About a quarter later, under the guidance of Wei Tao and Bao Rong, Zhao Yang and his party took a carriage prepared by the Yamen of the Ministry of Industry and arrived at Fan Chunren's residence in Xiaotianshui Lane.
It was an old house with two entrances. It looked to be quite a few years old. The main entrance was very old, with paint peeling off and full of cracks. The door knocker was also loose, and even the stone slab in front of the door was stained by water dripping from the eaves day after day. There are many potholes, and almost none of the green bricks on the walls on both sides are intact.
But even so, it is not difficult to guess that the owner who built this house is considered to be a wealthy person in Bianjing. After all, ordinary people still cannot afford to build such a house.
According to Wei Tao, who has been here several times, the current owners of this house are an old couple. They have three sons and two daughters. The two daughters have long been married. One of the three sons died in infancy and one died in the war. The only remaining youngest son is now here. He seems to have inherited his second brother's position as a captain in the "Shangsi Fourth Army" and is a captain of the Tianwu Army. He can only come back every once in a while.
Therefore, the old couple rented out the east and west wing rooms in the inner courtyard. In addition to collecting some rent to subsidize their family, they could also liven up their lives.
Fan Chunren rented the west wing of this family, and considering his status as a student in Beijing to take the exam, he only received 20 cash per day, which was only 600 cash per month, which was considered very considerate.
Under normal circumstances, if you want to rent a wing like this in the inner city, it will cost you 900 yuan a month.
Stepping into the main door, Zhao Yang happened to bump into Fan Chunren's accompanying old servant carrying a handful of firewood from the woodshed to the kitchen. Because they had met before, Zhao Yang smiled and said hello: "Uncle Chen, Brother Chunren Are you there?"
Uncle Chen also recognized Zhao Yang and said with a smile: "The young official is studying in the house. Can I shout for you?"
"No, you're busy, I'll go find Brother Chunren myself."
After exchanging pleasantries, Zhao Yang walked through the second door and walked into the backyard. He saw a young woman Neng sweeping the floor in the backyard. She seemed startled when Zhao Yang and his group came in, and hurriedly hid in the east wing.
Zhao Yang heard from Wei Tao that it was said that a young couple rented the east wing and had been renting it for more than a year.
Zhao Yang glanced twice, then walked straight outside the west wing, raised his hand and knocked on the door.
"Please come in." Fan Chunren's voice came from inside the room.
Zhao Yang pushed the door hard for a moment, only to find that the door was only ajar, so he pushed the door open and walked into the house. At a glance, he saw Fan Chunren sitting by the window reading with a book in his hand.
Zhao Yang deliberately didn't speak and walked slowly to Fan Chunren, while Fan Chunren stared at the scroll intently.
Seeing the clues, Wang Zhongzheng and the others couldn't help but laugh, which made Fan Chunren's face appear a little embarrassed and ashamed. Then he seemed to have just discovered Zhao Yang. He let out a light sound, put down the book, stood up, and tensed He saluted Zhao Yang with a serious face: "Fan Chunren, a student going to take the exam, pays homage to Shangguan."
This time, even Zhao Yang couldn't help but laugh. He raised his hand to support Fan Chunren and teased, "Isn't that right, Brother Chunren?"
A trace of embarrassment flashed across Fan Chunren's face, and he said sullenly: "Since the young man doesn't regard me as someone you can trust and trust, why should you treat me so kindly?"
Zhao Yang smiled, but before he spoke, Sun Chang said unhappily: "Why doesn't Fan Erlang know good from evil? Doesn't Fan Erlang not know that Xiao Langjun doesn't want you to be implicated? Does Fan Erlang know that he was invited by Qian Mingyi before? There is a station to advise you, but there is also a chief officer who is waiting for you to take the provincial examination!"
"Hey." Zhao Yang scolded with a slight frown.
Sun Chang clasped his fists and said, "I'm offended. ... I'm just telling the truth."
Hearing this, Fan Chunren flashed a trace of guilt on his face, and said angrily: "What about the provincial exam examiner? The worst case scenario is that he will be fired. We will just take the exam again in three years."
"Yes Yes."
Zhao Yang smiled and comforted him: "If this happens again next time, I will definitely ask Brother Chun Ren for advice."
"..." Fan Chunren took a deep look at Zhao Yang and sighed: "Is there a next time?"
It's not that he doesn't know good and bad. In fact, he knows very well why Zhao Yang "left" him behind. But precisely because he knows it, he feels despised or even humiliated. After all, he thinks that he can sacrifice his life for righteousness. When it comes to imperial examinations, Which one is more important, and which one is more serious, is to hurt your friends?
There is no doubt that he was willing to give up the imperial examination and hurt his friends.
"Why not?" Zhao Yang said with a smile: "Brother Chun Ren, you have to trust my ability to offend people. No, I recently fell out with Wen Yanbo again."
"Wen Yan... Mr. Wen?" Fan Chunren opened his eyes in shock.
"Yes, this guy... is very insidious. He didn't come forward to impeach me. He just echoed when other Taiwanese remonstrated to impeach me. He thought I couldn't do anything to him? He also impeached him!"
"..." Fan Chunren opened his mouth and sighed softly: "When you persuaded the officials to continue to appoint Mr. Chen as prime minister, I guessed that you would offend Mr. Wen..."
Zhao Yang smiled nonchalantly and said teasingly: "Then I will leave it to Brother Chunren to impeach him?"
Fan Chunren was a little hesitant when he heard this. After all, Wen Yanbo's reputation was much better than Qian Mingyi's, and he was not a political opponent of his father Fan Zhongyan in the court. But seeing Zhao Yang looking at him with a narrow-minded expression, he gritted his teeth. Said: "Okay!"
It can be seen that he went to great lengths to prove that he could be relied upon.
Of course, Zhao Yang never really thought about asking Fan Chunren to help write the impeachment memorial to impeach Wen Yanbo. He just wanted to resolve the grudge in his heart, so that Fan Chunren would not complain about him anymore and not regard him as one of his own.
Seeing that the problem was solved, Zhao Yang smiled and joked: "This way, Brother Chunren won't be angry, right?"
Seeing Fan Chunren nodding hesitantly, Zhao Yang smiled again and said, "Let's go then. Let's go to the outer city to see the location of the workshop, and then find a restaurant for a drink."
Fan Chunren seemed to have still not completely eliminated the grudge, and said with a sullen face: "It's okay to go to work, but drinking is unnecessary..."
"Then it's up to you, Brother Chun." Zhao Yang winked at Wang Zhongzheng and others: "Take them away!"
Wei Tao and Bao Rong stepped forward with a smirk, and each of them lifted up Fan Chunren, who was dumbfounded, and walked out.
At this moment, four Confucian scholars of the same age as Fan Chunren walked in outside the second door. The first one was seven feet tall, with a wide face and thick lips. He seemed to be quite honest. When this man saw Fan Chunren being attacked by two men dressed as Imperial Guards, He walked out of the west wing room, frightened and anxious, and shouted loudly: "What are you going to do to Erlang?!"
As he said that, he clenched his fists and rushed forward.
Fan Zhongyan was startled and hurriedly shouted: "Weizhong! Stop! Stop!"
While he was talking, the Confucian scholar had already rushed in front of Fan Chunren, pushing Wei Tao's chest with one hand and grabbing Bao Rong's lapel with the other, and then looked at Fan Chunren doubtfully.
Fan Chunren didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and said helplessly: "Weizhong, you misunderstood, they really want to arrest me, they are just playing around..."
"ah……"
The Confucian scholar hurriedly let go of Bao Rong's clothes, took two steps back with an embarrassed look on his face, and hesitantly apologized: "I'm really, really sorry..."
"..." Wei Tao and Bao Rong had already let go of Fan Chunren, frowning slightly and looking at the Confucian scholar. Although they were unhappy, they did not say anything.
At this time, Zhao Yang also walked out of the room, turned around and looked at the four Confucian scholars with different looks, and asked Fan Chunren with a little surprise: "Brother Chunren, these four are..."
"The three of them are students like me who went to Beijing to take the exam..."
Fan Chunren reluctantly introduced the identities of the four people to Zhao Yang: "This reckless man is from Lantian, Jingzhao Prefecture. His surname is Lu and his last name is Dafang. His given name is Weizhong. Although his temper is naive, he does come from a scholarly family and a scholar. Family; the last three are all from Liangzhe Road. This one is from Changzhou, his surname is Qian, his surname is Gongfu, and his surname is Junyi. The other two are brothers of the Shen family in Lin'an. The elder brother's surname is Tuan, and his surname is Wentong. They are the same candidates who went to Beijing to take the exam like me. "His younger brother's name is Liao and his courtesy name is Xuda. He is seventeen years old. This time he is accompanying his brother to Beijing to gain more knowledge..."
"oh."
Zhao Yang nodded suddenly, cupped his hands and said, "I'm Zhao Yang, you're polite."
Shen Yuan and Qian Gongfu looked a little surprised, and Lu Dafang said naively: "Zhao Yang? I don't think I've heard of it anywhere... Hey, this is not that demon star..."
"Weizhong!"
"ah……"
Under Fan Chunren's low scolding, Lu Dafang quickly covered his mouth, making Zhao Yang dumbfounded: This was the first time he saw someone covering his mouth with his hands after saying something wrong in real life, and it was a man.
Seeing Lu Dafang hesitate and apologize to him, Zhao Yang smiled and said: "It's okay, brother Dafang."
"Brother Da Fang?" Lu Dafang muttered in confusion.
Fan Chunren shook his head and said sternly to Lu Dafang and the others: "The so-called demon star's remarks are rumors spread by someone who wants to frame Mr. Zhao. You four should not be credulous."
Shen Tuo nodded and asked: "I am very curious, is there any connection between this young Mr. Zhao and the 'Commander Zhao' that has been rumored in Beijing these days?"
Seeing Fan Chunren looking at him, wondering whether he should explain or not, Zhao Yang took the initiative and said, "That person is right here."
"Oh?" Shen Tuo looked surprised at first, then suddenly realized, and chuckled: "Then I can probably guess why there are those rumors."
Lu Dafang opened his eyes in disbelief: "How old are you to become a commander?"
"Ah." Zhao Yang thought it was interesting that this man was honest and honest, and said with a smile: "I am a Yinbu official. I have relatives in the palace who are... the chief steward. In terms of seniority, it is mine... uh , distant cousin, he is quite powerful in the palace, he also takes good care of me, and found a job for me..."
Hearing these words, Fan Chunren, Wang Zhongzheng and others all looked sideways, with indescribably weird expressions: You are speaking too vaguely, are you not afraid of others misunderstanding?
Lu Dafang didn't know the truth. He nodded suddenly and then asked doubtfully: "Since your cousin is powerful, why does he only seek a military position for you?"
"This has something to do with my ambition." Zhao Yang said with a smile: "My ambition is to imitate the champions of the Han Dynasty and open up territories for the country..."
"ah."
Not only did Lu Dafang's eyes widen, Qian Gongfu and the Shen brothers, who had previously seen Zhao Yang openly mentioning powerful relatives in the palace and looked down upon him, were also in awe after hearing this. Even Fan Chunren was a little surprised. After all, Although he could roughly guess Zhao Yang's ambition, he never thought that Zhao Yang's ambition was to expand the territory.
"Why don't I wait until we talk inside the house."
Perhaps because he caught a glimpse of the young woman in the east wing looking around frequently, Fan Chunren coughed and reminded everyone, inviting everyone into the room.
Immediately, everyone looked at each other in confusion as they looked at the only four round stools in the room.
Although Wang Zhongzheng and the other ten people had the good sense not to follow, but even so, the four round stools were not enough for six people.
After coughing, Shen Tuo asked tentatively: "How about... let's sit somewhere and have a drink?"
Before he finished speaking, Lu Dafang touched his palm and said, "Yes, I almost forgot the purpose of coming here... Yaofu, you haven't had fun with us for several days."
The name of Yao Fu in his mouth was Fan Chunren's nickname.
Fan Chunren was a little helpless and looked at Zhao Yang hesitantly. After all, Zhao Yang had just told him that he was going to choose a location outside the city today.
As if he had guessed what he was thinking, Zhao Yang said with a smile: "Deputy Commander Yang is in charge of that matter. We are just going to have a look. It doesn't matter if it's a little later."
"Little Mr. Zhao, will you also go with me?" Lu Dafang asked in hindsight.
Zhao Yang smiled and said: "Then it depends on whether they are welcome..."
"Of course you are welcome. If there are more people, it will be more lively. I will pay for your share." Lu Dafang said boldly.
"What?" Zhao Yang couldn't understand.
Seeing this, Fan Chunren coughed and explained: "After we met at the end of last year, we made an agreement. If there is a dinner party, each of us will pay 200 yuan, so as not to ruin the friendship over some trivial matters..."
Zhao Yang looked at the clothes of Lu Dafang, Qian Gongfu and the Shen brothers, and knew that these people were not from poor families. He nodded and said, "Well, the friendship between gentlemen is as light as water, so it's very good."
After saying that, he waved to Wang Zhongzheng outside the house: "Zhongzheng, do you have any money? Give me two hundred coins."
Wang Zhongzheng walked into the house. Before he could speak, Lu Dafang tried to dissuade him: "Hey, no, no, no, I'll take out your share..."
Before he finished speaking, Qian Gongfu coughed and said, "Don't talk so much. I still have ten guards."
"Ah..." Lu Dafang finally woke up, his expression looked a little embarrassed, as if he was hesitating and struggling.
Seeing this, Zhao Yang cupped his hands and smiled and said, "Thank you so much, Brother Da Fang... As for Zhongzheng and the others, they happen to have something to leave, right, Zhongzheng?"
"Ah? Well, indeed..." Wang Zhongzheng saw Zhao Yang's expression and could only nod.
Seeing Lu Dafang secretly heaving a sigh of relief, Shen Yu wanted to laugh. He looked at Zhao Yang's valuable brocade robe calmly and looked at each other with Qian Gongfu.
Later, when Zhao Yang handed over Wang Zhongzheng, Wang Ming and other ten people, Qian Gongfu asked Fan Chunren in a low voice: "Yaofu, most of those ten people have no beards on their faces, and their voices are slightly different from ordinary people... Could it be that they are eunuchs?" Right? Who is that little brother?"
Fan Chunren was a little surprised and made a "shh" gesture without comment.
The Shen brothers and Lu Dafang were also listening clearly. Compared to the former who looked curious, Lu Dafang said in a low voice: "The person is cryptic in what he said, but he also told me frankly that his distant cousin has the power in the palace." As a powerful leader, why do you need to dig deeper and expose people's wounds? Yaofu, you think so?"
You...you are being treasonous!
Fan Chunren looked at Lu Dafang in shock and hesitated to speak. After a while, he opened his mouth and said vaguely: "Yes, yes..."
"But being too close to eunuchs is not a good thing after all..." Although Qian Gongfu also agreed with Lu Dafang's words, he still frowned when he looked at Wang Zhongzheng and others, obviously having a prejudice against eunuchs.
"Alas, Jun Yi is too serious." Shen Tuo said with a smile, "I think this young Mr. Zhao has a close relationship with Yao Fu. If he is not a pure and kind man, how can he be with Yao Fu's character and family tradition? Will you have a close friendship with him?"
Seeing that the three of them seemed to have misunderstood something, Fan Chunren didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but he couldn't dare to reveal the truth, so he could only smile secretly.
No, really not...
