Chapter 165

A banquet, because of Jia Cong's "Linjiang Xian," added much brilliance.

Everyone attending the banquet was born from the imperial examinations and literature, and knew well that an excellent poem could bring the author immeasurable reputation and luck.

After today's banquet, with the excellence of this "Linjiang Xian," it will definitely spread through Jin Ling very quickly, and this young Official Chengshi will probably become famous in the south of the Yangtze River.

In the beginning, Jia Cong surrounded the Zou mansion with troops and broke the major case of the Water Supervision Department, causing many people to suffer losses in the interests of maritime trade. The people in the Jin Ling officialdom had much hostility toward Jia Cong.

But now the overall situation has been set and cannot be recovered. Even if someone takes Jia Cong's life, it will be of no avail.

Moreover, this person is a descendant of the Rongguo Jia family, with a noble family background, and has received much favor from the Emperor. His foundation is really not shallow. Now, because of two excellent poems, his reputation is about to become overwhelming.

The people sitting here today are the backbone of the various government offices in Jin Ling, and their thoughts and plans are not comparable to ordinary people.

Those who were not deeply involved, seeing Jia Cong's affairs today, naturally had many thoughts and showed a desire to befriend Jia Cong.

And those who harbored hostility toward Jia Cong also restrained their expressions and intentions, and had more scruples and weighing in their hearts.

Jia Cong replied: "How could there not be? I don't know Ruan Hongcheng at all, but he suddenly spoke out to challenge me. It's really unreasonable."

"Brother Cong, don't you think there is something strange about the banquet today?"

The two also agreed to meet and drink together again after Jia Cong returns to the Love Shenjing at the end of the year.

Cui Boliang was killed by you on the spot, which cut off his financial path. He naturally has great hostility toward you, but he is just a low-level civil official and is not worth worrying about.

But Brother Cong has to wait until the main hall of the Daci'en Temple is completed before he can leave Jin Ling. The time is not short. Paying more attention and being prepared is always right."

Only now did he understand that the reason he felt he looked familiar was because Cui Bowang and Cui Boliang looked similar, naturally because they were brothers.

These people who are implicitly related to Zou Huaiyi's case dare not make any moves for the time being.

Until the banquet ended, Jia Cong was about to leave, but was stopped by Yang Hongbin, because he was going to return to the Court of Judicial Review in the Love Shenjing tomorrow to take up his new post, so he came to say goodbye to him.

Jia Cong suddenly thought that he felt he looked familiar when he saw this Cui Bowang at the banquet just now.

"Naturally I remember. After investigation, several battalion commanders involved in Zou Huaiyi's killing and looting were all his accomplices."

Yang Hongbin said: "I know some reasons. Do you remember the day you led troops into the Zou mansion, Zou Huaiyi's several battalion commanders were killed by you on the spot because they resisted arrest."

It's just that you should pay more attention to the people beside him at the banquet today. This person is Cui Bowang, an experience officer of the Jin Ling Guard Experience Office, and he is the elder brother of Cui Boliang!"

If Yang Hongbin hadn't reminded him, Jia Cong really wouldn't have known that there was such a conflict behind today's banquet.

With Prince Ning leaving Jin Ling and returning to the Love Shenjing, Jia Cong's position as a consultant to Prince Ning ended here, and his connection with the major case of the Water Supervision Department was at least completely separated on the surface, which also made him breathe a sigh of relief.

Yang Hongbin said again: "Ruan Hongcheng relied on his relationship with Cui Boliang to earn a lot of silver from foreign goods in the past few years. Not only did he set up a mansion in Fengle Lane, but he also married two concubines."

Yang Hongbin continued: "Because Cui Boliang intended to resist stubbornly that day, he was killed on the spot. Whether Cui Bowang, Ruan Hongcheng, and others are involved in the major case of the Water Supervision Department cannot be verified at present."

Yang Hongbin said: "One of the people killed was named Cui Boliang, who was Zou Huaiyi's most trusted person, and this person is Ruan Hongcheng's wife's younger brother!"

Now the Pushuyuan, the Court of Judicial Review, and various government offices in the Love Shenjing are investigating omissions and rectifying official discipline in Jin Ling.

When Zou Huaiyi was brought to justice, Jia Cong felt that there were hidden secrets behind this matter, so he made up his mind to withdraw in time. Now it seems that the wind wants to be quiet but the tree does not stop.

Jia Cong was startled when he heard this: "No wonder Ruan Hongcheng would have hostility toward me, and that's why he challenged me today."

The day he grabbed his sword at the Zou mansion, he left a deep impression on him, so he naturally remembered his appearance.

Since he could think of the things that happened in Jin Ling, couldn't Prince Ning and Yang Hongbin, who had always been in it, think of it? Not to mention the Emperor in the Love Shenjing who was as deep as the sea.

Jin Ling, as the auxiliary capital of the Great Zhou, set up six ministries to guard it, involving the government affairs of eight prefectures and one prefecture in the south of the Yangtze River. The tree is old and the roots are deep, involving a wide range.

If you find signs of decay, you can only prune the branches and repair the vines first, and you cannot rashly dig the roots, so as not to shake the foundation of the south of the Yangtze River.

This is probably what big figures like Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao think about in their hearts.

And with the Emperor's cruel and scheming nature, he will definitely not be willing to be deceived. When the right time comes, he will still act, and that will be a bloody counterattack.

But these aftermaths have nothing to do with Jia Cong, just let the later people worry about it.

And his days in Jin Ling were finally simplified to copying scriptures and praying for Empress Dowager Xianxiao.

It's just that in the Ci'an Hall of the Ding'an Temple, Keqing never appeared again.

Jin Ling, Chongyi Lane, Wu family small courtyard.

Keqing leaned obliquely on the embroidered bed. After a night of cold rain, the weather became even colder. The paulownia tree in the courtyard outside the window had lost most of its leaves, looking somewhat withered and decadent.

Only a few days had passed, but she had lost a lot of weight, her pretty face was thin, and her bright eyes, which were like autumn water, were also somewhat dim.

Beside the pillow lay that sky-blue handkerchief, embroidered with a full moon, and under the moon was a silver osmanthus tree with white flowers.

The maid Ruizhu ran in from outside, holding several neatly folded sheets of paper, her face full of excitement and joy.

"Miss, I went to the largest entertainment venue at the corner of the street and spent ten copper coins to let the errand boy help me copy those two poems by Young Master Cong.

Young Master Cong is truly capable. These two poems he wrote are now very famous. It is said that Lady Qing of the Qingyin Pavilion personally set these two poems to music.

Now in Jin Ling city, wherever it is lively, everyone is singing these two songs. They all say that Young Master Cong is a literary genius descended from heaven, a rare talent."

Keqing looked at the two new poems on the paper, and her bright eyes, like autumn water, shone with brilliance, becoming gentle and moving.

"The green mountains remain, how many times has the sunset been red..."

She suddenly shed tears again, not knowing whether it was joy or sorrow.

She murmured to herself: "He has extraordinary talent and became famous at a young age. His future will definitely be boundless."

And all she could do for him was to quietly stay away and then walk her own path alone.

Jin Ling Xinglong Lane, Jia family old mansion.

Outside, the sound of rain was urgent. From the blue-tiled eaves, thousands of curtains hung down, continuous and endless, washing the blue stone road in the courtyard and wetting the treetops under the corridor.

After a night of cold rain, Wuer caught a cold while on night duty. At this moment, she was curled up on the bed, her breath faint, and her sweet dreams were sound.

Qingwen was picking needles and threads on the side, making a small blue-dyed cotton coat, which was for Jia Cong to change into after the weather turned cold.

In the study, Jia Cong was reading, and Xiang Ling sat on the side, concentrating on practicing calligraphy, using a template Jia Cong had written for her.

It was a new poem to the tune of "Jianzi Mulan Hua."

Meeting without speaking, a hibiscus flower in the autumn rain.

Small dizzy red tide, slanted phoenix hairpin on the heart of the bun.

Waiting to call out softly, just because of the condensed emotion, afraid of being seen by others.

Wanting to tell the hidden feelings, turning around the railing to knock on the jade hairpin.

This was written by Jia Cong to vent his feelings after Keqing never appeared again since that day, feeling depressed.

On the icy, rain-drenched streets of Jin Ling, two carriages were running fast in the rain curtain.

The carriage behind stopped when it passed Xinglong Lane. The curtain was lifted slightly, revealing a pretty, beautiful face as bright as a rose.

Through the Xinglong Lane gate in the wind and rain, one could vaguely see the tall and majestic old mansion. The two stone lions at the door were washed bright by the rain, and the "Jia" lanterns hanging under the high eaves swayed in the wind and rain.

In the carriage, Ruizhu asked: "Miss, are you really not going to say goodbye to Young Master Cong? Leaving so silently, will he be worried?"

Keqing's eyes were filled with tears: "There is nothing to say even if I say goodbye. Leaving like this is clean. He will naturally understand in the future."

The carriage in front also stopped. The old servant driving the carriage ran to the front of the carriage: "The Mistress asks the Miss why the carriage stopped. Tell the Miss not to delay the time, otherwise, you will miss the accommodation ahead."

The two carriages started moving again. The carriage tracks pressed over the stone slab road, making a choking sound, until they completely disappeared into the dense, silk-like rain curtain.

A city of cold rain tells of hidden coolness, the world's customs and sects have their own fate.

(End of chapter)