Chapter 180 I feel sorry for you Yinzhen is not a blindly confident person, he...
Yinzhen was not a man of blind confidence. He frowned and thought for a moment before saying, "You have a point."
Yet, he let it slide when he shouldn't: "But that will be who knows how many years from now. By then, we'll have already been buried deep underground. Why would we even care?"
?
Didn't the ancients care about their reputation after death? How can you be so open-minded?
Qi Buchen was surprised and asked, "Aren't you afraid of being scolded in the future?"
Yinzhen said as a matter of course: "You can't blame me. I'm just an idle prince. Who would remember me?"
Qi Buchen choked, forgetting that Yinzhen was not Yongzheng. Later, everyone cursed Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong. He never heard of anyone singleing out Yinzhi and other princes for criticism because of literary inquisition.
"Then...then..." Qi Buchen was anxious, "...and you didn't care if someone scolded the emperor? You are unfilial!"
Yinzhen pinched her again: "Are you trying to flatter me?"
Qi Buchen shrank back and said aggrievedly, "I just don't want to be scolded."
Yinzhen was surprised and said, "If they can't even curse me, how can they curse you? By then, you won't even have a name, you'll only be remembered as Ulanara."
"They won't scold me alone, but they might scold the Manchus directly!" Qi Buchen said confidently, "Well, I'm a Manchu too, so they'll definitely include me in the criticism. I don't want to be scolded, even if it's just a passing mention!"
Yinzhen laughed angrily: "You are good at asking for trouble."
Qi Buchen leaned against his pupa and said, "Oh, I really don't want to be scolded by others, especially in history books. Although I haven't done anything to benefit the people, I haven't harmed anyone either. Why should I be scolded? Just thinking about it makes me feel choked up."
"Then what do you want?" Yinzhen pinched the soft flesh on her waist.
Qi Buchen blushed and said coquettishly, "Please help us. Don't let this matter involve too many people. Just punish the main people involved."
"That's all? It's easy for you to say that." Yinzhen said unhappily, "Do you think I, your master, am such a favorite in front of the Emperor that he will listen to whatever I say?"
Qi Buchen coaxed him: "You are a sweet potato in my eyes~"
Yinzhen snorted and laughed: "So you can still say nice things. I thought you could only say them to Honghui and the others."
"No way~" Qi Buchen whispered to him, "I haven't told you enough tonight~"
"Humph." Yinzhen turned over and pressed her down, "That doesn't count!"
Qi Buchen placed his hands on his chest to prevent him from getting closer: "Then do you agree or not~"
"Heh." Yinzhen raised an eyebrow, "Are you planning to negotiate terms with me?"
Oops, this expression is not right.
Qi Buchen quickly moved his hands up and held his face: "It's clearly a request." After saying that, he took the initiative to move closer and kissed him several times, "People scold me, and you don't care?"
Yinzhen bit her cheek and said, "Don't be unreasonable. Things that happen hundreds of years later are still hypothetical. How can I control them?"
"I still have a few hundred years to live, can't I go and settle the score with them?"
Qi Buchen really looked like an unreasonable and troublesome woman at this moment: "I don't care, I don't care, you just don't feel sorry for me!"
Yinzhen restrained the unreasonable person: "I will let you see that I do not feel sorry for you!"
After a moment of "heartache", Qi Buchen's eyelids couldn't stop feeling heavy, but she didn't give up: "Actually, there is obviously a better one..." She fell asleep before she finished speaking.
Yinzhen looked at the lover in his arms who seemed to have not changed much over the years, smiled slightly, kissed her on the tip of the nose, and fell asleep.
On Dai Mingshi's side, Qi Buchen had not yet been able to convince Yinzhen, but something unexpected happened in the Tuoheqi case. Several major high-ranking officials involved in the case were reported to have accepted bribes. Because the former Minister of Justice was among them, the Ministry of Justice was excluded this time. Kangxi ordered Yinzhen and several university secretaries to review the case together.
The case was not difficult to investigate. It was soon discovered that the former Minister of Punishment Qi Shiwu accepted bribes of 3,000 taels, Tuoheqi accepted bribes of 2,400 taels, the former Minister of War accepted bribes of 1,000 taels, and other people condoned their family members to accept bribes of varying amounts.
This result was both reasonable and unexpected. It was reasonable because since someone had reported the case under their real name, there was no doubt that evidence would be found. But what was unexpected was that the amount of bribes received was so small!
It's not that accepting a small bribe is wrong, but given their official positions, they shouldn't be accepting bribes for such a small amount of money. Three thousand taels? It's possible that Tuoheqi accepted it, after all, he was once a servant in Prince An's mansion. But the Minister of Justice and the Minister of War, both of whom came from prominent families, were making a fuss.
It doesn't look right no matter how I look at it.
He murmured to Yinzhen, who was in a bad mood: "Everyone knows there is something fishy going on here, but who can tell them?"
Even if no one told him, Kangxi wouldn't have thought of it.
Qi Buchen sighed for Master Kang in his heart and asked, "Since the Ministry of Justice has been shunned this time, will the other cases that Qi Shiwu handled before be put on hold for the time being?"
Although she didn't mention a single specific word, Yinzhen still said unhappily, "I've noticed how you always end up bringing Dai Mingshi's case up with you."
If Dai Mingshi was not an old man in his fifties, he would have suspected that Fu Jin had some ulterior motives.
"I'm doing this for our own good!" Qi Buchen said confidently, stepping forward and saying, "Really, I've been thinking about this these days. In fact, it's better to ease the situation than to block it. Instead of executing Dai Mingshi, why not spare his life and order him to write an ode specifically for our Qing Dynasty? Think about it, if he really has a rebellious heart, then being forced to write something like this would be worse than death. Wouldn't it be more painful for him than killing him? If he writes it willingly, it means that he is truly loyal to our Qing Dynasty. Wouldn't that be even better? It means that the benevolence of our Qing Dynasty and our emperor has influenced the rebels, and even the former rebels have returned to their hearts. Wouldn't others recognize the good of our Qing Dynasty and support us more?"
"It's worthwhile to kill two birds with one stone without having to kill anyone?"
Yinzhen snorted helplessly: "Your tongue is getting more and more eloquent."
Qi Buchen said: "Just tell me if what I think makes sense."
Yinzhen pondered for a moment. "That makes some sense, but you're oversimplifying it. When it comes to state affairs, benevolence is important, but even more important is deterrence. People are greedy, and only power can intimidate them and prevent them from acting rashly. Otherwise, even a swarm of ants can kill an elephant."
"Chenchen, you're right about one thing." Yinzhen's eyes were dark. "Confucianism is too powerful. We Manchus are few in number, so we will be assimilated sooner or later. But even if we are assimilated, we should strive to occupy a leading position within it, rather than giving up weakly."
Qi Buchen sighed inwardly. This was the most fundamental difference between the two. Yinzhen was a Manchu from the inside out, while she was just wearing the Manchu skin. When Yinzhen considered some things, he would only stand on the side of the Manchus, but she would involuntarily stand on the side of the Han people.
In other words, since the reign of Emperor Kangxi, society has indeed become much more stable and prosperous. Although there are corrupt officials in the court, they also truly care about the people, and things like what happened at the beginning of the southward migration did not happen. Otherwise, it is hard to say what would have happened to her and Yinzhen.
Qi Buchen's hunched back and listless appearance made Yinzhen feel sorry for him and compromised, saying, "Okay, don't look so listless. I will find a chance to make suggestions, okay?"
Although she wasn't depressed because of this, she was deeply moved by Yinzhen's willingness to compromise for her. She forced herself to cheer up and said, "You're the best."
Yinzhen said with disdain: "It's not powerful at all."
The case of Tuoheqi and others taking bribes was handled quickly. The three leaders were sentenced to execution in the autumn, and the rest were dismissed or demoted.
Soon afterwards, Kangxi issued another decree to replace almost all the six ministers and the Left Censor-in-Chief, and the Prince's Party was truly in a desperate situation.
After Honghui returned from another rest and told him about some of the situations in the palace, Yinzhen and Qi Buchen discussed vaccinating the triplets.
"They'll be ten soon. Honghui was conceived at this age," Yinzhen said. "Dr. Fu has checked their pulses frequently over the years, and they're in excellent health. They're no different from Honghui back then, so there won't be any problems."
Qi Buchen was still worried, but he didn't try to avoid it like Honghui did back then: "Can you take care of three people by yourself?"
Yinzhen said, "I want to take Honghui with me."
"Ah?" Qi Buchen didn't expect him to say that.
Yinzhen pondered, "I've thought about this. When Honghui went to the study, Hongyu and the others were only two years old. We haven't had much time to spend together in those years. Hongyu and the others were born from the same womb and grew up together. They don't remember their childhood, so sometimes they unconsciously exclude Honghui. Now that we're still here, it seems there's no problem, but if we're gone one day, some things will be uncertain. In the future, this mansion will definitely be handed over to Honghui. If the three of Hongyu get too close, Honghui will inevitably feel lonely. If the brothers become estranged, that's not a good thing."
"While they are still young, we need to deepen their bond. Honghui has already been vaccinated, so there's no need to worry about infection. During the vaccination period, they will be isolated and together for several months, relying on each other, which will help them develop a better relationship."
Qi Buchen didn't expect Yinzhen to say such a thing. To be honest, as a mother, she really didn't pay attention to this issue. She seemed to be accustomed to thinking that it was natural for Honghui and Hongyan to have a good relationship, but she never thought that even brothers born from the same mother would sometimes have different levels of closeness or distance.
Honghui is old and has only one child. Whenever Qi Buchen thinks about the fact that he and Honghui are gone, Honghui and his two children are all together, but Honghui is all alone, he feels like crying.
"You're right, I was negligent." Qi Buchen reflected on himself guiltily, "I too, always thought I had fulfilled my responsibilities as a mother, and that making Hui'er something delicious every time he came home was a sign of care. I never considered that Hui'er, at such a young age, staying alone in the palace, might be afraid, or that he might often stand alone in the courtyard, gazing towards home and missing us."
"I'm not a good enough mother." Qi Buchen felt like crying the more he spoke. He couldn't help but stand up and said, "No, I have to go see Hui'er."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
