Chapter 36. Let's say Xiao Yu did another good deed...
Around 7:45 AM on April 21st, after spending a pleasant holiday with his wife, Xiao Yu arrived at the Censorate in high spirits.
The gatekeeper gave him a perfunctory smile.
The young eunuch had long been fed up with the days of locking the door every night. When Censor Xiao first arrived, the young eunuch secretly hoped that he could change the false diligence atmosphere in the Censorate by seeing that Censor Xiao always left work on time. Unexpectedly, after only a few days, Censor Xiao also started to come home late, and even left later.
Having dashed that hope, the young eunuch treated Xiao Yu the same as other officials, neither trying to please nor offending him, nor being overly enthusiastic.
After Xiao Yu finished his morning shift, he went to the Ministry of Works as usual, but he returned at six quarters past 3 PM. He wrote a diary entry for a quarter of an hour, and after finishing, he rested for a while and tidied up his desk. It was just past 5 PM.
"Please continue with your work, everyone. I'll be leaving now." Xiao Yu politely said goodbye to his colleagues, ignoring their surprised gazes, and calmly departed.
Dean He: "..."
Looking back, Xiao Yu has always been very disciplined throughout the month; perhaps he really has something urgent at home that requires him to return home early today.
The next day, the 22nd, was the day for the council meeting. At 3:45 PM, Xiao Yu rose from his seat and asked He Yuanzheng, "I'm going to see Doctor Fan."
Professor He: "...Is there something you need?"
Xiao Yu: "Remind him that he can summon his colleagues to the main hall for a meeting."
Upon hearing this, the other five censors all perked up their ears. Could this really be true?
Looking at Xiao Yu's matter-of-fact handsome face, He Yuanzheng was somewhat dazed. How could this young man be so bold? But then he thought, who is Xiao Yu? He is the newly appointed top scholar who was released from prison, whom even the emperor dared to openly mock. The Xiao Yu who had been obediently cooperating for the past ten days or so was the one who was truly abnormal!
Out of concern for his subordinate, He Yuanzheng still bypassed the desk and stopped Xiao Yu, whispering, "Doctor Fan has been the Imperial Censor for seven years, and our custom of only starting to discuss matters after our shifts have also been maintained for seven years, only twice every ten days. Just bear with it, why bother Doctor Fan for this?"
Xiao Yu: "Your Excellency told me to be patient, which means you also believe that Doctor Fan shouldn't frequently take up my time after my shift?"
Dean He: "..."
Xiao Yu: "The duty of the Imperial Censor is to supervise all officials. If we don't even have the courage to advise Doctor Fan to leave his post on time when there is nothing to do, how can the Emperor expect us to impeach the crimes of the powerful officials in the capital?"
Dean He: "..."
Upon hearing this, Censor Hu, who had once taken Xiao Yu to the Ministry of Personnel for inspection, suddenly stood up and said to Xiao Yu, "Yuanzhi's words make sense. If you don't mind, I will go with you to see Doctor Fan."
Imperial Censors Cai and Chen exchanged glances and lowered their heads, pretending to continue their work. Imperial Censors Du and Liu hesitated, not yet making a decision, when Xiao Yu said, "I was afraid that Doctor Fan would forget the time while busy with official duties, so I went over to remind him. This is a small matter, so I won't trouble Lord Hu. If the Chief Physician is worried, he can come with me."
Dean He: "..."
He gave a wry smile, shook his head at Xiao Yu, and turned back to his desk. Who knew if Doctor Fan could tolerate Xiao Yu's "reminder"? He was no longer young, and although he worked in the Censorate, he also had a family to support. He didn't have the courage and confidence of a young man.
Xiao Yu nodded to Imperial Censor Hu, then lifted the curtain and went out.
Coincidentally, just as Xiao Yu walked out of the duty room on the side of the Imperial Academy, Fan Yan returned from the washroom. Upon seeing Xiao Yu, Fan Yan smiled and asked, "Yuanzhi, where are you headed?"
Xiao Yu walked along the covered walkway and stopped in front of Fan Yan. He said respectfully, "It's half an hour before we finish our shift. I wanted to ask you if you should summon all my colleagues now to prepare for a meeting?"
Fan Yan glanced at the duty rooms in the same courtyard, including the Taiyuan and Dianyuan, and said with a smile, "Everyone is busy with official duties. Come over when you're done, so as not to delay you."
Xiao Yu: "I think that if any colleague has urgent official business that must be completed within this half hour, you may allow them to continue their duties and be exempt from today's meeting. This way, we will not delay them, nor will we, the officials who have already finished writing the diary, have to wait around and take up our next shift's time."
Fan Yan still smiled: "Impossible. You haven't been here long enough to know. Everyone in the Censorate is busy. Every day, we are the last to leave our respective departments."
Xiao Yu lowered his eyes and said, "That's because you're used to being diligent, and the officials below are afraid that if they leave the palace before you, they will be judged as 'lazy' by you. So they would rather delay finishing their duties or sit in the duty room drinking tea and dozing off while waiting, than dare to leave on time."
Fan Yan's smile finally vanished. After scanning the duty rooms in the Imperial Courtyard and the Palace Courtyard, Fan Yan suddenly stared intently at Xiao Yu and said, "So, all that time you were busy until dark every day was just for show?"
Xiao Yu shook his head: "I am indeed doing things that can be left until tomorrow or the day after. It's just that my father has long heard of the diligence practiced by all officials in the Censorate. Seeing that I have been returning home early for days, he has repeatedly and severely reprimanded me for being lazy. My wife also advised me to follow your example, so I had no choice but to go along with it."
Fan Yan: "..."
Xiao Yu looked up at the Imperial Censor, who was shorter than him, and said frankly, "Actually, I am not afraid of returning home late every day, because my parents are in good health and do not need my close care. I am newly married and have no children to teach. Please forgive my frankness, but how many officials in the censorate are like me, with no family matters to attend to and no guilt towards their parents, wives and children even if they return home late every day?"
Fan Yan fell silent. He was now free from family responsibilities and felt relaxed, but he had been through a period where he had to be filial to his parents and raise his children. He had also been complained about by his wife with tears in her eyes for putting too much thought into his work.
Xiao Yu whispered his last words: "If you don't believe me, my lord, you can leave your post on time tomorrow and wait outside the palace to see how many officials from the palace will follow you out."
After saying that, he took a few steps back, as if Fan Yan had given no further instructions and he was about to return to his duty room.
Fan Yan pondered for a moment, sighed, and called over a minor official who was waiting outside, instructing him to inform all officials to come to the meeting, and that those who could not attend did not need to come.
The clerk in charge of the task had his eyes light up and ran off to each duty room to deliver the message as if he had received a reward.
Xiao Yu bowed to Fan Yan with admiration: "I have only received your guidance for a few days, and I already know that you are not someone who seeks fame and fortune. That is why I dared to speak frankly."
Fan Yan glanced at him and scoffed, "I only got your flattery because I listened to your advice. If I were someone who only cared about fame and reputation and insisted that the officials in the yamen continue to pretend, you would probably go directly to the Emperor to report me, wouldn't you?"
Xiao Yu smiled and said he wouldn't dare.
Fan Yan, however, was certain that this young man would dare!
However, Fan Yan remained skeptical of Xiao Yu's words, so the next day he indeed finished his duty at dusk. After leaving the palace, he deliberately hid behind a guard of the Imperial Guard, peeking out to watch the city gate. After waiting for what felt like an eternity, without seeing a single official from the Censorate, Fan Yan began to feel dissatisfied with Xiao Yu. However, within the next quarter of an hour, officials from the Censorate emerged one after another!
Fan Yan's eyes widened, and the officials from other government offices were also quite surprised. Someone asked a familiar censor, "Why are you here so early today? Aren't you afraid that Doctor Fan will see you?"
When questioned, Imperial Censor Cai smiled and raised his chin, saying, "Doctor Fan left long ago, otherwise we wouldn't have dared to come out."
Doctor Fan Yan, who was hiding very well because of his slender figure: "..."
The Imperial Guard, hand on his sword, expression solemn, barely managing to suppress his urge to turn and see what Doctor Fan was doing behind him: "..."
.
The Imperial Censor Fan Yan no longer returned home late every day. Even if he was busy, he would arrange for a junior official to go to each duty room in advance to urge the officials to finish their shifts as soon as possible. After several days, not only did the officials of the Censorate believe that the Imperial Censor was truly considerate of them, but even the officials of other government offices were convinced of this news. As the story spread, it eventually reached the ears of Emperor Yongcheng.
On this day, Fan Yan came to report on matters, and Emperor Yongcheng took the opportunity to ask, "You have led the entire Censorate in diligence for many years, why have you suddenly changed your ways recently?"
Emperor Yongcheng didn't know whether the officials in the Censorate were genuinely busy or just pretending, but as the emperor, he was happy to see them being proactive and diligent.
Fan Yan said with embarrassment, "Thanks to Xiao Yu's reminder, otherwise I would still be kept in the dark and would be ashamed before the officials in the censorate."
Emperor Yongcheng: "I knew this matter was related to Xiao Yu. How did he remind you that you even felt ashamed?"
Fan Yan then relayed Xiao Yu's words.
Emperor Yongcheng sneered inwardly. Xiao Yu had almost angered Xiao Rong to death twice already. Would he obediently stay out late for fear of being scolded by his father?
It's highly likely that he himself didn't want to waste his time in the duty room, so he came up with that reasoning to persuade Fan Yan.
However, most of these officials in the capital were of childbearing age, so it would be good if they could go home on time after completing their duties. Consider it another good deed Xiao Yu had done.
.
After hearing Xiao Yu recount the whole story, Luo Fu knew that he had neither offended Fan Yan nor failed to return home early every day. Overjoyed, she indulged Xiao Yu for several nights in a row until she could no longer stand him and began to give him a hard time, thus stopping his attempts to take advantage of her.
At the end of April, Luo Lan took the initiative to come to the Marquis's residence, bringing with her the local specialties that the Luo family and Elder Pei had given to the Marquis's residence, as well as letters that Wang Qiuyue had written to her two daughters.
The specialties of Guangling and Yangzhou were nothing special to the two sisters. Luo Fu sat next to her sister and unfolded the letter to read it carefully.
The letter mainly mentioned three things.
Firstly, the couple were very happy for their two sons-in-law's high school achievements and once again instructed their sisters to be good wives to their sons-in-law.
Secondly, the couple decided to move to Beijing. Because they need to pack their bags and say goodbye to relatives and friends, they expect to arrive in mid-May.
Thirdly, Luo Song was discharged from the army and returned home, so he could no longer serve as a soldier. He came to Beijing with his wife and told their daughters not to worry about him.
When she saw the part about her brother being dismissed, Luo Fu was stunned.
It turns out that the new batch of soldiers recruited from various counties in Yangzhou two years ago were to prepare for the Northern Expedition. With no war, the court naturally did not need to support the extra troops, which is why the new soldiers were dismissed.
Why did Emperor Yongcheng suspend the Northern Expedition?
Because Xiao Yu advised that continuing the northern expedition against the Zhou dynasty might lead to the downfall of the country.
In other words, if Xiao Yu hadn't written that treasonous essay during the palace examination, his elder brother Luo Song would have gone on a northern expedition with Emperor Yongcheng this July to attack the Yin Kingdom, where the people and the soldiers were united and fearless in their fight to save the country...
As her brother's憨笑 (simple and honest smile) and Xiao Yu's gaunt face when he was just released from prison flashed through her mind, Luo Fu's eyes suddenly stung with tears.
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Author's Note: Here it is! 100 little red envelopes, see you tomorrow~
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