Lu Ming, who had just come down from patrolling the mountain, returned home, and Zhou Wan handed him a letter, saying that someone from the family had delivered a letter.

Lu Ming took the letter and tore it open, the letter was written by Lu Duan, and the letter mentioned two things, one is that the crown princess is happy to get Lin'er, and the emperor has granted amnesty to the world, and intends to escort all the prisoners sentenced to more than three years from all over the country to build the Great Wall, so that Lu Ming is expected to complete the task two years ahead of schedule; The second is that Lu Yuan's family affairs have been decided, the man is a new science and technology scholar, young and weak, although his family is poor, but he is a good person, not to mention his knowledge, otherwise he can't become a new science and technology scholar, and now he is interning in Hanlin Academy, and the day of marriage is three months later, after all, Lu Yuan is also seventeen years old, and if it drags on, it should become a joke.

Zhou Wan saw that Lu Ming was silent after reading the letter, so she had to ask cautiously, "Is there anything bad at home?" ”

Lu Ming didn't speak, and gave the letter paper and the envelope to Zhou Wan, Zhou Wan took it and glanced at it quickly, and only after the stone in her heart fell to the ground did she smile and say, "It's all good news." ”

After speaking, I probably felt that Lu Ming was not very satisfied with Lu Yuan's family affairs, after all, if her husband's position as the son of the family was not reformed, Lu Yuan was also the eldest lady of the Zhenguo Mansion, and she could marry a son of a family, and she was also a son or grandson.

It doesn't seem right to say this, after so many things, there are precedents of the Zhu family and Yan Yu, these families are very shrewd, and they don't even dare to get closer to the Lu family, how can they dare to marry?

This is also why Lu Yuan's family affairs have been delayed until now, and finally found a student from a poor family.

There is no way, if you don't marry, Lu Yuanke will really become a joke in the capital.

"Husband, you think the other way around, the poor student is not bad, but in the future, the father will support him well, and the mother may not be able to live a life of glory for the husband and wife, in this way, the man will be grateful for the woman's kindness, and will be doubly good to the mother, isn't Sister Yan'er a good example?" Zhou Wan mentioned Yan Yan.

This name once again made Lu Ming fall silent, his life's encounters were inseparable from this woman, he used to be the high-spirited prince of Zhenguo, and he was also the first son of the famous capital, and Yan Yan was an orphan girl under the fence, not only was her intelligence mediocre but also old-fashioned and boring, reasoning, it was understandable that he couldn't look down on her and wanted to quit her family.

But the mistake is that this family affair is the queen mother's lead, he can't withdraw from his relatives normally, so he has no choice but to take some extraordinary measures, but he didn't expect to destroy people's reputation and force people's lives, which is really a bad gentleman's doing.

No, retribution is coming soon.

Since then, his and Yan Yan's lives have been reversed, and they have completely fallen off, the wife he tried his best to marry was actually a fake talented woman, but Yan Yan's husband who was forced to marry was an out-and-out talent, and Yan Yan himself is also a talented woman who can do almost anything, and the husband and wife are like dusty pearls that have been polished, becoming more and more dazzling and dazzling.

And he, Lu Ming, was originally a person who should be looked up to by the world, but he became a joke in the eyes of everyone, and his mother and wife kept dragging him back, constantly creating incidents and troubles.

Unfortunately, when he figured it all out, it was too late.

Not only did he lose his honor, but he also lost his wife, son, mother, and the title that his mother never forgot, plus Zhu Jin, who regarded him as a model since he was a child, and the Zhu family, which collapsed, this price is not ordinarily large, it is no exaggeration to say that the most important things in his life have almost been lost.

Remorse?

must be regretful, if time can be turned back, he will never repeat the mistakes of the past, he will definitely hold Yan Yan's hand tightly and never lose her again, but this is wishful thinking after all, he has never really dreamed of this.

Hate?

It must be hateful, there are many people he hates, himself, his mother, Yan Yu, Yan Yan, as well as Ma's, Lu You and others, he has thought more than once, if his mother didn't complain in front of him from time to time about Yan Yan's hard life, if Yan Yan didn't deliberately hide it, if he wasn't moved by Yan Yu's smile, if Yan Yu didn't seduce him, if Ma didn't extinguish his conscience, if he didn't look for his mother at that time but went to his father to discuss the matter, if Lu You didn't enter the library as he designed that day, if...

There are so many assumptions, and if any one of them were true, he would not have ended up where he is today.

It's a pity that this life is difficult to settle after all.

Therefore, he hates himself the most.

"Husband, you haven't let go of the past?" Zhou Wan took the initiative to hold Lu Ming's hand.

"No, I've put it down a long time ago, I'm just ashamed of my mother, because of the grievances of the elders, I hurt this child, and also, I have given the child too little care over the years, not only missing her growth, but I, as a father, couldn't be present when she got married." Lu Ming shook his head, not admitting that he was thinking about Yan Yan.

When he left Beijing to build the Great Wall, he wanted to take several children with him to teach him personally, but his father and father-in-law did not agree, saying that he was afraid of affecting Lu Yuan's family affairs, after all, Lu Yuan was also twelve years old that year, and he did not want to delay the children.

Moreover, the north is in trouble, and he did not come to the city to camp this time, but to build the Great Wall in the wild land of the border fortress, therefore, Lu Duan suggested that he leave a few boys behind, no matter what, there are Lu family's clan studies in the capital, and there are large and small academies outside the city, and the conditions are much better than these wild places.

In addition, Lu Ming is here to build the Great Wall, and he must have to be outside with those craftsmen all year round, so how much time do you have to discipline the children?

Therefore, Lu Ming left a few children behind and left Beijing alone.

However, in the past few years, he has written a letter to the children every month to urge them, and he will also order them to write a letter to him every month, telling him what they have done and learned this month.

Since Lu Jin got married, Lu Yuan's family affairs have also been officially put on the agenda, and the Lu family, the Yan family and the Yun family have helped to contribute, but those housewives shook their heads when they heard that it was Lu Yuan, and they didn't do it with their own sons and sisters-in-law, for fear of affecting the future and reputation of their children, and they were also afraid that the family would be restless, and they were afraid that the Lu family would not be willing to do so, but it hurt the harmony, so they simply refused.

After looking at each other for a year, seeing that these families were not good, the Yan and Lu families turned their attention to the families of those ministers, but no one dared to marry.

In the end, Yang Yi helped come up with an idea, saying that if it didn't work, he would choose a poor student, but it happened that this year was the year of Dabi, but he didn't expect to really pick a suitable one.

Hehe, a poor student, thinking of his father's sentence "If you don't marry again, it should be a joke", Lu Ming smiled bitterly twice, the eldest lady of the dignified Zhenguo Mansion was actually reduced to marrying a poor student, so many officials of all sizes in the capital are not willing to marry the Lu family, isn't this a joke?

As soon as he thought of this, a sharp pain suddenly came from Lu Ming's heart, and he hurriedly stretched out his hand to cover his heart.

"Husband, what's wrong with you? Husband, it's okay, I'll accompany you, don't be afraid, I won't leave you, no... It was not the first time that Zhou Wan had seen her husband like this, so she hurriedly stepped forward and hugged him.

There have been several times when Lu Ming woke up from a nightmare, and he also covered his heart, grabbed her hand and shouted something, "Don't leave me, I have nothing left, only you." Waiting, so Zhou Wan has experience.

She came out of prison in the winter of the year Lu Ming came here, and after she was released from prison, she returned to the Lu family, and saw that her son was still bullied and excluded in the Lu family, and the youngest daughter died of illness because of poor care.

And Lu Ming has not remarried all these years, and seeing that Zhou Wanken took his child to accompany him in this extremely cold and bitter place, he straightened Zhou Wan.

Only occasionally dreams back at midnight, he will still have a lot of unwillingness and injustice, because of these unwillingness and injustice, there will also be heartache and unbearable times, so he will catch the people around him and cry between half dreaming and waking up.

It's just that it was mostly at night, not such a daytime, so Lu Ming quickly woke up under Zhou Wan's persuasion and broke away from Zhou Wan's embrace, at this time he suddenly thought of one thing, this letter was not sent through the post station, but from his hometown, which was full of strangeness.

So, he ordered someone to bring in someone from his hometown.

It was a steward beside Lu Duan who really brought him a piece of news, saying that the Emperor Taishang and his entourage had gone to Goryeo, and it was very likely that they would go from Goryeo to Liao, and finally enter the territory of Dazhou through Shanhaiguan, so that he could prepare to take over.

In fact, in the summer of the previous year, his father sent someone to tell him that Emperor Taishang and Yan Yan and his entourage went to the official road in the north, most likely to Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures, and possibly to Liao.

But who knew that he waited for half a year and didn't wait for the Emperor Taishang and his party, but waited for someone from his hometown to come again, saying that Yan Yan and his party got on the boat from Shandong and went to Dongying first, but he didn't expect that more than half a year had passed, and he said that he had gone to Goryeo, and the whereabouts of these people were really difficult to understand.

But then again, although Li Cong abdicated, he still had the identity of a prince after all, and there must have been a lot of people outside who beat his idea, which is why they went to the north and quickly turned east to Shandong to get on the ship, because it was difficult to find their traces at sea.

This time, it must have been the news that my father had worked so hard to find out, so he specially sent someone to report the news, for fear that he would make a mistake.

Because both their father and son know that this is the only chance for Lu Ming to turn the tables, if the Emperor Taishang is satisfied with the errand he handles, and he speaks, the new emperor may restore his title, otherwise, he can only bear the title of Duwei or Sima in his life.

Thinking of this, Lu Ming couldn't sit still, so he went out of the house alone and walked around the street.

Said to be the street, in fact, there are not many idle people on the street, and there are not many shops, but the house is a lot, neat and tidy, at a glance is a newly built barracks, because this place is a newly developed camp after he came, the reason why he chose this is because this place is relatively close to the sea, and there is an official road leading to Liaoxi, so he chose to build a city gate on the official road, the Great Wall comes out of the sea, passes through this city gate, and can also be used as a city wall, killing two birds with one stone.

Because the street is not long, Lu Ming didn't walk long before he arrived at the center of the street, and from a distance he found that there were more than a dozen people standing under the city gate at the end of the street and talking about something to the plaque on the city gate. ”

"Even so, I don't dare to save trouble." Lu Ming still made a long salute in the end.

Li Cong looked at Lu Ming, Lu Ming in front of him was only wearing dark blue fine linen arrow sleeves and black thin-legged pants, the soap boots on his feet were stained with a lot of mud and dust, and the soles of the shoes were also worn out a lot, obviously because he often walked outside, thinking of this, Li Cong carefully looked at Lu Ming's face, which was black and rough, which confirmed the previous speculation, and this dress was also very simple, which was also consistent with his identity.

"Yes, yes, it seems that I have suffered a little bit in the past few years." Li Cong nodded.

"Back to the master, without some tempering, Xiao Ke will not have today's growth." Lu Ming smiled bitterly.

There was another sentence that he didn't say, that is, the price was too great.

Li Cong smiled, didn't reply to his words, pointed to the plaque above the city wall and said, "Just now, a few of us are arguing, the three words on this plaque are not atmospheric enough, and they don't look like your level." ”

"Back to the emperor, back to the lord, this word is temporarily found someone to write, Xiao Ke sent someone to the capital to ask the lord for inscription, I didn't expect the lord to go out, the eldest prince only ordered someone to bring a name, but the city wall can not be without a plaque for a day, so Xiao Ke made a temporary hanging." Lu Ming replied respectfully.

"Boy, this name was taken by your daughter-in-law, this territory was laid by you, come with this inscription." Li Cong pointed at Lu You and said.

"Don't, it's not the king's land in the whole world, let's come here." Lu You waved his hand busily.

"Sister-in-law's name?" Lu Ming looked at Yan Yan.

This was the first time he saw Yan Yan after leaving Beijing that year, and more than four years have passed, probably because she has been running on the road, this woman's face is not as delicate and white as when she was in the capital, and there are fine wrinkles at the end of her eyes, but the whole face is more radiant than when she was in the capital.

Not only Yan Yan, but also the people in front of them are like this, all of them are obviously old, but the whole person seems to be more energetic and more cheerful and easy-going.

"Back to the master, this city gate is called Shanhaiguan, there is still a plaque left on this arrow tower, this is the first Great Wall repaired by the Great Zhou Dynasty, and it is also the first pass from east to west, it is better to have a plaque on this arrow tower, it is called the first pass in the world, how?" Yan Yan ignored Lu Ming's scrutiny and said with a smile.

"The first level in the world? Isn't this similar to the name of the pastry shop inscribed by Mrs. Tai back then? You'll save yourself this girl. The former queen and now the queen mother smiled.

"That's what it means, it's tricky again." Yan Yan said with a smile.

Li Cong nodded, acquiesced to the name, and said to Lu Ming: "Yes, it's called the first level in the world, this name is domineering, and the idea of using the city as the pass is not bad, did you come up with it yourself?" ”

Lu Ming nodded.

"Yes, you are not blind to the name of the son of the first family in the capital."

Lu Ming was about to reply when he heard this, only to see Li Cong speak again, "That's it for the time being, find us a resting place, and go up tomorrow to have a look." ”

Lu Ming thought for a while, and took the person to his residence, where he lived was not big, but there was an independent cross-courtyard, which was prepared for female dependents, but because he had only one woman by his side, Zhou Wan, and no children by his side, this cross-courtyard was vacant.

That night, Lu Ming accompanied Li Cong and Lu You to chat about the official and military affairs of the two coming hours, and Yan Yan and Zhou Wan also talked about the old days of the coming hours.

Early the next morning, Lu Ming took everyone to the Great Wall again, visited the arrow tower, the fort, overlooked the entire urn city, and after going down to the city, he inspected the urn city on the spot, and returned to Lu Ming's residence, Li Cong personally inscribed the plaques of "Shanhaiguan" and "the first pass in the world", and nothing else was said.

Lu Ming sent Li Cong and his party away with trepidation, and three months later, he received a holy decree from the capital, and named him the garrison of Shanhaiguan, and returned to Beijing to inherit the position of the prince of Zhenguo after the construction of the Great Wall was completed.