"Since ancient times, soldiers must win. This Shu Zhaozhong is really good at this." Two scholars stood not far away, pointing.
These two people are both wealthy locals in Xingyang. One of them, named Yang, is not from the Hongnong Yang family, but because his uncle became a Jinshi, his family was engaged in business, and he was powerful and wealthy, so he was better off than a sudden and short-lived family like the Shu family. Much better. The other one, whose surname was Zhao, came from the Zhang family of Qinghe, a noble family in Hebei. His family moved here. The two of them studied under the Zheng family, but they felt that each generation of Zheng's children was inferior to the last, and they joked about it in private.
Yang Shizi said with a smile: "Shu Zhaozhong's uncle heard that he would be a minor official in Nanjing and would not come back for three to five years. The Shu family was already in ruins. He is really stupid to dare to play this trick in front of Zheng Zhuangyuan."
Zhang Shizi said meaningfully: "I see that Zheng Zhuangyuan just spoke a few words and it suddenly enlightened me. It shows that he is really a very talented and famous person. If we can accept you and me as his disciples, we will definitely pass the imperial examination."
After the two of them finished speaking, they looked at what Zheng Hao was doing. They saw him giving Rong Fei Rongda a look. The two of them carried Shu Zhaozhong away without any effort. Shu Zhaozhong was thrown out. Zheng Hao didn't say a word from the beginning to the end. .
Shu Zhaozhong was shocked. He didn't expect Zheng Hao to be serious. Aren't wealthy families very particular about their appearance? What's more, the Shu family is also in-laws of the Zheng family.
But Zheng Hao wants to act like me, Zheng Hao, who dares to say anything? I don't need to waste my time on a prostitute.
What he did was so frightening that Yang and Zhang were stunned.
Next, those who originally wanted to imitate Shu Zhaozhong all left in despair.
In this big exam, ten people with bad conduct and poor writing skills will be eliminated. Twenty-five people will be in the lower house, fifteen will be in the middle house, and ten will be in the upper house. They will just come directly to study in September.
It is okay to teach without discrimination, but it is not possible to have poor conduct and bad habits.
Originally, it was okay for young people to visit brothels, but if prostitution and gambling were put together, they might lead to adultery and thieves in the future.
Seeing that he came back so late, Lishu knew that he would not go out to have a banquet because of his filial piety, so she asked the kitchen to make some porridge and side dishes and served him personally.
"Sit down. You're busy too, but you're always thinking about me." Zheng Hao knew how tired Li Shu was when she looked at the way she was burying her head in old papers.
Li Shu smiled and said: "That's right, I often heard my father say that it is not easy to serve as a people-friendly official. You are from the Imperial Academy, and you have such a status. You usually talk and laugh with scholars and have no white men in your dealings. But what kind of person am I? I have been in contact with them all, so those people can’t trouble me, especially for moral kidnapping. As long as I don’t have moral restraints, those morals will never try to kidnap me.”
"Anyway, remember this, no one can do anything to me?"
Zheng Hao nodded: "What you said is absolutely true. Today, Shu Zhaozhong's head was bleeding due to intoxication. I forked him out. It is said that he suffered a bruise and a swollen face."
Li Shu was very surprised: "Is this the Shu family again? I saw that Miss Shu last time, although she was the daughter of Jing Chai and a sarong, she was kind-hearted anyway. Why are the rest of the Shu family so ignorant of importance?"
"Who cares about him? In fact, I have secretly inquired about several children who have always had bad habits. This Shu Zhaozhong hangs around with the rich young master all day long. He bullies men and dominates women. He also hangs out in gambling houses and brothels. He is full of all five evils. Such people will sooner or later ruin the reputation of our Zheng family." Zheng Hao thought it would be even more harmful.
But Li Shu said: "I heard that this is the only son in the Shu family. A girl as old as Miss Shu is so shabby, which shows that the Shu family is in a very bad situation. You drive him out, for fear of causing another commotion."
Zheng Hao looked at Li Shu and pinched her chin: "I'm not afraid."
Li Shu looked at his face: "It's really strange."
Li Shu guessed this correctly. After Shu Zhaozhong was thrown out, his nose was bruised and his face was swollen. After returning to the Shu family, Grandma Shu quickly found the Shu family.
Mrs. Shu was breaking off a little rabbit-shaped bun for Sister Ling to eat. Sister Ling ate half of it and said: "I am only three years old in more than a year, so I can go to school. There are many friends there. .”
"Okay, then Mom will sew a book bag for you. Our sister Ling is going to be a talented girl, right?" Mrs. Shu said with a smile.
Sister Ling smiled happily.
When the mother and daughter were talking about interesting things, Grandma Shu came over. She was originally a woman from an official family. Later, her father-in-law passed away, her mother-in-law was sick, and the men in the family were not up to par. She was forced to make a woman who was shy before become so aggressive that she no longer had any scruples.
As soon as Grandma Shu sat down, she said, "My aunt has lived a rich life and raised other people's daughters. She doesn't care about your natal family. Your brother and nephew will be bullied to death."
Mrs. Shu knew that her sister-in-law had come to make trouble and asked for money, so she asked her servants to take Sister Ling down first, and then said: "Sister Xin has received a thousand taels of silver from our clan. Where is the silver? Aren't they all in your hands?" , now you are crying poverty here. It’s not like you don’t know what I am like. Before our uncle went to Beijing, our family had an old housekeeper to take care of the accounts. He has nothing to do with me. I support you all with my own monthly money. Saved up.”
She almost died because of the Shu family's affairs, why would she care about the Shu family's affairs?
But Grandma Shu hated the iron and said: "I'm not your nephew. He was kicked out by the uncle of your clan, and he didn't even study. I said, aunt, you are also the head of the seventh house of the Zheng family, and you are still the original wife. Madam, I have never seen you so cowardly."
"What? Zhaozhong was kicked out?" Shu was surprised.
She originally thought that the grievances between the clan and her would end here, but she didn't expect that now there would be another incident, and the revenge would be on her nephew. This is too cruel, it is purely killing people.
Grandma Shu saw that Mrs. Shu didn't know yet, so she said: "Not only were they driven out, their heads were broken, but they were also thrown out. What do you want us to do? Why do so many people... He can read, but he can't. Auntie, I don't blame you. Although Mrs. Rong's second wife's daughter-in-law, Cui, had the surname Cui of Qinghe, her family was very poor. But she relied on the clan house. His nephew is fine. In terms of knowledge, your nephew is better than him."
"This..." Mrs. Shu knew that the son introduced by Mrs. Rong Er was the nephew of her daughter-in-law. He was not from a wealthy family, but he had a good relationship with Mrs. Gu Er's nephew Yang Lan.
Just because of his good relationship, he was retained even though he was of average talent and academics. When Shu heard about this, he felt unconvinced.
Seeing that her sister-in-law was still so stubborn, Grandma Shu couldn't help complaining: "For so many years, you have lived like a dog in the Zheng family. If you can't give birth to a child, you can always give birth to a concubine. Just keep it under your knees, but you don’t even have this ability. Well, now even our Shu family is being bullied because of you."
Shu thought of the life she had lived these past years, which was more miserable than coptis, but she was not really stupid.
It was impossible for a family like the Zheng family, which had been a prominent family for generations, to divorce their wife. She was living a good life in the Zheng family, so why would she be so hot-headed for the Shu family again?
So this time she couldn't be reckless anymore: "Sister-in-law, I can't help you scolding me like this. I am indeed incompetent, but I have managed to get you a thousand taels, which will be enough for you for a while. If you If you believe me, you will naturally believe that it is never too late for a gentleman to take revenge after ten years. I think when the time comes, I will always give you an explanation. Feng Shui takes turns, and no one will stay in a high position forever. "
Grandma Shu was always a little scared when she heard what she said. She just wanted an explanation. She wanted Shu to intercede for her and let her son return to the Zheng family to study. She never thought about how to deal with others.
In particular, the wife of the clan clan was extremely generous. The clan clan of the Zheng family was such a supreme being, how could she offend her.
I don’t know when Grandma Shu left. Mrs. Shu sat alone from dawn to dusk.
Sending these disciples away will of course cause a lot of arguments and curses. Lishu knew that Zheng Hao was a gentle man and rarely received any negative comments.
She was always afraid that he would be sad, so she made a point of teasing him while soaking her feet: "Actually, just like the reformists for thousands of years, they were always notorious at that time. This was the case for Shang Yang and Wu Qi, because they violated their interests. But Qian Qian For hundreds of years, everyone has known that the Qin State benefited from Shang Yang's reforms to unify the six countries, while the Chu State was not as good as the Qin State because it appointed Wu Qi for several years but could not persist in it. Anything that touches the interests of others, We will all be criticized and insulted, so don’t take it to heart, as long as we husband and wife work together, we will definitely be able to make a difference."
Zheng Hao was meditating while soaking his feet. He didn't expect Li Shu to talk to him about this. He was a little surprised. She said this to comfort him, fearing that he would be sad.
So, is he a spoiled man in the eyes of his wife?
Despite this, Zheng Hao did not refute. Instead, he looked moved, as if hearing the voice of a fairy, and said: "Lishu, you always make me happy with your tricks like this."
"No way, I'm telling the truth." Lishu didn't like the kind of people who were obviously very talented, but only cared about making money for themselves and singing and dancing for fame.
People in the world always think that if they protect themselves wisely, nothing will happen to them. Little do they know that there is no perfect egg in a crowd.
Mrs. Zheng indeed said this to Zheng Hao. When Zheng Hao went to greet him the next morning, she said these words: "The sixth old lady is an elder after all. She said yesterday that you dismissed a student, which hurts They have to pay more than two hundred taels to others. How can their family have any money to compensate? In fact, my son, if the water is clear, there will be no fish. You are so young and always want to do something big. I can understand this. But Just like the corruption of officials in the world, no matter how clean and self-restrained you are, it is useless. This officialdom should be corrupted."
In the past, Zheng Hao agreed with this principle. Some of his tribesmen who were officials actually relied on aides to handle everything. If they didn't want to be officials, they would stay in Yurouxiang. When they were in office, they relied on the protection of their tribesmen who were high officials, and their evaluations were actually good. good.
Such officials abound, colluding up and down, and if there are any who are out of line, no matter how capable they are, they will not be able to get ahead.
But just because of this, why don’t you do it? I live in drunkenness and dream all day long, but I don’t know what will happen in the future?
Therefore, Zheng Hao shook his head: "Mom, since ancient times, no one has done anything for me, so why can't my son do it for me? Instead of mediocrity and walking like a zombie, why not make trouble for him and just do nothing, which may not necessarily lead to peace and quiet."
Seeing that her son had made up his mind, Mrs. Zheng thought to herself that it was probably Li Shu's idea. Her father Liu Chengxu was famously stubborn, and so was she.
Others are in the quagmire and can smile as long as they can get money, but she can't. She would rather not get money than to get out of the quagmire and resolutely not join the crowd.
But Mrs. Zheng thought that she was still quite capable, at least now that there was such a big movement, her reputation was much better than Mrs. Ju Er's.
"That's all. If you don't hit the south wall and don't look back, I can't control you anymore." Mrs. Zheng said.
Unlike Mrs. Zheng, Mr. Zheng has always supported his son. He was also young and considered a very popular minister. He knew very well that the so-called embankment of a thousand miles was destroyed by an ant nest. Therefore, when he mentioned Li Shu's contribution to Zheng Hao, he couldn't help but say: "Now when you and I, father and son, are in high positions, it can be said that flowers are blooming, fire is cooking oil, and there are so many people paying homage to your grandmother along the way? But if we make the slightest mistake, I'm afraid someone will catch us. Especially especially you--"
Speaking of this, Mr. Zheng said: "Since I am a border minister, it is impossible for me to join the cabinet, but you are different from me. The reputation of an official is like a white wall. If you do not restrain your children well, anything may happen." Political opponents will use it to threaten you in the future."
Zheng Hao nodded: "What dad said is that a son is so lucky to have his father give him some advice."
The relationship between their father and son is different from that of ordinary fathers and sons. It is difficult for the family to have heirs. Mr. Zheng is the middle-aged son of Prime Minister Zheng. Zheng Hao is also the father of Zheng Hao very late, because Mrs. Zheng also stayed at home for several years before marrying him. Therefore, Mr. Zheng was very doting on Zheng Hao when he was a child, and he was an unusually strict father.
Zheng Hao usually eats with Li Shu, but today he simply ate at Mr. Zheng's place. Li Shu heard this, and although she was a little disappointed, she also ordered the kitchen: "Master likes stir-fried Taiwanese food, and this stir-fried Taiwanese food is the heart of the dish." The glutinous rice is best when stir-fried with fresh shrimp meat. This dish must be made.”
Zhulan listened and gave instructions, while Lishu put down her pen and stretched her body.
She ate by herself, but she couldn't finish it by herself, so she asked Zhulan and Lamei to sit down and eat with her. These two were her closest right-hand men. In the future, she would also find someone for them just like she did with Tingxue and Siyu. My beloved is still working in the house and taking care of the house for her.
If they want to be released, Li Shu is also willing to let them go, just like when she wanted to release Ting Xue and Si Yu, neither of them were willing to go out. What kind of good person can I marry? In the palace, I am the deputy young lady, and when I get married, I am also the lady in charge. She is popular in front of the ladies and grandmothers, and has servants to serve me. More importantly, they are all willing to follow Li Shu.
Over there, Mr. Zheng saw his favorite dishes on the table and couldn't help but said: "Your wife is really filial. When I came back, I coughed a few times and asked a doctor to come over. He had nothing to say to us two. What happened to me? She made all the shoes, socks and knee pads, how can an ordinary daughter-in-law do this?"
"That is, if my parents don't value her, how can they let her marry me? My son has been waiting for her for a long time." Zheng Hao felt very happy when he mentioned Li Shu.
After eating this meal, Zheng Hao felt much better and felt that he had the support of his father.
He considered it carefully and said: "My son, I think my brother cannot stay at home idle all the time. How can this man be without power all his life? He was sick when he was young, and now he has the status of an official. After I got rid of those thorns, he What do you think about letting him take charge of the family science?"
Master Zheng frowned: "Is he feeling well?"
At this time, Zheng Qing strode in and said, "Dad, my son is well. Please let him try."
Looking at his youngest son's expectant eyes, Mr. Zheng thought about it again and again, and finally nodded: "Okay."
Zheng Qing was very happy and smiled at each other with Zheng Hao.
A month later, Zheng Qing took office, which surprised many people. Everyone thought that Zheng Hao would be in charge of the clan school, but they did not expect that Zheng Qing would be in charge. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
No one knew anything about Zheng Qing. They only knew that he was in a weak body. The clan clan used rare supplements to support him, so he was naturally weak due to his poor health. So many people began to look down upon him.
Lishu was also very worried: "Brother Qing is always at home and rarely interacts with people. There are many naughty boys there. Can he take good care of them?"
"Sister-in-law, don't worry. You have been looking at the accounts behind closed doors for a month. Can you tell what the secret is?" Ms. Tan was not worried about her husband at all.
Lishu actually knew that Zheng Qing was probably not an ordinary person, but she was just afraid that Zheng Qing would fall ill and Tan and the elders would blame her. Now that Tan didn't say anything, she was relieved.
But the sixth old lady and Zheng Ze's family were very resentful towards Zheng Hao. Before, the sixth old lady stood on Li Shu's side and went to talk to Shu, but in a blink of an eye, she was hanging out with Mrs. Ju Er and Shu.
When Mrs. Ju lost her housekeeping rights at the beginning, she had already experienced that the people below her did not take her seriously. Fortunately, she had made a lot of money privately over the years and opened a shop outside. She was able to run the house again and lived a good life. It's much better than the home of Shu and Mrs. Six.
Now she has several plates of fashionable fresh fruit cakes placed here, which have not been touched much. The sixth old lady is gushing: "Speaking of it, it was better when the old lady of the clan was here. Now that she is gone, all kinds of monsters and monsters have come out. . Nanmanzi also wants to take charge of the affairs of our family. Our direct branch of the Zheng family has always only married with the three families of Lu, Li and Cui."
Shu thought to herself, that's not what you said before. If it weren't for the blood in your family, you wouldn't mix with us now. Even Mrs. Shu knew something, how could Mrs. Ju not know about it?
Therefore, Mrs. Gu Er said: "But the Liu family in Jinghu is now unstoppable. Furthermore, although Mrs. Liu is young, she has a certain magnanimity. Aunt Six, you are too derogatory."
The sixth old lady said disdainfully: "I'm not being too disparaging. When she and Brother Hao first got married, I knew that she was a calculating person. She came back to keep her filial piety, but she insisted on taking over the affairs. Wasn't it just to steal the housekeeper? Power, for fear of not having his own status. This person, young and too lusty for power, is like Zhang Tang in the Han Dynasty or Lai Junchen in the Tang Dynasty. Look at how she treats you, showing the cunning and cunning nature of her nature. , the same tactics as a capricious, sinister and evil cruel official. However, you can rest assured that her fate in the future will definitely be the same as that of Lai Junchen, who was favored by Wu Zetian back then, but was later executed for offending the kings of the Wu clan and Princess Taiping. "
Mrs. Gu Er and Mrs. Shu looked at each other and both felt that what the Sixth Old Mrs. Liu said was too harsh. Although Mrs. Liu did have some tricks, it was obvious that since she took over the family affairs, Mrs. Gu Er had not been held accountable for not issuing monthly payments. Things have been opened to the outside. To put it bluntly, in the struggle for power and profit, no one is right or wrong, it just depends on who has the higher means.
But it is impossible for them to fall out with the sixth old lady because of this matter. This sixth old lady is very prestigious in the clan.
The three of them talked enthusiastically, but they didn't know that Li Shu already knew it after just a cup of tea. When she first came to Zheng's house, she didn't know much about each room, wasn't well-informed, and had some constraints on what she could do. In the past few months, she has begun to deploy people and bribe people to do detailed work. There is no way. She must know the whole story about Mrs. Gu's second wife annexing land and forcing people to die. She should also know whether she has forced people to death. And Mrs. Shu and the Sixth Old Lady are unstable people who have personal grudges against them, so she must keep a close eye on them.
This sixth old lady is also a troublemaker, especially because for her own enjoyment, she almost forced Zheng Ze to accept bribes and marry the Wang family with evil intentions. She even went to the clan school to be greedy for money and almost led a wolf into the house.
Now he is still speaking ill of himself, which can be considered as slander.
Mrs. Ju Er is very cautious in what she says and does, but she won't tolerate it here.
The so-called "dare to speak out" is the weapon of the sixth old lady. She goes around the clan with one mouth. Her daughter-in-law is so cowardly. Now her grandson-in-law Wang heard about it and started to worship Buddha. Of course, she just didn't want to go out to socialize, and she didn't want to do it anymore. Providing for this old lady doesn't care about the family. Anyway, she just doesn't pay for it, leaving Zheng Ze to think of something.
Li Shu could fable that the sixth old lady was out to cause trouble now because she wanted to give Mrs. Ju Er a certificate. After all, when she left, the family might have to be handed over to Mrs. Ju Er.
After all, Mrs. Rong'er is not good, neither is her daughter-in-law, and the rest of this generation are almost dead.
The sixth old lady didn't realize anything. She scolded Li Shu here. She had an extra bowl of rice when she got home, but because the abalone was not fresh, she scolded the servant again.
Before going to bed, I disliked the musty smell of the silk quilt from last year and scolded the servant again.
The servants in the sixth house don't even have 300 yuan a month, but the things they do are very tedious. This old lady in the sixth house is also cunning and weird. Tonight, the two of them had to keep vigil. They would get up at any time and anywhere in the middle of the night to help her out to drink water. If she hesitated for a moment, they would be punished by kneeling down.
Normally, people dare to be angry but dare not speak out. Today, I don’t know how to keep vigil together. Ye’er, who has always been very silent, said to Miao’er who was scolded just now: “You are also unlucky. The weather is bad these days, and the silk has been moldy and moldy. What does it have to do with you? There is also the matter of the abalone. It was because the people in the kitchen stored it improperly. You are so unlucky."
"Sister Ye'er, why are you talking about these things today? But what can we do? We are slaves and cannot change."
"Look at how young and young you are and are forced to kneel every day. The ground is so cold. You are seventeen years old and your period hasn't come yet? I'm afraid it's all because of this. I'm not saying this just because we share the same problem."
The two chattered a lot and lowered their voices. However, the sixth old lady had the urge to urinate and was about to call someone, but she heard the excited Ye'er say: "That old godly woman treats us harshly every day. Sooner or later, she will wake up." Abi hell, dig out her eyes and pluck out her tongue.”
Miao'er also said: "I really want to kill this old thing with one blow, sister Ye'er. Now it's just the two of us who are keeping vigil. No, even if we don't keep vigil, others will be vigilant and want to kill this old godly woman."
The sixth old lady was so frightened that her buttocks urinated. She actually peeed on the bed. When she saw the black shadow approaching, she fainted.
When she woke up the next day, Mrs. Six saw that Ye'er, Miao'er and the other maids were all in normal moods. She couldn't help but point at them and said, "It's you, you two little hooves who want to harm me."
"Old lady, Cai Die and I were keeping vigil together yesterday, but Ye'er and Miao'er didn't come at all." Caifeng said with a smile. She knew that the old lady had incontinence last night. The old man wanted to save face and would definitely beat Ye'er again. Miao'er and Miao'er, I heard that Miao'er was seventeen years old because she had been punished to kneel down for a long time, so she naturally helped to cover it up.
Otherwise, no matter where you go, you can buy servants for only 300 yuan a month, and they will often be abused. Moreover, after they were sent away, she and Cai Die would have to do everything from now on, so they might as well cover Ye'er's lies.
The sixth old lady talked nonsense and shouted every day when news came that someone was going to kill her. She didn't even dare to go out. When she heard that a leaf fell behind her, she was as frightened as a bird.
When Mrs. Ju Er heard the news, she curled her lips and said to her husband: "There are only six old ladies in this clan who speak out for justice. I didn't expect that she actually suffers from panic disorder. She says that others say bad things about her every day and want to harm her. She is so scared."
Mr. Ju Er didn't like the old lady Liu, so he just said: "She did bad things in her early years, so she is afraid of ghosts knocking on her door every day."
But Mrs. Ju's second wife was very sorry. This was a strong general she recruited, and it was already broken before it even started.
At that time, Li Shu was playing chess with Zheng Hao. She took Zheng Hao's white chess piece and said with a smile: "Look, you, a chess master, also lost to me."
Zheng Hao took a sip of tea and asked her: "What happened to the sixth old lady? Have you gone to see her?"
"You don't have to look at me to know." Li Shu smiled, because she was the one who did it, and she treated him the same way he did, but she didn't expect that she would not be frightened. :,,
