After getting off his horse, leaving Sun Dayong and others waiting outside, Lin Jue followed the officials and entered the palace gate after being inspected by the palace gate guards. He walked north along the broad avenue. Along the way, the officials gathered in twos and threes.
As the group walked, they whispered to each other, guessing the emperor's intentions for the sudden morning meeting today. Some speculated whether something big had happened, and some speculated that the matter of establishing a prince should be discussed at the morning meeting today. Lin Jue was silently alone.
As they walked, the officials beside them greeted Lin Jue from time to time. Lin Jue didn't recognize most of them, but they seemed to all know him.
Turning the intersection ahead, two familiar figures were slowly walking forward surrounded by several officials. Lin Jue recognized who they were. After thinking about it, he hurriedly took a few steps forward, bowed and saluted: "
Lin Jue has come to greet you two adults."
The few people in front stopped and turned around, their faces full of surprise. The two leaders were none other than Yan Zhengsu, Fang Dunru and several officials from the Ordinance Department. Among them were Liu Xiding, who was familiar to Lin Jue.
"Oh? It's Lin Jue. You're polite, you're polite." Yan Zhengsu reacted first and returned the courtesy with a smile.
Fang Dunru also returned to normal and saluted, "Master Lin, you are polite."
Lin Jue glanced at the two adults and was secretly surprised. They had not seen each other for several months, and the descriptions of Yan Zhengsun and Fang Dunru changed drastically. Although Yan Zhengsun had always been thin, his complexion had always been very good, and his face was very rosy in his memory. But in front of him
Although his face was serious and serious, his cheekbones were high and his face looked tired. He looked as if he had aged more than ten years. Fang Dunru's change was even greater. Perhaps it was because he was more familiar with Fang Dunru's appearance. He just took a first look at it.
When Lin Jue saw Fang Dunru, he could hardly recognize him.
Fang Dunru has always been tall and straight, but at this moment, his back is stooped, like an old man. In the past, he had a head of black hair with only a few white hair on the temples, but now he has a head of gray hair and a bun.
He was not as meticulously combed as before, but seemed to be pulled up randomly. His beard was also messy and had obviously not been trimmed. His official uniform was wrinkled, and there were some spots and dirt on his chest. Lin Jue noticed that Fang Dunru bowed his hands in salute.
When I was there, the ink stains on my fingers were not cleaned, and some of them were dark and dirty.
If Fang Dunru was placed among the crowd on the street at this moment, I am afraid that no one would know that he was an important official who promoted the new laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Instead, they would only regard him as an ordinary sloppy old man.
Once upon a time, Fang Dunru was so elegant and unrestrained, and cared so much about his own image. But now, he seems to be indifferent to all this. In other words, he has no time to care about his own image.
Lin Jue felt a faint sense of pain in his heart.
"I'm going back to Beijing for a few days. I originally wanted to visit you two adults, but I've been busy with trivial matters these past few days and I couldn't go to visit you. I really feel guilty. I hope you two adults will show their kindness." Lin Jue said solemnly.
Yan Zheng smiled solemnly and said: "Master Lin is now a pacifier and an official in the Privy Council. It is inevitable that he will be busy with his affairs. Everything is official, so there is no need to worry about these things."
Lin Jue smiled and said, "Thank you, Mr. Yan, for your understanding."
Yan Zhengsun and Fang Dunru nodded slightly. The three of them stood like this. Suddenly they seemed to have nothing to say, but they seemed to have thousands of words to say, but they just couldn't say them out. Lin Jue thought for a while, bowed and spoke again.
Yili said: "Student, I'm sorry for disturbing you. I'm resigning. Well... you two adults, please take care of your body. Your body is the capital of doing things. Many people need these two adults. Please take care of yourself."
Yan Zhengsu smiled and nodded: "Thanks for your concern, you should also take care of yourself."
Fang Dunru was silent, and Lin Jue left quickly. Liu Xiding's muttering came to his ears: "What are you hypocritical about? If the two adults take care of themselves, he would be embarrassed to say it. As long as you don't anger the two adults, you two
The body of an adult must be healthy, but it happens to make people sick."
Lin Jue froze and wanted to turn around and scold Liu Xiding, but gave up after thinking about it. He heard a solemn and majestic scolding: "Liu Xiding, you are not allowed to say such things in the future. Who wants you to talk too much? What are you doing?"
"
Liu Xiding blushed, rolled his eyes and walked aside muttering.
"Lin Jue, wait a minute, I have a few words to say to you." Fang Dunru called.
Lin Jue was stunned, stopped and turned around.
Fang Dunru walked slowly towards the snow-covered flower bed beside the road. Lin Jue followed him slowly, and the two of them walked through the flower bed and stood between the flowers and trees in the snow.
"Sir, what advice do you have?" Lin Jue said in a deep voice.
Fang Dunru sighed softly and said: "Lin Jue, do you still call me sir?"
Lin Jue smiled and said: "The student once said that once you are a teacher, you will always be a teacher. Although you don't recognize me, I still regard you as my teacher in my heart."
Fang Dunru nodded and said: "Lin Jue, you are very good. You are better than I thought. Although you are no longer my disciple, I am still proud of everything you have done. Because I once had a disciple like you.
I’m not ashamed, this is what I mean.”
Lin Jue said softly: "Thank you sir, for being able to say that, the student feels very comforted."
Fang Dunru said with a smile: "You have made great progress now. You have been granted the title of Marquis and promoted to an official position, which can be regarded as a small achievement. It is not appropriate for me to say anything to you now, but I still want to say a few words to you. The higher the official position, the better.
The higher you are, the greater the responsibility. You must never forget your responsibilities at any time. You must think about the country and the country. The higher your position, the more you must remember this. You must not be greedy for power or profit, or seek trouble.
The government and the public must not act as cowards and stir up trouble. They must have their own independent opinions, just like you did to me. Although you and I have different opinions, I highly commend you for your courage to stick to your own opinions. Mr. Yan
I think so too."
Lin Jue bowed and said, "Thank you sir for your teaching. Lin Jue has remembered it."
Fang Dunru nodded and looked into the depths of the flowers and trees with his hands behind his hands. There were several birds jumping on the snow, leaving a few shallow claw marks.
"Everywhere in life, we know how it is, just like a flying dragon stepping on snow and mud. Lin Jue, I am getting old, youth is hard to come by, and my years are already twilight. Especially recently, every time I feel emotional, I always feel that things in the world are impermanent, like a dream, and elusive.
But you know, I am not the kind of person who is sad and sad. Even if it is the day I die, I will not compromise. I have my own persistence. If I lose this persistence, am I still me?" Fang Dun
Ru suddenly sighed.
Lin Jue was silent. He did not want to discuss these differences with Fang Dunru about the reform. In fact, these matters were beyond debate. Although Lin Jue and Fang Dunru did not have completely different ideas about the reform, they could not agree on it.
Lin Jue didn't want to cause any discomfort. After all, they only met once in a long time, so there was no need to break up on bad terms.
"I won't mention it, I won't mention it. Maybe we are too stubborn, who knows? I just want to say that these things are left to future generations to judge. I have no time to think about it now. I don't have much time, how can I return it?
I have free time to think about these miscellaneous things." Fang Dunru seemed to be talking to himself.
Lin Jue stood bowed and continued to be silent.
Fang Dunru glanced at Lin Jue, changed the subject, and said in a deep voice: "Lin Jue, I want to ask you something. Do you know where Huanqiu is?"
Lin Jue was stunned and smacked his lips and said, "What? Isn't Junior Sister not in the capital?"
Fang Dunru frowned and said softly: "Huanqiu wants to live in Hangzhou for a while, and we agreed to her. She went to Hangzhou a few months ago, but she never wrote back to say she was safe. Your wife... this
... Huanqiu's mother is very anxious, not knowing whether she is safe or not. She doesn't think about food and tea every day. I think that your Lin family often travels between Hangzhou and Beijing, maybe... maybe you will know some news. Hmm...
...If you don’t know, then forget it. When spring comes and the waterway opens, I will send someone to Hangzhou to have a look. I think nothing will happen.”
Lin Jue frowned and pondered for a moment, then suddenly raised his head and whispered: "Sir, Huanqiu is at my house. She didn't go to Hangzhou. She didn't go back to Hangzhou after leaving Beijing that day. Instead, she got off the boat and went directly to north Beijing to find me. She went through hard work
She just found me in Yingtian Mansion. She didn't want you to know this. She didn't want to go back to Yulin Lane, so I settled her in my house."
Fang Dunru was stunned and said in shock: "She is by your side? How long has this been?"
Lin Jue said: "It has been more than half a month since we arrived in the capital from Yingtian Mansion. Don't worry, she is fine. She...is also very happy."
Fang Dunru stared at Lin Jue for a long time, and then let out a long sigh. Lin Jue thought that Fang Dunru would get angry, but he didn't. He just stood quietly for a while and said in a deep voice: "It's getting late, let's go to court."
Lin Jue was a little surprised that Fang Dunru didn't get angry, which was really unexpected. Lin Jue's intention in telling Fang Dunru was not to deliberately anger Fang Dunru, but because he couldn't bear it after hearing Mrs. Fang's words of not wanting to eat or drink.
I guess the same is true for Fang Dunru. Poor parents in the world, I originally only planned to inform Mrs. Fang, but Fang Dunru is Huanqiu's father, how can I hide it from him? Even if I decide to marry Huanqiu, I can't always hide it.
Fang Dunru. So he simply told Fang Dunru about this. If Fang Dunru wanted to send Huanqiu back by himself, Lin Jue would never agree. However, Fang Dunru did not get angry, nor did he ask Fang Huanqiu to go home. He was calm.
Some of them are incredible.
"Sir..." Lin Jue called.
Fang Dunru walked past Lin Jue, stood still, reached out and patted Lin Jue's shoulder, and said hoarsely: "Be kind to Huanqiu, otherwise I will never let you go!"
After that, Fang Dunru quickened his pace, strode onto the avenue, and walked towards Yan Zhengshen and others who were waiting for him.
Lin Jue stood there blankly, in a daze, and heard the bell ringing, which was the signal for the Chongzheng Hall to open. The officials could already go to the hall.
