122. History Writes About Me
Inside the city gate, Zhang Zhuo stood holding his horse.
He looked at Chen Ji, his eyes sparkling. "Do you have a way to find the Liu family? If you can find them, this official... this official..."
Zhang Zhuo wanted to say, "I will guarantee you a promotion for your achievements." But then he thought, Chen Ji was a member of the inner court, and even if he had great power, he could not promote Chen Ji.
He thought for a moment and said, "It's because of you that I'm able to keep my job today. If you can find these people, I'll owe you a huge favor. If you ever need help in the future, as long as I can do it, I'll do it."
Chen Ji was puzzled: "Are there no additional conditions? For example, 'principles cannot be violated'?"
Zhang Zhuo smiled and patted Chen Ji's shoulder: "Don't worry, I have no principles."
Chen Ji: ...
Zhang Zhuo smoothed the wrinkles on his official robe and looked at Chen Ji with a sharp gaze: "Tell me, how can you find them?"
Chen Ji looked at the crowd of disaster victims and said softly, "They will jump out on their own."
At this time, a dusty carriage came from the city, accompanied by hundreds of officials,
Zhang Zhuo subconsciously glanced at Chen Ji and said nonchalantly, "This is the carriage of Chen Liqin, the Tongzhi of Luocheng. He must have just heard about the civil uprising, so he rushed here without caring about his own safety. Ahem... Although our Tongzhi is a bit pedantic, he is also a rare gentleman in the officialdom."
At this point, Zhang Zhuo changed the subject and said proudly, "Of course, compared to me, Master Chen is still far behind. At least I am easier to get along with than him!"
The carriage approached.
Without waiting for the carriage to stop, Chen Liqin lifted the curtain, took a club from the officer, and approached aggressively: "Master Zhang, what is the current situation?"
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Zhang Zhuo jokingly said, "Master Chen, if we had waited until you came to our aid, I'm afraid thousands of people in Luocheng would have already suffered."
Chen Liqin's expression froze. "After drinking at the Luming Banquet last night, I went to bed early. I..."
Zhang Zhuo smiled and waved his hand: "It's okay, it's okay. The civil unrest has subsided for the time being. Sir Chen, don't blame yourself. Sir Chen will be in charge of the porridge distribution later."
Chen Liqin breathed a sigh of relief.
Zhang Zhuo looked at Chen Liqin and asked, "Where are you from, Master Chen?"
Chen Liqin's face darkened. "Today is the day to report to Zhixing Academy. I sent Wenzong and Wenxiao there early this morning and also happened to visit Mr. Wang to ask him to be stricter in disciplining my son. Who would have thought that on my first day at the academy, that brat Chen Ji would humiliate me completely."
Zhang Zhuo was stunned and subconsciously wanted to look at Chen Ji, but he held back.
Today is Chen Ji's school day.
Wang Daosheng’s rule is to roll in at 1 a.m., but it’s already 1:30 a.m.
But Chen Liqin continued, "Master Zhang, yesterday you said Chen Ji had agreed to Prince Jing's request. At that time, I thought as long as he was dedicated to his studies, I wouldn't have to worry about anything else. But this boy is simply stubborn and incorrigible.
Zhang Zhuo opened his mouth but couldn't say anything for a long time.
After a long time, he hesitated and said, "Could that kid Chen Ji be doing something more important?"
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Chen Liqin sneered. "What's more important? I thought he was just sleeping in, which is understandable. After all, it's understandable that young people are playful and sleepy. But I even made a special trip to the clinic, only to find he wasn't there at all."
"Did Doctor Yao tell me where he went?"
Chen Liqin became angrier as he spoke: "Dr. Yao refused to speak, and neither did his two senior brothers. But
I guess this guy went to the gambling den again and didn't come back all night. He talks about turning over a new leaf, but I think he's a dog that can't change its nature."
Seeing that his words were getting more and more unpleasant, Zhang Zhuo immediately became a little angry. "As a father, how can you always doubt your own child? When someone said that Chen Ji was a gambler, did you do a serious investigation?"
Chen Liqin was puzzled: "The gambling house came to me with a written IOU, how could it be fake?"
Zhang Zhuo's eyes widened. "So, you believed it just because you saw the IOU? If anyone slanders my child, I will get to the bottom of it and get to the bottom of it. Mr. Chen, thank goodness you're a Tongzhi, not a Tongpan. Otherwise, how many unjust, false, and wrongful cases would have happened to my Luocheng government office over the years?"
Chen Liqin glared at him: "You..."
A voice interrupted their quarrel: "My Lords, why don't we get down to business first?"
The voice was as calm as a basin of cold water, poured over the two of them.
Zhang Zhuo turned his head.
But Chen Ji was still wearing his bamboo hat, covering his face, leaving only a pair of calm eyes.
He was a little worried, but didn't know how to comfort her.
However, Chen Ji simply analyzed, "My Lords, please quickly arrange for the porridge distribution. Not to mention whether further incidents might arise if things are delayed any longer, I see that the people are truly at the end of their rope. Without food, they will be terrified and unable to bear it."
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For some reason, Zhang Zhuo suddenly had a feeling that this apprentice in the medical clinic had really severed all blood ties with the Chen family.
Like a wild grass in the wilderness, it doesn't matter where it comes from or where it goes, it just grows wildly.
But the other party's courageous move last night was like a heavy rain in August, massive and powerful.
Chen Liqin looked at Chen Ji: "Who is this?"
Zhang Zhuo pointed at Chen Ji and said, "The suppression of the civil unrest was thanks to this colleague from the Secret Service. He has the bearing of a great general at such a young age."
Chen Liqin, dressed in a red official robe, looked Chen Ji up and down, and looked around slightly: "Secret Service?"
Zhang Zhuo said angrily, "Master Chen, you really should thank him. If he hadn't been alone outside the city as a hostage to hold back the victims last night, you and I would be in trouble now."
Chen Liqin said calmly, "I will not become accomplices with the eunuch party just because they occasionally do good things. Lord Zhang, I advise you to stay away from the eunuch party as well."
Zhang Zhuo laughed in anger: "Master Chen, sooner or later you will fall into trouble because of your own pedantry."
After saying this, he turned around and waved to the officials in the government office: "What are you all standing there for? Hurry up and borrow an iron pot from a nearby citizen to cook porridge."
…
Sixteen large iron pots were set up outside the city. White rice porridge was bubbling in the pots, giving off a thick aroma. The victims stretched their necks and stood on tiptoe to watch.
But in front of the porridge stall, there was a row of officials holding hands and blocking the way tightly, so nothing could be seen.
Behind the human wall, Chen Liqin inspected each pot.
He held up the long sleeves of his official robe with his left hand, and with his right hand, he inserted a chopstick into the thick porridge, not feeling relieved until he was sure that the chopstick would not fall over.
Zhang Zhuo curled his lips. "Master Chen, these disaster victims are lucky to have a mouthful of porridge. What's the point of talking about the rules of sticking chopsticks in without falling over or wrapping with a towel without leaking?"
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Chen Liqin said solemnly, "Master Zhang, two meals a day is the iron rule of the court's porridge service. You and I serve the court and must abide by it. Without rules, there will be no order. If everyone can ignore the rules, the only ones who benefit in the end are the powerful and wealthy. The only ones who will suffer are the common people."
"Isn't your Chen family powerful and noble?"
Zhang Zhuo sarcastically said, "Do you know that if you give out porridge like this, the food available in Luocheng will only last for two weeks at most. After that, what will they eat and drink? If you are truly capable, you can follow the law and take back all the land held by the aristocratic families and distribute it to the people. Then, the people will have no need for your porridge anymore."
Chen Liqin waved his hand and said, "Master Zhang, I am not as good as you in terms of sophistry. I only act according to the rules and laws."
While the two were arguing, Chen Ji came back with a bag of sand and grabbed a handful of sand to throw into the pot.
"what you do?"
Chen Liqin grabbed Chen Ji's wrist and glared at him: "This is porridge made for the disaster victims. You threw sand in it. Aren't you deliberately mistreating people?"
Chen Ji looked up at him, and without saying a word, he freed his wrist and was about to continue throwing sand into the pot.
But Chen Liqin shouted angrily: "Come here, stop him for me."
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Several officers stood in front of Chen Ji with killing sticks.
Jin Zhu and his secret agent stopped in front of Chen Ji and said with a smile, "What are you doing? We are trying to protect the two masters' official positions, but they are using killing sticks to deal with us?"
Chen Liqin said angrily, "Let's not talk about official positions. These disaster victims are already suffering enough. Why do you want to mix sand into their porridge and mistreat them?"
Jinzhu hesitated for a moment and looked back at Chen Ji.
Chen Ji explained, "There are Liu family's assassins mixed in with the disaster victims. If we don't find them, there will be a civil uprising sooner or later. But there are so many disaster victims, and from the looks of it, it's impossible to tell who are the disaster victims and who are the assassins."
“What does this have to do with you mixing sand?
Chen Ji picked up the sack and took out a handful of sand. He said, "Those disaster victims have gnawed the bark off the trees. They wouldn't care if there's sand in their porridge. But those death warriors are different. They're not hungry, so they'll be particularly concerned about the sand in their porridge. They might even jump out and use the opportunity to incite another uprising."
Chen Liqin shook his head. "This is against the laws of Daning. Giving out porridge is giving out porridge. We can't break the rules. Moreover, if the victims are led to believe that officials in the court are adding sand to the food in order to withhold the relief grain, we can't explain it clearly."
Seeing that he insisted, Chen Ji threw the sack aside and said, "There's another way. There are a lot of large-leaf holly trees along the road in Luocheng. Let the officials come and throw them into the pot to increase the bitterness of the porridge."
"When humans are extremely hungry, neurons in the lateral area of the arcuate nucleus in the brain become particularly active. At this time, humans become more sensitive to sweet tastes and more tolerant to bitter and sour tastes.
This is also the reason why everyone feels that food tastes sweeter when they are hungry.
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Therefore, increasing the amount of holly leaves to enhance the bitterness is also a solution.
But it is not as direct and effective as adding sand.
Chen Ji looked at Zhang Zhuo and said, "Master Zhang, please have the officers pick the big-leaf holly."
But after a moment's deliberation, Zhang Zhuo went straight to the rescue, grabbing handfuls of sand and throwing them into the pot. "What a bullshit rule! How long do we have to wait to pick big-leaf holly? Those who achieve great things don't care about small details. If anything goes wrong, I'll take the blame."
Chen Liqin swung his sleeves and stood aside. "Master Zhang is indeed courageous, but you are so reckless. Who knows how history books will criticize you?"
In front of the big pot, Zhang Zhuo's hand that was throwing sand suddenly stopped.
After a few breaths, he grabbed another handful of sand and threw it into the pot, then picked up the killing stick and stirred the porridge in the pot. "No matter how history writes about me, Zhang has a clear conscience!"
End of this chapter.
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