Mistress

Chapter 31

The next day, Xu Cheng received the imperial edict of being a Marquis.

There are a thousand households in the food town, [-] hectares of land granted, six houses, ten thousand taels of gold, and a thousand bolts of silk.In addition to these rewards, the emperor also specially gave Xu Cheng a month's leave, saying that he was to stay in the mansion to celebrate with his family and relatives.

This is very inconsistent with the laws of the Ye Dynasty, how can the prime minister leave his post for a month?But this is the emperor's will, Xu Cheng naturally has to accept the order obediently, and he has to be grateful.Because of this, the other ministers were envious, and many of them were secretly jealous.

When Xu Cheng went to the emperor's bedroom to thank him, the emperor's words revealed one meaning inside and out, that is, all the officials in the past dynasties who were appointed as marquises, especially those who were named Anlehou, no longer had to go to court every day, and their official positions were kept Part of the internal affairs is allocated to reduce its load.

Xu Cheng immediately kowtowed to thank the emperor for his great kindness, and took the initiative to hand over the power, saying: "Recently, I also feel tired, and I really can't handle some things. From now on, I will not go to the military aircraft department, but only ask about the cabinet and the six ministries. I don't know the emperor. Are you willing to agree?"

The emperor was happy in his heart, but he said with pity: "If I don't have Aiqing to work hard for the government every day, I really feel like I have lost my arm. I have a talent that is jealous, and it is a pity to be idle. But if I don't If you let Aiqing take a breather, who will work for me Daye after she is exhausted?"

Xu Cheng showed a humble smile, "The emperor is too famous, no matter when and where, as long as the emperor gives an order, the minister will definitely do his best!"

The emperor laughed, ordered people to serve food and wine, ate meat and drank wine with Xu Cheng, and drank more than a dozen cups, it seemed that they both drank very happily.

In the next seven days, the Prime Minister's Mansion first held a celebration banquet, and all relatives, friends and colleagues came.Afterwards, another family banquet was held. Princess Bao came with Prince Bao, Second Master Xu Ze brought his wives, concubines and children, and even Mrs. Wu, the thorn in the eyes of Mrs. Tai, brought Xu Xiuyuan and Xu Wu.

Mrs. Tai had vowed before that she wanted to drive Wu and his three mothers out of the old Duke's mansion in her own lifetime, but when she learned that her life was not long, she took this matter lightly.

After the two banquets, Xu Cheng would stay in Zhihui Hall most of the time, except that he would go to Cui Song Yuan to visit Mrs. Tai in the morning and evening every day.He usually shared dinner with Li Yan, and he also went to Qiushui Pavilion twice to share with Aunt Ji.

But he didn't rest in their room, and every time he left after dinner and chatting, he seemed in a hurry.Half a month passed in a blink of an eye, and Aunt Ji went to the palace again. After confirming that she was pregnant with a dragon heir, she was even more overjoyed, and began to prepare for Xu Cheng to sleep in her room for the night.

On this day, seeing that it was almost time for dinner, Aunt Ji sent Ying'er to invite Xu Cheng. She also prepared Xu Cheng's usual favorite dishes, and of course there was also some wine for fun. Xu Cheng rested in her room.She also knew that Xu Cheng had only spent one night at Li Yan's place since he came back from Jiao Yangcheng, and he hadn't touched a woman in the past half month, so what happened tonight would definitely come to fruition.

But after a while, Ying'er came to report that the master had gone to Jinxiu Pavilion.Aunt Ji frowned in thought for a moment, and said: "No hurry, master will definitely return to Huitang tonight as usual, and I will definitely have a way to invite him when the time comes."

Before the dinner was served, Xu Cheng and Li Yan sat on both sides of the kang table and talked about family affairs.Xu Cheng took out a booklet from his bosom, handed it to Li Yan, and said slowly, "Madam, let you take care of the farms and houses rewarded by the emperor, there is only one steward Lin in our house who can't be too busy." Come on, I have ordered someone to invite a steward Qi to help the farm. The reason why I don't want to ask the steward to take full responsibility is because I am more assured that you will do it yourself. With the incident of Zhang Yuliu, our family property cannot Something happened again."

Li Yan flipped through the first page, looking at the detailed records of these farms and houses, her heart was really agitated, can she take care of these?

Xu Cheng looked at Li Yan's eyebrows, with a faint smile, "You can't take care of it casually, it's best to have a good harvest."

Although Li Yan was a little guilty, she still nodded her head pretending to be very confident, and suddenly asked: "Aside from taking care of the farm and the house, can I open a few shops? Yesterday I went to Kunbao in the south with Cui Mama. Walking around the street, I saw that the business of many shops is very prosperous, maybe it is faster to open a shop than to get money from the farm."

Xu Cheng frowned slightly, "Are you interested in doing this?"

Li Yan smiled, "As long as the master agrees, I will try."

There was a smile in the corner of Xu Cheng's eyes, and he said, "It's so good, I hope Madam will win the battle and earn more money for the house." At this point, he blinked his eyes, and then said, "Tomorrow Zhang Yuliu will be sent to the Southwest. Yes, Li Qing's family has already left the mansion today. There is no big tent in the mansion. I have already found a big tent for you, named Yin Cheng. He... came from Qi'e Mountain. When the time comes You tell everyone that Yin Cheng was found by you, because he is from the same town as a distant nephew of your cousin's family, and everyone will be convinced when you tell them."

A distant nephew of my cousin's family?Li Yan was a little dizzy, did Xu Cheng make it up, or was it real?
Xu Cheng said again: "In the future, whenever Guanshi Qi and Yin Cheng use large sums of money, as long as you show me the words I approved, don't ask too much. I must be of great use to you, and you don't want to tell anyone about it."

Seeing Li Yan's expression was a little displeased, he hurriedly explained: "I want to privately build a mansion in Lizhou that matches the status of a Marquis. Now that I am Marquis Anle, I want to stay away from the capital in a few years. Enjoy life. I am still in the position of prime minister, if it is not appropriate to let the emperor and those courtiers know my peace of mind too early, I hope Madam will not disclose this to anyone."

He grabbed Li Yan's hand and held it tightly.Li Yan knew that Xu Cheng didn't trust her very much, so she used these words to deal with her.

Xu Cheng saw her staring at him blankly. Although she didn't ask about him in detail, the questioning eyes were the same as before, and she longed for him to say something heartfelt.

Xu Cheng knew better than anyone else that if one more person was told, there would be more danger, not to mention that Li Yan knew that it was not good for her, it would only make her more worried.

He squeezed Li Yan's hand again, "Ma'am, I have been fighting traitors and rebellions for the Ye Dynasty all these years, and I have made too many enemies. We should always leave a way out for ourselves, right? As long as no one offends us , let’s live our lives in peace, don’t worry too much.”

Although he didn't say anything specifically, to him, this was considered intimate.Li Yan nodded ignorantly, "Master, don't worry, I... understand everything."

Xu Cheng smiled and squeezed her hand.With this smile, there was less majesty and more tenderness, and Shen Sui's eyes became softer.

Then he lowered his eyebrows to think about something, then looked at her quietly, and said: "You... write a letter to Jiang Ziheng, he is over 28 years old but he refuses to start a family, his parents are about to fall ill As long as you are willing to write him a letter with your own hands asking him to get married quickly, he will happily marry a wife and have children."

Li Yan was puzzled, and asked: "How does the master know these things, and where is Jiang Ziheng now?"

Xu Cheng said with a smirk: "Don't worry, ma'am, I just asked casually last time, not suspicious of you, I know you have never had him in your heart. He is now in Qi'e Mountain, and Yin Chengcheng is his subordinate. You After writing the letter, I will find someone to deliver the letter to Jiang Ziheng for you."

Li Yan wanted to ask why he cared about Jiang Ziheng, but in the end she didn't ask.

After the two had dinner together, Xu Cheng played a game of chess with Li Yan, and Li Yan lost miserably.Xu Cheng said with a smile: "Madam's chess skills are still not improved."

Li Yan blushed and said: "Chess skills still depend on talent. Master's talent is very high. Naturally, no matter how hard I work, I can't catch up."

Xu Cheng put down the chess pieces, looked into Li Yan's eyes and asked tentatively, "Is Madam feeling better today?"

Li Yan trembled slightly, the chess piece in her hand fell to the ground, she hurriedly bent down to look under the table.After she found the chess piece, she calmed down, smiled lightly, and replied, "It's already convenient."

Li Yan thought that Xu Cheng would stay in the Jinxiu Courtyard because of this, but Xu Cheng first smiled happily, followed by a sad look on his face, and said in a deep voice: "Ma'am, Mrs. Tai's health has not been as good as before these two days, you give her She was holding on all the time, but you didn't notice it. While she is still conscious, you can go and see her with me now."

Li Yan's heart trembled, hearing what he meant, Mrs. Tai really didn't live long.

The two of them went to Cui Song Yard together, not allowing Nanny Cui and the others to follow, but unexpectedly met Aunt Ji who was dressed up extremely beautifully and enchantingly on the way.Aunt Ji saw them from a distance, sprained her foot, fell to the ground and cried.

Seeing the flowery and jade-like person falling down so suddenly, Li Yan was so frightened that she couldn't help "ah", she thought that Aunt Ji had really accidentally stepped on her feet.Xu Cheng remained calm, and said to Li Yan: "Madam, you go to Cui Song Yuan first, and I will go there later."

"Oh." Li Yan responded, turned and left.But she couldn't help turning her head back, seeing Xu Cheng walking towards Aunt Ji, for some reason, she felt a strong sour taste in her heart again.

Walking two steps forward, Li Yan turned her head again, seeing Xu Cheng helped Aunt Ji up and walked towards Zhihui Hall, Li Yan walked away with great strides, never refusing to look back.

Xu Cheng helped Aunt Ji to the gate of Zhihui Hall, but Aunt Ji stopped suddenly and refused to go in.She knew that Xu Cheng never met women in Zhihui Hall, so she took his arm and said, "Master, you can help me back to Qiushui Pavilion, you haven't seen me for a long time."

Xu Cheng laughed, "Didn't I go there the day before yesterday, and even had dinner with you."

Aunt Ji said coquettishly: "Master, my concubine misses you and misses you every day. I don't know how to eat, and I can't sleep at night. It's good for you. I have only had two dinners with my concubine in such a long time. Could it be that the master has something in his heart?" The women outside don't want to look at the concubine's body?"

Xu Cheng threw back his neck and laughed out loud. After laughing, he still insisted on entering Zhihui Hall.When he walked in with his hands behind his back, he said in his mouth: "You haven't changed at all, you always talk about irrelevant things."

Aunt Ji tugged at Xu Cheng's sleeve, and said anxiously: "Master, are you really unwilling to go to Qiushui Pavilion where I am a concubine?"

Xu Cheng turned his head and said meaningfully: "Zhihuitang is a place where I have the final say. No matter what you want to use or...whatever you want to do, as long as I don't stop you, why should you worry?"

Seeing Xu Cheng's ambiguous tone and flickering eyes when he spoke, Aunt Ji couldn't understand what he meant.She couldn't help but feel a surge in her heart, and immediately followed in. At this time, even the sprained ankle just now was healed, and she was walking quickly.

(End of this chapter)