The Red Mansion Big Liar

"Hey! Then I'll have to trouble Brother Zhen's daughter-in-law!"

"Madam, please tell me what you are not clear about. I can tell Brother Yi when I get back."

"Uh..." Aunt Xue couldn't help but feel troubled when she heard this.

Baochai took the opportunity to say, "Hey! Actually, it's not a big deal. This business was originally set up by Brother Yi. We have no objection to how to divide it or how much to divide. It's just that I heard that a portion will be sent to Prince Zhongshun's Mansion, so mother wanted to trouble Brother Yi to take my brother with him to gain some experience."

"This……"

Now Youshi finally understood why the Xue family had never mentioned this month's money. It turned out that they were waiting to use her to bargain.

But everyone knows Xue Pan's temper, and Zhang Yunyi is afraid that he may not agree.

Baochai knew she was in trouble, and said quickly: "Don't worry, Sister Zhen, my brother is just going with Brother Yi to see the world. We will keep him informed and he won't say a word."

Although Xue Pan was a rough man, he was not so ignorant as to not know the importance of things and dare to talk nonsense in front of the prince. However, he could not help but worry that he would speak inappropriately and end up making things worse.

In fact, it would be enough for Zhang Yunyi to mention the name of the Xue family. He let Xue Pan follow because he was worried that he would take all the credit for the gift.

Although Zhang Yun逸 had not told Youshi about this, she was present when he discussed it with Aunt Xue and knew the relationship between the two.

But she couldn't guarantee whether Zhang Yunyi would agree.

Just when they were in trouble, there was a commotion outside, and then Li Wan and Sanchun walked in.

When Tanchun saw her, she smiled and said, "Sister-in-law Zhen is different now. She has started a business. Now she is here to discuss business with Aunt and Sister Bao."

She was adopted by Mrs. Wang and lived with her, so she called her aunt.

However, she did not understand the true meaning of her words, and her words, which were meant to be flattering, ended up making Aunt Xue and Baochai feel embarrassed.

Aunt Xue slapped her forehead and said, "Look at my memory. I was so busy chatting that I forgot about the main business. I was so busy with both sides recently that I forgot about it."

Yu Shi's mind was as clear as a mirror, and she waved her hands and said, "It's not urgent, and it's not convenient today. Let's talk about it in two days!"

The monthly silver is several thousand taels. If it were in the past, this would be a huge sum of money for her. Of course, she would just go with the flow and put it in the pocket.

Now, following Zhang Yunyi's vision, he realized that the Xue family intended to use the money to make trouble and did not want to give anyone a chance to criticize them.

I plan to go back and ask Zhang Yunyi what he thinks first.

After listening to the conversation between the two sides, Tanchun realized that she had said something wrong, and hurriedly smiled to smooth things over, "It's all our fault that we acted too hastily and didn't give Auntie time to sort things out slowly. The other day, the old lady and the mistress even told Auntie to bear with her."

As she spoke, she turned to Mrs. You and said, "Sister-in-law Zhen, please bear with me for a while!"

Since this brought up Lady Jia and Lady Wang, Youshi naturally didn't say much. She smiled and covered her mouth with her hands, saying, "Everyone says that Miss Feng is sharp-tongued, but I think the Third Miss is no worse. We are all from the same family, so why should we talk about different things?"

"Humph!"

When she said this, everyone else naturally agreed with her, except Xichun in the crowd who snorted coldly.

The four of them came together, but she was the only one who was dragged along. The three words "family" especially sounded particularly harsh to her.

Youshi knew that she had a cold face and a cold heart, which was why she didn't want to be on the same level as the people in the mansion. She originally wanted to put on the power of a sister-in-law and say a few words.

But thinking that she was not clean now, and that Jia Jing intended to let Xichun marry Zhang Yunyi, she would have to look at the face of this sister-in-law in the future, so she could only sneer and said: "Miss, you should go back more often, at least get to know your elder brother Yi better."

In the past, she had not paid much attention to this sister-in-law who was raised in the West Mansion, but now, she hopes to establish a good relationship with her as soon as possible.

However, Xichun did not seem to appreciate her kindness. Although she did not open her mouth to refute, there was no expression on her pretty face that was as cold as ice, and she did not respond at all.

Yu Shi was feeling a little embarrassed when Li Wan rushed over and said, "Why bother going back home? Why not ask Brother Yi to come over so that they can talk to each other?"

As soon as she said this, she realized that everyone was looking at her in surprise.

His face immediately turned red with embarrassment, and he quickly explained, "Lan'er also followed the master to worship the gods, but he is young and does not understand. Brother Yi is used to big scenes, and he may not be able to hide the details that others do not notice. If he can help correct it, it will be a blessing for Lan'er."

After everyone heard this, they suddenly realized.

Tanchun was originally wondering why her elder sister-in-law, who had always turned a deaf ear to what was happening outside, would take the initiative to bring her three sisters to the Xue family.

Now, I finally understand her intention.

Yu Shi also felt relieved.

Last time, Wang Xifeng's words and implications made her think a lot, but unfortunately there was no follow-up, so she couldn't help but feel that she had suppressed one problem but created another.

He was worried that Li Wan was also eyeing Zhang Yun逸.

But now I understand what she meant. She was pointing out that it must be fake, and she was probably asking Zhang Yunyi to read her fortune on purpose.

Although this idea is different from that idea, Zhang Yun逸 also said that the secret cannot be revealed.

If it was about the Xue family, she was willing to help convey a message, but she would definitely not help with Li Wan's request. Instead, she would turn around and remind Zhang Yunyi to give Li Wan less opportunities to ask for help.

"Oh! This is unfortunate. Brother Yi had something to do today and didn't come over. Not to mention giving any advice to Lan, he hasn't even met him in person yet!"

……

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 118: Emphasis on love and justice

"Your Majesty, I bow to you. Long live your Majesty!"

Zhang Yun逸 stepped into the imperial study and bowed.

Emperor Zhengqing, who was sitting cross-legged on the imperial couch, made a gesture to end his exercise, then raised his hand and said, "Tianxiang, please stand up quickly. Why are you here, my dear?"

Zhang Yunyi did not stand up, but crawled on the ground and said: "I am here to apologize to Your Majesty!"

Emperor Zhengqing frowned and said thoughtfully, "What crime have you committed? Did something go wrong at the glass factory?"

"Your Majesty, everything is normal at the factory." He stood up and looked at Dai Quan standing beside him, hesitating, "I...I am not asking for forgiveness for myself."

After hearing this, Emperor Zhengqing was stunned, while Dai Quan, who was standing beside him, showed a look of panic on his face.

"My uncle and cousin were foolish and colluded with their in-laws to embezzle the public funds of the Construction Bureau, amounting to a huge sum of 600,000 taels of silver."

In ancient times, it was important to protect one's relatives. Unless it was a serious crime of treason, killing one's relatives for the sake of justice would make one despised.

Not only will colleagues and relatives keep their distance from him, but even the emperor will think he is heartless and ungrateful.

Therefore, he could only adopt a roundabout tactic, under the guise of apologizing for the Ning Mansion, but actually filing a complaint.

As for whether Qin Ye would be implicated, he did not feel any guilt.

Coming out and mixing, sooner or later I have to pay it back.

Moreover, Jia Jing and the others wanted to silence Qin Keqing, so they must be planning to sacrifice the pawn to save the king and push Qin Ye out to take the blame.

On the contrary, after making such a fuss, there might be a glimmer of hope.

Upon hearing that there was no problem with Tiangong Academy, Emperor Zhengqing's expression eased a lot.

He was well aware of the corruption in the court.

When the water is too clear, there will be no fish. This kind of thing has never been prevented from ancient times to the present. Even if he deals with one batch, there will be another batch.

As long as there is no chaos, the court can be maintained, and it does not affect his alchemy and Taoism, he will turn a blind eye.

This time, he did not want to rectify the government, but wanted to earn more merits.

He had even planned to treat these officials as leeks and harvest a batch every once in a while.

However, even so, when he heard that the embezzled silver was as much as 600,000 taels, his eyelids couldn't help but twitch twice.

He said in a deep voice: "If that's the case, why didn't he come himself, but asked you to come and apologize?"

"I took the initiative to ask for this. My uncle has failed to live up to the emperor's grace and has no face to see His Majesty."

Zhang Yunyi said sincerely, "I am alone and helpless, with only these few relatives. I cannot bear to see them suffer eternal regret because of their misstep, so I shamelessly plead with the emperor, asking His Majesty to show some leniency and give them a lighter sentence."

At this point, he revealed his true intentions and said, "I promise that I will urge them to return all the misappropriated public funds!"

Too much is as bad as too little, which is his main purpose.

I also learned from Youshi how much wealth the Ning Mansion had.

Hundreds of thousands of taels of silver may not be a big deal in the eyes of the emperor. Considering Jia Jing's companionship in practicing Taoism, he may not be punished if he returns the dirty silver.

Anyway, time is on his side. As long as the King of Qin succeeds to the throne, he will take care of it.

Moreover, all the wives and grandmothers in the mansion were taken care of by him, so it didn't make much difference to him when they fell.

However, this time he did not follow Jia Jing and Jia Zhen's wishes and wait until the matter could no longer be covered up before pleading for them.

Although the matter had already been brought to the attention of the emperor and he had helped, even if Jia Jing and Jia Zhen were dissatisfied, they did not dare to confront him and could only serve him carefully.

But Qin Keqing's incident served as a wake-up call for him.

Although with his physical fitness, he is not afraid of them father and son, and even if he sacrifices himself for Jia Rong, it is easier to dodge an open attack than to guard against an arrow from the dark, so he has to be careful of the sinister plots behind his back.

After all, Ning Mansion is still the territory of Jia Jing and Jia Zhen. Although if something happens to him in Ning Mansion, his whole family will probably be buried with him, but even rabbits will bite when they are cornered, so there is no guarantee that they will not perish together with him.

Therefore, he planned to take over the Ning Mansion, empty it out, and control all the servants in the Ning Mansion.

Of course, considering that the Ning Mansion belongs to the Ning Wang family and is in the same boat with the four kings and eight dukes, they were also taken into consideration.

Although Jia Zhen only talked about his own family's corruption, this kind of thing has not happened overnight. There must be many officials and interested parties involved. It is impossible for Ning Mansion and Qin Ye to accomplish it alone.

When he met with King Qin, he knew clearly that King Ning was also involved.

After all, my cheap father was a fifth-rank supervisor. Without Dai Quan's suggestion, the eunuch carrying out the execution would not have been so bold as to beat to death a fifth-rank official.

No matter he is Ning Wang's man or just in cahoots with Jia Jing.

Today I pleaded for the Ning Mansion. Since he heard it, no matter how Jia Jing explained it afterwards, he would definitely be suspected of being eager to distance himself from the matter and save himself.

As long as Dai Quan spreads this news, the Ning Mansion will inevitably be isolated by its original allies.

After all, traitors are the most hated.

Once the internal and external support of the Ning Mansion is cut off, what can be done even if they know that you have evil intentions?

If you break up with him, you will only be accused of being ungrateful. You will even have to consider whether the emperor will show leniency to you for your sake if you break up with him.

As for him, in the eyes of others, this matter had nothing to do with him, and begging for mercy was purely thankless. Outsiders would only think that he could not resist Jia Jing's pleading, so he pleaded for them, and he would also get a reputation for being loyal and righteous.

The emperor had the same idea. He originally wanted to reap the benefits and gain merit for himself. Zhang Yun逸’s Tiangongyuan was the one that earned the most merit.

Ningguo Mansion had no official position, so he could confiscate the dirty silver and show favor to Zhang Yunyi, so naturally he would not refuse.

"Alright! Go back and tell them that this won't happen again. Count the dirty silver and hand it over to the Royal Guards."

Logically, even if the silver was not returned to the Ministry of Works, it should have been collected into the national treasury.

But Emperor Zhengqing didn't care about all this. Since he was leading the investigation, he would naturally put the money into his own pocket.

However, he was too embarrassed to say it out loud, so he asked the Jinyiwei, who were responsible for a thorough investigation, to take over first.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your mercy!"

Zhang Yunyi was about to take the opportunity to say goodbye, but he heard a report from outside: "Lu Bing, the Southern Pacification Division of the Jinyiwei, is here to see you!"

A few moments.

Lu Bing, who was in his forties and dressed in a dragon robe, walked in.

As soon as he knelt and bowed, before he could open his mouth, Emperor Zhengqing pointed at Zhang Yunyi and said, "My dear minister, you came at the right time. Tianxiang just mentioned that Ningguo Mansion was in collusion with Qin Ye of the Construction Bureau and embezzled public funds. Send someone to Ningguo Mansion to receive the dirty silver and bring Qin Ye back for interrogation."

Lu Bing was stunned for a moment, then bowed and said, "Your Majesty! The reason I came here to report this is because of Qin Ye!"

He paused, straightened his body, and then said, "Last night at 3:00 pm, a fire broke out in the Qin family, and all 17 people in the family were killed! I just received the imperial edict the day before yesterday, and originally planned to arrange manpower after sorting out the clues. Therefore, when I received the news, the scene had already been taken over by Shuntian Prefecture, and they hastily concluded that it was a fire...

Before entering the palace, I personally went to check the body. Although it was burnt beyond recognition, judging from the death, it should have been burned after death. The coroner is currently conducting an autopsy..."

"Okay! Okay!"

Emperor Zhengqing's eyes widened with anger. He glanced at Zhang Yunyi and then turned to Dai Quan beside him.

After staring for a long time, Fang Zhongzhong said, "Go kneel outside and don't talk to anyone!"

He had just instructed Lu Bing to investigate the matter the day before, and only Dai Quan was present at the time, so the news spread so quickly.

Dai Quan trembled all over and fell to his knees with a plop.

Before he could say anything, Emperor Zhengqing shouted, "Get out!"

He didn't dare to say a word and quickly crawled out of the imperial study on his knees.

Emperor Zhengqing turned to Zhang Yunyi at this time and said in a deep voice: "Tell me! How did you know that Ning Mansion was colluding with Qin Ye?"

Originally, he had not thought about the news leaking and just thought it was a coincidence, but now it seems not that simple.

The situation had changed so much that Zhang Yun逸 did not hesitate to tell everything that Jia Jing and Jia Zhen had done last night in an attempt to silence them, only concealing some of his own little thoughts.