Chapter 30 He wasn't just unkind, he was practically...
The people in the room seemed to still be savoring the story, speechless for a long time.
After a moment, someone with a quick mind finally realized: "What does this have to do with Zhao Lian? But I've never heard of him having a powerful brother-in-law."
Among those present, some whose families were related to officials knew a little about this: "Although Zhao Lian didn't have a famous brother-in-law, he married the daughter of the Minister of War, and had a father-in-law who could control everything."
Some people have already started to speculate: "Could it be that the money Zhao Lian embezzled went into his father-in-law's pocket? He's really foolish!"
"If your father-in-law asks you for money, can you refuse?"
...
Seeing that he had achieved the desired effect, the storyteller stood up and stopped the crowd from talking: "You can't just guess like that. If those important people find out, we common folk will definitely get a beating."
However, hearing his words only fueled the crowd's arrogance: "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear. If the Minister of War is truly innocent, why would he take our gossip seriously? If he has indeed done something wrong, then we have done a great service by recommending him!"
“What you say makes sense, brother! Flies don’t land on eggs without cracks. If he weren’t morally flawed, why would rumors spread? Besides, birds of a feather flock together. If his son-in-law is like that, how good can his father-in-law be?”
"Alas!" The storyteller exclaimed in alarm, "Just listen to these words, for the sake of our lives, you must not spread them! I still want to enjoy a few more years of happiness." With that, he bowed to the crowd and hurriedly went to the backyard, leaving the discussion in the hall in a great uproar.
In a private room on the second floor, behind a screen, a tall and elegant young man was playing with a caged parrot. He held a gold-rimmed jade dish with some birdseed in his hand, casually tossing it into the cage. The parrot opened its beak to catch it, chewing as it flattered, "Thank you, sir! Thank you, sir!"
About the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, there was a knock on the door. The servant who was standing by opened the door after receiving his master's instructions, and there was the storyteller who had just hurriedly disappeared.
However, he was quite different from before. Not only was his gray goatee gone, but his face was also much fairer and more delicate, making him look like a refined scholar.
After entering the room, he stood with his head down in front of the screen, not daring to look around.
Then a soft laugh came from the shadowy figure reflected on the screen: "Sir, you were just speaking wittily, why are you so reserved now?"
The storyteller cupped his hands in greeting: "It's just a means of making a living, sir, please don't flatter me further."
"Since you make a living from this trade, sir, you won't linger here too long, will you?"
"Having already promised you, young master, that I will not return to the capital for the rest of my life, as I am entitled to the life of a subject who is loyal to the emperor."
The person behind the screen nodded in satisfaction: "On the table are the remaining five hundred taels of silver notes. After you go home today, pack your things, and someone will escort you out of the capital early tomorrow morning."
After counting the silver notes in the box on the table, the storyteller said with a hint of excitement, "Thank you, young master!"
The unseen young master sighed softly: "It's not that I can't tolerate you, but since you've damaged Yan Zong's reputation, given his temperament, he certainly won't let you off easily. Do you understand?"
"Yes, I understand your good intentions, young master."
"In that case, you may go."
Upon hearing the door close, the young master behind the screen immediately ran inside and sat down on the rattan chair without even taking the birdcage. One of the guards who had been standing at the door came over to peel an orange for him, while the other diligently massaged his shoulders and legs.
"Young master, you've been working so hard these past few days, rehearsing plays and writing books. If the old lady knew, she would be heartbroken."
The young master, Lu Wuwang, who was also the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, waved his hand and said, "It's better not to let Grandmother know, so as not to make her sad when she thinks of Consort Huarong."
Another guard flattered, "No wonder the old lady dotes on you the most, young master. You are truly the most filial."
The young master, who was leaning back in the rattan chair with no regard for proper posture, glanced at him sideways: "With such a sweet tongue, have you spent all your salary this month?"
The guard looked distressed upon hearing this: "You always take us out to play, how can my meager monthly salary possibly cover it? However, I don't really want the money, there's something I don't understand, and I'd like you to explain it to me, young master."
"Oh?" Lu Wuwang raised an eyebrow and joked with another guard, "Eighteen is starting to use his brain now."
Eighteen scratched his head, looking somewhat embarrassed: "I heard from you, young master, that someone is trying to use us to do their dirty work. But seeing how hard you've been working these past few days, I really don't understand. Aren't we just doing all this for someone else?"
Lu Wuwang took the orange that Sixteen handed him, which even had the pith removed, stuffed a segment into his mouth, and mumbled, "He's just using me as a tool, not stalking me. My Dingbei Marquis's mansion isn't so stingy as to not even have the magnanimity to be a tool."
"Besides, they've already presented us with this opportunity. If we don't seize it, wouldn't it make our Marquis's mansion look pathetic?"
Eighteen was still puzzled: "What...what exactly does that person behind the scenes want to do?"
Lu Wuwang focused intently on the orange in his hand and said directly, "I don't know."
"ah?"
"Young Master is just a spoiled brat, why should I care so much?" He clapped his hands and stood up. "We can just watch the show in peace. Even if the sky falls, we still have our father and brothers to hold it up."
Unlike the hustle and bustle outside, the atmosphere in the Shen residence had been remarkably calm these past few days, almost deathly still. The reason for this was naturally due to Shen Guitang's visibly terrible mood.
Whether it was her own imagination or not, Hengbo always felt that Shen Guitang was targeting only her.
After the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar Wen Jie was appointed as the emperor's lecturer, holding the official rank of fourth grade, which shows how much the emperor favored him.
The runner-up of this year's examination is already over forty years old and has been assigned to the Hanlin Academy as a compiler, which is not a bad place.
Only Shen Guitang, the third-ranked scholar, had not yet received his official appointment, which Hengbo believed was the reason for his bad mood.
But how can you blame her for not being able to become an official?
At first, Yokohama told himself that when you're under someone's roof, you have no choice but to bow your head.
Therefore, when Shen Guitang asked her to search the whole house for the jade pendant but only told her that the jade pendant was square, she endured it.
She searched every nook and cranny of the room but couldn't find it. Then he suddenly said that the jade pendant was actually hanging on his body, and she tolerated it.
After finally restoring the house to its original state, he suddenly became interested in changing the layout of the room, but she still held back.
However, when Shen Guitang pulled her aside to discuss academic matters, saying, "Since Miss Cuihua doesn't think much of my knowledge, she must be exceptionally talented. I hope she will be so kind as to teach me," Hengbo felt that she could no longer bear it!
At this moment, in the newly renovated study, Shen Guitang was pointing to the words "Heaven has forsaken us, not our fault in battle" in the book, with an expression of humbly seeking advice: "I wonder what Miss Cuihua's opinion is on this statement?"
Hengbo frowned deeply, stared at the words for a long time, and finally closed his eyes and shook his head in pain: I can't read.
"Oh?" Shen Guitang smiled faintly. "I heard that Miss Cuihua has a childhood sweetheart who could compose poems at the age of five. What? After being exposed to poetry every day, Miss Cuihua still can't read?"
He deliberately emphasized "childhood sweethearts" and "every day," but Hengbo didn't notice at all. Instead, he said confidently: "But you've been with me every day these past few days, and you haven't become any kinder, have you?"
Besides, Hengbo muttered to himself, "It's Cuihua who can't read, what does that have to do with me, Hengbo?"
Shen Guitang: ...
Perhaps it was one of the words she used that pleased him, because he didn't feel angry at all; instead, he almost laughed: "So, in Miss Cuihua's eyes, I am so unkind?"
Hengbo nodded fearlessly. In any case, she had already sent a letter back home to raise money to redeem herself. Of course, to prevent her master and mistress from worrying, she also sent the letter to the young master.
Sigh, I hope the young master will remember the kindness of escorting her and lend her another two hundred taels of silver.
Shen Guitang scrutinized her for a moment, as if he knew what she was thinking, and then waved his fan and said leisurely, "I know that the small temple of Shen Mansion cannot accommodate a great Buddha like Miss Cuihua, but once the contract takes effect, Miss Cuihua will still be my maid."
“However, I am not such an unreasonable person. Since Miss Cuihua cannot read,” he put down the scroll in his hand and replaced it with a copy of the Thousand Character Classic, “then let’s start by copying the book.”
Hengbo:……
He's not just unkind, he's downright vicious!
Shen Guitang, who loved to teach, felt extremely satisfied after watching Hengbo copy the "Thousand Character Classic" for a whole day, and even became much more amiable towards Heifeng.
"The top two scholars have been given positions, but you have been left out in the cold. What does the Emperor mean by this?"
Shen Guitang was checking Hengbo's copy of the Thousand Character Classic, correcting the words she had copied incorrectly or omitted one by one. Hearing his question, she didn't stop writing and asked in return, "Is being a lecturer to the emperor really such a good position?"
"Huh?" Black Wind was a bit confused. What Emperor's Lecturer? Did he mention Emperor's Lecturer?
Shen Guitang frowned slightly as he looked at Hengbo's increasingly messy handwriting. "No rush. Judging by the time, it should only take two days."
Whether Shen Guitang truly possessed the ability to foresee events was unknown. At this moment, in the Hall of Diligent Governance, Ji Heng, with a gloomy expression, swept a stack of unread memorials from the table to the ground with a flick of his sleeve.
Upon seeing this, the eunuchs and maids serving nearby immediately knelt down in fear, all trembling with apprehension.
Eunuch Chen mustered his courage and brought over the soup he had prepared beforehand. “Your Majesty, getting angry is bad for your health. It’s not worth ruining your health over such annoying and trivial matters.”
Ji Heng waved his hand, dismissing the porcelain bowl that was offered to him: "These old foxes all wish they could tear a piece of flesh from my body. Look at them, these are the officials who are supposed to be the parents of my Great Jin!"
Seeing that he did not reprimand him, Eunuch Chen picked up a few memorials from the ground and roughly flipped through them. He found that they were all memorials from censors impeaching Yan Zong, the Minister of War. Some accused him of embezzling silver, some accused him of bending the law for personal gain, and even... there was even a memorial accusing him of being disrespectful to his elders by taking a concubine at his advanced age.
"What...what trouble has Lord Yan gotten himself into to this extent?"
"Make a mess?" Ji Heng sneered, "I think he's trying to blast the heavens apart!"
"He Yan Zong wants to force Ji Zhou to return to the capital and fight against me, hoping to reap the benefits himself, but he doesn't even consider whether he has the ability to do so!"
Seeing that he was getting angry again, Eunuch Chen quickly stepped forward to massage his shoulders and back.
"However, he thought that I couldn't do anything to him because I couldn't catch him by the tail, but I didn't expect that the Marquis of Dingbei would give me such a great gift."
Eunuch Chen bent over, tilting his head slightly towards Ji Heng, "But wasn't the Marquis of Dingbei supposed to have stopped interfering in affairs a long time ago? Why is he getting involved now?"
Ji Heng glanced at him: "After all, his Hou family and the Yan family are separated by a life. If he doesn't seek revenge on Yan Zong now, I'll worry that he's trying to settle this score with me."
"But I underestimated Yan Zong. He has even extended his reach into my Imperial Household Department. It seems that the position of chief steward needs to be changed."
When it came to the appointment and removal of court officials, Eunuch Chen dared not say a word, but simply stood aside and gently patted the shoulders of the emperor who held the power of life and death with a single word.
After a moment, the supreme emperor finally spoke: "I remember there is a Bai in charge of the Imperial Household Department who is quite efficient and has a connection with the Marquis of Dingbei's family. Let him be the one."
Eunuch Chen responded and withdrew to prepare to instruct on the writing materials, but then the emperor at the head of the table said, "If there are no issues with the identity of that third-ranked scholar, then make arrangements accordingly."
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Author's Note: Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 23:14:52 on January 15, 2024 and 17:59:00 on January 17, 2024!
Thank you to the little angel who watered the nutrient solution: Wow, oh my god~ 1 bottle;
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
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