RMACAUH Chapter 25
by VolareChapter 25 Chapter 25 Wang Taichuan casually dug a pit for this boy’s corpse…
Empress Chen’s eyes were profound, as if she was recalling things from a long time ago.
“When I had not yet entered the palace, I had heard that your father Emperor favored Consort De very much. The late Empress and your father Emperor were childhood sweethearts and couldn’t tolerate a grain of sand in their eyes. At that time, the two fought fiercely.”
“When the late Empress was pregnant with her second child, she suddenly had a miscarriage and suspected that Consort De had secretly plotted against her. At that time, Consort De was pregnant with Feng Xiao, and was already five months pregnant. The late Empress rushed into Consort De’s Changchun Palace like a madwoman, almost frightening Consort De into a miscarriage. Your father Emperor was furious and confined the Empress for a year.”
“After that, the Empress became mentally disturbed and hanged herself on the beam. Not long after Consort De gave birth to Feng Xiao, she also began to suffer from mental derangement. When she was ill, she always said that the late Empress haunted her day and night, and she could not be at peace. In the end, she died of exhaustion in her own palace.”
“Two years passed after this before I entered the palace as Empress. I only heard these things from the palace Mama. Feng Chao was raised in Renshou Palace since he was a child. Feng Xiao was raised by the palace Mama and palace maids until he was four years old. Your father Emperor pitied him and fostered him under my name.”
“Although Feng Xiao is not my own child, I raised him with my own hands. You and Feng Xiao are the same in my heart.”
Feng Yue’s mood was very heavy after listening, and he said with disappointment, “What if Feng Xiao wants to harm my life because of this throne? Mother Empress, do you still think we are the same?”
Empress Chen gasped and looked at him with wide eyes, “How could you think like this? Your brother wouldn’t! Yue’er, you weren’t like this before, did someone gossip in front of you?”
Feng Yue was silent for a long time, took a sip of tea, and no longer talked about Feng Xiao, but said, “The end of the year is approaching, and my maternal grandfather has not returned to the capital from Qingyang City for several years. I wonder if father Emperor will summon my maternal grandfather back to the capital for the festival this year?”
In his previous life, it was in this year that he encountered an ambush by enemy troops on the way back to the capital. His maternal grandfather was seriously injured and died on the way.
In this life, he will never let the tragedy repeat itself.
Empress Chen smiled and said, “You child, why are you so worried now? You never cared about these things before.”
“Your son misses maternal grandfather. Now that I have returned to the capital, I naturally can’t be as reckless as I was in Qingyang City, going wherever I want.”
“Yes, your father Emperor has already issued an edict to summon your maternal grandfather back to the capital for the New Year’s Day! The Duke’s mansion should be tidying up now.”
“Is that so?” Feng Yue looked very happy, “Then I will go to the Duke’s mansion tomorrow to see how the tidying up is going.”
After lunch, Feng Yue returned to Wenyuan Pavilion. At this time, the old men of Wenyuan Pavilion were sitting together discussing something.
Feng Yue passed by and casually listened and heard some gossip that he was interested in.
“If Wang Taichuan hadn’t committed this kind of thing, the Wang and Tan families would not know how arrogant they would be!”
“What is this called? Heaven wants it to perish, it must first make it mad.”
Feng Yue looked ignorant and curious, and stepped forward and asked, “What are you adults talking about? It sounds like a big deal?”
Of course Feng Yue knew about it, and he planned this matter single-handedly.
Wang Taichuan was used to being arrogant in the capital, forcibly snatching girls and boys, and was addicted to gambling. He didn’t know how many lives he had ruined.
Two days ago, he played a boy to death in Chenghuan Pavilion. The boy was originally from a good family. He took a fancy to the boy’s beauty and snatched him away with a few taels of silver. The boy couldn’t bear the humiliation and committed suicide in the house after being defiled.
Wang Taichuan calmly asked people to dig a pit and bury the boy’s corpse. Feng Yue kindly helped him dig it out, and the corpse was placed in front of the Wang family’s gate.
When the Wang family found out, the entrance had already gathered a crowd who had come to the morning market.
The deceased’s family and fiancé rushed to hear the news, and were emotionally agitated, almost desperately fighting with the Wang family.
Feng Yue secretly asked people to protect the deceased’s family, collected the list of victims over the years, and instigated them to report Wang Taichuan’s various crimes over the years to the Yamen.
Who knew that this investigation would be beyond Feng Yue’s expectations, and it was found that the boss behind Chenghuan Pavilion was a member of the Wang family. Over the years, they had relied on Chenghuan Pavilion to collect the handles of many officials and sell secrets of the court, so they could be so domineering and arrogant.
The Dali Temple, together with the Metropolitan Procuratorate, followed the clues and dug out the private sale of salt leads. This time, I don’t know how many officials will fall, but it can also take advantage of these opportunities to eliminate moths in the court and rectify the atmosphere.
Liu Wenyong glanced at him, waved at him, and asked him to sit over.
“It’s okay to let you listen, and also come to analyze it.” Liu Wenyong took a sip of tea and said, “In the early court today, someone reported the Jin City salt merchants’ monopoly and exposed the collusion between officials and merchants, using salt leads as a trading case, which involves a wide range!”
“The ‘Kaizhong Law’ was used before, requiring merchants to transport military food to the border in order to obtain salt leads. There are too many loopholes to exploit in this, and Wang Zongyao, the salt transport envoy, was promoted by Zhu Congyi, the left servant of the Ministry of Revenue. And this eldest daughter of the Tan family is also the Wang family’s eldest daughter-in-law. Officials and merchants collude with each other, and the benefits are huge!”
“The Tan family monopolized the salt leads and controlled most of the merchants who transported military food to the border. Now Zhu Congyi, Wang Zongyao and others are detained in Dali Temple, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate is investigating the case together. An imperial envoy was sent to Jin City to secretly investigate the Tan family. In the past few days, we have to come up with a salt lead reform plan as soon as possible and formulate new rules.”
Feng Yue thought of the solution in his previous life, and reminded him, “Now the country is peaceful and the people are safe. There is no need to fight any battles within these ten years, and there is no need to exchange military food with merchants for salt leads. After fighting for so many years, the national treasury is empty now, so it is better to think of some compromise methods to enrich the national treasury.”
Liu Wenyong’s eyes lit up, and he stroked his beard and said, “I also think so, directly exchanging real gold and silver for salt leads can offset the Tan family in Jin City’s advantage, cut off his monopoly with other merchants, and also allow other merchants to develop. It not only enriches the national treasury, but also achieves a balance effect, killing two birds with one stone.”
Feng Yue did not forget to pay a compliment and flatter him, “Lord Liu is wise, it is really a blessing for father Emperor and the people of Da Yuan to have a virtuous talent like you.”
How could Liu Wenyong not know that he was flattering him? But he was happy to hear these good words, laughed twice and said, “It is Wangye who has given this old minister a new look.”
“Although Shu Hua has been in Wenyuan Pavilion for a short time, he is fortunate to have Lord Liu’s guidance and has benefited a lot. Lord Liu deserves the title of teacher. I wonder if you are willing to accept Shu Hua as a student?” After saying that, he got up and bowed respectfully to him.
Liu Wenyong looked at Feng Yue with deep eyes and did not think much. He got up, helped Feng Yue up, and said, “Wangye is humble, courteous, and has a keen mind. It is also a blessing for this old man to have such a student.”
Feng Yue’s eyebrows stretched, and with the support of these two veterans of the Wenyuan Pavilion in the future, the chances of winning the heir will be greatly increased.
He immediately poured tea and respectfully handed it to Liu Wenyong, “Please have some tea, teacher.”
“Hahaha, good!” Liu Wenyong happily took Feng Yue’s tea, drank it heartily, and said, “The matter has also been discussed, and I and these adults will discuss and draft a reply, and sort out the salt lead reform documents. If you are annoyed by reading these documents, you can also freely browse the books on the bookshelf.”
“Okay, teacher.” Feng Yue found a few books on military strategy and browsed through them.
When Shenshi arrived, the adults of Wenyuan Pavilion began to pack up their desks and prepare to go home.
Feng Yue slowly packed up the desk, thinking that although he had become a teacher, he couldn’t be so hasty. He still had to change the time and formally visit him and send some apprenticeship gifts.
*
Wei Xiaofeng followed his father out of the Tongpan Mansion in the morning, only to see many Yamen and guards shuttling through the streets, and there were fewer people on the streets than usual, a scene of everyone being in danger.
Wei Xiaofeng panicked and put down the car window, turned his head to look at his serious-looking father, and asked, “Dad, why are there so many government officials on the street?”
“Why are you asking these things?”
“I’m just a little curious.”
Wei Xinhe curled his lips, “You don’t care about what you should care about, and you don’t learn what you should learn. You only ask about these idle things that have nothing to do with you.”
Wei Xiaofeng took a breath and was about to retort, but on second thought, there was no need to do so. If he annoyed him, he would inevitably be beaten.
“Oh, right.”
“Huh?”
“The Zhu family has been investigated. If that young man from the Zhu family comes to find you in the future, don’t see him again, so as not to cause trouble to our Wei family.”
“The Zhu family has also…” Wei Xiaofeng’s eyes widened, his heart was still unsettled. Fortunately, Zhu Yi had already married someone, otherwise he would inevitably suffer, right?
“The situation is chaotic now, so don’t go out these few days, do you understand?”
“Got it.”
That night, Wei Xiaofeng couldn’t sleep anyway lying in bed.
Although he and Zhu Yi were only superficially good friends, he may have never regarded himself as a friend, but after all, he had only one playmate by his side since he was a child.
The day he ran out of his house, he knew that he and Zhu Yi would probably never be able to be friends for the rest of their lives, but he also hoped in his heart that he could be well.
He turned over, pinched the white jade bunny in his hand, and sighed softly, “When will this day be over?”
Like a bird locked in a cage, unable to be free, even its fate cannot be controlled.
Suddenly, the window was knocked a few times. He thought it was the sound of the wind blowing, and after waiting for a while, it was knocked again, and he felt that something was wrong.
“Who is it?”
A slender and tall figure was reflected outside the window. Wei Xiaofeng felt a little familiar. He wrapped himself in the quilt and moved in small steps to the window. The moment he opened the window, the man leaned on the window sill with his arms folded. The silver mask tightly covered his face, revealing those eyes, like the brightest stars in the dark night.
“Brother Feng Yue!” Wei Xiaofeng realized that he was too loud, and covered his mouth, fortunately not alarming the night watchman who was shirking his duties. Only then did he lower his voice and ask him, “How did you get in?”
“I climbed over the wall.”
“You…aren’t you afraid of being caught!”
“It’s really cold outside, can you let me in to sit?”
“This, is this not good?”
“I won’t do anything, I just came to see you, I’ll leave immediately after sitting in the room for a while.”
Wei Xiaofeng hesitated again and again, and couldn’t bear to let him freeze outside, so he softened his heart in response to his earnest eyes, “Then come in.”
He opened the door and let Feng Yue in.
The charcoal fire in the house was no longer burning brightly, and the night watch maid had not come to add it. The house was not much warmer.
Wei Xiaofeng shivered like chaff, hugged the thick quilt and sat on the stool, burying his head and staring at the almost extinguished charcoal fire in a daze.
Feng Yue didn’t actually feel cold, or rather, having experienced the extremely cold weather in Beichuan, this bit of cold air was not worth mentioning.
He pretended to stretch out his hand to warm himself by the fire, raised his eyes and looked at the silent Wei Xiaofeng, and could see that he was a little unhappy.
“Are you unhappy that I came to find you?”
“No,” Wei Xiaofeng still had some resentment, “It’s too late today.”
“I’m sorry, I won’t come over so late next time.” He really missed him very much, and there was no other way, so he could only climb over the wall in the middle of the night to find him.