Four Harmonies and Good Fortune

Chapter 452 Recruitment
Xia Mengxian didn't say anything more, and Xu Wei also smiled. He could do this kind of thing easily, regardless of other things.

Xia Mengxian still advised, "Don't make too much of a fuss."

Xu Wei nodded, and after saying this, he bowed and left.

Xia Mengxian has met with many people since morning, and he has finally dealt with most of the issues. He stood up and prepared to move around.

The steward immediately stepped forward and said, "Xie Erlang has brought Wulang back. Madam said she wants Xie Erlang to stay at home for dinner."

Xia Mengxian asked, "How is Fifth Brother?"

“He’s suffered a lot,” the steward sighed. “He has quite a few injuries and will probably have to stay in bed for a while. But Goro’s spirits are still pretty good.”

Xia Mengxian said, "Let's go take a look."

The steward stepped forward to lift the curtain, not forgetting Madam Li's request: "Madam asked about the Li family."

Xia Mengxian frowned and then said, "I understand." Even after leaving his post in the imperial court, he still had no less responsibility.

However, most of it is because of this case.

Xia Mengxian suddenly realized that Xu Wei's suggestion was right. If the Xie family could be dealt with now, why drag it out to the border market?

After leaving the Xia family, Xu Wei did not return to the government office, but instead wandered around the market. After walking for a long time, he suddenly slipped into an alley where someone was waiting for him.

Xu Wei walked over and whispered, "Go back and tell the Privy Council that Xia Mengxian has agreed to let the Secretariat deal with the Xie family." With the Xia family in front of them, Privy Councilor Xie won't need to show his face.

……

In Wang Yan's small courtyard.

A handsome young man of about seventeen or eighteen years old, who looked exceptionally intelligent, walked out of the house.

Sangzhi immediately stepped forward and asked, "Has the young master given all the instructions?"

Su Man nodded: "My lord ordered me to go to the South City Wharf today and restored my previous surname."

Su Man was brought back by the young master and taught by Sang Zhi and others for several years. This child is smart and loyal. He usually works in the small courtyard and has never officially appeared in front of people. Now he is going to be sent to the South City Wharf.

Su Man should be called Sang Man, but the young master was afraid that this would reveal his identity, so he made him revert to his original name.

In fact, Su Man wanted to stay by his husband's side more. When Sang Dian saw his hesitant look, she wished she could go up and switch places with him.

"What more could you want than to be with Madam?"

"If I could change my face, would you even have a chance?"

Sang Dian was indignant. Given his relationship with the eldest daughter-in-law, if anyone were to pass by, it should be him.

Pity……

Su Man certainly wouldn't disobey his husband. His husband had instructed him to do his utmost, and as long as he lived, he wouldn't let anything happen to that lady. He just felt that Sang Dian's jealous gaze was a bit too much of an act.

Who would rather stay at home than go outside?

Several other people accompanied Su Man, but they only stayed around to protect her and didn't always appear in front of her.

From this, we can deduce how afraid the young master was of someone plotting against his wife.

Su Man said, "It's too late today, I need to wait outside Madam's residence first, and then I'll go to request an audience first thing tomorrow morning."

Sang Dian still felt a pang of sadness. From now on, Su Man could openly and legitimately stay by Madam's side.

Sang Zhi and Sang Ji felt extremely pleased to see Sang Dian's envious look. This silly dog ​​finally understood how they had felt before. Wang Yan pushed open the door and came out of the house. He called out to Sang Zhi and handed over a note: "Take this note to Liu Zuolang's house when it gets dark. You don't need to wait for his reply or say anything to him."

Liu Zuolang, who served as a scribe in the Secretariat, was the father of Liu Erlang. Sangzhi had inquired beforehand and learned that the Liu family lived in Guide Ward, not far from their place.

Sangzhi responded and left the courtyard with the invitation.

The post quickly reached Liu Zuolang's hands.

Liu Zuolang looked up at the lamp and saw Wang Yan's name and seal on the post, and fell into deep thought. Beside him was Liu's old advisor, who used to assist the old master of Liu and now followed Liu Zuolang.

The staff member's hair was already gray, but he was still quite perceptive. Upon seeing this post, he immediately had a bad feeling.

"Why did Wang Yan suddenly send a calling card to the family?" the advisor asked. "Has something happened to the master?"

Liu Zuolang frowned and thought carefully. His official position was not important to begin with, and what he had been doing recently was nothing out of the ordinary. There was no way that Wang Yan would target him.

The aide said, "Then... could it be that something happened at home?"

Yanagi Sarou looked at his aides: "What has Jiro been doing lately?"

The advisor knew a thing or two: "Erlang spends all his time with a group of scholars. I asked them carefully, and they all have some talent. Erlang sometimes drinks and has banquets with them, but he doesn't get drunk often. They mostly talk about literature."

"These days we've been gathering together, and I heard we want to write a tabloid in Bianjing."

Liu Zuolang knew about the tabloid in Bianjing, but he didn't offer any help. He only wanted to give Erlang a setback. Editing a tabloid in Bianjing was not as simple as in Daming Prefecture. Besides, Erlang's friend Zuo Shangying was a cautious person and probably wouldn't fool around with Erlang. In short, he believed that Erlang couldn't succeed on his own.

Before the tabloids could provide any information, the Ministry of Rites posted the list of successful candidates. Those who passed would have to take the palace examination, while those who failed would be sent back to their old residence in Daming Prefecture.

"I'd forgotten, the Ministry of Rites postponed the release date of the results, did Erlang and the others not print out the tabloids?"

The aide whispered, "Probably not. Even if it were sent to the bookstore, they would still need a long time to prepare."

If it weren't for Wang Yan's post, the questioning might have ended there, but now Liu Zuolang couldn't help but ask a few more questions.

"Did you tell Erlang before that you wanted to show me the tabloid he wrote?"

The aide replied, "I did, and Erlang agreed."

Liu Zuolang stood up. Wang Yan wouldn't send an invitation without a reason, and he certainly wouldn't leave things unsaid. Wang Yan wouldn't do anything pointless, so... once this invitation was delivered to him, he should know Wang Yan's intentions.

If he doesn't figure this out, Wang Yan's invitation will be useless. Of course, he can't go to the Wang family to ask. Recently, Wang Yan has been spending a lot of time in the inner palace, and Erlang has also participated in this year's imperial examination. If he goes to visit Wang Yan, it would be seen as trying to find out the questions for the palace examination.

The advisor said, "Could it be that Wang Yan is trying to win over more people?"

Then he couldn't ask any further. Liu Zuolang's brows furrowed more and more. As a minor official, he didn't want to get too close to the Wang family, nor did he want to side with those who opposed the new policies.

Although Wang Yan was different from Prime Minister Wang, he was still from the Wang family, and many young officials in the court highly respected him.

Those officials were all graduates of the imperial examinations, but they had little seniority in the court and had never held important positions.

This… Liu Zuolang felt that he was very similar to the officials around Wang Yan.

"Could it be that Wang Yan really wants to recruit me?" Liu Zuolang murmured.

The advisor's eyes immediately lit up: "Wang Yan wouldn't just send out name cards casually. That might be his intention. Should we reply, sir?"

Yanagi Saro raised his hand to stop his aide from speaking further, and simply frowned in deep thought: "I need to think about this carefully."

Having received benefits from Wang Yan, one should stand on Wang Yan's side. He can pretend he has never seen the invitation card and then not have to follow Wang Yan's orders.