Jiang Shan had goosebumps all over her body; at that moment, she seriously doubted her own gender.
No wonder Fu Qiyuan said their ability to pester people was top-notch...
"Let go! What kind of mess are you making of by pulling and tugging like this!" Jiang Shan raised her eyebrows and put on a stern face.
Zisu pouted and reluctantly let go.
Seeing the beautiful woman's pitiful and charming appearance, Jiang Shan thought for a moment and then said, "Your task is to make the guests willingly empty their pockets and let them fully enjoy the thrill of spending money like water, but you must ensure the quality of service and not let anyone complain, understand?"
Zisu nodded, bit her lip, and hesitated to speak.
"What do you want to say now?" Jiang Shan asked.
Zisu's eyes lit up. "Young Master, Young Master Jiao..."
"Shut up! Don't even think about Sanlang!" Jiang Shan said sternly.
Green Sandalwood squeezed in and said in a sweet voice, "It wasn't Young Master Jiao, it was Young Master Jiao and the others who were dancing. Would you mind..., Young Master?"
Jiang Shan closed his eyes, looking at Lü Tan biting her lip in a shy and bashful manner, and felt very tired.
The sage was right, only petty men and women are difficult to deal with... Ugh, I'm not talking about herself, but these two vixens in front of me!
In the distant capital, a rather unremarkable drama, "The Unofficial History of the Bureaucracy," has just come to an end.
Cheng Ye, the son of the former Minister of Works, was stripped of his fresh fourth-rank official position for embezzlement and bribery, and was exiled to a small place to serve as a seventh-rank county magistrate.
It's such a pity!
It should be noted that Cheng Ye had been sitting on the sidelines of the fifth rank for more than ten years. When the entire capital had almost forgotten the former glory of the Cheng family, Cheng Ye suddenly took a leap forward, advancing three ranks!
Many people spend their entire lives trying to cross these three levels, let alone in the capital.
Everyone thought the Cheng family was about to rise again. After all, they were the family of the former Crown Prince's tutor and the current Imperial Tutor. Just looking at the Buddha's face, this favor was definitely enough.
But who could have imagined it!
I barely got comfortable in that chair before I almost felt cold!
A fourth-rank official in the Ministry of Personnel, not a high-ranking official in the capital, was quite adept at accepting bribes, even if it meant losing face. He went through many twists and turns to obtain a jade Buddha statue to keep at home, which was eventually exposed.
Accepting bribes is not a big deal, but intercepting bribes that originally belonged to one's superior and using the superior's name to change the performance evaluation of local officials is going too far.
The Minister of Personnel swept his stick across the water, spilling a vat of dirty water, and shoved Cheng Ye into the filth to vent his anger.
How dare a mere censor like him shit on the head of a dignified second-rank official like me? He's asking for trouble!
If it weren't for the fact that he was the Minister of Works, he would have stripped him of his entire position without even letting Cheng Ye smell the fragrance of a sesame seed!
Cheng Mansion.
Cheng Ye, who was over forty years old, knelt on the ground, hugged his father's legs, and cried his eyes out, refusing to go to that poor and remote place to become a county magistrate.
Cheng Mu stood with his hands behind his back in front of the ancestral hall, looking at the portrait hanging directly above him, his eyes as calm as still water.
"Father, you must help your son! I'm not going to live!" Cheng Ye wailed.
"How can I help you? I'm just a commoner, retired for many years, and I've almost forgotten which way the Ministry of Personnel's doors face. How can I possibly help you?" Cheng Mu asked calmly, without moving an inch.
Cheng Ye crawled from behind to his father's front, not even bothering to wipe away his snot bubbles, and cried out, "Please beg Fu Ting! Only he can help me! If he puts a word to the Emperor, I won't have to leave the capital!"
Cheng Mu finally looked down at his son, paused for a moment, and asked without much emotion, "Since your second uncle left the capital, has Fu Ting ever visited our residence? What grounds do you expect me to have to ask him for help? Father-in-law? Have you seen a father-in-law and son-in-law you haven't spoken to in over ten years? Benefactor? Are you sure he's not an enemy?"
Cheng Ye's body slumped down inch by inch. He wiped the snot, bubbles, and tears from his face haphazardly, and said with a mixture of despair and resentment, "I'll go beg my sister! If it weren't for her, our Cheng family wouldn't have fallen to this state! I'm her brother, the only heir of the Cheng family, and she dares to stand by and watch us die!"
The door was pushed open with a hiss, and Old Madam Cheng walked in, supported by her maid.
Her face was ashen, as if covered in frost. She walked up to Cheng Ye and said sternly, "Stand up!"
"Mother...!" Cheng Ye murmured, standing up tearfully.
Grandma Cheng ignored her son and watched Cheng Mu's retreating figure, swallowing hard. "Master... is there really no other way?"
Cheng Mu slowly turned around, his gaze sweeping over his wife's pale, distressed face, and he sighed inwardly.
He once valued his wife and did not look down on her because of her humble origins. They were once deeply in love and trusted each other implicitly. However, she was so selfish that she drove the second branch of the Cheng family to ruin and death for the sake of their daughter. She also drove the most promising second brother of the Cheng family to the brink of despair and pushed the Cheng family into the eye of the storm, causing it to never recover.
In order to preserve his family's lineage, he withdrew from officialdom early in his prime, thinking that he could make amends, but he never expected...
Under the doctor's gaze, Old Mrs. Cheng's face grew paler and paler. She turned around in a panic, closed her eyes, and a single, cloudy tear slowly slid down her cheek.
“I know you’ve been resenting me all these years. Ke Lan’er and Ye’er are my only children. I just wanted her to marry the man she loved. I never thought my second brother’s family would be so resolute. I thought…”
"Have you never regretted it all these years?" Cheng Mu interrupted Old Madam Cheng, a hint of pity in his eyes.
"Your shrewd and skillful methods are more than enough to make you a qualified matriarch of the Cheng family, but you are still not satisfied. You use these usual tricks on your second brother, his wife, and Mei'er, forcing them to swallow their anger and not even dare to utter a word in front of their elder brother!"
"Fu Ting only granted your wish because he was afraid of harming the innocent. But with Mei'er running away from home, with your younger brother and sister-in-law dying in sorrow, with your second brother resigning from his official post and going into seclusion, and with the emperor's wrath, you panicked and became afraid, and that's why you endured it."
"Look, you've endured this for over ten years. How could someone without some cunning and resourcefulness have endured it? You had many choices back then, but you chose the most radical and ruthless approach. Where do you place the Cheng family in all this!"
Cheng Mu's words were like the sharpest knife in the world, cutting into Old Mrs. Cheng's body with pain.
She trembled all over, shaking her head desperately in shock and pain, "No, I didn't, it's not like that... Master, please let me explain, I know I was wrong, I shouldn't have done it for Lan'er..."
"Don't use the child as an excuse!" A hint of disgust flashed in Cheng Mu's eyes. "You want to firmly control the Cheng family's power, but you're worried that your second brother's high reputation will affect your position as the matriarch. Therefore, you didn't hesitate to trample on the Cheng family's future and push Lan'er to the position of the Minister's wife. For your own selfish interests, you disregard the future and destiny of my Cheng family. You are the most ruthless and selfish woman in the world. I, Cheng Mu, have been blind in my life, and my family has suffered misfortune. This is my retribution, and I accept it!"
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