Chapter 58 Satire

The Cai Mansion in the capital.

The charcoal fire was burning brightly in the study. Cai Mingshu, wearing a fox fur coat, sat behind his desk, holding an account book in his hand. His eyes were fixed on the pages, but he didn't turn a single page for a long time.

After the Xishan case, her situation became quite delicate.

On the surface, His Majesty ordered her to perform her duties while atoneing for her crimes and cleaning up the house, and she remained the Grand Secretary, but the political climate in the court had already changed.

On the other side, Qingliu seems to have straightened his back a bit more now. Although he hasn't directly impeached them, the schadenfreude in his eyes is impossible to hide.

Some of my close friends from the past have been quite busy with official duties lately, and they've been sending me fewer invitations.

The nobility faction watched from the sidelines, delighted to see her suffer a setback.

It's not quite a case of the monkeys scattering when the tree falls, but the walls are already starting to crack.

Just then, the steward quietly entered, his expression somewhat strange, and whispered, "Sir, someone from the Marquis of Yongchang's residence has arrived."

Cai Mingshu paused in his hand holding the book. The Marquis of Yongchang was a powerful figure in the nobility party and a staunch supporter of the Third Princess Lingxuan. Although the two families worked in the court, they kept their distance and rarely interacted privately.

What is she doing here?

"They said they have important matters to discuss and must see the lord immediately."

Cai Mingshu put down his book. At this critical juncture, why would the Marquis of Yongchang suddenly come to his door? Was he there to see him make a fool of himself, or did he have some other motive?

She hesitated for a moment, then slowly said, "Please ask her to wait in the main hall for tea."

"yes."

A moment later, Cai Mingshu changed into casual clothes for receiving guests and entered the main hall.

Marquis Yongchang was already waiting there, dressed in a crimson brocade robe with floral patterns. It was a look of wealth and leisure, but at this moment his face showed undisguised anxiety, and he didn't even touch his tea.

Upon seeing Cai Mingshu enter, the Marquis of Yongchang immediately stood up and, without waiting for pleasantries, exclaimed urgently, "Prime Minister Cai! Something has happened!"

Cai Mingshu's heart skipped a beat, but his expression remained calm as he gestured for the other person to sit down: "What is it that makes you so flustered, Lord Hou? Speak slowly."

Marquis Yongchang couldn't sit still any longer. She took a few steps closer, lowered her voice, and squeezed each word out as if it were being forced out through clenched teeth: "Three years ago... the matter in the East China Sea... was leaked!"

Clang—

The teacup that Cai Mingshu had just picked up fell to the ground, and the scalding tea splashed onto the hem of her robe, but she was completely unaware.

"What did you say?"

"We missed it! Someone found out and even got the stuff." Marquis Yongchang's face was also grim, his eyes bloodshot. "I sensed something was wrong before, and spent a fortune to put a red-inked reward on that person at the Netherworld Pavilion. The Netherworld Pavilion reported back that the person had been dealt with, and I specifically instructed them to bring him back alive or dead, and that the stuff must be retrieved. Who knew those useless fools! The person wasn't quite dead, the stuff wasn't retrieved, and he was... he was rescued!"

Cai Mingshu felt a chill run from the soles of her feet straight to the top of her head. She forced herself to stay awake, biting her tongue hard. The sharp pain kept her conscious.

"Who rescued her?" she practically forced the question out of her throat.

Looking at her face, which turned deathly pale, Marquis Yongchang gritted his teeth and said:

"The Fifth Princess."

The fifth princess!

Cai Mingshu's vision went black, and she swayed. She had no choice but to reach out and grab the coffee table next to her, her fingertips digging into the hard wood grain.

The Fifth Princess! Ling Wei!

It's her again! It has to be her again!

Cai Mingshu closed his eyes, his chest churning with almost vomiting regret and hatred.

Cai Mingshu had navigated the court for decades and seen countless people, considering herself to have a sharp eye. Yet, for the first time in her life, she misjudged the Fifth Princess, who was so well disguised and whom she regarded as a useless pawn.

Although the second princess, Ling Yao, is shrewd, she is power-hungry and deeply entangled with the interests of the Cai faction, making her easy to control; the third princess, Ling Xuan, appears kind, but in reality, she shares a name with the nobility and is heavily constrained by them.

Regardless of which of the two women comes to power, Tsai Ming-shu is confident that, with her years of experience and the resources she has, she can make a well-planned move and at least protect herself and her family.

But it just so happens to be Ling Wei.

This fifth princess, who doesn't play by the rules, hides her true abilities, and acts seemingly straightforwardly yet always hits the nail on the head, is completely uncontrollable and cannot be understood by common sense.

"Prime Minister Cai! Prime Minister Cai!" Marquis Yongchang called out twice, noticing her strange expression. "This isn't the time to be stunned. You need to make a decision. Everyone says the late Crown Princess and the Fifth Princess were extremely close, their relationship was extraordinary. If the Fifth Princess really finds out about that matter and gets concrete evidence, she'll pounce on you like a mad dog! At that time..."

At that point, it won't just be a matter of negligence and leniency in the Xishan case.

That was a heinous crime of plotting to murder the former crown prince and undermining the foundation of the nation.

Ironically, the reason they were able to react so quickly after the incident and cover up enough evidence was because the crime was serious enough.

It was so incredible that even they themselves couldn't believe it. None of them had any such rebellious thoughts, yet they all ended up killing the crown prince by some twist of fate.

It was so significant that no one could have predicted that these two opposing factions in the imperial court would temporarily set aside their disputes and desperately try to cover up each other's mistakes.

Cai Mingshu slumped into the armchair behind her, the cold touch of the chair back sending a chill down her spine, and a wave of regret washed over her.

Why did you... why did you condone that in the first place?

Three years ago, along the coast of the East China Sea.

At that time, the imperial court was implementing a new policy of "converting salt fields into rice paddies" in the southeast.

This policy was strongly advocated by Qingliu and aimed to curb the coastal powerful families from annexing salt fields and monopolizing salt profits. It proposed converting some salt fields into rice fields, resettling displaced people, increasing grain production, and easing the conflict between salt producers and farmers. In the long run, it was indeed beneficial to the country and the people.

But this really affected the lifeline of the noble families. Many noble families owned large salt fields along the coast or secretly invested in salt fields. The profits from salt far exceeded the land rent.

Converting salt fields to rice paddies is tantamount to taking money directly from their pockets.

More importantly, the shady network of interests behind the salt industry is deeply entrenched, and once the reform of the salt fields deepens, many shady dealings may be exposed.

At that time, Crown Princess Linghua was ordered to inspect the southeast and supervise the implementation of new policies. Some nobles whose core interests were affected began to have designs on her.

They dared not openly defy the new policies of the imperial court, but instead devised a treacherous plan to "scare the tiger by striking the mountain": to tamper with a section of the seawall in Haining County that was not crucial but in a prominent location, replacing some of the high-quality stones with inferior ones, thus artificially creating a potential hazard.

They planned to create a small-scale, controllable emergency by flooding part of the salt fields that were planned to be converted to rice paddies, thus creating the impression that "salt fields are fragile and conversion to rice is dangerous."

The original plan was to implement the policy before Linghua arrived, and then, when the news of the accident reached her, to inform her that the geology of the Yantian area was special and the new policy was extremely risky, and that it should be postponed or adjusted.

This is a common tactic used by local authorities to "force policies through accidents".

However, this plan was accidentally discovered by Cai Mingshu's subordinates, who had already made arrangements in the southeast and were also trying to get a share of the new policies.