The First Auxiliary Road from the Imperial Examination

Sheng Yuan excitedly went to the place where the confrontation took place as mentioned by the official, only to find that the place was deserted and only a pile of dust was left. He was immediately disappointed and sighed continuously.

  Aren’t these two people so efficient? !

Even the confrontation was so quick?!

Shaking his head helplessly, Minister Sheng, who had come in a hurry, puffed out his cheeks and patted his mount, which was snorting and stamping its hooves, intending to pull the rope and go back.

When the subordinates saw that their assistant minister was not in high spirits, they knew that the minister did not appreciate the fun and immediately backed out.

It was he who came up with the idea of ​​watching the fun, and it was naturally related to him that Shangguan made a wasted trip. Although Sheng Yuan was emotionally stable and never took her anger out on anyone, as a subordinate, he still wanted her to calm down.

"Eh?! Do you have something to report?!" Unfortunately, Sheng Yuan saw him.

Seeing that there was no way to retreat, the official could only walk over holding Minister An's reply letter.

"Well, since the Shangshu has agreed, you go to the Office of the Secretary to finalize this matter. Remember to go to the file room to log in." Sheng Yuan glanced at An Suiyun's reply, and immediately, an expression of "as expected, he agreed" appeared on his face.

When the official heard that Sheng Yuan was going to arrange a task for him, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief, responded quickly, and went to arrange it with the reply letter.

But just as he walked away, the Minister An Suiyun, who had just been mentioned, came over in person.

"Wenzhen, hurry up and go to the palace with me!"

"Yes!" Although Sheng Yuan was surprised, he did not delay at all. He quickly put the tablet into his pocket and followed.

Fortunately, Minister An was still so reliable. As soon as he entered the imperial city, he got off the sedan chair and went to the Lanzheng Hall. He whispered to her: "Just now, the eunuchs in the palace came to tell her that Concubine Cen and Princess Hong'an had a quarrel in front of the emperor. The emperor asked the empress to hold a court meeting to consider and deal with it. The empress did not want to make a big fuss, so she summoned the important officials of the court to the Lanzheng Hall to discuss it."

When Sheng Yuan heard that it was about these two people, he suddenly realized and felt a little relieved.

"I heard that these two nobles were confronting each other in the street, but I didn't expect that the incident would come to the emperor's presence. I don't know why!"

"No matter what they are doing, Wen Zhen, please remember not to say too much today. We can slow down the collection of money from the Ministry of Revenue and talk about it later."

Sheng Yuan naturally did not refute An Suiyun's words, but after hearing his words, he seemed to know the inside story, so he couldn't help but ask: "Sir, these two are not going to sing a double act, right?"

"A double act? Maybe?! But it may not be just the two of them!" An Suiyun glanced at her and said something ambiguous.

Sheng Yuan smacked his lips for a moment, inexplicably feeling that this time things might be about to get out of hand.

……

Arriving at the familiar Lanzheng Hall, as soon as he entered, Sheng Yuan saw the heads of the six ministries, three judicial departments of the Cabinet, the Secretariat of the Imperial Clan Court, and the Imperial Household Department gathered there.

Sheng Yuan followed An Suiyun, walked slowly to the Ministry of Revenue's seat, and sat down steadily.

She exchanged pleasantries perfunctorily with her colleagues on both sides, but her eyes were glancing at all the participants.

Although everyone's acting skills are superb, if you look closely, you can still see some clues.

For example, the clan leader and the two clan leaders on his left and right seemed to be in good spirits, but the frequency with which they stroked their beards and the number of times they looked outside the hall intentionally or unintentionally was too much.

Like the three giants in the cabinet, they closed their eyes and said nothing, only tapping their fingers from time to time.

Like those old acquaintances in the Censorate who looked at each other from time to time;

  Like the Dali Temple's chief minister occasionally rubbing his forehead;

Like the barely audible exhalation of Minister He of the Ministry of Rites...

Sheng Yuan looked around and found that there might be quite a few people who knew the inside story.

  It's a pity that such an honest person like her is completely in the dark!

……

The honest man Sheng Yuan was only concerned with sighing, but forgot that "when she was looking at others, others were also looking at her."

"Minister Sheng, do you know the reason for this meeting?" The Censor from the Sixth Department happened to be from the Household Department, and was sitting behind Sheng Yuan. Seeing Sheng Yuan looking around calmly, he thought she knew a lot and asked in a low voice.

  "I don't know." Sheng Yuan shook her head speechlessly. "I was busy dealing with official documents at the Ministry of Revenue, so I asked the eunuch to summon you to the palace." As soon as she finished speaking, An Suiyun, who was sitting in front of her, moved his ears. He suppressed his sneer and silently complained: Still busy dealing with official documents?! He should be busy watching the fun! Unfortunately, I didn't get to watch!

The Secretary of the Household Department was unaware of An Suiyun's mutterings, but he actually trusted Sheng Yuan's words.

There is no way around it, since Sheng Yuan has always given his colleagues the impression that he would rather take action than lie.

Of course, Sheng Yuan did not let down the trust of the Household Department Secretary.

Because she really knew nothing about the dispute between Concubine Cen and the Grand Princess.

……

Just when the ministers were about to get impatient waiting in the Lanzheng Hall, Empress Sheng Ran arrived with the female official in charge of record keeping.

"My dear ministers, today Concubine Cen beat the drum to report that Princess Yongping had committed a disloyal act!"

  When Sheng Ran said this, all the ministers were shocked!

"Princess Yongping has rebellious intentions?! This, this, this..."

"Didn't Princess Hong'an say today that she wanted to come to the palace to judge the case?"

"Yeah, this, this, this...why did the plaintiff change?!"

"Why did Concubine Cen sue Princess Yongping out of the blue?"

"I seldom heard of their relationship before, but now they are exposing and reporting it. Where do I start?"

"..."

For a moment, the ministers in the hall whispered to each other, and the noise became louder and louder.

Sheng Ran was sitting in the upper seat. Seeing this, she did not stop it but just looked at everyone gently.

It was not until the Prime Minister Yan Yuan uttered a low cough that all the noise instantly disappeared and the Lanzheng Hall became so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

"My dear ministers, please don't worry. Concubine Cen and Princess Hong'an are waiting outside the palace. If you are curious, why not listen to what they have to say?"

Sheng Ran seemed not to notice Yan Yuan's cooperation, and she still nodded to the eunuch in a gentle manner.

When the eunuchs saw this, they immediately announced loudly: "Ask Concubine Dowager Cen and Princess Hong'an to see the emperor!"

This was sung and shouted three times, and then the figures of Concubine Cen and Princess Hong'an appeared outside the palace.

As soon as the two men entered the hall and saw Sheng Ran, they immediately bowed.

"The Concubine Dowager and the Grand Princess are both elders, please stop being so polite!" Without waiting for the two of them to bow and kneel, Sheng Ran ordered the eunuchs and female officials to support them.

"Your Majesty, I want to report Princess Yongping for colluding with the remnants of the former Qi dynasty and for her evil intentions!"

"Empress! Concubine Dowager Cen has gone too far! Not only did she slander us in the street, she even said nonsense in the Palace of Imperial Decency! I hope you will punish her severely!"

Princess Hong'an didn't expect that Concubine Cen would mention the former Qi people, and she staggered.

After speaking hastily, he realized that he had said it incoherently, and hurriedly added: "The daughter-in-law of Concubine Cen, Lady Lang, is related to the former Qi nobles. If there is a connection, I'm afraid the two gentlemen of Prince Jing's mansion can't explain it clearly!"

There are only these two Miaomiao in Prince Jing's Mansion now. Princess Hong'an thinks that as long as she targets them, she can get a hold of Concubine Cen.

Unexpectedly, as soon as she said this, Concubine Cen immediately fell to the ground and shouted: "Queen, please make the decision for me! Yongping Lang clan colluded, and exchanged the Lang clan members and the remnants of the former Qi for my grandson!"

"Boom!" Before Concubine Cen could finish her words, all the ministers were shocked.

Sheng Yuan was also shocked.

  Good guy!

Is this a real-life version of the cat-for-prince substitution?! (End of this chapter)