Top Scholar

Chapter 542 The Emperor's Uncle Died of Poverty

As for the permanent expansion of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, Jiao Fang didn't mention it, and Su Lu didn't ask either... Right now, he hoped to keep a low profile as much as possible and wait until he had a firm foothold in the future before discussing it.

With the issues at the Court of Imperial Sacrifices resolved, Jiao Fang assured Su Lu, with a firm guarantee, that all matters concerning his fellow students' appointments would be settled within a month. Only then did Su Lu take his leave, satisfied.

Before leaving, he made a special detour to the Left Vice Minister's office to express his gratitude. Zhang Cai personally saw him off at the Ministry of Personnel gate and repeatedly promised, "Don't worry, Scholar, what I promised you will only be done ahead of schedule, not delayed."

"Don't worry, don't worry!" Su Lu said happily, cupping his hands repeatedly. "I have complete confidence in the Young Master's work."

“If anything like this happens again, just come to me directly. There’s no need to trouble you, Your Excellency.” Zhang Cai presented another of his cards and said with a smile, “You don’t need to show your gold medal when you come in anymore.”

"Understood, understood." Su Lu happily accepted the gift with both hands and quickly thanked him, "Then I thank you in advance, Young Minister. Let's keep in touch."

"Keep in touch." Zhang Cai waved goodbye to him warmly.

~~
After the three of them left the Daming Gate and boarded the carriage, Su Lu recounted the whole story to his two brothers.

After hearing this, Su Man couldn't help but tease, "You really sacrificed your image this time. The usually refined and cultured top scholar looks almost like a street thug."

“Being gentle and refined doesn’t mean others won’t be afraid of you.” Su Lu said dismissively, “If you want to avoid trouble in the future, you have to be like a fierce rooster, spreading your feathers and showing your claws and beak to protect your eggs!”

Zhu Zihe deeply agreed, saying, "The ancients said, 'A gentleman can be deceived by his principles,' and the same applies in officialdom. A reckless, fierce, and unapproachable image is far more intimidating than a gentle, timid, and submissive one."

He paused for a moment, then laughed and said, "Of course, this will damage your reputation as an official."

"There's nothing we can do about it; you can't have it all," Su Lu said with a wry smile. "Fortunately, my co-star is Jiao Fang, so I shouldn't lose too many points."

"I'm afraid people will say, 'Evil people will always be punished by other evil people.'" Su Man couldn't help but laugh: "The number one evil scholar of the Ming Dynasty!"

"Oh? Hahaha!" Su Lu and Zhu Zihe also burst into laughter.

After laughing, Su Lu said seriously, "In addition, I think Zhang Cai has ambitions to replace Jiao Fang. When I talked to him, I used the 'indirect attitude measurement technique' that I taught you before, and deliberately said bad things about Jiao Fang in front of him. Although he defended Jiao Fang a couple of times, he hardly reacted when I mentioned that Jiao was old and frail and unable to handle the heavy responsibility... This reveals that he does indeed have the idea of ​​replacing him."

Su Man and Zhu Zihe were no strangers to the so-called "indirect attitude measurement technique," having previously used it multiple times in their "three-dimensional nine-item assessment." The core of this technique is to bypass direct questions that easily trigger defensiveness, and instead use topics highly relevant to the target's attitude as a starting point, observing the subject's reactions to infer their true inner inclinations.

“If that’s the case,” Zhu Zihe said, “we might not even need to worry about it. Next time there’s an opportunity, Zhang Cai can squeeze Jiao Fang out of the Ministry of Personnel on his own.”

Su Man also laughed and said, "If we could fight like dogs, I would be more than happy to see it."

“That’s the logic,” Su Lu said softly, looking at the cracked ditch outside the car window.

"But we'll probably have to create the opportunities ourselves..."

~~
On the other side, Zhang Cai saw Su Lu off and then went to the Ministry of Personnel's office.

Upon entering the main hall, one sees broken cups and plates scattered all over the floor, a scene of utter chaos.

"What happened?" Zhang Cai asked. "Did they really start fighting just now?"

"What are you hitting for!" Jiao Fang slumped in her armchair, fanning herself irritably. "I broke it myself! Now I finally understand why Eunuch Liu always loves to smash teacups. Venting like this is really stress-relieving!"

"Is it really necessary, Your Excellency?" Zhang Cai asked, puzzled.

"That brat is my nemesis!" Jiao Fang said with hatred. "My reputation and dignity have been trampled underfoot by that brat! I will not rest in peace until I avenge this!"

He wanted to find something else to smash, but there was nothing left, so he simply broke the fan in half...

Seeing this, Zhang Cai knew that the old man was completely obsessed, so she stopped trying to persuade him and asked in a slow voice, "Then... what about those things you promised Su Lu before?"

"The imperial edict and the golden plaque have arrived, what else can we do? We can only do what needs to be done!" Jiao Fang waved his hand, his eyes sinister, and said, "I have other ways to settle my grudge with that brat."

"Yes," Zhang Cai replied, without saying another word.

After Zhang Cai left, Jiao Fang sulked for a long time. Seeing that it was past the time for the end of the yamen, she ordered her servant to help her dress properly again and left the yamen in a sedan chair.

As the sedan chair exited the Daming Gate, he suddenly knocked on the carriage and ordered, "Don't go home yet, go to the Marquis of Jianchang's residence."

The sedan chair bearers then turned around and headed northwest along the street as dusk fell, arriving at Zhanghuangqin Hutong on the east side of Deshengmen Inner Street.

As the name suggests, the Zhang brothers, Heling and Yanling, live here. For more than a decade, they have been encroaching on other people's homes, and the two brothers have now occupied the entire alley.

The gate of the Marquis of Shouning's residence faces south, while the gate of the Marquis of Jianchang's residence faces north; the two houses are directly opposite each other. Jiao Fang's four-bearer sedan chair stopped in front of the Marquis of Jianchang's residence, and his attendant stepped forward to present his calling card.

When the gatekeeper saw that it was the Second Assistant Minister of Heaven who had arrived, he hurriedly opened the main gate to welcome him and at the same time rushed inside to announce his arrival.

Soon, Zhang Yanling came out to greet him personally. The dignified Marquis had disheveled hair and beard, which was so greasy that it was knotted together. He had two large bruises on his face, and his wrinkled cloth robe reeked of sourness, even more unpleasant than that old geezer Jiao Fang.

It's the middle of summer, and I haven't had a shower in ages...

Zhang Yanling welcomed Jiao Fang into the living room. The living room was extremely shabby, empty, with no calligraphy or paintings, only a rickety, broken table and two creaky, dilapidated chairs.

Zhang Yanling sat down in the host's seat and reminded Jiao Fang, "Sit down slowly, your chair is about to fall apart..."

"I'll just stand there. Who are you deliberately trying to embarrass?" Jiao Fang couldn't stand it anymore. In fact, even a blind person could see that the old imperial uncle was deliberately trying to make the emperor look bad.

"Who would I be ashamed of? I'm poor right now!" Zhang Yanling naturally denied it outright.

Just then, the servant brought in tea, but the teacups were chipped and the tea was brewed with the cheapest, finest tea...

"Just make do with this," Zhang Yanling waved his hand weakly. "Don't even mention fine tea, I can't even afford fine grains anymore. I drink cold water and eat cornbread all day long."

Jiao Fang curiously picked up the teacup, only to find her mouth full of tea leaves. She spat it out for a while, then laughed and said, "That's fine too. Simple food and drink are good for your health."

"Screw you!" Zhang Yanling spat out a mouthful of tea leaves, his eyes wide like saucers. "I'm poor! So poor I'm practically pawning my pants!"

"It can't be that bad, can it?" Jiao Fang said. "Even if we lose our land, we still have so many savings from all these years. We can't just fall into such dire straits all of a sudden."

"How could it not be?" Zhang Yanling's voice suddenly rose: "I sold everything I owned to scrape together 100,000 taels of silver and sent it all to your house! Did you do what you promised me? If you couldn't, give me back the money! With that money, I can at least afford some fine food!"

Jiao Fang's smile vanished upon hearing this: "My lord, are you confused? That money has already gone into Eunuch Liu's mansion. Do you expect him to return it? Do you think he's a philanthropist?"

Enraged, Zhang Yanling pointed at his nose and roared, "Then get this done! Can you do it or not?!"

“It can be done, why can’t it be done?” Jiao Fang reassured him and said in a deep voice, “It’s just that Eunuch Liu is now second only to the emperor, how can he possibly take the lead? We have to start the fire first, and then he will go with the flow.”

"Empress Dowager is on a hunger strike, how are we supposed to cook? Should we go on a hunger strike too?" Zhang Yanling said irritably, "Or should I just die?!"

"That would be the best possible effect," Jiao Fang said with a smile.

"You son of a bitch!" Zhang Yanling cursed. "Once I'm dead, even if they recover my family's property, it'll have nothing to do with me!"

"Then let's settle for second best and get rid of that damned Scholar Su first," Jiao Fang said sinisterly.

"Why bother with a junior champion?" Zhang Yanling was stunned, looking completely bewildered.

"He's not a top scholar, but a treacherous minister by the Emperor's side!" Jiao Fang said through gritted teeth, "All this trouble is because of this little beast! This whole calamity started with his investigation of Guanghui Temple, and it was actually aimed at your Zhang family!"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Zhang Yanling slammed his hand on the table, nearly breaking it. "He was yelling at me with his gold medal that day!"

"Now you see?" Jiao Fang sneered. "What do you mean by his classmate being implicated at Guanghui Temple? That's all an excuse! If his classmate hadn't deliberately investigated Guanghui Temple, would he have caused all this trouble? The root of the problem lies with that kid!"

Zhang Yanling scratched his head, still looking confused: "But why did he specifically target my house? What did my Zhang family do to offend him?"

Jiao Fang leaned closer and lowered her voice even further: "He's just trying to curry favor with the emperor! The emperor is desperate for money these days, and even Eunuch Liu is selling official positions to him—last month he ordered that soldiers and civilians could pay silver to be granted official positions below the rank of commander!"

“I heard, quite a few people are buying them.” Zhang Yanling nodded and said, “My brother and I are so envious. Eunuch Liu makes money so fast! Last year he sold ordination certificates, this year he’s selling official positions. He can make a fortune just by coming up with a new idea.”

"If Eunuch Liu has made some gains, Zhang Yong certainly can't sit idle either, or he'll fall behind," Jiao Fang said with feigned seriousness.
"He's allied with that Su kid to fight against Eunuch Liu, but he doesn't have the power to make money, so he can only slaughter fat sheep! Guanghui Temple and Baolian Temple are both fat sheep they've chosen, do you understand now?"

"Understood!" Zhang Yanling nodded emphatically, his eyes blazing with fury. "I knew it! All crows under the sky are black! Liu the Tiger eats people, and Zhang the Tiger isn't one to be trifled with either!"

“That’s right! They chose Guanghui Temple because they’re eyeing your two or three thousand acres of fertile land!” Jiao Fang said confidently. “If we don’t kill that kid this time, believe me, your remaining three thousand acres of land will be devoured sooner or later!”

"Damn it, I'll fight him to the death!" Zhang Yanling, that idiot, was completely led astray by Jiao Fang...

P.S. I'll read the next chapter tomorrow morning...

(End of this chapter)