One.

In the autumn of the nineteenth year of King Ping, my father died, and I succeeded him as prime minister.

The results of the autopsy showed that my father had died of poisoning, and after searching the doctors, they could not tell what it was, but that it was a poison that they had never seen before.

In the nineteenth year of King Ping, this year was not peaceful, in the early spring, King Ping imprisoned Fan Chengyu, the leader of the secret guard, on the charge of betraying the country, Fan Chengyu was imprisoned for 20 days, looked at the evidence collected by the criminal department without saying a word, and was finally executed. At the end of summer, Zheng Ling, the general of Chenguo Zuo, who was stationed in Wuji City, was killed, and the general order who ordered the army of Chenguo was almost intercepted, but fortunately, the general order returned to Wucheng safely. After investigation, General Zuo was assassinated by the unincorporated organization Sakule. After the autumn harvest, my father was poisoned and died.

After my father's death, the Prime Minister's Mansion suddenly lost its backbone, and it stands to reason that I have become the owner of the Prime Minister's Mansion, but I have been a spoiled child since I was a child, and I don't know anything about it, so the third brother who had already moved out to live also moved back and temporarily presided over the Prime Minister's Mansion for me.

In fact, I have never understood why the national teacher chose me to succeed the prime minister.

Not to mention the fifth brother, the third brother was the leader of King Ping at the age of eighteen, and he became the secretary of the Ministry of Rites in three years, and also served as the teacher of the heir, and has always been praised in the court; My seventh brother is a chess saint of the Chen Kingdom, although he is immersed in chess, but he also reads better than me; And I, since I was a child, I didn't like to read, I didn't memorize all the four books and five classics, and I couldn't govern a family, let alone govern the country.

Daddy's funeral was followed by the succession ceremony. The bureaucratic system of the Twelve Kingdoms is much the same, and the prime minister system of the Chen Kingdom is unique among the Twelve Kingdoms. The prime ministers of other countries are all competing for posts, only Chen Guo, and the prime minister is hereditary from the Zhou family. It is said that the founding monarch of the Chen Kingdom, King Chen Xian, was rewarded for his meritorious deeds after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and the Zhou family made the greatest contribution, and for the hegemony of King Xian, the Zhou family was almost wiped out, leaving only a young son. King Xian took him into the palace for training, and before his death, he set up an ancestral training, and the position of prime minister of the Zhou family was unshakable. For so many years since the founding of the Chen Kingdom, every generation of kings has strictly followed this ancestral precept.

The Zhou family is a family that can live in the inner city since the founding of the country, and the family education is very strict, and it is more controlled, because the position of the prime minister must be given to our family, so all the children in our family except for the prime minister can only find their own way out, even if they are officials, one cannot be a military attaché, and the second official cannot be higher than the second rank.

Similar to the hereditary prime minister is the Marquis of Chenqi, the hereditary marquis of the He family. In the early days of the founding of the Chen Kingdom, King Xian sealed a lot of marquis with different surnames and the same surname, and in the following hundreds of years, in order to consolidate the royal power, one by one took back the fiefdom, leaving only the Chenqi Marquis family who had been clear in the morning to protect himself and vowed never to participate in national politics. The He family is the stand-in of King Chen, fighting, sealing Zen, or going to other countries, all of which are done by the Marquis of Chenqi. Moreover, the He family has been married to the royal family since ancient times, and the girls born have all been crowned princesses, either married off with their relatives or married to meritorious people. Although the He family has a noble status, it has no real power.

These are all things that my third brother made up for me after my father's death. What is the bureaucratic system of Chenguo, which six are the six departments, who are the six Shangshu and Shilang of the six departments, the official grade of the Chen Kingdom, the etiquette of the last dynasty... I was dizzy when I heard it, I fell asleep every time, and every time I was woken up by the third brother beating my hand with a bamboo board.

I was eating books in the room, and the fifth brother also sat on the side to accompany me, saying that he was with me, and he was playing in the study.

"The current secretary of the Criminal Department, Lord Li, was just appointed the year before last,... Yu Lan, Yu Lan? The third brother was talking, I went down again, in fact, it was not sleepy, but I was tired of listening, I lay down and pretended to sleep, and the third brother went to find the bamboo board again.

Syllable.

There was a crisp sound, but I didn't hurt at all.

"Yubai, what are you doing?"

"Shhhh ”

"There are three days left before the succession ceremony, and Yulan is about to take over as his father, but he is still like this..."

I was lying on my stomach, feeling the fifth brother hugging me, "Don't worry." Yu Lan, well, yes. ”

After a long time, the third brother sighed and put down the bamboo board. Maybe I was really tired, so I fell asleep like this. When I woke up, I found that the blanket covering my body, the third brother was no longer there, and the fifth brother was still lying on the table playing with my pen holder, and when he saw that I was awake, he immediately laughed and said behind me: "Tomlyho, he woke up." ”

I rubbed my eyes and turned around, and my wife sat on the chair behind me and read the playbook, and when she saw that I was awake, she pointed to the porridge on the table and said, "Hungry, it's past dinner, let's drink the porridge." ”

I pouted: "Let the kitchen do it again, and I'll have enough porridge for dinner..."

Mrs. closed the play book and said, "The third brother said, if you can't recite the etiquette of the succession ceremony, you can't eat, I still asked Qiu Ming to secretly get it for you from the kitchen, be content." ”

I want to cry without tears, why did I marry a wife, after my father died, I became the bottom of the food chain at home? I'm not convinced! At this time, I suddenly remembered Sun Yuji, although she always pressed me, but when I was punished by my father and not allowed to eat, I would always find a way to get something for me to eat.

Seeing that I didn't speak, Madame said, "Soul return!" Are you thinking about your childhood sweetheart's grandson again? ”

"Sun Yuji!" The fifth brother said with a grin.

The lady took out the candy out of nowhere and handed it to the fifth brother: "Yes, Sun Yuji, the fifth brother said it well, reward you." ”

"Where's that? Sun Yuji left four years ago, okay? And if you don't give me a letter until now, you must have forgotten me; And Sun Yuji likes my third brother, not me. "I drank porridge and watched the fifth brother eat sugar, and I also wanted to eat it.

"That doesn't prevent you from liking her, besides, she grew up with your childhood sweetheart, I came later, and she takes care of you ...... meticulously"

Let Mrs. talk about it all night, I put down the spoon, walked over and picked up Mrs., and said, "Are you tired, I'll send you back to sleep." ”

Madame frowned: "Zhou Yulan! Put me down! ”

I turned a deaf ear and walked all the way back to the room with her in my arms, Qiu Ming was waiting for me at the door, and when I came in with my wife in my arms, I thought we were going to do something shameful, so I hurriedly closed the door and left. I put my wife on the bed, stretched, and said, "I'm going to endorse the book, you can sleep first." ”

"Zhou Yulan, you are really getting more and more shameless." Madame scolded.

"Husband-people——, once upon a time someone told me that feelings did not come first and later, I carried you through the archway, married you through the door, can't you see my intentions?"

"You think I'll let you go if you say two love words?" Madame continued to scold.

I smiled at her and turned to leave.

"Zhou Yulan!"

I stopped, turned to her and asked, "Still want to scold me?" Then I'll wait for you to finish scolding before leaving. ”

"Bring me my playbook!" When Madame had finished speaking, she turned her head away from me, made me laugh, and swaggered out. Pushing open the door, I found Qiu Ming lying on the door eavesdropping, and I pushed the door just enough to make him fall on his stomach. Seeing me come out, Qiu Ming hurriedly got up: "Ninth Master, Ninth Master, I was wrong." ”

I was in a good mood, so I didn't pursue him, and said, "Follow me to the study to get back Madame's play book, and then come to the study to serve." ”

Qiu Ming hurriedly agreed, and walked in front of me with a lamp.

What makes me extremely sad is that when I went back, I found that the remaining half bowl of porridge had already been drunk by the fifth brother, and the fifth brother... Fearful of sin, he absconded.

The succession ceremony came soon, and I barely memorized everything. The succession ceremony is naturally the Ministry of Rites, that is, my third brother is in charge. Listening to my third brother, there are three people who succeeded at the same time this time, one is me who succeeded as prime minister, one is Master Fan who succeeded as the leader of the secret guard, and the other is General Zheng Duoyi Zheng who succeeded General Zuo. But as a position in the palace, the secret guard will not be put on the surface, so the one who participated in the succession ceremony with me was Zheng Duoyi, the son of the dead General Zheng Ling.

The Zheng family has been stationed in the southwest border of Chen Kingdom for generations to protect the safety of Chen Kingdom. The southwest of Chenguo is close to Weiguo, and the assassination of General Zheng this time is also the organization of Weiguo, Sakule, the third brother said, maybe Weiguo already has the intention of moving Chenguo. General Zheng and my third brother were classmates in Zhen Ying's exam in the same year, and they used to play chess together often, but they hadn't seen each other for ten years. General Zheng rarely came to Wucheng, and the third brother visited him every day, and I felt that I had fallen out of favor.

I won't go into detail about the complicated ceremony of the succession ceremony, the entire succession ceremony, I only remember that the fifth brother who had to come to see this ceremony kept waving and smiling at me offstage. I finished the ceremony on the stage, and I couldn't respond to him, so he kept waving until I finished worshipping King Chen, kneeling on the side and receiving the seal, and then smiled at him in his direction, and then he put down his hand and smiled very happily.

Later, many, many years passed, and I can't remember the events of that day, but the fifth brother's smile has always been imprinted in my heart.

Two.

On an ordinary winter morning, at two o'clock, the autumn tea came to wake me up. It is very difficult to wake up early, let alone add a scene to this early rise - winter. Wucheng is northern, unlike Yuzhou, a water town in the south of the Yangtze River, where the four seasons are like spring, and Wucheng in winter is dry and cold, and the cold is sharp.

I slept in a daze, opened my eyes with difficulty, and saw that my wife was still sleeping soundly, and first tried to stretch out a finger to feel the temperature of the world outside the quilt, so cold that I immediately curled my finger back and let out a low roar of pain: "Cold-"

Qiu Ming lowered his voice on the side and said, "Xiangye, it's time to get up, the third master has already gotten up, waiting for you to have breakfast." ”

I turned my back to him, hugged my wife, and said, "No, I can't." ”

"Xiangye, it's not early, the third master should be angry if he can't afford it." Qiu Ming had to persuade me patiently again.

I still wanted to rely on it, but my wife pushed me and said inarticulately, "Get up and go up." ”

I had no choice but to sit up, and Qiu Ming immediately came over to put on my coat and put all the official clothes on the stool next to the bed. I closed my eyes and dressed, put on my underwear, rubbed my eyes to open my eyes, and saw that the stove at the head of the bed was almost extinguished, no wonder it was so cold, Qiu Ming, the little bastard, definitely didn't keep a good vigil. Thinking of the cold and heavy dew, I didn't say anything about him.

When I had finished dressing and washing, I was almost awake, and told the maid to light the stove again so that my wife could sleep well, and then went to breakfast.

The rules left by the ancestor Xianwang period, the Chen Kingdom takes seven days as a cycle, every three, five and three days is the early morning day that the thunder does not move, except for the seventh day is the prescribed rest day, and the other three days, if the monarch summons, the ministers must also obediently enter the palace. As soon as the hour comes, the morning pilgrimage begins on time. Adults like me who live in the inner city, who still have to get up when the time comes, and the adults who live in the outer city or on the edge of the city are very pitiful, and they really rush into the palace wearing stars and the moon.

Sitting in the carriage entering the palace, I still yawned for a long time, and the third brother said: "Since I know that I will go to the morning court the next day, I will go to bed early the day before, when did you sleep yesterday?" Crazy again? ”

"Didn't the fourth sister go home for dinner yesterday, happy, the fourth sister rarely came back, so she played cards with the sixth sister and the eighth sister, and forgot about it when she went back to the room." I made a grievance and planned to dump all the pots on my sisters.

The third brother looked at me with a look of hatred: "It's been almost a month since the succession ceremony, can you be a little concerned about state affairs?" Let's just say last time, I went to inspect the household department, and you actually called the name of the household department Shangshu and the waiter wrong, is there such a thing? ”

I pouted and nodded.

"Also, haven't you read any of the six excerpts that Your Majesty has returned?"

I nodded again in embarrassment.

The third brother knocked on me, so frightened that I shrank my head, and the third brother frowned and said: "Recently, the envoy of Yin Guo came, and I was so busy that I didn't have time to help you read the excerpts." Also, Yin Guo has always been competitive, every time I come to Chenguo, I ask for a competition, I don't know what they want this time, this is the first big thing since you took office, you have to do it well. ”

I was trained by the third brother to have nothing to say, so I could only nod vigorously.

Sure enough, the envoy of the court put forward a request for a competition, it is said that Yin has developed medicine rapidly in recent years, and Chen has a world-famous medicine capital Bizhou, Yin Guo requested, the two countries each selected three doctors for the competition. Yin Guo came prepared this time, and even thought about the process of the competition, which saved me a lot of trouble.

In the past, after the prime minister went to court, he would be called by the national teacher to chat for a while, my grandfather was like this, my father was like this, and I naturally wanted to be like this.

To be honest, when I saw the national teacher, I was a little scared and rejected from the bottom of my heart. The twelve countries have their own characteristics, such as the domestic secret agent, the domestic genius, the noon domestic beauty, and the Chen country, which has produced a national teacher that no other country has, unique, and has not seen the old for two hundred years. It is said that the national teacher is the apprentice of the famous immortal Zihui Zhenren of Chenguo, who is a young man and has an ageless appearance, and because he is a good ruler, King Chen Rui invited him to be the national teacher of Chenguo, and gave King Chen some advice in court politics.

In fact, I don't understand why the national teacher has not overthrown King Chen for two hundred years, and why he has done things for the kings of the past dynasties. The national teacher lived in a simple place, never participated in the early dynasty, and asked the minister to go to him to talk alone about anything. National teachers will also cultivate talents, such as my father, who was the training object of national teachers when he was young.

Stepping into the Zijin Pavilion, no one reported it, it is said that the national teacher likes one person and does not like others to serve, so in the entire Zijin Pavilion, there is only one national teacher. The Purple Pavilion is a not too big place in the Yangri Palace, far away from the harem, away from the previous dynasty, in a corner, quiet. There are two plots of land outside the Purple Pavilion, and it's winter, so I can't see what I'm planting.

I was a little curious, squatted down to study the land, and was studying, when I heard a cold but powerful voice from the Zijin Pavilion: "Don't squat outside, come in." ”

I answered and hurried into the Purple Gold Pavilion.

The pavilion is warmer than outside, and there is a faint sandalwood, the national teacher sits on a Taishi chair, holding one hand and holding a book in the other, I came, he didn't glance at me, and said lightly: "Find a place to sit yourself." ”

This is not the first time I have seen the national teacher, I have seen him during the succession ceremony, sitting in the shadow beside King Ping, with no expression on his face, and a lonely temperament, as if everything has nothing to do with him. After a closer look, I found that the national teacher was really young, it seemed that he was only twenty years old, and he was about the same age as me.

The national teacher put down the book, picked up the teacup, and said, "The tea is at your hand, pour it yourself." "How can I drink tea now? I was already very nervous, and I must have an urgent need to urinate when I drink tea again. But when the national teacher spoke, I couldn't refuse, so I took the teacup and poured myself a cup, pretending to drink it.

I don't know anything else, I'm very good at pretending.

The national teacher seemed to look at me and said, "What is planted outside is honeysuckle." ”

Honeysuckle... I seem to have heard Sun Yuji say before, it is a kind of medicine that clears away heat, detoxifies, and defeats fire... Could it be that the national teacher often gets angry? I couldn't help but think of the appearance of the national teacher eating melon seeds alone in the Zijin Pavilion in my heart, and I couldn't help but laugh.

Seeing me smile, the national teacher also smiled faintly: "I came to you to talk to you about the medical examination." There will be two imperial doctors in the hospital, one is the imperial doctor recommended by your father before, and the other is the imperial physician Wang... You don't know you anyway. There is also a place that I hope you can find for me in the private sector. ”

I wondered, "Why do you want to look for it in the private sector?" Wouldn't it be better to find a hospital? ”

"Tai Hospital does not represent the highest level of Chenguo medicine, you also know that since Chen, Wang, and Sun were eliminated from Tai Hospital, most of the Tai doctors in our Tai Hospital were recommended by various states, or specially trained by the state, and were admitted to the Zhen Ying examination. However, in recent years, I have not been satisfied with the quality of the doctors at Tai Hospital. ”

"Who asked you to behead the Wang family and the Sun family in the first place..."I couldn't help but say.

The national teacher seemed to expect that I would stand up to his words, and said with a smile: "The Wang family and the Sun family are wrong not to participate in politics, and the Chen family is wrong to have too much prestige in the family, you don't understand it now, but you will understand it later." The national teacher took a sip of tea and continued, "But I remember that more than ten years ago, the Sun family still had fish that slipped through the net and were let go. ”

I nodded hurriedly: "Your Majesty let Sun Yuji and her brother go, Sun Yuji grew up in my family." ”

The national teacher didn't answer my words, stood up and walked to the desk, and said: "There are indeed drawbacks to the formation of party strife within the Tai Hospital, but without competition, there will be no progress. ”

"Sun Yuji is a student of Imperial Physician Lian, and she has read the medical books of the Sun family since she was a child, and even Imperial Physician praised her for being amazing... Is the national teacher asking me to find Sun Yuji? "I thought to myself, maybe this can overturn the case for the Sun family and let Sun Yuji become the doctor she has wanted to be since she was a child!

The national teacher spread out the rice paper, looked for a pen in the pen holder, and said to me casually: "The Sun family was beheaded by His Majesty on the charge of rebellion against the party, and you asked Sun Yuji to represent Chen Guo in the competition, didn't you slap Your Majesty in the face?" ”

So what do you say to me? I couldn't help but stick out my tongue at the national teacher who lowered his head to pick up the brush, and the national teacher suddenly pulled out a pen from the pen holder, flew straight towards me, wiped my ears, and frightened me in place.

"Don't grimace." The national teacher raised his head and said with a faint smile, "I said that 'Sun Yuji' can't come, but I didn't say that Sun Yuji can't come." Let's go, I'm going to paint, I don't like people to be around when I paint. ”

I was just startled by the national teacher, and he gave an eviction order, and I stood up with an inexplicable face, and between the lightning and flint, I suddenly understood what the national teacher meant. "Sun Yuji" can't come after being a criminal, wouldn't it be good to let Sun Yuji change his name? I was overjoyed and hurriedly bowed to the national teacher: "I understand, thank you national teacher, I'll leave now." ”

The national teacher said leisurely behind me: "You are smart and smart, but you are too unruly and defenseless. In front of others, don't say everything in one go, and the etiquette must be thorough. ”

I turned around and bowed to the national teacher again: "Got it, national teacher, your majesty retires." ”

Coming out of the Zijin Pavilion, Qiu Ming was already waiting for me by the carriage, and when she saw me coming, Qiu Ming hurriedly came to help me: "What's the matter, Xiangye, why are you so happy?" ”

"Tell someone to look for it, find Sun Yuji. Oh, you send a message to Master Li of the Criminal Department, asking him to find Sun Yuji in Wucheng and the surrounding villages and towns, and he must find it for me within two days. I stepped into the carriage at once, "We have the portrait at home, you can take it to him." ”

"Xiangye, Miss Sun has been gone for four years, and you only now remember to look for her, and let Master Li find her..."

I glared at him: "This is official business, official business!" I'll go back and write a note, stamp it and give it to him, it's official business! ”

"Okay, okay, official business, official business, shall we go home?"

"Go home now!"

"Gotcha."