The Treacherous Minister Who Sold Out His Teacher for Fame (3)
After parting ways with Liu Shengyan, Ji Changze went straight back to his residence. The original owner had been practicing in the court for many years, and he had not only developed the ability to be a smiling tiger.
He was also famous for his intelligence when he was young. Although he later went astray, his scheming and ruthless methods were no less ruthless than others. Although the mistress of the house stayed behind closed doors and didn't care about the affairs of the house, she was still well-organized after all this time.
Anyway, no matter what they do in private, they don't dare to relax at all in front of the master of the house.
When the servant who was working saw Ji Changze, he immediately put down what he was doing and saluted respectfully: "Master."
"Um."
Ji Changze responded briefly and walked straight to the most remote small courtyard in the mansion. It was originally an abandoned woodshed. Back then, Miss Li Li Ziqian knew that her husband had killed her father out of righteousness. After returning from her hometown, she locked herself up. In here.
She refused to come out. She just wanted to pray for her father. This situation of self-imprisonment was exactly what the original owner wanted. She put on an affectionate look on her face and sent all the food, drinks and clothes to the yard. She only regarded her as her wife. A tool person with affectionate personality.
As long as you have to do superficial work, you will naturally do it well. Although the courtyard is remote and small, there are many maids and servants. Everywhere is cleaned in an orderly manner, but the door is closed. Li Ziqian herself does not come out, and her husband is not allowed in.
So Ji Changze just stood outside the door and asked the doorkeeper girl who immediately bowed cautiously when she saw him: "Madam, can we eat today?"
"As far as I'm concerned, Master, Madam has finished her meal."
Ji Changze asked again: "What are you using?"
The janitor girl was stunned. She didn't know how to answer this question.
She quickly lowered her head and said, "Sister Taohua is going to the kitchen today. I didn't look at the dishes."
Tao Hua, the eldest girl next to Li Ziqian, happened to hear a sound outside and came out to see what was going on. She happened to hear these words and hurriedly replied: "To tell you the truth, my wife is using quail soup, five delicacies and three delicacies soup today."
"Well, you only ate these few things, nothing else?"
Taohua hesitated for a moment, then answered: "My wife said she wanted to eat venison stew this morning, but the kitchen didn't buy any venison today."
Ji Changze, who was wearing a red uniform, raised his eyebrows and said coldly: "This is how you serve the madam. When the kitchen is gone, you just send them to buy it. Didn't I say, give the madam whatever she wants?"
Taohua felt scared when she heard his stern voice.
Knowing that the powerful man in the court took action, he quickly explained: "My slave sent someone to buy it, but many shops selling venison in the kitchen road today do not have venison. Perhaps it is because of the refugees around the capital. The deer was very difficult to catch, and many hunters had not caught it. After hearing this, the lady decided to forget it. "
Ji Changze listened and said a few more words before leaving. Taohua looked at her master's retreating back, breathed a sigh of relief, and turned back to the courtyard.
In the yard, Madam Xu's dowry was standing in the yard drying sweet-scented osmanthus flowers under the sun. When she saw her coming in, she asked, "Who came just now?"
"It's the master. I asked my wife what she had eaten."
Taohua stepped forward to help.
Aunt Xu saw the sweet-scented osmanthus blooming just right yesterday, so she said that before she left the palace, she liked to eat sweet-scented osmanthus cakes the most. When she got up today, she picked the sweet-scented osmanthus flowers herself, picked them one by one, washed them, and arranged them neatly to dry in the sun. Down.
While helping to select the sweet-scented osmanthus, Taohua told Aunt Xu what had just happened: "Auntie, you didn't see that the master looked very ugly when he heard that my wife wanted to eat venison but didn't eat it. I was so frightened that I didn't dare to move. Later, I said that we couldn't buy venison, and the expression on the master's face softened. He also told my wife to be sick several times during this time of year, and told me to close the windows and take good care of her. "
She was a little happy for her wife and said: "I heard that the master is very majestic outside and is a first-class figure in the court, but when he comes to our wife, he is so attentive and considerate. After a while, I will go in and tell the wife, if the wife knows She will be happy if the master cares about her so much."
After hearing this, Nanny Xu's expression changed slightly: "Okay, Madam loves purity and doesn't like to hear these things. Just tell me these words. Don't say them in front of Madam."
When Taohua entered the mansion, six years had passed since the incident. People outside may still talk about it, but in Ji's mansion, all the servants who knew about it kept silent.
After all, all the servants who talked about this matter were beaten and sold out. In the long run, some servants like Taohua who later entered the house and basically never left the house would naturally not know about it.
They only saw the master's flattery and consideration for his wife, and the fact that her wife had been praying in the house all year round because of her frail health. Therefore, many people did not understand why her wife would treat such a good-looking, powerful and affectionate person so coldly. her husband.
After drying the sweet-scented osmanthus, Nanny Xu ordered people to take out the books in the study to dry, and then did some needlework. When she was about to go back to the house, she suddenly heard the voice of a little girl chirping outside, and she frowned. Go out and reprimand: "Why are you shouting so loudly? You are making trouble all day long. I don't care about you, and you are getting more and more unruly."
"Mommy."
"Hello, mama."
Although Aunt Xu is usually strict, she loves these little girls very much, so the little girls are not afraid of her. After bowing one after another, they gathered around her with a smile and said to her:
"Mommy, Huan'er just went to the kitchen to get hot water. He saw the master in the kitchen chopping venison, so he asked him where the venison came from. Guess where the master said the venison came from?"
Madame Xu said with a fierce face: "How should I know? Maybe a hunter hunted and sold it to the mansion."
"No, no, Madam, you will never guess. The chef said that the venison was hunted by the master."
Madame Xu was shocked: "Master?"
Her first reaction was disbelief: "You silly girl, you even lied to me? The master hasn't hunted for many years, how could he hunt deer himself."
"How dare I lie to you, Madam? If you don't believe me, ask Fuquan who is beside the master. I just met him and he told me in person that the master took him out on horseback and went directly to Xiaohu Mountain. After seeing the deer, he shot it dead with one arrow from such a long distance. "
"Fuquan also said that the master went for the deer and came back after shooting the deer. The master chef told me that the master personally sent the deer to the kitchen and asked the kitchen to quickly prepare stewed venison for the lady. He must have heard that the lady wanted to eat venison in the morning but didn't have it. The master is really good to the lady. "
The little girls also followed suit and chirped in envy. Most of them were young, only thirteen or fourteen years old, and they were all energetic. When they talked, they could talk for ten days and eight months.
Mrs. Xu originally wanted to scold them, but looking at their young and happy faces, she remembered when the lady was in her teens. At that time, the lady was also so happy every day, unlike now, the joy was gone, only the deadness was left.
She sighed, ignored these little girls, and turned into the house.
Inside the house, Li Ziqian was quietly copying Buddhist scriptures with her eyes downcast. She was beautiful and had fair skin. Although she was in her thirties, her face did not look old. It was just that her skin was a little too white because she had not seen the sun for many years.
"Madam, take a rest."
Madam Xu handed her tea. Seeing Li Ziqian take the tea, she tentatively told her about Ji Changze hunting deer for her.
"The master has been consistent with the lady for many years. Just because the lady wants to eat venison, the master can immediately go out to hunt deer and come back. I don't think he is pretending. Madam, why don't you talk to the master calmly? Maybe there was a misunderstanding in the past?"
Seeing that Li Ziqian was silent, she continued carefully: "Madam should also think about Miss Leping. Although Madam Liu and Lord Liu treat Miss Leping very well, don't they still have an old lady in their family? The master is a second-rank official in the court. Miss Leping lives under the old lady of the Liu family. How can it be better to be with the master and his wife?"
"Okay, don't say .”
Li Zixi finally spoke, saying lightly: “Madam, you have a bad memory. I’m afraid you forgot that Leping is a child of the Liu family. How could he live in my house?”
Madam Xu sighed: “Madam, I see that the master really loves you like a treasure. You are only in your thirties. You shouldn’t be tortured in this small courtyard. Please let yourself go.”
She watched Li Zixi grow up. To say something against the rules, in her heart, Li Zixi is like her own daughter. She feels uncomfortable watching the young lady who used to be so innocent and happy now torturing herself.
Madam Xu also hates Ji Changze and hates him for betraying their master. But no matter how much she hates him, life still has to go on. Li Zixi’s best years have been spent here. She doesn’t want the young lady who was once a quirky lady to be trapped in the small courtyard for the rest of her life.
Li Zixi knows that these words are for her own good, but she doesn’t want to listen to them.
"I'm tired, Ma'am, please go down."
After saying that, she lay directly on the couch, and after listening to Ma'am Xu sighing, there was the sound of the door closing gently.
She was the only one left in the room again.
Li Ziqian opened her eyes and looked at the carvings above the step-down bed.
This step-down bed was made shortly after she was born. On the day she got married, this bed came to the Ji family with her dowry. Maybe this bed was just a bed when her father was alive, but when he died in injustice and grief, Li Ziqian thought of her father when she saw this bed.
How could she let it go?
Ji Changze, her husband, the person she regarded as someone she would walk with in this life, stood in the court and joined the ranks of those who wronged her father. Her father's lifelong reputation became infamous.
How could she, how could she let it go.
As for bringing Le Ping to her side, Li Ziqian had never thought about it. She was really scared. She couldn't see through Ji Changze.
Why could he show his deep love and respect for her, his respect and trust for his father, and even say that his father was like his own father, every word was sincere.
What kind of deep scheming could he have pretended like this for ten or twenty years, to deceive her, her father, and the world.
A month ago, she received a letter from Ji Changze, saying that he missed her and was worried that she would have to stay alone in her hometown with such a big belly. Such sweet words and such caring.
How sweet and happy she was at that time.
A month later, she knew that the other party had slandered her father for his intention to rebel.
It was just a short month.
Back in Beijing, facing her husband who tried to persuade her with gentle words and told her that her father was really rebelling, Li Ziqian screamed heartbreakingly.
Ji Changze knew clearly that her father could not rebel.
She knew what he knew.
At that time, looking at the person who was always gentle and tolerant of her, Li Ziqian suddenly had a terrible idea. Maybe it was not that Ji Changze had changed, but that he had never changed. Even now, his disguise had not been removed.
Such a person is too scary.
If his daughter was with them, who knows if Ji Changze would love the child and then abandon her without hesitation.
Thinking of her daughter who lived in the Liu family, Li Ziqian calmed down and closed her eyes.
I thought, mother doesn't want you to be loved by everyone, as long as you are happy and safe.
Over there, as soon as Ji Changze entered the study, he saw Liu Shengyan's investigation materials on the table.
The original owner was so powerful and scheming, and was keen on eliminating dissidents. Naturally, he had a lot of people under his command. The investigation ordered yesterday was already investigated today.
He picked up the investigation report and read it while eating fruit.
Although Liu Shengyan had suffered a lot of grievances since he was a concubine's son, although the Great Wen Dynasty put filial piety first, his mother could not torture the concubine's son openly.
The means in the inner house, lack of food and clothing is not allowed, the quota is what it should be, otherwise if it is spread out, the reputation of the mother will be ruined.
Although Liu Shengyan's family was detained in the mansion and not allowed to leave, and his little salary was given to his stepmother in the name of filial piety, on weekdays, when his stepmother saw him, she would smile a little and dare not drop the "motherly heart".
So, in the case that the other party also valued reputation, Liu Shengyan was a big-hearted person. The suffering he suffered from his stepmother was not very serious (he thought), but his living standard was a little harder, but other things were okay.
It's just that he is big-hearted, and he is a man, so he doesn't care much about other people's eyes. For his wife and children, the nominal mother-in-law is particularly difficult.
Liu Shengyan did not take a concubine. His son and daughter were born to Mrs. Liu. The eldest daughter Liu Leping is sixteen years old this year, and the youngest son Liu Le'an is eleven years old this year. Liu Le'an is fine, he has to go to school, and he rarely gets along with the old lady of the Liu family on weekdays.
Madam Liu and Liu Leping are not like this. As a junior and a female family member, they have to pay respects once a day. Generally, when they go out to visit, they have to ask the old lady first. If they go to ordinary people's houses, it's okay, but if they go to some noble family, they must give a few of the old lady's biological granddaughters.
They are like this when they go out, so you can see how they are in the backyard on weekdays.
The mother and daughter are now in a situation where "they have suffered a lot, but not, but they have not been wronged, but not really. If they get angry, it's all small things that are not easy to get angry, and if they don't get angry, they feel depressed."
The old lady relied on filial piety and her actions were barely justified.
There was new cloth in the mansion, beautiful and suitable for young girls. She gave it to her favorite granddaughter. In the end, the beautiful cloth was distributed, and only the gray and unsuitable cloth for young girls was left for Liu Leping. That's quite normal, isn't it?
When she went out to visit someone, she kept praising her favorite granddaughter, and then said a few words in a gentle tone of loving a child:
"Our child Leping is fine in other aspects, but her temperament is too boring. On weekdays, she doesn't say a word for half a day. Look, she thinks her sisters can't talk, and doesn't play with them. She is really a child."
Not communicating with others, not getting along well with sisters, and having a temperament like a child may not be a big deal for a man, but for an unmarried woman, it is simply smearing her reputation.
But the old lady always said it with the loving attitude of an elder, and Liu Leping couldn't refute it, so she could only tolerate her.
Mrs. Liu was not someone who could suffer a loss. After knowing it, she immediately imitated the old lady and acted lovingly. When talking to people, she "inadvertently" mentioned the little shortcomings of the old lady's own granddaughter.
After she did that, the old lady was reluctant to calm down.
Ask someone to investigate Liu Shengyan, and it turns out that Liu Shengyan only occupies one page in the information, and the rest are all about the troubles of his family.
Ji Changze read it patiently, and felt that it was fortunate that Liu Shengyan was stupid, otherwise if it were someone else, growing up under such a stepmother, he would be depressed by this kind of secret suppression.
That is Liu Shengyan.
Stupid, when he was still young, if the old lady said something to him, if it was not true, he would ask directly, making the stepmother embarrassed, and finally had to give up this trick.
But he is a man, after all, he is different from women who value reputation more.
Ji Changze knocked on the table.
Liu Leping is his biological daughter.
However, Liu Shengyan must not know that the child is Ji Changze's.
He should know that it is not his biological daughter, otherwise he would not strictly not enter her "boudoir" when the girl was not even half a year old and was still a baby.
He thought about it and still felt that he had to find out whether Liu Shengyan knew about it or not.
In the Liu family courtyard.
Liu Shengyan looked at the name written on the letter from left to right.
That's right, it was because he stepped on Ji Changze's shoes that this guy found an excuse to take revenge on him.
Ji Changze took the person away, and then asked him to rescue the person. What's the trouble? He made it so mysterious. According to his current status, it's not easy to rescue someone. He can be transferred back to the capital directly.
Liu Shengyan is good at doing practical things, but he is not so good at thinking about these things.
He thought about it for a long time but couldn't think of it. He really had no choice. He left the study and came to the door of the boudoir. The door was open, so he stood in the yard and shouted to the inside: "Leping, come out."
Although the separation of men and women is not as strict as in the previous dynasty, it is normal for parents and brothers to enter the boudoir of women, but Liu Shengyan has never been in. Even if he wants to find his daughter, he would rather stand in the yard and shout.
Especially at night after changing into pajamas, even if he had something to do, he would send the maid away and he would never see his daughter at this time.
The maid inside heard it and hurriedly said to Liu Leping who was practicing calligraphy: "Miss, the master is calling you outside."
Liu Leping put down the pen and walked out: "Dad, what's the matter?"
"Dad asks you, if there is a person, he..." Liu Shengyan blabbered: "So why do you think he did this?"
Liu Leping listened carefully, thought about it, and said uncertainly: "If it is really like what Dad said, that person deliberately drove people away and secretly saved people, since that person is very powerful, if the family of the driven person paid to buy safety, he would definitely Of course, they would not act so secretly. Perhaps, there was a hidden reason for driving him away. "
"If it is true as Daddy said, that person has a good reputation and will take revenge for any slight, if he hates him, why not use some other means, but just drive him away? So my daughter thought, maybe that person was in trouble, and the person who drove him away knew about it, so he just found an excuse to send him away. If it was someone in the court, Daddy, think about whether there was any major event in the court that would implicate someone during the time that person was driven away. "
"Big event..."
Liu Shengyan thought about it, and he really thought of one.
During that time, an official in Zhanxi coveted money and bullied the people, causing public resentment. As the noise was going on, someone mentioned that the official who was in office before that official was very good, and that the official had served as an official beside the eldest prince, so the topic turned to how good the eldest prince was in the past.
Someone actually tried to persuade His Majesty to release the eldest prince in the court, but His Majesty got angry. Not only was that person dismissed from office, but the officials who were close to the eldest prince back then were in trouble again.
That little official seemed to be working under the eldest prince.
"So... cough cough cough... I mean, your father had thought of it a long time ago, and it was just a test for you."
He suddenly realized, but still pretended to have expected it: "Okay, it's okay, you go back to the house."
When Liu Leping returned to the house, he couldn't hide his excitement, walked back to the main house quickly, and said to Madam Liu who was washing her hands: "Tell me, how can our daughter be so smart."
"Follow me, it must be like me."
After saying this, he found out that something was wrong. Liu Leping was not his biological child. When their child died, Madam was in unbearable grief, and happened to pick up this baby girl, so she brought her back to raise. Over the years, the couple kept this matter a secret to prevent Liu Leping from knowing that she was not his biological child.
They are not his biological daughter, so how could she look like him?
So Liu Shengyan quickly changed his words: "She is still influenced by me as a father."
On the roof, Ji Changze straightened up after listening to the couple's conversation.
As expected, Liu Shengyan knew that his daughter was not his biological daughter.
She helped him raise his daughter for so many years, not only treating her as her own, but also sacrificing herself to give her great confidence in her intelligence.
What a good person.