Since he had already decided to show up in court, Zhao Shouzheng naturally had no reason to stay in... oh no, hide in the Princess's Mansion.

That night, he said goodbye to the reluctant young master and quietly returned home under the cover of darkness.

Mr. Zhao thought that he would be severely scolded by the old man as soon as he got home.

To his great surprise, his father had actually left the capital in the afternoon and was almost in Tongzhou by now.

"Haha, your grandpa doesn't even wait for me. Wouldn't it be nice if you could just meet him before leaving?" Zhao Shouzheng immediately relaxed.

"Grandpa said that he was bored of staying in the capital and wanted to climb Mount Tai." Zhao Hao thought to himself that the old man was mainly afraid that he would accidentally kill you and cause a human tragedy.

"Oh, what a pity." Zhao Shouzheng sighed and said, "I wanted to talk to him about Ning An's situation. So many years have passed, why can't he be calm and peaceful?"

“You should ask yourself that.”

"How should I know?" Zhao Shouzheng was also puzzled. "Back then, I was knocked unconscious by your grandfather and was directly taken back to my hometown. I had no way of knowing what happened in Beijing. I also asked your godmother recently, but she said that she just had a quarrel with the old man."

"Just this little thing," Zhao Hao said in surprise, "The old man has been holding a grudge for so many years?"

"Ah, the old man is too angry..." Zhao Shouzheng said in frustration, "Ning An is so kind. She was only fifteen or sixteen years old at the time. What could she do to him? Could they tie the old man to a rock and throw him into the Houhai Lake?"

"That's impossible." Zhao Hao couldn't help but shake his head. Yes, his godmother was so gentle, kind and gentle.

He actually asked the old man what the feud between him and the eldest princess was and why he kept calling her a "vicious woman"?

Zhao Liben's answer was: "Don't ask. If you ask, it's just a deep hatred!"

Hey, why does this sound so familiar?

"Dad, go to bed early. Tomorrow will be very tiring." Forget it, as long as my godmother is nice to me, I don't care what happens between her and the old man.

"Son, son, do we need to adjust the three golden sentences tomorrow?" Upon hearing this, Zhao Shouzheng finally became worried about tomorrow's court meeting.

"Three golden sentences?" A hint of confusion flashed across Zhao Hao's eyes.

As we all know, Mr. Zhao's memory of this world is at the level of Xiwa...

"That is... 'I am concentrating on my studies and not taking care of worldly affairs. My son is in charge of all the family affairs, so I am not aware of them.'" Zhao Shouzheng still remembered it clearly and quickly reminded him:

"And 'I can't answer this question right now. I'll go back and investigate and then get back to you.' 'If you can't produce evidence, I'll sue you for false accusation.'"

"Oh." Zhao Hao suddenly realized and patted his forehead and said, "Of course it needs to be modified."

"Then what should we change it to?" Zhao Shouzheng looked at Zhao Hao eagerly. The effect last time was so good that he became very superstitious about these 'three golden sentences'.

Zhao Hao thought for a moment and then said with a smile:

"Change it to... 'If you want to accuse someone of something, you can always find a pretext for it', 'I have no comment', 'Show me the evidence'."

"Uh, is it so easy this time?" Zhao Shouzheng felt a little unsure. "Can your father pass it?"

"Father, there are no such things as the three golden sentences." Zhao Hao smiled bitterly and said honestly, "That day was just a delaying tactic."

As he said this, he looked deeply at Zhao Shouzheng and said sternly, "But tomorrow will be the final trial. Father can only face it bravely and not be led by the nose."

"Son, haven't you and Ning An finally settled the matter?" Zhao Shouzheng felt a little uneasy.

"I can only say that my godmother and I have tried our best." Zhao Hao spread his hands and said, "But the ministers and vice ministers of various ministries, the censors of the Censorate, and those dukes and marquises are not to be manipulated by others."

"That's right..." Zhao Shouzheng was completely dispirited. He thought that his son and the eldest princess would be able to handle the situation.

It wasn't to scare Mr. Zhao, but when the time came, Zhao Hao was genuinely nervous.

Except for the Grand Secretaries of the Cabinet who do not participate in the court meeting as usual, almost all the top bureaucrats of the court will be present tomorrow.

Whoever can control them can dominate the government.

Zhao Hao didn't think he had the ability. In fact, he couldn't even meet those big shots.

We can only hope that the power of capital can create a miracle...

~~

As a result, that night, Zhao Shouzheng, who had an excellent sleep quality, suffered from insomnia for the first time.

He tossed and turned on the kang for half the night, making pancakes. When daybreak finally came, he quickly got up and ran to the East Courtyard to burn incense and kowtow to Taizu.

After staying with Taizu for a long time, Zhao Shouzheng was still uneasy when he came back, so Zhao Hao advised him:

"Don't worry, father. The garden in Xiaocangshan is almost finished. At worst, we can go back and spend our remaining years in peace."

"That's true. Anyway, the money my father and son earn will last us a lifetime." Mr. Zhao smiled immediately, then said with a bitter face, "But what if we get beaten?"

"Don't worry about that. Eunuch Feng is the vice chairman of our Supervisory Board. I have already informed him and he will show mercy." Zhao Hao comforted him again, thinking that at most he would just get some skin and flesh torn.

"Oh, you should have told me earlier. You kept me awake all night." Mr. Zhao was indeed easy to coax. He immediately put his worries aside, dressed himself easily, and even ate an extra breakfast.

Before getting into the sedan, he suddenly remembered something and asked Zhao Hao, "Do you want to put a piece of thick leather under your buttocks?"

"No need. Let's beat him now with our pants taken off." Zhao Hao pushed his head into the sedan chair and followed him out of Chunsong Hutong in the carriage.

~~

On West Chang'an Street, Xu Fan also went out in a sedan chair.

Although he has retired, as a victim today, he still has to participate in the court meeting.

The Xu Mansion is next to the West Garden, and in the blink of an eye you can reach You'anmen.

Here, he had to get off the sedan chair.

The bearers carried the sedan chair for less than a mile in total, and they hadn't even stretched their bodies.

This is the kind of pomp and circumstance that people want. If you are no longer an official, you have to be more particular.

Well, actually, the young cabinet minister has always been a person of particularities.

Several censors who were attending the court meeting today had been waiting at You'an Gate for a long time. When they saw the young minister getting off the sedan chair, they hurried over to greet him.

After the greetings, several people surrounded Xu Fan and walked into You'an Gate and headed towards Chengtian Gate.

"Your Majesty is really making a mountain out of a molehill. He's just a sixth-rank editor, but you can just let the Dali Temple make the judgment. Why does it have to be discussed in the court?" said an imperial censor angrily.

"It's good to have a discussion with him. Let him feel what it's like to be despised by the whole court! I guarantee he will never forget it."

"There shouldn't be any changes, right?" asked an imperial censor named Zhu Wenke.

"What changes can there be?" Xu Fan took on the airs of a young cabinet minister for the last time, looking down at Censor Zhu and saying, "Today's court meeting has a total of thirty-three votes. Seven of the nine ministers are our own people, and eight of the twelve assistant ministers and deputy censors were promoted by my father. Add the five of you. You are our own people, accounting for twenty votes."

"Even if the others don't vote for me, we can still win!" Xu Fan said with a sneer: "Tell me, what variables can there be?!"

ps. Second update. It's the end of the month, please give me monthly tickets and recommendation tickets~~~