readx;

Leaving the palace, Xu Huizu insisted that he go to his house for tea. Pen~Fun~Pavilion www.biquge.info Shen Ruoyu knew that he had some words that were inconvenient to say elsewhere.

Entering the Xu's East Garden, which is known as the "First Garden of Jinling", along the winding waterside promenade, bypassing many bonsai and rockeries, Xu Huizu stopped at a water pavilion.

The servant handed over the refreshments and withdrew. There is only clear water around, and there are golden-red swimming fish in the water. The water's edge is surrounded by verdant trees that run down the current. A cave of Taihu Lake stone is opposite each other, and the top of the cave is shaded with pines and cypresses; The clear water passes quietly between the caves, the tall cave entrance is half covered by grass and trees, and on the water surface a zhang away, several stepping stones of different sizes and shapes are scattered among them, for people to walk through, don't add interest.

There was no one around. Xu Huizu asked straight to the point:

"Don't you really like the son of Liang Guogong?"

Shen Ruoyu said: "Yes." He made me shudder. Sooner or later, this man will kill me. ”

"Your Majesty, what are you going to do?"

"Before I came, Brother Dong was the only one in Yulin Erwei. Why bother looking for another one? ”

"Then you don't mean admitting that you are redundant?"

"If this can make the emperor give up the idea, it will be good. Just because a position is redundant does not mean that person is redundant. I am now a lieutenant general, and he Gu Shenyu can continue to be the commander of his Jinyi Guard. ”

Xu Huizu shook his head. "I'm afraid, it's not a good idea. The emperor wants it, but he can't help it. ”

Shen Ruoyu said: "I already have a solution, but I don't know if it's feasible." ”

Xu Huizu didn't say anything right away. All around, you can only hear the sound of birds chirping and fish playing in the water.

After a while, Wei Guogong sighed softly:

"Don't say it. It's not a good idea to say it. ”

Shen Ruoyu was slightly taken aback: "You-"

"If it were me, I would do the same." Xu Huizu said, "This person is very smart, willing to work hard, and more patient. Once you're gone, you can't control the situation here. This may be the only way. It's just that in this way, you will not only offend him, but you will probably even offend the Son of Heaven. ”

"I've offended him. As for the emperor, there is no way, I am not for myself. If I only do it for myself, I can't even offend him. ”

Xu Huizu nodded and sighed, "It's good if you're prepared." ”

Shen Ruoyu said: "To be honest, I didn't expect you to think like this. Since that trial time, I have been worried about whether you will think that Brother Dong and I are jealous of Xian and reject him. ”

Xu Huizu said: "He didn't have any faults. I know you have a gut feeling, and I have a bad feeling about him too. But in such a position, whatever you do or say must have a clear and credible reason. It's the same now; You figured it out, but in what name did you do it? You need to have a reason. ”

Shen Ruoyu thought about it.

"Grandpa, in this matter, maybe, I also need your guidance."

He told Xu Huizu in detail about Nangong Qiu's drop of the jade bracelet.

Xu Huizu's sword eyebrows furrowed, and he pondered for a long time.

"This matter-since he calculated, I'm afraid it will be difficult to find a flaw. Tomorrow you will show me the broken thing; After all, I've seen more of this kind of stuff than you. However, according to my judgment of him, it is likely that what he gave to his wife was genuine jade. He is determined to pull you into the water, and this person can spare no expense. I'm afraid you'll have to figure out something else. ”

The next day, Shen Ruoliao tightly wrapped the brocade box sent by Gu Shenyu and took it to the Wei State Mansion.

After sending away the people around him, Xu Huizu looked at it repeatedly for a long time, carefully pinched the pieces, played with them repeatedly in his hands, experienced them carefully, and raised them from time to time, trying to check them in front of the sun.

Finally, Wei Guogong put the things back in the brocade box and looked at Shen Ruoyu.

"As I expected, it is a twelve-cent Khotanese tribute jade."

"How much is it worth?"

Wei Guogong smiled slightly: "How much is it worth?" In the past, the King of Qin exchanged the price of fifteen cities for a piece of King Zhao and his family. What do you think? ”

Shen Ruoyu smiled: "I should really thank Gu Shenyu, fortunately there is nothing engraved on it, 'Ordered by the sky, both by Yongchang'——"

Wei Guogong raised his hand to cover his mouth. Then, he let go of his hand and shook his head helplessly.

"When will you be able to fix your problem? Also, when talking to the emperor, you are still the same as before, how many times have you been reminded, but you just don't listen. ”

Shen Ruoyu stuck out his tongue as disapprovingly as before.

Xu Huizu said in a low voice: "Gold has a price, and jade is priceless. What's more, it's the jade in your hand. ”

"I can't afford to pay for the sale of my whole family piece."

"You're not going to pay at all, are you?"

Shen Ruoyu said: "I'm barefoot and not afraid of wearing shoes." Lao Tzu just has no money to pay, what can he do with me? If the complaint is brought to the emperor, the emperor will at most dismiss my official and send me home to farm, or let my whole family join the army. ”

Xu Huizu said: "I've been with you for a long time, and I can understand your father more and more, why he beats you every day." ”

He patted the box. "Get down to business. I think you can make a fuss about this jade. If nothing else, just because it's true. It's easier than if it's a fake. ”

Shen Ruoyu thought about it.

"I probably see what you mean. I've thought about it too. It's just that he is the son of Liang Guogong after all, and it shouldn't be strange that he has such a priceless treasure in his hand. What could I say if he brought out his dead father to carry me? ”

"You still have something to say." Xu Huizu said quietly. "This is Khotanese sheep fat jade, yes; But do you know that Khotanese mutton fat jade is divided into two levels? ”

Shen Ruoxiao shook his head. "Even the mutton fat jade I learned it by accident from the palace."

"Look at this pair of bracelets, and the jade artifacts you saw in the palace, what they are, and in terms of condition, how high are they?"

Shen Ruoxiao's face flushed slightly: "To be honest, I can't see anything." It was because I looked at the jade in the palace that it felt the same, so I judged that it was the same as the Khotanese tribute jade. ”

"That's right." Xu Huizu said slowly: "Kunlun Mountain produces beautiful jade, and Khotan at the foot of Kunlun Mountain also produces beautiful jade. Khotanese jade is purer, more delicate, rarer than Kunlun jade, and therefore more noble. There are two kinds of Khotanese jade, one is called Tsaiyu, which comes out of the river valley. One is called mountain jade, which comes from mountain mines. Compared with mountain jade, the yield of the jade is less, the color is better, and the value is higher. There is another division, according to the color, Khotanese jade is mainly divided into two categories: black jade and mutton fat white jade. There are two rivers in Khotan, one is called the Karakash River, also known as the Wuyu River, which specializes in Wuyu; One is called the Yulong Kashgar River, also called the White Jade River, which only gives birth to mutton fat and white jade. The white jade of sheep fat has been a tribute jade since ancient times, and only the emperor's family can have it. This jade is not priceless, but priceless. Because it is exclusive to the monarch, it is impossible to appear outside the palace. What you see in the palace is undoubtedly the finest material of mutton fat and white jade. And if you look at this pair of bracelets, you can't see the difference. What does this mean? ”

"Explanation—I'm clumsy—" Shen Ruoyu stammered. He already understood what Xu Huizu meant. He just couldn't believe his eyes. After all, where did he Shen Ruoyu come from, and what kind of world had he seen.

Xu Huizu sighed: "Then I'm also clumsy? Although I was not born in the emperor's family, because of the close relationship between my father and Emperor Gao, half of the time I grew up in the palace since I was a child. I've seen so much of this stuff. Your judgment is correct; This pair of bracelets is an absolute high-quality material. ”

Shen Ruoyu said: "Has Emperor Gao never rewarded meritorious heroes? After all, the military exploits of Liangguo are not trivial, and they add up to half of my Ming Dynasty. ”

Xu Huizu was silent for a moment and said, "Because of the military exploits, there has never been." If Liangguo has it, then it is impossible for my father and Kaiping King Chang Yuchun to be absent. At least not in my family. But the reward you are talking about is not impossible, but there is only one possibility. ”

"What?"

Xu Huizu said: "My Xu family once had Khotanese tribute jade, which was personally rewarded by Emperor Gao and Empress Gao. Moreover, it is such an identical pair of jade bracelets. ”

"It's also a jade bracelet? Same? ”

Xu Huizu said: "The jade in the world, even if it is the same base material, the same craftsman, and the same mold, it is impossible to make two identical jades. Even if it is the same pair of jade bracelets, each one is different. If it's jade, it can't be the same; Otherwise it's a fake. When I say exactly the same, I mean that the quality of the color is high, and then the style of the jade bracelet. Although this pair was broken, I am still sure that these two pairs of jade bracelets were ground in strict accordance with the same requirements and the same base material; I even dare to speculate that these two pairs of jade bracelets were actually made in the same batch at the same time. Otherwise, the texture of the jade, as well as the craftsmanship of the bracelet, would not be so consistent. ”

"That-the pair of jade bracelets of the Xu family, it's-"

Xu Huizu lowered his voice very low. "It's no longer there. The jade bracelet was in my house for only a short month. From the beginning, it was put on the arm of the Xu family's daughter; Later, the eldest daughter of the Xu family married into the Yanwang Mansion and followed her to Beiping. It no longer belongs to the Xu family. ”

Shen Ruoyu was shocked: "That's ...... Emperor Gao and Empress Gao gave ...... A dowry for the Xu family? ”

"It's a token for my daughter-in-law. If you marry the prince, you are a member of the emperor's family, and you are no longer a member of my Xu family. So the jade bracelet, of course, followed Princess Yan and went to the Yan Palace, from beginning to end, it was still in the emperor's house and did not go outside. ”

"I see...... That...... The pair of jade bracelets in the Blue Mansion should have been given by Emperor Gao to Princess Shu? But now, it has fallen into the hands of Gu Shenyu, although he is the son of Lan Yu, but it is illegal to follow the system? ”

Xu Huizu said: "This is just one of them; Second, when the Lanyu case occurred, Jinyiwei confiscated all the property of the Lan Mansion, and none of them were missing. These properties were either confiscated from the household department, or owned by the Jinyiwei who raided the family, and some of them were rewarded by Emperor Gao to Jiang Xuan, who had made meritorious informants, including the entire Lan family's mansion. The Lan clan was also wiped out by the Nine Clans. Gu Shenyu's pair of jade bracelets are unlikely to have other sources, only given to him by his father, or more likely, to his sister. At this point, it is another offense. The emperor spared the lives of the orphans, and at that time they should have reported all the property secretly left to them by the Duke of Liangguo. Although the emperor will definitely allow them to stay, this is completely different from concealment and not reporting. His excuse for sinking fish is nothing more than this, this thing was given to him by his father, and it was his legal inheritance. But with these two, you can make him die without opening his mouth. There is also the most crucial third. ”

"And a third?" Shen Ruoyu was already very surprised.

Xu Huizu whispered: "The three daughters of my Xu family are all princesses. Princess Yan, acting princess, Princess An. But among the three daughters, only the eldest daughter, Princess Yan, got the pair of jade bracelets. ”

Shen Ruoyu was a little confused. "What does that mean?"

"And; Emperor Gao had a total of twenty-six sons, King Zhao was early, and there were twenty-one people who got married, and King An was the last. The rest were still too young, and the youngest prince fell ill before the full moon. Of the twenty-two sons who got married, as far as I know, only two daughters-in-law got jade bracelets. One is Princess Yan, and the other is Empress Xiaokangchang, the princess of Yiwen. ”

Shen Ruoyu didn't speak for a while. After a while, he was stunned and asked:

"How do you know?"

Xu Huizu said: "It was the eyes and ears that King Yan planted beside Emperor Gao who told King Yan, and King Yan later told the princess, and the princess quietly told me. She knew that she could only tell me one person about it; Only I, the eldest brother, can keep it a secret for them. ”

Shen Ruoxiao smiled slightly: "If you don't treat me as a lifeless stone, then you are deliberately leaking secrets." ”

Xu Huizu said peacefully: "Now, you have such a pair of jade bracelets in your hands; You know all the secrets behind the jade bracelet. There are some things that are known to be dead and not to be alive; But there are some things, if you are inadvertently in such a position, knowing is more proactive and more careful than not knowing. ”

"However, if Princess Shu didn't get the jade bracelet, then where did this pair of jade bracelets come from?"

Xu Huizu said: "Among all the sons, Emperor Gao's favorite is the crown prince and the king of Yan. Emperor Gao does like King Shu very much, but he will definitely not surpass King Qin. The six princesses of Qin, Jin, Yan, Zhou, Chu, and Qi were registered in the same year, and only Princess Yan was called to Kunning Palace alone, given a jade bracelet, and instructed to keep it strictly secret. If the King of Qin didn't get it, how could the King of Shu have it? Lan Yu is the brother-in-law of Chang Yuchun, the king of Kaiping, and the maternal uncle of Empress Xiaokang. If there were only two pairs of jade bracelets, it would be impossible for him to get the pair of Princess Yan. So what he has in his hands can only be Empress Xiaokang's. ”

Shen Ruoyu didn't say anything for a while.

Xu Huizu said: "Of course, how did he get it, I can't guess." In addition, it is not entirely impossible to say that Emperor Gao gave Princess Shu a jade bracelet. After all, Emperor Gao likes the King of Shu. Most of these young princes are uneducated and arrogant, only the King of Shu and the King of Ning are smart and diligent, which also makes Emperor Gao feel relieved and satisfied. What's more, the canonization of Princess Shu was in the fourteenth year of Hongwu, and Lan Yu had just returned from Fu Youde's pacification of Yunnan, and he had made great contributions. At that time, Chang Yuchun, the king of Kaiping, and Deng Yu, the king of Ninghe, were gone. My father and Tang He are both getting older and sick. The generals in the army who have made great achievements are Feng Sheng and Fu Youde. Gao Huang quickly lost trust in the two of them. Who else is in the prime of life and has the talent of a general? At that time, Lan Yu was the most promising young general in the eyes of Emperor Gao. At that time, Emperor Gao already had the heart to worship him as a general. Therefore, it is also possible to recruit his daughter as his daughter-in-law, and he is the king of Shu who he likes, purely for the purpose of wooing, to give the princess of Shu a jade bracelet. However, even if it is possible, I have already said that these two pairs of bracelets are certainly made of the same base material and the same batch. The crown princess was canonized in Hongwu for four years, and Princess Yan was canonized in nine years. The princess of Shu was canonized in the fourteenth year. There is a difference of five years, but the difference between the two five years is completely different. In the third year of Hongwu, the eight kings of Qin, Jin, Yan, Zhou, Chu, Qi, Tan and Lu were enshrined at the same time. The following year, the crown prince got married. The age gap between the crown prince and the kings of Qin, Jin, Yan, and Thursday is not too big. It is very likely that Emperor Gao will prepare a jade bracelet for the crown princess at the same time, and also prepare it in advance for the future princess Yan; After all, King Yan at that time was already quite paternal, except for the crown prince, his favorite was King Yan. But at that time, the king of Shu was just a toddler dragging his nose, and he couldn't see his appearance at all. Since the bracelet was prepared a long time ago, it must be given to Princess Yan first. Even in the future, the King of Shu may have a chance to please Emperor Gao, plus the factor of blue jade, if he gives Princess Shu a pair of jade bracelets, it will be a completely different pair of new bracelets. Emperor Gao will not keep a pair of bracelets for ten years, just to wait for Lan Yu and the King of Shu, who is far inferior to King Yan, to have a chance. ”

"Therefore, Gu Shenyu's pair of bracelets can only be Queen Xiaokang's." Shen Ruo said sneeringly. "If that's the case, it's not just him who broke the law in this matter, but also Liang Guogong Lanyu; It will even involve the Kaiping Wang Chang clan. It's too much movement. ”

"Big for you, big for him. When this person comes to this point, perhaps family affection is not a factor for him to consider; However, he obtained the pardon of the Son of Heaven in the name of the orphan of the Duke of Liangguo, and got his current position, because Empress Xiaokang was able to get involved with the family of the Son of Heaven, and claimed that his father was implicated by Hu Weiyong and framed by King Yan, and he was innocent. No matter what, he can't add another crime to the head of the Duke of Liangguo, let alone abandon the names of Empress Xiaokang and King Kaiping. You have these three and you can rest easy. ”

"Grandpa," Shen Ruoyu smiled lightly, sighed softly, but asked a question that couldn't be beaten by eight poles:

"What should you do if King Yan wins?"

Xu Huizu was stunned for a moment. "What?"

"If, the final result of this civil war, the imperial court is defeated, and King Yan wins. He entered the capital, and after robbing the throne, he must take revenge on all of us. When the time comes, what will you do, have you thought about it? ”

Xu Huizu was unprepared for this question.

“…… Why do you suddenly want to ask this? ”

Shen Ruoyu said: "Because-after listening to all your analysis and helping me, I suddenly felt that it was not suddenly, in fact, I had long felt that it was not by chance that Princess Yan could become Princess Yan." It is no accident that you can become an important minister by today's side. Even if it cannot be denied that there is a great factor of the King of Zhongshan, it is not by chance that the King of Zhongshan can become the King of Zhongshan. The Xu family will always be the kind of person I can't reach. ”

Xu Huizu looked at him wordlessly for a long time, then turned his face away, and said faintly to the silent flowing water in the garden:

"As I said, you're not a person at all. You'd better go back to the battlefield, it's relatively simple. Make a lot of meritorious service and achieve fame as soon as possible. Then come back, and after receiving all the rewards you deserve, lead them back home, take your little lord with you, and travel the mountains and rivers from now on, regardless of the world. Such a you, Jin Ge Iron Horse in the first half of your life, is famous in history; The second half of his life is safe and easy. Life is short, what you have always been, this life is what it is. You can't change; No one can change. Live yourself well, and this life will be worth it. I've always envied you. Young, simple, Top Gun, selfless. Even if you don't talk about these things, it's all a dream to ask my old arms and legs to have your skills. ”

Shen Ruoyu blushed and said, "Simplicity and selflessness, where do you see it?" ”

Xu Huizu said with a smile: "There is a saying, I am afraid you have heard a lot, and you don't like to hear it the most: I have crossed more bridges than you have walked." ”

Shen Ruo smiled reservedly: "Grandpa, you think you have seen through me." Actually—in some ways, only wait until — the day comes when you suddenly find out that you're wrong and you regret it. ”

Xu Huizu stared at him and smiled mysteriously. "We'll see." He said.

"That's right," he added, "I haven't told you anything, watching Shen Ruoyu stand up and prepare to leave; I've never seen anything shattered by you. ”

Shen Ruoyu nodded and said, "I understand; You can rest assured. It's between me and him, between the two of us. ”

"That man is shrewd. It was because he knew very well that you didn't understand the origin of this jade bracelet at all, so he was relieved and bold to donate it to his wife to take the bait. Don't talk about you, I'm afraid that if it were anyone else in the court, he would not know the origin of the jade bracelet, and when the time comes, he will say a word about the secret inheritance of the Duke of Liangguo, and no one will be able to say anything. I'm afraid that even the Son of Heaven doesn't understand the ins and outs of this, and with the heart of the saint, he didn't report it if he didn't report it, and he didn't pursue it. He calculates that he may not gain anything, but he must have nothing to lose. He didn't expect it, and I know the story behind it. To put it bluntly, he still underestimated King Yan. ”

"He didn't expect that you would help me." Shen Ruoyu said, "On the day of the trial, only you were good to him; Maybe he's thinking of you as one of his own. ”

"No, it won't. He is a person, and there is no one around him who he trusts. You just asked me, what should I do after King Yan enters the capital and takes the treasure? You don't have to worry about me. I'll be fine. You should be most worried about yourself. In addition, it is this Lan Zhengjun; King Yan can be said to be his father-killing enemy. When the time comes, you can keep your eyes peeled and see what he's up to. ”