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Chapter 594 Embezzlement
Zhu Yu looked at Lu Qing with some doubt, not quite understanding how he had so early on concluded that Duke Yan, Zhao Bi, would one day part ways with his beloved disciple, Luo Yushu, and completely break ties.

Lu Qing noticed her confusion and asked, "Does Madam remember how Bai Qihong angered his father-in-law so much not long ago?"

“I remember, he personally turned down the lucrative post that the Duke of Yan had worked so hard to secure for him in front of the Emperor.” Zhu Yu nodded, and after speaking, he suddenly seemed to understand something. “I remember that when Lu Zhang got married, you pretended to be sick at home and didn’t attend his wedding banquet.”

Later, Fu Wen returned and said that he had taken all the other members of the Duke of Yan's family to support Lu Zhang, but Bai Qi Hong was sent to Huazhou by the Emperor because of the Ministry of Works' canal repair work.

At the time, I thought that Bai Qihong was Zhao Bi's son-in-law, so how could he be willing to do such a thankless job as the Vice Minister of Works? I thought it must just be a formality to get by.

However, after meeting him in person, I had to admit that my thinking was too narrow. Vice Minister Bai and Zhao Bi were definitely not birds of a feather. He was genuinely willing to do things that would benefit the country and the people in the Ministry of Works and did not mind hardship.

Logically speaking, since Vice Minister Bai had been Zhao Bi's son-in-law for so many years, Zhao Bi should have been well aware of his son-in-law's personality.

Later, Bai Shilang was able to turn down the lucrative post before the emperor, which may also indicate that his wife, Zhao Bi's second daughter, was not a scheming person. Even if she was not completely devoted to Bai Shilang, she was at least of the same mind and willing to respect her husband's ambitions.

In this way, the matter of helping Vice Minister Bai to obtain a lucrative position earlier was somewhat of Zhao Bi's wishful thinking and self-serving talk!

So, does that mean I can understand Zhao Bi as someone who favors his relatives and friends?

And his nepotism truly included blood relatives, at the very least involving genuine obsequiousness. Once someone was a close relative, he would not only spare no effort in using his connections and influence to help them, but he would even disregard their own wishes and forcefully arrange what he considered a better future for them.

“What you say is absolutely right, Madam. Zhao Bi is indeed that kind of person.” Lu Qing smiled and nodded slowly.

Upon seeing this, Zhu Yu completely understood: "No wonder! Although the Minister of Personnel is a high-ranking official of the third rank, he holds great power in the court and is someone who must be respected."

However, Luo Yushu has been currying favor with the Duke of Yan for so many years, and he certainly doesn't want to stop at the third rank and just become the Minister of Personnel.

He may have originally hoped that after Zhao Bi succeeded, he could also rise to prominence and reach the top in one step.

However, judging from Zhao Bi's efforts to support Bai Qihong, there may be some specific matters that we outsiders cannot fully understand. This forced Luo Yushu to finally accept a reality: regardless of whether Zhao Bi succeeds in the future, the only people he can wholeheartedly support and promote without any reservations or defenses are Zhao's blood relatives and in-laws.

As for the other so-called disciples who fawned over Zhao Bi and relied on him for many years, they were still just playing the role of getting a little soup while others did nothing.

It seems that Luo Yushu, seeing his wish thwarted, didn't even bother pretending anymore and directly turned the tables. That old scoundrel Zhao Bi schemed against others his whole life, only to have a large chunk of his flesh bitten off by the dog he raised!

“It’s not necessarily only this time that he realized his wish had not been fulfilled.” Lu Qing had a slightly different view on this point. “Luo Yushu was able to follow Zhao Bi for so many years, with his support, and climb all the way to the position of a third-rank official, firmly occupying such an enviable position in the Ministry of Personnel. He must have made a lot of sacrifices in the process.”

However, his betrayal of Zhao Bi was probably not a recent event. Perhaps he had long realized that Zhao Bi always kept a distance from him and could not help him achieve his wishes. If he continued to follow Zhao Bi, even at the last moment, he would probably still be a pawn.

Therefore, he must have already switched allegiance to someone else, and his relationship with Zhao Bi was merely a pretense, waiting for the most opportune moment to deliver a fatal blow to Zhao Bi.

His personal exposure would maximize credibility and establish him as a righteous person willing to sacrifice family ties, effectively severing ties with Zhao Bi and ensuring he wouldn't be implicated when Zhao Bi fell from power.

Zhu Yu nodded in deep agreement.

Although this was the first time she had witnessed a power struggle in the imperial court, she was well aware of the principle that "the most ruthless tactic is to turn against someone who has abandoned their fanbase."

In the past, the more ruthless and cruel the methods used in the unsolved cases she handled, the more likely there was a connection between the murderer and the victim.

The greater Luo Yushu's hopes for Zhao Bi's support over the years, the greater her disappointment at finally realizing she could never become a core member in Zhao Bi's mind. The more she had given before, the deeper her resentment became when she was disappointed.

However, it was precisely because Zhao Bi had relied on his role in supporting the emperor's ascension to the throne, coupled with the fact that his daughter had once been a Noble Consort and had given birth to the highly regarded Prince Lu Zhang, that he was considered second only to the emperor in Da Jin, able to get whatever he wanted.

In addition, Luo Yushu's servility and deference over the years have made Zhao Bi completely arrogant, to the point of being almost blind. He believes that the people around him are already loyal to him and have him completely under his control, and that they will never have any disloyal thoughts.

As a result, he was stabbed in the chest by this prized student whom he had always valued highly.

"What is His Majesty's attitude?" Lu Qing turned his gaze back to the runes and asked.

"I heard that at first they didn't believe it, saying that with so many years of affection and trust between the ruler and his minister, the Duke of Yan would never do such a thing. But then several ministers came forward to testify that they did see the things that Luo Yushu had exposed at the Duke of Yan's mansion on the day of the Duke of Yan's wife's birthday celebration."

Those people said they thought that since those things were so openly displayed, they must have come from the Emperor's bestowal. They were impressed by the Emperor's favor towards the Duke of Yan. But when Luo Yushu came forward to expose them, they realized that those things were not imperial gifts, but rather the result of the Duke of Yan's private embezzlement and distribution.

"So for a long time, the tribute items from the various vassal states, after arriving in Jin State, would be sent to the Duke of Yan's residence for Zhao Bi to inspect first. He would keep the ones he liked, and only the rest would be sent to the palace..."