The scholar was stunned, and the others looked at me inexplicably, and even the bustard raised his head in surprise, and the scene was so quiet that it seemed that he could hear the sound of a silver needle falling to the ground.

"What's wrong with being born late?" After a long time, she came back to her senses, her eyes changed, and she looked at me as if she was looking at a class enemy, and asked with a stalk around her neck.

I think that if I had a fan in hand at this time, I would probably have the leisure to unfold the fan and shake it twice, and then I dragged out the tune to solve the puzzle - just thinking about it, of course.

"Okay, you said you're right, then let me ask you, where did Xiao Lian's ransom money come from?" Although there is no fan to set it off, I can slam the tea cup on the table to enhance my momentum, "You said that you were short of money, and it took two months to raise two hundred taels of silver, I don't know what errand came to the money so quickly?" Why don't you introduce me to it too? ”

-- The price of goods in Guanlan City is at the upper level in the whole of Dawu, and similarly, the wages here are also higher than those in other places, which is understandable.

However, after all, Dawu is a country dominated by agricultural production, trade and shipping are not developed, and the profiteering industries of salt, iron and tea mines are monopolized by the government, and the main economic source of ordinary people still depends on the family's land or some ancestral handicrafts.

Taking the lowest-ranking official in the Nine Temples as an example, counting the Lu rice, Fengqian, Zhitian and Lu Li she received every month, it was converted into silver taels, and it would not exceed thirty taels at most, so it would only be sixty taels of silver when it was full in two months.

And this Chen Jingyan has a meritorious name, but no official position, and she is also short of money, how can she use legitimate means to collect two hundred taels of silver in two months?

You must know that two hundred taels of silver can already buy a small courtyard with two entrances in the more remote urban area of Guanlan City.

She was stunned for a moment, her eyes turned away, and she hesitated for a long time before replying in a low voice: "Xiao Lian gave me his jewelry and the body he has saved over the years, and I took these as pawns and made up a hundred taels." ”

It turned out that the wool was still out of the sheep, and the ransom money of one hundred taels was paid back by himself.

"And what about a hundred taels?" Seeing her hesitation, I couldn't help but ask.

"I borrowed a hundred taels from Boss Xu of Shengyuan Qianzhuang in the north of the city." She glanced at Xiao Pian in her arms and said hesitantly.

"What? Is that the boss Xu who specializes in printing money? How can you borrow money from her? By the way, what did you take as collateral? "I don't need to ask more, Xiao Lian's eagerness has already explained most of it.

"I pressed her with the certificate of lifting...... Chen Jingyan said in a low voice.

"You, you're confused......" Xiao Lian tugged at the hem of her clothes and cried breathlessly.

-- The certificate of the person who lifts the certificate is probably the same as the degree certificate of a college student, but in the ancient environment of "everything is inferior, but the reading is high", the value of this certificate is much higher.

If you teach someone with a heart to get this certificate to do something impostor and violate the law and discipline, the consequences will be unimaginable.

Once Chen Jingyan can't repay the money and can't get the certificate of promotion, she will not be eligible to take the next exam, and the previous hard work of studying for many years will come to naught.

Thinking about it this way, her decision is not without hastiness.

"Let's not talk about how you're going to pay back this money. Let's assume that he didn't detain the little pity and let him leave with you, so what are you going to do after that? I pointed to the bustard and asked in a different direction.

"I—I don't know......," she opened her mouth, bowing her head in frustration, unable to explain why.

"You put your good future on Xiao Lian, so do you plan to take him as your husband? Or a side chamber? Or maybe I just took him as a ......" and I looked at the two of them suddenly turned pale, knowing that they should understand my unfinished business.

-- In any case, this little mercy is a lowly person, and according to the law of Dawu, he is not qualified to become a righteous husband.

And in order to convert his household registration into a good one, in addition to obtaining the approval of the holder of his identity deed, that is, the owner behind Caiyun Pavilion, he must also go to the government to register.

In other words, since the two of them decided to elope, they chose to live incognito and hide from now on, and they can no longer stay together openly.

Even if the two are in love, but the name is not right, no matter which city or county the government has, they have the right to detain them and repatriate them to their place of origin.

This is what is often overshadowed by over-exaggeration and eulogizing romance...... Brutal reality.

"Naturally, I'm going to marry him." Hugging the person in his arms, Chen Jingyan said with a firm face.

"Then you might as well take the liberty of asking, is Miss Chen's family in the high hall?" Glancing at the third prince, who was a little impatient, I smiled and decided not to take a detour again, so that she could realize the problem.

"Both parents and a young sister." She replied quickly, only to frown.

"I don't know if Ling Zun and Ling Tang have any advice on Miss Chen's marriage? There is a media for hiring, and there is no media - for Benna. To put it more bluntly, if her parents knew that their daughter, who had worked hard to raise a successful daughter, had incurred a large debt for a small man, and might even have to give up her good future as an official...... What will they think? What will you think of this little girl who drags down her daughter?

The answer is self-explanatory.

Chen Jingyan will not fail to understand this, and even the little pity in her arms must clearly know that the two of them just don't want to admit it, and they still have a beautiful vision and yearning - self-deception.

"What would happen if your parents were determined not to accept Little Pity? Abandon this weak man who eloped with you regardless of a single qiē? Or is it for him to rebel against the parents who gave birth to you and raised you, and set up his own door? Every time I said a hypothesis, her face became ugly, and when I said the last sentence, she was already clenched with fists, and her eyes were full of struggle, "Is it to be a perfidious negative person, or an unfilial daughter who disobeys her parents, Miss Chen can choose?" ”

After a while, she fell to her knees with a "poof" and admitted shamefully: "The adults are right, it was the late birth that did something wrong." ”

"Oh, what's wrong with you?" Sighing, I continued to ask.

"Late life shouldn't have been impulsive, mortgaged the book, and lived up to the hopes of his parents, let alone eloped with Xiao Lian regardless of Yiqiē, ruining the innocence and reputation of the two of us, and tired him to be bumpy, and he wanted to suffer with me." She said with difficulty, as if she had exhausted the last bit of strength in her body, to admit that she was naïve and incompetent, "It's all my fault." ”

――Barely half right.

This Chen Jingyan is upright but not stubborn, and he can still listen to some truth, even if I didn't sing this nosy black face in vain.

"No, I don't blame you! It's all my fault! I'm going to follow you! If it weren't for me, you wouldn't be like this......" Xiao Lian hugged Chen Jingyan, who was blaming herself, and cried.

"Alright, we'll talk about you later." Rubbing his sore temples, I instructed the bustard to send them to the next room, and to send some medicine by the way.

When he returns, it's time to settle accounts after the fall.

Seeing that my face was wrong, he didn't dare to say much, just stood far away in the corner by the door, holding his breath and waiting.

"Xiao Lian's injury, did you do it?" I didn't bother with him either, and asked straight to the point.

In front of me, he did not dare to quibble, but only said yes.

Abuse of lynching, which is a crime.

"His ransom money, also you smuggled?" I asked again.

Now, it was his turn to kneel on the ground: "Your Highness spares your life, the slave did such a stupid thing because of the lard for a while, and please ask Your Highness to see the slave's ...... in the past."

Enriching oneself is another sin.

Before he could finish pleading, I interrupted, "I'm just asking you, is this the first time?" How many more examples like Xiao Lian are? ”

"This ......" he cried with a sad face, but he couldn't answer, which can be seen that there are a lot.

"Oh, tell me, teach this king how to spare you?" I hate this kind of deception of good and fear of evil, and the person who falls into the well, not to mention what he does, all of them must be counted in my account, although I will not take off his head, but I will not let him go lightly, "Take the ransom money you embezzled Xiao Pian to buy a small courtyard, record it in his name, change him to a good name, and don't care about him and Chen Jingyan anymore...... Also, go to King Ling's Mansion to get twenty boards, and in the future, you will just be an ordinary helper in Caiyun Pavilion, and you will no longer be the shopkeeper. ”

“…… Be. He fell to his knees, bowed his head deeply, got up, and went straight away.

The resentful look in his eyes before he left taught me to look at it right.

"Your Highness?" Jiang Zhuo obviously noticed this as well, frowning and signaling to me if he wanted to deal with it.

I sighed silently, thought about it again and again, and finally shook my head and refused - such eyes, after becoming Kwong Xihan, can I still see less?

If he wants to hate, he will hate - anyway, I have a clear conscience.

"Alas, you just let him go? And that Chen Jingyan and Xiao Lian, what are you going to do with them? Do you want to fulfill them? As soon as the bustard left, the third prince, who had been silent for a long time, finally couldn't hold it back, and asked as if he had to ask.

Helplessly meeting his eyes full of curiosity, I pondered for a moment, and had to pick and choose a few questions and answered: "Look at her appearance, if she can keep her promise, this king will not be the wicked person who beats mandarin ducks." ”

Changing Xiao Pian to a good place and giving him a place to live is a little compensation I have made for him, but there is only so much I can help him, and the rest of his life will depend on him to go.

What I didn't ask in front of everyone is - if Chen Jingyan has no worries and wins the imperial examination as an official, is she still willing to fulfill her original oath of the mountain league and the sea, and let go of the son of a family who has helped her career not to ask to marry, but to marry a young man who has broken away from her lowly status?

If Chen Jingyan's career is not smooth and she is poor, Xiao Pian can still give up her many years of fine clothes and jade food, and follow her to eat bran vegetables without regrets?

If after many years, Xiao Lian is no longer delicate and beautiful, and when he is old and frail, will Chen Jingyan be consistent with him, or will he hug Qin and Chu left and right?

I don't know if their relationship will stand the test of time.

I only know that the human heart is not enough to swallow the elephant, the poor couple mourns everything, and the allusion of the decay and love.

Hopefully they won't come this far, and my accomplishment won't be the beginning of a tragedy.

After solving the matter of Xiao Pian, it was almost evening, and I intended to go home, but the third prince was clamoring to stay in Caiyun Pavilion to see a special performance.

Naturally, I sternly refused—not to mention that he was just a boy, and that he was not suitable for such a sensual place, and I did not like this place very much, and did not want to stay long.

He didn't listen to the persuasion in a good voice, but he just played tricks unrelentingly and taught people to take him seriously.

"Your Highness, the prince sent someone to ask when you will go back, dinner is ready." When the stalemate was at a standoff, an attendant wearing the purple uniform characteristic of the Ling Wangfu came in to report.

"I know, just say that the king will go back immediately." Although I don't know how Fu Zhenzhen knew that I was here, this attendant did solve my embarrassment at the moment, and with this step, I explained to the third prince, "The palace is coming, it's not too early, and this king will leave first." ”

"Hey, I like you, marry me." Seeing that I was leaving, he jumped up from his chair in a hurry, blocked in front of me, and said with a serious face.

"You have also seen that this king already has a royal husband, so he can't marry you." I also looked at him and replied very seriously, without waiting for him to answer, I hurriedly left with Jiang Zhuo.

"It's okay, I can be a side husband, as long as I can marry you, I don't mind." The carriage drove out for a short while, and in the distance you could hear the young man shouting at the top of his voice, "I will definitely marry you—"

Leaning on the mat tiredly, I just wanted to cover my ears with my hands, cover my ears and steal the bell, or pretend, and I didn't hear it.

I never imagined that I would one day be confessed by such a young boy, but apart from surprise, there was no joy or smugness, and no intention of accepting it in the slightest—not that he was too naïve, nor that he was too rude, but that he was not that person.

Funnily pinched the hand of a person who was unhappy with a calm face as soon as he got into the car, clenched into a fist, endured a slight kiss on the corner of her mouth with shame, watched her straighten lip line slow down, and her cheeks were also fainted with a layer of powder, and in an instant I felt incredibly soft in my heart.

The person who made me look at me for 10,000 years and fall in love again, the kind of fall that taught me to be heart-pounding and obsessed...... It's ginger burning.

There is only Jiang Zhuo.