Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 463 The Road of Corrupt Officials
The residence of Li Min, the Minister of Revenue.

Ye Qi waited in the flower hall in the front yard for a long time. Finally, he saw Li Min coming in from outside, and he hurried forward to greet her.

"Ben Qing, why are you here?"

Li Min asked in surprise, "Didn't the people in the mansion tell you that I might be late or not come back today?"

Ye Qi seemed very anxious and said, "It has been more than ten days since I came back from Datong. I said I would move to the Ministry of Households, but there is no news until now..."

Li Min said: "You must have rushed to my house after hearing the news, right?"

"This……"

Ye Qi felt helpless.

"At the morning court today, His Majesty proposed to transfer Zhang Luan, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, to the Ministry of Revenue as the Right Vice Minister. I don't quite understand what this move means, but your transfer to the Ministry of Revenue may have to be put on hold for now."

When Li Min said this, there was a hint of regret on her face.

Ye Qi was originally the governor of Datong. Before Zhu Jianshen passed away, the Ministry of Personnel ordered him to return to Beijing to take his place as the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. After all, after the Sun Ren case broke out, the Right Vice Minister Li Si had taken his place as the Left Vice Minister, and the position of the Right Vice Minister had become vacant.

As Zhang Luan was appointed as the Minister of Revenue by the new emperor, Ye Qi would have to accept the result of being transferred elsewhere.

Ye Qi said: "I have resigned now and am waiting for news in Beijing... I don't know how long I have to wait..."

This was something that made him very depressed.

I was doing well as the Governor of Datong, and you said that I would be promoted to the position of Right Vice Minister, so I came back eagerly to wait. But now you tell me that I will not be given the official position. So what do you want me to come back for?
Are you trying to tease me?
Li Min sighed, "This is a temporary change, which is a force majeure factor... Alas, there is nothing we can do about it. After all, that gentleman is the father-in-law of the emperor, and he once intervened in the affairs of the Ministry of Transfer of Accounts during the reign of the previous emperor."

"You mean the Tongzhou warehouse case?"

Ye Qi asked.

"Look, even you who is far away in Datong knew about it, which shows how serious the incident was at that time!"

Li Min said, "I'm transferring you to the position of Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. This is the personnel arrangement made by the late emperor, but the current emperor prefers to use his own people. If there is a conflict between the two, the new emperor's opinion will prevail... You go back and wait for a few days, maybe a new transfer order will be issued."

Ye Qi said in embarrassment: "But now, there is a vacancy in the Ministry of Rites in the capital. I am afraid there is only one right assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites left, right?"

Li Min shook his head: "I don't know the specific situation, but if you think about it this way, if you can't get into the Ministry of Rites for the time being, aren't there still official positions in the six ministries in Nanjing waiting for you? Maybe if you go to the south for a few years, you can be directly transferred to the capital and promoted to Shangshu..."

Hearing this, Ye Qi cursed in his heart.

I have the opportunity to become the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue in the capital, but you said that you might transfer me to Nanjing to perform my duties?
Although they are of the same rank, are the same official positions in the two capitals of the north and the south comparable?

But Ye Qi saw Li Min's helpless expression and understood something...

Even the Shangshu Li Min had no idea what to do about the situation at hand. He could only sigh and bow and leave without getting any progress or more effective information.

……

……

A separate courtyard outside Zhang Mansion.

Zhang Luan called his sons over and said he wanted to hear their opinions on the renovation of the new house.

Both sons put down their current tasks and came to Zhang Luan for advice.

Zhang Heling followed his old father and asked curiously, "Dad, are you going to use this house to support a woman again? What is that called? Oh, yes, it's called a golden house with a beautiful woman!"

"roll!"

Zhang Luan cursed, "What does my business have to do with you?"

Zhang Yanling also quickly pulled his elder brother's clothes.

When it comes to causing trouble, Zhang Heling is definitely a leader, and you can tell at a glance that he's not very smart.

Don’t you know that our father is the one who cares most about his reputation?
Why are you teasing him?

"The second brother often says that, why don't you scold him?"

Zhang Heling immediately looked at his younger brother.

Zhang Luan glared at his eldest son fiercely, then turned to look at the second son with a kind expression, and waved his hand: "You go first, I'll talk to your brother... Why are you glaring at me? Go into the inner courtyard and see if there's anything delicious?"

"Damn it, is this a lie? There haven't been many people living here, how could there be delicious food? Hey, why is the air filled with the aroma of food, and even the smell of roast duck... No, no, I'm almost drooling over it, I have to go see for myself what's going on."

Zhang Heling went to the inner courtyard excitedly.

After the people had left, Zhang Luan said, "Son, you've seen it too. When you're making fun of your father in the future, don't mention it in front of your elder brother. You see, I've lost face. How can the head of this family still have prestige?"

Zhang Yanling disagreed.

just you?

Do you still dare to talk about prestige?

Now not only do our family members know your character, but even outsiders know that you are a person who just wants to eat and wait for death.

"Son, I definitely don't want to keep a mistress here."

Zhang Heling explained patiently.

Zhang Yanling nodded: "I understand, I understand... Mother came to check out this house a few days ago. It is our family's open property. How could you possibly keep a woman here? If you want to keep a woman, you should find another place in the city so that you can come often, right?"

"I……"

Zhang Luan suddenly felt that his IQ was suppressed by his son in every way.

Zhang Yanling raised his chin and said, "If you have something to say, just say it... Do you think you are the only one who is busy and I am not busy?"

Zhang Luan then sat down and lowered his voice intentionally: "It's like this, I asked Tan Ji, he has now entered the Silijian as a writing eunuch, the Empress Dowager actually mentioned this to Your Majesty in front of your father, and Your Majesty seemed very happy at the time. I didn't tell Tan Ji about these situations, so he thought I was also slow to realize it."

"and then?"

Zhang Yanling asked with interest.

"I heard him say that the original position of Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue was to be filled by Ye Qi, the Governor of Datong, and the previous Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Li Si, had been promoted to Left Vice Minister... Tell me, am I stealing someone else's job by doing this?"

Zhang Luan seemed to be in a dilemma. "I've always heard that one has to refuse many requests to be an official. Should I refuse appropriately? I have no experience in those positions in the Ministry of Revenue. It would be great if I could refuse them..."

Zhang Yanling teased, "Dad, what do you have experience in?"

"Pooh!"

Zhang Luan cursed, "When it comes to teasing your father, you are twice as good as two of us... Your father doesn't want to make things too awkward with the people in the court. If it really doesn't work, I'll just quit my job as the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue... Sigh, I have to deal with money and grain every day. Just thinking about it gives me a headache..."

"Do you have a choice?" Zhang Yanling asked.

"Why can't I choose? It's true that I can be given an official position, but... can't I just not take it?"

Zhang Luan seemed unconvinced.

Zhang Yanling did not answer for a moment. It was obvious that he felt that the old father in front of him was still unreliable, and even many of his inherent ideas were petty-people's thoughts.

To say that Zhang Luan is timid and cowardly is not an understatement; it is almost the truth.

"Master, there are guests outside!"

Just at this moment, Chang Shun's voice came from the door.

"What guest? Who knew I was here?"

Zhang Luan frowned and asked.

"It seems to be Minister Li."

Chang Shun replied.

"Damn it! Why did Li Zisheng come here? How...how did he know I was out of the city? Am I being targeted by him?" Zhang Luan seemed very panicked.

Zhang Yanling smiled brilliantly, raised his eyebrows and said, "Okay, finally someone helps me to reason with you. Let me show you how big a change your transfer to the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue will bring. How many people will bow to you... I'm going to go see my eldest brother first. I've been busy for a long time and my stomach is rumbling. I also want to go to the backyard to find something to eat."

"With your mature appearance, how could you be so greedy? You must be kidding!"

Zhang Luan frowned.

"What's wrong with eating? You're not greedy, you're just... we're just eating something, and I don't know what you're eating."

Zhang Yanling teased.

Zhang Luan waved his hand and said, "Go away, there are new cooks hired by my father in the backyard. I want to try out their cooking skills today. I have prepared wine and food... Remember not to drink. It would be bad if you drink too much and damage your brain."

Zhang Yanling smiled and said, "Dad, you really know how to enjoy life... Not only do you have beautiful women by your side, but the food you eat is also perfect, just like eating out... Even so, you still dare to say that being an official is not good? I think you are addicted to it..."

"What's the point of being an official? As long as you have money!"

Zhang Luan said, "But you are right. If you are not an official, where would you get so much money? My salary is not much either. How come the money in this family seems to be endless? Where does the money come from?"

Zhang Luan was also confused.

It seemed that he never brought money home, but the Zhang family's wealth was growing. Now they had enough money to renovate the villa and even hire a private chef.

The living standards have improved a lot!
……

……

Outer hall.

Li Zisheng came with Pang Qing, and there were people carrying two large wooden boxes behind them.

"Laizhan, long time no see... What have you been busy with these days? I hope I didn't disturb you?"

Li Zisheng greeted with a smile.

Zhang Luan pretended to be surprised and asked, "Minister Li, how did you know I was here?"

"Have you forgotten who gave you this house?"

Li Zisheng asked with a smile.

Zhang Luan frowned and looked at the wide yard: "You gave it to me...?"

Pang Qing quickly reminded him, "Master Dao, this house was not given by you. You gave the two houses in the city."

"is it?"

Li Zisheng was also confused for a moment.

When did Zhang Luan have his own private residence?
Isn’t it true that the place where Zhang Luan lives was given by himself?
Zhang Luan explained: "Indeed, this was a gift from a Huizhou merchant, the one who did business with our family. Normally... I rarely come here to live."

"I see."

Li Zisheng looked embarrassed and said, "I remembered it wrongly, please forgive me."

Zhang Luan said quickly: "Look at what you are saying. My family's house in the city was all given by you. We can't thank you enough!"

Li Zisheng said: "Oh, it's you who always speaks so kindly. It sounds like you are just chatting with your classmates in private. You treat everyone equally and never put on airs."

"Is this good... or bad?"

Zhang Luan sincerely asked for advice.

"Not good... nor bad."

Li Zisheng said perfunctorily, then pointed at two large boxes and said, "Look at what I brought you... just a small gift, take it and put it in the warehouse."

Zhang Luan said, "What are you looking at? Since it's a gift from you, I'll accept it."

Zhang Luan usually refused gifts from others, but it had almost become a habit for him to accept gifts from Li Zisheng. He would take them whenever he wanted, without worrying about whether it was appropriate to do so.

Li Zisheng said again: "Come and see, you have to open it and see it with your own eyes, then you will know how great my love is."

Zhang Luan was very puzzled. In the past, when you carried things for me, if it was a lot, it was worth one or two hundred taels of silver, and if it was a little, it was worth forty or fifty taels. Even if it was less, I would still be grateful to you for many days.

Could it be that what you gave me today is much more than this?
Do you think I need this little money from you?

Zhang Luan opened the lids of the two boxes with doubts, and then he was stunned. The boxes were full of gold, silver and jewelry, which were very valuable!
"This……"

Zhang Luan quickly closed the lid and shook his head, "The number is too big, I can't accept it! No, I can't afford it..."

Li Zisheng said, "This is a token of my appreciation. You don't have to be polite. Just accept it. I was originally planning to go to Jiangnan to look for some beauties and send them to you... but then I thought that would be too ostentatious. It would be better to do something more practical and let you send someone to look for them yourself, wouldn't that be better?"

Zhang Luan thought to himself, with so much silver, how many women can I buy back?

These two large boxes would probably cost several thousand taels of silver to fill, right?

It is better to be an official. My son has been working hard for half a year to earn so much money. He has been working hard to do business with merchants from Huizhou, and all the money he earned is hard-earned.

And here... just any random person comes to give a gift, and gives so much money?
Or is it fascinating to be a corrupt official?

(End of this chapter)