Top Scholar

Chapter 557 Almost Became a Factory Owner
When Liu Jin was brought back to his residence, his entire family was nearly frantic. They rushed to the sedan chair and hurriedly helped him out...

Liu Jin looked extremely disheveled. The skin on his back was abnormally flushed, and it hurt like being pricked with needles at the slightest touch, so his upper body was still naked.

My legs still can't straighten, and every step I take feels like stepping into a fire pit, making me tremble incessantly...

His brother and nephew quickly grabbed him, half-lifting Liu Gonggong as they slowly walked him inside. His nephew, Liu Erhan, grinned and howled:
"Second Uncle, what happened to you? How did you get into this state?"

"Stop howling!" Liu Jin glared at him, his voice hoarse but still authoritative, "I'm not dead yet, you can cry after I breathe my last!"

"Hey, don't say such unlucky things," Jiao Fang interjected, as she was also present.

"Shut up, you coward!" Liu Jin was fine when he didn't see him, but as soon as he saw Jiao Fang, he was so angry that he almost fainted.

No one dared to speak again, and they carefully helped him into the inner room. A maid brought warm water, and a servant brought blood-activating medicine and sunburn ointment. Together they massaged his stiff limbs and applied a cooling ointment to his back.

After a good while of being cared for, Eunuch Liu finally came back to life.

Jiao Fang finally couldn't help but ask, "Your Excellency, what exactly happened? I asked Zhang Cai, but he kept his mouth shut and wouldn't reveal a single word."

"You're still not out?!" Liu Jin, who had barely managed to suppress her anger, became agitated again upon hearing this, glaring fiercely at Jiao Fang and cursing without any restraint:
"It's all your fault, you old fool, you senile old donkey! I told you from the beginning, I wouldn't wade into those muddy waters, I wouldn't wade into those muddy waters, but you insisted on pushing me into them! Now look what happened, karma has come on!"

Jiao Fang looked bewildered: "What karma?"

Liu Jin sat up abruptly in anger, aggravating the sunburn on her back. She winced in pain, but still gritted her teeth and cursed:

"The Emperor took away our family's professional factory! And then handed it over to that bastard Zhang Yong! Our family spent half a year painstakingly building this factory! How much effort and energy did we put in? And it was just taken away like that!"

He was panting heavily, waving his arms angrily, and said, "Now look what's happened! Zhang Yong has the inner factory, Gu Dayong controls the West Factory, Ma Yongcheng manages the East Factory, and I, the damn man, have nothing! How am I supposed to be the Grand Eunuch?!"

“Then they have to listen to you too,” his brother whispered.

"They can investigate me!" Liu Jin slammed his fist on the table and roared, "Which of you can withstand scrutiny? They have all my dirty laundry in their hands, how am I supposed to control these warlords?!"

Knowing they were in the wrong, the Liu family members all shrank back and dared not speak.

"It's all because of you!" Liu Jin became angrier as he spoke, and then turned his anger towards Jiao Fang.

Jiao Fang was even more confused and asked, "What does the last incident have to do with this anonymous letter?!"

"Important? Extremely important!" Liu Jin roared, nearly blowing the roof off, then lowered his voice and exclaimed in shock, "That anonymous letter impeaching me was actually written by someone arranged by the Emperor!"

"Ah?!" Jiao Fang was so shocked that she plopped back into her chair and murmured, "Why would the Emperor do this?!"

"His Majesty wanted to see if I would deceive the emperor and the people, and to see how many people in the court supported me and how many opposed me. But I ended up falling right into the trap and solidified my nickname of 'the one who installs the emperor'!" Liu Jin said with a face full of annoyance.

"What?!" Jiao Fang was still incredulous: "Could the Emperor really do something like this?"

"Still viewing the Emperor with such outdated perspectives? You've really screwed us over this time!" Liu Jin's tone grew increasingly icy.
"You instigated the confrontation between the Emperor and the Empress Dowager, and you also instigated me to take the wrong side. How could the Emperor not hold a grudge? Once this matter is over, how could he not settle accounts with me later? If it weren't for some old friendship, he probably would have sent me directly to Fengyang to guard the imperial tombs!"

Jiao Fang's old face turned ashen, and after a long pause, she said angrily, "It's all that little beast surnamed Su's fault! The Emperor has been spending too much time with him, and that's how he learned these cunning tricks! The Emperor was originally pure and innocent; how could he have such scheming thoughts?"

"Shut your mouth!" Liu Jin snapped. She couldn't bear to hear him constantly complaining about Su Lu like a nagging wife, and her eyes were filled with undisguised disgust.

"This isn't anyone else's fault; it's all your fault, you old fool! Scholar Su never provoked us. It's you who kept stirring up trouble and getting yourself into trouble!"

He paused, then commanded sternly, "From now on, you are not allowed to cause him any more trouble. Stay away from places where he is, do you hear me?!"

"..." Jiao Fang's face immediately turned bright red, unable to lower her head.

"Furthermore, from now on, you don't need to concern yourself with the affairs of the Ministry of Personnel... It's already against the rules for a Grand Secretary to concurrently hold the position of Minister of Justice; it's been going on for so long, it's time to return to normal." But it didn't end there; Liu Jin coldly added:

“Go back and submit your resignation, and make room for me in the position of Minister of Personnel!”

Upon hearing this, Jiao Fang's face turned ashen again. Suddenly remembering Zhang Cai's unusual behavior earlier that day, she understood everything...

He has a fiery temper, so it's a miracle that he's been able to hold back in front of Liu Jin for this long.

At this point, Grand Secretary Jiao could no longer hold back and said in a huff, "Fine, I'll resign! I might as well quit being the Second Grand Secretary and retire to my hometown! Anyway, I'm over seventy years old, it's time for me to rest!"

"Whatever you want." Liu Jin replied indifferently, showing no intention of trying to persuade him to stay.

Jiao Fang thought he would try to persuade her to stay, but instead she was met with a cold shoulder. Her face flushed red and then turned pale, and she stood there awkwardly, looking just like a clown.

"Farewell!" He still had some pride after all, so he snorted coldly, turned around, and left. "Don't bother seeing me out." Liu Jin was still angry with him.

~~
The next day, Jiao Ge Lao submitted a memorial requesting to retire, citing his old age and frail health as reasons why he was no longer able to perform his duties.

His resignation was so swift not entirely because he had been reprimanded by Liu Jin the day before, which had wounded his pride. More so, it was out of fear—he knew that Zhang Yanling had definitely implicated him.

Now that the Emperor intends to settle scores later, he will certainly not let this instigator slip by. He might as well resign voluntarily and see if he can escape this calamity by chance.

The Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs quickly received Grand Secretary Jiao's resignation, and Eunuch Liu's reaction was much calmer than yesterday.

After this incident, Liu Jin learned his lesson... The retirement of a Grand Secretary was a major matter for the court, and it was not something he could decide on his own.

He immediately sealed Jiao Fang's resignation letter and sent it to the Leopard Chamber for the Emperor's decision.

Although Zhu Houzhao did not give an immediate reply, he was very pleased with Liu Jin's change and comforted him, telling him not to feel guilty and to continue to properly restrain the civil officials for him.

Liu Jin now fully understood his position in the emperor's heart, and hurriedly assured the emperor that as long as he was alive, he would never allow those civil officials to rebel!

After he left, Zhu Houzhao held the memorial and was unable to make a decision, so he ordered someone to summon Su Lu.

~~
Su Lu was in Donggui Hall and was quickly summoned. He saw the emperor playing with crickets...

Zhu Houzhao, with the sleeves of his dragon robe rolled up, pinched a thin blade of grass between his fingers, teasing two crickets in the pottery jar, making them fight.

The Zhu family has a long tradition of cricket fighting; Zhu Houzhao's great-grandfather even had the reputation of being the "Cricket Emperor."

Su Lu patiently waited until the emperor had finished enjoying himself, then closed the cricket jar before performing the proper rites.

"Your subject Su Lu greets Your Majesty."

Zhu Houzhao was taken aback before realizing he was wearing the imperial robe, but he didn't break the unspoken agreement. He waved his hand, signaling Jiao Fang to stand up, and casually tossed Jiao Fang's resignation letter over: "Look at him, this old black donkey Jiao Fang wants to retire. Tell me, should I grant it?"

"I am but a humble subject, and my words carry little weight. I dare not offer any opinion," Su Lu hurriedly replied respectfully.

"Don't give me that. When you were giving Zhu Shou advice on the country, you never felt like you were insignificant or had little influence." Zhu Houzhao chuckled, truly keeping his distance from Zhu Shou.

"Besides, isn't the Court of Imperial Sacrifices supposed to be advising me? Now that I'm facing a problem, why are you pretending to be deaf and dumb?"

"Yes, Your Majesty is right. I will correct my mistake." Su Lu quickly glanced through the text and said directly:
"In my humble opinion, although Jiao Fang is old and senile, he is not entirely useless. We should comfort him and keep him, but simply remove him from his concurrent post as Minister of Heaven."

"What use is he if he's senile?" Zhu Houzhao couldn't stay idle for a moment, so he picked up the cricket cage again and started teasing it.

"Your Majesty, even a piece of toilet paper has its uses, let alone Grand Secretary Jiao?" Su Lu said with a smile.
"What the Emperor needs is to restore balance to the court. Right now, the eunuch faction is all-powerful, and the civil officials are simply powerless to resist it."

"Yes." Zhu Houzhao nodded, teasing the big-bellied cricket in the cage while laughing, "Liu Daban actually managed to make all the officials kneel down. It's true that there are no wrong nicknames, only wrong names... He's truly both lovable and hateful."

"Yes," Su Lu replied. "There is no one else as powerful as Eunuch Liu, who can keep the officials in check. In addition, most of the ministers in the Six Ministries and Nine Ministers are eunuchs. This serious imbalance is more beneficial than harmful to the Emperor."

He paused for a moment and then continued, "Therefore, we should keep Jiao Fang, this troublemaker, and let him stir up trouble within the eunuch faction... As long as Zhang Cai is promoted to Minister of Personnel, he will definitely take the initiative to complete this task and make the eunuch faction chaotic. In this way, the civil officials will not completely become Liu Gonggong's yes-men and kowtowers."

"Hmm, that makes sense." Zhu Houzhao nodded in agreement. "I never thought that we could achieve a balance by weakening one side in this way. I've learned another trick."

"Your Majesty is too modest." Su Lu dared not take credit; the emperor's recent performance had truly impressed him, and he was even a little afraid.

"By the way," Zhu Houzhao said to Su Lu, "I also dealt a blow to Liu Jin by giving the Inner Factory to Zhang Yong."

"Your Majesty is wise." Su Lu hurriedly praised, "Eunuch Liu is too strong, we can't play without him being punished."

But then the emperor made another startling statement: "Furthermore, I have decided that the name of the Inner Bureau will remain unchanged externally, but internally it will be called the Investigation Bureau of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, and it will act under your orders as the Prefect!"

"Absolutely not, Your Majesty!" Su Lu was startled and quickly bowed, declining the offer. "That would give the Court of Imperial Sacrifices too much power!"

"Listen to me," Zhu Houzhao said, "you will not be in charge of personnel in the Investigation Bureau. You will only issue tasks for them to carry out, and you will not be involved in anything else." But Zhu Houzhao had already thought it through carefully, so how could he refuse? He said in a deep voice:
"In addition, the Investigation Bureau will also monitor the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, so that I can rest assured."

"Yes, Your Majesty, I will obey." Su Lu then replied.

P.S. I'm exhausted, going to sleep now...

(End of this chapter)