Under the tall red walls of the Forbidden City, Tan Ting turned around and saw a certain Taoist priest coming out together.

He was really dressed as a Taoist priest in the palace, wearing a green robe and looking pure and ascetic. It was really different from the dazzling red robe he wore in the tea house.

Tan Ting met Gu Yansheng and bowed briefly to him.

Gu Yansheng saw him taking a look at his Taoist robes, and he probably knew what he was thinking, but he didn't respond and just said something.

"Master Tan is so courageous."

There are more than a hundred officials in the family, but no one dares to stand out.

But he dared to hand over a sign to ask for an audience at this time and recommend himself to the East Palace.

When the prince heard that he was willing to recommend himself, the way he looked at him changed.

Gu Yansheng also took another look at Tan Ting.

Tan Tinggong said that he was not worthy of the title, "Taoist Master can risk his life thousands of miles to investigate the case, and Tan also dares to stand up and make a difference."

He changed his title again.

As he spoke, he glanced at Gu Yansheng from the corner of his eye, and his voice was a little lower.

"Speaking of which, it's just a little selfish."

As he said that, his eyes focused on Gu Yansheng again.

Gu Yansheng knew what he meant. In order for Yizhen to gain a foothold in the family, he had to suppress this contradiction.

Of course, this is only the first level of his meaning. The second level is probably to remind himself that when he is not in the capital, he should continue to be a Taoist priest with a pure heart and few desires.

Gu Yansheng couldn't help laughing.

He glanced at Tan Ting and saw that he was standing with his hands behind his back, looking serious. He couldn't help but think that at this critical moment, he still remembered these things...

But Gu Yansheng also thought of that day at tea. In front of the courtyard gate, he held Yizhen's hand, and Yizhen looked like she was used to it.

Perhaps it was because of this that Yizhen treated him...

The smile on Gu Yansheng's lips fell slightly, but he nodded.

"I understand."

None of them said it directly, and neither of them answered directly, but they reached some agreement.

Tan Ting raised the corners of his mouth slightly, and left with Gu Yansheng.

On the way home, he happened to see a newly opened jade shop. Tan Ting couldn't help but stop and take a closer look. He saw that the shop had a full range of varieties. Probably because it had just opened, there were quite a few decent jade stones.

Tan Ting looked at it and was about to pick up a few items and go back, but someone came to find him.

The visitor was not from the Tan family, and the word "Lin" was neatly embroidered with green thread on his clothes.

The visitor came forward and said, "Uncle, our eldest lady would like to ask you to come over and have a talk."

"Now?"

The visitor nodded.

Tan Ting could only put down the jade in his hand temporarily.

He had just come out of the palace, and his aunt invited him to come to the house, which shows that Lin's information is indeed well-informed.

Tan Ting did not refuse. His move today would be known to the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty and the common people. It would be better to go to the Lin family in advance to say goodbye.

...

Lin Mansion.

Mrs. Lin asked Aunt Zhou, "Yuan Zhi hasn't arrived yet?"

Aunt Zhou said not yet, "Madam is too impatient, how long has it been?"

"How can I not be impatient?" Mrs. Lin rubbed her hands. His forehead was filled with worry, "It's too late for others to avoid it, so he'd better hand the sign to the East Palace in person. What's the point of handing out the sign now? He must have recommended himself!"

When he was talking, Tan Ting hadn't arrived yet, Mrs. Lin's only son Come here after school to say hello.

Mrs. Lin had been infertile for many years, and the childless years were really difficult for the Lin family. However, no one, whether it was Mr. Lin Ge or Mr. Lin, made it difficult for her. Mr. Lin, Lin Xu, did not even have a maid in the same room. , let her feel at ease and not be anxious. If there is really no heir, she can adopt one.

She became more and more concerned about the way the Lin family treated her. Fortunately, God opened his eyes and allowed her to successfully conceive a child, a boy.

Now this son Lin Teng is just ten years old. At such a young age, he looks like the direct son and grandson of the clan. Mrs. Lin is secretly very happy.

In the past few years, the husband and wife were loving, the family affairs were going smoothly, the son was eager to learn, and even his natal nephew passed the exam and became the youngest Jinshi in the dynasty. The natal family was getting better and better, and Mrs. Lin's life was envied by everyone in the capital.

She herself didn't know how to cherish her blessings, but something was wrong with her nephew. He was so good that he sacrificed himself for the common people of a poor family.

At this moment, she asked a few questions about her son's school affairs, and a call came from the courtyard saying that Tan Ting was here.

Mrs. Lin couldn't help but feel anxious, so she only asked her son to say hello to her eldest cousin, and then sent everyone away. Her aunt and nephew opened the window in the hall to talk.

Mrs. Lin also didn't like Tan Ting to beat around the bush and got straight to the point.

"What did you do when you handed the sign to the East Palace?"

Tan Ting said bluntly, "Auntie should be able to guess that she went there to recommend herself to the Gyeonggi scholar."

After saying this, Mrs. Lin frowned.

"What's wrong with you? What do these things have to do with us? It's the common people who are responsible for the trouble. At most, the Fengling Chen family and some other people are involved because of the Jiangxi fraud case."

She said that the Lin family has nothing to do with this matter . , The Tan family has nothing to do with this matter.

"The Lin family didn't mix in, so why did you, Yuan Zhi, mix in?"

But Tan Ting shook his head.

"Lin is the head of the four major families and the model of the family. In fact, he should have intervened in this matter."

However, Mr. Lin's stance was quite neutral, with a hint of avoidance in his neutrality.

"Yuanzhi doesn't know what Mr. Ge is thinking, but the matter cannot continue like this. Someone from the aristocratic family must come forward. Why can't it be his nephew?"

Mrs. Lin saw that he was so determined and did not want to discuss the rights and wrongs of the matter with him. Just the Word.

"I also discussed with your uncle first that there is a vacancy in the fifth rank in the Ministry of Punishment, so he can leave it for you. There are many officials in the family of the Ministry of Punishment. You are going to protect the common people. I don't know whether the common people will appreciate it, but it is inevitable. "You want to make many people from aristocratic families feel alienated from you," she said, "This is your first serious official position. You will be a fifth-rank official. Your future career will be smooth. If you suffer setbacks, wouldn't it be a small gain but a big

loss?"

Madam is not an ordinary housewife, she is the clan wife of the Lin family. She knows a lot about the affairs of the court, and it takes more than a day to plan for her nephew.

Tan Ting thanked his aunt for her feelings for him, but he still shook his head.

"If you lose your original position for the sake of one or two official positions, or to seek advantage from various aristocratic families, my aunt thinks, is it still the Tan family?

" Ting, if you give up your position for the sake of official position, you will give up the reputation created by your ancestors.

These words made Mrs. Lin choked for a while.

She frowned and glanced at Tan Ting, "You are just like your father and grandfather. You always have your reasons. But when your father wanted to go to treat the epidemic, I stopped him, but he went anyway. It turns out you saw it too." When

Tan Ting suddenly mentioned this, he looked up at his aunt and wanted to tell her that there was actually another story behind his father's death, but after a pause, he didn't mention it. exit.

He has arranged for people to investigate the matter. Before the investigation comes out, it is best not to let too many people know about it.

He was speechless for a few breaths, but Mrs. Lin thought of something else.

"Did Mr. Xiang encourage you to go?"

She had heard about the day he held Ms. Xiang's hand and left the Lin family.

He said something unhappily at the moment.

"You do like her."

After hearing what she said, Tan Ting immediately said no.

"Yizhen didn't instigate me. She didn't know about this at all, and aunt shouldn't blame her for it." After

he said this for a moment, he saw that his aunt Mrs. Lin's face didn't look good.

Tan Ting also remembered what happened at the Lin family that day.

It's obvious that his aunt is not happy with Xiang Yi. If he breaks up with Xiang Yi at this time, I'm afraid her aunt will blame Xiang Yi even more.

The timing was wrong, so Tan Ting didn't say anything more, just said one sentence.

"Yizhen is very good, and her background as a commoner is not wrong. My aunt will know about it in the future."

Mrs. Lin frowned but didn't say anything else.

It was already late at this meeting. Mr. Lin was out of Beijing temporarily for something. It was inconvenient for Tan Ting to visit Mr. Lin at such a late hour, so he said goodbye to Mrs. Lin and left.

Mrs. Lin saw that her nephew had decided to leave, so she could only ask him not to give up his whole heart for the common people, but to always be wary of those people, and asked her son to send his cousin off.

As soon as he left, Mrs. Lin sighed heavily.

Seeing Aunt Zhou coming over, she sighed, "His attitude towards Mr. Xiang is really beyond my expectation..."

Aunt Zhou did not dare to discuss the affairs of the DPRK, but following Mrs. Lin's words, Mentioned a spring feast.

"The eldest lady's spring banquet has carefully invited girls from so many families. How can this be so good?"

Mrs. Lin also had a headache, but thinking about her nephew who was only in his early twenties, she felt that she was doing this for him. There is nothing wrong with thinking.

"He is still young and does not know the importance. It is even more important to have a wife from a noble family by his side."

A gust of wind blew open the carved window, and Mrs. Lin looked out.

"Nowadays, the government and the public are still in the same position as the palace, officials, and common people, but the rise of aristocratic families is inevitable. The common people can only be reduced to the lower class if they are dim. And the aristocratic families are also divided into high and low. The small aristocratic families must be like the big aristocratic families. Moving closer, gathering upwards layer by layer, the last one is the four major families standing on the top of the mountain. Although the Tan family is no longer as glorious as before, it is still just below the four major families. As long as it maintains a good relationship with each family, it can still be counted. A rich family..."

She is the wife of the Lin family. She can almost see that the future structure will only gather layer by layer from bottom to top. People below can no longer jump to the top, and those above It's impossible for it to fall down.

Staying here is most beneficial to the big family, and the same goes for the Tan family.

Mrs. Lin didn't understand her nephew's persistence and just sighed.

"I really have to find a wife from a noble family for him as soon as possible. I can't let him make the road narrower..."

In this thought, she couldn't help but think of Xiang Yi.

"I don't know what kind of person she is. It's best to be honest and obedient. I won't treat her badly..."

When I went back, the new jade shop was already closed.

Tan Ting stopped for a moment in front of his home, turned around and spoke to Zhengji.

"Don't tell Madam about my departure from Beijing tomorrow."

Zhengji quickly agreed.

Xiang Yi didn't expect him to come back so late, but he ordered the food to be prepared on the stove.

Tan Ting saw his wife rolling up her sleeves to serve him soup. The soup warmed up for a while before it fell into his stomach.

He told her not to be busy, asked the maid to do something, and took her hand and sat at the table.

"A new jade shop has opened in Jingli. Yizhen should go and have a look at it."

Xiang Yi said, but Tan Ting thought of the time when he passed by a jade-selling town on a boat and she refused to let him spend money.

So Ruo Ruo said something unintentionally.

"Let Zhengji go when it's time to pay."

He said this, and saw that she paused, showing hesitation.

Tan Ting stopped talking and gently put down his chopsticks.

While eating, he put down his chopsticks. Xiang Yi couldn't help but look over and saw the man's not-so-bright look on him.

Are you angry again?

She thought to herself that she hadn't had time to say the word "no" yet.

However, she also vaguely understood what he meant, and in that look, she could only say softly.

"I got it."

As soon as he finished speaking, Tan Ting's eyes regained the joyful brightness before. He picked up the chopsticks again and picked up several dishes in succession for his wife.

Seeing that the bowls were stacked high, Xiang Yi didn't even stop until he said no.

Tan Jian and Yang Zhen would not return to Tan's house for two days, and there were only the couple at the table.

The two of them abided by the rule of not saying anything after eating, and they didn't speak again after that. They just touched the chopsticks and plates, and made some warm and lively sounds, which continued around the dinner table.

Xiang Yi ate a little too much, mainly because there were too many vegetables put into her bowl.

Tan Ting didn't notice when he was picking up the vegetables. Now that he saw his wife holding on, he was afraid that she might have accumulated food during the night, so he took her hand and walked around the backyard twice.

Xiang Yi thought of appeasing the candidates and asked Tan Ting.

"Has the court decided on a candidate?"

she asked, and Tan Ting looked down at his wife slightly.

The moon rose above the willow branches, leaving only the last touch of clear blue on the horizon, with patches of flying clouds smearing across it.

A shallow light fell on the faces of the people around her, highlighting her gentle and beautiful face.

Tan Ting agreed softly.

"Who is he?" Xiang Yi looked a little more serious.

Those who are willing to go at this time must not be ordinary people.

She looked at the old man beside her and saw that he seemed to be smiling slightly, then she said.

"It's Mr. Huang San from the Huang family in Denghe."

It turned out to be Huang Liuniang's father.

Xiang Yi thought about the identity of the third master, and it was indeed suitable. However, she did not expect that with the behavior of the eldest son of the Huang family, he would actually let the third master go.

Now that he had a candidate, Xiang Yi didn't ask any more questions. He just said that he hoped that Mr. Qi would be safe, and the two of them continued to walk quietly in the garden.

The weather is getting warmer, and the flowers in the garden are blooming one after another. Together with the many flowers that Yang Zhen sent before, you can still smell the fragrance of the flowers even if you can't see the beautiful colors at night.

The two held hands and walked for a while, and Xiang Yi felt much more comfortable. When he was standing on the waterfront pier to rest, there were fish swimming over in the pond, shaking their heads and tails.

Xiang Yi took the fine millet handed over by the maid to feed the fish. The moon in the sky and the moon in the water reflected the light together, and the ripples of light shone on her face.

She stretched out her hand and sprinkled it on the fish in the distance, revealing a section of her white wrist.

At this moment, a fish fluttered, and its red scales flashed past, shattering the moon in the water, causing a splash of water to fall on the thin white wrist.

Xiang Yi said softly.

Just as she was about to take out her handkerchief to wipe it, she didn't want to see anyone but she took out the handkerchief, held her hand in his big hand, and wiped her wrist carefully.

He was so close that you could hear his breath.

Xiang Yi was stunned for a moment, but when he raised his head to look at him, he caught his eye.

The man breathed into her ear and whispered something.

"Yizhen, today is the tenth day."

...

Xiang Yi had never agreed to the rule of the tenth day, but the uncle seemed to have made this rule long ago.

In the main room, red clouds seemed to fill the sky from the tent.

Xiang Yi's waist was extremely sore, and he was finally able to rest for a while during his break.

The man seemed to have noticed her discomfort, and put his big palm on her waist.

There was still a thin layer of calluses on his fingertips, and when he lightly rubbed it, a numbness spread.

And with the gentle support of the big palm, the relationship between the two became closer and closer, so much that there was no air at all.

Xiang Yi had no energy left at all, and felt that he was getting better and better every time.

At this time, he somehow picked up her limp wrist with his other hand. Xiang Yi didn't know what he was going to do, but noticed that his palm was pulling her wrist upwards, and finally he gently placed her hand on it. around his waist.

Xiang Yi looked at him in surprise. Tan Ting looked calm and cleared his hoarse throat.

"Yizhen can help me."

These words immediately brought Xiang Yi's mind back to the bumpy ride in the car that day.

But what was even more different from that day was that her palm was placed on his waist without any strands of clothing separating her.

The waist was tight and undulating, yet surprisingly hot.

Xiang Yi only touched it once, and was so shocked by the astonishing heat that he quickly removed his hand.

"No... no need..."

Xiang Yi couldn't help but notice the palms of his hands.

The heat from the waist of the man just now seemed to still remain in the palm of her hand. The heat was traveling backwards upwards, and in the dim tent, there was a little warmth on her face.

It's just that the tent was too dark, and Tan Ting couldn't see clearly the changes on Xiang Yi's face. He just saw his wife politely declined his waist again and turned her face away, so she didn't say anything anymore.

The intimacy between him and her was always a bit different...

He didn't say anything, but he held her waist with a little force.

In this way, Xiang Yi became more and more exhausted, until he seemed to hear a question in a daze.

"...I don't know if Yizhen will miss me."

Missing whom?

Unknown to Xiang Yi, he was washed and carried back to the tent, where he slept until dawn the next day.

The old man was always in high spirits, but he didn't know where he was now and was not at home.

Xiang Yi asked, only to hear the servant say that the uncle had gone out early in the morning. She thought he went out to do things as usual, so she didn't ask further.

I took care of a few trivial matters first, thinking that Tan Jian and Yang Zhen were coming back soon, and today was a free day, so I asked someone to pick up the car and went to the newly opened jade shop that Tan Ting mentioned.

Coincidentally, I met Huang Siniang and Liu Niang on the street.

Si Niang bowed to her and stepped aside politely, but Liu Niang was very warm.

"How come Mrs. Tan has the time to go out today?"

This is exactly what Xiang Yi wanted to ask Huang Liuniang.

She looked at Huang Liuniang's expression, thought for a while and asked.

"I heard that your father has gone out of Beijing to appease the candidates?"

These words made the Huang sisters stunned. Huang Liuniang and Huang Siniang looked at each other.

Siniang said it was not her third uncle, "Third uncle has not left the capital."

Xiang Yi was surprised, but heard Huang Liuniang ask her.

"Madam, don't you know who went there?"

Xiang Yi didn't know, but her eyelids twitched.

"Who is it?"

Huang Liuniang answered her in disbelief.

"The person who is going to comfort the candidates today is your uncle!"

When the words fell, Xiang Yi settled on the spot.