The fire was still bright, Xiao Chen took a leisurely sip of the old wine on the table, then cut off a piece of plump cooked meat from the hind leg of the roasted lamb, and put it in his mouth.
Chewing to himself.
He doesn't want to participate in this officialdom fight anyway. Living well is his only goal at the moment.
Duan Tianming didn't say anything, but he knew in his heart that the real reason why he was transferred from Jinyiwei to the current Dongchang was that he was not favored when he was in Jinyiwei.
Ever since Ji Gang, the former commander of Jin Yiwei, was reported by the eunuchs and executed by Ling Chi, Jin Yiwei's status in the emperor's heart has declined compared to before.
Now, with the establishment of the East Factory, the biggest duty is actually to check, balance and supervise every move of Jin Yiwei. As an old man of Jin Yiwei, even if he enters the East Factory, he cannot touch the core secrets and can only handle some minor matters at present.
case. In Dongchang, the most powerful ones are the eunuchs at the top.
"Captain Duan has lived a frugal life in his young life. Why did he just throw away a roasted sheep?" A voice that lacked masculinity came from the door.
Xiao Chen quickly looked up.
Purple clothes were fluttering, and a young eunuch walked in, carrying a heavy bundle in his hand and covering his face that was red from the cold with the other hand.
"Eunuch Li, it's snowing so hard today, why did you come here in person?" Duan Tianming hurriedly stood up and said respectfully.
In his eyes, in today's world, apart from the emperor, these eunuchs are the biggest.
When you see the emperor, you just admire him. But when you see these eunuchs, you have to be careful, and you have to have eyes on your butt.
Putting the heavy baggage on the table, Eunuch Li put his hands to his mouth and took a breath. He hurried to the stove and squatted down, trying to absorb as much warmth as possible.
"The Master of the Factory considered that our Dongchang, as a new organization, should have its own identification items, so he quickly made a batch of Plum Blossom Orders, and Captain Duan left them to me to deliver them."
Eunuch Li didn't see anyone outside, and he didn't have the air of a superior or a subordinate. He kept talking while warming himself by the fire.
Seeing this, Xiao Chen handed over the bench under his buttocks, turned around and picked up another one, and continued to sit by the stove.
I heard that Eunuch Li is here to deliver the token, which is a business matter.
Duan Tianming hurriedly slapped his hands a few times, put his right hand on the ground, knelt down on his right knee, and lowered his head slightly: "Duan Tianming, the 13th service chief of Dongchang, thank you Mr. Factory Lord, and thank you Eunuch Li."
"Get up, there is no need to salute when I come." Eunuch Li waved his hand, his attention seemed to be focused on Xiao Chen's eating appearance.
Xiao Chen didn't even raise his head to look at Eunuch Li since he handed him a bench. As for the plum blossom order he was given, he didn't care at all.
"Xiao Chen, do you know how to eat? When you meet Eunuch Li, you don't even say hello." Although Eunuch Li said there was no need to salute him, this behavior of not raising his head was a bit too much.
"Eunuch Li said there is no need to say hello." Xiao Chen continued to eat the meat, but he tore off another piece and handed it to Eunuch Li.
Duan Tianming, when he entered Jinyiwei, Xiao Chen was already a captain of Jinyiwei. In terms of qualifications, Xiao Chen was older than him. If it weren't for the eunuch who came today, how would Duan Tianming dare to speak in such a tone with Xiao Chen?
The dust speaks.
"There is no need to blame Captain Duan. According to the seniority in the village, he is still my uncle. How can an uncle salute his nephew when he sees him? Come and sit here. From now on, we are all family members, so there is no need to be so polite." Li
The father-in-law waved, but the words in his mouth shocked Duan Tianming.
Xiao Chen is actually Eunuch Li’s uncle?!
The two fellow villagers were reminiscing about old times, and they were participating in something blindly. They picked up the heavy coat next to them and put it on their bodies: "You guys talk first, and I will distribute the Plum Blossom Order to everyone."
With that said, he directly picked up the baggage on the table, opened the door, and walked out despite the heavy snow in the sky.
Xiao Chen was the only two people left in the room.
"You have been in Jinyiwei for a long time. With your skills, you will have no problem getting into a hundred households, not to mention a thousand households. You said you didn't want to be an official. What did you want to do when you joined the army?" Eunuch Li looked at it.
Xiao Chen took out a Plum Blossom Order from his waist.
"This token is different from other Plum Blossom Tokens. It is a Plum Blossom Token of the Hundred Households level and can enjoy the same treatment as a Hundred Households." As he said this, he threw the Plum Blossom Token in his hand away.
Xiao Chen caught it and stuffed it into his waist without even looking at it.
"When I became a soldier, I didn't want to starve to death and have a full stomach. As for being an official, I don't have the talent and I can't cope with the pomp and elegance of officialdom."
"Well, since you think so, I won't force you. Wang San, who entered the palace with me, died the night before yesterday." Eunuch Li lowered his voice, as if trying to suppress the sadness in his voice.
"Wang San, haven't you been together all the time? How could he be so fine and suddenly die?" Xiao Chen stopped eating meat and raised his head, with a trace of suspicion in his eyes.
Xiao Chen, Wang San, and Xiao Lizi, who is now Eunuch Li, grew up playing together in a village outside the old capital of Nanjing.
Childhood playmates with very simple feelings.
Although the three of them later entered the palace separately, Xiao Chen became a royal guard, and Wang San and Xiao Lizi became eunuchs and rarely met each other. However, this relationship that had been cultivated throughout their lives was not affected by the complicated etiquette in the palace.
Reduced somewhat.
On the contrary, facing the intrigues of outsiders all day long has further heated up the relationship between the three of them, and it has even reached the level of a small group that takes care of each other and makes progress together.
"Where did he die?" Xiao Chen's voice was very low, without any emotion.
But Xiao Lizi knew that the calmer Xiao Chen was, the more dangerous he was.
Wang San's death has offended Xiao Chen.
For Xiao Lizi, although there are many doubts about the death of a good brother around him for no reason, as an eunuch, he has no way to find out the truth except quietly grieving when no one is around.
But Xiao Chen is different. As the captain of Dongchang investigating the case on the front line, he has absolute time and rights to bring justice to Wang San.
This is also the real reason why he volunteered today to deliver the Plum Blossom Order to the Thirteenth Battle.
"Beside a courtyard in the suburbs of Beijing, a collapsed wall hit me, and my internal organs were crushed." As he said this, Xiao Lizi's hands were trembling, and his nails dug into the roasted lamb's hind leg.
in the flesh.
It was already evening when I received the news of Wang San's death.
Xiao Lizi hurried over with some of the Dongchang captains.
The collapsed courtyard wall didn't look too old, but Wang San was buried deeply in the middle of the courtyard wall.
