The Royal Merchant of the Red Chamber

Tu Zhen's calculation was really accurate.

When Xue Pan opened his eyes again, he had already returned to Qianqing Palace.Above the head is the familiar painting of floating dragons and bright yellow bed curtains.

Xue Pan blinked, turned over and sat up.

The little eunuch who was guarding the side immediately approached him and asked, "Master, are you awake?"

Xue Pan nodded blankly, and asked, "Where's Your Majesty?"

"The Holy Majesty is processing the papers in the imperial study."

Xue Pan's face darkened, he was indeed a workaholic.

After washing, Xue Pan changed into brand new clothes.Under the guidance of the little eunuch, I arrived at the imperial study room. At this time, it was getting late and the imperial study room was brightly lit.Tu Zhen sat behind the dragon case, looking at the booklet in his hand expressionlessly.Xue Pan walked to the center of the ground and stopped.

Tu Zhen raised his head, stretched out his hand to Xue Pan and said, "Come here."

Xue Pan remained silent, but walked obediently to Tu Zhen's side.

"Not long after you fell asleep, the King of Dongping came to rescue you with the Imperial Forest Army. I saw that you were sleeping soundly, so I didn't wake you up." Tu Zhen said lightly.

"King of Dongping County?" Xue Pan raised his eyebrows suspiciously. Didn't he say that Master came back to save them?

Tu Zhen glanced at Xue Pan, but did not explain.

Xue Pan scratched his head and asked, "How long have I been asleep?"

"About ten or so hours." Tu Zhen said, frowned slightly, and asked, "Have you ever felt a headache?"

Xue Pan shook his head.

Tu Zhen asked again, "Are you hungry?"

Xue Pan shook his head again.

Seeing this, Tu Zhen sighed softly, and said, "You are so awkward. You are getting older, but your temper is getting smaller, just like Xuan'er."

"Xuan'er?" Xue Pan felt a little familiar in a trance, as if he had heard this name somewhere before.

Tu Zhen sighed softly, and said, "It's my eldest prince."

Xue Pan's face darkened, and he finally remembered the precocious and generous eldest prince Tu Xuan that was rumored in the world.It looks like he's only seven or eight years old.

Xue Pan twitched the corners of his mouth with a half-smile, bowed his head and said: "The eldest prince is a noble man, with the quality of a dragon and a phoenix. Xue Pan has no virtue, how dare he compare himself with the first prince."

Before he could finish a sentence, Tu Zhen suddenly laughed out loud, put down the memorial in his hand, and stretched out his hand to caress Xue Pan's fair and smooth neck, and said with a soft smile: "Even the pouting face when you are angry is very similar to the emperor's son." picture."

You are the sister, and your whole family is like it.Xue Pan looked at Tu Zhen angrily, very dissatisfied with his behavior of comparing an eight-year-old child with himself.

Seeing this, Tu Zhen smiled more and more heartily.A flash of genuine pampering flashed in his eyes, he reached out and took out a memorial from the imperial case and handed it to Xue Pan, saying, "Look at it!"

"How dare I read the memorial of the Holy Majesty." Xue Pan said, putting the memorial on the table.

Tu Zhen shook his head and smiled, "I told you to watch it, what are you afraid of!"

Xue Pan frowned disapprovingly.He opened his mouth and said: "The rules are like this, how can Xue Pan let the sage behave like this. If it gets out, Xue Pan will not be afraid of being bitten if there are too many lice, and he will not worry about having too many debts. But it will always affect the reputation of the sage."

Tu Zhen's face darkened, and he reprimanded: "The word Qingyu is not used here for ignorant things."

Xue Pan chuckled, admitted his mistake, and said, "Pan'er knows his mistake, he knows his mistake."

After being tormented by Xue Pan, Tu Zhen no longer insisted on letting Xue Pan read the scriptures.He opened his mouth and said, "I have decreed that from today onwards, I will hand over all the procurement of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the Xue family—"

Xue Pan turned pale with shock, and said, "How is this possible?"

Things in the palace are intricate and complicated, and interpersonal relationships are also very obscure.Especially the matter of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is even more involved.Now Tu Zhen's move seems to be a grace, but a little carelessness will lead to catastrophe.Xue Pan looked at Tu Zhen with a livid face, and asked, "I don't know what the Xue family did wrong, the Holy One is like this—"

Tu Zhen interrupted Xue Pan with a wave of his hand, and immediately said with a relieved smile: "You don't have to be afraid, I said that I will let you do what you want. In other words, if you don't like it, I will not force you Yours. It's just a matter of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, I hope you will think about it more."

Xue Pan couldn't help asking, "Why?"

Tu Zhen's eyes were bright and dark, and his dark pupils were fixed on Xue Pan, making Xue Pan stiff.He moved his body uncomfortably, glanced at the floor tiles and muttered: "It is said that the emperor wants the minister to die, and the minister has to die. If the sage—"

"Because the world is so big, I only trust you." Tu Zhen said suddenly.

Xue Pan was taken aback for a moment, raised his head inexplicably, and looked at Tu Zhen in a daze.

Tu Zhen showed a slight smile on his usually indifferent face, looked at Xue Pan and said softly: "The imperial city is so big, but there is no place where I can feel at ease. The matter of the House of Internal Affairs is very important, and I can't do anything about it now. Intervene. But where I hope I can intervene... you can help me."

Xue Pan looked at Tu Zhen with burning eyes, and felt a strange sense of disobedience.Stretching out his hand and scratching his head, he said, "But..."

"I have already arranged everything else... In fact, Hou Zhongxin already knew about this matter. You just need to go back and tell your father that everything is ready." Tu Zhen continued.

Xue Pan frowned suspiciously, and asked, "Your Majesty means..."

"I just want you to know." Tu Zhen smiled lightly, reached out to pat Xue Pan on the shoulder, and suddenly changed the subject: "Are you hungry?"

"Ah?" Xue Pan hadn't finished digesting what he said just now, when he suddenly heard Tu Zhen's question, he couldn't help shouting in a short-circuited manner.

Seeing this, Tu Zhen rubbed Xue Pan's head fondly, and said loudly, "Chuan Shan."

After Xin Ran's meal, Xue Pan wiped his mouth and got up to leave the palace.Tu Zhen looked at Qingxue who was still outside, frowned and said, "It's dark and the road is slippery, why don't we talk about it tomorrow!"

"No," Xue Pan shook his head, and while cooperating with the little eunuch to dress him, he said, "I haven't been home for two days, my father and the others will be worried."

Tu Zhen stopped persuading him.

Guided by the little eunuch, Xue Pan left the palace, and sure enough, he saw Zhaocai Jinbao chatting in front of the carriage.Seeing Xue Pan's figure, he rushed over immediately, looked at Xue Pan carefully, and asked, "Master, how do you feel?"

"Very good." Xue Pan said perfunctorily, and hurried into the carriage, urging: "Hurry up and go home."

The two Zhaocai agreed, and immediately drove the carriage to Xue's mansion.

By the time we got home, it was already full moon.As soon as Xue Pan got out of the carriage and entered the gate, he saw several shadowy figures approaching in front of him.Looking closer, it was the Xue family and Baochai.

"How does Pan'er (brother) feel?" Everyone gathered around Xue Pan to look up and down, touching them from time to time.After a while, Mrs. Xue clasped her palms together and recited a Buddhist name, sighing: "God bless you, God bless you!"

Xue Baochai's face turned pale, and she said in shock: "Brother too, this big city of Beijing is not enough for my brother to visit. Even if we go out to play, there are more than 40 Zhuangzi in our house. It's not good to go. We have to pick such a poor village. place. Before doing anything, at any rate, I was worried about the people of the big family!"

As he spoke, he sobbed uncontrollably.

Seeing this, Xue Pan hurriedly stepped forward and shouted: "It was a whim at the beginning, who would have thought of such a thing. But anyway, I followed it, and now it can be regarded as a meritorious service. The Holy Majesty also said that he would send someone from the Ministry of Internal Affairs All purchases are handed over to our Xue family!"

Said, a pair of eyes couldn't help but glanced in Xue Zhizhang's direction.

Xue Zhizhang shook his head, and said: "The matter of Xue Beng involves a lot, so don't mention it again in the future."

Mrs. Xue and Xue Baochai nodded with lingering fear.He just grabbed Xue Pan's sleeves with both hands.Wiping away tears, he said, "Brother, never go to such a place again."

Xue Pan nodded repeatedly, and said in agreement: "I won't go, I won't go, and I won't go in the future."

A gust of night wind blew, Xue Zhizhang said: "Come inside and talk, what are you doing standing in the yard?"

So everyone moved into the flower hall.As soon as I sat down, I heard someone preaching from outside: "Master Zhen's family from Dongping County Prince's Mansion, Second Master Bao from Rongguo Mansion, and Mr. Xiaolin from Lin's Mansion are here."

Xue Pan hurriedly said, "Let them in quickly."

Before he could finish a sentence, he heard Jia Baoyu shouting outside: "Brother Xue, how are you doing?"

Then came in like a gust of wind, looked up and down for a long while, and found that Xue Pan was fine, then took a breath and said: "Really... I was scared to death when I heard the news outside."

Then he bowed to Xue and his wife and said, "Baoyu has seen Uncle and Aunt."

By this time Xue Baochai had already ducked behind the screen, opened the half-worn red silk curtain and entered the room.

Xue and his wife smiled and said, "Sit down!"

Mrs. Xue quickly ordered: "Hurry up and bring some tea."

Turning back to Jia Baoyu again, he said, "My son, it's hard for you to think of coming here in such a cold day."

Jia Baoyu smiled and said: "I heard the rumors outside and didn't sleep for two nights. I just heard that Big Brother Xue was out of the palace, so I hurried over here."

Xue Zhizhang heard the words, and the fox couldn't help asking: "What rumors are there outside?"

"It's just about Xue Beng." Lin Mozhi's voice came from outside, everyone looked up and saw Lin Mozhi and Zhen Baoyu coming together.

The two walked to the front of the hall and stood still, saluted together and said: "I have seen uncle (godfather) and aunt (godmother)."

Xue and his wife hurriedly ordered to sit down.Then he smiled and asked: "It's just a matter of a day or two, but it's so powerful."

"There is nothing to hide in these four or nine cities, not to mention that the king of Nan'an personally led troops to rescue him..." Jia Baoyu shook his head and said, "It's just that I don't understand, how could there be an avalanche in a place like Xiaoxishan? ? I heard them say that before the avalanche, there were people who heard the sound of gunfire—”

"Ahem," Zhen Baoyu coughed twice, interrupting Jia Baoyu's chatter.

Lin Mozhi said calmly: "The day after tomorrow is the Taibai Poetry Fair. Didn't you say that you want to go and see it? I have already told Master, and you can just follow Master when the time comes."

Jia Baoyu glanced at everyone inexplicably, and understood that Xue Beng's matter must be dark and involved, so he immediately stopped talking and didn't ask any more questions.

So everyone discussed about the Taibai Poetry Meeting for a while, and finally bid farewell before the curfew, and went home without mentioning it.

Besides, Xue Pan also said goodbye to his parents and Xue Baochai and returned to Wenrou Township.Looking at Hongxiu Tianxiang and others who came forward to meet him, he asked, "Did you see Luoyan?"

"Her father died yesterday, and she has already reported to the fake family with Yao Guanshi. She cried like a tearful person, and she has become much emaciated for no reason. It's really pitiful." Tian Xiang shook his head and said in a bad mood. .

Everyone is a servant girl. The Xue family has strict family rules and is sparsely populated. There has never been any unrest in the house.Therefore, the maids inside and outside the house rarely intrigue.Everyone has a good relationship, seeing the shape of Luoyan now, it is inevitable to be sentimental for a while.

Xue Pan raised his eyebrows in surprise, stretched out his arms and undressed him with the red sleeves, and said suspiciously: "Looking at his father's condition in the past two days, although it's not good, it's not to the point of killing him, how come today? Just..."

"It wasn't caused by the big avalanche." Tian Xiang shook his head, "There was an avalanche that day, and many villagers died. Later, the king of Nan'an County brought soldiers and horses to rescue him, and his attention was also on the holy He and the uncle, how can we have the time to pay attention to others? Although the guards in our house have intentions, most of them have followed the army to dig the snow to save people, waiting to rescue most of the people who were buried in the snow Afterwards, everyone went to the city together. Although Luoyan's father was very weak at this time, he was still sane and there was no serious problem. So when he arrived at the medical clinic, the doctor just changed his medicine and prescribed some wind-cold decoction Give it to him. Who would have thought that after his father took a dose of medicine, it would be gone that night."

Xue Pan was startled, and blurted out: "But the doctor—"

"It has nothing to do with that doctor." Hongxiu interjected: "Later, some officials went to do an autopsy, and our family invited an imperial physician to take a look, saying that his father's wounds were already contaminated with filth, and he was frightened again and again. I'm so weak, it wouldn't be the case if I sent it to the city earlier. Who would have thought that it would be delayed by an avalanche."

Tianxiang sighed softly, and said: "This is fate too! His father is fine, after all, there is still a body that can be buried. I heard that some families hid in the cellar, but the cellar was not strong and they all died." It’s collapsed. You can’t even dig it out. If there are no bones left, that would be miserable!”

Xue Pan sighed in displeasure, and sat on the chair beside him in silence.

As the saying goes, if I don't kill Boren, Boren will die because of me.If he and Tu Zhen hadn't gone to the village to inspect, I'm afraid those villagers would not have died in vain.

Hongxiu turned her head and told the maids to go outside to fetch water and come in to serve Xue Pan to bathe and wash, and made a cup of milk tea for Xue Pan. Seeing Xue Pan's distraught look, he knew that he had something on his mind.He said calmly: "If you say that Luoyan is in our house, it can be considered her good fortune. The master and wife looked at her pitifully, and specially ordered Manager Yao to give her two months' leave to arrange for her mother and siblings. She also said that if she passed I can't go on anymore, there are still two laundry women in the mansion, so that her mother can go to work in the handyman's office. Knowing that their family has suffered in this snowstorm, they have nothing. They have paid from the account again. 100 taels of silver to give her a home. The eldest girl also specially asked Yinger to pick out a few sets of clothes that are not too hard to wear and send them to her. This is in our house, the masters are kind and benevolent, and they still take care of the slave girls. .If you go to another place, it will no longer be possible.”

Xue Pan sighed, looked at Hongxiu and asked, "Then where is their family staying now?"

"Why don't you say that the master has a kind heart!" Tian Xiang held up a heavy dress and put it on Xue Pan, and said casually: "During the New Year's Eve, Ma'am is sympathetic to their family, the old and the weak, women and children, and has to arrange funerals. , actually arranged for people to live in the side courtyard of a small house under the name of Xue's house. Although the master never goes to the house all day, it is the kindness of the master after all. If it is someone else's house, who cares about you indivual."

Xue Pan felt a little better after hearing this.Lying on the bed under Tianxiang's service, staring at the beam with wide eyes.It wasn't until Tianxiang and Hongxiu put down the tent and carefully tucked it up to block out all the light, that they slowly closed their eyes, without a word for the whole night.

It was still snowing the next day.Xue Pan finished washing, and after greeting people to dress, he went to Ruirong Hall to pay his respects.In the main hall, Baochai has arrived and is chatting with Mrs. Xue.Seeing Xue Pan coming in, he quickly got up and said, "How is brother?"

"Your sister is well." Xue Pan replied with a smile, and then greeted Xue and his wife.After the whole family had breakfast as usual, Xue Pan said, "Father, if I want to talk about disaster relief with the Chamber of Commerce..."

Master Xue frowned, put down the teacup and said softly: "Since ancient times, Shi Mi's disaster relief has often happened, but...have you discussed it with the Holy One?"

Xue Pan avoided talking about it, and just said blindly: "When the time comes, we will be in the name of the Holy Majesty's court... I will feel at ease when this is the case."

Hearing this, Xue Zhizhang couldn't help but shook his head and sighed: "This is also fate!"

It's just that in the final analysis, I didn't agree with Xue Pan's claim for relief.In the end, it was Xue Pan's intention to invite Tu Zhen into the palace to settle the matter.

So after leaving the palace, Xue Pan sent someone to send a message to Li Wei, and Li Wei would naturally coordinate the trivial matters.Li Wei was so clever and eloquent, he didn't know what to say to those merchants, but in half a day, more than ten porridge shops suddenly appeared in the streets and alleys around the city gate, and some people even built a lot outside the city gate. Simple sheds for homeless disaster victims.Although it is in the name of the imperial court, every household has its own banner and banner hanging in front of the porridge shed.For a while, the name of the businessman has been corrected a lot.Word of mouth spread in the streets and alleys, and at the time of rushing to buy new year's goods, the business of these shops was much better than others.All the shopkeepers in the music shop laughed from ear to ear.This is a later story, so I won't mention it for the time being.

Let's say that Xue Pan was so sleepy because of the avalanche that he was about to turn back home after wandering around the street for a while.Suddenly I heard someone shouting from behind: "Isn't this the eldest son of the Xue family? You have been planning to go to Honglu Temple to inquire about barbarians. For this reason, you have asked the emperor to ask me to accompany you. I have been waiting here for a long time I don't see you coming, but don't you take this matter to heart?"

Xue Pan turned around and followed the prestige, looked at the two young men walking side by side, frowned and said, "Why are you?"