Becoming a literary master starting from the story of Minglan

Chapter 226 Shen Li's Visit Leads to a Romance with a Sachet (Part Two)

"you……"

"...What exactly happened?"

……

No one knows what the old lady and Minglan actually talked about. Even Fang Mama, the old lady's most trusted servant, only had a vague understanding of it.

However, based on the familiarity between the two old sisters, Fang's mother guessed and deduced the inside story, and had a better understanding of the situation.

Anyway, when everyone saw Grandma Sheng and her grandson come out, their faces were both harmonious, as if nothing had happened and all was calm.

Therefore, everyone overlooked the matter.

After all, the most important thing right now is the release of the results of the imperial examination.

However, on the day before the results of the imperial examination were announced, a special carriage was parked in front of the Sheng family mansion.

It was an ordinary-looking carriage, with an ordinary design and everything about it being ordinary.

However, although this carriage looks ordinary, the materials used inside are extremely precious, making it comparable to the Rolls-Royce of carriages.

The brown-red shafts and frame of the cart may seem no different from those of other carts, but experienced drivers can easily distinguish the difference between the two.

Although they look extremely similar, seemingly identical, their values ​​are actually worlds apart.

One is difficult to obtain but has powerful effects, while the other's raw materials can be easily found in the mountains. Although it can also be used, its effects are definitely not as good as the former.

The former not only has a pleasant fragrance that can repel mosquitoes, but more importantly, it is very effective, especially for a carriage.

This type of wood, called "Nanheng Agarwood," not only possesses excellent elasticity, reducing vibrations when the carriage is in motion and providing a more comfortable environment for the owner, but it also has greater toughness, ensuring maximum protection for the owner inside the carriage in the event of an accident.

"Nanheng Agarwood" is like a combination of spring and seat belt, making it an extremely precious type of wood.

Moreover, because this type of wood is very particular about its growing environment and grows very slowly, only growing an inch every ten years, it would be absolutely impossible to make a carriage from it without an ancient tree that has grown for hundreds of years.

Therefore, such carriages were only a luxury item enjoyed by families with considerable wealth and status; ordinary nouveau riche rarely even saw them.

At the very least, no one has ever seen or done anything like the Sheng family.

"Master!"

As soon as the carriage came to a stop, the driver immediately jumped down and went to the window of the carriage, whispering to the owner inside, "We've arrived at the Sheng residence!"

"Really?"

A clear male voice suddenly came from inside the carriage.

The carriage curtain twitched slightly, and a pair of bright eyes peered through the gap: "Yes, we've arrived!"

"hehe!"

Upon seeing the words "Sheng Mansion" on the plaque above the Sheng family's gate, the young master in the car seemed to smile.

"Qinshan, go and present my invitation to my family. Tell them I have come to visit and seek a friend!"

The visitor was none other than Shen Li, a new friend of Sheng Changquan.

"Yes, Master!"

After the person outside replied, he immediately turned and left, walked to the gate of the Sheng Mansion, and handed a visiting card to the gatekeeper.

In fact, the driver was actually Qinshan, Shen Li's personal attendant, who was acting as a substitute. Because Shen Li did not want to involve his most cherished friendship with anything related to the Shen family, he came to the Sheng residence alone and "quietly" this time.

However, although Shen Li thought and acted in this way, he was unaware that his family members had already clearly grasped his route for the day, including his intention to meet his good friend Sheng Changquan.

Let's leave Shen Jun aside for now, since she knew the reason was because Shen Li asked her to embroider sachets, but the fact that Shen Shouzhen and his wife knew about it was quite interesting.

There is only one possibility for this to happen: Shen Li must have people planted by him and his wife.

Of course, they didn't have any malicious intent; they simply wanted to protect their foolish son.

However, Shen Li's father, Lord Shen Shouzhen, did not object to Shen Li's friendship with Sheng Changquan, and even seemed to approve of it.

Although Shen Shouzhen knew that Sheng Changquan's purpose in getting close to Shen Li was probably not so pure, Lord Shen didn't care.

Regardless of whether pure friendship, untainted by anything else, still exists in this world, Sheng Changquan is already someone that Lord Shen greatly admires.

Regardless of Sheng Changquan's academic abilities, his cunning and scheming are evident even at such a young age.

It was obvious that after Shen Li and Sheng Changquan made contact, Shen Shouzhen quickly found someone to investigate Sheng Changquan's past deeds, including the little tricks he used to secretly make a name for himself during the imperial examinations.

Although the information about Sheng Changquan is not complete or comprehensive, it is not difficult to estimate the result by looking at the stack of documents in Lord Shen's hand.

Given Shen Shouzheng's abilities, he could probably guess about 80-90% of the answer.

Of course, these things were just deliberately revealed by Sheng Changquan.

Information about his years of martial arts training and his considerable skill level did not circulate. The most that Lord Shen possessed was a single sentence that mentioned Sheng Changquan had practiced martial arts.

Not only the intelligence messengers, but even Lord Shen himself overlooked it.

No one knows just how skilled Sheng Changquan is in martial arts!

Not to mention Sheng Changquan's identity as a visitor from another world.

……

A prosperous mansion and a lush pavilion.

"Lord!"

"Lord!"

"..."

Today, Sheng Hong did not go to the yamen to handle official business, but stayed in Madam Wang's courtyard and chatted with her for a while.

It wasn't that Sheng Hong had anything to do at home; in fact, he had deliberately taken three days off because he was concerned about tomorrow's ranking list!

"Huh? Who?"

"Who's shouting like that?"

Just as she was having a pleasant conversation with her husband, Madam Wang frowned and shouted angrily when she heard a commotion outside, "Who is so ill-mannered as to make such a racket in the house?"

Because her precious conversation with her husband had been interrupted, Madam Wang was extremely angry!
"It's so rare that our lord didn't go to Linxi Pavilion and came here instead, how come he was ruined by a mere servant!"

The more Madam Wang thought about it, the angrier she became. It was as if a raging fire had been ignited in her heart, which was frightening to behold!
"Somebody come!"

With a furious shout, Madam Wang seemed to want to vent her anger on the servant outside.

"Sigh, never mind!"

Just as Madam Wang stood up from the opposite side, preparing to walk out, Sheng Hong suddenly spoke.

He defended the servant outside who was so frightened that he knelt on the ground, saying, "He must have something important to do, otherwise he wouldn't dare to act so recklessly!"

"Madam, please spare him!"

As long as the family's bottom line is not involved, Sheng Hong is quite easy to talk to.

"Humph!"

After being persuaded by Sheng Hong, Madam Wang naturally had no choice but to sit back down.

"You're lucky this time, your lord pleaded for you!" "If you dare to do it again, I will punish you severely!"

Although she listened to Sheng Hong and let the servant go, Madam Wang still used both kindness and severity to give him a good lesson.

"what?"

"Yes Yes!"

"Thank you for your mercy, Madam! Thank you for your mercy, My Lord!"

The servant boy who ran into the Wei Rui Xuan calling for his master was named Ding Wu. He was a boy who was only twelve years old. He got his name because his family name was Ding and he was the fifth child in his family.

Because he was new, he didn't really understand the rules of the Sheng family, or rather, he didn't understand some of the unspoken rules in the Sheng family's backyard, which is why he suffered this calamity.

At this moment, Ding Wu, who had narrowly escaped death, immediately kowtowed to Sheng Hong and his wife to express his gratitude.

"Alright! Ding Wu, get up!"

Sheng Hong glanced at Ding Wu in front of him and asked, "Speak, what exactly happened?"

"Why did you rush into the backyard in such a hurry? Aren't you afraid of bumping into someone?"

Since Ding Wu was the gatekeeper of the Sheng family, the matter of the Shen family's visiting card was naturally something he wanted to report back about.

"what?"

"Is this a visiting card from Lord Shen's family?"

Sheng Hong was immediately shocked after Ding Wu finished speaking!

"Ding Wu, who is that person who got off the carriage? Could it be Lord Shen?"

The Shen family is currently rising in power, so Sheng Hong is naturally paying close attention to them, not to mention that Shen Shouzhen, the head of the Shen family, is among the deputy examiners for this imperial examination.

"Reporting to your lord, the person who alighted from the carriage was not Lord Shen, but a young master, who should be a young master of the Shen family."

Ding Wu honestly replied.

Because of the Shen family's special status, many people know Shen Li, not to mention Sheng Hong, the social genius!
To be honest, Sheng Hong had put in a lot of effort to improve his family's future career. This included knowing the character and hobbies of his superiors and colleagues, being careful not to offend their families, and so on...

The details of this situation are difficult to explain in a short time.

"Okay, you can step back first!"

Sheng Hong waved to Ding Wu on the ground, signaling him to get down, but he himself was deep in thought.

"Strange, why is this Young Master Shen here at my house? Could it be because of Feng'er?"

Sheng Hong thought that the only person in his family who might be connected to the Shen family was probably Sheng Changfeng, who had "wide connections".

"Hehe, I didn't expect Feng'er to have some brains, being able to make friends with someone like the young master of the Shen family!"

"Yes, it's really good!"

Thinking of the wonderful idea, a slight smile appeared on Sheng Hong's lips.

……

Unfortunately, the distinguished guest that Sheng Hong was looking forward to was not in Sheng Changfeng's courtyard at this time, but instead came to Zeyutang.

The study, Zhiyuan Hall.

"Shen Du, what brings you here?"

When Sheng Changquan saw Shen Li, he was quite surprised.

"Hahaha!"

"Changquan, why can't I come?"

Shen Li smiled and waved to Sheng Changquan, pretending to be unhappy, and said, "What, Changquan, are you not welcoming me?"

"Be cautious when alone, what kind of talk is that?"

"How could I not welcome you?"

Sheng Changquan put down the book in his hand, got up from behind the desk, walked to Shen Li, and pulled him to sit down in another seat.

"However, I really didn't expect you to come over at this time."

Seeing Shen Li's somewhat puzzled expression, Sheng Changquan sighed inwardly, thinking to himself, "Shen Du really is naive!"

To put it nicely, they're naive; in reality, they're slow-witted and haven't grasped the implications.

However, this also shows that Shen Li is indeed not good at the ways of officialdom. After all, if Shen Li were to get involved in the ruthless court, he probably wouldn't survive the first day.

"Have you forgotten about being mindful of one's actions when alone?"

“Your father was the deputy examiner for this imperial examination, and my two older brothers also participated in the examination!”

"There are some things that we should probably avoid to prevent suspicion!"

Even at home, Sheng Changquan still lowered his voice and whispered, "Aren't you afraid that if people find out about this, it will cause some trouble?"

"Huh? This?"

Shen Li was initially startled, but then he thought that since he was sitting in the carriage and hadn't shown his face, the people outside probably didn't know who he was either.

"This matter probably won't have much impact!" Shen Li thought to himself.

"Changquan, don't worry, I'm riding in the family carriage, so I doubt anyone will know who's inside."

As he spoke, Shen Li had clearly forgotten the character "Shen" written on the lanterns in front of his carriage.

However, upon hearing Shen Li say that he had moved his family's carriage, Sheng Changquan breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that the matter was probably really over. After all, Shen Li's travel route had probably already been discovered by his family.

There was no point in thinking about it further, so Sheng Changquan simply accepted that Shen Li was right and didn't say anything more.

Sheng Changquan knew that Shen Li didn't really like his family interfering in his affairs.

"By the way, Changquan, did you lose your sachet?"

Seeing that Sheng Changquan remained silent, Shen Li immediately revealed the purpose of his trip.

"Hehe, Changquan, I found your sachet at the last polo match. I was thinking of returning it to you, but I saw that the decorations on it were too worn out, so I had the embroiderer at home make you a new one. What do you think?"

"Maybe it's comparable to the one in your house?"

When Shen Li said this, he concealed Shen Jun's presence in the matter.

Because of the importance of a woman's reputation in this world, even though Shen Li thought Sheng Changquan was so good, he still protected his elder sister's honor so as not to harm his family.

"Really?"

If Shen Li hadn't brought up the matter of the sachet, Sheng Changquan would have completely forgotten about it.

"Okay, I'll take a look then!"

As he spoke, Sheng Changquan took a sachet embroidered with plump carp from Shen Li's hand and examined it carefully.

I'm working too late, I'll revise it tomorrow!

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(End of this chapter)