From April to June every year, it is a good day for the grass to grow and the warbler to fly and bloom, and even the sunshine is full of warmth and joy. At this time, when the local officials of Kyushu who had expired their terms of office went to Beijing to report on their work, and the officials evaluated the officials' achievements and re-appointed, the officials of the high-ranking mansions came and went every day, or took this opportunity to encircle the courtiers, or collect useful information for themselves, and they were very busy.

The sky has just been white, and a long queue has been winding in front of the official department, from the closed vermilion gate of the official department to the street, some of the good ones have just finished debriefing, but after three or five days of hard work, there will be better official positions on his head, and some bad ones will wait for three or five months, and may not be able to wait for a better future.

Just when everyone was bustling and looking forward to it, a long-haired man came out of it, with shallow fine lines on his face in some years, looking very gentle, and smiling at the people who were waiting one by one: "Brother Nian, Brother Nian, Brother Young, Brother Young, Eh, yes, the appointment has been made, and I have to take the first step in the future." ”

"What a good errand did Brother Nian. Someone couldn't wait to rush up, smiling all over his face, wanting to find out what way to make plans for the next day.

"I heard that Brother Nian went to Yuzhou on an errand. ”

"Yuzhou, Yuzhou is a good place, Brother Nian is so blessed. ”

"Yes, yes, yes, I went to Yuzhou on an errand, yes, Yuzhou is a good place. The long-haired man laughed all the way, and finally squeezed out of the crowd with difficulty.

The long-haired man raised his eyes and saw the thin man who was far away from the crowd and was looking at each other from afar, and hurriedly walked over the crowd, his smiling eyebrows and eyes flashed with sorrow: "Brother Xuan, there is good news today." ”

The thin man arched his hand, barely pulled out a smile, and shook his head slightly: "Not yet, what kind of errand did my brother get." ”

The long-haired man's body leaned forward slightly, as if he was relieved, and he was quite frustrated and unwilling: "It's not a shameful errand, it's just to go to Yuzhou to be a county minister." ”

The thin man comforted softly: "Yuzhou is also a rich place, my brother has a good future, and he will definitely soar in the future." ”

"Brother Xuan's political achievements are outstanding, and he will have a good future, don't be discouraged. The long-haired man patted him on the shoulder, and when he walked sideways, he took out a blue floral cotton bag from his sleeve and quietly handed it to the thin man: "This little bit of silver is not much, you take it, and there will be more silver in the future." ”

"No, no, no, my brother doesn't have a lot of money, and my younger brother has received too much favor from my brother along the way, and I can't get this silver. The thin man's face changed slightly, he was grateful and indebted, and he pushed the silver back with a wave of his hand.

The long-haired man checked the silver and said with a smile: "Why, Brother Xuan is afraid that the silver will come from the wrong way for his brother, and he is afraid that his hands will be dirty." ”

The thin man's heart was moved, and he smiled as clear as Huilan: "Brother said that it was because you have always been honest, and it is not easy to save this silver, and the younger brother will never be able to receive it." ”

The long-haired man smiled disapprovingly, quietly stuffed the silver into his arms, and lowered his voice and said: "For my brother to be alone, one person can feed the whole family without hunger, and no matter how rich you are, it will always be better than you." ”

The thin man excused himself again: "If you can't do it, the elder brother won't embarrass the younger brother." ”

The long-haired man stared and persuaded softly: "Brother Xuan, the threshold of the Yamen of the Ministry of Officials is high, and you have to be dotted up and down, you have always been poor, you can't keep working like this, besides, you can afford to wait, Lingtang can't afford to wait." ”

Yes, his mother traveled thousands of miles with him to Beijing to report on his work, and he was tired of traveling and driving all the way, and he had lived a relaxed life in Beijing, and he had to commit himself to being a cook in the mountain house on the root of the imperial city, working hard every day to earn some money to chat to get by, and the thin man who saw it was really distressed, so he no longer shirked, and arched his hand with great gratitude: "Brother is gracious, and the younger brother will repay in the future." ”

The long-haired man relieved his heart, dusted off the dust on the thin man's half-worn gray round-necked robe, and took a step closer and persuaded softly: "Brother Xuan, your temperament is upright, you must be careful in the future, but you can no longer eat the previous dark loss, you are different from your brother, your brother is a person who has buried half of the loess, only to have a stable second half of his life, Yuzhou is also a good place to go, and Brother Xuan, you have great ambitions, you were born to worship the prime minister, you are still young, you must not act recklessly in the future." Also, I paid for half a month's extra room in the inn for my brother, and Brother Xuan and Ling Tang lived with peace of mind. ”

"The younger brother wrote it down, and the elder brother can rest assured. The thin man's eyes were shining, and there was something crystal under his eyes, he barely held back, knowing that this was a long mountain and a long road, and the road ahead was unpredictable, and he was afraid that it would be difficult to see each other again. The wind suddenly blows a pool of green water, and the willow shade hangs softly and lowly, making it blue in the vast smoke and waves. The thin man raised his hand and folded the slender willow branch, and slowly put it in the hand of the long-haired man.

For some people, this debriefing may be a feast for returning to their hometown, but for others, it is a migration of joys and sorrows.

The long-haired man patted him on the shoulder, the fine lines at the corners of his eyes were like ripples, and he laughed loudly: "I don't know when we can meet each other, Brother Xuan, if you are prosperous in the future, don't forget to invite your brother to eat and drink." ”

The shadow of the sun moves still, shining on the tall and wide plane tree, in front of the official department to cast a dark green and light green full of thick shade, occasionally one or two gusts of wind pass, send the faint fragrance of the four seasons of cinnamon, this street on one side of the water to plant willows, and the other side is planted with sycamore and laurel trees, take the good intentions of the phoenix and the officialdom nouveau riche, several flowers bloom a few leaves, some people really become the nouveau riche, some people also attract the golden phoenix, however, more people are in the sea of ups and downs, one is not careful to choke the water and sink to the bottom, and then it is difficult to turn over.

The wheels gurgled through the narrow alley of bluestone, and a carriage with the most common ash shed in Qingzhou City stopped at the corner of the street, Du Heng raised his whip, stood in front of the car and raised his feet, and looked for half a sound in the crowd, and finally saw the person he was looking for, and said in a deep voice without looking back: "Master, he is here." ”

The man's voice was cold and low: "He has been in Beijing for some days, and he is also unlucky, and the appointment has not yet come down." ”

Du Heng pondered for a while, broke his fingers and counted the days, his voice was slightly cold and a cool breeze swept through the hot summer: "Isn't it, after entering Beijing, his mother went to Gu Shanfang to be a cook, and on the first day, he met Guan Zhong, who was greedy and lustful, and he was the most filial to protect his mother, and there was a conflict between words, if someone didn't stop him, he was afraid that he would have demolished Gu Shanfang and beat Guan Zhong hard." ”

The man's long sigh was like the wind on the street, and it whirled for a long time: "A small master is like a fish in a moat, there are too many to count, Guan Zhong really thinks he is a dish, and the villain is trembling." ”

Du Heng's eyes flashed, and he bowed his head deeply: "Pity him for being a little-known magistrate, he offended Guan Zhong, and the Wanmin watch in Jingzhou has become a piece of waste paper." ”

"People, too honest is stupid, he is honest and loves to drill the horns, he only knows how to come hard, he doesn't know how to turn and turn at all, he digs pits and jumps by himself, and he thinks others are slow to bury the soil. If no one had pulled him, he would have been swallowed alive and there would have been no bones left. The man's voice was still cold, and after being accustomed to seeing the injustices in the world, there was no trace of warmth and coldness.

"What the master said is that today's officialdom is not entirely determined by political achievements. Du Heng felt pity and couldn't help sighing.

The car is paved with a gentle cushion, the lotus-colored satin surface is embroidered with dark entwined lotus patterns, gently caressing on the top, the dense turns are a little awkward, the palm is slightly painful, the man silently rubbed on the cushion for a long time, before he said as usual: "This situation is not a day, naturally can not be achieved overnight, can only walk slowly, now the important thing is Yongzhou." ”

Du Heng sorted out his thoughts, and replied in a deep voice: "In the past six months, Your Majesty has often left the palace in micro-suits and lingered in Ningxiang Pavilion, naturally I often see the tragic situation of groups of Yongzhou victims pouring into Qingzhou City, and Ningxiang also blew a lot of pillow wind in Your Majesty's ears, coupled with His Royal Highness King Wu's conclusive words about this case back then, Your Majesty is only afraid that he has become suspicious of the affairs of Yongzhou. ”

The man's eyes were shining, and he sighed like the wind: "Yesterday, His Majesty and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince discussed the matter of sending people to Yongzhou to investigate the case, and Yongzhou Mustard Seed fled half a month ago with a number of letters and account books, Yongzhou Mansion will not let him go, he is naturally guilty, and it is not a pity to die, but if he dies, the matter of Yongzhou will become a real death case, and it must be closed early, and it will change later." ”

Du Heng bowed down and said, "Well, my subordinates will do it." ”

The man's fingertips were as white as clotted fat, without a trace of blood, he lifted the corner of the curtain, handed out the neat stacks of tissue paper, and said softly: "You personally hand this over to the prince, please ask Your Highness to decide." In addition, with his mother's identity in the past, and now he is working in Gushanfang, I am afraid that he will get involved in right and wrong, Du Heng, you arrange for people to protect their mother and son, the day he goes to Yongzhou to run an errand, his mother's net worth and life will be handed over to you, remember, there must be no mistakes. ”

Du Heng lowered his head, his palm shook silently, and a little gray light jumped out of his palm, like a firefly.

Out of nowhere, a faint breeze swept by, the slight light swayed slightly in the wind, slowly became a little bigger, like a small candle head, burning in his palm, he spit out the word "go" in his mouth, the little light was faint and dim, and it quickly disappeared into the ground.

After being quiet for a while, the car curtain opened a crack, looked around, and no one noticed the people and the car in the corner, the person dodged and jumped off the car, the whole person was hidden in the dark shadow next to the car, his eyes were shining, and he looked at Du Heng and ordered: "You go." ”

Du Heng knew that the person in the car was weak, and he was afraid that it would not be easy to walk such a long way, so he smiled and said: "This place is very far away from our house, if the master walks back and wears out the soles of his shoes, and has to spend silver to buy new shoes, it will be worth the loss." ”

The man smiled, his eyebrows and eyes were as bright as spring: "What is this called, buying me a new pair of shoes is not worth the loss, you really didn't learn, Su Zi's stinginess has learned a lot." Du Heng touched most of the purse on his waist, pursed his lips and smiled: "Okay, what the master said is that if the master waits in the car for a while, when his subordinates are done, he will accompany the master to buy the jade on the review." ”

The man's eyes lit up a little, obviously moved, but he pouted his lips while being moved: "It's good, but I'm hungry." ”