On the eve of the Shangyuan Festival, there was another thin snowflake covering the land in the early morning, and the continuous cold weather made the snow remaining on the land more solid than in the Yuan Day, and the melting speed was naturally much slower.

With this light snow, there were also Zhao Ruyu, Qian Xiangzu and others.

It is not very common for the imperial court to send the right minister and the criminal department Shangshu to the errand all the way at the same time, but because of the particularity of Huainan East Road, the imperial court naturally attaches great importance to it.

Of course, these are just superficial reasons, and the actual reason is nothing more than that Zhao Ruyu doesn't want to give Han Cheng a chance to exonerate Liu Dexiu, not to mention that when he went to Yangzhou this time, the total number of people was only fifty.

Even after arriving in Yangzhou, Zhao Ruyu didn't even notify Ye Qing, let alone mention the Mention Prison Division on Huainan East Road, which was also ignored and bypassed by Zhao Ruyu.

There was no notice, it didn't mean that he didn't know about Zhao Ruyu, and after arriving in Yangzhou, he went to Qingwangfu as soon as possible, but Ye Qing turned a deaf ear to this, as if he was planning to open the door wide and let Zhao Ruyu toss in Yangzhou City.

Xu Qing looked at Ye Qing who was appreciating the snow in the corridor pavilion, walked inside, and put a letter in front of Ye Qing: "Tomorrow is the Shangyuan Festival, how do you plan to spend it?" ”

"Don't go anywhere, just stay in the house." Ye Qing said as he opened the letter to himself.

On the first day, he enjoyed the snow scene and roasted the whole sheep in the mansion with King Qing and Chongguo Gong, but on the Shangyuan Festival, because of the arrival of Zhao Ruyu's royal clan, King Qing and Chongguo Gong had to entertain this right minister, and he Ye Qing made up his mind and let Zhao Ruyu toss at will in Yangzhou, so in this situation, in the eyes of outsiders, Ye Qing's actions are more like avoiding the limelight.

"What did you say?" Xu Qing glanced at Yan Qingcheng, who was walking in the distance, and then asked Ye Qing, who was reading the letter.

"It's nothing, Zhao Ruyu, who came last night, asked King Qing and Chongguo Gong, but there is a suitable person to recommend." Ye Qing said lightly.

"Recommendation? What kind of dispatch do you recommend? Xu Qing was stunned for a moment and asked, and at this time, Yan Qingcheng had already personally carried the steaming tea and walked into the pavilion with Ye Qing's black fur coat.

"Naturally, after Liu Dexiu was deposed, the Yangzhou prefect sent him. Zhao Ruyu wanted to consolidate his relationship with King Qing in this way, and he also intended to pull King Qing and Chongguo into the water. Ye Qing said with a relaxed smile.

"No wonder he came to Yangzhou so actively, it turned out that the investigation of Liu Dexiu was just a pretense, what he valued was to replace his own people in Yangzhou." Xu Qing suddenly realized, and always thought that it was Liu Dexiu's corruption that made Zhao Ruyu pay so much attention to it, and he would personally come to Huainan East Road.

"What dispatch is not like this, and there is not a great benefit and benefit behind it?" Ye Qing raised his head, looked at Xu Qing and said with a smile: "As long as it is sent by the imperial court, there must be profit behind it." Take the small officials of the Criminal Prison Department in Yangzhou as an example, investigating a case of petty theft, or other small cases, isn't it also because there is profit behind it? Fighting and brawling can also be profitable, and you can use such a dispatch to handle cases, and add useful various forces to your social circle, from small ruffians to big businessmen and scholars, in short, the dispatch of officials is never such a simple dispatch on the surface, gray interests, as long as you want, then behind any dispatch is profitable. ”

Yan Tingcheng sat on the side silently and didn't speak, but the corners of his mouth still pursed disdainfully,

In her opinion, Ye Qing completely demonized officialdom and looked at it too insidiously.

Xu Qing nodded in agreement, the court and the officials from all walks of life, in fact, if they only rely on Yulu, I am afraid that more than half of the officials in the Great Song Dynasty will not have enough money.

Obviously, not everyone is because they want to serve the imperial court, after all, there are many ways to serve the imperial court, so those literati who are depressed because of the failure of the imperial examination, and even end up living a negative life for a lifetime, are not to serve the imperial court after obtaining fame.

A person who has won the Tao chicken dog ascends to heaven, whether it is on the list or in the middle, it determines the fame and fortune of a person's life, success or not.

"And what are you going to do?" Xu Qing asked after glancing at Yan Chengcheng, he knew very well in his heart that this girl in Chengcheng didn't like to listen to these officialdom's deceptions, but now that she has talked about it, if she stops it immediately, she will seem even more empty-hearted.

"The soldiers will come to block, and the water will cover the earth." Ye Qing held the teacup, and then said: "Zhao Ruyu won't meet me with great fanfare, but that doesn't mean that he won't come to visit me, the pacification envoy of Huainan East Road, he just did some useless work in advance." ”

"Have a countermeasure?" Xu Qingren is getting older, and he likes to worry more and more.

After getting Ye Qing's nod and acknowledging, Xu Qing, who was no longer worried in his heart, left Langting and left Langting to Ye Qing and his wife.

The shallow layer of snow on the ground, after Xu Qing walked over, left a row of shallow footprints again, and the smile on the corner of Ye Qing's mouth gradually spread.

Yangzhou in the Shangyuan Festival is no worse than Lin'an, whether it is a road like a royal street, but the winding river, or the quiet and quiet streets, when the sky is not completely dark, some people have begun to wait to light up the colorful lanterns.

The anxious children were also on the bank of the river, began to squat there, carefully lit the small lanterns, and then put them into the water, watching the lanterns slowly drift with the waves, and then clapped their hands excitedly on the embankment, closely following and protecting their lanterns drifting forward, and their companions compared to see whose lanterns drifted longer and farther.

After nightfall, the 24th Bridge is like a city that never sleeps, erected on both sides of the street, and the lanterns on the two sides of the small bridge are of various styles, and the dancing flames in them are faintly visible, and with the color of the lanterns, the whole night sky is dotted.

Huge lanterns stand in the open space and even require people to look up to see them, and some small lanterns can even be held in the palms of children, floating quietly in the water like fish.

The cries of the various vendors also seem to work very hard in the night, attracting the attention of children, literati, and fair ladies, hoping to make their income have a good harvest tonight.

Whether it is the outer city or the inner city, if you stand in the dark Shugang and look down, you can still vaguely distinguish clearly, the firelight of the outer city seems quite scattered and dim, and an area of the inner city is like a sea of fire, especially the place where the most pedestrians gather, even the lights of the city are enough to make people watching from a distance feel the excitement and noise there.

In stark contrast to the sea of fire in Yangzhou City, in addition to the dark Shugang, there is also Liu Dexiu's mansion in Yangzhou City, at this moment, there is no atmosphere that the Shangyuan Festival should have, even compared to weekdays

The candlelight is much less.

The two huge lanterns at the entrance of the mansion hung quietly in the air, just like the two gatekeepers at the door, looking a little lifeless, without the slightest festive atmosphere of the Shangyuan Festival.

Liu Dexiu in the study has looked up at the window no longer knows how many times, and I don't know how many times he has walked out of the study, looked at the sky outside, and then locked himself in the study alone.

It wasn't until the time of the lamp that Liu Dexiu came out of the study to eat, accompanied by his wife and children, after the family finished eating in silence, Liu Dexiu still returned to the study without saying a word.

At this time, he opened the door of the study again, looking at the gloomy, dark, and endless night sky, Liu Dexiu took a long time before he said in a low voice: "Light the big and small lanterns in the house, since it is the Shangyuan Festival, there should be a lot of excitement." ”

After the maid who had been standing at the door replied respectfully, she turned around and glanced at Liu Dexiu in the study behind her, and finally left the study and walked in the direction of the back garden.

When he reached the back door, which was a little low, he saw a man at the back door, and he ran towards him quickly.

"How's it going out there?" Liu Dexiu looked at the closed back door and asked.

"Master, there are still a few sneaky figures at the back door, but it doesn't seem to be tight, as for the inner city gate, no one has been found to mention the prison department, the people sent out from the east, south, and west have all returned, only the people from the north have not returned." The man looked at Liu Dexiu, who had been frowning all the time, and said with a majestic expression.

Liu Dexiu nodded silently, thought for a while, and said, "Go over and tell Madame, pack up your things and come over." ”

"Yes, sir." The subordinate said respectfully, and then left the two people behind him to accompany Liu Dexiu, and ran in the direction of the inner courtyard of the vestibule.

As the subordinate left, Liu Dexiu looked at the closed back door as if he was frozen, and after a few hours, he said: "Open the door, I'll see for myself how the situation is outside." ”

The two subordinates listened to Liu Dexiu's words, and hurriedly opened half of the door, and then Liu Dexiu signaled that the two subordinates did not need to follow, and walked out slowly by themselves.

Almost as soon as Liu Dexiu took the first step out of the back door, the mansion behind him, which was originally quite dim, was raised and hung up one by one by the people under him, and the entire mansion was also in an instant, suddenly having a little more festive and peaceful atmosphere on the Shangyuan Festival.

In the somewhat quiet back alley, Liu Dexiu turned around and looked at the back door of his mansion behind him, and then looked at the two subordinates standing next to him, and then turned his head and looked at the dim back alley unhurriedly.

Under the dim light, Liu Dexiu, who had been standing for a long time, did not find any suspicious figures, and even after he stood on the street, he didn't even see a passing figure in the dim light.

The two subordinates standing at the door listened to the sound of hurried footsteps behind them, and turned around to see a rather heavy burden hanging from the crook of the lady's arm, and followed the subordinate all the way trotting over.

"Where's the master?" Madame asked anxiously.

"...... outside the door." The subordinate looked back at the outside with half of the door open, but at some point, the place where Liu Dexiu's figure was still standing just now was empty at the moment.

The subordinate hurriedly stepped over the low threshold, looking left and right at the empty dim back streets and alleys, and Liu Dexiu seemed to have disappeared out of thin air, without a trace.