Summer is the season of high temperature and rain, May 26, the capital area ushered in the first typhoon and rain after entering the summer, the real black cloud pressed the city to destroy, the wind mixed with the torrential rain raged for a day and a night, quite scary, the intermittent light rain lasted for two days before it ended, the Yongding River swelled, many low-lying places in the city were flooded, fortunately the flooding was not serious, the flood gradually receded after the rain stopped, after all, it was the imperial city, the drainage system was still excellent.

Since the last deadline to report to the Hanlin Academy is the first day of June, Xu Jin is very leisurely these days, and originally wanted to accompany Xiaowan to the suburbs to play, but he was disrupted by this sudden wind and rain, so he could only stay at home, and occasionally a friend of the same year came to visit.

On May 30, the sky finally cleared, and after the typhoon, the weather was refreshing, but I didn't feel hot, and the noisy intellectuals didn't know where to hide, and it was rare to have a quiet morning.

At this time, in the hall of the backyard, Xie Xiaowan was doing needlework leisurely, the seventeen-year-old girl's figure was becoming more and more plump and convex, holding the woman's bun, her skin was white and red, and the little girl with yellow muscles and thin muscles was becoming more and more dignified and noble, and more feminine.

Xie Xiaowan was born in poverty, and although she is now the county lord of 800 stones, she is still idle, and now she is knitting a sweat towel for her husband, and Mei Wanyue'er is helping by the side. In fact, most of the clothes Xu Jin was wearing were sewn by Xiao Wan and Yue'er with stitches and threads, which were beautiful and durable.

There was a small case on the small couch, Xu Jin was playing Go with Xiao Yudie, and in early spring and early summer, he was waiting for tea and watching the game. Since there are dozens of subordinates in the family, I don't have to be a fire girl in the kitchen in early spring and early summer, and I am as idle as a rich lady every day, except for cleaning the study.

"Fluttershy is a great player, and I lost this game again!" Xu Jin was embarrassed to throw in the towel.

Xiao Yudie wanted to laugh a little, at the previous Spring Festival Appreciation Meeting, Xu Jin broke her Zhenlong chess game, and she still had to be very good at Xu Jin's chess skills, who knew that after two games of hand talk today, she found that although Xu Jin is not a stinky chess basket, his level is also limited.

"Butterfly girl, the maid will play the next game with you!" In the early summer, he saw that the master was defeated, so he volunteered, apparently trying to find a place for the master.

Xu Jin stayed down and gave up his position, and said with a smile: "Then you guys should go down." ”

The old man is easy-going, and he is not polite in early summer, so he immediately takes off his shoes and goes to the bed to play chess and fight. Xu Jin glanced at Xiao Yudie, who was sitting elegantly, and couldn't help but secretly wonder in his heart, saying that Xiao Yudie had lived at home for more than a year, and had avoided herself most of the time, but today he took the initiative to invite himself to play chess, and looked at various parts of his body from time to time, his eyes were strange, just like a farmer buying livestock in the market.

"What good things is the lady doing?" Xu Jinxing sat down next to Xie Xiaowan, and subconsciously reached out to hug the latter's soft waist.

Xie Xiaowan glanced at Xu Jin sweetly and said, "Is the sweat towel made for Xianggong good-looking?" ”

"Hehe, Sister Xiaowan can't favor one over the other, this sweat towel is booked." A voice in the period of youthful voice change suddenly sounded outside the door.

I saw Zhu Houxi wearing a set of scholar's clothes, holding a folding fan in his hand, and walked in gracefully, followed by several men dressed as scholars, but unfortunately there was no sunshine one by one, obviously the eunuchs in the palace, one of them was the eunuch Huang Jin, who accompanied the eunuch.

Dabao followed at the end, and spread his hands to Xu Jin helplessly, it was obvious that Zhu Houxi was a long-term driver, and he didn't give him a chance to report at all.

"Ah, Your Majesty!" Yue'er exclaimed, Xiao Yudie and the others, who were playing chess, were so frightened that they hurriedly stood up and fell to their knees tremblingly.

Xu Jin hurriedly stood up: "The minister sees the emperor!" ”

"Excuse me!" Zhu Houxi waved his hand, and Xu Jin, who was halfway to his knees, stood up.

Zhu Houxi rolled his eyes, but he didn't bother to worry about Xu Jin's slippery head, so he walked up to Xie Xiaowan and said, "Sister Xiaowan, I have wanted to come to see you for a long time, but I can't leave because of affairs, and today I finally found an opportunity to slip out." ”

Xu Jin guessed that this kid had sneaked out, glanced outside the courtyard, and saw Lu Bing and several big men in civilian clothes guarding the courtyard, but he was a little relieved.

Xie Xiaowan looked at the little slave in front of her who was about to catch up with her in height, and her heart couldn't help but warm, and she subconsciously reached out and touched the latter's forehead, and said with a soft smile: "The little slave has grown taller again!" ”

The faces of the eunuchs behind Zhu Houxi changed slightly, but when they saw the emperor's willing expression, they didn't say anything very interestingly.

Zhu Houxi was only ten years old at the time, and he was exiled to Shangrao County, and he was almost frozen to death on the streets of Layue in the cold winter, and finally was carried back to the house by Xie Xiaowan to pick up a small life, and for most of the next half a year, he was taken care of by Xie Xiaowan meticulously, so his feelings for Xie Xiaowan were deeper than his own sister, no, Xie Xiaowan was canonized as the county lord before the full moon on the throne, if it weren't for the Ministry of Rites not agreeing, he would have wanted to give Xie Xiaowan the title of princess.

Zhu Houxi took the sweat towel, tied it on his body and tried it, and said with a smile: "Sister Xiaowan, this sweat towel belongs to me, Xu Jin, do you have no opinion?" ”

Xu Jin asked rhetorically: "Can you have an opinion?" ”

Xu Jinxi said proudly: "There must be no one, I am the Son of Heaven." Anyway, it took me a lot of effort to snatch it back from the old guys in the cabinet, and now I take you a sweat towel, do you dare to have an opinion? ”

"Naturally, the minister doesn't dare!" Xu Jin is secretly sweating, it seems that Zhu Houxi's life is not easy now, but it is normal, Zhu Houyu is only the son of a vassal king after all, he has no foundation in the court, and even the throne is picked up by shit luck, plus he is young, facing a group of important ministers and elders, he must be constrained everywhere, and it is necessary not to be happy.

Fortunately, the current cabinet are all upright ministers, and Yang Tinghe, the first assistant, may be a little arrogant, but at least he is still a good official who is capable and knows how to take into account the overall situation and think about the people.

The eunuchs behind were secretly speechless, looking at Xu Jin with both awe and jealousy, you need to know how much the emperor trusts this favor before he can say such things to his face.

At this time, Zhu Houxi woke up and there was still a group of followers, turned around and warned sternly: "What I just said can't be spread outside, otherwise I will not be spared!" ”

Several eunuchs on the guard turned pale, and hurriedly swore to the sky, swearing that they would not talk nonsense, and Zhu Houxi sent them out with satisfaction, licked his lips, and said with a greedy expression: "Sister Xiaowan, I saw that the yard was full of chili peppers just now, and I haven't eaten spicy haggis for a long time." ”

"Then sister, let's prepare the ingredients to make it, the emperor will talk to the prime minister first, and you should be able to eat it in the afternoon!"

"Okay, go quickly, I can't wait, by the way, I still want to eat sweet and sour tenderloin, braised pork, and chicken ......."

Xie Xiaowan nodded frequently with a doting smile on her face, and then retreated with Chu Xia Chu Xia and Xiao Yudie, and went to prepare the ingredients in person, leaving only Yue'er to wait for tea in the hall.

"Isn't there anything to eat in the palace? It's like a starving ghost reincarnated! When Xie Xiaowan left, Xu Jin glanced at Zhu Houxi a little unpleasantly, this kid is not kind, and he will treat Xiaowan as a maid as soon as he comes.

Zhu Houxi opened the folding fan and shook it, and said proudly: "I just love to eat the dishes made by Sister Xiaowan, what's the matter, do you have any opinions?" ”

Xu Jin's teeth are itchy and his hands are itchy, and he has an urge to step forward and kick his ass, but unfortunately he is now the Ninety-Five, the body of ten thousand times, and the dragon's ass is expensive, so he can't kick it as casually as before.

Zhu Houxi suddenly said: "Alas, it is said that the palace is really reducing expenses now, and my daily use has also been reduced by one-third." ”

Xu Jin's heart moved and asked, "Why is this?" ”

Zhu Houxi said with annoyance: "Since the beginning of summer, there have been floods in many places across the country, and the shortage of summer grain in the south of the Yangtze River has become a foregone conclusion, and there is a famine in Shanxi and Guanzhong. When I ascended the throne, I had already ordered the tax exemption for half a year in the country, and the affected places were tax-free all year round, and the treasury was overwhelmed.

The army stretched out his hand to ask for money and food, the vassal kings from all over the country reached out to ask for money, and hundreds of thousands of officials across the country raised it, and all kinds of livelihood projects cost money. ”

Xu Jin frowned, has Daming's finances been strapped to this extent? So he asked quietly: "Didn't the emperor copy a lot of silver some time ago?" ”

Some time ago, the eunuchs of the officials and eunuchs were wiped out, such as Zhang Zhong, the eunuch of the imperial horse, Zhang Xiong, the eunuch of the ceremonies, and Zhang Rui, the eunuch of the Dongchang factory, were all rats, and the income from the raid was often hundreds of thousands of taels.

Zhu Houxi suddenly said angrily: "It's okay if you don't mention it, as soon as you mention me, I will be angry, all the confiscated property has been fished out by the household department and put into the treasury, I haven't even drunk the soup, and my inner treasury is about to be emptied." ”

Xu Jin couldn't help but be speechless, looking at this unlucky little emperor with pity, the eunuch group and the civil official group in the Ming Dynasty were originally restrained by each other, but now the civil official group has the upper hand, and the backbone of the eunuchs has been swept away, plus the little emperor succeeded the emperor as a vassal king, without any foundation, he had to rely on civil officials everywhere, not only the military power, but even the financial power was lost, which was not an ordinary tragedy.

Xu Jin coughed lightly and said, "That...... Your Majesty, the minister has a sum of money here, although it is not much, but it is better than nothing! ”

Zhu Houxi waved his hand and sneered: "Xu Jin, although I am poor, my leg hair is thicker than your waist, and I can ask you for money, but my loyal appearance makes me very pleased!" ”

Xu Jin couldn't help crying, shoot your sister, this money is originally yours, don't pull it down!