At the beginning, his wife came to him, and he became rich by selling kidney treasures.

"No, no, you really don't understand His Majesty's thoughts." Ren Hao immediately shook his head.

"What do you mean?" Li Shiji asked puzzledly.

"Your Majesty forgives your Li family for one thing, and secondly, your Li family is a relative of the royal family, so it is not easy to accept the reward openly, as this will cause the ministers and officials to obstruct."

Ren Hao began to clear up Li Shiji's doubts. The fact that he could serve as an imperial envoy to Anyang to deal with the matter showed that His Majesty was intending to have him serve as an official in the court. However, it would definitely not be easy for him to pass the test of the other ministers.

Since ancient times, having relatives by marriage serve as officials has been a very sensitive topic.

Li Shiji couldn't help but smile bitterly.

Although he wanted to do his best to serve His Majesty, he was unable to do so due to his status as a relative of the emperor.

"Do you know why His Majesty appointed me as the Grand Marshal of the Ministry of Revenue and can directly appoint the left and right vice ministers of the Ministry of Revenue?" Ren Hao asked.

"Why?" Li Shiji blinked, not understanding.

"Because His Majesty has not forgotten you."

"Although he cannot directly reward you, I can directly appoint you." Ren Hao poured a glass of Maotai for Li Shiji.

"So that's how it is. It seems I have wronged Your Majesty." Li Shiji sighed and suddenly realized.

"Master Li."

"Oh, no, it's Minister Li. Are you willing to come with me into the palace tomorrow?" Ren Hao asked with a smile.

"Mr. Ren, please take care of me in the future." Li Shiji raised his ear cup and praised him.

"Let's take care of each other and do our part for His Majesty and the Han Dynasty." Ren Hao also raised his ear cup.

The two of them then raised their heads and drank it all in one gulp, and Qingzhu next to them continued to refill their glasses.

"Mr. Ren, although you and I are of different status, we share the same ideals."

"The longer I know you, the more I feel that we met too late."

"How about we become sworn brothers?" Li Shiji suggested immediately.

"This is absolutely not possible. You are a royal relative and I am just a subject. It is really out of my reach." Ren Hao waved his hand to refuse, not wanting to cause trouble.

"If you don't agree today, I won't go back." Li Shiji lay down on the couch, spreading his arms and legs.

"it is good."

"Since you think so highly of me, I will dare to reach out to you."

Seeing that Li Shiji was so serious, Ren Hao also gave it a try.

"Putting aside my status as a relative by marriage, with your talent and ability, you are definitely the one that Shiji can marry." Li Shiji said as he sat up, with a look of delight on his face.

It is such a blessing to be able to become sworn brothers with a capable person like Ren Hao.

"Qingzhu, bring me the incense burner. I want to become brothers with Master Li." Ren Hao looked at Qingzhu beside him and ordered.

"Yes, master." Qingzhu nodded and went to get the incense burner as Ren Hao instructed.

……

Changle Palace, Jinhua Hall.

At this time, Wen Yan was teasing the child with Hong Yao.

Due to her special status, she was unable to bring the child back to the palace where she lived, and could only hand the child over to Hongyao to raise.

What they could only announce to the outside world was that he was the dragon son born to Queen Hongyao.

Just as Wen Yan was holding the child with eyes full of doting, a voice rang out from outside the door: "Your Majesty, a guard just reported that the messenger pigeon outside has returned."

"I understand. Please bring me the letter on the pigeon." Wen Yan handed the child in her arms to Hongyao and put on the mask.

Then the door was pushed open by a eunuch.

The eunuch lowered his head carefully and handed over the letter.

Wen Yan took the letter, and the eunuch lowered his head and left carefully.

The contents of the letters were all conversations between Ren Hao and Li Shiji, as well as Li Shiji's complaints and Ren Hao's explanations.

None of these contents were important to Wen Yan. The most important thing was the small words on the last line of the letter, which was about Li Shiji's plan to become sworn brothers with Ren Haoyi.

Wen Yan tore off the letter and decided to get involved.

After all, how could she be absent from such a major event?

The reason why Wen Yan wanted to get involved was very simple, which was to restrain Ren Hao in this way and make him continue to serve her.

……

Ren Mansion on the other side.

Ren Hao and Li Shiji came to the back garden. Just as they lit the incense and were about to become sworn brothers under the bright moon, Qingzhu came running to report, "Master, Master Wen Yan wants to see you."

Mr. Wen Yan?

Ren Hao and Li Shiji looked at each other. Ren Hao didn't think anything of it, but Li Shiji felt that Wen Yan's arrival was really a coincidence.

Why come at any other time? Why did he ask for a meeting when he was about to become sworn brothers with Ren Hao?

"Let her come over." Ren Hao waved his hand and asked Qingzhu to bring Wen Yan over.

Soon, Qingzhu led Wen Yan to the back garden.

Wen Yan pretended to be surprised, looked at the two and asked, "My sudden visit won't disturb your sworn brotherhood, will it?"

"No, no, I don't know what brings you here suddenly, Mr. Wen?" Ren Hao pretended to be confused even though he knew the truth.

Li Shiji was confused and thought that Wen Yan was just a coincidence, but Ren Hao didn't think so.

It must be someone in the palace's spies who spread the news that he and Li Shiji were going to become sworn brothers into the palace, otherwise how could it be such a coincidence.

"I just suddenly wanted to eat the sesame pot you made last time. I ordered someone in the palace to prepare sesame pot, but it didn't taste half as good as yours."

"I had no choice but to sneak out of the palace to disturb you." Wen Yan said it very convincingly, but Li Shiji was confused. He looked at Ren Hao with a look that said, "You kid ate delicious food secretly again without telling me."

Ren Hao smiled helplessly.

"Master Wen, what exactly is this hemp pot?" Li Shiji asked in confusion.

oops.

"You have a very good personal relationship with Mr. Ren. Hasn't he invited you to dinner before?" Wen Yan asked in surprise.

"If he had treated me to a meal, would I have asked?" Li Shiji sighed helplessly, looking very disrespectful, and glanced at Ren Hao with resentment.

"Okay, okay, okay, now that you can eat this time, don't look at me with such resentment." Ren Hao waved his hands unbearably, and told Qingzhu to prepare some meat dishes, while he went to the kitchen to prepare the sesame hotpot himself.

In fact, this so-called sesame pot is just a low-end version of hot pot.

Since there were no chili peppers in that era, the only way to make the dish was to use Sichuan peppercorns and some other seasonings.

Ren Hao fiddled in the kitchen for a while. After preparing the sesame pot, he used chopsticks to put the thinly sliced ​​venison tripe into the pot and started to blanch it.

After some hesitation, Ren Hao took out the deer stomach and put it into his mouth. He just enjoyed it without saying anything.

"Can you eat this filthy thing?"

Wen Yan and Li Shiji both showed disdain on their faces.

"Why can't we eat it? It's such a rare delicacy." Ren Hao picked up another piece of tripe and put it into the pot.