Chapter 136 Secondment of Personnel
Chapter 136 Secondment of Personnel
Protected by dozens of guards, two carriages drove towards Wubenfang one after the other.
In the front carriage sat Prince of Jin Yang Guang and his wife Xiao.
"Did you figure it out? Who's the winner of the poetry contest tonight?"
Xiao shook her head, "I can't see it, can my husband see it?"
Yang Guang nodded and said, "I heard from Yang Yue that the reason for holding a family dinner tonight is because the third son wrote a poem that father and Concubine Chen liked very much. Concubine Chen also wanted the third son to write a poem, so father decided to hold a family dinner."
Xiao was surprised, "No way! He is only sixteen years old."
"It was Concubine Chen's idea that he stayed in the end. I saw it clearly. There is a subtlety here. Although the emperor did not say it, we have to observe. When the third brother won the archery championship in front of the emperor, there were so many jealous eyes."
Xiao smiled and said, "I can feel my husband's pride!"
Yang Guang laughed, "Of course, he is my son. Today, my father gave me the Emperor's Sword. I never dreamed that this must be related to the third brother! My father really gave me the power of criminal law."
Xiao didn't say anything. She originally hated Xiao Xia very much, but tonight she saw with her own eyes that Xiao Xia's performance was brilliant, and the tone of the several sisters-in-law when talking to her was also sour. She hadn't had this feeling for several years.
This made her disgust towards Xiao Xia lessen a little.
Yang Guang added, "We have suffered from the oppression of the crown prince. In the past, Zhao'er had to fight against several uncles in Chang'an alone. It was not easy. Now that he has a brother to help him, his situation is much better. In particular, my father likes the third brother very much. I have a hunch that in the future, our lives and property will depend on the third brother."
"Why did you say that, sir?"
Yang Guang sighed and said, "My father is old. Once the crown prince ascends the throne a hundred years later, he will kill us first. If our family does not have someone in charge of the army, it will be very dangerous. My father thinks highly of Xiao Xia and praises him for being a pillar of the Sui Dynasty in the future. I know this is an opportunity given to us by God!"
"What if Father was just speaking casually?"
Yang Guang shook his head and said, "Father often praised his grandchildren for being smart and capable, or praised them for being child prodigies, or praised them for being filial and sensible, but he never said that any of his grandchildren was the pillar of the Sui Dynasty, because there is a deeper meaning in this."
"What's the deep meaning?" Xiao asked.
"I can't tell you for now. This involves a big secret. Only Yang Yong and I know it. The other three brothers don't know it. Anyway, remember that the third brother may be the key to our family's survival in the future."
Xiao was silent for a moment.
...........
It was late at night, but Lady Xuanhua Chen Guiren was still not asleep. She copied the lyrics Xiao Xia wrote for her on plain paper and read them over and over again, her whole body and mind completely immersed in the memories of her homeland.
A River of Spring
When are the spring flowers and autumn moon? How much do you know about the past? There was an east wind in the small building last night, and the motherland could not bear to look back at the bright moon.
The carved columns and jade masonry should still be there, but Zhu Yanchang. How can you worry about me? Just like a river of spring water flowing eastward.
She seemed to have gone mad.
'The east wind blew again last night in my small building, and I could not bear to look back at my homeland under the bright moonlight.'
She muttered to herself, tears rolling down her cheeks.
At this time, Yang Jian walked into the room. He sighed and said, "I shouldn't have let Xiao Qilang write lyrics for you!"
"No! No!"
Concubine Chen wiped away her tears quickly, stood up, hugged the emperor's waist, put her face on his chest and said, "I used to live in a daze, but this poem suddenly brought my soul back. I feel that I have suddenly woken up and my heart has found a place to rest."
Yang Jian nodded and smiled: "Can a poem have such a great effect?"
"Yes! This poem gave me enlightenment."
"I have searched for him among the crowd for a thousand times. Suddenly I turned around and found him standing in the dimming lights. Do you not like this poem?" "I like it very much, Your Majesty. Can you ask Xiao Qilang to write a few more poems for me?"
Yang Jian smiled and said, "Don't worry, take your time. I will let him write it, but I still need to observe him. As long as he makes more contributions, I will promote him to Duke of a County. The lowest rank for a royal family member is Duke of a County. I deliberately lowered his rank by one level. Now that I think about it, it actually doesn't make sense."
"Does your majesty really intend to let him join the Lingyan Pavilion?"
Yang Jian nodded. "Since Yuwen Chengdu, no new members have joined the Lingyan Pavilion. However, Xiao Xia is not qualified to join yet. We need to observe further. I will also ask for other people's opinions."
The next morning, Xiao Xia came to Xingdaofang to visit Yang Lihua.
Soon, a maid led Xiao Xia into the inner hall. Xiao Xia walked into the hall and saw Yang Lihua looking at him with her hands behind her back and smiling.
He quickly stepped forward and knelt on one knee, bowing, "Nephew greets aunt!"
"How long have you been in Chang'an, little guy? Why don't you come to visit your aunt?"
"Auntie only came yesterday afternoon. I know she is tired from the journey and I don't want to disturb her rest."
Yang Lihua smiled and said, "You are very good at talking! You performed very well last night. The royal grandfather praised you for your talent in both literature and martial arts. This is the first time I have heard him praise a royal child like this. Tell me! What do you want to talk to me about today? Don't say you came to visit me specially."
"My nephew does visit his aunt. It's necessary."
"Okay! Then what? What do you want from me?"
Xiao Xia said shamelessly: "Aunt, can you lend me two trusted warriors with strong martial arts skills? Just a few days will do."
"What do you want a samurai to do?"
"I'll tell you later! Or you can ask the warriors later. They won't hide anything."
Yang Lihua looked at Xiao Xia for a while, then turned around and said, "Let Sun Lei and Li Luming come to see me!"
Sun Lei and Li Luming are Yang Lihua's trusted warriors, one man and one woman. Both of them are at the seventh level in martial arts and their internal strength is also at the weak sixth level. They followed Li Min to Jiangnan before, and Xiao Xia had also met them.
Soon, two people came quickly and bowed together, "Greetings, Princess!"
Yang Lihua pointed at Xiao Xia and said, "My nephew asked me to borrow you for a few days. You must obey his orders during these days."
"Follow the order!"
Xiao Xia brought the two back to his mansion. Xiao Xia placed five hundred taels of silver on the table and gave each of them half. The two were startled and quickly clasped their fists and said, "Master, we can't accept it!"
"This is a small gift from me. I've told my aunt about it and she agrees. Please accept it and then we can get on with our business."
The two looked at each other and said happily, "Thank you for the reward, young master!"
Xiao Xia asked the two to accept the silver, and then asked them to sit down, and said with a smile: "What I want to do is actually very simple. I bought a restaurant in Chongrenfang. There is a big house across from the restaurant, and there are many vegetables planted in it. At dusk, they pour manure water on the vegetable fields, and the stench is so bad that the restaurant can't operate.
But this matter is not that simple. It was the prince who ordered the Yun family to do this, because the restaurant was originally owned by the Dou family. The prince did this dirty thing to disgust the Dou family. Now that the restaurant belongs to me, I have to find a way to get rid of the stench. I have come up with a solution."
"Please tell us what you need us to do, sir!"
Xiao Xia placed a large bag on the table and opened it. It was filled with pills as big as longans.
"These are croton powder balls, which will dissolve in water. Then we can do this and that to force them to destroy the Yun family's vegetable garden."
The two of them laughed. Although the plan was a bit flawed, it seemed pretty good.
(End of this chapter)