The maid's road to success

After seeing Qi Yangchuan off, Li Changan couldn't wait to find An Zizhong. An Zizhong seemed to have known that he would come, and asked the servant to tell him to go to An's house behind Zhuque Street if he had anything to do.

An Zizhong was sitting in the study at this time, sorting out recent events with An Wenniang. He had been quite active recently, so he had to take a break to review the past and make up for any mistakes. Besides, An Wenniang seldom came to see him now, and An Zizhong himself wanted to get as close to the Grand Princess as possible to get more information, so it was not convenient for him to come back often.

"The Sixth Prince has now been driven out of the capital. What should you do, brother?"

An Zizhong refilled her teacup with water. This was the Grand Princess's private collection of white tea, which he brought back for An Wenniang.

"Before leaving Beijing, the Sixth Prince met with me and asked me to keep an eye on things happening in Beijing. If anything happens, I should write to him and let him know. He also gave me a list of people he had planted in the court and a channel to send messages to the Sixth Prince."

An Wenniang nodded and took the teapot to add water. Even though she had gradually gotten used to being served and was able to control her own life, she still couldn't help but serve An Zizhong when she saw him, let alone asking him to serve her in return.

"Brother, are you planning to ask Li Changan to take out the confession from that year? But Lord Cheng'en framed him, so the confession can't be true. What's the point of having it?"

An Zizhong seemed to recall the past scene, his eyes suddenly turned red and his expression became very ugly. He stood up, opened the window and let the cold wind blow on his face to hide his embarrassment.

"It's impossible to take it out. The six ministries have very strict management of this kind of documents. Li Changan has a photographic memory and can remember the contents and recite a copy. I don't know what the confession is like, but we must know what crime Lord Cheng En has framed us for and what name he has sentenced us to death. Only then can we take out the provisions in their confession that frame us and refute them one by one to allow this case to be reopened."

An Wenniang nodded. What she was worried about was that as time went on, how much of the so-called evidence would be left. The Yuan family used to be the imperial doctors serving the emperor. After the death of the late emperor, Duke Cheng'en and the queen successively launched rebellion. Duke Cheng'en immediately executed the Yuan family and imprisoned the Huaiyuan Hou Mansion. Those who could directly prove that the poisoning of the late emperor had nothing to do with the Huaiyuan Hou Mansion were also killed by them.

"Duke Cheng'en is now in control of the court, and the Queen Mother also controls the harem. I'm afraid it will be difficult for us to have this case retried unless someone else becomes the emperor."

An Zizhong calmed down, returned to his chair, and pointed at a spot on the painting.

"So, we have to let the emperor be poisoned with the same poison as the late emperor and let him follow the same path as the late emperor. Only in this way can the people of the world remember the events of Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion and believe that the late emperor's death had nothing to do with us. Then it will be much easier to bring up a retrial."

An Wenniang looked at the place on the painting. It was a picture of flowers and birds. In the bush below, there was a four-headed pink rose on the left and six yellow chrysanthemums on the right. The two birds above were looking down at the flowers in the bush, not noticing a snake wrapped around the tree trunk.

This was drawn by An Zizhong, and An Wenniang knew about it. If she wanted the case of Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion to have a chance to see the light of day again, she would have to let that ridiculous thing happen again. The Fourth Prince and the Sixth Prince were both powerful princes competing for the throne, but because Duke Cheng'en and the Queen joined forces internally and externally, they took the initiative and quickly produced an imperial edict to allow the Second Prince to sit on the throne. But who of these two will really obey?

Even if these two admit defeat, the people behind them will not give in easily. It was because Duke Cheng'en and the Queen put all their thoughts and energy into seizing the military power of Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion and helping the Second Prince to take the throne first, but ignored other forces. The Empress Dowager and the Grand Princess, who reacted, quickly divided the power, resulting in the current situation of three-way power distribution. At the beginning, the Fourth Prince was jointly attacked by Duke Cheng'en and the Sixth Prince and lost part of his interests. Now the Sixth Prince was also squeezed out of Kyoto by the Fourth Prince and the Emperor and left the center of imperial power. The forces of both sides are getting weaker and weaker. They and the people behind them will not be willing to fall to the bottom again. Someone will definitely fight back. As long as there are suitable reasons and opportunities, they will start fighting in the imperial power again, but only then will Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion really be paid attention to.

As long as An Zizhong holds their lifeline, overturning the verdict is inevitable.

"Master. Lord Li is here."

After hearing this, An Wenniang quickly went into the inner room and hid.

"Why are you here, brother Zizhong?"

An Zizhong invited Li Changan to sit down, his eyes full of smiles. This was Li Changan's cleverness. He had clearly guessed that he was waiting for him here, but he insisted on saying it out loud, wanting to find out his real purpose step by step.

"Brother Chang'an, why are you asking? Don't you know why I'm meeting you here?"

Seeing that An Zizhong was not being polite to him, Li Changan stopped talking nonsense.

"Tell me, what do you want me to do?"

An Zizhong was nice to Li Changan before because he needed Li Changan's help to gain a foothold in Gongzhou. Later, it was to get close to Qi Yangchuan and gain more rights and interests.

Qi Yangchuan didn't play a big role when he came to Kyoto. Li Changan also got an official position, so he moved out of the Qi family and didn't make any progress for a while, and he didn't want to bother with him anymore.

Later, he repented in time and wanted to deal with the hidden dangers of Jin Yue and Qi Yangchuan, so he helped Li Changan to deal with them.

"I want you to help me find a confession from five years ago."

Li Changan frowned and looked at An Zizhong. Why did he need to provide books? Was it the eldest princess or the fourth prince who needed it? Then why did An Zizhong come forward?

"I can't take it out. The books are taken care of by someone else, but I can go in and look for them."

An Zizhong wrote down a few words.

"Assassination case at Huaiyuan Marquis's residence."

Li Changan's expression changed immediately. He had heard about this case when he was drinking with the officials of the Ministry of Justice. It was said to be very tragic. At that time, Li Changan also felt that one of the officials was more regretful and helpless when he talked about it.

Can anything big come of this case?

"I'll try my best and write a copy for you later."

An Zizhong nodded and took out a box of gold from the drawer. It was so heavy that it almost fell to the ground.

"Thank you."

Seeing that he actually wanted to give him money, Li Changan was unwilling to accept it. They had come all the way from Gongzhou to get here through the exam, so naturally they had more friendship than others. Once he took the money, it would immediately become a transaction.

"Here, you're going to spend all your money to get married. I know it's risky for you to find a sponsor, but this isn't much."

Li Changan still refused. He was in a tight financial situation at the moment, but he felt uncomfortable accepting money from An Zizhong.

"Take this as an advance payment for your share of the dividends from Zhien Pavilion. Take it."

Li Changan then accepted it. As soon as he held it in his hand, he knew that his bonus was not that much. It was so heavy that he could not even lift it. He could vaguely see a few silver bills.

"Zi Zhong, if you want to do this for the sake of the Grand Princess, I advise you to stay out of this matter. The incident at Huaiyuan Marquis' Mansion seemed to have been caused by the masters above. Don't bring yourself into big trouble."

An Zizhong didn't expect Li Changan to say such words. On the one hand, he was happy that he would remind him in a kind way, and on the other hand, he was relieved that there was still someone who could say that the Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion was harmed by the people above.

It was almost as if An Zizhong was telling him that he was not investigating the case for the Grand Princess and the Fourth Prince, but for himself. After thinking about it, he held back.

Looking at Li Changan's back as he left, An Zizhong signaled to An Wenniang that she could come out, but he didn't see anyone. He walked into the inner room and found that An Wenniang had fallen asleep on the couch. An Zizhong looked at An Wenniang who was sleeping well and felt a moment of comfort in his heart. Fortunately, An Wenniang was with him, so he was not really tortured by hatred into a madman.

An Zizhong was lying on the other side of the kang, looking at An Wenniang's face in the dim candlelight. He suppressed the urge to hold her in his arms, fearing that she would run away immediately if he disturbed her. After all, he hadn't seen An Wenniang for a long time. He had to use the conversation with Li Changan as an excuse not to talk to anyone else to ask her to come over. After all, she was very attentive to the affairs of Huaiyuan Marquis' Mansion.

Li Changan returned home and did not go to the backyard but sat in the study by himself. The personal servant he brought from the Li family was still sitting on the stone steps waiting for him. He only told him about going to the An family to find An Zizhong.

"Li Chun, get up and go to sleep."

Li Chun was immediately awakened when he heard his master's voice, stood up, and greeted Li Changan, but Li Changan grabbed his arm.

"Okay, forget about these empty formalities. How dare you sleep outside in such a cold weather? Aren't you afraid of getting sick?"

Li Chunhan smiled and shook his head, pushed open the door and lifted the heavy curtain to let Li Changan go in first.

"I am well dressed, so I am not cold. You must be cold, Master. Why did you come back so late? I was afraid someone would break into the study and find you not there, so I did not dare to leave the door. Fortunately, I burned more charcoal in the room today, so you are not cold. I warmed up the eight-treasure tea on the stove, Master, drink it before going to sleep."

Li Changan took a cup of Eight Treasure Tea and asked him to sit down and drink some with him. Li Chun smiled happily and saw that Li Changan drank a bowl and didn't plan to drink any more, so he held the small clay pot and drank the rest.

"Li Chun, keep this money. You don't have to follow me tomorrow. Go see if there is a suitable farm or shop to buy one."

Li Chun nodded, and was surprised why Li Changan suddenly had so much more money. He had spent almost all his savings to marry his wife, and the betrothal gift was not small, but in return, his wife had her own good dowry. The old bastards of the Qi family kept a close eye on his wife's dowry, as if he was the kind of man who cared about his wife's dowry. He finally sold a shop and gave it away to get five or six hundred taels of silver. In order to alienate his wife from the group of people from the Qi family, he bought back several skilled maids at a high price, and he also had to manage the expenses of the mansion. The dozens of Qi family members brought back by his wife had to be given monthly allowances by him, and those people also controlled the kitchen and purchases, and it cost nearly a hundred taels of silver a month.

My monthly salary is not enough for my expenses. I only have three shops in my family, and I changed one of them. Now I have only two. How long can I keep going? I am only a seventh-rank official. If anyone can bribe him, I am afraid that life will become more and more difficult. I didn't expect that I would bring back so much money.

"Sir, the old lady told you not to go astray and affect your career."

Li Changan smiled and hit him on the back of the head. This Li Chun was given to him by his mother since he was a child. He was very loyal to him, but he was not very smart and did not know how to adapt.

"Don't worry, this is given to me by An Zizhong. He said it's an advance payment of the dividends from Wen'en Pavilion."

Li Chun nodded in relief. As long as his grandfather didn't do anything bad, he thought he could live a good life in Kyoto. However, he didn't expect that he would live in fear and caution every day. Li Chun wanted to remind his grandfather every day not to let money confuse his mind.

"This Master An is quite nice. Wen'en Pavilion has just moved to Kyoto for less than two years, and hasn't made much money yet, but he has already distributed dividends to you in advance. Back then, one dividend in Gongzhou was only eight hundred taels, and I think this is at least four or five thousand taels."

Li Chun took the money box and carefully guarded the money box in a secret place in Li Changan's study. It was empty with a few ingots of silver.

Li Changan sat on the warm bed, leaning against the shelf, closing his eyes and in a daze. Recently, he had to monitor the affairs of Qi Yangchuan's mansion and go to the government office to interrogate prisoners and record their confessions. He was very busy. Li Changan felt very tired, but he just couldn't sleep. Ever since An Zizhong helped him drive Qi Yangchuan away, he had been wondering who An Zizhong was. Why would he drive a fifth-rank official out of Kyoto for him? Isn't Qi Yangchuan more useful than himself?

Qi Yangchuan is still the Grand Princess's man. He wants to have his own people in the Censorate, which is something that those in power care about. Did An Zizhong drive away the Grand Princess's people just for himself?

Or is it that An Zizhong is not the eldest princess's man at all? Yes, I have seen with my own eyes how An Zizhong has established himself in Gongzhou and become one of the most outstanding young men. I admire his ambitions, his aspirations, and his abilities. How could such a man be subdued by a woman? If a despicable person like Princess Baozhu uses force to subdue An Zizhong, will An Zizhong really surrender?

No, no, if An Zizhong doesn't want to accept Princess Baozhu, he must have his own ways. He has hidden illnesses, bad habits, and women outside, which one can't make Princess Baozhu abandon him? It's nothing more than a little damage to his reputation. After waiting for a year or two, he can marry a woman with a clean background.

Unless An Zizhong had no intention of refusing when he received the imperial edict, and he was not someone who could be subdued by power, but pretended to be forced to marry Princess Baozhu, and he always appeared as a good husband, honest and loyal and was bullied, it would have been very strange at this time. Li Changan only regretted that he had been the top scholar in the imperial examination, brought honor to his family, and the Qi family had become much quieter, and he was complacent and did not notice these details.

An Zizhong has many capable servants, including two by his side. He can even control Jin Yue and change Qi Yangchuan's character. Can such a person really be bullied so badly by Princess Baozhu? Others have not seen An Zizhong's insidiousness, but I have.

That can only mean one thing, that An Zizhong himself agreed to the marriage with Princess Baozhu, and that An Zizhong could see what he wanted in this marriage.

An Zizhong didn't care about fame or wealth. Li Changan had never really understood his purpose and had never asked him about it.

What is strange is why An Zizhong wanted to become the grand princess's son-in-law? Why did he want to investigate the case of Huaiyuan Marquis's Mansion?