Fire Captain

"Peeking at a man outside her family?" Bai Ziyang was in the study, flipping through a book while listening to Tingfeng's report. When he suddenly heard the reason why Minglan was punished, he threw the book on the desk, stared at Tingfeng and said, "Continue!"

Fortunately, Tingfeng is a non-human, otherwise, according to Bai Ziyang's pressure at this time, anyone else would have to lie on the ground. Tingfeng continued to say: "In fact, the Sixth Miss was also implicated by the two girls, but the Fourth Miss was eloquent and eloquent, and Lord Sheng was biased, so the Sixth Miss was punished to kneel in the ancestral hall."

"Who are they peeping at?" Bai Ziyang asked in a calm voice.

Ting Feng said, "...Today, Madam Wu from the Earl's Mansion of Yongchang brought the Sixth Young Master Liang Han to visit the Sheng Mansion."

"Liang Han?" Bai Ziyang knew this person. He was the youngest child in the Earl of Yongchang's Mansion and the most beloved son of Madam Wu. He was uneducated and lustful.

Bai Ziyang looked at the sky and asked, "How long have you been kneeling?"

Ting Feng said, "I think it's been three or four hours. I heard that he will be punished by kneeling for three days!"

Bai Ziyang couldn't sit still anymore, he stood up and took a rosewood box from the antique display cabinet behind him. The box contained all the medicines he had made in his spare time over the years. Firstly, he wanted to practice when he was bored, and secondly, he wanted to prepare for emergencies. Now, the first person he had to use it on was Minglan.

"Where is my Wangcai!" Bai Ziyang said after finding the medicine.

After hearing the name, Tingfeng walked out silently. After a while, he brought in a "thing" that looked like a dog but not a dog, and a pig but not a pig. In fact, it was a dog, but Bai Ziyang raised it to be as round as a piglet. But don't underestimate it, it is very agile, and after Bai Ziyang's training, it is proficient in all kinds of martial arts!

After Minglan was released from the ancestral hall, Danju and Xiaotao hurriedly took her back to the room to apply medicine on her knees. After kneeling for several hours, even with the cushion, Minglan's delicate knees were already red and swollen.

While applying medicine to Minglan, Xiaotao mentioned that Old Madam Sheng had invited Nanny Kong from the palace to come to her house to teach Ruolan and Minglan. She also wondered why Sheng Molan didn't have to go this time.

Danju spoke up for Minglan and said, "This time, our girl and the fifth girl were harmed by the fourth girl. She, on the other hand, has a good reputation. She doesn't have to be punished and can go to school every day. We can see her every day..." Danju was so excited that she spoke too quickly. Fortunately, she realized it immediately and didn't say anything she shouldn't have.

Minglan smiled indifferently and said, "It's not certain whether Fourth Sister will go to school or not!"

Danju asked in confusion: "Girl, what do you mean?"

Minglan seemed to be thinking about something, but she didn't say anything. When the master and servant were quiet, there was a humming sound from outside the door. Minglan and the other two looked at each other in surprise, all puzzled. Xiaotao continued to apply medicine to Minglan, and Danju said, "Miss, I'll go and take a look."

As soon as Danju opened the door after she finished speaking, a shadow rushed in from the doorway, followed the smell all the way to Minglan's side, sniffed around Minglan a few times, then sat down on the ground, looking up at Minglan.

Minglan looked at the little thing on the ground in surprise, but Xiaotao shouted first: "Hey, girl, where did this puppy come from? It looks pretty cute!"

Minglan looked down and saw a fat little puppy with black fur on its back and yellowish limbs. Its fur was shiny and clean. There was a cloth bag on the puppy's back with the words "Messenger" written on it. Minglan leaned over and picked it up, smiling, "Yes, it's so cute!"

Danju walked over and asked, "Girl, this... where did this come from?"

Minglan already had a guess about where it came from. She did not answer Danju's question but opened the cloth bag on the puppy's back and took out the things inside, a letter and a bottle of ointment. When she opened the letter, it turned out to be the person she was thinking about. After reading the letter, Minglan picked up the puppy and said affectionately, "So your name is Wangcai! Haha..."

Xiao Tao asked, "Girl, who sent it?"

Minglan said, "It's Mr. Bai." Then she picked up the medicine sent by Bai Ziyang and said, "Don't use the one sent by the lady. Give me this medicine."

Xiao Tao said, "Yes, girl!"

Wangcai was kept and raised in Minglan's room. As for where he came from, Minglan said he just crawled in through a dog hole. However, Mrs. Sheng was very surprised by the name Wangcai she gave him.

After a few days, when Minglan and Rulan had recovered from their injuries, Nanny Kong, who was invited by Old Lady Sheng to teach them, arrived. Bai Ziyang knew that Nanny Kong was quite respected when she was in the palace. Now that she was out of the palace and had good relations with Old Lady Sheng, he thought that Minglan would not suffer any harm under her and would be able to learn something, so Bai Ziyang did not intervene.

Old Madam Sheng was right about some of the things she said. Although flower arranging, tea tasting, and incense burning were not very useful, it was a different story when one entered a family of high status. Moreover, Madam Kong had survived the palace for so many years, so she had to have both wisdom and skills. If she could learn something from such a person, it would be enough for her to benefit from for the rest of her life... After hearing the report from the people below that she was studying hard, Bai Ziyang did not bother her for a while, but he heard that Sheng Molan was jumping up and down and making a lot of noise.

Nowadays, the calls for the establishment of a crown prince in the court are getting louder and louder, and the two people who proposed the most are Prince Yan and Prince Yong. This is mainly because the two of them are good at winning people's hearts, and the number of ministers in the court who support them is almost half and half, making it difficult to tell who is better. As for Bai Ziyang's father, Prince Zhao, he is supposed to be closer to the emperor in blood, but there are fewer people who recommend him, almost none. There are two reasons for this. First, it is well known that Prince Zhao is obsessed with calligraphy and painting, and his image as a nerd has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Second, it is obvious that Prince Zhao is not liked by the emperor. Although Bai Ziyang gave him a lot of points, Bai Ziyang has not been in the capital in recent years, and even if he is there, he has been much more low-key and seldom appears in public. Wouldn't it be like deliberately hitting the emperor's nail to recommend Prince Zhao? That is something that will never succeed. After all, no one is stupid.

No matter whether Prince Yan and Prince Yong were secretly at loggerheads or fighting openly, Bai Ziyang's family of four seemed to be completely unaware of it. Prince Zhao still went to court happily and returned home smiling, turning a blind eye to the two of them's secret attempts to win him over. Prince Yong and Prince Yan knew his temper, and were not prepared to waste any effort on Prince Zhao, whether he was pretending to be stupid or really stupid. They each left less than one point of energy for him, and put more of their energy into other plans.

Whether the crown prince is appointed or not does not affect this year's imperial examination. Bai Ziyang sees that the imperial examination is imminent. Although he does not plan to participate, his two good brothers will have to take part in it. He still takes advantage of his elder brother and uncle's convenience in the court, copies a list of test papers of previous years' imperial examinations, and collects some of this year's examiners' preferences, preparing to give them to Sheng Changbai and Gu Tingye for reference.

When Bai Ziyang brought these things to the private school, Master Zhuang had not finished his get out of class yet. In order not to disturb Bai Ziyang, he took Tingfeng and stood behind Xiaotao and the others, and no one noticed him.

It happened that Master Zhuang, seeing that the imperial examination was approaching, gave everyone a topic to test their skills. It was not known whether Master Zhuang did it intentionally or unintentionally, but the topic for everyone to discuss was: Which is better, to establish the eldest son as the heir or to establish a capable and virtuous one?

Seeing that this topic was interesting, Bai Ziyang stood quietly at the back and listened to the debate. Gu Tingye and Sheng Changbai both advocated enthroning Prince Yong, that is, enthroning the eldest son of the legitimate wife, and thought that there was nothing to think about. As for Sheng Changfeng, perhaps because of his background, he supported enthroning Prince Yan.

The men were discussing lively, probably stimulated by the word "eldest son". Sheng Molan couldn't stand it anymore and obviously defended Sheng Changfeng. Sheng Rulan, who always loved to oppose her, was not convinced. The two of them couldn't help but quarrel again. When they saw that the policy discussion was about to turn to the unreasonable dispute between the girls and there was no result, Zhuang Xuejiu coughed twice, stopped Sheng Rulan and Sheng Molan and others, and said: "After listening for a long time, why didn't the young master and the sixth lady say a word?"

After hearing what Zhuang Xuejiu said, everyone thought about their lively discussion. As expected, the two of them did not speak. They could not help but look at them. Qi Heng was the only son in the family, and everything in the family was based on him. He was not deeply touched by the question of whether to establish the eldest son or the most talented son, so he said that he wanted to hear other people's opinions first. After hearing this, Zhuang Xuejiu asked, "Sixth Miss, what do you think about establishing the eldest son or the most talented son?"

Minglan naturally didn't want to express her opinion in front of everyone, so she said, "I'm just a girl, and I haven't thought about this kind of thing."

Sheng Changfeng was dissatisfied with the previous argument and asked, "Let's not talk about state affairs. Let's say a small family has a mediocre eldest son and a smart and capable illegitimate son. Who should be the head of the family?"

The issue of Sheng Changfeng was not only sensitive in the court, but also not something Minglan could say much about in the Sheng family. If she was not careful, she would offend people from both families. She avoided the topic and said, "This is something that the master of the family needs to consider. I am not in a position to make irresponsible comments."

Sheng Rulan couldn't stand it anymore and started arguing with Sheng Changfeng. Finally, she turned around and glared at Minglan and said, "You have to say something!"

Seeing Minglan in a dilemma, Qi Heng hurried to help and said, "Everyone, please don't embarrass Sixth Sister. She is young and doesn't need to take the imperial examination. This topic has little to do with her. Why force her to do it?"

Gu Tingye was one who liked to watch the fun and said, "I think we should listen to Sixth Miss's opinion. Although she is small and doesn't like to talk, maybe she is a bit introverted and has already noticed it psychologically. Seeing us arguing here, she must be laughing at us in her heart!" The more Gu Tingye talked, the more he felt that this was the case. He thought of the little girl who had the courage to compete with him in throwing pots in his childhood. It was obvious that she was different from ordinary children at that time. Besides, he knew Bai Ziyang too well. Anyone who could be favored by him must have something special!

After hearing this, Minglan said angrily, "Second Uncle Gu, if you want to say something, just say it. Why do you have to involve me?"

Zhuang Xuejiu finally said, "Well, everyone has spoken, Sixth Miss, you should also speak!"

Seeing that she could not escape, Minglan had to stand up and said, "I want to ask the young master and Uncle Gu, you two are both legitimate sons of the family, if you talk about the issue of legitimate and illegitimate, you may be able to speak more freely than us brothers and sisters, but today I want to ask, if you both have a very promising and illegitimate brother, how would you deal with it?"

Bai Ziyang saw Minglan using this question to cause Gu Tingye and Qi Heng to argue, and she sat down again, laughing and shaking her head, thinking: This little rascal...

Finally, it was Zhuang Xuejiu who stepped in. Seeing that the two of them had strayed off topic, he brought the topic back and said, "It's just a joke, everyone should be more friendly. Sixth Miss, you've let the two gentlemen talk so much, and there's still no conclusion on whether to make the eldest son or the most qualified one the successor!"

Minglan said, "No conclusion is a conclusion! Virtue and non-virtue are easy to disguise and difficult to distinguish, but the eldest and youngest of legitimate and illegitimate sons are obvious at a glance, so there is no need to argue. If the illegitimate son is truly virtuous, he will not destroy the family for his own selfish desires. On the other hand, if the legitimate son is in power, if he can restrain the illegitimate son so that he dare not offend, the family can also be prosperous forever. A real man should be loyal to the emperor and love the country. It is better to be a loyal minister. Why bother to argue in vain!"

Sheng Changbai, Gu Tingye, Qi Heng and others were all enlightened by Minglan's words.

Bai Ziyang heard this from behind and couldn't help but burst into laughter, saying loudly: "Well said! Well said!"

Everyone in the hall was startled by Bai Ziyang and turned around to look. Bai Ziyang walked into the hall from the back with Tingfeng and said with a bow, "Master Zhuang, I, Bai Ziyang, greet you. It's been a long time since we last met. I hope you are well!"

Master Zhuang also thought that what Minglan said was very good. He laughed heartily, which was rare for him. "Very good, very good! You have listened to the class for nothing today!" Then he praised Minglan and said, "Sixth Miss is so young, but she has such insights. It's really rare. Good, good! Today is so wonderful. Fortunately, you don't have to do homework!" After that, he gestured to Bai Ziyang and let everyone end the get out of class.