Chapter 158: Capital
Su Luo had been to Beijing more than once, but this was her first time to visit Beijing of more than 400 years ago, a true ancient capital.
On the way from Luoyang to Beijing, Su Luo never forgot to chat with Wanli, showing him the future encyclopedia, which made Wanli stunned. Otherwise, why do people who travel back in time either show off their singing and dancing or their poetry? Naturally, there are a lot of benefits to attracting the attention of the superiors. It is worth noting that people in different periods have different aesthetics. For example, when it comes to singing, Su Luo suffered a lot from it. She still remembers the terrible experience of her singing.
Speaking of Emperor Wanli, the most famous thing is that he did not attend court for decades. It is strange that as a ruler, the country could still survive without seeing court officials for decades. Of course, it did not last too long, but at least the Ming Dynasty did not fall in his hands.
Although Su Luo was not very interested in subverting history, she was still very curious about Wanli's experience, so she asked him whenever she had time, asking him what he had done this year, why he didn't go to court, and why he stayed there for so long.
When Wanli heard this, he was stunned and said, "I didn't miss the court. I came out on a tour this year, to visit incognito and understand the people's sentiments. When I return to Beijing, I will continue to work hard to govern the country."
Did she remember it wrongly ? Su Luo scratched his head and thought for a long time. It was true that Emperor Wanli was lazy in government affairs, and it lasted for decades. But looking at the Emperor Wanli in front of him now, he was a strong, cheerful and lively young man. He also expressed his desire to be self-reliant. He didn't look like an irresponsible person at all.
But... none of this has anything to do with her. Su Luo is just curious, nothing more. In comparison, Su Luo cares more about the current value of this good young man. Every time she goes to a place, Su Luo hands out her business card, such as Su's Beauty Salon and the clothing store. It is always good to do more publicity. Moreover, after entering Beijing, she cannot just sell toys. Clothing is definitely a profitable business. The most important thing is that she has a best spokesperson. Unless there is a business that can be closer to Wanli than her, otherwise... her clothing business will definitely maintain its position as the industry leader for thirty years without wavering.
Su Luo followed Wanli to the capital, handing out business cards along the way. Although she really wanted to go to the palace to see the world, reason told her that there were more important things waiting for her to do.
For example, getting to know the wealthy businessmen in the capital is more attractive to Su Luo than visiting the Forbidden City.
Su Luo originally wanted to ask Li Rusong for help. Although businessmen have a low status nowadays, there have always been some unclear things between officials and businessmen. However, Li Rusong said directly that it was impossible, which made Su Luo a little depressed.
"How stingy." This was Su Luo's comment.
Li Rusong smiled bitterly. He and Su Luo had avoided too much contact with each other all along the way. They had the same concerns, afraid that if they sat together, they would not be able to help but discuss Qin Huai's affairs. They were in the imperial team, and the factory guards were everywhere. If any news leaked out, the consequences would be disastrous. On the other hand, they didn't know how to face Qin Huai's affairs. Su Luo was conflicted, and she believed that Li Rusong was even more conflicted than her.
For various reasons, although it took more than half a month to travel from Luoyang to the capital, Su Luo and Li Rusong only met a few times.
"The capital is a complicated place." Li Rusong poured a cup of tea for himself and Su Luo. "The forces of various parties are intertwined, and knowing how to be close and distant is a science. Although my father and I are not in the capital, we are also one of the forces that many parties want to win over..."
"Isn't this perfect? They want to win you over, so of course they will be polite to me." Su Luo leaned close to Li Rusong, his eyes burning, as if he was saying that if you don't explain clearly, you won't be able to pass.
Li Rusong lowered his head helplessly and sighed, "Before I didn't tell you anything, you said I was self-righteous. Now I want to tell you, but you keep interrupting me."
Su Luo sat back down, embarrassed, and said, "You tell me, tell me."
"Among the various forces, some are attracted while others are rejected. I once told Qin Huai that the court is very wary of my Li family. This is not entirely false. There are many people in the court who have impeached the Li family. If I come forward to help you now, although you can get a lot of benefits, you will also become my direct descendant, which will be greatly disadvantageous to your future development in the capital."
Su Luo was very satisfied with Li Rusong's explanation. He patted his shoulder and said, "This is what a good comrade should be like. In the past, you would have pretended to be mysterious and come up with your so-called methods to piss me off to death."
Li Rusong continued helplessly, "It's already being improved."
"Yeah." Su Luo slapped harder and harder, "That's right."
"Actually you have a very good candidate, much better than me."
Su Luo thought for a moment, "You mean the emperor?" She shook her head, "After returning to the capital, his freedom has been reduced a lot, and it is impossible for him to show up and represent me directly like he did in Luoyang."
Li Rusong laughed and said, "You don't understand how considerate the court officials are. Didn't the emperor invite you to the palace? You can persuade him to hold a banquet in the palace and invite a few ministers to accompany you. I guarantee that when you come back, you won't have to go out. People will naturally come to make friends with you."
Su Luo nodded repeatedly after listening to this. With her friendship with Wanli, it should be no problem to ask him to help organize a banquet.
"Also," Li Rusong said quickly when he saw Su Luo was about to leave, "Well... don't stay overnight in the palace. Let them think you are the emperor's 'friend' and not anything else."
Su Luo thought about it and rolled his eyes at Li Rusong, "What do you mean by 'other'?"
"It's... you know, it's that kind of relationship... Of course I know you definitely don't have that kind of idea." Li Rusong looked at Su Luo's expression and quickly changed his words, "I'm afraid that others will misunderstand. You don't want people to misunderstand that you and the emperor have another relationship, right?"
Seeing Li Rusong eager to explain, Su Luo's nervous mood seemed to relax a little. She laughed out loud, "I told you to explain everything clearly without being so long-winded."
Li Rusong couldn't hold back his expression for a moment, and turned his head away and pouted, "I was just afraid that you wouldn't understand."
Talk back? Su Luo raised her eyebrows, and her mood of letting him go changed again. "Are you afraid that I won't understand, or are you afraid that something unexpected will happen if I stay overnight in the palace?"
"What kind of accidents could happen in the palace!" Li Rusong knew that he had already lost the game and he was determined to hold on.
Su Luo let out a long "Oh" and clapped his hands. "Since there won't be any accidents, I might as well stay in the palace for a few more days and take a look at the three palaces, six courtyards and seventy-two concubines. Maybe I can also become the master of a palace. Time-traveling women all like this."
Looking closely, Li Rusong's face was a little blue. He touched his face and scratched his hair, his eyes glanced at the fine scratch on Su Luo's face - the wound had scabbed and fallen off, leaving a flesh-pink mark.
"What are you looking at!" Su Luo was very upset when she saw the relief in Li Rusong's eyes. Did he think that Wanli would not like him because of his disfigurement? Do you know what a talented woman is? Do you know what it means to be strong inside? "Is there any magic medicine in the palace? How can it not cure this small scar? Besides, the emperor and I get along so well, he will definitely not care about this scar, unlike some people."
"It's indeed different!" Li Rusong stood up suddenly and stared at Su Luo, "He doesn't care because he doesn't care about you as a person, and I care because..." At this point, Li Rusong felt that he was extremely stupid. Confessing without being asked was probably an idiom created to describe him.
It would have been better if he hadn't mentioned this. As soon as he mentioned this, Su Luo's face darkened. "Why? Because you care about me? Do you want to use the same trick you used in Nanjing against me? Let me tell you, I won't fall for it!" After Su Luo finished speaking, she turned around and left. When she reached the door, she turned back and said "Pooh", which completely left Li Rusong at a loss.
He chased after Su Luo, but she was nowhere to be seen. Li Rusong looked around, then at the sky, scratched his head, and thought about what had just happened... It seemed that he had been... really wrong before!
That afternoon, Li Rusong deeply reflected on his mistakes and decided to actively restore his image in Su Luo's heart. Of course, the timing was not good. Because he would soon leave Beijing to continue looking for Qin Huai, there was not much time for him to repent, so he adopted the simplest and most effective method to increase his favorability.
Two days later, one morning, Li Rusong got up early and waited in the lobby of the inn where Su Luo was staying. When Su Luo went downstairs for breakfast, he saw Li Rusong sitting there with a small brocade box on the table.
"What is it?" Su Luo wanted to ignore him, but she was really curious about the box.
Li Rusong did not answer but asked: "Are you going to the palace today?"
Su Luo rolled his eyes and said, "Nonsense, you already knew that."
Li Rusong touched his nose. He was indeed not used to the straightforward way of speaking.
"Have you prepared a gift for the Emperor?"
Su Luo was stunned, "Do I need to give gifts to see the emperor?"
Li Rusong pushed the brocade box in front of Su Luo and said, "I knew you wouldn't be able to prepare it."
"This is the first time I've heard of this..." Su Luo was depressed. "I was hoping he would give me something." She lifted the lid of the brocade box while speaking. She thought it would be some rare treasure, but when she saw what was in the box, she was stunned for a long time. "Banknotes? The emperor also accepts banknotes?"
Li Rusong nodded, "Ten thousand taels."
Su Luo gasped, rushed over and hugged the box in his arms, and lowered his voice to a very low voice, "Give 10,000 taels?"
Li Rusong took the brocade box back from Su Luo with a look of both laughter and tears. "If you give out ten thousand, you will get back one hundred thousand or one million." He approached mysteriously, very close to Su Luo. "Do you know why so many people have impeached the Li family, but the emperor and the prime minister still support us as before?"
Su Luo slowly pointed to the brocade box, and Li Rusong nodded slowly, "Although there is military merit to support it, without this, everything is out of the question. Our emperor loves money more than my father."
Su Luo was speechless. Li Chengliang was famous for his love of money. If he didn't love money, he wouldn't have coveted so many things from the court. But after he coveted them, he distributed most of them to the soldiers in order to win their hearts. This Wanli...
"I really didn't realize that." Su Luo touched his chin and muttered softly. He thought he was a promising young man.
"Not only that," Li Rusong's voice was even lower, "he loves money first and beautiful women second."
Loving beauty... that is, being lustful. Su Luo couldn't associate the talkative and humorous emperor with words like greed and lust. After thinking for a while, Su Luo slammed the table, pointed at Li Rusong's nose and said, "Li Rusong, you are so good, you actually slandered others in order to achieve your own ulterior motives."
"Me?" Li Rusong pointed at himself. "Slandering others?"
"It's you!" Su Luo picked up the brocade box and stood up, "I went to the palace and I'm too lazy to talk to you."
Li Rusong stared at Su Luo's back for a long time, then suddenly laughed. If Su Luo didn't believe him, she wouldn't have taken the banknotes with her. It seemed that he was not the only one who didn't know how to tell the truth.
