Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 269: I can cheat everyone I want (vote request)

At Li Zi Provincial Government.

Li Zisheng sat there, crossing his legs and drinking tea, looking very contented.

"...Laizhan is really capable. Just by offering a prescription, His Majesty can show his power... Guess what, now His Majesty can't even take care of the original, and is only thinking about how to go to the harem to have sex and have fun every night. As expected, this man's mouth... can't be trusted!"

Li Zisheng said with a smile.

Pang Qing looked embarrassed: "Master Dao, it's already this late, and you're still so calm? Now everyone in the court is talking about you being impeached, and the evidence is irrefutable. Sooner or later, you're going to get into trouble!"

"What bad luck?"

Li Zisheng stopped crossing his legs, turned his head, and asked in surprise, "Didn't I ask Lai Zhan to do this? What's so great about it?"

Pang Qing pursed his lips and said, "Are you going to burn yourself to illuminate others? I dare to ask you, are all the reports you gave to Zhang Banxian completely false? Or... there is no real evidence?"

"No, no, how could I do such a shameless thing? The evidence I gave him before was irrefutable."

Li Zisheng said as if it was a matter of course, "These people have given me gifts before, and I helped them get official positions. Every single one of them is recorded."

Pang Qing was stunned: "So... you really want to kill yourself?"

"cut!"

Li Zisheng curled his lips and said sarcastically, "Look at you, you useless little guy! What are you thinking? If I find someone to expose me, how can I not leave a backup plan?"

Pang Qing was slightly relieved at this point and said, "I hope you can understand clearly, Taoist."

"You don't understand. Those people nominally relied on me to get promoted, but once they got the official position, they couldn't wait to defect to the enemy. They didn't spend money to continue to smooth things over. Some people even promised to give me money, but ended up only paying a down payment and never fulfilled the promise... Do you think I can make them feel comfortable in their official positions? Dream on!"

Li Zisheng was filled with resentment.

"..."

Pang Qing's lips moved, but he couldn't utter a word for a long time.

But I was thinking in my heart, even so, you are still reporting and exposing yourself.

Do you want to die together?

It doesn’t look like it!

Li Zisheng added: "None of those official positions sold has any weight, and your majesty doesn't care about them, but even a mosquito leg is still meat, so just use it to exchange for money.

"I did take the silver, but I basically sent it to the inner court for Your Majesty to use to purchase tribute. For example, in the past few years, the silver stored in the palace was probably squandered by Liang Fang and others. Your Majesty had no money to spend. If I hadn't managed it secretly, I'm afraid he would have gone bankrupt long ago..."

Pang Qing heaved a sigh of relief when he heard this, and said, "You should have told me earlier. It turns out that you gave all your silver to His Majesty... By the way, you didn't keep it for yourself, did you?"

"Tsk, do you think I'm really that stupid? Outsiders may not know the trick, but how could Your Majesty not know it?"

Li Zisheng said nonchalantly, "The inner court keeps accounts, and every income and expenditure is traceable. Your Majesty is also a human being, with his own purse, or small treasury, and the urge to spend money. If your purse is empty and your Majesty cannot personally come forward to make money, who will you rely on in the end?"

Pang Qing suddenly realized, "So, you are earning money for His Majesty... and Liang Fang and Wei Xing are spending money for His Majesty?"

Li Zisheng smiled and said, "You can say that... Who do you think started this trend of selling official positions and titles in the court? If I didn't have His Majesty's approval, would I dare to do this? Do you think my life is too long?
"So far, I haven't taken action against any important government offices in the court. All I've sold are some insignificant official positions. If anyone is still dissatisfied, I can't do anything about it."

Pang Qing sighed: "Then... why did His Majesty still want someone to investigate? Isn't this just asking for trouble?"

"What? Your Majesty sent someone to investigate?"

Li Zisheng frowned.

"Yes, Eunuch Wei, the governor of the Eastern Depot, sent someone to inform us that His Majesty wanted to investigate the case of the newly appointed Minister of the Honglu Temple, Zhang Luan, impeaching you. It seems that whoever His Majesty wants to be blamed will bear the responsibility. It seems that one of you and Zhang Banxian must die in this matter."

Pang Qing said with a bitter face.

Li Zisheng shook his head: "No way!? Even if His Majesty is forgetful, he should remember that I accepted so much silver for him to help the inner court replenish the treasury. How come he really investigated it? Is it just to give an explanation to the court? Is it necessary?"

Pang Qing disagreed and asked, "Master Dao, the will of the emperor is unpredictable. You don't even understand this principle, do you? Once all the plans involve the royal family, can it really go as you wish in the end, with everyone being fine and everyone happy?"

Li Zi sighed and said, "If we really want to investigate, there's nothing we can do, but... even if we really have to sacrifice, I won't be the one who sacrifices in the end. Lai Zhan can only think that he's unlucky... Hehe, he likes to do things in a hurry, and now he has ruined himself, right?"

Pang Qing asked with a smile: "Didn't you say that he had real evidence, and that you gave it to him personally? Dao Sir, you treated him as your own before, but at this critical moment, are you ready to push him into the water?"

"Who said that?"

Li Zisheng said, "I didn't push all this. It was Zhang Laizhan who had a wild idea and wanted to make a name for himself as the Minister of Honglu Temple. I am helping him and at the same time I want to seize the money-making and spending jobs of the inner court... You don't know that within this year, there may be a big change in the court! Can I not make preparations in advance?"

"what?"

Pang Qing was very surprised.

"The secret Laizhan accidentally revealed was not too detailed, but the consequences are very serious. I cannot tell you clearly. In short, the gains and losses in the officialdom are tolerable at the moment... In fact, Zhang Laizhan himself also wants to ruin his reputation. I am just helping him behind the scenes."

Then Li Zisheng stood up and walked to the backyard. "No matter who comes these two days, no one will be seen. I'm really worried day by day."

……

……

Forbidden City.

The palace back garden was later called the Imperial Garden.

The weather was good that day, with the sun shining brightly. Accompanied by Concubine Yue, Zhu Jianshen watched someone performing a shaman dance on a newly built platform to complete the art of spirit transmission.

Concubine Yue was born in the first year of Chenghua, and was only twenty-two years old at the moment. She gave birth to a daughter, Princess Xianyou, who was only three or four years old. She was considered one of the more favored concubines of Emperor Xianzong in his later years.

In July before Xianzong's death, the court conferred titles on concubines and Concubine Yue was given the title of Concubine Jing. She lived to be seventy years old, but her daughter died of illness in the fifth year of Hongzhi's reign before she got married.

Qin Chang stood aside, watching Gu Yan performing the spirit-recording technique on the stage, while he was still thinking about the affairs of the court.

She waited until Gu Yan's performance of the spirit-carrying art was over, then took a piece of paper with the prophecy written on it, walked up to Zhu Jianshen and paid her respects.

"how was it?"

Zhu Jianshen asked.

Gu Yan was the Shaoqing of Taichang Temple and originally a temple priest. He was gradually promoted to a high position because of his skill in divination. He was one of the famous sorcerers who entered the court through magic during the Chenghua period. He was not very favored, but he was quite good at the art of fortune-telling, so the emperor asked him to preside over the ceremony.

Gu Yan said: "Your Majesty, according to the result of the Luan, the disaster is in the north and the disadvantage is in the south. This is a bad omen."

Qin Chang frowned when he heard this: "Master Gu, how can it be a bad omen? What is bad about it? Can you explain it more clearly?"

This question stumped Gu Yan.

If I knew where the danger was and could tell exactly when and where an earthquake would occur like Li Zisheng, would I still need to rely on shamanism to make a living?

The key is that I can’t figure it out.

The so-called bad omen is nothing more than knowing that the emperor likes to do something different, such as reporting bad news but not good news, in order to appear loyal and trustworthy. Our group of people have already understood the emperor's character. The emperor has something on his mind, so he asked me to come and help him, so I have to follow the emperor's thoughts.

When Zhu Jianshen heard this, he became annoyed and stood up and left.

He ignored Gu Yan and even ignored Concubine Yue who came with him, so that Concubine Yue stood there with a confused look on her face, at a loss as to what to do.

"If you can't speak, don't speak next time!"

Qin Chang whispered a rebuke to Gu Yan, then hurried after Zhu Jianshen.

……

……

"Your Majesty, calm down."

Qin Chang followed all the way out of the palace garden before he caught up with Zhu Jianshen.

Just looking at the way Zhu Jianshen walked, he seemed to be walking with great vigor and didn't look like a sick person at all.

Zhu Jianshen asked, "What evil is the main evil? Let me ask you, will something evil happen in this palace?"

"This slave doesn't know."

Qin Chang lowered his head quickly, "Your Majesty, one family's words cannot be trusted. It would be better to ask for Master Li's opinion on such matters. At least... it is more reliable."

Zhu Jianshen looked up in the direction of the Qianqing Palace and shook his head, saying, "I know that Li Qing is capable of fortune-telling. But there are many things that I don't want to listen to just from him."

Qin Chang thought, you don’t dare to ask him?

Regarding the previous matter of Concubine Wan, after asking about it, you knew in advance that Concubine Wan would die, but it was of no use in the end...Now you know that Li Zisheng is very powerful, but you dare not let him figure out the secrets of heaven, for fear that he will calculate something bad and put a huge psychological burden on you?
You want to know what will happen in the future, but you don’t want to hear any bad news. This is your truest mentality at the moment!
But why did you go ask Gu Yan? This kind of person is used to changing his attitude according to the situation, with a mouth full of bad omens waiting for you to speak and then help you resolve it, but in fact he can't do anything!

"I have been feeling very healthy and energetic recently. If the whites of my eyes were not still a little yellow, I would have thought I had recovered from my illness."

Zhu Jianshen said.

Qin Chang comforted him, "Your Majesty, you are in good condition. I don't think you are yellow. Maybe it's because the bronze mirror is old, so the reflection looks yellow."

Zhu Jianshen said coldly: "I originally thought so, but when I went to pay my respects to the Empress Dowager, she took out a glass mirror and asked me to look at it against the light... Oh, aren't the whites of my eyes yellow? I can't deceive you... I can see it clearly, alas..."

"..."

Tan Chang was speechless for a moment.

When did the Queen Mother ever have such an awesome thing?
How could the emperor find out from a mirror that his eyes were yellow?

No matter how fine a bronze mirror is, it can never reflect a person very clearly, not to mention that bronze mirrors themselves are yellowish in color.

Zhu Jianshen changed the subject and asked, "How is the investigation of Zhang Luan's impeachment of Li Qing going?"

Qin Chang looked embarrassed: "Still...checking."

"What can you do? You haven't found any clues in such a long time?"

Zhu Jianshen seemed very annoyed.

Qin Chang felt even more bitter.

Didn’t you really only give “half a day”?

It hasn't even been a day since you said it yesterday.

We want to deal with you now, but we are afraid that you will say that we did not investigate carefully enough. It is true that serving the king is like serving a tiger. The king's mind is unpredictable, and we may lose our heads if we are not careful.

"Well, let Li Qing come and explain to me in person! This will save you the trouble of investigating." Zhu Jianshen said.

When Qin Chang heard this, he was stunned.

This means that...

Are you planning to give up Zhang Luan?

Asking the defendant to explain himself is like asking the defendant to be the judge. How can the matter be investigated clearly?
Aren't you just letting Li Zisheng quibble?

However, Qin Chang soon figured it out. In the eyes of the emperor, Li Zisheng was an indispensable existence. The emperor wanted Li Zisheng to be both the defendant and the judge. What could he do?

"I will send someone to pass on the message."

……

……

East four.

Zhang's Pharmacy.

A few days had passed since the medical dispute, and the pharmacy had calmed down again, but it was temporarily closed. A lot of the herbs inside had been looted, and the remaining ones had been reorganized and temporarily stored in another warehouse.

The shop has now been reorganized and Manager Song is extremely anxious as he really wants to know whether the shop will continue to operate.

Near noon that day, the Zhang brothers arrived in a carriage, followed by another carriage. Soon a man got off from the carriage. It was Sun You, who came to Beijing from Hejian Prefecture to look for investment opportunities.

"Second Young Master, is this the medicine shop you opened?"

When Shopkeeper Song came out to greet them, he heard Sun You say this.

Zhang Yanling smiled and said, "Yes, it was opened for a few days and had good business for a few days. Every day, there were many customers... I never thought that my fate would be so unfortunate. I was framed by a villain and could not run the medicine shop anymore. I had to sell it to someone else, so I thought of asking Uncle Sun to take over. After all, he is not an outsider."

"You're so polite, nephew. You're as polite as your father."

Sun You was very happy to hear this.

After all, the Zhang brothers are now children of officials, and they actually recognize him as their "uncle", which adds a lot of glory to his old face.

At this moment, another carriage came from behind.

Soon a woman got off the carriage. It was Sun You’s daughter Sun Chengying.

Sun Chengying frowned and looked at the pharmacy. It was obvious that she had no interest in this bankrupt shop, and naturally she did not want to agree to let her old father take over this mess.

"Let's go in and take a look."

Zhang Yanling waved his hand.

"it is good."

Sun You responded with a smile.

Zhang Yanling then remembered that he wanted to introduce Manager Song to Sun You, and quickly called him over.

After a brief greeting, Sun You walked into the shop.

The basic layout of the shop is still there. The previous decoration style was quite extravagant. Although the cabinets and other things had been knocked over, they can still be used after being propped up without any problems.

Zhang Yanling explained to Sun You the prosperity of the land and how good the feng shui was, and then they started to discuss the price.

Sun Chengying was afraid that her old father would do something stupid under impulse, so she quickly pulled her father to a corner to dissuade him.

"Father, are you crazy? Their business is going out of business, so why do we need this pharmacy? Do you really plan to sell medicine in the future? Do you understand that business?"

Sun Chengying asked anxiously.

Sun You smiled and said, "I don't understand, but didn't I tell you when I came to Beijing that our Sun family plans to do the medicinal materials business? It's a good opportunity to come to Zhang, who knows the business, so it's perfect to let him take a look. We can even use the power of the Zhang family to recruit some top medical experts."

Sun Chengying rolled her eyes and said, "But it will also attract our enemies. Then our shop will also suffer misfortune?"

"Silly child, how can you say that? They have already made trouble once. Why would they make trouble again now that the owner has changed?" Sun You said seriously.

Sun Chengying was anxious: "Dad, why are you so naive? Do you think those troublemakers will really give up? I heard that the Zhang family got this shop back from the Peng family. If the Peng family comes to make trouble again, how will we deal with it?"

"Don't tell me that."

Sun You had a firm look on his face, "It is not your turn as a girl who is destined to get married to make the decision on family matters! Your father has already made the decision, so there is no need to say more."

After saying that, Sun You walked over and seriously discussed the transfer price with Zhang Yanling.

Next, Zhang Yanling had a serious discussion with Sun You about the rent of the house, the channels for purchasing medicinal materials, and then the subcontracting of manpower.

The general meaning is that... you, Sun You, have got a huge bargain. As long as you pay money to take over the shop, you can build up your business in the capital the next day. You have a family of fourth-rank officials in the capital to strongly back you up, and they can even give you guidance on how to do business and even serve as your backer.

Listen, how reliable is it?

After hearing these words, Zhang Heling, who was sitting next to him, became so excited that his face was filled with joy that he could not hide it.

When Sun You said he wanted to go to the backyard to take a look, Zhang Heling couldn't help but give his brother a thumbs up: "Second brother, you are really capable. This business was originally a loss-making business, but with your suggestion, we can not only recover our capital, but also make a profit... Following you to do business, it is true that you can not only drink soup, but also eat meat."

Zhang Yanling asked, "Brother, are you insulting me?"

"No, I'm telling the truth... We lost money on this business, but not by much. We should be able to make a lot of money from this sale, right?"

Zhang Heling asked anxiously.

Zhang Yanling smiled but did not answer.

When going to the backyard with Sun You, Sun Chengying glared at the two brothers with a fierce look, as if he was looking at the enemy who killed his father.

"Eh? What's wrong with that little bitch? She keeps glaring at me?"

Zhang Heling pulled his brother and asked.

Zhang Yanling leaned over and said, "You think you've made a lot of money, but others must think they've lost a lot... Have you ever heard that taking someone's money is like killing their parents?"

"Oh, she feels it's not worth it for her father? Ha, do you really think it's that easy to do business in the capital? If they take over this business, I will bring my people to support them. It was you who didn't let me take action last time, otherwise, I would have beaten them one by one, let's see who dares to cause trouble!"

At this moment, Zhang Heling was like a gangster, exuding the aura of a social man.

Can't be washed off!

(End of this chapter)