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, Cui He raised his head cautiously, only to see the emperor staring at him with a gloomy face.

The emperor did not want to recall Zhao Xuanhuan back to Beijing.

Cui He lowered his head and said, "I didn't say it directly." Zhao Xuanhuan didn't talk much, except for official business, even his family just asked lightly, and he must have said that if there was any inappropriate sentence in those words asked, it was to go to the movements of several important ministers he had asked.

That's an indirect inquiry. The emperor smiled coldly, "If he can keep to himself, I will also call him back, since he cares so much about the court, let him continue to treat the plague in the south, until the plague is over." ”

Cui He hurriedly said: "Yes." ”

After Cui He finished replying to the emperor's words, he talked about what he brought back from the south.

"This time I went to the south, and I heard the locals talk about something, so I thought about showing it to the emperor. However, the things were brought back from Zhejiang, and the ministers were afraid that they would bring illness on them, so they did not dare to bring them into the palace without authorization. ”

The emperor put down the fold in his hand and squinted his eyes at Cui He, "What is it?" ”

Cui He bowed and said: "I heard that it is an agricultural product produced by the seeds of the imperial court's trial tenon, the fruit is as big as an arm and a small fist, a seedling can bear four or five fruits, and the most important thing is that this agricultural product can grow in saline-alkali land and sandy land." ”

The emperor stood up from his throne in surprise when he heard this, "The imperial court has not tried to plant seeds in Zhejiang, who planted your fruit?" ”

Cui He said: "The minister doesn't understand agricultural products, and when the minister was inspecting the epidemic, he met a person, and the person sent the agricultural goods to the minister, and he was afraid that the minister would not believe it, so he cooked two pieces and ate them in front of the minister." This year's famine, he and the people who brought him to cultivate the land made a living.

The emperor's eyes gradually became happy, "I order you to immediately bring the agricultural goods that you have brought back to the collection." ”

After speaking, he paused again, "Where is the person who grows agricultural crops?" ”

Cui He was also slightly relieved to see that the emperor was happy, "The minister brought him back from the south, and he was arranged at the post station in order to rule out being infected with the plague.

The minister entered the palace to report to the emperor, and he also returned to the Wumu Marquis's mansion. ”

Emperor Yan frowned slightly in surprise, "Wumu Hou Mansion? ”

"Exactly" Cui He said, "That person is a descendant of the Wumuhou family, the Wumuhou Mansion got the seeds of the imperial court, and ordered people to go to Zhejiang to cultivate, but when the harvest season came, there was a plague in the south, and the official roads everywhere were wells, and the news was cut off." If it weren't for the minister's order, he would have gone all the way south. ”

The Emperor turned and sat back on his throne.

Cui He said: "The minister heard that Shen Rantian, the son of the old general Shen, planted a trial seed in the south with the Xue family, but there is no news of Shen Rantian so far. ”

The emperor picked up the imperial pen and dipped it in cinnabar, and quickly wrote on the fold of his hand, "Order someone to go to the south to find Shen Rantian, and be sure to find someone." ”

After the emperor finished writing the edict, he asked Gonggong Zhang to fold his hand and hand it to Cui He.

Cui He saluted respectfully.

"And," the emperor said, raising his head, "presenting the fruits that have been brought from the south." ”

Cui He said: "It's better to ask the Minister of Guards to read it before submitting it." ”

The Emperor's voice was low, "No need, I'll show it to me immediately." ”

Rong Hua took Xue Yishuang to sit in the hugging building early in the morning, and listened to the housekeeper's mother-in-law, "The rooster killed today is especially good, and it flies high after letting go." ”

Rong Hua smiled slightly, "Tomorrow on the twenty-eighth will be steamed and offered flowers", and ordered the blessing to be sent to the clan according to my instructions. ”

The housekeeper said: "Don't worry, young lady, the hair in front of you is ready, and it can be steamed out early in the morning." ”

Rong Hua drank some water and "prepared more pasta" to prevent the number of visitors from coming out in the new year. ”

The Xue family split up in the first year, and there will be many people in the clan to accompany the old lady to be lively.

Take care of the daily chores" Rong Hua and Yishuang went to the old lady's room to watch the play list.

Xue Yishuang said with a smile: "Yiwan told me that the seventh brother wants to see the martial arts drama and ask his grandmother to set up two lively plays for them." ”

It's not just the seventh master who loves to watch it, but none of the fourth, fifth, and sixth masters don't like to be lively. Yishuang said it at this time to make the old lady happy.

The old lady's voice was slightly hoarse, and her face was a little red, "These monkeys, why did you ask me for it this year." ”

The Xue family has been busy with the old lady's illness for the past few days, for fear that the old lady's phlegm addiction will be more serious.

Rong Hua said with a smile: "Only the old lady in the family has watched the most complete plays, so I'm afraid we won't be able to order it." ”

The old lady smiled faintly: "What I know is all old dramas, and they may not like to listen to them." ”

Xue Yishuang coaxed the old lady with a smile, "It's the old drama that looks delicious." ”

The old lady sighed, "You, just make me happy" said and took Xue Yishuang's hand, her eyes became brighter and brighter, "In a blink of an eye, you are all going to get married, and we are going to become princesses of the county." ”

Xue Yishuang originally wanted to make the old lady happy, but when she heard the old lady say this, she couldn't help but burst into tears.

Rong Hua quietly retreated from the inner room.

Xue Yishuang is also nervous these days, it is good to shed some tears in front of the old lady, and the old lady will also teach Xue Yishuang many etiquette in the clan.

As soon as Rong Hua walked out of the courtyard, Su Changchang's family came and said, "The Tao family has come to give a New Year's gift." ”

Yesterday, she asked people to send New Year's gifts to Mrs. Tao's second and third Mrs. Tao's families, and they were returned so quickly.

The second wife of Tao, Wang, entered the inner house.

Rong Hua greeted him with a smile, "Why did the second aunt come over?" "It stands to reason that Mrs. Tao is an elder and should not return her New Year's gift.

Mrs. Tao said: "It's not good, but it's a wild goods sent from the countryside, although you don't lack it, it is also the mind of me and your second uncle, by the way, I will bring the third uncle and Brother Hong's share together, these days you are tired of taking care of the house, is it not possible that we are not allowed to send something to reward?" ”

Rong Hua was amused by Mrs. Tao.

The two of them went to sit in the warm pavilion, and Mrs. Tao talked about it for a while, and looked left and right cautiously.

Rong Hua asked Jinxiu to lead the little maid down, and Mrs. Tao said in a low voice: "There are some rumors outside, you probably haven't heard of it, I came here this time to give you a wake-up call, so that you can think about it in your heart." ”

Second Mrs. Tao's expression was serious, as if it was an extremely important matter, and Rong Hua nodded.

Second Mrs. Tao said: "It is said outside that Master Hou was not born to Mrs. Xue. ”

Rong Hua's heart couldn't help sinking, she really hadn't heard of such rumors outside. How could Xue Mingrui's life experience suddenly be brought up.

Second Mrs. Tao's eyes flickered, "It's an old acquaintance of your second uncle who has some skills in Beijing, and I went to see your second uncle yesterday and mentioned this by the way." Did Master Hou offend someone somewhere recently?

How could anyone be so seriously injured. ”

It was impossible for her to tell Xue Mingrui to Mrs. Tao Er, "Probably because of Master Hou, he was promoted to a first-class young master." ”

Second Mrs. Tao nodded, "There must be political disagreements that don't see the promotion of the Hou Ye, but this kind of thing can't be said to be flat, and it will be passed on for a while, and you will leave if you have a thought in your heart." ”

Nothing is empty, since someone mentioned Xue Mingrui's life experience, it is impossible to give up, the emperor secretly executed Xue Chongli, the Duke of Anguo, and very few people know about it, and now if Xue Mingrui's life experience is used as an introduction to reveal the Xue family's affairs back then, the Xue family will definitely be impeached by the imperial history, and the emperor doesn't know how to deal with it.

Now that the Chinese New Year is coming, Mrs. Tao is also very busy, and she talked to Rong Hua about some wells, and Mrs. Tao is leaving, "I don't know if you and Hou Ye are willing to go back to Cangnan Hutong in the second year of junior high school." ”

Back to Tao's house? Mrs. Tao is afraid that she will feel lonely when she returns to her parents' house, so she will arrange it like this!

Rong Hua smiled slightly, "I will definitely go back." ”

Second Mrs. Tao smiled and nodded, "That's good, your second uncle won't go home at the old lady's grave, if you don't come back, this year will be a little deserted." ”

Second Mrs. Tao left Tao's house, and Rong Hua tentatively told the old lady what Second Mrs. Tao had heard.

The old lady was not surprised on her face, "I knew there would be such a day," she said, leaning on the pillow, "You are young and have not experienced the change of dynasty, so naturally you don't know whose secrets will be dug up at this time, as long as you don't stand on the same position, they will try their best to seriously hurt you, so everyone will stand up as a party, that is, to support each other at a critical moment, so as not to fall at this time."

"Although I arranged it early back then, people thought that your mother gave birth to Mingrui, but there is no impermeable wall in this world. If there is no mistake, people will still be framed, not to mention that this thing is true. ”

Rong Hua heard the words of Second Mrs. Tao and knew that this matter was not so easy to solve, and now after listening to the old lady's words, he confirmed what he thought in his heart, "What should I do if this matter is caused to Yushi?" ”

The old lady closed her eyes, "The key is to see what the emperor thinks." If the emperor is persuaded by the imperial history, even if he does not punish Ming Rui severely, he will not reuse him, but if the emperor has other ideas, it is useless to let the imperial history and the officials make trouble" After speaking, the old lady glanced at Rong Hua, "I think Ming Rui has told you everything in the past." ”

The old lady refers to Xue Chongli, the Duke of Anguo, who was disposed of by the emperor in the company.

Rong Hua did not refute.

The old lady said: "Although the emperor disposed of Chongli at that time, he may not dispose of Mingrui now, this is this time and that time, although our family's shortcomings have been caught, it is not necessarily losing." ”

Rong Hua's eyes lit up as if he had thought of something, "The emperor should have a deeper understanding of these methods." "Who is more familiar with the means of fighting for the position of the prince than the emperor, and no method will escape the emperor's eyes at this time.

So whether there is a mistake now is secondary, and the most important thing is which side Xue Mingrui is on.

Although the process of competing for reserves is long, the only thing that remains unchanged is the position.

Maybe this incident can be used to rehabilitate the Xue family, as long as the emperor says no, who will pursue it in the future.

Rong Hua smiled slightly, "Then I'll prepare for the New Year." "Ignoring any rumors is the best way to deal with them.

The old lady nodded appreciatively, "What do you think about Rongyue?" ”

Rong Hua bowed his head and said, "I think that since the Queen Mother sent Miss Ma to the palace, we might as well use Miss Ma's identity to tell the Queen Mother." ”

The old lady couldn't deny it, "The people in the palace are thinking a lot, don't be careless." ”

Rong Hua nodded, just because Ma Rongyue was smart, she was willing to use this method.

After Rong Hua and the old lady finished speaking, they were looking at the list of New Year's gifts, and Mother Li came into the house and said, "Wang Bao, the steward sent by the young lady to eastern Zhejiang, has returned. ”

The official road in the south was blocked, and there was no news from Wang Bao's side, how could he suddenly return to Beijing. Now go to Kyoto to check Yan, Wang Bao......

Rong Hua simply explained to the old lady, "Wang Bao went to eastern Zhejiang to try farming, but Hou Yetuo asked people to find him several times but couldn't get in touch with him. ”

The old lady looked at the smile on Rong Hua's face, "It's a good thing to be able to come back." ”

Rong Hua said: "I think so." ”

The old lady asked Mother Li to lie down and waved her hand to Rong Hua, "You go and get busy with yours!"

Something made the next person go back and forth and left. ”

Mother Li put down the curtain and let the old lady lean on, and then went out of the inner room with Rong Hua.

Rong Hua turned his head to look at the inner room with some worry, "The old lady's illness has not improved. ”

"Who says it's not," Li's mother's face was also full of sadness, "I used to be able to walk around the house for a while every day, but these days I can only lie in bed and eat less." ”

The old lady's illness used to be controlled with medicated stones, but now she doesn't see any improvement with any medicine, and it's not as good as day by day.

Mother Li said in a low voice: "The old lady is like this, and she still wants to enter the palace for the New Year." ”

On the first day of the first year, he ordered to enter the palace to ask the queen mother for peace, and the old lady dragged her sick body into the palace for Xue Mingrui. The old lady's decision is useless even if she persuades her, Rong Hua pondered for a moment, "Master Hou has asked people to inquire if there is an Xinglin Holy Hand among the people" There are already two Tai Doctors in the Tai Hospital, and the medicinal materials used for the old lady's diagnosis and treatment are also taken from the palace, unless you find a better Xinglin Holy Hand, there will be no turnaround, "There is no other way now." ”

Mother Li said, "The old lady has been talking about the little master in the young lady's belly all day long, as long as the young lady and the little young master are safe, and after surviving the winter, I can't say that the old lady's illness will get better." ”

I'm afraid that this winter will not be peaceful, and the old lady's illness is the most unbearable.

"If there is anything in the house in the future, don't tell the old lady in advance," Rong Hua raised his eyes to look at Mother Li, "We try to report good news and not bad news."

As soon as the old lady asked, the mother said that everything was fine. ”

Mother Li nodded, "The slave listens to the young lady." Rong Hua returned to his courtyard, and Wang Bao was already standing outside the door.

Rong Hua asked Wang Bao to enter the side room to speak.

Wang Bao stepped forward and saluted first, and then bowed his head and said, "The road from the south to Jicheng has been blocked1j,

followed Lord Cui into the city. ”

Wang Baobi was much darker and thinner when he left, although he changed into a brand new cotton robe, he still couldn't hide the dust.

Rong Hua asked Yanling to bring a small pestle and let Wang Bao sit.

Wang Bao thanked him and sat down, but he was much more stable than before.

"I didn't expect you to go to eastern Zhejiang, there was a plague in the south, I asked people to go to the south to look for it several times, but they couldn't find you."

Wang Bao still has palpitations when he thinks of the plague in the south, "What the young lady said is that I also want to bring the news back, but the imperial court is strictly ......"

Xue Mingrui also sent people to the south, but when he arrived at the checkpoint, he refused to accommodate without paperwork. In the Great Zhou Dynasty, there was a precedent for the plague to spread to the capital, so all the plagues in various places were closed and no one was allowed to come and go, unless it was an official sent by the imperial court to inspect the plague.

Rong Hua frowned, "What you said about Master Cui......"

Wang Baodao: "Lord Cui was sent by the imperial court to inspect the plague. ”

Then let's go, it's just why the officials who inspected the plague would bring Wang Bao back to the capital.

Wang Bao hurriedly said, "It's a coincidence, Lord Cui happened to be a little from the trial farming, and sent officials to check, the little one just remembered, if he said the name of the Hou Ye said that he could not ask the official to bring a letter back to Beijing, I didn't expect that Lord Cui would be concerned about the agricultural products of the trial farming, and bring the small one into Beijing together." ”

How could there be such a coincidence.

Wang Baodao: "That adult seems to know the third master of the Shen family, and he also asked about the third master of the young Shen family."

It's a pity that the third master of the Shen family is not with the little ones, otherwise he would have been able to return to Beijing this time," Wang Bao said, opening the package in his hand to reveal the contents inside, "This is the agricultural product we tried to farm." ”

Pieces of round things were exposed, similar to the test seeds given by the imperial court.

Speaking of the agricultural products that were planted in a trial, Wang Bao's face was full of smiles: "A seedling can produce four or five, the small ones and the tenants have never seen this kind of agricultural products, and the south has been hit by disasters and there is no rice grain, so the small ones and the tenants try to cook and eat it, not only can they be hungry but also delicious." ”

Since the imperial court allowed the trial planting, this fruit must be no problem, but I don't know why it didn't work out after planting it several times.

Wang Baodao: "It's still the method that Shen Sanye came up with, seedlings can be planted on seeds, and they can grow on saline-alkali land, and sandy land is the best. ”

Shen Rantian really took great pains to try to grow seeds.

Wang Baodao: "This kind of agricultural products are good, not afraid of drought, not afraid of thin soil, but not very cold-tolerant, we plant it late, otherwise it will grow better." ”

The agricultural products grown in Kyori did not bear any fruit, and it seems that it was because of the cold weather.

Rong Hua looked at Wang Bao. She didn't choose the wrong person, Wang Bao is really a down-to-earth and hard-working person" "Your outer room gave birth to a son for you, I asked people to send some of the New Year's money to the past, and you will go to the account room to receive fifty taels of silver after a while, you have worked hard these days, and I will arrange an errand for you in the house after the New Year." ”

Wang Bao hurriedly knelt down and thanked him, "The little woman can give birth to a child smoothly is the young lady's care, where does the small dare not know the grace, the small one does not ask for an errand in the house, only asks to go to eastern Zhejiang to plant and try farming in the next year." ”

It would be best if Wang Bao could go, Rong Hua said: "This is inevitably hard." ”

Wang Bao replied respectfully, "I'm afraid that I have to start from scratch if I change people, the small one is finally familiar with it, I can't say that there will be a big harvest in a year and a half, and the small one is not afraid of hard work and just wants to do everything for the young lady."

is a smart person who knows how to have a beginning and an end, so that she will be willing to entrust big things in the future.

Rong Hua nodded.

Wang Bao went to the account room to receive the silver, and Rong Hua called the cow woman to "send this bag of agricultural goods to the big kitchen to cook and see." ”

Mrs. Niu saw some things in the old lady's room, and when she saw the things on the table, she only felt strange and didn't say much.

Rong Hua watched as Mrs. Niu went out with her things. I couldn't help but think about it in my heart, although Shen Rantian didn't come back with Wang Bao, as long as the imperial court inquired about this matter, I couldn't say that I could send someone to find Shen Rantian, thinking of this, Rong Hua called Feng Lichang's house, "You go to General Shen's house." ”。 ，