Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 365 Differential Treatment
"Don't talk nonsense, kid!" Shi Fangda's words startled Shi Fuming so much that he trembled. Fortunately, he didn't take a pen at that time, otherwise the draft in front of him would be contaminated by ink. "What's wrong with the Duke of England?"

"Godfather, the Duke of England is probably pretending to be sick when he is not really sick. My son is very confident." Shi Fangda thought all the way and recalled many details.

"Faking illness?" Shi Fuming asked intently, his back, which had been hunched over from sitting for so long, straightened up a bit. "Why do you think so?"

Shi Fangda also sat upright in his chair. He recalled, "My son met the Duke in the study of the Duke's Mansion. At that time, the Duke seemed to be half-lying on a small couch reading, but there was an inkstone on the main desk."

"Isn't it normal for a patient to read on a small couch?" Shi Fuming raised his left eye and narrowed his right, his face full of confusion. "And what's wrong with having an inkstone? What's so strange about seeing four treasures in the study?"

"There was an inkstone on the table, a layer of ink in it, but the edge of the inkstone was empty, nothing was placed on it. The book was in the Duke's hand." Shi Fangda recalled not only the reflection of the ink but even the cover of the book. "The Duke was reading a book on imperial accounting. So his son thought he was sitting at the main table, reading. His son was suddenly summoned by imperial decree, and the Duke couldn't disguise himself enough, and couldn't leave his son alone for long, so he had to temporarily move him to the small couch in the study as a disguise."

"Not enough!" Shi Fuming said solemnly, "This little mark doesn't mean anything. Someone else might have sat on that chair, like the young master. Or maybe the Duke's servants were careless and forgot to clean it up. How does the Duke look?"

"He certainly looks sick. His tone, cough, facial expression, movements—everything is just like someone who has caught a cold." Shi Fangda changed the subject, "But my son didn't smell any medicine in the Duke's Mansion."

"Could it be that the medicine has been prescribed but not yet cured?" Shi Fuming asked again.

"No!" Shi Fangda said firmly, "My son once 'concerned' the Duke about this matter, and the Duke directly asked the young master to ask the doctor why he hadn't arrived yet, right in front of my son."

"In other words, when you went there, no doctor had ever come to the Duke's Mansion?" Shi Fuming frowned.

"Yes." Shi Fangda nodded heavily.

"I understand." Shi Fuming nodded, and then asked, "Did the Duke's Mansion give you a reward?" According to the unspoken rules and customs, eunuchs would always get some "prizes" when they went to the homes of foreign officials to convey the emperor's will.

Shi Fangda responded without any hesitation: "I gave it to him. But my son did not take it." In fact, Shi Fangda really wanted to take it, but he did not dare.

When the Liancaifang was first established last year, the temporary solution was to clarify the unspoken rules: eunuchs at all levels were allowed to take bribes, but they had to turn them over. On the eve of the end of the anti-corruption campaign, led by the West Factory and carried out by the new East Factory, the Imperial Household Department, acting on the emperor's orders, used the bloody situation as an opportunity to issue a ban on all illegal income. Subsequently, the Liancaifang was transformed into a small, efficient, and highest-level auditing unit.

A ban alone isn't enough; it also requires institutional safeguards. Without sustained and effective oversight, the ban will eventually become worthless. Oversight costs money, and a low-ranking field official like Shi Fangda isn't worth having a dedicated West Factory commissioner with a higher salary than him.

Therefore, the palace adopted the method of random inspection for these people at irregular intervals and with certain rules. During the inspection period, the person who was called out would be suspended from all duties, and all the property of himself and his family members within the five degrees of mourning would be investigated. If the property of himself and his family members exceeded their normal income, they would be regarded as "unclear property".

The lightest punishment for "unclear property" is "dismissal from office, exile from the palace, confiscation of all unclear property, and a fine equal to the unclear property." The highest punishment for "unclear property" is still the vague "no upper limit."

Shi Fuming was very satisfied with Shi Fangda's answer. He nodded slightly and praised him, "Good boy."

"Hehe." Shi Fuming's praise reminded Shi Fangda of the surprise on the British servant's face when he refused the "prize." A feeling of pride surged in his heart, and he couldn't help but puff out his chest.

Shi Fuming fell into deep thought and stopped asking questions. When he didn't speak, Shi Fangda also fell silent.

Shaoqing, Shi Fuming stood up, and Shi Fangda followed suit. "I have another errand to run. Please run one more time."

"Godfather, please give me your orders," Shi Fangda replied immediately. But at the same time, he thought wistfully of the pair of boots that had come undone and hadn't been mended yet. If these spare boots also broke, he'd have to spend money on new ones. Even though his basic salary had increased significantly, and he also received field allowances for special positions, he still felt bad about saving whenever possible.

Shi Fuming turned and walked to a wooden shelf, where he took down two stacked small wooden boxes. He handed them to Shi Fangda and said, "These are the gifts from the Emperor to the Yongshou Palace. The top one is for Concubine Mi Shen, and the bottom one is for Concubine Wen. Take them with you, and don't mix them up."

Hearing that he didn't need to go outside the palace, but only to Yongshou Palace, Shi Fangda felt relieved. "Yes, son, I'll go right away."

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Yongshou Palace is one of the six western palaces of the inner court. Built in the 18th year of the Yongle reign, it was originally named Changle and renamed Yude in the 14th year of the Jiajing reign. On the first day of the first lunar month of the 18th year of the Wanli reign, it was in this Yude Palace that the late Emperor Wanli, accompanied by his eldest and third sons, presented a scene of fatherly love and filial piety to the then-four ministers of the cabinet: Shen Shixing, Xu Guo, Wang Xijue, and Wang Jiaping.

At the time, the emperor summoned his ministers to a meeting regarding the "Four Admonitions Against Wine, Sex, Money, and Anger," a memorial submitted by Luo Yuren, Left Counsel of the Supreme Court, late the previous year. Enraged by this memorial, the emperor sought to punish Luo Yuren severely, but Shi Xing and his colleagues offered their apologies. Seeing the emperor's determination was unwavering, Shi Xing said, "This memorial cannot be released, fearing that others might believe it to be true. Your Majesty will grant us some leniency. We will immediately instruct the Minister of the Court to remove Yuren from office." The emperor agreed.

Although Shen Shixing and the others had saved Luo Yuren, the Emperor seemed to have developed some strange intelligence. After this incident, whenever Shenzong encountered a memorial he disliked, he would never report it.

After securing Luo Yuren, Shen Shixing and the others departed. However, halfway through leaving the palace, the emperor suddenly sent eunuchs to stop the four ministers. He informed them that the prince had arrived at Yude Palace and urged them to return to see him.

The four ministers returned to Yude Palace, where the eldest and third sons also arrived. Seeing the emperor embracing the eldest son, cuddled up to a tree, their affection evident, their suspicions somewhat eased. However, after this audience, the emperor did not appoint a crown prince, nor did he send the eldest son off to study. Instead, he stated that he had instructed the eunuchs to teach him to read. Afterward, the ministers' numerous petitions requesting an auspicious date for his son's departure were withheld.

In the 44th year of the Wanli reign, Yude Palace was renamed Yongshou, but the reason is no longer traceable.

The shortest route from the Qianqing Palace to the Yongshou Palace is through the Yuehua Gate and directly to the West Six Palaces. However, to use the Yuehua Gate, one must first pass through the Qianqing Gate, enter the Qianqing Palace courtyard, and then pass through the Yuehua Gate. Most of the time, although the gates remain open, free passage is not permitted. To pass through these side gates, permission must be obtained from the senior eunuchs or even the emperor. Shi Fuming was one of the senior eunuchs with this authority, but he did not grant this convenience to his godson. Even though Shi Fangda was following his orders to deliver gifts to the two empresses, Shi Fangda had no choice but to leave the Qianqing Gate the same way he had come, accompanied by two eunuchs carrying gifts, and then take a long detour to reach the Yongshou Palace.

When he arrived at Yongshou Palace with the gifts, Beauty Wen Jing and the head female official of Yongshou Palace, Sun Dianzheng, were standing under the locust tree in the front yard, waiting silently with several attendants who were serving Concubine Shen Mi Mengshang and Beauty Wen Jing.

Before Mi Mengshang was promoted to imperial concubine and the other concubines to beauties, Yongshou Palace had no additional maids. The seven concubines were already serving Mi Cairen, and were supervised by an old official named Liu Dianzheng. Had Mi Mengshang not graciously sought this less prestigious title on behalf of her sisters, the other concubines would likely have been relegated to the Imperial Household Department as servants to Concubine Shen. After the conferment of the title, the seven beauties also became masters, receiving their own maids, just like Concubine Shen. To avoid the awkward situation of reversing the roles of master and servant, the head female official of Yongshou Palace, Liu Dianzheng, was replaced by Sun Dianzheng.

When they left the Qianqing Palace that morning, Wen Jing and Mi Mengshang did not return to Yongshou Palace together. Immediately after exiting the Qianqing Gate, Mi Mengshang boarded a palanquin used exclusively for the Western Depot and, escorted by a team of eunuchs, headed directly to the Western Depot Inspection Bureau. Judging solely by the number of people in the entire Taichang harem, only the two imperial concubines matched Mi Mengshang's pomp and circumstance. In stark contrast, Wen Jing had to walk back to Yongshou Palace with a single attendant maid.

As soon as Shi Fangda and the two eunuchs crossed Yongshou Gate and entered the front yard, they immediately attracted the attention of the women. Without asking, the women knew what they were doing when they saw the boxes in the hands of the two eunuchs.

Wen Jing led the crowd to meet Shi Fangda in front of the screen wall.

Last time, Shi Fangda had brought people to deliver the gifts. Then, just like now, only the favored Lady Gu and the foreman, Sun Dian, were waiting in the front yard for the gifts. Therefore, Shi Fangda had no impression of Wen Jing. However, just by looking at her face and clothes, Shi Fangda could recognize Lady Wen at a glance.

"Your servant Shi Fangda greets Empress Wen." Shi Fangda bowed. "Greetings to Empress Wen."

"There's no need to be so polite, Eunuch Shi." Wen Jing was no longer an ordinary palace maid. She didn't have to bow or even kneel before the eunuch as before. She only had to nod in response.

Shi Fangda took a deep breath, gathered it in his dantian, and slowly exhaled. "Your Majesty, may I reward Concubine Shen with a gold-inlaid, precious flower hairpin. May I reward Concubine Wen with a pair of jewel-encrusted, cloud-patterned hairpins gilded with gold and silver." The Emperor hadn't given any special instructions for this visit, so Shi Fuming followed the usual procedure, selecting gifts for the two concubines according to their respective ranks, adding his own interpretation.

As soon as Shi Fangda finished speaking, the two eunuchs standing beside him carefully opened the wooden boxes in their hands and showed the rewards to Wen Jing and Sun Dianzheng, who received the rewards on behalf of Mi Mengshang.

Although they are all small items, the difference between these items can be seen at a glance. The gold-inlaid flower-top hairpin uses far more materials than the pair of sideburns. There are three circles of seventeen gems on the flower-top hairpin. Not to mention the large gem in the center, even if you randomly pick two of the eight second-level gems in the third circle, they can match the only gems inlaid on the left and right sideburns.

Moreover, the flower-top hairpin awarded to Mi Mengshang was made of pure gold, while the one awarded to Wen Jing was only a pair of gilded silver hairpins. If the craftsman's labor time is taken into account, the cost of this flower-top hairpin is at least as much as ten pairs of silver hairpins.

Wen Jing's eyes trembled. Suddenly, a hint of undue jealousy welled up in her. She thought: If only she had mustered the courage to speak out Concubine Zheng's plans when the Emperor pulled her aside for questioning, instead of trembling and hesitating in his arms, and instead had bravely won the Emperor's favor by revealing what she had planned, then she would have been the Concubine Shen who had received that morning's pomp and circumstance, and the flower-topped hairpin.

Wen Jing suppressed her distracting thoughts, knelt gracefully, and kowtowed toward the Qianqing Palace, which seemed so close yet so far away. "Your Majesty, I, Wen Jing, kowtow to thank you for your grace." After kowtow, she stood up and raised her hands to receive the pair of gilded silver hairpins.

"Sun Dianzheng." Shi Fangda looked at the female official. "You should be the one to deliver Concubine Mi Shen's reward." Not having to stay in the palace to wait for the reward was a privilege unique to Mi Mengshang.

"Yes." Sun Dianzheng was merely in charge of the gift, not accepting it. Her duties were similar to Shi Fangda's. Mi Mengshang would have to kowtow to the emperor herself when she returned from court in the afternoon. Therefore, Sun Dianzheng simply nodded and accepted the gold-inlaid jewel flower hairpin.

After Wen Jing stood up, Shi Fangda bowed and said goodbye. "Miss Wen, the gifts have been delivered. I will take my leave now."

"Goodbye, Eunuch Shi." Wen Jing held the box, feeling regretful.

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During the time when Shi Fangda went to Yongshou Palace to deliver gifts and returned, the eunuchs who were sent by Shi Fuming to the residences of other nobles to "visit their illnesses" also returned one after another.

When Shi Fangda returned to the Qianqing Palace again, Shi Fangyi, the last one to come back to report, was reporting the situation of Yongning Earl Wang Tianrui to Shi Fuming.

Shi Fangda stood at the door, waiting silently. Fortunately, the Q&A session was already halfway through, and the report was over in less than half an hour.

After the report, Shi Fuming came out. Shi Fangda hurriedly bowed. "Son greets godfather."

"Yeah." Shi Fuming nodded without stopping. "Now that you're back, take a rest."

"Goodbye, godfather." Shi Fangda bowed again towards Shi Fuming's gradually receding back.

Only after Shi Fuming entered the Qianqing Palace did Shi Fangda walk into the right side room.

"Is Lord Yongning okay?" Shi Fangda asked Shi Fangyi.

Shi Fangyi first saluted his senior brother, then said solemnly, "Very good."

(End of this chapter)