Chapter 47 - 1#

Wuti was a good horse.

White as snow, with only a touch of black at the tips of its hooves, no wonder it had this name.

Wuti was a good horse, no less than Big Brother Black Horse.

But its temper was much better than the black horse’s.

After a brief contact with it, Jingzhe even got it to lower its head and rub against him, especially docile.

Chen Changming really liked this horse. When introducing it to Jingzhe, he talked endlessly about Wuti’s bloodline. Jingzhe almost memorized who its ancestors were.

Jingzhe: “Manager Chen, this, this horse, how exactly did His Majesty reward it to me?”

He asked this question with some strangeness.

Chen Changming pondered the meaning of his words and spread his hands, “A few days ago, His Majesty was in a good mood and went to the racecourse to pick a few horses as rewards. You are not the only one.”

As for why Jingzhe was on the list, how would Chen Changming know? He touched Wuti, his voice somewhat emotional.

“Then, this Wuti is for you.”

Jingzhe licked his lips. He didn’t suspect Chen Changming was lying to him.

“Manager, I want to ask, why would His Majesty reward me with Wuti?” He couldn’t help but glance at Wuti a few times, “This is indeed a good horse, but giving it to me, isn’t it a waste…”

Before he could finish his words, he saw Chen Changming put a finger to his lips. This short, stout man who was always smiling showed a serious expression for the first time.

“Thunder and rain, all are the Emperor’s grace. What is given to you is yours. What right do you have to refuse? Do you think this is a business transaction?”

Jingzhe lowered his eyebrows, “…The manager is right.” But in his heart, he still felt something was wrong.

Previously, Jingzhe accepted the rewards from Qianming Palace generously because he knew they were compensation.

He had already become a eunuch and could not easily leave the palace. This generous reward also made him smooth sailing in the palace, and no one would bully him.

But this Wuti was inexplicable.

Especially at this juncture.

…What does this have to do with Rong Jiu?

For a moment, Jingzhe’s heart was in a mess. He barely said a few words to Chen Changming, took the waist token he gave, and then retreated.

Chen Changming still called out, “If you have nothing to do, come and see it more often, let it recognize your scent.” He looked quite pained, with the illusion of marrying off a daughter. Jingzhe could only nod.

In the evening, Jingzhe’s steps back were somewhat heavy.

Jingzhe’s heart seemed to be pressed by a huge stone, so heavy that he could hardly breathe. This strange feeling made him want to pull at his collar, feeling suffocated.

Jingzhe had many confusions, but in the following days, the two did not meet again.

And soon, Emperor Jingyuan decided to return to the palace, bringing those foreign envoys back to the capital as well.

Naturally, the Ministry of Rites arranged positions to welcome them.

According to the original plan, they could leave after Shangyu Garden, but the matter of the Heyin envoy happened, and they were forced to stay. They didn’t know how many times they cursed in their hearts.

However, as long as this matter was not resolved for a day, everyone was a suspect. No one dared to say anything they shouldn’t at this juncture, making Emperor Helian suspicious of them.

When Jingzhe returned to the imperial court, it was already early autumn.

At this time, Liao Jiang’s injury had completely healed. When leaving Shangyu Garden, he was full of praise for the Shanyou people.

Their attitude towards Yueyu was simply worlds apart.

These days, Jingzhe often heard Liao Jiang mention Shanyou’s matter, and also knew that they were mortal enemies with Yueyu, and had not much contact with Heyin and Gaonan.

It was unlikely that Shanyou would cooperate with Yueyu just to deceive people.

Jingzhe had checked. The person who arranged for Liao Jiang to go to Yueyu was Hu Yue.

The reason why Yueyu was short of people was that the day before, the Heyin people and the Yueyu people had a conflict. A palace servant was injured while trying to stop them, which was why the replaced Liao Jiang went to fill Yueyu’s vacancy.

This sounded very logical.

There was nothing about Shanyou in this, except that they were overly kind to Liao Jiang.

Liao Jiang said, so kind that he was a little scared.

Shi’en even laughed at him a few times, saying that his courage had become much smaller.

Many people didn’t know about Liao Jiang’s injury. Hua Yunfei concealed it well. Liao Jiang didn’t go around talking about it either. When Shi’en joked, he just smiled.

When returning to the Zhidian Si to pack things, Huiping was very happy that Jingzhe was back. He followed him around, busy, and told him about recent events in the Zhidian Si.

“…Changed a person… still likes… by the way,” speaking of this, Huiping seemed to remember something, “Beside the manager, there is a new person named Xinsheng recently.”

Jingzhe thought for a moment before remembering who this Xinsheng was.

Huiping: “The manager quite likes him. Jingzhe, you…” He looked a little worried.

After all, the manager usually only brought one person. Jingzhe went to Shangyu Garden during this period, and it was impossible for Jiang Jinming not to have someone by his side. This Xinsheng seemed to be doing quite well. If he directly replaced Jingzhe’s position, then…

Jingzhe smiled, “What are you worried about? If the manager really finds him useful and wants to change people, that’s normal.”

He patted Huiping’s shoulder and shook his head.

“If that’s the case, I’ll just go back to sweeping. It’s not like I can’t do it.”

Huiping’s shoulder trembled, shaking off Jingzhe’s hand. He glanced at him angrily, then couldn’t help but laugh, “Who’s talking about this with you? You are a second-rank eunuch now. No matter what, you can’t be reduced to sweeping again.”

Not to mention the previous imperial reward, now Jingzhe, although a second-rank eunuch, received the salary of a chief eunuch.

Compared to those managers, it wasn’t much different.

If Jiang Jinming really threw Jingzhe back to do these things, the Seal-holding Eunuch would probably inquire.

“That’s right, so what’s there to worry about?”

Jingzhe comforted Huiping in a few words. After packing his things, he was driven out by him to find Jiang Jinming.

It seemed that Huiping was still somewhat worried.

Jingzhe shrugged helplessly and went to find the manager.

But coincidentally, Jiang Jinming was not in the room. Sitting in Jingzhe’s original position was exactly Xinsheng.

When Jingzhe came in, Xinsheng glanced at him, a strange expression appearing on his face, and he subconsciously stood up.

“The manager is not here.”

Jingzhe: “I’ll wait for him here.”

Previously, Jiang Jinming had instructed him to tell him first after returning. Coincidentally, Huiping was also worried, so he came.

Otherwise, Jingzhe wouldn’t have run over so quickly.

Xinsheng: “This is the manager’s office. If you have nothing to do, you should wait outside.”

If the previous sentence sounded indifferent, this sentence already showed obvious exclusion.

Jingzhe turned back and sized up Xinsheng.

He had an ordinary appearance, an ordinary voice, ordinary everywhere, except for a large black mole at the corner of his mouth.

Xinsheng moved slightly under Jingzhe’s gaze, his voice a bit tense, “What are you looking at?”

“Nothing.” Jingzhe withdrew his gaze and wandered out indifferently, “I’ll wait outside.”

Waiting inside or outside made no difference to him. Since Xinsheng didn’t like it, he wouldn’t be a nuisance here.

After Jingzhe went out, Xinsheng frowned and sat down, staring at the things he was originally organizing and gritting his teeth. His face was a bit ugly, don’t know what he was thinking.

After a while, he wanted to start again, but heard a faint voice from outside.

“Jingzhe… why are you squatting… manager…”

“I’m waiting… to come back…”

“Why don’t you wait inside…”

“Waiting outside is the same…”

Xinsheng was nervous at first, but finding that Jingzhe didn’t say what he said just now, he didn’t feel happy because of this. Instead, he bit his mouth in frustration, feeling that Jingzhe was being pretentious.

That group of people outside were laughing and joking. Even though Jingzhe had been away for so long, they still remembered him, calling Jingzhe this and Jingzhe that all day long, making one’s ears grow calluses.

He didn’t see what was so good about Jingzhe.

“Yes, when I came back, I brought a lot…”

Outside, Jingzhe was originally squatting on the ground counting ants, then was discovered by the passing Laifu, attracting several people.

Laifu could get out of bed now, just limping, not walking very smoothly. But when working, he was still very quick, so Jiang Jinming also turned a blind eye and didn’t report his situation.

Otherwise, according to the rules, a body like Laifu’s could not continue to stay in the inner court.

Laifu and the others were curious about Jingzhe’s experience in Shangyu Garden and couldn’t help asking a few more questions.

When Shi’en just came back, he was drowned in the crowd. They wanted to listen, but were too far away to hear clearly.

Now catching Jingzhe, they finally nodded in understanding.

Shi’en spoke very interestingly, but always loved to exaggerate. Jingzhe spoke plainly, and a few simple sentences could evoke their feelings.

“Was His Majesty really assassinated in Shangyu Garden?”

Laifu asked carefully.

This matter had already spread. It was not a secret in Shangyu Garden, so Jingzhe nodded readily.

“Ah, then who did it?”

“Didn’t you hear Shi’en say? It was the Heyin people, really not good things…”

“These foreign tribes are really annoying.”

“I heard they always harass our border, if not for our…”

Several people talked at once.

Also asked Jingzhe what he thought.

Jingzhe… Jingzhe could only say that in the end, he had to listen to how the officials judged.

The Heyin envoy was not the mastermind. This answer was almost settled in Jingzhe’s heart. Now who exactly was the mastermind, from Jingzhe’s several probes, the Yueyu envoy should not be either.

Among those who often contacted the Heyin people, there was still Gaonan left.

The Gaonan people were indeed suspicious, but what made Jingzhe suspicious was also Shanyou.

For no other reason, the Shanyou people were overly good to Liao Jiang in the last few days. Jingzhe really couldn’t see why they should care so much about an ordinary palace servant.

Although Liao Jiang was a good person, in their eyes, Liao Jiang was also a palace servant who violated their precepts. Wasn’t it natural for them to drive him out according to the rules and replace him with a new person?

…Unless, what Liao Jiang encountered was not just one frame-up, but actually two.

Even this time with the Shanyou people, Liao Jiang was also framed?

Jingzhe clearly remembered that on the day Liao Jiang came back angry, he did say several times that he didn’t know, didn’t know that fish was used in the soup base. If he knew, he certainly wouldn’t have given it to the Shanyou people.

And the facts proved that the meal the kitchen made for Shanyou that day did not contain fish. It was Liao Jiang who accidentally took another portion when getting the meal, which led to this mistake.

What if this wasn’t Liao Jiang’s oversight?

He had worked under Manager Jiang in the Miscellaneous Affairs Department for so long and had been fully trained. He was not a careless person.

Thinking along this line, Jingzhe found many coincidences.

The Shanyou people were indeed strange.

However, it was still not certain whether Shanyou or Gaonan was the mastermind.

It was also possible that neither of them was.

Jingzhe never thought his brain was very good and dared not jump to conclusions.

While thinking in his heart, he was still chatting with Laifu and the others.

Not long after, Jiang Jinming’s figure appeared at the end of the palace road, walking towards here unhurriedly, followed by a tall man.

Jingzhe took a look, wasn’t this Yunkui?

Yunkui saw Jingzhe from afar and waved at him with a grin. Jingzhe also stood up.

Jiang Jinming walked closer, sized him up, and said with a smile, “You’ve gotten a bit tanner.”

Jingzhe touched his face and smiled bitterly.

In the inner court, getting up early to work, the sun wasn’t so strong. In the afternoon, Jingzhe mostly helped Jiang Jinming and rarely walked outside.

But it was different in Shangyu Garden.

Jingzhe often had to pass through many unsheltered places. The area was vast, and the terrain varied. Not everywhere had tall trees to provide shade from the sun and rain.

This person often ran around outside, so naturally got a bit tanner.

He was still a little better. Liao Jiang and Shi’en, compared to before, were excessively tanned.

Yunkui: “This is good. Previously, Jingzhe looked too pale and thin. Now he looks good.”

Jiang Jinming looked at Yunkui’s dark face with disgust, “Become a charcoal ball like you? No, no, Jingzhe must become fair again, can’t be an eyesore like you.”

The group of people walked into the room laughing and talking, very close.

Xinsheng inside the room turned slightly pale upon hearing this commotion, stood up and bowed to Jiang Jinming.

Jiang Jinming said casually, “Xinsheng, organize the things in your hand, give them to Jingzhe later, and then go back.”

Xinsheng was slightly stunned and subconsciously looked at Jiang Jinming, but saw that after he finished speaking, he had already turned sideways to talk to Yunkui, not looking at him at all.

He lowered his head, “Yes.”

After Xinsheng left, Yunkui glanced at his back and frowned at Jiang Jinming, “Master, why did you choose him to work?” When he was in the Zhidian Si, he didn’t like Xinsheng much.

Jiang Jinming cursed, “At least he can write. Could you before?”

Yunkui argued plausibly, “Then you could also find Huiping, or Gusheng. They can both read and write now.”

Jiang Jinming: “Are you climbing over my head now, teaching me how to do things?”

Yunkui was scolded badly by Jiang Jinming.

But afterwards, Jiang Jinming did explain.

“Xinsheng is careful in his work and has been in the Zhidian Si for a long time. I thought of giving him a chance.” But speaking of this, Jiang Jinming had already shaken his head, “However, his personality is indeed not suitable.”

Although there were few people who could read and write here, it wasn’t that there were no tall ones among the short. The reason for choosing him was because he was too silent and taciturn, thinking of promoting him.

Unfortunately…

Jiang Jinming didn’t elaborate on how it was not suitable, but Jingzhe thought of Xinsheng’s behavior, which was indeed a bit narrow-minded.

Yunkui came back specifically to visit Jiang Jinming this time. Of course, he also deliberately chose the day Jingzhe and the others came back. After seeing them and being satisfied, he went back. Only then did Jiang Jinming instruct Jingzhe, “Rest today, come to work as usual tomorrow.”

Jingzhe bowed, “Yes.”

…