Chapter 15: Exclusively published by Jin-Jiang Literature City
Zhao Lin, the third son of Duke Wei, looked at Li Jingyuan with a puzzled look on his face. Who is this person? He was really brave to scold the master who came to him and admired him!
Zhao Lin glanced at Si Yuan who seemed too lazy to pay attention to this old-fashioned man who spoke of justice. In order to show his goodwill to Si Yuan, he stood up and faced Li Jingyuan: "I wonder who this young master is?"
Li Jingyuan finally looked at Zhao Lin. In his heart, Li Siyuan was a playboy who couldn't hold up the wall. Li Siyuan's friends were also the same thing. He never looked down on these people.
But he prides himself on being a gentleman who understands etiquette. When Li Siyuan's friends take the initiative to greet him, he still has to respond, so Li Jingyuan responded seriously: "This is Li Jingyuan, who is Li Siyuan's fourth brother..."
Zhao Lin matched Li Jingyuan himself with the members of the Li family whom he was investigating. It turned out that he was the only Li Jingyuan in the Li family who had a promising academic career and became an official in the imperial examination.
However, for Zhao Lin, a young master from the Duke's family, officials below the fifth rank are not worthy of his serious attention. If a second-class Jinshi wants to be promoted to the fifth rank or above, without special help and opportunities, it will not take ten years. It's impossible.
The status of Jinshi is said to be rare. There are only two to three hundred scholars in the country who have passed the Jinshi. It can be said that thousands of troops cross a single-plank bridge.
But it is neither rare nor rare, because there are a group of Jinshi in three years, and there are so many pitfalls in getting an official position in the court. There are a large number of Jinshi who are still waiting for the official position, and there are also a large number of low-grade officials. The official Jinshi was really not qualified to get in front of him, the third son of the Duke's mansion.
Therefore, Li Jingyuan's identity could not make Zhao Lin look at him differently. He calmly raised his hands to Li Jingyuan and said: "The Duke of Wei, Zhao Lin."
Li Jingyuan was stunned immediately. He was eager to climb up the ladder. He was born in Jingyuan Bofu, so how could he not know what Zhao Lin's identity as Weiguo Gongfu meant.
The third son of Duke Wei! This is a nobleman in Uncle Jingyuan's house who has to stand on tiptoe to reach him!
Why did he appear next to Li Siyuan and still talk and laugh with him?
When Li Jingyuan scolded Si Yuan just now, he was very loud and attracted the attention of other guests, because he wanted to use Si Yuan's behavior of talking about gambling with friends and friends at his mother's birthday party to set off his image of a great gentleman, stepping on Li Si Yuan This brother-in-law gave himself a reputation.
As for whether he would offend his aunt and eldest brother... Li Jingyuan thought that as long as his father didn't care, it would be fine. Anyway, his aunt and eldest brother didn't like him.
With so many guests of unusual status here at this time, how could he not take the opportunity to gain a good reputation?
After determining that the advantages of this behavior outweighed the disadvantages, Li Jingyuan acted without hesitation.
But what he never expected was that the people he would be involved with were not Li Siyuan's friends, but the third son of Duke Wei.
This third son, who is said to be quite promising, is obviously someone who cannot get along with a dandy like Li Siyuan. Why did he get together with Li Siyuan to talk about gambling? Could it be said that Li Siyuan led the third son of Duke Wei to evil?
Thinking of this possibility, Li Jingyuan's eyes lit up, and he persuaded Zhao Lin earnestly: "Mr. Zhao, I have already heard of the reputation of Mr. Zhao. You are from a noble family and are talented. You should serve the country and be loyal to His Majesty. Don't I was led astray by my third brother. Gambling is not a good thing..."
Zhao Lin was a little confused when he saw Li Jingyuan using this elder gesture to persuade him not to be led astray by Si Yuan. He was so angry that he laughed: "Li Jingyuan, those who don't know would think you are the elder brother of Mr. Li San. You Youlian, it's not good for you, a concubine, to arrange your own brother like this, isn't it?" He deliberately pointed out the difference in concubine status between Si Yuan and Li Jingyuan, making people think that what Li Jingyuan just said was not conducive to Si Yuan. , all caused by the discord between concubines and concubines.
"Furthermore, Mr. Li San is an amiable man who is worth making friends with. As for gambling, what kind of gambling? I am just making a bet with Mr. Li as a joke. How can it be worth it for you, Li Jingyuan, to accuse us here? "Zhao Lin didn't save any face for Li Jingyuan. While he was scolding Li Jingyuan, he observed Si Yuan's reaction out of the corner of his eye.
After all, when he quarreled with Li Jingyuan in front of so many guests, he didn't really want to teach Li Jingyuan a lesson. His real purpose was to show favor to Si Yuan, so naturally he had to pay attention to the reaction of the person he wanted to show favor to.
Si Yuan, the center of the conflict, had already picked up his glass and drank leisurely. His other hand was still holding his son's back, as if he was watching the show from the sidelines.
When he noticed that Zhao Lin was secretly observing his reaction, Si Yuan gave Zhao Lin an encouraging smile. Suddenly, Zhao Lin responded to Li Jingyuan more passionately and stepped on Li Jingyuan. He became a despicable villain who deliberately took advantage of his brother's reputation and rose to power with ill intentions.
Although Li Jingyuan did do this, he could not say whether he could do it or not. His face was literally ripped off by Zhao Lin.
Li Jingyuan stood there with a pale face and an extremely ugly face. However, Zhao Lin was the one he couldn't afford to offend. He could only weakly argue for himself: "Mr. Zhao San misunderstood. I didn't mean any harm. I just heard the third brother and Zhao San The young master was talking about winning a bet, and he didn't want his mother's birthday banquet to be affected, so he stopped him..."
Zhao Lin heard that Li Jingyuan portrayed himself as a filial son who cared about his biological mother's birthday party, but it made Si Yuan, the legitimate son, an unfilial son who didn't care about his biological mother's birthday party. Of course, he couldn't let Si Yuan take such a blame. , sneered: "Master Li San and I were just joking and making a bet. Isn't it okay to just make a joke or make a bet between friends?"
Li Jingyuan reluctantly explained: "I didn't hear clearly. I misunderstood..."
Zhao Lin refused to let it go lightly: "And you said you were worried that the old lady's birthday banquet would be affected. Even if you misunderstood that we were talking about gambling, in order to prevent the birthday banquet from being affected, you should warn us in private. Instead of deliberately reprimanding your brother so loudly to make things worse. I don't think your behavior seems to care about your aunt's birthday party at all. "
The surrounding guests nodded subconsciously in agreement. After all, which family has something scandalous that it doesn’t hide from outsiders? How could Li Jingyuan be like this? At his aunt's mother's birthday banquet, with so many guests present, he would loudly reprimand his eldest brother for making a big deal out of it.
If Mr. Zhao hadn't come forward to explain, all the guests present would have thought that Li Siyuan was a dandy who was addicted to gambling. He didn't forget to gamble with his friends at his biological mother's birthday banquet. Li Jingyuan said in just a few words The reputation of his brother-in-law was completely ruined.
It is not uncommon to see disputes between the legitimate sons and concubines of high-ranking families, so the guests present easily thought that this was a conspiracy by the concubine against the legitimate sons, and then they naturally imagined that Li Siyuan's previous reputation as a playboy was also Li Jingyuan's plan. , after all, if we look into it carefully, we find that Li Siyuan neither robbed women from the public nor visited brothels. He just didn't study well and liked to have fun. But every family has children who can't study well and like to have fun. How could he become a playboy?
So before Si Yuan knew it, the reputation of the original owner Li Siyuan was washed away.
Li Jingyuan failed to steal the chicken but lost the rice. He was forced to retreat steadily by Zhao Lin, and his face was extremely ugly.
In the end, it was Li Chengyuan, the master of Uncle Jingyuan's Mansion, who came to smooth things over: "Misunderstandings are all misunderstandings! Mr. Zhao, my fourth brother is a pedantic reader, so he did such an unmeasured thing. In fact, The relationship between the two brothers is not bad..."
Li Chengyuan wanted to give an example to prove that his third brother and fourth brother had a good relationship, but he racked his brains and couldn't think of any examples to prove this, so he could only laugh.
Li Jingyuan said as if he was grasping a life-saving straw: "Brother is right, I have a good relationship with the third brother, so I just said what was in my heart without thinking too much. If it were someone else who didn't have a good relationship, I wouldn't do it at all." He knows how to talk a lot. Today, Third Brother invited our family to stay at his house for a few days, isn’t it Third Brother?”
Li Jingyuan winked at Si Yuan.
Si Yuan didn't want to cooperate with him in telling his lie, and what good would it do to him? Help Li Jingyuan restore his reputation? Is he such a person who repays evil with kindness?
Zhao Lin worked so hard to help him tear Li Jingyuan apart, but he turned around and helped Li Jingyuan cover up his lies. Wouldn't that make Zhao Lin a villain for nothing?
Si Yuan didn't do this kind of thing of burning bridges across rivers, and when he looked at the progress bar that had moved forward a little, he wouldn't let Li Jingyuan go so easily because of the mission.
Si Yuan waved his hands casually and said: "My fourth brother and I have not gotten along since we were young, so there is no need to force a good relationship with me. As for inviting your family of three to my home, it is only because my precious son wants to play with your son. I reluctantly invite you, otherwise who would want to invite you?"
Li Jingyuan stood there with a very embarrassed expression.
Li Chengyuan also glared at Si Yuan. This younger brother actually didn't give him any face.
Although Li Chengyuan doesn't like Li Jingyuan for taking away the resources that should belong to him, the eldest son, everything is for the sake of the entire Jingyuan uncle's house. He can't write two characters of "Li" in one sentence. No matter how dissatisfied with Li Jingyuan, he is still the Li family. , even if you break your arm, you can only hide it in your sleeves.
Li Chengyuan then forcibly explained to Li Jingyuan: "It is inevitable that there are some stumbling blocks between brothers. They used to have a bad relationship, but then they separated. After having children, the relationship between the children became good, and the relationship between the two of them naturally eased and became better. My third brother is just hard-spoken and soft-hearted. He wants to reconcile with his fourth brother but is not forgiving. Otherwise, why would he invite his fourth brother to his home..."
This explanation actually makes sense, but the guests can all see that this is Li Chengyuan trying to regain his respect.
Li Jingyuan nodded repeatedly. He didn't care whether others believed it or not. Anyway, it was enough to put on a transparent fig leaf.
Si Yuan glanced at the still confused Xiao Changqing, sneered, and stopped trying to make trouble.
When Zhao Lin saw this, he did not continue to be embarrassed and said with a half-smile, "Really?" Then he sat back and ignored Li Jingyuan.
Li Jingyuan stood there awkwardly, because the seat where Zhao Lin was sitting was actually his seat. Now that Zhao Lin was sitting back, he did not dare to ask Zhao Lin to let him out.
Seeing that Zhao Lin was finally willing to let Li Jingyuan go, Li Chengyuan dared to ask Zhao Lin to give up his seat, so he pulled Li Jingyuan away and arranged a position for him far away from Si Yuan and Zhao Lin.
But the location where Si Yuan and Zhao Lin are located is the most front, center, and most conspicuous location. The location far away from them is naturally remote.
Li Jingyuan sat down with Tan and Li Changwen. He looked a little blue when he saw that he was surrounded by low-level officials or bastards of the Xungui family.
How could he make connections while sitting around these people?
At this time, Li Jingyuan completely forgot that he was also a low-level official and a concubine of the Xungui family.
