Ming Dynasty: My Father Zhang Juzheng

Chapter 34: Dark Eyes

The next day, as soon as the sky was a little light, Zhang Jing rode in four blue-topped sedan chairs and headed straight for the Forbidden City. After entering the palace, he did not choose to go directly to the Qianqing Palace, but went to the Silijian to wait.

At this moment, the emperor is probably not awake yet. If you accidentally hit his frown, it would be very bad.

As soon as he sat down in the duty room, the eunuch on duty immediately refilled his tea and said with a flattering smile, "Eunuch Zhang, you must be tired after being out of the palace for half a year."

Zhang Jing took the tea, took a sip, and glared at the young eunuch and boasted, "I'm so tired. You don't know how tired I am. My old bones almost broke on the road. But when I think about making profits for the emperor and my brothers in the palace, I have to do it no matter how tired I am."

"Hehe..., Zhang Jing, you are able to make the people in chaos. Now the people want to dig up your ancestral graves. You are really tired." As soon as Zhang Jing finished speaking, a joking voice was heard.

The young eunuch was startled, while Zhang Jing narrowed his eyes and looked towards the door of the duty room.

Feng Bao walked in surrounded by four or five ivory-clad officials.

Today he was wearing a pea green python gown, a red steel-forked hat, and black leather boots with gold thread.

Stepping on the white marble floor makes a crisp sound.

"Eunuch Feng." Seeing Feng Bao, the eunuch on duty hurriedly bowed, while Zhang Jing snorted and turned away.

Feng Bao smiled coldly and walked directly to the main seat and sat down.

Yesterday, Zhang Yunxiu secretly took the little emperor out of the palace and happened to run into people from Zhang Jing's mansion showing off their wealth on Qipan Street. Zhang Yunxiu sent someone to inform Xu Jue about this that night.

Xu Jue immediately informed himself.

Just this time, all his illnesses were cured, and he prepared to apply eye drops to Zhang Jing today.

Thinking about it, he glanced at Zhang Jing and suddenly shouted: "Zhang Jing! Do you have any manners? You don't even greet me when you see me. If this gets out, people who don't know will think I didn't discipline him well."

Zhang Jing was startled by the roar, but soon calmed down and replied sarcastically: "What kind of discipline does Eunuch Feng have? Your nephew is very powerful. He dared to resist taxes and even beat the officials to death."

"That kid of yours is not bad either." Feng Bao smiled coldly.

Zhang Yun?

Zhang Jing frowned when he heard this. This guy is indeed a troublemaker, but he probably wouldn't do something like beating up an official.

It must be that old guy Feng Bao who is deliberately deceiving me.

What a cunning old thief.

Zhang Jing cursed inwardly and laughed, but suddenly stopped laughing and said, "Eunuch Feng, let me advise you, we are all dogs of the royal family, and dogs should be aware of being dogs, and don't think of yourself as the master."

"Zhang Jing, you are so bold that you dare to scold our godfather!" A big-name ivory official behind Feng Bao shouted with a red face.

"Look, look, this is a good dog. The owner hasn't even spoken yet, but the dog has already started barking."

Feng Bao didn't say anything when he heard the voice, but just raised his eyes and glanced at Zhang Jing.

The fair face turned blue, obviously extremely angry.

Zhang Jing felt very happy. Now he could make money from the emperor. With the emperor's protection, Feng Bao could not do anything to him.

The depressing atmosphere lasted for a while, and then a eunuch delivering an imperial decree broke the deadlock.

"Eunuch Zhang, the emperor wants you to meet him at the Qianqing Palace."

Zhang Jing stood up, shook his python robe, and walked out of the duty room with a smile. He turned around and said, "Eunuch Feng, let's go see the emperor first. If there is anything, I will talk to you when I come back."

After saying that, Zhang Jing turned his head and ran quickly towards the Qianqing Palace.

There was an immediate commotion in the duty room.

"What the hell, I really don't know who I believe in."

"That's right. He has only been in the palace for a few years. How many storms has our godfather seen in the Forbidden City? Do you still want to pull him down?" "Godfather, in my opinion, you should go and complain to the Queen Mother, and let her treat Zhang Jing."

Hearing all the discussions, Feng Bao smiled and shook his head. He remembered what Zhang Yunxiu said: The emperor is old enough, there is no need to involve the empress dowager in everything, he should make the decision himself.

On the other side, Zhang Jing happily entered the Qianqing Palace and headed straight for the west warm pavilion.

As soon as he entered the cabinet, Zhang Jing noticed that the atmosphere was not right. The emperor was sitting in the armchair with a sullen face, and Wei Qing behind him was also frowning and keeping silent.

Whenever he came in the past, the emperor always smiled.

Although she didn't know what happened, Zhang Jing still boasted: "Your Majesty, I'm back. You don't know that I almost didn't see you on the road this time."

As he spoke, Zhang Jing crawled forward on his knees and began to cry.

When Emperor Wanli saw him like this, his heart softened.

Suddenly remembering the arrogance of the Zhang family yesterday, he immediately became furious, as angry as if he could cook a cow, and cursed: "Zhang Jing, how do you discipline your family members?!"

"I got a total of 300,000, huh?" Zhang Jing was just about to boast about his achievements, but was stunned for a moment when he heard the emperor's scolding.

What the hell?
Emperor Wanli stamped his feet, pointed at Zhang Jing and continued to curse: "Your family is really rich, you can spend a thousand taels to buy a few taels of silver. Tsk tsk, my daily food is only thirty taels of silver, and your paintings are enough for me to eat for a month!"

"What painting?" Zhang Jing was confused.

"You don't need to know. Just deliver the silver to the Treasury." Emperor Wanli waved his hand as if to shoo away a fly, and said impatiently, "Also, starting next year, we will close 20 mines."

"Your Majesty, your treasury is ready." Zhang Jing reminded hurriedly.

Emperor Wanli looked hesitant, but when he thought of this part of the money, Zhang Yunxiu said he had a way to make up for it.

Moreover, there were indeed too many impeachments in various places, and he had no choice but to grit his teeth and close some mines.

"Go down, I'm a little sleepy."

"emperor."

"I told you to go down, didn't you hear me?"

"Oh, yes." Zhang Jing wiped the sweat from his forehead, said "goodbye", and walked out of the Qianqing Palace.

After leaving the palace, Zhang Jing felt more and more that something was wrong.

The emperor chased him and asked about the painting?
Some mines have to be shut down. Is this emperor changing so quickly?

"Hua'er. Hua'er?" He murmured twice while standing outside the palace gate.

At this moment, he suddenly remembered Feng Bao's sarcasm and frowned. A thought suddenly popped up in his mind: "Is it that stinky boy Zhang Yun who caused some trouble?"

After figuring this out, Zhang Jing immediately went back home, picked up the five scrolls, and returned to the west warm pavilion.

"Your Majesty, this painting was bought by me specially for you. Please take a look and see if it suits your taste." Zhang Jing said with a smile as he unfolded the scroll.

Wanli was looking at the beauty in the scroll, his soul was moved, and he thought of Zheng Shupin's charming smile, and his lower abdomen felt hot.

"Your Majesty, I have some collections at home. If Your Majesty likes them, I will get them all for you right away." Zhang Jing smiled lewdly, and his already shrill voice became even more disgusting.

"Then what are you waiting for? Why don't you bring it over and have a look?"

Zhang Jing was about to nod in agreement when a shout of "How bold!" startled several people in the palace.

Emperor Wanli slowly turned around and looked towards the door, and saw Empress Dowager Li standing at the entrance of the palace with a sullen face.

(End of this chapter)