Wu Ge bowed and said, "Meng Gu Rao is a man of few ambitions, and he does not associate with officials. He also does not socialize with others, so I have no way of investigating him."
Zhao Huan was surprised: "He doesn't have any hobbies?"
Wu Ge shook his head.
"Did he embezzle anything? It's impossible for an official not to be corrupt. Even if he embezzled a few ounces of silver, they would find a reason to demote him."
"Meng Gurao was a man of integrity. Every year he gave his salary to students who failed the imperial examinations and had no money to return home. His family had long been so poor that they could barely make ends meet. Speaking of which, there's a joke."
Zhao Huan became interested: "Oh, tell me about it."
Wu Ge said, "This Meng Gu Rao is a good friend of Zhang Zeduan, the Imperial Academy attendant."
"Zhang Zeduan? The one who painted Along the River During the Qingming Festival?"
"It was this man. Zhang Zeduan and Meng Gurao had the same bad temper and few friends. Somehow they became friends. One year, near the end of the year, Zhang Zeduan visited Meng Gurao's home. Meng Gurao had no money to buy wine, so he pawned a hairpin from his wife's dowry. Furious, his wife returned to her parents' home. When Zhang Zeduan heard about this, he gave him two hundred taels of silver. Meng Gurao grabbed the silver and ran, looking back as he ran, afraid someone would snatch it from him."
"Hahaha..." Zhao Huan laughed heartily, then put away his smile: "An honest official, an honest official! This is exactly the kind of honest official our Song Dynasty needs! Now, Meng Gurao will be promoted to the Minister of Revenue, and his wife will be promoted to the first-rank imperial consort."
"Your Majesty, this Minister of Revenue is of the second rank, and his wife is of the first rank. This is enough to make Meng Gurao suffer."
"Humph! I just want to find someone to deal with this Meng Gurao."
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