When Steward Li arrived at the courtyard, Qian Jin was about to go out.

It was not yet time for him to go to the brewery, and by the way, he would go to see how the blacksmith was doing. Seeing Steward Li's panting appearance, his heart tightened for no reason, and asked, "Steward Li, is the old man okay?" ”

Steward Li waved his hand and took a few breaths before saying, "Yes...... Xu Buzheng has arrived at the Li Mansion, and the first assistant is coming to ...... Please come over. ”

"Xu Shibo has arrived in the capital?" Qian Jin had been a little depressed during this time, and was overjoyed when he heard the news of Xu Baolu's entry into Beijing, and hurriedly asked, "When did you arrive?" ”

"I just arrived, and before I settled down, I went to see Shousuke." Steward Li replied.

Qian Jin frowned, there was always an ominous premonition in his heart, and he rushed to the Li Mansion with Steward Li. During this time, although his staff wound had healed, he was a little painful when he walked faster, and he couldn't care about it at this time.

When he arrived at the Li Mansion, Qian Jin caught a glimpse of Shoufu sitting in the Taishi's chair, and seeing that he was temporarily fine, the worry in his heart was slightly reduced. Xu Baolu was respectfully standing on the side of the Taishi chair, holding a bowl of decoction in his hand and carefully serving the first assistant.

Qian Jin didn't bother with a sound. After Xu Baolu finished feeding the medicine, he stepped forward to bow, bowed down and said, "Shoufu's body is very good." He saluted Xu Baolu again and greeted: "Xu Shibo, I haven't seen you for a while, and the students miss it very much." Xu Baolu nodded, as if he was in a bad mood.

Shoufu looked at Qian Jin and smiled slightly, and beckoned to Xu Baolu again. The two looked at each other, and then stepped forward together to listen to the first assistant's instructions.

"Today...... You're both here, old man...... I was happy, and I happened to have dinner together, which can be regarded as a pick-up for Baolu. After Shousuke said these words, his breath was a little short.

Xu Baolu and Qian Jin hurriedly agreed. Both advised Shousuke to talk less and rest more.

"Your own body knows it." Shoufu paused, looked at Qian Jin and said: "Xu Baolu is the old man's protégé, and he is also your teacher, today the old man is cheeky enough to accept you as my protégé, what do you think?" ”

Qian Jin was a little surprised to hear this. Next to him, Xu Baolu tugged at his sleeve. He came to his senses and immediately knelt on the ground and bowed three times and nine bows to the first assistant: "Student Qian Jin, I am willing to worship the first assistant as a teacher." These days, your old man teaches by word and deed, and the students have long intended to apprentice, but they are afraid that you will be surprised. ”

"Hehehe...... The old man accepted the two of you as protégés, and he has no regrets in this life. Shousuke raised his hand to signal Qian Jin to get up, but because he didn't have the strength in his hand, he only lifted half a foot and hung down again.

At this time, Steward Li came in with more than a dozen exquisite side dishes from outside the house, placed them on the coffee table one by one, and took out three small wine glasses and a pot of mung bean wine and put them aside.

Seeing this, Qian Jin hurriedly said: "Shoufu, you are unwell, don't drink again." Although mung bean wine is cold, you still can't drink it in your current condition. ”

Shoufu smiled lightly and said, "Today is the day of our master-apprentice reunion, the old man is happy, no one should stop me." With that, he motioned to Steward Li to pour the wine.

Steward Li hesitated for a moment, and had no choice but to obey. After he poured the wine, he carefully handed it to Shoufu, poured a glass for Xu Baolu and Qian Jin, and then respectfully exited the study and closed the door gently.

Shoufu sniffed the wine glass, but he didn't speak, as if he was reminiscing about the past, and said after a long time: "In the future, I, Chen Guo, will ask you two." No matter what difficulties there are in the future, think about how I have survived all these years, old man. With that, Shousuke drank the wine in his cup.

Next, Shoufu asked about Xu Baolu's recent situation in Guangdong, and his spirit seemed to be getting better and better, and a faint red light appeared on his face.

Xu Baolu was shocked when he saw this. He was a person who had come over, and he knew that this was a sign of the old man's return, so he even glanced at Qian Jin. Qian Jin understood, borrowed urine to escape, and whispered a few words to Steward Li who was waiting at the door, and asked him to deliver the news to the palace as soon as possible.

Steward Li has served Shoufu for more than ten years, and when he heard that Shoufu's time was short, tears were left behind. However, he also understood that things could not be delayed, so he wiped his eyes a little and ran towards the door.

When Qian Jin returned to the study, Xu Baolu was sandwiching some heavy dishes into Shoufu's bowl. Shoufu took a few bites and said with a smile: "The old man has been taboo for the past two years, and the bird is about to fade out of his mouth." ”

Qian Jin saw that Shoufu had difficulty swallowing, so he hurriedly scooped a small bowl of fish soup for him and carefully fed him all to drink. After half a pillar of incense, Shousuke signaled that he couldn't eat it anymore.

The two of them were busy, cleaned up the coffee table, and then stood with their hands down to listen to Shousuke's instructions. If nothing else, this may be the last conversation of Shousuke's life, and it is obviously crucial.

Shoufu took a break and said to Xu Baolu: "You have also worked hard in the officialdom for more than 20 years, and it is reassuring to be the old man of Shoufu. There is only one thing that needs to be reminded of you, this is an official, blindly mediocre can't succeed, and sometimes you need some killing to deter people's hearts. ”

Then, he pointed at Qian Jin and said with a smile: "This kid looks like a scholar, but he is ruthless in doing things. A case of selling an official position, he was stunned and asked him to pick up more than 3 million taels of silver. If the two of you join forces, what will happen in the future? ”

Xu Baolu glanced at Qian Jin in surprise. Obviously, he has only just entered Beijing and has not yet heard of the case of selling official positions.

Shoufu rested for a while, and said to Qian Jin: "The old man is not worried about you for the rest, but he asks you for one thing. ”

"Don't dare, Shoufu is what you command." Qian Jin hurriedly replied.

"In the future, if the royal family can't stand you, please look at the old man's thin face and look at the world's sake." With that, Shousuke pointed to the sky.

Qian Jin was puzzled for a while, and after thinking for a while, he realized that Shoufu meant that his grandfather summoned the beam. During this time, Qian Jin also analyzed it, and the so-called beam was mostly a weapon similar to a laser. Back then, my grandfather relied on this big killing weapon to easily destroy the 20,000 cavalry troops of Northern Liao. If my grandfather passed this big killing weapon to him after a hundred years, some people would be afraid of it. Not to mention whether this is true or not, in the current situation of Shousuke, he has to come down and talk about it.

Next, Shoufu commented on the members of the DPRK and China one by one.

"Although the plum sacrificial wine is an old pedant, there are still a few taels of bones."

"Cao Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry is greedy, but he still has a degree in his heart."

"Ding Shangshu of the Ministry of War is a loyal person, but he lacks some opportunities."

"Scholar Guo of the Hallym Academy is a trustworthy person."

……

Qian Jin and Xu Baolu wrote them down one by one. The officials who can mix with the first and second grades are not bad in terms of knowledge and ability, but they have been smoked in the big dye vat of officialdom for decades, and in the end they are not the original students who "reward confidants with enthusiasm".

After Shoufu babbled for half an hour, people couldn't support it anymore. Qian Jin proposed to move Shousuke to the bedroom, and Shousuke nodded and agreed. Waiting for Qian Jin to gently pick up Shoufu's body, he found that he was so light, holding it in his hand like cotton wool.

The two of them helped move Shousuke to the bedroom, and served him to lie down, intending to persuade him to rest in peace, but found that he had already fallen asleep, so he felt a little at ease. After talking for so long today, Shousuke's spirit has been overdrawn.

Xu Baolu saw that Shousuke's breathing sound came and went, and was thin and weak, and knew that Shoufu was already unsustainable. He gave Qian Jin a look, and the two of them went out of the room together.

"Didn't Shousuke's family come to Beijing?" Xu Baolu asked as soon as he went out.

"The younger generation has often come to the Li Mansion in the past few months, but they have never seen Shoufu's family once. Shoufu is seriously ill, could it be that his family has not received any news? Qian Jin was also a little puzzled.

While he was talking, someone outside the door shouted "The Queen Mother has arrived". Xu Baolu hurriedly led Qian Jin to greet him. After a while, the Queen Mother and Her Majesty appeared at one end of the corridor, followed only by Gonggong Hong and the two imperial doctors.

"How's Shousuke?" The Queen Mother stopped when she walked up to Xu Baolu and asked.

"Back to the Queen Mother, I'm afraid that Shoufu's time is running out." Xu Baolu replied in a low voice, and then said, "I have fallen asleep just now." ”

The Queen Mother had a solemn look on her face and instructed the imperial doctor to hurry up and treat the first assistant.

At this time, Shousuke's voice came from inside the house: "Is the queen sending the old man?" "When I heard that the old man was leaving, his hearing was surprisingly good, and I guess Shousuke was the same.

When the Queen Mother heard Shoufu's parting words, the corners of her eyes were a little moist. She stood in the doorway with the crowd behind her back for a moment, and after a moment she wiped the corners of her eyes and pushed the door open. Naturally, the emperor followed. Gonggong Hong stood at the door and waited, and at the same time gently closed the door.

Qian Jin took advantage of this opportunity to ask a doctor next to him what Shoufu's illness was. You must know that although hemorrhoids vulgaris are troublesome, they are not so sick and dead, and they are only life-threatening when they bleed heavily. The doctor hesitated for a moment before saying that it was a poisonous sore, also known as "cancer". Hearing this explanation, Qian Jin sighed: This disease can no longer be effective without the power of plants and trees.

About a quarter of an hour later, the Queen Mother and the Emperor came out of Shoufu's room with a sad look on their faces. When he walked to Xu Baolu, the Queen Mother instructed: "Xu Shoufu, prepare for Shoufu's funeral as soon as possible, and all the expenses will come from the palace." ”

When Xu Baolu heard this, he hurriedly received the order and thanked him. After a while, she reacted, and the Queen Mother had just called herself the first assistant, and said in her heart: "Could it be that the Queen Mother and the first assistant have just finalized the next first assistant?"

That night, Xu Baolu and Qian Jin stayed in the first auxiliary room, not daring to leave half a step.

…………

In the palace, the queen mother sat alone in Renshou Palace, and she didn't want anyone to accompany her, so she looked out of the sky in a daze. Back then, if it weren't for the first assistant to save Wang Lan, she and the emperor's orphans and widows would have died at the hands of King Ming. It can be said that without Shousuke, there would be no her and the emperor today. Therefore, today in Shousuke's bedroom, she asked His Majesty to call Shousuke "Father", as if this is the only way to show her heart.

Suddenly, a meteor streaked by, shocking her to the point of discoloration. Not long after, an official from Qin Tianjian came to report that a star had fallen. The Queen Mother was silent for a long time, looked in the direction of the Li Mansion and muttered, "Shoufu is an old man...... went. ”

Jiangxi Pyeongchang Mansion. Wen Tianzheng has been restless since dinner that day. Originally, he was used to going to bed early, but today he couldn't fall asleep. He called Uncle Wu up, and the two sat in the courtyard to talk about the past.

As soon as he raised his eyes, a brilliant meteor crossed the sky on the horizon, and he happened to be seen by Tianzheng Gong. He stood for a moment, lifted the prosthetic leg that Qian Jin had made for him and walked a few steps, and sighed, "Old brother, are you immortal?" I've been suffering from you all these years. Don't worry, the old man will come over to accompany you soon......"