Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 419 The left and right are not human beings

Zhu Jianshen died.

His death was not a big deal, because most people in the court knew that he was seriously ill. Before his death, he left a way out for his concubines and children. He even made Concubine Shao's children a king early on, probably because he was afraid that the prince would mistreat his sons after he ascended the throne.

After his death, Crown Prince Zhu Youtang could only govern in Wenhua Hall.

The court meetings were temporarily suspended, and all matters, big or small, were put on hold. Unless there were major natural disasters or man-made disasters in the local area, or barbarians from the north invaded the border, nothing was more important than the funeral of the late emperor.

Last night Zhang Yu was waiting for news in Duanjing Hall.

After waiting for a long time, he finally couldn't hold on any longer and had to go back to the inner hall to rest and sleep until dawn.

For Zhang Yu, even though she was worried about her husband and afraid that something might happen in the Qianqing Palace, these things seemed a little far away from her, and she was not anxious to the point of having trouble sleeping and eating... Her previous late nights were mostly because of her husband, so it was not to say that she was tormented inside.

"Woooooooo..."

Zhang Yu woke up, dressed himself with the help of the palace maids, and left the inner hall. Hearing some noise outside, he continued to pace to the door of the main hall and saw Tan Ji sitting on the threshold crying.

Zhang Yu frowned and asked, "Mr. Qin, what's wrong with you?"

Qin Ji hurriedly stood up, bowed respectfully, and replied: "Your Majesty, the mourning clothes have been prepared for you. His Majesty has... passed away... wuwuwuwu..."

Zhang Yu finally breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the news.

There's a sense of relief that you're finally dead.

She quickly condemned herself for this mentality. After all, the one who died was her father-in-law. Even though she had no feelings for him and had only met him a few times, she did not feel much sadness about his death.

On the contrary, because her husband nearly lost his position as crown prince several times, she had a lot of complaints about her father-in-law.

How could a father constantly betray his own son and use some means to maintain his position as heir whenever he needs his son?
If a biased father dies, can his descendants really be so sad and upset?
Zhang Yu asked, "Is the prince still in the Palace of Heavenly Purity?"

"Ah."

Qin Ji stood up and said respectfully, "I will send someone to change the queen into mourning clothes."

Zhang Yu asked, "What else do you need me to do?"

Qin Ji thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "The Crown Prince is keeping vigil at the Qianqing Palace, and he may not return to the East Palace in the next two days. Don't worry about anything here, Crown Princess. If you have anything to say, just tell me, and I will tell the Crown Prince."

Zhang Yu thought to himself, as expected, now that my father is dead, my status has immediately been elevated.

At least Qin Ji started calling me "old slave" all the time in front of me.

It's never been like this before.

Zhang Yu originally wanted to ask when her husband would inherit the throne, but she felt that her father-in-law had just died and as a daughter-in-law she could not be disrespectful in front of others. After hesitating, she decided not to ask.

"Where is my father now?"

All Zhang Yu wanted to do now was to ask his father about the situation.

Tan Ji shook his head and said, "I don't know."

Zhang Yu ordered, "Tell my father to be careful. The situation is not good now. He must protect the prince. Oh, my dear, why don't you go to the Qianqing Palace to accompany the emperor?"

"I can't always be there..."

Qin Ji also felt aggrieved.

When the prince was in the Eastern Palace, he was indeed the most favored eunuch around him.

But now that the emperor is dead, the truly powerful eunuch is Wei Tai, the head of the Imperial Household Department, followed by people like Tan Chang and Luo Xiang. When will it be Tan Ji's turn?

If it were another master, perhaps because of his good relationship with his long-time attendant, he would be transferred over immediately and placed in the most important position by his side, but our prince is a blockhead.

Even if the prince really considers me as his confidant, he is now focusing on his father's funeral, so how can he care about other things? I can only be a runner in the middle, talk to you, the princess, if there is anything, and occasionally show up in the Qianqing Palace to show my presence.

Fortunately, those people also gave me, an old man in the palace, face and didn’t feel like kicking me out of the Qianqing Palace directly. Otherwise... I would be like you, the Crown Princess, and could only stay here and wait for my husband.

……

……

Zhang Luan slept until the afternoon.

After getting up, his body still felt a little heavy, but he was not in a hurry to go to the front to find his son. Instead, he continued to stay in the backyard and play.

By the time he came out after finishing his work, it was already dark.

Zhang Yanling had been outside chatting with the eunuch Jiang Cong, who had come out of the palace to question him, for more than an hour.

"Dad, are you awake?"

Zhang Yanling looked at Zhang Luan with a mischievous look.

Zhang Luan was holding his waist, as if he was tired or stretched. Zhang Yanling went over to help him out of concern.

Zhang Luan came to the main seat, reluctantly sat down, and asked, "Why is Eunuch Jiang here?"

Jiang Cong said, "The Crown Princess is concerned about your health and asked me to come out of the palace to ask about you... Now that I see that you are still healthy, I can report back to you."

"What's the situation in the palace?" Zhang Luan continued to ask.

Jiang Cong shook his head and said, "Everyone in the palace is immersed in great grief. All places in the capital have been hung with mourning clothes. If you return to the palace, you must change your clothes."

"I know that."

Zhang Luan suddenly turned his head, looked at Zhang Yanling and asked, "Son, are you ready?"

Zhang Yanling asked unhappily, "Why doesn't Dad prepare it himself?"

Zhang Luan was so angry that he wanted to curse. His resentful and dissatisfied eyes seemed to be saying, hasn't your father been very "busy" since leaving the palace?

I was so busy sleeping that I didn’t care about so many things.
As for how to sleep, you are too young, it is not your turn to ask. Seeing the awkward atmosphere, Jiang Cong quickly interrupted and said, "Minister Zhang, when will you return to the palace?"

"I won't go back today."

Zhang Luan shook his head and said, "I am not from the palace. I had to go in and out of the palace frequently to treat His Majesty's illness. What am I doing now...?"

It's like saying, you are a eunuch, the palace is where you work, you have to go back, but I don't have to!
I finally got myself free, and I must stay away from the palace.

Jiang Cong looked somewhat helpless: "Since Minister Zhang is fine, I will return to the palace first."

"Leaving now?"

Zhang Luan asked politely, "Why don't you stay for a quick meal or something?"

"No, no, it's an emergency period. If I leave too late, I'm afraid I won't be able to return."

Jiang Congcai didn't want to talk more with Zhang Luan.

Zhang Yanling basically told him everything he wanted to ask, and he would be able to report to Zhang Yu after returning.

After all, it is not easy for Jiang Cong to meet the prince at the moment. Besides, it is easy for Zhang Luan to return to the palace now. There will be no one to stop him. Everyone knows that Minister Zhang is an important figure in the court.

Let's just come and see if he's a good person, and then go back and explain it to the Crown Princess. We really have no right to interfere with anything else.

……

……

Send Jiang Cong away.

Zhang Luan looked at the deserted gate and asked curiously, "My son, is there no one visiting today? Why is it so deserted?"

Zhang Yanling smiled and said, "Many people came, such as Pang Qing and Shen Lu. Oh, by the way, Uncle Xu also came, but he just stopped at the door for a while. I told him that you were resting, and then he left.

"In addition, many people came to visit our mansion, not to mention the officials of Hejian Prefecture, and many colleagues from the Taichang Temple also came to visit us."

“Am I so important now?”

Zhang Luan suddenly felt that he could stand up straight.

Zhang Yanling asked, "Why don't you ask why the people from the Taichang Temple wanted to see you?"

Zhang Luan curled his lips and said, "I don't care... Most of them are looking for me to intercede for Deng Changen and Zhao Yuzhi. Does that have anything to do with me? By the way, isn't Li Zisheng in jail yet?"

"how?"

Zhang Yanling asked in surprise, "Dad, do you really want Li Zisheng to go to jail?"

"This one……"

Zhang Luan sighed, "Didn't you say before that in terms of the impact on the court, just speaking of those Taoists, Li Zisheng has done more than all of them combined, and you even told me to stay away from him... Now that the big thing has been accomplished, we finally don't have to pretend to be nice to him, right?"

"Tsk tsk, Dad, you really are the one who brings the new one into the family and throws the old one over the wall."

Zhang Yanling expressed his sincere emotion.

"What are you talking about, little brat? Don't let your mother hear this." Zhang Luan was a little frightened.

Apparently Zhang Yanling's words, with their double meaning, sent a chill down his spine.

When he got home, he was scolded by his wife, which was enough for him to bear.

Zhang Yanling said, "What's the matter, Guan Niang? I'm talking about Li Zisheng... No matter what, he helped you before. Morally speaking, you wouldn't abandon him just after His Majesty passed away, right?"

Zhang Luan said aggrievedly: "You said too much before, and I remember it all! Anyway, don't have too much contact with Li Zisheng in the future... Otherwise, others will think I am also a flatterer... I make a living by my own ability."

Zhang Yanling was overjoyed.

This old father shines brightly when given a little sunshine. Does he really think of himself as a sunflower?
"Dad, if you have time, you should go back to the palace and take a look." Zhang Yanling said, "Eunuch Jiang was here just now, and I was embarrassed to say that there was nothing you could do by staying here? You would just waste your time..."

"You silly child, do you think the palace is a good place? There's a funeral going on in the palace right now, what can I do there? Can't I just spend a few days there comfortably?"

Zhang Luan stretched himself and continued, "In the palace, I look forward to having a pillow every day when I sleep, but I can only use my arms as a pillow. After taking a short nap, I have to get up to check on His Majesty's condition.

"You said that the eunuchs in the palace are pretty miserable. Even the eunuchs in the Imperial Household Department can only deal with it like that most of the time. How do they usually survive?"

Zhang Yanling looked at his old father with strange eyes.

I thought to myself that you have so many little thoughts.

Are you in the mood to study what kind of life the eunuchs lead now?
"Dad, what I just said were those who took the initiative to visit you. In fact, there are far more people who sent you visiting cards today than the ones I mentioned. You are now the most popular candidate to enter the cabinet. You should know that your opinion may very likely influence the development of the court. Aren't you worried yet?" Zhang Yanling said.

Zhang Luan asked in surprise: "I...enter the cabinet?"

Zhang Yanling nodded heavily. "Wan'an and Liu Ji are most worried about your attitude. They are trying every way to find out your preferences. They even met with Uncle Shen separately. This shows how popular you are now."

"This one……"

Zhang Luan asked blankly, "What's my attitude?"

"It's about choosing who to assist you. Everyone knows that you are going to join the cabinet, and the prince may value you more and even listen to your opinions on big and small matters. Now you and your colleagues in the Hanlin Academy in the court have become de facto opponents. Do you know what this means?" Zhang Yanling asked.

Zhang Luan said: "This means... I am in competition with everyone, and no one will really treat me as one of their own?"

"Bingo! You're right."

Zhang Yanling raised his eyebrows and continued, "The clean stream will not treat you as one of their own, because you are a relative of the emperor, not even a juren, let alone a jinshi. The turbid stream will not tolerate you either... At most, there will be a Li Zisheng who will listen to your opinions, but he will soon be a marginal figure in the court. As for the rest... Who do you hope to win over, and who do you want to stand with?

"Think carefully about who are your friends and who are your enemies, so that you can decide your next move!"

(End of this chapter)