Jackie Chan's Son-in-Law

Chapter 129 How come you're so skilled?

A few days later, through a brokerage firm, Chen Huan's family finally managed to rent a courtyard house in the capital and move in.

The day after moving in, Master Chen instructed his second son to study hard at home, then took a carriage and went out, arriving at Baofu Lane in Mingzhaofang, the capital city.

In the past few days, he had found out the residence of his master. After arriving at Baofu Lane, he walked a few steps and saw a magnificent mansion with two characters written on the gate.

Xie Mansion.

Xie Guan, a cabinet minister, was a top scholar in the imperial examination. More than 20 years ago, when he was not yet 30, he became the chief examiner of the Yingtian provincial examination. The Huzhou provincial examination was held in Yingtian. In that same year, Chen Huan passed the provincial examination and became a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examination), and then entered officialdom.

This Xie Zhuangyuan (top scholar in the imperial examination) had a smooth career thereafter. A few years ago, he was promoted from the position of Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel to the Grand Secretariat and became the Prime Minister of the court.

Within the civil service, relationships are intricate and complex. In addition to the traditional master-apprentice relationship, there are fellow townsmen, classmates, and those born in the same year. Add to this the inexplicable "master-apprentice" relationship between the examiners and the admitted candidates, and you have formed a series of intertwined small circles.

These small circles eventually formed several large circles, centered around a few high-ranking officials in the imperial court, and became factions.

For example, there's Yang Yuanfu, the prime minister who is now hailed as the master of literature.

Once the master-disciple relationship is established, the formal status is confirmed. When entering officialdom, not only must one's political interests align with those of one's teacher, but one's political leanings must also be the same as one's teacher's.

It was passed down from generation to generation that has led to the large civil service group and system we see today.

Chen Huan looked up at the two characters, took a deep breath, took out the visiting card from his pocket, walked to the Xie family's gatehouse, and handed the visiting card to the gatekeeper with both hands: "Please pass this on to my teacher, tell him that Chen Huan from Huzhou has arrived in the capital and has come to pay his respects to my teacher."

The Xie family's gatekeeper casually took Chen Huan's visiting card, then glanced at Chen Huan and casually asked, "What rank are you?"

Chen Huan replied, "Fourth rank."

Upon hearing this, the gatekeeper perked up and asked again, "Is he an official from the capital or a local official?"

"Are they my master's retainers?"

Chen Huan lowered his head and replied, "He is a local official."

"Master Xie, you are my teacher."

"To become a disciple."

Upon hearing the words "local official," the doorman lost interest. He accepted the visiting card and said indifferently, "I've accepted the visiting card. Please leave me a place to stay and wait for news."

The saying "Even a seventh-rank official is in front of the prime minister's gate" is absolutely true.

Although the gatekeeper of the Xie family had no official rank, he saw countless officials every day, especially local officials who came to pay their respects to Master Xie when they arrived in the capital.

Not to mention a fourth-rank prefect, he had seen countless local officials, including the three provincial governors and even the governor of a province.

Of course, if a governor in charge of a region were to come here, he would treat him with great courtesy.

A fourth-rank local official, just by hearing his name, is a prefect. He has seen too many such people every year, but his master actually meets with less than one in ten local prefects.

He naturally lost interest in talking to Chen Huan.

Upon hearing this, Chen Huan frowned. He looked up at the Xie residence in front of him, sighed, and then took out a small gold ingot that he had prepared in advance from his sleeve and handed it to the gatekeeper.

"Thank you for your trouble."

The gatekeeper reached out and took the gold ingot, weighed it in his hand, and immediately beamed with joy. He bowed to Chen Huan and said with a smile, "Don't worry, Master Chen, I will definitely deliver your visiting card to the Prime Minister."

Chen Huan nodded, said "thank you for your trouble," then bowed and turned to leave.

After walking a dozen steps, he turned back to look at the Prime Minister's residence, feeling a surge of emotions.

"That's what a real man should do."

After taking a deep look at the mansion, Chen Huan strode away, intending to find his fellow townsmen in the capital and his classmates who had passed the imperial examinations together, to reconnect with them.

As evening approached, Xie Xiangong, who had returned from his duty at the Grand Secretariat, slowly brought his sedan chair to a stop at the entrance of the Xie residence.

As soon as he stepped down from the sedan chair, the gatekeeper came out to greet him, bowing and scraping to Prime Minister Xie with a smile: "Prime Minister, you've returned early today."

Although Xie Xianggong is Chen Huan's mentor, he is only about 53 years old this year, which is quite young for a cabinet minister.

He glanced at his own gatekeeper, said nothing, and strode into the Xie residence.

The gatekeeper bowed and followed in a few steps, taking out more than a dozen visiting cards and handing them to Master Xie with utmost respect: "Master, these are the visiting cards I received today. Please take a look."

Master Xie reached out and took the papers, looking at the names one by one, usually just glancing at the name before turning the page.

Soon, he came to Chen Huan's visiting card from Huzhou. Xie Xiangong instinctively flipped through it, but after flipping through several cards, he suddenly remembered something and picked out Chen Huan's card again to examine it carefully. "Chen Huan..."

Master Xie repeated the question and asked the gatekeeper, "Has Chen Huan come today?"

"Yes, I arrived first thing this morning."

Upon hearing Master Xie mention this name, the gatekeeper felt uneasy, fearing that Chen Huan was some important figure. He cautiously glanced at his master's expression and asked in a low voice, "I have his address. If you wish to see him, sir, I will inform this Lord Chen first thing tomorrow morning."

Minister Xie grunted, tucked the visiting card into his sleeve, and said, "Why see him? We'll have to meet him sooner or later when the Ministry of Personnel summons him."

Just as Xie Xiang was about to continue walking home, he suddenly stopped and said, "Write down Chen Huan's address and give it to the steward tomorrow. Have the steward put it in my study."

The doorman nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, I will obey."

Then, with his hands behind his back, Xie strode towards his own residence.

Although he couldn't hear it very clearly, the gatekeeper could vaguely make out his master's voice.

"So you're still one of my disciples..."

………………

While Master Chen was running around trying to build connections in the capital, Chen Qing from Da Shi Yong Fang had already made arrangements for reforming the White Lotus Sect.

At this moment, standing before him were the White Lotus Holy Mother Mu Xianniang, two subordinates of Commander Yan of the Zhenfu Division, and Chen Qing's deputy Yan Cong.

Yan Qianhu's two subordinates, a man and a woman, were both of ordinary appearance and could easily be forgotten in a crowd. However, they had both served the Zhenfu Division for many years and were highly reliable and skilled.

It could also be described as the secret agents hidden within the Zhenfu Division.

From the very beginning of its establishment, the Zhenfu Division had a tradition of recruiting skilled martial artists and sons of merchants to serve as imperial spies.

Nowadays, the number of secret agents in the Zhenfu Division is not large, but there are secret agents like these, who are buried in various places and come from the shadows, everywhere.

Chen Qing looked at the two men and said solemnly, "You two are now members of the White Lotus Sect. You were originally working under Bai Sanping. When the authorities were about to arrest you, it was Miss Mu who saved you."

"Later, the White Lotus Sect's spies will also do their best to cooperate with you."

Chen Qing slowly said, "Today, Bai Sanping and his gang were executed by the imperial court. This will probably frighten the White Lotus Sect members quite a bit. At this time, those White Lotus Sect members don't dare to come out and operate much. You can take this opportunity to gather up the scattered remnants of the White Lotus Sect."

"If you encounter any cult members that you cannot resolve, report it to us in secret. If you do not encounter any cult members, then you should begin to recruit existing White Lotus sect followers."

At this point, Chen Qing smiled and said, "If you need anything, you can contact me or Yan Cong. Whether it's people or money, as long as the amount isn't too large, it's no problem."

The man's surname was He and the woman's surname was Shao, but neither of them was willing to reveal their real names, only saying that they were called He Jia and Shao Yi.

Both men bowed to Chen Qing and clasped their hands in greeting, saying, "Don't worry, Chen Baizai, we understand!"

"Ah."

Chen Qing said, "In addition to that, you also need to pay attention to protecting Miss Mu's safety."

Chen Qing said solemnly, "In a few days, the Zhenfu Division will arrange a gathering of the White Lotus Sect. You can go and join in the fun then."

"In the beginning, don't ask them for any incense money."

Chen Qing coughed and said, "You can even give those followers some things, like chickens, and give them one or two when they attend a gathering."

"All expenses will be covered by the Zhenfu Division."

“Once you gain more influence, that guy surnamed Yang will naturally become restless.”

Chen Qing said with a smile, "At that time, the Zhenfu Division will step in and clear away all obstacles for you."

Both of them bowed their heads deeply in agreement.

Even Mu Xianniang looked at Chen Qing, sighed, and slowly nodded.

Yan Cong, who was standing to the side, listened to the whole thing and was a little stunned. He pulled Chen Qing aside and lowered his voice.

"Brother Zizheng."

Yan Cong's expression became somewhat strange.

"Why are you so skilled?"

(End of this chapter)