She fell out after crying at the wrong grave

In just five days, the capital city changed dramatically.

The once prosperous town is now in a state of panic.

The streets were filled with people packing their bags to escape the famine, including some officials who resigned from their posts and fled.

Yan Tongjun slept peacefully at home for four or five days before he sent someone to invite Lu Zhongting to his home.

The heavy rain could not cover up the dangerous atmosphere of the dynasty's turmoil. Now the emperor was in a coma, the court was in chaos, and everyone was watching covetously. Whoever moved this crab first would make a fortune.

In the corridor, Yan Tongjun was leaning on a rocking chair, slowly fanning himself with a palm-leaf fan.

Lu Zhongting sat down next to him and brewed tea silently.

On the way in, I saw that the house was deserted and there were not many people around. I knew that my teacher was kind and wanted to send the servants away during these troubled times.

This is as it should be.

No matter how hard you try, you can never gather people together once they have scattered like birds and beasts.

He smiled and handed Yan Tongjun the first bowl of tea. "I know why the teacher asked me to come. Not long before the marriage, I was ordered to go to the palace to inspect the Chong'an Hall that was repaired by Xu Tingzhou from the Ministry of Works, and I came to see our prince specially."

"Humph." Yan Tongjun took the cup, smiled approvingly, and tapped him with his fan, "I knew I was right about you, kid. You have never been a person who just wants to get by."

Lu Zhongting nodded, and all the cautiousness and timidity around him disappeared, revealing the luster of the jade from Jingshan Mountain.

"In the past, the world was peaceful, and people like me didn't need to work so hard. Instead, the emperor's ability to strike a balance was needed. But now it's different." Lu Zhongting said, "Now in troubled times, there is a place for me to use my talents. I am not talented, and I am not a wise minister who can stay in one corner. I can't delay any longer."

Yan Tongjun understood the letter clearly.

What Lu Zhongting did in the court, whether he was good at self-protection or scheming, could not conceal his talent.

I think the reason I accepted him as my disciple was because the essay he wrote in the exam was very practical and the brilliance of its ideas far outweighed its literary talent and rhetoric.

Unfortunately, no one valued this place, so he was eliminated and did not make it into the top three.

How much can beautiful articles do to govern the world?

Even though no one appreciated him, Lu Zhongting never felt sad. He was soon appointed an official and took up his post without any hesitation.

Perhaps he had been pretending in the officialdom for too long. Over time, even Yan Tongjun's opinion of him changed. He wondered if he had lost his ambition because of the long-term torture.

After thinking about it for more than ten years, Yan Tongjun was very happy that the solution was finally revealed.

"This is a good thing." Yan Tongjun added, "In recent days, Jin Feng has been holding an imperial edict in his hand, and he has dispatched troops in the camp and conducted a large-scale search in the city, causing unrest and making it impossible for the memorials from the Censorate to be delivered. You and I did not ask for leave, but went to the desk of the Secretariat, and the people below delivered the official documents to my house."

Lu Zhongting said, "Gu Shouchun rebelled. The fact that Jinfeng is now above the three provinces is also the result of your majesty's indulgence. His beloved daughter is pregnant with the heir, and he has already acted like the father-in-law of the emperor. He was the one who organized the marriage ceremony, so how could he bear to lose face? Naturally, he has to clean up this mess before your majesty wakes up."

In fact, this is also Jin Feng's own fault.

For security reasons, all ceremonies in the palace were guarded by the Jinwu Guards, so there were few mistakes. However, Jin Feng felt that the matter had to be handed over to the Yulong Army because the leader of the Yulong Army was his wife's nephew, and he accepted some money and listened to some slander.

This was exactly what Gu Shouchun wanted.

If he wanted to let the princess go, it would be safest to open the door himself. But he was the only one who received Chen's favor, not all the other soldiers, so there was no reason to drag them all into this.

If the plan fails, we can't die together.

Besides, his plan with Zhao Hou also made Heng Qi think twice about how to start the attack in a way that looked painful but was not serious. Jin Feng's change relieved them of all their worries.

So he simply refused to accept the city gates. After handing over his power the day before, Gu Shouchun was relieved of his burden. He let the palace riot, but he turned a deaf ear to it.

Zhao Hou attacked the Dragon Guards outside the city with quick, accurate and ruthless actions, leaving no harm at all.

Everything was due to the right time, right place and right people, which enabled His Highness to leave the city smoothly.

Gu Shouchun saw that everyone had left the city, so he carefully withdrew his tracks and took Madam Cui and Ying'en with him, and they all took advantage of the chaos to leave the city.

But in the eyes of outsiders, Gu Shouchun at this time was already rebelling angrily because of the unfair treatment. After all, on the day of the chaos, Jin Feng was still shouting throughout the palace, "Where are the Jinwu Guards?"

If a pot covered with coal ash falls from the sky and you accept it willingly, you would be unworthy of being a military general.

Yan Tongjun sneered, "He can't handle it. If everyone is united, no matter how difficult the situation is, we can overcome it. But you see, there are no such conditions now."

Then he changed the subject, "I would like to ask, why are you willing to take such a big risk to help the princess escape her marriage. You are not such an unstable person."

Lu Zhongting paused and found a popular saying, "Being a minister, especially a student..." He hesitated for a moment and said with a smile, "For a minister who is not very loyal, loyalty to the emperor is like betting, and betting is naturally risky. Otherwise, how could the teacher be a loyal minister and good general to Emperor Wu An for his whole life."

This was beyond Yan Tongjun's expectations.

"I thought you had hit on Hengzhi. It turns out you were targeting the princess, but she is just a woman..." Yan Tongjun frowned, feeling that something was wrong.

In such a chaotic situation, if Shen Zhuo heard his two capable ministers in the Secretariat leisurely discussing who would be the new emperor, he would probably be so angry that he would jump up from the dragon bed.

"Your Highness is the only royal bloodline left. She has experienced the hardships of the people during her days of wandering outside, and her family and relatives were basically destroyed by the previous emperor and the current emperor." Lu Zhongting took a few dates from the plate and listed them one by one. "The most important point, Lord Yan, have you forgotten that she is Huai Chengbai's student?"

Yan Tongjun was silent for a long time.

Lu Zhongting sighed in his heart. The biggest problem now was that even if he wanted to support the princess to become the new king, she might not be willing at all.
-
By the time we returned to Kezhou, it was already early June.

The place where Ah-yi woke up was not Kezhou's private residence, but she was really sick and confused, and everything looked like home. When she said this in a complaining tone, Heng-chi, who was chopping wood beside her, raised his eyebrows and smiled.

"So," Ah-yi was allowed to ride along to enjoy the fresh air after she had almost recovered from her illness. "We took a detour to Yuanzhou. Is that house your private property in Yuanzhou?"

Once we entered Kezhou, we could move much more easily.

The second time Ah's wife walked this official road, her mood was completely different.

Last time, I walked with Zhou Saozi, supporting each other while we cried. My knees ached, my eyes were red and swollen, and there were musical instruments and singing all around me, so I had no time to appreciate the mountains and rivers.

It's different now.

Hengzhi was wearing a sky-blue robe and had a straight figure.

Because I had been taking care of Ah'ao and worrying about her health for days, she lost some weight and looked a little haggard.

"Yes, but I haven't stayed here for a long time, so it's time to repair it."

Ah-yi's ears became calloused and she felt a headache and nausea when she heard the word "repair". She quickly changed the subject, "Yuanzhou is not a very good place. It is remote and cold. Even if we sell it at a discount, we may not be able to get back the original price."

Hengzhi tilted his head to look at her. He actually found this preconceived idea of ​​the hostess's thoughts very useful.

"How do you know I haven't bought any property anywhere else?"

So after entering the city, Yunli, Mrs. Zhou and her group were looking forward to picking her up with tears in their eyes, but A'ao was still immersed in the housing prices in various places and the lavish assets spent by Hengzhi.

It wasn't until the next day that Ah'ao remembered something.

Mrs. Zhou sat down gracefully in the courtyard as she apologized for her smile.

"I've been so sick lately that I can hardly recognize anyone." She made up the story in a serious tone. "If you don't believe me, wait for Hengzhi to come back at noon and ask him. He must have been very ill, so I didn't mean to ignore you yesterday."

Mrs. Zhou turned to the other side and didn't even look at her.

Ah's hand tried to climb up to her but suddenly fell in mid-air, which was very embarrassing.

After all, Mrs. Zhou is a straightforward person and can't stand keeping things in her heart.

He looked at Ah-yi with a resentful look on his face, and then spoke unhappily, "I am not the kind of person who cares about trivial matters, and I am not annoyed by your concealed identity. But you left so willfully, I thought you had had enough of the hard life and went back to enjoy wealth and glory."

Ah'ao put away her smile and lowered her head.

"What kind of life have you been living?" Mrs. Zhou's eyes were red. "You must have suffered a lot in the past six months. If it weren't for the young marquis to pick you up, what would you do if something went wrong? Are you waiting to die?"

Ah'ao was stunned. She hadn't expected that.

Logically speaking, she and Madam Cui had communicated with each other, and Gu Shouchun helped. Based on her understanding of Shen Zhuo, it was a sure thing.

Besides, Lord Lu from the Secretariat has also deployed personnel outside the city, so even if something goes wrong in the city, there will be someone to cover it.

But I overlooked the word friendship.

She was not a person who was good at speaking, so after hearing what Mrs. Zhou said, she could only listen with an open mind and could not say anything in rebuttal.

After a while, seeing Mrs. Zhou shaking her head and sighing, she added, "It's my fault."

Mrs. Zhou turned her head and looked at A'an again.

After not seeing her for a long time, she really suffered a lot.

Originally, she lived a carefree life in the Zhaohou Mansion, taking care of their small business which had not yet grown big. Ah'ao looked like a naive girl.

Now that he had come out of that cannibalistic palace, he was so skinny that he looked like he could be blown away by the wind. Yunli said that he almost died of illness on the way.

I don’t know if Marquis Zhao felt pained, but Mrs. Zhou was in so much pain.

"Forget it. You and I are different in status." Mrs. Zhou held her hand. After she had finished talking, they were naturally the same. "The fact that you were able to escape from the palace proves that you didn't have a good life before. Since there are things that must be done, let's just consider it done now."

Ah-yi nodded.

"In that case, then stay here peacefully." Mrs. Zhou resumed her impetuous look. "Whether the country collapses or not is the business of the officials. It has nothing to do with us women in this life. You should cultivate yourself well, eat well and become fat as soon as possible, and come to the shop from time to time to settle the accounts, that's all!"

Well, what we need is an abacus to do the accounting.

Ah-yi smiled and said, "I know. Heng-chi feeds me delicious food every day. Now I eat more than those rabbits."

She pointed to the rabbit hutch under the tree.

Since she left, they have multiplied exponentially, and now all they see is a sea of ​​white.

They all laughed.

Hengzhi, who came back early from his inspection with delicious food and drinks in hand, also curled his eyes.

It has been a long time since the years have been so smooth.

(End of this chapter)