In late November, the majestic city of Beijing.

A heavy snowfall made the capital of the Ming Empire covered in snow, shrouded in snow, and became a world of pink makeup and jade as far as the eye could see.

Since the Yongle Emperor moved the capital from Jinling to Beiping, Beiping City has become the Beijing of the Ming Dynasty, echoing the "Nanjing" Jinling City in the south and in the north.

Although Nanjing was also the capital of the Ming Dynasty after the capital was moved and was equipped with a set of streamlined central yamen, the center of power of the Ming Dynasty was in Beijing, and the status of Nanjing was similar to that of the accompanying capital.

It is worth mentioning that after the Yongle Emperor moved the capital to Beiping, there was a saying that "the Son of Heaven is the gate of the country, and the prince guards Nanjing".

It means that the emperor guards Beijing, which is very close to the northern aliens, and the prince sits in Nanjing, and once there is a crisis in Beijing, the prince can immediately take over the power of the Ming Dynasty, so as not to make the Ming group leaderless.

After the Yongle Emperor, Emperor Hongxi and Emperor Xuande both rushed from Nanjing to Beijing to be crowned, but later things changed, when Emperor Xuande died, the orthodox emperor was young and still remained in Beijing, and the orthodox emperor Jingtai who ascended the throne after being captured in the Battle of Tumubao was his younger brother who stayed in Beijing.

Since then, the custom of "the prince guarding Nanjing" has existed in name only, after all, once the emperor dies and the prince is not around, it will make the power vacuum of the Ming regime, and the Ming Dynasty has defeated the Mongolian Tatars and Warats at that time, there is no need to make such a noise.

It is precisely because Emperor Hong Xi and Emperor Xuande guarded the city of Nanjing, so many high-powered ministers of the Hong Xi Dynasty and Emperor Xuande came from the yamen of the ministries of Nanjing.

The city of Beijing was renovated and expanded several times during the Ming Dynasty, the most famous and important of which came from the Jiajing Dynasty, when the city was divided into the capital, the imperial city and the palace city.

Before the expansion of Beijing City in the Jiajing Dynasty, Beijing City had three high city walls from the outside to the inside, and the area surrounded by the inner city wall was naturally the Forbidden City where the emperor lived, and outsiders were not allowed to enter unless they were called.

The area between the inner city wall and the middle city wall is the place of the imperial garden, the residence of the emperor's relatives, and the residence of the yamen of the major ministries and courtyards of the capital, commonly known as the imperial city, and usually only people from the government can enter.

The area between the middle and outer walls of the city is where the people live, which is often referred to as the outer city.

According to the intention of Emperor Jiajing, he planned to build another ring of walls on all sides of Beijing to expand the living area of the capital, but due to the huge project and other reasons, only the southern wall of Beijing was finally built.

In this way, the original outer city of Beijing became the inner city, and the area built to the south was said to be the outer city.

As a result, the pattern of the palace city, the imperial city, the inner city and the outer city of Beijing has since taken shape.

Although there is a thick snow on the ground, as soon as the gate of Beiping City is opened, people who have been waiting outside the city have already flocked into the city, and many people in the city have also gone out of the city to step on the snow.

At noon, in front of a two-in, two-out, two-out, two-in, two-out, two-out, two-way carriage in the inner city of the capital, surrounded by a group of big men, listened to it.

When a big man stepped forward and knocked on the door, Li Hongyu and Zhao Xin got out of the carriage one after another, stood in front of the door and talked and laughed leisurely, and the two finally arrived in the capital today after a long journey.

"Young Master!" The courtyard door soon opened, and the family who came out of the door was overjoyed when he saw Li Hongyu, and hurriedly shouted into the courtyard, "Miss Qin, my young master and Zhao Yayuan are here." ”

Li Hongyu smiled when he heard this, made a gesture of invitation to Zhao Xin, and the two walked into the courtyard gate side by side.

This courtyard house is a property that Li Hongyu asked people to rush to the capital to buy after he was admitted to the Yuan Dynasty, and is ready to use it as a foothold in the capital in the future.

With Li Hongyu's results, if he can be named on the gold list this time, he will stay in the major ministries and institutes in the capital, even if he doesn't play well and doesn't do well in the exam, he can still get an errand in the capital by spending money.

Coincidentally, the former owner of this mansion was a director of the Ministry of Industry, and the person sent by Li Hongyu felt that it was very much in line with Li Hongyu's requirements, and it looked atmospheric and not so ostentatious, so he took the opportunity to buy the mansion.

"Brother Yu, Zhao Gongzi." Qin Yue was embroidering something in the living room in the front yard, and when she saw this, she hurriedly greeted her happily, calculating the distance Li Hongyu and Zhao Xin should also arrive, so she has been waiting in the living room in the front yard these days.

Qin Yue came to the capital this time to obviously come to see him under the banner of taking care of Li Hongyu's diet and daily life, so as not to be taken advantage of by any woman, after all, the two are only engaged and have not yet become married, and with Li Hongyu's talent, it is easy to provoke those Yingying Yanyan.

Although Qin Yue thinks that Li Hongyu is not a person who messes with flowers, after all, he is at the age of blood and strength, how can he parry those suspicious women to throw them into his arms!

In other words, Qin Yue came to the capital this time to defend her rights and interests, to ensure her status as the mistress of the Li family in the future, as long as others do not move her hostess's position, then she doesn't mind how many concubines and confidantes Li Hongyu has, after all, it is very common for men to have three wives and four concubines in this era.

After lunch, Zhao Xin and Li Hongyu greeted for a while before getting up to say goodbye, her fourth uncle Zhao Deli is the big shopkeeper of the Fuxiang Beiping Branch, she naturally wants to go to visit Zhao Deli.

"Brother Yu, look at what is still missing." After sending Zhao Xin away, Qin Yue led Li Hongyu to the bedroom in the backyard, and after glancing at the clean and tidy room, she said to Li Hongyu with a smile.

"Yue'er, thank you for your hard work." Li Hongyu smiled slightly when he heard this, he was very satisfied with the layout of the room, and the affairs of the family were also running in an orderly manner, it could be seen that Qin Yue had spent a lot of thought on this.

"It's not hard at all, Brother Yu will concentrate on preparing for the exam in the future, and I'll leave these chores at home to me, but I promise to reassure Aunt Zhao." Qin Yue immediately smiled when she heard this, and was very happy with Li Hongyu's praise.

Looking at Qin Yue who was smiling and smiling, the corners of Li Hongyu's mouth couldn't help but flash a wry smile, Qin Yue now seemed to have become the mistress of the family, making it difficult for him to tell her about Zhao Xin for a while, it was conceivable that this matter was bound to cause a lot of damage to Qin Yue.

However, Li Hongyu knew that concealing it was not a wise choice, although it seemed very difficult, it did require a quick knife to cut through the mess, otherwise it would only hurt Qin Yue even more.

"Sister Rou'er, Xiaolan, I want to try the pastries in the capital." Therefore, Li Hongyu pondered for a while, and then smiled at Rou'er and Xiaolan who were standing on the side and said.

Rou'er and Xiaolan bowed to Li Hongyu when they heard this, then exited the room, and closed the door when they left, both of them were smart and clever people, so they naturally knew that Li Hongyu had something to say to Qin Yue, otherwise they would not take them away.

"Sister Rou'er, let's talk about Li Jieyuan and Zhao Yayuan's affairs in Shanxi."

After closing the door, Xiaolan took Rou'er's arm and left, and said with interest that she had heard about Li Hongyu and Zhao Xin assisting Yang He in investigating the case, although she knew that the result was perfect, but she didn't know what the process was.

Rou'er smiled slightly, and told Xiaolan what had happened, listening to Xiaolan's eyebrows, Xiaolan was in a good mood now, Qin Yue had promised to marry her to Li Hongyi as a concubine in two years, and she could finally be with Li Hongyi.

"Yue'er, there's one thing I think you have to know." In the bedroom, Li Hongyu hesitated for a moment, raised his head and looked at Qin Yue with a serious expression.

"Brother Yu, what's the matter?" Seeing Li Hongyu's serious appearance, Qin Yue couldn't help but ask with a smile, she didn't think that Li Hongyu would bring her any bad news, maybe it would be a surprise.

"Yue'er, do you remember what my father once betrothal to me?" Seeing this, the corners of Li Hongyu's mouth couldn't help but reveal a helpless wry smile, and he looked at Qin Yue quietly and asked.

"Betrothed?" Qin Yue was suddenly slightly stunned, a puzzled look appeared on her cheeks, I don't know why Li Hongyu suddenly mentioned this matter, you must know that the woman's family has not shown up.

Perhaps because of a woman's unique sixth sense, Qin Yue's heart vaguely felt a little uneasy, to be honest, she was not afraid of those Yingying Yanyan pestering Li Hongyu, she was confident that she could deal with them, but the person who was engaged to Li Hongyu was different, because of that marriage contract, she had no ability to resist at all.

If Li Hongyu is an ordinary son-in-law, then he may regret his marriage, and it is a big deal to go to the yamen and be beaten with a board, but now that you have achieved fame, he will soon embark on his official career, so it is impossible to regret his marriage, otherwise it will inevitably affect his future and become a handle for opponents to attack him.

"On this trip to Shanxi, I saw the marriage letter left by my father." Li Hongyu noticed a trace of panic flashing in Qin Yue's eyes, sighed helplessly in his heart, looked at her solemnly and said, "I have decided to fulfill this marriage contract made by my father. ”

"Yue'er, I know your friendship for me, but sometimes providence makes people, who would have thought that this marriage letter would appear again."

As he spoke, Li Hongyu's eyes showed an apologetic look, and he looked at Qin Yue with embarrassment, "I'm sorry, I can't give you the name you want, if there is anything I need to do in the future, just ask, I will do my best!" ”

Qin Yue was stunned when she heard this, her mind was blank, her cheeks were full of stunned looks, and she couldn't believe what Li Hongyu said for a while, after all, there was not the slightest news about Li Hongyu's betrothed before.

"Brother Yu, you just admit this family business?" Soon, Qin Yue, whose eyes were red, came back to her senses, took a deep breath, and after holding back the sadness in her heart, she bit her lip and looked at Li Hongyu faintly and asked.

Although Qin Yue knew that she was stupid to ask like this, since ancient times, marriage events have been the words of the matchmaker at the behest of their parents, and the children have no part to interject at all, and many people only see each other for the first time on the wedding night.

But Qin Yue was really unwilling, she finally made Li Hongyu accept her, and saw that she could marry into the Li family in four years and become the housewife of the Li family, but she made a mistake halfway to bite the gold and mess things up, so how could she endure this resentment, so she asked this question.

In Qin Yue's opinion, it must be that the woman's family heard about Li Hongyu's high school Xie Yuan and wanted to catch Li Hongyu, the golden beetle son-in-law, so she cheekily mentioned the marriage contract, otherwise she would definitely not have heard from her before this.