Chapter 270: General Manager of the Shangfu Bureau
Her plea made Wenren Yuebai a little stunned, and he was silent for a while.
Qiao Youyou was afraid that he would refuse, so she quickly added, "Don't worry, after I finish the job, I'll treat you to a meal at the most expensive restaurant in the capital!"
Then his face fell again, "You don't want to see me being laughed at by those bastards tomorrow, do you? We are all workers. What's the saying? Birds of a feather flock together! Right?"
Wenren Yuebai was afraid that she would go too far, so he coughed and said, "Hurry up and get started. Finish it soon. I have other official business to attend to."
"Okay, okay!" A bright smile immediately broke out on Qiao Youyou's face.
Since Wenren Yuebai understood her initial method of integrating data, with his help in dealing with early problems, she would be able to greatly improve her work efficiency and get twice the result with half the effort!
Qiao Youyou happily handed an unprocessed account book to Wenren Yuebai. Wenren Yuebai didn't say much, and the two of them cooperated tacitly.
After a long while, Qiao Youyou's wrist felt a little sore. She stopped writing and rubbed her wrist, then glanced sideways to see Wenren Yuebai staring at the account book in front of him, frowning slightly, as if puzzled.
"What's wrong?" Qiao Youyou asked.
Wenren Yuebai hesitated for a moment and said slowly: "This account book looks a little weird, but I... haven't figured out the problem yet."
"Really? Let me take a look." Qiao Youyou walked over curiously and took the account book from Wenren Yuebai.
She took a look at the cover. It was a detailed list of taxes for all the major dental clinics in the capital. The part that Wenren Yuebai was referring to was from the largest dental clinic in the capital - Anju Real Estate.
Qiao Youyou uttered a soft "eh".
Home buying business?
She remembered that Lanlan mentioned that when they were looking for a house to rent, Li Duchang was almost cheated by this dental firm, and he has not yet gotten justice.
…
In the Hanlin Academy, it is time for the three-day meeting.
The topic of discussion has shifted from the newly opened steamed bun shop to what kind of fabrics are popular in the capital city recently.
Zhu Qingyan has gradually adapted to this kind of atmosphere. Although he did not interrupt, his overall state of mind has become much more relaxed.
Her gaze inadvertently drifted to Zhu Lan beside Dong Ye, and she found that Zhu Lan had not said a word for a long time. He looked distracted and no one knew what he was thinking about.
Zhu Lan was indeed distracted. Before she started her shift this morning, Wang Defa from Yuxiang Pavilion sent someone to give her a message and asked her to meet him near the palace gate.
It turned out that the matter she had asked Qin Yuwei to help investigate had some results.
Qin Yuwei asked her to meet at Yuxiang Pavilion at noon today.
Zhu Lan's slender fingers unconsciously stroked the tabletop as he pondered this matter in his mind.
Now that he was an official in the emperor's court, Qin Yuwei, the prince's concubine, and he were no longer just classmates and friends. If she and Xu Shiming interacted with him frequently, others would inevitably become suspicious if they knew about it.
Therefore, unless it is a very important matter, general information only needs to be delivered through the Wang Yuchu brothers.
But Qin Yuwei actually took the risk to meet me. What did she find out?
The regular meeting of the Hanlin Academy was as usual. The adults chatted until noon and went to the dining hall to eat.
Zhu Lan went straight out of the palace and walked towards the Imperial Fragrance Pavilion.
Wang Defa knew she was coming, and had been waiting at the door early. After seeing Zhu Lan, he exchanged a few words with her and then led her to the most secluded private room in the building.
The private room is extremely spacious and the seats are located at the innermost part. If you speak at a normal volume, no one at the door can hear you. It is a great place to discuss private matters.
As soon as Zhu Lan sat down, Qin Yuwei, wearing a bamboo hat, walked in.
The relationship between the two no longer required any small talk. Qin Yuwei took off her bamboo hat and quickly reported to Zhu Lan what she had found out. It was obvious that she could not stay here for too long.
It turned out that Qin Yuwei and a group of concubines from the Eastern Palace followed Yan Xiuyun into the palace to pay respects to Queen Dong yesterday. Afterwards, she found an excuse to go to the Shangfu Bureau to inquire about the aunt of the little storyteller Chu Xin.
She retrieved the roster of the Shangfu Bureau and indeed found a person named "Chu Xiuning" on it. This person turned out to be the previous director of the Shangfu Bureau. However, some time ago, Chu Xiuning left the palace for unknown reasons, and now a new female official has taken over the Shangfu Bureau.
"Is it because you have reached the age to leave the palace?" Zhu Lan asked.
Qin Yuwei shook her head slightly, "No, she has become the chief of the Shangfu Bureau. She is not an ordinary palace maid. She will not be sent out of the palace just because of her age."
"You mean, she voluntarily resigned and left the palace?"
"I can only say that the possibility is relatively high. In addition, there are two more things, which is why I came to see you in person." Qin Yuwei's tone became a little more cautious and her voice was lowered.
"This Chu Xiuning did not start working in the Shangfu Bureau right after she entered the palace. She was initially a personal maid to Concubine Lan in the palace. Later, Concubine Lan died of illness, and the emperor appreciated her service and appointed her as the general manager of the Shangfu Bureau."
"Empress Lan?" Zhu Lan recalled and realized he had never heard of this person.
"It's normal that you don't know about the affairs of the harem." Qin Yuwei leaned close to Zhu Lan's ear and whispered something.
"You said...she is the prince's biological mother!? The prince is not born to Queen Dong?" Zhu Lan was a little surprised, and then felt confused.
In the palace, if a concubine passed away, it was common for her to pass her child on to other concubines. When Concubine Lan died, her child was raised by the queen and made the crown prince. There was nothing abnormal about this matter, and there was no reason to cover it up.
But why had I never heard any news of this in the previous dynasty?
According to the time calculation, the old ministers in the court must have known about this matter, but they all kept silent and were very secretive about it, which made it seem a little strange.
Zhu Lan remembered that Qin Yuwei had just said that she had two things to tell him, so he asked what the other one was.
"Another thing is that before I went to the Shangfu Bureau, the Sixth Prince actually came to inquire about Chu Xiuning's affairs."
This news was also beyond Zhu Lan's expectations.
It is understandable that the story of the prince's biological mother has been forgotten by everyone because it happened so long ago.
But why would Yan Xiuyun, a prince, go to the Shangfu Bureau in the harem to inquire about Chu Xiuning's affairs? It's impossible that he didn't know who the prince's biological mother was.
Zhu Lan digested the information and asked Qin Yuwei: "Then... where did Chu Xiuning go after leaving the palace? Did she go back to her hometown?"
"This is also very strange. She didn't tell anyone where she was going." Qin Yuwei said in a deep voice, "If you want to leave the capital, you must have a document from the government. But I asked someone to ask her, and she didn't apply for any clearance documents, which means - she should still be in the capital."
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