Ordinary clear day

Chapter 37 Discourage
Zhang Bao is so concerned about the arrival of the fourth elder brother. It is not because of the foresight or some secrets from his daughter, but because his wife, Tong Shi, and the fourth elder brother's adoptive mother, Empress Tong, are cousins ​​and have lived together before. , feeling very good.It is said that when Tong was a child, he was bullied by his relatives and sisters because he was a concubine. It was Queen Tong who came to help.When Empress Tong died, Tong still cried for several days.

When the queen was still a noble concubine, she sometimes corresponded with her natal sisters, but since the Tong family left the capital, the relationship has become increasingly estranged.If Queen Tong hadn't passed away at such a young age, Tong would not have felt extremely sad because she remembered the friendship she had when she was a child.Because of sadness and guilt for being alienated from her cousin in those years, Tong usually cared about Si elder brother's affairs very much, because when she communicated with the queen before, Queen Tong mentioned that she loved this child very much.However, Tong's channel of inquiry is usually her husband, and she usually does not mention it in front of her children, so Shu Ning did not pay too much attention to the connection between her family and April [-]th.

Now hearing her father say that April [-]th is coming, and her mother being so happy, Shu Ning began to feel a little uneasy.It is too dangerous to get involved with the princes, especially those who are protagonists. Even if you know that he is the last one to win, who knows who will be sacrificed before he wins?It's better not to get involved in an ordinary aristocratic family like theirs who is not as good as the top but has more than the bottom.

Zhang Bao just took the time to come back along the way, and immediately rushed back to the Yamen, leaving Tong Shi at home excited, as if he was going to see that unrelated cousin and nephew soon (Khan, it's really far away).Shu Ning was in a cold sweat watching from the side, did my mother really want to get involved?She has never seen Sisi at all, okay?Did people know that there was such an auntie as her, but they didn’t know, and suddenly ran to him and said, “Hi, I’m your auntie, I’ve wanted to see you for a long time, your dead ghost mother used to be my friend..."

April [-]th will definitely treat you as a lunatic and ask someone to sweep you out with a big broom!
Shu Ning felt that she couldn't sit still and watch her mother do stupid things. No matter what, she must be prevented from getting close to April [-]th and those princes and elder brothers!
Because Tong was too excited, she drove her sweaty son back to the room to change clothes, and was about to drive her daughter away, but she was entangled by her daughter's acting like a baby, and she insisted on changing her clothes for her.Although he was full of thoughts about the fourth elder brother, Tong still couldn't resist the child's entreaties, so he followed her back to the room.

As soon as she entered the room, Shu Ning sent Chun Xing away, asked her mother to help her change clothes, and carefully asked her: "Emiang, I just heard you talking about the fourth elder brother with Ah Ma, do you recognize him?" ?”

Tong Shihong said with red eyes: "You don't remember? The fourth elder brother's Er Niang is Empress Tong, who is Er Niang's cousin. Before you were born, she asked someone to send a blessing purse, but you probably don't know it. There is a jade pendant in the purse, which was originally intended for you to wear, but she was afraid of breaking it, so Er Niang put it away for you."

Never heard of such a thing.

Shu Ning continued to ask: "Before my daughter was born, Amah Erniang came to Fengtian and never went back to the capital. Has Erniang met the fourth elder brother?"

"No, so I must meet Er Niang this time."

"But Ama is only at the fifth rank. It is impossible for you to obtain a formal imperial edict, so how can you meet him? If he asks for a meeting rashly, and he doesn't recognize you, he won't meet you, right?"

"This is..."

"Besides, Empress Tong has passed away for so many years. The fourth brother was still young at the time. I'm afraid he might not know who you are, Erniang. I haven't had any contact with you for so many years. If he suddenly said that he wanted to see him, wouldn't he be suspicious?"

Tong stopped what she was doing, and slowly sat down to meditate.After she was excited, she also calmed down: "Indeed, our family hasn't communicated with him in the past few years, so he may not know..."

"That's it, Mrs. Ama, Er Niang, you suddenly asked to see her and said that she was a relative. If he misunderstood that Ama Er Niang is a villain who is stalking others, wouldn't it be self-defeating? On the contrary, it would be a waste of Er Niang's sincerity." The meaning of love." Shu Ning added to the fire, making sure to dispel her mother's thoughts.

Tong has already accepted most of her daughter's ideas, it's just such a good opportunity, is it really wasted?In fact, in her heart, she may not have the idea of ​​using the prince's influence to help her husband gain benefits, but the most important thing is to meet the child, to calm down the guilt of being estranged from her cousin in the last few years of her life.

She murmured: "Is it really missing? But your aunt Tong's family sometimes wrote letters, and mentioned that after the death of the first empress, the fourth elder brother's biological mother didn't take care of him too much. He was a little sad in the palace, and I heard that the prince's upbringing is based on cherishing blessings, and he often doesn't have enough to eat. Fengtian is much colder than the capital. What if he doesn't have enough to eat and doesn't wear warm clothes? Er Niang also has good intentions..."

Shuning didn't know what thoughts she had in her heart, she really thought she was only concerned about April [-]th, but she was a little soft-hearted, but what she had to say had to be said: "Although Er Niang has good intentions, it depends on the situation. The prince is not allowed to make friends with foreign ministers." , This is the law of the country. If the emperor knows that the fourth elder brother has a relationship with A Ma, he might be angry with the fourth elder brother, and then A Ma will be in trouble. No matter what, the fourth elder brother will have maids, eunuchs, etc. Since he can come to Fengtian with the emperor, his life will not be too difficult, so Emiang can feel relieved."

After hearing this, Mrs. Tong gave up her thoughts, but she was a little unwilling: "Isn't it okay to send some clothes and food? Don't report your name, Ama, just say you are Auntie Tang."

Shu Ning looked into her eyes, feeling a little unbearable, and thought: "She also has good intentions, if it's just because I want to avoid trouble, Ignore her intentions, after all, it's not very good." She reluctantly agreed: "Just send Some small snacks and ordinary cotton-padded jackets are fine. Don’t be too extravagant. When sending them over, you don’t have to give Eniang’s name. Just say she’s from the Tong clan. Even if the fourth elder brother knows, he will treat it as Mr. Tong and ask someone to give it away. Yes." According to some Qing Chuanwen, Tong Guowei had some contacts with April [-]th, so it shouldn't matter, right?

Tong Shi agreed, although it is a pity that the fourth elder brother can't know that they are husband and wife, but at least it can make the child's life better and make him feel better.She immediately went to prepare, and Shu Ning also followed the staff. In the end, she chose corn cakes and potato cakes that were easy to carry and store, easy to fill her stomach, and tasted decent, and then added two new blue silk cotton padded jackets. It was made for Duanning, without any decorations, and it looked ordinary on the surface, but in fact it was made with sufficient materials and was very warm.

The Tong family packed all these things into a big package, called Changfu, and ordered him to keep quiet, and find a way to send the things to the palace to the fourth elder brother, and report the name of the Fengtian Tong clan.As for the channel through which the Tong family was sent in, Shu Ning did not hear clearly, but only vaguely heard that a certain chief eunuch in the palace had some relationship with the Tong family members. It seems that my mother also has a lot of secrets. Said that he wanted to see April [-]th, it really wasn't aimless, it turned out that there was a way.

After sending the things out, Shu Ning was worried for a few days, worrying that such a thing would be too risky and whether it would bring any disaster.However, there has been no rumors, and I learned from Mrs. Tong that the insider in the palace reported that the fourth elder brother accepted it, and he didn't become suspicious. He seemed to have mentioned it to the emperor, and the emperor didn't say anything.It seemed that there was no danger, so Shuning felt relieved.

Finally letting go of her worries, Shuning turned her mind to other places.The arrival of the holy driver has always been the top priority in Fengtian City this month, and all the gossip and rumors are related to this.Shu Ning was very sorry that Xiao Tao had left, otherwise she would have heard a lot of news at this time, but she heard that she was pregnant, and her husband's family did not allow her to move around, even asking her to come and chat.But fortunately, elder brother Duanning has been in close contact with several young men of the palace recently, and he often hears some inside information, so Shuning pesters him every day to ask.

It turns out that this time the holy car came, in addition to the protagonists of the Emperor Kangxi and the Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, there was also a 15-year-old elder brother and a fourth elder brother who was less than 10 years old. Originally, the empress dowager would also come, but just before leaving Occasionally, I felt cold, so I could only stay in the Forbidden City.The harem concubines who followed were just two or three low-ranking concubines and nobles.Among the group of people, the only ones who stood out were Suo'etu, the uncle of the country, Chen Liangben and Gao Shiqi, the ministers of the upper study.

Gao Shiqi's Bo Wen Qiang Ji is Emperor Kangxi's mobile dictionary plus search engine, and he has to take it with him wherever he goes, which is nothing to say.Uncle Suo'etu is an important minister of the country, and the emperor has always valued him. Although I heard that he has some disagreements with Master Mingzhu, considering that the two of them are relatives of a prince, it is not surprising. It’s just that for some reason, Suo’etu seems to have some conflicts with Chen Liangben, the Han minister.

Speaking of Chen Liangben, probably all the judges know it well, right?

Chen Liangben, courtesy name Shancai, was originally from Tongcheng, Anhui Province. He has always been an unknown and unremarkable little scholar, and his family background is only well-to-do.When he was 20 years old, he suffered from a serious illness due to a cold and almost lost his life, but he survived miraculously. They are all capable and capable, and even their knowledge is getting better and better. They have an excellent memory, which can be called a strong memory, and are good at citing scriptures, and their writing articles are often amazing. , and even won the first prize in one fell swoop, and the limelight was unparalleled for a while.

He originally stayed in the Hanlin Academy, so it was very easy to be covered up. Who knows that in a prelude to the holy prelude, he was voted the emperor's fate and was able to enter the official department.Then he repeatedly made meritorious service at work, and soon rose to the position of Minister of the Ministry of Officials.In the next few years, he continued to make meritorious deeds.Later, there was a big fraud case, and the Minister of the Ministry of Officials at that time was implicated. Although he was not convicted, he was dismissed soon, and was replaced by Chen Liangben soon.

It was in this position that he launched an important reform measure, seconding the low-quality idle officials in Beijing and the Jinshi stranded in Beijing waiting to be dispatched to various government offices for internships. On the one hand, let them learn government affairs and accumulate experience. , In the future, if they really get official positions, they can get started quickly. On the other hand, they can also receive temporary allowances to help their families.In this way, those low-level officials who have nothing to do will not be able to live and wait for death while their families are struggling.In fact, their little salary is not enough to support a family and take care of gifts and other expenses.

The effect of this measure was quite remarkable, winning the support of many low-level officials, and Chen Liangben also gained a lot of political capital, and then he entered the study room at the age of 32.

(End of this chapter)