Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 755 One layer of identity is enough

The next day, around noon, Zhang Luan finally slunk out of the Li residence.

Looking around, there was no one there.

He was just about to ask the servants of the Li family about the situation and borrow a carriage when he saw a carriage that looked very familiar parked at the street corner ahead.

He hurried over, only to find Chang Shun squatting there at the street corner, holding a straw in his mouth, waiting.

"Master, you've come out?"

When Chang Shun looked up and saw Zhang Luan, he stood up with a hint of surprise and greeted him warmly.

Zhang Luan asked, "Didn't you go back last night? Have you been waiting here all this time?"

Chang Shun laughed and said, "How could that be... After you go in, I will escort that lady back... By the way, how should I address her?"

"I don't care what you call me!"

Zhang Luan was afraid of being seen as having frequent contact with Li Zisheng, so he immediately lifted the carriage curtain and was about to climb into the carriage when he peeked inside. He then saw Qi Niang sitting there with a smile on her face and couldn't help but turn around to look at her, asking, "Didn't you say you would send it back?"

Chang Shundao said, "Isn't it allowed to come back again?"

"Cough cough cough..."

Zhang Luan was so angry he almost vomited blood.

With no other option, he could only hurry up and get into the carriage.

……

……

The carriage swayed and rattled towards Chongwen Gate. It seemed as if Zhang Luan was going to keep his promise and send Qi Niang back exactly as she was after he brought her out.

"Qi Niang, what are you doing here? Now that you've gone back, there's no need to come out again. It's just too much trouble."

Inside the carriage, Zhang Luan, feeling a pang of guilt, spoke to Qi Niang.

Qi Niang smiled and said, "Last night, Master asked me to wait in the carriage, but I disobeyed and went back directly, which was already disrespectful. If I don't explain myself today, won't I be disliked by Master?"

"This... how is this possible?"

Zhang Luan casually replied, then asked curiously, "Then, how come you happened to come to pick me up at this exact time? Did my son remind me?"

"Are you talking about the second young master? I haven't seen him since last night. I wonder what his plans are."

Qi Niang was slightly taken aback, but immediately replied without hesitation.

Zhang Luan asked, "Then why did you go back last night? Did someone try to persuade you to stay?"

Qi Niang smiled and said, "Since Master Li has come to the Li residence, given your relationship with the eldest master of the Li family, how could you not be allowed to drink all night long? Isn't it a normal choice to come and wait again today?"

Zhang Luan frowned: "You're better at predicting things than I am. Oh, by the way, although I promised my son I wouldn't drink alcohol, I still had a drink out of consideration for my reputation, and as a result... I got so drunk I couldn't get out of bed."

"The master got drunk after just one cup of wine?"

Qi Niang asked with a mischievous look in her eyes.

"Otherwise what else?"

Zhang Luan was somewhat embarrassed. "Perhaps I haven't drunk alcohol in a long time and can't hold my liquor. You mustn't tell my son that I was just seeing Minister Li off and forced myself to drink a cup. Who knew the alcohol would have such a strong aftereffect and I passed out in a daze."

Qi Niang reminded him, "Master should be more careful when he's out. I hope he didn't lose anything more important than getting drunk last night."

Zhang Luan's face flushed red, and he glared at Qi Niang: "What do you mean by that? Are you making fun of me?"

Qi Niang sighed, "Master, you should know that the eldest master of the Li family has lost power and now relies entirely on you. To gain your full support, they will definitely resort to some unconventional methods. There are some things that don't need the second young master to remind you of. Haven't you thought about this at all?"

"I didn't suffer any loss, what am I thinking?" Zhang Luan said, but then suddenly remembered that he might have inadvertently revealed something last night, and immediately fell silent.

Qi Niang asked, "Then, sir, what do you plan to do with that courtyard?"

Zhang Luan asked curiously, "What? You mean the big courtyard inside Chongwen Gate where you live now? Yes, that was given to me by Minister Li. Now that he's in trouble, should I return the courtyard? But I also have two other courtyards that he gave me. Should I return them too? Sigh, I'm such a generous father-in-law of the emperor. I haven't even asked His Majesty for a mansion or anything. I'm really at a loss!"

"Why are you pretending to be confused, sir?"

Lady Qi frowned slightly and said, "I'm asking about the residence where Master Li is currently living."

"His yard, you're asking me?" Zhang Luan stared wide-eyed at Qi Niang, as if asking, "Am I still hungover, or are you drunk?"

Qi Niang said earnestly, "Master Li wants to win you over, and more importantly, he wants the world to know that you two are sworn brothers. How could he not give you this house? Didn't you just come from this house today?"

"That doesn't mean he'll give me a mansion... Last night he just asked me to look after it for him while he's away from the capital."

Zhang Luan explained.

Qi Niang replied, "If I give it to you, just keep it!"

"I really didn't give it to you."

Zhang Luan was so anxious he almost stomped his feet, but luckily they were in a carriage and couldn't stretch their legs out. If they could, he might have kicked Qi Niang directly.

Qi Niang asked, "Then... what did I give you?"

Do I really have to say it?

Zhang Luan sighed, "I was confused too. How could I have gotten so drunk last night?"

“Perhaps you weren’t drunk, but someone deliberately got you drunk. Even if you didn’t drink wine, but just a cup of tea, you still wouldn’t be able to leave the Li residence until this time today, and you’d be filled with self-blame and guilt, making you so concerned that you feel compelled to help secure the Yellow River construction work,” said Qi Niang.

Zhang Luan's eyes widened in surprise as he asked, "How do you know everything? Are you a roundworm too?"

Lady Qi said, "Alas! My lord, aren't the methods for winning people's hearts in officialdom just a few tricks over and over again? What do you prefer? In fact, who in the court doesn't know?"

"Cough cough!"

Zhang Luan was completely speechless.

"How did that Master Li get his fortune? Does he not know how to keep you?" Qi Niang sighed. "Even I was given to you by him, and you accepted me. That takes skill."

"Besides, since he's heading south to manage the river, he must have many urgent and complicated matters to attend to. Why would he need you to stay overnight? Moreover, he left first after the banquet last night... Isn't that obvious enough?"

Zhang Luan waved his hand, signaling Qi Niang not to continue.

He sighed, "Alas, I'm the only fool in the whole world; you're all so resourceful. Why must I be the one left in court? Just because I'm the Emperor's father-in-law?"

Qi Niang smiled and said, "This identity alone is enough."

……

……

Liu Ji's memorial of apology, along with his letter of resignation, were presented to Zhu Youcheng by Li Rong.

Zhu Youcheng was very pleased, after all, he had always hoped that Liu Ji would back down when faced with difficulties. The current situation was very much in line with his principle of benevolence and righteousness, and it did not cause the relationship between the two sides to become strained, thus maintaining his harmonious relationship with the teacher who had taught him knowledge and imparted his experience in governance.

"very good."

Zhu Youcheng smiled and said, "I never expected it to turn out this way."

Li Rong reminded him, "Your Majesty, if you were to ask Grand Secretary Liu to retire, you would simply need to tell him clearly. Would he not understand?"

Standing behind the dragon throne, Xiao Jing thought to himself, "Liu Jili doesn't understand, but don't you understand?"
Liu Jiren, also known as Liu Mianhua, is famously thick-skinned. Even with a knife to his throat, he'll still lecture you on principles to make himself seem right.

Zhu Youcheng said, "This time, it was thanks to Yanling who went to enlighten Grand Secretary Liu... In this matter, I think Yanling did a good job of striking a balance between tension and relaxation."

Hearing this, Li Rong felt uneasy.

As the chief eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, Li Rong looked down on young people who rose to power through the protection of their ancestors, and even more so on young men like Zhang Yanling who, despite being born into a powerful family, had seized a high position at a young age.

Regardless, Li Rong understood that they all gained their status and position through their close relationship with the emperor; if Li Rong could do it, so could Zhang Yanling.

If Li Rong were to actually take the imperial examination, his situation wouldn't be much better than Zhang Yanling's; he simply wouldn't be able to fight his way out of the fierce competition.

"Yes."

Li Rong quickly responded.

He hadn't originally intended to help Zhang Yanling highlight his merits; perhaps the emperor would think that Li Rong was the one who deserved the most credit for this matter.

But now that the emperor has brought it up himself, it means that the emperor is fully aware of what happened when Zhang Yanling met Liu Ji and the subsequent impact.

It is highly likely that Zhang Yanling had already explained his plan in detail to the emperor before meeting Liu Ji, and that Qin Ji would also have tipped him off.

Li Rong thought to himself, "Qin Ji, as an old man in the palace, has always been wise to protect himself and knows how to curry favor with those in power. No one dares to underestimate him."

Even though Qin Ji always pretended to be innocent, Li Rong knew that in terms of closeness to the emperor, apart from the Zhang family, Qin Ji was the only one among the palace officials.

……

...Subsequently, Li Rong, acting on the emperor's orders, went to the cabinet to find Xu Pu, carrying the emperor's oral decree.

Li Rong went there with Xiao Jing.

Upon arriving at the door of the Cabinet Office, Li Rong looked up at the three large characters "Wenyuan Pavilion" on the lintel and seemed quite emotional. After all, he had just taken down Liu Ji last time, and now he was here to inform Liu Ji of his retirement and return to his hometown, while announcing the new cabinet ministers. This gave him a feeling of the world changing.

"Eunuch Li?"

Xiao Jing whispered a reminder.

"Ah."

Li Rong then came to his senses and stepped into the inner courtyard.

Xu Pu had learned of the news earlier and was waiting in the outer hall.

After a brief exchange of greetings, Li Rong explained the purpose of his visit: "Grand Secretary Xu, Grand Secretary Liu has been away these past few days. You must be tired."

"It should."

Xu Pu did not express any humility.

He was the only one on duty in the cabinet, and he had to handle almost everything on his own. It would be strange if he wasn't exhausted.

Li Rong said, "Because the cabinet is short of people, our Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs has also become much busier, and some less important government affairs have had to be temporarily put aside. His Majesty is also very diligent, reviewing memorials until very late every day."

"Yes."

Xu Pu said, "Your Majesty is diligent in governing and loves the people; you are truly a rare and wise ruler."

While giving perfunctory replies, Xu Pu was secretly wondering what case Liu Ji had been charged with for being taken away by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and what the outcome was.

Li Rong finally spoke frankly: "His Majesty has approved Grand Secretary Liu's memorial requesting to resign and has specially bestowed upon him carriages, horses, and servants to escort him back to his hometown."

"..."

Xu Pu was speechless for a moment.

He thought that his heart was comforting me and asking if I was tired, just to tell me that no matter how hard I work in the future, I will shoulder everything by myself.

Li Rong smiled and cupped his hands in greeting: "Congratulations, Grand Secretary Xu, on your promotion to Grand Secretary."

"hehe."

Xu Pu shook his head and smiled bitterly.

To most people, especially to someone like Liu Ji who was ambitious and driven by fame and fortune, becoming the Grand Secretary was a dream come true, a blessing that one could not attain even after several lifetimes.

But these days Xu Pu is so busy that he has almost forgotten why he came to the cabinet.

Between him and Liu Ji, and since Liu Ji doesn't do any work, he ended up doing the work of several people. If you think about it carefully, maybe it wouldn't make much difference whether Liu Ji is there or not.

But now that someone has told him that he has become the prime minister and this place will be his alone, he still can't be happy.

Are the differences between a prime minister and a prime minister really that great, given that they are so busy and overwhelmed, burning their lives and dedicating everything?

Hearing Li Rong's slow speech, Xiao Jing grew somewhat anxious and reminded him, "Eunuch Li, it's time to tell us about His Majesty's arrangements."

"We know."

Li Rong was not surprised and immediately said, "Your Majesty has made preparations. Zhang Luan, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue and concurrently a Reader of the Hanlin Academy, will immediately enter the cabinet to assist Grand Secretary Xu in his work."

Xu Pu immediately raised a question: "Even if Grand Secretary Liu voluntarily resigned, shouldn't his fate have been decided only after it has been publicly discussed in court?"

"no need."

Li Rong shook his head and said, "Grand Secretary Liu is eager to return home, just like Grand Secretary Wan back then. There's simply no way to persuade him to stay... So why should Grand Secretary Xu force him to stay?"

This was a reminder to Xu Pu.

When Wan An left, he was very unwilling, but in the end he had to obediently comply. After all, he had no choice but to leave. If he stayed, he would face legal trouble, or even be imprisoned, and might be sentenced to death.

Liu Ji's situation is not fundamentally different from his.

As for having people in the court try to persuade him to stay... well, which of you officials who came from the Eastern Palace as lecturers would pity Liu Ji and actually try to keep him? What's the point of doing that?
Xu Pu then asked, "Shouldn't the selection of new cabinet ministers also go through court recommendation and court deliberation?"

Li Rong smiled and said, "But Zhang Xueshi's name was not on the list of cabinet minister candidates in the Hanlin Academy. If we insist on pushing him out like this, wouldn't it be... bad for both the emperor and his ministers?"

Xu Pu roughly understood what was going on.

The reason for not discussing it at the court assembly was to avoid a public falling out, which would embarrass both the emperor and his ministers. It was better for the emperor to decide for himself.

After all, cabinet ministers were the emperor's advisors and secretaries, and their fate depended entirely on the emperor's will, as fully demonstrated in the handling of Wan An and Liu Ji.

None of you intend to recommend Zhang Luan, yet you still want to discuss his entry into the cabinet. Aren't you deliberately trying to displease the emperor?

Xu Pu said, "The rules for selecting Grand Secretaries of the Ming Dynasty have always existed and have become established. Shouldn't they be changed because of Scholar Zhang?"

Perhaps Xu Pu also wanted to maintain a good relationship with the emperor. Even though he strongly opposed Zhang Luan's entry into the cabinet, he only expressed his opinion in a roundabout way, hoping that the emperor would listen to him.

Li Rong nodded: "What Grand Secretary Xu said makes sense. Scholar Zhang is neither a Jinshi nor a Shujishi nor a regular official. Although he has experience serving in the Imperial Academy, he has only held office without doing any real work. Therefore, he is indeed lacking in prestige."

"Ah."

Xu Pu nodded, “The cabinet is currently short-staffed, and what it lacks are practical talents who can step up and get things done as soon as they arrive. On the other hand, Zhang Guozhang has basically held nominal positions since he entered officialdom. Even when he was appointed as the head of the Hanlin Academy, he didn’t spend much time there. If he recovers from his illness, he should actually spend more time in the Hanlin Academy.”

This means that Zhang Luan did little during his time at the Hanlin Academy, let alone become a cabinet minister. If he were truly to be promoted, he would have to spend some time at the Hanlin Academy to experience firsthand the hardships of compiling and editing books.

He has to consult so many materials every day, carefully scrutinize them to check for errors, and maintain the decorum of a scholar. As long as he's kept busy to the point of exhaustion, he won't have the face to mention anything about joining the cabinet.

Li Rong said, "His Majesty instructed that Scholar Zhang would assist in the compilation of the Veritable Records of the late Emperor."

"what?"

Xu Pu frowned upon hearing this.

Listen, is this human talk?

We're working so hard to revise the book, and the emperor says Scholar Zhang can help? So, after the book is finished, Zhang Lai-zhan just needs to sign his name and steal the credit for revising it? He's shameless!
Li Rong continued, "His Majesty did not mention the specifics of how he would help, but he did say that since the Yellow River engineering project was not yet completed, even if Scholar Zhang were to join the cabinet, he would have to prioritize his duties in the Ministry of Revenue."

"What do you mean?"

Xu Pu asked again.

"In other words, just like when he served as the Grand Secretary of the Hanlin Academy, Scholar Zhang was only in charge of cabinet positions, but he did not directly enter the cabinet to do any work."

Li Ronggui advised, "You are worried that Scholar Zhang's entry into the cabinet will affect the rules for selecting cabinet ministers, but that's not the case. His Majesty has actually considered this long ago..."

Xu Pu asked in surprise, "You've entered the cabinet, but you don't come in to do any work?"

"Yes."

Li Rong said, "We don't even need to give Zhang the title of Grand Secretary; he can just become a Hanlin Academician and concurrently take charge of cabinet affairs."

In the Ming Dynasty, the standard for entering the cabinet was actually to be a Grand Secretary.

However, during the Chenghua reign, quite a few people entered the cabinet as Hanlin Academicians, and their later promotion to Grand Secretary did not affect the so-called rules. It wasn't until the mid-Hongzhi reign that a fixed rule was established for entering the cabinet as a Grand Secretary; without the title of Grand Secretary, one was not considered to have entered the cabinet.

Xu Pu understood immediately upon hearing this.

Sending Zhang Luan into the cabinet was merely to reserve a spot. In this way, Zhang Luan would be second only to Xu Pu in the cabinet. Even if he wasn't in the cabinet, he would still have secured this position.

In this way, even if someone else joins the cabinet later, they will be ranked after Zhang Luan.

The emperor went to such lengths to scheme for his father-in-law...

Xu Pu thought to himself, what a fine father-in-law and son-in-law! Regardless of how well the relationship between the ruler and his subject was handled, at least the relationship between the father-in-law and son-in-law was unmatched.

Li Rong continued, "In order to provide you with assistance as soon as possible, His Majesty has decided that the next cabinet minister will be selected directly at the court meeting in the next two days. If nothing unexpected happens, it should be the most respected scholar, Liu, who will be appointed to the cabinet."

Liu Jian's appointment to the cabinet seems to be a popular choice.

After all, among those qualified to join the cabinet, apart from those Hanlin scholars with unclear relationships with Wan An and Liu Ji, the majority are from the Crown Prince's lecturer system, and Liu Jian's reputation is second only to Xu Pu.

Furthermore, during the years that Xu Pu served in the Six Ministries, the Imperial Academy's lecture class for the Crown Prince was previously managed by Liu Jian and Li Dongyang. However, after Li Dongyang began observing the mourning period, Xie Qian took over the other class.

Xu Pu said, "I have no objection to this point, but I think the matter of Scholar Zhang entering the cabinet is still worth discussing."

"You neither come into the cabinet to cause trouble for me, nor are you directly appointed as a Grand Secretary. Grand Secretary Xu, I don't understand what you are insisting on."

Li Rong sighed, "His Majesty's current decision requires the full support of the court, especially the support of you, his former tutors from the Eastern Palace. Perhaps that Scholar Zhang will never join the cabinet, and will not interfere in court affairs even after retiring to his hometown?"

Upon hearing this, Xu Pu felt somewhat annoyed.

Zhang Luan did not interfere in court affairs?
Pigs can climb trees!

(End of this chapter)