good season

Several flowers bloom, one on each side.

After meeting Zhao Tinghan at Wanfu Temple, Zhao Shiqing asked Ling Bo to go to Su's Tea Shop to find Xiao Zhen, while she went to see Mr. Bai with the examination papers from the Imperial College.

These two test papers were the deposit she gave to Mr. Bai.

Mr. Bai grew up in the capital and has been in the city for many years. He knows very well that in the capital, no matter if it is naughty kids fighting in the streets or outsiders who can't even speak Mandarin well, they must not be taken lightly.

Who knows which marquis' mansion this naughty kid sneaked out from, and who knows which prince is standing behind that outsider.

In the capital, those who wear brightly colored clothes are not necessarily high-ranking officials; those who wear plain clothes might be a third-rank official who has just arrived in the capital.

For example, the little girl wearing a bamboo hat, revealing half of her dark and thin arms, threw out two golden beans at once, and talked about Fang Ying's life in her family.

You say she is bragging?

If you want to brag in front of Mr. Bai, you have to have the confidence.

Master Bai tossed and turned. In fact, no matter what the deposit Zhao Shiqing brought was, for the sake of the Spring and Autumn Annals marked by the Fang brothers themselves, Master Bai had already decided: as long as the little girl named Xiao Si dared to come again today, no matter what the so-called deposit she brought was, Master Bai would cooperate with her or the person behind her.

Mr. Bai now has only one wish, which is to pass the imperial examination and then tell the Bai family that all his sons have the surname Zhong and that he has long since disdained the Bai family.

It’s not that the Bai family doesn’t want him, but that he doesn’t want the Bai family.

Therefore, when Zhao Shiqing placed the two test papers in front of Mr. Bai, Mr. Bai's forty-year-old heart began to flutter.

The test paper was corrected by the children of the Meng family themselves, so it cannot be faked.

Finding a test paper from the Imperial College is neither difficult nor easy.

However, it is not easy to find a blank test paper with the seal of the Imperial College.

First of all, you have to know someone from the Imperial College. This person is most likely not an ordinary professor, let alone a student, but a person of a higher level.

Only those in the Imperial College with a high enough status could get a blank test paper.

From this, it can be seen that the two deposits sent by Zhao Shiqing were decent enough.

Mr. Bai's smile reached his eyes, and when he looked at Zhao Shiqing, he even changed his address: "Fourth Miss, let's sit down and talk."

Things were progressing smoothly for Zhao Shiqing, but Ling Bo was not so lucky.

She got off the sedan chair and bought a bag of peanuts at the bridgehead. Su Datou sat at the door to bask in the sun like he did that day. Lingbo handed over the peanuts: "Uncle Datou, I bought this for you."

Seeing the peanuts, Su Datou was delighted: "Zhang Xiaoer's peanuts are delicious. I love them the most."

"Uncle Big Head, as long as you like it, it's fine." Ling Bo smiled.

"My name is Su Dahong." Su Datou corrected.

"Got it, Big Head Uncle."

Su Datou.
Hearing that the girl who came that day came again, Xiao Zhen's heart moved. He walked to the window and looked downstairs. From this angle, he could only see a corner of the skirt with a blue background and white flowers.

Then, that corner of the skirt disappeared. Was she going upstairs?

Xiao Zhen quickly sat back in his chair and picked up a book.

Da Zhuang's voice rang out from outside the door: "Boss, someone is coming."

"Let her in." Xiao Zhen ordered in a deep voice.

The door opened and a little girl in a blue dress with white flowers walked in.

The same blue background with white flowers, the same double buns, the same fourteen or fifteen years old, but they are not the same person.

"I am Lingbo, the maidservant, under the order of my second young lady, to bring a letter to Master Zhen. Master Zhen, how are you?"

A hint of disappointment flashed across Xiao Zhen's eyes, and he suddenly wanted to lie back in bed to recuperate.

"Where's the letter?" Xiao Zhen said in a light tone.

Ling Bo held up a letter respectfully. It was a letter written by Zhao Shiqing to Xiao Zhen.

Xiao Zhen opened the letter and at a glance he knew that this letter was definitely not written by Zhao Shiqing.

The square and neat Taige style of calligraphy shows that a lot of effort has been put into it.

Zhao Shiqing was a noble lady from the royal family. Even if she had learned Taige style, there was no need for her to work hard to practice it.

Therefore, even if the letter was not written by a clerk, it was written by someone else on her behalf.

The writings of ladies from wealthy families are generally not circulated, in order to prevent someone from using them to write articles and destroy their reputation.

But he is not the kind of shameless person who would destroy other people's reputation, so Zhao Shiqing is so wary of him.

Xiao Zhen felt uncomfortable, but then he thought that he had already lived two lives. In his previous life, he lived to be 38 years old, and King Liang was only in his early 40s.

If we consider the number of years he has lived, he could be Zhao Shiqing's father.

Forget it, I won’t bother with the kid.

Xiao Zhen quickly convinced himself and read the letter at a glance.

I have to say that Xiao Zhen has a sharp eye. This letter was indeed not written by Zhao Shiqing, but by Zhao Tinghan.

Originally, Zhao Shiqing wanted to write the letter herself, but Zhao Tinghan didn't let her. He thought his sister was a daughter of a wealthy family, so how could the letter fall into the hands of a man outside?
Therefore, not only was this letter written by Zhao Tinghan's ghostwriter, but there was not even a signature on the letter.

In the letter, Zhao Shiqing asked about the situation of several censors in the Censorate.

Although Zhao Tinghan had been in Beijing for many years, his identity was sensitive and he could not openly interact with officials. Moreover, these censors were all people in the limelight, so he had to stay away from them.

However, Xiao Zhen's identity was different. He belonged to the circle of royal family and nobles.

Although civil servants were not in this circle, the censors were anomalies among the civil servants, and the emperor also liked to use the censors to crack down on members of the royal family and nobles.

Therefore, if dung was thrown at the door of a censor's house and one wanted to know who was behind it, one should check whether he had offended any royal family member or noble family recently.

Your enemies are often the people who know you best.

Therefore, Zhao Shiqing decided to ask Xiao Zhen humbly for advice. Even if Xiao Zhen didn't understand, he could find someone who knew these censors.

After reading the letter, Xiao Zhen pursed his lips slightly.

In his previous life, he had actually heard of a few things that were related to the people listed in the letter.

"This is a serious matter, so let your second young lady come in person." Xiao Zhen's voice was cold. He didn't say he knew, nor did he say he didn't know. Whether he knew or not depended on whether the girl was willing to come.

As for why the little girl had to come here in person?
Xiao Zhen himself couldn't explain it clearly, maybe he was too bored during his convalescence.

When Ling Bo returned to You Xiyingmen, Zhao Shiqing had just walked in. When she heard that Xiao Zhen wanted her to go there in person, Zhao Shiqing frowned. She was very busy now, but since Xiao Zhen said so, it must be necessary for her to go.

Although it was already evening, Zhao Shiqing still went to Su's Tea Shop.

She couldn't wait until tomorrow. When Xiao Zhen heard that Zhao Shiqing really came, she was stunned. So soon?
Although it was evening, it was still bright outside, but the house had already gone dark.

Xiao Zhen asked Da Zhuang to light a candle. When Zhao Shiqing entered the room, he saw the face that looked neither human nor ghost in the dim candlelight.

This face, coupled with the dancing flames, added a bit of weirdness.

Zhao Shiqing comforted herself, although her face was scary, her voice was nice. Besides, when asking for help from others, one should not be picky.

Zhao Shiqing smiled and said, "Master Zhen looks much better. The climate and soil of the capital city are good for people. Master Zhen looks even better than before."

Xiao Zhen: Your hypocritical smile has betrayed you.

"Tell me, what is your purpose in inquiring about those imperial censors?" Xiao Zhen asked.

Zhao Shiqing: "Of course it's to get my elder brother out of the capital. Don't worry, Master Zhen, this is my only goal. As for those people in the court, I have no interest in them, and neither do we in the Liang Palace."

Xiao Zhen nodded, didn't ask any more questions, and went straight to the point.

"Jin Yushi was born in a poor family and always considered himself a noble man. He had only one wife and one son, but he did not take a concubine or even a concubine.

He once impeached my father for keeping a mistress and also opposed the emperor's selection of concubines.

However, when Censor Jin was still a juren, he had an affair with his cousin's wife and gave birth to a son. Later, Censor Jin passed the imperial examination and was selected as a son-in-law. He married the current Mrs. Jin. Mrs. Jin came from a merchant family and had a generous dowry. As a result, Censor Jin became a nobleman who regarded money as dirt.

After his cousin died, Censor Jin brought his cousin's wife and the son into his house in the name of repaying his cousin's kindness. His cousin's wife's father was a poor scholar, and he prided himself on being from a scholarly family, in order to highlight Mrs. Jin's vulgarity and money-grubbing.

Mrs. Jin was unaware of this and has been supporting the family with real money."

Xiao Zhen paused here and swallowed the rest of his words.

In her previous life, Madam Jin suffered from illness due to overwork and died in her thirties. After her death, her cousin's wife became the mistress of the Jin Mansion and spread rumors everywhere, causing Censor Jin to hate the son born to Madam Jin and turn to raising the illegitimate child.

The matter was finally exposed by the second wife of Censor Jin. Although this wife was a second marriage, she came from a noble family. After entering the mansion, she had a fight with her cousin's wife. This wife discovered that Censor Jin loved his nephew too much, which she thought was abnormal, so she sent people to Censor Jin's hometown to look for old friends, and bribed the maid around her cousin's wife.

During this period, the second wife became pregnant. The cousin's wife was worried that if she gave birth to a son, it would affect her own son, so she secretly gave the wife drugs, causing her to miscarry.

So when the second wife found out the truth, she told her parents' family.

First, she found an excuse to divorce Censor Jin, and then she filed a complaint with the Emperor.

There were witnesses and evidences. Censor Jin was demoted and exiled, and died on the road. It was said that his first wife's family hired someone to kill him, but there was no evidence to prove it, and the case was eventually left unresolved.

This incident caused a lot of uproar at the time, and almost everyone knew about it. However, it did not happen now, but many years later.

Now the original wife, Mrs. Jin, is still alive, and my cousin's wife and her son have just moved into the mansion. Censor Jin is still a good husband and a good father, a model of a clean and honest person.

Xiao Zhen only talked about the story of Censor Jin, and Zhao Shiqing opened her mouth wide. This Censor Jin was very much in her heart.

This scumbag is perfect for blackmail.

". Censor Sun was known as a man of iron tongue and copper teeth in the court, but in reality he was afraid of his wife like a tiger.

Madam Sun was a daughter of a general, with a fiery temper. Censor Sun always liked to preach and was aggressive. Once, he insisted on going to court to report someone even though his head was broken. He said to others that he was speaking out for justice and was retaliated against, but in fact, he was beaten by Madam Sun.

". Censor Qian and Minister Lin of the Ministry of Personnel are incompatible, but in fact, they have private dealings with each other, and they are dealing money."

"People only know that Concubine Fu in the palace is Censor Shi's cousin, but they don't know that the two of them had secretly engaged to each other, and that Censor Shi has always been the person Concubine Fu trusts the most."

In the previous life, the story of these two people eventually reached the ears of Emperor Yongjia. Censor Shi committed suicide, and Concubine Fu died in the cold palace.

Zhao Shiqing picked out these four because they were the most powerful censors in the Censorate. As it turned out, she had asked the right people. These things were almost all known to the public only later. Not to mention Zhao Tinghan, at this time, no one else in the entire capital would know about it except themselves.

Of course Xiao Zhen would not tell Zhao Shiqing, this was all something he knew in his previous life. Therefore, at this moment, in Zhao Shiqing's eyes, Xiao Zhen was simply the know-it-all in Beijing. It was amazing that he even knew about her and her first love.

Zhao Shiqing thanked him profusely and left happily.

Looking at her back, Xiao Zhen felt a little regretful. Did he say too much today? I wonder if this little girl would suspect something.

This little girl looks weird, but she is actually very smart and understands things very quickly. If she finds out that he is reincarnated, she will definitely mistake him for an old monster.

Xiao really thought too much.

After walking out of Su's Tea Shop, Zhao Shiqing completely forgot about Xiao Zhen. The only things on her mind were the four censors.

She thought about these four people one by one, and finally decided to let Jin Da Zhazha bear all the consequences.

As for the other three, Censor Sun, who was a weak husband, and Censor Shi, whose sweetheart was taken away by the emperor, these two were already pitiful enough and were automatically eliminated.

Censor Qian is too involved with Minister Lin, so I'm afraid this person cannot be thrown away after use. For safety reasons, it is better not to use him.

When selecting soldiers and generals, Zhao Shiqing picked out Censor Jin. She had already decided that she would let Censor Jin burn to the ground and turn him into real scum in the end.

Of course, she would also remind Mrs. Jin that as a woman, she should help. But for that cousin who stole her brother-in-law and wanted to occupy his nest, Zhao Shiqing had already expelled her from the list of women.

three days later.

Three horse-drawn carriages and two mule-drawn carts quietly stopped outside a cloth shop. A middle-aged man jumped off the carriage and walked into the shop.

A moment later, all the guys in the cloth shop came out and rolls of white cloth were loaded onto the carriage.

All the white cloth in the cloth shop was moved out, but the five carts were still not full.

There was no other choice, the owner of the cloth shop could only ask for help from his colleagues on the next street. In the end, it took three shops working together to fill all five carts.

The news spread that day.

Because what we bought was not ordinary white cloth, but the finest mourning cloth!
That’s right, mourning cloth is also divided into different grades, and those that can be loaded onto these five vehicles are the best mourning cloth.

Even a blind person could see that this was a dead person, and the deceased was of a high status. No, he was of a very high status!
Soon after, the clerks from the three shops who had gone to settle the bills with the cart came back.

"It's the Prince of Liang's Mansion. All these mourning cloths were bought by the Prince of Liang's Mansion."

The Prince of Liang is about to die, so this is preparation in advance.

At the same time, Censor Jin's nephew suddenly disappeared.

The people in the mansion searched for a day and a night, and finally found that nephew Jin was thrown in front of his own door.

The fifteen-year-old nephew Jin looked a little strange, and everyone in the family thought he was frightened.

Mrs. Jin asked him who kidnapped him, but he said nothing.

Censor Jin has always treated this nephew as his own son. Besides, when a son grows up, he tends to avoid his mother, so let him, the uncle and father, ask the question.

When only the uncle and nephew were in the room, the eldest nephew Jin finally spoke: "Uncle, are you really my biological father? Those people said that you are my father, and that you and my mother had an affair and gave birth to me, right?"

Censor Jin felt as if he had been struck by lightning. The secret he had kept hidden for many years was finally known to others!

"They asked you to go to the Thunder God Temple 20 miles outside the city at midnight tonight, and said that if you don't go, or if they set a trap, the Yan'an Earl's Mansion will know about it by this time tomorrow."

A few days ago, Censor Jin impeached the Earl of Yan'an for favoring his concubine and killing his wife. The Earl of Yan'an was fined a year's salary and was forced to sell his most beloved concubine. (End of this chapter)