Ming Dynasty Detective 1546

Chapter 88: Night Talk at the Yan Mansion (Part )
"Hiss! Mother, be gentler! Be gentler!"

"Oh my! How could that damn Guo Xun be so cruel..."

"Oh! He's old, and his strength isn't up to par. I didn't dare fight him, otherwise I would have definitely knocked this old man down!"

Inside the Yan Mansion, Yan Shifan smiled and comforted his mother, whose eyes were red.

This is not entirely wrong. Time is merciless. Guo Xun is over 50 years old in this era, which is considered old. Even though he practiced martial arts in his early years and had quite a foundation, he is no longer able to do so now.

Otherwise, the opponent seemed to have no intention of holding back. If he attacked left and right, wouldn't Yan Shifan have had several of his teeth knocked out?

Ouyang was naturally heartbroken.

Yan Song's first wife did not have a face full of pockmarks as later marketing accounts said, and she never left him. Judging from her appearance, she was not ugly when she was young, but she was not glamorous either. She was just an ordinary lady with a gentle temperament. Now that she was older and fatter, she seemed amiable.

"master!"

While Ouyang was gently applying medicine to Yan Shifan, an old man walked in quickly with the respectful voice of a maid outside the house.

Yan Song is nearly fifty years old, entering the age of knowing the destiny, but he does not look old. He has a thin face, slightly protruding cheekbones, clear cheek lines, and not many wrinkles on his face. There are only a few shallow lines at the corners of his eyes. He is like an ancient pine tree that has experienced wind and frost, calm and tough.

No matter who you are, when you see such a simple old minister in casual clothes, four words will often come to mind - the character of a scholar!
"father!"

Yan Shifan had just been acting coquettishly with his mother, but when he saw his father come in, he immediately stood up.

"Lie down!"

Yan Song held him down, sat beside the bed, and looked at his son with heartache.

The two played the roles of strict father and kind mother at home, but Yan Song was 49 years old this year and Yan Shifan was 18 years old. He was 31 years old when he gave birth to such a son, and he was his only son. Even if he was strict in educating his son on the surface, how could he not love him in his heart?
Seeing his son's bruised face, the usually humble Yan Song's eyes blazed with anger. "Guo Xun is arrogant and domineering, committing many wrongdoings. He has no regard for the laws of the court. He will eventually receive his due."

Yan Shifan grinned like an eighteen-year-old child: "The slap was worth it. This favor, Gui Ge Lao, can't deny it even if he wants to!"

By taking Guo Xun's anger out on others, his favor was confirmed. Even though the Great Ceremony Discussion Circle was exclusive, he and his son had finally gotten a foothold in.

Yan Song patted his son's hand gently, with relief in his eyes.

In fact, he had originally intended to give up approaching the new elites of the Daliyi and instead found a new target.

Xia Yan.

He has recently been favored by the emperor and is likely to rise to a high position. He is also my fellow Jiangxi native, so there is a natural opportunity to make friends with him.

However, emotionally, it is really difficult to rely on Xia Yan.

You must know that Yan Song is now the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, a serious third-rank official of the court. What about Xia Yan?
The Ministry of Personnel was in charge of the Censorate.

Seventh rank.

Although the Inspector Censor and the Imperial Censorate were both low-ranking but powerful official positions, once they had made achievements, they would often be promoted rapidly, but the seventh rank was still the seventh rank after all.

To put it bluntly, Xia Yan is now not as good as Wu Lin, the inspector of Guangdong.

Moreover, Yan Song had been a child prodigy since childhood. At the age of 19, he took part in the provincial examination for the first time and ranked 16th. Later, he ranked second in the second class of the imperial examination and ranked fifth in the country. After selection, he became a Shujishi and began to study in the Hanlin Academy, the preparatory class for the cabinet ministers.

It is obvious who Yan Shifan inherited his brain from.

What about Xia Yan?
He passed the imperial examination at the age of 28, and then studied at the Imperial College. He studied until he was 35 years old, and finally passed the imperial examination to become a Jinshi. His ranking was very low, only in the top three. He could not even think about the Hanlin Academy. He started as an eighth-rank official and went to the Ministry of Travel to do some errands and miscellaneous work.

If Xia Yan was not handsome and capable, even the Jieshi Zhong would not have been able to do it.

Not to mention his experiences of living in Qianshan for ten years, making friends with Wang Yangming, and being the chief academic officer of the Imperial College with many students all over the world, just from the perspective of official rank and imperial examination achievements, the two are incomparable. It was really unacceptable for Yan Song to curry favor with Xia Yan.

So at this moment, looking at his son, Yan Song was very proud.

"Official fans!"

Ouyang was furious and scolded him harshly, "Your child was beaten like this, and you're only thinking about getting promoted? Is this what the Book of Sages teaches? If you say that again, get out right now!"

Yan Shifan immediately shut up, and Yan Song, who usually had to reason with his wife, did not dare to respond. In fact, Yan Song was not looking for an immediate promotion.

It had not been long since he was promoted to the third-rank assistant minister. The right assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites was also an important position, so it was impossible for him to be promoted to the second-rank minister of six ministries quickly. What really made him happy was that he didn't have to do something that went against his conscience, and his son stepped forward, seized the opportunity, and paved another way out for his father. Of course, he was very relieved.

Ouyang ignored all this and just felt sorry for her son. However, after this incident, Yan Shifan witnessed Guo Xun's arrogance and domineering behavior with his own eyes, and he wanted his father to be promoted even more.

"Mom, Dad definitely didn't mean that. Don't you trust him?"

He first tried to appease the furious Ouyang, then looked at Yan Song and said earnestly, "Dad, I want to study at the Imperial College!"

"it is good!"

Yan Song nodded immediately. His son's resistance to the overbearing nobles had earned him the admiration of many students. This was a perfect opportunity to strike while the iron was hot. Furthermore, his admission to the Imperial College would also involve another person. "Three friends are beneficial. A gentleman should choose his friends first. I was wrong to let you keep Gui Jia Sanlang company. This Hai Shisanlang is the friend you should be making friends with! Choose friends based on virtue, not power!"

Yan Song would never have said this in the past, but firstly, this time it was really thanks to Haiyue that he found out the strangeness behind the case and took the initiative logically. Secondly, Lu Bing conveyed the message on behalf of the emperor, but he did not come earlier or later, but came out when Guo Xun was about to do something bad to Haiyue. Combined with the letter of request, the relationship between the two was better than expected.

How much less powerful is this person than Gui Zai?

"Official fanatics! Both father and son are official fanatics!"

Ouyang rolled her eyes, but she also began to think in her heart, if the student from Qionghai came to visit in the future, should she buy some Lingnan specialties early to make the other party more favorable to her?

After receiving the admission approval, Yan Shifan mentioned the case again: "Dad, the case of Zhao Qilang's death is not over yet. I am ready to continue investigating!"

Yan Song narrowed his eyes slightly and asked, "Do you have any directions to investigate?"

"He was forced to death. He died in agony and despair. At such a young age, he was forced to commit suicide. And they even set up this trap, using Gui Deyu's personal sword. There must be a thousand connections behind this!"

On his way home from the Imperial College, Yan Shifan had been thinking about Hai Yue's analysis. The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed to him: "Hai Shisanlang and I both suspect that the wife of Marquis Wuding, Zhao Qilang's biological sister, may not be as virtuous as she appears..."

Yan Song said slowly: "What do you want to say?"

Yan Shifan rolled his eyes, but it was difficult to say anything in front of his mother, so he could only say, "The nobles have violated etiquette and morality too many times. Who knows what dirty deeds they are doing behind the scenes? Dad, don't forget that Guo went through five succession disputes before inheriting the title. Their family traditions are notorious in the capital..."

Guo Xun's ancestor Guo Ying followed Taizu in starting an uprising at the age of eighteen and was highly trusted by Taizu. He participated in and made meritorious contributions in major battles such as the campaign against Chen Youliang. However, when Taizu passed away and Jianwen ascended the throne, when Prince of Yan Zhu Di was campaigning to quell the rebellion, Guo Ying followed Geng Bingwen and Li Jinglong to fight against Zhu Di.

Because of the issue of standing on the side during the Jingnan War, Guo Ying was "dismissed and returned home" after Zhu Di ascended the throne. Zhu Di later stopped the inheritance rights of Guo's descendants, Marquis Wuding.

Later, the Guo family experienced five disputes for the succession of the title, with the eldest branch and the second branch fighting fiercely. By the time of Guo Xun's father, Guo Liang, the family had fallen into poverty and was once so poor that they could not even make ends meet.

Therefore, it was not without reason that Guo Xun would engage in political speculation and support the young emperor in the Great Ceremony Debate. He was originally a marginalized nobleman.

Now that they have gained power, they are even more arrogant. Such families are actually the most prone to scandals.

Yan Shifan's eyes shone with hatred. "The Great Ming Code is nothing but empty words to the nobles, yet what they fear most is scandal! Who would want to become a laughingstock in the capital? Even if you have the emperor's favor, it will fade, and your power will fall, becoming nothing more than a passing cloud!"

Yan Song's expression was solemn: "Do you know that if you do this, you will be met with Guo Xun's most terrifying counterattack?"

"Dad, now that things have come to this, there's no turning back!"

Yan Shifan gritted his teeth and said firmly, "Even if I don't do it, Guo Xun can't do anything to Elder Gui, so how can he do anything to us? He's at a disadvantage this time, and he'll take his anger out on me. I'm afraid he'll trip up Daddy!"

The injuries on his face clearly told him that not only did he and his son have no capital to compete with Guo Xun, even several important officials in the six ministries of the cabinet could not gain any advantage against this unreasonable nobleman who kept private soldiers.

When a scholar meets a soldier, he can't explain his reason clearly. Even in the Ming Dynasty, people were beaten to death! What's more, this kind of noble who is already unscrupulous?

Guo Xun is used to being arrogant and is definitely not one to suffer in silence. If he doesn't take the opportunity to fight back now and waits for the Marquis Wuding to attack again, it will be too late to regret.

Speaking of business, Ouyang, who had been silent all this time, finally spoke up: "Master, if you delay, you will lose; if you retreat, you will lose. Qing'er is right!"

Yan Song no longer hesitated, stroking his beard and nodding: "Okay! If you have made this decision, I will never dissuade you. I just have one word of warning! You can also say this to Hai Shisanlang!"

Yan Shifan pretended to listen.

Yan Song said, "Haste makes waste. Overthinking the small things leads to the loss of the big. A full bow easily breaks. Exhaustion leads to danger! Remember this. I hope you will investigate this case thoroughly and achieve your full potential!"

(End of this chapter)