Somewhere in Chang'an City, in a courtyard, there are two sons-in-law sitting by the fire, and in the winter of the fifth year of Jiahe, Zheng Huaixian and his father-in-law talked all night.

Zheng Huai first took out a pot of tea from the table, put it on the stove, and slowly steamed it. The old man named Yan Zhiwei closed his eyes and rested on the rocking chair, and the corner of the blanket on his body fell to the ground.

Zheng Huaixian, who put the teapot on the stove, saw this scene and tiptoed to the old man's side, and the blanket was held in Zheng Huaixian's hand and gently covered the old man's body.

People have studied sleep somewhat thoroughly. Some people sleep, and if you have a little action, it will affect that person, but some people sleep, even if you yell in their ears, they will not wake them up.

In this life, from sleeping every day when you are born, to when you are old, you can't sleep, and the time between this is only a short hundred years.

Yan Zhiwei slowly opened his eyes, looked at the person in front of him a little vaguely, and it took a long time to see clearly that this was his son-in-law, Zheng Huaixian.

Yan Zhiwei took off the blanket on his body, sat up his body, bent slightly, close to the stove, people are old, uncomfortable hands and feet are a little cold, especially in winter.

"Huaixian, sit down and rest for a while. ”

Zheng Huai first handed the teacup in his hand to the old man, and filled himself with another cup of tea, "Dad, slow down, it's hot." ”

The old man answered, the tea was put to his mouth, and the fragrant smell came to his nose, and the old man tasted it, and it tasted good.

"Good tea. ”

Zheng Huai smiled first, in addition to reading in his life, the old man likes to drink a sip of tea, but the old man's official position is the imperial history doctor of the imperial history platform, so in recent years, it has been a work that offends people, just by virtue of those who are rich, it is good to feed the people in this house, if you read a book, the old man is saving silver for several months, and then go to buy, so naturally, he missed a lot of good books, but the old man was not annoyed every time, just smiled slightly, carried his own silver in his arms, and returned to the house.

"Dad, where did Dean Song of Baizi Academy get the tea. ”

As soon as Yan Zhiwei heard the tea brought by Song Jinmo, he smiled and said, "Where is this tea for me, it should be you who want to come." ”

Zheng Huaixian smiled a little embarrassedly, without the demeanor when he was chasing Jia Zhen all over the world, "Isn't mine Jing'er's, isn't Jing'er's yours." ”

Yan Zhiwei laughed, touched his beard, and felt happy in his heart, "You still know how to speak." ”

Zheng Huaixian smiled while refilling another glass for Yan Zhiwei, "Dad, I'm telling the truth." ”

Yan Zhiwei took the blanket next to him again, the weather was cold, and when he left the blanket, it was really cold, and the teacup in front of him was steaming.

"I left Chang'an City this time, will I come back?"

Zheng Huaixian didn't answer the old man's question, he glanced at the open door of the room, and wanted to stand up and close the door, but was stopped by the old man, "It's okay, without the obstruction of the door, the old man just took a look at the night scenery of Chang'an City." ”

"If Jing'er wants to come back to Chang'an City in the future, I will wait for her outside the city. ”

The old man sighed slightly, "Do you really stop paying attention to the world?"

Zheng Huai drank first

took a sip of tea and said slowly: "This time I went out of the mountain to save the master of dust reception, otherwise it would not be worth me to come out with that coward who only dared to hide in the Yuhua Palace." ”

The old man leaned back in his chair and said in a somewhat regretful tone, "The rivers and lakes are in trouble, and that's right." But Your Majesty is not as unbearable as you say. ”

Zheng Huaixian snorted coldly, "What do you want to do with a person who robbed his daughter-in-law." ”

The old man crossed his hands and put them on his abdomen, feeling helpless, as an orthodox Confucian disciple, the four words of courtesy, righteousness, honesty and shame are the four words that they should keep in mind before reading the books of sages, and they are also the most basic morality that people should abide by. And that majesty actually robbed the princess of his fourth son and made him his concubine.

When he thought of this, the old man was helpless and heartbroken, and when a monarch began to ignore morality, it was precisely when he lost the hearts of the people.

"Along the way, officials from all over the country are insatiable, clever names, all kinds of taxes are forcibly collected, and the people are miserable. Every day on the streets, people are starving to death, freezing to death. Don't talk about it far away, let's just say that in Chang'an City, there are few people who starve to death every day, and there are fewer who freeze to death?"

"On the northern border, there are battles every day, and people are dying. But who knows, in the past few decades without King Qi in charge, the Ming Dynasty has won less and lost more. ”

The old man continued to lie on the chair, listening to his son-in-law slowly talk about all the things that had happened in Daming in recent years. As the imperial historian of the Imperial Historical Observatory, the old man will have such letters on his desk every day, and the old man actually knows everything, but he doesn't want to admit it.

He also knew why Zheng Huaixian said so much to himself, because the news that Lao Guogong died in Jiming Temple a few days ago spread in Chang'an City somehow, saying that it was to ask His Majesty to investigate the massacre of the people by the Liangzhou cavalry and pretending to be military merits.

The old prince of the country exchanged his death for His Majesty's determination to investigate this matter, so he had to choose a minister to go to Liangzhou to investigate this matter, but above the court, the princes of Gonggon, who is competent and willing to go.

Is this a good errand?

Of course not, the person who took over this errand, the first person to offend was King Liang, one of the seven great vassal kings, and the other offended was the cavalry army of Liangzhou, find out the truth of the matter, can you return to Chang'an City safely, where can it be so easy, King Liang is a relatively weak vassal king among the seven vassal kings, but that is only compared with other vassal kings, and the cavalry army under King Liang that crisscrosses the Western Regions is not vegetarian.

So who will take the job?

In the old man's opinion, it is none other than himself, firstly, in his life, from entering the Hanlin Academy to being in charge of the Yushitai, he is loyal to the emperor and His Majesty the Ming Emperor, and secondly, Yang Zhao will try his best to promote this matter in order to completely take charge of the Yushitai, and whether he is killed by the riotous Liangzhou cavalry or killed on the road, Yang Zhao can completely take charge of the Yushitai.

The third is that the officials and officials who have been impeached for so many years, not thousands, but hundreds, among these people, there are mixed fish and dragons, royal family relatives, wealthy meritorious deeds, abound, no way, the old man was because of this momentum that he was not afraid of heaven and earth, and was favored by the emperor, so that he could take charge of the imperial history platform.

But in the final analysis, it is still the old man himself who nods and agrees, and His Majesty will really let Yan Zhiwei investigate this matter.

Zheng Huaixian deliberately sent away his daughter-in-law tonight

The son just wanted to persuade the old man not to take this errand.

"I know what you want to say, old man, but I can't promise you. ”

Zheng Huaixian lowered his head, his expression was a little lonely, "Just think it's for Jing'er, for your grandson, can't it?"

The old man smiled heartily, and sounded his grandson who served vegetables for himself during the day, and his heart was happy, "People say that there are two things that people can't let go of when they are old, one is their children, when they come to me, Jing'er marries you, I can rest assured and at ease, a saint who has not been born in Confucianism for a hundred years, I see who dares to bully Jing'er." ”

When the old man said this, he was angry and looked arrogant, "Of course, you are not allowed to bully Jing'er." ”

Zheng Huaixian smiled and said: "This is natural, it was Yan Jing who bullied me." ”

The old man snorted and continued: "As a parent, since the problem of the child has been solved, the next question is how to die. ”

"A Confucian book says that death is either lighter than a feather or heavier than Mount Tai. Since the death of his daughter-in-law, the old man is not afraid of death. There are many ways to die, to die of illness, to die accidentally, to be killed by someone, many, many. ”

"Everyone can die, it's just that they are old and young, but I am afraid that death is worthless and worthless. I've always felt that that's what the book says. ”

A cold wind blew outside the door, and the old man sat up straight while talking, and the candle flame in the room shone on the old man's face, and the old man was full of energy.

As a disciple of Confucianism, you should make a commentary on these wise sayings. As a courtier, if you want to die, you will die. ”

"Loyalty and filial piety are two words, loyalty in the front, filial piety in the back. For thousands of years, everyone has wanted to be loyal and filial, but how difficult it is. ”

The old man pointed out the door, "Then the patriarch of the three dynasties of Xu Tiande, why don't you want to be loyal and filial, he not only wants to be worthy of Taizu's kindness to him, but also wants to plan a hereditary replacement for his son and grandson, but where is there such a good thing." ”

"Life is fate, and nothing is up to anyone. ”

The old man glanced at Zheng Huaixian, who said this, nodded in agreement.

"If everyone thinks about planning some welfare for themselves, then my Daming is really finished. In an era, someone has to stand up after all. ”

"I think that on the rivers and lakes where you are, there are Li Taibai who fights the sword world, there is the martial saint Gu Kaizhi, there is the old heavenly master who is soaring in the day, and there is the dust master of the Little Buddha Temple that even I admire, these people are the backbone of the rivers and lakes. ”

"Above the court, Zhang Ju is the backbone of the literati, and Xu Tiande is the backbone of the military generals, so so many of my Confucian students stand on the court, why no one can stand up and dare to die. ”

The old man got up slowly, picked up the teacup on the table, drank it all, and then walked outside.

"The old man Yan Zhiwei is not talented, he is willing to be that person, the one who dares to die. ”

The old man stood at the door, paused slightly, and instructed Zheng Huaixian, who was sitting on a chair behind him, "Take care of Jing'er and my good grandson." ”

Zheng Huaixian nodded, the teacup in his hand was never put down, and he held it in his hand.

The old man laughed heartily and walked into the winter night of the fifth year of Jiahe.

In the room, a cold wind blew, and the candle flame was extinguished.