Yao Siqing immediately understood, "There's a latrine in the Hall of Preserving Harmony?"
“Of course, everyone attending a banquet needs to relieve themselves.” The Fourth Prince reacted quickly. “If the ladies can’t find it, I will call a palace maid to show you the way.”
For security reasons, those attending banquets in the imperial city were not allowed to bring maids or servants. Princes and princesses were exceptionally allowed to bring one personal attendant, while all other needs were left to palace maids and eunuchs.
As the eldest daughter of the Yao family, Yao Siqing naturally knew this rule, but what she wanted was not directions, but to create a sufficiently quiet and safe environment.
"Fourth brother slowly guided them, but I couldn't take it anymore, so I'll take my leave first." Changyan said urgently from the side, his expression so realistic that sweat beaded on his forehead.
Thankfully, they are men, so it's okay for them to say these things in public.
If it were a girl, her backbone would be pierced.
Yao Siqing glanced at the direction the Fifth Prince had left in, and could only agree, "Then I'll have to trouble the Fourth Prince."
The urinals were all located in the side halls, with men and women occupying separate sides, and the distance between them was quite far.
Yao Siqing and Jiang Sheng followed behind the palace maid, pondering how to meet the Fifth Prince on the other side without making a sound or arousing suspicion.
The palace was solemn and imposing; even the latrines were attended to by palace maids, let alone crossing the entire hall to reach the men's latrines.
Yao Siqing was deeply worried, thinking that the silver notes would not be delivered today.
Unexpectedly, Jiang Sheng dismissed the palace maids and said softly, "Don't worry about Sister Yao, Fifth Brother should be here soon."
Others might not know, but she certainly knew her own brother.
The eldest brother's scheme failed for no other reason than that the fifth brother didn't want to see him.
As long as Fifth Brother wants to see him, his status as a prince can provide convenience, and his shrewd mind should not be underestimated.
Knowing that his sister was unable to come over, he would do everything he could to find her.
Jiang Sheng looked resolute, and Yao Siqing didn't know what to say. The two walked to the urinal and carefully pushed it open. Sure enough, there was a panting young man standing inside.
He must have sneaked over, climbed over the wall, and finally crawled in through the window.
The once-glorious brocade robe was now slightly wrinkled, and there were red marks on her palms. The hair at her temples was slightly disheveled, but her unfathomable eyes remained smiling.
Yao Siqing was a little shocked. She said, "I'll wait for you outside," and then closed the latrine door, acting as a door god.
The world finally quieted down, free from strict palace rules, distracting gazes, and disparate social statuses.
The boy rubbed his thumb against his palm, a rare hint of shyness and guilt in his voice, and whispered, "Little sister."
The girl watched coldly, offering no response.
"Jiang Sheng, listen to me, don't be angry. We don't have much time." Chang Yan smiled wryly. "The banquet is about to start, and I still have to go donate money."
That's why Fifth Brother is so capable; he defeated his enemy in one move.
Jiang Sheng angrily suppressed her emotions, took out a banknote from her pocket and slapped it at him, "My brothers asked me to give this to you, in case you don't have money to donate."
That's a full ten thousand taels!
When his fourth half-brother learned that he could not repay the loan, he also withdrew his intention to borrow money.
But his non-blood-related brothers sent him ten thousand taels of silver notes free of charge.
Chang Yan's eyes reddened as he stroked the warm paper. "No need, actually I don't need it. After all, I am a prince."
"Father told me that the Jiang family is going to donate 20,000 taels of silver. How much are you going to donate?" Jiang Sheng pretended to believe him and asked seriously.
The long banquet ended in silence.
"It's one thing to be broke, but you didn't even tell us. Who told you to come back as a down-on-his-luck prince? Who told you to run away without a word?" Jiang Sheng pouted. "Auntie almost didn't even get to celebrate her wedding night, and Fourth Brother is still crying and wailing. You'd better figure it out yourself."
The waters of West Lake, the tears of Fourth Brother.
Chang Yan was overwhelmed with worry. "It's my fault, it's all my fault."
"It's good that you know you were wrong!" Jiang Sheng finally felt relieved. "We can talk about apologizing later. Take this money and donate it first. If it's not enough, I'll find another way."
It seems that 10,000 taels is for that big cabbage.
Chang Yan couldn't help but chuckle and put the silver note back into her hand. "I really don't need it. Everyone knows I'm broke. Rather than donating ten thousand taels of silver and attracting speculation, I'd rather be honest and open about being poor."
So what if he gets a little ridiculed? How could he just donate the money his second brother worked so hard to earn?
This time it was Jiang Sheng's turn to be stunned.
If Fifth Brother doesn't need money, why would she go to such lengths to appear here?
Was it all for that bit of anger? Or to verify the Fifth Prince's identity?
"Don't worry, I have something important to tell you." Chang Yan easily guessed her thoughts and chuckled, "I can't meet with my elder brother, but I want you to tell him that the Fang family's recent movements are extraordinary."
The story begins with the Fang family's proposal to levy a tax on the wealthy during the imperial examination. At the time, everyone assumed that Fang Yuan was willing to offend powerful families in order to curry favor with the emperor and achieve the highest rank.
Later, the Fang family proposed a donation, seemingly to avenge the shame of "buying the third-place ranking with money." Even someone as intelligent as Chang Yan believed it without a doubt.
The sudden appearance of the Spring Festival Banquet disrupted the Fang family's plans and turned the donation from the aristocratic families into a donation from the entire Fengjing, thus erasing some of the Fang family's credit.
But this is only part of the story. As long as the donations are substantial enough, the Fang family will still be credited and will still be able to curry favor with the imperial family.
Yes, it was only when we arrived at the banquet that we realized something was wrong.
The Fang family seems to be very dedicated to pleasing the imperial family, sparing no expense, collecting exorbitant taxes, and even risking offending other powerful families.
His trump card was clearly the eldest prince, and the most important thing he should have done was to seize the throne. He should have made the eldest prince the one to curry favor with the imperial family. However, the Fang family took all the credit for Fang Yuan, and the eldest prince had to take a backseat.
Does the Fang family intend to change the dynasty?
However, they lacked popular support and were not orthodox, and the Fang family, which was not even composed of military generals, was powerless to do so even if they wanted to.
Chang Yan became suspicious and randomly flipped through the ancient books, but found no reason. However, he came across history related to "examination cheating".
As the only stage for scholars and the most important means of selecting officials, the imperial examination system has been able to convince students throughout history of its absolute fairness and impartiality.
There have been several instances of cheating in the imperial examinations throughout history, and in the end, even the chief examiners were implicated. It was better to wrongly punish than to let the guilty go free; there was never a case of lifting the bar high and then letting it fall softly.
If so, then it would only be the imperial examinations held in those two years.
Two people, both implicated in the imperial examination fraud, one became the top scholar and the other the third-ranked scholar. How can students across the country be convinced of the truth of the fraud back then?
“It’s only now that I’ve pieced it together. The Fang family’s actions were never for the sake of the Crown Prince. They were trying to silence the scholars of the land and prevent the topic of cheating in the imperial examinations from being brought up again.” Chang Yan said with a gloomy face, word by word. “If they can’t silence them, the scholars of the land will be outraged, and the topic of cheating in the imperial examinations will be brought up again. My elder brother and Fang Yuan will surely be remembered with infamy for eternity.”
"Then... won't the Tian family do anything about it?" Jiang Sheng was speechless.
She probably couldn't figure out the intricacies of it all even after ten years.
"Him?" Chang Yan laughed. "He's reaping the benefits without lifting a finger."
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