The Eighth Prince's wife's angry remark caused a huge mess.
These failed students were indeed powerless and without influence, but some of their friends were among those who had passed the imperial examinations. Not to mention, some of them came from prestigious families, so it was a case of "beating the young and bringing in the old."
The Prefect of Jingzhao spent countless efforts to suppress the matter. He counted the silver sent from the Eighth Prince's residence, wiped the sweat from his brow, and felt cheated. He would have to make sure to show off his merits when he saw the Eighth Prince next time.
The people in the prison were released, but the rumors did not dissipate.
These students are the easiest to incite and buy off, so Eighth Master came up with an idea: to spend a little money to gain a great reputation.
But things always have two sides; it's easy to be swayed by them and easy to be led by the nose by others.
Just as the students' support for the Eighth Prince was so powerful a few days ago, the current attacks on him are equally alarming.
Why treat students differently? Those who pass receive twenty taels, while those who fail receive fifteen. What's the basis for this?!
No one knows the truth; it just got twisted into this interpretation over time.
Just then, Rong Haibin made a dazzling appearance. He had overheard the price of twenty or fifteen taels in the teahouse and gave a disdainful smile.
His friend sitting next to him was equally dismissive: "Haibin also finds it laughable, doesn't he? Do we scholars care about a mere few dozen taels of silver?"
“That’s right, it should cost at least ten thousand taels,” Rong Haibin said loudly.
"Yes, as expected of Brother Rong." The friend wanted to add more comments, but then realized something was wrong. "What did you say?"
"It seems that with the Emperor in charge in the capital, even the Eighth Prince only dares to do these small-scale things," Rong Haibin said smugly. "Where we come from, this is the starting point."
"Ten taels?"
"Are you crazy? One hundred taels."
"Of course, I am an exceptionally outstanding exception, and I deserve this number."
The friend paused for a moment: "One thousand taels?"
"No, ten thousand taels, hahaha."
Rong Haibin's last laugh was incredibly loud, because the surrounding students all fell silent; ten thousand taels was no small sum for anyone.
"Moreover, these are all secondary. The most important thing is that the Eighth Prince's wife promised me an official position."
His friend looked him up and down and said, "Are you kidding me? This is a serious crime. Who would dare to do it so openly?"
“Who is our Eighth Prince’s wife? The Eighth Prince is in charge of the Imperial Household Department, the Emperor’s purse. He can handle most of the affairs of the world with just a little bit of his money.”
“The newly appointed scribe in the Imperial Court, the one who walks very slowly,” Rong Haibin began to reveal again. “He is actually lame and has a physical ailment that prevents him from serving in the Imperial Court. The fact that he is able to hold his official position so well is all thanks to the Eighth Prince’s good influence.”
"Huh???" The friend was dumbfounded, seeing that the entire teahouse had fallen silent, only listening to their conversation.
"Brother Rong, I just remembered I have something to take care of at home, so I'll be leaving now." His friend thought he was going crazy.
"I'm drunk, give me a ride." Rong Haibin stretched out his hand, gesturing for his friend to help him up.
"Are you drunk?" His friend didn't believe him. The man's eyes were clear, and he didn't smell of alcohol at all. Most importantly, this was a teahouse, and they didn't serve alcohol.
"That's right, I'm just drunk on tea. I was just talking nonsense. Don't take it seriously. Hahaha!" After laughing, Rong Haibin staggered out of the teahouse, leaning on his friend.
The next day, a box was piled high with memorials impeaching the Eighth Prince and his wife. Kangxi flipped through several of them and they were all very similar.
He stopped looking and gestured for Liang Jiugong to take it away: "Investigate the Imperial Household Department thoroughly."
The eighth brother likes to make friends with students, which isn't a big problem, but if he dares to turn his father's money bag into his own, then he's courting death.
On the surface, Prince Cheng was investigating a case of cheating in the imperial examinations, but in reality, Emperor Kangxi was investigating a case of corruption within the Imperial Household Department.
At the same time, that scribe was replaced immediately.
I thought he was calm and collected, but it turns out he's lame.
Eighth Prince's Residence
“Madam, this Rong Haibin insists that he has seen you and gave you a large sum of money, and even your jewelry. I believe you really didn’t do these things. Think about who could have gotten your headdress.”
“I remember that butterfly-shaped one. I lost it a long time ago, and I was sad about it for several days. It was a gift from my mother, Guo Luo, and the design was very unique.”
The Eighth Prince's wife pondered the matter but still couldn't understand why things had taken such a dramatic turn in just a few days, or what Rong Haibin's background was.
“The key point is that this person said we give all the students in their county a starting price of one hundred taels of silver.” The Eighth Prince analyzed, “The person behind the scenes has spent a lot of money to build momentum for us, all for today.”
"It was my carelessness, Your Highness." The Eighth Prince reflected on himself. "Before, I felt that Rong Haibin was supporting me with great fanfare, which seemed a bit suspicious. So I checked the gatekeeper's records and found that he was among the people who took twenty taels from us. I thought he was a kind-hearted person."
"So what do we do now? Father Emperor hasn't made a statement yet, and Third Brother keeps coming here. Yesterday I heard him say he wanted to confiscate our property."
"He wouldn't dare!" His noble prince's residence was suspected of taking things from the palace and had its property confiscated. He might as well just slit his own throat.
“However, we need to check it ourselves behind closed doors.” The Eighth Prince seemed thoughtful, worried that someone might have added something to their residence.
"Alright, it's getting late today, and it wouldn't look good to be openly brazen. Tomorrow at daybreak, I'll lead my men to quietly search every room in the mansion."
"Thank you for your hard work, Madam." The Eighth Prince patted Madam's hand.
"It's all my fault that these people took advantage of the situation," the Eighth Prince's wife apologized profusely.
"It was my oversight that you stepped forward. It was indeed inappropriate for you to do it. We'll choose someone else properly in the future."
This means that the Eighth Prince's wife is not allowed to get involved in this matter.
The Eighth Prince's wife's face stiffened. She really enjoyed the opportunity to show her face in public, as it gave her a sense of control.
"Alright, let's rest. We'll talk about it tomorrow."
The Eighth Prince's wife happily helped him to bed, but suddenly felt a pang of bitterness: "This month, the prince has only come to see me twice. If it weren't for this incident, I don't know where you would be keeping me company!"
“This is jealousy.” The Eighth Prince put his arm around her. “I told you before, although these people were sent by the Consort, it was Father Emperor who requested them. I can’t just sit idly by and do nothing about them.”
“I understand the reasoning, but my lord, I feel so sad here.” The Eighth Prince’s wife placed the Eighth Prince’s hand on her chest, her face full of sincerity.
"Does it hurt here? Let me rub it for you." As they talked, the two of them huddled together.
While the two were deeply in love, a feast was being held at the Fourth Prince's residence, and they were having hot pot.
Ninth Master joked, "Once Thirteen comes back, we're all like we were adopted, only fit to eat hot pot."
"Even food can't shut you up. Your fourth sister-in-law and I can't have those lamb skewers anymore, so give them all to Liu Liu."
"Oh dear, Liu Liu has pimples, so the younger brother should take care of her."
Ninth Master smiled broadly, but then sighed as he thought about Eighth Brother's situation. After all, they were once good brothers, and he felt a mix of emotions when he made up his mind to do this.
The three brothers can never go back to the way things were.
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