Chapter 293 294. Lei Zhouzhou enters the palace?
Undercurrents were surging in Kyoto, and various families were constantly making small moves, which made Emperor Wanqi Xia very interested in the marriage between the Duke of Suguo and the Marquis of Changning.
To be honest, probably no one would believe it.
The emperor was not originally that concerned about whether the two families of dukes and marquises would marry. He was wary, but not much, and there was no need for that.
The Lin family of the Duke of Suguo's Mansion has always been prudent and self-protective. They never took sides in the battles between princes of all dynasties. They did not care about legitimacy or illegality, legitimacy or regicide, and they supported whoever became the emperor.
Three generations of a family are loyal ministers who are very careful about their reputation. They do their job and do not care about other trivial matters. They are clueless about major issues.
Although Duke Suguo looked serious and righteous, whenever there was a quarrel or a fight in the court, he would stand far away, not helping anyone or trying to stop the fight, but just watching.
And the Changning Marquis Mansion...
Lei Li arrives at work on time every day. He never comes in a second early. He packs up and prepares to leave work a quarter of an hour early in the afternoon. He is the first one to step out of the door of the transportation department when the time comes. As soon as the employees get up, he is already on the carriage.
I don't get any extra overtime, and I get my salary in full. I have no problem asking the Ministry of Revenue for money. Want to ask them for help? Sorry, that's not within their responsibilities. Please go through the application process yourself.
Lei Li submitted the least memorials to the emperor. He only had a fixed performance report every month, which was full of work content and performance. The only two sentences of greetings and polishing were still written according to etiquette.
——Similar to how modern letters start with “Dear xx”, “Dear xx”, “How are you”, and end with “Best regards”, “Have a nice life”.
Lei Li was too lazy to write memorials, so Zhou Yi wrote almost all of them. Zhou Yi also did a lot of his work, especially when there was too much work and he had to work overtime. The people who got off the carriage from the Marquis of Changning's mansion were Marquis Changning and his wife.
Zhou Yi was writing furiously at his desk, and Lei Li still had time to peel an orange for himself.
If the Transportation Department is extremely busy during holidays and all the officials in the department are busy running around, Lei Li will try to steal people from other departments.
The Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Rites and the Hanlin Academy suffered greatly.
The Ministry of Revenue deals with money, and everyone in it is a top science student and very good at math. The Ministry of Rites is responsible for palace and court etiquette, and is most familiar with precious items such as silk, pearls and jade, and is very good at counting goods and identifying their authenticity.
The Hanlin Academy has a group of top scorers, second place scorers, and third place scorers. At the very least, they are Jinshi. Regardless of their literary talent, they are very fast and neat in copying books, making them perfect for storage and retrieval.
When Lei Li saw that his department was busy, he went to these three departments to trick people into helping him. Afterwards, he treated them to a meal and gave them small gifts. The small officials who were tricked were very grateful and felt that the Marquis of Changning was very kind and nice.
During the busiest period of the New Year, the Transport Department was short of escorts, and Lei Li wanted to pry some people from the Ministry of War to help. The Minister of War was like a stubborn donkey and refused to give him any help. Lei Li then wrote a memorial to the emperor, crying out to him and asking him to transfer people from the Ministry of War to him.
The ship of the Transport Department was old and broken, and the application for funds from the Ministry of Revenue was rejected. Without money to repair it, Lei Li went to the Ministry of Works to pry people over and tricked the Minister of Works into repairing the ship and the river for him. After the repairs were completed, he ran to the Ministry of Revenue to ask for money, and said righteously that he would give money to the workers and officials of the Ministry of Works.
The Minister of Revenue, Duke Suguo, who was executed first and reported later: "..."
If you have the guts, why don't you use your own money? The Ministry of Transport is the richest among the seven ministries, so why is it always asking the Ministry of Revenue for money? The money the Ministry of Revenue manages is all from the national treasury!
Why?
Why use his own money when he can use the company's money? Why use his own money when he can use the court's money? This ship belongs to the court, not to him personally, so why should he use his money?
Although the Changning Marquisate is already wealthy, it is impossible to spend one's own money to run the household business!
This is the bottom line!
Lei Li was quite confident. If the Ministry of Revenue did not give him money, he would write a memorial to complain to the emperor.
When it was the turn of other departments to use the Transportation and Logistics Department, if they had a good relationship with the department, Lei Li would speed up the process and approve it with just a wave of his hand. If they had a bad relationship with the department, he couldn't say that they were deliberately delaying it, it was just that government affairs were just so slow.
Slow work produces fine results. Don't be impatient. Don't be impatient.
Lei Li is unwilling to do more work, and he doesn't want to attend more banquets. Will he join forces with the Duke of Suguo's Mansion to control the court?
He wanted to retire and return home more realistically.
However, it was quite interesting to see his aunt Princess Henghuan put on such a big show for the Duke Su's Mansion, even including the scene of shooting her son.
Sometimes the emperor would deliberately add some extra material and chaos to make the show more interesting, and by the way, drag those stubborn old family relatives into the melee to prevent them from always staring at his harem and persuading him to choose concubines to expand his family.
Instead of persuading him to expand his harem and have children, it would be better to find some magic elixir that can make men have children and let the queen give birth. If he is happy, he might even promote them.
The emperor sneered.
While Kyoto was in turmoil, Lin Zhong and Lei Zhouzhou had been engaged for two years.
That year, Lei Zhouzhou was eighteen years old. In two years, he would be twenty, which would make him an older man among the unmarried noble ladies and gentlemen in Kyoto. However, he still rode his horse through the streets, not looking "mature and steady" at all, and not like a man waiting to get married.
Lin Zhong is twenty years old, already at the age of coming of age, with the courtesy name Chongzhou. He has been serving as the emperor's imperial guard for nearly two years. Although he is only a sixth-rank official, he has great potential. He is a close minister of the emperor and is just a stone's throw away from the center of power.
Whenever Lin Zhong had time, he would go to the Changning Marquis Mansion to find Lei Zhouzhou. The two of them would travel together and were inseparable. They looked like a couple who were in love and inseparable.
But when it comes to the wedding date, one said he didn't know yet, and the other said he would listen to Zhou Zhou and there was no rush. Even Xu Sanlang and Shu Ge'er were confused and didn't understand whether they really wanted to get married.
The Marquis of Changning's Mansion and the Duke of Su's Mansion were as quiet as ever, with no sign of planning a wedding. The Marquis of Changning's Mansion was preparing Lei Zhouzhou's dowry, but the pace was so slow that it felt like it would take several years.
The rival families who had been constantly trying to sabotage the marriage gradually calmed down and waited and watched the two families.
During this period of waiting, the wedding of the Duke and the Marquis was not held, and Lei Zhouzhou entered the palace.
Of course, it’s not about entering the harem and becoming a favorite concubine.
He became the emperor's personal guard.
Everyone in Kyoto: "???"
My first reaction was that it was ridiculous. How could a boy be a royal guard?
Even though Lei Zhouzhou was born in the Changning Marquisate and had a prominent status, and was over eighteen years old and qualified to be a royal guard, he was a boy!
How many young men from aristocratic families have fought so hard to get one, and now you give it to them for a boy?
Is the emperor crazy?
This was their second reaction, and then their logic became self-consistent.
Could it be that the emperor fell in love with Lei Zhouzhou, but because the Duke Su's Mansion and the Marquis Changning's Mansion were engaged, the emperor couldn't just come forward to pick him up and bring him into the palace, so he used the excuse of making him a royal guard?
This explains why the Duke's Mansion and the Marquis' Mansion have been delaying their weddings, because the emperor is forcing them not to do so.
Why was the emperor unwilling to choose a concubine? Because he already had a favorite candidate and was just waiting for the hype of the marriage between the two families to pass before bringing her into the palace.
Lei Zhouzhou was born with a good appearance, handsome and beautiful yet heroic, with a dashing figure and high spirits. When he rode through the city in a red robe, he attracted countless girls and boys to fall in love with him.
Looking closely, she really does look a bit like the current queen and General Xiang when they were young.
It is estimated that the empress is old and ugly, and the emperor is tired of her. When he saw the young and beautiful Lei Zhouzhou, he was attracted by her beauty, or the emperor only likes this type of woman.
Rumors spread throughout the capital.
The Changning Marquis Mansion heard the rumor: "???"
Lei Li was speechless. "I just mentioned it to the Emperor, and it got spread like this."
Lin Zhong came to the palace to serve as an imperial guard more than a year ago. He had to be on duty in the palace, and only when he was on duty could he leave the palace to see Lei Zhouzhou and date him.
We have one day off every month, so we can only see each other three times a month.
Before, Lin Zhong and Lei Zhouzhou always met and dated, and their fathers Lei Li and Zhou Yi were a little uncomfortable with it. It would be strange if they could tolerate someone kidnapping their own brother.
But when Lin Zhong didn't come for a long time, Lei Zhouzhou missed him. Once, he was out of energy for several days in a row. He didn't go out to ride the horse, and he didn't go out to play when his friends invited him.
Lei Li and Zhou Zhou immediately felt as if they were facing a great enemy, fearing that Lei Zhou Zhou was pregnant. They quickly asked a doctor to come to their house to take her pulse. Fortunately, it was a false alarm. It was just the hot weather and bad mood that caused her to be temporarily depressed.
This year, when Lei Li saw that Lei Zhouzhou had reached the age to enter the palace, he urged the emperor to let his own Zhouzhou come in to work through the back door.
He said that it would be so pitiful for the young couple to be separated and unable to see each other, so why not let Zhou Zhou come to work in the palace and let them have an office romance.
The emperor asked what an office romance was. After hearing the explanation, he found it quite interesting. Since he was a person who loved to watch the fun, he approved it.
It's so tortuous and dirty at all.
When Lin Zhong saw Lei Zhouzhou while on duty that day, he thought he was hallucinating because he missed Zhouzhou too much and was still half asleep.
Since he was not allowed to talk while on duty, he just kept staring at Lei Zhouzhou. It was not until the captain of the guards could not help but remind him that Lin Zhong restrained himself and started to stare at him out of the corner of his eyes.
Finally, the shift changed.
Lin Zhong lifted his foot and walked towards Lei Zhouzhou, staring at him with his eyes as he walked. When he heard his voice, he felt a little dazed for a moment, fearing that he was really dreaming and would not see Zhouzhou when he woke up.
"What are you thinking about?"
Lei Zhouzhou was dressed in a guard uniform, looking handsome and tall, like a pine tree in the snow. He was so handsome that people couldn't take their eyes off him. Even Lin Zhong was stunned by his sight.
"Zhou, Zhou Zhou!"
Lin Zhong was surprised and happy, he couldn't help but smile even though he pursed his lips. He raised his hand and wanted to touch Lei Zhouzhou's face to confirm if it was him. However, in public and in the palace, he had to avoid suspicion according to etiquette.
She withdrew her hand regretfully, and her light-colored eyes glared at him intently.
"Why are you here?"
"I have also become a royal guard."
Lei Zhouzhou said, "Daddy asked the emperor to approve this, so we can go to get off work together from now on. But I'm your brother, so I don't live with you, it's farther away..."
“Not far.”
Lin Zhong said subconsciously, "No matter how far it is, it's not far as long as I can see you."
"Zhou Zhou, I'm so happy to see you."
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