Nightwatcher

The thin-skinned Xu Erlang glanced at his elder brother and then at his father, the corners of his mouth twitched several times.

In the embarrassing atmosphere that made the scalp tingle, Xu Qi'an cleared his throat and said:

"It smells so good, I seem to smell sister Lingyue's cooking skills.

"Second Uncle, don't get drunk tonight..."

The awkward atmosphere was broken, and the three men tacitly hid the bag of green oranges by their sides, pretending to ignore them.

During this process, Xu Qi'an glanced at Erlang, only to see that Xu Erlang's face remained unchanged, he had already covered up the embarrassment just now.

In the past two years, Erlang has also grown a lot. Thinking back to when he hanged himself while reciting poems in the old house, after being discovered by his family, he was so embarrassed that he wished to die on the spot. Xu Qi'an felt emotional when he thought of that time.

The three of you entered the mansion and went straight to the inner hall.

The inner hall is brightly lit with candles, a few ice skates are hung under the eaves, and the aroma of food wafts out from the open door.

Many servants came and went in the inner courtyard, and a few delicate maidservants were added.

During the one month or so since he left Beijing, the Xu family bought many servants.

"Many people in the capital also froze to death. The family happened to be short of servants. Your aunt asked the housekeeper to go to Yazi to buy some servants. At least it gave them a way to survive."

Uncle Xu said.

Xu Qi'an nodded. Although my aunt is narrow-minded and saves face, she still thinks she is a little fairy and has a lot of problems. But a woman who is pampered, carefree, and doesn't need to fight for favor can't be bad-hearted.

Lin'an is also an example. Thanks to Emperor Yuan Jing's many years of cultivating Taoism, the palace lacked the soil for intrigue. If he lived in such an atmosphere for a long time, Lin'an might not be as innocent and kind as he is now.

"In the year of catastrophe, there is nothing to do." Xu Qi'an turned his head, looked at Xu New Year, and said with a smile:

"Then why didn't aunt buy a room for Erlang?"

Second Uncle Xu laughed "haha" and said, "Erlang will be engaged to the daughter of the first minister in two months, your aunt would not dare to offend the daughter of the first minister."

Xu Cijiu frowned, a little dissatisfied with the teasing of his elder brother and father.

While talking, the three of you entered the inner hall, with charcoal basins for heating at the four corners. The food on the table was rich, with all kinds of delicacies from mountains and seas. This was obviously not the normal dinner in Xu's residence.

Aunt and Lingyue sat at the coffee table, while Xu Lingyin and Lina leaned over the table, looking at the food eagerly.

"Lingyin, don't think about stealing food, wait for your elder brother to come back and start eating."

Aunt warned.

"Oh~"

Xu Lingyin knelt on the stool, propped her small hands on the edge of the table, reluctantly looked away, and looked out of the hall, just in time to see the three of them returning.

"Brother!"

Xiao Douding let out an angry cry, jumped off the stool, put his hands on his sides, opened them backwards, buried his head, and rushed over aggressively.

Xu Pingzhi and Xu New Year stepped back at the same time.

Xiao Douding crashed into Xu Qi'an's arms.

It was a lot of strength. He was taken aback, and looked at his sister, but he hadn't seen her for a month, and there was basically no change. Well, if I had to say it, her face became rounder.

Like a round red apple.

This shows that Xiaodouding's energy and blood are very strong.

Based on the collision just now, Xu Qi'an estimated that her current vigor was at the ninth-grade refinement level.

"This is too scary. When I was her age, I was still shaking in my Zamabu." Xu Qi'an was shocked.

He touched Xu Lingyin's head and glanced at the three women in the hall.

Xu Lingyue has seen it before, Lina's skin has become fairer, the biggest change is her aunt, her facial features are beautiful and delicate, her skin is watery and fair, just looking at this face, she doesn't look like a woman raising three children at all.

Is it Zhu Caiwei's Zhuyan Pill? The effect is really good, if I was in the last life, I would have made a fortune, but unfortunately I can't go back, he thought regretfully.

Aunt and Lingyue came to welcome her. The former scanned her nephew to confirm that there was no missing arm or leg. She raised her chin slightly and said very reservedly:

"I'm home!"

She suddenly twitched her nostrils and frowned delicately: "It smells like green orange again, so strong?"

Second Uncle Xu hurriedly took out the green tangerine in his hand, smiled without changing his face and said:

"Green oranges can cure coughs. I bought them for Lingyin. I also ate one on the way, so it smells good."

When Xu Lingyin heard it, her small face instantly collapsed.

Uncle Xu stared and said, "What are you doing so stupidly, come and get it."

Xu Lingyin frowned slightly, and hugged the bag of green oranges in her arms.

She looked at her father, then at the green oranges in her arms, and rummaged through them with her stubby fingers. There were only four of them, and she felt that she was okay.

The two shallow eyebrows are stretched.

"Ahem!"

Xu Erlang cleared his throat, took out the butter paper bag hidden behind him, handed it to Xu Lingyin, and said:

"Second brother is also afraid of your cough"

Xu Lingyin was stunned, and Xu Qi'an seemed to see a series of question marks above her head.

Xu Pingzhi and Xu Xinian, who threw the hot potato to the children, sat down at the table in a happy mood.

Xu Lingyin looked like she was about to cry.

Seeing this, Xu Qi'an couldn't bear it, so he said:

"Lingyin, big brother came back this time and brought you a gift."

Xiao Douding suddenly showed a sunny smile, like the clouds and snow, forgetting all the unhappy things, and said softly:

"Where is the gift, where is the gift, brother?"

Xu Qi'an immediately took out the green orange hidden behind him, and put it in Xiaodouding's arms.

Xu Lingyin——Harvest 【Green Orange X3】

Poor little child, the whole person was stunned, never expecting that his father, elder brother and second brother would treat him like this.

Xiao Douding suddenly cried out with an "Aww":

"I don't want oranges, I don't want oranges"

Anyway, Xu Erlang, who had already thrown the pot away, said with a relaxed face:

"If you don't want to eat it, just throw it away."

Hearing that Xiaodouding was thrown away, the "Aww" was even more sad.

She was reluctant to throw Xu Erlang with a chopstick of winter bamboo shoots.

No matter how unpalatable it is, I will eat it. Uncle Xu "sneaks" to drink.

Ershu and Erlang are really not human, bah. Xu Qi'an picked up a chopstick dish for aunt and said, "Remember to let her brush her teeth well.

After drinking for three rounds, Second Uncle Xu took a mouthful of pork head, chewed it slowly and ate it, then poured his son a glass of wine, and said in a deep voice:

"Everyone is saying that you are the one offering advice to His Majesty and calling for donations?"

Xu Xinian let out a "hmm" and explained:

"Actually, the best way is to raid the house, but Emperor Yongxing has just ascended the throne, and his position is not yet firm. So we can only adopt a more gentle method.

"Originally he did not agree to call for donations, because any actions he made during his tenure would be magnified and over-interpreted by the officials below.

"If you want to sit firmly in the dragon chair, it's best not to do anything, and wait until your wings are full before doing drastic things.

"It's a pity that the sky fails to fulfill people's wishes."

Xu Pingzhi shook his head, stared at Erlang, and said:

"Father doesn't understand these things either. But father heard a word from a colleague today."

After a pause, he said in a deep voice:

"Whoever asks me to pay, I will cut off his mother's Erlang, that person told my father.

"If you don't handle this matter well, your future will be ruined. Well, with Wang Shoufu as your backer, you won't be able to, but you will be on the bench for many years."

Xu New Year's face was solemn: "I know."

Aunt and Xu Lingyue seldom go out, and they don't have a channel to inquire about the news, so they don't know what happened.

It's not easy to ask too much about official matters. The mother and daughter looked at each other, frowning while eating, and listening with ears pricked up.

Xu New Year continued:

"Isn't this big brother back? With big brother here, what are you worried about?"

Aunt and Xu Lingyue stretched their brows and focused on eating.

Xu Qi'an asked:

"What's going on in the hall now?"

Xu Nian spoke for a moment, then said slowly:

"The royal family dominates, and the Wei party is now headed by Liu Hong, the censor of Zuodu, who is in charge of the policeman's yamen, and the other parties are still the same.

"In order to stabilize the situation, Mr. Shoufu did not take advantage of the new king's ascension to eliminate dissidents on a large scale. Fortunately, he did not do this, otherwise the temple would be in chaos, and the people would also be in chaos.

"Besides, although Emperor Yongxing relies heavily on Lord Shoufu, he is not a fool. If Lord Shoufu excludes dissidents, Emperor Yongxing will not be able to sit still."

Xu Qi'an joked with a smile:

"Why don't you call your father-in-law?"

Xu Nian shot back, "Because I'm a decent person, not like a big brother."

The two brothers turned their heads to look at Qingju in front of Xu Lingyin, and tacitly ended the topic.

Xu Qi'an then asked: "What is the reaction of the court and China regarding this donation?"

"It's an outrage." Xu Nian said with a sneer:

"There are very few people who agree, but there are many people who wait and see. There are many people who criticize and criticize."

Second Uncle Xu added: "Erlang is now a street mouse, and everyone will scold him when he sees him."

Xu New Year snorted coldly:

"If it's just scolding, it's fine. Some people want to impeach me. If the call for donations fails, I, the proposer, will be settled and held accountable.

"It may be released by then."

My aunt reacted greatly and immediately called out:

"Then I'd rather you resign and not be allowed to leave Beijing. The world is so chaotic now. I heard that there are refugees and bandits everywhere."

This is the disadvantage of the family world. The imperial court belongs to the royal family, and the money belongs to me. If I am still in this position today, I may be beheaded by the emperor tomorrow. He expects me to spend all my family property to fill the treasury. This is wishful thinking. Xu Qian Suddenly sighed.

He pondered for a moment, then asked, "Is there any detailed rules?"

Xu New Year nodded:

"Naturally, officials of different ranks have minimum donation standards, which will be determined according to their salaries. This will prevent officials who handle affairs from blindly asking for money and enriching their own pockets during the implementation process.

"In addition, I also propose that Your Majesty set up a stele of merit and virtue, and place it in the Imperial College and schools in various counties and counties for the respect of students all over the world.

"Then."

He babbled a lot, Xu Qi'an waved his hand:

"Just tell me, what am I going to do?"

Xu Nian said: "Later, let's go to the study to talk."

Now that the business has come to an end, Xu Qi'an intends to gobble up Haidrink's little black skin in Southern Xinjiang, and asks:

"Lina, how much do you know about Qijue Gu?"

Lina's cheeks were bulging, and she swallowed the food with difficulty:

"The Qijue Gu was left behind by the husband of the Heavenly Gu Granny, that is, the Heavenly Gu Old Man. When the Heavenly Gu Old Man left the Gu clan, the Qijue Gu hadn't been sacrificed yet, and the Heavenly Gu Granny completed it for him."

"and after?"

"Later, Grandma Heavenly Gu gave me Qijue Gu, and asked me to come to the capital to find a destined person."

I know all of this. Xu Qi'an thought for a while and asked, "Apart from these, what else do you know?"

Lina started eating again: "No more."

Xu Qi'an frowned: "Qijue Gu can allow people to have seven kinds of Gu skills at the same time, don't you think it's strange? Did the Gu clan have such a thing before?"

Lina nodded seriously: "Strange!"

Xu Qi'an said, "Then why don't you investigate?"

Lina looked at him and asked back:

"Why investigate?

"There are many, many things I can't figure out, and I have to explore everything, isn't that too tiring.

"Right, Suzune."

Xu Qi'an's mind was full of flaws, but he couldn't refute it.

Xiaodouding nodded vigorously: "Yes, Master!"

She took the opportunity to drag Master into the water and help share the pressure: "Master, help me eat oranges together."

Lina shook her head again and again: "Go to Sitianjian to find Sister Caiwei."

"Then do you think Qijue Gu has anything to do with Gu God?" Xu Qi'an brought the topic back.

"All Gu in the world are related to Gu God."

Lina rarely showed a serious expression: "The Gu God is sleeping in the abyss, its power has changed the southern border, and the surrounding creatures absorb the power that the Gu God overflows, and there will be mutations, so there is a Gu."

Xu Qi'an nodded: "I heard you said that this is the source of the seven Gu arts."

"Yes, different creatures absorb different powers and produce different mutations. Occasionally there will be creatures and Gu masters with double Gu skills, but only the Gu gods can integrate the seven major Gu skills."

Lina said.

Only Gu God Xu Qi'an suddenly felt his scalp tingle.

In the same evening, the setting sun is like blood.

The luxurious carriage made of golden nanmu drove into the palace amidst the sound of rattling wheels.

Lin'an stepped down from the small bench with a gloomy expression, wrapped in a fox fur cloak, and led by the eunuch, into the imperial study.

Emperor Yongxing, who was engrossed in official duties, said in a bad mood:

"What does Si Tianjian have that His Royal Highness Lin An cherishes so much?"

Lin'an said angrily: "There is nothing to miss, I just don't want to go back to the palace, I slept all day."

Emperor Yongxing raised his head, put down the memorial, and said:

"I'm still waiting for your news."

"He agreed." Lin'an replied concisely.

"I knew that Lin'an would definitely not refuse you if you go out." Emperor Yongxing said with a big laugh.

Lin'an didn't stay long, so he resigned and left.

Emperor Yongxing watched her cross the threshold and walked away along the steps. He took a deep breath and clenched his fists excitedly.

In the big case, there was a thick stack of documents impeaching Xu New Year.

PS: Go to the hospital tomorrow for a nucleic acid test and go to bed.