A dream of deep spring

When the first emperor first ascended the throne, for the sake of An Meng Chifeng's heart, he bestowed the title of noble concubine on his late mother.According to the laws of the Great Chu, the noble concubine's natal family can be named a fourth-class viscount, so the Xiao family has a place in the celebration banquet tonight.

But the position of the Xiao family is at the back end.

The Patriarch of the Xiao family didn't know that disaster was coming, but was still worried about his son who caused trouble, thinking about talking to Meng Chifeng for a while, asking him to release his son, but unfortunately he was destined to be disappointed.

At the opening of the celebration banquet, Duan Tingzhen read out everyone's awards, and Meng Chifeng, as the coach, knelt at the front and listened absent-mindedly.In fact, he had already read this decree, and he even changed it a few times, so he didn't care about the content, but concentrated on listening to Duan Tingzhen's voice, and suddenly felt a little fascinated.

After the imperial decree was announced, the little emperor returned to the palace, and the others continued.There was a round of singing and dancing, drinking, and poetry, and the atmosphere gradually became lively.

Meng Chifeng drank some wine and relaxed a lot.Thinking of what Mr. Zhou said to him in the afternoon, looking at Duan Tingzhen sitting opposite him, he couldn't help but stepped forward and said, "Mr. Duan, I would like to offer you a toast."

But what Duan Tingzhen hates the most is being persuaded to drink, but he couldn't directly refute Meng Chifeng's face, so he had to touch his lips. Unexpectedly, the man must have drunk too much and his mind was not sober, so he burst into laughter sound.Duan Tingzhen didn't speak, just looked at him lightly.

Meng Chifeng suddenly felt that this guy had become angry from embarrassment. For some reason, the Duan Tingzhen who was wearing the same official uniform in front of him seemed to be two different people from the mature and prudent Duan Xiang a few months ago.So he said: "My king..."

"I will not sit with the father of Li Zi who killed the daughter of the people!"

Suddenly, a minister stood up and cursed loudly. Meng Chifeng's words were interrupted in the middle.

So they followed the eyes of everyone to look at the location where the sound was made.

Just when the wine was hot, many people stood up and walked around, toasting each other, and there was a sudden silence.

The man who made the sound was famous for his toughness. He was never timid when he saw someone bite someone, and he always looked like he wanted to show his ambition by death. He usually gave Meng Chifeng a headache.Originally, he was persuaded by Duan Tingzhen and promised to wait for Duan Tingzhen to come back to give him an explanation, but he didn't want to drink a few more drinks today, he didn't hold back his temper, and scolded the Xiao family on the spot, which was almost equivalent to embarrassing Meng Chifeng.

Meng Chifeng usually hangs out with a bunch of rough men in the military camp, so his temper can't be said to be very good. Immediately, someone muttered to himself, Chen Daquan's iron bones, is it possible that he will really become a bone today?He couldn't help but secretly looked at Duan Tingzhen, wondering if he would come out to make things right.

But before the two of them made any moves, this man, taking advantage of his wine, stepped forward and pointed at Meng Chifeng and cursed: "It's the late emperor who missed his sight! Poor late emperor I, who gave the country to you!" Waiting for someone? When you allowed your uncle's family to suck people's blood and eat people's fat, did you ever think about the kindness of the late emperor to you? Shameless!"

"What did you say?" A burly man rushed out immediately.When Duan Cai's generals were rewarded, this person was among them, and his position was still very high.His eyes are wide open, the veins on his forehead are bulging, and his fists are clenched tightly. Even civil servants who often deal with books can easily see the power in them. If this fist hits, it will be...

So the colleagues hurried forward to pull him away.

The atmosphere in the main hall gradually became dignified, as if a mountain rain was about to come.

Meng Chifeng was silent for a long time, and suddenly he couldn't help laughing from the bottom of his heart.He was indeed wrong in this matter, asking the old man to expose it on the spot gave him a chance to express his attitude.He didn't intend to appease, but this opportunity to win people's hearts is like a pillow sent when he is dozing off, how could he not?

Seeing his dignified expression, everyone stood up, left the table, walked up to the minister, and bowed deeply to him with an extremely sincere expression.

"What your lord said is very true, this matter is the fault of this king."

After finishing speaking, he straightened up again and bowed to everyone: "My uncle's family has done such a thing, and this king must at least bear the responsibility of being negligent. Besides, they are doing evil outside in the name of this king, and now they can't shirk it." If a man dares to act bravely, if he has made a mistake, this king will accept the punishment! According to the laws of Great Chu, this king and the Xiao family will be punished according to the law of Chu, and this king will never say anything else!"

In the silence, there was a series of sounds suddenly, it was the sound of the Patriarch of the Xiao family knocking down the wine bottle after he fell down.

Duan Tingzhen gave a glance to the palace man beside him, and the palace man hurriedly helped the Patriarch of the Xiao family to his feet, who knew that this man was so limp that he couldn't stand up.The poor palace lady was just a young girl in her twenties, how could she hold on to this hundred catties of fat, and the two of them fell to the ground together.

Fortunately, two other young eunuchs passed by soon, and finally told him to sit down safely.

"Although Mr. He is serving the country and the people, he is too impatient." Duan Tingzhen finally said, "When the prince just returned to Beijing, he had already entered the palace to plead guilty to the emperor, and he said what happened to the Xiao family. The law decides. If the Xiao family is confiscated, apart from returning the victim’s belongings, all the rest will be handed over to the imperial court to appease the dead and wounded soldiers.”

This Mr. Chen snorted coldly and said: "President Duan is high-minded, but he only thinks of the court. He selfishly feels that without King Jin, there will be no good generals in the court. But Prime Minister Duan knows that if you cover the sores and festers, you can just cover them. Would it be more serious?"

"Lord Chen has wronged Duan." Duan Tingzhen said with a smile: "Duan's feud with the prince is not a matter of a day or two. If he is really a good general, it is not in a hurry. It's just that everyone is the humerus of the court, the prince His daily deeds are also obvious to all, Mr. Chen insisted that the prince let his uncle's family commit murder for a while, but it has passed."

Hearing this, Meng Chifeng bowed to Duan Tingzhen for the third time today.

He said: "President Duan understands righteousness deeply, this king is ashamed of himself. I have offended many people in the past, please forgive me."

At this time, other people also began to persuade Mr. Chen, he couldn't hold back for a while, and then he also went down the ladder.With a faint atmosphere of embarrassment, everyone drank again, peeking at Meng Chifeng, seeing him as if nothing had happened, and couldn't help but admire him.

Who can sit on this seat, who doesn't have a relative who uses his name to make some money?If the guarantee is not complete, the horse will stumble one day.Seeing Meng Chifeng suffer, many people felt sorry for him. It would be impossible to say how much they hated him.This time Duan Tingzhen put aside his personal grievances and saved Meng Chifeng, which really surprised people, and secretly sighed that he was extraordinary.As for Meng Chifeng, with such a posture of being able to bend and stretch, it is enough to convince the public.

Looking at the Patriarch of the Xiao family who was driven away by the palace people, some people also sighed, saying that it was a strong man who cut off his wrist, it is really impolite.

Because of this incongruous episode, the celebration banquet ended hastily.

When Meng Chifeng was about to leave, he saw that Duan Tingzhen hadn't left yet, so he leaned forward and said, "President Duan is going back to the mansion? Then this king should go the same way as Duan, why don't we go together."

Duan Tingzhen glanced at him and said, "There are still some business matters that have not been dealt with, and Duan has to go and have a look."

At this time, the sky was getting dark, and the palace people lit up the lanterns.The dim light of the fire shone down, and the surrounding shadows were hazy.Looking at the moon shadow and candlelight, Meng Chifeng seemed to see a smile on Duan Tingzhen's lips.

He calmed down a little, and asked, "Are you still worrying about the compensation for the casualties?"

"It's more than that." Duan Tingzhen tilted his head and looked at him: "I received the envelope the day before yesterday, it was from Mr. Wu, the prefect of Changchuan. It is said that there are many soldiers in Changchuan, and there are many wounded people who come back. However, Min Zhengzhan became disabled and couldn't think about his livelihood. Second, because of the difficulties in life, there were more people who picked quarrels and caused troubles, and it was difficult to manage, so I wrote a letter to ask for a charter."

Meng Chifeng said, "Isn't the compensation enough?"

"Under layers of exploitation, how many sons are left in the hands of the wounded and sick." Duan Tingzhen shook his head: "And I heard that a wounded soldier came home and felt that he had become a burden to the family. He felt guilty and hated himself for being incompetent." Duan was thinking about whether he could find some jobs for these people, so that they would not feel worthless if they had income.”

After Meng Chifeng heard this, he really admired him, so he promised: "If there is a lot needed, this king will never shirk it."

"Didn't Duan just claim the property of the Xiao family?"

Hearing what he said, Meng Chifeng also laughed.Then he suddenly saluted Duan Tingzhen solemnly.

Duan Tingzhen knew that this person knew everything he needed to know, so he didn't run away and accepted it openly.He even joked, "My lord is a hero today, but I bent my waist four times this night, so my lord feels a little wronged."

Meng Chifeng got up, looked him in the eyes and said, "The first three times were mostly fake, but this time, it's really true."

"This makes Duan very ashamed." He stood in the backlight, making his expression unclear. Meng Chifeng swallowed, obviously he had a lot to say, but he didn't know where to start.In the past, when I heard his unhurried voice, I always felt that this person was hypocritical, but now I feel like the evening breeze of a sunny spring moon, with a temperature that is just right between cold and warm, no matter how comfortable it sounds.

"This gift is to thank you for helping me, and also to apologize for the misunderstandings in the past." He said: "I came to a conclusion after a few gossips from others. Now that I think about it, it is really stupid. Duan Xiang is a magnanimous person. Will you forgive me?"

There was a smile in Duan Tingzhen's eyes.

"If you want to say an apology, you can't do without Duan." He bent slightly, stretched out his hand again when he got up, and said to Meng Chifeng: "It's not very interesting to apologize here and there, why don't we just shake hands and make peace. What does your lord think?"

The crescent moon touched the tip of the willow, and the surrounding light brightened.A roll of light gauze was spread on the ground, giving off a sense of unreality.One of them stood under the shadow of the eaves, and the other stood in the bright moon. The warm wind swayed the treetops, and the tone was far better than the Yaoqin at the banquet just now.

"Okay." Meng Chifeng grabbed the hand protruding from the shadows, and gently squeezed it. When he let go, his palm seemed to still be warm.