Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 636 Emergency Meeting

"Master, the doorman from Li Gui's family came and said that his young master has suddenly fallen seriously ill and is vomiting incessantly." The doorman whispered in Park Seung-jong's ear.

"Ah," Park Seung-jong said, his drunkenness and joy fading slightly. "Why did you get sick?"

"The doorman didn't explain in detail," the doorman said.

"I understand, you can go back now." Park Seung-jong waved the gatekeeper away and turned to look at Lee Gyu. "Yu-ru."

Although Lee Gyu was deep in thought, his mind was never completely off Park Seung-jong. So when Park Seung-jong called out, he immediately turned around with a smile: "What are your orders, Prime Minister?"

"Come here and talk to me." Park Seung-jong beckoned to Lee Gwi, then waved to the others to ignore him.

"Yes!" Li Gui immediately put on a fawning smile, bowed, and walked to Park Seung-jong's side. As he walked, he also bowed and apologized to the "colleagues" around him who he had disturbed.

"What are your orders, Prime Minister?" Lee Gui squatted down beside Park Seung-jong's legs, his posture extremely humble, almost kneeling down.

"Your doorman says your grandson has suddenly fallen ill and is vomiting incessantly. You—" Park Seung-jong drawled, glancing sideways at Lee Si-baek. "...Why don't you go home and check on him?"

"What did you say?" Li Gui was stunned. Although he had many children and grandchildren, he only had two grandsons, one big and one small, by his side. When Li Gui left, the two children were both very healthy and showed no signs of illness.

Park Seung-jong assumed that Lee Gyu hadn't heard him clearly, so he raised his voice slightly and repeated, "Your doorman came and said that your grandson has suddenly fallen seriously ill. You and your son might as well go home and see him."

Li Gui, a seasoned shrewd man who had weathered many storms, was well aware of the principle that "unusual events must be ominous." He quickly realized what was happening and adopted an anxious and worried expression: "Oh dear! How could such a thing happen?" Li Gui paused, then switched to a pleading look. "If I were to abruptly leave, would I spoil the Prime Minister's enjoyment?"

"It's only natural and human nature; how could I not even have this much tolerance?" Li Gui waved his hand and said, "If something really happened, that would be truly disappointing."

"Then I'll take my leave without further ado!" Li Gui bowed to Park Seung-jong with a grateful expression.

"Take good care of things at home." Park Seung-jong gently patted Lee Gyu's shoulder, like an elder who cares for his servant. "Come back anytime once things are settled."

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Two quarters of an hour later, the Li father and son arrived in a donkey cart and turned into the alley where the Li residence was located. Along the way, they discussed how to persuade Zhang Wei to return and how to win over Li Xingli. The gatekeeper who had brought the message walked alongside their cart.

"Come on, watch your step." Li Shibai reached out to help his father out of the car. The moment he looked up and saw the plaque on the door, a sudden idea struck him. "Dad, how about we move?"

"Move? Where to?" Li Gui asked.

“Let’s move in and become neighbors with Li Xingli,” Li Shibai said.

"Hmm," Li Gui hesitated for a moment. "This is a bit too deliberate. It's easy to arouse suspicion."

“Then burn this house down and tell everyone it’s a fire,” Li Shibai said. “It’s just a villa, not worth much.”

"Bullshit. Isn't this just making things worse?" Li Gui rolled his eyes at Li Shibai. "Moving around is such a big commotion, it's hard not to attract attention. But the idea of ​​being neighbors is not bad. How about this, you arrange for someone to buy a small courtyard near Li Xingli's house. Once you invite Zhang Wei back to Hanyang, you can arrange for him to live there."

"That was a brilliant move of yours," Li Shibai said, following his father to the eaves of the porch.

"Hmph. You're still too green." Li Gui shook his head smugly.

The courtyard gate opened from the inside, revealing Li Wu's figure. "I pay my respects to Master Mozhai! And greet Brother Dunshi!"

"Gao Shi, what are you doing in the gatehouse?" Li Gui nodded in return, his brows furrowing. "Have the maids been neglecting you?"

"Master Mozhai has misunderstood," Li Wu quickly replied. "It is because I am extremely anxious and restless that I insisted on waiting at the gatehouse."

"What exactly happened?" Li Shibai asked. "Why did you rush back to Hanyang like that?"

"It's something like the sky falling and the earth collapsing!" Li Wu looked around. "But we can't talk about it here!"

"Then let's go to the tea room to talk." Li Gui didn't ask any more questions and walked straight to the corridor leading to the back hall.

Li Wu immediately followed. Li Shibai was a step behind, but quickly caught up as well.

After the three Lis disappeared, the gatekeeper who brought the message took out the bag containing copper coins and silver coins from his pocket and weighed it with delight.

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“There’s no one else here. Speak.” Li Gui entered the tea room but did not sit down.

“You’ll understand once you’ve seen this, Mo Zhai Gong.” Li Wu pulled out the crumpled proclamation from his pocket.

"This is..." Li Gui took the manifesto, glanced at it, and froze on the spot as if struck by lightning. "A manifesto!"

"Where did this thing come from?" Li Shibai, who was standing next to Li Gui, craned his neck and looked horrified.

“A village we passed through,” Li Wu said.

"What village!?" Li Gui came to his senses.

“It’s just an ordinary village,” Li Wu said. “When we passed by, we saw the villagers gathered together, so we went over to check. That’s when we found this proclamation posted on the wall.”

"Who put this up?" Li Gui pressed.

“I heard from the village elders that it was a Ming cavalry unit that posted there,” Li Wu said.

Li Gui's brow furrowed even more. "Have you seen the Ming army?"

“No. At least I didn’t,” Li Wu said. “After leaving the village, my second brother immediately sent me back to the capital on horseback.”

"What about Uncle Yin himself?" Li Gui asked.

“My second brother went to Changtuan again,” Li Wu replied.

Li Gui stared at the proclamation for a moment and asked, "Where did you obtain this proclamation?"

“That’s it.” Li Wu was taken aback. “It’s just a very ordinary village, probably Yin Family Village.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Li Gui changed his tune. “What I meant was how far is the place where you obtained this proclamation from the capital?”

"Oh!" Li Wu suddenly realized. "We obtained this proclamation this morning." "This morning!?" Li Gui was shocked.

“Yes.” Li Wu nodded. “We found this proclamation on the way to Changtuan. It only takes half a day to rush back to the capital from there. We just need to change horses.”

"Father!" Li Shibai said, "The city gates aren't closed yet. Why don't we send someone to Changtuan to verify it tonight?"

"It's too late!" Li Gui exclaimed, his eyes wide and cold sweat beading on his forehead. "Go and call Han Junqian, Ju Hong, Cui Mingji, Shen Jingyu, and your son-in-law Jinlian over here right now!"

"Are you going to call Cui Mingji and Jin Lian too? They haven't been called yet."

boom!
"We can't worry about that now!" Li Gui slammed his hand on the tea table. "The heavenly army has already reached Changtuan. From there to the capital, a forced march will only take a day. If things go smoothly, they should be at the city gates by noon tomorrow. Go and call them over immediately!"

"What if this proclamation is a forgery?" Li Shibai didn't care that Li Wu was still there. "Gathering so many people at once is bound to attract attention. If things are exposed, we'll really be doomed."

Li Gui stiffened. He lowered his head and read the proclamation several more times. "I think, I think it shouldn't be. Look at the title, the writing style, and even the way 'Feng Sheng' is written at the top of the title—it's all very standard, it doesn't seem fake. And the content of this proclamation, isn't it exactly what the court and the public are worried about? We can't hesitate any longer, we must quickly go and summon them for a meeting!"

“This…” Li Shibai stood there, his expression shifting between light and dark.

"You idiot, what are you standing there for!" Li Gui, in a fit of anger, kicked Li Shibai. "Hurry up and go! If we drag this out until Park Seung-jong and Li Erzhan find out, we won't be able to get many things done!"

"Yes!" After taking the kick, Li Shibai finally stopped hesitating. He managed to steady himself and stumbled out.

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“Young Master Li,” the gatekeeper of the Cui family turned back to the main gate, his face full of apology and a little doubt, and said to Li Shibai, who had come in person, “My master has already retired for the night. Please come again another day.”

"Stop resting my ass!" Li Shibai had no time to argue with the gatekeeper and immediately scolded, "I've been sleeping and getting up with Cui Ziqian for over three years. Do you think I don't know when he gets up and when he rests? Go and call him out here right now!"

The doorman hadn't expected Li Shibai to be so forceful and straightforward.

Li Shibai was already anxious and flustered. The time he had been waiting had further worn down his patience. "Get out of the way!" Li Shibai rushed to the door and kicked it open. When the doorman tried to stop him, he shoved him to the ground.

"What are you doing?" The doorman was a little confused. He didn't understand why his master wouldn't see Li Shibai, let alone why Li Shibai was so irritable.

While Li Shibai was still wondering, he had already strode through the hanging flower gate. The gatekeeper hurriedly got up, didn't even turn around to close the gate, and chased after him. "Young Master Li, Young Master Li! You can't go in! You can't go in!" The gatekeeper didn't dare to reach out and pull him back, and could only follow behind Li Shibai helplessly like a follower, trying to persuade him with weak words.

Such feeble attempts at persuasion were utterly pointless. Before long, Li Shibai rushed to the door of the study, which was lit up.

boom!
Li Shibai kicked open the door, startling Cui Mingji, who was still secretly grieving. "Dunshi, what's wrong?"

"Come with me!" Before Cui Mingji could react, Li Shibai walked to his side and grabbed his hand.

Caught off guard, Cui Mingji was pulled up by Li Shibai. "What are you doing!" Cui Mingji tried to pull his hand away, but couldn't break free.

"Come to my house, I have something important to discuss with you!" Li Shibai pulled Cui Mingji toward the door.

"What's the big deal? Explain clearly." Although Cui Mingji couldn't break free from Li Shibai's grip, he could still stay put without any problem.

Li Shibai glanced subconsciously at the Cui family's gatekeeper. "It's too complicated to explain in a short time; we'll talk about it on the way!"

Choi Myung-gil quickly came to his senses: "If it's something important, go discuss it with Park Seung-jong. What are you doing here?"

"Oh dear!" Lee Si-baek really didn't want to argue with Choi Myung-gil about this at this moment. But Choi Myung-gil stubbornly refused to leave, so he could only briefly explain, "That was just pretense! We don't genuinely want to join Park Seung-jong's faction!"

Cui Mingji's expression softened slightly. "So what exactly do you want?"

"I told you we'd talk on the way!" Li Shibai yanked hard, causing Cui Mingji to stumble.

"Hey!" Cui Mingji was in pain from the pulling, and quickly became a little angry. "What exactly are you trying to do in such a hurry!"

"I'm begging you, stop talking nonsense and come with me now." Li Shibai's face showed a pleading expression. "We've known each other for over ten years, please trust me this once!"

"You..." Cui Mingji gritted his teeth. "Let go! I'll walk myself!"

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When Li Shibai brought Cui Mingji back to the Li residence, it was already dark, and the gates of Hanyang had been closed.

"Phew! We're finally here." Li Shibai jumped out of the car, letting out a long breath, then reached out to help Cui Mingji. "Get out."

"Tch!" Cui Mingji slapped away Li Shibai's outstretched hand.

"Don't be like that. Once you're inside, you'll know everything." Li Shibai shook his head with a wry smile.

"I've heard that a thousand times," Cui Mingji sneered. "You'd better have something honest to say!"

On the way to the Li residence, Cui Mingji kept trying to get to the bottom of things, but Li Shibai kept dodging the question. This infuriated Cui Mingji, and he wanted to get out of the carriage several times.

Li Shibai not only concealed the reason for forcibly dragging him there, but also the presence of other attendees. It wasn't until they reached the tea room entrance that Cui Mingji realized he was not the only one invited to the Li residence.

Although everyone present was a familiar face, Choi Myung-gil couldn't help but feel a surge of anxiety. Two people in particular held very sensitive identities—Gu Hong was Prince Lingyang's uncle, and Han Jun-gyeom was Prince Lingyang's father-in-law. Having these two together at the same time inevitably led to certain associations.

Hesitantly, Li Gui smiled and waved to Cui Mingji. "Ziqian, come in and sit down."

"Lord Mozhai, what are you going to do?" Cui Mingji first glanced at Han Junqian, then at Ju Hong.

"Come in." Li Gui nodded slightly, looking exhausted. "It's just what you think."

Cui Mingji's expression changed, and he stepped across the threshold with a mixture of trepidation and joy. "Does Lord Mozhai really intend to follow the example of Emperor Zhongzong's coup and overthrow the tyrannical ruler?" Cui Mingji asked to confirm.

“That’s right.” Li Gui sighed and said, “It’s just a pity that man proposes, God disposes. Now, we don’t need to overthrow that Guanghai rebel king anymore.”

"What does this mean?!" Cui Mingji asked in shock.

“You’ll understand once you’ve seen this.” Li Gui turned his head and winked at Li Shiying, who was standing next to him.

Li Shiying understood, picked up the candlestick and the proclamation, and walked towards Cui Mingji.

(End of this chapter)