Everyone Knows I’m a Good Man

After parting ways with Liu Shengyan, Ji Changze went straight back to his residence. The original owner had been practicing in the court for many years, and he had not only developed the ability to be a smiling tiger.

He was also famous for his intelligence when he was young. Although he later went astray, his scheming and ruthless methods were no less ruthless than others. Although the mistress of the house stayed behind closed doors and didn't care about the affairs of the house, she was still well-organized after all this time.

Anyway, no matter what they do in private, they don't dare to relax at all in front of the master of the house.

When the servant who was working saw Ji Changze, he immediately put down what he was doing and saluted respectfully: "Master."

"Um."

Ji Changze responded briefly and walked straight to the most remote small courtyard in the mansion. It was originally an abandoned woodshed. Back then, Miss Li Li Ziqian knew that her husband had killed her father out of righteousness. After returning from her hometown, she locked herself up. In here.

She refused to come out. She just wanted to pray for her father. This situation of self-imprisonment was exactly what the original owner wanted. She put on an affectionate look on her face and sent all the food, drinks and clothes to the yard. She only regarded her as her wife. A tool person with affectionate personality.

As long as you have to do superficial work, you will naturally do it well. Although the courtyard is remote and small, there are many maids and servants. Everywhere is cleaned in an orderly manner, but the door is closed tightly. Li Ziqian does not come out by herself, and her husband is not allowed in.

So Ji Changze just stood outside the door and asked the doorkeeper girl who immediately bowed cautiously when she saw him: "Madam, can we eat today?"

"As far as I'm concerned, Master, Madam has finished her meal."

Ji Changze asked again: "What are you using?"

The janitor girl was stunned. She didn't know how to answer this question.

She quickly lowered her head and said, "Sister Taohua is going to the kitchen today. I didn't look at the dishes."

Taohua, the eldest girl next to Li Ziqian, happened to hear a sound outside and came out to see what was going on. She happened to hear this and hurriedly replied: "To tell you what to do, my wife is using quail soup, five delicacies and three delicacies soup today."

"Well, you only ate these few things, nothing else?"

Taohua hesitated for a moment, then answered: "My wife said she wanted to eat venison stew this morning, but the kitchen didn't buy any venison today."

Ji Changze, who was wearing a red uniform, raised his eyebrows and said coldly: "This is how you serve the madam. When the kitchen is gone, you just send them to buy it. Didn't I say, give the madam whatever she wants?"

Taohua felt scared when she heard his stern voice.

Knowing that the powerful man in the court took action, he hurriedly explained: "I sent someone to buy it, but many shops selling venison in the kitchen road today do not have venison. Perhaps it is because of the refugees around the capital. The deer was very difficult to catch, and many hunters had not caught it. After hearing this, the lady decided to forget it. "

Ji Changze listened and said a few more words before leaving. Taohua looked at her master's retreating back, breathed a sigh of relief, and turned back to the courtyard.

In the yard, Madam Xu's dowry was standing in the yard drying sweet-scented osmanthus flowers under the sun. When she saw her coming in, she asked, "Who came just now?"

"It's the master. I asked my wife what she had eaten."

Taohua stepped forward to help.

Aunt Xu saw the sweet-scented osmanthus blossoming yesterday, so she said her favorite sweet-scented osmanthus cake before leaving the palace. Today she got up and picked the sweet-scented osmanthus flowers herself, picked them one by one, washed them, and arranged them neatly to dry in the sun. Down.

While helping to select the sweet-scented osmanthus, Taohua told Aunt Xu what had just happened: "Auntie, you didn't see that the master looked very ugly when he heard that my wife wanted to eat venison but didn't eat it. I was so frightened that I didn't dare to move. Later, I told him that I couldn't buy venison, and the expression on the master's face softened. He also told my wife that she had been sick several times during this time of year, and told me to close the windows and take good care of her. "

She was a little happy for her wife and said: "I heard that the master is very majestic outside and is a first-class figure in the court, but when he comes to our wife, he is so attentive and considerate. After a while, I will go in and tell the wife, if the wife knows She will be happy if the master cares about her so much."

After hearing this, Nanny Xu's expression changed slightly: "Okay, Madam loves purity and doesn't like to hear these things. Just tell me these words. Don't say them in front of Madam."

When Taohua entered the mansion, six years had passed since the incident. People outside may still talk about it, but in Ji's mansion, all the servants who knew about it kept silent.

After all, all the servants who talked about this matter were beaten and sold out. In the long run, some servants like Taohua who later entered the house and basically never left the house would naturally not know about it.

They only saw the master's flattery and consideration for his wife, and the fact that she had been praying to Buddha in the house all year round because of her frail health. Therefore, many people did not understand why she was so cold to such a good-looking, powerful and loving person. her husband.

After drying the sweet-scented osmanthus, Nanny Xu ordered people to take out the books in the study to dry, and then did some needlework. When she was about to go back to the house, the sound of a little girl chattering suddenly came from outside. She frowned. Go out and scold me: "Why are you shouting so loudly? You are making trouble all day long. I don't care about you, and you are becoming more and more unruly."

"Mommy."

"Hello, mama."

Although Aunt Xu is usually strict, she loves these little girls very much, so the little girls are not afraid of her. After bowing one after another, they gathered around her with a smile and said to her:

"Mommy, Huan'er just went to the kitchen to get hot water. He saw the master in the kitchen chopping venison, so he asked him where the venison came from. Guess where the master said the venison came from?"

Aunt Xu said with a sullen face: "How do I know that maybe some hunters have hunted the clothes and sold them to the house?"

"Wrong, wrong, mama, you must not have thought that the master said that this venison was hunted by the master."

Nanny Xu was surprised: "Master?"

Her first reaction was disbelief: "Damn girl, are you trying to trick me? I haven't hunted for many years, how can I hunt a deer myself?"

"How dare I lie to grandma? If you don't believe me, ask Fuquan next to the master. I just met him and he told me personally that the master took him out on horseback and went directly to Xiaohu Mountain. After seeing the deer, , from such a distance, he could be killed with one arrow."

"Fuquan also said that the master went for the deer and came back after shooting the deer. The master told me that the master personally sent the deer to the kitchen and asked the kitchen to prepare the stewed venison for Madam. Well, I must have heard about the fact that my wife wanted to eat venison in the morning but there was none. The master is very kind to her. "

The little girls also chirped with envy. Most of them were younger than 13 or 14 years old. They were all energetic and could talk for ten days or eight months.

Aunt Xu originally wanted to scold them, but looking at their young and happy faces, she remembered the time when Madam was a teenager. At that time, Madam was also so cheerful every day, but she was not as happy as she is now. Nothing but lifelessness remained.

She sighed, ignored the little girls, turned around and entered the house.

In the room, Li Ziqian was quietly copying Buddhist scriptures with her eyes lowered. She was beautiful and fair-skinned. Although she was now in her thirties, her face did not look old. It was just that she had not been able to see the sun all year round, so her complexion was a bit too white.

"Ma'am, take a rest."

Aunt Xu handed her the tea. When Li Ziqian took the tea, she tentatively told Ji Changze about hunting deer for her.

"The master has been consistent with his wife over the years. Just because the wife wanted to eat venison, the master would immediately go out to hunt deer and come back. My servant looked at it, and it didn't seem like he was pretending. Why don't you, madam, talk to the master calmly? Maybe back then? Is there a misunderstanding?”

When she saw that Li Ziqian was silent, she continued cautiously: "Madam, you should also think about Miss Leping. Although Mrs. Liu and Mr. Liu are very good to Miss Leping, don't they still have an old lady in their family? The master is the second rank in the court. How can it be better for Miss Leping to live under the hands of the old lady of the Liu family than to live with the master and his wife? "

"Okay, don't say any more."

Li Ziqian finally spoke and said calmly: "Mom has a bad memory. I'm afraid she may have forgotten that Leping is a child of the Liu family. How could she come to live in my house."

Aunt Xu sighed: "Madam, I see how the master behaves. I really love my wife like a treasure. My wife is only in her thirties. She shouldn't just spend time in this small yard like this. Please let yourself go."

She had watched Li Ziqian grow up, and to say it against the rules, in her heart, Li Ziqian was like her own daughter. She felt uncomfortable seeing the once innocent and happy young lady now torturing herself.

Aunt Xu also hated Ji Changze and hated him for betraying their master like that. But no matter how much she hated him, life would still have to pass. Li Ziqian's best years had been spent here. She didn't want the eccentric young lady who was once there to live like this for the rest of her life. Trapped in a small courtyard.

Li Ziqian knew that she meant these words for her own good, but she didn't want to hear them.

"I'm tired, grandma, please go down."

After saying that, she lay down directly on the couch and listened to the sound of the door closing softly after Nanny Xu sighed.

She was alone in the room again.

Li Ziqian opened her eyes and looked at the carved patterns above the bed.

She started making this bed not long after she was born. On the day she got married, the bed came to the Ji family along with the dowry. Maybe when her father was alive, this bed was just a bed, but after he died with injustice and anger, he saw This bed reminded Li Ziqian of her father.

How can we let it go?

Ji Changze, her husband-in-law, whom she regarded as the person she wanted to walk with in this life, stood in the court and joined the ranks of those who wronged her father. Her father's lifelong reputation turned into infamy.

How could she, how could she let it go.

As for bringing Leping to her side, Li Ziqian had never even thought about it. She was really scared because she couldn't see through Ji Changze.

Why can he show his deep love for her, respect and trust for his father, and also say that his father is like his own father, every word of it is sincere.

How deep is his scheming to be able to pretend like this for ten or twenty years to deceive her, his father, and everyone in the world.

Only a month ago, she received a letter from Ji Changze, saying that she missed her and worried that she would be alone in her hometown with such a big belly. Such affectionate words and caring.

How sweet and happy she was then.

A month later, she learned that the other party was slandering her father and intending to rebel.

Just one month.

Back in Beijing, facing her husband who was trying to persuade her with gentle words and trying to tell her that her father was really rebelling, Li Ziqian yelled heartbreakingly.

Ji Changze knew clearly that his father could not rebel.

She knew he knew.

At that time, looking at the man who always looked gentle and tolerant of her, Li Ziqian suddenly had a terrible thought. Maybe it wasn't Ji Changze who had changed, but that he had never changed. Even now, he has not taken off his disguise. Come down.

Such people are so terrible.

If their daughter was with them, who knows if Ji Changze would still love the child in front of him, but abandon the child without hesitation in the back.

Thinking of her daughter, who was living in Liu's house, Li Ziqian calmed down and closed her eyes.

Think about it, my mother doesn’t want you to live a life full of favors from all the people, as long as you are happy and safe.

Over there, as soon as Ji Changze entered the study, he saw Liu Shengyan's investigation materials on the table.

The original owner was so powerful, and so scheming and keen to eliminate dissenters, he naturally had many people under his command. The investigation ordered yesterday has been found out today.

He picked up the investigation report and read it while eating fruit.

Although Liu Shengyan had been wronged a lot because he was a concubine since he was a child, even though filial piety was the first priority in the Wen Dynasty, his aunt could not openly teach the concubine.

The means in the inner house cannot be limited to lack of food and clothing. The rules should be as they should be. Otherwise, if word spreads, the reputation of the aunt will be ruined.

Don't look at the fact that Liu Shengyan's family is now detained in the mansion and not allowed to leave the branch. All his salary and salary have gone to his aunt's mother in the name of filial piety. But on weekdays, when his aunt's mother sees him, she must smile. Don't dare to lose a little of your "motherly heart".

Therefore, when the other party also valued reputation, Liu Shengyan was a big-hearted person. The punishment he suffered from his aunt was not very serious (he thought), but the standard of living was a bit more difficult, but other things were fine.

It's just that he is big-hearted, and he is a man who doesn't care much about other people's eyes. For his wife and children, the nominal mother-in-law is particularly difficult to deal with.

Liu Shengyan did not take any concubines, and both his sons and daughters were born to Mrs. Liu. The eldest daughter Liu Leping is sixteen years old this year, and the youngest son Liu Le'an is eleven years old. Liu Le'an is okay, he has to go to school, and rarely interacts with the old lady of the Liu family on weekdays. get along.

The same cannot be said for Mrs. Liu and Liu Leping. As juniors and women, they have to go there once a day just to say hello. Generally, when going out to be a guest, you have to ask the old lady first. If it is okay to go to an ordinary house, what if you are going to an ordinary house? If you are from a noble family, they must be the granddaughters of several old ladies in the fortress.

It's like this when you go out, so you can see how it is in the back house on weekdays.

The mother and daughter are now in a state of "I may have suffered a lot, but I haven't, but I think I haven't been wronged, but that's not the case. It's okay to get angry. It's all trivial things. It's hard to get angry. If you don't get angry, you feel aggrieved."

The old lady relied on her filial piety and could barely make sense in her behavior.

There was new cloth in the house, good-looking ones, suitable for young girls, and she gave them to her favorite granddaughter. Finally, the good-looking cloths were distributed, and only the gray ones, which were not suitable for young girls, were left for Liu Leping. That is quite normal, isn't it? ?

When I go out as a guest, I keep praising my favorite granddaughter, and then say a few words gently in the tone of loving a child:

"Our child, Leping, is fine in everything else, but her temperament is a little too boring. On weekdays, she doesn't say a word for a long time. Look, she thinks her sisters can't talk and doesn't play with them. It's really A little kid.”

She doesn't communicate with others, doesn't get along well with her sisters, and has a childish temperament. This may not be a problem for a man, but when it comes to a woman who has not left the court, it is simply smearing her reputation.

However, the old lady always spoke in a loving manner as an elder, and Liu Leping could not refute, so he could only tolerate her.

Mrs. Liu was not someone who could suffer losses. After learning about this, she immediately imitated the old lady's behavior, acted lovingly, and "accidentally" mentioned the old lady's direct granddaughter's shortcomings when talking to others.

After she came for a while, the old lady finally calmed down.

Someone was asked to investigate Liu Shengyan, and it turned out that Liu Shengyan only occupied one page of the information, and the rest were all the troublemakers in his house.

Ji Changze read it patiently, and felt that it was a good thing that Liu Shengyan was short-sighted. Otherwise, if it had been someone else who had grown up under the hands of such a legitimate mother, he would not have been depressed by such secret suppression.

That is Liu Shengyan.

Silly, when he was still young, if the old lady said something to him, if any of her words were untrue, he would ask straight out, which made his aunt unable to come to the stage, so he had to give up this trick in the end.

But he is a man, so he is different from a woman who pays more attention to reputation.

Ji Changze tapped his hand on the table.

Liu Leping is his biological daughter.

However, Liu Shengyan definitely didn't know that the child was Ji Changze's.

You should know that she is not your biological daughter, otherwise you would not be able to do the thing of strictly not entering the "boudoir" when your daughter is less than half a year old and still a baby.

After thinking about it, he still felt that he needed to find out whether Liu Shengyan knew anything or not.

In the Liu family courtyard.

Liu Shengyan looked left and right at the name written on the letter.

That's right, because he stepped on Ji Changze's shoe, this guy found a petty official to take revenge on him.

Ji Changze took the person away and then asked him to rescue the person. What was the trouble? And he did it so mysteriously. According to his current status, it is not easy to save someone. It is no problem to just transfer him back to the capital.

Liu Shengyan was good at doing practical things, but not so good at thinking about these things.

He thought for a long time but couldn't figure it out. He had no idea. He left the study and went to the door of his daughter's room. The door was open. He stood in the yard and shouted inside: "Leping, come out."

Although the protection of men and women is not as strict as in the past, and it is normal for parents and brothers to enter a woman's boudoir, Liu Shengyan has never gone in. Even if he wants to find his daughter, he would rather stand in the yard and shout.

Especially at night after changing into night clothes, even if he had something to do, he would always send the girl away. He would never see his daughter at this time.

The girl waiting inside heard it and hurriedly said to Liu Leping who was practicing calligraphy: "Miss, the master is calling you outside."

Liu Leping put down his pen and walked out: "Dad, what's the matter?"

"Dad, let me ask you, if there is a person, he..." Liu Shengyan Barabala said: "So why do you think he would do this?"

Liu Leping listened carefully, thought for a moment, and said uncertainly: "If it's like dad, that person deliberately drove people away and then secretly rescued them, since that person is very powerful, if the family members of the person who was driven away are beautiful, Money buys peace, so he definitely wouldn't act in such a secret. Maybe there was a hidden reason for driving people away in the first place."

"If it is true as what dad said, that person has a good reputation and will retaliate. Since he hates the other person, why not do some other means and just rush away? So my daughter thought, maybe, it was the person who drove him away when trouble came. Knowing this, I just found an excuse to send him away. If he is someone from the court, dad should think about whether there was any major incident in the court that would implicate him during the time when that person was driven away. "

"event……"

Liu Shengyan thought about it for a while, and he really asked him to come up with one.

During that time, an official in Zhanxi was greedy for money and preyed on the people, causing public resentment. During the commotion, someone mentioned that the official who served before him was very good, and that official once served as a subordinate to the eldest prince. , so the topic turned to how the eldest prince was doing well back then.

Someone actually tried to persuade His Majesty to release the eldest prince in the court, but His Majesty immediately became angry. Not only that person was dismissed from office, but also the officials who were close to the eldest prince were in bad luck again.

That junior official seemed to be working under the eldest prince.

"It turns out that...ahem...I mean, my father has thought of it a long time ago. It's just a test for you."

He suddenly realized it, but he still had to act like he had expected it: "Okay, it's okay, you can go back to the house."

When Liu Leping returned to the house, he could not hide his excitement, walked quickly back to the main house, and said to Mrs. Liu who was cleaning her hands: "Tell me, why is our daughter so smart?"

"Follow me, you must follow me."

After saying this, he realized that something was wrong. Liu Leping was not his biological child. When their child died, his wife was so sad that she happened to pick up the baby girl and brought her back to raise her. Over the years, the couple had Everyone kept the matter a secret, lest Liu Leping would be sad to know that he was not his biological child.

He is not his biological son, so why would he follow him?

So Liu Shengyan quickly changed his mind: "You should be influenced by me as a father."

On the roof, Ji Changze straightened up after listening to the couple's conversation.

Sure enough, Liu Shengyan knew that his daughter was not his biological child.

After helping him raise his daughter for so many years, he treated her as if he were his own child and did not say anything, and even sacrificed himself to give his daughter great confidence in her IQ.

What a good man.