Marrying Gold and Jade

Lin Ji knew that he could not escape without the help of the Fifth Prince.

He nodded slightly to the person with a cold face, but he didn't feel any gratitude in his heart.

If he hadn't coveted the Lin family and insisted on taking Lin Yu to Beijing, their family wouldn't have had to go through so many things.

"Brother, have you had breakfast?"

Lin Yu had to speak up to pull him out of his thoughts.

"I have used it. I was just about to go see His Majesty."

Lin Yu didn't know why the emperor wanted to see him, and was afraid it was because of what happened last night, so he immediately said, "I'll go with you."

"No need," Lin Ji replied quickly, "Your Majesty is meeting me for official business, and His Majesty the Seventh Prince is coming with him."

Lin Yu then remembered A Yuan behind him and thanked him again and again, "Thanks to you."

Mingyuan just raised the corner of his lips and shook his head slightly, indicating that she didn't need to thank him.

Lin Yu's attention immediately returned to Lin Ji, "So, after meeting His Majesty, will you leave the palace immediately?"

The situation was critical last night and Lin Yu didn't even have time to say a few words to anyone before they left.

Whether to stay in the palace or not is not up to Lin Ji. "I will ask His Majesty to allow me to reminisce with you."

The girl then smiled and said, "Okay!"

Lin Ji did have official business, and Emperor Xianzhen had hinted at this business long before he was transferred from the Hanlin Academy and returned to Songjiang to serve as prefect.

Today, he has already prepared the details up his sleeve.

When he saw the emperor, he knelt down and presented the emperor with both hands: "This is the actual land property of Lu Yusheng, the Minister of Revenue, in Songjiang and Suzhou, totaling 200,000 acres. Please take a look, Your Majesty."

He tried to curry favor with Lu Yusheng, the Crown Princess's father, not because he wanted to serve the Crown Prince.

On the contrary, he had a long way to go and found out a lot of information through his interactions with others, especially about the Lu family's hidden fields in Jiangnan.

The so-called hidden fields are fields from which the Lu family does not pay land taxes on the surface, but which actually bring all the profits to the Lu family.

Lu Yusheng was the emperor's brother-in-law, and his family had more land. Emperor Xianzhen turned a blind eye to it, and it was not a heinous crime that could not be written down.

But the bad thing was that he announced to the public that his family only had 80,000 acres of land, but what Emperor Xianzhen saw was 100,000 acres. As a result, Lin Ji found out another 100,000 acres.

Occupying so much land and not having to pay taxes, one can imagine how fat the Lu family has become.

Even in this situation, he still wanted to deprive the soldiers of their military funds for transporting troops to the northwest. The soldiers' cotton-padded clothes were too thin, and the northwest was bitterly cold, so hundreds of people froze to death.

"Lu Yusheng, Lu Yusheng..."

The paper in his hand showing the 200,000 acres of land fell on the table. The emperor put his no longer young hands on it and rubbed it unconsciously.

He ascended the throne at a young age, and before he took full power, all important affairs of the court had to go through the hands of his mother and cousin.

He was only fifteen or sixteen years old at that time and was very rebellious. Because of a political difference, he fell out with his two elders.

The Queen Mother requested to live alone in a temporary palace, taking a very favored eunuch with her, and never returned to the palace again.

However, his cousin, the Taifu, seemed to have lost interest in this long ago and had retired to the mountains to plant citrus trees.

At that time, apart from Grand Tutor Shen, the other person who helped him was Lu Yusheng, which was a credit to him.

Later, when the crown prince came of age, the first person Emperor Xianzhen thought of was the daughter of the Lu family, and he appointed a crown princess from her.

But that's how the world is. Too much joy often leads to sorrow, and too much good often leads to disaster. Today, he is so bold as to hide his greed from others.

"I understand." The emperor was more heartbroken than angry.

After giving the instructions, Lin Ji was still kneeling there without moving.

He said, "You have made great contributions this time, and you are the leader. The Dali Temple will investigate in detail. I will ask you to be an imperial censor to help with the investigation."

With such a big case being settled, Lin Ji would naturally be promoted.

"Thank you, Your Majesty." He bowed but still did not stand up.

The emperor then looked at him carefully again, "Anything else?"

Lin Ji said: "My younger sister is staying in the palace. I saw her briefly at the banquet yesterday and I felt homesick..."

"Alright, alright." Emperor Xianzhen shook his head, wondering how could he have forgotten that compared to fame and fortune, he cared more about his non-blood-related sister.

But he has seen it today, and it is quite rare.

"You will stay in the palace for the next few days and cooperate with the investigation at any time."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

This thank you is much more sincere than the previous one.

When Lin Ji walked out of the Qianqing Palace, he ran into Grand Tutor Shen who was about to go in. The two of them met, and Lin Ji naturally bowed and saluted, "Thank you Grand Tutor for your help yesterday."

Master Shen saved him twice, once at the palace banquet and once after the banquet.

The two men exchanged a few quick greetings before the Grand Tutor went in to see the Emperor.

When Emperor Xianzhen saw him, he recalled the time when he had a disagreement with someone on political issues, which led to his teacher Shen being dismissed from office for a year in the name of "returning home to recuperate", and this was partly due to Lu Yusheng's instigation.

There was no one around, and the emperor had the detailed information of the 200,000 mu of land spread out in front of him. He opened his mouth and said, "I was indeed wrong."

The Grand Master, who was over fifty years old, was still as gentle as he was in his youth, and said, "Your Majesty is right, but he has changed."

Being pushed to a high position and entrusted with important tasks, when Emperor Xianzhen was still a young emperor, the person he had the most contact with was his cousin.

In my impression, he has almost no selfish desires. When he is a teacher, he is strict and unkind, but he is truly dedicated to the public.

This even planted a seed in the young heart of Emperor Xianzhen, that all court officials would be like this, working only for the public good and not for personal gain.

Thinking of the estrangement that had built up between him and others over the past few decades, he finally sighed.

He looked up at the person and said, "You are the only one left by my side."

The Grand Tutor lowered his eyes and said nothing.

Lin Ji could not immediately look for someone after leaving the Qianqing Palace. Li Quan, who was beside the emperor, personally led him to a garden and said, "Lord Lin, if you want to see Miss Lin, you can't just walk around. This old servant will arrange it for you. When you want to see her, just tell me..."

"elder brother!"

Before he could finish his words, the girl's crisp voice interrupted him.

Outside the villa, Lin Yu came running over excitedly when he learned that he was going to stay there for a while.

Lin Ji suppressed the excitement in his heart, said "I'm sorry" to the eunuch in front of him, and then he didn't want to look at the palace furnishings and immediately went to the door to greet people.

When I got closer, I realized that she was not alone.

Xu Jinxuan was standing behind her, looking at her with an unfriendly gaze.

This is where the palace went wrong. Even though Lin Ji's interest was disturbed, he could only bow to others first.

"Meet the Fifth Prince."

Lin Yu didn't care about that. He stepped forward and pulled him up and said, "Stop being so formal. What did His Majesty say?"

Regardless of whether this ceremony was for Xu Jinxuan, Lin Ji stood up and said, "Let me stay in the palace for a while."

"Great!"