Chapter 118
After the anniversary of Gu Fuzhou's death, Lin Qingyu recovered from his illness and returned to the court. The ministers discovered that the prime minister was different this time when he returned. In a nutshell, the prime minister has become lazy.
Lin Xiang no longer gets up early and works late like before. He lets the cabinet make decisions on minor matters and only shows up when major events arise. As for the Emperor, after he recovered from his illness, he was taught by Tutor Guan and made rapid progress in his studies. In just over a year, he was no different from a normal prince. He appeared in the Qinzheng Hall more and more often, and no longer stared blankly or felt sleepy during the morning court sessions. Whenever the court officials had something to report, Prime Minister Lin would always ask the emperor: "Your Majesty, what do you think?"
All signs indicate that the emperor is not far from taking power personally. Sure enough, not long after, the cabinet's blue comments on the memorial turned into the emperor's red comments.
Since the emperor took power, the officials rarely saw Lin Qingyu in the palace. Since Lin Qingyu refused to enter the palace, the emperor could only go out of the palace to stick with him. The Queen Mother watched her son running away day by day, causing rumors to fly everywhere, and could not help but call Lin Qingyu and said, "Qingyu, why don't you stay in the palace, just like before, in the side hall of Xingqing Palace."
Lin Qingyu asked, "May I ask the Queen Mother, in what capacity should I stay in the palace?"
The Queen Mother was speechless for a moment: "This..."
"Before, the emperor was mentally ill, and I had to go beyond the rules to act as his deputy. Now that the emperor has taken charge of the government, I am too young and I am afraid to be the head of all officials. I hope the queen mother will allow me to resign as prime minister and appoint someone more capable to take the position."
The empress dowager had noticed Lin Qingyu's recent laziness in state affairs, so she was not surprised at all that he would resign. She didn't say she agreed, nor did she say she disagreed, but instead asked, "If you resign as Prime Minister, you should stay in the capital, right?"
Lin Qingyu said: "I want to travel around the world and search for good medicine."
"That's absolutely not possible!" The Queen Mother said anxiously, "The Emperor can't live without you!"
Lin Qingyu said calmly: "That is the emperor's business, not my business. If I insist on leaving, does the queen mother want to force me to stay?"
The Queen Mother's eyes darkened. To her, nothing was more important than the emperor's physical and mental health. If Lin Qingyu insisted on leaving, she would have no choice but to force him to stay.
But how could she force him to stay? Do you want to imprison him in the palace? No, Lin Qingyu is extremely prestigious in the army, and doing this would only cause disunity between the emperor and his subjects.
The Queen Mother was worried about many things and asked Jiang Xing to discuss the matter.
When Jiang Xing heard that Lin Qingyu was leaving, he said nervously: "Mother, I can't leave the Prime Minister..."
The Queen Mother held his hand and patted it, comforting him: "Mother knows, mother is trying to help you find a solution."
Jiang Xing thought for a moment and said, "The Prime Minister said that it was against the rules for him to stay in the palace, so let him stay in the palace and accompany me."
The Queen Mother hesitated to speak: "Li'er, you... do you like the Prime Minister?"
Jiang Xing smiled with curved eyebrows and eyes: "I like it, I like it the most."
The Queen Mother gritted her teeth and said, "It is common in our dynasty to have male concubines serving the emperor. Even your father has several in his harem. Although I feel sorry for Minister Wan and General Gu, but..."
Jiang Xing smiled slightly and said, "The Prime Minister cannot be a servant of the emperor, nor can he be a male concubine. If he wants to be a concubine, he should be the queen."
The Queen Mother's eyes widened: "Queen?! Li'er, are you sick again?!"
"Ordinary people can marry a male wife, so why can't I have a male queen?" Jiang Xing smiled, "Have you forgotten, mother? It was you who asked father for the imperial decree. If you hadn't forced the prime minister to marry my cousin as a male wife, how could Dayu have a male wife?"
The words "you deserve it" stunned the Queen Mother. After a while, she said anxiously, "Your Majesty is the ruler of a country. How can he be the same as ordinary people? Men cannot have children. If your Majesty establishes a male queen, then he will have no legitimate son."
"I will not have either a legitimate son or an illegitimate son. I'm sure you know that I'm a homosexual, and I'm not good with women." Jiang Xing said faintly, "Mother, my brain can't stand the stimulation, please don't force me."
Queen Mother: “…”
Jiang Xing put on a pitiful expression, as if to say, "If mother doesn't agree, I will have an attack of illness in front of her." The Queen Mother was extremely distressed. When she thought of her son's lost soul, she threw all moral principles and ethics out of her mind. She said worriedly, "Even if I agree, how will those military officers and censors accept it? How can the emperor stop the people from speaking out?"
Jiang Xing knew that the Queen Mother had almost done it, and said with a smile: "Don't worry about this, Mother. There are precedents of marrying widows in the previous dynasty. Some even snatched their sons' daughters-in-law to be concubines and made their fathers' concubines the queens. I just want to marry my widowed cousin's wife, it's not a big problem."
After considering it, Shen Huaishi finally chose to stay in the capital. Just as His Majesty said, it is their duty to restore the glory of Heavenly Prison. Lin Qingyu also said that as long as he wanted to go back to the Northwest, he could go back at any time.
Now, Shen Huaishi can enter and leave the palace freely and has become Jiang Xing's most trusted minister. Jiang Xing even told Shen Huaishi his real name. But it was useless to tell him, Xu Junyuan would at least call him "Mr. Jiang", while Shen Huaishi would only use honorifics to address him. If Jiang Xing wanted to hear others calling his name, he could only go to find Lin Qingyu.
After Jiang Xing took power, in order to solve the dilemma of a lack of young officials in the court, he added special imperial examinations to recruit officials. After the imperial examination was over, Jiang Xing held a grand banquet in the palace to entertain the new scholars. Most of the people at the banquet were young talents. The top three candidates sat closest to the emperor and could see his face clearly.
It was the first time the students entered the palace after the palace examination. They were very reserved and did not dare to look closely. They only dared to raise their eyes when the emperor gave them wine.
The young emperor was seen wearing a luxurious black dragon robe. He was handsome yet sharp, with a romantic and upright demeanor. Just one look and you will know what a "young man" and a "Son of Heaven" are.
And the Prime Minister sitting next to him made them realize that one person could be cool and bright, charming and dignified. The newly-crowned third place winner was the most talented man in Jiangnan, with an extremely good-looking appearance. When he saw these two people, he couldn't help but feel ashamed of himself.
After three rounds of drinking, Li Chan felt a slump on his shoulders. It was the half-drunk Duke Wu who put his arm around his shoulders and said, "Chan, what do you think of the third place winner?"
Li Chan objectively commented: "A romantic and talented man with both talent and beauty."
"Great minds think alike!" Duke Wu patted Li Chan's back with satisfaction, almost making him spit out his food. "I have already investigated, and the third place winner is still unmarried. Do you think he is worthy of Prime Minister Lin?"
Li Chan said without hesitation: "Not worthy. Although the third place is good, he will first go to the Hanlin Academy, the Censorate and other places for training. Prime Minister Lin is the head of all officials. How can their status match?"
Shen Huaishi knew that it was time for him to lie again, so he said, “I heard that Prime Minister Lin seemed to be interested in resigning.”
Li Chan said firmly: "That's still not good enough."
Wu Zhan came over to join in the fun, and after hearing their conversation, he said, "What about the top scholar? Although he is not as good-looking as the third scholar, he is still the top scholar after all."
Li Chan shook his head: "That's not possible either."
Wu Zhan said in a rough voice: "Then who do you think can do it? Who can do it?..."
Li Chan was silent for a long time, then he uttered two words softly: "Your Majesty."
Several people were stunned. Wu Zhan thought Li Chan was joking, and laughed, "Although the emperor likes Prime Minister Lin, it is definitely not the kind of love." After saying that, he thought of Lin Qingyu's face and was not sure, "It shouldn't be, isn't the emperor still a child?"
Li Chan said helplessly: "The emperor is already in power, how can he still be a child." Li Chan looked up, "The emperor has grown up a long time ago."
Shen Huaishi pondered and said, "In terms of status, it is true that only the emperor is qualified to marry Prime Minister Lin. But the emperor's wife is the queen."
"What's wrong with the queen?" Wu Zhan was drunk and yelled, "The person that General Gu values is not qualified to be the queen?"
Shen Huaishi said, "General Wu, be careful with your words, this is in the palace."
Jiang Xing watched the few people gathered together from afar, called Xiao Songzi over, and whispered a few words to him. After the Qionglin Banquet, Wu Zhan and others were invited to the Qinzheng Hall to meet the emperor.
Jiang Xing said, "I have something that I need your help with."
Several people said in unison: "We will do our best to help your majesty."
Jiang Xing had always been curious about how these ministers were able to speak so in unison: "To be honest with you, I want to make Prime Minister Lin my empress."
Shen Huaishi: ...Finally.
Li Chan: ...as expected.
Others: Ah! ! !
"I have learned from Shen Huaishi the general's last wish. The general sacrificed his life for the country and made great contributions. How can I bear to let him die with regrets?" Jiang Xing's eyes were heavy. "I am willing to take care of Lin Xiang for the general. In the whole world, I am the only one who can protect Lin Xiang for his whole life."
Wu Zhan was so moved that he almost cried: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty..."
Duke Wu burst into tears: "If Fuzhou knew about this, he would be able to smile in his grave."
Li Chan felt a little complicated, but more of a sense of relief. Yes, only the emperor can protect the forest for a lifetime. He asked: "May I ask what the Emperor needs me to do?"
Jiang Xing said, "The Prime Minister is a man who values friendship and loyalty. I believe he still can't forget General Gu. I hope you can find a way to persuade Prime Minister Lin to agree to my marriage proposal."
After the summer, good news came from the northwest. Wu Youyuan led the Western Expedition Army deep into the heartland of Western Xia and captured several cities in succession. Western Xia was forced to send envoys to seek peace. While the pro-war and pro-peace factions were arguing fiercely, Lin Xiang was delivering a poisonous lizard in the Imperial Medical Bureau together with the Southern Xinjiang miracle doctor.
The poisonous lizard laid five or six eggs, which Lin Qingyu buried in special gravel prepared in advance and fed the mother lizard some food. After finishing the work, Lin Qingyu washed his hands and put on the wedding ring that Jiang Xing had given him again.
Upon seeing this, the Miracle Doctor of Southern Xinjiang said, "Prime Minister puts on and takes off the ring more than a dozen times a day. Isn't that troublesome?" The Miracle Doctor had deep eyes and an extremely exotic face. He looked like a young man in his early twenties, but in fact he might be Lin Qingyu's grandfather.
"It is a bit troublesome." Lin Qingyu put the ring back on his finger, "but I am willing to take the trouble."
Lin Qingyu returned to the general's mansion, and as soon as he got off the carriage, he saw Shen Huaishi, Wu Zhan and others standing in a row at the door of his house, with different expressions and eager to try.
Lin Qingyu pretended not to understand, invited them into the mansion, and asked, "What's going on?"
Wu Zhan always speaks directly to the point, "Prime Minister, do you want to remarry?"
"I don't want to." Lin Qingyu's brows were stained with anger, "General Wu, what do you mean, it's only been a short time since the general left, and you're thinking about remarrying me?"
"No, no, no, that's not what I meant." Wu Zhan said quickly, "This is what the general meant."
Lin Qingyu was stunned: "What does the general mean?"
After lying so many times, Shen Huaishi's acting skills were forced to improve: "Prime Minister, General Gu's wish before his death is that you can find another good match, spend the rest of your life with him."
Lin Qingyu was somewhat moved: "General, is that really what you said?"
"Really." Duke Wu said seriously, "Dying with eyes open is no joke. Master Xu came to tell us that if you die, you will become a wandering ghost and will not be able to reincarnate."
Lin Qingyu said coldly: "He is a ghost, and you still believe him?"
Wu Zhan advised earnestly: "In fact, the emperor wants to marry the prime minister. The emperor is handsome and has loved to stick to you since childhood. If you marry him, you will be the queen of the country. This, this is not a loss."
"Your Majesty..." Lin Qingyu opened his eyes wide, his expression suddenly changed, "Who taught Your Majesty these? It's ridiculous."
Li Chan probed: "Minister Lin, I think the emperor is sincere to you. You should also have some affection for the emperor..."
Wu Zhan nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes. Prime Minister, we know you don't want to get married again. But for the general, please be kind and consider it."
Lin Qingyu closed his eyes and remained silent for a long time before he reluctantly said, "Since this is the general's last wish, I will consider it."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
