Chapter 94: Wealth Brings Disaster
The Queen Mother put this matter aside for now.
When Xiao Jingheng came to greet her in the evening, she directly brought up the topic:
"The emperor has been on the throne for four years and has severely cracked down on the corruption that has plagued the previous dynasty for nearly two years. Now it has achieved some results, but I never expected that someone would hit me head on at the very edge of this crisis."
Xiao Jingheng never liked the roundabout way women talked, so he replied in a light tone,
"Your Majesty, please feel free to speak up if you have anything to say."
The Queen Mother held a string of beeswax Buddhist beads in her hand and said after a moment's silence, "How rich is Song Shicheng's family? How could the Emperor not notice it at all?"
Xiao Jingheng didn't understand why the Queen Mother suddenly mentioned Song Shicheng.
But he knew from the beginning that Song Shicheng was not clean.
In fact, it is not just him who is not clean. Among the officials of the previous dynasty, which ones can truly withstand a thorough investigation?
But this is how the state is governed.
As the saying goes, fish will not grow fat if they do not move around the pond; and if there is no profit in doing things, no one will work hard.
When Xiao Jingheng launched a crackdown before, he only arrested the most corrupt people as examples to serve as a warning to others. Other officials would naturally restrain themselves after seeing this.
But restraint does not mean no greed at all.
If everyone became an honest official, the country would be difficult to govern.
The reason why Xiao Jingheng did not touch Song Shicheng was because he knew how to restrain himself and was not too greedy.
But today the Queen Mother brought up the matter, so Xiao Jingheng had no choice but to pretend to be confused and ask,
"Why did you say that, mother?"
The Queen Mother took the incense box at hand and handed it to Xiao Jingheng.
"This golden Buddha is a gift from the emperor to me. It is extravagant and I feel uneasy using it. I wonder how much salary the Duke of the Protectorate gets every month to support his wife to burn this incense in the mansion every day?"
The Queen Mother saw Xiao Jingheng looking at the Golden Buddha for a while and wanted to ask again.
She anticipated what question Jamel Xiao would ask, so she simply answered it first.
"I know all this by chance. Today, Concubine Song was here and immediately smelled the incense burning in my palace. The girl is kind-hearted and doesn't know how valuable it is. She said this just to tell me that her stepmother and I use the same incense, hoping that I will think that we are on good terms and feel less resentful towards her stepmother."
Xiao Jingheng probably understood what the Queen Mother meant.
The Queen Mother privately felt that Bai's death was in vain and that Jiang was responsible for all of it.
Therefore, once any bad signs were discovered in Jiang, they would investigate thoroughly and show no mercy.
However, at this time, it was not easy for Xiao Jingheng to come forward to thoroughly investigate the Duke of Huguo's Mansion:
Firstly, he knew very well who Song Shicheng was secretly following. If he wanted to eliminate the person who posed the greatest threat to the court, he had to follow Song Shicheng's lead, so he couldn't alert the enemy for the time being.
Secondly, Song Shicheng is Song Zhao's father. He dotes on Song Zhao and naturally does not want to create any rift between him and the beauty because of these things.
However, he couldn't ignore the Queen Mother's face.
In a flash, Xiao Jingheng came up with a win-win solution.
Jiang was a second-rank imperial lady, a woman of honor in the imperial court.
All the ladies with royal titles were within the jurisdiction of the harem. If the empress dowager wanted to investigate anyone, she had the power to bypass the emperor and conduct a thorough investigation personally.
So Xiao Jingheng said, "I have investigated Song Shicheng and found nothing wrong, but I overlooked his legitimate wife Jiang. Since my mother thinks there is something wrong with Jiang, you can ask the Tianji Office to conduct a thorough investigation in secret. If anything is found, I will punish her severely."
The Queen Mother heard that Xiao Jingheng didn't want to get involved in the matter, so she stopped talking.
After three days,
One night, when Concubine Chen had just returned from serving Xiao Jingheng, Yingxiang brought her good news.
“My lady, the eldest son has been watching Jiang for a few days and indeed found something wrong.
Jiang claimed that she had connections and could help people with everything, big or small. Her reputation spread, and if any wealthy family in Kyoto or even in the surrounding Xicheng and Binhe areas encountered difficulties, they would ask her to help them.
And her so-called "favor" was nothing more than showing off the face of the Duke of the Protectorate. She asked someone to give her money as a tribute, and then she whispered in Song Shicheng's ear to ask him to help others.
And they were all small matters, such as disputes over farmland ownership, family property, or cases of rape and robbery that came to the government office. With his status as the Protector of the Country, he could suppress almost any matter that did not involve human life with just a word from him.
After hearing this, the Concubine Chen laughed and said, "No wonder she is so rich and powerful. She dares to reach out to a mere woman and child. I think she is tired of living!"
Yingxiang added, "The eldest son also mentioned something in his letter. When he sent people to investigate the matter these days, he found that the people from Tianji Office seemed to be investigating the matter in secret."
"Tianji?" Concubine Chen was stunned and asked in confusion, "They work for the Queen Mother. They are investigating Jiang. Could it be that the Queen Mother also thinks there is something wrong with Jiang?"
Yingxiang nodded silently, and the Concubine Chen's eyebrows immediately flew up and she laughed heartily:
"Okay, then let my brother stay away and just spread the news out in the open. We don't have to do anything ourselves. We can just do it to help the Queen Mother."
Seeing that the plan to suppress Song Zhao had taken shape, Concubine Chen was in visibly good mood.
Yingxiang took the opportunity to hand her a picture album and said with a smile:
"This is the 'Hundred Treasures Picture' that the eldest son asked someone to send to the palace. It displays the most fashionable clothing materials, cosmetics, jewelry, etc. from all over the world. The eldest son told the queen to pick out what she likes. He will have someone buy the things and send them to the palace for the queen before the spring."
The concubine raised her chin proudly, "What good stuff are there? Let me take a look."
She took the album and flipped through the pages with her soft fingers. The more she read, the happier she became, and an unstoppable smile rose at the corners of her lips.
"My brother has always loved me the most. Oh, Jiang Shi has money but no life to spend it, so I can help her."
(The ending was so funny, I died of laughter, hahahahahaha)
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