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In the next few days, Xu Qingyan had a high fever and was still groggy. He only knew that he fell into the water and was rescued. The Zheng family's ship docked and he was carried to a place. In the room, I took medicine and fell asleep repeatedly.
On this day, Xu Qingyan woke up from his deep sleep again and found that his body had become much lighter and his mind was much clearer, but he felt hungry again, as if he hadn't had enough food for a long time.
Then, Xu Qingyan sat up from the bed and looked around, only to find that he was placed in a luxuriously decorated bedroom, with a maid waiting not far away at any time.
Seeing Xu Qingyan waking up, the maid looked happy and said, "Mr. Xu, are you awake? Are you feeling better? I'll call the doctor right away."
After saying that, the maid ran out, leaving Xu Qingyan alone in a daze.
After a long time, Xu Qingyan gradually recalled his experiences during this period, and then an extremely strong feeling of annoyance and shame came into his heart.
Especially when thinking of Zheng Ming's half-smiling expression, Xu Qingyan felt extremely embarrassed.
He was like a clown. This kind of performance would not only fail to make the Anan Bo Zheng family take him seriously, but would also make people watch a joke, which might affect Zhao Junchen's plan.
"What did I think at the time? It was like I was crazy. I only wanted to brag and show off my strength. I suddenly forgot about it. In the end, I didn't tell others whether I had deceived others. Instead, I got myself involved... If I go back like this , he will definitely be ridiculed by Fang Ru. Not to mention, the young master’s plan will also be affected..."
Thinking of this, Xu Qingyan covered his face with his hands.
But despite being annoyed and ashamed, Xu Qingyan did not just blame others or blame himself. Instead, he forced himself to calm down and think about his current situation and how to save the situation.
"It's just a mistake. Slapping yourself twice will have no effect at this time... The young master once said that it is not scary to have problems, but to avoid them. Some things seem difficult and people dare not face them directly, but As long as you have the courage to try, you will find that these things may not be insurmountable... But you must first sort out the clues and find a place to start, and you must not blindly blindly blindly blind..."
Thinking about Zhao Junchen's daily teachings, Xu Qingyan's thoughts changed rapidly.
"The first impression I have left on the Zheng family must be extremely bad. I am ignorant, arrogant, stern, and talk nonsense... It doesn't matter in itself, but I am afraid that the Zheng family will look down on the young master because of me. Reusing someone like me is probably an unreliable person, and will eventually affect the cooperation between the young master and the Zheng family... Therefore, the top priority is to maintain the young master's image in the minds of the Zheng family..."
Just as Xu Qingyan was thinking deeply, he heard footsteps coming from outside the room.
Then, a group of people pushed open the door and entered.
Xu Qingyan looked up and saw Zheng Ming, Mo Xiaolin and others walking towards him quickly.
Zheng Ming walked to Xu Qingyan's bedside and said apologetically: "I heard that Brother Xu woke up, so I hurried over to visit him! Is Brother Xu feeling better? Alas, you have been comatose for nearly three days. It was all because of my poor care that Brother Xu was suffering from illness these days. I felt really guilty. After my father received the news, he punished me severely on the spot. He only blamed me for offending the distinguished guest... Fortunately, it was Xiao Mo at that time. Brother Xu is smart and discovered in time that you fell into the water, otherwise I would have been dead this time!
Please rest assured, Brother Xu, we have now arrived at Dongning Mansion in Taiwan, and now you are in Annanbo Mansion. There are the best doctors here, and they will definitely be able to cure Brother Xu's health without leaving any future problems. "
After speaking, Zheng Ming nodded to an old man dressed as a doctor next to him. The old man walked up to Xu Qingyan and stretched out his hand to feel Xu Qingyan's pulse.
Xu Qingyan was somewhat appreciative when he heard Zheng Ming mentioning Mo Xiaolin, but suddenly he had a flash of inspiration. While the doctor was diagnosing himself, he quickly raised his head to look at Mo Xiaolin, and then quickly lowered his head. His eyes were deliberately evasive and awed, as if he was afraid of Mo Xiaolin's scolding.
Then, Xu Qingyan shook his head and smiled bitterly, and said in a low voice: "How can I blame Third Young Master Zheng? It's all my fault that I was too aggressive and competitive at the time. I can't blame anyone else for my own suffering... I don't want to hide it from Third Young Master Zheng, although I am Mr. Zhao Ge's sidekick. , but there are too many capable people and strangers under Zhao Ge, and I have never been reused. This time, I finally got the task, so I got a little carried away, but it made Mr. Zheng laugh. .”
Having said this, Xu Qingyan looked up at Mo Xiaolin again, then quickly lowered his head and looked away.
After Zheng Ming saw this scene, he also turned to look at Mo Xiaolin. When he saw that Mo Xiaolin's expression did not change, he just looked at Xu Qingyan with concern, but his expression also moved slightly.
At this time, the old man finally finished diagnosing Xu Qingyan and reported to Zheng Mingchen: "Third Master, Mr. Xu's high fever has gone away, and his body is obviously showing signs of improvement. As long as he rests for a few days, he will be fine." There won’t be any problems.”
Hearing what the old man said, Zheng Ming seemed to be relieved and nodded repeatedly: "That's good! That makes me feel at ease!"
Next, Zheng Ming comforted Xu Qingyan a few more words, and personally fed Xu Qingyan a bowl of water. Seeing that Xu Qingyan still looked listless, he told Xu Qingyan to continue to rest, and then led everyone to leave in a very sensible way. .
In this way, only Xu Qingyan and Mo Xiaolin were left in the room.
When Zheng Ming left the room, he couldn't help but turn his head and take a look at the scene in the room, only to see that Xu Qingyan did not lie back on the bed, but still lowered his head, while Mo Xiaolin looked at Xu Qingyan quietly. , but the change in expression cannot be seen clearly.
Seeing this scene, Zheng Ming couldn't help but think deeply.
*
Mo Xiaolin has always been reserved and hid his ruthlessness. When Zheng Ming and others were still in the room, he remained silent. It was not until Zheng Ming and others left the room that he finally expressed his stance and whispered: "Brother Xu... you are indeed too pushy this time. It's because of your falling into the sea. When I meet with the Zheng family in the past few days, I can always feel their contempt."
After getting along with each other for this period of time, Mo Xiaolin thought that he already knew Xu Qingyan very well. When he spoke out and warned him this time, he was already ready for Xu Qingyan's quibbles and counterattacks - in Mo Xiaolin's view, people like Xu Qingyan , when encountering problems, they will never look for their own problems, but will only blame others for not helping them.
However, to Mo Xiaolin's surprise, Xu Qingyan nodded and admitted his mistake, saying: "I was too complacent and behaved in such an ugly manner. It is natural for the Zheng family to despise me! But the current situation is no longer my fault." There is no need to make a fool of yourself, but we must restore the Zheng family’s view of the young master. The cooperation between the young master and the Zheng family must not be affected because of me! I can play the buffoon, but the young master’s image must not be damaged!”
Mo Xiaolin couldn't help but be stunned. He didn't expect Xu Qingyan to have such an attitude. Not only did he not defend himself, but he immediately thought about protecting Zhao Junchen's image.
Then, Mo Xiaolin looked at Xu Qingyan again with a strange look, feeling that Xu Qingyan had suddenly grown a lot, and this was an unimaginable growth rate.
In fact, Xu Qingyan is originally a smart person. He has gained extraordinary experience following Zhao Junchen over the years. He also understands many principles under Zhao Junchen's words and deeds. However, he used to be too obsessed with small cleverness and tricks, so naturally he always It's a small thing that makes a big loss.
In the final analysis, Zhao Junchen has always protected him too well. He has never allowed him to take on important responsibilities and take charge of his own affairs, and he has never given him the opportunity to suffer setbacks and reflect on himself.
But this time, after Xu Qingyan made a fool of himself, he also had a chance to transform.
Xu Qingyan ignored Mo Xiaolin's surprise, and just kept thinking about the plan he had just had an idea of.
After thinking for a long time, Xu Qingyan raised his head and asked, "Who have you seen from the Zheng family in the past few days since I fell asleep? Did anyone from the Zheng family take the opportunity to test you?"
Mo Xiaolin nodded and said: "I met Zheng Chenggong, the eldest son of the Zheng family, and several of his sons, but I didn't see An Nanbo Zheng Zhilong. I heard that he is no longer in charge because of his old age. The Zheng family His children and grandchildren were responsible for most things;
In addition, people from the Zheng family often tried to test me with words, trying to find out Zhao Ge's bottom line from me, but I never responded to them, saying that I was just a guard next to Zhao Ge, who knew a little about martial arts, but didn't know much about martial arts. Understand the true thoughts of Mr. Zhao Ge. This time I came to Taiwan with Brother Xu as the main leader... Then, they arranged for people to compete with me. I won three games in a row, and I never defeated the enemy with more than ten moves. Such a This finally made them restrain their contempt a little. "
When it came to the latter part, Mo Xiaolin, who had always been reserved, looked proud.
When it comes to martial arts, Mo Xiaolin believes that he will never lose to anyone in the world.
Hearing what Mo Xiaolin said, Xu Qingyan beamed with joy and nodded repeatedly: "No wonder Zheng Ming showed respect when he talked about you just now. It turns out that's the reason! In this case, we have There is a way to make sure they don’t dare to despise the young master!”
"What can I do?" Mo Xiaolin asked.
Xu Qingyan said like a tongue twister: "From today on, when you and I act, on the surface, I will be the main one and you will be the supplementary one, but we will also deliberately let the Zheng family mistakenly think that we are actually the two of us." You are the main one and I am the supplementary one...but in the end, it is still me who is the main one and you are the supplementary one!
From now on, when we meet people from the Zheng family, whenever I want to make an important statement, I will deliberately peek at you, as if to consult your attitude. If I frown at that time, you will You have to shake your head slightly. If I don't frown, you have to nod slightly. In short, you have to make the Zheng family think that you are the actual person who makes the decision to contact the Zheng family this time, and I am just a puppet on the surface! "
Mo Xiaolin felt that it was too roundabout and asked again: "Why is it like this?"
Xu Qingyan shook his head and sighed: "For the Zheng family to be able to develop to the power it is today, the core members of this family will definitely not be idiots. People like them are the best at seeing the subtle things. You only need to observe the character and character of the people you use. Ability, you can roughly infer your own character and ability!
The impression I have left on the Zheng family is so bad, they will infer that the young master's use of someone like me means that the young master himself is also a mediocre person. In this way, they will feel contempt or directly reject it. The young master’s cooperation, or maybe they just want to take advantage of the young master and lack of sincerity during the cooperation. In this case, our mission this time will fail!
If you want them to cooperate with the young master sincerely, they must pay attention to the young master's abilities and methods, and they must also think that the people the young master relies on are all capable people.
...Sigh, that was the reason why I deliberately bragged and tried to show off my strength, but who knew that it was actually self-defeating... But fortunately, you performed well, and there is still room for redemption, as long as you make them think that you are the one. The person in charge this time hid behind the scenes just to observe the reaction of the Zheng family. Naturally, they would retract their contempt and negotiate with us sincerely! "
Mo Xiaolin thought thoughtfully, then nodded and said: "As long as you can complete the task assigned by Mr. Zhao Ge, I can do whatever you want... But in this case, you will continue to be despised by the Zheng family, and your treatment will be poor. It will drop a lot, but I’m afraid it won’t taste good.”
Mo Xiaolin's life experience made him extremely sensitive to this kind of thing.
Xu Qingyan had a calm expression and said, "It's all my fault, but as long as the young master can achieve great things, what if I play the role of a buffoon?"
*
While Xu Qingyan and Mo Xiaolin were making plans, Zheng Ming quickly returned to the main hall of An Nanbo's mansion.
As Mo Xiaolin said, as Zheng Zhilong aged and retired from the scene, most of the affairs of the Zheng family were handed over to the eldest son Zheng Chenggong and several grandchildren, including the eldest grandson Zheng Jing, the second grandson Zheng Cong, the third grandson Zheng Ming, the fifth grandson Zheng Zhi, etc. .
At this time, several core members of the Zheng family were also discussing Zhao Junchen's desire to cooperate with the Zheng family.
As the saying goes, "A person's name is like a tree's shadow." With Zhao Junchen's current prestige, the Zheng family naturally did not dare to ignore his intention to cooperate.
But regarding this matter, several core members of the Zheng family have very different attitudes.
I saw Zheng Jing saying loudly: "We have all heard of Zhao Junchen's reputation. He has been the leader in the capital in recent years, let alone the great victories in Shaanxi and Gansu. It is only said that he has won many victories in the past two years. He promoted commercial tax rectification, Sichuan salt development, agricultural reform, etc., and also used these things to control most of the commercial activities in the Ming Dynasty's territory. His influence is not insignificant...
This time he took the initiative to send people to contact us. I am afraid that he is also eyeing the shipping sector, which is exactly what we, the Zheng family, want to do. Because Westerners' ships are becoming more and more active, our maritime trade has already fallen into a bottleneck. If we take this opportunity to cooperate with Zhao Junchen, our Zheng family's financial strength will soon break through the bottleneck and increase again. By then, with more money and food, it will be easy to suppress those Westerners! "
Compared with Zheng Jing's optimism, Zheng Cong was much more prudent. He immediately shook his head and said: "In my opinion, this matter is definitely not feasible! We can't just see Zhao Junchen's scenery, but also Zhao Junchen's." There are hidden dangers. How many people in history have had a good end for someone like him who has been in power at such a young age? Looking at the envoy sent by Zhao Junchen, he is also a idiot who only knows how to talk big words. We can see that Zhao Junchen is a person. He is also a person who does not live up to his name. It is probably not a good thing to cooperate with him!
You must know that the imperial court's policy of banning seas has not changed, and it is more defensive than useful for our Zheng family. After we cooperate with Zhao Junchen, if something goes wrong on Zhao Junchen's side and the imperial court mistakenly thinks that we are colluding with Zhao Junchen internally and externally and have evil intentions, This is big trouble! "
Zheng Zhi smiled nonchalantly and said: "Second brother, you are too overthinking and always timid! If Zhao Junchen is really a fool who deceives the world and steals his reputation, we can just use this cooperation to annex his power, even if it is the final So what if the imperial court finds out about this? Taiwan is isolated overseas, and the imperial court has no ability to deal with it. We only need to sell Zhao Junchen when the time comes and everything will be fine!"
On the other side, Zheng Chenggong quietly listened to the discussion of his sons, but his brows were slightly furrowed and his expression was slightly unhappy.
This debate has been going on for several days, but there is still no result.
But the reason for Zheng Chenggong's unhappy expression was not because of the delay in the debate, but because he didn't like the contempt and neglect his sons expressed towards the center of the imperial court.
Zheng Zhilong was a pirate, but Zheng Chenggong grew up with a Confucian education. He had some thoughts of loyalty in his heart. It was only because of the court's fearful attitude and the fact that Zheng Zhilong was still alive that he did not clearly state his position.
But Zheng Chenggong also knew that as long as the relationship between the court and the Zheng family did not ease, no preaching he could do could change the attitudes of his sons. Seeing Zheng Ming sitting in his seat thoughtfully after entering the hall, he spoke Changing the subject, he asked: "Third brother, is Xu Qingyan in better health? What happened to you? Why didn't you say anything?"
Zheng Ming hesitated for a moment and said slowly: "When I went to visit Xu Qingyan just now, I found some signs. I just felt that the relationship between Xu Qingyan and Mo Xiaolin was not as simple as we saw... Maybe Mo Xiaolin is the real owner this time!"
Zheng Ming's words immediately attracted the attention of everyone in the Zheng family.
Then, under Zheng Chenggong's questioning, Zheng Ming told his father and brothers in detail about Xu Qingyan's recent performance.
After hearing Zheng Ming's story, everyone in the Zheng family also came to a similar conclusion.
Zheng Jing's face was a little dissatisfied and he said: "I have also noticed in the past few days that Mo Xiaolin is not a good person. On the surface, he is quiet and silent, but there is a fierceness hidden underneath that makes people dare not underestimate... But what does this Zhao Junchen mean? Why did he deliberately hide the real owner behind the scenes, but instead pushed a straw bag to the front to contact us? "
Zheng Ming explained: "In my opinion, this is what Zhao Junchen did on purpose! Our Zheng family is jealous of the court, and we are always extremely cautious when choosing collaborators. But Zhao Junchen is in the same situation, so naturally he will Carefully choose those you cooperate with...His arrangement should be to test our sincerity and methods."
Zheng Cong hummed and said: "Ha! He actively begs us to cooperate and wants to test us? If this is the case, then Zhao Junchen is not sincere enough!"
After Zheng Chenggong pondered for a moment, he said conclusively: "Zhao Junchen is the elder of the imperial court. Not only is he powerful and controls most of the commerce and trade in the Ming Dynasty, but he also has great military exploits and various political achievements. If our Zheng family is Cooperation with him is also a mutually equal relationship. He is naturally qualified to test... But whether this matter is true or not needs to be explored in detail. We must not be fooled by this little trick and let Zhao Junchen underestimate us. .”
After hearing what Zheng Chenggong said, the disciples also nodded.
But unconsciously, their contempt for Zhao Junchen had disappeared. Some members of the Zheng family originally wanted to take advantage of Zhao Junchen, but at this time, they temporarily restrained their caution.
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When your lovely four-year-old daughter runs up to you, throws herself into your arms, begs you to play with her, can you refuse?
Can't? Surely not?
Therefore, the plot of these two days is relatively simple.
But the day after tomorrow at the latest, this side plot will end.
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