Prince Consort

The reunion is not as far away as Zhao Chongzhao imagined.

At the time of entering Beijing for the assessment at the end of the year, the magistrate of Liangzhou suddenly fell ill.The dark horse of Tianling County came out of Liangzhou, Zhizhou was very happy, and he was also beating his chest and feet at the sudden serious illness.But in order not to delay his entry into Beijing for "evaluation", Zhizhou still reluctantly asked someone to find Xie Ze'an, and earnestly asked Xie Ze'an to return to Beijing instead.

There is a lot to be said for this "employment briefing", if the assessment is good, and if you fool around well, there will be a lot more money allocated from the capital.With more money, there are more things that can be done, and there is no need to worry about not being able to achieve good political performance next year.Therefore, all states attach great importance to this matter.

This is also the reason why Zhizhou chose Xie Zean. Xie Zean and the current emperor are brothers-in-law and grew up together. Will Xie Zean go to the capital to make Liangzhou suffer?Absolutely no loss!

After hearing Zhizhou's words, Xie Ze'an was a little hesitant. He said to Zhizhou, "I have to discuss it with Your Highness first."

It was only then that Zhizhou remembered that there was a princess behind Xie Ze'an.The princess is said to be in poor health, so she must not be able to stand up and down.He said generously: "It's okay, you can go back and talk to His Highness."

Xie Ze'an returned to the county government office with Zhizhou's message, and asked Princess Yan Ning if she wanted to go.Princess Yan Ning said: "The assessment of entering Beijing is very important. Zhizhou is willing to entrust this matter to you. Of course you have to go back." She smiled slightly, "It doesn't matter if I am here, isn't there grandpa and the others? In a few days Grandmother is coming too, I'm sure I'll have no problem here."

Xie Ze'an said, "That's fine."

Princess Yan Ning said "Yes", with a worried expression on her face: "My brother is alone in the capital, so I don't feel at ease. This is the first year of his accession to the throne, if this is the case, my brother will taste the taste of being lonely , that would be too difficult. Brother will be very happy when you go back." She looked at Xie Zean while talking, as if she wanted to read the clue from his face.

Xie Ze'an didn't pay attention to Princess Yan Ning's expression, and nodded when he heard the words, and didn't say much.

The assessment for entering Beijing is not that simple.After discussing with Princess Yan Ning, Xie Ze'an went to Zhizhou Mansion with pen and ink.For the past half year, he only cared about the affairs of Tianling County. Although he was also concerned about the overall situation of Liangzhou, he inevitably had many blind spots.

Xie Ze'an squatted beside Zhizhou's sick bed and asked Zhizhou and the master many questions.The master has worked in Liangzhou for more than ten years, and he had some experience in the examination of entering Beijing, but when Xie Zean asked many questions one by one, the master's scalp began to tingle.If even Xie Ze'an's problems are all solved, why worry about getting stuck with the Ministry of Officials and the Ministry of Household Affairs?

The master originally thought that Zhizhou's decision to let Xie Ze'an take the top spot was too hasty, but seeing Xie Ze'an's effort, he was immediately convinced, and sat down and slowly solved the pile of problems with Xie Ze'an.When faced with an unresolved issue, Xie Ze'an said: "It's okay, I can learn from other people on this."

The master was afraid that Xie Ze'an was young and impulsive and unreasonable, so he reminded: "When you enter the capital, Xie County Magistrate, you have to take Yan with you, and Yan has to go to do some sorting."

Xie Zean said: "Of course, Master Yan, you have to mention more." Although "Master" is not an official position, it has a huge network of relationships. There are many layers of connections between masters and many secret relationships. They have to take care of it.

Xie Ze'an has never been a rigid person, and has no resistance to these "unspoken rules of officialdom".Someone has to worry about these troublesome things for him, what's wrong?

The more Master Yan watched Xie Zean, the more he liked it, and now he and Xie Zean set a date for returning to Beijing.

Xie Ze'an didn't go back to the county office immediately, but instead went to visit King Duan.The sound of the zither came from the palace of Prince Duan, it was very pleasant, Xie Zean stood at the door and listened attentively, after a while, the sound of the zither stopped, and the concierge welcomed him in respectfully.

Xie Ze'an stepped inside and, led by his servants, walked to the viewing pavilion where King Duan was.The surface of the lake has been frozen, and a few residual lotus plants have frozen into ice edges, which looks a different kind of beauty.

Seeing the qin in the pavilion, Xie Zean boasted, "Uncle Huang is really proficient in everything from qin, chess, calligraphy and painting."

Duan Wang said: "I heard that Sanlang, you are not good at playing piano, chess, calligraphy and painting."

Xie Ze'an touched his nose and coughed twice.A person's energy is limited, he has learned both literature and martial arts, and he is already very good, and it is too much for him to practice these pretentious skills that can only cultivate his sentiment.

Duan Wang said again: "I think you are modest, Sanlang. I heard from Yan Ning that you gave her many lyrics and a sheet music. Originally, you planned to copy a copy for me, probably Too busy, forget about what you promised me."

That was before Princess Yan Ning moved to Tianling County.

When King Duan saw the maid sent back, he knew that Princess Yan Ning had understood everything.

In fact, he deliberately let Princess Yan Ning understand this. This niece was close to him since she was a child, and when she grew up, she still had no defense against him. Although he never had any compassion, he didn't want to be the main cause of Princess Yan Ning's sudden death. .No matter what, Bingxue's smart girls are always adorable.This is also the reason why he doesn't allow people to do anything to Xie Ze'an. His niece likes Xie Ze'an, so keep him for a few more years. Could it be that this kid can turn the world upside down under his nose?

Wang Duan looked at Xie Ze'an with a smile.

Xie Ze'an remembered that it was something he wrote to relieve Princess Yanning's boredom. He didn't know the rhythm, but Xie Xiaomei understood. He was in charge of humming, and Xie Xiaomei was in charge of writing the score, but he was able to restore most of some tunes.Those are famous songs that have been handed down to later generations. Although Xie Ze'an doesn't have much appreciation for music, he has memorized a few of them—used to fool people.

Princess Yan Ning has always loved the things he wrote for her. She is not energetic enough to learn the piano, but Shouhe and others around her are excellent at the piano, and they often play for her to relieve boredom.It seems that before moving away, Princess Yan Ning really trusted Duan Wang very much, otherwise she would not have shared her favorite things with Duan Wang.

Xie Ze'an said: "I got it by accident. If the emperor likes it, I will write it for you."

King Duan said: "You have acquired so many things by chance, even more than your father." Xie Jiyu traveled around in his youth and had a wide range of knowledge, so no one would think he brought out many new things. surprise.

Xie Ze'an said generously: "Because I usually watch and listen to a lot, the god of luck will take special care of me."

King Duan sent someone to fetch pens and ink, but he was not polite to Xie Ze'an, and said: "Then Sanlang, please write me some poems."

Xie Ze'an said: "I don't remember much, just wait a moment."

Xie Ze'an picked up a pen to write the score, while Duan Wang was watching.Duan Wang is a good qin player, he knows quite a few pieces of music, even though he has never tried it, he can tell if it is good or bad.When Xie Ze'an finished writing a piece, he couldn't sit still: "What's the name of this piece?"

Xie Ze'an smiled, and wrote four words at the top: Pingsha Luoyan.

Duan Wang took the sheet music and tasted it carefully. Seeing that Xie Zean had stopped, he rolled his eyes and said, "Continue writing, I can read it myself."

Xie Ze'an nodded and wrote again.

Duan Wang read it over and over several times, memorized the score by heart, and began to play the piano strings.He is very good at playing the piano, but it was a bit jerky at first, but after a few notes passed, it became smoother, the sound of the piano flowing like water flowed in the pavilion, and the separation and gathering of the geese seemed to come one by one.

Xie Zean couldn't help but stop writing.

After the song was over, Duan Wang said: "When I got the new song, I shouldn't have played it in front of Saburo right away, but unfortunately I couldn't help it."

Xie Ze'an said: "Uncle Huang plays it so well that even a layman like me can catch it."

King Duan said, "What about the second song? Is it finished?"

Xie Ze'an said: "Uncle, wait a moment, there are still two paragraphs left." He scribbled on the paper, and soon finished the other song.

Wang Duan looked at Xie Ze'an and mentioned the title of the song: Flying Daggers.

Duan Wang looked at Xie Ze'an after receiving it in his hand, and his eyes changed when he looked at Xie Ze'an: "Is there any more?"

Xie Ze'an said: "I really don't remember, I only wrote down these two poems after copying them three times."

Duan Wang said: "Forget it, I'll ask Ning'er for it later." He looked at Xie Ze'an, "So I said you are being modest, how could anyone else come up with such a good song?"

Xie Ze'an said: "Uncle, don't bury me, I heard this from other places."

Duan Wang said, "I'll play this one for you too."

Xie Ze'an said, "All ears."

The two of them played and listened, and they didn't realize that it was past noon.King Duan invited Xie Ze'an to stay for dinner, but Xie Ze'an refused to agree, saying that Princess Yan Ning was still waiting at the county government.

After Xie Ze'an left, Wang Duan's broad-browed aide came over.Seeing that King Duan carefully collected the two scores, he said: "This guy is really hateful."

Duan Wang smiled lightly and said, "How do you say that?"

The man with the wide eyebrows said: "These two songs are exciting at the beginning and sad at the end. He must have done it on purpose."

Duan Wang said: "It's all good songs, it doesn't matter." He looked cold, "He will definitely not be able to find out anything, so he only dared to express his thoughts through the songs. There is nothing to worry about."

The man with the wide eyebrows did not speak again.

On the other hand, Xie Ze'an continued to be busy with the assessment of entering Beijing.It would be unfair for him to go back to Beijing on behalf of the magistrate, but Liangzhou is less populated, so he doesn't pay so much attention, as long as he handles his affairs well.After five days of preparation, Xie Ze'an, Master Yan and his party set off for Beijing.

Compared with when they came, they had less luggage and female relatives this time, so they walked a lot faster.In less than half a month, Xie Zean and others arrived in the capital.

It's just that a small local official returned to Beijing, and the people below didn't bother to tell Zhao Chongzhao.Xie Ze'an was happy to be at leisure, so he went home first to find his younger sister and younger brother to play.

Zhao Chongzhao heard that people from Liangzhou had arrived, but he didn't expect it to be Xie Ze'an.After he finished his work, he thought about meeting the magistrate of Liangzhou, maybe he could find out about Xie Zean, so he sent someone to summon him into the palace.

When the servant who was looking for someone came back, Zhao Chongzhao found that the other side looked a little weird.

Zhao Chongzhao asked: "Did you see anyone?"

The servant said: "Yes, their master said that he went back to the mansion."

Zhao Chongzhao said: "Go back to the mansion? Isn't the magistrate of Liangzhou from the capital?"

The servant said: "No, no, their master said that the magistrate of Liangzhou was ill, so it was Officer Xiao Xie who came back..."

Zhao Chongzhao jumped up like a child: "What did you say?"

The servant obviously didn't care about Xie Ze'an, seeing that Zhao Chongzhao was also looking happy, he immediately plucked up the courage to say: "It's Mr. Xie who is back!"

Zhao Chongzhao couldn't believe it, stood up and walked around the imperial study room twice, but finally couldn't resist the longing in his heart, and said to Zhang Dade next to him, "Let's go, Xiao Dezi, let's go out of the palace!"

Zhao Chongzhao can't go far, but it's okay to go out of the palace, not to mention that Xie's mansion is in the inner city, it doesn't take much time to go out.He led Zhang Dade out of the palace gate step by step, feeling that even the ice and snow on the ground were much cuter.Originally, he should be angry that Xie Ze'an didn't go to the palace to meet him immediately, but thinking that he would see Xie Ze'an soon, he didn't care about such a trivial matter, and strode towards Xie's mansion.

When he arrived at the gate of Xie's mansion, Zhao Chongzhao didn't ask anyone to inform him, but went directly into the mansion and asked someone to lead him to Xie Ze'an.Before stepping into the courtyard gate, Zhao Chongzhao had already heard the laughter in the courtyard. He walked to the arched door and saw that Xie Zean was letting Xie's younger brother sit on his neck to play, while Xie Xiaomei was smiling happily .

Zhao Chongzhao's mood also lightened up, and he shouted: "Sanlang."

Xie Ze'an turned his head and saw Zhao Chongzhao standing there upright, wearing a thick cloak. There was a lot of snow along the way, but Zhao Chongzhao didn't notice it, which shows how hurried he was going.

Xie Ze'an carried the Xie family's younger brother to the ground, stood up and smiled slightly at Zhao Chongzhao: "Your Majesty."