Chapter 41

“Why did you go to the brothel again?” Yan Mingting asked during dinner.

Zhao Yelan paused with his chopsticks, and said slowly, “Just passing by.”

“Then why did Li Yucheng ask you to go to the brothel to listen to music together?”

Hearing this, Zhao Yelan glanced back at Gao Tan, Gao Tan immediately covered his face with his hands, he turned his head and said: “He said that there is a new lady who can sing in the building, and asked me to listen to it. ”

“I didn’t know when your relationship was so good, and I even invited you to listen to the music in the brothel!” Yan Mingting gritted his teeth and said with extra emphasis on the word brothel, for fear that the other party would not be able to hear him, as if he was angry.

Zhao Yelan picked up a piece of radish for him, Yan Mingting’s expression softened, and he was about to eat it, when he heard him say, “Eat salty radish, don’t worry about it.”

“…” Yan Mingting snorted, put down his chopsticks heavily, and left the table.

A few days later, as soon as Zhao Yelan left the Imperial Academy, he was stopped by Li Yucheng.

“I can find you easily. I go to the general’s mansion every day, but no one is there. I have caught you now.” Li Yucheng said.

“What is it?”

“Let’s go eat. There’s a new restaurant in the east of the city. I’ve reserved a private room for you. Hurry up and get on the sedan chair.”

Zhao Yelan glanced at the luxurious soft sedan next to him, turned around and sat in.

The newly opened restaurant was extremely lively, and in the lobby, actors were specially invited to play the piano, and the surroundings were full of applause.

There are also a lot of dishes and tricks, and a carrot can be carved into the shape of a phoenix. After a table of delicacies was served, Zhao Yelan looked at Li Yucheng who was hesitant to speak: “Tell me, what’s the matter?”

Li Yucheng took a deep breath, then picked up the wine glass in front of him, and said solemnly: “I want to formally apologize to you. I used to be too arrogant, and somehow blamed you for all the anger my father received in the courtroom.” Since then, I have been targeting you everywhere, and even tried to make trouble for you a few times, I will do this first as a respect.”

It was quite interesting, Zhao Yelan nodded slightly.

Li Yucheng poured a second glass of wine and said, “This glass is for gratitude. The cause of my sister’s death… If you hadn’t helped the Holy Majesty ascend the throne, the dog… that person can’t say how many people will be killed.”

After gulping it down, he poured a third cup, but he couldn’t open his mouth. After struggling for a while, he said shamefully, “This cup is my apology to Yan Mingting. I shouldn’t believe in rumors and hold grudges on my own. He I spent my whole life serving the country and the people, but I put unwarranted charges on him, it is really hateful.”

“You should drink this glass of wine directly with him.” Zhao Yelan said.

“I dare not… Anyway, aren’t you all a family?”

Zhao Yelan choked up.

“Please turn around and convey it to me.” Perhaps Yan Mingting was too upright, which made Li Yucheng a little ashamed and always felt that he was out of tune with him. On the contrary, it was Zhao Yelan, who was both righteous and evil, that made him talk better, ” If you accept my apology, drink this beer.”

“I don’t drink alcohol.” Zhao Yelan said.

“Then you…have a meal?” Li Yucheng looked at him pleadingly, “You can forgive me, or my father won’t make it easier for me.”

“What does your father want me to do?” Zhao Yelan had already guessed that Li Jinyu sent him here, otherwise it would be impossible for him to apologize so obediently.

“You misunderstood, my father didn’t mean to ask you for help, but just wanted me to apologize to Yan Mingting. I was too embarrassed to face him directly, so I took a detour…I found you here.”

“Does it need to be so devious?” Zhao Yelan was a little amused, but his face remained calm.

“Of course, you two have such a good relationship, the effect is the same as what you said.” Li Yucheng took out three more bank notes, “These are all my savings over the years. Not ten thousand taels of gold, I can only use this to make amends for you, if one day I become prosperous, I will definitely make up for the rest.”

If you hate it, you hate it, and no one can get along with Yinzi. Zhao Yelan put away the banknote without changing his face, and then he paused suddenly: “Who said I have a good relationship with him?”

“Does it need to be said?” Li Yucheng curled his lips, “I have scolded him several times in front of him as nemesis, broom star, and evil star, and he just pretended not to hear it, but last time in front of you, I scolded him for being a bad boy.” Kill you…he immediately slapped me twice! It took ten days and a half months for the swelling to subside!”

“You deserve it.” Zhao Yelan thought in his heart that if it hadn’t been useful to keep you at that time, you would have died in my hands long ago.

“Yes, yes, I deserve it. My father told me not to cause trouble with you, but I didn’t listen.” Li Yucheng said with a playful smile, “But I won’t in the future, I decided to make you my friend!”

Zhao Yelan looked at him in disbelief: “Who gave you the face?”

“Why, what threshold do you need to make friends?”

“At least you have a good brain.” Zhao Yelan looked at his empty mind with distaste, and shook his head.

“It’s because my father didn’t let me go to school when I was young!” Li Yucheng said confidently, “He didn’t want me to practice martial arts, saying that the battlefield was too dangerous, and he never wanted me to be an official, so he never cared about my studies. Otherwise, it is still uncertain who will be the No. 1 scholar this year.”

“Oh? Who’s talking about the new champion?” Someone outside the door laughed.

Li Yucheng opened the door curiously, and saw two strangers who were about to slam them, but saw the smiling man walk in and said, “Brother Zhao, it really is you, I saw your back just now, and thought it was you.” You got the wrong person.”

“You guys know each other?” Li Yucheng asked in surprise.

“I’m Ruan Xian, who works in the Imperial Academy.” Ruan Xian smiled, then pointed to the person behind him and introduced, “This is the champion of the new department you mentioned, Wang Guisheng.”

Li Yucheng was dumbfounded, wondering if he had opened his mouth too much? He immediately muttered: “Tathagata Buddha, Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, quickly manifest your spirits, let me see your real bodies. If it’s really not possible, Xishi Diaochan can also.”

Zhao Yelan looked at him speechlessly, I really don’t know how he figured out that he was smart enough to be his friend.

“It’s overcrowded outside, and there are no empty tables. I wonder if I can make a table with Brother Zhao?” Ruan Xian asked.

“Sit down.” Zhao Yelan just didn’t want to be alone at the table with this idiot Li, so he ordered Xiao Er to add two more sets of bowls and chopsticks.

The four of them sat on each side, Ruan Xian and Zhao Yelan talked about the changes in the current situation, Li Yucheng realized that he couldn’t talk about it, and his position was a little bit low, so he poked Zhuangyuan Lang next to him: “You and Zhao Yelan have a good relationship? ”

Wang Guisheng didn’t know how to answer, subconsciously looked at Zhao Yelan, but saw him sitting upright, with a generous and casual posture, but without losing his demeanor, eating slowly, nodding occasionally to echo Ruan Xian’s point of view, he couldn’t help but stare a little dumbfounded , Xin Dao, some people are so born that people can’t take their eyes off them.

He didn’t answer this question until he heard Zhao Yelan mention the Jiangnan matter.

“A few days ago, the water report of the Huaihe River was submitted to the imperial court. Did it say that the precipitation has increased significantly compared with the past, and floods are predicted?”

“Yes, Gui Sheng should be more aware of this matter, he was the one who drafted the decree for delegating disaster relief funds,” Ruan Xian replied.

When the first emperor was alive, there was a flood in one year, which caused the people to live in poverty. Therefore, as soon as Zhao Xuan came to the throne, he set up water reporters in the Yangtze River and the Yellow River. Prepare for flooding.

Zhao Yelan looked at Wang Guisheng: “Where did the disaster money go?”

Wang Guisheng was taken aback for a moment, and said, “Huaizhou and Zhizhou will be transferred as appropriate at that time. Judging by the distance, we should arrive in more than ten days.”

Zhao Yelan frowned. A few days ago, when he was talking about the customs of Jiangnan with Sun Muyun, the other party warmly invited him to visit Jiangnan, saying that the weather has been good recently, and it has been sunny for more than ten days in a row, making it easy to travel.

“Is there a problem?” Ruan Xian asked.

As soon as the words were finished, there was a sudden sound of tables being thrown in the lobby. Li Yucheng, a lively guy, immediately opened the door, and when he looked down, he saw his old enemy, Fu Qian, who was known as the most beautiful man in the capital.

The other party firmly grabbed a short young master, and asked, “Who are you? Do you dare to take off your clothes and find out?”

“You let me go!”

Zhao Yelan paused, the voice sounded inexplicably familiar, walked to the corridor, looked down at the two people who were arguing, and suddenly remembered who this jade-faced young man was, and said, “Go and bring this person up.”

The three of them were stunned, and went downstairs one after another. Li Yucheng was the first to bear the brunt, grabbed Fu Qian by the back of the collar and started cursing: “Everyone, come and see, in broad daylight, Fu Qian actually wants to strip the man’s clothes, could it be because of Long Yang’s tricks?” Ok!”

In an instant, everyone burst into laughter, Fu Qian took care of his face, immediately let go of his hand, turned around to argue with him, but before he opened his mouth, he was dragged out by him, and the two scuffled at the gate.

The jade-faced young man just took a breath and was about to run away, but was invited upstairs by two other gentle people. When he saw the person sitting in the private room, he said excitedly, “Lord Zhao!”

“You are too courageous.” Zhao Yelan said displeased, “Where is your maid?”

“Handmaiden?” Ruan Xian looked at this young man in surprise. His skin was tender, his fingers were slender, and his voice was clear and clear. After a closer look, there was no protruding Adam’s apple… It was clearly a girl!

“She’s gone to find someone.” Sun Muyun smiled for the rest of her life, “Fortunately, Mr. Zhao, you helped me, otherwise I would be finished.”

It’s not just over, she’s here to participate in the draft, if she flirts with other men in public and reports it to the sage, so that someone with a heart can use this to accuse her of adultery, then the loss outweighs the gain.

“I was wrong, I thought my disguise was flawless.” Sun Muyun admitted her mistake quickly, and said aggrievedly, “I heard that there is the most beautiful man in Beijing, so I disguised myself and came to have a look , who knows that I am a rich man, but also sees that I am a daughter, and says that I am in love with him, so I have a private meeting with him in this dress, and want to be friends with me. You Guang, how can he be worthy of the title of the most beautiful man, not even a finger of Mr. Zhao!”

“I agree with this.” Ruan Xian clapped his hands and laughed.

“Wow, you two…you’re pretty handsome too!” Sun Muyun noticed the other two men in the room, and looked at them with piercing eyes.

Zhao Yelan was at a loss for words for a moment, and he didn’t know whether to admire her heartless courage, or to praise her sweet-talking skills, such a simple sentence or two made the two of them blush secretly.

He thought for a moment, and said: “If Miss Sun wants to see a handsome man, after entering the palace, she will be able to see the face of the saint. That is the real beauty.”

“Is this true?” Sun Muyun lowered her voice and struggled, “But I saw the first emperor once when I was young, it’s really ugly…”

Ruan Xian and Wang Guisheng hid their faces and laughed, Zhao Yelan also laughed: “The Holy Majesty is more like his mother and concubine, with a face like a crown jade, you won’t be disappointed.”

“Exactly.” Ruan Xian echoed, “I see the Holy Majesty is ashamed of himself.”

Sun Muyun looked at Wang Guisheng suspiciously again, Wang Guisheng nodded, and she was immediately moved. This famous handsome man in the capital told her to look at them all, and the only two who felt astonishing as heaven and man became husband and wife, and now there is only one who has never seen him before!

Anyway, her plan from the beginning was to see if there was any handsome man she liked in Beijing. If she found one, she would act ugly during the draft, and after the process was over, she would sleep and fly with the man she liked. If you can’t find it, then you will be left to your fate.

“Okay, I’ll go back and prepare for the draft!”

“Don’t go out and cause trouble in the next few days. The draft is not just about you alone, there is the Sun family behind you.” Zhao Yelan reminded.

“I see, thank you Master Zhao.” Sun Muyun nodded, just as her maid came with someone, so she left first.

The three of them left the restaurant one step later. When they walked out of the gate, they glanced at Li Yucheng and Fu Qian who were still struggling. people.

Ruan Xian and Wang Guisheng also saw it, facing each other’s gloomy eyes, they took the lead in politely saying: “General Yan.”

For some reason, Ruan Xian felt that General Yan seemed to hate him even more! What went wrong in the end, I haven’t seen a few times in total!

This frustrates the sophisticated and tactful Ruan Xian, thinking that he coaxed all the young and old in the Imperial Academy to be happy, so why did he end up here at Yan Mingting?

Without even looking at them, Yan Mingting went straight to Zhao Yelan, took his arm and stuffed it into the sedan chair next to him, and then sat in with a dark face.

“What’s wrong with you?” Zhao Yelan rubbed the place where he had dragged him, feeling a little hurt, and unavoidably a little annoyed, “Have you eaten firecrackers?”

Yan Mingting snorted coldly: “You’ve had a pretty cool day.”

It was in vain that he stayed cold for several days!

Since the last time the banquet broke up, Yan Mingting intentionally ignored him, so that he could reflect on himself, it would be best if he could realize his mistakes, and then come to show his love to him, but who knew that the other party not only did not have the slightest regret I mean, I also came out to drink and eat with these two little boys from the Hanlin Academy, so happy!

There are so many knowledgeable old men in the Hanlin Academy, why didn’t you see him having dinner with those people?

Zhao Yelan thought it was because he disliked him for going extravagantly in the restaurant again, and said, “It was Li Yucheng who arranged the table, and he paid for the money.”

Well, there’s Li Yucheng!

Yan Mingting was so angry that his hair stood on end.

All the way in silence, Zhao Yelan looked at his face, thinking that every time he went to the restaurant outside, he would be talking about wasting money, and he couldn’t help getting angry, saying: “Even if the money I paid is bothering you, what’s the matter? Don’t care about anything, did I cost you a penny?”

As soon as the sedan chair stopped, he forcefully opened the curtain and walked into the general’s mansion angrily.

“…” Yan Mingting looked at the swaying curtain, no, why is he still angry?

The atmosphere at the table during dinner was so weird that even the servants noticed it. Xiao Gao secretly asked Butler Tan: “Did the general force you to step up again? Otherwise, why are you so unhappy?”

“There’s no way a couple doesn’t quarrel.” Butler Tan sighed. He had noticed something was wrong a few days ago. He didn’t expect that the two hadn’t reconciled, but it would intensify instead. He had to find a way.

In the evening, after Zhao Yelan took a bath, he locked the door tightly, but this scoundrel didn’t come to knock on the door or open the window tonight.

He tossed and turned for a long time, a little curious about what this guy was doing, would he really go to sleep in the study obediently?

At this time, the voice of Butler Tan passing by came from outside the door: “The general is injured, you should have some snacks when serving, and don’t touch his wound.”

Zhao Yelan frowned, recalling Yan Mingting’s lively appearance, he really didn’t feel that he was injured, so he turned over and went to sleep.

A quarter of an hour later, a candle suddenly lit up in the room. He put on his coat, searched around, saw a light in the study, and walked in. He happened to see Yan Mingting stuffing the things in his hands into his arms quickly. , asked: “What are you doing here?”

“Uh… Read a book, why are you still awake?” Yan Mingting asked in a panic.

Zhao Yelan walked up to him, held up a candle, looked him up and down, frowned and asked, “Where did you get hurt?”

“Injured?” Yan Mingting was stunned. From the corner of his eyes, he saw Butler Tan poking his head out of the study, trying to wink at him. Then he saw Zhao Yelan’s concerned tone, and immediately covered his chest with his left hand: “The old injury has recurred.” , My heart hurts.”

“The heart is on the left.” Zhao Yelan remained expressionless.

“I made a mistake, it’s a pain in my heart.” Yan Mingting looked at him in pain, “It hurts so bad.”

Zhao Yelan narrowed his eyes slightly: “Take off your shirt.”

“This is not good…” Yan Mingting said shyly, but quickly peeled off his shirt, revealing his muscular chest with several knife marks on it.

But none of them passed through the mouth and heart.

Zhao Yelan pulled out the gaudy short knife and slid it against his chest: “It seems that your injury is quite light. You might as well feel what it means to have a heartache.”

“Don’t, don’t, don’t…” Yan Mingting hurriedly begged for mercy, stepped back, and put on his clothes again, when a booklet suddenly fell in front of Zhao Yelan.

Zhao Yelan quickly picked up the book, which was as big as a palm, with a few large characters written on it—Thirty-Six Strategies of Qin and Jin Dynasties.

Yan Mingting’s face changed slightly, and he was about to grab it, but the knife was on his neck.

Zhao Yelan quickly turned over the title page, which read: Marriage is like a battlefield, if you want to live in harmony between husband and wife, and marry Qin and Jin forever, you have to use some small tricks to make it last forever.

Turn to the first page, the first plan: bitter plan.

Zhao Yelan’s eyes were like knives, and he looked up at him.

“…” Yan Mingting rolled his throat and said, “You may not believe it, this is a family heirloom left to me by my father, and it was given to me by Uncle Tan just now. Can you… you can tear me up, can you not Tear up the legacy of his old man?”

“Sleep in your study!” Zhao Yelan angrily threw the posthumous work back to him, pinched his mouth with both hands and began to tear it fiercely.

“Hiss – woo woo woo.”