Fu Zhen said amusingly, "It's not a large sum of money. Why on earth do you need this?"
It was actually quite comical. These two young men who had grown up in wealth and privilege were arguing over a thousand taels of silver one day. And the one who had shelled out the money looked extremely pained.
Chen Tingfeng slowly folded the silver note and put it into his sleeve. "I'm saving up for my betrothal money."
Fu Zhen's face flushed instantly. "You... you're teasing me!"
Chen Tingfeng smiled and leaned closer. "This thousand taels is yours. All my money belongs to you."
Fu Zhen pushed him away. "You lecher! Who wants your money? Humph!"
Saying so, he immediately got up and left, clearly regarding Chen Tingfeng as a shameless hooligan who had sneaked into the Marquis Mansion.
Chen Tingfeng felt a rush of warmth in his heart. He didn't bother sipping his tea anymore and quickly got up to chase after him. The two of them ran far away in the rain, laughing and frolicking.
After all, detaining General Mao was not a glorious matter. So they only waited at the city gate for a short while before the group set off.
Jin Xianghuan stood on the city wall. Her face, rarely devoid of a smile, looked rather cold and solemn, just like the time when they first met and she took care of Chen Huanyun.
Fu Zhen stood beside her and comforted her, "Although the journey is long and arduous, there will be capable people accompanying them all the way. They will surely come back safely."
Jin Xianghuan forced a smile, but there was little real happiness in it. "I know."
After Jin Yuanzhou's figure disappeared at the end of the road, she finally withdrew her gaze. She glanced at Chen Tingfeng waiting below and playfully smiled at Fu Zhen. "Why is your cousin so clingy to you?"
Fu Zhen didn't hide his relationship with Chen Tingfeng from Jin Xianghuan, but he also didn't make it explicit.
Jin Xianghuan was smart. After observing them a couple of times, how could she not notice the端倪?
She knew that these were troubled times and they didn't want to make a big deal out of it, so she always kept it to herself and only teased them occasionally.
Fu Zhen blushed shyly and gently touched his cheek. He whispered, "He's always worried about me."
Jin Xianghuan looked at Chen Tingfeng for a while. She saw him looking up from under the city wall and their eyes met.
After a moment of eye - contact, she shifted her gaze and flicked Fu Zhen's forehead with her finger. "We haven't seen each other for a long time. How about going to Yongchun Restaurant for a meal? Tell your cousin to go back first. I'll surely send you back to the Marquis Mansion safely."
Noticing that Jin Xianghuan was in a bad mood today, Fu Zhen agreed without hesitation. "Okay. I'll tell him."
The two of them walked down the city wall together. Fu Zhen walked over to Chen Tingfeng and whispered a few words in his ear. Jin Xianghuan saw Chen Tingfeng frown, looking a bit disapproving. Then he suddenly glanced at her. It seemed that he was worn down by Fu Zhen and had no choice but to reluctantly agree.
Just as she and Fu Zhen were about to leave, she keenly noticed that Yuanbao, who was following Chen Tingfeng, quietly trailed behind their carriage.
She snorted in her heart. In the past, this guy used to be at odds with Zhenzhen, but now he did whatever Zhenzhen said. It was really a case of one thing subduing another!
When they arrived at Yongchun Restaurant and sat in their familiar seats, Jin Xianghuan finally let out a long breath.
The room fell silent, only the cries of street vendors outside the window could be heard.
There was a bunch of flowers by the window, blooming beautifully. The gentle breeze made them sway gently.
Fu Zhen asked the waiter to bring a pot of tea and a plate of pastries, then told him to leave.
She looked at Jin Xianghuan. "You seem a bit off today. Is there something you want to tell me?"
Jin Xianghuan asked with a smile, "Can't I invite you for a meal if there's nothing wrong?"
"Of course you can," Fu Zhen replied immediately, but there was a hint of worry in his voice. "But you don't seem very happy today."
The smile faded from Jin Xianghuan's face. She looked out of the window and said indifferently, "I just haven't figured something out."
"He clearly asked me to behave like a gentleman at home. He told me to be upright and kind, and not to steal or do anything bad. He did all this for my own good, right?" she paused, as if organizing her words.
Fu Zhen suddenly realized that she was talking about Jin Yuanzhou.
"Of course," she said softly. "A person may be penniless in their lifetime, but they must not compromise their principles for money and become morally corrupt. He was definitely doing this for your own good."
Jin Xianghuan sneered. "Then why can't he do it himself?"
"He clearly has his own ambitions, but he chose to back down at this critical moment. He believes whatever his teacher says," Jin Xianghuan suddenly turned cold, and there was an inexplicable anger in her eyes. "He clearly didn't want General Mao to die, but he didn't say it explicitly. He wavered and offended everyone before he was willing to stop!"
"Everyone says he's lucky to have a highly respected senior from the Imperial Academy as his teacher, which is why he was promoted all the way to the fourth - rank official position. But only I know," she clenched her fists tightly, "only I know that he studies until midnight every day and spends all his efforts on official documents! Only then did he finally achieve this fourth - rank position, but just like this..."
She took a deep breath, trying hard to suppress the sourness in her throat. She said hoarsely, "Just like this, he was still ridiculed and belittled all the way. His teacher was still dissatisfied with him and often scolded him severely."
"These things clearly weren't taught by that old fool!"
"He achieved all this by himself step by step!" she said hatefully, her eyes suddenly turning red. "His teacher is so stubborn and self - righteous. In fact, he is the most slippery and scheming one. But he hides behind the scenes and blames everything on my brother. Now, he has both money and power and is highly respected, while my brother has endured so much cold - shoulder and has a bad reputation!"
She felt so indignant for him!
Fu Zhen listened quietly to her words. She got up and sat beside her, handing her a handkerchief. Seeing that she didn't take it, she gently wiped her tears herself.
But the more she wiped, the more tears there were.
She sighed, then pulled Jin Xianghuan onto her shoulder and gently patted her on the back, whispering soothingly, "I understand. I understand it all."
In this era, scholars attached great importance to respecting their teachers and elders. If one disobeyed their teachers or elders, they would be labeled as unfilial.
Once a teacher, always a father. The grievances and entanglements between them were not something that could be sorted out in a short time.
Since Jin Yuanzhou had taken that teacher, if the teacher never lost his good reputation in his lifetime, Jin Yuanzhou was destined to be tied to him. Even after the teacher died, he still had to see him off.
His official position was achieved through his own hard work, but in the eyes of outsiders, it was always inseparable from his teacher.
Who asked his teacher to be so highly respected?
Jin Yuanzhou's teacher taught him to play both sides, perhaps because he didn't want him to get involved in the fight for the throne. He might have some protective feelings towards Jin Yuanzhou. After all, in the fight for the throne, although the top - level figures might survive by luck, those below would ultimately be purged.
He made Jin Yuanzhou a fence - sitter. Although he was not popular, at least he was safe.
But Jin Yuanzhou didn't want that.
"My family is in business. My brother has been traveling around with my father since he was a child and has seen a lot of ordinary people. Some families rely on a few acres of farmland to survive. After paying the taxes, there is not much grain left. Even when they can't make ends meet at home, they still have to sell the grain," Jin Xianghuan wiped her tears and said in a muffled voice. "In a good harvest year, the price of grain is low, and they can't sell it for much money. But there's no other way. They have to sell it to survive. Seeing those rough hands holding a handful of copper coins was really heart - wrenching."
"My brother witnessed a lot of such things. Every time he came back, he would always lock himself in the room. I didn't understand at that time. I just thought he had been bullied outside and was too proud to bow his head... But now I understand. He was suffering because of the hardships of the common people."
"So he studied hard and was finally ranked in the top list of the imperial examination. Although he was not as outstanding as your cousin, it was still quite good. He wanted to be an official because the higher his official position, the more he could do for the common people."
As she spoke, tears welled up in her eyes again. "But no one ever told him that the officialdom was just as unreachable to him as he was to the farmers back then. He didn't know which way to go, so he could only charge forward blindly. No matter how difficult it was, he never lowered his head."
Even if others laughed at him for being slippery, he would never turn back.
Because once he did, all his efforts would be in vain. He had no choice.