However, Yi He quickly frowned again. With the magical creature Biaowen around, she would eventually expose him for putting Biaowen into the fish's belly!
He thought for a moment, perhaps he should ask for a few days off and come back to court after the matter with the feng shui master had passed? But then he thought again that wouldn't work, asking for leave at this time would be like protesting too much.
Oh well, whatever, things will work themselves out. We'll see what happens!
Yi He walked home with his head down.
At this moment, the feng shui master's specially made fish was also bought by an old woman. The old woman cursed and grumbled as she killed the fish. Her daughter-in-law was pregnant and wanted to drink chicken soup and eat fish. Not only did she spend money, but she also had to kill chickens and fish to serve her. No wonder she was cursing and grumbling.
She cut open the fish's belly with a knife and pulled out its internal organs with her fingers, but she exclaimed in surprise when she discovered a white object, about the length of a thumb, curled up thinly inside.
The old woman picked it up and looked at it, then unfolded it and examined it again. Hmm... she was sure of it; she couldn't understand it!
"What the hell!"
The old woman angrily threw the strip of cloth, along with the fish's entrails, onto the manure pile in her yard, cursing, "Bad luck! I thought I'd found some treasure!"
The old woman went to make fish soup, while the feng shui master was happily waiting for the strip of cloth he had placed to be discovered, but after waiting all day, there was still no news.
Another day passed, but there was still no word. The feng shui master was puzzled. Could it be that no one wanted to buy that fish?
He went to the market to look for it, but... all the carp in the market looked the same, and he couldn't tell which one was the one he had put the cloth strip on!
While the feng shui master was feeling frustrated, the emperor and his ministers were also getting anxious. Two days had passed, and the strip of cloth should have been discovered by now. Why wasn't there a single rumor?
Yesterday, Zhou Menglin and several other gossip-loving officials even took a stroll on the street, their feet aching from walking, but they didn't hear of anyone finding a strip of cloth inside a fish's belly.
But Chuanwen seemed to have forgotten about this matter. During the morning court session, she would either doze off or gossip about the officials she disliked, such as the Minister of Revenue secretly holding his youngest son and performing a blood test to confirm kinship, the Minister of Works knocking his son unconscious with athlete's foot when he hit him with the sole of his shoe, and the Imperial Censor Xi Wei suffering from malnutrition due to picky eating.
Although the ministers thoroughly enjoyed these gossips, they still wanted to know the follow-up to the man-made miracle, and whether Yi and the miracle were man-made or real, hehe.
As a result, Yi He became a target these past two days. The Minister of Personnel mentioned him when discussing personnel appointments and removals, the Minister of Works mentioned him when discussing the construction of the capital, and General Fei Hu mentioned him when discussing the border situation.
Yi was in a real bind. He paused when Xu Yunfei mentioned him, then looked at his boss and said, "No, bro, they're just trying to scam me, but we've known each other for so many years, why are you still trying to scam me?"
Xu Yunfei chuckled in response, "Well, I wanted to know too, but you wouldn't tell me when I asked you in private."
When Yi He was mentioned for the nth time, Chuan Wen finally turned his attention to him. [Yi He?]
Hearing Chuanwen call his name in his mind, Yi He felt a chill run down his spine. He felt like he had been called out by the King of Hell. He was doomed. He was going to lose all face.
He was filled with remorse. He should have just told them when they asked him in private. At least he could have chosen his words carefully and not made himself seem so shameless.
Wow! This person is quite capable; they can fight on the battlefield and also serve as a strategist in the camp. Not bad at all! But...
Hearing Chuanwen praise himself initially eased Yi He's tension a little, but upon hearing the word "not so much," his entire body tensed up immediately.
The emperor gazed wistfully at Yi He, who was among the military officers. If the miracle was orchestrated by Yi He himself, even if he was indeed capable, he should at least be punished for deceiving the emperor. Otherwise, if everyone followed his method, wouldn't things descend into chaos?
[But this guy is incredibly brave in battle! One shout actually knocked an enemy general off his horse. He even threw a spear with a string of candied hawthorns on it, piercing the general's heart. Amazing!]
【besides......】
besides?
The Minister of Works and his entourage, who had been watching the spectacle with gusto, were now trembling with fear. They had never seen Yi He kill anyone; he only knew Yi He as a refined and approachable man, and they never imagined he could be so ruthless and bloodthirsty!
That's not all, there's more!
The group was almost in tears. What if the emperor punished Yi He for this? Wouldn't he retaliate by stringing them up on candied hawthorns too?
[This guy is really despicable! In order to prevent the Western Regions from invading the Great Jin border once and for all, he actually wants to drive sheep infected with plague to the Western Regions so that everyone there will die of the plague!]
The Minister of Works twitched his lips and comforted himself: It's not scary. That's how enemies are. It's either you die or I live!
[They even invented the "fire-man" tactic: capturing a group of Western Region soldiers, dousing them with oil, pretending to negotiate with the Western Regions, and then having someone fire arrows at the captured soldiers upon their return, turning the enemy army into a sea of fire!]
The Minister of Revenue's legs were a little weak, and he didn't really want to know about Yi He's miracle anymore.
[How embarrassing! He even used a "beauty tactic"—applying poison to himself, cough, and there—to seduce enemy generals. Cough! He's killed several enemy generals!]
There were originally two or three people in the main hall pretending to discuss political affairs, but they all fell silent after Chuanwen said this.
A honey trap? Applying it to themselves? And killing several people in the process?
Even the emperor was shocked. Could he interpret the message as meaning that the enemy generals were promiscuous, having affairs with both men and women, and that Yi He, in order to kill them, had slept with several generals and then, damn it, killed them all?!
That's ruthless!
The emperor looked at Yi He with shock, admiration, and... well, a hint of wanting to cry because he had just gained another strange minister!
The Minister of Personnel's leg trembled. "Am I even alive? Waaah! Why did I have to be so stupid as to bring up Yi He? I have absolutely no desire to know anything about his deeds! Not even a little bit!"
Yi He buried his head and sighed. He had completely forgotten about these things.
Xu Yunfei clicked his tongue. "Sigh, what's so bad about that? If he hadn't restrained Yi He after finding out about this, Yi He would have gone and killed the king. Also, although Yi He took the antidote beforehand, his lower body was still swollen for several days."
After finishing his exclamations, Chuanwen finally got to the section on the memorial and burst out laughing inside.
[Hahahaha! Seriously, aren't Yi He, Chen Sheng, and Wu Guang related? How come they both came up with the idea of stuffing things into fish bellies?! But Yi He did this to gather a group of companions to become mountain bandits, and unexpectedly, the emperor recruited him as an official! Hahaha!]
Yi He lowered his head even further; the past was too painful to recall, so it was best not to talk about it!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
