Mu Hanzhang felt that it was a waste of time to sympathize with this guy. He pushed the big head away from his chest and said, "The imperial court is not like school. How can I just say that I won't go because I don't want to? I still have a lot to do." Then, ignoring Jing Shao's aggrieved puppy eyes, he got up and walked out.
Yun Zhu was first called in, then sent to Rui Wang's residence to let the latter know about Jing Shao's house confinement. Mu Hanzhang then went back to the study in the east court, ignoring the Wang Ye who was still sitting on the carpet and acting shamelessly. The articles of the regulations mentioned by Emperor Hong Zheng just then still needed to be written as soon as possible.
Helpless, Jing Shao watched his Wang Fei ignore him, and suddenly had the sorrowful feeling that he had lost his job and now had to rely on his wife to support the family.
When Jing Chen heard the news, he came over in person before supper. Emperor Hong Zheng's decree forbade Jing Shao from going anywhere, but didn't forbid others from coming to see him.
"This is what Gu Huaiqing had me give you." Jing Shao handed the booklet with the list of officials to Jing Chen.
Jing Chen's expression suddenly became a little strange. "This... he already gave me a copy."
Jing Shao: "..."
Jing Chen: "..."
"That bastard Gu Huaiqing, I even felt moved by his kindness for a while!" Jing Shao was so angry; that rascal used the same thing to deceive both brothers.
Jing Chen carefully looked at the booklet in his hand and found that the list was different from the one he had. He took out the other one from his sleeve and found that the combination of the two made for a complete list of contacts. This move by Gu Huaiqing might have been to test whether the two brothers were united or not. After all, this kind of thing would not be a small power in anyone's hands. If these brothers were not on the same side and hid their own copy, they would definitely end up using such a resource wrongly. At that time, the news would reach Gu Huaiqing's ears, and in a situation like that, cooperation would be off the table.
"He truly thinks through a lot." After listening to his brother's analysis, Jing Shao was at a loss.
"After all, this is the foundation left by the ancestors. If I wanted to gamble with Dachen's future as a state, it naturally wouldn't be easy to just blindly trust people." Jing Chen put the two lists together and put them back into his sleeve. He had no resentment toward Gu Huaiqing's way of doing things. After all, regarding cooperation with a vassal king, if both brothers weren't united and on the same page, they would surely make careless mistakes, and the Huainan King would also suffer at that time.
"Also, Zhao Jiulin, the Assistant Minister of Rites, has already aligned himself with Jing Yu." Jing Shao sipped his tea, and suddenly thought of the man who had followed the fourth prince to search Intoxicated Immortal restaurant today. This information was what Gu Huaiqing had also explicitly had Jing Shao relay before he left.
Jing Chen frowned; he was in charge of the Ministry of Rites. Unexpectedly, Jing Yu's hand had already stretched so far.
"Brother, let's bribe someone in the Ministry of Justice, too," Jing Shao said extremely angrily. He was already so annoyed when he saw Jing Yu so pleased with himself.
Jing Chen glanced at him. "The Minister of Justice is my person."
Jing Shao almost spat out his mouthful of tea.
"If you don't understand anything in court, ask Hanzhang." Jing Chen put down his cup and stood up. It was late. Cheng Wang had just been punished. It wasn't proper for him to come and visit in such a conspicuous manner; of course, he couldn't stay for dinner.
