I became the tyrant's only belief.

Chapter 21: Please tell me

[How can I tell the tyrant that someone has embezzled food and money? ]

Inside the Wenhua Hall, Chu Liuzheng, who had just returned to work after recovering from his hand injury, was holding a mahogany tray, thinking hard.

As long as Qu Tao was brought down, Yan Kang would lose his backer. Then she would have someone anonymously report Yan Kang for gambling and not paying back his loans. According to the military regulations of the Yulin Guard, it would be impossible to get him back.

Although this would not take Yan Kang's life, as long as he stayed away from the palace he would not be a threat to himself.

Embezzlement of food and wages?

Behind the desk, Xiao Jingfan paused with his pen, and murderous intent flashed in his cold eyes.

He raised his eyes to look at the woman who was leaning against the wall and fishing. "Who embezzled my food and money? Tell me now!"

[Oh shit! I was caught slacking off by the tyrant! ]

Chu Liuzheng immediately stood up straight and lowered his head as if nothing had happened. He was so nervous that even his voice disappeared.

Xiao Jingfan: "..."

I'm not going to hit you, just tell me now!

He took a deep breath and tapped the table with his fingers: "Add water."

[It turns out that I just finished my tea. I was so scared! ]

Chu Liuzheng exhaled lightly, picked up the small copper kettle and walked over quickly to add water to the teacup.

Xiao Jingfan picked up the teacup, drank it while glancing at her out of the corner of his eye, wishing he could grab her shoulders and shake her.

I don't care about you being absent from duty, but you should tell me who embezzled my food and wages!

I will chop that daring fellow into pieces! !
Chu Liuzheng was also secretly glancing at Xiao Jingfan. Now that the danger of being discovered while slacking off was over, she began to ponder the question again.

[Qu Tao was a deputy minister of the Ministry of War, and I was just a little maid. If I told the tyrant that Qu Tao had embezzled grain, he would definitely not believe me. And I couldn't explain how I knew it. If I said it was a dream, the tyrant would definitely not believe it with his intelligence. He might even think I was talking nonsense and order someone to drag me out and beat me to death.]

It was him!

very good!
Xiao Jingfan gritted his teeth, wishing he could chop that old bastard to pieces with a knife right now!
[Cao Jian, the Right Deputy Censor, was Qu Tao's accomplice. It was he who helped Qu Tao conceal the secrets of the Censorate and the Imperial Guards. Otherwise, Qu Tao would have been discovered long ago for embezzling more than 70,000 taels.]

[Tsk tsk, who would have thought that the court's recognized upright minister, one of the most stubborn men, is actually a corrupt official? Even if I tell the tyrant, he won't believe it. ]

With a "crack", the tea bowl in Xiao Jingfan's hand broke.

Chu Liuzheng was shocked.

[What the hell! I checked it carefully before making tea, and there is no crack. How did this tea bowl break? ]

"I failed in my duty, please forgive me, Your Majesty."

Although she couldn't figure it out, the sudden breaking of the tea bowl must be the fault of her, the palace maid who served tea.

[Oh, oh, tyrant, please don't beat me to death! ]

At the moment, Xiao Jingfan's mind was full of the two treacherous officials who embezzled food and money, and he had no time to pay attention to her. He waved his hand and asked her to make another cup of tea.

[Hey, the tyrant is so easy to talk to today? ]

Chu Liuzheng felt that he was extremely lucky and was afraid that the tyrant would go back on his word, so he quickly ran away and went back to the tea room to make tea.

As soon as she walked out of the door of Wenhua Palace, Xiao Jingfan ordered someone to summon Xie Hui, the commander of the Jinyiwei, to meet her.

Zhou Yuande drove out all the palace servants, closed the palace door, and personally guarded the palace gate to prevent anyone from eavesdropping on the conversation between the emperor and his ministers.

Xie Hui had something to report to the emperor, but he was scolded before he even opened his mouth. Commander Xie was completely bewildered.

What did he hear?
Cao Jian is corrupt!

Cao Jian actually embezzled money! !

Are you kidding him?!
"Investigate it thoroughly for me!" After scolding his ministers, Xiao Jingfan's anger disappeared and he leaned back on the dragon chair. "I want to see the results before tomorrow night."

"I obey your order." Xie Hui knelt down to receive the order.

"Go and do your work." Xiao Jingfan waved his hand at him, but Xie Hui said, "Your Majesty, I have something important to report."

Xiao Jingfan's eyes flashed, he sat up and said, "Speak."

"Your Majesty, the Imperial Guards have received news that the remnants of the Fifth Prince's party are still active in the capital. Now the Imperial Guards have grasped their whereabouts. Your Majesty, please tell us what to do next?"

"They are just a bunch of clowns who are barely surviving." Xiao Jingfan's lips curled slightly, and a cold light flashed in his eyes. "Take them all to the imperial prison and torture them severely. You must find out the whereabouts of the fifth prince's wife and his son."

"only."

*
"Miss, are you busy?" Xiao Anzi walked into the tea room with a smile, followed by a girl in green palace dress.

The girl has fair skin, big round eyes, a perky nose, red lips and a pointed chin. She is a little beauty.

Chu Liuzheng put down the enamel teacup he had examined, a smile appeared on his face, his eyes fell on the girl, and he asked, "Who is this?"

"Her name is Caiyue. Master personally went to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to pick her the other day. She has good manners and etiquette. She will serve tea in front of the emperor with you in the future. Please teach her a thing or two."

Caiyue stepped forward and bowed to Chu Liuzheng, "Caiyue greets elder sister. I may not be good at speaking, but my hands and feet are quite clever. Please just give me your orders, elder sister."

"Miss, you are too polite. There is no such thing as an order or no order. We are all servants in front of the emperor. You just need to follow my instructions from now on."

Chu Liuzheng took her hand and returned the greeting, saying with a smile: "Serving tea doesn't require eloquence, just being nimble is great."

Caiyue nodded and responded softly.

If it were anyone else, after hearing Chu Liuzheng say this, they would probably climb up the pole and ask Chu Liuzheng to teach them something. However, Caiyue did not continue the conversation, but just stood beside Chu Liuzheng with her head slightly lowered.

It's just as she said, she's not good at speaking.

Seeing that the two of them were getting along well, and Caiyue's behavior didn't seem like she was going to cause trouble, Xiao Anzi felt relieved and said to them with a smile, "I still have to go and report to Master. You two girls, please be busy. I'll be leaving first."

"Father-in-law, walk slowly."

After Xiao Anzi left, Chu Liuzheng briefly explained to Caiyue the rules of serving tea in front of the emperor.

Caiyue listened carefully and wrote down everything. Seeing that Chu Liuzheng was very patient, she boldly asked about the parts she didn't understand. He seemed to be a capable person.

"Just now a teacup was broken. Fortunately, His Majesty was tolerant and did not hold it against me. In order to prevent such a thing from happening again, we have to check all the teacups today."

Chu Liuzheng led Caiyue to the cupboard where the teacups were placed, took off the key from his waist and opened the cupboard, then took out the white jade green lotus cup on top and said as he demonstrated:

"Mainly check whether there are stains and cracks on the teacups, and whether the patterns are intact. If there are any damages, they must be placed in the basket over there and cannot be used by Your Majesty."

Caiyue nodded obediently, reached out and took down a set of pastel porcelain cups, lowered her head and did it again according to Chu Liuzheng's demonstration, and asked, "Sister, can you see if I did it right?"

"It's like this." Chu Liuzheng used his fingers to swipe the cabinets on the wall. "Each of us is responsible for a cabinet. We have to check each one carefully. Don't rush. If there are any that we can't finish checking, I will tell Sister Moxiang when we hand over the shift and let them continue checking."

"Okay." Caiyue agreed, put the one she had just checked back in her hand, and took down another teacup.

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(End of this chapter)