Without the three princes and the fourth princes, the two obstructive light bulbs, those guards also left, when Ah Liu and Zhu Ying's discussion finally came to an end, when Zhang Shou learned from Ah Liu's mouth that there were only three of them left on the top of this huge Banzai Mountain, he couldn't help but be a little stunned. But after thinking about it again, would the emperor still be afraid of what kind of basket they would poke out of the forbidden mountain in this palace?

The swings had already been swinged just now, and although no one bothered at this time, Zhu Ying was not interested in going any further, but at this time, she asked Ah Liu to go up the tree to pick red leaves to play. In this regard, Zhang Shou looked at Ah Liu, who was jumping up and down looking for beautiful red leaves, and couldn't help but feel funny.

He has long passed the naughty age of climbing trees and digging birds' nests as a teenager, but he also lacks a sense of identity with the so-called romantic thing of red leaves, and even the legend of the sworn red leaves in the ancient book is also skeptical. However, when he saw Ah Liu descending the tree, Zhu Ying picked out a large handful of red leaves from it, and then said a sentence with a grin, he was still dumbfounded.

"Banzai Mountain is famous for its autumn leaves, and it's worth a lot of money to sell it like this!"

Seeing Zhang Shou's unprecedented stupid appearance, Zhu Ying couldn't help but laugh: "In the past, Yingzong and Ruizong's grandfather used to pick the red leaves on Banzai Mountain, and then dried and disposed of them and then wrote to reward people. Ah Liu picked such a handful, I went back to the emperor to stamp. ”

Zhang Shou couldn't help but wipe his forehead: "I said Yingying, after covering the emperor's seal, you won't really take it out and sell it, right?" ”

"Of course it's not about selling things, it's about exchanging things." A sly smile appeared on Zhu Ying's beautiful face, "This bookmark can't be kept for too long, especially once the seal on it fades or the quality is broken, then even if it is a royal gift, it can only be stored in a box, so only those who get this reward every year have the capital to show off." ”

"There are a lot of things this year, the emperor seems to have forgotten this stubble before, I went to ask for favors and sent them over, shouldn't they give me a little errand payment?" Zhu Ying said it confidently, and her smile was even brighter and brighter, "These people make a promise, and it's very valuable." And most of them were the elders of the boys I was trying to recruit before. ”

"Otherwise, in the future, those boys will do a good job for me, but the elders in the family will come to pick peaches, then won't I be at a loss?"

Zhang Shou finally gave Zhu Ying a thumbs up convincingly, and when he saw the eldest lady, he immediately became proud, boasting that he was already very capable, but in the past, it was just that others had no vision, so he praised two more words. Soon, he realized that Ah Liu didn't know when he disappeared, so he looked around for the figure of the kid, but suddenly heard a word from behind.

"Miss, is this little bit of red leaves enough?"

Zhang Shou, who turned back suddenly, saw Ah Liuzheng lifting the hem of his clothes with both hands, and there was a bag full of all kinds of red leaves. Faced with this scene, he couldn't help but be stunned when he saw Zhu Ying, and couldn't help but smile dumbly: "I've only heard of wool, but it's the first time I've seen red leaves...... Ah Liu, you won't get bald and dysentery directly when you get into a tree, right? ”

It was the first time Ah Liu had heard this kind of statement, and he could still understand the meaning of the banter in Zhang Shou's words, and immediately said to Zhu Ying seriously: "I only picked a dozen leaves per tree, anyway, the leaves will fall in the future, and it would be a pity to waste it." I think, these red leaves don't need to be stamped by the emperor, isn't it good for the young master and the eldest lady to send them to the public school as bookmarks? ”

Zhang Shoudeng looked at Ah Liu in surprise: "What do you mean to announce to the outside world that in order to encourage the students in the public school to devote themselves to learning, the emperor collected the red leaves on the Banzai Mountain, rewarded everyone to make bookmarks, and encouraged everyone to study diligently?" ”

This time, Ah Liu was sluggish: "I just think this red leaf is very beautiful, and it's a pity that it falls on the ground and turns into mud." ”

Zhu Ying was immediately amused by the chicken and duck talk of the master and servant: "Ah Liu doesn't want to waste good things, Ah Shou, but you want the emperor to favor the public school, in fact, it kills two birds with one stone, which is very good." But if that's the case, that's not enough, right? ”

Seeing that Ah Liu immediately turned his head to stare at the red leaves of the mountain, Zhang Shou hurriedly grabbed the person, afraid that this kid who sometimes had a black belly and sometimes a tendon would really go to the bald and long live the red leaves. For this reason, he quickly came up with a rhetoric: "Good things are not suitable for everyone, after all, if you give away too much, it will be meaningless." Others will not think that the emperor has good intentions, but will only think that this thing is worthless. ”

Speaking of this, he asked Zhu Ying thoughtfully: "The red leaves that the emperor rewarded the Minister of Civil and Military Affairs with are really only covered with small seals and not a single word?" "Isn't that perfunctory?

"I heard that Grandpa Ruizong writes auspicious characters, and his auspicious characters are very good. The emperor is too lazy to write, my father or Chu Guogong, that is a word, Grandpa Ge is too, the cabinet elders sometimes have, sometimes not, and so do the scholars and other nobles. The rest of the civil and military ministers have to depend on the emperor's mood. When he is happy, he writes peace, and when he is unhappy, he does not have a word. ”

Well, it can be seen that Ruizong is very good at winning people's hearts, and the emperor ...... Very capricious!

Zhang Shou was so slanderous in his heart, but when Zhu Ying beckoned him and Ah Liu to go down the mountain together, and was about to enter the palace to see the emperor, he couldn't help but look at Ah Liu's pocket, which was full of hundreds of red leaves, and thought to himself What kind of expression would the people under the mountain look like if they saw it. However, he soon discovered that he was overthinking.

Because when the three of them came to the Xuanwu Gate, even if Zhu Ying was holding a large handful in her hand and Ah Liu was carrying a large bag of brightly colored leaves in her arms, the guards didn't see it at all, and directly let them into the palace. However, they just passed by the Qin'an Hall from the Shunzhen Gate, but they happened to bump into the oncoming group.

Recognizing that it was Chu Kuan, Zhang Shou naturally greeted him with a smile, and Zhu Ying shouted even more aggressively: "Father-in-law Chu is from the Qianqing Palace?" Is the emperor free at this time? Ah Shou and I were on our way to see him. If he doesn't have time, we'll go to Qingning Palace first. ”

Chu Kuan replied with a smile: "I am from the Qianqing Palace, but the emperor is not here at this time, I heard that I went to the Qingning Palace to see the Queen Mother." It doesn't matter to me, so I'll go back to the celebrant first. ”

Seeing Zhu Ying shouting that this is a good time, he just went to Qingning Palace, and then dragged Zhang Shou away, Zhang Shou even smiled and said hello when he passed by his side, and Ah Liu followed with a bag of red leaves honestly, Chu Kuan looked at this family that looked very harmonious, and couldn't help but flash his eyes.

In all fairness, Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying are indeed a match made in heaven, and their looks and demeanor are all matched. And he once had high hopes for Zhang Shou's ability in arithmetic, hoping that people could solve Taizu's posthumous manuscripts. Now it seems that his judgment may be correct, but even if Zhang Shou's background is fine, there is a problem with his teacher.

In addition, Zhang Shou did not react at all to his repeated hints, so he naturally couldn't put all his bets on one person.

The Ming Dynasty can no longer have a vassal king as often as before, anyway, the change of imperial power must be stable. Yingzong and Ruizong are fortunate not to have a great chaos in the world when they seized the throne, and although the current emperor is still young, he also needs to take precautions. Therefore, the eldest prince and the second prince have been raised crookedly since childhood, and the prince who has a stupid mother must be excluded from the East Palace.

And that stupid woman can no longer occupy the back position, she must be deposed! In this way, the smooth and orderly change of the throne in the future can be ensured.

If Zhang Shou knew Chu Kuan's thoughts, he would definitely mutter, this is the emperor is not in a hurry, and the eunuch is in a hurry. At this time, walking on the road, he thought of the few times he had dealt with Chu Kuan, and couldn't help but whisper to Zhu Ying about Chu Kuan's origin. As a result, Zhu Ying frowned and thought about it, and then softly gave an answer that Zhang Shou was stunned.

"Father-in-law Chu seems to be a heavenly eunuch, who was pregnant with Liujia, when the queen mother went to the temple to pray for the emperor in the womb, he picked it up at the gate of the temple, and took it back with mercy for a while. There are generally only four or five chamberlains in the palace, so he is only five years older than the emperor, and he has followed the emperor since he was a child, and he can be regarded as growing up watching the emperor. ”

"Don't look at him like this, he has studied martial arts since elementary school, and his martial arts are very powerful, when he was only eight or nine years old, he stood up to protect the Queen Mother at a critical moment, and almost died, so Grandpa Ruizong trusted him very much, and the Queen Mother and the emperor also trusted him very much. Although he has powerful means and has a lot of people under him, everything is for the sake of the emperor, and the person who admires Grandpa Taizu the most is not the emperor, but him. ”

Zhang Shou couldn't help but look extremely strange. That's kind of ...... A eunuch who is loyal and filial? From the Han, Tang and Song dynasties to the present, there are as many so-called eunuchs as there are such eunuchs. It's a shame that he was afraid that this guy was pervasive, and he never asked anyone about Chu Kuan.

But it was not too late to inquire at this time, so he heard from Zhu Ying a story of the growth of an angry and optimistic eunuch - of course, because of the preference of the father and son generations of emperors and the queen mother, with Ruizong sitting in the world, Chu Kuan did not serve as a lower-level eunuch from the beginning after entering the palace, and directly started from the celebrant to serve as the emperor.

It only took ten years, but Chu Kuan, who was only twenty-seven years old, became the youngest celebrant and supervisor since the founding of the People's Republic of China. If it weren't for the Ming Dynasty in this year, the number of eunuchs in the entire palace would probably not exceed three hundred, so the celebrant did not have too many manpower to call, let alone the internal minister who could compete with the foreign minister, probably his promotion would cause an uproar in the outer court.

"But Father-in-law Chu has been doing this pen for more than ten years, and he has never blushed with the one who used to palm print, plus he is magnificent, and because of the relationship between the old Rui Palace, he has a good relationship with many nobles. So he has a good reputation both inside and outside. ”

Hearing Zhu Ying say this, Zhang Shou couldn't help but admire: "This is really a legendary person." ”

Zhu Ying suddenly remembered something, and hurriedly lowered her voice and said, "By the way, I heard Uncle Hua say that Gonggong Chu has said good things about you many times in front of the emperor and praised you many times." ”

Zhang Shou was really a little unhappy about Chu Kuan's love, so he could only laugh and say, "That's really my honor." I remember the first time I was in Yuehualou, it was he who came out to relieve me, and later told me a lot of anecdotes. ”

He still remembered that Chu Kuan's words had only one central meaning, that the inheritance of the torch depended on the eunuch party. At that time, he felt that it was flaunting, but looking at Chu Kuan's growth trajectory, if the person was not a hostile force and threw it at the door of the temple where the Queen Mother entered the incense back then, and then asked the Queen Mother to pick up the person back, so as to bury a nail in the Rui Wangfu, that person would indeed be the old man of the Rui Wangfu.

With Ah Liu by their side, Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying naturally walked all the way and talked about Chu Kuan's bit of gossip, and before they knew it, they arrived at Qingning Gate. Zhu Ying often comes and goes here, Zhang Shou has been here a few times before, and the people who reported it also seemed to fly in, and then they flew out again, but they said with a smile on their faces: "The Queen Mother invited Dr. Zhang and Miss Zhu to go in." ”

Although Ah Liu was not mentioned, when Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying went in, Ah Liu was put in together. But he suddenly took two quick steps, shortened the distance between himself and Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying, and then said in a very soft voice in Zhang Shou's ear: "Why did the Queen Mother invite the young master and the eldest lady in, why didn't you mention the emperor?" ”

As soon as these words came out, Zhang Shou suddenly stopped, and when he saw Zhu Ying continuing to walk in without noticing, he couldn't help frowning. In the Queen Mother's Qingning Palace, the Queen Mother personally commanded, isn't this normal? But he thought about it again, since the emperor is here, then according to the queen mother's habit of returning to power, everything is as good as the emperor wants, and the emperor should give another order.

So, he quickly continued to walk inside, but asked without looking back, "What, Ah Liu, what do you think is the problem?" ”

Ah Liu was holding the bag of red leaves as if no one was around, and said bluntly: "I think the emperor may not want to see you and the eldest lady." ”

The Emperor doesn't want to see them? Not really, right?

Zhang Shou originally thought that Ah Liu's answer seemed a little unlikely, however, when he really entered the Qingning Palace, he saw that the Queen Mother on the throne was still smiling slightly as always, but the emperor at the side of the Queen Mother was full of anger, and when he saw him and Zhu Ying coming in, he tilted his head and ignored people, he couldn't help but sigh at Ah Liu's keenness.

Sure enough, when he saluted, he heard the emperor ask stiffly, "What are you doing here?" ”

This time, even Zhu Ying sensed that the emperor's attitude was wrong. She turned around strangely to look at the emperor, until the emperor snorted obviously unhappily, then she quickly came to the queen mother's side and asked in a low voice: "Queen mother, is the emperor angry?" ”

The Queen Mother glanced at the emperor who continued to show her face in front of her juniors, and couldn't help but wonder what kind of sin she had created to condone such a grumpy son. But even so, she had to pretend to be nothing in front of Zhu Ying and Zhang Shou, and immediately laughed and said: "Don't mention it, he's like this, he gets angry with me if he doesn't agree." ”

After very skillfully avoiding the important and light, she immediately changed the topic and asked, "What are you picking so many autumn leaves for?" ”

Zhu Ying chattered about Ah Liu's statement and Zhang Shou's thoughts, and the Queen Mother immediately said decisively: "This idea is good, but it can also inspire students." But you can't favor one over the other, in addition to the public school, the country is not as good as rewarding some, the red leaves of the horizontal and vertical Long Live Mountain are, even if they are all picked, it is okay, but it is one less scenery. ”

She glanced at the emperor sternly, blocked his generous complaints, and then cordially praised Zhang Shou a few words, and even Ah Liu, who was still carrying a large pile of red leaves after entering the door, also won a few words of praise from her. But after these affirmative words, she suddenly spoke: "Zhang Shou, where is the old salted fish you said before who brought back cotton seeds and cinchona seeds from overseas?" ”

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