Jackie Chan's Son-in-Law

Chapter 118 The Art of Spreading Money
In this era, quite a few people had actually seen the emperor, since he would appear on many important occasions.

However, very few people actually met the emperor in private.

Unless one reaches the rank of one of the Six Ministries and Nine Ministers, or the Vice Ministers of the Six Ministries, the emperor rarely grants a private audience.

However, Chen Qing was not surprised by Yan Cong's words.

The reasoning is simple: the young emperor's intention was quite clear. He wanted to build a new force that was completely loyal to him and had no reason to betray him.

This new force was nominally led by the imperial family, but in reality, it was led by the newly appointed emperor himself. In other words, the young emperor was actually cultivating his own private power.

Following this logic, it is only natural that the emperor would take some time to see himself and Yan Cong. After all, in this era of emperors and fathers, as long as he spends a little time to see these two young men, Chen Qing and Yan Cong, he can theoretically gain their fervent loyalty.

Whether Chen Qing, being an outlier, would he heed the prevailing ideas of monarchy and fatherhood in this era is hard to say.

What truly surprised Chen Qing was not that the emperor wanted to see him, but that the emperor wanted to wait until he had finished setting up the Hundred-Household Office before seeing him.

This is a test of Chen Qing's abilities.

Chen Qing had only been in the Zhenfu Division for a short time, and was practically a newcomer with no experience. Even becoming a junior officer would be difficult for him; it was not something he could simply take up his post with an appointment document.

Especially the imperial guards of the Zhenfu Division, most of them are difficult to tame.

If Chen Qing can really set up a centurion's office in a short period of time, it shows that Chen Qing is quite capable. Only then will the emperor make time to meet with him.

"You're really patient."

In his mind, Chen Qing made a judgment on the emperor he had never met. At this moment, in his opinion, this young emperor had already scored quite high marks, at least in the line of being an emperor.

"Alright, I'll go and make some preparations too. Don't worry, Brother Zizheng."

Yan Cong patted his chest and said with a smile, "Although I haven't been in the Zhenfu Division for long, you could say I grew up in the Zhenfu Division. There shouldn't be any major problem for me to set up a centurion's office."

In this matter, Yan Cong is undoubtedly Chen Qing's biggest help. With him, or rather, with the influence of Commander Yan, it will be much easier for Chen Qing to build his own team.

This was also a special favor given to him by His Majesty the Emperor.

Chen Qing nodded and said with a smile, "Alright, see you at the Zhenfu Division tomorrow morning."

Yan Cong clasped his hands in a respectful greeting and strode away.

Not long after he left, Miss Gu, dressed in winter clothes, called out "Da Lang" from afar. Chen Qing turned around and asked with a smile, "What's wrong, Pan'er?"

"Xiaoyue and I made you a bowl of soup."

Gu Pan held a soup bowl in her hand and looked at Chen Qing. Chen Qing strode over, took the bowl from her, and then pulled Gu Pan to sit down in the inner room. He smiled and said, "Pan'er, you've worked hard."

"Have you gotten used to life in Beijing during this time?"

Gu Pan shook her head slightly: "They can't understand what I'm saying, and the Beijing dialect isn't easy to learn."

"I haven't been going out much these days."

Chen Qing thought for a moment and said softly, "In a few days, I'll take you to see Zhao Shilang's family. By then, you'll have someone to talk to."

Gu Pan looked at Chen Qing and asked, "Can it really work?"

"It can be done."

Chen Qing took out the centurion's waist token that Yan Hu had given him from his bosom and said with a smile, "Pan'er, look, I'm now a centurion in the Zhenfu Division. If things go smoothly in a few days, I might even be able to go to the palace to meet His Majesty."

He chuckled softly, "My father was probably never summoned by His Majesty."

Chen Qing's father, Chen Huan, was a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations) and a prefect. He must have met the emperor.

However, it's highly likely that he met the emperor with a large group of people, rather than in private.

Gu Pan took the waist token, examined it carefully, and then said softly, "Then, Da Lang met Uncle Chen later..."

"We'll only know once we see it. Right now, the important thing is to keep this job going."

He paused for a moment, then slowly said, "However, I'm actually looking forward to seeing that stupid woman again."

The foolish woman was none other than "Madam Li" from the Chen family.

Now, more than half a year has passed since their last conflict. If the two were to meet again now, the expression on Madam Li's face would certainly be quite interesting. After saying this, Chen Qing looked at Gu Pan'er and said with a smile, "Pan'er, do you have any gold? I'd like to borrow some."

Gu Pan nodded and asked, "How much does Da Lang want?"

Chen Qing thought for a moment and said, "One hundred taels will do. Any more than that would be too much to take."

"it is good."

Gu Pan stood up and said, "I'll have someone go and exchange it for Da Lang in a little while."

Chen Qing also stood up and said with a smile, "I'd better go myself and let the people at the gold shop make a fancy one."

…………

The next day, in the office of the Governor of the Northern Garrison.

With a smile on his face, Chen Qing placed a pure gold Bixi (a mythical beast) on the table of Zhenfu Shi Tang Can and said with a smile, "I should have come to pay my respects to the Zhenhou yesterday, but I was summoned to the Zhenfu Division by Lord Yan yesterday and was in a bit of a rush, so I didn't prepare anything. That's why I'm only coming to pay my respects to the Zhenhou today."

Tang Can glanced at Chen Qing, then at the Bi'an on his own table, coughed, and shook his head, asking, "What is Brother Chen doing?"

"What kind of person do you take Tang for?"

Chen Qing said with a smile, "Naturally, I regard you, Lord Zhen, as a fair and just superior. Lord Zhen, look, this is Bi'an, one of the dragon's sons, who is in charge of upholding justice and penal law. I spent a long time choosing this one and brought it to you."

This Bixi (a mythical beast) statue, worth a full 120 taels of gold and weighing over seven jin (approximately 3.5 catties), was placed in a wooden box by Chen Qing and carried into the Zhenfu Division.

Even for Tang Can, this was a considerable sum of money.

The garrison commander was still somewhat hesitant. He shook his head and said, "Brother Chen, you are a centurion appointed by His Majesty. There is no need for you to follow these rules. In our Garrison Command, as long as you do your job for His Majesty in a down-to-earth manner, everything will go smoothly."

“Take this back with you; I cannot accept it.”

Chen Qing said solemnly, "Lord Zhen, I'm just bringing you a small gift. I'm not asking you to do anything, nor am I asking you to break the law. It's not even a bribe, so there's nothing wrong with accepting it."

"If you can't accept it, I'll consider this a gift to the Zhenfu Division. It's perfectly reasonable for the Zhenfu Division, which oversees the Imperial Prison, to display a statue of Bi'an."

He looked around and said with a smile, "The Marquis's residence is located in the middle of the Zhenfu Division. Otherwise, would this Bi'an statue be placed in the Marquis's residence?"

"If the Marquis is willing to give his subordinate some face, he can take it home in the future. If he insists on not accepting it, when the Marquis is promoted in the future, he can leave this Bixie statue here."

Upon hearing this, Tang Can glanced at Chen Qing, then at the pure gold Bi'an statue beside him, and finally couldn't resist picking it up and examining it, exclaiming, "It's damn heavy."

"Brother Chen, you must have seven or eight pounds on this, right?"

Chen Qing smiled and said, "Lord Zhen, all this money was earned by me through business before I joined the Zhenfu Division. It's all clean, there's absolutely no problem with it."

In the end, Commander Tang placed the Bi'an on his table and said with a smile, "Brother, since you've said so, then I'll leave this here for now."

"If you ever want to go back, just say the word."

Chen Qing smiled and said okay.

Tang Can thought for a moment and then said, "If you encounter any difficulties in the Zhenfu Division and Lao Yan can't solve them for you, just come to me."

These were polite words, not very sincere, but for Chen Qing at this moment, they were enough. He smiled and said okay.

"Then I will go and report to Lord Yan."

Tang Zhenfu stood up and said with a smile, "I'll see you off."

He personally escorted Chen Qing all the way to the entrance of the public residence, even going a few extra steps to make sure the other officers of the Zhenfu Division saw him.

After leaving the Zhenfu Division, Chen Qing went to visit Commander Yan at his residence. This time, however, he didn't bring any gold or silver. Instead, he brought Commander Yan a finely forged sword and placed it on his desk.

He was already quite familiar with the Yan family father and son, so he could naturally find out Yan Qianhu's preferences from Yan Cong.

After leaving Yan Qianhu's residence, Chen Qing went to see the twenty or thirty people who had been gathered by Yan Cong. He looked around at everyone and said with a smile.

"We're currently investigating a cult criminal case. There are too many people around during the day, so it's not convenient for me to run around. I'll treat you all to drinks later tonight."

"We won't go home until we're drunk!"

(End of this chapter)