Chapter 35 Exposed

"The Governor of Ji-Liao sent us another shipment of wild ginseng?"

The housekeeper of the Xu Mansion bowed his head deeply, not daring to look up: "Yes. He said that he would like to ask the Lord to say a few good words in front of the emperor."

Before entering the palace, he first paid a visit to the prime minister's residence; the Governor-General of Ji and Liao had been in officialdom for decades and was definitely not a lone minister who only knew how to curry favor with the emperor. This time, he sent officials to the capital to discuss the rituals of presenting gifts, and he brought with him a lot of Northeastern mountain products such as deerskin and ginseng. He made sure that the gifts were delivered to all levels without any omissions.

Xu Shaohu narrowed his eyes slightly, his expression unchanged: "Next time you come to my house, you can block the way for me. Other things are fine, but ginseng is so valuable, how can we, as ministers, accept it?"

The housekeeper was slightly stunned, thinking that the master was just pretending as usual, so he boldly advised: "Sir, officials from other places come all the way to bring some local specialties, which is also a sincere gesture. Besides, the mansion needs ginseng soup every day, and it would be really troublesome without this income..."

These words made sense and were consistent with the steward's decades-long loyal and trusted servant. But when Lord Xu heard the word "ginseng soup", his expression suddenly changed slightly, and his tone suddenly became stern.

"What sincerity? You might as well just tell me how much red envelopes you took instead of speaking for outsiders! I am an honest official, and I don't need to be considerate of outsiders' feelings!"

Everything else was fine, but the words "clean and innocent" really made the housekeeper's eyes widen: the Qingliu people valued reputation the most, and their eating habits were indeed a little better than those of the Yan party; but since Lord Xu had already climbed into the position of the central government, it was ridiculous to talk about "clean and innocent" - besides, could the gift of tribute from the governors of other provinces be rejected just because of the word "clean"?

In the final analysis, everyone has a share of gifts during the four seasons, such as ice and charcoal. If you don't take it and I don't take it, how can the eunuch from the East Factory take it? If the eunuch from the Eastern Depot doesn’t take it, how can the Imperial Household Department take it? If the Imperial Household Department doesn’t take it, how can His Majesty, who has only eight sets of uniforms for the four seasons, take it?

Now you dare to break the unspoken rules by claiming to be innocent. I dare not even imagine what you are going to do in the future!

When doing things in official circles, one must keep a low profile and be humble. The housekeeper also wanted to be loyal and give his master some advice. But Lord Xu snorted, turned his sleeves and went into the quiet room, without saying anything else.

·

After sending the servants away, Lord Xu put on a Taoist robe and placed two more incense sticks on the incense burner. When the faint fragrance spread in the air, the elder's slightly restless heart also calmed down. He sat cross-legged on the cushion, took out the heavenly book that he had been studying repeatedly in the past few days, and solemnly opened the next page.

Compared to the Zhenjun who has become sensitive, suspicious and neurotic due to taking golden elixirs, the officialdom big model AI Xu Ge Lao who has been tempered in the officialdom for decades is much calmer and peaceful. After being subjected to the PUA of Master Feixuan for many years, the elder has developed strong and calm nerves. He is basically not broken by the madness and complaints of the Heavenly Book, and he never wastes time on the bizarre future, fully demonstrating the qualities of a senior official.

So, it is always good to exercise your nerves.

In the recent chapters of the Heavenly Book, Lord Xu never cared about any crazy anti-feudal talk. He only cared about the reality - the auspicious beast sent by the Governor of Southern Zhili caused a plague, and it would definitely be eaten up in the future, so the connection must be cut off as soon as possible; the Governor of Ji-Liao would be taken away by sulfur and arsenic in a few years, so there was no need to bother investing in him. Everything else in the Heavenly Book says about the future is false; only tangible political interests are real. In this way, he strategized and mobilized resources, seizing the initiative when the Yan party was at a loss; Lord Xu worked diligently and hard every day, and he enjoyed the struggle very much.

Today was no exception. The elder spread out the list of officials and opened the heavenly book with great anticipation:

[I heard the news today that Qingliu sent someone to the south to prepare gifts for Lao Deng. I guess they are competing with the Yan party for gifts again. According to historical facts, Prime Minister Xia Yan will have to retire in a few months, and it is understandable that the officials below are pursuing advancement. Although the preparation of the gifts must have cost a lot of money, the blame definitely lies mostly with Lao Deng, and to be honest, there's nothing we can do about it. Perhaps we have to wait until the Regent comes to power before we can clean up this corrupt atmosphere. 】

Lord Xu narrowed his eyes.

…Who is “Shezong”? It doesn't sound right to use the word "she" in government affairs.

[But selfishly speaking, when it comes to sending gifts, Qingliu is still more disgusting than the Yan party - of course, this does not mean that the Yan party is not disgusting. But the people in Yan's party are so greedy, shameless and despicable that everyone spits on them; the people in the Qingliu party are often good at disguising themselves and can even deceive themselves with lies; their hypocrisy and pedantic behavior are particularly disgusting.

They were both preparing gifts and it would have been fine if they were extravagant and spent money excessively, but Qingliu just acted like a noble and unworldly old white lotus, being coy and refusing to admit it. Yan Dang gave gold, fields, precious medicinal materials and all kinds of crude but practical things; Qingliu had to find another way to meet Lao Deng's spiritual needs. Therefore, most of the items they gave away were elegant and precious antiques, which had to have a profound heritage and were rarely seen in the world, and were definitely not ordinary antiques.

But where in the world can we find so many elegant and rare antiques? After searching in vain, the only option left was to kill the person. During the decades when Lao Deng was alive, the two major sects, the Southern Mojin and the Northern Yishan, showed their prowess, causing chaos in the ancient tombs. Even if we don't talk about protecting cultural relics, torturing a dead person is really a loss of merit for eight lifetimes; old man Xu's pretentiousness is nonsense and it's simply a mess.

Judging from later records, the one that suffered the most damage was probably the tomb of Prince Jing of Zhongshan, which was buried in Hebei. The jade cicada that a man named Xu presented to Lao Deng three years ago was a personal treasure of Prince Jing of Zhongshan. If all these things were turned out, the entire tomb would probably be in ruins. 】

Xu Shaohu raised his eyebrows.

The elder has the whole country in his heart filled with the righteousness of the country, so he won't worry about a small good deed. The Qingliu and Yan party have been fighting each other for dozens of rounds, and their words are sarcastic, vicious and cruel, which is definitely not comparable to the Book of Heaven, which is only capable of impotent rage. Of course, a few insults alone cannot break their defense. What worried him most were the few words about "Jade Cicada".

Three years ago, the confrontation between the Qingliu and Yan factions reached a climax, and both sides had to show their loyalty to Master Feixuan in order to demonstrate their status. This jade cicada presented by his subordinates was one of the key factors that Lord Xu presented to His Majesty. Although the treasure was called a cicada, it had not been carved. It was just that the long whiskers and cicada wing patterns naturally grew on the top-grade Hetian jade. What was even more amazing was that it was born with a pair of bright red eyes, and the rich color rippled with the light, as if it were blood that was still fresh after thousands of years.

Just the quality and appearance alone makes it an excellent treasure, not to mention the meaning of the jade cicada itself. In Taoism, the process of a mortal becoming an immortal is likened to a wild cicada shedding its shell. This naturally formed jade cicada shell, which has remained incorruptible for billions of years, is undoubtedly a sign that the Taoist priest is about to abandon his decaying body and ascend to the upper world.

Such a pure and elegant ceremony with profound meaning also expresses Qingliu's earnest hope for the Lord to achieve immortality. How could someone who is so considerate and caring not be liked by the Taoist priest? In a sense, this jade cicada can even be regarded as a political contract between Qingliu and the emperor. Lord Xu used it to solemnly assure Zhenjun that the saintly etiquette and self-righteousness that he emphasized every day were just tools to establish his image, and he would never read Confucius and Mencius so much that he would boycott the emperor's great cause of cultivating immortals. The emperor also reciprocated by playing with the jade cicada in front of his important ministers all the time, rubbing it up and down and unable to let it go, showing his goodwill towards Qingliu.

In recent years, His Majesty has heard of the secret techniques of alchemists, who often hold jade in their mouths while meditating to generate saliva, calm their nerves, and strengthen their bones. Lord Xu also catered to his wishes and planned to ask his subordinates to find a leaf made of green jade to present to him, which could be considered a good item to match the previous jade cicada.

If it is true as the heavenly book says, the jade cicada is a burial object of King Jing of Zhongshan; then everything else is fine, but I am afraid that this magic of holding the jade in the mouth is really...

Lord Xu turned the page calmly, intending to ask his men to investigate the origin of the jade cicada. If it's really embarrassing, just cover it up. How many antiques in the world did not come from tombs? As long as you don't shout too much, His Majesty won't pay attention.

...At most, just don’t put it in your mouth in the future. What’s the big deal?

He turned another page:

[Of course, a personal treasure is a personal treasure, but it is hard to say which body it is attached to. King Jing of Zhongshan actually did not like jade, and the jade artifacts buried in the coffin should have been ceremonial objects during burial. In the Han Dynasty, there was a custom of using gold and jade to block the seven orifices of the deceased, but most of the time, only tiny pieces of gold and jade were used. How could a jade cicada as big as a kiwi fruit be used?

This brings us to the special hobby of King Jing of Zhongshan. Judging from the large bronze chimneys unearthed from the main tomb chamber (yes, they were unearthed from his own tomb chamber, so it has nothing to do with his wives and concubines!), King Zhongshan was indeed a hero with the surname Liu and inherited the glorious tradition of successive emperors of the Western Han Dynasty. He could attack and defend, and could come from the front and back. Some of these large bronze chimneys were hollow and could be filled with hot water, some were covered with threads, and some could even be contracted by mechanisms. They were full of ingenuity and meticulous craftsmanship, and such a technological leap must have been achieved through repeated personal experience.

However, after using the bronze penis for a long time, the lower part will inevitably become loose; if we make a reasonable guess, it is precisely because the lower part is loose that the jade cicada must be used to make up for this part. Of course, this treatment was a blessing in disguise - after the intestines rotted, the intestinal fluid and gastric fluid flowed down and infiltrated the jade cicada. After corroding the hydrophobic structure on the surface of the jade, the cinnabar in the tomb was able to dye the eyes of the jade cicada, leaving that indelible red color...】

Lord Xu's hands froze. He stared at the word "relax" in the heavenly book, as if he couldn't believe what he saw. But a second later, his well-trained brain still faithfully reflected the accurate information to him. So Lord Xu didn't waste any time, he rolled his eyes upwards and fell down directly.

It turned out to be a large-model AI trained in the officialdom, and it is definitely not comparable to Lao Deng who developed bipolar disorder from taking too many elixirs. Even if you faint from fright, you have to behave decently.

·

Although he may be decent, Lord Xu is not a divine body chosen by heaven like Lao Deng and Yan Fenyi. The golden elixirs he has taken in the past few months have made his blood boil and his internal organs ache. His body is indeed not as strong as before. This time, he fainted alone in the secret room due to the shock. His condition was actually extremely serious. If no one had discovered it in time, I'm afraid something unspeakable would have happened.

What ultimately saved Lord Xu's life was an impromptu banquet in Xiyuan. Earlier, there were frequent disturbances in the government, which made people feel uneasy and was not conducive to the situation before the imperial examination. In order to appease the people, Master Feixuan repeatedly summoned the officials preparing for the imperial examination and the old ministers who had retired at home in the past few days, trying to ease the tense atmosphere.

Such a banquet was basically dull and boring. The rituals were followed as usual. Except for Master Feixuan and a few people from the Imperial Household Department who could prepare some special meals, the rest of the people could only enjoy the tea prepared by the Guanglu Temple in the cool breeze. The Guanglu Temple is as famous as the Hanlin Academy and the Imperial Medical Bureau. It is known as the "Ten Ridiculous Things" in Beijing and the banquets it holds are very famous. To use high EQ terms, it is "quite ancestral legacy" and "not forgetting the hardships Emperor Gaozu went through in starting his business." To use low EQ terms... Oh, you can't use low EQ terms, didn't you see that the Hanlin Academy, which uttered the word "thief monk", has been put under confinement by the emperor?

Therefore, the old ministers with high emotional intelligence could only frown and flatter the emperor, and they had to work hard to mobilize their few remaining old teeth to fight a desperate battle with the cold tea, dry rice, and old lean meat served to them.

The old ministers at least had some soup to drink, but the sons of nobles who were forced to stand guard could only eat dry bread. Mu Qi swallowed the noodles in the cold wind, his stomach rumbling. He heard the sound of string music coming from the pavilion where Lao Deng was resting behind him, and the aroma of food wafting in the air. He was so angry that he simply opened his diary and started writing.

When he finished writing with satisfaction, he felt silence in his ears and there was no longer the pleasant and melodious music. He shifted his gaze blankly, and suddenly heard a loud noise, and the veil covering the pavilion was suddenly pulled off. Old Deng, in a fluttering long robe, stepped out with a veil several feet long in his hand, veins bulging on his face, and his eyes were bloodshot. Soon, this pair of eyes, which were as big as a frog's, stared at the helpless Prince of Mu who was guarding outside; then - then Zhenjun's face suddenly twisted, he suddenly tilted his head, and vomited everything in his body!

Mu Qi:? ? ! ! !

Am I that ugly?

Not really!

As he was at a loss, the vomiting emperor finally caught his breath. He broke free from the eunuch's hand and let out what was probably the most violent roar of his life:

"Call Xu Shaohu! Call Xu Shaohu!"