Zhong Niangzi Wanfu

Chapter 54: Entering the Royal Capital North
一
The news that Shen Feng was promoted from the seventh-rank county magistrate to the sixth-rank living room official and wanted to enter the royal capital came back to Qin Lin.

After Zhong Lan and Shen Feng returned to Qin Lin, people one after another came to express their gratitude to Shen Feng for his long-standing integrity and honesty, which had really improved the lives of the people at the bottom of Qin Lin.

Shen Feng had been an official for several years, and he kept away from Tan Lin, a wealthy man who wanted to give gifts and bribes for convenience. However, his kindness to the people was praised by the people at the bottom.

The common people could not give expensive gifts, so they only took some of their own rice, flour, food, or eggs and goose eggs.Some were afraid that Shen Feng wouldn't like it or wouldn't accept it, so he just put it in front of Shen's house and left.

Shen Feng looked at the simple and generous gifts that Jiang Liu brought in from outside the door, and felt moved, thinking that he had not been able to live without a corpse in the past few years.

"It's hard to deny everyone's hospitality. How do you want to arrange these gifts, Mr. Shen? We can't finish them before we leave." Zhong Lai, who was packing his luggage, walked out of the house and said with a smile.

"Posting notices, the people's kindness is difficult to reject, but I am disrespectful and send them to the workhouse and Jinyu Academy." Shen Feng had already made a plan in his heart, "to set up monuments in front of the workhouse and academy to commemorate the merits of the people."

Zhong Lan looked at Shen Feng standing in the sun, his whole body immersed in light, and smiled knowingly.

"Ms. Zhong." Ma Erniang walked in the door carrying a pot of tea noodles, but her eyes were full of reluctance.

"Er Niang is here." Zhong Lan smiled and freed his hand, pulling Ma Er Niang to sit down.

"This is the tea noodles baked by Er Niang herself. Don't dislike it, Madam Zhong. When you arrive in the capital in the future, if you still want to eat the tea noodles from Er Niang's family, let someone tell Er Niang. After Er Niang has baked it, let someone give it to Zhong. Madam, take it with you." Ma Erniang took Zhong Lan's hand.

"You're welcome, Erniang. Erniang helped take care of Miss Jiang. I haven't thanked Erniang yet." Zhong Lan asked Chang Huan to pour water for Ma Erniang.

"This is a trivial matter. Last year, my wife fell into a ditch while carrying water. It was the doctor whom Mrs. Zhong and Mr. Shen first paid for. Also, the owner of the mill previously charged huge rents. It was Mr. Shen who punished the owner and helped me. Our family seeks justice.”

The more Ma Erniang talked, the more frustrated she became: "We can't repay the kindness Mrs. Zhong's family has done to our family. Now Mrs. Zhong is going to the royal capital. I'm afraid it will be difficult to see her again in the future."

"But if Mrs. Zhong can be of use to Er Niang in the future, she will tell Er Niang that Er Niang will go through fire and water without hesitation."

"There is so much boiling water and fire. Erniang and I both have to live a good life." Zhong Lan took Ma Erniang's hand.

Ma Erniang's hands are not very smooth and have calluses on them, accumulated from years of hard work.

"Master Shen and the hostess have done so much for Qin Lin, and everyone is deeply grateful." Madam Qin's voice came from the door.

Zhong Lan looked around and saw Madam Qin and Bai Zhi entering the courtyard.

"There are still many folks from the eastern suburbs who are coming. I am afraid that it will delay the time of your Excellency and Madam, so I only asked the two of us to come and see them on their behalf." Madam Qin wiped the corners of her eyes and took out a few banknotes from her arms. He handed it to Zhong Lan and said, "My boss's wife has taken good care of us these years. This is the wish of everyone in the eastern suburbs. I hope my wife won't dislike it."

"What are you doing? Put it away quickly." Zhong Lan hurriedly pushed the banknote back into Madam Qin's arms.

"My dear boss, you'd better accept it," Bai Zhi advised.

Zhong Lan couldn't resist, and smiled helplessly: "How can I collect your money? If you don't mind, just give it to Mr. Qin as a contribution to Jinyu Academy."

Bai Zhi and Mrs. Qin looked at each other, and bowed to Zhong Yan: "The lady of the Dong family is righteous."

"You go back and tell everyone that the fields in the eastern suburbs are still available for rent. After we go north to the capital, we will hand them over to the new county magistrate Wen Yi along with the workhouse and Jinyu Academy." Zhong Lan understood that everyone The concern in my heart, "You can rest assured about Mr. Wen's conduct."

Madam Qin was overjoyed: "Thank you very much, madam, for your great kindness."

Wen Shu took care of everything for Wen Yi.

Shen Feng and Zhong Lan's lease has not yet expired. After Wen Yi takes office and comes to Qin Lin, he will continue to live in Shen Feng's house on Chunhua Lane.

Wen Shu also found a reliable escort team for Zhong Lan to escort the two to the royal capital.

Zhong Lan arranged everything in Tan Lin's house, ordered his servants to carry all the belongings into the carriage, and finally stood in front of the door and took a deep look at the plaque of "Shen House".

Shen Feng packed up her luggage and went out with Zhong Lan's cloak. Seeing her reluctance, she put the cloak in her hand on her body and gently hugged her: "If you are not willing to let go, you will come back often when I stop shepherding." Come back and have a look.”

"I'm fine, everyone has to look forward." Zhong Lan pecked Shen Feng on the neck and smiled. "Not to mention your promotion. I'm really happy for you."

"Let's go."

two

With plenty of time, the two of them first returned to Tai'an to say goodbye to the Shen family. They stayed with the Shen family for half a month and went straight to the royal capital after the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Shen Feng and Zhong Lan didn't have much luggage and the convoy was light, so they didn't stop along the way.

However, when he was still thirty miles away from the royal capital, an envoy from the royal capital came to summon Shen Feng to enter the palace immediately.

"You were summoned by the emperor before you took office. When you arrive at the capital, you have to bathe, change clothes, burn incense and wear official robes. There is no time to delay. You must go quickly."

Seeing that Shen Feng was worried about him, Zhong Lan smiled and said, "Don't worry about me. How can someone be so arrogant under the Emperor's feet? And this place is less than a day's drive from the capital, so why should we worry about it?"

When Shen Feng saw that the visitor was somewhat majestic and had a seal from the palace, he had no choice but to accept the order and drive away quickly.

Zhong Lan and Chang Huan sat in a car and followed the escort team on the main road to the royal capital.

"Madam, ahead is Fenghuang Mountain on the outskirts of the royal capital. We need to take some detours." The leader of the escort team is Feng Kan, the second in charge of the escort agency.

Zhong Yan agreed, opened the curtain of the car and looked out, only to see Fenghuang Mountain covered with verdant mountains, the scenery is beautiful, the bell is beautiful, refreshing, he couldn't help but praise: "The scenery of Fenghuang Mountain is really good."

Feng Kan, who was only twenty years old, smiled brightly and showed his fangs: "This Phoenix Mountain is the territory of the Feng family."

"Feng Family? Is it the Feng Family, the first family in Beizhao that has three queens and eight prime ministers?" Zhong Lan asked, knowing that he had some knowledge of Beizhao's family over the years.

"Exactly." Feng Kan became interested, "During the war, the Feng family came here to help the king. Afterwards, the late emperor specially changed the name of this mountain to Fenghuang Mountain and gave it to the Feng family."

"What's even more surprising is that this mountain used to have unique scenery and was originally called Phoenix Mountain. It was renamed very early, but it gradually turned into a bald mountain. After it was changed back to its original name and given to the Feng family, it became lush again. There are also many rare and exotic animals on the mountain.”

"Everyone in the world says that the Feng family's benevolence and righteousness moved God, which is why they have such good fortune."

"It's really a strange thing." Zhong Lan smiled and nodded.

Suddenly there was an exclamation not far away.

Then there was another cry: "Is there anyone? Is there anyone?"

Feng Kan became vigilant: "Madam, although Phoenix Mountain is at the foot of the Emperor, nothing is absolute. I will lead the convoy to go around it."

"The sound is sad, what if we are really in trouble?" Zhong Lan frowned in thought, and being cautious, he ordered Feng Shuang and Zhan Lu to go and investigate.

Soon the two came back to report: "Madam, a lady was bitten by a snake. The servant went back to report to the house but has not returned. There is no one else nearby."

"I remember that the luggage in the car behind contained the snake medicine given by Mr. Bai." Zhong Lan ordered Chang Huan to get it.

"Second Master, please let the brothers rest for a while. I'll go and come back." Zhong Lai blessed Feng Kan.

"Boss Wen leaves the safety of the eldest lady to the villain. I'd better go with the eldest lady." Feng Kan tightened his grip on the big knife at his waist.

Several people stepped forward and turned a corner, and saw a middle-aged woman with a beautiful head and jadeite head, closing her eyes tightly and leaning on the female servant's arms. There was a snake bite scar on her arm, and black blood was pouring out.

A female envoy fed a piece of flesh and blood to the woman's mouth: "This is snake gall, snake gall can detoxify, eat it quickly, madam!" The woman was almost comatose and could not open her mouth, and the attendants were at a loss.

Seeing that the female envoy was trying to pry open the woman's mouth to feed the snake bile, Zhong Lan anxiously stepped forward and pushed the female envoy away, pinched the woman's arm and squeezed the wound, then lowered his head and sucked out a mouthful of dirty blood.

The maid on the side was startled: "How brave! Do you know that our lady..."

"If you want your wife to die from this, just stop me." Zhong Lan glanced at her and saw that the female envoy was so frightened that she became silent and continued to suck the dirty blood and vomited it on the grass nearby.

After sucking out the blood, Zhong Lan took a breath, tore off a clean piece of his clothes, and tightly strangled the woman's arm above the wound: "What kind of snake was your lady bitten by?"

The female servant tremblingly pointed to a long black and white snake not far away: "After that snake bit our eldest lady, it was beaten to death by our people."

"It's actually a krait." Cold sweat broke out on Zhong Lan's forehead, "Bring the medicine."

Chang Huan handed the medicine box to Zhong Lan and whispered in Zhong Lan's ear: "Mr. Bai said that there are many snakes and insects in Nan'an. This medicine can detoxify snakes and insect venom. I wonder if it can also detoxify krait venom."

While Zhong Lan was hesitating, he noticed that the woman's breath was weakening, and he hurriedly said: "It can be solved!" After that, he fed a pill into the woman's mouth.

"Water!" Zhong Lan took the kettle and fed the woman some water.

After burning the incense, the woman regained her breath and slowly opened her eyes.

"Madam!" The female envoy beside the woman cried with joy, "Madam, are you feeling unwell?"

The woman shook her head gently, raised her eyes and looked at Zhong Lan: "I wonder who this lady is?"

"My surname is Zhong, and my husband's surname is Shen." Seeing the woman wake up, Zhong Lan breathed a sigh of relief, took the handkerchief from Chang Huan and wiped the cold sweat on his forehead.

"Without Mrs. Zhong, my life as a woman would not have been saved." The woman took a breath, still confused.

"My wife is Mrs. Pan from Zhang's family, the governor of Danzhou." The woman's emissary did not dare to neglect Zhong Lan anymore, and hurriedly saluted and reported to the door.

"Miss Pan? But the mother of Young Master Zhang Tong?" Zhong Yan was slightly taken aback.

"Mrs. Zhong knows about my son?" Pan asked softly.

Seeing that the mistress was confused, the female envoy hurriedly reminded: "Ms. Zhong is with Miss Yong'an Wen, the wife of the former Magistrate Shen's family."

Mrs. Pan regained her composure, took Zhong Lan's hand and took a closer look, and laughed: "It turns out to be Mrs. Zhong."

Zhong Lan was not in a hurry and stayed with Pan to wait for Zhang's servant to return.

It was going to be dark, and the servant of Zhang's mansion hurried back with the doctor.

The first-class maid next to Pan, Hua Yi, stepped forward and slapped her: "You came so late, did you deliberately neglect your mistress?"

The boy quickly knelt down and confessed.

"The new boy is not sensible. He just goes back to sell." Pan took a sip of tea in the car and said calmly, as if selling the boy was as trivial as drinking tea. .

Zhong Lan was frightened and remained silent amidst the boy's begging for mercy.

"Ms. Zhong is very different from what I thought." Pan rolled her eyes at Zhong Lan, "I had some prejudices against you and Wen Shu."

"I met Wen Shu that day, and now that I have met you, you are very different from the people in my impression." Pan put down the tea cup and took Zhong Lan's hand, "I apologize for my prejudice against you before. Today You saved my life. If you need help in the capital in the future, come to Zhang Mansion to find me."

Zhong Lan found that Mrs. Pan's views were different from those in his impression, so she smiled back: "Thank you, Mrs. Pan."

three

The Zhang Mansion's car was much more spacious than the Shen Mansion's, and it was fully stocked with tea and fruits. Pan invited Zhong Lan to ride back to the capital in his own carriage.

Zhong Lai arrived at the city gate in Pan's car and met Shen Feng who had changed into regular clothes and was about to leave the city to find someone.

Seeing that it was a carriage bearing the Zhangfu brand, Shen Feng immediately stepped forward and saluted: "Madam Pan, please make up."

"The person Master Shen is looking for is in my car." Pan smiled and ordered someone to open the car curtain, "Ms. Zhong saved my life today."

Seeing that Zhonglan was safe and sound, Shen Feng breathed a sigh of relief and smiled slightly: "Ms. Pan is overly praised."

"Okay, go home with your adults." Pan patted the back of Zhong Lan's hand, "We will see each other again in the future."

Zhong Lan nodded and got out of the car, saying goodbye to Pan together with Shen Feng.

Shen Feng ordered Jiang Liu and others to help Feng Kan transport his belongings and luggage to the mansion in the city. He and Zhong Lan rushed back in no hurry, and the two of them walked slowly on the wide streets of the royal capital.

"Is there something urgent about being summoned to the palace today?" Zhong Lan took Shen Feng's arm.

"There is an envoy from Dongchang coming to court. Your Majesty has ordered me to take up my post at midnight tomorrow." Shen Feng looked at the red clouds on the horizon and smiled at Zhong Lan.

Zhong Lan smiled: "Master Shen will be a court official tomorrow. Congratulations to Master Shen."

"Ms. Zhong will be a member of the court tomorrow. Congratulations to Mme. Zhong." Shen Feng smiled back.

"Master Shen has always been modest and elegant. Where did he learn to be so frivolous and take pleasure in others?" Zhong Lan feigned anger.

"Of course I learned it from Mrs. Zhong." Shen Feng smiled and hugged Zhong Lan.

The two of them were silent and moved, and Shen Feng and Zhong Lan turned into Jingming Lane in the south of the capital city.

A house larger than Tan Linchen's house came into view.

Now that Shen Feng was a court official, the emperor took a fancy to him and gave him a special house with three entrances and three exits.

"Shen Zhai, is this the house that I will reward you with today?" Zhong Lan asked with a smile.

"Go in and take a look." Shen Feng held Zhong Lan's hand.

This time, Shen Feng didn't have to worry about Zhong Lai anymore in managing the house. She did everything herself, and it was managed elegantly, properly, and satisfactorily.

"I didn't expect Mr. Shen to have two brushes." Zhong Lai looked at Shen Feng lovingly.

"Come into our yard and take a look." Shen Feng continued to lead Zhong Lai inside.

The name of their courtyard is Taoguitang, which was given by Shen Feng, and the plaque on it was also inscribed by Shen Feng.

Shen Yan's handwriting is strong and magnificent, which is very beautiful.

"The peach is so young, its flowers are scorching, and the son returns home, suitable for his family." Zhong Yan murmured, and when he looked back, he saw Shen Yan smiling at himself.

"Since Madam has said so, I will help Madam to please my family from now on." Shen Feng's eyes were clear and his smile became stronger.

(End of this chapter)