When Yin Ji saw that there were a few lamps in the corridor that were not lit, he muttered, "Some of the old servants at home are too unruly. They all went to sleep when it got colder, and there were still a few lamps that were not lit."
Lu Zuo saw that his apprentice was about to get up and light the lamp, so he ordered: "No need to light it. Only when you enjoy the snow in the dark can you realize how deep the snow is."
The lights in the courtyard in twos and threes flickered on and off in the snowy night, creating an interesting contrast to each other. After the three masters and disciples were silent for a moment, Yin Ji suddenly said: "Master, Master Lu and the others have just arrived and want to see you."
"Well, what do you say?"
"I said Master has made up his mind and won't see any visitors in the next few days."
Lu Zuo nodded calmly.
Jing Jingruo said: "Boss Lu and Qin are your masters after all. Is this appropriate?"
Lu Zuo felt helpless, "There's nothing I can do about it. They came here to persuade me to take back what I said in the hall today. Now I can only get out of the way so that His Highness Prince Ning can secure his throne. Otherwise, there will be another disaster." There will be Xun Yu’s chaos.”
"Then, sir, do you think the new emperor will clear up your father's grievances?"
Lu Zuo fell into deep thought. He had answered this question many times. He said that he was no longer obsessed with his father's grievances. In fact, he was just deceiving himself. This time he was gambling. He knew that if he wanted to win the throne now, it would be easy, but really If he does this, he can only clear his father's grievances, but all this will become meaningless and will only confirm the story that both generations of father and son have committed rebellion. He once fell into confusion. In his heart, he really thought about sitting on that position, but many reasons still allowed him to control his desires, his father's hatred, his own illness, and Jing Jingruo. He kept using these reasons to remind himself to stay away from the emperor's throne, and stay further away. Now he really does this. After that, he placed all his bets on Liu Xingyuan.
"Leave it to fate!" Lu Zuo said and then ordered Yin Ji, "Ji'er, heat up the ginseng soup."
Yin Ji skillfully poured the ginseng soup into the clay pot on the low table, then placed it on the charcoal basin, then used an iron skewer to gently stir the charcoal fire to red, then put down the iron skewer, rubbed his hands and placed them on top of the stove to keep warm.
"Master..." At this moment, at the corner of the corridor, an old servant walked quickly and panted. After arriving under the eaves, he said, "Prince Ning... Prince Ning... no no... Your Majesty, please ...Please... no, the emperor wants to see you."
Yin Ji said angrily, "Didn't I show up even if I told you?"
The old servant said helplessly: "But he became the emperor after all, didn't he? And he said he had something important to see him."
Yin Ji looked at his master, Lu Zuo and An Jingruo looked at each other. Before they could answer, they heard another figure appear at the corner of the corridor. That person was Liu Xingyuan. He walked towards Lu Zuo in a hurry, saying sorry as he walked.
Lu Zuo and others then stood up and saluted Liu Xingyuan. Liu Xingyuan stepped forward quickly, bowed in return, and apologized one after another for being rude.
Liu Xing returned the courtesy from afar, and out of the corner of his eye he saw the ginseng soup beside Lu Zuo steaming, so he pointed at the soup and asked, "How much ginseng is left?"
Lu Zuo glanced at the ginseng soup in confusion, "Why do you ask this?"
Yin Jidao: "This is the thousand-year-old ginseng that Lu Manxi got. This is the last bit left. If your majesty wants to take advantage of this blessing, I'm afraid it will be gone. My master is not in good health, so he drinks this."
Liu Xingyuan smiled awkwardly, and went straight forward to lift the lid of the clay pot. Thick hot steam instantly came out of the pot. When he stretched his neck to smell it, he choked on the hot air and sneezed. His body trembled and he accidentally The pottery pot fell to the ground and rolled under the eaves. Liu Xingyuan apologized repeatedly with a surprised look on his face, "Brother Lu, I'm really sorry. I'm such a fussy person. I will personally come to your door one day to deliver you the best ginseng..." …”
Although Lu Zuo felt strange, he didn't take it to heart. He smiled and waved his hand and said no.
Liu Xingyuan picked up the tea towel on the table and wiped it involuntarily. Yin Ji wanted to take the tea towel from his hand, but he waved it away.
Yin Ji looked at Liu Xingyuan in confusion, but didn't know how to treat him politely, so he could only smile and nod awkwardly.
After Liu Xingyuan wiped the tea towel and put it away, he bowed to apologize again.
Lu Zuo signaled that there was no need to be polite, "Your Majesty is the king now, and Lu Zuo is the minister. Oh, no, now I have resigned as marshal and am just a common man. Your Majesty does not have to be like this. It is rude to a common man. Please forgive me. !”
"In that case, it's really annoying. I still have some matters to deal with, so I won't disturb you all." Liu Xingyuan clasped his fists again, "Goodbye..."
Lu Zuo and An Jingruo personally escorted Liu Xingyuan to the carriage. Watching the carriage drifting away in the snowy night, Lu Zuo's eyes fell into deep thought. Yin Ji nodded with satisfaction and said: "I didn't expect that Prince Ning would be so courteous to Master when he ascended the throne. It seems that we thought too much before."
Jing Jingruo was also quite surprised, "Yes, I didn't expect His Highness to have no airs at all, and no monarch's grace in front of your master."
Lu Zuo shook his head solemnly, "It's not that simple!" As soon as he finished speaking, he felt something was wrong, "Your Majesty came in a hurry and left in a hurry. What's the reason? Is it just because he knocked over a bowl of ginseng soup? Go away in shame?"
Jing Jingruo also felt strange, "It shouldn't be the case, right? I thought he came here to ask your husband for advice on some important national affairs!"
Lu Zuo felt something was wrong, "Ji'er, go and ask Lu Manxi to come!"
"Now?" Yin Ji was a little reluctant, "Is it too late?"
"Go..." Lu Zuo said without any excuse.
Originally, the study room in the Earl's Mansion was not very big, but Lu Zuo had a lot of books, so he asked his servants to open up the wing and widen the study room. The study room was enlarged, but it was also much colder, so Lu Zuo asked his servants to open the study room. There is a charcoal stove in the middle of the study, which is always taken care of.
Jing Jingruo's brother An Shiqing originally wanted to move out of An Mansion and built a large house not far from An Mansion. But after all, he was alone and felt desolate. He couldn't worry about his sister and brother-in-law, so he moved out again in the past two days. When I came back, I saw that the snowy night was nice, but I was at a loss as to what to do, so I came to wander in the courtyard. When I saw Yin Ji leading Lu Manxi from the corridor, I stopped them and asked them what was going on. I heard that my brother-in-law summoned Lu Manxi, and I couldn't even think about coming. He wasn't asleep yet, so he followed him to the study room.
When the study door opened, Lu Zuo saw that An Shiqing was also here and quickly stepped forward to salute.
"My lord, we are all family members, so there is no need to be rigid."
Lu Zuo smiled and said: "Brother, it's so late, why don't you sleep?"
"I had nothing to do to take a walk. I saw Manxi coming to see you so late, so I came to take a look..."
Lu Manxi was not angry for a moment. It was such a cold day and she was staying warm at home. She was quite dissatisfied with being called out like this. She complained: "Brother, you knew it was so late and you still called me. I We’re all wrapped up in bed and ready to go to sleep…”
"Of course I have something to ask you," Lu Zuo glared at him.
"What's the matter? Why don't you wait until tomorrow?"
Lu Zuo reached out and knocked on Lu Manxi's forehead, and said angrily: "You kid, let me ask you, where did the ginseng you gave me a few days ago come from?"
