In the first month, a group of people came back from Liufu, and the leader was Lei Hu, who had been away from the house for half a year.

The court has to evaluate the magistrates every three years, and Master Liu has been in the position of Wucheng Mansion for ten years, although he does not have deep power in the court, but he can become a member of one party, and naturally there are some intertwined relationships, and to maintain these relationships for a long time, it is indispensable to take care of them.

Every two or three years, there will be people in Wucheng who will go to the imperial capital, if there is a summons to order Master Liu to go in person, if not, send Liu Cheng or cronies to go, before the year, go to the ministries to walk, send some local rituals, and then go to visit relatives and friends who are familiar with each other.

Such a round trip, the journey on the light road, will take many months.

Last year, it was Lei Hu who took a group of guards to escort Mr. Yang, a confidant of Master Liu's side, to the imperial capital.

Originally, this errand was not Lei Hu's turn, but after he learned the news, he asked the master to come forward to help talk about the item, he didn't want to take credit in front of Master Liu, he really followed the girl for a while, and found that everyone was very busy, just he was idle and panicked, bored, and wanted to find something to do.

Unexpectedly, on the way back, heavy snow blocked the road in the north, delaying the trip, and I could not return before Chinese New Year's Eve.

Mr. Yang is a scribe in his forties, full of poetry and books, but his life has been bumpy, his career is not smooth, and he has no wife and no children.

After Mr. Yang returned, he entered the big study without having to wash, explained the trip in detail, and talked about the situation in the imperial capital, and then took out a few secret letters from his personal office.

Master Liu opened the letter in front of Mr. Yang and read it carefully, and after reading it, he threw it into the brazier in front of him, and the flames rose up, quickly swallowing up the white paper and black letters, turning into a pile of dark red ashes.

"Is the news in the palace accurate?"

It took a long time for Master Liu to ask, his voice was low, and he couldn't hear any emotion.

"It should be accurate, although the news was sealed in the palace, many officials saw it with their own eyes that day. Now that the emperor is in good health, there is no need to shy away from it, and it has been spread. ”

Master Liu thought of two things mentioned in one of the letters.

One is that in recent years, the emperor has been in poor health, and he suddenly fainted when he went to court in the middle of summer last year. Almost......

And the other is closely related to it, the emperor was critically ill at the time, and he didn't know where to find a rural lang, this rural lang was very capable, and he actually solved the strange disease that the Manchu imperial doctors could not cure. Pulled the emperor back from the ghost gate. And the most amazing thing is that after the self-diagnosis and treatment, the emperor completely recovered his health and became energetic, as if he was ten years younger, and his spirit was better than before.

That's what Master Liu asked.

After receiving a positive reply, Master Liu thought about it silently, and felt a little sad in his heart, the emperor was several years younger than him, and he was still a high-spirited prince when he met. Be gentle and courteous, if not later...... Maybe the emperor is still a good emperor in his heart, not like now, how much he has a gap in his heart, and several opportunities to return to the imperial capital have been pushed away by his ideas.

The imperial capital is the last place he wants to go back in his life.

But the emperor's body will not be defeated to such a point, so who is the countryman? There are too many secrets in the palace, Master Liu shook his head, he can't participate in these, and he doesn't want to get involved.

Let Mr. Yang go to Haosheng to rest, and Master Liu sat alone in the study. Carefully digest the other news you just got.

Another letter mentions that after the emperor recovered, he changed his previous gentle tactics and acted vigorously in the court. even reprimanded his uncle's eldest son, his brother-in-law Jin Ming, the prince of the country, and punished him in the mansion for thinking about it behind closed doors.

It is said that during the emperor's critical illness, Jin Miao instigated the courtiers to write to the emperor to ask the emperor to appoint the third prince as the crown prince.

It is said that it was because the emperor favored Shu Guiren and wanted to enable the Shu family, but he was unhappy to be stopped by the Jin family, which caused Long Yan to be furious.

Anyway, there are different opinions in the DPRK and China. Not exactly.

The real thing is that this year has reached the three-year period, and in the past, officials were selected by the Ministry of Rites to preside over the Autumn Festival, and the Ministry of Rites has always been in the hands of the Jin family.

This year, the emperor suddenly intervened in this matter, and appointed Mrs. Zhuang to preside over the affairs of the autumn and spring festivals.

Zhuang Taifu is a veteran of the DPRK, a contemporary celebrity, and Nie Taifu in the old years, although he is not as upright as Nie Taifu, but he is a leader of the loyal royalist faction, whether it is in the court or in the countryside, the prestige is quite high.

This matter must be a good thing for the court, but what makes Master Liu strange is that the emperor has connived at the Jin family for so many years, even if the queen mother passed away, he is still gracious, why did he suddenly make a move, is it really an illness that made him wake up?

No one can guess what the emperor is thinking.

But this news is good news for Master Liu, to be precise, it is good news for Mr. Zhou Runan, the private school of Liufu.

The next day, on the eighth day of the first lunar month, Zhou Runan, the son of Zhou, brought his wife and children to the door to greet the old lady Liu for the New Year.

After seeing the old lady, Zhou Runan was led to the big study in the front yard, and Master Liu was waiting for him in the study. Yao Xuanrong took his two children to sit down slightly, and was about to say goodbye and go back first, when Liu Qin, who heard the news, took him to Meiyuan.

Zhou Runan pushed open the door of the study and found that in addition to Master Liu, Liu Cheng, the uncle of the Liu family, was also there.

After saluting the master, he was polite to the uncle, and after sitting down, the little servant served tea, went out immediately, and closed the door.

After drinking half a cup of tea and chatting a few gossips, Master Liu talked about this year's big competition and asked Zhou Runan if he was interested.

Zhou Runan shook his head and smiled bitterly: "I'm ashamed to say that since three times in a row, Runan has temporarily rested his enterprising heart, thinking that his knowledge is limited, and he has to study hard. ”

Master Liu knew that what he said was insincere, and he thought about it for a long time and studied hard for one or two decades, which one didn't want to be named on the gold list and glorify future generations.

Zhou Runan's talented old man Liu knew in his heart that not to mention that he must be a Xie Yuan, it is more than enough to lift a person, but he has been named Sun Shan three times in a row, and it is no wonder that the originally proud people also doubt themselves.

There must be a reason for this.

Thinking of this, Master Liu put down the teacup, condensed his eyebrows and asked, "When Runan took the exam that day, did someone make friends with him, or did he say anything to the government?" ”

Zhou Runan thought about it, and wanted to shake his head, if he wanted to make friends deliberately, he was a poor scholar and had no backstage, who would take him seriously.

But suddenly thought of something, I don't know if it counts, hesitated, and said: "I was young and talented, and the teacher praised me, said that it was an immortal talent, it was a little forgetful, young and crazy, the first time I came to Wucheng to participate in the autumn exam, I thought it must be high school, I can't help but be a little arrogant, a few people in the township who came to take the exam did not treat me well, only one was a son of a businessman, who was quite good to me, not only took care of me on the road, but also often pulled me to travel with Wucheng.

I didn't look down on him very much, I thought he had a copper smell, and his knowledge was limited, and he was not the same person as me, but he was bent on making friends, reaching out and not hitting smiling people, and I didn't want to resist too much, and slowly, after coming and going, the two became friends. After the exam, I felt that I did well in the exam, and it should be okay to win the exam, but who knew that I was not on the list when I released the list, and my friend who was not as good as me was actually in high school.

This really made me unable to swallow, and after I went back, I studied hard for three years, and when I took the exam again, I still fell to Sun Shan, and I was really disheartened three times, and I didn't want to be hit again. (To be continued.) )