Taoyao Order

When Taoyao came out of Qian's house, she felt a little dazed. The bright spring weather in Hangzhou seemed to have become clouded overnight.

Tao Yi looked at Tao Yao who was standing in front of the carriage in a daze, and couldn't help but ask: "Girl, what's wrong with you?"

Tao Yao came back to her senses, glanced at Tao Yi in a daze, quickly got on the carriage, and said: "Go to Lu Yue Library."

Tao Yi didn't know why, so she got on the carriage and headed all the way to Lu Yue Library.

Not long after, they arrived at the entrance of Lu Yue Library. It was already past noon when students were studying classics and history. Classes started inside. The entrance of Lu Yue Library was quiet. Tao Yi stopped the carriage and asked. Tao Yao said: "Girl, shall we go in?"

Tao Yao sat in the carriage and there was no reply for a long time. After a long while, Tao Yi heard a sentence: "If you don't want to go in, wait at the door."

"Hey." Seeing that Taoyao was in a bad mood, Tao Yi didn't dare to say anything. He just drove the carriage to the side of the road, stopped the horse against the weeping willow at the door, and tied the horse to the willow tree. , the two of them and a car were waiting at the entrance of Lu Yue Library, but they didn't know what they were waiting for.

Tao Yi was sitting on the shaft of the carriage, bored and waiting for about half an hour. Suddenly, he heard Tao Yao say again from inside: "Uncle Yi, we won't wait any longer. Let's go to Chen's house on Liuye Lane."

This time Taoyao's words were a little more confident.

"Hey." Tao Yi responded outside, spitting out the grass he was chewing, stepping forward to untie the horse's reins, and drove the carriage back to Willow Leaf Alley.

Taoyu never thought that Taoyao would come uninvited today. She just thought that what she said last time was serious. Taoyao was angry with her and refused to come to the door again.

Now when he heard that Tao Yao was coming, Mrs. Shao hurriedly went out to greet her. She saw Tao Yao coming in from a distance in the main hall. Ms. Shao smiled and said: "Oh, why are you free to come here today? Did you have lunch?" ?”

As Shao asked, he found that Taoyao's face was very ugly. He didn't know what happened: "What's going on? Who bullied you?"

Tao Yao looked at Shao and said seriously: "Second Aunt, you said last time that you had carefully investigated the details of the Chu family, what kind of business their family was in, and who else was in the family. Please tell me in detail. "

Shao led Taoyao to sit together in the Taoyu House, and then said: "Their family is in the business of selling cloth. They do needlework, dyeing, embroidery, weaving, and other cloth-related businesses. There are also Zhuangzi planting mulberry trees and raising silkworms downstairs, which is all there is to make a living. There are more shops selling cloth, in Hangzhou, Panyu, Tianjin, and I heard there are shops in the capital.

You can also ask Master Liu of Zi Ling Pavilion about this. After all, they are all colleagues, so she should know something about the Chu family. "

Tao Yao quickly asked: "Is their family doing legitimate business?"

Shao was puzzled by Taoyao's question: "What's wrong with selling cloth? Their family has a pretty good reputation in Hangzhou. Then they run almshouses, open porridge shacks, and so on."

Tao Yao continued to ask: "Then how did their family get rich? Where is their ancestral home? Have they always been in Hangzhou?"

Shao thought for a while and said with a smile: "Then at least three generations of my ancestors were in Hangzhou. If you look up hundreds of years, I don't know. There is no need to look up his family tree if we say we are related."

Seeing Tao Yao asking this, Tao Yu seemed to have thought of something and suddenly spoke: "Yao Yao, have you heard something?"

When Tao Yao heard Tao Yu's words, her whole body collapsed: "Sister, you know something, don't you?" Tao Yu pondered for a moment, and then gave a look to the mother-in-law who was serving her personally. The woman bowed in response, leading The whole room of maids and the wet nurse who was coaxing the children withdrew.

Seeing Taoyu's behavior, Shao was puzzled: "What's wrong with you?"

When Tao Yu saw that everyone had retreated, she said to Tao Yao: "Do you remember last time? You said that someone from the Chu family once won the first prize, and asked me and your brother-in-law to check it out for you."

Taoyao never thought that Taoyu would mention this matter. She almost forgot about it, so she just nodded: "Yes."

Tao Yu said: "For scholars, winning the first prize is a major event that will bring glory to one's family. Naturally, word of mouth spreads it. I wish I could set up a memorial arch at the door to write about it. In each subject, who won the first prize is a treasure trove of your brother-in-law.

However, we have never heard of anyone from the Chu family winning the top prize. "

Tao Yao frowned and listened: "So, sister, you mean he is lying to me?"

Taoyu shook her head: "That's not true. Your brother-in-law said that since it was his great-grandfather who won the top prize, it was a long time ago. It may be that he was not the top pick of this dynasty, but the previous dynasty."

"What?" Taoyao was slightly surprised.

Taoyu then continued: "Since your brother-in-law had this suspicion, I asked him to investigate carefully. His great-grandfather was the last emperor of the Xuan Dynasty, Yongjing, who won the first prize in the late years. He had not yet been awarded the official title. The Xuan Dynasty was destroyed.

Logically speaking, after the Zhou Dynasty occupied the Central Plains, almost all the officials of the previous dynasty were temporarily retained in their posts. He was a dignified scholar, so it was impossible not to attract attention and be given an official position or something, but he did not become an official of the Zhou Dynasty again. , so he returned to his hometown and started doing business.

Over the years, all the men in their family have studied, but no one has ever taken the imperial examination to become an official, until Chu Ping. "

Taoyu said it in an extremely cryptic way, but it also contained a lot of her guesses. Taoyao also understood what it meant. The Chu family was unwilling to accept officials from the Zhou Dynasty, and they were also unwilling to become officials again. Could it be that there was still some complex spirit left? Thoughts about the country?
This was more terrifying to Taoyao than smuggling. Taoyao shook her head: "Impossible, this is impossible. No matter what the great-grandfather of the Chu family thinks, at least Chu Ping definitely has no such thoughts."

Tao Yu looked at Tao Yao's repulsive look and said lightly: "It's best not to have it. It's just that the laws of the dynasty are very strict about rebellion, so I stopped you. Now that you know , you should also think carefully about it, and don’t bring yourself into trouble.”

Tao Yao's heart skipped a beat. It wasn't like this. It was obviously not like this. The Chu Ping she knew before and the Chu family she knew were all from clean family backgrounds, even upright and upright.But what's happening now?How could everything be turned upside down in one day?

At noon, I heard that their family was smuggling, and that later in the day, their family was going to commit treason.

Taoyao really couldn't believe it.

"Is there anything wrong with the Chu family's business?" Taoyao asked Taoyu unwillingly.

Taoyu didn't understand why Taoyao was so obsessed with the Chu family's business, so she just said: "I don't know about this. What's wrong? What did you hear? You can tell me, and we will help you look it up. .”