When the two imperial guards quietly came to Du's mansion and overheard the location of Du Jinning's courtyard from their subordinates, they sneaked all the way there.

Then the two guards were a little dumbfounded.

Generally, this kind of ancient house, because it is relatively spacious, generally some trees will be planted in front of the door and behind the house, so that the environment is good, can block the summer sun, and there are fruits or flowers, and you can count them in one fell swoop.

But Du Jinning's yard, do you say the environment is not good? Absolutely not - the four walls are covered with roses. It's spring, and the flowers are so big and so numerous that they look like a waterfall of flowers.

In addition to the roses on the walls, some shrubs and flowers are planted in the middle of the yard. But they are all very low, the tallest shrub is only half a person high, and there is only a small cluster, mixed with various foliage or flowering plants, forming a combination and a small flower landscape.

The Imperial Guard couldn't help but say, "How can this be the same as the Imperial Palace?" ”

What he said was the same, not that Du Jinning's courtyard was as magnificent as the palace, but that there was no big tree in the palace, which did not plant big trees in order to prevent the assassins from hiding. Du Jinning's yard is also the same, not only does it not have a big tree, but it doesn't even have a small tree. And the roses on the four walls look beautiful, but they are thorny. Whoever wants to climb over her courtyard wall will wait to be pierced and covered with holes.

"Do you think there's something unsightly about this Lord Du?" Yu Wei Yi said, "Otherwise, how can you defend the courtyard so well?" ”

The Imperial Guard glared at him, "Don't talk nonsense. ”

Just from the emperor sending them to protect Du Jinning, it can be seen that this new champion is very valued by the emperor. So you can't talk nonsense. In case someone hears it and reaches the emperor's ears, in order to show his trust and respect for Lord Du, the emperor may let their heads move.

Yu Wei Yi also knew that he had lost his words.

They are guards, they see too much of what they should see and what they shouldn't see, and if they don't keep their mouths shut, they will definitely not live long.

didn't talk about it, but the two were a little worried: "What should I do?" ”

There are trees outside Du Jinning's yard, which are quite big, but they are a little far away from her yard. If something happened to Du Jinning in the yard, they were afraid that they would not be able to find out in time.

Among the two, it has always been the Imperial Guard who has the idea.

He said, "We will stay in the tree during the day, and then go to his roof at night." If someone wants to be unfavorable to Master Du, it must be at night and will not come over in broad daylight. Except for Mu Xiu's days, Lord Du is in the Hanlin Courtyard during the day, so it doesn't matter if he can get close to his courtyard during the day. ”

After a pause, he added: "Moreover, what Your Majesty said is that we should protect Lord Du, not monitor him, so we just need not to let people approach Lord Du and assassinate him, there is no need to keep an eye on him."

"You have a point, so be it." Hearing this, Yu Wei Yi breathed a sigh of relief.

So the two stayed in the tree. Of course, not one tree, but one for everyone.

However, to the dismay of the two, another large tree where they could hide was farther away. And Du Mansion is different from other people's houses, there are not many houses, and the empty places for planting flowers and grass are one by one, and there is even a piece of farmland next to Du Jinning's yard.

So the two of them couldn't find a vacant room that few people went to, and their plan to take shifts and the other person to rest was difficult to achieve. In particular, Du Jinning's yard is far away from everyone else's, like an isolated island in the east and center of Du's house, so it is even more difficult to find an empty room to rest. After all, they can't be too far away, and when the one on duty gives the code, the other person needs to be able to arrive in time.

"This Lord Du is really weird." The two said depressedly.

Du Jinning didn't know that she had been "protected", she was in the hall of the courtyard at this time, discussing the publication of the book with Lu Jiuyuan, Shi Xiu, and Peng Shicheng.

These are the three people she sent to specially invite after she came out of Qi Bokun.

After hand-picking the champion, why did the family use her as a target? It's nothing more than because she is a poor man, weak, and has no backstage and no backer.

Even if Qi Bokun admires her very much, the two are not related by blood. If she is killed, Qi Bokun may take revenge on her within the scope of his ability, but he will never do his best to fight with others - but if Qi Muyuan is killed, Qi Bokun will definitely start the crazy mode of dying with others. And the power of the Qi family is something that those families dare not provoke at will.

This is a typical pinch of pestle picking soft.

And next, under her proposal, under the tie of Zhao Yu, and under the implementation of Qi Bokun and others, the Great Song Dynasty will enter a period of reform, which will inevitably touch the interests of the family. In the battle between the two sides without gunpowder, she, the proposer of the reform proposal, will surely become cannon fodder.

Du Jinning has always believed that "relying on others is better than relying on herself", so she must be strong.

But if you want to become a powerful family, it is impossible to achieve it except dreaming. So what other power does she have?

Only Confucianism.

A Confucian master, behind him are thousands of Confucian students. These Confucian scholars became his faithful followers because they believed in the philosophical theories propagated by Confucianism. And what is Confucianism? It is the reserve force of a country's talents, and it is the place where it will succeed the ministers of the current dynasty and become a new force in the future.

Once a Confucian scholar whom they enshrined as a model was killed by the family for no reason, what kind of power would they erupt?

This kind of power, Du Jinning believes, not only the family, but also the emperor Zhao Yu will be afraid.

This is her backer, and this is where her strength lies.

Originally, because of the unequal status and because of the imperial examinations one after another, she didn't have time to take into account the achievements of Confucianism. And now, it's time for her to make a push in this regard.

Lu Jiuyuan and the others had been helping them read articles before Du Jinning and the others had a spring break. After the palace examination, Du Jinning saw that Feng Xuezheng had a warm attitude, so he asked him to introduce him to the four schools. Because Du Jinning, Qi Muyuan, Guan Jiaze, Liang Xiankuan, Fang Shaohua, and Xu Chengyuan, who were tutored by Lu Jiuyuan, all of them were admitted to Jinshi, and they were also a champion and a tanhua, and the teaching results were particularly remarkable.

A few days ago, the three of them returned to their hometown, took all the family members over, and planned to settle in the capital in the future. For this reason, Du Jinning bought three three-entry courtyards next to each other in Beijing and gave them to Lu Jiuyuan and the other three as a reward for their hard work as tutors some time ago.

When Qi Muyuan, Guan Jiaze and others heard about it, they all sent silver tickets, saying that they should also have a part of them in return to the master. Even Xu Chengyuan, who is not financially well-off, also sent a silver ticket over.