My younger sister insisted on marrying me and made me the Marquis' wife.

Chapter 289 Roasting on the Fire

"Receive an order?"

Cui was surprised.

Qin Yuan hurriedly comforted her, "Mother, I think the Marquis submitted a memorial before he opened his residence, and now the Emperor has issued an order."

Cui let out a long sigh and said with a smile, "This is a good thing. The Marquis asked to be sealed for the sake of the capital's safety. Now that the flowers are gone, the emperor should reward the Marquis's mansion."

Old Madam Gu and Qin Yuan were both wearing large coats today, and their hair accessories were in line with their social status and rank. They immediately followed Gu Shiliu to the front hall to meet Lord Gu and Lord Gu Liu.

The one who came to announce the decree was the senior eunuch beside the emperor, whom Qin Yuan had seen several times in her previous life.

This man now looks to be in his prime, tall, with a fair complexion, a pair of long phoenix eyes with slightly upturned corners, and an indescribable frivolity.

But he is actually extremely steady and is the person who has followed the emperor the longest, except for his godfather, Eunuch Wang.

When Eunuch Yu saw that they were all present, he put down his teacup, stood up and said, "Old Madam Gu, Lord Gu, since everyone in your mansion is here, I will announce the decree."

The people in the Gu Mansion knelt down in order of rank to listen to the emperor's order.

Eunuch Yu reached out and took the scroll from the young eunuch, unfolded it and read it aloud.

"The Emperor, in compliance with the Will of Heaven, proclaims that Dingbei Marquis Gu Jinghui's work is very much to my liking. He is a pillar of the country and is capable of great responsibility. He is in charge of this year's Beijing inspection. All officials below the first rank are included in this list."

Gu Jinghui: “…”

Qin Yuan: “…”

Although he had received the news from various sources, Gu Jinghui had never expected that the Emperor would issue such an order.

Qin Yuan was also feeling doubtful.

The imperial examination has always been just a formality, and only civil servants below the third rank will be examined in Beijing every few years. Those of the third rank and above, as well as the emperor's close ministers, will be given comments by the emperor himself.

If the emperor is satisfied, the imperial examination will be excellent.

As long as the officials in Beijing do not go too far and arouse public anger or the disgust of their colleagues, they will be fine.

The emperor appointed Gu Jinghui, a military officer who had just returned from military service, to be in charge of the imperial inspection, which was a strange move.

Now, the assessment of officials below the first rank is handed over to Lord Gu.

This... this will inevitably cause turmoil in the officialdom of Beijing.

Qin Yuan looked at the stunned Lord Gu with concern.

Eunuch Yu's gentle, smiling voice sounded, with an implicit urging tone.

"Why hasn't Lord Gu stood up to receive the order?"

Gu Jinghui then stood up, took the imperial edict, and respectfully placed it on the prepared incense table. Everyone else also stood up and lined up on both sides.

Eunuch Yu bowed and congratulated him, "Congratulations, my Lord. Congratulations, my Lord. I will take my leave now."

Gu Jinghui hurriedly escorted him to the gate of the mansion.

The two said goodbye again. Gu Jinghui took the silver bag prepared by Butler Han and handed it to Eunuch Yu, saying, "Eunuch Yu, thank you for coming all this way. I have guests in my house today and cannot treat you to a drink. Please accept this little bit of wine money."

Eunuch Yu did not refuse. He took it and passed it to the young eunuch beside him. He smiled and said, "Lord Gu, remember to go to the palace to express your gratitude as soon as possible. Since this task was ordered by the emperor, you must find out what the emperor thinks before you do it."

This can be considered a good thing for Lord Gu.

This was equivalent to telling him clearly that the emperor was worried that what others did would not be to his liking, so he specially chose Marquis Gu to do it.

Gu Jinghui felt a little upset for some reason and smiled, “Thank you, Eunuch Yu, for reminding me. I was worried that I had never done this before and would not be able to do it well, thus failing the Emperor’s expectations.”

"Easy to say, easy to say."

Eunuch Yu climbed onto his horse and started to applaud the young eunuch.

Lord Gu was left standing at the gate of the mansion, his mind was in turmoil, and he felt like he was trapped in layers of spider webs. Ten years had passed.

A similar situation reappeared.

But things and people have changed.

Qin Yuan received the imperial edict and waited for Lord Gu to return to the mansion, and then they went to the upper room together.

Seeing that Gu Jinghui was unhappy, Qin Yuan asked, "Are you worried about the Beijing inspection, my husband?"

Gu Jinghui nodded.

Qin Yuan said, "My father is worried about you too. I heard that the emperor had said that you would be in charge of this matter a while ago. My father was worried for a while, but he didn't expect to see you accept the order here."

Lord Gu felt warm in his heart.

His father-in-law cares about him very much and thinks about him everywhere.

So he relayed to her what his father-in-law had said.

Qin Yuan said, "Could it be that the emperor has someone he doesn't like and wants to borrow your knife to use?"

"Perhaps. The King of Qi came to visit yesterday and said that the Emperor was dissatisfied with the three dukes and nine ministers because of the Crown Prince's marriage. Now every time the court discusses matters, they are rejected."

Qin Yuan then understood what was going on.

In his previous life, the prince's marriage also went through many twists and turns, and finally the daughter of Minister Niu of the Ministry of Personnel was chosen as the prince's consort. In the following years, Minister Niu rose to prominence like a rocket, and eventually became Prime Minister Niu.

After the death of the crown prince, Prime Minister Niu fell from power. During the house search, hundreds of bushels of pepper were seized and stored in a warehouse, under the watch of a special person to prevent it from getting moldy and rotten.

It is said that these peppers are bribes from officials from all over the country.

Prime Minister Niu's greed shocked the court and was still mentioned many years later.

The Emperor was frustrated by the three dukes and nine ministers over the Crown Prince's marriage, and wanted to teach them a lesson, so he planned to use Gu Jinghui, who was born a military commander, to teach them a lesson.

Qin Jijiu also thought so and said, "Son-in-law, this job is like roasting you on the fire. It may seem like you are favored by the emperor, but it is very easy to cause dissatisfaction among the people and make them enemies."

Gu Jinghui sighed, “I don’t know what to do. The Emperor is still waiting for me to thank him.”

When expressing his gratitude, the emperor will surely give some instructions. What should he do then?

At this time, three rounds of wine had passed, and the father-in-law and son-in-law were talking. Qin Jijiu said, "Of course you can't be the leader of this task. If something goes wrong in the future, you will be blamed. Besides, this kind of thing is bound to go wrong. Letting you, a general, do it is just waiting for mistakes."

"Taishan taught me." Gu Jinghui said immediately.

Qin Siyuan and Qin Heng just opened their eyes and listened carefully. Gu Liuye clenched the wine glass tightly, using his knuckles to press hard, as if he was very worried about his third brother.

Qin Jijiu said: "There are no outsiders here, why not call my daughter as well."

Qin Siyuan nodded in agreement: "Excellent."

Gu Jinghui had no objection and immediately ordered someone to invite Qin Yuan over.

On the female side, there were only three people: Cui, Old Madam Gu and Qin Yuan.

Madam Gu asked, “Why do they call their daughter-in-law away when their husbands are talking?
Cui said hurriedly: "The chief priest must have drunk too much and is making trouble. My sons-in-law and the others are all juniors, so it's hard to stop him."

Qin Yuan smiled and said, "Maybe it's because of today's imperial decree. Mother also knows that father is very concerned about the future of the Marquis. Maybe he asked me to go because of this."

Cui Shi didn't believe it: "You are busy with the affairs of the inner house. What do you, a woman, know about these things?"

Madam Gu interrupted and said, "Mother-in-law, let her go. Let her go. Yuan'er is well-read, sensible, and knowledgeable."

Qin Yuan turned around the hall and went to the pavilion where the male guests were having drinks.

When he saw her coming, Qin Jijiu said drunkenly, "Daughter, let me test you. How do you think your son-in-law should respond in front of the emperor?"

(End of this chapter)