Rebirth: From being expelled from the imperial court to becoming a high-ranking official

It was March, and the spring scenery was at its best. Taking advantage of the day off, Li Chang, Lin Zhaotang, and Qin Yunhe and their families made an appointment to go to a garden for a visit.

Li Chang had some friendship with the owner of the garden, and agreed to borrow the garden in advance, so he did not let anyone else in.

These families all have many sons. Apart from Ruyi, only Lin Zhaotang's family has a little daughter, Yingying. However, she is only six or seven years old, and Ruyi can't play with her.

But if she were to be with the adults, she would feel very restrained.

Ruyi has always loved the scenery of spring. She lingered among the flowers, trees, rocks and hills in the garden and could not help but admire them again and again.

The scenery of the gardens in the capital city is indeed incomparable to those in other places. This garden is large, and the scenery in the garden is exquisite and interesting. It can be seen at a glance that the owner specially hired someone to arrange it.

The garden was not small, and Ruyi was already a little tired after walking around for most of it, so she went back to the swing frame not far from the water pavilion to swing on it.

This place is neither too far nor too close to the waterside pavilion, so she doesn't have to listen to the adults chatting about the same old things, nor does her parents have to worry about not being able to find her.

Except for Ruyi, the other children were playing hide-and-seek. Ruyi watched Lin Yingying running towards the rockery behind the swing with a smile.

There was no path under the rockery, but some gravel was placed randomly.

Ruyi subconsciously jumped off the swing and chased after him to stop him: "Yingying, don't go over there-"

Based on Ruyi's experience in taking care of her two younger brothers, children aged six or seven would never be able to see the gravel on the road, and would definitely fall if they ran over like that.

Sure enough, as soon as Ruyi touched Lin Yingying's clothes, she tripped and fell to the ground. Fortunately, Ruyi caught her.

"Phew—you scared me, haha..."

Lin Yingying was caught by Ruyi and carried back to the road without realizing the danger and was still giggling.

Lin's wife and others who were chatting in the pavilion had already noticed this place.

"Yingying, stop running around and come to mother. Yun'er, look after your brothers and sisters. Don't run around in this place with so much water and mountains."

"Hey, I got it, mother."

Lin Yun was also startled.

Apart from Ruyi, he is the oldest here, so he is the one who brings the other children to play.

After this scare, he didn't dare to play scattered games like hide-and-seek anymore. He called his younger brothers together and took them to play tossing pots.

Ruyi had already taken Lin Yingying back to the waterside pavilion to find Lin's wife and others.

Lin's wife Liu Lingzhi took Lin Yingying's hand and said with a smile: "Ruyi is sensible. Come, sit next to your aunt, let your aunt take a look."

Ruyi had no choice but to sit over there.

Lingzhi looked Ruyi up and down, unable to hide her admiration in her eyes.

"It's been a while since I last saw you. You've become more and more beautiful and graceful. Yuru, you are so lucky."

Then he asked Ruyi: "I heard that you are good at playing Go and can also write poetry?"

Ruyi was a little embarrassed: "I learned chess from Aunt Tan for a few days, but I'm not very good at it. The poem is also nonsense."

Yu Ru also laughed and said, "When I was in Xu Ning's house, I didn't have many playmates. I felt very restrained and just played around to relieve my boredom."

Lingzhi laughed and said, "You educated people are so modest. What you say is just something you learned casually. Hahaha..."

Qin Yunhe and others were drinking tea and chatting in the pavilion on the other side of the short corridor, so they naturally heard the noise over there.

Li Chang turned around to look at Qin Yunhe again, and saw him lowering his eyes and taking a sip of tea with a complicated expression, and he couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.

We haven't seen each other for more than a year, and finally we got together again, chatting casually.

Accompanied by the sounds of children playing in the distance, the three of them enjoyed this leisurely time of drinking tea.

“The leek seedlings are fragrant, and they are used to cook cakes. The wild old man does not know the coming of spring.” Along with the sound of thumping footsteps, Qin Ci’s voice came closer and closer, rushing over like a gust of wind.

"Sir, look, leeks! How about asking the mistress to make some cakes?"

When Li Chang looked over, he saw Qin Ci holding up a bunch of leeks that he had picked from somewhere and showing them to him, and he immediately burst out laughing.

"Where did you get the chives, little brat?"

"Over there," Qin Ci pointed to a place in the distance, "There are so many over there."

Qin Yunhe had a headache watching this, and he shouted, "Your mistress doesn't have time to make cakes for you, why are you messing around in someone else's garden?"

This garden was borrowed by Li Chang from someone else.

If someone can grow a field of chives in a garden like this, he must like it.

He just ran over and pulled it out for the man.

Qin Ci didn't care about his father's reaction. He turned around and ran to the waterside pavilion where the women were resting: "I'll go ask Master's wife. The cakes she made are so delicious..."

"Qin Ci, come back!"

Qin Yunhe felt speechless and ashamed towards his son, so he stood up and wanted to chase him.

Li Chang stopped him and said with a smile: "It's okay, it's just a bunch of leeks, the owner of the garden is not a stingy person."

Qin Yunhe had no choice. As a father, he had no authority over his son.

"It's a good thing that Zi Gao took him in, otherwise Qin Ci's stubborn temper, ah——"

Li Chang laughed and said, "My disciple is not naughty at all. He is innocent and cute. I like him very much. Haha."

Qin Yunhe had always wanted to thank Li Chang in person.

However, if I thank you verbally it would seem impolite, but if I don’t thank you verbally I would feel bad.

It is easy to find a teacher of scriptures, but difficult to find a teacher of people.

Li Chang's kindness to Qin Ci was not only in imparting knowledge, but also in teaching him many things that teachers in academies would not teach.

"I really don't know how Qin Ci got the good fortune to have Zi Gao as his teacher."

"Haha," Li Chang laughed, "Isn't this blessing bestowed upon him by you, my Lord?"

Li Chang hadn't called Qin Yunhe "Sir" for a long time. Qin Yunhe was stunned for a moment before he reacted. He felt relieved and more grateful.

They continued chatting, talking about the children who were growing up.

"... Changyu was very upset because he failed the college entrance examination. He was afraid that Mr. Yunhe would be angry after returning from his hard work as an inspector."

Qin Yunhe laughed: "It's normal for him to fail the first time. I shouldn't be angry. It's me who feels ashamed as a teacher. I can't even give him guidance in advance for such an important exam."

"Hey, you've taught them everything you need to teach them. The rest depends on their understanding. Brother Lin, your Lin Yun is also going to finish the next course, right?"

"Yes, it's time to try..."

……

The families hadn't gathered together for a long time. After having lunch in the garden, they played until noon before preparing to go back.

The younger children were tired from playing, and the brothers fell asleep soon after getting on the carriage.

Li Chang and Qin Yunhe were riding in the same carriage, each with a child leaning on their back.

……

".....From what Sister Lin said today, could it be that your two families are interested in getting married?"

Lin's wife's behavior was so obvious that it was not surprising for Li Chang to notice it.

"It's a little bit interesting, but I didn't say it explicitly."

When Qin Yunhe came back, he heard from Yuru that Lin's wife seemed to be quite pleased with Ruyi and had mentioned it several times.

Qin Yunhe then realized that his daughter was already fourteen years old and would be coming of age next year.

No matter how reluctant he is, it's time to put marriage on the agenda.

The Lin family is a simple family, and Qin Yunhe knows Lin Zhaotang and his wife well, so he has no concerns about them.

He had met Lin Yun several times and found him to be a very sensible child.

The two families live not far from each other, so if it can be accomplished, it would be a good thing.

So even though we haven't made it clear, the purpose of this outing is to let the two kids get to know each other briefly, and it would be best if they can get along well.

Both children were the first in the family. When they were born, their families were not well-off yet, so they also suffered some hardships. It is understandable that both of them felt heartache.

Li Chang saw Qin Yunhe's complicated expression and said, "I thought you would let Yuge'er be your son-in-law."

Qin Yunhe was slightly surprised and asked, "Master Li is interested in getting married?"

"Haha, sir, you are shortening my elder brother's lifespan by calling him Uncle Li." Li Chang said jokingly, "I don't know what my elder brother thinks. I just think that you have watched Yu Ge'er grow up, so maybe you want Yu Ge'er to be your son-in-law."

In fact, Qin Yunhe had really thought about it.

He watched Yu Ge'er grow up, so he is confident about his character.

Especially since he and Yu Ru grew up together as childhood sweethearts, and although there were some twists and turns in the beginning, their feelings have never changed.

In his heart, he did secretly think that it would be nice if the two children could be together.

However, the Li family never mentioned it, and he didn't know what the Li family was thinking.

Another thing is that now that I am in the capital, if I stay with Yu Ge'er... I am afraid it will be difficult for me to see my daughter again.

Qin Yunhe fell into deep thought, and Li Chang didn't say anything else.