The letter was sealed with tissue paper. When he opened the flap, Situ Xi saw three pieces of tissue paper. The one in front was a rectangular piece of paper with a line of small words written in elegant handwriting: Personally signed by His Highness the Ninth Prince.

This was the first time he had seen someone calling him this name. It seemed that this person was probably from the Zhao country.

Situ Xi cut the note to the back and looked at the content of the second piece.

"I am a guest in Mujuzheng. There are changes in my family and there is no place for me to live anymore, so I came here to seek refuge."

Somewhat troubled, he claimed that he was his guest, but he had no memory of his previous life. He couldn't even remember the appearance of Emperor Zhao, let alone who Mu Ju was.

However, this man was quite smart. He only mentioned "home" and did not write anything about Zhao Guo in the letter, let alone his own origin.

Looking further down, the third piece of paper has a lot of pen and ink, and the light yellow rice paper is densely packed with black characters. After reading it carefully, Situ Xi's face began to look closer to the color of the ink on the paper.

"I am so clumsy that I have almost no porridge to eat. Now my chime is exhausted. I borrow it from everywhere and dare not forget it. I write it down on paper."

This is probably Mu Juzheng's autobiography, saying that he is now poor and borrowing money from everywhere. The following is the specific content.

At the end of January, I borrowed a farming cow from a rich farmer named Zheng in Panxi City.

On February 13th, I borrowed ten pounds of pork from a butcher surnamed Guan in Quhecheng for seventy cents.

On the 17th, I went to the west of Linwa City to borrow twelve taels of silver...

A rough count shows that there are more than 30 items in total with varying contents, and these are not IOUs, they are all written by him himself.

Regardless of whether he really borrowed these things, since you have "nothing to eat", how dare you go to Goulan to watch the opera and listen to music?

…

"Boy, we can't save your father, go back."

Putting the letter away, Situ Xi walked slowly into the room. When he saw the three of them sitting upright, he looked directly at the little boy beside the bed and said.

"Why! Daddy said that sir, you will definitely save him after reading the letter." The child, who had been silent just now, immediately stood up and ran to Situ Xi with bare feet, his face full of anxiety.

Zhongli, who was on the side, understood. After all, what the child said was only telling the truth. Since his father was taken away by the government, it must be reasonable. My husband must have read the letter. He now said that he could not save him and wanted to come to that person.

It may not be because the husband is a relative, or there are some other reasons, but the husband will never make a mistake.

It's just that these realities are a bit cruel to a child.

"Do you know why he was taken away by the officials?" Situ Xi rolled his eyes at the boy.

"They said that my father did not have the household registration certificate from the Chu State. He was interrogated when he entered the house in the early morning and was sentenced to deportation and exile."

"Then why are you okay?"

"I am from the Chu country, and I am the adopted son adopted by my father." The little boy spoke fluently and had clear logic.

Well, my guest is really not an idle person, and I actually accepted a child from the Chu Kingdom as my godson.

"Is it just that simple?" Situ Xi squinted at the child. He didn't seem to understand the feat of his adoptive father.

Chu State's control over household registration is a bit strict, but this is not too difficult for some meritorious nobles. They only need to go through a few procedures to legally allow some refugees to attach themselves to them.

"Yes." The boy nodded.

"Think again and see if he does anything unusual."

"Abnormal behavior?" The child was asked, and after thinking for a long time, he hesitated and said:

"Indeed, dad spends time hunting every day. He has used bows and arrows to kill large insects, and he has also used an ax to kill bulls. Could it be that he has violated something because of this?"

Just now, Situ Xi was still sizing up the thin child in front of him. Hearing his answer, Situ Xi was suddenly stunned:

"What did you say? What did he do?"

"I used bows and arrows to kill big insects, and..."

"Madam! Let's go and redeem someone."

Zhongli, who was listening carefully with his cheeks on the stool, was suddenly stunned.

…

"Shopkeeper, where did you get this poem?"

In the lobby of a government office, three or four officials gathered together, surrounding the fat shopkeeper Zhang of the sake restaurant. One of the officials with thick eyebrows seemed to be questioning him, his voice was a bit harsh.

"Mr. Chen, what are you going to do? Don't scare the shopkeeper." Next to him, a rather thin and short official looked at the thick eyebrows with disgust, then turned to shopkeeper Zhang and said,

A friendly smiling face.

"Shopkeeper, don't be alarmed. This old man loves poetry. He is very happy to see the hunter and is a little anxious. We don't mean any harm."

Being surrounded by so many officials, Lao Zhangtou had never had such an experience before, and he was a little frightened.

"Sir...my lords, this recommendation was written for me by a regular customer in the store. I don't even know who he is."

Several officials looked at each other, and they had guessed the result. The shopkeeper in front of them was probably lucky enough to get a good poem.

"Looking at this style of poetry, it doesn't look like one of those well-known celebrities in the city. Could it be that he is a hermit in the mountains? Shopkeeper, how old are the regulars?"

"Hmm...about seventeen or eighteen years old."

"What?!" All the officials were in an uproar, and the futou on their heads trembled twice.

"Don't tell lies, shopkeeper. This poem is definitely not something that a gentleman in his youth could write." The official with thick eyebrows was a little angry.

"Shopkeeper Zhang, you are not very authentic. There is quite a hermit style in this poem. It should be the voice of a person who has gone through vicissitudes of life and become open-minded." The thin official also frowned at Shopkeeper Zhang.

Another person picked up the rice paper on the table, held it at eye level in his hand, and recited:

"The loquats are ripe with golden pearls, and the mulberry trees are still full of jade maggots at the beginning of their fall. I temporarily borrowed ten weeping lotus lamps, and poured them into five cartloads of books on an empty stomach."

After a slight pause, he raised his head and no longer looked at the rice paper in his hand, but shook his head and recited the following:

"Sophora bud cakes in a bowl with green floating eggs, catfish on an ice plate with red dots. Drunk and full, high sleep is a true career. The most interesting thing in this life is Sanyu."

"At the end of the article, there is a general batch, which is an interesting anecdote to explain the "three more"."

"Read it a hundred times and you will see its meaning. There are three excesses: winter is the remainder of the year, night is the remainder of the day, and rain is the remainder of the hour."

The man couldn't help but clicked his tongue after reading it, and then looked at his colleagues: "Tsk, I don't know which gentleman it is, but you all have great opinions."

The official with thick eyebrows was also slightly intoxicated. After recalling the wording in the poem, he looked at Shopkeeper Zhang and said, "This poem has the intention of encouraging students to study. The poet should be a respected elder."

Shopkeeper Zhang was already dizzy from what they said. Isn't the poem finished? Why are there still so many things? He looked at the officials in front of him and put forward a hypothesis.

"My lords, the person who gave this poem to the little man is indeed a young man. Maybe... maybe it was a gift from his elders?"

"That's right. Since it has the implication of encouraging students to learn, it should be for the younger members of the family."

After hearing this, several officials frowned, and they were more willing to believe this explanation.

Sometimes, it is easier to accept falsehoods than facts.

"Your sake restaurant won the first place in the preliminaries on Jade Pan Street. Thank that gentleman. I wanted to exchange poetry with the person who wrote the poem, but since he is a hermit, that's all."

First place! After standing in this government office for a long time, these officials finally said something that they could understand. The huge stone hanging in Shopkeeper Zhang's heart fell to the ground calmly, and he immediately felt happy.

"Thank you, my lords. Thank you, my lords."

Although these officials are not of high rank, they are also in charge of several nearby streets, and their status is completely different from his own. Now they talk to him more kindly, and Lao Zhang knows that he has been blessed by Brother Xi. No, it should be

It's talent that matters.

Shopkeeper Zhang didn't care who wrote the poem, it was Situ Xi who gave it to him anyway.

No, I should make up more money for Brother Xi later.

Patting the fat shopkeeper in front of him on the back, the thin official said with a smile:

"Shopkeeper, go prepare the ingredients quickly. You won't be ranked in the formal meeting just by relying on these recommendations. Let me tell you some news. This spring food party is actually specially prepared for the envoys of Li State. Maybe you can

Work hard on this. If you can win, give us some good looks."

…

"Mr. Sir, the conversation just now in the courtyard can be heard in the house..."

On the way to Xuan'an Mansion, Qingyu and the little boy walked in the front, followed by Situ Xi and Zhongli Min.

"It doesn't matter, it's something that can be put on the table. That Mr. Fan just wants to see your father, and what I said is so unreasonable and just the words of an ignorant boy on paper."

After hearing this, Zhongli relaxed his frown.

"Ms. Xianggong, the alfalfa grass concubine you mentioned has been seen in ancient books in my house. However, according to previous experience, the yield of that grass seems to be poor in Chu State, and it cannot replace refined grain for horses. I'm afraid it is somewhat different from what Xianggong said.

In and out.”

"Oh, is it so?"

In fact, when talking about this matter, Situ Xi was also very confused, because in his previous life, alfalfa was brought back by Zhang Jian when he was on an envoy to the Western Regions, which was during the Han Dynasty.

According to the level of development of the Chu State, since I can see these flowers and plants on the riverside, someone should have discovered its excellence.

However, he had asked someone a few days ago that the horses in the army did not eat this grass. Just now, he just wanted to give his words more weight, so he used the alfalfa matter as a weight to negotiate with Mr. Fan.

on the balance of.

After thinking about it carefully, Situ Xi gradually got some clues. Yes, this Chu country is located in the south, has more rain, and the land is mostly red soil. The key condition that limits the output and quality of alfalfa is the near-neutral soil pH.

, it seems that I need to write some advice on the note to Mr. Fan, to sprinkle some lime on the soil before planting.

"This matter is not serious. I am planning to leave the forage matter to Mr. Fan to study. Whether it is there or not, it doesn't matter much." Situ Xi knew what his wife was worried about.

"And he is a smart man. Real objects are different from suggestions. Things that have not been verified in practice cannot be presented to the Holy Spirit at will."

"That's good." Seeing that Situ Xi was confident, Zhongli smiled reassuringly.


Chapter completed!