Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 236: It’s an old cat?

Liang Mansion.

Late at night, the back hall was still brightly lit.

Liang Fang glared with eyes as big as copper bells, as if he wanted to eat someone.

"Can you say that again!"

Wei Xing swallowed his saliva and said helplessly, "It is very likely that Zheng was framed. He knew nothing about the telescope and the soap. What we know now is that his shop can make a few soaps... but the materials are extremely limited. The finished product is similar to the soap on the market, and no fragrance can be added."

Liang Fang stood there, motionless and silent for a long time.

Wei Xing asked cautiously, "Could it be that someone is deliberately trying to trick us?"

Liang Fang still didn't answer.

This made Wei Xing feel particularly guilty.

After all, he had made many "mistakes" on his side since the very beginning of planning this matter, although he didn't know how these mistakes were made. In short, both Liang Fang and he were still being fooled.

"Eunuch Liang, you see, we have a telescope in our hands. Even if we can't make a new one, bringing some soap into the palace should be enough, right?" Wei Xing said.

Liang Fang asked coldly, "How many days are left until the deadline set by His Majesty?"

"Six days."

Wei Xing's eyes flickered. "Now even the results of the imperial examination are about to be announced. I heard that this matter has been widely circulated among the scholars recently, and they are still talking nonsense..."

"Hehe, you are saying bad things about us, thinking that we are clowns and that we are soft persimmons that can be bullied by anyone, right?"

Liang Fang seemed to be making fun of herself, but also seemed to be angry.

Wei Xing said: "It's all because of those ignorant guys gossiping, and there are also people with ulterior motives fanning the flames behind the scenes. If this really doesn't work..."

"How about it?"

"How about going to His Majesty and admitting your fault?"

Wei Xing asked tentatively.

Liang Fang said angrily: "Do you know what the consequences of doing this are?"

Wei Xing lowered his head and said nothing.

Of course he knew what the consequences would be. It meant that they were completely defeated in the battle with the prince. If even Liang Fang had to keep a low profile, then what qualifications would he have to challenge the prince in the future?

"Do you think that only those with scheming minds are waiting to see our family make a fool of themselves? His Majesty is also watching us! If we lose this time, we may lose our power completely, and there will be no talk of making a comeback.

"From now on, the Crown Prince is a qualified heir to the throne. He can even easily resolve the conspiracy that our family has carefully designed, and he even puts the blame on us... Do you think His Majesty will still think that the Crown Prince is incompetent and stupid?"

Liang Fang finally expressed his true thoughts.

Admitting failure is scary, but what is even scarier is that admitting failure is tantamount to telling the emperor that there is no need to change the crown prince.

Wei Xing asked, "Is your majesty deliberately giving you a difficult problem?"

Liang Fang sneered and said, "Why don't you talk about us now?"

Wei Xing was so embarrassed that he could hardly raise his head, and even wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

"I just don't believe it. How can such a big conspiracy be flawless? The prince is just a yes-man at best. How can he be capable of setting up such a big scheme? Who planned it for him? He has a telescope and soap, and he can see through our plan in advance... Is he a clairvoyant?"

Liang Fang screamed on the spot.

To Wei Xing, this sounded more like a kind of impotent rage.

Wei Xing thought, what’s the point of being angry?

Why don’t you find the person?

Liang Fang took the initiative to change the subject and asked, "Has that old man Qin Ji still not left the palace recently?"

"I did go out, but I just brought some things from the Crown Princess's family into the palace. I didn't deliberately avoid anyone... Oh, by the way, do you think that the Crown Princess's family is unusual? Are they doing something behind the scenes? It seems that since the Crown Prince's selection of a concubine, there have been many strange things in the capital."

Wei Xing analyzed from the perspective of an observer.

Liang Fang said angrily, "Aren't all these strange things caused by the charlatan surnamed Li? What does it have to do with Zhang?"

Wei Xing thought about it carefully and nodded heavily: "Recent major events in the capital are almost all related to that self-proclaimed immortal Li. It was his prophecies that changed the court structure. It is even possible that even Lady Wan was cursed to death by him. It is really abominable.

"But... now Mr. Li seems to want to withdraw, and he hasn't said anything shocking for a long time... When few people are willing to help, he promptly got you a telescope, as if he wanted to watch the fire from the other side of the river, waiting for you and the prince to decide the winner. Otherwise... why don't we ask him where the telescope came from, and use this to test his attitude?"

Liang Fang asked with a dark face: "Besides the Zhang family, who else has Qin Ji met?"

"what!?"

Wei Xing suddenly realized that Liang Fang finally remembered to start with Qin Ji when there were only six days left before the deadline given by the emperor. He couldn't help but complain in his heart, isn't it a little late to target Qin Ji now?

"He is usually by the prince's side and has few opportunities to meet outsiders. If he wants to meet outsiders, it is naturally with the lecturers of the Eastern Palace. By the way, after that scholar Yang was imprisoned, the prince did not even make a move. It is very strange..."

"That's right."

Liang Fang seemed to have seen through everything, and said with a gloomy face: "I was wondering why I felt powerless no matter what I did this time. It seems that we are not facing one opponent this time, but a group of them!"

"Ah! You mean to say that the lecturers of the Eastern Palace have united against you?"

Wei Xing was also shocked.

He originally thought that the potential enemy was timid and was led by the nose everywhere, and could only wait to be beaten. But now he was told that the people from the Hanlin Academy had been fighting against his side.

It felt like... I was like a mouse stealing a bunch of food to prepare for the winter, but when I looked up, I saw a group of old cats standing opposite me. It was hard to tell who was the food reserve for the winter.

Wei Xing's voice was a little stuttering. "Eunuch Liang... we don't have to be too... too pessimistic. Those lecturers... usually never argue with others... why would they team up to embarrass you?"

"Are you afraid?"

Liang Fang glared at Wei Xing.

Wei Xing smiled bitterly and said, "Let's take a step back and think about it. What good will this do for them? Could it be that you are... overthinking it?"

Liang Fang pursed her lips and said self-deprecatingly, "You think that we know we can't win, so we imagined such a group of enemies to make up for ourselves? To find excuses for our failure, right?"

"Cough cough."

Wei Xing’s cough seemed to be saying, since you have said it all, what else do I have to say?

"It's strange, we shouldn't have used these Eastern Palace lecturers as bait in the first place... When we sent the things to their house and took advantage of their relationship with the Crown Prince, it was the same as actively disrupting the relatively harmonious situation between the two sides."

Liang Fang was a little annoyed.

Wei Xing thought about it and nodded, saying, "What Eunuch Liang said does make sense. Although those clean officials have impeached you, they would never resort to such unscrupulous means."

Liang Fang had a look of regret on his face, and said, "If I had known earlier, I would have only targeted the Crown Prince and would not have suffered such a backlash. They are all paid by the emperor, and they will teach whoever the emperor asks them to teach, without any aristocratic or factional views. Why did I have to provoke them? I am crazy!"

Wei Xing frowned: "What should I do? The time has come..."

Liang Fang analyzed seriously: "Now we need to know who is behind all this?"

Wei Xing seemed to be thinking about something: "Yang Shouchen is indeed a troublemaker, but this incident probably has nothing to do with him. You see, after he was imprisoned, he still used these conspiracies and treacherous means one after another..."

Liang Fang asked, "Do you know who is the head of the lecture class in the Eastern Palace of the Hanlin Academy now?"

"This...Xu Pu?"

Wei Xing seemed very confused.

This question touched upon his blind spot in knowledge.

Liang Fang said, "No, Xu Pu was transferred to the Six Ministries and has not been included in the Eastern Palace lecture sequence for a long time. Now it is very likely that Liu Jian and Li Dongyang... Wait, did Li Dongyang return home to observe mourning at the beginning of the year?"

Wei Xing asked, "Do you want to check it out?"

“No need to check!”

Liang Fang said, "Tomorrow we will go and meet them one by one."

"You're going to see them?"

Wei Xing seemed incredible.

They hit you in the face, or they teamed up to hit you together. How dare you, a little mouse, go to meet a group of old cats? Are you negotiating with them?
Liang Fang said: "After all, the lives of Yang Shouchen and Zheng Shi are still in our hands. As long as the tribute case is not resolved, the lives of these two people will hang on. Now may be the best time to make peace."

"Make peace..."

Wei Xing asked tentatively, "If that's the case, do you think... we will be defeated?"

Liang Fang looked up at the roof, as if reflecting on the gains and losses of this incident. After a while, he said, "It is impossible to use this incident to overthrow the crown prince. The best way is to calm down the war first, preferably without affecting both sides. After a period of silence... we can make plans."

Wei Xing was in high spirits and said repeatedly: "That's good, that's good. As long as the green mountains remain, there will be no shortage of firewood."

"You are so damn timid. You don't have to follow me tomorrow. Continue to interrogate Zheng. We must find all the connections behind him and find out the Huizhou merchants who obey the group of lecturers in the East Palace. We will not let any of them go!"

Liang Fang was still very angry, but now his momentum was not as strong as before.

The telescope could not be built, and he now knew that he could not suffer a loss. All he wanted to do was to retain his current fame and status so that he could compete with the prince in the future.

……

……

Zhang Mansion.

Qin Ji was meeting with the Zhang father and son. He only said that he was here to get something for Crown Princess Zhang Yu, but he didn't say what he wanted to get. It seemed as if he wanted the father and son to prepare it themselves, or to guess what their daughter needed.

"Eunuch Qin, you come here so often, it really makes me feel uneasy."

Zhang Luan finally realized the danger at this moment, and began to remind the other party that visiting too frequently would arouse unnecessary suspicion from those who had ulterior motives.

Tan Ji shook his head and smiled bitterly: "That's right, I originally said I would come back in a few days, but the Crown Prince learned that the Crown Princess had this intention, so he urged me to come here."

Zhang Yanling smiled and interrupted, "Dad, please stop talking... Doesn't this just show that the prince cares about my sister?"

Qin Ji looked at Zhang Yanling with admiration, as if to say, it is you, the second son of the Zhang family, who sees things clearly.

Just like what you said, your brother-in-law cares about your sister, right? He simply dotes on her!

Not to mention obeying your words, even if your sister stretches out her hand without expressing her meaning, your brother-in-law will have to think for a whole day to know what your sister needs, and he would even like to pick the moon from the sky and give it to her.

"Don't talk nonsense."

Zhang Luan frowned, "We just sent a batch of daily necessities in... Do you know what your sister needs now?"

"I know, sister is bored. Usually the prince goes to class in the palace, and sister stays alone in the East Palace. She needs something for daily entertainment. Do you think this makes sense?" Zhang Yanling said.

"Ah? You even know this? This is amazing, right?" Zhang Luan glanced at his son, as if he felt something was not quite right, but he couldn't tell what was wrong.

Zhang Yanling said, "Fortunately, I prepared some entertainment items in advance, which can not only help my sister to kill her boredom, but also help the prince. What's wrong with that?"

(End of this chapter)