Chapter 74: Graduation Mission Qi Buchen said so solemnly...
Qi Buchen's solemn apology caught Yinzhen off guard.
"You...what are you doing? Get up quickly..." After he hurriedly helped Qi Buchen, who had been bowing, up, he realized that his actions seemed too soft, which was not in line with his original intention of wanting Fu Jin to recognize her mistakes.
So, in an attempt to conceal his mistake, he withdrew his hands, put one behind his back, and placed the other against his lips. He coughed softly and said, "It's good that you know you're wrong. Don't make the same mistake again next time."
"I'm leaving first, you should go to bed early." After saying that, he put his hands behind his back and walked out in a serious manner.
This time, Qi Buchen saw him off respectfully: "Goodbye, sir."
This was probably the first time she had given Yinzhen a proper send-off.
Yinzhen was almost frightened by her attitude. Every time the concubine was particularly polite or used honorifics, it meant that she was angry, so Yinzhen had formed a conditioned reflex. He would first worry about what he had done wrong, and when he realized that he had the upper hand today, he became a little angry at his subconscious reaction and walked away angrily.
Qi Buchen watched Yinzhen's visibly unhappy back and thought to herself, "What a foolish mistake this time! I've made him so angry!" She felt a little annoyed. What had happened to her lately? She had completely lost her composure and rationality, only blaming others. She was really going backwards.
But it was really strange. She had never been one to vent her anger on others, so why did she make an exception for Yinzhen again and again?
Qi Buchen scratched his head, thinking about the reasons over and over again, and reflecting on himself at the same time.
The next day, Kangxi summoned the tutors of the Shangshufang to learn about the academic progress of Yinzhi and Yinzhen. With the tutors' approval, he finally decided to let his two sons graduate from the Shangshufang.
As for what tasks to assign to his two sons, Kangxi looked through the evaluations of the two by the Taifus and finally decided to assign them both to the Ministry of Works to supervise the repair of the imperial mausoleum for a period of time.
This is the job with the least chance of making mistakes and is very suitable as a transitional stage in getting involved in officialdom.
After school that day, the two were informed of the good news.
Yinzhi was so delighted that his eyebrows were filled with joy. This was simply a pie in the sky. He had long been impatient with staying in the Shangshufang, but he did not dare to mention it at all, for fear that the emperor would think that he did not like studying and was unteachable. He thought that he had to stay in the Shangshufang for at least two or three years before he could get a job.
Yinzhen hadn't expected him to be out on errands so early. Considering his eldest brother, he'd only just left the Upper Study at around seventeen or eighteen. He didn't think it had anything to do with yesterday's events; he simply assumed the Emperor, seeing his third brother's impending marriage, had decided it wouldn't be a bad idea to have an errand. After all, errands weren't something that could be decided in a heartbeat, so he must have considered it long beforehand. And since he and his third brother were close in age, he'd probably taken him along for the ride.
At this moment, he even felt that the hideous Yinzhi looked a little more approachable.
Yinzhi was too lazy to pay attention to the annoying fourth brother at this moment. He had to go home quickly and prepare some good wine and food to celebrate.
Yinzhen also returned to the mansion in a cheerful mood. When he reached the second gate, he paused and asked, "Is Fu Jin out of the city again today?"
A new gatekeeper at the second gate answered honestly, "My Lord, the Concubine left home at the beginning of the morning hour today. She went to the southeast part of the city."
Yinzhen nodded in satisfaction, wondering if he should go pick up Fu Jin. But then he realized he was still trying to give Fu Jin the cold shoulder and make her realize her mistakes, so he gave up the idea of picking her up with a little regret, turned around, and returned to the front yard.
But he still instructed Su Peisheng: "Go and tell the people in the kitchen to make a richer supper tonight."
Su Peisheng already knew that his master had received the task and wanted to celebrate, so he immediately agreed loudly and went to the kitchen to order the dishes. After giving the order, his eyes rolled and he called the steward over. He took out the freshly brewed rice wine and tasted it. After tasting it, he said, "Bring a pot of this rice wine too later."
At the beginning of the Xu hour, Qi Buchen came back, and Yinzhen came over after hearing the news.
After Qi Buchen changed into casual clothes, Yinzhen ordered the meal to be served.
Dishes that were obviously much more sumptuous than usual were served one after another. Su Peisheng personally held the kettle and poured a glass of rice wine for each of the two masters: "This is the rice wine newly brewed by the kitchen. It tastes excellent. Master and Concubine, please try it."
Master, I can only help you up to this point.
Qi Buchen looked at the formal atmosphere and asked in some confusion, "What day is today?" She looked at Baozhu, but Baozhu shook her head, which meant that today was not a special day.
Su Peisheng smiled and said, "My Lady, today is not a special day. It's just that our Master will not have to go to the study from tomorrow. The Emperor has assigned him an errand."
"Really?" Qi Buchen looked at Yinzhen in surprise.
Yinzhen nodded reservedly: "The Emperor sent me to the Ministry of Works to oversee the repairs to the Imperial Mausoleum."
Qi Buchen asked sincerely: "Then we don't have to get up at the hour of Yin in the future, right?" She really felt that getting up at three or four in the morning was too inhumane.
Yinzhen was almost amused by her, but he suppressed his laughter and said in a pretentious manner, "No need, you can just go to the government office at 12:00 a.m. every day from now on."
He has just started his duties and is not yet qualified to attend court. When he really needs to attend court, he will not get up much later than when he was studying.
Although it was only one or two hours later than when she was in school, Qi Buchen still felt it was much more acceptable. She thought about how she also got up at five or six o'clock when she was in school, so she could accept it.
"That's good." She nodded and raised her glass. "Then I wish you good luck in your work and a continued promotion!"
Yinzhen also raised his glass and smiled slightly, saying, "That's an interesting statement. Thank you for your kind words."
The two of them drank it all in one gulp. Qi Buchen smacked his lips and said, "Hey, it tastes really good."
Su Peisheng cleverly stepped forward to refill her cup, and after obtaining Yinzhen's consent, he also refilled his cup.
The two began to eat. Yinzhen ate for a long time and saw that Fu Jin was silent and seemed a little depressed, so he made conversation and said, "You have been going to those temples every day recently. Are you looking for something?"
Qi Buchen paused with his chopsticks, then replied nonchalantly: "I'm not looking for anything, I just had nothing to do during the day, so I wanted to go take a look."
Yinzhen did not miss her reaction. He had just asked casually, but she hit the nail on the head. He suddenly realized that Fu Jin was hiding something from him!
He couldn't ask any more questions. Since Fu Jin had kept it from him, she wouldn't tell him even if he asked. It would be better for him to investigate privately.
For some reason, Fu Jin's reaction just now made Yinzhen always have a bad premonition. He had no appetite for the second half of the meal. After eating, he did not stay to linger, but went back to the front yard to think about what Fu Jin was hiding from him.
Remembering that it was the Fu Jin who had reacted when asked "What are you looking for", Yinzhen felt a tightness in his heart.
Could it be that Fu Jin is looking for her former "dearest person"?
This may have caused a fire to suddenly burn in Yinzhen's heart.
How dare she, Fujin!
Yinzhen was so angry at his own imagination that he walked around in circles in the room. No, no, you can't think like that. There is no evidence. What if it is not true? What if Fu Jin is just interested in Buddhism...
What the hell is that interest! Fu Jin didn't even glance at any of the Buddhist books in the study!
"Lin Changqing!" Yinzhen roared again.
This time, Lin Changqing was waiting outside the door. Upon hearing the sound, he crawled in and knelt down: "Master, please forgive me. I am incompetent and have not yet found what you ordered..."
Less than twelve hours had passed since Yinzhen ordered him to investigate. It would be a miracle if he could find anything!
"Put that aside for now!" Yinzhen interrupted him angrily, "First, go check where Fu Jin has been these days, what she said, what she did, who she met, and whether she found anything..."
Why is it Mrs. Cha again?
Lin Changqing was puzzled. Seeing that his master had been paying close attention to his wife recently, why did the first thing he asked him to investigate involve her? What was his master's attitude towards his wife? He was a little confused.
If you can't figure it out, don't think about it. As a servant, just do what your master tells you to do.
"Okay, I'll go right away." Lin Changqing replied.
Yinzhen paused and said, "...Don't let Fu Jin notice."
After sending Lin Changqing away, Yinzhen paced around the room for a few more times before going to sleep.
There was nothing much to say about his work at the Ministry of Works. As he was the emperor's prince, the officials of the Ministry of Works had no choice but to flatter him and dared not let him work too hard. After sitting in the Ministry of Works for a few days, he became a little impatient, mainly because there was nothing to do, which made him very uncomfortable.
Besides, there was the annoying Yinzhi by his side. Seeing those people flattering Yinzhi every day and Yinzhi looking like he was enjoying himself, Yinzhen was in a bad mood. After thinking about it, he simply told the Minister of Works that he would not come to the yamen to work every day, but go to the construction site to supervise the work.
Can it be called doing business if you don't go to the scene to see the work and only listen to the reports from your subordinates?
Yinzhen is not the kind of person who would just muddle through things.
Deciding not to work, Yinzhen simply returned home early. When he saw Lin Changqing, he remembered what he had ordered: "How is the investigation going?"
Lin Changqing replied respectfully, "My lord, from what I've learned, Fu Jin had Xie Hanshan compile a list of all the temples and Taoist temples in and around the capital, and then visited each one in the order of inside the city and outside. At each temple and Taoist temple, Fu Jin simply added some incense money, chatted with the abbot, asked if any of the families had any Taoist masters, and then had them calculate their lifespans based on their birth dates. She didn't say or do anything else."
"As for looking for something, from what I've found, Fu Jin didn't intend to look for anything. At most, she was just asking if she knew of any hidden masters."
The result of this investigation did not match Yinzhen's guess. While he felt relieved, he was also a little puzzled. His wife had asked him to find a lama for a fortune-telling on the grassland before, and now she was looking for an enlightened person on such a large scale. Why was that?
Calculating lifespan? Yinzhen thought it was unlikely. How could Fu Jin be so worried about her lifespan at such an early age? But there was no other explanation. Yinzhen thought about it for a long time but couldn't figure it out. He could only give up for the time being: "Well, as long as Fu Jin is still there, I will continue to pay attention and report back if there is any situation."
"Yeah." Lin Changqing replied. This job was quite easy.
"There's another thing you can't relax on either," Yinzhen reminded him.
Well, it’s too early to be thankful. Lin Changqing mourned for himself in his heart. Don’t even think about sleeping recently. The sooner the investigation is finished, the sooner it’s over.
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Author's Note: Qi Buchen: Got a job? Where's your paycheck? Turn it in now! [Big Knife Threat.jpg]
Yinzhen: Fujin, how much pocket money can I get in a month? [Silly and flattering.gif]
Qi Buchen: Pocket money? Hmm… that’s enough, right? [Generous.jpg]
Yinzhen: One...one copper coin? Enough...enough... [BGM: North wind whistles, snowflakes flutter, the sky and the earth are vast and boundless]
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