On the first day of the Lunar New Year, all people have a rest, and even the emperor rarely takes a vacation.
Jiang Sheng was basking in the warm sun, and next to him were his three brothers, who were helping Aunt Zhang make dumplings.
The noodles had been woken up early and divided into portions.
The eldest brother has the most skillful hands. He holds a short round rolling pin and turns the dough twice to turn it into a dumpling wrapper that is thin on the outside and thick in the center.
If the second brother were here, he would definitely tease me in a coquettish way, "As expected of a master, he can even roll out a dumpling wrapper better than us."
The fourth brother and the fifth brother were a little clumsier. They dipped the meat filling into the dumpling wrappers and carefully kneaded them together, resulting in a semicircle.
Look at the dumplings made by Aunt Zhang, each one is delicate, round and plump, even the pleats are even and beautiful, it is really incomparable.
As soon as Jiang Sheng finished commenting in his heart, he heard Fifth Brother calling, "Sister, come and pack two, too."
She immediately shook her head like a rattle.
No, no, no, you have to be self-aware. The two brothers can wrap them into a semicircle, but she will only ruin the noodles and meat. Even if she can barely wrap them into a circle, they will still be damaged when they are put in the pot.
Boiled dumplings turn into dough ball soup, that's not good.
The little fat girl put her hands on her hips and said confidently, "I'm going to burn firewood."
She was familiar with this. During those years of wandering, when she grew up, she started to collect firewood and make fires, because only fire can drive away the cold, maintain the temperature, and survive the cold nights.
Even though he had been pampered in the past few years, with his aunt taking care of him and his brothers loving him, Jiang Sheng still did not forget how to light a fire, and lit up dry branches in a few clicks.
Fill a clean iron pot with water and put enough firewood on it, and you can safely burn a cup of tea.
Just when Jiang Sheng was about to take a break, the wooden door of the small courtyard was banged.
It's a hit.
Like some large animal, it charged towards the door with its body, causing enough commotion that even the old man sunbathing in the yard next door was awakened.
Xu Mo in the yard threw away the dumpling wrappers in his hands, placed his flour-stained palms on his sides, and his eyes were filled with caution.
Jiang San and Jiang Si came forward with sticks in hand and carefully looked through the crack in the door.
When Jiang San saw the ferocious humanoid animal outside, Jiang San opened his mouth wide, and Jiang Simi unbolted the door bolt. They opened the door at the same time, and Qi Huai rushed in crawling on the ground.
The sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy should have been high-spirited, confident and calm, but now he was biting his gums, with snot and tears pouring out, "Brother Xu, someone from the Jinluan Palace has arrested An Jun."
Not only An Jun, but his own old father was also detained, unable to move forward or retreat. He also had to endure slander and slander from the Zhu family and other major families, making it difficult to defend himself.
"Brother Xu, are we wrong? The imperial examination fraud is too involved and we cannot interfere at all." Qi Huai choked with sobs. "My father once warned me that I was too confident, and now I have caused him to be trapped in the court." , even Brother An will be arrested..."
It can be seen that he cares so much about the Minister of Rites that he even abandons his demeanor and even doubts himself.
Xu Mo was still calm, so he slapped him on the shoulder and said in a deep voice, "Qi Huai, you need to calm down first."
Jiang Sheng brought a cup of herbal tea over at some point.
Xu Mo raised his hand to take it and splashed it on Qi Huai's forehead.
Jiang Sheng, who originally planned to give him cold tea to refresh himself, said, "..."
Fortunately, the effect was very noticeable. Qi Huai's nose and tears finally stopped, and he became calm again.
"It's understandable that Brother Qi is nervous, and it's normal for him to be worried about An Jun." Xu Mo said slowly, "It's indeed powerful for the Zhu family to unite with other aristocratic families with the same interests to slander, but don't forget, there is a Tian family above us. .”
"If the Tianjia were ignorant, cruel and unkind, how could the Dayu Dynasty be prosperous like it is today? As long as the fraud in the imperial examination is true and the article is indeed An Jun's, the Tianjia will definitely not let the fraudsters go, let alone condone them. They killed loyal ministers."
This makes sense.
No matter how turbulent Northern Xinjiang is, the Central Plains region is calm and peaceful. The people's lives are not rich, but they are not displaced, and the Tian family is indispensable for this.
"The most important point is that the Minister of Rites has been an official for many years. How could he risk his life and fortune just to anger his legitimate son?"
As Xu Mo questioned him one by one and examined the problem carefully, Qi Huai finally realized, "I know, if my father had not been prepared, he would have been convicted long ago instead of interrogating An Jun first."
"But...but we need Baoan Jun. We vowed to ask him to help us before, but in the blink of an eye, he is sent to the Jinluan Palace and allowed to be interrogated by hundreds of officials. Doesn't this mean he has been ruined?"
Xu Mo's face turned ugly when he mentioned this.
He is not worried about the Minister of Rites, a cunning veteran who has been an official for many years, and it is impossible to capture him without hesitation.
He was worried that if An Jun, a weak and talented scholar, was retaliated against and framed, or even lost his life, for helping them uncover the fraud in the imperial examination, they would always be in trouble.
But Tianjia Jinguo said that if you don't go, you will be disobeying the Holy Order, which is also a big crime.
Xu Mo's face became darker and darker.
After a long time, he clenched his fists and said softly, "The Tianjia only said that they want to meet the author of the article, but they don't know who the author is. Just report it. I am An Jun, and An Jun is me."
He actually wanted to bear everything on behalf of Anjun.
Qi Huai was shocked, his face full of reluctance, but he couldn't find a better way.
Seeing that the two of them were about to throw themselves into a trap.
Zhang Yan, who was holding the dumplings, finally sighed and said, "Brother, who told you that if you go to the Jinluan Palace, you will definitely be retaliated by the entire Fengjing family?"
Xu Mo and Qi Huai paused in their footsteps.
An Jun used his article to expose the existence of fraud in the imperial examination, and the perpetrators were only known to the Fengjing family. This move indeed offended the family.
"I'm not saying that the Fengjing family is kind, I'm saying...do they dare to take revenge?" Chang Yan seemed to know what the two of them were thinking, "He is the only scholar in the world who has gone to the Jinluan Palace before taking the imperial examination. , who dares to touch him?"
Xu Mo and Qi Huai think of protection as hiding An Jun so that no one can find him.
But in Chang Yan's view, the real protection is to put him under the eyes of everyone, so that everyone will recognize him and pay attention to him, so that they dare not touch him.
When everything is made transparent, who dares to make secret moves, and who dares to risk the disapproval of the world to take revenge on An Jun?
"What's more, brother, why do you think that An Jun wants to miss this opportunity to have a verbal battle with the heroes in the Jinluan Palace." Zhang Yan smiled half-heartedly and put down the most perfect dumpling, "When An Jun doesn't want to go, you can go on his behalf." It’s not too late for Jinluan Palace.”
No matter what they think, in the final analysis, the road belongs to An Jun, and he has to choose it.
Qi Huai and Xu Mo looked at each other, got on the carriage and rushed to the Qijia Courtyard.
When they learned that An Jun had volunteered to go to the Jinluan Palace to testify about imperial examination fraud, the two sent him to Qi's house.
There, there are people sent by Tianjia, waiting.
