Seeing his calm demeanor and firm eyes, Cai Xianqing gradually felt shaken in his heart. He lowered his eyebrows and thought for a while, took a deep breath, and said to him: "Then I will listen to you this time. But please rest assured, sir, if it fails, I, the one who makes the decision, will never shirk the blame and share the blame with you!" Then, he grabbed the confession at hand and tore it in half.
Cui Yi was moved by his decisive spirit, and his admiration arose spontaneously: "It is not easy for Mr. Cai to make such a decision. Cui Yi understands very well; he will do his best to serve and live up to what he said today!"
After Cui Yi received the order from Minister Cai, he returned to the Ministry of Punishment and released all the prostitutes who had been interrogated, and gave up his visit to Jialuefang. Everyone was very puzzled and raised objections directly to Cui Yi, but he refuted them sternly and beat the little official who was the leader of the trouble ten times with a stick as a warning to others. But because of this, everyone became angry and rushed to find Ming Huiguang to redress their grievances and seek justice. Ming Huiguang came back from the capital at this time. When he heard about this, he felt extremely disgusted, but then he thought: 'After all, it was him who did this. No matter how absurd it is, it has nothing to do with me. He is the one who is unlucky for doing such nonsense, so why bother to try to dissuade him and end up in the wrong place. ’ So he turned a deaf ear and only comforted them without saying anything else.
Cui Yi was not very sure about this decision, and he encountered another turmoil. He was so nervous that he couldn't sleep at night. His heart seemed to be on a string, and he was always paying attention to the news from the outside world. Just when he was at a loss what to do, he suddenly heard a report from an informant: an attendant was sent out from the East Palace, holding a memorial in hand, and went to the inner chamber.
Cui Yi was immediately overjoyed and hurriedly said to his colleagues: "This is exactly the opportunity I have been waiting for! Now there is no leader in the East Palace, so the memorial sent to me must be the prince's intention. I will seize the opportunity to get it, which will be of great use."
"But the prince's status is precious. If he wants to speak, he can just speak directly to him. Why write a memorial? Maybe not..." An official was afraid of incurring his wrath, so he was cautious when questioning.
"You don't know," Cui Yi smiled slightly, "The reason why the Crown Prince refused to face the Holy Spirit must be because he had something unspeakable. He was deeply afraid of His Majesty's blame, so he asked his chamberlain to pass it on to him and find out what he was talking about. But he had calculated everything, but he didn't expect that we were hiding in the secret place. The darkness actually relieves my worries."
When his colleagues heard him reach the key point, they suddenly stopped talking and couldn't help but ask: "How to obtain the memorial?"
Cui Yi didn't mention it, just shook his finger and said: "As long as Cui makes a little plan and uses the most popular method, the Guanbao Memorial Book will be available in an instant." After listening to this, everyone looked at each other in surprise.
Cui Yi returned to the official office, secretly took four or five silver notes, put them into his arms, and immediately entered the forbidden area. In the name of delivering the memorial, he came to the gate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, bribed the eunuch guarding the gate, and sneaked in quietly. . This Ministry of Internal Affairs is not a small place, with roads extending in all directions. Cui Yi didn't pass by, so he could only bump into all directions. He didn't know where he was for a moment. He was about to turn around when he saw Shen Jing come out of the study and hurriedly hid behind the pine tree. , and saw him walking in another direction with a few young eunuchs.
Cui Yi covered his chest and dared to take a breath. He looked at his back and said secretly: "The prince has something to ask of me. Eunuch Shen must not dare to neglect him. He must have just come out from reading the memorial. I should go and ask." '
So he walked towards the study and asked the eunuch guarding him: "My father-in-law, what did Mr. Shen do?"
The eunuch looked at him for a few times and replied: "Mr. Shen was doing official business in the accounting room. Hearing the letter from the East Palace, he hurried over. Seeing that it was not a big deal, he went back and waited to hand it over to the emperor in the evening. Please refer to the details.”
Cui Yi's eyebrows moved slightly, he took two steps closer and whispered: "Can I have a look at the memorial? I will thank you very much."
Before he finished speaking, the eunuch heard a "chacha" sound. He looked around and saw Cui Yi holding two banknotes in his hand and leaning against his robe.
But with quick eyes and quick hands, he quickly put it down, glanced at fifty taels, and raised the corners of his mouth slightly. "who are you?"
"The new head of the Criminal Department, Cui Yi," Cui Yi felt reassured, smiled slyly and stretched out his hand, "What do you think, can you please be more lenient?"
"sure."
Cui Yi entered the study and walked towards the desk. He saw that the top of the pear wood table was brand new and shiny, and the memorial was placed right in the center, so he didn't even bother to search around.
For fear of being noticed that someone had come, he carefully moved away the documents piled up on both sides and opened the memorial - as he expected, this was not the prince's handwriting, but an anonymous secret note:
'Recently, the prince wants to make Geng the maid in the palace as a partial concubine. Because of her humble background, the palace officials have criticized her, and she still can't agree on what to do. However, I think that the prince is not a good-looking person and has never had any concubines. The reason why he can be established now is just to fill the court and show the nobleness of his direct heir. Geng's maid is gentle and sensible, knows how to advance and retreat in the right way, and is virtuous and no different from those of high families. These two are also. If you have both, why ask for the other! I hope that your majesty will obey the advice of his ministers and register the name of Geng's maid and partial concubine to stop Youyou from talking...'
The more Cui Yi read, the tighter his brows became. When he read the end, it was like a basin of cold water pouring down from heaven, washing away all his thoughts. Anger, hesitation and confusion were instantly mixed together, making He was left lying on the chair in a daze, helpless.
"It's just such a bad thing,"
Cui Yi returned to the Ministry of War and just sat down. He gritted his teeth and cursed while pinching the bridge of his nose, "It took me a long time to work! Damn it, you said the prince was so cautious when he asked for a concubine." What are you doing? I also made a lot of money in vain, really..."
"You tell me how much money you have, and I'll share it for you," Cai Xianqing said in an extremely calm tone, "But what news did you find out? Tell me again."
"Mr. Cai, don't be ridiculous. What's the use of the prince finding a prostitute as his wife..."
"I'll let you say it again."
Cui Yi looked at him with a piercing look in his eyes, which was strangely scary, so he restrained his casual attitude and said honestly: "The prince sent someone to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to deliver a memorial, asking Geng to be his concubine."
"Oh, that's it..." Cai Xianqing seemed to have some understanding after hearing this, and patted his forehead and said.
Cui Yi didn't understand, so he lay on the table, leaned forward and asked, "What exactly do you know? I was the one who confused you a few days ago, and now it's the other way around."
"This is because there is new news," Cai Xianqing's eyes began to light up, "Mr. Liu Shuzhai reported to me a big event today, which can solve our predicament. Are you willing to listen?"
Cui Yi also became excited, grabbed his sleeve and said: "It seems that I regretted it too early! This is really a hidden dream! What great news, tell me quickly!"
Cai Xianqing lowered his voice and uttered a few words: "Cun Zhao went to see the prince on the first day."
