I made a fortune by marrying a sickly woman!

"Master Qin? Why are you here?"

Wen Shidu was surprised.

After he called out, he realized that he had said something wrong. He quickly stepped forward and bowed, "Your humble servant greets Mr. Qin. I apologize for my words just now."

"No problem, no problem. By the way, I haven't been to the Hanlin Academy for a few days. Fortunately, I have nothing to do at the Ministry of Works, so I came to see if there is anything you need me to do." Qin Chi smiled and returned the greeting.

Then, Qin Chi looked around and asked, "Is everyone busy?"

"Ah."

Wen Shidu's laughter was very forced and he didn't say much.

Next.

Qin Chi went to see Dean Yan.

Yan Xianqing's eyelids twitched when he saw Qin Chi, "What a rare guest, how come you have time to come here?"

"There's nothing to do at the Ministry of Works, so I came here to see if there's any work I can do. After all, I still have the title of a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy." Qin Chi can be regarded as the youngest bachelor in this dynasty.

Yan Xianqing was speechless. "You are not needed even if something happens. There are still several scholars in the Hanlin Academy. If His Majesty had not specifically requested you to accompany him, the other scholars would have rushed to show up in front of His Majesty."

"Then I feel relieved."

Qin Chi didn't care at all about his job being taken away.

Yan Xianqing looked outside the door and saw that no one pulled Qin Chi over, so he whispered about Mao Shaojie again, "With the connections of Minister Yuan, he didn't receive much promotion, he was just dismissed from office."

"Then he is lucky. When something happens, he still has a father-in-law to help him." Qin Chi's tone was deliberately sour.

Yan Xianqing laughed out loud and pointed at him. From the looks in their eyes, one could tell that everyone knew what was going on.

For people in government, there are some things they don't need to say.

It's fine as long as everyone understands it.

During the chat, they talked about Qin Chi's trouble. It was Qin Chi who took the initiative to bring it up. "I am worried. I don't know how His Majesty will approve it. This matter has been on my mind for a long time without a definite answer."

Hearing this, Yan Xianqing understood.

This guy came here today specifically to inquire about the news.

No wonder he came to the Hanlin Academy.

Don't underestimate the Hanlin Academy, a low-paying office. In all likelihood, the officials of the Hanlin Academy are the ones who know the court's movements the fastest.

Yan Xianqing did not hide this, "The emperor has sent an order, and has asked the people in the Hanlin Academy to draft the document. Even if I don't tell you now, you will know it soon."

"Then why don't you just tell me about it?"

Qin Chi took advantage of the situation and took out half a pound of pepper from his arms and stuffed it into Yan Xianqing's hand.

Yan Xianqing sniffed it and raised his eyebrows. "You have good connections. I asked my housekeeper to go to all the shops in the capital. Either the price is too expensive to kill me, or it is gone."

It is not sold on the market.

The middlemen have it, but the price is very high.

Qin Chi smiled and didn't reply.

Yan Xianqing didn't necessarily want him to tell him the way out. He glanced at the door again, and seeing that there was no one around, he leaned over to Qin Chi's ear and whispered.

Qin Chi's expression did not change at all when he heard this, and it was unknown what he was thinking in his heart.

Emperor Cheng of the Ming Dynasty did not act according to reason.

He did not adopt any of the memorials that the ministers had worked so hard to write yesterday. Today, he issued an edict, preparing to let the officials in the court settle the bad accounts, and the documents are being drafted.

No emperor in history has ever done such a ridiculous thing as to put the court's bad debts on the officials.

"Each government office is responsible for its own bad debts. According to your majesty's intention, officials with higher ranks will have to bear a larger share. Officials who cannot afford the money can use their future salaries to make up for it." Yan Xianqing wanted to say that he was worthy of being your majesty.

Only he could have come up with this idea.

When the treasury was empty, spices and cloth were used to replace salaries. Now, using things that are no longer needed in the inventory to replace them seems to be justifiable on the surface, after all, there is a precedent to refer to.

In fact, doing so will cause endless troubles.

The court's salary is not high in itself, and it is not easy for officials to support their families with just the salary. If something like this happens, it is almost like forcing some officials to bend the law for personal gain, and to engage in corruption and bribery.

Qin Chi left Yan Xianqing.

Then go find Lu Yanji and Lu Bozhou.

Sure enough, I saw the two of them drafting documents.

Qin Chi thought that Uncle Hong had guessed it right. Emperor Mingcheng was more inclined to Duke Ningguo's proposal. Generally speaking, a far-sighted monarch would not agree to such an approach.

I left the Hanlin Academy with a heavy heart.

Qin Chi returned to the Ministry of Industry.

As soon as he arrived at the Ministry of Works, he heard the news that Emperor Cheng of the Ming Dynasty approved the memorial from the prefect and asked him to make a judgment according to the law.

Liu Bingzheng was there to mediate.

Under pressure, the prefect sentenced Liu Guangrun to three years in prison and gave similar punishments to other accomplices.

This case became the one with the fastest verdict in Beijing this year.

The news reached the Liu family.

When the old lady of the Liu family heard this, she was so angry that she fainted.

The women in the back house were in chaos.

"Go and ask the master quickly. The old lady fainted in anger when she heard that the master was sentenced to three years in prison."

An old maid who served the old lady immediately sent someone to notify them.

Liu Bingzheng and others who were discussing the matter in the study were furious when they heard the news. "Didn't we tell people not to tell the old lady? Who leaked the news?"

"Yes, it was someone from the eldest lady's family who said that." said the attendant next to him.

This made Liu Bingzheng very angry.

If anything happened to his mother, he would have to observe mourning.

During this period, officials needed to return to their hometowns to mourn, and their promotions and salaries were stopped.

Therefore, he reminded the people in the mansion early on and forbade them to tell the news to the old lady in the backyard, who loved her eldest son Liu Guangrun the most.

Liu Bingzheng asked his attendants to bring the medicine box and went to treat the old lady himself.

Along the way, other members of the Liu family also followed.

The second master of the Liu family asked, "Father, what should we do about our eldest brother's matter? Should we go and take care of it again and find someone to help him?"

"I have found all the people I should find. Who else can I find? Now that His Majesty is paying attention to this matter, who dares to help at this time?" Liu Bingzheng was also very anxious.

It's not like he doesn't have connections.

It always feels like a waste to use it on his eldest son.

Liu Bingzheng went to the back house.

After seeing the old lady, he finally waited for her to wake up and agreed to go and ask for help at her request.

Left the backyard.

After some hesitation, Liu Bingzheng still contacted someone secretly.

An hour later.

Someone knocked on Song Jin's back door.

Qin Qi went to open the door, and the man said he was looking for Song Jin, saying he was a clerk at Jifang Pharmacy.

Song Jin met someone in private.

After the man came over and bowed, he reported: "Master, Liu Bingzheng's attendant went to a grocery store on West Street and only bought a few things before leaving."

Of course, there is more to it than that.

The grocery store was just a smoke screen to deliver the message.

The spy found out that Liu Bing was making an appointment to meet someone, but they didn't know who he was going to meet. After following the owner of the grocery store, they discovered that the other party went to a tea shop.

Finally, the owner of the tea shop went to see a middle-aged man.

The man said, "We followed him. The middle-aged steward is a servant of the Yang family."

"Yes, there is a reward."

Song Jin was so happy that he took out a hundred taels of silver and said, "Go back and divide it among the brothers."

"Thank you for the reward, Master."

The man retreated happily.