Xue Na is really aggrieved.
After listening to Li Qinzai's advice, Xue Na stopped boasting about his achievements and learned to keep a low profile.
However, one should not be so low-key as to be in the dust, right?
When he was on the ship, Xue Ne was complacent, thinking that he would be greeted by the roar of gongs and drums and the blast of firecrackers. He hung a big red flower on his chest and walked off the ship to the cheers of thousands of people.
As a result, no one cared about him at all, and those who came to greet him were all Li Qinzai's family disciples. He was regarded as a little transparent, drifting with the crowd, and was finally lost in the crowd.
How could Mr. Xue endure such anger?
He is here as a meritorious official, and his deeds have spread throughout the army, and everyone knows it. This time he returns to Chang'an, waiting for the emperor to reward him, but you treat me like nothing?
"Give me an explanation, or I'll roll all over the floor to see if you are embarrassed!" Xue Ne said angrily, grabbing Li Sujie's arm.
Li Sujie hurriedly said: "Xue... what, we have heard of your achievements. We have been looking for you just now. I want you to tell us how you conquered a city by one person. This matter has already been reported to the emperor." Before the case, my father praised you more than once in front of the ministers."
When Xue Ne heard this, he immediately beamed: "The emperor also knows my merits? Did he really praise me?"
Li Sujie said with a serious face: "Of course, when my father convened a family banquet for the princes and princesses in the palace, he often said that as a human being, you should follow the example of Jingchu and be cautious in your words, and serve your family and country with complete loyalty..."
Xue Ne felt a buzz in his head, and his soul was sublimated.
"The emperor is so flattering, so flattering! Haha, haha, hahahaha!" Xue Ne looked up to the sky and laughed.
Li Qinzai's words to persuade him to keep a low profile were certainly remembered at this moment. Didn't he humbly say "ridiculous praise"?
I really want to laugh, but I can’t suppress my natural instinct.
Li Sujie looked at him speechlessly.
Although he is a little disrespectful to his elders, but...this fool doesn't look like someone who has made great achievements.
"If there is nothing else to do tonight, I will invite all the princes and princesses to a banquet, and by the way, I will tell you about the magnificent Goguryeo battlefield." Xue Ne still looked up to the sky and laughed.
Li Sujie blinked: "I have to wait for you tonight, how about... I won't bother you until I get back to Chang'an?"
"It doesn't matter, we'll talk about it when we get back to Chang'an. Haha, I have wine and stories. You're in luck."
…………
Li Qinzai was half-lying in the side room. The weather was a bit cold. He was covered with a thick silk quilt. There was a charcoal fire beside him, and the room was steaming.
There was a small clay pot on the charcoal fire, with decoction boiled in it. Cui Jie sat by the charcoal fire, staring at the timer of the incense burner without blinking, silently calculating the time for the decoction.
After the soup boiled, Cui Jie poured the soup from the clay pot into a bowl and set it aside to wait for it to cool down.
Then he put two sweet potatoes on the charcoal fire and roasted them. He turned to smile at him and said, "Husband, sweet potatoes have been planted all over Guanzhong and Jiangnan. The yield is not small. People all over the world are grateful for your kindness."
"People have left a lot of rice seeds. We can eat them. I will bake two for you to try."
Li Qinzai shook his head: "Eat this freshly. It is used to save people's lives in times of famine. It can be mixed with rice and eaten on weekdays. It can be used as a coarse grain to nourish the stomach."
"I want to eat meat. The injured person just wants to eat a big oily elbow."
Cui Jie hesitated for a moment and said: "Can you, husband, eat meat... I will ask a doctor in the city to ask, but I don't dare to be careless. I finally came back from the battlefield with my life. If I eat a few mouthfuls, The injury was aggravated by eating, so it’s not unfair.”
Just as he was about to go out, there was a message from outside the door.
Qi Zheng, the governor of Dengzhou, asked to see him outside his door and asked for instructions on something.
Cui Jie looked at Li Qinzai, who raised his chin and signaled for Qi Zheng to come in.
After entering, Qi Zheng was very respectful, not only because of Li Qinzai's identity and title, but also because of his deeds on the Goguryeo battlefield.
"What's wrong with Governor Qi?" Li Qinzai asked with a smile.
Qi Zheng said respectfully: "Yesterday, before County Duke Li's ship arrived in Dengzhou, a fight broke out outside the city. This matter is related to County Duke Li, and I dare not hide it."
Then Qi Zheng told the story of a fight that happened outside Dengzhou City yesterday.
When he heard that several Dengzhou fishermen risked their lives and fought against Goguryeo assassins for him, whom they had never met, and even several fishermen died heroically in the battle, Li Qinzai looked at Cui Jie in shock.
"The last young man calls himself a ranger?" Li Qinzai asked, "Did you leave a name?"
Qi Zheng shook his head: "After this man killed all the assassins, he left gracefully. According to the fishermen, he also did it for the sake of Duke Li County."
"This official neglected his duty. Unexpectedly, there were Goguryeo assassins on the ground in Dengzhou, and they almost killed Duke Li. I ask Duke Li to punish him." Qi Zheng bowed his head and apologized.
Li Qinzai shook his head, Qi Zheng couldn't be blamed for such a thing.
"Where are the remaining fishermen?" Li Qinzai asked.
Qi Zheng said: "They were all arranged by the lower officials to stay in an inn in Dengzhou City."
Cui Jie said solemnly from the side: "We must thank you for saving your life. Please ask Governor Qi to invite these fishermen, as well as the family members of the fishermen who died in the battle. My husband and I would like to express our gratitude in person." "
Qi Zheng left in response.
Not long after, several fishermen and a group of men and women dressed in white mourning clothes came to the door of the hotel, looking embarrassed and nervous.
Li Qinzai was supported by Cui Jie and stood outside the hotel to greet them personally.
Behind the couple are Li Sujie and other disciples and tribesmen.
Seeing the fishermen arriving, Li Qinzai took two difficult steps forward, and the couple slowly bowed to the fishermen.
"My dear Li Qinzai, thank you all for your generous help."
The fishermen's eyes widened in shock. When they heard that the man in front of them was Li Shuai, whom they were desperately protecting, they all became excited.
"Li Shuai, it's really Li Shuai!" the fishermen cried out in emotion.
However, the middle-aged fisherman knelt on his knees and said in fear: "How dare you, humble people, to do something trivial and insignificant, to be treated as a gift from Commander Li, and to harm the common people?"
The rest of the people also came to their senses and hurriedly imitated him and knelt down together.
Li Qinzai stepped forward to help the middle-aged fisherman up, and said with a wry smile: "You saved my life and kneeled down to me. Thank you for panicking. You are the one who broke me. Please stand up."
Li Sujie and other disciples stepped forward and helped the fishermen and family members of the deceased up.
Qi Zheng stood by with a smile. He didn't know if it was for the sake of Li Qinzai's strength, so he told the fishermen that the people who helped them get up were Li Shuai's disciples and the current prince and princess. When the fishermen were shocked, they knelt down again with a plop. .
Li Qinzai glanced at Qi Zheng: "If you talk so secretly, how about you change your career to become an official media?"
Qi Zheng shuddered, his face turned pale and he hurriedly confessed.
After lifting up a group of fishermen and their families, Li Qinzai personally invited them into the post to sit high.
One arm was supported by Cui Jie, while Li Qinzai's other arm was supporting the middle-aged fisherman's elbow, and the three of them walked in side by side.
As for the shabby and worn-out clothes of the fishermen and the unmistakable smell of fish on their bodies, Li Qinzai seemed not to notice them at all and walked very close to them without any disdain.
The fishermen were more and more moved. They observed his words and actions. They found that this Li Shuai did not have the arrogant temperament of a powerful man at all. Instead, he was particularly friendly and kind. In him, class barriers seemed to be completely non-existent.
It was worth it to risk your life for such a person in this life!
(End of chapter)
