Chapter 188 The Middleman
"Your Highness, Mr. Wang Zhan from the Crown Prince's Mansion has arrived with a thousand taels of silver. He said the Crown Prince is currently in seclusion, his family is broke, and he can only use the Emperor's grandson's New Year's money to pay for it. Please give your Highness some time to pay for the rest."
"Your Highness, the Duke of Ning's mansion has come personally, bringing you that priceless glass lamp. He said the Duke of Ning's mansion is broke and can't afford the money, so he can only offer his beloved ornaments as payment."
"Fourth Prince, the people who went to the Bo Mansion have returned with three hundred taels of silver. The old lady was beating her chest and slapping her thighs, saying that we were forcing their orphans and widows to death..."
"Fourth Prince..."
"Enough!" The fourth prince had won a victory in the court and was feeling very proud of himself, but reality slapped him in the face.
The Fourth Prince glared at his dejected subordinates, furious, "Is this how you do things?"
One of them summoned up the courage to speak, "Your Highness, it's not that I'm unwilling to do my job properly. It's really, really that these people are shameless and refuse to give us the money. We can't just rob them."
You have to know that they are facing either royal relatives or noble families, none of them are easy to mess with. The reason they didn't fight them out directly is because of the Fourth Prince's face.
Not to mention others, the Crown Prince lives in the East Palace. Do they really dare to come? Otherwise, they might not only fail to get the money but also lose their lives. Even if they want to please the Fourth Prince, they dare not do so.
The Fourth Prince knew this, but his anger was undiminished: "This is an order from my father. How dare they do this? This is a violation of the imperial decree!"
The people below looked at each other and dared not speak.
The Fourth Prince suddenly sneered and snorted, "Yes, I forgot. It is precisely because of your majesty's indulgence that they dare to do this and ignore me!"
Looking at the gloomy face of the Fourth Prince, the subordinates did not dare to make any sound, for fear that he would vent his anger on them.
The more they acted like this, the more angry the Fourth Prince became. He kicked one of his subordinates on the shoulder and cursed, "You useless piece of shit! What use are you to me?"
At this moment, Xu Zifeng walked in. Seeing this, he frowned slightly, bowed, and said, "Your Highness, why are you so angry about this?"
Seeing his cousin, the Fourth Prince calmed down a bit and snorted coldly, "If the money can't be recovered, all the words I said in court will be empty words. Not only will I not be loved by the people, but I will become a laughing stock."
As high-spirited as he was before, he is now as angry and irritable. After the Yunzhou incident, the Fourth Prince's self-cultivation has long been deteriorating. Not only is he now irritable and easily angered, he often makes unwise moves, and he has somewhat of the demeanor of the crown prince back then.
Xu Zifeng sighed inwardly, motioned for those people to withdraw, and then whispered, "Your Highness, even so, you shouldn't criticize His Majesty. Be careful, there are ears."
The Fourth Prince sneered, "What else do I have to fear?"
Having said that, the Fourth Prince lowered his voice quite a bit. It was obvious that he knew very well that it would not be a good thing if someone caught him and reported him to the emperor. The emperor felt guilty about him now, but he would not indulge him forever.
Seeing that he had come to his senses, Xu Zifeng continued, "Your Highness, since the Emperor has agreed to this, just send someone to collect the debt. If it's not paid in one day, we'll continue to collect it. There will always be a time to pay it back."
“If they hold on for a year or two, then they’ll have offended so many people but it will all be in vain.” The Fourth Prince was unwilling to do so.
Xu Zifeng sighed, glanced at the Fourth Prince, and said, "Actually, the best way is for His Majesty to issue a clear decree. That way, it will be legitimate and no one will dare to disobey. Otherwise, it would be a crime of deceiving the emperor."
The Fourth Prince sneered, "The difficulty lies in the fact that Father will never issue a clear order."
Xu Zifeng reminded: "Isn't it possible that the Imperial Concubine can't help?"
The Fourth Prince's eyes flickered, then he shook his head and said, "Father has been rather cold towards Mother lately. He only has Concubine Yu in his heart. How could Mother dare to interfere in the affairs of the court?"
Hearing this, Xu Zifeng also knew that the Fourth Prince's situation was becoming increasingly difficult. He sighed and said, "Hasn't the Queen always been on good terms with Concubine Yu? Why not let Concubine Yu speak a few words in front of His Majesty?"
The Fourth Prince sneered, "Yu Fei? That woman is extremely timid and wishes to offend no one. How could she say such things? Back then, their Fang family was utterly destroyed by the Crown Prince. Now, she and the Crown Princess are just playing coy and refusing to say a word."
Xu Zifeng was a member of the Xu family, and he vaguely knew about what happened to the Fang family back then. Thinking that although Concubine Yu and the prince did not get along, she was indeed cautious in the harem, he gave up this idea.
After thinking for a while but still not finding a suitable solution, the Fourth Prince became even more anxious. He seemed to have seen the sarcastic look on the Crown Prince's face, and he wanted to kick the Eastern Palace right away.
Xu Zifeng glanced at the Fourth Prince and reminded him, "In terms of status, the most important ones are still the Crown Prince and Prince Rong. If these two pay back the money, there will be no need to worry about the others."
The Fourth Prince snorted coldly, "The money my uncle owes me is not much. The difficulty lies with the Crown Prince. How can he let me go smoothly?"
Although they are brothers, they both openly and secretly hope that the other will die quickly. There is no mercy at all.
Now the Fourth Prince is eager for the Crown Prince to pay back the money immediately, as this will embarrass the Eastern Palace and make him unpopular. However, the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace is determined to give it his all and refuse to pay back the money, dragging the Fourth Prince down with him to be embarrassed. If both of them are embarrassed, it won't be any more embarrassing.
Xu Zifeng was also very troubled. It happened that Minister Xu really fell ill the night before. This time he was not pretending. Now he is still in bed and unable to get up. They dare not let him worry anymore.
Suddenly, the Fourth Prince turned around and asked, "Are you classmates with that Su Fengzhang?"
Xu Zifeng was stunned for a moment, then answered honestly, "We weren't exactly classmates, but we were indeed in the same class. We were pretty close in Qingzhou, but after we arrived in the capital, Su Fengzhang deliberately sorted things out, and our relationship became distant."
"But my good friend Meng Ting has always had a good relationship with Su Fengzhang. They get along very well."
"Meng Ting, is that the Meng Ting from the Hanlin Academy?" asked the Fourth Prince.
Meng Ting was an outstanding poet and had some reputation in the capital, but his official career was not very smooth. Su Fengzhang was now the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, while this one was still stuck in the Hanlin Academy and unable to move.
The Fourth Prince had never cared about such people before. After all, the Xu family had recruited too many talents for him, and Meng Ting was not very prominent among them. He was not even as good as He Tang in painting beauties to win the emperor's favor.
The Fourth Prince drummed his fingers on the table and looked up and asked, "Let Meng Ting be the host. This prince wants to talk to Su Fengzhang."
Xu Zifeng hesitated to speak, but the Fourth Prince smiled and said, "Don't worry, he is my Fifth Brother's man, and I won't make things difficult for him."
Xu Zifeng finally breathed a sigh of relief, but he still reminded him, "Su Fengzhang may seem gentle, but he's actually stubborn. It's useless for anyone to say anything about what he's decided."
The Fourth Prince nodded indifferently, but he felt in his heart that the situation was different. Su Fengzhang was unwilling to serve him, but now he has become the Fifth Prince's man. In fact, it is worse than serving him. Presumably, Su Fengzhang would be more willing to cooperate with him than the Crown Prince.
With this in mind, the Fourth Prince gave a direct order: "Go and do it quickly. I want to see him tonight."
Xu Zifeng had no choice but to agree. As expected, he went back to find Meng Ting and told him what had happened. Meng Ting frowned and said, "Brother Xu, it's not that I won't help you, but you know Brother Su's character. If by any chance he angers the Fourth Prince, wouldn't I be harming him?"
Although Meng Ting is also a member of the Xu family, he is a free and easy person. The longer he works in officialdom, the more he dislikes these things. Gradually, his relationship with Meng Ting has become worse than before.
Xu Zifeng immediately assured: "Brother Meng, don't you still believe me? Don't worry, I will never harm Brother Su."
"I'm sure you know a little about the relationship between Brother Su and the Fifth Prince. The Fifth Prince is the Fourth Prince's younger brother. Even for the sake of the Fifth Prince, the Fourth Prince wouldn't dare to go too far."
"This time, the Fourth Prince asked you to act as a matchmaker because he has something to ask. If he wanted to make things difficult, why would he go around in circles?"
Meng Ting was still hesitant: "The Fourth Prince is a prince. If he wants to ask, he can just summon him directly. Why does he need me to act as a middleman?"
Xu Zifeng had no choice but to say, "This matter cannot be told to outsiders. It is also for Brother Su's own good."
Seeing that Meng Ting was still hesitant, Xu Zifeng sighed and said, "If it weren't inconvenient for me to come forward now, I wouldn't bother you. Brother Meng, why don't you just ask Brother Su directly? I'm sure he will make the decision himself."
When Meng Ting heard this, he agreed and said, "Okay, I'll just run an errand and pass on the message."
As soon as Xu Zifeng left, Meng Ting sighed, thinking that he had known about the treacherous ways of officialdom long ago, and now it seemed that it was indeed extremely dangerous. He thought that a year ago he naively thought that he could support the Fourth Prince and gain the merit of following the Dragon, but now he no longer had such an idea.
Meng Ting even felt a little regretful about entering the officialdom, feeling that he was not as comfortable as before.
However, since he had promised Xu Zifeng what he wanted, he did not deliberately delay. He went to the Su family that day and told them everything without hiding anything.
Su Fengzhang had a cold relationship with the Xu family. Meng Ting had persuaded him many times but he did not seem to waver. He thought that this time he would return in vain. However, as soon as he opened his mouth, Su Fengzhang agreed.
This actually surprised Meng Ting, and he asked, "Brother Su, why did you agree this time?"
Su Fengzhang shook his head and smiled: "This time is different from before."
Meng Ting didn't notice any difference. If there was any difference, it was that the Fourth Prince was not as powerful as before and was instead at a disadvantage to the Crown Prince.
Su Fengzhang didn't elaborate, but instead said, "Didn't you say last time that you liked to eat the side dishes pickled by my mother? She pickled some more a few days ago. You can take some back later."
Seeing that he was unwilling to elaborate, Meng Ting did not ask any further questions and said with a smile, "Okay, thank the old lady for me."
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