Ming Dynasty: I risked my life to teach the prince, the emperor begged me not to die

Chapter 148 A letter
On February 19th, the weather was getting warmer and spring flowers were blooming.

Outside the city of Peking, willow trees swayed in the wind. Occasionally, a few people would gather in the pavilion on the official road to see someone off.

Chen Ce wore a light blue and green gown today and walked slowly to the East City Pavilion.

Rows of sedan chairs and horse-drawn carriages stood on the side, and tea was prepared in the pavilion.

Fu Yuan was still handsome and elegant, dressed in white.

Within three days from the end of Tang Yin's fraud case, Fu Han, the left doctor of the Ministry of Rites, had retired to his hometown on the grounds of illness and successfully escaped from officialdom.

Fu Yuan smiled and waited for Chen Ce. When he saw Chen Ce coming, he said with a smile, "I thought you wouldn't come."

"I know you can't drink, so I've prepared some tea. Please take a seat."

Fu Yuan is a complicated person. He is paranoid, intelligent, self-centered, ruthless, and a little neurotic. Chen Ce is not sure how to evaluate him.

After Chen Ce sat down, Fu Yuan smiled and said, "I have asked my father to withdraw from the court."

Chen Ce said: "Good thing."

Fu Yuan pointed to the box on the stone table in the pavilion and said, "This is for you."

Chen Ce looked at him suspiciously and asked, "What is this?"

Fu Yuan smiled and said, "Open it and take a look."

Chen Ce was confused and opened the small box. Inside was a stack of papers, or business contracts to be precise. They were all from the bookstore that Fu Yuan had acquired from Shuntian Prefecture.

In order to compete with Chen Ce, he spent thousands of taels of silver and used all kinds of means to get it.

Chen Ce asked in confusion: "So?"

Fu Yuan said: "These are all for you."

Chen Ce: “?”

"No merit, no reward, no thanks."

For a moment, Chen Ce couldn't tell whether he was sick or Fu Yuan was sick.

Isn't it all because of me that you have ended up like this and your Fu family left the capital in disgrace?
Are you going to give this valuable business contract to your enemy now?

Isn't this a disease?
Fu Yuan held his hand down and said, "Don't worry, I haven't finished speaking yet."

"All these shops are left to you, no matter how you integrate them, plus the assets of your Shuntian Newspaper... Two years, if you are not dead by then, I want to continue to compete with you to see who has a better business talent!"

"I want to see who earns more in two years."

Chen Ce: “???”

you……

He didn't know what to say for a moment. He gave me this big gift for no reason. Was his purpose to continue competing with me?
"You have to take it even if you don't want it."

"Haha, I have another big gift for you."

Chen Ce asked curiously: "What?"

Fu Yuan said mysteriously: "Cheng Minzheng!"

Ok?
Fu Yuan made a riddle and didn't say anything more. He stood up and took a sip of tea. He waved his hand and got on the carriage. He said to Chen Ce, "Don't forget our bet, two years."

"Also, if you are going to die, please write to me as soon as possible so that I can come to Shuntianfu for a feast."

On the official road, the Fu family's carriage was moving farther and farther away.

Chen Ce watched in silence as Fu Yuan and his family left. He then looked at the small box of business deeds piled in the pavilion, picked up the box, and turned to leave.

……

In the government residence of Cheng Minzheng, the right vice minister of the Ministry of Rites, Cheng Minzheng had a relatively good ending. He always believed that those who are innocent will be innocent. This time he was able to live in peace because he acted uprightly.

As soon as Cheng Minzheng returned to the mansion, his family members began to prepare fire basins, willow branches and other things to ward off evil spirits and disasters.

After a set of procedures, the Cheng Mansion's steward said to Cheng Minzheng: "Master, someone left a letter for you."

Cheng Minzheng hummed and said, "Who?" The manager shook his head, indicating that he didn't know.

Cheng Minzheng went to the study and opened the letter.

"Master Cheng must be feeling complacent now, and even naively thinks that you are innocent, so the court didn't deal with you?"

"If someone hadn't been helping you secretly, you wouldn't have really thought you could have gotten out of prison so easily, right?"

"You have become the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, so don't be naive. You might as well guess who is helping you. Without him, you can't get through this crisis. Find the person and thank him/her."

"But the prerequisite is that you can find the other person. I wish you good luck."

It was just such a nonsensical sentence. Cheng Minzheng flipped through it again and again and found that there were only these many words.

He sat down with a serious expression, frowning, and said to himself, "Is there anyone helping me?"

"Who?"

He always believed that he was incorruptible and had never participated in any cheating or leaking of test questions. The court was just making a fair judgment.

But now that I think about it, this is not fair!

If the court really wants to be fair, then I should be acquitted instead of being fined half a year's salary!
Cheng Minzheng was cautious. From the beginning to the end of the Tang Yin case, everything seemed to be a carefully designed scheme.

Now he has gradually begun to realize that the fraud case is not the key, the key is the political struggle!
But who is pushing all this behind the scenes, and who is breaking the deadlock behind the scenes?

Cheng Minzheng was itching to do something, but he couldn't show it, so he could only take it slow and investigate secretly.

This letter is not groundless. It says that someone is helping him behind the scenes. Who is it? Which high-ranking official in the court took action? Why did they do so?

Cheng Minzheng was an honest official and there was no faction in the officialdom, so it was destined that no senior officials would take such a big risk.

He needs to be careful and observe secretly about this matter!
……

Tang Yin came out from the Jinyiwei today, and the only person who came to greet him was Xu Jing.

My classmates and fellow townsmen, who used to be so friendly with me, are now trying to avoid me.

Tang Yin looked a little depressed, and he looked very vicissitudes of life, as if he had aged a lot.

He looked around blankly, looking at the empty streets outside Jinyiwei, and finally his eyes were red, and he couldn't help sobbing, "Father Heng!"

Xu Jing walked forward, gave Tang Yin a hug, and said, "Bo Hu, it's good that you're out, it's good that you're out!"

Zhu Zhishan and Wen Zhengming also took part in this imperial examination, but both of them failed. At this time, they came from a distance to greet Tang Yin.

"Bo Hu, are you okay?"

Tang Yin bowed deeply, cupped his hands and said, "Xizhe, Zhengming, thank you very much."

"I……"

Tang Yin hesitated to speak and finally did not say anything. He wanted to argue that he really did not participate in the cheating.

He knew that those who came to pick him up today understood what he said without him saying anything, so there was no need to explain.

Tang Yin continued to look around, but still couldn't see the familiar tall figure. He couldn't help but sighed in disappointment: "I was wrong."

"If I had listened to my teacher at that time, this wouldn't have happened."

"Father Heng, you are right, you are right!"

"I disappointed the teacher."

Xu Jing shook his head and asked Tang Yin, "Are you trying to say that Master Chen didn't come to see you because he was disappointed?"

"Have you ever thought about whether the Royal Guards would torture you if no one helped you?"

"Will the three judges punish you?"

"If I really want to torture you, can you bear it?"

Tang Yin was shocked, staring at Xu Jing blankly, and stammered, "What, what do you mean?"

(End of this chapter)