It’s noon on the sixth day of the lunar month.

Xue Biao rode his horse in front, led the convoy out of Rongguo Mansion, and rushed straight to the old house on Zijin Street.

In the carriage, Aunt Xue leaned tiredly on the cushion, her beautiful eyes slightly dozing from time to time and her beautiful eyebrows furrowed.

Last night she was so moved that she almost didn't close her eyes all night long. When dawn came, she was exhausted both physically and mentally, and finally made a decision: when she met Jiao Shun this time, she must clarify the misunderstanding face to face, so as to completely cut off the young man's delusions.

And those ridiculous thoughts that I can’t explain.

After making up her mind, she thought she would be relieved, but unexpectedly, her feeling of loss prevailed.

But even so, she did not change her mind.

After all, although Aunt Xue is innocent, loves fantasy, and has a secret nature of pursuing excitement, she is by no means some slutty woman, not to mention that her children are about to get married. At this time, she can't even lose face to be with her nephews.

Jiao Shunhu is here.

But she said that she had steeled herself and was thinking about how to speak when she met Jiao Shun at night, when she suddenly heard someone galloping after her on horseback, shouting loudly, and not long after, the carriage under her stopped.

Aunt Xue straightened up in confusion and asked the maid next to her: "What happened?"

The maid opened the car window and looked around for a few times, then turned around and said, "It's Manager Li who's chasing me. Could it be that something happened to Rongguo Mansion?"

Manager Li is now with Xue Pan in the outer courtyard, so Aunt Xue specifically told him to take good care of his son before going out. Now that he is suddenly chasing after her, is it really Wenlong...

Aunt Xue hurriedly sent someone out of the car to ask. After a while, the servant woman led the frowning Xue Biao back to the carriage.

Seeing Xue Biao's appearance, Aunt Xue became more and more panicked. She leaned half out of the car and shouted: "But your brother is in trouble?!"

Xue Biao was stunned, then quickly shook his head and said: "Auntie misunderstood. Someone from Zijin Street sent a message, saying that Uncle Mei Shi had important matters and could not come to the appointment until nightfall."

Aunt Xue first breathed a sigh of relief when she heard this, and then frowned.

Even if she didn't care about outside affairs, she still knew that recently the civil servants and Jiao Shun were on the same page, especially the Imperial Academy and the Inspectorate, which were prestigious places, and regarded Jiao Shun as a thorn in their flesh.

If Jiao Shun and Na Mei Hanlin collide...

Thinking of this, Aunt Xue couldn't help complaining: "Because the Mei family was in such a hurry, I specially put them first, but Mei Hanlin actually had to take on important official duties again - isn't this Hanlin Academy a Qinggui Yamen?

, why can’t you even take half a day off?”

Why is Xue Tao not annoyed?

The Mei family seemed to be urging them to do so at first, regardless of the fact that their mother was ill, and forced their sister to go to Beijing to get married; now they are asking the brother and sister to move out of Rongguo Mansion within a time limit, which can be said to show no mercy to the Xue family.

Also considering that this marriage was decided by his father during his lifetime, he chose to swallow his anger.

Who would have thought that the Mei family would actually push their limits!

He, Mei, is just a seventh-grade editor, and not an outstanding person with outstanding talents. What important matters can he have, and he can't even take half a day off to discuss the marriage of his children?

When he first learned the news, Xue Biao was so angry that he wanted to take his sister back home, pretending that there was no such marriage.

But after all, this is my father's death...

What's more, before leaving, my mother also told me not to be arrogant and put my sister's happiness in the rest of her life first.

Therefore, after calming down, Xue Biao still chose to compromise, holding back his resentment and suggested: "How about pushing Brother Jiao's matter to a later date? If so, my nephew will go to the Ministry of Works in the afternoon.

Apologize to Brother Jiao in person."

"this……"

When I came to Jiao Shun this time, I didn't have anything important to do. I just wanted to express my gratitude in person, and then ask the Jiao family what was missing in their new house, so that I could fill it in as a thank you gift.

As long as it's just these, just push it back and push it aside.

But it was difficult for Aunt Xue to make up her mind to cut off love with a sharp sword. As the saying goes, "one strong effort, then another, and then three times, it will be exhausted." She could not guarantee that her determination could be maintained for a long time.

Therefore, after hesitating for a long time, he shook his head and rejected Xue Biao's suggestion: "It doesn't have to be like this. Brother Shun is not an outsider. When the time comes, someone will be stationed at the intersection to lead him in through the back door and separate him from the Mei family."

"this……"

Xue Biao hesitated and said, "If Brother Jiao knew the reason, he wouldn't be upset, right?"

"rest assured."

Aunt Xue took care of her: "Brother Shun's mother and I are as close as sisters, and besides, he is not a petty person."

At the same time, I secretly thought to myself that if I spoke clearly to Jiao Shun in person, I would break his heart no matter what, but it would be fine with these details.

Seeing that his aunt was resolute, Xue Biao said nothing more.

…………

Just as Aunt Xue's motorcade set off again.

Zhao Yan, the deputy of the handyman office, also happily found the duty room in the General Affairs Department.

"grown ups."

After entering the door, he bowed deeply and handed over a thick stack of rice paper to Jiao Shun without waiting for him to speak.

"Did you find him so soon?"

Jiao Shun was overjoyed and hurriedly put down the official document in his hand, took it and looked through it, only to see that there was a poem on it, and most of it was about love and love.

"You have a destiny, and you have to go all out for your humble duty!"

Zhao Yan straightened up and expressed his merit with a smug look on his face: "After I got the letter, I immediately found some old acquaintances of my classmates who are outstanding in literary talent, and after some hard talking, I came up with these poems."

As he spoke, he stared at Jiao Shun with burning eyes.

Jiao Shun knew that he was interested in getting a position in the engineering school, but he was not willing to make a promise easily. He only read the poems and spoke vaguely.

Aunt Xue is really shy and lacks important handles. She is probably more difficult to handle than Li Wan (who is assisted by You Shi) and Wang Xifeng (who is assisted by Ping'er), so it is natural to prepare some trump cards in advance.

And what else can express emotions better than poetry these days?

Therefore, he specially asked Zhao Yan to find acquaintances to find poems written by these down-and-out literati and bureaucrats. He planned to find some that matched the artistic conception, put them together and revise them, and use them to borrow flowers and offer them to Buddha.

Of course, he had no intention of pretending to be what he did in front of Aunt Xue. After all, his image of being uneducated and unskilled was well known to everyone. If he suddenly started to write poetry, it would inevitably make people suspicious. If this had a negative effect,

That's not good.

At that time, you can just say that you searched for it secretly and tried your best to modify it. This will be enough to show your sincerity.

but……

After reading more than half of it, Jiao Shun couldn't help but frown.

Although what he requested was a love poem, the choice of words and sentences was too explicit!

If I really copied it and gave it to Aunt Xue, I'm afraid that instead of taking a step forward, I would be kicked out as a prostitute.

Alas~

The term ‘poet and poet’ is really apt!

There are a few subtle songs among them, but even with Jiao Shun's level of appreciation, they find them unsatisfactory.

It wasn't until I turned to the back that I suddenly found a few good songs, but the problem was...

Isn’t this a love poem?

Jiao Shun looked up at Zhao Yan suspiciously. Zhao Yan stretched his neck and looked at the verses on the paper before explaining: "Most of my classmates and old acquaintances in the humble position are just people who have no talent or talent, so I specially

I asked Gong Zizhen, the proofreader of the National History Museum, for some miscellaneous poems - he and Bei Shi were selected in the same year, so they have some friendship."

The so-called selection means selecting officials from among the failed candidates.

Judging from the smug look on Zhao Yan's face, Gong Zizhen is obviously a celebrity.

Moreover, Jiao Shun vaguely remembered that he had heard of this name, but he couldn't remember whether it was in this life or the previous life. After all, he didn't study it seriously when he was a child. Maybe he could still remember some of the poems he memorized, the author, and the year.

I have forgotten all the basics.

Who cares, it doesn't matter who the author is, as long as it can be used.

After Jiao Shun sent Zhao Yan away, he spent another afternoon and finally extracted four relatively consistent sentences from the two seven-character quatrains that Gong had edited.

The first song is: The young man takes the bridle to clarify his thoughts, and when he is tired, he shrinks his hand. Today I will not shed tears, but I will only complain about farewells when I cross the river.

Jiao Shun intercepted the first two sentences. The original poem talks about how when you were young, you had great ambitions, riding horses and whips, and when you become an official, you should go back to the countryside when you are exhausted physically and mentally. When it is time to let go, let go.

As a result, he smeared it and changed it to: The young man held his wrist to clarify his meaning, looking at it from afar and shrinking his hand in pity.

Matching the scene on the birthday's day, the meaning becomes: the young man grabbed the woman's wrist to clarify his feelings, and after the woman ran away, he still felt pity for her shy look when she shrank her hands to avoid it.

The second song: The weak crown is looking for several years of flowers, and thousands of exquisite jade girls are intertwined. Unforgettable drizzle rains on the red mud temple, and the soaked spring fur leans on this flower.

Jiao Shun intercepted the last two sentences. The original poem said that the poet forgot the weather and time while admiring the flowers, so his robe got wet by the rain and dew.

He changed it to: Unforgettable autumn waves on the red mud bank, Qian Qianqianqiu leaning against the flowers.

The general meaning is: I will never forget the rippling autumn waves on the red mud bank, the beautiful figure of the woman is hidden in the light and warm leather clothes, leaning on the flowers and waiting, and it also implies that people are more delicate than flowers.

Jiao Shun once wanted to change it to "lean on this stone" or "lean on this mountain". After all, there didn't seem to be any flowers planted near the big stone at that time.

But after changing it, I always felt that it was not good. The word "stone" had an accent on the word "time" in the first half of the poem. I used mountain, which did not fit the topography well and lost the charm of "people are more charming than flowers".

After thinking about it, Jiao Shun decisively sent someone to send a message to Yuchuan, asking her to take a flower hoe and a basket to the garden, shovel a few clusters of chrysanthemums from nearby and transplant them there quietly. In this way, no matter whether Aunt Xue specially checked afterward, or

Or if you pass by by accident, you will just think that there is something wrong with your memory.

After fixing this small flaw, Jiao Shun quickly called for the imperial painter from the Ministry of Industry to paint the scene in the poem simply and vividly with a few strokes.

Then after practicing it carefully for more than a dozen times, I copied the poem I had revised on it with a splash of ink.

After carefully drying it, he shamelessly admired his 'masterpiece', thinking that everything was ready and all he needed was the east wind.

It was so easy to get to the local government office.

If he was really a budding kid, he would have wanted to fly to Zijin Street immediately to show off.

Jiao Shun, however, took his time and had dinner near the Yamen. He sat in a private room for another two-quarters of an hour. After seeing the sky gradually darkening, he took a car and rushed to Zijin Street.

The night can always contain more evil than the day.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he arrived at the Zijin Street entrance, he was stopped by the steward of the Xue family, who asked him to take a detour and open the back door on the back street.

This made Jiao Shun frown.

On the surface, entry and exit through the back door is standard for private exchanges.

But how can such matters be left to servants?

Especially not one servant, but several!

This can’t all be Aunt Xue’s confidants, right?!

After careful analysis, Aunt Xue must have had another reason for letting her go in and out through the back door, and most likely she had no intention of being conciliatory. Otherwise, it would have been too late to avoid the taboo. How could she have arranged for so many people to stop her halfway?

Jiao Shun was very depressed at first.

However, thinking of the trump card in his arms, his confidence immediately recovered a lot, and he asked the steward pleasantly: "May I ask if there are any distinguished guests in the house who need me to avoid temporarily?"

"this……"

The steward thought about it and found that the mistress did not deliberately hide it from Uncle Jiao, so she said: "To be honest, it was the Mei Hanlin couple who came to discuss the second young lady's marriage, so..."

After a pause, he quickly added: "My wife originally wanted them to come in the afternoon, but who would have thought that they would have to change it to the evening."

Jiao Shun was stunned.

Immediately, he began to speculate about Aunt Xue's purpose of meeting him.

If it were an ordinary matter, since I was worried about running into Mei Hanlin, I should postpone it.

Now I would rather let myself go through the back door to see myself...

From an emotional point of view, Jiao Shun naturally expected that Aunt Xue would be in love; but from a rational point of view, this was probably not a good sign.

Tsk~

He smacked his lips, touched the scroll in his sleeve, and then raised his voice and ordered: "Lead the way."

While Jiao Shun turned to the back door of the Xue family, the talks between the Xue family and the Mei family reached a deadlock.

The incident started because Mei Hanlin and his colleagues went too far with their talk when they were in the Yamen today. As a result, it was unclear who initiated the initiative. In the end, he wrote a letter in blood, vowing to fight the national traitor Jiao Shun forever.

At that time, Mei Hanlin was still complacent because he was ranked fourth. It was only when he returned home that he realized something was wrong.

I had just written a bloody oath, and in the blink of an eye, I was getting married to the Xue family, which was related to Rongguo Mansion, and the traitor happened to be living in Rongguo Mansion - even though it was two floors away, who knew if someone would catch the enemy and say that he was in front of his face?

One set behind another?

Dear mother, it may affect your career!

So after arriving at Xue's house, he insisted that everything be simple in the marriage, and there should be no extravagance, waste, and no fanfare.

Being urged to send my sister to the capital to get married was enough to accommodate the Mei family, but in the end, I felt like a thief when I got married...

How could the Xue family be willing to agree to such a ridiculous request?!

Not to mention Aunt Xue, even Xue Biao, who wanted to compromise, couldn't help but look down on the spot.

Seeing that the scene was frozen, the petite Mrs. Mei was about to say a few soft words to ease the atmosphere. As soon as she opened her mouth, Mei Hanlin gave her a sharp look, and she had to lower her head timidly.

Seeing that Mei Hanlin was so overbearing and domineering, as if the married daughter of the Xue family wanted something from him, Aunt Xue's chest swelled with anger, she simply gritted her teeth and stood up and said: "If it has to be like this, I'm afraid I won't be able to make the decision.

"Master Mei, please give me those younger siblings..."

"aunt!"

Xue Biao hurriedly stopped her and reminded her in a low voice with a grimace: "My mother is still ill. If she gets angry, there is no way she can do anything."

Aunt Xue had no choice but to stop talking, but she really couldn't stand Mei Hanlin's arrogant and arrogant face, so she said with a straight face: "Master Mei, you might as well discuss it with Xue Biao, I still have some housework to deal with, so I won't be with you for a long time."

With that said, he left Mei Hanlin and his wife behind and walked out of the hall.

As soon as he went out, the maid reported that Jiao Shun was already waiting in the back hall.

[After searching for poems all afternoon, I finally found one that was suitable for the occasion and the background of the times. I couldn’t help but wonder about it.

Gong Zizhen (1792-1841), a thinker, poet, writer and reformist pioneer in the Qing Dynasty, advocated abolishing bad government and resisting foreign aggression. He once fully supported Lin Zexu in banning opium.

Due to repeated failures in examinations, he was selected to become an official in 1820, and served successively as secretary of the cabinet, proofreader of the National History Museum, and other positions. In 1829, he finally passed the imperial examination. The current background in the book is about 1828, because the Xia Dynasty was more powerful.

, foreign trade output increased significantly, thus triggering the war in advance.

The historical background and zz tendencies are consistent, and it is natural for him to have friendship with Zhao Yan.

As for the first half of the poem, which is suspected to have been written in his later years, and the discrepancies caused by the old man’s random alterations, I can only ask you not to delve into it further.]
Chapter completed!