The court lackeys of the eight-hour workday

Chapter 337 Brocade Clothes
A moment later, Mei Qinghe returned carrying a young man who was bound hand and foot and dressed in a flying fish robe.

The young man continued to struggle, saying...

"Commander Mei, Commander Mei, what are you doing! I still have duties to attend to. You tie me up in front of my subordinates. How can I ever hold my head up again!"

"Who told you to do this? Is it Brother Miao or my dad? Put me down, put me down! Do you hear me?!"

Are you deaf?!

Mei Qinghe remained silent, simply continuing forward.

Upon reaching Zhu Zai's cell, Mei Qinghe disregarded the relationship between Zhu Zai and the young man, threw the man to the ground, and bowed.

"Commander, the person has been brought."

The young man also cried out with a wronged expression.

"Father! What are you doing!"

Unexpectedly, as soon as he opened his mouth, Zhu Zai flung the paperweight off the table, hitting him squarely on the head. He cried out in pain, and blood immediately gushed from his forehead.

"You still have the nerve to ask!"

Zhu Zai roared.

"If Li Miao hadn't happened to go to Guangxin Prefecture and run into that Luo Mincheng, wouldn't you have gotten yourself into even bigger trouble later!"

"You dare sell Ming Cult's stuff! Why don't you go dig up our Zhu family's ancestral graves and sell them!"

"What the hell is there that you wouldn't dare sell!"

Upon hearing Zhu Zai's words, the young man's face turned pale instantly, and he lowered his head, remaining silent.

Zhu Zai kicked over a chair and paced back and forth, pointing at his nose and continuing to berate him.

"If you're short of money, just ask your mother! If you want a promotion, I have plenty of lucrative positions for you to choose from! If anyone bullies you, Li Miao will definitely stand up for you!"

"With your second-rate martial arts skills, third-rate methods, and mediocre brain, if I hadn't forcefully promoted you, you wouldn't be worthy of being a commander!"

"Investigating the Ming Cult's stronghold—Li Miao didn't even have his own people do this kind of task, he gave it to you! How did you do it?! Huh!?"

"Even if you pocketed the money, I wouldn't care! But you, you!"

Zhu Zai was so angry that he couldn't even speak for a moment.

The young man, his own son Zhu Yijing, spoke cautiously.

“No, Dad, let me explain—I’m not doing this for the money.”

"Yes, I see you don't get along with those civil officials, so I was thinking, why don't we put a few people on their side too... I don't want any money."

"I did take money from the Ming Cult to buy an official position from Luo Mincheng, but that was to plant an inside agent on their side, which might be useful in the future... I planned to tell you after it was all done..."

Upon hearing Zhu Yijing's words, Zhu Zai's vision went black, and even Mei Qinghe, who was standing to the side, glanced at him strangely.

Heaven have mercy, Zhu Zai was intelligent all his life. Before the incident at the imperial tomb, he was an imposing commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. After the incident, he held absolute power in the court. But little did he know that he was destined to be cursed by his "son".

"Idiot! Idiot!"

Zhu Zai roared.

"Using the rebels' tools to make deals with the enemy, using the vacancies the enemy has created for you to plant spies... you might as well just hand over your head and have it chopped off!"

"Mei Qinghe!"

Mei Qinghe cupped his hands in greeting: "Your subordinate is here."

"He betrayed his own people, colluded with foreign enemies, and failed to perform his duties effectively. According to the rules of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, what should he be punished for!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Mei Qinghe choked Zhu Zai half to death with her words.

“His head was displayed publicly, and his relatives were exterminated.”

Zhu Zai slapped himself on the forehead.

Oh, I forgot, the person standing below the hall isn't Li Miao, it's this simpleton.

Even though Zhu Zai was furious, this was still his own son. Besides, if he were to be punished according to the rules of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, he and his wife, along with their relatives, would also be "eliminated."

Faced with a fool and a simpleton, Zhu Zaiyou couldn't even get angry; he had to find a way to save face for himself.

"That's it, that's all."

Zhu Zai waved his hand.

"Mei Qinghe, take him away, give him fifty lashes, and send him home to recover."

Does anyone else know about this?

Mei Qinghe shook her head.

"The garrison commander sent the message directly, and You Zi'ang personally brought it back. No one but you has seen it."

Zhu Zai waved his hand.

"Then so be it. Take this little beast out. Give the letter to An Ziyang and have him clean up the mess. Kill those who should be killed, and don't leave any hidden dangers."

Mei Qinghe nodded and led Zhu Yijing, who kept shouting "I'm innocent," out of the house.

Zhu Zai let out a long sigh. After the two had walked away, he waved his hand to close the door in the air, then got up and walked to the front of the hall, where he squatted down. He reached out and picked up the blood that Zhu Yijing had spilled on the ground, clenched it into a fist and pressed it to his chest. After a long while, he let out another long sigh.

--------

"Commander Zhu, we've arrived."

Mei Qinghe lifted the sedan curtain and spoke to Zhu Yijing, whose face was pale.

"The commander said that to avoid worrying the old lady, he would tell her about the official mission. You should stay here and recuperate. Your usual servants have all been transferred here, and there are also guards here to watch over you."

"You should rest and recover. Once you've thought things through in half a month, send a message and the commander will meet with you."

Having said that, ignoring Zhu Yijing's hostile gaze, he arranged for someone to help Zhu Yijing into the room, explained the matter clearly, and then turned and left.

Now, Zhu Yijing was helped to bed by his page. Seeing that there was no one else around, he could no longer hold back and his face showed resentment and dissatisfaction.

"Jinyi, do you think I was born into the wrong family? Did I owe my father a debt in my past life, and am I being his son in this life to repay it?"

“He would scold me if I didn’t do anything, and he would still scold me if I did. If I reported to him before I did anything, he would call me an idiot. If I thought I would tell him after I finished doing something, I would get another fifty lashes!”

"Everyone says that good things shouldn't go to outsiders. He now holds absolute power in the court, yet he lets an outsider sit in the position of Garrison Commander. If an outsider says anything bad about me, he'll threaten to kill me... What's the point of this father-son relationship!"

The pageboy dipped his hand in the ointment, then used his delicate, slender fingers, like white scallions, to apply the ointment little by little to his back.

"Young master, how can there be a grudge between father and son that lasts overnight?"

"Let outsiders handle the business, and you can enjoy your retirement at home. In any case, the master's business will be handed over to you in the future, so why are you in such a hurry?"

Zhu Yijing was momentarily enraged.

"I thought the same thing before. Do you think I would want to compete with Brother Miao? Who is he? He started killing at the age of nine, led a team to wipe out an entire family at the age of fourteen, and grew up drinking human blood and eating human flesh!"

“In the past, I would give him the job and I would get the money. I could also get a leisurely job by relying on his influence. There was nothing to fight for, since official positions are not hereditary anyway.”

"But now, it's obvious that my father has a chance... to succeed to the throne!"

He lowered his voice.

"If I do nothing and care about nothing, and just drift through each day, will Brother Miao be able to accept me when the old man retires? And how can I command respect from the others?"

"Even making a mistake is better than doing nothing!"

As they spoke, the page finished applying the medicine and sighed.

"I only wish that young master is alright... Seeing all this blood breaks my heart..."

After saying this, she burst into tears.

Zhu Yijing felt sorry for her and, disregarding the injury on his back, pulled her into his arms and wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes.

"Alas, Jin Yi, only you understand me."

"If only you had a clean background, I would have married you properly and you wouldn't have to pretend to be a page every day."

The pageboy leaned against him and said softly.

"Meeting you, young master, is enough for me... How could I possibly ask for more?"

The two leaned against each other for a while, and Zhu Yijing seemed to remember something, and said softly.

“Jinyi, I’ve investigated your family… They left Shuntian several years ago and haven’t been heard from since. The only thing I found out is your original surname, Liu.”

"Your name is Liu Jinyi."

The pageboy nodded, but did not reply.

Zhu Yijing didn't see that in his arms, Liu Jinyi's expression had completely vanished, leaving only a face devoid of any emotion.

After a while, Zhu Yijing embraced Liu Jinyi and fell into a deep sleep.

Liu Jinyi pushed him away, walked naked to the window, raised her hand and beckoned, and a carrier pigeon flew over.

She took down the letter tube, pulled out the note, read it, swallowed it, and turned back to look coldly at Zhu Yijing, who was fast asleep on the bed.

"Liu Jinyi".

"Liu Jin, Yi."

Stripped of his clothes and skin, Liu Jinyi is nothing but Liu Jin.

Or rather, Liu Jin.

Liu Jin remained expressionless, thinking to himself.

"Yingzhou, a thousand-year-old overseas heritage."

"Perhaps there are even stronger experts than that scoundrel Li Miao... They could be a valuable asset, and we should make contact with them."

"If we can use this to get rid of that scoundrel Li Miao, we might be able to set things right, wipe out these traitors in one fell swoop, and rescue His Majesty."

He stared at Zhu Yijing, a hint of murderous intent flashing in his eyes.

"Succession?"

"Even if it destroys the Zhu family's empire, I will not give you traitors the slightest chance!"

(End of this chapter)