From street beggar to high-ranking official

Chapter 53 Filial Piety to Godfather

Lu Li had considered that a new palace maid would reappear by Consort Wu's side, but he did not expect Consort Wu to act so quickly. No sooner had he left than the palace maid Jinlian arrived.

After thinking for a moment, he decided to let Jinlian go for the time being. If she really didn't know what was good for her, he would let her know how ruthless Eunuch Lu was.

In the afternoon, before leaving Jingyang Palace, Lu Li went to the territory of the Imperial Household Department. There was another reason why he did not want to have any deeper contact with the Imperial Household Department, namely, the eunuch Lu, who was in charge of the records of the Imperial Household Department.

He rose to the sixth rank in officialdom, a position he obtained by betraying Eunuch Chen's adopted son.

He belonged to Eunuch Chen's faction and was naturally at odds with Eunuch Lu. Although this was only a personal grudge and the other eunuchs in the Imperial Household Department might not care, some junior eunuchs might choose to curry favor with Eunuch Lu and betray Lu Li.

After careful consideration, Lu Li randomly chose a godchild to contact the Imperial Household Department. It just so happened that he went with Xiao Shizi. Xiao Shizi had already amassed a large amount of wealth through embezzlement at the Imperial Household Department, so it was hard to say whether he was some kind of blinded bait.

The godsons under his own name may not be aware of the feud between Eunuch Lu and Eunuch Chen.

The territory of the Imperial Household Department.

Because the Imperial Household Department was responsible for storing tributes, delicacies, and treasures, and frequently traded and purchased goods with the outside world, it was located at the foot of the Imperial City, and further out were the gates of the Imperial Palace.

The previous times Lu Li of the Imperial Household Department had only come to visit someone and did not want to stay for even a moment, but now that he had the confidence, he was wearing a green official robe, and the passing eunuchs all gave him a wide berth.

"Eunuch Lu is here!" the eunuch on duty at the Imperial Palace announced.

"It's been a long time, Little Flag." Lu Li smiled at him. The Imperial Guard was the same little eunuch that Lu Li had previously befriended.

If you want to know the quickest way to familiarize yourself with a place, you can't go wrong by asking the gatekeeper. As long as you're willing to spend money, you're bound to get some information out of him. And the relationship between Lu Li and Xiao Qizi goes beyond that.

When the Seventh Prince was having fun on Mid-Autumn Festival, this gatekeeper was also brought along, and that's how they met—it was all by chance.

The two shook hands. Xiao Qi understood immediately, thinking to himself that Eunuch Lu was indeed good at handling things. He withdrew his hand and tucked it into his sleeves: "Eunuch Lu, is there something important you need today?"

"It's nothing important," Lu Li said, but he still asked what he wanted to know.

"Little Shizi, Eunuch Lu, you haven't been in the palace long enough to know this, but I was originally a junior eunuch in the Imperial Household Department, but..." Little Shizi hesitated for a moment before continuing, "It's just that there was a problem with the offerings in the Imperial Household Department's Tribute Office warehouse back then. Most of them were moldy, and when they were sent to the Imperial Ancestral Temple for sacrifice, something went wrong. In the end, after investigating, many colleagues died. I was lucky; I was just relegated to the Incense Cleansing Office to wash chamber pots."

Lu Li's eyes flickered slightly. Xiao Shizi originally came from the Imperial Household Department, which was something Xiao Chuanzi hadn't mentioned. Even the other adopted sons hadn't mentioned it. He only knew that Xiao Shizi originally worked in the Jingxiang Division of the Imperial Household Department, and later seized the opportunity to become his adopted son.

Of the five adopted sons, Xiao Shizi was the oldest. As expected of an old eunuch nearing forty, he still had such a long-standing story.

"Xiao Shizi has been away from the Imperial Workshop for many years, are his connections still effective?" Lu Li asked again.

Xiao Qizi wasn't entirely clear either, or rather, he didn't really know much about it: "We don't know anything about what happened back then. Xiao Shizi was able to embezzle so much money; wasn't he also climbing the social ladder?"

Lu Li was not pleased by Xiao Qizi's compliment; he was worried about who had contacted Xiao Shizi.

"Little Flag, tell me, just how much silver did Xiao Shizi embezzle?"

"I don't know. Our embezzlement is all done through private accounts, clandestine debts, and bad debts; how can we possibly keep track of everything?" Little Flag added as a final reminder: "Anyway, all of Godson's money has to be given to Godfather. Why not let Little Market Boy embezzle it, Eunuch Lu?"

Lu Li seemed to be deep in thought.

The visit to the Imperial Household Department ended hastily. That night, during roll call, Lu Li sat on the mahogany chair in the duty room and counted the number of people. Compared with before, the number of eunuchs under his command for night patrol had gradually increased. Some were Lu Li's former classmates, and some were newly recruited eunuchs.

Even though Lu Li's body had not fully matured, he had gradually figured out what it was like to be an official. He sat calmly in his chair and even had a certain air of authority.

"...As usual, we need to carefully explore all the palaces in the harem. Tonight's password is 'fruit peel...chicken rib'."

The passwords were updated every night. As the saying goes, words come from the heart, and some junior eunuchs would try to guess the emperor's intentions and infer his mood and interests from his words and actions.

Putting everything else aside, there were indeed a few eunuchs who caught Lu Li's eye, but because of the special nature of their night patrol duties, Lu Li was too lazy to take them in as gatekeepers. However, he still selected a few people to go to Jingyang Palace with him.

Since he had chosen to settle in Jingyang Palace, he absolutely needed manpower, and sometimes having only one Qian'er was too much of a stretch.

According to Lu Li's idea, to truly grasp the movements of Jingyang Palace, one should have both internal and external connections. The eunuchs who sweep and clean the palace are his own people, the eunuchs on duty at the gate are also his own people, and the eunuchs who work inside the palace are also his own people!

However, at present, I can only do one of the three.

"Alright, everyone disperse, except for Xiao Shizi," Lu Li said, waving his hand.

The group of eunuchs looked at each other in bewilderment. Usually, the most favored Xiao Chuanzi was the one who stayed behind. Why was he a different person today?

Some of the more cunning eunuchs even wondered if Xiao Chuanzi was about to fall out of favor, and whether they would have a chance to rise in rank.

As a result, the eunuchs' eyes were not focused on Xiao Shizi, but rather on Xiao Chuanzi.

But some well-informed people knew that Xiao Shizi was going to be in trouble, and that Xiao Shizi might not be a complete person today.

After everyone had left, Xiao Shizi scrambled to his feet and said, "Godfather, I'll pour you some tea."

"Hmm," Lu Li replied indifferently, then glanced at the tea in his cup. "Sigh, being an official in the Palace Guard is really not easy; even good tea is hard to come by."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Shizi was so frightened that she immediately knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly, saying, "Godfather, please forgive me!"

"What crime has Xiao Shizi committed?" Lu Li asked, slowly sipping his tea.

"Your son was too greedy. After years of struggling in the Jingxiang Division, he finally had a chance to make money and became so arrogant that he almost ruined his godfather's important plans. Your son deserves to die!"

As he spoke, Xiao Shizi pulled out a considerable amount of silver notes: "I've earned money and yet I don't know how to be filial to my godfather. I'm truly disloyal and unfilial. I'll accept any punishment from my godfather, even if it means being beaten to death, I'll have no complaints!"

When Lu Li glanced down, the tea in his hand almost wobbled.

My self-control and composure were already lacking, and I almost lost my composure when I saw several silver notes worth thousands of taels.

Damn it, we spent half a year traveling and wasting time leaving the palace and only earned a few thousand taels of silver. You, kid, made so much money in just a month or two. Is the Imperial Household Department really that lucrative?