swear not to be concubine

Chapter 102

Shen Chuo was sitting in front of the smoker, eating candied chestnuts.

Stir-fried chestnuts with dark brown skin and shiny oil.First, pinch it hard with your hands, and then peel off the skin, revealing the burnt yellow flesh inside.Sent it to the mouth and took a bite, it was glutinous, sweet, and extremely delicious.

A young servant came in with his head bowed, and stood still a few steps away from Shen Chuo.

Shen Chuo was slowly peeling the sugar-fried chestnuts in his hand with his slender and white fingers, and raised his head, asking the young man slowly: "Who is Zhou Yuanzheng inviting in Zuiyue Building today? Can you find out?"

Two days ago, Zhou Yuanzheng sent his confidant, Zhou Fulai, to tell him that he wanted to invite someone in Zuiyue Tower today, so he asked him to empty Zuiyue Tower today and not open the door to welcome guests.

Shen Chuo naturally agreed.But he was still curious about who Zhou Yuanzheng invited today, because he needed to empty the Zuiyue Building?So he secretly ordered the shopkeeper and a staff in the Zuiyue Building to pay attention to the spot today, and report to him as soon as they see clearly who Zhou Yuan is inviting.

And the one standing in front of him right now is a boy from Zuiyuelou.

The young man knelt down on one knee in front of Shen Chuo, saluted before standing up.Then he replied respectfully with lowered hands: "Today Master Zhou is not inviting any official from the court, nor is it any nobleman in this capital, but a young girl and a young son. And even It's strange, it was Mr. Zhou's niece who came out to greet the young master and the girl. Later, Miss Zhou let the young master sit in the downstairs lobby by herself, and she took the young lady up to the second floor Later, Miss Zhou left the private room by herself, but she ordered two stout servants to guard the door and locked the door, which meant to put the girl under house arrest. The little ones were really curious , so although our Zuiyue Building was sent by Mr. Zhou early in the morning to surround it tightly and prevent us from approaching easily, the little ones went to the secret room closest to the lobby with the shopkeeper. Post it on the wall and listen to Miss Zhou and that young master talking in the lobby."

Then he said exactly what Zhou Yingying said to Qin Yan.

Shen Chuo was just listening with a leisurely face at first, thinking in his heart, how could such a shrewd and cunning person like Zhou Yuanzheng still have such an innocent past?But when he heard Jian Yan's name later, his face suddenly changed, and the candied chestnut in his hand was crushed abruptly by him.

He suddenly got up and stood up, the hem of his clothes swept to the smoker cage in front of him, and he actually threw the bamboo stick cage to the side.

But he didn't care about this, he just asked in a deep voice: "What do you think is the name of that young girl?"

The little guy didn't know what happened, but was shocked by his action, his knees softened, and he knelt down subconsciously.

"Small one, I heard from Miss Zhou that the girl's name is Jian Yan."

The sugar-fried chestnuts in his hand fell into the charcoal basin covered with no smoke, and a small cluster of flames flashed immediately.

As if Shen Chuo hadn't seen it, he walked out the door with big strides.

But when he reached the door, he stopped again.

What use was he in the past?As the saying goes, the people don't fight with the officials, Zhou Yuanzheng holds such great power, and he has to rely on the power in his hands to pave the way for the Shen family's business.

It's just Jian Yan, how could he let Zhou Yuanzheng spoil her like this?
Thinking of the word ruin, he suddenly showed another extremely weird smile.

According to Hongxiu, this Zhou Yuanzheng is an old man, and it looks like he is very serious on the surface, but in fact he is just a silver-like pewter gun head, which is very useless.

Just such an old pig and dog, who is old enough to be Jian Yan's grandfather, seeing that Jian Yan looks like his lover when he was young, he has such nasty thoughts about Jian Yan.

It's just that although Shen Chuo didn't want to see Jian Yan being ruined by Zhou Yuanzheng, he also had a deep sense of self-knowledge.

Even if he passed, it still couldn't stop Zhou Yuanzheng.I'm afraid that Zhou Yuanzheng will still develop a heart of hatred towards him, and if Zhou Yuanzheng punishes him a little at that time, I'm afraid that all the business of the Shen family he has been running for these years will be destroyed in one fell swoop.

In a flash, he suddenly thought of a person who might be able to temporarily stop Zhou Yuanzheng.

"What time is it?" He suddenly turned around, faced Shen Jin, and asked in a low voice.

Shen Jin replied: "Just passed Shenchu."

Since the autumnal equinox, the time for officials of the DPRK and China to gather value has been advanced from Shenzheng time to Shenchu ​​time.So now it is estimated that Zhou Yuanzheng should be heading in the direction of Zuiyue Tower, right?It is possible that he has already reached the Zuiyue Tower by now, but it is not certain.

His heart sank, and he quickly ordered Shen Jin: "Send out all the servants in the house who know Xu Zhongxuan and Xu Shilang, and tell them to start from the official office of the Ministry of Officials to Xu Zhongxuan's house. Find Xu Zhongxuan immediately, and then tell him that Jian Yan is being imprisoned in Zuiyue Tower by Zhou Yuanzheng, and then ask him to go to Zuiyue Tower to rescue her immediately."

Shen Jin agreed, turned around and left.

And here, Shen Chuo ordered the little guy in the Zuiyue Tower: "You go back now, pass my message to shopkeeper Zhang, and let him pay close attention to the private room upstairs where the girl is under house arrest. If there is any abnormality, let him set a fire in the Zuiyue Tower, and then try to take advantage of the chaos to rescue the girl and let her go."

The little guy just felt that his brain was running out.

Set fire to his own restaurant, is this son of his family out of his mind?
But Shen Chuo already squinted his phoenix eyes and looked at him, and scolded in a cold voice: "Go there soon. If you miss something, can you bear it?"

The little fellow was only stunned by his cold gaze, he hurriedly agreed, then turned around and ran away.

Here Shen Chuo was walking back and forth in the room, thinking quickly about something.

Even if Xu Zhongxuan went to rescue Jian Yan later, what's the use of that?If Jian Yan really resembled that Mei Niang, Zhou Yuanzheng would never let her go.In that case, even if Jian Yan escaped from Zhou Yuanzheng's clutches today, she would not be able to escape in her lifetime.

After all, he is the chief assistant of the court, and he has great power in his hands.If you really want a woman, or a merchant's daughter without any foundation, who can stop it?Of course he can't, as for Xu Zhongxuan...

Shen Chuo pondered for a while, and sat down in the first armchair on the left, tapping on the desk with his slender fingers unconsciously.

I'm afraid Xu Zhongxuan can't stop it for a long time with his own strength.But now that the two kings in the court are fighting for the position of heir, Zhou Yuanzheng originally supported King Ning. If Xu Zhongxuan really wanted to overthrow Zhou Yuanzheng, he could only choose to side with King Liang and cooperate with his second assistant Wu Kaiji.It's just that in this way, Xu Zhongxuan's status as a lone minister will probably disappear. Then the emperor will still value him as much as he does now?

The corners of Shen Chuo's lips curled up slightly.

In fact, for him, the best situation is that Zhou Yuanzheng and Xu Zhongxuan will face each other. At that time, the two snipe and clam will fight each other, and each will lose their vitality, while he, the fisherman, will gain.

At that time, Jian Yan can only belong to him.But before that, he had to make sure that Jian Yan was safe and sound.It's best to think of a way to hide her for a while, and then release her after everything is settled.

At this moment Xu Zhongxuan invited Mr. Zhao Zhengqi, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, to have a drink and dinner in a restaurant, discussing when he would propose marriage to Mrs. Jian tomorrow.

He always wanted to settle this matter earlier.

Zhao Zhengqi chuckled and teased him: "Even if your marriage is mentioned tomorrow, but if you want to make a big gift earlier, at least you have to wait until April next year. I'm afraid the days in between will be difficult." ?”

At the beginning of April this year, an old concubine passed away in the palace.The emperor had been taken care of by this old concubine since he was a child, so he felt very sad, and immediately issued a decree, stipulating that the common people are not allowed to marry within half a year, and those who have noble families and official families are not allowed to have feasts and pleasures within a year Marriage, to show mourning.That's why Zhao Zhengqi said that.

Xu Zhongxuan smiled, but did not speak.

Jian Yan still carries her father's filial piety on her back, and the wedding date can only wait until next August at the earliest.

At this time, the young man came over with wine and food.Xu Zhongxuan didn't have a fake hand boy, but he personally filled the wine glass in front of Zhao Zhengqi with wine, and then filled the wine glass in front of himself with wine, and then stood up with the wine glass in both hands, bowed He bowed down and gave Zhao Zhengqi a big salute, and said respectfully: "Thank you, my lord, for your success. Please also drink this cup to the brim."

After that, he said again, "it's respect for the lower officials to do first."

After the words fell, he brought the wine glass in his hand to his lips, and drank the wine inside in one gulp.

Seeing this, Zhao Zhengqi stretched out his hand to touch his half-white beard and smiled brightly, then he also picked up the wine glass in front of him and drank it in one gulp.Immediately, he put down the wine glass in his hand, and said with a smile: "Who wouldn't be willing to facilitate such a good thing? Zhongxuan, you are too polite to me. Sit down, sit down."

Xu Zhongxuan sat back in his chair in a good manner, and persuaded Zhao Zhengqi to eat and drink, while talking about the affairs of the court.

At this time, the door of the private room was pushed open from the outside, and Qi Sang walked in.

Xu Zhongxuan frowned slightly, and asked Qi Sang, "What's the matter?"

Qi Sang lowered his hands and reported: "There is a person outside who said that there is something urgent to see the young master."

who?What's the matter?
Xu Zhongxuan was thinking in his heart, but he still ordered Qi Sang calmly: "Let him in."

Qi Sang agreed, then turned around and called the man in.

Xu Zhongxuan raised his eyes and saw, even though he had an ordinary face, he recognized at a glance that this was Shen Chuo's entourage, named Shen Jin.

When Du Dai invited him to Zuiyue Tower that day, he had seen this person beside Shen Chuo.

"It's you looking for me? What's the matter?" Xu Zhongxuan asked very concisely.

After Shen Jin came in, his eyes quickly swept across Xu Zhongxuan and Zhao Zhengqi.

Because Xu Zhongxuan and Zhao Zhengqi came to this restaurant directly after they came to the restaurant from the government office, so the official uniforms on their bodies have not been changed yet.

Although Shen Jin didn't know Zhao Zhengqi, but seeing that he was wearing a crimson round-neck official robe with a golden pheasant pattern embroidered on his chest patch, he knew that the old man sitting in front of him was a second-rank official.

Then he lowered his eyebrows and narrowed his eyes knowingly, bowed to Xu Zhongxuan, then straightened up and said: "Master, let the villain come and tell Xu Shilang that Miss Jian Yanjian is currently under house arrest by Master Zhou Yuanzheng. Zuiyue Tower. I also hope that Xu Shilang will come and rescue him as soon as possible."

Xu Zhongxuan got up suddenly and stood up from the chair, scolding in a cold voice: "What nonsense are you talking about? Miss Jian is clearly staying at my house, so why is Master Zhou under house arrest in Zuiyue Tower?"

"It's up to the adults to believe it or not, and the villain is just here to pass on a word."

Facing Xu Zhongxuan's cold questioning, Shen Jin behaved neither humble nor overbearing, neither afraid nor afraid.

Xu Zhongxuan stared at him coldly, and tightly clenched his hands on the table.

He knew that Jian Yan and Zhou Yingying had been in contact for a long time, and occasionally Zhou Yingying would post a post asking her to come out for a get-together.But how could Jian Yan be under house arrest by Zhou Yuanzheng in Zuiyue Tower?Logically speaking, Zhou Yuanzheng shouldn't have met Jian Yan.I have seen it before, Jian Yan is his niece's friend after all, why did he put his niece's friend under house arrest?But if Shen Jin in front of him was lying, why would he lie to himself?What is Shen Chuo's intentions?
But these are not the point.The focus is on Jian Yan.

But when it comes to Jian Yan, no matter what Shen Chuo's intentions are, whether he sent Shen in to lie to him, he must go to Zuiyue Tower to have a look before he can rest assured.

So he turned around and saluted Zhao Zhengqi hastily, and said quickly: "I still have something to do, please leave first. Please forgive me, my lord."

After saying that, he turned around and strode out of the house.

Qi Sang hurriedly followed.

As the weather has gotten colder recently, when Xu Zhongxuan went to the government office to answer his appointment, he usually took a sedan chair or a carriage, while Qi Sang accompanied him on horseback.Now the sedan chair was parked outside the door of the restaurant, and two other horses were tied to the side posts.

One was ridden by Qi Sang, and the other was just ridden by Shen Jin.

Xu Zhongxuan didn't sit in the sedan chair, but walked up to a horse with big strides, untied the horse's reins tied to the post in two or three strokes, then got on the horse, took the whip from Qi Sang, and slapped it fiercely. Just hit the horse's ass with a whip.

The horse neighed, and immediately raised its hooves high, and rushed out like flying.

Seeing this, Qi Sang jumped on another horse in a hurry, and slammed his whip on the horse's buttocks.

As long as there is something about Miss Jian, the young master has no way to calm down and rationalize.If it is true what Shen Jin said, Miss Jian is currently under house arrest by Zhou Yuanzheng in the Zuiyue Tower, even if Zhou Yuan is the chief assistant of the dynasty with great power, the young master will not care so much.

But Zhou Yuanzheng is the chief assistant of the court after all, although the young master is a third-rank official left servant, but Zhou Yuanzheng may not be able to take advantage of Zhou Yuanzheng.

Qi Sang's heart was in turmoil, and he couldn't stop crying secretly.But it can only be flattered and followed closely behind Xu Zhongxuan towards Zuiyue Tower.

Fortunately, Zuiyue Tower is not too far away, and it takes only a while to get there by flying horse.

Xu Zhongxuan was on the horse, and from a distance, he saw a person standing in front of a window on the second floor of Zuiyue Building.

Even though the person's back was facing him, he could only see a figure from the back, but he recognized Jian Yan immediately.

His heart sank, Jian Yan was really here.What Shen Chuo said is of course true.In this way, Zhou Yuanzheng must be on it.

It's just that what is Jian Yan doing standing so close to the window?
He tightened the rein of the horse in his hand, and the solid leather belt forced a deep bloodstain on his left palm, but he didn't realize it, he just quickly turned over and got off the horse, striding forward Just looking at the gate of Zuiyue Tower.

The few servants guarding the door saw someone coming, so they naturally stretched out their hands to stop it.

Xu Zhongxuan's face was covered with frost, and he didn't say anything else, he directly shook his hand, pulled out the whip in his hand, and shouted: "Get out."

After all, he is wearing an official uniform now, and the patch on his chest has a pattern of peacocks. This is an official of the third rank in the imperial court.As a result, these young servants felt a little apprehensive, and they didn't really dare to make a move to stop him.But after all, remembering Zhou Yuanzheng's order at that time, there was a young servant with a smile on his face, and said respectfully: "My lord, this Zuiyue Tower is reserved by my lord today, and we don't welcome people. Foreigner. My lord is Mr. Zhou, the chief assistant of the cabinet."

This young man thought that Zhou Yuanzheng's name was being used, even if the other party was a third-rank official, he would have to back down, and he didn't dare to be arrogant in front of the Zuiyue Tower.

But when Xu Zhongxuan heard Zhou Yuanzheng's name, his face turned colder and colder.

Sure enough, Zhou Yuan was playing tricks!
"Go away." The horsewhip in his hand was thrown out forcefully at these boys again.This time the boy in front couldn't dodge in time, he received a severe whip on his face, and immediately felt a burning pain.

Qi Sang also rushed over at this time.

He is a person who has practiced martial arts, so how can he be compared with these young men?As soon as he made a move, he kicked these servants over with a few strokes.Then he said to Xu Zhongxuan: "My lord, you go in as soon as possible. All the boys who are blocking you are handed over to your subordinates."

At this time, Xu Zhongxuan kicked open the two closed doors in front of him, and rushed in very quickly with a whip in his hand.

Although after entering the Zuiyue Tower, some servants and servants stepped forward to stop him, but firstly, Xu Zhongxuan was wearing an official uniform, and no one dared to treat him seriously. , looked extremely frightening, and Qi Sang was escorting him three times, so although everyone wanted to stop them, they couldn't stop them in the end, and could only watch Xu Zhongxuan go up the escalator to the second floor very quickly. .

There are several elegant rooms on the second floor.Xu Zhongxuan scanned quickly, and seeing two servants guarding a private room, he immediately strode towards that private room.

The two maids stretched out their hands to stop them, but Xu Zhongxuan whipped each of them on the face fiercely. They just stretched out their hands to cover their own faces, but they couldn't stop them for a while.

Xu Zhongxuan was not in love with fighting either.He just got a gap, kicked the door in front of him hard, and rushed in.

Then he saw Jian Yan standing by the window at a glance, holding a hairpin in her hand, the pointed end was facing her own throat and was about to poke it down.

(End of this chapter)