Four Harmonies and Good Fortune

Chapter 519 Can’t sleep
Liu Erlang understood everything now.

I used to be sheltered under my father's wings and never had to think much. Now I realize how much hardship my father has shielded us from all these years.

At this point, the father and son had basically finished recounting the events in the imperial court.

Liu Hui once said, "I'll say it again: you can think carefully about whether or not you want to participate in the palace examination. If you don't enter officialdom, you can stay at home for a few more years. In the future, when your father holds an important position, you can also get a minor post through his influence."

"If you still want to pursue an official career, you need to think carefully about what you will do in the future. If something like this happens again, do you dare to face it again?"

Faced with a choice between life and death, would he still have the courage to give up his own life and fight those people to the very end?

Liu Erlang nodded: "I will definitely think it over carefully."

After saying that, he helped his father lie down: "Father needs to rest more."

Liu Hui nodded, but then he remembered something and looked up at Liu Erlang.

There were some things Liu Hui didn't want to ask, but he really wanted to know: "You knew Madam Xie when you were in Daming Prefecture, so do you know about her relationship with Wang Yan..."

Liu Erlang was stumped by the question.

"Father, you don't think there's... a romantic relationship between them, do you?" Liu Erlang asked blankly. "Impossible. At most, it's just... Madam Xie working for Lord Wang."

"Someone once said that Lord Wang encountered a fairy when he was young, so he secretly cultivated Taoist arts and had no intention of getting married. There are also rumors that... Lord Wang and that fairy have become lovers and had a son a few years ago."

Liu Hui frowned: "Where did you hear all this from?"

“It was Tong Zixu who revealed it after he got drunk,” Liu Erlang said. “Tong Zixu has always been on good terms with Wang Yan and would not speak carelessly.”

Liu Huizeng already had some suspicions, and now seeing his son like this... he felt even more strongly that there might be something more between Wang Yan and Madam Xie.

His foolish son is the touchstone; if you think about the opposite of what he said, it's probably true.

When a smart person meets another smart person, how can they not admire each other?

Liu Hui once again lamented that in the future, it would only be him who could make a living in this family. He needed to accumulate more wealth and acquire more fertile land so that when he retired from officialdom, his son could become a wealthy man in the countryside and make a living by collecting rent.

Liu Hui waved for his son to leave, but despite being exhausted, he couldn't bear to go to sleep. Instead, he continued reading official documents under the lamp.

Standing outside the courtyard, Liu Erlang looked at the lights inside the house and felt even more respect for his father. His father had devoted himself to the country, and he could never match him.

However, there is one thing that Father must have misunderstood.

There is absolutely no possibility between Madam Xie and Lord Wang.

Liu Erlang thought of the look Wang Yan had given him, and that solemn, gloomy face. Which woman wouldn't avoid him?
Madam Xie wouldn't like someone like that.

……

Wang Yan changed his clothes at home and went to the Kaifeng Prefecture prison that night, where Xu Huaiyi was waiting for him in the duty room.

"How is it?" Wang Yan asked. "Have you found Wu Qian?"

Xu Huaiyi shook his head: "We've searched the county and prefectural prisons, but haven't found him yet."

Wang Yan said, "Investigate again carefully. Find two people who know Wu Qian and have the craftsmen draw his portrait according to their instructions. Post it in the government office, city gates, markets, and checkpoints before dawn. Don't withdraw the constables and patrolmen who are searching around the Bian River yet. Try to find this person."

Zhang Wei, whom Xu Wei sent to the South City Wharf, was captured. He should not be an accomplice of Wu Qian, whom Zhao Zhongliang mentioned. He needs to find out who else wants to harm A Yan.

……

In the meditation room of Baode Temple.

Yan Sui opened his eyes and looked at Master Zhiyuan, who was tossing and turning in bed beside him.

"Master," Yan Sui asked, "did you fall asleep during evening prayers?"

"I've said it before, I'm getting old, I can't sleep so long every day, otherwise I'll have a hard time falling asleep at night." As he spoke, Yan Sui reached out and patted Master Zhiyuan as if he were coaxing a child.

Master Zhiyuan sighed: "I haven't slept much, and I don't need you to coax me."

Yan Sui stopped what he was doing and asked curiously, "Why is that? Are you infested with lice? Or are you too hungry? Or... do you want to go to the bathroom?"

If Master Zhiyuan's Buddhist heart were not so firm, he would have covered his disciple's mouth with his hand.

"Someone from the Buddhist Registry just came and asked me to go to the Bian River tomorrow to perform a ritual for the deceased."

Yan Sui also heard that many people died in the Bian River last night. Performing a ritual to help the dead is a good deed, but he didn't know why his master looked like this.

Yan Sui asked, "Is it because the Buddhist Registry made Master do things but didn't pay him?"

Master Zhiyuan finally couldn't help but reach out and tap his little apprentice on the head: "Of course not. Even if there were no money, I should still go, but..." He felt that things were not so simple.

He only just learned that the money for the religious ceremony came from the sale of boats by the Buddhist Registry, and that the kind person who bought those boats was Lady Xie.

Master Zhiyuan told Yan Sui all of this.

Yan Sui blinked: "Master, do you think that the commotion on the Bian River last night was also related to Madam Xie?"

Master Zhiyuan murmured a Buddhist chant: "Amitabha." Ever since he met Madam Xie, she had always been there for such important events.

It should be said that those major events were all orchestrated by Madam Xie.

Moreover, it was Wang Yan who handled this case.

How can we forget the Thunder God and the Lightning Goddess?
"Did Master ask Madam?" Yan Sui asked.

Master Zhiyuan shook his head.

“Since it hasn’t been proven, then it doesn’t exist,” Yan Sui said. “The Buddha’s teachings say that all phenomena are illusory. Master, just recite it a few more times.”

Master Zhiyuan was suddenly very pleased, as his young disciple had finally gained some understanding.

Silently reciting Buddhist scriptures, Master Zhiyuan indeed cast aside his troubles. In a daze, he felt sleepy and was just about to fall asleep when he heard his young disciple turn over.

“Master, how come Madam Xie is so powerful? She can command the wind and rain wherever she goes,” Yan Sui said, swinging his arms in the air, his voice full of envy. “Once you help Madam Xie get those ships, her fleet will grow even stronger.”

Master Zhiyuan's hard-won state of mind was immediately thrown into chaos by his young apprentice.

"But we can also get money from the temple. Madam's method is simply brilliant. We... um..."

Master Zhiyuan, unable to bear it any longer, reached out and covered his young apprentice's mouth.

The meditation room was finally quiet again, but Master Zhiyuan couldn't fall asleep no matter what.

……

Xie Yuyan slept soundly that night.

When I woke up, it was already bright day.

While Madam Yu helped Xie Yuyan get dressed, Zhang Shi followed shortly afterward.

Zhang said, "Did Qin'er disturb you? He was going to school, but he insisted on coming to your yard to check on you before he left."

Xie Yuyan was unaware of these things: "I didn't hear any movement from Qin Ge'er. I just woke up naturally after I had slept enough."

Upon hearing this, Zhang nodded and said, "I'll have someone bring breakfast over right away."

Xie Yuyan is going to the porcelain shop soon. Han Si has been arrested, and the porcelain shop needs to elect a new person to succeed him as the shop's leader at 9:00 AM.