Chapter 840: Visiting the Market, I Decide My World
Today's Jinling City is much more lively than in the past. The streets are full of people, shops and vendors are also coming and going, and the faces of pedestrians are filled with festive smiles.
Especially the children, running and playing in groups, their silver bell-like smiles infected the crowds coming and going.
Zhou Chen held Gong Yu's arm and walked on the street. The talented man and the beautiful woman did not attract too much attention, because there were not a few men and women like them, and they were all carefully dressed. The men were handsome and the women were beautiful. Beautiful.
In fact, this situation is extremely rare within a year. After all, in this era, although women's status is higher than that in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, under normal circumstances, women still rarely go out, especially when shopping with men. There are very few.
But today is New Year’s Eve, and many women will choose to go out on this day, because the huge Jinling City will be particularly lively on this day, and there will also be many performances. It is a rare spectacle in the year, and those who have been carrying it at home all year round will Women, of course, want to come out and join in the fun.
"Jinling City is really lively today."
Gong Yu looked at the bustle on the street with a smile. She had stayed in Jinling for several years, but this year was the happiest. She was in a good mood and was happy to see everything.
"It's quite lively."
Although this kind of liveliness is much worse than the urban world where Zhou Chen lives, in this era, it is probably the most lively and prosperous area.
"Hey, there's a clay figurine maker over there. Come on, let's go make a clay figurine."
When he came to the small stall where he made clay figurines, Zhou Chen asked the vendor to make them according to his and Gong Yu's appearance.
The craftsmanship of the clay figurine vendor was really good. They didn’t have to wait long and quickly made two lifelike clay figurines.
"Not bad."
Zhou Chen took it over and took a look, and was very satisfied. This craftsmanship is purely manual, without any machine addition, and it can be done like this. This craftsmanship is definitely the best. No wonder he has the confidence to set up a stall in the capital.
After giving him enough money, Zhou Chen took the clay figurine and left with Gong Yu. Then he bought a bunch of candied haws for Gong Yu and the two of them ate them separately.
It has to be said that as the capital of Daliang, Jinling City is really Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, especially during this festival, when all kinds of people show up.
There are various stalls and vendors selling food and drink, performing acrobatics, selling rouge jewelry, etc., etc., too many to count.
After just walking around two streets, Zhou Chen's hands were already full of things, and the same was true for Gong Yu. In the end, there was really no choice but to return to the Su Mansion early.
When we returned to the Su Mansion, the sky had turned dark, preparations for the New Year's Eve dinner had begun, and Mei Changsu had already gathered everyone in the side hall.
More than a dozen people gathered in the side hall, and they were not just sitting around. Some were hanging things, some were cleaning, and some were playing mahjong.
Yes, on this New Year's Eve, everyone was rarely relaxed, and Mei Changsu naturally kept everyone's nerves tense.
Mei Changsu did not sit down to play cards, but played with Fei Liu. The ones playing cards were Xia Dong, Li Gang, Lin Chen and Doctor Yan.
When Zhou Chen and Gong Yu came back, the mahjong players didn't even look at them, but Fei Liu saw so many good things in Zhou Chen's hands and ran over happily.
"Brother Chen."
Zhou Chen chuckled and handed him all the delicious and fun things in his hand.
"Fei Liu is so good, I'll bring it to you next time."
"Thank you." Fei Liu smiled broadly and ran to the side holding his things.
Zhou Chen walked to sit down next to Mei Changsu and asked, "How do you feel?"
Mei Changsu asked in confusion: "What?"
"The atmosphere of the New Year. Isn't celebrating the New Year in Jinling City more festive than celebrating the New Year in Langzhou?"
"The festive atmosphere and excitement in Jinling City are indeed far superior to those in Langzhou. I am really happy to be able to celebrate the New Year here this year."
Mei Changsu's expression was rare and relaxed, which was rare in Langzhou before.
Zhou Chen knew that the reason why Mei Changsu was in a good mood was because this was his home. He had lived here for more than ten years, especially in a situation like this when he didn't know how many days he had left to live. Returning to his hometown The mood is even worse.
What's more, people celebrating the New Year with him this time are Nie Feng and Xia Dong, whom he hasn't seen for more than ten years.
Everyone was chatting and laughing, and soon it was dinner time. Mei Changsu sat in the main seat, Lin Chen sat on the left, followed by Nie Feng, Xia Dong and others, Zhou Chen and Gong Yu sat on the right, followed by Yan Doctor, Li Gang and others.
Mei Changsu smiled and distributed red envelopes to Fei Liu and other Jiang Zuo League disciples. Everyone in the hall was filled with smiles and celebrated happily.
Everyone who had eaten did not leave, and gathered together to wait to watch the New Year's Eve. At this time, watching the New Year's Eve is a very grand event. Regardless of whether you are rich or poor, it is the most joyful thing for a big family to gather together to watch the New Year's Eve. matter.
Zhou Chen and Gong Yu waited until the New Year's Eve was over before leaving the Su Mansion. However, they did not return to the Mansion immediately. Instead, they circled around and came to a house.
Gong Yu and Zhou Chen stood on the wall together, looking at the mansion in front of them.
"Sir, don't you really want to go and take a look?"
Zhou Chen shook his head and said: "Forget it, time has passed. Let's wait a little longer."
The reason why he didn't recognize his mother was not only because he was not ready, but also because the things he and Mei Changsu had to do were too big. If he recognized his mother, he would not be able to hide it. will be more worried.
"Let's go back."
Returning to the mansion, Zhou Chen found that Butler Lu was still there, as were Lan Yu and Ziyu. As for the others, they had temporarily left the mansion.
A new year, a new beginning, even though it is early in the morning, there are still some things that should be done, and you should exercise when you should exercise...
After whispering for a long time, Zhou Chen hugged Gong Yu and fell asleep together.
On New Year's Eve last night, when the whole country was celebrating, something happened that shocked the palace.
The team sent by Emperor Liang to deliver vegetables actually had a group of people beheaded outside the palace wall. An internal prisoner and a group of forbidden troops were wiped out.
When Mei Changsu found Zhou Chen, Zhou Chen was playing chess with Gong Yu. When Gong Yu saw Mei Changsu approaching, he retreated first.
Mei Changsu didn't say any nonsense, and said directly: "One of the twelve teams that delivered food last night was assassinated outside the palace wall. I guess their purpose was to plot the position of Brother Meng's imperial army commander, and some The person with this motive is most likely Xie Yu."
Zhou Chen was very calm. He knew that this matter had happened in the plot. The reason why he did not tell it in advance was because he felt that it would be useless to say it.
There are a total of twelve teams, and it is impossible for them to keep an eye on them all. The Jiangzuo League does not have that many experts in the capital.
What's more, Zhuo Dingfeng and others took action this time. Among the people in Beijing, except for him and Fei Liu, others would not be opponents when they met Zhuo Dingfeng. If they were to spread out, it would be detrimental to them.
So he wasn't prepared to prevent this from happening. Even if it happened, it wouldn't actually do much harm to them.
Anyway, they were all ready to take action against Xie Yu, so whether Xie Yu succeeded or not this time, it would not have much impact on them. The day of Xiao Jingrui's birthday would be the end of Xie Yu.
What's more, Emperor Liang was not really stupid, how could he easily let Xie Yu become the commander of the Forbidden Army.
"So you went to see King Yu, did you catch up?" Zhou Chen asked knowingly.
Mei Changsu sighed: "Have you guessed it? It's true that there was no time. King Yu was still a little eager for quick success. Although such a thing happened, although it had something to do with Brother Meng, it was impossible for His Majesty to withdraw just for this matter. Brother Meng holds the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Guard; but if King Yu goes to plead for Brother Meng at this time, with His Majesty’s suspicious character, he will definitely think too much.”
Zhou Chen said calmly: "Prince Yu is actually very smart. If he becomes the emperor, he may not be much worse than the old guy now; the difference is that back then, the old guy had a group of good friends who he could trust with his life and death. Good subordinates can be trusted, and the military, courtiers, and nobles all have support; in comparison, even if the Duke of Qing, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment are not overthrown, King Yu is still not as powerful as the old guy."
"What's more, he has now lost the support of the military, the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Justice. It is normal for him to lose his mind in a hurry. Of course, according to my estimation, under normal circumstances, King Yu should not be that stupid. It's very possible that the woman Qin Banruo is instigating him behind his back."
Mei Changsu nodded and said: "Your analysis is correct. Our plan is to cut off the minions of the Crown Prince and Prince Yu. Now Prince Yu's situation is in our plan, but I didn't expect that he would be so impulsive in his actions now. No matter what, we cannot let King Yu’s power be overwhelmed by the Crown Prince at this time. Only when the Crown Prince and King Yu fight can Prince Jing and us benefit.”
"Our next target is Xie Yu, but the time is not up yet, so before that, we still have to help King Yu stabilize the situation. By using King Yu, we can completely get rid of Xie Yu."
"Then what are you going to do? Send someone to cut off Xie Yu's minions, the master of martial arts in Tianquan Villa?" Zhou Chen guessed what Mei Changsu was thinking.
Mei Changsu said: "I just have this idea. Since they want to use Jianghu to achieve their goals, then I will let them know who is in charge of this Jianghu."
Zhou Chen gave a thumbs up and praised: "This domineering sentence completely replicates the spirit of the young general Lin Shu back then."
Mei Changsu rolled his eyes: "That's what I came to talk to you about. By the way, Lin Chen asked me to bring you a message, telling you to go and play with him. He's too boring to be alone."
"Don't he like playing with Fei Liu? Now that he has a brother Nie, he shouldn't be bored."
"Fei Liu doesn't want to play with him at all. Brother Nie can only accompany Sister Dong and read books, and he can't go out."
"Then you go back and tell him that if he wants to come, he can come. I will rest at home these days and not go anywhere."
"I will bring your words to him, and I will leave first."
"Well, although the New Year has passed, the weather has not warmed up yet, so you should go out less and pay attention to your health."
"I'll pay attention."
…………
After sending Mei Changsu away, Zhou Chen returned to the room. Gong Yu had already poured hot tea for him.
Seeing that Zhou Chen was not in a high mood, she asked in a low voice: "Sir, what's wrong? Did something happen?"
Zhou Chen sighed: "It's not like anything big happened. It's just that Xiao Shu's health is getting worse and worse. If he continues like this, even if I use my inner strength to treat him every day, it won't have much effect."
"Sect Master, is his body really that bad?"
"The fire and cold poison back then was too fierce. If I didn't have a special constitution, I would be like him. In fact, I also told him to speed up, but he was still too cautious and wanted to do everything to the end. Paving the best road for Jamel Xiao, even at the expense of my own body, I can't persuade him."
Zhou Chen knows the plot. In fact, if he wants to speed up, he can definitely do it. But Mei Changsu doesn't know the plot. He wants to take the plan into his own hands, so sometimes he is not interested in the adventures and guidance proposed by Zhou Chen. Any gambling plan is frowned upon.
Zhou Chen couldn't defeat him, so he could only follow his wishes. If he took action privately and rashly disrupted Mei Changsu's plan, he might only irritate Mei Changsu.
After more than ten years of getting along, he truly regarded Mei Changsu as his best friend, brother and relative, so he felt very complicated now.
I don't want to irritate Mei Changsu, so I can only let Mei Changsu worry about it, but I am also worried about Mei Changsu's health, so I can only stay by his side to protect him.
With the help of his internal strength, Mei Changsu's body is much better than in the original work. According to his estimation, it should not be a big problem to live for another five years, provided that he does not receive too much stimulation.
Gong Yu didn't know how to persuade him, so he could only say: "Perhaps the sect master has his own considerations. Young Master, don't worry too much."
"Yes, he is the most assertive. There are not many people who can persuade him now."
Zhou Chen watched Mei Changsu's transformation all the way from the talented young man to the cunning strategist he is now.
The news of the New Year's Eve murder was not completely spread. Emperor Liang finally hired the Xuanjing Division to investigate the case. The persons in charge were Xia Chun and Xia Dong.
Xia Dong was now on Zhou Chen's side, so after receiving the order, he immediately came to the Su Mansion carefully and talked about the matter with Mei Changsu.
Although Mei Changsu told her his guess, and Xia Dong also agreed with it, there was no real evidence after all. Moreover, after she knew that Mei Changsu had his own plan, she was ready to cooperate with Mei Changsu and pretend to be with Xia Chun. Investigation, secretly began to collect information on Xie Yu.
Zhen Ping has been in a lurking state since he arrived in the capital. After this incident, Mei Changsu finally decided to officially activate him.
Over the years, under Zhou Chen's 'provocation', Zhen Ping's martial arts has improved rapidly, especially in swordsmanship. He is extremely talented and can almost catch up with Zhou Chen.
Compared with Langya's top ten masters list, he may not be close, but compared with those martial arts masters recruited by Zhuo Dingfeng, it is a dimensionality reduction blow.
Jiangzuo League's intelligence capabilities quickly revealed the identity and location of Zhuo Dingfeng's group of masters, and then Zhen Ping took action and picked them all off.
Although this incident did not cause any commotion in the court, it caused a huge commotion in the arena around Jinling.
The most angry people were undoubtedly Xie Yu and Zhuo Dingfeng.
In order to recruit these masters, Zhuo Dingfeng spent a lot of money and effort, and spent nearly half a year. In just a few days, they were all selected. How can he not be angry?
Both of them knew that it was Mei Changsu and Jiangzuo League who took action, but there was no way. They were inferior to others in strength and could not use the army in the capital. What else could they do? There is no way to retaliate, only to break teeth and swallow blood.