Feng Er stepped forward and said to Yang Zhao.
"Your Highness can arrange for me to go to Jinling City, can you also help Canwen? It would be a shame for such excellent talent not to be in the Grand Secretariat."
Yang Zhao sighed inwardly. He was indeed young. To make His Highness his "love rival" at this time was simply preposterous!
But he still had to cover for His Highness, so he said.
"This matter is already settled. Even if His Highness wanted to interfere, it would be inconvenient. You are going to Liangzhou to take up your post, not to seek death. Besides, General Xiao Ji and your Feng family's second branch are there. What are you afraid of? Will he be wronged? If he achieves something in the future, there will naturally be ways to transfer him back. Now... there's no point in saying these things, is there?"
Feng Jinlin could hear the sincerity in Yang Zhao's words.
So, he decided to write a letter back to Canwen to give to his second uncle, asking him to take good care of him.
If there was an opportunity, he should also find a good marriage for him. Otherwise, it wouldn't be good for him to be stuck on A Yao all the time!
Meanwhile, after Yin Canwen was sent to the Xu family, Su Cheng slipped away.
He didn't want to face Elder Xu alone, otherwise, he would definitely blame him for corrupting Yin Canwen!
That lecture of grand principles would make his head explode.
So, it was better to leave quietly first.
When Elder Xu came to see Yin Canwen, he saw him lying on the bed, drunk, his face flushed, and unconscious.
He had no grandchildren. When he first met Yin Canwen, he genuinely liked this young man.
He felt that he was very similar to himself.
Now, he at least had his wife and granddaughter by his side, but Yin Canwen truly had nothing.
A sixth-rank prefect was something many people couldn't even dream of, but for Yin Canwen, even he felt it was a waste of talent.
Unfortunately, the Emperor's decree had been issued, and there was no turning back. The only way forward was to achieve political achievements in the northwest for him to have a chance to advance further.
This path was difficult, but it was the only one.
How to choose depended on Yin Canwen himself.
"Arrange for someone to prepare hangover soup, and also bring some hangover pills. Serve them to him first, and then wake me when he is sober."
"Yes!"
The servants of the Xu family suddenly became busy, some wiping Yin Canwen, some giving him medicine. After a while, Yin Canwen gradually regained consciousness.
When he saw strangers around him, his guard went up.
What was going on?
A servant stepped forward and said.
"Young Master Yin, don't be afraid. We are all servants of Elder Xu's household. You were sent here after drinking too much. Elder Xu said that he wants to see you when you are sober."
After speaking, he sent someone to find Elder Xu.
Before Yin Canwen could tell the person to stop, he had already disappeared.
The thought of Elder Xu seeing him in this state made him feel deeply ashamed.
For him, besides the Feng family, the Bai family and the Xu family had given him warmth and respect. Especially Elder Xu, whom he had met privately twice and had expressed his admiration.
Now, he was like mud that couldn't be plastered on a wall, truly unworthy of his expectations.
When Elder Xu walked in, Yin Canwen didn't even dare to lift his head.
"You all go out first."
"Yes."
The servants retreated one by one. Elder Xu looked at Yin Canwen, whose shoulders were trembling slightly on the bed, and knew he was crying.
If it were anyone else, he would have scolded him, "A man shouldn't shed tears easily, what is this?"
But it was Yin Canwen, and he couldn't bring himself to scold him.
He sat quietly, and only after Yin Canwen had vented his emotions did he slowly speak.
"Although my youth was difficult, heaven has treated me kindly. It gave me a bright future, and it gave me a virtuous wife and good children. Just when I thought I would live my life smoothly, it all stopped abruptly a few years ago. The pain of losing all my descendants is something that cannot be understood without experiencing it. Therefore, Yin Canwen, if I were to live in drunken stupor like you, could I have appealed for you in the grand hall before?"
Yin Canwen looked up at Elder Xu, whose face was kind and worried, and felt a deep pain.
"I know what you are sad about. It's nothing more than feeling that you have lost the Emperor's favor and are not being reused. But let me ask you again, are you an official solely for your own future?"
Yin Canwen shook his head, his eyes red, but his gaze was firm.
Elder Xu smiled with relief and said to him.
"That's right. I believe that someone who can write such articles must also want to do practical things for the people and the world. If that's the case, then what's the difference between going to Liangzhou to take up your post and staying in the Grand Secretariat? What's wrong with being important to His Majesty? A true man stands in the world, seeking only a clear conscience. If you can bring prosperity to the people of Liangzhou this time, isn't that also your merit?"
Elder Xu's words seemed to open the closed door of Yin Canwen's heart.
He had been stuck in a dead end. Not only was he unlucky in love, but his future also seemed bleak. Under such dual blows, his state of mind naturally collapsed.
But he was not a fool. After being enlightened by Elder Xu, he had a great awakening.
Without even putting on his shoes and socks, he walked to Elder Xu, knelt down, and kowtowed.
"Canwen was wrong. Thank you, Elder Xu. I will not let down your teachings today."
"Good child, get up quickly. It's best that you have figured it out."
The relationship between the two, though not grandfather and grandson, was better than that of grandfather and grandson, which made the butler guarding the door outside sigh with emotion.
If the second master's young son were still alive, he would be two years older than Young Master Yin now, and it would be time for him to get married and have children. But now, he had been buried in the southwest for more than ten years, and everything had long since returned to dust.
With a sigh of regret, he looked up again, his eyes slightly red.
In the following days, Yin Canwen stayed at the Xu family to rest and also accompanied Elder Xu for some time.
One was an orphan, and the other had lost his children and grandchildren.
The two seemed to have found a place of mutual solace, and their relationship not only became harmonious but also grew stronger.
The day before Yin Canwen was to leave for Liangzhou, Elder Xu invited Prime Minister Bai, who had not been out for a long time, the Earl of Changyi, Prince Ding Xiao Tingyi, and several other influential court officials to his home as guests.
At the gathering, he also formally accepted Yin Canwen as his godson, his affection for him being beyond words.
Everyone present knew about Elder Xu's family affairs and was very happy for him to have such a promising grandson in his later years.
Especially Prime Minister Bai.
Although he had granddaughters, not having grandsons was not a good thing for families like theirs.
Now that Elder Xu had found a godson and invited them to be guarantors, his intentions were obvious.
Although the Xu family had no noble titles to pass down, the connections and resources they had accumulated over the years naturally needed someone to inherit them.