Kou Zhun said to her daughter in the car, "I may have missed Meng Ming today." His daughter said, "Why did Daddy say that?" Kou Zhun said: "The young man we asked today who is as old as you should be Meng Ming, you can detect it from his temperament, you can see that he is calm and polite, not arrogant or impatient." Faced with my majesty, he took it with poise. A picture that is neither humble nor arrogant, and my father couldn't do it when he was young. In fact, he should have recognized me, but he didn't come to recognize me for fear of being abrupt. ”

At this time, the door of Kou Mansion was wide open, and the lights were colorful, and it looked jubilant. Kou Zhun has been away for 13 years, most of them go alone, and his family stays in Tokyo. After Kou Zhun was recalled to Beijing, Kou Zhun's wife Song returned to Beijing to arrange family affairs. The courtyard of Koufu is relatively large, covering an area of almost fifty acres, and it is also extremely luxurious. At this time, Kou Zhun's fourth daughter, Kou Shan'er, was sitting beside her mother Song. And Kou Zhun went to the palace to meet the emperor first, and he didn't even return home. At this time, Zhenzong summoned Kou Zhun in a side hall, the two had not seen each other for many years, and seeing each other's old age, they were speechless and crying. I saw Kou Zhun kowtow forward and said: "The old minister Kou Zhun sees the official family, the official family is in good health, and the old minister misses the official family very much when he is outside." I saw Zhenzong say: "Kou Aiqing, get even, you have suffered all these years, it is my fault." This time, stay in Tokyo to accompany me, don't suffer from running around anymore, Kou Aiqing will rest at home first, the court should arrange it itself, and the court still needs Kou Aiqing's help. Kou Zhun thanked him and went home.

At this time, Kou's Mansion was very lively, because Kou Zhun was an upright official and brought up his juniors, so there were many friends and protégés in the court, and they all came to visit when they heard that Kou Zhun was back. The first to come was Li Di, Li Di and Kou Zhun are close friends, similar people, but their personalities are more round than Kou Zhun, and the two are overjoyed to meet, especially Li Di feels that he has received strong reinforcements in the court, and he can finally vent his anger, and now Wang Ruoqin is becoming more and more domineering and aggressive. After the official summoned Kou Zhun back to Beijing, Wang Ruoqin began to restrain himself. The two talked about the official family's body, and Li Di said: "Brother Pingzhong, the official family's body is not as good as before, since this year, I often forget things, and my rheumatism has become more and more serious, and sometimes I can't get up." During the onset of the disease, the minister played a good manner, and if the slightest speech did not suit his wishes, the official family would curse people indiscriminately, and even ordered killing. Now the court is panicking. Some opportunistic and cunning ministers saw Song Zhenzong's illness, and deliberately reported Zhenzong's confusion when he was confused, and promoted and belittled some officials. In this regard, the empress and the upright ministers of the court were worried. However, he did not dare not carry out the emperor's wrong decision. At that time, Song Zhenzong was already quite sensitive, even for the queen Liu E, who had been with him for many years and trusted him very much, he was quite resistant during the onset of the disease, and once complained to the ministers that Liu E had placed him under house arrest. Queen Liu E can't say what she is suffering. He also said: "Fortunately, Brother Ping Zhong came back in time, and asked Brother Ping Zhong to preside over the overall situation." Kou Zhun said: "Retro brother, deal with it calmly, then I will wait for some planning, I want to propose that the prince supervise the country, and beware of harem interference." In addition, I heard that the yield of Tianxi potatoes and Tianxi taro is amazing. It should be the blessing of the Great Song Dynasty." Kou Zhun asked again: "Retro brother, I heard that a newspaper called "Tokyo Morning Post" appeared in Tokyo, who founded it. And what do you think of Beihai Hou" Li Di said: "Although this Meng Ming is small, he is also a young talent, with extraordinary literary talent and many excellent works; He is proficient in Confucianism, and is the author of the book of enlightenment, "Three Character Classic", "Disciple Rules", "Pinyin Literacy Method", and also put forward the development theory of Neo-Confucianism: "the unity of knowledge and action, and practice by practice", which is really extraordinary. also put him in the limelight. As soon as he saw that the situation was not good, he took a year off and hid" Kou Zhun laughed and said: "This kid is still a ghost, and he also knows how to advance and retreat, and he can make materials." The two talked for a while, and Li Di left, after all, there was still political affairs to deal with. Kou Zhun returned to see some of his protégés and former officials, and he also felt tired, so he closed the door to thank the guests.

Time soon ushered in the third year of Tianxi, and in March, Zhenzong appointed Kou Zhun as the Pingzhang of Tongzhongshu. Li Di knew the Privy Council, Wang Zeng was the governor of the council, and Xiang Minzhong resigned; Zhang Zhibai was the third envoy, and Lin Te resigned. Wang Ruoqin lost his strong support because of Lint's resignation, his authority was greatly reduced, and many party members were dismissed. Wang Ruoqin's position is also in jeopardy. Sure enough, in the past few days, the official family dismissed Wang Ruoqin to participate in the governor's affairs and know Chenzhou. Most of the people in the court are clear and square, and the atmosphere of the court is also clear. Ding Wei is one of the five ghosts, but it is difficult to set off waves.

In view of the emperor's deteriorating health and confusion, it was already difficult to deal with political affairs. In the end, Kou Zhun secretly asked the official family and said: "The crown prince wants to belong, and I hope that Your Majesty will think about the importance of the temple and pass on the artifact to consolidate the foundation of the world." Ding said, the servants are also, they can't assist the young master, and they are willing to choose the founder minister as their wings. Let the crown prince Zhao Zhen supervise the country, and the Son of Heaven agreed. Kou Zhun's suggestion can be said to kill three birds with one stone. First, the sick Song Zhenzong withdrew from the political arena, and Empress Liu, who decided in the name of the false emperor, was also deprived of her power; second, Ding Wei, who formed a party with Empress Liu, with the consent of the emperor, "cannot assist the young master", naturally has to leave the center of the political stage; Third, the ten-year-old crown prince Zhao Zhen needs to "choose the Fangzheng minister as the wings" to handle the state affairs, and Kou Zhun can form a ruling team headed by himself.

Meng Ming had long expected Kou Zhun to do this, and Kou Zhun did the same in history, and he almost succeeded. Because of the loss of secrets, Ding Wei learned that he launched a counterattack and failed, and was retaliated by Ding Wei's fierce revenge, and was degraded again and again until he died in Leizhou. Meng Ming didn't want this ending to happen again, so he wrote a secret letter to him, and vaguely mentioned: "If the king is not secret, he will lose his minister, if he is not secret, he will lose his body, and if he is not secret, he will be harmed." It is a gentleman's prudence and not out. In particular, don't drink and lose your words! "I would like to remind you that the result is not something that Meng Ming can predict.

On March 16 of the third year of Tianxi, at the court meeting, the emperor announced that the crown prince Zhao Zhen would be in charge of the country, and the queen listened to it, with Kou Zhun, Li Di, Wang Zeng, and Qian Weiyan as auxiliary ministers; Ding Wei knew Qingzhou. Of course, Kou Zhun is not very satisfied, and Liu E is also not very satisfied, after all, in the past two years, the imperial decrees have been approved by her, and the power is addictive, and no one wants to lose their authority. She recommended Qian Weiyan as a deputy prime minister and cited him as an ally. The government must be approved by her, but the government hall has the right to disagree and can return it to the royal approval. This strikes a balance in order to prevent one party from arbitrarily arrogating evidence. The emperor can come back at any time to hear the testimony.

Meng Ming is thirteen years old this year, and he also dedicated movable type printing to the imperial court, and on a crisp autumn day, Meng Ming's mansion sent an invitation, which was sent by Kou's mansion, so that Meng Ming went to Kou Zhun's birthday: July 14 (August 27), tomorrow. Meng Ming was busy preparing for the birthday gift, and he handed it over to Jiao Fu to prepare. The day passed in a flash, and the next morning I came to Koufu, handed over the invitation, handed over the birthday gift, and then had a welcome to greet me. At this time, the Kou Mansion was very lively, the people were boiling, and the front of the door was full of cars and sedan chairs. When you go inside, you can see a large "party" and a lavish drinking party, with corners and candles lit up everywhere, even in the toilets and stables. At the banquet, it is natural to play and sing, and the beauty sings and dances. The hostess led Meng Ming to the banquet. Meng Ming didn't know any of them, so he just sat there eating and drinking. His seat is near a water pavilion, and the pond below is filled with lotus flowers and hibiscus, which have bloomed quite a lot. Meng Ming heard a burst of female voices from the opposite side, as if it was a female concubine. Meng Ming didn't like to participate in banquets, and he didn't like the noise in them. I can't go now, the birthday star's family is still here to toast. He got up and walked away, not too far from the table, when the toaster came, Meng Ming would be embarrassed if he was not there. He saw that there were a few bookcases, the four treasures of the study room were all there, which were used to write birthday words for guests, and someone had already written them, and Meng Ming also wrote a poem "Breaking the Array. For Kou Xiang's strong words of the Battle of Lanzhou, I will send it":

"Drunk to pick up the lamp to look at the sword, dream back to blow the horn company camp. Eight hundred miles of fire, fifty strings turned over the outside sound, and the battlefield was an autumn soldier.

The horse-made Lu was fast, and the bow was like a thunderbolt. But the king of the world, won the name before and after his death. Poor white happens! ”

When he finished writing, he put down his pen and returned to the table. From time to time, someone submitted the words written by Meng Ming. The poem immediately took center stage. I saw Kou Zhun holding this poem, reciting it again and again, and finally said: "This is the portrayal of the old man's life." He asked, "Who wrote this, and then looked at it again, and said with a strange face: "Oh, it's Meng Ming", Kou Zhun called Jia Ding to call him over. At this time, Meng Ming was ready to leave after toasting. As soon as I passed through a corridor, I heard an exclamation, a woman walked towards Meng Ming, looked at me, I also looked at her, and when I saw that it was Zhao Mingyue, I saluted her and said, "County Lord Wan'an." Zhao Mingyue hurriedly jumped to the side and said: "Beihai Hou doesn't need to be polite, I haven't seen you for a long time, it's good lately" Meng Ming said that he was fine, and he had nothing to say after speaking, but Zhao Mingyue looked at him with a glance, which made Meng Ming uncomfortable, and hurriedly retreated. I saw Zhao Mingyue stomp her feet and say "idiot" after I left. Walked away with a grunt. In the end, the family also pounced, and Kou Zhun gave up after that. But he said to himself: "The old man still owes this kid a great favor." He patted his head again, laughed, and said, "This guy has been a shrinking turtle for so long, even I almost forgot it, it's time to find out."

Meng Ming's vacation has also expired, he is not ready to participate in political affairs and become an official so early, and he still wants to be idle. But it still backfired, and an edict from the court was issued, allowing him to continue to be the prince's companion. At this time, the news came that Meng Ming's grandfather was critically ill, so he refused to accept the edict, and he returned to Beihai with his father and mother to return to Beihai Province. After half a month of travel, they arrived in Beihai County, and after thanking the county and the state for their hospitality, Meng Ming's family went directly to their hometown in the countryside. This is the life expectancy of most people in their fifties. Grandpa is fifty-five years old this year. Looking at the seriously ill and comatose grandfather, the family cried together. Maybe grandpa realized something, opened his faint old eyes and asked, "Is the second family back", Meng Ming's father hurried to the bed, grabbed grandpa's thin hand, and said: "Dad, I'm back, what's wrong with you", grandpa knew that Meng Ming's family was back, and he also came to a trace of spirit, and said: "Call Ming'er to come, I have something to explain, call the boss, the second, the third, and Brother Xiang together", and coughed after speaking. Meng Ming stepped forward with his father and uncle, and Meng Ming knew that this was his grandfather's last words and arrangements for his death. Grandpa Duoduo took out a piece of paper and gave it to Meng Ming and asked him to read it out, in fact, it was grandpa's old mansion and fifty acres of fertile land to deal with the problem, and grandpa was going to be buried in the ancestral grave. The old mansion was given to the uncle, and the fifty acres were given to the third uncle and Uncle Xiang to divide equally. Meng Ming and his father have no opinion, it is the question of who his grandmother lives with, Meng Ming's family decided to support his grandmother, but he can go back to Tokyo with Meng Ming to live. Grandpa passed away after arranging the funeral, Meng Ming's father had to keep filial piety for three years, and Meng Ming kept filial piety for half a year. So during this time, I have to stay in my hometown, and Meng Ming's family now lives in my grandfather's old house.