The person responsible for escorting "Xiangrui" into Beijing this time was Shen Hua, the eldest son of the Shen family.

Although he is often counted out as useless behind his half-brother Shen Qiu, and is called "my stupid brother", as the heir of a large valve, it is impossible for him to go anywhere.

He has a slender figure, good facial features, and an angular and righteous face, although he can't enter the ranks of beautiful men, he can also be called dignified - if he stands with Shen Qiu, who has a dwarf figure, it is impossible for anyone to believe that they are two brothers.

On his body, he also exuded an extremely powerful True Yuan aura.

This proves that he has already become a powerhouse in the Fourth Realm before he is thirty years old - although he can't compare to top-notch geniuses like Chu Fengge and Zhao Yan, he can be regarded as the leader of the Great Qi Dynasty.

If it weren't for this, the Shen family would not have had high hopes for him and let him represent the family in the "Luoshui Conference"; It is also impossible for the royal family to once put him as a candidate for the horse and consider marrying Princess Zhaoning to him.

At this moment, Shen Hua was leaning on a silk cushion and sitting in a luxurious carriage.

His brow furrowed, and his face was covered with gloom.

Beside him, there was a little scholar with clear eyebrows and fair skin, who was carefully massaging his shoulders.

After a short silence, the little scholar suddenly spoke: "Young master, the palace has arranged for you to enter the palace tomorrow to face the saint." What are your plans for today? Is it going straight to the family's courtyard, or—"

"—Shen Qiu, what is the name of the elixir workshop he ran recently?" Shen Hua interrupted the little scholar's words.

"It's called 'Shouchangfang', young master," the little scholar replied, "It's an inheritance under the name of Gu Xu, the head of the Exorcism Division." ”

It has long been no secret that Gu Xu has an elixir workshop in Luojing City.

Recently, under the management of Shen Qiu, it can be said that many big people have sent gifts to the party, and many organizations and wealthy households have signed large orders with them.

"My rebellious brother," Shen Hua said with a frown, "Not long ago, I wrote a letter to cut off the family, just to go to that Gu Xu's mansion to be a guest."

"I really don't understand what he thinks.

"Our Jinling Shen family is a descendant of immortals and a famous family in the world; That Gu Xu is just an insignificant six-rank official, a little viscount who can't be hereditary.

"What Gu Xu can give him, the family can give it to him."

When he spoke, Shen Hua's expression looked complicated, and there seemed to be a lot of things hidden in his eyes. The little scholar next to him didn't dare to respond for a while.

He paused for a moment, and then ordered: "Since it is arranged for us to enter the palace tomorrow, then I will simply go to that 'Shouchangfang' today...... Well, there's something important that I have to tell my brother personally.

"Baoqin, you go and talk to Steward Lu, and ask him to send 'Xiangrui' to the Shen family's courtyard first."

"Yes, young master." The little scholar named "Huqin" replied respectfully.

…………

At the same time, Shouchang Fangzhong.

With a warm smile on his face, Shen Qiu sent a white-bearded old man dressed in brocade out of the gate.

This old man is Ni Jingxiang, the Marquis of Dongping of the Great Qi Dynasty, whose ancestors were heroes who followed Emperor Taizu to pacify the world.

However, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, since there was no particularly powerful monk in the history of this family, it has become an idle nobleman with almost no real power in his hands.

Today, the reason why Dongpinghou came to Shouchangfang was to buy a batch of "Changming Dan" for his grandson - that little kid only has the second realm of cultivation, but he shouts every day to emulate Gu Xu, the leader of the Lantern Festival Ring Competition, and kill all sides at the "Luoshui Conference" and shock the whole country.

"If I'm not mistaken, this workshop is Lord Gu's property!" I only heard Dongping Hou say with a smile, "The person my grandson admires the most is Master Gu." ”

Shen Qiu responded with polite words, and couldn't help but sigh silently in his heart: Lord Gu's reputation in the capital has really been high recently—if you line up his admirers, I'm afraid you can circle Luojing City several times.

After Dongpinghou left, a richly decorated carriage slowly drove from the end of the street and stopped in front of the door of "Shouchangfang".

A tall, well-dressed young man stepped out of the carriage.

This person is none other than Shen Hua.

He looked up, glanced at the plaque hanging on the top of the gate, and muttered, "Which one wrote this?" It looks pretty strong. ”

Seeing his brother's figure, Shen Qiu clasped his hands in front of his chest and couldn't help but squint his eyes.

Although he was standing on the steps outside the workshop door at the moment, the height above his head was still only up to Shen Hua's ears.

"Shen Gongzi, what are you doing?" I only heard Shen Qiu say in a cold tone.

"Shen Qiu, what did the family do wrong to make you resolutely choose to leave?" Hearing his younger brother's sharp words, Shen Hua sighed lightly and said, "You don't even want to call me 'big brother' now. ”

"Didn't you knowingly ask?" Shen Qiu smiled.

Shen Hua was silent for a moment.

He grew up under the same roof as Shen Qiu, so he naturally knew that the head of the Shen family had always looked down on Shen Qiu, a deformed and ugly-looking son, and his attitude towards Shen Qiu had always been cold and bad; He also knew that his mother, Mrs. Shen, had always regarded Shen Qiu as a thorn in her side, and she wanted this slave-born dwarf to disappear from the world immediately.

To tell the truth, for this poor brother, Shen Hua faintly felt some sympathy in his heart.

After all, things like birth and appearance are all arranged by God, and Shen Qiu himself can't make a choice.

However, Shen Hua is a person with a weak personality and indecisiveness.

Although he sympathized with Shen Qiu, he did not dare to confront his parents and did not dare to show a disobedient attitude in front of his parents.

When his parents wanted to teach Shen Qiu a lesson, he only dared to obediently hand over the ring ruler beside him, and he didn't even dare to say more words of pleading.

It is precisely because of Shen Hua's weak and unassertive personality that after he took over the Shen family's industry, he often listened to slander, was deceived by ill-intentioned people, and made many wrong decisions, resulting in the final need for Shen Qiu to help him clean up the mess.

Thinking of this, Shen Hua took a deep breath and said slowly: "Actually, Shen Qiu, the head of the family and his wife...... And I, I hope you can go back.

"It's too embarrassing for you to stay here and take care of the pill workshop for a small six-grade official. You can show your skills on a more open stage, and the clan can provide you with better resources-"

"——This passage was taught by Shen Qianren, right?" The smile on Shen Qiu's face became more and more playful. His strangely shaped features, with the corners of his mouth raised high, looked like a clown on the stage.

Shen Qianren is the name of the head of the Shen family.

Hearing this, Shen Hua hurriedly wanted to deny it.

However, he quickly touched Shen Qiu's line of sight and found that the other party's eyes were extremely sharp, as if to say to him, "Don't lie, I already know the truth."

In the end, Shen Hua nodded and admitted in a low voice, "That's right." ”

"Sure enough," Shen Qiu said with a smile, "With Shen Gongzi, your brain that has been kicked by a donkey, you must not be able to think of such a beautiful scene."

"Tell me, what trouble has the family encountered recently, and you need to beg me to go back to save the scene?

"Is it that a certain imperial historian is investigating the family's missed taxes, or is the emperor trying to abolish the family's estate?"

"You've guessed it." Shen Hua said in a deep voice.

"Nothing hard to guess. I heard that the family sent 'Xiangrui' into the capital with great fanfare today, saying that it would be dedicated to the emperor and praise the peaceful and prosperous world today," Shen Qiu said, "The Shen family is also a big family that has produced immortals in history. If you don't encounter intractable trouble, why do you do such a self-defeating thing? ”

Shen Hua looked at his younger brother in front of him, only to feel that his short and rickety body seemed to have great wisdom, and a pair of asymmetrical eyes seemed to have the magical ability to see the essence through phenomena.

"No one should be a disgrace." Shen Hua thought in his heart for the umpteenth time.

In the past, in the family, every time Shen Qiu helped him clean up the mess, such thoughts would pop up in his head.

"Is that okay?" After a short silence, Shen Hua opened his mouth and asked, "Come home with me, okay?" ”

Shen Qiu shook his head without hesitation.

"My dear big brother," he said in a sharp tone, biting the word 'big brother' very hard, "the Shen family is a boat with a hole, and sooner or later it will sink under the water.

"You didn't even want to jump to the shore in time, but you wanted to drag me into the water...... You say, are you trying to murder your own half-brother? ”

Shen Hua has long been accustomed to his younger brother's yin and yang weird speaking style.

"Then why did you choose to follow a sixth-rank official of the Exorcism Division from a humble background?" He then asked, "In my opinion, at least you have to join the three major sects, or be a disciple of a saint, to be worthy of your identity." ”

"This sixth-rank official is not an ordinary sixth-grade official," Shen Qiu sneered, "He is a sixth-rank official who will not die in the face of the 'fierce god', and a sixth-rank official who even asks the national teacher for his talismans."

"Shen Gongzi, are you stupid when you go to the kiln, you haven't even read the Di newspaper recently?"

Shen Qiu knew that his brother Shen Hua had two major weaknesses: one was weakness, and the other was lustful.

Mistaken because of indulging in beauty - such things have happened to Shen Hua more than once.

Seeing that Shen Hua didn't respond for a while, Shen Qiu continued: "I'd better kindly remind you!" After coming to Luojing, you'd better restrain your color center a little. Recently, Zhao Yan also returned to the capital, and it is said that she often stays in the teaching department at night. If the two of you get into a fight, I don't think you'll be able to beat her. ”

"Zhao Yan......" Shen Hua silently read the name again, his expression was a little complicated. Many years ago, he was also a defeated under Zhao Yan's spear.

"Of course, if you're going to the Elephant Aunt, you don't need to worry about that." Shen Qiu added in a sarcastic tone.

Xianggu Pavilion is a male prostitute green building.

Shen Hua is not only lustful, but also eats both men and women.

Not long ago, he was exposed to the fact that he often entered Willow Lane on Flower Street for the first time and raised male pets in private.

The marriage between him and Princess Zhaoning fell through because of this incident.

According to the grapevine, when Princess Zhaoning learned about this situation, she was so disgusted that she vomited all the dinner that day.

This has also become a major scandal for the Shen family in Jinling.

"Can you please stop mentioning this?" Shen Hua sighed, his face a little embarrassed for a while.

Shen Qiu smiled and changed the subject: "By the way, did my mother also come to the capital with you?" I remember writing to my family at the end of last month saying that I wanted to take care of her personally. ”

Shen Hua pondered for a few seconds and said, "Actually, Shen Qiu, the most important purpose of my coming here to find you today is to tell you about your mother's situation. ”

"What happened to my mother?" Shen Qiu raised his voice, and his eyes became as sharp as a beast. Shen Hua's hesitant tone made him feel an ominous premonition.

She ...... She ......"

"What's wrong with her? Speak up! Don't babble around here! ”

Shen Hua took a deep breath and said, "Shen Qiu, the trouble that the Shen family has encountered recently is more serious than you imagined. Madame and several elders...... They want to force you to go home, so they use your mother as a bargaining chip.

"They claim that your mother committed theft while working as a servant in the family and sent her to the prefect of Jinling.

"If you don't get home in time, they'll torture her and send her to the northern frontier."

Punishment is one of the punishments imposed by the Great Qi Dynasty on women for crimes, which is to be escorted to the border military camp after being punished with corporal punishment such as squirting and slashing, and serving the labor of drying grain and rice.

Shen Qiu's mother, Ning Xiu, used to be a rough servant in the Shen family's mansion.

Although she was once kicked out of the house by the angry Mrs. Shen, she still did not get rid of her slavery.

In the Great Qi Dynasty, the status of mortal slaves and maids was extremely low. If the master claims in front of the government that they have committed any crime, they have no chance to refute it at all.

In fact, compared with the previous Great Chu Dynasty, the situation of the slaves and maids of the Great Qi has been slightly better, after all, Emperor Taizu once issued a decree strictly prohibiting the head of the family from lynching the slaves and maids. Emperor Taizu came from a poor background and knew very well that in front of the powerful and cultivators, ordinary people without cultivation were like livestock, and could only be slaughtered.

But even so, if Madam Shen wants to deal with a lowly servant, she has countless means.

Shen Qiu knew that Mrs. Shen was a very jealous woman, and she regarded every woman who was close to her husband as a thorn in her side, and whenever she had the opportunity, she wanted to kill her.

"Why did you delay talking about such an important matter until now?" Shen Qiu stood on the steps, tiptoeing, grabbing Shen Hua's shoulders and shaking back and forth violently.

Anger was written all over his face, making his expression extremely hideous, like a demon out of hell, in stark contrast to his previous cynical stance.

Shen Hua was a little frightened by him.

He had rarely seen his brother look like that.

"Oops......" Shen Hua was pinched by him very painfully, and couldn't help but snort in pain, "I...... I actually...... I haven't thought about it, should I ...... How do I open my mouth to you...... It's ...... to talk about it."

For what happened to Shen Qiu's mother, Shen Hua actually felt very guilty.

Because he had witnessed his mother make this decision.

He felt that he could have had a chance to stop all of this, to prevent the family's problems from implicating an innocent mortal.

But because of his weakness, because of his fear of his mother, he has been standing silently by the side, standing by and watching, allowing the woman named Ning Xiu to be escorted to the official mansion.

Shen Qiu took a deep breath and tried to keep himself calm while slowly letting go of Shen Hua's shoulder.

"Do you have the 'Broken Void Bead' in your hand?" He asked.

"Yes." Shen Hua replied as he took out a "Broken Void Bead" from the storage magic weapon and handed it to Shen Qiu's hand.

"Give me a quarter of an hour, and I'll go and explain the follow-up affairs in this workshop," Shen Qiu said lightly, his expression was frighteningly calm at this time, and he didn't forget his duties because of the changes in his mother, "Then I'll go to Jinling." ”

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