The next day was the New Year's Eve, and starting from noon, sporadic firecrackers sounded in Nanjing city.
As night falls, the sound of firecrackers gradually becomes louder and louder. Colorful fireworks also bloom all over the city, which immediately lifts the atmosphere of New Year's Eve.
The sincerity of Liu Junshiqiao's residence is incompatible with the festive atmosphere of red houses and reunions. There are no Spring Festival couplets on the closed door, only two pieces of yellowed and crispy white paper, trembling in the cold wind...
…
The house was also deserted, Liu Jing's family and Liu Li were all in their hometown in Qingtian.
According to the custom of his hometown, grand sacrifices need to be held during the Chinese New Year in the first year of his family's burial. Therefore, Liu Xiang, as the only male descendant of the Liu family, had to go back to participate in the ceremony.
As a result, only a few old servants were left to accompany Liu Bowen during the New Year.
Such a miserable New Year's Eve dinner became more and more sad as we ate, and some people began to secretly wipe their tears.
Liu Bowen sighed, and was about to put down his chopsticks, let them clean up, and celebrate the New Year on his own later, without having to worry about himself.
But I heard a burst of footsteps ahead, and the doorman's joyful shout: "Master, look who's here."
Before he finished speaking, the hall door was pushed open, and a huge figure covered the desolate night in the courtyard.
"Master." Zhu Zhen called with a smile.
The servants in the room quickly knelt on the ground, but Liu Bowen stood there stunned.
"What are you here for?"
"I'll celebrate the New Year with you, old man." Zhu Zhen took off his cloak and Hu Quan quickly took it.
"Nonsense, on the evening of the 30th, you are not with the Queen and the Emperor in the palace, and you come here to me. Are you itchy again?" Liu Bowen had a sore nose and hurriedly made a serious face.
"I took a few bites with them and toasted them with wine before I asked for leave." Zhu Zhen said, walked to Liu Bowen and sat down, took out a wine flask from his arms, and said with a smile:
"This is the pot of Chinese New Year wine on my old man's table. I brought it to you."
"You are so old, you are just messing around." Liu Bowen said with a slightly trembling voice: "Master, do you still need this pot of wine?"
"Yes, Master is not short of wine, but what he is short of is someone to celebrate the New Year with you," Zhu Zhen smiled and poured two glasses of wine. "Isn't it time for me to come?"
As he spoke, he took a glass of wine and handed it to Liu Bowen's hand. He also raised a glass and said, "Here, drink this glass of wine to say goodbye to the old year and leave all the bad things in this year."
"..." Liu Bowen took the wine glass, took a deep look at his closed disciple, sighed and said: "Okay."
The master and the disciple clinked their glasses and drank it all in one gulp.
At this time, the servants quickly removed the remaining seats and placed the New Year's Eve dinner brought by His Highness again. There was a special food box in the palace to store hot food. When the dishes were taken out, they were still steaming hot.
The King of Chu rewarded them with money again and asked them to go down and drink and make money by themselves. He accompanied his master to watch the New Year's Eve.
When the servants all left, Liu Bowen smiled and said, "I thought you would give them food stamps."
"No one will recognize my things when they come out of Jiangnan." Zhu Zhen said with a smile: "Isn't it a reward, not a scolding?"
"That's because they are ignorant." Liu Bowen said calmly: "In a few years, they will be rushing for food stamps and discarding treasures and money like worn-out shoes."
"Haha, then my old man will be so angry that he will curse." Zhu Zhen filled another glass of wine for the master and said: "To be honest, I am quite surprised by the state of the master."
"Why, do you think I will be lying on the hospital bed stiff and haggard, and my death is not far away?" Liu Bowen asked rhetorically.
"Of course I hope Master gets better." Zhu Zhen said with a bitter smile: "But before leaving Beijing, how could you not make people worry about your behavior?"
"Don't worry, this man can live for a breath, and I will be fine until the breath is held in his chest." Liu Bowen picked up the wine glass, toasted Zhu Zhen and said, "Thank you for clearing Liu Lian's reputation.
Revenge was taken."
"This is what a disciple should do." Zhu Zhen said sternly: "Although the direct murderer has been skinned and removed, the culprit behind the scenes is still at large. Let's drink this glass of wine in the future."
"Drink this cup first," Liu Bowen said slowly, "Let's figure out the next thing together."
"Okay." Zhu Zhen then raised his head and drank the wine in the glass, then looked at Liu Bowen in surprise and said: "Master wants to go out in person to meet with Hu Weiyong and his gang?"
"Yes." Liu Bowen nodded and said, "Originally, when Liu Xiang and the others left Beijing, they wanted me to go back to their hometown with them. But I didn't agree, because at my age, once I leave Beijing, I will never come back."
"Yes." Zhu Zhen was convinced. With Liu Bowen's status, he would not be able to return to the capital without being called. With his body and age, the old man would definitely not recruit him back.
"I just want to stay and fight with them." Liu Bowen also slapped the wine cup on the table and said in a deep voice: "They committed the foul first, so you can't blame me for not following the rules and killing their whole family.
Stayed!"
"Okay! What are you going to do, master?" Zhu Zhen asked eagerly.
"I plan to spend one year to get rid of Hu Weiyong!" Liu Bowen said with a very firm tone: "The struggle in the court next year will be fierce. You just stay in the capital and don't go anywhere. There are many things that I can't do as a teacher, so I can only
You do it."
"Okay." Zhu Zhen nodded without hesitation: "I have wanted to deal with Hu Weiyong for a long time, but the old man has been protecting him and not letting the elder brother check on him."
"How can he stand up to the investigation if his ass is full of shit?" Liu Bowen said slowly: "If your eldest brother finds out the irrefutable evidence, will the emperor deal with him or not?"
"So what if we deal with him?" Zhu Zhen said unhappily.
"I have told you before that it is easy for the emperor to kill Hu Weiyong. A decree is enough, which is similar to squeezing an ant to death." Liu Bowen said solemnly:
"So in the eyes of the emperor, Hu Weiyong has never been a threat. The real threat comes from the forces surrounding him - the Zhongshu Province he leads, the noble generals who obey his words, and the feudal officials of each province.
A powerful home."
After a pause, he continued: "Without Hu Weiyong as a holding hand, these forces will be dispersed. If we try to deal with them one by one, it will be difficult to achieve twice the result with half the effort."
"When it gathers, it's like a bunch of flying stars, but when it's scattered, it's like a sky full of stars?" Zhu Zhen asked with a smile.
"Uh..." Liu Bowen was stunned and said with a wry smile: "That's a bit interesting. So the emperor has always adopted a tolerant and even laissez-faire attitude towards Hu Weiyong, just to let him continue to grow bigger and stronger. When he has gathered enough power,
The participation of all parties is deep enough, and then all the efforts can be accomplished in one battle, and we can catch them all in one fell swoop."
"That makes sense." Zhu Zhen smiled and said, "My disciple thinks so too."
"It's wrong if you don't think about it." Liu Bowen smiled and sighed: "But now there is a problem. The incident at the beginning of the year scared our Hu Xiang. Although the news passed later, he came back again as if nothing was wrong.
However, he became very cautious when dealing with matters. He was very obedient to the emperor and very polite to the prince.
"Under such circumstances, it is difficult to just wait for him to make a mistake." He looked at Zhu Zhen steadily and said, "We have to rely on His Highness to stimulate him to take action."
"What master means is," Zhu Zhen said with a sly smile: "Let's scare him into terror by attacking everyone."
"That's what it means." Liu Bowen nodded approvingly. The growth of this disciple gave him great comfort.
This is one of the reasons why he was able to get over the pain of losing his son.
