The Crown Prince and Bai Li took people to gather the force sticks.

Only Chen Ji and Chen Wenzong were left standing side by side at the door of the kiln. They were both gray-headed and dusty, and dust would fall off whenever they shook their heads, like a local dog.

A man dressed in white as snow looks like the protagonist in all stories.

Chen Wenzong frowned and looked at the cheerful Chen Ji, not knowing what his brother-in-law was enjoying: "Chen Ji, I see that you arrange things in an orderly manner and have clear ideas. You are actually a very smart person, how can you be willing to be with these muddy people?

?”

Chen Ji patted the dust on his body and responded with a nonchalant smile: "I am very happy today. You look down on this dilapidated kiln and this shabby business, but the more I look at it, the more I like it.

.”

Because, for the first time, Chen Ji could have something of his own in this world.

"You want to make some money?" Chen Wenzong said, "Although I cannot inherit the family business, my brother will definitely give you some income when the family is separated. As long as you know your way back and are willing to study hard,

How can I, my brother, sit back and watch you suffer from hunger when you take part in the imperial examination?"

Chen Ji happily patted Chen Wenzong on the shoulder, left a black handprint on the other person's white gown, and joked: "Brother, you are actually a good person, but I am really not the type to read scriptures. I am more suitable for down-to-earth work."

Plant the land alive and burn the kiln.”

Chen Wenzong took a step back to the left, but still failed to avoid the black palm prints. He frowned and said: "Master said: If this is the case, then the people from all over the world will come here carrying their sons, so how can they use crops?

"

Chen Ji was stunned for a moment: "What do you mean?"

Chen Wenzong explained: "The most holy teacher said that if the superiors uphold etiquette and integrity, the people will naturally come to seek refuge with their children. Why do you need to farm your own land? It is a bad idea to farm and work on your own.

In order to learn, you should become an example to the world, and naturally there will be countless followers."

Chen Ji looked at Chen Wenzong in silence. He didn't know much about Confucian culture, so he didn't know how to use the meaning of Confucianism to refute his brother's thoughts.

At this time, Bai Li's voice came from the distance: "Chen Ji, I found someone who can modify the kiln. They said that they built the entire kiln in Liujiatun, and they can help us."

But behind Bai Li, he saw a hunchbacked old man with a long pipe on his waist and a tobacco bag dangling around his waist like a purse.

Behind the old man, there were seven strong men.

As they got closer, the hunchbacked old man stood at the door of the kiln. While pressing tobacco into the pot, he looked at Chen Ji: "Are you the person in charge here?"

Chen Ji said calmly: "Yes, I am."

The hunchbacked old man said slowly: "The entire kiln in Liujiatun was built by our Liu family. If you want to build a kiln, there is no problem. You will be given two hundred taels of silver first. During the period of building the kiln, you will receive four kilograms of white flour, one kilogram of meat, and two kilograms of fine wine every day.

"

"What?" The prince's eyes widened.

The hunchbacked old man looked up at him and said expressionlessly: "This is the rule of doing business in Liujiatun. Except for our Liu family, no one else knows how to build a half-down-fire kiln, and they don't dare to build a kiln for you."

Chen Ji asked in confusion: "A member of Liu Ge's family?"

Behind the hunchbacked old man, a strong man smiled and said: "Something knowledgeable."

Chen Ji thought for a moment: "Guys, please come back. We really don't have that much money. This kiln factory has almost used up all our savings."

The hunchbacked old man turned around and left without saying a word: "You can come back to me at any time after you have figured it out."

Chen Ji looked at his leaving figure: "No wonder Lao Zhou is in a hurry to sell this kiln. No wonder he only has a simple Shengyan kiln in this dilapidated kiln. If you make a living these days, local snakes will peel off your skin, and the government will

Peel off a layer of skin.”

Bai Liwei said: "Then what should we do? I'm sorry, I didn't know they were local snakes here and raised prices, so I shouldn't have brought them here."

Chen Ji said calmly: "Let's do it ourselves. Without them, we can build the kiln ourselves. He can build a half-down-flame kiln, so I will build a fully down-flame kiln."

Give them a little shock.

Several people were walking towards the entrance of the kiln, and he suddenly looked back at Chen Wenzong: "Brother, we are short of manpower, why don't you come and help?"

Chen Wenzong stood there in silence for a long time. He looked at the group of disgraced people in front of him, and then at the earthen kiln behind them. He immediately took out a silver ingot from his sleeve and handed it to Chen Ji: "Sorry, I will be in Qiu Wei the day after tomorrow."

We can't stay here for too long. I went out in a hurry and didn't bring much money, so I can only give you an emergency first. If it's not enough, I'll send my boy to bring some more tomorrow."

Chen Ji stuffed the silver ingot back into Chen Wenzong's hand, took a step back and cupped his hands and said: "Then I wish my brother to win the first prize in one fell swoop and to be the best in high school!"

After saying that, he led the prince and the princess to dismantle the kiln without looking back.

Chen Wenzong looked down at the silver ingot in his hand. He wanted to say something for a moment, but he didn't know what to say.

After a long silence, he put the silver ingot back into his sleeve, turned around and walked out of the yard and got on his horse. He wanted to apologize when he came, but he couldn't say it.

Amidst the shattering sounds of the kiln being dismantled, the white horse returned.

…

…

Liang Mao'er exerted all his strength, but saw that he was swinging the hammer without much effort, destroying the old kiln. As Chen Ji went out to clean up the construction waste, he praised: "Brother Mao'er doesn't have such a big appetite in vain!"

"

Liang Mao'er was a little embarrassed: "It takes a thousand days to raise troops and use them for a while, but I can finally exert some strength."

Chen Ji looked at the prince and the princess: "I'm a little curious as to why the prince and the princess are willing to do such dirty work? You see, my brother doesn't want to get involved in these things."

The prince smiled happily and said: "It's okay to do it occasionally, but if you really want me to do this every day, I will have to run away!"

Chen Ji sighed with emotion: "I always feel that Prince Jing is very different from other officials. He seems..."

Princess Baili thought for a moment and said, "My mother said that my father had lived in poverty since he was a child, so he is naturally different from other vassal princes."

"oh?"

"I heard my mother mention that not long after my father was born, he and his biological mother were driven to Yue Ci Nunnery in the suburbs of Beijing."

Chen Ji was stunned: "Normally in the inner palace, even if the mother makes a mistake and is kicked out of the palace, she will only leave the mother and keep the child, and will not drive the mother and child out of the palace together."

Bai Li explained: "The seventy-nine princes of the late emperor had a very violent fight to seize the heir. I don't know exactly what happened. I only know that many princes and their biological mothers were driven out of the inner palace and died outside the palace one after another.

My father's biological mother also died mysteriously in Yue Ci Nunnery the year after she arrived. My father was just over a year old at the time. It is said that he barely survived thanks to the secret care of a great eunuch from the inner court Yamen.

"

"Later, my father grew up in a certain yamen in the suburbs of Beijing. He worked with the young eunuchs every day, chopping wood, burning charcoal, and doing laundry. It was not until he was eight years old that he was taken back to the palace by the current Queen Mother and lived with His Majesty.

.My father is three years older than Your Majesty, and they have lived together in the palace for six years, loving each other as brothers."

"Later, His Majesty ascended the throne at the age of eleven, and his father was sent to join the feudal vassal at the age of fourteen. The young feudal king joined forces with the Chen family, the Hu family, and the Qi family in the north. He spent six years secretly cooperating with the censor and other high-ranking civil servants to purge them.

Relatives, assist His Majesty in governing the country... Of course, I heard this from my mother, so it may not be accurate."

"My father has asked us to do many things by ourselves since we were young. I heard that Prince Fujun has been fed since he was a child and helped with dressing. We don't have these things. Occasionally, when my father is free, we have to go to the countryside with him to chop wood.

Where are the firewood and charcoal?”

Chen Ji listened silently for a moment, only to feel that there seemed to be a lot of important information hidden in this short story. Mrs. Liu was the maternal relative mentioned by the princess, but Prince Jing eliminated his maternal relatives when he was young, so why did he later marry his maternal cousin Ms. Liu?

The woman is adopted as Concubine Jing?

Is it a political compromise, or does it have other intentions?

…

…

At night, the moon is bright and the stars are few.

Chen Ji originally planned to live in the kiln, but there was no place to sleep in the kiln, so he had to go home.

The bullock cart was swaying on its way back to the city. Everyone on the cart looked exhausted, so sleepy that they could hardly open their eyes. After a day of work, everyone had sore waists, backaches, and blisters on their hands.

I don't know whose stomach made a sound first, and then everyone else's stomachs rumbled.

Everyone looked at each other and then laughed: "I wonder if there are any noodle stalls open in the city?"

"Definitely not anymore!"

Liang Maoer said: "When we return to the medical clinic, I will roll out noodles for everyone to eat. Can garlic sauce noodles be used?"

"Anything will do, I'm so hungry now that I could eat a cow!"

"I can eat both!"

Liang Maoer said shyly: "I can eat three heads."

"I don't think Brother Cat is joking."

"Ha ha ha ha."

Return to the front of Taiping Medical Center.

With a creak, the prince quietly pushed open the door and led everyone to the backyard: "Please keep your voice down, don't disturb Dr. Yao. If I wake him up now, I'm afraid his poisoned mouth will

Make us cry."

"Oh? Really?"

Everyone was startled and looked up into the darkness of the main hall of the medical center, only to see Old Man Yao lying on a bamboo chair with a little black cat in his arms.

He stood up slowly and asked slowly: "Your Majesty, come and tell me how the poison in my mouth was quenched?"

The prince's smile was uglier than his tears: "You must have heard wrong, it was Liu Quxing who just said that!"

Old Man Yao didn't meet him, so he just turned around and walked to the backyard: "There are rolled noodles on the chopping board of the kitchen stove. If you want to eat, you can make them yourself."

The prince swallowed a mouthful of saliva and said, "Mr. Yao, you are a living Bodhisattva!"

After a while, a group of local dogs squatted in a row in the backyard. Each person was holding a large bowl and snoring to eat noodles. He kept pulling his chopsticks into his mouth.

When the prince raised his head, he saw Imperial Physician Yao standing beside the bare apricot tree, looking at them with disgust.

The cat in Doctor Yao's arms also looked at them with disgust.

The prince hesitated and said: "Mr. Yao, it seems to look down on us a little?"

Imperial Physician Yao sneered: "With your eating looks, I allow it to look down on you."

Prince: "..."

Chen Ji: "..."

Doctor Yao looked at them and said pitifully: "Eight people went out in the morning, and eight local dogs came back in the evening. Those who know about it know that you are going to make novel gadgets, and those who don't know think that you have been revealed by the demon mirror."

He hugged Dark Cloud and turned back to the house: "I'm going to bed. After dinner, remember to clean up the kitchen."

After the prince finished eating the noodles, he collapsed on the ground and sighed: "Chen Ji, can we take a day off?"

Bai Li hurriedly said: "No, he has signed a military order with his father. If he fails to complete it, his father will really send him to Lingnan."

The prince was speechless, and finally whispered: "You are more active than him."

At this time, Bai Li stood in front of the apricot tree in the yard, wondering what he was thinking.

Chen Ji sat on the ground with a bowl in hand, raised his head and asked curiously: "What's wrong?"

Bai Li suddenly said: "All the leaves on the almond trees have fallen off, it doesn't look good... Just wait for me."

After saying that, she climbed up the ladder and over the wall into the palace. After a while, she pulled a piece of red cloth and climbed back.

Princess Baili cut the red cloth into long and thin strips, wrote peace, joy, smoothness, and worry-free on them, and tied them to the branches.

She wrote a separate piece of red cloth and moved a ladder to hang it on the highest point of the apricot tree.

Chen Ji saw her clumsily carrying the ladder, so he kindly said, "Princess, can I help you hang it?"

Bai Li said anxiously: "No, I will die myself!"

Not only that, she also wrapped the cloth around the branches several times, so that she couldn't see clearly what was written while standing under the tree.

Bai Li slowly stepped down the ladder and greeted everyone with a smile: "Come and write something too."

Everyone looked at each other: "What to write?"

Bai Li smiled so hard that his eyes curled up: "Just write down your own wishes!"

Liu Quxing said: "I know what to write!"

But he saw him dip his pen in ink and write on the red cloth, "Master, health and longevity". She Dengke angrily scolded the flatterer, and then wrote "Master, longevity and boundless life".

Liang Gou'er wrote about having wine to drink every day, and Liang Mao'er wrote about buying several acres of fertile land.

The prince hesitated for a moment, then he secretly wrote a message like Bai Li and wrapped it around the highest point of the apricot tree so that no one could see it.

He climbed down from the ladder and looked at the bald man beside him: "Little monk, what is your wish?"

The young monk looked a little embarrassed: "I can't make wishes at will. I have to fulfill my big wishes. This matter is closely related to spiritual practice."

"Well, you don't have to write!"

Red cloth strips were hung all over the branches of the apricot trees, as if red flowers were blooming.

The courtyard where a group of old men lived suddenly gained a touch of gentleness and elegance.

Bai Li stood in front of the apricot tree with his hands behind his back and his head raised, admiring his masterpiece with a smile.

She turned to look at Chen Ji: "Chen Ji, what are you going to write? You haven't written it yet."

Chen Ji pondered for a moment and picked up his pen. Bai Li leaned over to take a peek, only to see that the young man had only written four simple words, "Reunion and Reunion".

Bai Li whispered softly: "I thought you could write words like 'golden taels'. Are you looking forward to being reunited with your family? But those family members of yours..."

Chen Ji smiled and did not explain. He wrote "reunion and reunion", not his family.

Bai Li looked at the red blessing cloth on the branch with a peaceful expression: "Sometimes I envy the lives of ordinary people. I know this means that I don't know the blessings amidst the blessings, but I still hope that my home can be more warm and reunited.

There will be more days.”

When Chen Ji heard this, he suddenly said tentatively: "I see Mrs. Yun Fei gives the princess a lot of money every month. The prince's life is not as good as the princess's. Why do you say this?"

Bai Li also smiled: "As a girl, as long as you grow up well in the eyes of your parents, you don't need to be well-educated, as long as you can marry according to their ideas. My parents are not that strict with me.

If you ask for it, you will naturally be more tolerant and indulgent. My mother has always wanted to have a younger brother. You see, my father finally returned home. She immediately sent people to clean the entire Anxi Street and distributed Yanmen dates to all the neighbors."

Chen Ji was startled. It turned out that giving out Yanmen dates had a meaning, but it couldn't be too obvious, so he didn't give out peanuts, longan and lotus seeds to the neighbors...

He suddenly asked: "Princess, the persimmon tree in Feiyun Garden..."

Bai Li smiled and replied: "My mother wanted to cut down the tree and replace it with a pomegranate tree, but I stopped. I think persimmons look better than pomegranates."

"Then why are the persimmons hanging on the branches but not picked?"

"We need to leave some food for the magpies spending the winter."

"It turns out it was the princess's kindness..."

Chen Ji felt an icy coldness spreading down his spine to his neck. The Yanmen jujube tree symbolized the birth of a child early, and the pomegranate tree meant many children and good fortune. Concubine Yun's desire to have a son was almost obvious.

But can you inherit the title of Prince Jing after giving birth to a son? No, there is another brother-in-law in front of you, unless the prince dies in prison!

Until this moment, Chen Ji's speculations had a reasonable logical chain. Concubine Yun hoped that the prince would die in prison. As for whether Bai Li would be implicated, she didn't care at all...

Or maybe Concubine Yun's original intention was to send Bai Li to the inner prison so that no one would doubt her anymore.

Chen Ji looked at Bai Li with a complicated expression, he wanted to remind him, but he didn't know where to start.

There was Liu Mingming, who killed his grandfather with his own hands, and Concubine Yun, who was a vicious food-eater. Compared with these two, Chen Ji suddenly felt that his father in the Chen family just sent him to the Taiping Medical Center as an apprentice, which seemed a bit merciful.

This world.

Chen Ji whispered: "Princess Princess."

"Um?"

"Your kindness will be rewarded."

"Really? I think so too! Let's go, I have to clean up the dust when I get back. See you tomorrow morning!"

"See you in the morning. Tomorrow we can call some helpers from the city to repair the kiln together."

Chen Ji looked up and watched the white carp climb over the courtyard wall and disappear into the night. He looked back at the gentle and delicate red apricot tree and said nothing for a long time.

At a certain moment, he wanted to open the top red cloth and see what wishes the prince and Bai Li had written, but he felt that it was not good to pry into other people's privacy, so he had to smile and give up.
Chapter completed!