Fortunately, it rained for two consecutive days on May 24 and May 25, which made the people of Beijing feel a lot more at ease. This is the third time that the slaughter of animals is forbidden to pray for rain, but this rain should fall from time to time. The drought has eased, and everyone's fear of the epidemic has also faded, and more and more people have begun to eat fasting and chant the Buddha to pray that the epidemic will pass as soon as possible, and pray that the Buddha will bless the safety of their homes.

It is in Caofu, Wutong Garden and Kwai Yuan that small Buddha halls are set up.

Cao Hao originally wanted to persuade Chu Yu and Amethyst not to believe in these gods, Buddhas and ghosts, but the two of them used the matter of praying for rain to illustrate that "sincerity is spirituality", but he couldn't refute it for a while.

Speaking of this, Cao Hao was also very puzzled in his heart, the holy decree prayed for rain three times, twice rained, and once although the rain did not fall, the sky was also cloudy. Could it be that what has to do with it, is it really because the people who pray for rain are not sincere? This is unbelievable.

Kangxi naturally will not take the responsibility on himself, this prayer for rain is the errand of the Ministry of Rites, the first time he ordered was the Ministry of Rites Shangshu Bei and Nuo, but the result was only cloudy for a long time, the rain did not fall, and then the holy decree reprimanded him for being a "lazy and lazy person", and when he prayed for rain again, he ordered the Ministry of Household Shangshu Mu and Lun to pray on his behalf.

Although he experienced the resurrection of the dead, Cao Hao still could not convince himself to believe these gods and ghosts, and then asked Mr. Zhuang for advice, and confirmed that it was indeed as he guessed, it was Qin Tianjian who made the rain "forecast", and then the holy decree was set according to these forecasts to pray for rain, which was just a means to fool the people, but it was very beneficial to stabilize the people's hearts.

On May 26, after being sealed for 20 days, the ban was lifted in the Dunjun Palace, which also appeased many people. However, for most of the month, there were more than 30 servants in the Tenth Elder Brother's Mansion who died of illness, so he naturally had nothing to say. What's more, compared to Prince Cheng's Mansion who broke Little Brother and the East Palace that died Little Gege, his county palace is just a few servants who have died, which is also a great luck.

The ninth elder brother has been depressed for more than ten days, when he escorted the concubines to Rehe, he met the sixteenth elder brother who came back after two days out of Beijing. He had no reason to follow, and he didn't dare to stay outside the capital without a will, so he had to turn back to Beijing.

Outside the palace of Dunjun Wang, the fourth elder brother, the ninth elder brother, the thirteenth elder brother, Tuo Heqi and Cao Hao are all there. When the surrounding officers and soldiers withdrew and the gate of the palace opened, everyone rushed to the door.

The tenth elder brother walked over leisurely with a few relatives, and hugged his fists at several elder brothers: "Thank you for the three elder brothers and the thirteenth elder brother for coming to see me!" "He's already a little thin, and his eyes are sunken right now, and he looks really haggard.

Brother Jiu frowned and said, "How are these minions waiting?" Could it be that there is still no ten brothers to eat and drink? Hurry up and ask the doctor to take a look, what the hell is going on? ”

Brother Ten hurriedly waved his hand: "Good brother, you can spare your brother!" Although these brothers were not infected, they did not drink less of this anti-epidemic decoction, and they did not pull it all at once, which affected their appetite and ate less! This Taiyi brother is tired, and it is best to stay far away in the future, and it is good to not see Fang Fang for ten or eight years! ”

Seeing that everyone except for the ninth elder brother had lost weight, the tenth elder brother was a little more balanced in his heart, but his eyes looking at Cao Hao were a little complicated.

The fourth elder brother looked at the gate, looked at the tenth elder brother, and said with a little meaning: "Tenth brother, I heard that in the past 20 days, many people have been killed in your mansion, and the names of these people are recorded in the mortuary. ”

Brother Ten raised his eyebrows: "Naturally, I want it, but I'm not in a hurry at the moment, I have to wait a little longer, and then the epidemic is over." The brother's side is not like the third brother's mansion, and the ban has not been 'lifted' yet, but the 'damned' ones on the brother's side are dead, if something is passed on by outsiders, how can it be good? ”

The ban on the third elder brother's mansion was given by the third elder brother himself, and he said it very righteously, but in fact, he just felt that the errand of this epidemic was hot, and even if it was over, he would offend too many people and not get benefits, so he cowered in the mansion like this.

In this way, it is extremely unfavorable to the fourth elder brother, I don't know the details, and I think that he is trying to seize power, and he circled his younger brother and his elder brother.

The fourth elder brother also heard some of these rumors, and now that he saw that the tenth elder brother had just come out of the mansion and knew about the things outside the mansion, it could be seen that there were other news channels. Thinking about the more than 30 corpses sent out by his house, all of them were young and strong, although all of them had names and surnames, it still made people feel wrong.

After adding the incident at the beginning of the month, he also inquired about some news later, and knew that there seemed to be a lot of young people coming and going in the Ten Elder Brothers' Mansion. All kinds of clues point directly to the ninth elder brother and the tenth elder brother, how can he not suspect that this is the tenth elder brother killing people?

It's just that there are a lot of things at the moment, and it is not the time to pursue this, so the fourth elder brother suppressed the disgust in his heart, dealt with a few more words, and left with the thirteenth elder brother. After Tuo Heqi and Cao Hao greeted the tenth elder brother, they also returned to the Yamen of the infantry army.

Looking at their backs, the ninth elder brother glanced at the tenth elder brother and said, "See, the most deceitful one is the fourth!" Who doesn't know that this epidemic is difficult to prevent, why is the third child hiding? If it is really a good errand with merit, even if it is really sick, I am afraid that he will be reluctant to let go. It's just that you know the difficulties, so that's it! The fourth child is ruthless, that is, he wants credit, but he does not complain, these thirteen people are cut off on the head, who will think about the fault of the fourth! ”

Brother Ten shook his head: "No! Since the thirteenth child has followed the fourth ass, the two seem to be really good! ”

Brother Jiu glanced at the corners of his mouth: "If you don't believe it, you just wait and see, see if this epidemic is over, what will the fourth child get, and what will happen to the thirteenth?" What kind of brotherly love, it's just bullshit, and it will bluff the thirteenth stunned boy! ”

The tenth elder brother looked at the ninth elder brother, but did not answer, looked at the direction of Cao Hao and Tuo Heqi, and fell into deep thought.

In June, with the lifting of the ban on every household, the capital, which had been shrouded by the shadow of the epidemic for a month, finally gradually recovered its vitality. In mid-June, fewer and fewer people died in the outer and inner cities due to the epidemic, and finally they were not seen for many days. By the end of June, there were a few more heavy rains, and the earlier drought was long gone.

No one will notice that the thirteenth elder brother returned to the mansion and began his "recuperation" career without leaving home again; Cao Hao relieved himself of the epidemic prevention errand, returned to the household department, and continued to serve as a qualified chief officer.

The third elder brother didn't know whether to gloat or be cold, because Kangxi was giving him and the fourth elder brother a fold, and the thirteenth elder brother ordered the third elder brother and the fourth elder brother to take strict care of him, and instructed: "Yinxiang is not a person who is not diligent in learning and filial piety, if you let it go, you will meet him in one place, and you must not guard against it!" ”

* On the first day of July, early in the morning, the inner and outer city gates that had been sealed due to the epidemic finally slowly opened in the anticipation of the people, announcing that the epidemic in the capital has become history.

Someone has already prepared gongs, drums and firecrackers, and suddenly the gongs and drums rang out in unison, coupled with the sound of "crackling" firecrackers, which is very festive and lively. Although some families have hung up white lanterns due to the loss of their loved ones in the epidemic, they are still glad to have escaped death in this catastrophe.

He Maocai arrived at Cao's Mansion at noon on the day he opened the city gate, and he had not heard from him for two months, and all kinds of rumors outside Beijing were strange, so he was really worried. It wasn't until he saw Cao Hao that everyone here was safe and sound, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

Cao Hao asked about the crops over there, although the wells were drilled, but the drought was only alleviated, and the reduction of production was inevitable. Even so, it is much better than crops that are not irrigated by wells. Because it rains in the middle of May, and the land is watered in the second half of the year, where can the land without well water be planted with food, only some crops that ripen quickly.

Fortunately, because the countryside is not as good as the capital, it did not cause an epidemic.

After the gossip, Cao Haofang remembered that something was wrong: "Uncle Cai, is there a notice posted outside the city?" Did the notice say in advance about the opening of the city gates? Otherwise, how can you enter the city so early? ”

He Maocai patted his head: "Look at the old slave's surname, he actually nagged about these things, and he forgot to get down to business!" As he spoke, he asked the little servant who came with him to hand over a basket: "Today is the uncle's birthday, the old slave and the family have already prepared, although they know that the city gate is closed, but they still want to try their luck, this is just a coincidence, it can be seen that the uncle is deeply blessed, and it will be extraordinary in the future!" ”

Cao Hao was moved, thanked him, and asked someone to take him to the guest room to rest.

It's life again, Cao Hao stretched his waist, complaining that these two Chu Yu were a little weird, and asked him what he liked to eat, which showed that he had prepared it carefully.

Because Fujian suffered disasters last year and this year, coupled with the hunger riots, they Fujian Division was also a little busy, but today because of the opening of the city gate, everyone was happy, ended their errands early, and went home.

If you think about it early, I will invite some friends to come over and be lively, the epidemic in the past two months has been so noisy, except for those who have jobs in Beijing, the others are closed, and everyone has not seen each other for a long time. Thinking of Ning Chun again, because he was busy with epidemic prevention later, although he went to Ning Chun's door twice, it was not easy to get in.

I don't know if it's lucky, but when I think of Ning Chun, Ning Chun arrives, and there is Yongqing who I haven't seen for more than two months. When the two saw Cao Hao, who came out to greet each other, they both smiled and hugged their fists: "It's time to give the birthday star a salute!" ”

Ning Chun tilted his head again, and said with a little dissatisfaction: "But there is not even a post, and those of us who want to drink your birthday wine have to lick the dough and come to the door!" ”

Cao Hao smiled: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's not that I have the intention to be lazy, it's really that these people are so busy that I don't think about my birthday at all!" Seeing that Yongqing was wearing a blue shirt, it seemed that the period of filial piety had expired, and I was happy for him in my heart.

Yongqing straightened his face, pointed at Cao Hao and said: "Since I heard that you were transferred to the epidemic prevention by the fourth elder brother, I was worried about you, and I thought that you were a young man and an old man, and you should know how to measure, but you made a fuss out of the Dunwang Mansion!" ”

Cao Hao knew that he was treating himself sincerely, and he was not annoyed, and said: "At that time, I was only thinking about curbing the epidemic as soon as possible, and I didn't think so much!" ”

Perhaps it was because they heard the two of them talk about the epidemic and remembered the deceased Qiu Niang, Ning Chun's expression was a little gloomy. When Cao Hao and Yongqing met, they tacitly changed the topic.

Now that the rain is enough, there is no need to go down to the errand of fighting drought, Ning Chun talks about his future, but his eyebrows are also dancing. Although the contribution of the Ministry of Industry to fighting drought is not as great as that of Cao Hao, after all, it is beneficial to the national economy and famous students, and it can be regarded as a political deed.

As he spoke, Ning Chun envied Cao Hao again, he was the youngest of the three, but now he is the fifth grade, and now he has made a great contribution to the epidemic prevention with the fourth elder brother, and there is no reward for him.

Cao Hao knew in his heart that even if he had some credit for his hard work in the past two months, it was impossible for the court to know what reward there was. is the epidemic in the capital, I am afraid that they will also turn big things into small things, and finally whitewash the peace, as if nothing had happened. It's a bit ridiculous to be out on an errand for more than half a year, but that's the case.

Yongqing listened to the words of the two, but he was a little embarrassed, he was the oldest, and he came out early to do an errand, but he had not made any progress for many years, and his filial piety was delayed for twenty-seven months.

He was originally a guard of the Red Flag Guard Barracks, which was different from the Upper Three Banners Guard Barracks stationed in the palace, and the Lower Five Banners were also in the capital, but they were guarding the gate of the Prince's Mansion.

This prince's mansion has its own guards, where do you need outsiders to guard the door? They were just coping with errands, patrolling the vicinity of the Maharaja's mansion by the hour, and they were very idle, but they had no chance of promotion.

Cao Hao also thought of Yongqing's errand and asked, "Is there a plan on Uncle's side?" Do you want to go straight back to the barracks? Don't use Tongping Wangfu to talk about it! ”

Yongqing smiled bitterly and shook his head: "My Ama is busy with his own recovery, my second brother is also going to be on an errand this year, and my sister-in-law's business, I'm afraid that this time will be busy, and I won't be able to take care of my side for the time being!" Originally, I thought that it was either the fourteenth elder brother or the king of Pingjun, but now these two are following each other, so we can only wait and see! ”

"Next year is the year of the draft, your sister is preparing now, it's too early, right?" Ning Chun was puzzled.

Yongqing glanced at Cao Hao and said casually: "Because of filial piety, I reported that I was over the age of old, and I was also approved by the boss for my own marriage!" ”

(To be continued)