In the fifth year of Zhenguan, on the twenty-third of the twelfth lunar month, at noon, Qinjiazhuang, Lantian County.
Qin Ming sat at the card table a little depressed and looked at the little money he had left.
Then he looked at the piles of money piled high around Yang Zijun, Qingwan and Li Yuan.
He could never understand why in just two days, three of his defeated generals suddenly became victorious generals.
The situation on the field has changed since yesterday, but luckily yesterday, although I didn't win any money, I didn't lose much either. Today was different. In just half an hour, he was about to lose everything.
Is it because I don’t have the talent for playing cards? At this moment, Qin Ming was somewhat doubtful about life.
Li Yuan looked at Qin Ming's appearance, urging Qin Ming to quickly number the cards, and said sarcastically:
"Ming'er, weren't you very arrogant before? Didn't you say that it was difficult to find an opponent in the card game? What happened today?"
Qin Ming rolled his eyes and said:
"Old man, don't be complacent. Victory and defeat are common in military affairs. Besides, don't I still have money here? You may not lose if you bet. Come again."
Wan'er, who was sitting at Qin Ming's house, listened to the conversation between the two and encouraged her:
"Young master is right. Wan'er will give him a few more cards and Hu will come back with a big one."
Qin Ming was about to say yes, but Yang Zijun from the next family said:
"Cousin, you can't cheat. Otherwise, I won't pay you if the young master messes up."
Li Yuan laughed and said:
"Yes, you girl Jun is right. Playing tricks does not count."
When Wan'er heard this, she looked at Qin Ming helplessly, as if to say, Master, I can't help you.
Qin Ming smiled and patted Qingwan's hand and said:
"Don't worry, Young Master won't lose."
At this time, Xiao Changxi opened the door and walked into the study room and said:
"Lunch is ready. After you finish playing this game, go to eat first and then play again."
Several people heard this and said in unison:
"Okay, right away."
...
At noon, Chang'an City
Qin Ming, who was playing mahjong in Qinjiazhuang, probably never imagined that because of him, the restaurants, teahouses, and Qin Tower and Chu Pavilion in Chang'an City were very busy these two days.
There are two reasons for the excitement. One is that a court official from the Ministry of Revenue recently spilled the beans while drinking with friends and revealed that the court was secretly auditing the accounts.
It is said that the imperial court now has conclusive evidence proving that senior officials in various ministries took advantage of their positions to embezzle large amounts of money from the national treasury.
As soon as this news came out, it instantly aroused the enthusiasm of the people in Chang'an City for gossip. They were chatting privately about some gossip that they didn't know where they got it from.
for example
"Which servant has a low salary, but has seven or eight concubines in his family?"
"The head of a certain department is in Baihua Building every day, with a lot of loose money, and he doesn't know where the money comes from."
"Which official has pavilions and pavilions in the mansion? Even the maids in the mansion wear silk and silk."
"Which corrupt official was arrested again in Dali Temple today?"
etc.
In short, as soon as the news came out that the imperial court was auditing accounts to find corrupt officials, the people of Chang'an seemed to have instantly become "Morning Crowds".
In addition to this news, another matter was discussed a lot by the people of Chang'an.
I don't know where the news came from at first. It is said that for many years people have believed that it is wrong for cousins to get married to make the two families closer.
This is because children born from the union of cousins are likely to become demons early or be born with disabilities, and it is said that this is a rule discovered by Master Miaoying through his years of medical practice.
This news completely ignited the enthusiasm of the people in Chang'an City. If the government's politics are corrupt, it can satisfy the people's hatred of the rich, so that they can discuss endlessly and guess which official will be imprisoned tomorrow. .
If the marriage of cousins sisters, the next generation will have problems, which will affect many people themselves.
Because in this era, everyone thinks that it is a good thing to marry their children to their uncle's family, or to marry a child of their uncle's family.
Therefore, many large families have people who are married like this.
As a result, as soon as this news came out, many unfortunate cases broke out in Chang'an city.
People soon realized that the news was true, because there were people who were married like this around them, and they could find out their situation with just a little inquiry.
As in the legend, when cousins get married, they either fail to have children, or the children they give birth to are premature, or they are born with disabilities. On the contrary, very few give birth to healthy children who grow to adulthood.
At this time, there are restaurants of all sizes in Chang'an City, and those who like to brag with friends at the wine table are talking about the information they have found out from other relatives or neighbors.
In a restaurant in Pingkangfang, a table of guests were listening attentively to a middle-aged man gossiping.
"There is a child from a household in our alley who married his cousin the year before last. He has not given birth to a baby for three years. Originally, we all thought that there was something wrong with the girl's health. But recently, there were reports that cousins had problems when they united to give birth to a baby. After opening it, guess what?”
Everyone put down their wine glasses and asked with wide eyes:
"What's wrong?"
The middle-aged man saw that his words had aroused everyone's curiosity, so he waved to everyone, motioning for everyone to gather over, and waited until everyone stretched out their necks and turned their ears.
The middle-aged man said softly:
"Later, I heard from the midwife in our alley that it was not that the family had never given birth to babies. It was just that the babies born every year were born with disabilities, and they died soon after they were born, which was almost like a stillbirth. Because they were afraid of the neighbors in the street. Nagging, that’s why I hid the news.”
Everyone felt horrified when they heard the words, and even on such a cold day, these words caused cold sweat to break out on their backs.
"Hey, I really didn't expect that Mr. Miaoying is truly a master of the Tang Dynasty. He only learned about such things after practicing medicine for many years."
"If his old man hadn't said this this time, we don't know how many tragedies like this would have happened in the Tang Dynasty in the future."
The people around him were all sighing after hearing this, and followed him by saying good things about Daozhang Sun.
At this time, an inconspicuous middle-aged man among the crowd glanced at everyone mysteriously and whispered:
"I have another big news here. Do you want to hear it?"
When everyone heard this, they immediately became energetic, and they all leaned into their ears and said:
"We're all friends, don't wait around, tell us quickly."
The inconspicuous middle-aged man glanced at the crowd around him and saw many people looking towards him, so he gathered everyone and stood up. After everyone's ears were gathered in the center of the table again, he said:
"I heard yesterday from a young man who did not want to be named and works in the Xungui Mansion. His Majesty the Emperor has decreed that our eldest princess of the Tang Dynasty will be married to the eldest son of the eldest son of the eldest son's family."
Everyone was shocked when they heard this. One of the men, whether intentionally or unintentionally, said loudly:
"Aren't the eldest princess and the eldest son of the Changsun family also cousins? If they get married, will it..."
Before he could finish speaking, the middle-aged man who first mentioned this topic covered his mouth and said:
"How dare you say this even if you don't want your life."
At the same time, the same scene and the same conversation were happening in different restaurants, as if a group of people had discussed it and deliberately spread the matter.
