That night.

The uncle of the Tan family returned to the main courtyard early.

The main courtyard was warm with coals burning, so Tan Ting didn't need anyone else to wait on him. Taking advantage of the warmth in the room, he took out the spring clothes she had made for her and wore them.

Xiang Yi went to the waiter, and when he came back, he saw a man standing in front of the bookshelf, flipping through books.

The sapphire blue brocade robe she made for him was being put on by him.

The colors of his clothes are generally darker, but this sapphire blue one is brighter, making him taller and taller. His slender legs are surrounded by a narrow waist, and his plump back is connected to wide shoulders and long arms from the waist up. At this moment, He was flipping through a book.

Xiang Yi only took one glance and was accurately captured by the man reading the book.

He pretended not to notice her, just flipping through the book, but silently straightened his back, and the clothes she had sewn stitch by stitch became more and more suitable.

But Xiang Yi's eyes fell on the book he was turning.

Why did he read her seal book?

Xiang Yi paused, thinking that he had let his eldest brother go, but she hadn't thanked him yet.

In the past, he was the uncle of the Tan family to her, someone who borrowed money from her, but now he can be regarded as a "benefactor".

Xiang Yi felt that sorting out the relationship between them in this way would make her feel much more at ease.

She is not an ungrateful person, so she knows it right away.

"Does the uncle need a free seal? Let me make a free seal for the uncle."

After hearing this, Tan Ting stopped turning the book.

Tan Jian had the leisure seal made by her. At that time, he borrowed Tan Jian's hand and gave her some fine white jade stones. She then carved one for Yang Zhen. After that, she seemed to feel that she had not given it to her. Tan Rong was not very good, so he started to draw pictures for Tan Rong.

Among the younger brothers and sisters, there is no one who has not received her little chapter.

But Tan Ting didn't have it, and she never mentioned it to him once.

Did she remember him this time?

"Is it too tiring?" Tan Ting couldn't help but ask.

Xiang Yi was used to being a small seal, so she was not tired, but this time he helped them, and she felt that a seal was not enough to compensate.

But I can finally pay him back as much as I can.

The husband and wife each had their own thoughts, but their words did not go wrong.

Xiang Yi shook his head and said he was not tired, and asked Tan Ting, "What kind of seal do you want to make?"

This was a good question. Tan Ting's heart moved quietly at these words.

He walked to her desk and wrote two words.

It is Tan Ting's cousin, "Yuanzhi".

He put down the pen, glanced at his wife, and called her by her given name softly.

"Yizhen, please use my cousin name."

Tan Ting's eyes fell on her, wondering if she would no longer call him "Uncle" in the future, but call him "Yuanzhi"...

It's just that The next breath, Xiang Yi accepted the piece of paper and opened his mouth.

"Then it will be as per the uncle's wishes."

Tan Ting: "..."

The room became quiet, only the fragrance of ink on the desk swayed slightly, and then quietly drifted away.

A man can only comfort himself that it is always good for him to have the seal engraved by her hands in his turn.

The next day was a nice day. The weather had finally warmed up after a cold winter. The sun was shining on the icicles on the tiles, and melted water droplets were falling down.

Yang Zhen wants to teach Xiang Yi how to ride a horse.

Yang Zhen mentioned this when Xiang Yi was on his way back from his parents' home. After a new year passed, Xiang Yi almost forgot about it.

But Yang Zhen remembered that she finally waited for good weather and told Tan Jian to find some docile horses early in the morning.

Xiang Yi saw that she was doing things in a hurry, so he immediately said that he would go immediately. However, he had not finished taking care of today's affairs.

It was rare that Tan Rong had been depressed for many days, but today she became excited when she heard that her two sisters-in-law were going to race horses.

When she became interested, Zhao no longer had any objections, and immediately asked Xiang Yi and the others to take Tan Rong there. As for those trivial matters, it would not be too late to take care of them when they came back.

After the Zhao family had spoken, Xiang Yi and Yang Zhen took Tan Rong there.

Neither of them had ever ridden a horse. Xiang Yi only remembered that her father took her on a pony ride when she was young. She was young at the time, and her father was afraid that she would fall, so he held her from start to finish.

Tan Rong has never ridden a horse before.

She had been bored for many days, but today she felt refreshed when she sat on the horse. She kept asking Yang Zhen to teach her how to race a horse.

Tan Jian originally helped the three of them, but he still had unfinished homework left by his husband, unfinished the articles assigned by his eldest brother, and did not memorize the books thoroughly. He only led the three of them over, and then turned back every step of the way. The land went back.

Yang Zhen can't cope with two novices on horseback by herself.

Fortunately, Xiang Yi had more experience than Tan Rong, so he asked Yang Zhen to teach Tan Rong carefully first, while she watched and followed.

It was really the first time that Tan Rong came into contact with horse riding. She was in a state of fear and excitement, and she couldn't leave Yang Zhen for a moment.

However, Xiang Yi watched from the side and mastered some skills, from slowly driving the horse to a canter, then to a trot, and finally started to run.

Before Tan Rong started running, Xiang Yi was already driving the horse well. Yang Zhen clapped her hands repeatedly, "Sister-in-law, this is great, just don't run too fast." Unexpectedly,

as soon as he said this, the horse I don't know what happened, but I suddenly started running.

The wind that had just warmed up in the cold winter blew Xiang Yi's dress flying.

Xiang Yi was slapped on the cheek by broken hair, and kept telling the horse to slow down, but the horse seemed to be unable to hear it and ran out like lightning.

Xiang Yi didn't dare to hit the horse, and pulling the reins was useless, so he became nervous for a moment.

Even Yang Zhen was worried. He pulled the horse aside, jumped on it, and chased Xiang Yi.

"Sister-in-law, don't worry, I'm coming!"

Her voice came from behind, and Xiang Yi instantly felt relieved.

But the horse became more and more disobedient. It seemed to have lost its reins and galloped away in the cold wind. Xiang Yi lay on the horse and did not dare to mess around. It was shaken to pieces.

At this time, a gust of wind accompanied by the sound of horse hooves came to the side.

Xiang Yi had an intuition that Yang Zhen was coming and said hurriedly, "Brother and sister, my horse can't stop. Can you stop the horse?!"

She was dizzy from being jolted by the horse, and before she heard Yang Zhen's response, she felt A gust of wind suddenly swept behind her.

Xiang Yi felt her horse sink, and then someone took over the useless reins from behind.

The man grabbed the reins, held her in his arms, and slowed the horse down with a "hush".

Xiang Yi was still in the dizziness just now. He felt that his younger siblings seemed much taller than usual, but his eyes fell on the sleeves of the person behind him -

Yang Zhen was wearing a garnet red riding uniform today, but this person was wearing a copper suit. Green brocade with dark patterns.

Xiang Yi turned around and looked back in surprise, and saw Uncle Tan sitting behind her.

The man looked down at her, his broad shoulders and arms encircling her in his arms.

The horse was not big, so he sat very close to her, reaching over her to take over the reins. He leaned forward slightly, and Xiang Yi's entire back rested in his arms.

After the strong wind receded, the aura that belonged to him came over him in wisps.

Xiang Yi's back stiffened, and he quickly sat up straight and moved forward, keeping a distance from him.

"Why are you here, uncle?"

She lowered her head, hiding her surprise, "Thank you for your help, uncle."

Tan Ting originally heard that all the female relatives at home had come to the racecourse, so she came over to take a look.

He was secretly surprised when he saw how quickly she learned, now able to trot and then run quickly.

It turns out that not only is she well-organized in housekeeping and excellent at carving seals, she can even learn to ride a horse so quickly.

On the other hand, my little sister is still a little scared at the moment and has to be led by her younger siblings.

He looked at his wife from a distance, who was rarely in a good mood. From a distance, his whole body seemed to be integrated with the bright sky. He didn't want to step forward to disturb her, and he didn't want the horse to lose control.

Tan Ting didn't He went straight forward without thinking much...

At that moment, he lowered his head and looked at the person in front of him, but saw that she kept her distance from him silently and thanked him politely.

In the gap between the two of them that she carefully maintained, a breeze blew past.

Tan Ting's eyes fell a little.

But on normal days, he probably didn't want to make her uncomfortable, but today, he somehow acted like he didn't notice, and continued to hold her in his arms and drive his horse forward.

Yang Zhen was about to catch up, but she didn't expect her elder brother to gallop from behind and stop her sister-in-law's horse. Goodbye, her elder brother rode his horse and led her sister-in-law to a distance, hesitating whether to go over or not.

Just at this time, Tan Rong called her, but Yang Zhen didn't catch up.

In the distant wilderness, suddenly there were only two people and one horse running slowly.

Xiang Yi didn't know why the old man didn't turn back and instead walked further and further away.

She secretly turned around to look at him, and her gaze fell on the same spot as he lowered his head to look over.

Xiang Yi hurriedly took it back.

But the two of them were riding the same horse like this, which made Xiang Yi feel uncomfortable and uneasy for no reason.

She lowered her eyes.

"Uncle, it's getting late, why don't you go back home."

When Tan Ting heard her calling him this name again, he pursed his lips for a long time before saying "hmm".

Hearing his answer, Xiang Yi was relieved. Unexpectedly, for some reason, he didn't go back or turn back to the house. Instead, he kept moving forward and didn't stop until he reached the river bank.

There is a large river in Qingkan that runs from north to south. The shore where they stopped at this moment is not far from the dock.

The weather is warm today, and the fishermen took the opportunity to break the ice, breaking the river ice that had been in the cold winter for a long time, and it was time to open the river in spring.

The sound of the ice cracking came softly. As soon as the ice surface opened, clear waves rippled under the bright sunlight.

The blue waves on the river sparkle, dazzling people's eyes.

Tan Ting was silent for a long time. At this moment, amid the sound of the ice breaking and the boat pushing against the waves, he couldn't help but glance at his wife in his arms.

Xiang Yi also noticed his gaze and heard his gentle voice speaking at this moment.

"Yizhen, come with me to Beijing in a few days."

The wind blew clear waves on the river, and Xiang Yi was stunned.

...

The Tan family in Gu'anfang, when Tan Jian absentmindedly finished writing the article and memorizing the book, and hurried to the racecourse to find them, Yang Zhen had already returned with Tan Rong.

Tan Jian was disappointed, but found that his sister-in-law was not traveling with him.

"Hey, where is the sister-in-law? Did the sister-in-law come back early?"

Yang Zhen said no, "The sister-in-law's horse couldn't stop. I wanted to save her, but my elder brother drove me over. I originally thought it would be good for the elder brother to save the sister-in-law. , I didn’t expect..."

She said, spreading her hands, "The elder brother abducted the elder sister-in-law."

This wording made Tan Rong look into the distance, showing a bit of fantasy-like yearning. , but just as Mother Wu, who was beside Zhao, arrived, she went to Qiuzhaoyuan to welcome her.

Tan Jian blinked in surprise.

"You said that the eldest brother took the eldest sister-in-law away."

Yang Zhen snorted, saying that was not the case, "and rode the same horse."

She was not very happy. Originally, today was the day for her to show off her skills in front of the eldest sister-in-law, but she was ignored by her eldest brother. He stole the limelight for no reason, and I haven’t seen my sister-in-law until now.

Yang Zhen hummed and threw the riding whip into Tan Jian's hand, then went back to Xia Yingxuan to change clothes.

Tan Jian couldn't guess what she was thinking. He just said that his wife was stupid. He was about to catch up when he heard that his eldest brother and sister-in-law were back.

Tan Jian did not dare to show up directly in front of his eldest brother to avoid being asked about the article. Instead, he hid in the corner and looked at the two of them from a distance.

The sister-in-law looked as usual, but she was walking in front, while her eldest brother was lagging behind. For some reason, the eldest brother's face turned out to be calm, and he looked not very good.

Tan Jian was stunned for a moment, but he didn't expect to take a breath. The elder brother seemed to have noticed something and turned around to look at the tree where he was hiding.

At that moment, Tan Jian was almost sweating. He didn't dare to look any further and ran away quickly.

Not far away, Tan Ting sent his wife back to the main courtyard. He went back to the study in the outer courtyard without going in.

He suppressed the corners of his mouth and said nothing.

When they were at the river just now, she didn't agree to go to Beijing with him.

She lowered her head at that time, finding some excuse to take care of her family members, and rejected him.

Tan Ting knew it must not be these reasons, but he couldn't guess it unless she said it.

And when he thought about it, she always kept a distance from him and never got close to him. It seemed that it was not just a matter of habit, but that he had done too bad in the past.

She values ​​the status of the common people and the poor people from the same family, which coincides with the Tan family's ancestral precepts.

He also hopes that he can do something for the common people. The relationship between the two races should be mutually dependent.

I wonder if he could do more, would she be able to get closer to him instead of running away from him like she is now?

...

In the main room, Xiang Yi sat under the open window and shook his head.

Did that uncle actually want to take her to Beijing?

She never imagined that this would be possible.

She thought that they would continue to live apart in this way until the marriage ended...

Why was the relationship between them a little messy now?

They were just people temporarily blocked by marriage, so it was better to sort out their relationship.

I am afraid that there will be more and more conflicts between the common people. At the moment, the uncle is willing to take action on behalf of the common people. Later, when the common people endanger the interests of the family, he should not be able to do anything.

By then their marriage won't last long, so what does it matter whether they go to Beijing or not?

Moreover, Xiang Yi always had a strange feeling that things with her eldest brother would not go so smoothly. If something really happened, she would not be able to bring trouble to the Tan family and would definitely ask herself to leave.

Maybe, she didn't stay in Tan's house for a few days.

Thinking of this, Xiang Yi sighed secretly and shook his head.

In the study room in the outer courtyard, Tan Ting was distracted for a moment, and then was called back by the sound of rain.

At this moment, Zhengji ran over in the rain and handed a letter to his desk:

"Uncle, this is a letter from Mr. Li Sanye of Beijing."

It was a letter from Li Chengyun.

Tan Ting took back his thoughts and opened the letter.

This time Li Chengyun did not mention Gu Yansheng. The imperial court in Beijing did not know the whereabouts or identity of Taoist priest Donggong, who was currently in Qingkan.

It's just that Tan Ting really doesn't have a good impression of this person and doesn't want to get involved in the matter between him and Fengling Chen.

But Li Chengyun mentioned another thing in his letter, saying that he had already checked it out carefully as Tan Ting asked him to pay attention to it before.

he said in the letter.

"...Your father's appointment back then was really a coincidence and should have nothing to do with the officialdom."

Tan Ting was doubtful about the last official appointment after his father died of illness.

At that time, a plague broke out in Fengshui Prefecture, Binhhung Prefecture, and the Ministry of Officials urgently sent people to take over Fengshui to suppress the plague.

This job was not an easy one, but it fell impartially on Tan Ting's father, Tan Chaokuan, who shouldered the important responsibilities of the clan.

In the end, his father Tan Chaokuan died of illness in Fengshui and never came back.

In that transfer, the Ministry of Personnel initially appointed Li Chengyun's uncle, but Li Chengyun's uncle was unable to take office due to the sudden death of his father.

Then the Ministry of Household Affairs assigned the sixth master of the Zong family of the Cheng family in Hengbei. The sixth master of the Cheng family went there, but he fell off his horse half way through.

At that time, the epidemic was urgent and the Ministry of Household Affairs could not arrest anyone. The Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs was called into the palace to reprimand him. When he came back, he had to temporarily appoint Tan Chaokuan, who was studying Taoism in the surrounding area, to take office...

Tan Ting watched. As the letter said, he slowly closed his eyes.

It seemed that he had overthought it and thought that Tobe had something fishy about that matter...

He remembered that at that time, his father had promised to go home, but because he had accepted this errand, he had to urgently Go and take office.

The plague in Fengshui Prefecture had just emerged at that time.

But after the magistrate of Fengshui Prefecture retired and returned to his hometown due to his old age, the entire prefecture was only temporarily managed by a fellow magistrate.

His father, Tan Chaokuan, had been transferred by the imperial court and was bound to take over Feng Shui from this colleague.

Tan Chaokuan first isolated the sick people, summoned doctors to try to use local prescriptions to treat the disease, and at the same time asked the Taiyuan Hospital to prepare a good prescription.

The local prescriptions were not very effective, and many people still died of the disease. When the people saw that so many people had died, they couldn't help but panic.

What's more terrifying than the plague being transmitted from rat to human is that it is transmitted from human to human.

Upon seeing this, Tan Chaokuan went to the ward overnight to comfort the people, administered good medicine, porridge and rice, and urged people to go to Yingtai Hospital for prescriptions.

Unexpectedly, when the hospital's prescription arrived, the local people actually rioted and overthrew the porridge shack, saying that the prescription was poisonous and was here to harm them.

Tan Chaokuan was shocked. After asking, he learned that these people did not know where they heard the remarks. They heard that the prescription from the capital was not from the Taiyuan Hospital at all, but a poisonous prescription jointly prepared by a family like Tan Chaokuan.

After all, Tan Chaokuan was the eldest son of an aristocratic family such as the Tan family in the Qing Dynasty at that time.

The aristocratic families joined forces to poison these untouchables to death, and a lot of grain fields and houses belonged to the aristocratic families.

What they said was unsubstantiated, but it happened that 90% of the patients were local common people, while the aristocratic family lived in a corner, safe and sound.

As soon as this rumor came out, Feng Shui's people couldn't hold it anymore.

Tan Chaokuan had no choice but to mobilize the troops from the surrounding guard stations, and also invited the imperial doctor who had retired from retirement and returned to his hometown. He personally asked the people in the yamen to take the medicine, proving that the prescription was not poisonous and that the family was not trying to kill them. This matter also had a lot to do with the family and the common people. Nothing to do.

The people were doubtful, so Tan Chaoguan led the yamen officers and soldiers to almost live and eat with them. Only then was he able to suppress a chaos that almost broke out.

But when the conditions of these Fengshui people gradually stabilized, Tan Chaokuan suddenly fell ill.

Previously, he had been awake for too many days, and his body was exhausted and unable to resist the disease.

When Tan Ting received the news and rushed there, his father had already passed away.

This is a natural disaster, but it is also a man-made disaster.

Because Tan Ting discovered that the previous harmful remarks about the aristocratic family with ulterior motives were actually spread by the colleague who was temporarily in charge of Feng Shui.

This Fengshui colleague was from a commoner family. He had been depressed for a long time and his name was Yang Muhong...

Thinking of this, Tan Ting's eyelids twitched a few times inexplicably.

He hoped that this person would not appear in front of him, but he seemed to have a premonition that this person would suddenly jump out in the most untimely way and disrupt his current life.

Tan Ting's thoughts wandered for a while.

A remote courtyard in Qingkan County.

Gu Yansheng counted the days, and the time for someone to come from the East Palace was getting closer and closer.

It's just that the evidence in the Jiangxi case is not with him, but was secretly placed in the hands of another person.

This person is already on his way here.

Just as he was thinking about it, Qiu Ying walked in from the expressway and said something in a low voice.

"Master, there is news about Mr. Yang. Mr. Yang is coming to Qinghan!"