Chapter 14: The Sound of Floods

When Cui Qi confessed, not only was Luo Ming present, but also those men from the rivers and lakes. The door of the firewood room was wide open, and the servants and rough women were all poking their heads in.

This was exactly what Luo Jinyan had wanted.

She had originally wanted Luo Ming to drag Lao Qi, the seventh brother, down and leave the other six brothers behind.

When Zhang Hantang left without saying goodbye, she was thinking about what to do next. But just then, Luo Ming got into a fight with his brothers, each refusing to yield to the other, vying for superiority. It was like being handed a pillow when trying to sleep, and not only were all of them involved, but Cui Qi's words would spread far and wide in no time.

Sure enough, in the evening, people came to the front yard to inquire flatteringly, "Hey girl, I heard that Cui Qi has colluded with the river pirates, and the magistrate is going to personally investigate the case?"

Someone else said, "Cui Qi often goes to the Golden Treasure gambling den, he's probably met the river pirates there."

Following Luo Jinyan's orders, Xia Zhi only spoke about how terrifying it would be if the river pirates really came to Changping, even the officials dared to plot, let alone the common folk who would suffer.

Although there were many family servants in Luo estate, it was ultimately a rural area, and with Luo Shao away for years, there was no proper master in the estate, lacking discipline. Moreover, with the master informed, by the next morning, be it the incense burners, the grain suppliers, or the grocery sellers, anyone who came to Luo estate knew all about it.

Of course, this matter had already been distorted to the point where hundreds of ruthless river pirates had gathered in Changping. By the afternoon, scholars and local gentry went to the county yamen to inquire with the magistrate, and for a while, the entire Changping was in chaos and uproar.

Luo Jinyan sat at the table, diligently practicing calligraphy. Then Luo Shao remembered that he had only intended to temporarily stay in the estate, without preparing a suitable study for his daughter. Writing on the table, not only couldn't she produce good characters, but over time, it would also harm his daughter's back.

He hurriedly called Yuan Shan and had him find someone to make a small study table.

As Yuan Shan went out, Luo Jinyan had finished writing a page. Luo Shao picked it up and saw that it was a poem. He smiled, "This is a poem by Wang Yong, the friend of Wang Chaoming. Did Mr. Chen teach you to recite this?"

Mr. Chen was the tutor hired by Luo Jinyan in Xing Tang.

The corners of Luo Jinyan's eyes showed the satisfaction of a child being praised, and she wrote on the paper with a smile, "No, it wasn't Mr. Chen who taught me, I heard it when I was in the plum garden and heard Master Qin reciting it. I also know that the poet is a good friend of Prince Wang."

"What? A friend of the prince, which prince?" Luo Shao said, feeling what he said was unnecessary, as his daughter had only heard of it from someone else and was still young and wouldn't know such things.

He then asked, "Have you seen the little Master from the Qin family in the plum garden?"

Luo Jinyan nodded with a smile, and slowly said, "Picking...plum...blossoms..."

Luo Shao had been to the plum garden only once, and he wasn't familiar with the main house of the Luo family. When Luo Jinyan mentioned picking flowers, he naturally assumed there was a similar area between two households like a plum blossom alley, where she encountered someone from the Qin family when picking plum blossoms.

"The ancestral home of the Qin family is in the plum garden, as told by your Uncle Hong, the Qin family treats it as a garden, welcoming friends only when the plum blossoms are in full bloom every year. On ordinary days, there are only a few old servants, and you must have encountered the little Master from the Qin family when you went there to appreciate the plum blossoms."

He said so, lost in thought, then sighed and said softly, "I didn't expect the Qin family to value Wang Chaoming so much and have their children recite his poetry and prose. I really didn't expect that."

Why did father say this? Could it be that the Qin family is very prestigious? Although the Qin family treats the plum garden as a garden, it's no wonder that in her previous life, she had never heard of this Qin family in the plum garden. Since the Qin family didn't belong to the ordinary, could this Qin family be the original family of Qin Jue? She asked softly, "Qin..."

She spoke with difficulty, and everyone around was guessing and bewildered, including Luo Shao. After a moment of thought, he understood what his daughter was trying to say and said solemnly, "Back then, the ancestor of the Qin family went to see Zhang Chengshi alone when my great grandfather was trying to dominate the world. With only 10,000 men, Zhang Chengshi still resisted, and besieged the Yanming mountains for ten days and nights, and even though reinforcements couldn't break through, and his men couldn't come out, it was at that time the ancestor of the Qin family, Zheng Gong, went to see Zhang Chengshi alone, as an ordinary scholar, and managed to make Zhang Chengshi feel hopeless. In front of everyone, Zhang Chengshi took his own life. His subordinates refused to let Zheng Gong go, and several dozen swords were swung at him, but Zheng Gong remained unfazed, he picked up Zhang Chengshi's head and leaped out of the tent, and hung the head high on the flagpole. When the soldiers outside saw Zhang Chengshi's head, their morale was gone, and his subordinates, having realized the situation, either committed suicide to follow their lord or surrendered. Great Zhou was victorious."

Unlike his father's passionate and eloquent words, Luo Jinyan's mouth curved, but she couldn't smile. Six years later, at the age of nineteen, Qin Jue would use the same method to enter the Fujian Army's camp alone and cut off the Ningwang's head. Not only did he rise to fame, but his reputation for killing without hesitation spread.

He may have served as a literary official, but anyone who opposed him had no one to stand by them, even the censor officials who wanted to become famous ministers were wary of him. They were afraid that if he became angry, blood would be spilled in the imperial court.

Luo Shao saw his daughter listening intently, so he continued, "Your father was once an official who held the position of Minister of Personnel and Prince Regent. In the following hundred years, the Qin family produced three cabinet ministers and six or seven officials who reached the rank of junior minister. There were also over twenty scholars and many successful candidates in the imperial examinations. They are truly a prominent family in the officialdom."

So, when the young master of the Qin family recites the poems and essays of Wang Chaoming, is it just to give Wang Chaoming face?

Luo Jinyan sneered inwardly. Without such a background, how could Qin Jue's actions go unquestioned and even be praised by the court? He became a Grand Academician in his twenties.

Luo Shao's thoughts returned to the previous topic, and he asked, "Did you hear about the poems and essays from the young master of the Qin family, who is a good friend of Wang Chaoming?"

Luo Jinyan nodded and wrote on the paper, "He was interrupted by an old servant at home before he could finish speaking, and he even fell in a hurry."

That's it. With the upbringing in the Qin family, unless the child is of a similar age to his daughter, how could he be so boastful? The child must have heard this news from the elders at home and blurted it out without restraint, prompting the old servant of the Qin family to intervene.

In the Great Zhou Dynasty, there are no princes of different surnames. The current emperor has only recently taken power and has already confiscated the iron vouchers and fiefs of two princes. Now, there are only three princes left.

Although Wang Chaoming is not a high-ranking official in the six ministries, he is still an official in charge of a territory. No matter which prince he is associated with, it is not a good thing.

He could only blame himself for not having any connections in the court and only interacting with minor officials. Even a child from the Qin family knows about it, but he hasn't heard a single word about it.

Although he doesn't know if the information from the mouth of this little child is true or false, it is true that Wang Chaoming wants to befriend him!