RPAGF Chapter 122 Things are changing
Chapter 122 Things are changing
The two princes were ordered to leave the capital, and news came from Longxi: Cui Shi of Qinghe asked for the marriage of Sun Heyun, the daughter of the prefect of Longxi, on behalf of Cui Zimin, the Lord of Qinghe. Qilang finally married Shierlang's cousin.
When Zhao Fangyu got the news, he calculated the days and estimated that Xiao Ding had passed.
As for the young man from the Qinghe Cui family, Zhao Fangyu didn't understand how he fell in love with Sun Heyun. He just thought that since he could even like Sun Heyun... this young man was probably too hungry to choose his food, or he was blind.
However, these have little to do with Zhao Fangyu.
"Aunt, the waiter will be relying on you from now on."
The emperor also used the newly-released Qi-replenishing drink. He saw that the tea waiter was constantly innovating. These were changes that occurred after Zhao Fangyu came. When Fang Ruo left, the position of head of the tea waiter became vacant, so he appointed Zhao Fangyu.
It wasn't just Xiao Quanzi who came to congratulate, but also people from the bedroom, kitchen, and imperial weaponry offices came.
In order to avoid suspicion, no one gave any expensive items as gifts. The palace maids mostly gave small items made by themselves, while the eunuchs gave rare, cute and inexpensive gadgets bought from the Ministry of Internal Affairs or compradors.
Zhao Fangyu treated them to a table of tea and snacks. It was such a stressful day, so everyone just expressed their understanding.
Er Qing felt aggrieved for two days, but was gradually frightened by the high-handed emperor and turned back into a quail.
The late spring cold snap gradually dissipated, and there were already disaster victims from the south of the Yangtze River arriving near the outskirts of Beijing. The wealthy families in the city opened porridge shops outside the city to provide disaster relief.
Zhao Jiamei's stall was open, but victims kept pouring in. If they didn't provide porridge, there would be riots, and no one knew when the porridge would end. Gradually, many of the rich families' porridge stalls disappeared.
Only the Zhao family's porridge shop continued to serve hot porridge on time and in fixed quantities, trying its best to ensure that all the victims had hot porridge, and even spent a lot of money to buy rice and grain from other counties.
Zhao Fangyu knew without hesitation that this was the work of the eldest lady. While she was in the palace, she still tried to find a way to have someone pass the message out. There were now several branches in the Fourteen States, which together could earn her several thousand taels of silver every month. Zhao Fangyu asked the eldest lady to use her six-month dividend as alms.
They asked people to build some shacks outside the city so that the victims would have a place to shelter from the wind and rain. However, they were worried that men and women would live together and cause trouble, so they hired people to separate the men and women. They were afraid that some people would reproduce without thinking during such a starving festival and become a burden.
After the money was spent, Zhao Fangyu was not afraid that the eldest lady would embezzle it. Firstly, the eldest lady looked down on her little money, and secondly, the eldest lady was from Longxi and would not do such a thing.
Zhao Fangyu worked in the palace with peace of mind, and Zhao Minshan also sent a letter over.
The letter did not mention any court affairs, but kept hinting that she was now unemployed at home, and seeing the garden and study where her sisters used to play, she was moved and recalled the family happiness of the past.
Zhao Fangyu sneered twice and threw the letter into the fire.
"Sister, what are you burning?"
Zhao Fangyu remained calm and said, "A poor relative of the clan heard that I am now in front of the emperor, and asked me to find a way to get him a job."
Xiao Quanzi asked hurriedly: "Is this person close to my sister? Is he a man or a woman?"
Zhao Fangyu raised his eyes and glanced at Xiao Quanzi: "Why? Do you have a connection?"
When the guards patrolling outside the gate passed by, Xiao Quanzi kept silent and waited until the man left before saying, "If it's a man, it would only take one knife. If you can trust me, I'll find a way to arrange for him to live in a less crowded place after he enters the palace."
This was equivalent to Xiao Quanzi's guarantee. His current identity was only Qian Jiangping's apprentice. To be able to make such a guarantee, it was obvious that he took Zhao Fangyu's friendship to heart and regarded her affairs as his own.
When Zhao Fangyu heard this, he couldn't help but think of Zhao Minshan being a eunuch at such an old age, and he burst out laughing.
"The relationship is considered close, but I'm afraid his family is reluctant to let him enter the palace. They do have several daughters, but none of them are available now."
Xiao Quanzi guessed that he was not old enough, and slapped his thigh, "That means he has not reached the end of his rope yet. If he really had no food to eat, he would have entered the palace long ago."
"Just like the one back then, the two princes were about to fight in Wende Hall for her, but now? She has to beg for food even for a meal."
Zhao Fangyu raised his eyebrows slightly when he heard this: "What do you mean?"
"You know I don't have a good relationship with her, don't lie to me."
Xiao Quanzi said, "How can that be possible! He has been imprisoned, so he might as well be dead instead of alive."
The water in the small stove in the tea room bubbled, and the aroma of tea gradually drifted away. From time to time, there was condensed mist, but it did not hinder the two people's secret conversation.
"I heard that it was an evil spirit that possessed him. As soon as the evil spirit possessed him, the Zhang family secretly reported it to the Jinyiwei."
"It is really stupid for an evil spirit to dare to cause trouble at the foot of the imperial city. Fortunately, the evil spirit has been arrested and brought to justice. He was interrogated every day and said some crazy things all day long. The evil spirit ran away, but the eldest daughter of the Zhang family can't come back either."
Zhao Fangyu guessed that the evil spirit didn't leave, but Zhang Yingying was frightened silly.
That feeling of "the rabbit's death makes the fox sad" had long been diluted by time. It was time for Zhao Fangyu to make tea. When the time came, he held the tea and stood next to Qian Jiangping. Qian Jiangping smiled and handed the tea to him. Not long after, Zhao Fangyu received a gesture from Qian Jiangping and walked out of the room.
Because there have been many innovative tea drinks in the tea house recently, Zhao Fangyu would always stay a little longer to observe the emperor's reaction to the new products.
If she frowned, or did not want to use the tea again after taking a sip, she would go back to the tea room and get another cup of Wuyi tea or bamboo leaf tea.
Gradually, the medical skills that I had learned when making incense were gradually regained.
On the second evening after talking with Xiao Quanzi, Zhao Fangyu was making tea in the tea room again. However, when he was off duty in the morning, he was blocked by someone as soon as he left the duty room.
Pei Yan came in a hurry, walking along the palace road. Many people saw him, but he was coming from the direction of the imperial study, and it was the exact time. Everyone thought he was coming to report to the emperor, and no one guessed that he was looking for Zhao Fangyu.
As soon as Pei Yan saw her coming out of the duty room, he pulled her aside. Er Qing saw it clearly and stomped her feet in anger.
"Did you talk about Zhang Yingying?"
Zhao Fangyu suddenly looked up, his black and white eyes staring straight into Pei Yan's eyes. Alarm bells rang in his mind and he quickly recalled yesterday's conversation.
She knew that talking about Zhang Yingying might be risky, but she didn't expect the warning to come so quickly.
As expected, it was Pei Yan who investigated Zhang Yingying's arrest. The moment he saw Pei Yan, Zhao Fangyu tensed up every nerve in his body.
"Her matter is not over yet. There are people watching everywhere in the palace. You are so brave."
Zhao Fangyu clenched his hands, his knuckles turning white from the force, his face remained motionless, but he still could not escape Pei Yan's sharp eyes.
"That's what I was saying."
Pei Yan stared at the man for a while, making the little girl turn pale. In the end, he couldn't bear to see Zhao Fangyu look like a frightened bird.
His whole body was tense, as if he was a rabbit that would jump eight feet away if the wind blew.
After confirming that there were no Jinyiwei around to snoop, Pei Yan was relieved: "Let's talk about it, it's not a big deal. Just remember in the future, don't listen too much, don't ask too much, and don't interfere too much in the Zhang family's affairs."
Zhao Fangyu said nothing, just nodded silently. He couldn't help but pinch his knuckles hard with his hands hidden in his sleeves, and conspicuous white marks immediately appeared on his skin.
"Zhang Yingying was originally a fishing toy used by the Jinyiwei. No one cared about her before. They were just waiting for evil spirits like her to come and form an alliance with her. Now it seems that these evil spirits are not in groups. We just caught one by chance. If it dies, it dies."
"But I'm afraid some evil spirits are hiding deep, so even after Zhang Yingying's death, you should talk less about it, so as not to be targeted by the Jinyiwei."