first minister

Chapter 202 Madam Shi's Secret
The yamen of the Ministry of Rites.

Seeing Wang Ruoshui who swarmed up and congratulated herself with various emotions, she was stunned.

He couldn't imagine that a month ago, he thought that the position of assistant minister was out of reach, and now he has transformed himself into the acting minister of the Ministry of Rites, the de facto No. 1 in the Ministry of Rites.

A thought suddenly popped up in his mind: Could it be that I also have a bit of luck?

However, the Ministry of Rites attaches great importance to conduct and conduct. If one gets carried away, one will be the laughing stock of the world. He also suppressed the ecstasy in his heart and dealt with it calmly as much as possible.

After a lot of fuss, he managed to wait until the time to release the government, and rushed to Jiang Anhou's mansion excitedly.

Seeing Gongsun Jing, he immediately excitedly said: "Mr. Gongsun, I am now the acting minister of the Ministry of Rites!"

Gongsun Jing nodded with a smile, "Congratulations, brother Qingyuan, it's only been one month, and even passing two levels, you have walked a road that many people can't walk in their lifetime."

Wang Ruoshui was also quite proud, "Luck, luck, Brother Su, you are being polite."

Gongsun Jing frowned slightly, and immediately said: "Brother Qingyuan got this good news, so he hurried home to celebrate with his family, do you have anything to say about coming to the Marquis Mansion?"

"Not really, I just came to announce the good news. I'm not the kind of person who can't hold back."

Wang Ruoshui waved his hand, and suddenly put his elbows on the armrest of the chair, turned his body sideways and smiled and said, "Speaking of which, if I can secure the position of Shangshu, am I already surpassing Master Li, and am I the only one under the command of Your Majesty who is second only to Master Wei?"

He made a face of teasing, but Gongsun Jing suddenly restrained his expression, "Brother Qingyuan, there are some things that I am not good at saying, and I am not qualified to say them, but you and I have known each other for a long time, I still want to say it to you, if you offend me, please don't blame me."

Listening to the battle, Wang Ruoshui put away her smile and sat upright, "Brother Su, please tell me."

"Brother Qingyuan, do you still remember what you looked like when you first came to Zhongjing?"

Wang Ruoshui's expression froze, and Gongsun Jing said: "At that time, you were almost ruined by Shi Shangshu's tricks, and you came to the door in panic. If it weren't for the help of the young master, your life would be in danger."

"Then, you were in an awkward position in the Ministry of Etiquette, you had no backing, you were targeted by your superiors, and squeezed by your colleagues. Who designed it for you, so that you unexpectedly ascended to the position of minister?"

Wang Ruoshui was speechless, and said embarrassingly: "I know that I am the son's helper, and I have never forgotten the kindness of my mother and son. Isn't this a good news from heaven today, and I want to come here to say goodbye."

"Happy news from heaven?" Gongsun Jing sneered, "Why doesn't this good news fall to others? You are going to be a minister, so you really think there is some good news from heaven? Are you lucky?"

Wang Ruoshui stared suddenly, with a look of surprise on his face, "You mean?"

"Let me tell you the truth, Young Master discussed with Mr. Su and me at the beginning, whether you are qualified for the position of Minister of Rites. Under my strong recommendation, Young Master also agreed, and this is how you have achieved your dreamlike prosperity in the past half month. Behind this, it is all Young Master's plan!"

Gongsun Jing never mentioned the things that he didn't believe at the beginning, and whispered: "You are my own person, I can tell you the truth, the downfall of Shi Dingzhong is all the master's plan behind the scenes!"

Wang Ruoshui stood up from the chair in fright, "Really?"

Gongsun Jing looked at this expression, and said slowly: "You just came, if you said that you came to thank the young master and let me convey my greetings to the empress, that would be better, but you just came here to show off, and said the ranking, Brother Qingyuan, your heart is confused."

Wang Ruoshui sat down slowly, thinking seriously about Gongsun Jing's words.

"Brother Qingyuan, since we've reached this point, I'll say another word that is inappropriate. If you can kill a minister so quietly, then naturally you can have a second or third one. What is a minister of the Ministry of Rites?"

He looked at Wang Ruoshui's discoloration, smiled and got up and patted him on the shoulder, "Don't be nervous. Fortunately, we are his own people. We don't have to bear the pain of being his enemy, but we can enjoy the benefits with him. Don't you think so?"

Wang Ruoshui swallowed her saliva, "The young master is in the mansion, I want to thank you in person."

"Of course it's possible."

Soon, Wang Ruoshui followed Gongsun Jing and saw Xia Jingyun who was studying in the study.

Hearing the purpose of coming, Xia Jingyun didn't hold Wang Ruoshui up when he looked at Wang Ruoshui who was respectfully thanking him. Instead, he cared about the face of a new minister, and immediately stood up and held him up, congratulating him with a smile.

"We are all on our own, so we can speak casually. Rather than coming to thank me at this moment, I still hope that you choose to stay at the Ministry of Rites today, familiarize yourself with the affairs of the Ministry as soon as possible, seize power, do a good job in Chunwei, and then remove the word "agent."

Wang Ruoshui woke up like a dream, and hurriedly said: "Master's words awakened the dreamer, I will go back here! If there is no son, I almost missed a major event! Master, leave!"

"Don't worry, I'll see you off!"

Looking at the two people who left one after the other, Xia Jingyun smiled easily, sat back in the chair, and read the book again.
-
On the outskirts of the capital, in front of the large map of the world situation, the man stood with his hands behind his back, looking up at the small flags planted everywhere, looking at the small characters on the flags, reviewing his memory and measurement of the general situation of the world.

A man walked quickly, knocked lightly on the door, and only after hearing a promise, he walked into the room.

"My lord, Shi Dingzhong was dismissed from office and imprisoned, the three divisions interrogated, the Shi family was ransacked, and the matter of the Shi family has been settled. Here is the whole story about this incident."

As he spoke, he held up a small tray, on which were laid out sheets of letter paper in order.

The man raised his eyebrows, as if he didn't expect the result to be so soon.

He walked to a chair and sat down, slowly picked up the information and read it.

He deliberately didn't read these contents before, just wanted to take a comprehensive look at Xia Jingyun's layout and ways of doing things after the dust settled.

After reading one by one silently, he pondered from time to time, and from time to time he picked up what he had read before to read again.

In the case of deliberate and unintentional calculations, he is probably the person who knows Xia Jingyun's actions best in the entire Zhongjing City, except for a few confidantes in Jiang Anhou's residence.

But even so, for many measures, he needed to combine the conclusions afterwards to deduce what the intention was and what the foreshadowing was.

After reading it, he was silent for a while.

The meticulous layout, the understatement of the move, the ability to make thunder in the silent place, plus the intelligence information that suddenly became powerful, which he felt was completely incomprehensible.

He said in a deep voice: "Remember to remind me, if I can't kill him with a knife this time, I will kill this person myself."

The man said softly: "My lord, now he doesn't know that the lord has targeted him, why don't you try to turn the enemy into a friend?"

The man shook his head resolutely, "Neither he nor I are willing to live under others and be driven by others. It's impossible."
-
The shocking changes in the Shi family spread throughout the streets and alleys of Zhongjing City in a very short period of time, and became a topic that everyone talked about.

Countless versions have been fabricated. Among the rumors flying all over the sky, an old man walked out of an extremely large and luxurious mansion in the west city.

The old man got on the sedan chair, and under the escort of the guards, he staggered towards the palace gate.

When they arrived at the gate of the palace, the imperial guards on duty were a little surprised. This old man hadn't entered the palace for so many days.

When the news of seeing him reached the ears of Emperor Chongning through Gao Yi, Emperor Chongning, who was looking at the property of the Shi family brought up by the Black Ice Terrace, was also very surprised, but let the old man into the palace without any suspense.

"Come here, give Duke Fengyang a seat."

The old man in front of him is the old head of the Qin family, the grandfather of Qin Yuwen, the son of Qian who is now well-known in Beijing.

The old head of the Qin family, who was already a little old, said: "The old minister came to the palace to ask for something."

After speaking, he knelt down with some difficulty, and Emperor Chongning quickly got up and supported him, "What is Fengyang Gong doing? The descendants of the Qin family for several generations, my imperial grandmother is also the daughter of the Qin family. Speaking of which, I should call you uncle. If you have something to say, why do you need to do such a great gift?"

The old head of the Qin family sat down and sighed, "The old minister came here with this old face, begging His Majesty to let someone go."

Emperor Chongning's smile remained unchanged, "Mr. Fengyang just said so."

"The old minister begs Your Majesty to spare Shi Dingzhong's wife."

Emperor Chongning was quite puzzled, "Shi Dingzhong's wife?"

"Hey, this is an old story." The old head of the Qin family sighed, "When the old minister was young, he acted quite absurdly. She is the old minister's illegitimate daughter in Guangling Prefecture. I wanted to bring her mother and daughter into the family, but it was at a critical time after my sister entered the palace, so the matter was shelved. Her mother was strong, and she thought that I would always be chaotic. Barely."

He stood up again and knelt down towards Emperor Chongning, "Now that the Shi family has committed a serious crime, I dare not ask Your Majesty to forgive the Shi family's crimes, but please allow me to quietly pick her up. I will never let her be exposed to others, and order her to atone for her sins from now on."

"Your Majesty, for generations of descendants of the Qin family, if they are filled into the Jiaofang Division, it will also damage the face of the royal family! I beg Your Majesty to show mercy!"

Emperor Chongning listened silently, and said slowly: "Yes. Gao Yi, take Fengyang Gong to find the Minister of Punishment later, and let them discuss it by themselves. I just ask, don't leak the news, and she must not reappear in front of the world."

"I thank Your Majesty for your grace."

The old Patriarch of the Qin family kowtowed respectfully, and then said: "Your Majesty is wise and martial, and built the Wanbao Tower to showcase Wenzhiwugong. The Qin family has a lot of money. I would like to donate 10 taels of silver to congratulate Your Majesty."

Emperor Chongning smiled slightly, "So, I would like to thank Duke Fengyang."

In the middle of the night, a woman in a black cloak was sent out of the Prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, onto a carriage that had parked early at the back door. The carriage ran silently through the streets and alleys, and came to a small courtyard in the east city.

The carriage drove directly into the backyard. When the woman got out of the carriage and was led to a house, she saw an old man supported by a young man.

Under the dim light, she couldn't recognize the old man clearly, but she could recognize the young man, the grandson of the Qin family, Mr. Qian who is well-known in Beijing, so the identity of the old man was very clear.

The old man looked at the woman who had become emaciated due to the prison disaster, stretched out his hand tremblingly, and called out, "Xiu Niang."

Mrs. Shi looked at the old man in front of her, thinking of her mother who died in depression, thinking of her longing for it, thinking of the disappointments time and time again, and thinking of the other party's secret help time and time again, resentment, gratitude, longing, loss, and happiness, all kinds of emotions were intertwined in her heart.

She was silent for a long time, and finally knelt down on the ground, "Please father avenge me!"

(End of this chapter)