Zhutian: Starting from the Space-Time Merchant

Chapter 527 Wang Xifeng: What is a memorial to the emperor?

"Son."

A petite maidservant came over with a washbasin and said, "Please wash up."

"Put it on the table."

Lin Dao, who was writing at his desk, gave the instructions without turning his head.

"Yes."

The maid hesitated for a moment, but obediently put down the washbasin and towel.

After leaving the house and entering the courtyard, several old women and maids were tidying up listlessly.

The maid glanced at them but didn't say anything.

He lowered his head and hurriedly left the courtyard.

They jogged along and soon arrived at Wang Xifeng's courtyard.

At this time, there were many people in Wang Xifeng's courtyard, all of whom were housekeepers, wives, and children, reporting their work to Wang Xifeng.

The Jia family was a top noble family in the Great Zhou Dynasty, and they had more than a thousand servants and maids.

If you include those born outside the family, the number would be even greater.

With so many people and such a large residence, countless things happen every day.

When they needed to make decisions, they would usually go to Wang Xifeng, the housekeeper and wife in name only.

With Ping'er's help, Wang Xifeng, who had been busy for quite a while, finally finished dealing with the pile of things.

After everyone left, she summoned the inconspicuous little maid who was huddled in the corner.

"Hong'er."

After rinsing her mouth with ginseng tea, Wang Xifeng, with a ribbon wrapped around her forehead, casually asked, "Have you discovered anything?"

Hong'er, whose real name is Lin Hongyu.

His parents were the famous "deaf and mute" couple, Lin Xiaozhi and his wife, from the Jia family.

She was a typical servant born into the Jia family, and according to custom, she was supposed to continue working as a household servant in the mansion.

In the modern world, people would be furious if they encountered such a thing.

'You're the servant!'

'Your whole family are servants!'

After all, people in the modern world have a strong sense of self.

Even if you travel through time, you must still strive to reach the summit.

Of course, this excludes those who are only interested in romance and palace intrigue, and who want to become the daughter-in-law of an old servant.

Even if there really were time-traveling gods, they probably wouldn't give these lackeys the chance to travel through time.

But people in this era are different.

Even in a noble family like the Jia family, they were servants in front of their masters.

But when they go out, they are all people of high status.

In this era, their food, clothing, daily necessities, and even their salary are all top-notch.

You should know that many people starve to death every year throughout the Great Zhou Dynasty.
Moreover, those who did well could even take advantage of the Jia family, and even outside the Jia family, they were still treated like royalty.

Lin Hongyu was forced to change her name to Hong'er because the character "Yu" in her name clashed with the character "Yu" in Jia Baoyu's name.

She was originally going to serve Jia Baoyu.

After all, for the maids in the Jia family, Jia Baoyu was the best opportunity they could hope to achieve.

But before he could set off, Wang Xifeng stopped him and gave him a last-minute assignment.

That means taking care of Lin Dao's daily life while also monitoring him.

"Replying to Second Madam~"

Xiao Hong first bowed, and then replied, "Young Master Lin lives a secluded life."

"I don't go out on weekdays, and I don't see anyone."

"When I tried to go in to clean, he refused me entry, citing his seclusion as the reason."

"Seclusion?" Wang Xifeng put down her ginseng tea and sneered, "Making it sound so real."

She didn't believe Lin Dao from the bottom of her heart, convinced that he was a charlatan.

What I want to do most right now is to find his weaknesses and vulnerabilities.

"It's been several days already."

Wang Xifeng asked again, "You couldn't have come up with absolutely nothing, could you?"

"If things drag on like this, when will you be able to serve Master Bao?"

This also touched on Xiaohong's sore spot.

She was only interested in marrying into a higher social class and had no interest in serving any young master Lin.

She didn't want to prolong the process like this.

"Second Grandma."

Xiao Hong thought for a moment and then reported again, "That Young Master Lin often writes and draws."

"Oh?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Xifeng's eyes lit up immediately. "So a written agreement has been made? What does it say?"

"This servant is illiterate."

"Useless!" Wang Xifeng selectively forgot that she was also illiterate and angrily cursed a few times.

"so."

She instructed him, "Find an opportunity to steal those documents."

"Yes~"

After dinner, Xiaohong didn't go to sleep.

After waiting for a while, he got up and went outside Lin Dao's house.

It was completely dark inside, and there was no sound at all.

"Young Master Lin~ Young Master Lin?"

I called out softly twice, but received no response.

After waiting for a while, Xiao Hong finally gritted her teeth and went forward to push the door open.

Just like before, Lin Dao never bolted the door.

He doesn't sleep here at all, so of course there's no need to bolt the door.

The nighttime hours in the forest are actually very precious.

His nights do not belong to him alone, but to countless beauties across many times and spaces.

Given this premise, it's naturally impossible for her to stay here alone in an empty room.

The sound of the door hinges turning was unusually jarring in the quiet night.

Looking into the dark room, Xiao Hong was clearly frightened.

But the thought of serving Master Bao gave her courage.

First, he went to get a candle, lit it, and then carefully entered the house while holding the candle.

As I walked to the table, I found it as expected, with many rectangular 'books' piled up on the tabletop.

She was illiterate, so naturally she didn't know what these things were.

Feeling guilty, he reached out and grabbed a stack of things, then hurriedly went out to Wang Xifeng's courtyard.

Jia Lian was still at the Ningguo Mansion next door, busy handling Jia Zhen's funeral arrangements.

Inside the room, only Ping'er was massaging Wang Xifeng's legs as she pretended to be asleep.

After Xiao Hong came in, she was so nervous that her face turned red as she handed the 'book' in her hand to Wang Xifeng.

Upon seeing this scene, Wang Xifeng opened her eyes and immediately glared at her with a cold expression.

"What, are you making fun of me?"

"I can't read!" Xiao Hong was so startled that her hand trembled, and the 'book' almost fell to the ground.

When Feng Lazi gets angry, she is indeed very scary.

Even Jia Lian was driven to desperation and drew his sword to kill her.

The understanding Ping'er took the initiative to take the 'book', easing Xiao Hong's embarrassment and fear.

In fact, Ping'er was also semi-illiterate.

However, she is at least much better than Wang Xifeng; she can recognize quite a few characters and can barely read sentences.

She took the 'books' and flipped through them one by one for a while, but the expression on her pretty face became increasingly strange.

Wang Xifeng, who was lying on the bed, waved her hand impatiently.

"say!"

"What exactly is being written?"

"Second Madam." Ping'er picked up an open 'book' and handed it to Wang Xifeng.

Before Wang Xifeng could get angry, she said, "The first line reads: 'Your subject, Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince, Minister of War Xu Da, respectfully submits this memorial.'"

"what?"

Wang Xifeng blinked. "What is it?"

“This seems to be…” Ping’er responded uncertainly, “A memorial to the emperor.”

"Memorial to the throne? What is a memorial to the throne?"

“It’s a letter written by a minister to the emperor.” Ping’er replied softly, “The kind of letter that Master Zheng, the Grand Master, writes to the emperor.”

"It seems so, the document calls for increased military spending."

"I recognize the last few words; they read 'I humbly request Your Majesty's approval.'"

Wang Xifeng rubbed her forehead and shook her head.

Who is the Minister of War in the imperial court?

"I think I heard Master Lian mention it before," Ping'er replied softly. "I don't remember the name, but it's definitely not surnamed Xu."

“And these too.” Ping’er picked up another memorial and opened it. “Apart from the names, the contents are almost the same.”

"And there's even a note in vermilion ink saying 'Reviewed~ Approved~ Further Discussion~ Not Approved~'"

"These are all official memorials!"

As for why Ping'er was able to recognize the memorial,

That's because Jia Lian had once handled official correspondence on behalf of Jia She and had written memorials in Jia She's name.

Ping'er was grinding ink on the side at the time, and Jia Lian explained a few things to her.

"This man."

Holding the memorial in her hand, Wang Xifeng asked in bewilderment, "Why would you forge a memorial?"

"This is a capital offense."

To her, these must be fakes.

In reality, Lin Dao had too much official business to handle, so he simply brought the documents he needed to process over for review.

He never expected that someone would come to steal things.

At this moment, Lin Dao was teaching Lin Daiyu martial arts in Yi Garden.

After the incident, Yiyuan Park noticeably increased its patrols.

But this place is really too big, even bigger than the Rongguo Mansion.

A patrol of a hundred or so men was thrown in, like salt being poured into water.

Neither Lin Dao nor Lin Meimei is blind, and the moonlight is quite nice tonight.

They didn't even use lanterns, but began practicing martial arts by the moonlight.

First and foremost, there are hidden weapons.

"These small stones can be found everywhere."

Lin Dao bent down, picked up a pebble, and casually threw it, hitting a willow tree not far away.

Splinters flew everywhere as the tree trunk was smashed.

Because of his status as the Human Emperor, his strength comes entirely from the power of spacetime.

Lin Daiyu's strength comes from cultivating an indestructible body.

The only difference is in accuracy.

"Throwing hidden weapons mainly relies on practice." Lin Dao picked out a few smooth and round pebbles and put them into Lin Meimei's hand.

The instructor teaches you step-by-step how to "find the feel" of the technique.

"The more you throw, the better you get the feel for it."

"You start by throwing two hundred balls to warm up."

"If you don't have enough stones, just pick them up yourself; there are plenty on the ground."

After saying that, Lin Dao found a large rock and sat down to rest.

Lin Daiyu pouted.

She wasn't actually interested in throwing buttons or stones.

It was only because my senior brother personally taught me that I was willing to stay up all night to contact him.

This kind of tedious practice is really annoying.

Fortunately, she had a strong will and gritted her teeth to throw two hundred pebbles.

Brushing the dust off her hands, Lin Meimei lifted the hem of her skirt and sat down next to Lin Dao.

The rock is quite large, but it has sharp edges.

There isn't much room to sit.

Lin Daiyu sat down next to him, so they were practically touching.

While her face was still flushed and her heart was pounding.

Lin Dao suddenly sniffed.

"The smell of sweat~"

Lin Daiyu was furious and immediately got up to leave.

"Just kidding." Lin Dao grabbed her wrist and said with a smile, "Come on, let's practice some free-style punches!"

"Haha~"

"It's martial arts."

After their practice session ended, the two went their separate ways.

After Lin Daiyu quietly returned, Zijuan breathed a sigh of relief and gave up her seat.

But Lin Daiyu couldn't fall asleep because she was thinking about Lin Dao's words.

He simply got up and nudged Zijuan, lowering his voice to give her instructions.

"I want to take a shower~"

Zijuan, who was feeling sleepy, instantly woke up.

He looked at her in disbelief.

"Now?"

You need to heat water to take a bath; there are no water heaters these days!

Lin Dao led them back to their rooms.

But the door was open.

With a slight frown, he stood at the door. Before long, he saw Xiao Hong carrying a lantern and sneaking out.

He reached out and covered her mouth, then dragged her into the house.

The door was suddenly slammed shut!

(End of this chapter)