On the Avenue.

Chapter 268 Family Matters
Chen Shi's heart was suddenly filled with sadness and tenderness.

Since his resurrection, he has not seen his parents and has been living with his grandfather. After his grandfather passed away, he and Hei Guo depended on each other for survival.

Hei Guo was sensible and always took care of him, so that he would not feel lonely. Only at night, when the hustle and bustle of the day had faded away and all the sounds had settled down, would he miss his grandfather and imagine himself in the arms of his parents, enjoying the happy family life.

But it's just a fantasy.

Now, he finally saw his mother, not the mother in the painting in the box in his hometown, but the mother in the real world.

But mother seemed to be in a painting, sitting in a wheelchair stupidly, and Chen Tang’s calls were of no use.

Although she was still breathing and her heart was beating, she was surrounded by great sadness and was unable to wake up.

Chen Shi came to her side, squatted down, and asked, "What's wrong with her?"

Chen Tang's face was gloomy: "Xiao Shi... after you died, she might have been too sad. She went crazy at first and kept looking for you everywhere. Then she became stunned and couldn't be awakened no matter what we did."

They both seemed to have forgotten their previous quarrel and became gentle.

Chen Tang said, "I asked Granny Sha to take a look. Granny Sha said that the sadness and pain in her mind were too strong, and her soul could not bear it. In order to escape the sadness, her soul left her body and stayed away from her physical body. She cannot return."

Can't the soul bear sadness and pain?
Chen Shi held his mother's hand. Her palm was soft and thin, with bones visible through the skin. Her palm was not warm and had no strength at all.

He was silent for a moment, then asked, "Where do I live?"

Chen Tang was slightly startled, and said, "I have asked the maid to clean up the room for you some time ago. I will ask her to take you there later."

Chen Shi said: "I also have a car, a dog, and I need a room."

Chen Tang said, "I'll ask the maid to clean up and make room for me."

Chen Shi stayed in the Chen Mansion.

He and several maids went to move things from the wooden cart and then went to clean the room. Hei Guo also came over and helped them clean up the room.

The room Chen Tang gave them was originally a firewood room, and later it was used to store sundries. Now coal burning is popular in Xijing. A coal mountain was found near Xijing, underground. Every morning at three o'clock, someone would pull a coal cart into the city, and the servants of the rich families would go to buy coal.

If you want to be more particular, you can burn charcoal, but you need money to do that. Charcoal is much more expensive than coal.

Hei Guo was carrying a bucket and sweeping the floor, while several maids were chatting and laughing with him. At this time, Hei Guo seemed to have noticed something, and when he turned around, he saw Chen Tang looking at him.

Hei Guo smiled at him, nodded, and continued cleaning.

It turned its head again and looked at Chen Tang in confusion.

Chen Tang retracted his gaze and pushed his wife out to bask in the sun.

The black pot looked at him with increasing confusion, but Chen Tang did not turn around, as if he did not feel its gaze.

The wooden cart went in and out of the room. Eyes as big as bathtubs grew on the sides and bottom of the cart, looking around the new home curiously.

However, the maids were cleaning, so it was a bit inconvenient to drive it back and forth, and it could easily block people.

Whenever this happened, the wooden cart would grow arms, put its hands on the girls' waists, and move them from one side of the cart to the other.

These maids were not afraid and giggled, probably because they were affected by the black pot.

Hei Guo looked towards Chen Tang again, but Chen Tang just retracted his gaze and did not meet its gaze.

At dinner time, Chen Shi, Chen Tang and Chen Shiniang ate in the main hall. The maid served Chen Shiniang, who could not chew, and needed the maid to help control her jaw, chewing the food bit by bit, chewing it into pieces, and then swallowing it slowly. She was very meticulous and patient.

"Don't help me."

Chen Tang said to Chen Shi, "Ping'er is patient and meticulous. If you help, you will easily choke if you can't chew it well. Sit down and eat."

Chen Shi sat down and pulled out a round stool for Hei Guo.

Black Pot was wearing human clothes and was about to sit down.

Chen Tang raised his eyebrows, looking unhappy, and said, "Dogs can't be at the table."

Chen Shi raised his eyebrows and put down his chopsticks: "The black pot can be served. This is how we eat in Old Chen's house in Huangpo Village!"

Chen Tang glanced at him, his face darkened: "I am the head of the family, I set the rules. Here, dogs are not allowed to sit at the table!"

Chen Shi was about to slam the table when Hei Guo put his front paws on his shoulders, shook his head and calmed him down.

Chen Shi withdrew his hand.

Heiguo picked up the rice bowl, picked up the chopsticks, stood up, walked to the corner, and squatted down to eat.

Chen Shi stood up, moved half of the food on the table to another plate, leaving half for Chen Tang, picked up the plates and bowls and went to the corner, squatted beside the black pot, and moved half of the food on the plate to the black pot.

A man and a dog squatted in the corner eating.

Black Pot gestured towards Chen Tang, asking Chen Shi to go back and eat, so as to avoid a quarrel with Chen Tang. Chen Shi shook his head, indicating that he was willing to share the joys and sorrows with it.

Chen Tang clenched his chopsticks, then relaxed and continued eating.

——There were not many tables in the house, and his monthly salary was not high to begin with. If he broke another table, he would have to squat to eat like Chen Shi and Gou Zi.

Chen Shiniang was sitting at the table, her right fingers shaking in anxiety as if she saw the father and son having a quarrel.

Chen Tang was surprised and happy, but unfortunately she stopped shaking soon.

"Come up and eat."

Chen Tang thought for a moment and said, "Hei Guo, sit opposite you, don't face me."

Chen Shi stood up, dragged the black pot to the table and sat down.

Chen Tang picked up some food and put it in Chen Shi's bowl, saying calmly, "There are many masters in Xijing. Don't try to influence others easily. It's easy for people to see that you are different. And you can't influence your family members."

He picked up another dish and put it in the black pot bowl, saying, "You followed my father, so you are half a family member. I don't ask about your origins or whether you are evil or not. I will treat you as a family member."

Black Pot nodded and shook his tail behind the chair.

“But that car.”

Chen Tang pointed at the wooden cart and said, "I can't afford to feed it. It eats too much and my monthly salary is not enough. You have to find a way."

After he said this, Chen Shi couldn't help but feel a little worried.

Muche had a big appetite, and would eat more than ten kilograms of spirit beast meat in one meal, or he would eat evil spirits, but the prices in Xijing were high, and spirit beast meat was no longer one tael of silver per kilogram, but three taels of silver per kilogram. There were no evil spirits in the city.

Maintaining a car every month is a considerable expense.

Chen Shi was a little unconvinced and asked, "Aren't you greedy at all?"

Chen Tang clenched his chopsticks, then stretched them out, saying, "A gentleman is always poor and does not take money outside of his body."

"Grandpa taught you that, right?"

Chen Shi smiled. "Grandpa also said that you can't take money from the dead, otherwise the dead will come to you at night to look for money. I believed it at first, but then I took it..."

He stopped talking here and didn't continue.

He was still a good boy, just a little rebellious, and he almost let the cat out of the bag.

Chen Tang seemed not to understand, and continued to talk to himself: "I am now a third-rank official, with a monthly salary of 35 dan. One dan of rice costs five cents of silver, which is 17.5 taels of silver a month. Your cart consumes my monthly salary in one day. I can't afford to keep it."

Chen Shi was puzzled and asked, "There are six maids and servants in the house. How can you afford to support them?"

Chen Tang shook his head and said, "I didn't hire them. They were given to me by others. Every month, the maids and servants get money from other families, so I don't have to spend any money. My monthly salary is only used to cover the daily expenses of the family."

He was a very honest official. Hei Guo took out a silver note of 100 taels, put it on the table, and gently pushed it in front of him.

Chen Tang's eyes twitched and he shook his head, "I can't take it."

Chen Shi said: "Hei Guo is the pocket money I gave him. He lives frugally and didn't spend it all. If you don't have money to spend, just take it first."

Chen Tang still shook his head.

Chen Shi took out a few more pieces of gold and said, "This is what I earned on the road. You can use it first."

Chen Tang's forehead was bulging with veins. After a moment, he said, "What I mean is that you should stop thinking about being a playboy and find a legitimate way to make a living. You are now a juren, and it stands to reason that the court should assign you an official position. There must be people in Xijing who are worried that you will cause trouble, and they will most likely give you an official position. Don't refuse."

Chen Shi smiled and said, "I would like to be a dandy boy, but you didn't give me this opportunity."

Chen Tang broke the chopsticks and finished his dinner using the half of them.

Chen Shi's trip to Xijing to take the imperial examination caused a greater shock than Chen Tang had imagined.

The news that the scholar boy had come back to life and was going to Beijing to take the imperial examination had spread. That evening, the whole city was talking about it, from the highest officials to the common people.

"Why did he come back to life and come to Beijing after so many years of his death?"

"Revenge? Or take part in the imperial examination and gain a title?"

"His innate Dao fetus has been cut off and transplanted to someone else. How can he make a comeback?"

"Xijing, he has enemies everywhere, how dare he come to Xijing?"

"I heard that there is a demon living in his body, and wherever he goes, countless people are killed or injured."

"His grandfather killed a lot of us back then. There were almost no talented people in Xijing at that time. Otherwise, how could Jin Hongying and several other young generals and officials climb up?"

"I heard that he and the young master don't get along. How dare he offend the young master?"

……

The former chief minister of the cabinet, Yan Xianzhi, was also frowning slightly at this moment. At this moment, several ministers of the cabinet came to visit him one after another, crowded into the teahouse of Yan's house, sat down one by one, and talked about the matter of the young scholar coming to Beijing. They all said that it was a serious matter and asked him how to deal with it.

Among the thirteen important ministers of the cabinet, only the Prime Minister Zhang Fuzheng did not come to ask for his opinion, obviously he had made his own decision.

What was different from usual was that Eunuch Feng was always the first one to come, but he didn't come this time. I wonder what he was up to.

The thirteen families were very dissatisfied. They all felt that the scholar child had been wronged in the past and that he should be compensated and should not be allowed to suffer any more injustices.

Yan Xianzhi looked at everyone and just sneered, knowing that these people were just worried that the evil hidden in Chen Shi’s heart would erupt.

Who doesn’t fear death?
But the hard part is solving the problem.

Chen Shi went to Beijing, he was just a juren, how big a trouble could he cause?

Xijing, there are plenty of ways to suppress him!

There are also ways to win him over!

"Xijing is too big, and there are too many talented people. Throwing a child scholar in there is like dropping a stone into a quiet lake. There will be some ripples, but they will soon calm down."

Yan Xianzhi waited for everyone to finish speaking before he said slowly, "Life is nothing more than eating, drinking, playing, having fun, fame, power, and influence. When you are satisfied with eating, drinking, playing, and having fun, you will want fame, power, and influence. He came to Beijing, recognized his ancestors, had a family, and had concerns. Give him an official position, and he has respect and inferiority. Give him a woman, and he has scruples. Give him a child, and he will be reluctant to give it up."

He picked up the teacup, took a sip of tea, frowned, and said softly: "A strong man will become as soft as silk."

When he said this, the other twelve cabinet ministers all laughed.

Someone laughed and said, "In Journey to the West, how capable is Sun Wukong? But he just can't get out of the palm of Tathagata Buddha's hand! So let him be an official, give him a woman, let the woman bear him a child, and then make him tired!"

As soon as it was midnight, Chen Tang got up, packed his clothes, prepared paperwork, and ate something to fill his stomach. After packing everything, he walked to the imperial city.

Many officials in the inner city of Xijing got up and walked out of their own houses. Some got on carriages or sedan chairs, and some walked.

At three o'clock in the morning, when it was still light, they waited at the Meridian Gate. At five o'clock in the morning, they passed through the Meridian Gate, crossed the Golden Bridge, and came to the square in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, where they waited quietly.

After all the cabinet ministers arrived, a bell rang and everyone filed in and entered the court.

In the court, the throne of the true king has been vacant for thousands of years, but a group of civil and military officials still kowtowed and bowed in front of the empty throne.

Then it was time to discuss the issues. The thirteen cabinet ministers would first discuss the various issues. Generally, the cabinet had made a decision, and they would just inform the ministers of the results and ask for their opinions. Most of them had no opinion.

Someone reported that a demonic change or a natural disaster or flood had occurred in a certain place on a certain day of a certain month, and asked the court to send someone to deal with it.

What followed was impeachment. Civil officials impeached and attacked each other, saying that someone was corrupt or his wife and children accepted bribes. Then they started fighting in the court, but no one would kill anyone.

This has been the way life has been for thousands of years, and there is nothing unusual about it.

Chen Tang did his job well, and even if he made a report, it was only to explain the dispatch of treasure notes and gunpowder in fifty provinces.

By the time the court was adjourned, it was already dawn. Chen Tang was starving. After exchanging a few words with other officials, he walked out of the inner city and came to the outer city.

Not long after, he came to a shop called Xiangdou Shop and sat down.

"A bowl of hot soy milk, no sugar, and two trays of pork and green onion dumplings."

Chen Tang told the waiter, "Pack six more drawers so I can take them away after I finish eating."

The waiter responded and left.

After a while, they served soy milk and two trays of steaming buns.

Just as Chen Tang was about to pick up his chopsticks, he saw a scholar across the street who looked somewhat like him but younger, leaning against the wall with his hands folded across his chest, staring at him and smiling.

The scholar was standing on one leg, with the other leg bent and pushing against the wall. The wall was far away from him, but the sound seemed to come from his ear.

"You're blocked!"

Chen Tang ignored him and drank soy milk and ate steamed buns. After finishing two trays of steamed buns and drinking the soy milk till the bottom of the bowl, he stood up and went to the counter to pay. The waiter had already packed the steamed buns, and Chen Tang carried them and walked out of the Xiangdou shop.

The scholar opposite stood up and walked side by side with him.

Chen Tang didn't look at him and walked towards the inner city.

"I heard that you were injured, and the injury was serious."

Chen Tang said calmly, "You still dare to run out, aren't you afraid that someone will take advantage of the opportunity to kill you?"

Creator Xiaowu smiled and said, "Who dares to touch me? My injury this time was not in vain. The ancestor of the Li family has promised to tell me who is the one who got the Little Ten Divine Embryo. Do you want to know who that person is?"

Chen Tang said: "I do. But the Li family ancestor won't tell you."

Creator Xiaowu smiled and said, "That depends on my methods."

He changed the subject and said, "Brother Tang, I heard that Xiao Shi went to Beijing and is staying at your house."

Chen Tang stopped and said, "It has nothing to do with you."

Creator Xiaowu also stopped and said seriously: "He has suffered a lot, please treat him well and don't let him suffer any injustice."

Chen Tang suppressed his anger: "He is from my Chen family, not your son!"

Creator Xiaowu walked forward and said with a smile: "If you can't teach him well and don't want this son, then give him to me. He called me dad, so I can be his fifth dad."

Chen Tang's body was shaking, he clenched his teeth, and suddenly vented his anger at him, angrily saying: "You always steal from me! You stole my father, my teacher, and the fatherly love that I should have received, and now you are stealing my son! You want to steal everything from me!"

(End of this chapter)