when he heard this and said: "How come the two of them were punished? Could it be that they also slept in class?"

Minglan said: "Back to my father, the fifth sister fell asleep in class, and the fourth sister fell asleep for other reasons."

"what reason?"

"Father, it's better to ask the fourth sister. It's not convenient for my daughter to tell." Minglan thought for a while and said.

"Since you don't say it, then I won't ask you. Zhuang Xuexun has punished you before, so I won't punish you this time. I hope you can take this as a warning and not do it again next time."

Sheng Hong only thought that Minglan was unwilling to complain, and after contacting Ru Lan and Mo Lan, who often complained to each other, he suddenly felt that this daughter he usually ignored was more sensible than his two sisters, and he felt very relieved.

"Yes, my daughter resigned first."

Minglan didn't know what Sheng Hong was thinking. The reason why she didn't say anything was because she knew that if she, Mrs. Wang and Lin Xiaoniang told Sheng Hong something together, Sheng Hong would eventually believe Lin Xiaoniang.

Otherwise, if she didn't say anything, Sheng Hong might ask someone to inquire out of curiosity.

Sheng Hong will know the truth by then. If Lin Xiaoniang distorts the facts in front of Sheng Hong, she will make Sheng Hong unhappy.

This is the best effect.

Minglan was right, Sheng Hong was indeed a little curious, and asked Dongrong to inquire after she left.

It is not difficult to inquire about the affairs of the school. After all, in addition to several sons and daughters, there are also their schoolboys and maids. In addition, Zhuang Xuexue has people around him to serve him, so it is easy to find out.

When Dongrong found out what happened in the afternoon class and told Sheng Hong, Sheng Hong didn't react at all.

In his opinion, it was indeed wrong for Mo Lan to expose his sister, but as an older sister, he couldn't just ignore her when he saw her dozing off in class.

It wasn't a big deal anyway, Mo Lan was also punished, so he didn't think much about it and went about his business.

(End of this chapter)