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"Master Zhao...don't like drinking?"
After Emperor Deqing finished speaking and everyone took their seats, Su Xiuning, who had been silently paying attention to Zhao Junchen, suddenly asked. 【Full text reading】The chapters are updated the fastest
It turned out that because he was about to talk to Zhao Junchen but was interrupted by Emperor Deqing's speech, Su Xiuning, unlike others, still focused on Zhao Junchen when Emperor Deqing was speaking.
Then, Su Xiuning suddenly discovered that when everyone was toasting to Emperor Deqing, Zhao Junchen pursed his lips tightly and seemed to drink all the wine in the glass, but in fact he only drank a little.
It seems that Zhao Junchen does not like drinking. Even when he was toasting to Emperor Deqing, he was still cheating!
Su Xiuning, who was worried about how to find a topic to talk to Zhao Junchen, thought that this was a good entry point. No matter how Zhao Junchen answered, the topic could be further expanded, so after everyone sat down, she quickly asked.
On the other side, Zhao Junchen was slightly startled. Unexpectedly, Su Xiuning, who had been silent, noticed this.
Just as it happened, Zhao Junchen also felt that it was awkward for Su Xiuning to sit aside in silence like this. He was about to say something to Su Xiuning, so he nodded and smiled and said: "It is true that I am not good at drinking, and I don't like drinking either, not just because I drink too much. The next day I will feel exhausted and have a splitting headache. It is also because drinking makes me unconscious and makes me lose my calmness and judgment. If I were an ordinary person, that would be fine. At most, I would just show some ugly behavior to make others laugh. However, as a person like me, The Minister of Household Affairs of the Imperial Court, thanks to His Majesty's trust, helps His Majesty manage the world's money and food. Every decision he makes on weekdays affects the well-being of the people and the stability of the court, so he rarely drinks alcohol on weekdays. If you have to drink, you must drink. If you are in a situation like that, you will purse your lips and pretend to drink, but in fact the wine will be blocked in the glass.”
At this point, Zhao Junchen blinked at the three women, with a "please" look, and added: "But. I thought I was hiding it, but I didn't expect that Miss Su's discerning eye would still discover it. However. Today is different from usual. I just toasted to His Majesty. Although I have my own reasons for cheating like this, if someone discovers it, it will be a big trouble and may even make His Majesty unhappy, so I still have to ask. How about the three girls helping me hide this secret?"
If there is any way in this world that can bring people closer together the fastest, it is undoubtedly sharing secrets.
The sharing of a secret can allow people to regard "the other party" as "oneself", build trust and close the distance between them quietly. It is a very clever way to deal with people.
Now, Zhao Junchen is doing exactly this. He openly admitted his actions while drinking and told a small secret, which only made the three women feel that Zhao Junchen trusted them, and the unfamiliarity between them was reduced a lot.
As a result, many subtle changes occurred in the atmosphere between Zhao Junchen and the three women.
For a smart and shrewd person like Chen Zhirong, or an innocent and impulsive person like Cui Qianxue, this change is nothing. However, for a restrained and submissive person like Su Xiuning, such a change is very important. It makes her feel much more relaxed. She only feels that Zhao Junchen is easier than she imagined. Getting along is not as scheming as the rumors say.
Therefore, Su Xiuning nodded repeatedly and said: "Master Zhao is worrying too much. We will naturally help hide this matter."
After Chen Zhirong looked at Zhao Junchen thoughtfully, he suddenly smiled and said: "Drinking is harmful to the body and mind. Mr. Zhao doesn't like drinking, which is only a good thing. What's more, Mr. Zhao is doing it for the imperial court." On official business, the young lady and others only admire Mr. Zhao for his actions, so how can they promote high secrecy to others? Please rest assured, Mr. Zhao."
On the other side, seeing that Su Xiuning and Chen Zhirong both agreed, Cui Qianxue hesitated for a moment, then glared at Zhao Junchen and said, "If you don't play tricks on me again in the future, I won't deliberately harm you. ”
Zhao Junchen smiled again and said, "In that case, I would like to thank the three girls."
After finally opening up the topic, Su Xiuning naturally would not give up the opportunity. When Zhao Junchen finished speaking, he couldn't wait to ask again: "Speaking of which, my father will have a few drinks no matter he is in a good or bad mood on weekdays, and treats drinking as a matter of course. For fun and hobbies, and as far as I know, the same is true for several colleagues who are close to my father. Mr. Zhao does not like drinking, which is rare. What hobby?"
Zhao Junchen thought for a while and found that he had been dealing with official court affairs, managing factions, and calculating political opponents all day long. Apart from that, he had done nothing else. It was not only boring, but also utilitarian and uninteresting.
Now, perhaps because he is used to it, Zhao Junchen actually enjoys this kind of life.
However, this meeting with the three women was quite "blind date" in nature. Under such circumstances, Zhao Junchen naturally would not tell the truth and declared that his usual hobbies were "powerful scheming", "intrigue" and so on. , may make some people with special personalities - such as Chen Zhirong - feel happy, but for Cui Qianxue and Su Xiuning, such an answer will only alienate Zhao Junchen and their hard-won relationship again.
However, if you make up some hobbies, such as "appreciating antiques", "music singing and dancing", or "practicing calligraphy" - these hobbies may seem elegant and can add some elegance to Zhao Junchen - but the three women in front of him are all It comes from family education, and I am afraid that he is involved in these "elegant hobbies". If Zhao Junchen said this, if he had a deep conversation with the three girls, the secret would definitely be revealed, and at that time, the three girls would only look down on him.
In fact, although Zhao Junchen doesn't mind using lies and deception to achieve his goals, now as his horizons grow higher, he rarely lies about trivial things, because lying also requires a cost, and this cost is the so-called "Credibility", losing one's "credibility" for some unimportant things will only make Zhao Junchen find that he has insufficient credibility when he really needs to use lies to accomplish some important goals. Unable to win people's trust, this is a bit of a loss.
Lies are a required course for politicians, but lies also have realms.
Nine out of ten sentences are false. It seems like he is telling a lot of lies, but he is just waiting for the next level; nine out of ten sentences are true, but he only lies on the most critical sentence. Although it is easy to deceive people, it is only just passing; only every sentence is true, but it is Can use demeanor, tone, environment and other factors to cause misunderstandings on the other side. This is the highest level of deception and lies.
Although Zhao Junchen has not yet reached the highest level in this regard, he no longer bothers to lie about small things.
………
so. After thinking for a moment, Zhao Junchen sighed with regret and said: "Speaking of which, when I was young, I studied poetry and books all day long. After I became an official in the imperial examination, I was busy with official duties all day long. I rarely have leisure time on weekdays, so I didn't find myself Do you have any special hobbies? If I have to say, I am more concerned about appetite and like to taste delicious food. However, although I like to taste delicious food, I can’t say what is delicious about these delicious food and what is the particularity of it. Clear. It’s just a cow chewing peonies.”
Having said this, Zhao Junchen smiled apologetically at the three women. Said: "This is what vulgar people do. They don't have any elegant hobbies. They let the three girls down."
Hearing Zhao Junchen's honest words, Chen Zhirong, Cui Qianxue, and Su Xiuning, although they also felt that Zhao Junchen was honest and not as hypocritical as they imagined, and the distance between them became a little closer, they still couldn't help but be disappointed. .
For girls of their age - even women with an abnormal temperament like Chen Zhirong - they would hope that their future husband-in-law will be a person with elegant taste, but Zhao Junchen is obviously not like this.
After Su Xiuning hesitated for a moment, although she also knew that she should say some compliments at this time, she didn't know how to say it. Finally, she forced a smile and said: "A person with great ambitions like Mr. Zhao has the court and the people in his heart. These are all big things, so naturally we can’t be distracted by small things. How can we call it vulgar? Mr. Zhao is too self-effacing."
Having said that, Su Xiuning is not good at lying, and she doesn't know how to hide the disappointment in her eyes.
On the other side, Cui Qianxue was as action-minded as ever, unable to hold back her words, and asked in surprise: "As a second-rank minister of the imperial court, you only like to taste some delicious food and have no other interests. Isn’t it a bit too boring? Is it possible that besides eating and sleeping every day, you just deal with the official affairs of the court? Don’t you do anything else? "
Zhao Junchen didn't mind the performance of Su Xiuning and Cui Qianxue. He just smiled and said: "As a court official, especially after the power and responsibility in your hands reach a certain level, the court affairs involved are no longer limited to one city or one region. Every day There are as many official matters that need to be handled, documents that need to be approved, and things that need to be discussed and considered as there are. If you want to take some time off, you can actually do that. Just leave the most important matters to His Majesty and the cabinet ministers. If you push the less important matters to your officials, there won't be many court affairs that you need to do personally. But in this way, there is no difference whether the court has me or not. Doesn't it mean that the court only knows about food? Junlu's moth? How can your majesty still reuse me?"
Having said this, Zhao Junchen showed a look of helplessness on his face. After sighing, he added: "What's more, the household department I am responsible for is in charge of the world's money and food. It can be said to be one of the two or three most important yamen in the imperial court. , but what kind of people those officials in the Ministry of Household Affairs are, I think the three girls have heard about it. Even if I keep an eye on them, they still try their best to deceive the superiors and conceal themselves, and take bribes. If I relax a little, something will inevitably happen. There are countless big messes. Under such circumstances, how can I dare to relax? I can only do everything myself."
Zhao Junchen's answer naturally admitted that apart from eating, drinking and sleeping, he was just dealing with official court affairs and nothing else.
Hearing Zhao Junchen's answer, the three women were surprised.
They really couldn't imagine that a well-known corrupt official like Zhao Junchen, let alone extravagant sex, wine and meat, could be so monotonous and boring. He was just busy with court affairs - and Zhao Junchen The reason why Junchen is so devoted to government affairs is to prevent his subordinates from taking too many bribes and causing trouble!
This is somewhat ironic.
However, although they subconsciously felt unconvinced, they thought about it and found out that they had indeed never heard of any rumors about Zhao Junchen being arrogant and licentious, even among the high officials of the imperial court. Zhao Junchen has never had any negative comments about his private life - this is even better than many Qingliu. You must know that even some famous Qingliu in the court have from time to time been reported to have molested concubines, Rumors of fighting for luxury and wealth.
This way. Coupled with Zhao Junchen's honesty from the beginning, both Su Xiuning and Cui Qianxue couldn't help but believe it. Some even began to question the rumors about Zhao Junchen's corrupt officials. They just felt that Zhao Junchen lived a plain and ordinary life. The court officials who were dedicated to getting things done were not the corrupt officials they imagined. As for Chen Zhirong, because he had deliberately collected a lot of information about Zhao Junchen before attending the palace banquet, he was not surprised at this time. He just looked at Zhao Junchen thoughtfully with his beautiful eyes.
"But don't you find it boring?" Cui Qianxue couldn't help but ask again.
Zhao Junchen did not think or hesitate this time, and shook his head naturally. He said softly: "Everyone in this world has different ideas. In the final analysis, everyone has different goals. What kind of goals a person has will lead to his habits and life. And my ambition is to be in the court." , so I don’t think such a life would be boring.”
Zhao Junchen's words were also sincere, but although he did not lie, he also deliberately concealed a lot.
…………
In fact, Zhao Junchen had doubts and waverings about the path he chose at the beginning.
After all, Zhao Junchen’s future is the road ahead. Emperor Deqing had already planned it for him - to bear infamy and a scapegoat for the emperor, which would be used to transfer the anger of the immigrants. And it became a fat pig raised by the royal family. When Emperor Deqing abdicated, he was slaughtered by the new emperor himself. Then Emperor Deqing lost his reputation, the new emperor established his prestige, the people's grievances were vented, and the reputation of the court was improved. The treasury that was maintained and in embarrassment has also been replenished, and everyone is happy!
Before that, because Emperor Deqing still needed Zhao Junchen, Zhao Junchen could amass money as much as he wanted, do whatever he wanted, enjoy all the wealth and glory in the world, satisfy all the desires he could imagine, and enjoy it for more than ten years magical days. When the new emperor ascends the throne, even if he dies with a hundred generations of infamy on his back, Zhao Junchen's life will be considered rich and colorful, and in some ways it will be worthwhile.
Moreover, faced with such a path and fate, even if Zhao Junchen wanted to resist, with Emperor Deqing's imperial mentality and the power of the Ming Dynasty's imperial power, the chance of success was only a chance.
Most people, because there is little hope of successful resistance, will accept their fate and choose the fairy life in front of them, using their extravagant desires and arrogance to make themselves forget their destined fate that is more than ten or even twenty years away.
But unfortunately, Zhao Junchen gave up the fairy life in front of him and chose that rare opportunity!
Therefore, although Zhao Junchen is now the most powerful official in the court after Zhou Shangjing, he has never had the enjoyment that powerful officials should have. He suppresses his desires and restrains his behavior. He is cautious and treading on thin ice all day long, never daring to slack off. , they only know how to fight for power, run factions, and scheming. They are either dealing with government affairs or plotting against political opponents every day. Not only is their life boring and boring, but they are also mentally exhausted, and they also do countless things against their will.
This kind of life is unbearable. When he was tossing and turning, Zhao Junchen often asked himself, is it worth all the efforts he has made just for that rare opportunity?
He wavered, hesitated, and regretted, but in the end Zhao Junchen persisted and will continue to walk on this rugged road.
Because, Zhao Junchen gradually found the reason for doing this.
In fact, the reason existed from the beginning, but as Zhao Junchen kept asking himself, the reason changed from confusion to clarity.
That is - Zhao Junchen doesn't want to be a puppet that can be manipulated at will in the eyes of others! I don’t want to become trash in the hands of others that can be thrown away at will! I don’t want to let others control my destiny at will! Even if that person is the emperor!
After this goal was clarified, Zhao Junchen no longer felt that such a life was boring. Although such a life would still make Zhao Junchen exhausted, Zhao Junchen was full of motivation and even gradually enjoyed it!
…………
At this time, after hearing Cui Qianxue's inquiry, Zhao Junchen looked back on his change of concept and couldn't help laughing to himself while answering.
But Zhao Junchen's self-deprecating smile seemed meaningful in the eyes of the three women. After hearing Zhao Junchen's answer, they felt that the Zhao Junchen they saw in front of them and the Zhao Junchen in the rumors seemed to be different people.
For a moment, they didn't know whether to believe the rumors or what they saw.
Rumors represent the opinions of the vast majority of people, and the current situation represents your own opinions. If the two are different, choosing to believe the current situation means that you are different from the opinions of the vast majority of people - this requires a certain amount of courage.
Therefore, whether it was Cui Qianxue or Su Xiuning, looking at Zhao Junchen in front of them and reviewing everything about Zhao Junchen, they all had complicated emotions at this time.
At the same time, Chen Zhirong glanced at Su Xiuning and Cui Qianxue, and frowned slightly.
Although a lot of information about Zhao Junchen had been collected, and although the contact with Zhao Junchen was relatively smooth, Chen Zhirong also found that she was increasingly unable to see through Zhao Junchen.
Normally, she would naturally try her best to test Zhao Junchen and understand Zhao Junchen. However, Cui Qianxue and Su Xiuning were nearby, making it impossible for Chen Zhirong to use many of his methods.
As a result, Chen Zhirong only felt that the presence of Cui Qianxue and Su Xiuning was very annoying.
Thinking of the previous topic between the three girls and Zhao Junchen, Chen Zhirong suddenly smiled charmingly and said to Zhao Junchen: "As Mr. Zhao said, the goals in the eyes of the world are different, and the lives they choose are naturally different. Mr. Zhao has great ambitions, so The little girl admires him for being dedicated to the public affairs. Mr. Zhao uses delicious food as a way of life, which cannot be said to be vulgar. Such an interest is always better than the arrogance and licentiousness of some people. In fact, the little girl is also a glutton, and she usually treats There are many delicacies in the capital. Can you try the Sichuan flavor in Youfeng Pavilion? Although this restaurant is not well-known, the taste is very authentic."
Hearing what Chen Zhirong said, Zhao Junchen's heart suddenly moved, and he knew the elegant meaning of the strings.
Since meeting Chen Zhirong, Zhao Junchen felt that Chen Zhirong hidden many secrets that he would be interested in, and Chen Zhirong also had many hints about Zhao Junchen. Although they were sitting at the same table at this time, because Su Xiuning and Cui Qianxue were there, , although Zhao Junchen wanted to have an in-depth talk with Chen Zhirong, it was quite inconvenient.
Now, because of Chen Zhirong's words, Zhao Junchen suddenly found an opportunity.
So, Zhao Junchen shook his head and said: "Youfeng Pavilion? I have never been there. If it is as delicious as Miss Chen said, I would like to try it."
Chen Zhirong smiled softly and said, "In that case, Mr. Zhao might as well make an appointment with the little girl. In this way, the little girl can also introduce the delicacies there to Mr. Zhao."
Zhao Junchen also smiled and nodded, and said: "It is naturally a dream to be able to go with Miss Chen."
In this way, in a few words, Zhao Junchen and Chen Zhirong had already agreed to meet at Youfeng Pavilion tomorrow evening.
However, when she saw the agreement between Zhao Junchen and Chen Zhirong, Cui Qianxue's expression changed suddenly. Out of inexplicable psychology and without considering the consequences, she suddenly said in an angry tone: "In that case, I want to go too. "
On the other side, Su Xiuning hesitated for a moment, her cheeks turned red, and she said: "Since Miss Chen praises Youfeng Pavilion so highly, she must be well-deserved. The little lady is willing to go with Mr. Zhao."
...(To be continued...)
