Whoever can strike me hard will be rewarded handsomely.

Yang Xiuyun held her daughter and watched the street performer's show for a while.

The little girl was so excited that her little hands clapped until they were red.

After a while, the sugar painting peddler set up his basket on the side. With a "clang" of a metal plate striking the paper, he painted a cute little tiger out of hot sugar. "Buy sugar paintings! Rabbits, deer, tigers, whatever you turn to, that's what you get!"

The little girl's eyes were drawn to the sugar painting, and she wiggled her body towards the peddler, crying, "Daddy, sugar, I want a little deer!"

When Yang Xiuyun was middle-aged, he had a little daughter, whom he loved dearly. He said with a loving expression, "Okay, okay, I want Xiaolu."

As he carried his daughter toward the sugar painting stall, he walked through the throngs of people, his gaze inadvertently sweeping over the crowd, and he suddenly paused slightly.

Yang Xiuyun rubbed her eyes.

When he turned his head again, he only saw a bustling crowd of backs, and for a moment he couldn't tell if he had just seen things wrong.

The little girl in his arms saw him stop and began to urge him on.

Yang Xiuyun, carrying her youngest daughter, continued towards the sugar painting stall.

You must have misread it.

Bian Yushu was just strolling through the night market with his friend Jiang Jibai, how could he suddenly appear here with Bian Hongzhen, the governor of Sichuan, and his entire family?

And she wasn't wearing that eye-catching red dress.

Sigh, I'm getting old, getting old. Once you're over forty, your eyesight starts to fail.

...

Two masked men, two young gentlemen.

The master, apprentice, and their three generations of family members were following the waiter to change to a private room.

Another waiter suddenly ran over and whispered a few words in the waiter's ear.

The waiter smiled broadly and said to Qin Ji and his group, "You're lucky. A private room on the second floor has just become available with a great view. If you stay here for half an hour to drink tea, you can enjoy the New Year's fireworks in the corridor of the room."

"This is the one." Qin Ji made the decision immediately.

No one raised any objections.

Led by the waiter, the four entered a private room and took their seats.

The waiter quickly served them tea and snacks before leaving with a warm smile: "If you'd like more snacks or tea, just let us know at the door, and we'll bring it right away."

Once the door closed.

Shen Jiangliu felt his eyes burning again as he looked at the two masked men opposite him.

He tactfully pushed the teacup towards the masked man with the monk's face, saying, "Please have some."

Jiang Jibai took off his mask, glanced at him, and picked up his teacup to take a sip.

Shen Jiangliu naturally didn't forget the other big shot either.

He affectionately pushed another cup of tea in front of Qin Ji, feigning surprise, "I thought you would be staying up late with your family, but I didn't expect you to be with your teacher."

Qin Ji removed the pig-face mask, his smile concealing a dagger. "Yes, Senior Brother, Father, considering that Teacher has no relatives or friends in the capital, has granted me permission to keep vigil with him on New Year's Eve."

He held his teacup, took a small sip, shook his head and sighed, "Alas, if I hadn't gone to see the teacher, on New Year's Eve, the teacher wouldn't even have anyone to keep him company, alone in his empty house, by the lonely railing, it was truly..."

Shen Jiangliu: "..."

May I ask you this?

Is it because he doesn't want to spend the holiday with his teacher?

Who used their power to force him to take care of his seventeen-year-old junior apprentice?

He had never seen such a shameless person!

The Great Yin Dynasty's medicine pills!

The insults were on the tip of his tongue, but the newly appointed censor decided not to stoop to the level of a king who held his entire family in his hands.

Shen Jiangliu turned to Jiang Jibai and spoke frankly, "Teacher, my junior brother has a deep misunderstanding of me. It's not that I'm unfilial, but rather that our meeting came too suddenly, catching me off guard!"

The teacher relentlessly pressured his senior, leaving the senior with no way to express his grievances.

Shang Jingming keeps his eyes on his nose and his nose on his heart; he can't stand on either side, so he can't speak.

He glanced at the carp lantern beside him, and his conscience ached.

Seeing that his teacher remained silent, Shen Jiangliu knew that he probably couldn't escape his fate forever.

But what worried him more was that His Majesty's words were laced with barbs. Could it be that his teacher had overheard the first part of the edict, and that his already precarious vest had been further punctured by the words, so he disliked him?

Nine generations of relatives, that's it!

Needing to at least ascertain the extent of his crimes, Shen Jiangliu's Adam's apple bobbed slightly as he tentatively asked, "When did you and my junior brother arrive?"

"Just when you asked that little girl if she wanted a lantern and said no, that's when..."

Jiang Jibai put down his teacup, paused for a moment, and then said with a smile, "Your junior brother and I stood furtively at the door and overheard countless other people's family affairs."

Shen Jiangliu: "..."

Thankfully, he didn't hear about the "His Majesty's Edict" earlier; his entire family is saved!

Why did he have to come at the very moment when he was bullying children? He's doomed after the New Year!

Shen Jiangliu was inwardly grumbling.

He had previously been punished for squatting under a window.

For a teacher to eavesdrop on others and then speak in such a sarcastic and insinuating way.

Be strict with others and lenient with yourself.

If the upper beam is crooked, the lower beam will be crooked too!

He couldn't afford to offend either of the two powerful figures before him, and he also couldn't openly discuss his nephew's family affairs. He pursed his lips, his explanation weak and feeble, "It's not what you think..."

Qin Ji sighed, fanning the flames, and shook the mask beside him. "If I had known that even the mask painted by my senior brother's feet would be better than this, why did my teacher and I waste money buying such ugly masks and parading them around like that?"

"Teacher, you agree, right?"

Jiang Jibai glanced at the junior disciple, then his gaze returned indifferently to the senior disciple.

Shen Jiangliu stiffly shifted his gaze to Jiang Jibai, feeling that his teacher's gaze was chilling, even colder than the night wind on New Year's Eve.

Little hole honeycomb briquette, if you want me to die, wouldn't it be better to just give me a quick death with one cut?

What's with this supposedly aged Longjing tea?

People's hearts have changed, what a misfortune for our sect!

After being ignored for half a day, Shang Jingming saw that his senior uncle, who had just helped him, was almost squeezed out of his place. Finally, his conscience prevailed, and he dared not look his teacher in the eye, so he spoke up and said something fair.

"Mr. Jiang, regarding the lanterns, Lord Shen only said a few extra words to help me."

He paused slightly, his tone calm, a mix of truth and falsehood, "Yesterday His Majesty hosted a banquet for his ministers. After the banquet, in front of the palace gate, Lord Shen bumped into me and said something inappropriate about His Majesty's blessing. He argued with my father and displeased him, and I was almost taken back and punished according to family rules."

To help me out of this predicament, Lord Shen invited me to take him to the night market on New Year's Eve, in front of my father.

I said I wanted to familiarize myself with the capital city after a long absence; secondly, the streets were packed with people on New Year's Eve, and as the commander of the Five Cities Garrison, I was stationed at the night market so that I could react quickly if anything went wrong.

This dissuaded the father from punishing him.

Unexpectedly, we met at the teahouse today, and I said something inappropriate, which led to another conflict. It was only because Lord Shen stood up for me that he spoke up for me.

Lord Shen, being a chivalrous man, could not bear to see me being blamed on New Year's Eve and stepped in to help. He had no intention of causing trouble or bullying my sister. I urge Mr. Jiang to understand.

Shen Jiangliu secretly praised him upon hearing this.

No wonder Xiao Kong Fengwomei chose him.

Those were truly beautiful words.

Every sentence was about his own slip of the tongue and his defiance, without mentioning Shang Yu's faults at all.

However, he is described as someone who stood up for justice and spoke out for the people, and not someone who made trouble out of nothing.

The teacher naturally knows what kind of person he is.

The truth of the matter can be understood by the teacher with a little thought.

Not to mention that this kid even covered up the precariously hanging vest of the small-hole honeycomb briquette.

It also explained why these two people, who seemed to have nothing in common, spent New Year's Eve together.

Jiang Jibai slowly took a sip of tea. "Your father's aunt's cousin is Jiang Liu's mother's distant cousin?"

Shang Jingming laughed and said, "It was just a joke, Mr. Jiang, please forgive me."

"The child of a distant, important relative you have no connection with and can't afford to offend?" Jiang Jibai looked at Shen Jiangliu.

...

First update delivered, second update before midnight~

We're still 780 short of generating electricity with love, let's all keep going!