Lin Jiang did not know that Lu Zhen had already become suspicious and was having a detailed conversation with Lin Qingwen about his grudges against Lu.

  To say they have a grudge is going too far, but there are always small conflicts.

  Lin Jiang has been the top student in his class since he entered Guozixue, and even compared to the seniors of Guozixue, he is not inferior in talent. So as soon as he entered school, he became a student from another class, someone elses child.

  Lu Zhen was no exception, and he came from the Lu family. The national altar wine, Guozi Jian Jiu, was his uncle, so it can be said that before Lin Jiang entered school, he was already a genius in their class.

  Lin Jiang entered school, he was still a genius, but Lin Jiang was a legend.

  They were all in their teens, so he naturally didnt take it lying down and often sneered at them or found fault with them.

  Lin Jiang bore in mind that they were classmates and also nephew of his teacher, so he didnt take it to heart and ignored him every time he made sarcastic remarks.

  This made Lu Zhen feel that Lin Jiang looked down on him and despised him, which made him even angrier. As a result, the contradictions between them deepened.

  Lin Jiang is not a person who suffers losses. Otherwise, he would not be secretly called "smiling tiger". After finding that retreating was useless, he counterattacked.

  In Lujin Re Hot times, cold ridicule back, in the study of rolling back, even also openly in front of teachers to give him eye medicine, let the other side live in deep water and fire.

  Lu Zhen, who was originally in a dominant position, was suddenly overthrown. The students who were once afraid of him now dared not to speak up for him in front of the teacher, and instead laughed at his misfortune as he was punished with copying books, reciting books, standing and kneeling.

  Lin Jiang won, but from then on, the two peoples feud was thoroughly settled, and whenever they got together, there was no peace.

  Bi Lu really didnt know why, but he liked to follow Lin Jiang everywhere. Whenever Lin Jiang attended a poetry gathering, Bi Lu would also go; whenever Lin Jiang went on an outing with his classmates, Bi Lu would always receive an invitation from them...

  When they entered the imperial court as officials, their competition became even more intense. They often quarreled in front of the emperor and later when they were sent to govern provinces, they continued to argue with each other through memorials submitted directly to the emperor.

  Although they quarrel, the two have never set a trap for each other, and all their struggles are open, so Lin Jiang believes in the others character.

  In the past, he would never entrust others to take care of his family members, their feelings were not that deep.

  After all, apart from him, Lin Jiang still had his clan, his wifes family, and two good friends, any one of whom was more trustworthy than he.

  The three inferences of the Heaven Mirror, all three worlds represent the clan, and the Yue family is unreliable. His two good friends ended up with one dead and one impoverished and helpless, unable to help after his daughters incident.

  Only Lu Zhen, who was far away in Lingzhou, heard the news and let his wife travel thousands of miles to collect her daughters body, using money to open a path, allowing her to be buried in their ancestral tomb, right next to them.

  Apart from the inference in the Celestial Mirror, Lin Jiang told Lu Zhen everything that could be said between them and indicated: "Theres no need to trouble him too much, but if theres any difficulty that requires his help, you can also ask for it."

  It means this favor should be used on the blade, Lin Qingyan agreed.

  "Master, young mistress," Lin Guans figure appeared at the door, bowing and saying: "Zhao Lao Ye, Xie Lao Ye and Zhou Lao Ye have come to visit Master."

  Lin Qingwan smiled, "Its just in time, please let them come in. However, the old master has just fallen asleep and its not convenient to receive guests. Let Brother Shao take care of them together."

  "The imperial envoys are still here..."

  "Theyre not here to see the imperial envoys, are they? We dont need to stop them." Lin Qingyan paused and said: "Find a few clever ones to ask their servants who brought them, and find out who suggested coming to the Lin manor."

  "Yes."

  Lin Qingwan turned around and looked at Lin Jiang on the bed, staring into his eyes and asked, "Guess which family proposed it?"

  Lin Jiang raised his eyes and looked back straightly, with a hint of light flashing in his eyes: "Zhaos family."

  Lin Qingyan smiled with pursed lips and looked out of the window at the blue sky with satisfaction.

  Look, Heavens Way, arent you forbidden from revealing heavenly secrets to Lin Jiang? Yet we are just that clever. It seems the Zhao family has the most malicious intentions towards the Lin family among the three major families.

  The three families of Zhao, Zhou and Xie all had people serving as officials in the imperial court. Especially Xie Yan himself was an official, so the imperial envoys who were having a sumptuous feast in the main hall treated the three men with great courtesy.

  However, everyone is not foolish and knows what can be said and what cannot be revealed. Therefore, the three families of Zhao, Zhou, and Xie, apart from knowing the contents of the imperial edict, could not find out anything else.

  The officials all pushed it off saying they had just arrived and hadnt yet taken over from Lins administration, so they didnt thoroughly understand the matter of official donations, therefore it wasnt good to say.

  As for Shang Mingyuan who was being entertained, he became even more clueless.

  The officials knew but pretended not to know, while he really did not know.

  So he smiled foolishly and chatted with the three old men, who said: ……

  Especially Zhao Sheng, who almost choked to death.

  Its still relatives, the imperial envoy came to such a big thing and didnt leak a word, it was only after the news had spread outside that he rushed to catch wind of it, otherwise he would have come earlier, or gone directly to the outskirts of the city to meet the imperial envoy, at this moment he might be able to follow them and find out some things.

  Shang Mingyuan was slapped in the face by Zhao Sheng and he didnt feel good about it either.

  Calling you Uncle Zhao, did you really think youre my uncle?

  Shang Mingyuan hummed lightly in his heart, and after sending away the guests, he ran to find Lin Qingwan to report, "The second master of the Zhao family doesnt know what medicine he took today. He kept pulling me to ask how much money the Lin family received, whether all the money really needs to be donated to the court, how it will be donated, is it distributed locally or brought back to the capital... How can I, an outsider, know about Uncles arrangements? I couldnt answer, and he directly gave me a slap in the face. He really treated me like his own nephew."

  Lin Qingwan burst out laughing and asked him, "Isnt Zhao Sheng your uncle? By the same token, am I also a cheap aunt?"

  Shang Mingyuan couldnt help but cough, his face flushing red as he shook his head and said, "Aunt Lin, I didnt mean it that way..."

  But in fact, Lin Qingwan was just like Zhao Sheng to him, they didnt have any blood relationship either, its just that he called her Aunt and Uncle.

  One is the younger sister of her aunt, and the other is the paternal uncle of her cousin.

  Its still Lin Qingwan who is closer to him in his heart, firstly because he was raised by his aunt for a few years, and his uncle had taught him with kindness.

  Secondly, Zhao Sheng is really detestable. With his nose up in the air, he acts as if hes heaven and others are just dirt. Humph, who looks down on whom?

  In comparison, although his uncle was strict, he was genuinely good for him, and Mingyuan still knew that much.

  Shang Mingyuan said straightforwardly and confidently: "In my nephews heart, Lin Aunt is naturally more affectionate than Zhao Uncle, how can he be compared to you."

  Lin Qingyan let out a soft laugh, turned around and pointed to the golden Buddha on the table: "This is for you, consider it as a small repayment for your help today. I know youre short of money, but my Lin family doesnt have any either, so I can only find some small things to give you."

  Shang Mingyuan stared at the small golden Buddha on the table, his eyes wide with surprise. After regaining his composure, he shook his head and said, "How could I take something that belongs to Aunt Lin? It was just a simple favor."

  Lin Qingwan stuffed the golden Buddha into his chest, saying carelessly: "Take it away, after all, its not good to let my nephew run around in vain, otherwise, Ill be embarrassed to ask for your help again in the future."

  Shang Mingyuan held the golden Buddha in one hand and patted his chest with the other, saying: "Aunt Lin, just give me an order, Ill die for it without hesitation."

  Lin Qingwan waved her hand, just about to let him go down, but suddenly seemed to remember something and called out to him: "By the way, whats with that servant who came with you? When the imperial envoy arrived today, he kept running forward, if it wasnt for Lins quick reaction, he would have collided with the imperial envoys."

  Shang Mingyuans smile froze for a moment, his face slightly stiff.

  Lin Qingwan slightly frowned and looked at him, sighing: "Young master, dont mind me speaking bluntly, youre not young anymore, its time to do something meaningful."

  "Your uncle has always been worried about you, saying that youre not good at studying and cant even handle the hardships of martial arts training. Wheres your future? Are you going to spend your whole life stuck at home doing chores? If you could really manage the family business like Zhao Sheng does, then it would be okay, but right now youre just a errand boy. For now, its fine that you dont have kids yet, but what about in two years when you and your wife have children? Dont think about yourself, at least think about your wife and child."

  Shang Mingyu lowered his head, staring at his toes and didnt say a word.

  "Its just right that there are many adults here now, so you dont have to go out for the next few days. Follow them and learn from them, see what youre good at. If you can get into their eyes, its okay to enter the court as a recorder first. If not, expand your connections a bit more. In the future, whether you do business on your own or manage household chores for your family, it will be more convenient." Lin Qingwen reminded: "This time, apart from officials from the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Revenue, two officials were also sent over from the Governors Office. Suzhou and Yangzhou are not far apart, so there will definitely be many opportunities for exchange in the future."

  This was to remind him to get along with the officials in Yangzhou more often. Shang Mingyuan felt grateful and held the small golden Buddha tightly, saying: "Dont worry, Lin auntie, I will definitely not be lazy these few days and wont go out."

  Lin Qings comforting smile made him back down.

  She looked at his back and thought of Lin Jiangs evaluation of him: heartless and ruthless.

  A person who is heartless and unfeeling is because they have no one or nothing to care about. Since there isnt any, then create some.

  Shang Mingyuan slowly wiped the smile off his face as he walked out of the courtyard, and quickly returned to the guest room. He glared at the little servant who opened the door for him, then carefully placed the small golden Buddha on the table, and angrily asked, "Where is Manager Zhao?"

  "Zhao went out on an errand."

  Shang Ming suddenly jumped up, "What is he doing running out at this time?"

  The sun is about to set and its getting dark soon.

  The young servant curled his lip and said, "What else can he do? Of course, hes going to find Uncle Zhao. You dont know, Master, these past few days hes been leaving early and returning late every day, all to listen for news at Uncle Zhaos place. If you didnt know better, youd think he was a servant in the Zhao household."

  Shang Mingyuans angry expression gradually subsided, and he said with a scowl: "He is of course a slave of the Zhao family!"

  Followed Second Aunt to come over as a dowry servant, wasnt she previously not a slave of the Zhao family?

  "He snorted and said, These past few days youve been following me closely. If he asks you any questions that shouldnt be mentioned, dont breathe a word to me."

  He paused for a moment and sneered, "No, its not that Im afraid of them, but rather theyre the ones who should be afraid. Humph, just wait till I get back, Ill go find my grandmother, whos afraid of whom?"