Contentment with modest wealth

Chapter 15 The child is older
The people who went to the Lu family returned half an hour later.

"Reporting to Your Excellency, Minister Lu said that Guo Yi, a censor of the Six Ministries, served in the Ministry of Grain Transport for several years and is very familiar with grain transport affairs. Your Excellency recommends Minister Guo Yi as a replacement imperial envoy."

A group of high-ranking officials, who were sitting idly drinking tea, were surprised that Lu Jie had actually given them a candidate. They looked at each other and exchanged opinions with their eyes.

Pang Zhi said, "This Lord Guo Yi's name sounds somewhat familiar."

One of the people in the room replied, "Lord Guo's grandfather was Guo Shi, a scholar of the Hanlin Academy."

"So it was him?" Pang Zhi nodded. "Scholar Guo was once the Emperor's tutor, and this Lord Guo is also from a distinguished family. Grand Secretary Yan cherishes the younger generation most, and this man was recommended by Minister Lu, so he is certainly capable of taking on the role. Gentlemen, what are your opinions?"

"I second that!"

After Pang Zhi finished speaking, the officials from the Ministry of Personnel below stood up and expressed their opinions.

With him taking the lead, the others followed suit. After all, things had come to this point; if anyone still had objections, wouldn't that be going against Pang Zhi? There were so many important affairs in the court every day; selecting a few imperial envoys would suffice.

Once the matters discussed at the meeting were resolved, they stood up, greeted each other, and then naturally dispersed.

Pang Zhi escorted Shen Bo to the door, exchanged a few pleasantries, and arranged to visit him another day. After glancing at Shen Qingzhou, Shen Bo, who was not one to easily make appointments with others, accepted Pang Zhi's offer.

After watching the family of three get into the carriage, the official who had previously seconded the proposal came forward and asked, "Why did the Grand Secretary repeatedly ask Young Master Shen to recommend candidates?"

Pang Zhi chuckled and turned around: "These people were all carefully selected by the young Grand Secretary, yet one of them got injured at this critical juncture. It's hard not to have something to think about."

The official asked suspiciously, "Do you suspect that Young Master Shen is up to no good?"

"When the Grand Commandant was still serving in the court, Grand Secretary Yan had invited him to join the cabinet many times, but he refused each time."

"But because he was a brilliant strategist and trusted by the emperor, he led troops in the field for so many years, and no one was able to persuade the emperor to replace him. This shows that the Shen family is not easy to shake."

"Now he has a wealth of merits, and since his triumphant return, he has never been close to anyone. This Shen family is hard to fathom!"

"The young Grand Secretary has a profound purpose in this rectification of the waterways across the land. While the Grand Canal requires serious attention, the areas within the Hubei and Hunan provinces, with their vast waterways and strong transport capacity, are the most closely watched in this effort."

"It's quite a coincidence that the imperial envoy in charge of the two lakes region had an accident. If the Shen family fills the vacancy, things will become complicated."

The official suddenly realized. Then he said with relief, "So the Grand Secretary was testing Young Master Shen earlier, but not only did Young Master Shen not try to put someone on the table, he also suggested that Minister Lu recommend candidates. It seems that he didn't mean that."

“Yes,” Pang Zhi breathed a sigh of relief, “He was recommended by Minister Lu, so he’s practically one of our own.”

……

After the three members of the Shen family left the yamen, He Qu caught up with Shen Qingzhou's carriage.

His expression was solemn: "Young master, I have found out that if all goes well, it will take about twenty to twenty-five days to reach Tanzhou Prefecture by water during this season."

Shen Qingzhou gave a light "hmm".

“But young master, do you know what I discovered while I was investigating?” He Qu leaned closer. “I just discovered that Second Master Guo went to the Lu family.”

"Is it."

Shen Qingzhou remained calm and composed.

He Qu said in surprise, "Young master, aren't you surprised? Just last month, Master Guo's wife had a dispute with Miss Lu."

"so what?"

"Everyone knows that Lord Lu only has one precious daughter, whom he and his wife cherish like a precious gem. But last time, the second young mistress of the Guo family didn't give her any face at all, and accused her in the street of disregarding the lives of the common people. That's how they started to hold a grudge. How could they possibly come to our door again?"

Shen Qingzhou glanced at him but didn't say anything.

Instead, he said, "Change course and go to the city gate."

……

Shen Bo's sedan chair was in front of Shen Qingzhou's carriage.

Shen Zhui, riding his horse, turned around and saw the carriage had changed course. He quickly stepped forward and grabbed the sedan chair, saying, "Father, Father, my elder brother has changed course!"

Upon hearing this, Shen Bo, who was inside the sedan chair, immediately lifted the curtain and looked back. Only when he saw the carriage enter another alley did he turn back around.

After a moment of silence, he lifted the curtain again.

"Ah Xiao, what did Yu'er go to do?"

Qin Xiao turned around and looked at him: "Grand Commandant, the young master is nineteen years old, he is an adult now."

A nineteen-year-old adult no longer needs their parents to watch over them every step of the way.

Shen Bo remained silent and slowly lowered the carriage curtain.

……

There was an inconspicuous teahouse under the city gate.

The carriage wound its way through a side alley to the back door of the teahouse. After getting out of the carriage, Shen Qingzhou coughed twice in the cold wind, then stepped onto the veranda and entered the innermost room.

He Qu found it very strange.

In the past, no matter where the young master went or what he did, he would always inform me.

However, before coming here today, he had not heard Shen Qingzhou mention this trip at all.

However, he was a highly disciplined guard. No matter how unexpected the event, it wouldn't affect his duty.

"Is this the place?" When He Qu saw Shen Qingzhou stop in front of the room, he immediately lifted the curtain.

But after their footsteps stopped, someone inside the house lifted the curtain and came out faster than him.

"Tang Yu?!"

Upon seeing the person in front of him clearly, He Qu was truly astonished. This person was also one of Shen Qingzhou's guards, one of their brothers who had grown up alongside Shen Qingzhou.

Tang Yu grinned at him, then immediately bowed to Shen Qingzhou, saying, "Young Master, Second Master Guo is already waiting inside."

He Qu was so shocked that he couldn't speak.

After Shen Qingzhou entered, he immediately dragged Tang Yu aside: "What's going on? How did you get here? Did the young master send you? And why is Second Master Guo here?"

Tang Yu smiled and said, "Wait for me to explain slowly."

Shen Qingzhou entered the room, and Guo Yi, who was drinking tea, put down his teacup and hurriedly came to greet him.

"My goodness! In this freezing weather, you finally recovered, why did you have to come out like this?"

Shen Qingzhou sat down, looking at his slightly plump face and bright eyes, a hint of warmth appearing in her own eyes: "Of course I came to see you."

Guo Yi was taken aback: "What are you saying? We were having tea together before you fell into the water. I was just afraid of disturbing you these days, so I went to your house several times but didn't go in to see you. Why are you talking as if we haven't seen each other for half a lifetime?"

Shen Qingzhou looked away and said calmly, "Have you met Lu Jie?"

"Am I not supposed to listen to you? Look at you, my wife is still at home with our newborn baby, and my second son is only three months old. You want me to go so far away from home to be an imperial envoy. It's only because of you that I can be ordered around. Otherwise, no one else would be able to do it."

“I wouldn’t feel comfortable letting anyone else go,” Shen Qingzhou said slowly. “This month I’ve reviewed all the files on the Tanzhou water transport that I could find. There must be something fishy going on with the Yan family’s sudden move against the river transport. We need to investigate this.”

When it came to serious matters, Guo Yi's expression also became serious. "The key point is that he took advantage of your falling into the water to make trouble. This matter needs to be investigated. It's only because the person behind it is clean that we can find some incriminating evidence."

How skilled was Shen Qingzhou in martial arts? Only those close to him knew the truth. From childhood to adulthood, he had always presented himself as sickly and weak, so few people bothered to investigate his martial arts abilities.

But no matter what, he was from a military family, and the only son of the Grand Commandant of the current dynasty, uh, the eldest son. He would definitely learn a few survival skills.

So it's absurd that a heavy rain could wash him into the river.

Whom did Shen Bo's triumphant return and the Shen family's meteoric rise in status threaten? The answer is obvious.

"The cabinet has already made the decision. Once you've decided on a departure date, let me know in advance. We'll meet in the next city."

As Shen Qingzhou took a sip of tea, he uttered these words.

These words stunned Guo Yi. "What did you say? You're going too?!"

"Am I not allowed to go?" Shen Qingzhou glanced at him. "I've already arranged the travel permit, using an alias. You'd better not let a word of it out, not even to your wife."

"No—why is that?"

Guo Yi stood up nervously. "Weren't you just recovered? If I remember correctly, today was your first time going out, right? With your physique, can you handle a journey of several thousand miles? If the Grand Commandant finds out, won't he kill me?"

“That’s why I told you to keep quiet,” Shen Qingzhou said. “I was thinking of you.”

Guo Yi: ...

……

After hearing Tang Yu recount the whole story, He Qu was so astonished that he couldn't close his mouth.

"You mean the young master sent you out to contact Master Guo several days ago? He already knew that the cabinet would invite him to the yamen for a meeting today?"
"So he also knew about the seven people on the list all along?... Wait! What about Zhang He who was injured—"

"Of course, it was Young Master who gave us this task." Tang Yu looked at him intently. "It seems you haven't been paying much attention lately. You didn't even know about such an important mission."

He Qu's jaw almost dropped to the ground!
So it turns out their young master knew all these things, no, he foresaw them all?

But how did he anticipate that?

These things only happened today, and the invitation was also made at the last minute!

No wonder he's been acting so strangely all day, looking like he knows everything. It turns out he's a prophet!

"Get in the car."

Just as he was stunned, the curtain was lifted, and Shen Qingzhou came out again. Guo Yi was behind him, holding the curtain up for him, but he didn't come out himself, clearly wanting to avoid going out at the same time as him.

He Qu was speechless with shock. He quickly suppressed his thoughts, pulled the carriage over, and together with Tang Yu, helped Shen Qingzhou get into the carriage.

The carriage quickly blended into the crowd on the street.

He Qu held back for a long time, but finally couldn't help but ask, "Young master, why is that?"

Over the years, master and servant had developed a tacit understanding; they understood each other without needing to say much.

Shen Qingzhou gazed at the distant city gate through the half-open carriage curtain.

Snowflakes were still falling from the sky, and although it was far less intense than the previous heavy snowfall, it still brought an unusual chill.

"He Qu".

He Qu, who had been in a daze, came to his senses and said, "Your subordinate is here."

Shen Qingzhou's gaze was deep and unfathomable: "I had a very, very long dream."

(End of this chapter)