The magnificent palace is filled with yellow tiles, red walls and resplendent beauty. There are intrigues under the eaves of Xuanzheng Hall, and the carved beams and painted buildings in the hall are lifelike. The backrest of the glittering dragon chair in the hall is engraved with nine dragons grabbing pearls, which is very dazzling. On the dragon chair, an old man with black hair and silver beard, wearing a dragon robe and a golden crown, sat upright, and the eunuchs in front of the palace on both sides were serving him.
An eunuch under the eaves was walking quickly to the front of the palace, "Your Majesty, King Wei is already waiting for the order outside the palace."
"Xuan!"
After a while, a man walked into the palace with a downcast face. He was wearing a silver-winged royal hat with a hairpin and a five-clawed silver-white python robe. His face was like white jade, and his eyes were like stars. When he looked up, he was a graceful and beautiful young man.
After saying long live the ceremony, King Wei Shan asked: "My father summoned my son and I don't know why?"
"Xu'er! I heard that you have been studying behind closed doors in your mansion recently, and you are working very hard!" Emperor Han said with a kind smile, twirling his beard.
"Exactly! My brothers have been busy with official duties these days. I think that as we get busier and busier, we should read more books to improve ourselves."
Emperor Han nodded slightly, intending to test him, "Do you know that the scientific examination is approaching, and what are the candidates from all over the country talking about recently?"
Liu Xu knew that his father was trying to test him, so he pretended not to know, "My son has lived in the palace for a long time and doesn't know about these things. My father didn't tell me, so I didn't dare to ask about it."
Emperor Han laughed loudly after hearing this, "Among my children, Xu'er Dudu, you are the most loyal one. Your mother and concubine passed away early. I didn't expect the Queen Mother to make you so reasonable!"
Emperor Han twirled his beard, looked at Liu Xu resolutely, and said: "Xu'er, I want you to be the examiner of this regular examination. What do you think?"
But when he saw Liu Xu kneeling on his knees with a "pop" sound, with a look of sincerity and fear on his face, "How can I, my son, be so virtuous and capable? How dare I have such crazy thoughts! Besides, there are many capable people among all the sons and grandsons of dragons. There are also a lot of talents among the ministers of the dynasty. Wherever I can get my ministers, I am afraid that my ministers will not be able to convince everyone."
"Convince everyone?" Emperor Han said sternly, "I want to see who dares to say no! This matter is settled. After the court tomorrow morning, you can go to the Ministry of Rites to hand over the matter."
When Liu Xu was about to express his gratitude, the eunuch in charge, Eunuch Yan, came into the palace and reported, "Your Majesty, the Queen just sent someone to ask you something?"
"Just tell me what's going on!"
"The Empress said that Lu Zuo, a famous scholar from Shanzhou, was deeply loved by the people and had the talent to assist heaven and earth. She asked the Holy Emperor if you could reward Lu Zuo with the empty house inspected by Tao Jilin, the Minister of War, to show the emperor's great kindness. Talent and virtue.”
"Okay, okay. Eunuch Yan, please let the person come to answer the question. From now on, let the queen make the decision on such trivial matters!"
After that, Eunuch Yan said "Promise" in reply and went down.
Liu Xu listened and was followed by Lu Zuo. He rolled his eyes and said, "Father, I have been hearing this person's name all the time recently. It seems that this person has a great reputation in the capital."
"Oh?" The emperor seemed very interested, "Is this really true?"
"I heard that a few days ago, a dilapidated temple in the western suburbs of the capital was besieged by strongmen. It happened that the young general Xun Mou was also there. He and General Xun used a huge cauldron to scare the strongmen away. This matter has already spread throughout the capital. "Liu Xu talked about it with relish, as if he had seen it with his own eyes.
The emperor smiled coldly, "Isn't he just a common man who can use brute strength?"
"Who says otherwise! But His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Prince Ning are vying for it! Even the Queen seems to appreciate him very much now, which shows that this person is indeed outstanding." Liu Xu said in his mouth He looked up, but his eyes revealed the intention of fanning the flames.
"No wonder the queen suddenly came to ask me for permission to reward this person with a mansion today." The emperor thought thoughtfully, "What is this person's name?"
"Lu Zuo!"
"Lu Zuo?" The emperor's expression seemed to be searching his mind to see if he had heard of this person. After thinking about it once and making sure he had never heard of it, he said, "Okay! Xu'er, I will take charge of Chang Ke this time." From now on, you must stay safe and do your own thing, and must not form cliques for personal gain.”
After Liu Xu thanked En for his resignation, he did not go back directly to his residence, but went straight to the Empress Dowager's palace to pay his respects.
In the pond of Funing Palace, golden light shines under the radiance of the setting sun. The heavy snowfall in the past few days made the whole palace atmosphere desolate. Today, the sun is just right and the ice and snow have melted. The Queen Mother is sitting in the Yiwan Pavilion in the middle of the pond with her eyes closed. , basking in the sun leisurely.
"I'm reporting to the Queen Mother, the King of Wei wants to see you." A palace maid stood on the corridor of the evening pavilion to report.
The Queen Mother opened her eyes slightly, and slowly tried to straighten up. The afterglow of the sunset slowly slid down her face. The maid behind her helped her sit upright, and then she said lightly: "Let him come over!"
After a while, Liu Xu came to the Queen Mother with a happy face to greet the Queen Mother, and said with a smile: "My grandson came specially to tell the Queen Mother Chitose some good news."
"Okay!" The Queen Mother interrupted Liu Xu before he could say anything. She waved her hand to the four or five maids around her to get out of the way, leaving only a slim palace maid in purple to wait on her. Then he said slowly, "It seems that you followed Aijia's instructions?"
"Exactly, my good grandma, you are so amazing! With just these few words, the emperor..."
"Okay! Calm down, Xu'er, you are good at everything, but you can't calm down. Just such a small official title has gone to your head." The Queen Mother smiled. Although she said this, she still felt in her heart. Very happy.
Liu Xu chuckled, full of pride, "The Queen Mother's teaching is correct, my grandson will remember it."
"It's a pity that your mother-in-law died early, otherwise she wouldn't be able to take the position of queen now, Li Sanniang." The Queen Mother sighed twice.
"The Queen Mother is a thousand years old, do you think the Queen's brother Li Shizhi is now the prince's son?"
"Even if she doesn't dare to help the prince openly, she probably has many contacts secretly. After all, Liu Yan is the empress's grandson." The Queen Mother pondered for a moment, "It seems that we have to find a way to bring down the empress's younger brother Li Shizhi first!"
"Are you sure?" Liu Xu was excited after hearing this. "He is the minister of Dali Temple, and his official title is not small. And I heard that Li Guojiu is usually clean and upright. He is known as 'Yan Zhangtang'. I'm afraid it will be difficult to catch him." The handle?"
The Queen Mother looked at Liu Xu and shook her head with a slightly disappointed expression, "Xu'er, use your brain more often and don't let the Ai family think about everything for you. If the Ai family happens a hundred years later, who will you rely on?"
Liu Xu lowered his head, "My grandson knows he was wrong!"
"Li Shizhi just donated money to become an official, and he didn't have much literary talent. Now he is the minister of Dali Temple, just because the emperor liked his uprightness. It is for this reason that the emperor chose his sister Li Sanniang as the queen. .”
If Liu Xu realized something, he answered: "You mean, find a way to make his reputation bad? As soon as he falls, the queen will lose an arm and the prince will be seriously injured."
The Queen Mother laughed and said: "Xu'er, you are not stupid!"
"It's all thanks to the empress dowager's good teaching!" Liu Xu scratched his head, "Then do you have any ideas to dissuade Li Shi?"
