When Jiang Yingxue came in from the side door with a plate of fruits, she saw Xiao Cheng staring at her intently.

The weather was already hot, and it was in the inner courtyard of her home. Jiang Yingxue didn't shy away from Xiao Cheng, so she naturally wore cool clothes all over her body.

With Jiang Yingxue's proud figure, it's no wonder Xiao Cheng's eyes were frozen and unable to move away.

Xiao Cheng's eyes roamed around her body unscrupulously, Jiang Yingxue felt a little shy, her face turned red, she walked over with a gentle step, put the fruit plate on the small table, and said: "Why does Erlang think so of the slave family? Today I am I don’t know if Erlang came over and didn’t even have time to wash up. Isn’t it ugly?”

"If Yingxue is ugly, then there will be no beauties in the world." Xiao Cheng shook his head repeatedly: "Even those in the palace can't compare with you."

Jiang Yingxue smiled: "Erlang is joking again. Those in the palace are all golden branches and jade leaves. The emperor is a nobleman, who am I?"

"Golden branches and jade leaves, the emperor's nobles are good, but no one said that they will definitely be beautiful!" Xiao Cheng disagreed: "Even Princess Wanping, who was praised by those shameless literati as if they were gods descending to earth, in my opinion, It’s just a handsome appearance, it’s incomparable to you.”

Hearing Xiao Cheng say that one of the most noble women in the world is not as good as herself, Jiang Yingxue was filled with joy. She took a grape from the fruit plate, carefully peeled off the outer skin, and was about to put it into a small dish. But he found that Xiao Cheng leaned forward and opened his mouth.

Startled for a moment, but still a little confused about whether to laugh or cry, he picked up the grapes with two slender green fingers and fed them into Xiao Cheng's mouth.

"Erlang, let's have lunch here today. I'll cook some dishes for Erlang later. Do you want to drink some wine? Didn't Erlang say that Master gave you three days' leave?" Jiang Yingxue peeled the grapes. asked cautiously.

What she likes most is being able to be alone with Xiao Cheng, but Xiao Cheng is always coming and going in a hurry, and there seems to be endless things to do.

"OK!"

Hearing Xiao Cheng's affirmative reply, Jiang Yingxue was immediately happy.

"Everyone in the world knows that Jiang Yingxue, the manager of Tianxiang Pavilion, is the best in the world in making incense, but they don't know that your cooking skills are also top-notch. I don't know who will be lucky enough to marry you in the future. That's really a pick-up. To Baoluo?" Xiao Cheng said with a smile.

Jiang Yingxue's face suddenly fell. Her face, which was originally red, suddenly turned white again. After a long while, she lowered her head and said, "I have sworn that I will never marry anyone in my life. I will marry Tianxiang." It’s over.”

Seeing the other party biting his red lips lightly, but his little face was completely pale, Xiao Cheng realized that his joke seemed to be a little too much, and it obviously hit the other party.

Staring at the extremely wronged look of the other party, with his head bowed lightly, black silk brushing his face, his eyes watery, as if he was about to shed tears at the next moment, and his heart suddenly felt distressed.

Beauty is a disaster, the ancients are sincere and I can't deceive them!

With a secret sigh in his heart, Xiao Cheng reached out his hand and gently held the other person's soft and boneless Rou Yi.

Feeling that the other party's body seemed to be shaking slightly, Xiao Cheng said softly: "I was wrong. Yingxue, I understand what you mean. Let me think about this matter carefully and what should I do! But you Don’t worry, I’m reluctant to marry you off.”

Jiang Yingxue suddenly raised her head, but the expression on her face was one of surprise and joy.

This was the first time she heard such a clear statement from Xiao Cheng. In the past, she had always been unable to figure out what Xiao Cheng was thinking and what his feelings were towards her.

Now, she finally put her heart that had been hanging on her for a long time back into her stomach.

But after all, she is the big shopkeeper of Tianxiang Pavilion. In the past few years, under Xiao Cheng's hard training, she has transformed into a shrewd businessman. Although she looks weak like a little daughter in front of Xiao Cheng, but outside

In front of others, she is a shrewd, capable and decisive person.

She naturally understood what Xiao Cheng meant when he said he should think carefully.

For her, these are not important things.

"The Nu family is five years older than Erlang." Jiang Yingxue said softly: "I am also a merchant, so I don't dare to ask for anything. I just want to be by Erlang's side."

Having said this, he looked up at Xiao Cheng and summoned up the courage to say, "Even if you don't come in, it doesn't matter."

Xiao Cheng laughed and said, "That's not okay. If anyone knows about the grand boss of Tianxiang Pavilion in the future, the boss is just my Xiao's aunt, and those dignitaries who have pursued you will not come to your door with knives."

Kill me? Although I pride myself on being pretty good at it, I can’t stand up to the crowd. You don’t even want to be given the title of the main wife. Come and give me, Mr. Xiao, the concubine. How much do you think I must be hated by people?

"

Jiang Yingxue burst out laughing: "Those people, all of them have ulterior motives, they are interested not only in me as a person, but in my money. I would rather be Erlang's concubine than go to someone else's house."

Suffer!”

"Follow me, you'll suffer too!" Xiao Cheng held Jiang Yingxue's hand to his mouth, kissed it, and saw that the other person turned into a cooked shrimp again, and then he let it go happily.

Too much is not enough, Jiang Yingxue is not the kind of frivolous woman, even this makes her feel a little embarrassed.

"It's different to follow Erlang." Jiang Yingxue said softly: "If it weren't for Erlang, how would the slave family know how big the world is? How would they know the wonderful things in this world? The former Yingxue was just a blind and deaf person."

"It will be more exciting in the future." Xiao Cheng nodded and smiled: "The days are long, but you let me think about it slowly. In short, I can't wrong you."

After hearing Xiao Cheng's words, Jiang Yingxue smiled like a flower, stood up and said: "Erlang, let's take a rest first. I'll get Erlang some snacks to go with the wine."

"I must have a few drinks today." Xiao Cheng said, "Let's celebrate!"

Jiang Yingxue passed away as happily as a gust of wind. Xiao Cheng lay down again, looking at the water curtain outside the window, but his thoughts had already gone away.

Compared with the affairs of his own children, the strange situation in Bianjing City now is even more troublesome.

After a long talk with my father last night, I finally got his approval and allowed myself to be his counselor on some matters. The biggest benefit of this is that I can better understand the current situation of the court and some secrets that are unknown to the outside world.

Zhou Ting, the envoy of the Third Division, fell ill a month ago. This old man was in his sixties. In terms of financial planning, no one in the entire Song Dynasty could be his equal. He had been in charge of the Third Division for ten years.

Moreover, this person only followed the orders of the officials. He was an out-and-out centrist in the court, and he was also the target of the two major factions in the court.

Originally, if nothing big happened, no one could shake the old finance minister's position.

But the problem lies with himself.

The old-hearted Prime Minister Zhou had a new concubine this year, who was only eighteen years old. As a result, he accidentally became overly excited and suffered a stroke. Although his life was not in danger, his eyesight and mouth were crooked and he was unable to walk.

.

This plan is naturally impossible.

Moreover, this appearance has become the laughing stock of everyone in Bianjing City. Now the entire Zhou family cannot hold their heads high in Bianjing City. Zhou Laocai even wrote a letter to resign. The family has packed up the gifts and is only waiting for the imperial edict.

As soon as the decree came out, he immediately packed up and left Bianjing to go back to his hometown, so as not to be embarrassed here.

This old man died under the peony flowers, and he was a charming ghost. He was benevolent and received benevolence.

But his position is really too important. He is in charge of the entire imperial and Song Dynasty's financial planning! His every move can be said to affect the minds of countless people.

The change of this position also represents the political trend in the entire Bianjing city.

Can you imagine how fierce the competition must be?

Xiao Yu finally won the battle and will soon officially serve as the chief steward of the entire Imperial Song Dynasty.

And this seems to give a brand new signal. The officials seem to be preparing to get tough on the north.

As we all know, Xiao Yu was the main fighting faction. He was in charge of the financial planning work of the Imperial Song Dynasty. The signal sent by the officials could not be more obvious.

The two kings' faction had a huge upper hand in this battle.

But Xiao Cheng doesn't see it that way.

First of all, in the past two years, as the two kings stabilized the situation in the north, they gained great popularity. However, in the court, precisely because of this, they were suppressed a bit miserably by the prince's faction.

Xiao Yu's victory this time may be just a move by the officials to balance the forces in the court.

Secondly, the two kings' successive victories in the northern border also allowed the officials to see that the Northern Liao Dynasty was not as sharp and formidable as the opponent's cavalry advocated by the central leader He Yi. It was no longer easy to maintain the current situation. He had

Maybe he really put such a little thought into it, but it was just a little thought. Xiao Cheng felt that he saw this official family very clearly, and he did not have the perseverance determination and courage to face difficulties at all. He was the kind of person who had the advantage of being cheap.

People who want to gain a share but will back down when faced with problems. Counting on such people to do such a big thing as the Northern Expedition is just a dream. What he prefers is to mix different opinions and let the two major factions fight against each other.

It was a great pleasure for him to sit firmly on the Diaoyutai.

Thirdly, I am afraid that Zhou Ting, a close confidant of the official family, fell ill too suddenly. He was a tough guy who seemed to have a strong body, but he collapsed immediately. This caught the official family by surprise. For a while, it was difficult to find someone to pick up Zhou Ting.

Xiao Yu is one of the financial officials who joined the Third Division with Zhou Ting. As Zhou Ting's deputy, he is very familiar with the work of the Third Division. If Xiao Yu takes over, there will be no big trouble in the Third Division.

Able to make a smooth transition.

It's probably not a good thing that Xiao Yu is sitting in this position now.

Officials would not like the person sitting above the position of Finance Minister to be the Grand Prince or the Second Prince. It could only be one of his own people. Whether my father, the Third Secretary-General, can be long-term is another question.

Maybe after the official family has calmed down for a while and found a suitable candidate, my father will have to give up his position.
Chapter completed!