Thinking of Nangong Zeyue being chased and running away, Jiang Shuyue almost laughed out loud.
"Yue'er, laugh if you want. Don't hold it in. It's best if the Guo family is unlucky, so as not to be full of frivolous intestines and harm women of good families everywhere."
Jiang Shuyue put down the spoon and rubbed her face.
Was she smiling that obviously?
One month later, the horse he bought looked different. He was much stronger and his hair was shiny red. Su Jin named it Xiaohong.
"Sister, it's better to prepare for a rainy day. Xiaohong doesn't resist me or Nannan, and he learns quickly." Su Jin, dressed in a smart outfit, got on the horse.
Looking at Su Jin, whose black hair was tied up high, his figure was as tall and straight as a pine tree, and his ordinary clothes could not hide his extraordinary temperament.
Aunt Su watched her son gallop through the bamboo forest, whipping his horse, with a hint of regret in his eyes.
Su Huairen sighed and said, "If I hadn't been implicated, my son would have passed the scholar examination long ago."
"My child's father, you teach your children to read poetry and books, are you willing to let them spend their lives here?" Aunt Su raised her eyes and looked at the sky.
She really hoped that the children could transform into Dapeng and spread their wings to fly in the vast sky.
Su Huairen stood with his hands behind his hands and his eyes were firm: "Wait a little longer, there is news from my classmates that the imperial court is imposing excessive levies, there are several forces ready to attack, and the day of uprising is just around the corner."
The emperor had more ridiculous things, so he would not explain them in detail to the women.
Aunt Su's eyes lit up, as if she saw a glimmer of hope: "Really, that would be great, I'm also thinking about renovating the house and setting up a marriage for my son!"
"No, my son is already reading "University" and "The Analects of Confucius". If there is no news from the capital, it's not too late to make plans."
Su Huairen said as he picked up a book and walked to Lin Miaoshou's house.
After a period of treatment by Jiang Shuyue, Lin Miaoshou's eyes improved.
Lin Miaoshou was also a scholar. Su Huairen and he had similar interests. Especially when it came to matters in the capital, Lin Miaoshou also knew a little bit about it.
…
Night falls.
In the Yannan Palace, Xiao Jingzhao looked at the news coming from the capital.
His fists were clenched and his face was gloomy.
"Master, the prince is going to ask you to send money to the capital again. Look at this..." Xiang Song hesitated.
The prince keeps his father's words in mind, as long as the emperor needs it, the Yannan Palace will respond.
"No! I can't tolerate it any longer this time no matter what."
Xiao Jingzhao grabbed a letter on the desk and walked quickly towards King Yannan's study.
In the study room of King Yannan.
The candlelight shines on his side, and his three-dimensional and upright silhouette is cast on the window, motionless like a sculpture.
King Yan Nan sat in front of the desk, his sword-shaped eyebrows slightly furrowed with a sense of awe and righteousness, and a complicated look in his eyes.
He gently stroked a rectangular brocade box and murmured to himself: "Dad, if you have a spirit in heaven and see that the prosperous world created by Emperor Renzong is now riddled with holes, will you support your son to take out... "
Hearing the sound of footsteps, he swallowed the rest of his words, quickly picked up the brocade box, turned around and put it into the secret compartment behind the bookcase.
"Father."
Xiao Jingzhao pushed the door open and entered.
"Father, have you received the emperor's imperial edict? Take a look at this again and decide whether to continue sending money to the capital." Xiao Jingzhao bowed and pushed the letter in his hand.
King Yan Nan motioned for Xiao Jingzhao to sit down. He picked up the envelope, took out the letter and shook it open.
He scanned it line by line.
After a while, King Yan Nan looked at Xiao Jingzhao with a serious expression: "What do you think about this?"
"My son thinks that we can no longer tolerate the emperor's absurdity."
Xiao Jingzhao paused and said: "There are many veterans in the capital who can't stand it anymore. If no one steps forward, it's just a mess."
Emperor Renzong and the father of King Yannan were brothers and sisters. Veterans of the previous dynasty all knew that Emperor Renzong left an imperial edict for the descendants of the Xiao family.
No one knows what the specific content is.
What the emperor did was becoming more and more ridiculous, and people with conscience could no longer stand it.
Now Yannan's financial resources are far superior to those of the imperial court. Yannan is already a prosperous place. Coupled with King Yannan's careful management, a little leakage from King Yannan's fingers is enough to make the emperor greedy.
The father and son discussed until midnight, and finally decided not to coddle the foolish king anymore.
When Xiao Jingzhao left, he said: "Father, why don't we replace him? Emperor Renzong's decree is justifiable."
King Yan Nan quickly stopped him: "Don't act rashly before the time comes. For the sake of the relationship between Emperor Renzong and your grandfather, let me think about it again."
Back in the study, Xiao Jingzhao asked Xiang Song to polish his ink.
He quickly wrote two letters and sealed them with beeswax.
"These two letters are very important. You will send someone to deliver them tomorrow morning."
Xiang Song took the order and left.
…
Time flies, and Jiang Shuyue is already three and a half years old. She has not been idle. She has practiced superb riding skills with Su Jin and Su Nan.
This spring is different from previous years. There are no birds singing and the fragrance of flowers, and the trees are shady.
The winter drought followed the spring drought, and the rivers outside Zhuxi County stopped flowing.
In the few acres of wasteland that the Su family planted after being demoted, all the vegetables grown were drooping.
Jiang Shuyue felt that God was reminding her that it was time to leave.
In order not to arouse suspicion, she could not water the ground at night.
"Miss, some wells in the village are starting to dry up. What should we do if this continues?" Qiu Ju asked worriedly when she saw Jiang Shuyue staring blankly outside the courtyard.
"Sui Sui went to Shui Sheng's house again, don't worry, we have money in hand, we won't be hungry."
Jiang Shuyue's words were just to comfort Qiu Ju. The spring drought was the worst. Farmers would not be able to keep growing grain until the end. The year's harvest would be gone. Even if they had money, they would not be able to buy grain.
The next day, Jiang Shuyue drove her carriage to Zhuxi County alone.
As she expected, the price of rice and noodles doubled.
She decisively bought a cart of rice and noodles. After driving the carriage to a remote place, she put the rice and noodles into the space and walked to the next grain store.
After shopping at three grain stores in a row, she estimated that she was almost done, so she went to the grocery store to buy some daily necessities and salt.
When she was about to turn the horse's head back to the village, she heard the rapid sound of horse hooves approaching from far away, and the pedestrians on the street gave way.
She lifted up her curtain and looked up, and saw an official riding a horse towards the county government office.
"He's an official from the capital."
"Could it be that the emperor knew about the drought this spring and ordered farmers to be exempted from taxes?"
Everyone was talking about it, and they were not in a hurry. Some even went to the county government office to find out what was going on.
The Su family received letters from the capital from time to time, and Jiang Shuyue also knew a little about the affairs of the court.
She didn't think that the emperor would exempt farmers from paying taxes. There must be other things.
She parked the carriage on the side of the road and waited quietly for news from the people in front of her.
After a while, I saw several middle-aged men walking back in a hurry.
"How's it going? Is there any good news from the capital?" Someone came around and asked.
One of the men said bitterly: "We are unable to sow seeds in the spring plowing, and the emperor is still thinking of a draft. This draft will only look at beauty, not family background. Those who are willing to climb the ranks of dragons and phoenixes should go back and prepare. The county magistrate will go to the countryside soon to register."
Suddenly, some people were smiling and some were sad.
Someone in the crowd shouted: "If you have a beautiful girl at home who doesn't want to enter the palace, run away quickly!"
