16

Hidden twin?

Gou Liang looked at Xu Fei with a probing gaze.

He looked thinner than the average man, but his frame was much wider than the original host's. His facial features were delicate, but perhaps because he was tanned deliberately, his honey-colored skin added a hint of masculinity to him.

If it weren't for the system prompt, he wouldn't have noticed that the other party had lied about his gender just like the original host.

If he remembered correctly, Xu Fei was the same age as the emperor. Ten years ago, when he had just started to fall in love …

He heard that Xu Fei was devoted to the emperor. Could it be that he had special feelings for the emperor?

It wasn't that Gou Liang was boasting, but Shuang 'er, who had seen Tianzong's true appearance, could rarely keep her guard up. Moreover, Xu Fei had seen the young emperor's decisive and magnificent plan with his own eyes.

Gou Liang had more than once regretted not being able to witness the blood-soaked glory of the emperor. He couldn't help but feel a little jealous. But soon, he caught a glimpse of a mark on Xu Fei's neck. Gou Liang rejected this guess.

He was about to take a closer look when he heard a slightly warning cough from above.

"Cough, cough."

The emperor cleared his throat. Seeing that Gou Liang had returned to his senses and looked at him, he couldn't help but glare at him.

Looking at another man in a daze in front of me, you're getting bolder and bolder!

Gou Liang was embarrassed. The emperor said lightly, "You may rise."

Xu Fei was a capable and experienced person. As he got up, he took out a document from his sleeve and said, "Your humble servant has not let Your Majesty down. I have already set up a total of 372 businesses in Yangguang and Guang, covering grain, cloth, rouge, restaurants, brothels, and other businesses. I have listed all the income and expenses. Your Majesty, please take a look. "

Without waiting for Tong Gensheng to move, Gou Liang had already stood up from his seat.

A pair of white hands reached over. Xu Fei was startled. He raised his head and bumped into the smiling Gou Liang.

"Thank you."

Seeing that the emperor and Tong Gensheng didn't say anything, Xu Fei put away the surprise in his eyes.

Gou Liang handed over the memorial. Not caring about the Emperor's expression, he walked back towards Xu Fei.

Xu Fei was a little surprised by his offensive behavior, but he knew that the Emperor had never been a person who cared about rules, so he didn't find it strange and smiled. He took the initiative to say, "I presume this is Official Chu? When I returned to the capital, I heard that His Majesty had a scholar by his side, who was known as the most handsome man in the capital. Seeing him today, he really lives up to his reputation. "

"Xu Daren flatters me," Gou Liang also said, "Zi Gui has admired Daren for a long time. It is my honor to be able to meet you today. In the past, Xu Daren acted swiftly and decisively in the Yang and Guang Provinces, and those corrupt officials were terrified when they heard your name. Zigui is full of admiration. Before I became an official, I often used Xu Daren as my role model. Now, I am still not as good as Xu Daren. "

What he said was the truth. Not only the original Xu Fei, but a large number of young scholars with great ambitions back then, who didn't admire Xu Fei? Who didn't want to be the second Xu Fei?

However …

Gou Liang leaned closer and said in a low voice, "Xu Daren, your neck isn't covered well."

Xu Fei was modest, "Official Chu is overpraising me. In terms of talent, this official is far inferior to —" Hearing this, he stiffened and subconsciously shrank his neck.

"Chu Mo!"

The Emperor saw him and Xu Fei so close and lowered his voice a few degrees.

Gou Liang turned around and said, "This official has been rude."

Obediently returning to his seat, Gou Liang sat upright and still with a taut face, with an 'I am very, very obedient' look.

The Emperor secretly glared at him and said to Xu Fei in a normal tone, "Xu Qing has done a good job. You have worked hard these years. I will reward you heavily."

Xu Fei thanked the Emperor for his kindness and then said, "Reporting to Your Majesty, this official has returned to the capital and my wife hasn't settled down yet. He doesn't know anything about the capital and I'm afraid he has some troubles. I ask Your Majesty to allow this official to leave first and come to pay respects to Your Majesty another day. "

The Emperor was eager to drive this old friend of Gou Liang's, who had repeatedly made Gou Liang look at him with new eyes and even expressed his admiration, out of Gou Liang's sight. Hearing this, it was exactly what he wanted. Not only did the Emperor happily let him go, but the Emperor also specifically told him to bring his husband next time. This would let Gou Liang know that a married man wasn't good to look at!

As soon as Xu Fei left, the Emperor threw down the memorial and strode to Gou Liang's side.

"What is so good about Xu Fei that my beloved official is so fond of him that he forgot to go back. Come and let me see, en?"

He held Gou Liang in a possessive posture and bit his ear as he spoke, for fear that he couldn't hear his dissatisfaction.

Gou Liang didn't answer the question, "I heard that Lord Xu's husband doesn't look very good. But looking at his anxious appearance just now, it seems that he has a very good relationship with his husband?"

The Emperor wasn't very interested in this and only said, "Since Lord Xu married that Shuang 'er, no matter what he looks like, he should have the responsibility of a man."

"You know him well."

"What, is Xiao Kener jealous?"

The Emperor revealed a smile. Gou Liang didn't answer and instead whispered something in his ear. The Emperor was surprised when he heard this.

According to his understanding of Xu Fei, the other party was even more serious than Gou Liang when he was with outsiders. He didn't expect that when he came to see the Emperor today, there was a kiss mark on his neck that he didn't hide. It was really surprising.

But the Emperor didn't care.

Seeing that Gou Liang looked at Xu Fei a few more times because of this, he magnanimously didn't pursue the matter. He took the memorial that Xu Fei handed over and looked at it with him.

Xu Fei spent five years with the Emperor's strong support to purge the officials in Yangguang and Yangzhou. Afterwards, he stayed in Yangzhou. On the surface, it was to put an end to the rebellion of the officials in Yangguang and Yangzhou, but in reality, it was to buy property for the Emperor.

When the Emperor was dealing with the officials in Yangzhou, because the officials and merchants protected each other, the Emperor suffered a loss.

At that time, dozens of merchants were implicated by the corrupt officials. Some threw away their responsibilities and ran away, causing the commerce to be in chaos. The prices of goods skyrocketed and almost threw Yangguang and Yangzhou into chaos. The common people suffered unspeakably.

After that, the Emperor began to pay attention to the economy.

Other than salt and iron, he consciously interfered with several economic lifelines that were related to the people's livelihood, such as food and cloth. In doing this, he did not do it in the name of the court. Instead, he had Xu Fei secretly order people to manage it. Now, it was beginning to take shape.

Gou Liang nodded approvingly. Although the status of merchants was low, they had developed very well in the dynasty. If the people in power really looked down on business, sooner or later they would suffer the consequences of their own actions.

Seeing the Emperor looking impatiently at the account book, Gou Liang helped him take care of this matter.

He was an expert at looking at account books. In the past, Canya's business was so big. Although Gou Liang didn't need to interfere with the management, he still had to look at the year-end account book.

Compared to the workload at that time, the business in Xu Fei's hands was just a small matter.

On the other hand, Xu Fei hurried back to the residence and was about to denounce her husband. When she pushed open the door, she saw a tall man grabbing a petite person and placing her on the couch. He seemed to be up to no good!

"What are you doing!"

Xu Fei roared.

The tall man was so scared that he let go. Xu Fei saw that the person on the couch was his thirteen year old nephew. His expression immediately changed.

"You, how dare you!"

Xu Fei was so angry that he didn't know whether to scold the other person for daring to have an affair behind his back or to have an affair with his nephew. He was so angry that his face turned red.

Her husband, Liu Jia, was shocked and hurriedly said, "Listen to my explanation. This has nothing to do with me!"

Xu Fei's eyes were red as he stared at the person who was lying through his teeth, "Do you think I'm blind?!"

Liu Jia grabbed his hand and said anxiously, "It really has nothing to do with me! I was just staying in my room and this troublesome thing suddenly came in and lifted my forehead. He said he wanted to see how light my flower caltrops were. Didn't I forget to put them on today? I could only knock him out and throw him on top of my head. Then you came back. "

Xu Fei looked at his forehead. Liu Jia's forehead was clean and there was no flower caltrops at all. He was a real man.

Knowing that he didn't dare to lie to him, Xu Fei no longer scolded him. He just frowned and said, "Didn't I tell you that you must be careful when you come to the capital and that flower caltrops should be painted all the time?"

Liu Jia heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that he was no longer angry. Then, he complained, "What kind of people are in your family? Forget about them. Especially your father's husband, who is younger than you. He looks at me like I'm a piece of sh * t."

After being glared at, Liu Jia admitted defeat, "Okay, okay, you have to speak elegantly. I remember. He looks at me like he's looking at a peerless beauty, okay?"

Xu Fei couldn't help laughing out loud.

Liu Jia didn't look as happy as before when he saw his pleasant expression. Instead, he said sourly, "You don't know how much trouble I've suffered here. You left me in this tiger's den and ran off to meet your old lover — "

"What nonsense are you talking about!"

Xu Fei interrupted him.

Liu Jia's heart was also filled with anger. He straightened his neck and said, "What nonsense am I talking about? If it weren't for the fact that you still have some thoughts about the old emperor, you wouldn't even look at the gate when you returned to the capital. You left me in the carriage and couldn't wait to run off to the palace? I knew that you couldn't forget him! After all these years, how many times did you call out his name when you were in love? Do you think I'm dead? "

"Shut up!"

The joy in Xu Fei's heart was completely replaced by anger, "How long ago was that? You want to bring up old scores, right? Back then, you were the one who shamelessly stuck to me. I didn't beg you! And I don't think I've done anything wrong to you all these years. When I married you, did I call anyone else? How many times have I told you that I came to the palace for official business? If you've caused enough trouble, then shut your stinky mouth. Don't go too far! "

Liu Jia didn't give up and said, "But you didn't say you liked me."

Xu Fei looked at him, "You want to hear it, right?"

Liu Jia's ears immediately perked up. He heard Xu Fei sneer and say, "You're dreaming!"

Liu Jia saw that he had teased him too much and that he was really angry. He quickly bowed down and apologized.

He had always been a shameless person. Xu Fei couldn't do anything to him. After a while, the anger in his heart dissipated.

However, he still remembered who was the one who made him lose a lot of face in front of Gou Liang, and was forced to leave the Palace in a sorry state. Pushing away the arm that was reaching toward him, he said, "Didn't I say that you're not allowed to leave a mark in a visible place? Do you know how much face you've made me lose today! "

Liu Jia chuckled. "What? Did that old Emperor see it? Now your old lover should know that you're taken. "

He did it on purpose. Otherwise, he wouldn't have spent so much effort to coax him into becoming muddle-headed and leaving marks all over his body.

He wanted others — — whether it was the emperor that Xu Fei once liked or those who wanted to be his concubines — — to know that Xu Fei was his!

"Old lover my ass! Why don't you go to hell! "

Xu Fei was so angry that he gritted his teeth. The person who had always been gentle also cursed, "How many times have I told you? His Majesty doesn't know that I used to … … And His Majesty is His Majesty. You have to be more respectful. If this gets out, I'll be the first to take your head!"

Liu Jia said, "Are you worried about me? Don't worry, I'm very tight-lipped in front of outsiders. "

Xu Fei didn't care about his life or death!

Pushing away his entangling embrace, Xu Fei pretended to be impatient and said, "Go and draw the flower caltrops. Be careful. Don't be like before. One drawing today and one drawing tomorrow."

Liu Jia hugged him and said, "If I draw according to your style, I won't be able to draw a second one. Let me see what it looks like again. Don't make a mistake."

Xu Fei struggled, "Stop, I still have to see father later."

Liu Jia said, "It's still early. It won't delay things."

Xu Fei said hatefully, "Other than this, you can't think of anything else? If you really like it that much, you can lie down and let me do it! "

The tall and strong Liu Jia said shamelessly, "Okay, if you have the ability to make my belly bigger, I'll lie down and let you do whatever you want."

"Pfft —"

Gou Liang heard this and burst out laughing.

Tong Gensheng, who had just refilled his tea, was shocked. The Emperor jumped over, "Are you scalded?"

"I'm fine … Pfft, haha!"

Gou Liang looked up at his anxious expression and accidentally replaced Liu Jia's "make my belly bigger" with the Emperor's voice. He was suddenly overjoyed.

The Emperor supported Gou Liang, who was laughing uncontrollably, with one hand. He took the ointment that Tong Gensheng handed over with trembling hands and said, "What did you see that made you so happy? Be careful, don't eat the ointment. "

Gou Liang was very regretful that he couldn't share this joke with him.

The next day, Xu Fei brought Liu Jia to see the Emperor. Hearing him call himself, Gou Liang almost laughed.

Yes, the tall and strong Xu Fei, who was rumored to be extremely ugly, had a very beautiful and elegant name: Beauty Liu.

Gou Liang had already asked the system to check Xu Fei and Liu Jia's lives yesterday.

Cutting off one's path to wealth was like killing one's parents. Xu Fei had offended many people in the Yangguang region and had encountered countless assassination attempts.

Liu Jia was also an assassin and had come to take Xu Fei's head.

With his ability, Xu Fei would have definitely died that night. Unexpectedly, the day of his assassination happened to coincide with Xu Fei's passion.

Compared to the original owner, Xu Fei was a more open person. At the time, he was using tools to relieve himself. After Liu Jia saw a live sex scene, he wiped his mouth and washed his hands. After that, he followed Xu Fei day and night and secretly peeped on him.

Later, when Xu Fei encountered another assassination attempt, he saved Xu Fei.

Not only that, he also shamelessly created a fake double identity of "Beauty Liu" for himself, creating an accident where he was publicly molested by Xu Fei.

Xu Fei pitied him for being "too ugly" and being disliked by everyone. He was also afraid that Liu Jia would really commit suicide, so he braced himself and married him.

Later, Liu Jia's nature was revealed, and Xu Fei also became the current Xu Daren who learned to swear when forced.

When the Emperor saw Liu Jia, who was as strong as a bear, calling himself "Beauty Liu", he also felt that it was quite embarrassing. He chatted with Xu Fei for a while and gave Liu Jia the customary reward. He then sent Xu Fei, who was about to bring her husband to meet the Imperial Noble Lord, away.

When he turned around, he heard Gou Liang ask him, "Yesterday, Your Majesty said that once a husband marries into the family, he can't judge a person by his appearance. If this humble subject was born with his appearance, Your Majesty would definitely not dislike this humble subject, right? "

The Emperor paused suspiciously and squeezed out a smile, "Of course."

*

Xu Fei and the Imperial Noble Lord were twin brothers.

Because their father wasn't favored in the manor and died early, the two brothers had a hard time in the Xu family. They supported each other as they grew up, so their relationship was naturally closer than normal people.

It was also because of this that when he learned that his brother was chosen as the Imperial Noble Lord, Xu Fei silently put away the beautiful thoughts in his heart and asked the Emperor to go to Yangzhou.

Now, the two brothers hadn't seen each other for nearly ten years. When the Imperial Noble Lord saw him, he cried and told him how much he missed him. Then, he saw Liu Jia and cried for a while, crying away the sense of strangeness in Xu Fei's heart.

When he controlled his emotions, the Imperial Noble Lord ordered people to take Liu Jia away. Then, he asked Xu Fei, "Is this Beauty Liu really Shuang 'er?"

Xu Fei shook his head. The Imperial Noble Lord knew his true situation, so there was no need to hide it.

The Imperial Noble Lord sighed in relief, "For him to be able to suffer this grievance for you, it can be seen that you are sincere to him. So, I am relieved."

Xu Fei blushed and said, "I'm all right. Brother, you don't have to worry about me. What about you? How are you in the palace? Does His Majesty … treat you well? "

The Imperial Noble Lord's expression changed, and then he laughed bitterly, "You were right back then. His Majesty cares about the world and has no personal feelings. After I discovered this, how could I not be awakened? It's just that I am already in the palace. I am a member of the royal family. Even if I die, I can't leave. "

Xu Fei was shocked, "Brother, why do you say that?"

The Imperial Noble Lord said in a low voice, "I have nothing to hide from you. His Majesty, he … has never touched me. Although I am the head of the four imperial concubines, I have only seen His Majesty's face a few times. "

"This … how could this be?"

Xu Fei was shocked.

The Imperial Noble Lord shook his head, "Not only me, when has he ever cared about the people in the harem? I originally thought that he was really cold-hearted, but now it seems that it's just that we are not worthy of his attention. "

Xu Fei did not understand.

The Imperial Noble Lord said in an even lower voice, "That day, I bumped into him putting a lamp on the tower. The words on the lamp were: I will not let you down in this life, I will be with you forever … I even recognize His Majesty's handwriting. "

After a long pause, the Imperial Noble Lord sighed, "I didn't expect that there would be someone … who could make him so infatuated."

Xu Fei was also very surprised. For some reason, he thought of the scene where the Emperor reminded Gou Liang to be careful when drinking tea today. In his memory, he was never such a meticulous person.

Could it be that he actually liked … men?!

At the same time.

In the library, the Empress was hiding behind a bookshelf, covering her mouth tightly and looking at the constantly shaking bookshelf a few steps in front of her. A man whispered in an extremely charming voice, "Ah, Your Majesty, be gentle, I can't do it there …"

The Emperor's smiling voice rang out, "Xiao Kener, don't hide."

The person called Xiao Kener refused righteously, but his tone was somewhat coquettish and wanton, "I really can't, I have an appointment with Scholar Wang."

The Emperor said, "What's so good about that old thing that he always brings you out!"

"Xiao Kener" said with a smile, "There are many books in his house that even the library doesn't have."

When they walked into the light, the Empress saw that the "Xiao Kener" was actually Little Hanlin, who had ruined his plans and caused him to be grounded that day!

The Empress collapsed in the corner, pressing her wildly beating heart, recalling the scene she had just seen in disbelief. The Emperor, he … actually liked men?!

The Empress gritted her teeth. How could this be!

Three days later, the Ministry of Works reported that the Imperial Mausoleum had been mostly repaired.

When the Emperor left the palace for the Imperial Mausoleum, the Empress waited for an opportunity to invite Gou Liang to Fengqi Palace.