After Zheng Yan went back, he first went to greet his grandmother, but the old lady chatted and chatted to the end, and pulled Zheng Yan to stay for a long time.

As mentioned earlier, the four concubines of An Guogong are all Tongfang maids who have grown up together since childhood, and it is difficult to give a name according to the royal rules, but An Guogong did not marry other women after marrying his wife, coupled with his status and achievements, the clan government only condemned it, and later saw that the four were virtuous and virtuous and had children, so they turned a blind eye and admitted it.

The eldest lady is a famous family, and An Guogong's boss and general in the army back then, and now she is being given the title of Zhuguo to practice at home.

Generally, the civil and military officials of the Great Zhou Dynasty have many practices, especially some of the natural qualifications are good and there are many who have not been delayed due to affairs, so that the age is very long and the energy is enough, but the official position is limited, and the imperial court needs to explore and promote young people.

Among them, an official assessment, a small examination every year, a big examination every five years, a term of six years, generally in a position for a maximum of two consecutive terms, and then transferred to other places, if the annual examination is not qualified, it will be recorded, and if it is not qualified for three consecutive years, it will be dismissed.

If there is a major mistake during this period, there will be a punishment and conviction of the superior imperial history, if the average pass of the annual examination for two consecutive years, there will be a promotion appointment, and it will continue in the new office, if there is no fault during the term of office, it can be promoted at the discretion and not limited to two terms, but some special official positions do not have to follow these regulations, and they need to be selected as appropriate.

The general officials have been doing it for a long time, the family is stable and wealthy, and the children are also more married, so they will consider retirement.

One is that the foundation of the family business is completely integrated with the dynasty, and if you don't want to return to the countryside or clan land, the imperial court will seek the advice of retired officials to find a place to live on your own, but you must choose from the city above the county or some scenic spots specially set up by the imperial court to place meritorious heroes, and there is still a corresponding preferential treatment, but you must accept the imperial court's call;

One is to return to the hometown, the imperial court will regularly issue subsidies, but compared to the former, it is much worse, and there is no house and good land.

The grandmother's maiden family belongs to the former, and she settled down by the Luoyang Imperial City, after all, there are three generations of generals.

In fact, not only officials, the same is true of the throne, the Great Zhou Dynasty has been established for 900 years from Emperor Wu to the current emperor, Emperor Wu does not say, after Emperor Xuan, the crown prince will generally be established within 15 to 20 years before the emperor's abdication, and the succession will be completed after about ten years, and at this time, the emperor will resign from all positions in the court, take his wife and concubine back to the clan to concentrate on practice, and no longer ask about the affairs of the court.

Generally, monks will have at least 200 years of lifespan after breaking through the humane realm, and the royal children can break through the humane realm when they are young, and the elected crown prince is mostly forty or fifty years old, which ensures that the prince has enough time to develop his wings, and the abdicated emperor is still considered to be in the prime of life, and the throne is too stable.

Zheng Yan's grandfather is now in the clan land, the grandfather said that he will go back in a few years, and Zheng Yan has also gone back there, in the Yiwang City at the foot of Yiwang Mountain, more than 3,000 miles northwest of Luoyang, last time I went back with the grandfather to see his grandfather, and there are many relatives, most of the people in a city are people from the Zheng family,

I heard that there are many villages on Yiwang Mountain that are also places where the Zheng clan people live, these Zheng Yan don't feel anything, but he just likes a Taoist sect on Yiwang Mountain, where the monks are either old or fairy or young and vigorous, and everyone is naturally and harmonious, in short, he likes it very much.

Zheng Yan came out of his grandmother and returned to his small courtyard.

The front of the small courtyard is a two-storey small building, on one side is the courtyard wall, there is an old locust tree growing under the root of the wall, and the crown of the tree is partly set up outside the courtyard wall; on the other side is a row of side rooms, there is a pomegranate tree near the door and the small building in the wing room, and there are three plum trees and three peach trees in the courtyard; under the eaves in front of the small building are two rectangular flower beds, which are planted with various flowers and plants such as peony and canna; there are also some bonsai green plants, there is an open-air corridor frame near the entrance courtyard wall, and the shelves are full of wisteria and grape vines, and now the flowers are almost gone, there are still dense leaves left, every midsummer, Zheng Yan will enjoy the cool chat with them here。

They are the two maids beside Zheng Yan, they have been together since childhood, eating and living together, the eldest grandfather once said with a smile, Xiao Yan has no anger in his heart, no dryness and no arrogance, thanks to these two girls by his side, every time he thinks of them, Zheng Yan is indeed infinitely satisfied, and he has never told anyone that he can protect them for the rest of his life, instead of being bullied by them in front of him.

——————

Two years older than Zheng Yan is Yingyue, who was three years old that year, and one night when the moon was empty, her mother took the hand of a little girl in white and entered her room.

At that time, Zheng Yan only felt that his mother and the young lady had brought the moonlight outside into the house, and a little starlight lingered around them and frolicked happily, and the mother put the little girl's hand in Zheng Yan's hand, squatted down and put the little heads of the two children together and said, "Yan'er, you have to hold Yingyue's hand all the time in the future, protect her, Yue'er, Yan'er will be your destination in the future",

The two children probably didn't understand much at the time, but they both looked at each other with some joy, the three-year-old thing is probably for many children when they grow up, but Zheng Yan has never forgotten that night, the moonlight and her sweet smile that night.

On an afternoon in the autumn of Zheng Yan's ten-year-old year, Zongren Mansion Zuo Zongzheng came to Anguo Mansion with a little girl, handed the little girl to Zheng Yan, and only said, "Her name is Xinluo, and she will be your person in the future", after speaking, he glanced at Yingyue behind Zheng Yan, that look seemed to be able to freeze the surrounding air, Zheng Yan obviously felt Yingyue's nervousness for a moment,

An Guogong on the side snorted coldly, and the stagnant qi eased down, and then Zuo Zongzheng left a sentence for An Guogong and left, "Don't do what happened last time a second time."

Xin Luo, who was standing behind Zuo Zongzheng from beginning to end, didn't say a word, cold, like Zuo Zongzheng who had just left, Zheng Yan thought so at the time.

Later, Xinluo stayed, but Zheng Yan didn't know how to get along with her at all, obviously there were a lot of things he wanted to ask, but when he saw Xinluo's cold and rejecting people thousands of miles away, he didn't dare to step forward, Yingyue on the side just smiled and went out to find the fourth aunt and grandmother to learn embroidery, and there was no intention to ease the atmosphere at all.

There are still four people in the yard, and the eldest grandmother saw that Yingyue was young and not very good at taking care of people, so she transferred the two personal maids around her, Chunmei Xia Xue, and the eldest grandfather arranged for Cheng Feng, the youngest son of Uncle Cheng in the backyard, and Xu Qing, who had followed him for many years, into the backyard.

The small courtyard mileage peak was practicing martial arts on the side, completely unaware of the awkwardness of the atmosphere, Chunmei and Xia Xue were cleaning the house that was obviously very clean, Xu Qing stood not far away and looked at Xinluo frowning slightly, Xinluo stood beside Zheng Yan without saying a word, as if waiting for Zheng Yan's order.

Zheng Yan doesn't know how to assign people, the people around him seem to be busy with things, they always perform their own duties, and they don't say these things when they occasionally play and chat, so he scratched his head and had to say, "Xinluo, I'll take you to your room to have a look?"

Xinluo's face was expressionless, and Zheng Yan had to lead the way.

Zheng Yan lives on the second floor, on the left side of the lobby on the first floor is the study, there is a small bedroom in the study, in fact, it is an arhat bed, you can lie down for a while when you are tired of reading; on the right side is a clean room for rest, and the clean room is a convenient place for washing; there is a back hall behind the main hall, mainly for eating and sitting; on the second floor, in addition to Zheng Yan's bedroom, there are several small bedrooms, Yingyue lives in one, and Chunmei and Xia Xue each live in one, Zheng Yan didn't think much about it and led Xinluo to the bedroom next to Yingyue.

The room is not big, a shelf bed, the shelf is covered with a white woven curtain, a desk and a chair by the window, one side of the table is next to the bed, the other side is a wardrobe, next to the wardrobe is a basin stand, opposite the basin rack is a hanger, just on the left side of the door, and then there is a dresser, a large bronze mirror on the stage, and an embroidery pier is placed under the table, the whole room is simple and clean.

Zheng Yan looked at Xinluo and said, "Our dinner is usually sent from the back kitchen, or you can go to the canteen in the back kitchen to eat, there are mornings, noons and evenings all day, you stay for a while, I will go to the third housekeeper to see if your clothes and supplies are ready",

As he spoke, he was about to leave the room,

"I will go back to the Zongren Mansion every three days, and I will stay there for three days before returning to you, Your Highness", Xinluo finally spoke,

The voice was very cold, but it was very good, like the birdsong in the valley of Yiwang Mountain, Zheng Yan thought like this, and subconsciously said, "Okay", and then realized that it was not right, and asked, "What are you doing in the Sect Mansion?"

Xinluo was silent, Zheng Yan was a little at a loss, so he had to exit the room, intending to ask his grandfather.

I remember that I happened to see the third uncle going out in the grandfather's study, that is, the third son of the grandfather, named Zheng Kaixuan, and the third uncle rubbed Zheng Yan's head and said, "Xiao Yan married a little daughter-in-law again, and I want to invite the third uncle to drink happy wine when I turn back."

Zheng Yan had long been accustomed to the third uncle's rogue temperament, and broke free from the big hand with a bitter face, he knew that the third uncle was doing things in the Zongren Mansion, so he wanted to ask, Zheng Kaixuan knew what he wanted to ask, and pointed to the direction of the back room, which probably meant to ask the grandfather, Zheng Yan nodded and walked in.

The grandfather in the house was sitting behind the desk and looking at a piece of stationery, Zheng Yan saw that the grandfather did not look up, so he honestly stood in front of the table and waited, and after a while, the grandfather put down the letter and asked, "Do you want to ask about Xinluo?"

Zheng Yan nodded, the eldest grandfather thought for a while and said, "Yingyue was brought into the palace by your mother, I know some but not much, as for today's Xinluo, on the surface, it is just a personal guard assigned by the Zongren Mansion to the princes, of course, it is also a personal maid",

At this time, the eldest grandfather did not forget to tease Zheng Yan, Zheng Yan blushed a little, thinking of the third uncle's ridicule just now and the daughter-in-law married by the eldest grandfather was his personal maid.

An Guogong will no longer fall into trouble when he sees that the goal is achieved, and the child still doesn't understand anything, in case the joke is too much, it will be troublesome if he doesn't marry a daughter-in-law like the fourth and fifth children.

"Have you seen that Zuo Zongzheng who came today, right? He is my cousin, he served in it when he was young, mainly doing some things to punish the royal children who make mistakes, none of your brothers and sisters are not afraid of him, in recent years, he has specialized in cultivating dead guards, Xinluo seems to be his own*, by the way, did Xinluo tell you that she still has to go back to the Zongren Mansion for training?".

Zheng Yan nodded and said, "Xinluo said that she would go back once every three days and come back after staying for three days, she didn't say what to do."

An Guogong groaned, "Yes, I don't know how the people are over there, although your third uncle works over there, he belongs to different subordinates, and he doesn't know much, okay, this kind of thing will slowly understand you in the future, and there is no need to know now."

Zheng Yan walked out of his grandfather's study, bathed in the bright sunshine, the previous gloom was swept away, the family said that he was an optimistic and open-minded person, the grandfather said that he was not obsessed, he didn't understand at the age of ten, and he didn't think much about it.

After that, I went to find the third housekeeper and went back to my small courtyard, thinking about whether to practice or study along the way, I just arrived at the door and saw a figure flying out, not flying, as if it was kicked out, Zheng Yan looked at Cheng Feng, and then looked at the opposite door, Xinluo was standing there,

As soon as Feiyang's clothes calmed down, Chunmei's good-looking eyes on the side opened wide, covering her mouth in disbelief, Cheng Feng saw Zheng Yan coming back and hurriedly got up and said with a smile that it was okay, I wanted to talk to Xinluo just now, and I was surprised when I spoke.

Cheng Feng Zheng Yan knew that at the age of eighteen, he was refining qi and transforming the cultivation of gods, but he usually didn't pay much attention to qi training, and mostly focused on martial arts.

Cheng Feng said in a low voice, "It's a killing technique", Zheng Yan was a little shocked, he often heard adults talk about some martial arts, and the people in the house also practiced martial arts, as if the people in the sect cultivated more martial arts, and there was also a kind of people who practiced killing skills, such as the army, the killer assassin and some demon cultivators, and there were many troops in the family who retreated.

Zheng Yan looked at both sides and saw that they were all right, smiled and said, "Don't get hurt, you can continue", and walked towards the house as he spoke, Xinluo ignored others and followed him into the house.

As the days passed, Zheng Yan entered Zongxue at the age of eight, and the teacher first taught some enlightenment books, and then began to read the Confucian Legalist scriptures when he was older.

Zongxue is a place similar to a family school managed by the Zongren Mansion, and the school place is in the Zongren Mansion, so whenever Xinluo wants to go to the Zongren Mansion, he will walk with Zheng Yan, and the two of them basically walk back on foot, and it is only two quarters of an hour on the road, there are a few times Zheng Yan and those playmates on the street are fighting, and Xinluo, who doesn't know the situation, almost killed those children,

Fortunately, Zheng Yan always remembered that Cheng Feng was knocked down at the beginning, and when he saw that Xinluo was about to do something, he hurriedly blocked in front of them, and after walking away, he had to preach Xinluo, what are they all my friends, we are playing, not fighting, let alone killing, if you don't beat them half to death, you will hurt your arms and legs, and, don't fight and kill at every turn, the eldest brother of the family mileage peak is also very old, and it is nothing to take a few hits from you, but others are different, girls still have to look like girls, you see how good Yingyue is... Oh, of course, Yingyue is older than the two of us, but she's only two years older.

Xinluo on the side was expressionless, and he didn't know if he listened or not.

Zheng Yan feels that he has really grown up a lot since Xinluo came, and many times he will think about how to get along with others and how to talk, especially how to get along with Xinluo.

Once during the recess of Zongxue, Zheng Jing and Zheng Chi came over to find Zheng Yan's trouble again, it was nothing more than a quarrel between some children, but somehow both sides were a little angry, and they developed into the end to make a move, Zheng Yan was two years younger than Zheng Jing, one year older than Zheng Chi, but it couldn't help two people to fight, and they were knocked down by others after a few rounds, and most of the brothers and sisters around were children from eight to eleven or twelve years old, no one dared to come up and fight, you must know that the fight between brothers and sisters in the family will be punished by the Zongren Mansion.

Zheng Yan, who was pressed to the ground, was weak for a while, feeling completely useless, Zheng Jing's whole person pressed on him, Zheng Chi pressed his neck and head, panting hard, just when there was nothing to do, he felt that his body was light, and the two people pressed on it were gone, Zheng Yan hurriedly got up, and saw Xinluo standing in front of him, and Zheng Jing Zheng Chi was lying on the side*,

The children present were stunned for a while, and at this time, a slightly older person shouted to Xinluo, "Where did you come from, dare to beat the royal family", Zheng Yan remembered that his name seemed to be Zheng Tan, whose children didn't remember.

The royal family didn't dare to fight with each other, but there was no concern about fighting with people with foreign surnames or subordinates, Zheng Chi on the ground shouted "Brother, beat her", so a few children came out and raised their feet and kicked Xiang Xinluo,

Zheng Yan was still a little gloating, thinking that this was your own bad luck, but what happened next made him tremble instantly, because Xinluo didn't dodge or dodge the few kicks that kicked him, so he took it like that, and the small body standing in front of Zheng Yan shook a few times.

Those children kicked a few times and saw that the other party didn't fight back, so they picked up their fists and hit Xinluo again, Zheng Yan was completely angry, even angrier than being pressed to the ground just now, and pulled Xinluo to the back and pounced on the children in front of him, regardless of the punches and kicks of 3721, there was no discipline at all,

Some of the children punched back, some held their heads and stepped back, as if other children had joined, and then the children's noise finally led the adults over, including Zuo Zongzheng, Zuo Zongzheng glanced at the scene and turned his head to Xinluo on the side and said, "Go back",

Zheng Yan had already figured out why Xinluo didn't fight back just now, seeing that Xinluo was leaving, he hurriedly grabbed her little hand and turned his head to look at Zuo Zongzheng angrily, and he didn't know where he got the courage to say loudly, "She's mine."

Everyone didn't dare to come out, and all the children of the Zheng family who were studying in Zongxue dared to speak loudly in front of Lord Zuo Zongzheng, and they only dared to take half a breath when they were panting.

Zuo Zongzheng's perennial face that had not seen a trace of smile seemed to have changed without any change, looking directly at Zheng Yan in front of him, Zheng Yan did not flinch, and his eyes did not dodge, Xinluo on the side broke free of Zheng Yan's tightly clenched hand, and knelt silently in front of Zuo Zongzheng, Zheng Yan stepped forward to block Xinluo and Zuo Zongzheng.

Since Xinluo came, he had heard of some of the things that Zuo Zongzheng and his responsible people were responsible for, and it was said that he would often send his men to collect homeless children from all over the country, raise them in the Zongren Mansion, constantly cultivate and eliminate, teach them to kill people and protect people, and what kind of rules to abide by, the rules there are bigger than the sky, and the emperor can't interfere with it, many children can't withstand training and torture a lot of tragic deaths, and they can cultivate* Only two or three out of ten came out, and Zheng Yan was very scared at this time, afraid that he would never see Xinluo again, so he couldn't retreat, and he had to bear this matter.

Zuo Zongzheng finally spoke, as if sneering contemptuously, "Your people?",

Zheng Yan did not back down, and replied stiffly, "Yes, we have nothing to do with her when we fight."

Zuo Zongzheng turned his head to the other children and said, "Stand up for the fight."

Several people knew that they couldn't hide, so they lowered their heads and cried with their faces and stood up one after another, and then Zuo Zongzheng continued, "The one who fought and I went to the Jingjing Hall, and the others all stood outside the room, and they were not allowed to move or speak for an hour."