The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 1124 - 1103: Capture It (Added for “Snow*Flower’s Reward”)

Chapter 1124: Chapter 1103: Capture It (Added for “Snow*Flower’s Reward”)

After a moment of contemplation, County Duke Yu asked, "The matter of your reassignment, you didn’t let your Book of Documents reconsider it?"

Assistant Minister Yu replied, "Father, I too am being reassigned, and having flaws is not necessarily a bad thing."

It’s not such a big problem, his lack of resolve makes him easier to work with. When the old Book of Documents retires, the pressure on him during elections will also be diminished.

You must understand, the position of Book of Documents, not only can the assistant ministers of the Six Ministries compete for it, but so can the officials posted abroad. However, since they are assistant ministers from the same department, they naturally have an advantage.

County Duke Yu glanced sideways at his son, "If you have talent, why fear formidable opponents? If you lack talent, why bring harm to the world?"

Assistant Minister Yu: ...

This was his own father after all, he could neither curse nor talk back. So Assistant Minister Yu took a deep breath, performed a ritual obeisance, and left.

Seeing that the old master had angered the third lord, the servant returned to his seat and inquired, "Old Master, shall we still pursue this investigation?"

"No need," County Duke Yu said irritably: "What more is there to investigate? It wasn’t Zhuang Xun who copied Chen Fulin’s poem, but rather an attempt to steal chicken without losing the grasp of rice, who got driven out of the capital back then and has now returned; or even if Chen Fulin copied Zhuang Xun’s poem, then it’s just blaming the victim, driving the man out of the city, ruining his entire life."

"But..."

"They’re neither of them residents of the capital. It’s a matter from over twenty years ago, how could we investigate?" County Duke Yu paused before continuing, "It is indeed investigable, send someone to Yizhou City to find their former teachers and classmates. Hmm, poetry such as this can deceive outsiders but never those classmates who lived together day and night."

"But..."

"Don’t go," the servant hadn’t finished speaking when County Duke Yu hummed, "I’ve already retired, why bother finding such troublesome matters?"

Is Yizhou City close to the capital?

The servant nodded repeatedly, "Not going is correct, then shall I go rest now?"

The servant had just risen to leave when County Duke Yu stopped him, "Wait."

The servant knew, turned silently to look at him.

County Duke Yu pursed his lips, waved his hand and said, "Forget it, you’re all bones, send someone younger and cleverer to Yizhou. There’s no need to find concrete proof, though of course, if they can find it, even better. If not, just ask about their reputation, inquire their old teachers and classmates, especially the close ones, something can always be found out."

The servant agreed with a smile.

County Duke Yu, cunning from old age, once he had a plan, many methods could be found. In any case, it wasn’t the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Justice and Punishments; evidence was not needed. He then tapped his knee, saying, "You meanwhile, find out in the capital city what good poems and literature Chen Fulin had created in the past twenty years, have someone make a record for me to see."

"And also, look into whether there have been any students from Yizhou visiting him over the years, or those he has the best relationship with."

Connections are of utmost importance in the bureaucracy—fellow townsmen, classmates, or fellow disciples.

Chen Fulin once studied in Yizhou Prefecture, the students taught by the same teacher or his classmates are all connections; generally speaking, when they come to the capital, they would visit his house.

What kind of reputation Chen Fulin held among his old classmates and teachers could be discerned by looking at his connections with Yizhou over these years.

The servant understood and withdrew to carry out the investigation.

Of course, this was not something that would be resolved quickly, but the palace was much quicker at investigating these matters compared to County Duke Yu, especially as the Empress had assigned Gu Zhong to the task.

Asking Gu Zhong to look into it was equivalent to having the Emperor himself investigate.

The Emperor had already investigated everyone around Bai Shan and Zhou Man as soon as he knew of their origins, due to their involvement with the Prince of Yizhou.

Mr. Zhuang, in his understanding, was the teacher of those three children, serving as their strategist, but since there were plenty of teachers in Great Jin, he hadn’t paid much attention.

Once the Empress assigned Gu Zhong to investigate, the Emperor also took it seriously, appointing his own people to the task.

The Emperor’s people learned that Mr. Zhuang had once intended to take exams at the Imperial Academy, so they started the investigation from there and within half a day, they had also uncovered the dispute between him and Chen Fulin.

They were even quicker than County Duke Yu in discovering the minor movements Chen Fulin made in recent days.

All this information was compiled into a memorial and reported to the Emperor, who continued the investigation.

The Emperor then went with the memorial in hand to find the Empress.

After having their evening meal, the couple leaned close together to talk. The Emperor presented the memorial to her, his expression grave as he said, "The issue of the late Emperor, at the time of our dynasty’s founding, it was chaotic, allowing others to exploit loopholes."

Although there was no solid evidence yet, just from the behavior of Chen Fulin and Zhuang Xun, it was apparent that the poem from back then was written by Zhuang Xun, and Chen Fulin was obviously trying to drive him out of the capital again.

The Empress sighed as she looked at the document, then closed it, saying, "It’s really tough on Mr. Zhuang, to have still taught people like Bai Shan and Zhou Man."

The Emperor also sighed, then his eyes lit up as he leaned closer to the Empress and asked, "Zitong has also met Zhou Man, how does she find her?"

The Empress asked with a smile, "How does she find her?"

"Don’t you think she’s very mischievous and bold? Much like the Crown Prince when he was young."

The Empress chuckled, "Somewhat similar, so what?"

"I was thinking since he could teach Zhou Man well, could he not also teach the Crown Prince well?"

After reflecting a moment, the Empress shook her head, "It’s different. Dalang is already grown up, unlike Zhou Man who has been learning from him since childhood. Also, he holds no official position or power, do you think Dalang would listen to him?"

The Emperor then worried, "Then what should we do?"

"If you are really determined, why not appoint Libationer Kong and Secret Guard Wei as the Crown Prince’s mentors, let them teach him freely, how about that?"

The Emperor responded hesitantly, "I naturally have no problem with that, just worried Dalang might not like it, what if he gets angry and really harms Courtier Kong and Courtier Wei? Especially Courtier Kong, he’s not young anymore."

The Empress then coldly huffed, "If he dares to lay hands on his teachers, can’t you just discipline him? Besides, Dalang, despite his flaws, would not harm his teachers."

The Emperor then pondered.

Seeing that he took her words to heart, the Empress leaned back on the couch, leaving him to think it through.

In a few days, as the Empress began to show signs of recovery from her illness, two imperial edicts were issued consecutively in the palace: one appointing Libationer Kong, Wei Zhi, and others to instruct the Crown Prince, and the other requiring the Crown Prince to join him in handling state affairs daily.

Apart from that, there was another small episode. The Ministry of Personnel’s proposal to promote Chen Fulin was brought before the Emperor and got sent back.

This shocked not only the personnel at the Ministry of Personnel but also those at the Ministry of Public Works and the Ministry of Revenue.

Such promotions were usually tacitly agreed upon; previously the Book of Documents or assistant ministers would have certainly mentioned it to the Emperor, and the submission of the document was just a formality. Why was it rejected?

Many were quietl