The Prodigal Son

late at night.

Imperial Censor Cui Xu returned home after attending a banquet in the palace.

Cui Xu had just leaned halfway out of the carriage when a masked man suddenly appeared.

"How dare you! In the heart of the capital, you dare to assassinate a high-ranking official of the imperial court?"

The guards quickly protected Cui Xu.

"You've all misunderstood!"

The masked man shook his head and said, "I have no intention of assassinating Lord Cui, but rather I have something important to deliver to him!"

As he spoke, the masked man held up the object wrapped in black cloth in his hand.

Cui Xu raised his hand to stop his guards, his gaze fixed coldly on the masked man. "Who are you?"

"That's not important."

The masked man said in a deep voice, "This item is of great importance. I entrusted it to you because I believe you are an upright and incorruptible official! Please keep it safe!"

"Is that so?"

Cui Xu gave the guard a wink.

The guard understood and immediately stepped forward to take the item from the masked man and present it to Cui Xu.

Seeing that the item had been successfully delivered to Cui Xu, the masked man quickly retreated.

Cui Xu was puzzled and immediately opened the black cloth bag, revealing the account book inside.

Looking at the account book, Cui Xu couldn't help but sigh helplessly.

Over the years, he has received far too many similar things!

This is yet another piece of evidence of corruption by a corrupt official.

I guess the other party's official rank must be quite high, right?

Cui Xu didn't rush to look at the account book; he quickly took it into the house.

Inside the house, Madam Cui and her son Cui Zhi were still waiting for Cui Xu.

Madam Cui knew that Cui Xu must have drunk a lot of wine in the palace, so she had prepared a hangover soup in advance.

Upon seeing Cui Xu return, Madam Cui hurriedly went to greet him and instructed the servants, "Quickly go and bring the master some hangover soup."

"Father, you're finally back!"

Cui Zhi strode forward, "We've been waiting for you for ages."

"What are you waiting for me for?"

Cui Xu gently shook his head and sat down with the help of Madam Cui.

"Someone sent a letter to your residence."

As Cui Zhi spoke, he took out the letter and handed it to his father, saying, "It says to be opened by Father himself, please take a look!"

Cui Xu frowned slightly, put the account book aside, and took the letter to open it.

Upon reading the letter, Cui Xu flew into a rage: "That Qin Yu, how dare he!"

"Qin Yu?"

Cui Zhi looked at his father with a puzzled expression, "What's wrong with Qin Yu?"

"Take a look for yourself!"

With a frosty expression, Cui Xu handed the letter to his son and then picked up the account book next to him to look through it.

Cui Zhi glanced at the letter briefly, his face turning cold as he angrily exclaimed, "This Qin Yu actually colluded with Du Zhiwen to sell official positions on a large scale?"

Influenced by his father from a young age, Cui Zhi has always been a man who hates evil and is upright and incorruptible.

He also aspired to follow in his father's footsteps and become a censor who dared to speak frankly.

Now that he has learned that Qin Yu is selling official positions on a large scale and disregarding the laws of the court, how could he not be furious?

Selling official positions and titles?

Hearing her son's words, Madam Cui's eyelids twitched suddenly. "Master, this is probably because someone is jealous of Qin Yu's great achievements and is trying to frame him..."

"What setup!"

Cui Zhi interrupted his mother, his face ashen, and said, "This document clearly lists who bought which official positions from Qin Yu. If it were truly a frame-up, wouldn't His Majesty have simply sent someone to investigate and exposed it? Why would they go to all that trouble?"

"Shut up!"

Madam Cui scolded her son irritably, then looked at her husband with concern, "My lord, Qin Yu is His Majesty's favorite minister, and Qin Fumeng now holds great power. Why don't you just pretend you don't know anything about this?"

"Mother, what did you say?"

Cui Zhi looked at his mother with dissatisfaction, "Father, as the Imperial Censor, how can you pretend not to know that Qin Yu is selling official positions on a large scale?"

"So what if I know?" Madam Cui glared at her son. "Look at yourself, who among those who oppose Qin Yu has a good ending? Even Lü Si has reconciled with Qin Yu, and you still want..."

"Lü Si?"

Cui Zhi's eyelids suddenly twitched, and he suddenly remembered something, his face instantly filled with grief and indignation.

"What's wrong with you?"

Madam Cui looked at her son with a puzzled expression.

Speaking of Lü Si, how come he's associated with the deaths of his parents...?

Pah! Pah!

Just as Madam Cui was wondering what was going on, Cui Xu suddenly slammed the account book down on the table, cursing with a mixture of anger and amusement: "That bastard!"

"Master, what's wrong with you now?"

Madam Cui looked at her husband, still puzzled.

What's going on between this father and son?

One crazy thing after another?

Cui Xu looked up at his son, "Tomorrow, go find Qin Yu and ask him to give you two... um, five hundred taels of silver!"

"Father, could you please give me a thousand taels?"

Once he came to his senses, Cui Zhi looked at his father with a bitter expression.

"what?"

Cui Xu and his wife were dumbfounded.

He was just indignant, but now he wants to ask Qin Yu for a thousand taels of silver.

Cui Zhi looked miserable. "It's most likely that Qin Yu used you to expose himself..."

How did you know?

Cui Xu looked at his son in surprise.

This kid's not bad!

I only guessed this after looking at the account books, but he guessed it without even looking at the account books?

"Father, you noticed it too?"

Cui Zhi looked at his father with equal surprise.

"I have a rough idea. Either Qin Yu denounces himself, or His Majesty wants to use me to put Qin Yu and the court officials in a bad light."

As Cui Xu spoke, he tossed the account book to his son, "Take a look!"

Cui Zhi reluctantly took the account book, glanced at it briefly, and said with absolute certainty, "This must have been sent to you by Qin Yu!"

This ledger is ridiculously detailed!

Qin Yu remembered every detail clearly: when and where he received what gifts from whom, and what official position he sold.

How can you be so sure?

Cui Xu was even more curious.

Judging from the level of detail in the account book, it is indeed most likely that Qin Yu himself sent it.

But we can't rule out the possibility that His Majesty sent someone to give it to me!

He was very curious as to why his son was so certain that the account book was sent by Qin Yu.

Cui Zhi slowly stood up, moved a little distance away from Cui Xu, and then said with a worried expression, "I ran into Lü Si a few days ago, and as we were chatting, we started talking about Qin Yu..."

At the time, he remarked that Qin Yu would surely be greatly rewarded upon his return.

However, Lü Si mysteriously said that Qin Yu could never receive a great reward.

He thought Lü Si had some inside information, so he spent thirty taels of silver to treat Lü Si to dinner and drinks, hoping to get the inside information out of Lü Si.

However, Lü Si said that Qin Yu had no intention of being promoted and would cause some big trouble in Min, so that His Majesty would not be able to bestow generous rewards upon him.

He already thought Lü Si was unreliable, and he also believed that there was no one in the world who didn't want a promotion. In addition, Lü Si himself couldn't explain what Qin Yu was up to, so he naturally assumed that Lü Si was just jealous of Qin Yu's success and was talking nonsense because he was drunk.

Seeing that he didn't believe him, Lü Si, who was drunk, wanted to make a bet with him.

If Qin Yu causes a major incident and obstructs His Majesty's reward, I will give Lü Si one thousand taels of silver.

Conversely, Lü Si gave himself a thousand taels of silver.

Actually, that bastard Lü Si originally wanted to gamble ten thousand taels of silver with him.

But he wasn't as extravagant as Lü Si, and he was worried that Lü Si would deny his debts if he gambled too much, so he only gambled one thousand taels.

He was so angry when he learned that Qin Yu was selling official positions that he didn't even think about this matter.

It wasn't until his mother mentioned Lü Si that he instantly realized what was happening.

"What?"

Cui Xu's expression changed drastically, and he stood up with a frosty look on his face. "You unfilial son, how dare you gamble a thousand taels of silver with someone?"

"I……"

Fearing his father might slap him across the face, Cui Zhi took a few steps back, looking at his father with a bitter expression. "Who would have thought there was such a bastard as Qin Yu in this world?"

Everyone else is trying their best to climb the ladder, and they'll exaggerate their achievements even if they don't actually have any.

He's quite something; despite his great achievements, he still has to stir up trouble to offset his merits and demerits.

And that bastard Lü Si, he was probably just pretending to be drunk, trying to trick me into betting with him!

He had actually been tricked and outmaneuvered by that bastard Lü Si.

"I……"

Cui Xu stomped his feet in anger, "I'll be driven to my death by you, you unfilial son!"

asshole!

Cui Zhi and Lü Si are bastards, and Qin Yu is an even bigger bastard!

No, we have to get that bastard Qin Yu back for the losses!