Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 371 Doing Things Based on Your Ability

It is indeed extremely difficult to change Zhu Youtang's deeply rooted ideas in a short period of time.

Zhang Yu did not force it.

In her opinion, the ups and downs outside have little to do with her. As long as the prince is still the crown prince, she will still be the queen in the future. Just like her brother said, just wait another month or two, and once the results come out... everything will be balanced.

Generally speaking, Zhang Yu is not the kind of woman with particularly strong ambitions.

The life she wants is actually not complicated.

But early the next morning, Wei Tai, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, came to the Eastern Palace in person to summon Crown Prince Zhu Youtang to the Qianqing Palace to meet the emperor.

When Qin Ji heard the news, he was a little surprised. He didn't know why the emperor suddenly paid so much attention to his son. Was it just because the prince was investigating the Ministry of Revenue case?

"Wei Daban, is there something urgent?"

Zhu Youtang walked out of the inner hall and asked after a brief greeting, "I have to go to Wenhua Hall for class today. Will it delay me?"

Wei Tai said: "Your Highness, His Majesty has assigned you a task, so you can temporarily focus all your energy on practical matters and don't have to worry about schoolwork.

"Oh, by the way, His Majesty asked you to discuss with the two Eastern Palace lecturers to participate in the investigation of the Tongzhou granary deficit. Have you done it?"

"Oh, I went out of the palace yesterday."

Zhu Youtang was a little embarrassed and explained, "I have met many people. But I haven't met Mr. Liu and Mr. Xie yet. I was planning to ask them individually in Wenhua Hall today."

Wei Tai nodded and said, "That's a pity. I should have asked earlier. Maybe I would have gained something."

Zhu Youtang only understood half of what he heard.

But Wei Tai basically kept his mouth shut about other matters. After all, he was summoned by the emperor, and he didn't dare to give too many instructions in person. Everything still had to be dealt with by the prince himself.

……

……

In the Qianqing Palace.

Zhu Youtang entered the palace as ordered. As soon as he entered, he saw two familiar figures.

One was his old father Zhu Jianshen, and the person who was taking his father's pulse was his father-in-law Zhang Luan.

In fact, there was another person next to it, not very noticeable, but he was bending over and looking at this head.

It was Li Zisheng who came to the palace with Zhang Luan to see the emperor.

However, Li Zisheng was not familiar with the crown prince, and his position was very special, next to the screen in the corner, so Zhu Youtang did not notice him when he came in.

"My son, I will meet my father."

Zhu Youtang knelt down and saluted.

When Zhang Luan saw this, he quickly stood up, because this was equivalent to the prince kneeling to him at the same time, and he could not bear such a great honor.

Zhu Jianshen waved to Zhang Luan and said, "Mr. Zhang, please sit down. Don't let it interfere with your work."

"Yes."

Zhang Luan then sat back on the stool and continued to pretend to diagnose the emperor.

Zhu Jianshen raised his chin and called out, "My son, get up."

"Thank you, Father."

Zhu Youtang then stood up.

Zhu Jianshen asked, "My son, do you think something happened here that caused me to call you over?"

Zhang Luan, Li Zisheng and Wei Tai were all embarrassed when they heard this.

I'm thinking about it in my heart.

Your Majesty, wouldn't it be better for you to just ask him directly if he is waiting to inherit the throne?
How can you, as a father, make things so difficult for your son?

"I don't think so."

With Zhu Youtang's limited experience in interpersonal communication, he could not tell good words from bad ones and just answered truthfully.

Zhu Jianshen stopped nagging about other things and asked, "Yesterday I asked you to go out of the palace to investigate a case. Did you go?"

Zhu Youtang said quickly, "Your Majesty, I am on my way. I first went to the Ministry of Revenue and met the Minister of Revenue, Li Min. Later, I met the son of Zhang Taichang and Zhang Taichang himself. Later, I met some officials from the Ministry of Revenue, as well as the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue and others."

When Zhang Luan heard this, his heart skipped a beat.

I thought to myself, the prince really has no secrets in front of his old father. This kind of person is too honest. He won't repeat everything I said to his father, right?

But then he felt relieved.

There was actually no point in the prince deceiving the emperor at this time, because the emperor had sent someone to go with the prince, and he could find out clearly who he had met and who he had not met by asking someone.

But those people probably don’t know the specific content of the conversation between Yanling, me and the Crown Prince, right?
Unless Qin Ji betrays us!

Zhu Jianshen nodded in relief and said, "Then do you know what happened last night?"

"My son, I don't know."

Zhu Youtang replied respectfully.

"Sun Ren, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, died of illness at home last night... You didn't see him yesterday, did you?" Zhu Jianshen asked.

"what!?"

Zhu Youtang was shocked when he heard this. He first glanced at Zhang Luan, and obviously remembered what Zhang Luan and his son reminded him of yesterday. He didn't believe it at all at that time, but now...

Then he calmed down a little and replied, "In reply to your father, I didn't see Sun Ren yesterday, but Minister Li of the Ministry of Revenue told me that he might arrange for me to meet the two assistant ministers of the Ministry of Revenue today."

"Then you won't be able to see it."

Zhu Jianshen asked meaningfully, "Just when you were about to investigate the Ministry of Revenue, one of the Ministry of Revenue's assistant ministers died suddenly of illness... My son, what do you think about this?"

A big problem was directly pinned on Zhu Youtang.

As the incident happened suddenly, there would probably be no one to advise the prince, and it all depended on Zhu Youtang's own on-the-spot performance, which was equivalent to asking the prince to give an answer composed entirely of his own opinions.

Zhu Youtang paused for a moment before replying, "Father, I think this is a coincidence, but who can predict the future?"

"haha, really?"

When Zhu Jianshen heard this, he asked with a disdainful smile on his face, "So what do you think should be done with Sun Ren? Should we continue to investigate him? And... how should we arrange his affairs after his death?"

Zhu Youtang thought to himself, is this what I should do? When a minister passes away, shouldn't we follow the established procedures?
Why are you still asking for my opinion?

"My son thinks that we should provide compensation to his family. After all, death is the most important thing. We will not investigate his case any further. Next, I will meet another vice minister to investigate the case from another direction." Zhu Youtang said.

Zhu Jianshen frowned slightly.

He seemed to have expected the prince to say this, because it was very consistent with the prince's kind character.

But at this moment, for some reason, he felt that this answer seemed a little different from the previous one, but he couldn't find the answer to what was wrong.

"Ah."

Zhu Jianshen nodded slightly and waved his hand, saying, "Then you can go. In the next two days, check it out for me carefully and don't let me down."

"Yes, I will take my leave now and pay my respects to your Majesty, father." After paying his respects, Zhu Youtang left the Qianqing Palace under the guidance of Wei Tai.

……

……

As soon as Zhu Youtang left, only Zhu Jianshen, Li Zisheng, Zhang Luan and a few inconspicuous attendants were left in the hall, standing by waiting to be served and summoned.

Zhu Jianshen asked, "What do you think?"

Saying "you" directly probably meant to let Li Zisheng and Zhang Luan who were present, as well as Wei Tai who had just returned from sending the prince back, express their opinions.

Li Zisheng smiled and said, "Your Majesty, what the Crown Prince said is actually very appropriate. Since Sun Ren died of illness, his affairs should be put aside for the time being."

"Do you think the prince really doesn't know the role Sun Ren played in this matter? Or does he only have a partial understanding of the whole picture of the matter, and simply believes with a kind heart that death is the greatest thing?"

Zhu Jianshen raised questions one after another.

This question left Li Zisheng unable to answer.

Zhu Jianshen glanced at Zhang Luan.

Because his son clearly said that he had seen Zhang Luan yesterday.

He should have asked Zhang Luan directly what he said to him yesterday, but as an emperor, he had to rely on Zhang Luan to treat his illness, so asking this would show that he did not trust Zhang Luan.

"Mr. Zhang, how is my condition?"

Seeing no one responded, Zhu Jianshen asked again.

Zhang Luan replied: "Your Majesty's health is improving, but we cannot make a definitive conclusion yet."

"That's good."

Zhu Jianshen said with relief, "Even I feel that I have been feeling much better these past two days. Whether it's eating or other things, I have recovered very well. I am very relieved. Let's take Zhang Qing's family to the Imperial Hospital first to see the prescriptions they have issued."

"Yes."

Wei Tai, who had just sent the prince away, knew that he was no longer allowed to attend as an observer. It was very likely that the emperor intended to talk to Li Zisheng alone.

So when he took Zhang Luan away from the Qianqing Palace, he waved his hand to take the other attendants out of the palace as well.

……

……

When only Zhu Jianshen and Li Zisheng were left in the Qianqing Palace.

Zhu Jianshen asked, "Li Qing, tell me, how much does the Crown Prince know about this matter?"

"I have never met the Crown Prince, and I know nothing about this."

Li Zisheng didn't want to get too involved.

He was especially afraid that the emperor would think that he was actually the one targeting Wan'an and Liu Ji.

Zhu Jianshen asked, "What did Li Min, Zhang Luan and others say to the Crown Prince yesterday?"

Li Zisheng asked back: "Your Majesty, do you think that Sun Ren's death is actually... not simple?"

"Humph!"

Zhu Jianshen snorted coldly and asked, "Li Qing, why are you pretending to be confused in front of me? How did Sun Ren die? Don't you know?"

"Ugh!"

Li Zisheng sighed and said, "I can guess a little, but there are some things that I dare not think of in a bad way. Since the person is dead, it would be very inappropriate to continue investigating Sun Ren's problem. After all, it is only in the investigation stage and it is not a formal case. He died so... early, did he... take a lot of the blame on himself?"

"Don't talk about other things!"

Zhu Jianshen shouted, "Didn't you hear my question?"

"Return to Your Majesty."

Li Zisheng replied, "I talked to Zhang Laizhan when I entered the palace. According to him, he mentioned to the Crown Prince yesterday that we should guard against any disturbance in the Cabinet due to the Tongzhou Warehouse incident, and told him to start the investigation from Sun Ren, so..."

Zhu Jianshen's face suddenly changed, and he asked, "So, the prince knew from the beginning that Sun Ren was involved in the case, and knew that Sun Ren played a significant role in the case, and also knew that Wan An and Liu Ji were behind it?"

Li Zisheng understood as soon as he heard it.

The emperor didn't care whether Sun Ren lived or died.

It didn't matter how Sun Ren died, whether he committed suicide or was murdered, that was not something the emperor cared about.

"That's how it should be."

Li Zisheng said with certainty.

Zhu Jianshen thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "Then the prince's answer is quite telling."

Obviously Zhu Jianshen felt that the prince's answer was too smooth, as if he knew that the man was guilty but deliberately did not mention it, and even said that he wanted to appease his family, which was equivalent to saying that everything was under his control, but he pretended to be indifferent...

For Zhu Jianshen, as a father, the story behind this was not simple.

Because his son had always seemed to be a simple and simple person, just a good boy who lived by benevolence and righteousness, and was not qualified to be a successful emperor.

"Your Majesty, this case involves a serious matter, isn't it..."

Li Zisheng wanted to remind the emperor, should we help the prince?
Otherwise, your son...he's not very good!

Zhu Jianshen said, "Let him do his job based on his own abilities."

(End of this chapter)