Chapter 113 Brothers

The person responsible for escorting "Auspicious" to Beijing this time is Shen Hua, the eldest son of the Shen family.

Although he is often criticized behind his back by his half-brother Shen Qiu and is called "my stupid brother", as the heir to a powerful family, he can no longer be the heir to the throne. Where are you going?

He has a slender figure, regular facial features, and a sharp-edged, upright face. Although he cannot be classified as a handsome man, he can still be called a handsome man. If he has the figure of a dwarf, Shen Qiu Standing together, it is impossible for anyone to believe that they are two brothers.

His body also exudes an extremely powerful aura of true energy.

This proves that he has already become a strong man in the fourth level before he is thirty years old. Even though he is not as good as top-notch geniuses like Chu Fengge and Zhao Yan, he can still be regarded as a member of the Daqi Dynasty. Outstanding.

If this were not the case, the Shen family would not have placed high hopes on him and let him represent the family in the "Luoshui Conference"; the royal family would not have included him as a candidate for the consort and considered marrying Princess Zhaoning. Give it to him.

At this moment, Shen Hua was sitting in a luxurious carriage, leaning on a silk cushion.

He frowned and his face was filled with gloom.

Beside him, there was a little book boy with fair features and fair skin, who was carefully massaging his shoulders.

After a short silence, the little book boy suddenly said, "Master, the palace has arranged for you to enter the palace tomorrow to meet the saint. What are your plans for today? Do you want to go directly to the family's villa, or"

"That guy Shen Qiu, what's the name of the elixir workshop he recently ran?" Shen Hua interrupted the little book boy.

"It's called Shouchangfang, young master," the little book boy replied, "It's the property under the name of Gu Xu, the head of the Exorcism Department."

Gu Xu owns a house in Luojing City. It is no longer a secret that there is an elixir workshop.

Under Shen Qiu's management, it has been a bustling business recently, with many big shots coming to show their appreciation with gifts, and many organizations and wealthy households signing large orders with them.

"That rebellious brother of mine," Shen Hua said with a frown, "not long ago I wrote a letter to break up with the family, just to become a guest in that Gu Xu's house.

"I really don't understand what he thinks.

"Our Jinling Shen family is a descendant of immortals and a famous family in the world; that Gu Xu is just an insignificant sixth-rank official, a little viscount who cannot be hereditary.

" Gu What Xu can give him, the family can also give him. "

While speaking, Shen Hua's expression looked very complicated, and there seemed to be a lot of thoughts hidden in his eyes. The little book boy next to him did not dare to respond for a moment.

He paused for a moment, and then continued He ordered, "Since they have arranged for us to enter the palace tomorrow, I'll just go to Shouchangfang today. Well, there is something important that I must tell my brother in person."

"Baoqin, go and tell Manager Lu and ask him to send Xiangrui to the Shen family's courtyard first."

"Yes, Master. "The little book boy named "Baoqin" responded respectfully.

At the same time, in Shouchangfang.

With a warm smile on his face, Shen Qiu put a An old man with a white beard in brocade clothes walked out of the gate.

This old man was Ni Jingxiang, Marquis of Dongping in the Daqi Dynasty. His ancestors were heroes who followed Emperor Taizu to bring peace to the world.

But after the founding of the country, Since there has never been a particularly powerful monk in the history of this family, now it has become an idle nobleman with almost no real power.

The reason why Dongping Hou came to Shouchangfang today is. In order to buy a batch of "Eternal Brightness Pills" for his grandson, that little kid only had a second-level cultivation level, but every day he clamored to imitate Gu Xu, the leader of the Lantern Festival Tournament, killing everyone in the "Luoshui Conference" and shocking the whole country.

"If I remember correctly, this workshop is Master Gu's property," Dongping Hou said with a smile, "The person my grandson admires the most is Master Gu. "

Shen Qiu responded with polite words, but he couldn't help but silently sigh in his heart that Mr. Gu's reputation in the capital has been really high recently. If his admirers were lined up, they would probably be able to circle Luo Jing City several times.< /p>

After Dongping Hou left, a gorgeously decorated carriage drove slowly from the end of the street and stopped in front of the door of "Shuchangfang"

A tall, handsome man. A well-dressed young man stepped out of the carriage.

This person was Shen Hua.

He raised his head, glanced at the plaque hanging on the top of the door, and murmured. He said, "Whose handwriting is this? It looks very strong." "

Seeing his brother's figure, Shen Qiu folded his hands on his chest and narrowed his eyes involuntarily.

Although he was standing on the steps outside the workshop door at the moment, the top of his head The height still only reached Shen Hua's ears.

"Master Shen, what are you doing?" Shen Qiu said in a cold tone.

"Shen Qiu, what does the family do?" What was wrong that made you choose to leave resolutely?" Hearing his brother's sharp words, Shen Hua sighed softly and said, "You don't even want to call me brother now. "

"Aren't you asking questions knowingly?" Shen Qiu chuckled.

Shen Hua was silent for a moment.

He and Shen Qiu grew up under the same roof. Of course, he knew that the head of the Shen family had always disliked Shen Qiu, his deformed and ugly concubine son, and his attitude towards Shen Qiu had always been cold and bad. He also knew that his mother, Mrs. Shen, had always regarded Shen Qiu as a thorn in his side, and she wished he could The dwarf born as a slave disappeared from the world immediately.

To be honest, Shen Hua felt a little sympathy for this poor brother.

After all, birth and appearance were such things. , it was all arranged by God, and Shen Qiu himself had no choice.

However, Shen Hua was a weak and indecisive person.

Although he sympathized with Shen Qiu, he did not. Dare to confront your parents?Dare to show a rebellious attitude in front of parents.

When his parents wanted to teach Shen Qiu a lesson, he could only obediently hand him a ruler and didn't even dare to say a word of mercy.

It is precisely because of Shen Hua's weak and lack of opinion that after he took over the Shen family's property, he often listened to slanders, was deceived by people with ulterior motives, and made many wrong decisions, leading to In the end, Shen Qiu was needed to help him clean up the mess.

Thinking of this, Shen Hua took a deep breath and slowly said, "Actually, Shen Qiu, the head of the house, my wife, and I all hope that you can go back.

"You stay here Here, managing the elixir workshop for a small sixth-grade official is really an injustice to your talents. You can definitely show off your skills on a wider stage, and the family can also give you better resources."

"Shen Qianren taught you this, right?" The smile on Shen Qiu's face grew wider. Interesting. With his weird facial features and raised corners of his mouth, he looks like a clown on the stage.

Shen Qianren is the name of the head of the Shen family. Shen Hua hurriedly wanted to deny this.

But he quickly caught Shen Qiu's gaze and found that the other person's eyes were particularly sharp, as if saying to him, "Don't lie, I already know." The truth."

In the end, Shen Hua nodded and admitted in a low voice, "That's right. "

"It's true," Shen Qiu said with a smile, "Master Shen, with your brain that has been kicked by a donkey, you will definitely not be able to think of such a beautiful scene.

"Tell me, what trouble has the family encountered recently? You need to beg me to go back to save the situation.

Gu San" is a certain censor who is investigating the family leaks again. The lost taxes, or the emperor is trying every means to dismantle the family's industry."

"You can guess this. "Shen Hua said in a deep voice.

"There's nothing hard to guess. I heard that the family sent the auspicious fortune to the capital with great fanfare today, saying that it would be dedicated to the emperor to praise the peaceful and prosperous age today," Shen Qiu said, "The Shen family is also a big family that has produced immortals in history. If we hadn't encountered insurmountable troubles, why would we do such a self-degrading thing?"

Looking at the younger brother in front of him, Shen Hua felt that there seemed to be great wisdom hidden in his short and rickety body. Symmetrical eyes seem to have the miraculous ability to see through phenomena and see the essence.

“A person cannot be judged by his appearance. Shen Hua thought to himself for the umpteenth time.

In the past, every time Shen Qiu helped him clean up the mess in the family, such thoughts would pop up in his head.

"Is it okay?" After a short silence, Shen Hua asked, "Come home with me, okay?"

Shen Qiu shook his head without hesitation.

"I am. Dear eldest brother," he said in a sharp tone, emphasizing the word eldest brother very strongly, "the Shen family is like a boat with holes in it, and sooner or later it will sink to the bottom of the water.

“You didn’t even want to jump to the shore in time, but instead wanted to drag me into the water. You said, you areIt's not that you want to murder your half-brother."

Shen Hua has long been accustomed to his younger brother's eccentric speaking style.

"Then why did you choose to follow a driver from a humble background? "Where are you, the sixth-grade official of the Demon Division?" He continued to ask, "In my opinion, you must at least join the three major sects, or become a disciple of a saint, to be worthy of your status. ”

“This sixth-grade official is not an ordinary sixth-grade official,” Shen Qiu sneered. “He is a sixth-grade official who survived a disaster. He asked the sixth-rank official of Fu Dao for advice.

"Mr. Shen, are you stupid for visiting the brothel? Recently you don't even read the newspaper."

Shen Qiu knows that his brother Shen Hua has two major weaknesses. One is Weak, second, lustful.

This kind of thing happened to Shen Hua more than once because of being obsessed with beauty.

Seeing that Shen Hua didn't respond for a while, Shen Qiu continued, "I'd like to kindly remind you. After coming to Luojing, you'd better restrain your lust. Recently, Zhao Yan has also She has returned to the capital. It is said that she often stays in the Jiaofang Department at night. If there is a conflict between you two, I don’t think you can beat her." "Zhao Yan" Shen Hua said this. He recited the name silently, with a complicated look on his face. Many years ago, he was once defeated by Zhao Yan's spear.

"Of course, if you are going to the Elephant House, you don't need to worry about this problem." Shen Qiu added in a sarcastic tone.

Xianggu Pavilion is a brothel for male prostitutes.

Shen Hua is not only lustful, but also a man for both men and women.

Not long ago, it was revealed that he often went to the streets and alleys for the first time and kept a male favorite in private.

The marriage between him and Princess Zhaoning fell through precisely because of this incident.

According to gossip, when Princess Zhaoning learned about this situation, she was so disgusted that she vomited out her dinner that day.

This has also become a major scandal for the Jinling Shen family.

"Can you please stop mentioning this matter?" Shen Hua sighed, looking a little embarrassed for a moment.

Shen Qiu smiled and changed the topic, "By the way, has my mother come to the capital with you? I remember I wrote a letter to my family at the end of last month saying that I wanted to take care of her personally."

Shen Hua pondered for a few seconds and said, "Actually, Shen Qiu, the most important reason why I came here to see you today is to tell you about your mother."

"My mother What's wrong?" Shen Qiu raised his voice and his eyes became as sharp as a wild beast. Shen Hua's hesitant tone gave him an ominous premonition.

"She, she"

"What's wrong with her? If you have something to say, please tell me. Don't hesitate here."

Shen Hua took a deep breath and said, "Shen Qiu The troubles the Shen family has encountered recently are more serious than you imagined. They want to force you to go home, so they use your mother as a bargaining chip.

"They claim that your mother is here. While working as a servant in the family, I committed a crimeShe was charged with theft and sent to the prefect of Jinling.

"If you don't go home in time, they will torture her and send her to the northern border."

Corture was a method used by the Daqi Dynasty to punish women for crimes. One of the punishments was to be subjected to corporal punishments such as tattooing and stabbing, and then be sent to a border military camp to perform hard labor such as drying grain and pounding rice.

Shen Qiu’s mother Ningxiu was once a rough servant in the Shen family.

Although she was kicked out of the house by the angry Mrs. Shen, she still did not get rid of her slave status.

In the Daqi Dynasty, the status of mortal slaves was extremely low. If the master claimed before the authorities that they had committed any crime, they had no chance to refute it.

In fact, compared to the previous Dachu Dynasty, the situation of Daqi slaves was slightly better. After all, Emperor Taizu once issued a decree strictly prohibiting family owners from lynching slaves. Emperor Taizu was born into a poor family, and he knew very well that in front of the powerful and spiritual practitioners, ordinary people with no cultivation were like livestock and could only be slaughtered by others.

But even so, Mrs. Shen has countless ways to deal with a humble servant.

Shen Qiu knew that Mrs. Shen was a very jealous woman. She regarded every woman who was close to her husband as a thorn in her side and wanted to kill them if given the chance.

"Why did you wait until now to talk about such an important thing?" Shen Qiu stood on the steps, tiptoeing, grabbing Shen Hua's shoulders and shaking violently back and forth.

His face was filled with angry emotions, making his expression particularly ferocious, like an evil ghost emerging from hell, which was in sharp contrast to his previous cynical attitude.

Shen Hua was a little frightened by him.

He rarely saw his brother showing such an expression.

"Ouch" Shen Hua couldn't help but groaned in pain as he pinched her so hard, "I actually haven't thought about how to tell you about this."

Because he had witnessed his mother making this decision.

He felt that he had a chance to prevent this and prevent the family's problems from involving an innocent mortal.

But because of his weakness and because of his fear of his mother, he stood silently and watched, letting the woman named Ningxiu be escorted to the government.

Shen Qiu took a deep breath, trying to keep himself calm, and at the same time slowly let go of Shen Hua's shoulders.

"Do you have any empty beads in your hand?" he asked.

"Yes." Shen Hua replied, taking out a "sky-breaking bead" from the storage magic weapon and handing it to Shen Qiu's hand.

"Give me a quarter of an hour, and I will explain the follow-up affairs in this workshop to others," Shen Qiu said lightly. At this time, his expression was frighteningly calm, and he was not worried about what happened to his mother. Forgetting his responsibilities, "Then I will go to Jinling."

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