It was raining heavily and there were few pedestrians on the street.

A carriage with the sign "Eight Immortals Traveling to the Sea" was speeding past on the street, splashing water from its wheels.

Since the opening of Xiyuan, the business of carriage shops has boomed, and the Eight Immortals Car Shop is the largest among them. The carriages of the "Eight Immortals Traveling across the Sea" can be seen almost everywhere in the streets and alleys of the capital.

The car in front of you is also an ordinary carriage with green curtains, which is unremarkable. But if a knowledgeable person takes a closer look at this time, he will find that the car is pulled by a good Liaodong horse, and the driver is in such a heavy rain.

, Sitting on the shaft of the car, he didn't move at all, and the car drove extremely smoothly. It was obvious that he was not an ordinary person.

The car turned into Renshou Square and stopped at the side entrance of Shen Mansion. The coachman in a straw raincoat and a bamboo hat went to knock on the door. The concierge responded in time. When he saw the face under the bamboo hat, he was extremely polite, but he said apologetically: "Our second master will accompany you."

Grandma went to Ge Lao's Mansion. She went there early in the morning, and it hadn't rained yet when she left. Looking at the day, I really don't know how long it will take for her to come back."

The coachman had no choice but to turn around and rush into the car through the curtain to report back. There was silence for a moment, as if hesitating, and finally sighed and said: "With our status, it is not appropriate to go to Mr. Ge's Mansion. Ask Changshou and

I didn’t go with Mr. Shen. If not, we’ll go back and look for him.”

Soon the carriage turned into the back street of Shen Mansion, where all the servants of Shen Mansion lived.

The coachman was familiar with the roads and found Changshou's gate. After a while, Changshou was wearing a raincoat and wearing wooden clogs and holding an umbrella. He followed the coachman to the carriage. He picked up the curtain and got into the carriage while laughing and cursing: "The boss of the gang is getting more and more arrogant."

Well, why, isn’t it that the government refuses to get off the bus?”

But soon, he stopped laughing, and saw a man with his mouth tied and gagged lying down at Du Laoba's feet.

Seeing Changshou stunned on the spot, Du Laoba smiled bitterly and said, "How dare you put on airs with Brother Changshou? I can't even get out of the car." He grabbed the man's hair, forced him to raise his head, and said to Changshou: "

Look at this guy, does he look familiar?"

The rain outside was pounding and the sky was dark. Changshou squinted his eyes and couldn't see clearly for a while, "Eighth Master, don't show off. Since Tian'er is like this, he even brought people to find our Second Master. When the Second Master is not here, he comes to see me again.

It's obviously an important matter."

Du Laoba said seriously: "Brother Changshou will not forget that the first time you came to my store, you ordered wine, meat and vegetables and went to the village outside the city to have fun. On the way, you met a group of Shanxi disaster victims. This person was one of the leaders in Naples at that time.

"

Changshou's expression immediately became solemn, and he took another look at the man, and saw that he was in his forties, with a dark complexion and the most ordinary face of a farm man. He had no features at all, and it would be difficult to find him in a crowd.

It had been too long, and that person was the first to admit everything. He was an insignificant person. Changshou could not remember it for a long time, but he knew the whereabouts of that group of people later. He first rested in Shenjiazhuangzi for a while, and then went to the west.

The garden provided relief work, and later the emperor issued an order to investigate the case of Nanhai Junjun and Yibin, and repatriated all the refugees who were affected by the case.

This person shouldn't be here anyway.

Du Laoba seemed to have noticed what he was thinking, and did not go around in circles, saying: "This man was found by my men in the village where Zhao Wencai pretended to be my boss. There are still a few good players in the village, so

He has a Nanbian accent, but his mouth is tight and difficult to pry open. I am not very familiar with Nanbian Green Forest, and Brother Tian Feng went to Shanxi again. I came here because I wanted to hand this man over to the second master, and later I wanted to

Please Shunzi go back with me and get to know each other."

This Shunzi's name is Tian Shun, and he is Tian Feng's younger brother. Like Tian Feng, he was an orphan picked up by Tian Peng and took the surname Tian.

Tian Shun originally lived in the green forests of eastern Fujian in southern Jiangxi. After Shi Tiantai wiped out Tian Peng's family and spread the word, his life was not easy.

After Tian Feng settled down, he wanted to recruit more people. Naturally, he would not fail to send messages to several fellow apprentices who were setting up their own businesses outside. Tian Shun was the one who had the closest relationship with Tian Feng among the younger brothers, and he was also the first to bring his family and family to join him.

.

After Tian Feng followed Zhao Hongpei to Shanxi, Tian Shun took over Tian Feng's business in Beijing.

Tian Shun and Tian Feng's livelihoods were similar, and "She Xinzi" did a lot of work, so he was quite familiar with them, so Du Laoba came up with the idea of ​​asking him to get to know him.

Changshou nodded and said: "Tian Shun is in the mansion, so let him go with you. The second master has gone to the elder Ge's mansion and won't be able to come back for a while. Did the eighth master leave him here with me, or..."

"I'll leave you here for now. When the second master comes back, please send a message to the Eight Immortals Automobile Shop at the corner of the street. I'll come back later," Du Laoba said immediately.

After the two of them had reached a consensus, Changshou followed the carriage to the side door again and opened the door. The carriage went straight into the mansion and drove outside the courtyard of the outer study. Then he lifted a bulging sack from the carriage and brought it into the study.

*

The rain didn't stop until Youchu. Shen Rui and his wife had already had lunch and dinner at Yang's house before returning home.

Not long after the two entered the house, Changshou hurried over and whispered a few words to Shen Rui.

Shen Rui frowned and asked him to go to the study first, while he and his wife went to Xu's place to pay their respects as usual.

Xu's courtyard is always very lively in the evening. During the day, the children will study with their husband. After school, they will come to the main courtyard with their mother to greet Xu. Xu usually leaves them to eat and let them

Chasing and playing on the porch was a great time.

Shen Rui paid his respects and went to the study room first. Yang Tian was pulled by Mrs. Xu and sat down beside her. He conveyed Yang Tinghe and Mrs. Yu's greetings to Mrs. Xu in a low voice, and also talked about Yang Tinghe and Yang Shen's plans for this time.

Opinions on Shen Rui’s incident brought about by the turmoil of occupying private land and concealing local taxes.

"My father said that this matter has nothing to do with our family. The emperor personally experienced it, and Heng Yun's disciple also approved it. Even if someone deliberately leads Heng Yun to him, it will be useless." Yang Tian said, "Mother still

Please feel at ease."

Mrs. Xu held Yang Tian's hand, patted the back of her hand when she heard this, smiled gently, and said, "I'm sorry to bother you, I'm worried about you." She didn't seem worried. Then she talked to Mr. He, Zhang Qingbai and others.

Today's rain reminds me of Mr. Xie's letter after returning to Shandong.

"It has rained quite a few times since the beginning of summer. I'm afraid there will be waterlogging in North Zhili... Shandong Province is still suffering from drought..."

"It's just near Jinan Prefecture, other places are fine."

"The imperial court waived summer and autumn taxes in Shandong last year, and they will definitely waive them this year. Since Jiangsu is well-established, disaster relief will be cheaper."

Although Yang Tian often listens to her father and brother talking about political affairs, and has experienced frame-ups both inside and outside the palace, she is still young after all, and as a newlywed, her husband's family is involved in issues, which inevitably makes her a little anxious and angry.

.

However, the relaxed atmosphere of the Shen family, how calm Xu was, and listening to everyone's chatter made her feel more at ease than the Yang family's stepmother and sister-in-law consoling each other.

Mrs. Xu is like the anchor of the Shen family. No matter how strong the storm is, as long as she is here, there will be no chaos in the Shen family. Yang Tian couldn't help but admire her more and more, and secretly wanted to imitate this kind of demeanor.

But over there, Shen Rui, who was in trouble, was not too worried.

Brother Shou met the refugees together with him at the beginning. Brother Shou knew the specific situation best. Although he later wrote a note to comfort him, only Brother Shou knew about it.

Regarding the resettlement of the refugees, the British government and other dignitaries came out to submit letters and loaned out Zhuangzi in the suburbs. Many aristocratic young men working as errands around the young emperor, headed by Zhang Hui, took care of the specific affairs.

At that time, all the discerning people in the court knew that it was the little emperor who had given the order, and the cabinet quickly passed the resolution. Later, facts proved that this method was very effective. Almost no refugees died of hunger and cold, and it also solved a lot of problems for the Xiyuan project.

Most of it is a matter of manpower.

Now when we come to settle old scores, no matter how hard we argue, we can't find fault with him, Shen Rui.

In particular, there are not many people who know about the existence of Zha Zi. Nine times out of ten, they are from the inner court.

As Yang Tinghe analyzed with him before, "On the surface, it looks like Liu Jin's person, but that's not necessarily true." When all the clues clearly point to Liu Jin, it is actually intriguing.

"Now that this matter has come out, if it was improperly handled at the beginning and caused the refugees to gather in the suburbs of Beijing and threaten the capital, that is also a matter of the cabinet. In any case, it cannot be blamed on you, a young Hanlin who has just entered the court." Today.

Yang Tinghe analyzed it like this with Shen Rui, "Since you said that Zha Zi's incident came from the inner court, then he came here for you, the holy family."

Yes, it makes no sense to put Shen Rui on this matter in the court.

Although Shenjiazhuang participated in the resettlement of the refugees at that time, he was inconspicuous among the nobles. At that time, Shen Rui was just a small scholar. At that time, Yang Tinghe and Wang Hua were not in high positions. Even if they are involved with Shen Rui now, it would be hurt.

Don't come with these two people.

And if it was the inner court's method, the purpose was very clear, which was to plant a seed of doubt in the little emperor's heart, making him suspicious of Shen Rui and alienating him.

"Pile up and destroy the bones." Yang Tinghe said.

Shen Rui also nodded silently. One or two things would certainly not shake the little emperor's trust in him, but if there were too many things, or if one of them changed from qualitative to quantitative, then it would be hard to say.

In the inner court, with Liu Jin's current power, there is really no need to deal with a "little person" like Shen Rui.

Although Wang Hua and Yang Tinghe rejected Liu Jin's solicitation, they did not offend Liu Jin. Unlike Li Dongyang, they did not strongly criticize Liu Jin.

Zhang Yong is still in the same boat as Liu Jin.

It can be said that Liu Jin had no quarrel with Shen Rui and had no reason to harm him.

As for the one who had a rift, a reason, and the energy to take action... Qiu Ju was the only one left.

Qiu Ju had just kicked Zhang Yong to Shanxi. I'm afraid it was just the moment when he was proud that he would take action boldly.

Since the Marquis of Huichang has not been able to win the vanguard of the government army recently, it is reasonable for Qiu Ju to frame Zhang Hui, frame Shen Rui, and even create obstacles for Liu Jin.

Yang Tinghe naturally agreed with Shen Rui's judgment, but also warned Shen Rui: "Dongchang is not a trivial matter, and Qiu Ju also has a holy heart. If you want to touch him, you must be extra cautious. Don't act rashly. If you have any plans, I must work with you."

Master will check with you."

"Don't worry, father-in-law," Shen Rui twitched the corner of his mouth, his eyes filled with coldness, "Since he has also caused a stumbling block for Liu Jin, there is nothing wrong with the son-in-law here. Eunuch Liu will take care of him."

Yang Tinghe was silent for a moment, sighed, shook his head, and said: "Liu Jin is a treacherous person, and it is not easy for you to borrow his knife. Although he is domineering, if he could move Qiu Ju, he would have done so long ago."

Although Shen Rui nodded in recognition, he also thought in his heart that as long as the time came, Liu Jin would not allow Qiu Ju to jump up and down like this.

When Du Laoba hurriedly came to visit, Shen Rui also ordered the first thing: "The thing that harmed Brother Zhang and me this time is probably related to Qiu Ju. You guys keep an eye on Qiu Ju and Dong Dong.

The factory should be more careful and report any clues."

Du Laoba gritted his teeth and said: "It is indeed this eggless castrate! Second Master, don't worry, he will pry one of the eggs out even if there is no crack!"

He paused and then said fiercely: "Second Master, look, should we let those people with southern accents come to Qiu Ju?"

Conspiracy? Shen Rui laughed dumbly, shook his head and said: "Qiu Ju is the governor of the East Factory! He is in charge of the emperor's confidants. If he conspires to rebel, there will probably be no one trustworthy in the world. And what's the benefit of him compiring to rebel?"

This is clearly a frame-up, which allows him to take the opportunity to use frame-up to clear away all other crimes."
To be continued...