Chapter 1090 The loyal maid promoted to concubine (10)
Shi Chu had been receiving treatment for the scar on her face since she escaped from the Marquis of Anding's Mansion. However, in order not to attract other people's attention, she had been controlling the speed of recovery. She covered her face with gauze when buying houses and selling buns, leaving only a faint mark on her exposed forehead, so it would not scare others. When others asked her about it, she said that the birthmark on her face was not good-looking, and then others were too embarrassed to continue asking.
While selling buns, she had been paying attention to the situation in the Marquis of Anding's Mansion. It was still the same old story, with the old lady urging the Crown Prince's wife to have children and to take a concubine for the Crown Prince, while the Marquis of Anding and the Crown Prince Zhang Qishan still looked like loyal ministers who were conscientiously doing their jobs for the Emperor.
But Shi Chu knew that in the original world's plot, Zhang Qishan was not just a loyal minister to the emperor. He had already secretly served the Fourth Prince and helped the Fourth Prince a lot by taking advantage of his position.
This was also the reason why he had a smooth career and held a high position of power in the following decades, because he had guessed the candidate for the next emperor and made great efforts to help the future emperor in the fight for the throne. He had the merit of following the dragon, so after the new emperor came to the throne, he naturally became the new emperor's trusted minister.
Shi Chu thought that he might as well expose his ambition as early as possible. The emperor is only in his forties and in good health. He is in his prime, and he would not want to see his son hoping for his death and fighting for his position.
In the original world's plot, Zhang Qishan and the new emperor hid deeply and for a long time, and never revealed any ambitions in front of the current emperor. This dispelled the emperor's vigilance, and finally he won the throne by pretending to be a pig and eating a tiger without any threat.
Now, if the emperor knew that his fourth son, who seemed ordinary and accomplished nothing, was actually more capable than any other prince, and that Zhang Qishan had already served the fourth prince a long time ago, what would the emperor think?
He would be very angry and disappointed with his son, and annoyed that his son had started to plot for his position so early, but deep down he was unwilling to admit that his son was so unfilial, so he naturally blamed others, thinking that it must be the malicious ministers around his son who led his son astray, and it was all the fault of those treacherous ministers!
As a capable and trusted official of the Fourth Prince, isn't Zhang Qishan a person who has bad intentions and is corrupting the Fourth Prince? If the Emperor doesn't vent his anger on him, who else will he vent his anger on?
It just so happened that Shi Chu got a piece of news from the original world's plot that the fourth prince had a gold mine in Liangcheng in the northwest, but he did not inform the court, but secretly took it for himself. After all, fighting for the throne requires a lot of money.
The person who managed the gold mine for him was his confidant Zhang Qishan.
This was a huge handle that could make Zhang Qishan fall flat on his face. If he wasn't careful, his title and property would be confiscated at the very least, but he could also be beheaded and his entire family exterminated.
So Shi Chu did not hesitate to write anonymous letters and tell the matter to the Fourth Prince's mortal enemies, the First Prince, the Second Prince, the Third Prince and the Fifth Prince, all of his brothers who were enemies of his. In this way, he would not have to worry about which prince would use this handle to force the Fourth Prince to give up his interests, instead of suppressing it and allowing the Fourth Prince and Zhang Qishan to escape.
What's even more damaging is that Shi Chu also told the news to Wang Yushi, the most ruthless official in the court. Wang Yushi was a truly loyal minister. If any minister did something bad, he would scold them harshly. Anyone who was targeted by him would be skinned alive if not killed.
After telling the secret of Zhang Qishan and his master behind the scenes, Shi Chu was in a good mood. Although this matter would not explode all at once, it had already planted a bomb for both of them, which would explode sooner or later.
It is never too late for a gentleman to take revenge. Shi Chu was not in a hurry. It would be better to wait until Gui Yun gave birth to her child and the matter broke out at the happiest time of her life. Then, she would be at the peak of her life and the starting point of her falling into the abyss. Only then would she feel relieved.
As for the innocent child? Alas, who made him the child of Gui Yunlai and Zhang Qishan? In the original world, he was born as a golden baby in the Anding Marquis's mansion, enjoying all the splendor and wealth. It makes no sense that he can't live with his parents in this life? Isn't this despising the poor and loving the rich? If he wants to blame someone, he can only blame his parents.
This period of time was when students took part in the provincial examinations. At first, even those selling buns on the street felt the unusually tense atmosphere. There were many more soldiers patrolling the streets, and some gangsters became much more well-behaved.
But this has nothing to do with Shi Chu, and she is not going to take the exam to become a scholar.
That day, she finished selling the buns early, went home and took a nap for an hour, then started preparing the ingredients for making buns the next day. She found that she didn’t have enough flour, so she went to the street to buy some.
When she was walking home with a big bag of flour on her back, she suddenly found that the street was much more lively. She listened for a while and found out that the provincial examination had just ended today and the students had just come out of the examination room, which was why it was so noisy.
She just listened a few times and then went home as if it had nothing to do with her.
However, as soon as she reached the entrance of Wutong Lane where her home was, she saw a person lying on the ground.
She walked over and saw that it was an acquaintance, a scholar who often bought buns from her bun stall, and also her neighbor Zhu Yanli. Didn't Zhu Yanli go to take the exam for the scholar? Why did he faint here?
Shi Chuyi slapped his head and felt that he was confused. Zhu Yanli had obviously just returned from the exam, but he didn't expect that he fainted on the road before he even got home.
"My body is so weak," Shi Chu sighed. She wanted to ignore the scholar, but she waited here for a while and no one passed by. She couldn't leave the scholar to someone else, so she had to angrily throw away the flour on her back and help the unfortunate scholar up.
Shi Chu helped Zhu Yanli to lean against the wall of someone else's house on the roadside, felt his pulse and found that he was weak and had fainted due to excessive exhaustion. Shi Chu glanced at his thin body and knew that if he didn't pay attention to his health, he would be like Jia Zhu in Dream of the Red Chamber and die in the exam again.
But he was even more miserable than Jia Zhu. At least Jia Zhu's family had money and precious medicinal herbs to nourish his body. But Zhu Yanli's family was extremely poor and he could hardly fill his stomach. Where did he get the money to nourish his body?
Shi Chu seemed to be able to foresee his end, either death from exhaustion or starvation.
They were going to die anyway, and for a moment Shi Chu wanted to just leave him here and not save him. He wouldn't live long anyway even if she saved him, so why would she waste her efforts?
However, it is not known whether Zhu Yanli knew about Shi Chu's unscrupulous plan. When Shi Chu was hesitating, he groaned and opened his eyes.
(End of this chapter)
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