In the early morning, the roosters were not crowing.

Chen Ji opened his eyes on the bed, and his hands were stroking the delicate satin of the bedding, and he always felt a little awkward.

Outside the bed, Xiaoman woke up from the small chair when he heard the sound. She held the little black cat in her arms and tentatively said, "Young Master, are you awake?"

Chen Ji lifted the quilt: "Xiaoman, please help me change a coarse quilt today."

Xiaoman was puzzled: "Young Master feels uncomfortable when he falls asleep? This satin quilt is precious, and ordinary people can't buy it even if they have money."

Chen Ji said self-deprecatingly: "Maybe I am not worthy of such a good thing. Every time I touch the satin, I will hang it in satin silk."

Xiaoman suddenly realized: "The satin is delicate, and each piece is woven with fine silk. The nobles and nobles don't feel uncomfortable without calluses on their hands. The young men have too many calluses on their hands, so the calluses will hang onto the satin silk... Whose nobles and nobles have so many calluses on their hands, they don't do rough work."

Chen Ji smiled: "I'm not a noble man."

He got out of bed and put on his boots, rolled up his sleeves, went to the ear room to carry the shoulder pole and walked out. There was a mist on the bluestone road on the Chen family trail, and the curved shoulder pole pressed on his shoulders, and the cool morning breeze blew on his face, feeling indescribable freedom.

The servants and maids of the Chen family woke up and were busy preparing hot water and breakfast for each yard.

A maid came towards her and saw Chen Ji carrying a shoulder pole and lowered her head slightly.

Xiaoman was wearing a light green skirt and followed Chen Ji. When she saw the maids holding back their smiles, she whispered: "Young Master, don't carry water in the future. Because of this, the servants in the mansion secretly said behind their backs that you are a mud-legged habit."

Chen Ji said indifferently: "Don't pay attention to them, I like to carry water."

He came to the wellhead of Qinzheng Garden, and rouled the wooden oar with a wooden handle and put the wooden barrel into the well. Even the sound of the wooden oar was dull and down-to-earth, and reassuring.

Seeing that he couldn't persuade him, Xiaoman said something else next to him: "Young master is going to Qi Mansion tonight to attend the literary party. Which clothes are you going to wear? I'll burn it for you in advance."

What Xiaoman said about burning is to use a three-foot-long copper iron to pack agarwood powder and iron the clothes. The clothes ironed in this way are not only flat, but also have agarwood smell.

Chen Ji thought for a moment: "Just wear the black big collar."

Xiaoman hugged the little black cat and thought, "I want me to tell you that you have to go to Qipan Street Liangji to make some clothes. You are a big shot now. In the future, you will definitely be able to have a banquet. How can you wear those two clothes? These officials and nobles in the capital are very sharp-eyed. They will decide how to treat you based on what jade pendants you wear and what clothes you wear. If this literary meeting is the same as the previous literary meeting, they will think you are shabby and only that piece of clothing will support the scene."

Chen Ji laughed and said, "I am a small Yulin Army household. What kind of big people are you? If they want to look down on me, they will look down on me. Have you forgotten what I said? We have to save money, save a lot of money."

Xiaoman stood by the well and widened his eyes: "Young Master, have you just won the Eight Great Hutongs and Liulichang? You can collect a lot of peace every month. It is the most prosperous place in the outer city, and there is no such prosperity elsewhere."

Chen Ji patiently explained: "There should be more than 10,000 taels of silver every month, but the amount of these silver is 90% to the Zhang family. The remaining more than 1,000 taels still have to support some people. If you want to control the business in the outer city, no one can do it."

Xiaoman said depressedly: "Isn't that a waste of work?"

Chen Ji waved the wooden oars, lifted the bucket, and said with a smile: "It's not a waste of work. Xiaoman, someone can get money, and there is a way to get it."

Xiaoman thoughtfully: "The way the young master does business is different from that of his aunt."

Chen Ji said curiously: "Why are the difference?"

Xiaoman thought for a while: "My aunt is relying on careful calculations, and you are relying on robbing."

Chen Ji was stunned and then smiled: "How can you steal money quickly if you are careful when you are careful?"

Xiaoman murmured in a low voice: "Anyway, you remember to come back from the yamen in the afternoon, at least change your clothes around you. Young Master, it's not that simple tonight's Qijiawenhui, it must be related to your marriage."

Chen Ji stopped the action in his hand: "Oh?"

Xiaoman said mysteriously: "I heard from the servants in the mansion that my wife has gone to Qi's family several times these days. Qi Xianshu, the second wife of Qi's family, has also come to our Chen's house, which should be related to your marriage. Tonight's literary meeting, Master Qi Ge is afraid that he wants the Qi family women to hide in the dark to see you. The wealthy families are all this way."

Chen Ji nodded.

Xiaoman said worriedly: "I went to find out about the Dragon Boat Festival sister. There are now three women in the Qi family who are waiting for their names in the boudoir. Among them, there are two legitimate daughters, one is Qi Zhaoning, the other is Qi Zhaoyun, and the other is Qi Zhenzhu. I don't know which woman the Qi family wants to betroth you. If you talk about family background, it should be that Qi Zhenzhu, but if you adopt it to the big house..."

Speaking of this, Xiaoman secretly looked at Chen Ji's expression: "That must be Xu your legitimate daughter."

Chen Ji remained silent and focused on rowing the oars and fetching water.

Xiaoman continued, "I'll ask you all. It's said that Qi Zhaoyun has a sweetheart, a scholar from the south, named Huang Que. Qi Zhaoning is unreasonable and unforgiving, and is the most unruly lady in the capital. He was so angry that he left several private school teachers in the Qi family."

Chen Ji smiled and said, "So amazing?"

Xiaoman snorted: "What's so amazing? The most powerful woman in Beijing is second sister. I only found out that my second sister had a nickname a few days ago, and everyone called her Yanzhihu."

"Rouge Tiger?" Chen Ji was surprised.

"Well," Xiaoman smiled and showed two little tiger teeth: "It is said that the second sister is hard to mess with. I read all the 30,000 books in the Imperial College. Except for the female warnings, I will not read the rest. I am a female Hanlin. In the 26th year of the Xu Mansion Wenhui debate, she argued her opponent with her mediocre comments and made her speechless. The loser had to swallow three spoons of paper ashes. The second sister said at the time that this was called "fooding the ancients and the present", which helped those literati grow their brains."

Chen Ji was dumbfounded: "So fierce?"

Xiaoman smiled even happier: "At the beginning, the literati was willing to invite her to the literary meeting, but later she didn't dare to hand in the invitation... I don't know why it changed later, and my temperament became more gentle."

Chen Ji bent down and carried the shoulder pole and walked back. Xiaoman carefully tentatively: "Young Master, are you planning to refuse the family marriage? I'm afraid you can't help it."

Chen Ji said calmly: "Since you can't refuse, you won't refuse. Let's decide the marriage earlier so that you can get your aunt's property back."

"Yes," Xiaoman nodded: "Once you get married, there is no reason why your wife will drag you away. Young Master, are you planning to rescue the princess and leave Ning Chao?"

Chen Ji nodded.

Xiaoman's eyes turned: "Then when you leave, can you leave my aunt's property to me? You don't need it anyway."

Chen Ji laughed: "Okay, I'll leave it all for you."

Xiaoman's eyes were shiny, and he didn't know what a small plan he was using.

...

...

Chen Ji packed up and went out, and came to the side door of Chen's mansion. When the servant saw that it was him, he hurriedly helped him open the door: "The third young master, Wanfu."

The moment he pushed open the door, the servant was stunned and subconsciously took a step back.

Chen Ji was stunned when he left the side door, and saw dozens of Yulin soldiers standing outside the door whispering. When he saw him coming out, he immediately stood up straight.

The momentum that had just emerged was bright, and one by one, said with a sharp face: "Mr. Chen."

The servant of the Chen family was so scared that he was at a loss. He didn't know whether he should call the official in charge of the mansion.

Chen Ji glanced at him: "It's okay, don't panic."

He raised his foot and stepped out of the threshold. Yu Linjun followed him and left the alley. The servant then breathed a long sigh and hurriedly closed the side door of Chen's mansion.

Outside the door, Chen Ji asked with a smile: "Why are you all here?"

Li Xuan stood still and bowed to him, "This time everyone can only escape from the difficulties. Not everyone has the ability to go in and out of the imperial prison."

All of them said with great interest: "Master, how did you do it? Everyone thought they were going to suffer in the imperial prison again. As a result, in the blink of an eye, everyone was promoted to the next level. My brother-in-law became the governor of the Yulin Army, and I became the commander. Master, do you know that the governor of the Yulin Army has been hanging in the air for seventeen years!"

Chen Ji was puzzled: "So long?"

Duobao sighed: "Mr. Chen, when I was in Guyuan, I was so offended to you. Fortunately, you didn't care about your past grudges..."

Lin Yanchu said: "Mr. Chen, I have had many aggrievances with Chen Wenren before. If I broke through with you this time, it would be considered in vain."

Chen Ji raised his hands and said, "Stop, I'm afraid of you like this."

All of them laughed: "Look, let me say, my master is not a polite person. I have told you not to be so polite. Tonight I will have a literary meeting, and I told my father that they were talking to them in Baihetang. My family is in the Shanchuantang next to me to host a banquet to entertain the brothers of the Yulin Army. Then we will prepare a flower sculpture that has been stored in the cellar for 32 years. We will not return until we get drunk!"

Amid the laughter, Chen Ji was suddenly stunned.

A familiar figure wore a hat, straw sandals, and gray cloth pants were halfway, like a groom who had just entered the city.

Li Xuan followed his gaze, but saw the cars and horses on the streets of West Chang'an. Chen Ji looked at him and there was nothing: "Chen Ji, what's wrong?"

Chen Ji smiled and said, "It's okay. I just remembered that I forgot to bring something. You guys go to Yingmao, and I'll go back."

After saying that, he turned around without looking back and disappeared into the endless stream of carriages and horses.

When a carriage passed by, Chen Ji turned into Shibei Hutong with a calm expression, and then turned right into Shuangmazhuhutong Hutong.

The next moment, the groom in front of the alley stood still and turned around: "Long time no see, sir!"

After saying that, he raised his head and smiled under his hat.

Si Cao Gui.

It was the Si Cao Gui who fled to Jing Dynasty with Wu Hongbiao.

The other party was dressed in a simple manner, just like when he was in Luocheng, as if the old traces were separated from him were not months, but days.

Chen Ji once thought he would never see the other party again, but the other party now returned to the south with the black haze of Jing Chao Military Information Department.

...
Chapter completed!