After returning from the Hongyuan Dart Bureau, Qian Jin finally let go of a few things in his heart.

The scourge of the pirates is always like a sword hanging high, and it doesn't know when it will fall. If he takes his family to the capital early, he will have no worries and will be more comfortable in the future.

This time, it has a relationship with the Hongyuan Dart Bureau, and if there is any property that needs to be delivered in the future, you can entrust the Dart Bureau. As for Yun Sanniang, although he didn't ask Old Man Yun from beginning to end, it should be okay for the time being, at most he was locked up.

…………

After lunch, Qian Jin said goodbye to the silkworm girl and walked out of the courtyard.

He has been in the capital for more than three months, and he has not visited Li Shoufu. It's not that he doesn't care, it's just that he came to the door before the imperial examination was released, which is easy to leave a false impression. This time he has already won the top prize, and he has enough confidence, and His Majesty has not summoned the assignment affairs, so it will be a little rude for him not to visit again.

Being an official of the Chen State was a chore, and there was no vacation. Every day, the officials of the capital have to wait for the court meeting outside the Chengtian Gate, no matter whether it is windy or rainy.

Even as the head of the cabinet, there are no exceptions. In addition to the court meeting, he also had to deal with the recitals of officials from all over the country.

During the reign of the first emperor, the cabinet only had the responsibility of making suggestions, and the handling of political affairs ultimately fell on the six ministries. After the Eighteen Bachelors case, Li Shoufu set things right and cut off the eunuchs together, and since then his reputation in the court and China has been incomparable. Later, the first emperor was frail and sickly, and asked Li Shoufu's opinion on handling political affairs, and the status of this cabinet gradually surpassed the six ministries.

There is a nursery rhyme cloud in the market:

The emperor sits in the middle palace and sits on the people of the world;

The head and auxiliary lead six departments, and the ticket is intended to be submitted to the Son of Heaven.

The father-in-law held the pen and criticized the red will.

This "vote" refers to the endorsement of the first assistant to the officials, and it is mostly some suggestions. After the emperor received these recitals, he generally dictated the reply of the eunuch who dictated the celebrant to the eunuch.

Because of the deep disaster of Liu Xuan's party, the emperor and the ministers were very jealous of the eunuchs, and the status of this ceremonial eunuch was declining, and Li Shoufu's vote was equivalent to the final opinion. Especially after Emperor Renwu ascended the throne, Li Shoufu was awarded the title of Taifu and ranked as the third duke, and his status was unprecedented.

…………

After touching for about an hour, the money entered the Li Mansion.

This is a place surrounded by mountains and rivers, located in the west of the inner city of Xiaoyongfang, opposite the courtyard is the largest lake in the inner city - Taiye Pool, behind the courtyard is a hill, covered with evergreen trees.

Looking at the mansion again, the first thing that catches your eye is two huge stone lions, and on the steps made of white marble of the third level, four nanmu columns support a wooden gatehouse with eaves flying up. The two sides of the gatehouse extend out, all of which are high walls made of blue bricks. Above the gatehouse, there is a wooden plaque with two large characters written on it: 'Li Mansion'. In the middle of the gatehouse is a vermilion gate about three meters high, which is now closed, and it is inlaid with copper nails, as well as two copper knockers.

Qian Jin straightened his clothes, grabbed the copper ring on the door and knocked lightly a few times. After a while, the side door creaked open, and a middle-aged steward stepped out of it.

The steward looked at Qian Jin and asked, "What's the matter with you?" ”

Qian Jin directly expressed his intentions, and arched his hand and said: "Contemptible Guanhai City Qian Jin, I have come to see Shoufu on the order of Tianzhenggong, please let me know." ”

The middle-aged steward heard the name of Tianzhenggong, looked at Qian Jin carefully, and said: "The son came a little early, Shoufu should still be on the board of directors of Wenyuan Pavilion at the moment, and he usually comes back at dinner." You also have to wait, so why don't you follow me to the east study. ”

Qian Jin hurriedly thanked him, and followed him into the courtyard through the side door. In the courtyard of the high gate in the capital, the mansions of officials with a little higher grade usually do not open the middle gate, unless a distinguished guest comes. Counting the personal relationship between Tianzheng Gong and Shoufu, Qian Jin is only a junior, and the middle-aged steward can't be the master to open the middle door.

Passing through the two inner doors, bypassing a shadow wall, there is a corridor leading straight to the depths of the courtyard, the two sides of the corridor are staggered and laid out more than a dozen various wings and pavilions, and there are several rockeries cleverly stacked in the interval, and some strange flowers and plants are planted around the rockery. Occasionally, a few servants passed by on the road, all of them standing on their sides with their heads bowed in silence.

Looking at this layout, it should be a typical Jiangnan courtyard style, and the emphasis is on 'deep courtyard, quiet and far-reaching'.

Compared with the Li Mansion, Qian Jin felt that his grandfather's courtyard was more than ten streets worse in terms of scale and layout. It is estimated that only Xu Baolu's official residence can be compared. But this is the capital, not as much as Guangdong, to get such a big house in the capital, non-profound people can't do it.

The middle-aged steward brought money into the east study and sat down, and instructed the servant woman to read the tea. If there was nothing to do, Qian Jin would talk to him.

It turned out that this servant was also surnamed Li, and he had been with Shoufu for more than ten years, and he was a distant relative of Li Shoufu. Li Shoufu's children are all in his hometown in Suzhou, and he takes care of all the affairs of this courtyard.

At this moment, the sound of silk and bamboo faintly floated in the depths of the yard, and the laughter of some women, Qian Jin couldn't help but wonder: "Is there a drama troupe at home?" ”

Steward Li smiled and said nothing, only said that there was something to ring, and then he sued and withdrew.

Qian Jin saw that there was a copper bell upside down on the pineapple coffee table in front of him, so he picked it up and played with it, and after a while, he felt a little boring, so he got up and paced in the study.

This east study is supposed to be the place where Shousuke usually meets guests to read. On the front wall hangs a landscape painting, which depicts a white-fronted tiger coming down from a high post, and because it is so realistic, it seems that the tiger will jump out of the painting in the next moment.

Qian Jin only stared at the painting for a few breaths, and then he had a shocking feeling. The most taboo thing in Chen Guo's landscape painting is to paint a tiger descending from the mountain, which is a metaphor for "the tiger falling in Pingyang". Li Shoufu is well-versed in the past and the present, and it stands to reason that he must understand such a simple truth, but he doesn't know what it means.

Putting aside these thoughts, Qian Jin saw that there was still a screen in the study, so he couldn't help but walk over. At a glance, I found that there were all books in it, and there were twenty-four cabinets in detail, and each cabinet was divided into three layers: upper, middle and lower.

Qian Jin walked around the bookshelves, then pulled out a copy of "The Legend of the Two Demons" and read it. After reading it for a while, I thought the story was quite interesting, so I simply picked up the book and went outside to read it.

In the evening, Qian Jin heard a voice coming from the door, so he got up and pricked up his ears to listen. I only heard a slightly vague footsteps from far and near, and after about a dozen breaths, an old man with white eyebrows appeared at the door of the east study wearing a court dress, it was Li Shijian, the first assistant.

Li Shoufu looked at Qian Jin, glanced at the book in his hand again, and said with a smile: "How is it, I still read the book here, right?" ”

"The collection of books in Shoufu is abundant, and there are many types, which the younger generation admires." Qian Jin replied.

"You just won the new course, and you must have read a lot. Why don't we make a bet? Li Shoufu said with a smile.

Qian Jin was a little caught off guard when he heard this. He is a pragmatist, he doesn't need to read books, and the most pondered over the years is the bibliography of the imperial examination, and he is more extensive than a generation of Confucianism, and he has not been conceited to this extent, so he bowed down and said: "The first assistant is very knowledgeable, and the younger generation is ashamed of himself." ”

Li Shoufu smiled without saying a word, walked to a Taishi chair in the middle, gently flicked the dust on the tiger skin cushion, and then sat down. Maybe the Taishi chair is too wide, but after Li Shoufu sat on it, he seemed to hide his whole body in the chair.

Steward Li brought two cups of tea from outside the door, made a gesture and retreated. Li Shoufu picked up the teacup and sniffed it, and said, "I don't take advantage of one of your juniors." That's it, I just saw that you were reading "The Legend of the Two Demons", so I took this book as the title, you just need to read one sentence casually, and I will take the next sentence, and if I can't pick it up, I will lose. How is it? ”

Qian Jin couldn't help but glance at the book in his hand. It talks about the chaos of the fox demon A and the fox demon B, which happened to be a scholar who passed through the cave of the fox demon in a hurry, and was taken captive, and announced yin every day. Later, the two fox demons were suspicious of competing for the scholars, and the scholars found an opportunity to escape.

Maybe because he hasn't seen much recently, Qian Jin still had a lot of dust on it when he first picked up this book from the study, and Li Shoufu must have not read it for a while. So he picked a sentence from the middle and read: "Is Ruyi Jun happy?" This sentence is Fox Demon A asking Fox Demon B if the scholar is here.

Li Shoufu pondered for a moment, then smiled: "But 'stealing has already been eaten'? "This 'stealing has been eaten' is that in order to take the scholar for himself, Fox Demon B lied to the fox demon armor and said that the scholar had been eaten by it.

Money into the secret. He read this book today, and he can remember the contents of it at most. And Li Shoufu is over 60 years old, and he still has to deal with so many political affairs every day, but he can write it down word for word, and he is really a person with excellent memory. So he arched his hand and said: "Shoufu Bogu is familiar with the present, and the younger generation admires it." ”

Li Shoufu took a sip of tea and said with a smile: "I have read the article you made, and you have talent." It's just that the young people are arrogant and lack some tenacity. If you are complacent, I am afraid that you will be 'unexpected' in the future. ”

"Thank you for the point." Qian Jin bowed and replied.

"Let's go eat first. Old Man Wen hasn't written for a long time, so you can tell me more about it after dinner. ”

Qian Jin obeyed his words, and was led by Steward Li to a flower hall in the backyard.