Li Xiu was stunned for a moment, then turned around and said word by word in a solemn tone: "What did you just say? Dare you say it again."
"I don't want to get married." Xue Bai said calmly, "So I went to Mrs. Guo's house to offer cooking, hoping that she would find an official position for me so that I could be worthy of being the daughter of the prime minister's house."
He refused to serve Yang Yuyao the night before and stood in the courtyard. Last night he had been teaching Deng Lian how to cook. This was seen by many slaves.
Yang Yuyao was not as strict as Li Linfu in controlling the slaves in the palace, so that rumors about her were flying everywhere, such as the little monkey she raised turned into a handsome man, etc. She didn't care... In short, Xue Bai believed that the Youxiang Mansion would be able to
You can find out by asking.
Then since he didn't take that step, he wouldn't be killed.
Li Xiu thought he should be furious, but he wasn't. On the contrary, he finally understood Xue Bai a little bit.
They are all ambitious men, who wants to be dependent on others and live a useless life?
This idea just came to mind, and Li Xiu thought again that the family of Youxiang Mansion was extraordinary and unmatched by other families. Xue Baitai didn't know how to praise him.
"Stupid!"
Li Xiu raised his hand and pointed a finger and cursed: "You think you are Li Taibai, and you can serve in the Imperial Academy as soon as someone recommends you? How old are you, and what reputation do you have? You must know that what I have made for you is the best arrangement."<
/p>
"Perhaps I am arrogant." Xue Bai said: "To be honest with you, Shiro, I pride myself on doing more for the Prime Minister's Mansion than just becoming the Prime Minister's son-in-law."
"Ao, before you have setbacks, everyone is pretentious." Li Xiu said lightly: "You Xiang's Mansion is not a place where you can bargain."
Xue Bai is here to bargain.
He believes that whether a political marriage can be successful depends on both parties' assessment of their respective values.
In his opinion, he really thinks that Li Linfu is not a good marriage partner.
Among the prime ministers of the past dynasties, regardless of loyalty or talent, they are known for being jealous of talents, jealous of talents, and suppressing subordinates. I am afraid that no one can be better than Li Linfu. He always takes advantage of his subordinates and stares at them every day to see who is too outstanding.
May threaten the phase.
In the eyes of a saint, I don’t know whether he is the best minister, but he is definitely the worst boss.
Besides, does Li Linfu have a political legacy?
There must be a lot of them... homes confiscated, exiled, beheaded.
Of course, on the way to progress, you must not take the initiative to block any road. The more difficult the road, the more likely it is a shortcut. Xue Bai believes that it still depends on Li Linfu’s sincerity.
Talk, fight, whatever it takes.
He wants a lot, so he has to attract others to compete and make the Right Prime Minister realize his value.
"I knew Juro didn't believe in my talent, so I went to Mrs. Guo's Mansion and took advantage of the situation to open a restaurant. Although merchants are a humble business, it's not difficult to make money every day." Xue Bai said: "The betrothal gift from the Right Prime Minister's Mansion.
, I can afford it."
Li Xiu's face darkened and he suddenly felt stressed.
He originally truly believed that Xue Bai was only worthy of becoming the prime minister's son-in-law, but now the situation seems to be different.
~~
Behind the screen, a bench fell over and a round fan fell on the ground.
After Li Qiniang ran away, Jiaonu still sat there and listened for a while, then turned to the backyard.
After bypassing a courtyard, in front of an exquisite flower pavilion, Mian'er was sitting on the steps, holding her little head with both hands, with a dejected expression.
The two chatted for a few words in a low voice, and Jiaonu climbed into the flower pavilion.
There is a woman standing at the railing, wearing an elegant and clean white skirt, with a petite figure.
"Seventeenth Mother." Jiaonu called in a low voice.
Li Tengkong turned around.
A few days later, after the New Year, she would be sixteen years old, in her 28th year, with flawless girlish skin, a slightly thin face, and an aura of worldliness in her beauty, and she looked like she should not be approached by strangers.
Today, other women tend to tie their skirts above their neck and chest. Unlike her, the belt is tied around her waist, outlining her slender waist, making her lose some of her plump beauty and become more cool.
Her hairstyle is also different from that of ordinary women. Her thick and black hair is pulled up, and a crown like lotus petals is surrounded by a bun, like lotus flowers.
It is difficult for anyone to imagine that Li Linfu, who is mentally tough, would have such a fairy-like daughter.
At this time, her expression was a little lonely, but her eyes were very stubborn. She flattened her mouth and said: "Don't try to persuade me anymore. I just won't get married. If there is no room for the old girl in my family, I will become a Taoist priest." p>
"Don't be upset, Seventeenth Mother, it's not what you think..."
"If he doesn't want to marry, what else can he do?" Li Tengkong said, "I know what you are worried about. Don't worry, I will not send you back to my grandpa. I will take you to the Taoist temple, okay?" p>
"This is not what I'm a slave for."
Jiao Nu showed no sign of violence in front of Li Tengkong, and was even a little panicked.
She had worked hard before, but could not get rid of her lowly status. It was because Li Qiniang wanted to call her for questioning, so she asked her to come to her side. Although she only narrated normally when she answered, it sounded like something to others.
She has been praising Xue Bai vigorously. If this marriage fails, she will inevitably be punished again.
"Seventeenth Mother, it's not that Xue Bai doesn't want to marry Seventeenth Mother, it's that he doesn't want to get married."
Li Tengkong was slightly stunned, as if hesitating between cultivating Taoism or marrying that person. He pursed his lips slightly, said "hmm", raised his beautiful eyes and asked briskly.
"Really?"
"It's absolutely true."
"Then he is willing to marry?"
At this time, Li Xiu boarded the flower pavilion and replied: "It's true. He sounded very crazy, saying that he could afford the betrothal gift from the Right Prime Minister's Mansion."
Although Li Teng's air is fairy-like, he still has the feelings of a girl. Hearing this, he felt a little shy and couldn't help but turn his back.
"I don't want to get married. My father and brother have to force each other hard."
"We have to get married. Seventeenth Mother has good taste. If we just talk about him, he is indeed more talented than I expected." Li Xiu stood on the railing and talked about Xue Bai's restaurant.
"In this way, the reason why he went to Mrs. Guo's house was because of this matter... then he... he... did he have anything to do with..."
"No." Li Xiu said: "He rejected Mrs. Guo Guo. I asked people to check it. All the slaves in Mrs. Guo Guo's house were talking about it. Xue Bai refused to serve and stood in the snow for a long time. He also wrote a poem, which is true.
It’s good to think of yourself as a member of the prime minister’s house..."
Li Tengkong lowered his head and whispered: "What he said is that he hates not meeting each other when we are not married."
"Say something nice to avoid offending others."
"The poem is well written, but it is a pity that it is not complete."
"I'm not here to praise him." Li Xiu said softly: "He knows how to adapt. As long as my grandpa teaches him a lesson, he will become wiser. You don't have to be unhappy about it, do you understand?"
"Why should we teach him a lesson? A man with great ambition should not want to marry into a wife." Li Tengkong said, "Brother, why don't you help him so that he doesn't want to marry into a married woman?"
She said she didn't want to get married, but she didn't mean she didn't want the marriage.
Li Xiu could understand this and sighed: "I knew you would be so soft-hearted. It's unnecessary. I didn't mention the Prime Minister's family background. I just said that if he had seen you in person, you would be so talented and beautiful."
, and the one with the best temperament, he must be willing to marry..."
"No. I didn't understand it before, but after thinking about it carefully today, I realized that I don't want a son-in-law. If I get married, I should marry a man who can support the family."
"His family status must not be high. How could a wealthy family lose his son and not find him for so many days?"
"No matter, there are thousands of choices to choose from, but this person is transcendent. Why force him to compromise? If my father and brother want a submissive son-in-law, let me marry him. I won't marry him."
Li Xiu was stunned when he heard this.
His eyes fell, and it was rare to see a slight blush on this sister's cheeks.
She had always had a very high vision, and when she looked through the window of choosing a husband, she had never found anyone who could catch her eye. She only said in private, "That Xue Bai is quite good, with a transcendent temperament and a unique style of his own. He has never...
I’ve seen such a person before.”
Although Li Xiu couldn't see how good Xue Bai was, she knew that if she missed this time, Seventeenth Mother would never marry again.
"Oh, there's nothing we can do about you."
He sighed and walked away helplessly.
Li Tengkong looked back, knowing that his brother would find a way, and smiled proudly.
She then thought about what her brother said, "If he has seen you." With a thought in her mind, she called Jiao Nu and spoke in a low voice.
"Let's do this. I can go to enjoy the lanterns during the Lantern Festival, and I can run into him by chance. You can arrange it..."
Afterwards, the lights of Shangyuan, the handsome young man, and the fantasy of the future added more light to the girl's eyes.
Jiaonu listened, but only thought that this is how the Wei Jian case happened.
~~
Xue Bai heard Li Xiu say, "Someone has a gift for you to take back." After waiting for a while, he saw Jiao Nu coming out with a big package.
"What is this?"
"Juro was cutting new clothes the day before yesterday, and he also cut one for you." Jiaonu said, "I'll bring it over for you."
"Juro takes great care of me."
From this, Jiaonu followed Xue Bai again, as if to take care of him, the son-in-law of the Right Prime Minister, to prevent him from being robbed by someone.
Xue Bai didn't complain. Being able to be monitored showed that he still had value, otherwise the Right Prime Minister's Office would have killed him with one knife.
Now that the restaurant has opened, its strength will naturally grow slowly, and he is no longer in a hurry.
Next, you must live in peace. The fight in the court is fierce. The more you dance at this time, the faster you will die.
When I walked to the front yard, I encountered many officials entering the Youxiang Mansion. The first one wearing a crimson official robe was Yang Shenjin.
Behind Yang Shenjin were a group of his subordinates at Yushitai, including Wang Xian and Luo Xishi, who looked like they were about to go to war, so majestic.
Xue Bai stepped aside and looked directly at Pei Mian, who was behind the crowd.
He smiled politely, as if saying hello, to everyone.
Pei Mian acted as if he hadn't seen him and followed Wang Xing without looking away.
As the officials passed by, Xue Bai planned to leave.
"Xue Bai."
Yang Shenjin turned around and called out.
Shi Luxuan, the imperial censor who was walking behind him, didn't know that he would stop suddenly, bumped into him, and received a glare from him.
Xue Bai's face was calm, and he saluted solemnly: "Yang Zhongcheng is polite, what's the matter?"
In full view of the public, he did not intend for anyone to find fault.
Yang Shenjin looked upright and said in a solemn tone: "I personally interrogated Ji Wen last night and found important testimony that others ignored, which is related to you."
For a moment, everyone was stunned.
Luo Xishi secretly hated him because he was the "other person" Yang Shenjin said who ignored important testimony.
Pei Mian's eyes were calm, and he was filled with surprise and doubt in his heart. He claimed that he wanted to kill Xue Bai more than anyone else, and even though he was enduring it, why did Yang Shenjin suddenly take action? At this time...
"Since this matter exists, I will definitely cooperate with the investigation." Xue Bai responded.
"Tomorrow at noon, go to the Yushitai to ask questions."
Yang Shenjin's expression was incomprehensible, and after saying that, he put his hands behind his back and left.
A crowd of officials followed behind.
Among them, the imperial censor Lu Xuan frowned deeply as he recalled the scene just now.
Today, Yang Zhongcheng not only summoned Xue Bai for questioning, but also summoned Yang Zhao... Both of them are people who are said to be in the news in Chang'an City today and have personal grudges with Yang Zhongcheng.
From the perspective of someone like Noh Hyun, who has finally risen to the top through political skills, under the current situation, anyone who knows the mood of the right prime minister should not make extraneous matters.
Yang Zhongcheng's political achievements were extremely outstanding. When he inherited his father's position and was in charge of the revenue and expenditure of the Taifu, the collection and allocation of prefectures and counties never stopped. He is definitely not a fool to have such talent.
Then why do you act like this? Can't you just put up with your personal grudges for the time being?
What’s the deep meaning?
"I can't figure it out, I can't figure it out..."
~~
Xue Bai left the Youxiang Mansion, his face was still calm, but he was thinking non-stop in his mind.
He could imagine that Ji Wen must have confessed a lot in that prison.
Under severe torture, he confessed to colluding with the East Palace and harboring dead men, but he must have told a lot about him.
"Xue Bai, it's this kid. I found out that he is the son of the traitor Xue Xi, so he killed and silenced him..."
