Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 259 Who will take the blame? (ask for monthly votes)

Li Zisheng and Tan Chang hurried to Zhang's house.

But it wasn't Zhang Luan who received them...

Zhang Luan drank too much that day and fell asleep after returning home. He could not be woken up no matter what. The two brothers of the Zhang family had to represent the Zhang family to receive the guests.

"My two dear nephews, your father..."

When Li Zisheng met the two brothers of the Zhang family, he was very kind and treated them as his own nephews.

Zhang Heling followed his brother's instructions, stepped forward, and said in a loud voice: "My father is drunk, um... I'm afraid he can't be woken up. If you two have anything to say, you can tell us."

Qin Chang said in embarrassment: "This...what should I do?"

Lizi Province is also very worried.

Only Pang Qing, who was following behind, looked calm and said, "Then I'd like to trouble the two young masters to get the script for Eunuch Tan, asking for the sequel to Journey to the West... Do you have any ready-made ones?"

Li Zisheng couldn't help but look at Pang Qing curiously.

What I mean is, the old one is drunk, and you ask the young one for the storybook? What do they know?
"Second brother, go get it."

Zhang Heling glanced back at Zhang Yanling and waved his hand.

"yes, Sir!"

Zhang Yanling answered with his head down, then turned around and trotted off to the inner courtyard.

In the eyes of everyone, Zhang Yanling seemed to be very afraid of this big brother. When no one was giving instructions, he dared not go beyond the line, or he might try to speak less to avoid making a fool of himself in front of others.

Various signs indicate that the second son of the Zhang family is timid and doesn't seem to have any future.

Zhang Yanling had his own plans.

If he appears too shrewd in front of others, it might attract the attention of someone with ulterior motives. It would be better for him to hide and let Zhang Heling take the lead and be noticed.

……

……

"Yanling, what are those people here for? Your father can't be woken up."

When Jin saw her youngest son coming in from the main courtyard, she couldn't help but ask.

Zhang Yanling said, "They came to ask for the storybooks... I'll just give them to them... Mother, you don't have to wake up father, just let him sleep well."

"Is it okay?"

Jin asked.

Zhang Yanling smiled and said, "They are here on orders from the Emperor, and will leave after completing their mission. It doesn't make much difference whether Father gets up to greet them or not."

After saying this, Zhang Yanling went to the inner room and took out the manuscript that he had sorted out over the past two days.

However, due to time constraints, I didn't have time to bind it, so after roughly sorting it out, I returned to the front yard.

As soon as he passed through the moon gate, he heard Li Zisheng's "Hahahaha" voice. It seemed that he had quickly understood the Zhang family's education through a simple conversation with Zhang Heling, which made this old fox feel very interesting.

"Second brother, you are here? Li Zisheng was just saying that our family has produced many talented people... I told him that you are a great talent, but he didn't believe it." Zhang Heling grinned and smiled foolishly at Zhang Yanling.

Zhang Yanling couldn't help feeling ashamed.

Calling Li Zisheng by his name directly to his face...

It may be that the eldest brother of the Zhang family had overheard many of his conversations with Zhang Luan, so he thought it was natural to address him like that.

It turns out that we still can't count too much on the moral character of the Zhang family. This father and son or a group of weird relatives of the Zhang family may easily do bad things in the future.

Zhang Yanling thought to himself, I have learned my lesson.

Zhang Yanling smiled apologetically at Li Zisheng, then walked quickly forward to Qin Chang's side.

"Is this the sequel to Journey to the West?"

Qin Chang took a thick stack of manuscripts from Zhang Yanling, glanced at them briefly, and looked pleased.

The emperor finally found the spiritual comfort that kept him awake at night.

Zhang Yanling nodded: "That should be it."

Li Zisheng said to Tan Chang, "Eunuch Tan, do you think I am wrong?"

"This...we don't know."

Qin Chang smiled and said, "But this is a great gift, and I am not lucky enough to see it. I will go back to the palace and report to His Majesty."

Li Zisheng asked curiously, "It's getting late...Won't Lord Qin Yin wait until tomorrow to come back? His Majesty should be resting now, right?"

Qin Chang shook his head and said, "Alas! Your Majesty may not be able to sleep without seeing this thing... Hehe... I won't say any more. I will return to the palace first. Goodbye, goodbye!"

"Tan Gonggong, please take care. If I have been negligent, I hope you can forgive me."

Zhang Yanling said hurriedly.

Tan Chang smiled and said, "Young Master Zhang is really polite..."

As he said this, he couldn't help but glance at the eldest brother of the Zhang family jokingly, as if asking, since they are both members of the Zhang family, why is there such a big gap between the two brothers?
Although they had only been together for a short time and had only exchanged a few words, a shrewd person like Qin Chang had already discovered that the two Zhang brothers had very different brain structures.

However, this seems to have nothing to do with the future prospects. Anyway, both of them are going to be uncles of the emperor... A eunuch who is in charge of the Imperial Household Department still has to be polite when meeting the future uncle of the emperor.

In the final analysis, the two Zhang brothers were in similar situations. It was actually easier to get along with someone like Zhang Heling who was stubborn.

Then Li Zisheng, as if he was the owner of the house, personally escorted Tan Chang out the door and diligently helped him into the carriage.

"Master Dao, shall we go back too?" Pang Qing asked.

Li Zisheng glared at Pang Qing, as if blaming him for hiding something from him. Then he looked at the two Zhang brothers who had followed him to the door and asked cordially, "My two dear nephews, your father has now entered the officialdom and is rarely at home. Does he still have time to... write a storybook?"

"My father..."

Zhang Heling was about to respond when Zhang Yanling pulled him hard.

Zhang Heling would definitely not have been convinced in the past. Why did you, second brother, forcibly stop me when I was speaking for you?
But now he has learned some rules. When communicating with others in public, he should let his second brother take the lead. It’s not that he realized his incompetence, but that his old father is strict and he will be beaten if he doesn’t obey.

And then...his second brother will give him money to spend.

Zhang Yanling said: "Many of them are my father's old works."

"Old works? That means, Lai Zhan had already written these stories when he was in Xingji? Are there any other ones?"

Li Zisheng was deeply aware of Zhang Luan's talent in flattering the emperor. He could easily make the emperor happy by just showing him something. The emperor would even feel uneasy if he could not see the script he wrote.

How can such credit always be attributed to the prince?
If there is a chance, I, Li, will also want to get involved.

Zhang Yanling sighed, "I'm afraid I can only ask my father about this. My brothers and I don't know much about it either."

"I was negligent today."

Li Zisheng slapped his forehead in annoyance. Thinking of what Pang Qing had reminded him, he felt that he might have been really careless.

Being surrounded by mountains of gold and silver, but not knowing to bend down to pick them up, this is really a big loss.

"My two nephews, it's getting late. You should take a rest first. I'll come visit you later." Li Zisheng looked regretful and said with a hint of annoyance, "Bingkun, do you know what to do?"

"know."

Pang Qing had a mocking smile on his face, his eyes almost narrowed into slits, "I will definitely communicate with Zhang Honglu to see if he has any other...abilities."

……

……

That night.

Inside the Imperial Hospital, the hospital envoy Zhang Yuan met the judge Shi Qin who had just examined Zhu Jianshen. "…Your Majesty has been suffering from a surge of blood recently, and his eyes are becoming more bloodshot. He seems to be in poor health."

Shi Qin looked a little nervous and sighed, "When Wei Xin was here, the medicines I prescribed after careful consideration seem to have no effect now. Now that Wei Xin is not in Beijing, it's really difficult to deal with..."

The people in the Imperial Medical Bureau also have their own specialties.

When it comes to treating Zhu Jianshen, Zhong Lan, who has conducted in-depth research on liver disease, has always been at the forefront.

There is one advantage to doing this, which is that if anything goes wrong, you can just blame it on Zhonglan.

As a result, the death of Concubine Wan made Zhong Lan's career end. Now it was the emperor's turn to suffer from increasingly serious liver disease... Zhong Lan simply went back to his hometown to observe the mourning period. In this way, the Imperial Hospital had one less person to take the blame, and no one dared to change the prescription at will.

We knew the previous medicine was ineffective, but no one dared to change it rashly under the circumstances.

Zhang Yuan said: "I heard that the worsening of the illness is due to your majesty's recent indulgence in reading storybooks?"

"It's possible."

Shi Qin agreed, "Liver disease is the most dangerous, especially after nightfall, you should rest early, so that the liver and spleen can get enough rest, which has the effect of reducing jaundice. But your majesty has not been able to fall asleep before midnight recently, so..."

Finally found a breakthrough, it seems that the responsibility can be pushed away again.

Correct!
It’s all because the emperor stayed up late every day reading storybooks. This is the culprit that caused his condition to worsen. It has nothing to do with the medication used in our Imperial Hospital.

Zhang Yuan asked: "Can't you persuade him?"

"How do you persuade me?"

Shi Qin said with embarrassment, "Under such circumstances, let alone us, even Eunuch Tan would not dare to speak nonsense in front of the emperor.

"Your Majesty is in a good mood recently. Even your appetite seems to be much better and you can eat more. I'm afraid your Majesty won't listen to anything I say now."

"Ugh!"

As the head of the Imperial Medical Service, Zhang Yuan seems unable to do anything except sighing.

Shi Qin gritted his teeth and suggested: "Your Majesty must pay attention to recuperating, and it is best to go to bed before midnight... Someone must expose this matter."

Zhang Yuan frowned: "Your Majesty has not been overworked recently. Even if we tell him, he will think that we are making trouble out of nothing and reprimand the Imperial Hospital for failing to fulfill its responsibility to diagnose and alleviate his condition. And now no one can come to your Majesty to make suggestions... Even the ministers around your Majesty basically only report good news and not bad news."

"Then...then there is no other way?"

Shi Qin looked very unhappy.

Zhang Yuan looked around and made sure that no one was around. Then he leaned over and asked in a low voice, "You have also treated many patients with liver disease. Tell me, what are the chances of your Majesty recovering from this disease?"

Shi Qin shook his head helplessly.

Zhang Yuan looked disappointed. "Doesn't this mean that the disease will become more and more serious in the later stages?"

"Ah."

Shi Qin said with a bitter face, "It's just a matter of time. Lord Zhang, you are a master of Chinese medicine. Don't you know how serious His Majesty's condition has become? Do you still need to ask me about this?"

We are all thousand-year-old foxes, why are you pretending?

Zhang Yuan covered his face with his hands, looking as if he was in great pain. He then put his hands down, his eyes red. "It's a pity that the court doesn't even know that His Majesty is seriously ill. If anything goes wrong, do you think people won't put the blame on us?"

Shi Qin's eyes rolled around and he asked in a low voice, "How about we leak the matter?"

"You are so courageous!"

Zhang Yuan scolded, "Your Majesty's condition concerns the country and society of the Ming Dynasty. How many heads can you afford to chop? Now we must find someone to come out... Yeah. Didn't you say before that you wanted to consult Wang Ji, a famous doctor in Huizhou?"

"I have tried it, but he refused to see me and even refused to say a word."

Shi Qin said discouragedly.

"Humph, he must have realized that the matter is not simple, or he already knows why you left." Zhang Yuan's face was filled with some resentment.

It is very difficult to find someone to take the blame nowadays.

Shi Qin thought for a moment, and then said, "I heard that the Crown Princess's father, Zhang Luan, who is now the Minister of the Honglu Temple, is good at the art of medicine. Should we let him..."

Zhang Yuan's heart moved, and he asked with interest: "Will he choose to accept it?"

Shi Qin said tentatively: "We just need to mention him a few more times in front of His Majesty, especially the fact that he had achieved brilliant success in diagnosing smallpox on his own, and then recommend him to Eunuch Tan and Eunuch Liang. With His Majesty's mind, how could he not let him try it? Then we can..."

"That makes sense, that makes sense."

Zhang Yuan nodded repeatedly, with a hint of joy on his face, as if he felt that if he could trick as many people as possible, he would do so, and if he could find someone to take the blame, he would not let him go easily.

……

……

Early in the morning, Zhang Luan sat in the yard, holding his ivory token of the Minister of the Ministry of Rites in his hand, laughing secretly to himself.

Zhang Yanling came out to wash up, and Zhang Luan called him, "Son, come here and let your father take a look. Is the word carved correctly?"

Zhang Yanling pouted and refused, "I dare not look at it casually. If you see it and it gets damaged, Dad might be in trouble."

According to the rules of the Ming Dynasty court, if the owner lends the ivory plate to others, he will be imprisoned, and if it is damaged, he will be punished with caning. In fact, this thing is an official's certificate, which is useful wherever you go. And Zhang Luan's civil servant plate with the word "Wen" written on it is widely used in various government offices.

The fourth-rank civil official in Beijing was second only to the vice-ministers of the six ministries, which was equivalent to a vice-ministerial official in later generations.

"Dad, why didn't you get up last night? Li Zisheng came and brought an old eunuch from the palace. It's become very lively at home." Zhang Heling followed him out, looking very proud.

Normally he doesn't get up early, but perhaps he thought his performance yesterday was too amazing, so he got up early in the morning to brag to his old father.

Zhang Luan frowned and asked, "What Li Zisheng? Didn't I go to his house for a drink yesterday? Did he personally send me back to his house?"

Zhang Yanling smiled and said, "Li Zisheng brought the eunuch Tan, the seal holder of the Imperial Household Department, to our house to ask for the sequel to Journey to the West."

"I rely on!"

Zhang Luan almost jumped up from his chair and asked loudly, "Why didn't you wake me up? It's such an honor for the Prime Minister to come to our house in person. If I neglect him, how can he not hold a grudge against me?"

Zhang Heling smiled slyly: "Dad was sleeping like a dead pig at that time, and Mom couldn't wake him up no matter how hard she tried to call him. But luckily, I, the eldest son, was here... I was able to receive them with ease..."

"Cough cough!"

Zhang Luan almost burst into a curse, then frowned and asked, "You came out to receive them? Yanling, you were there at the time, right?"

"Oh, it was indeed my eldest brother who was in charge of the reception at the front. I went to the backyard to get the script for them." Zhang Yanling said.

"Oh, you really can't tell the difference between the primary and the secondary. You should have come to greet them, but you let this useless boss go to get it... No, how would he know where the script is? It's all my fault that I got drunk yesterday. Damn it, damn it!"

Zhang Luan was very angry.

It’s as if I got drunk yesterday and missed the most important thing in my life.

Zhang Yanling smiled and said, "But my elder brother received you very well. Minister Li even praised my elder brother for his elegance and grace. When he left, Eunuch Tan also praised our Zhang family for its good tradition."

At this moment, Zhang Yanling could only comfort Zhang Luan.

"Really?"

Zhang Luan was skeptical.

"Dad, think about it. They came here to ask for the script. Now that they have achieved their goal, will they still feel bad for us? They were brought here by Minister Li himself, which means they know your specific situation. Dad, just put your heart at ease and be the Minister of the Ministry of Rites at ease."

After Zhang Yanling finished speaking, he continued to wash up.

Zhang Luan asked, "The pharmacy is open today, don't you want me to go take a look?"

"No need. We have Doctor Wang there to support us, and the head of the Qin family will also go to show their support. Why would you go there, Dad? If an official is involved in something like opening a shop, it is inevitable that people will criticize him. Dad can just focus on being an official."

"Okay, if I encounter any problems today, I will come back to discuss with you in the afternoon. Yes, I just want to sit down and talk with you... I think with the help of Qi Shaoqing and others, there should be no deviation in the work."

(The last day of September, please give me a monthly ticket, thank you!)
(End of this chapter)