Chapter 52 Departure
Although, Lin Qing was very annoyed, but Zhao Chengxian is Zhao Zimu’s father after all. He must know Zhao Zimu’s attitude first before he makes a decision.
There would be many opportunities to toss Zhao Chengxian from side to side, but now he didn’t want to see him. So, he ordered people to drag Zhao Chengxian out and his subordinates who had fallen to the ground from fear a long time ago. It was ridiculous that at the end, Zhao Chengxian still threw looks at Zhao Zimu asking for help.
From Zhao Chengxian’s point of view, they were father and daughter after all. It is the heaven’s law and earth’s principle for the daughter to help the father. Zhao Zimu shouldn’t treat him like this. That is unfilial. However, he didn’t think that the way he treated Zhao Zimu was heartless.
- The heaven’s law and earth’s principle: right and unalterable
Zhao Zimu wouldn’t help him and also didn’t want to help him. She was happy to see him like this. Ever since she was a child, she didn’t receive any love from him. Her mother lived in sorrow all day long after being abandoned by him and sometimes she even ignored the little her. Did she have parents? She has, but it was the same as not having (parents).
Lin Qing looked at her and said, “What do you want to do (with him)?”
Zhao Zimu looked at him faintly and said, “Whatever you want. It is fine as long as you keep him alive.”
Lin Qing felt a bit uncomfortable. He pulled Zhao Zimu into his embrace and said, “There is still me who will keep you company. I will always stay with you.”
Zhao Zimu let him hold her quietly. No one spoke for a long time. Suddenly, she felt that she was very tired and leaned on him to let herself fall asleep.
Although, Zhao Zimu looked like she didn’t have a heart or emotions, but she still left a thin line on the matter of Zhao Chengxian. It was not that she wanted to forgive this person or be benevolent towards him. It was that he was the only blood connection she had left in this world after all even though this person wanted to exploit her. This kind of connection sometimes adds a bit of weight on her empty heart. This was also the reason why she didn’t leave with aunt Qing during her childhood.
Lin Qing quietly let Zhao Zimu lean on him. There was a faint sympathy and heartache in his heart. This girl looked very cold-hearted and impeccable, but wasn’t this also a kind of sorrow?
All the women in the world would hope to be loved by their parents. Some, the moment they were born, they were the proud daughters of heaven and pampered by thousands of people. Some were ruthlessly abandoned and ignored. He and Zhao Zimu were the latter. Therefore, one of them became a eunuch and the other had lost feelings.
Lin Qing hugged the person in front of him tighter. He understood this kind of attitude from Zhao Zimu very well. Zhao Chengxian was hateful, but after all he was a blood relative. To let him still keep a bit of his life was cruel but also benevolent.
If he had encountered the same matter, he would’ve done the same, but there was no guarantee that he could truly do it. After all, he was more ruthless.
Even if his parents had sold him, if one let him turn around and give them a stab, he wouldn’t do it. He is vicious and merciless, but that didn’t mean that he was able to do anything. He felt that he was still a human and not a monster.
In the end, Zhao Chengxian was accused of corruption, bribery and using his power for personal gain. He was dismissed from the office and his home ransacked; a broken family without an official position, without a duty and without talent. Zhao Chengxian could be considered to have ended. In order to avoid the political enemies who couldn’t wait to get revenge on him, he had to move his family back to his hometown.
It wasn’t that he hadn’t thought to go look for Zhao Zimu again to ask her, beg her or even kneel in front of her, as long as she let Lin Qing let him off.
However, Lin Qing sent someone to directly and clearly warn him that he didn’t want to see his figure in the imperial capital ever again, otherwise, otherwise what, Lin Qing didn’t say. Zhao Chengxian also didn’t dare to think about it and quietly left the imperial capital with regret.
The fact that Zhao Chengxian would go to Qiansui’s residence to look for Zhao Zimu was actually very strange. Although, the relationship between Zhao Zimu and Lin Qing was known throughout Qiansui’s residence, but how could the news of Qiansui’s residence be spread so easily? Obviously, it was not.
This was actually related to Situ Yaohua. Situ Yaohua had seen Zhao Zimu many times by Lin Qing’s side which naturally attracted his attention.
Not to mention how shocking it was for Lin Qing to take Zhao Zimu to a brothel. The second time he saw her, she was feeding medication to Lin Qing at Qiansui’s residence. It could be seen that the relationship of the two was very unusual.
There were very few things in this world that Lin Qing cared about. In terms of power, he was only second to one. Sometimes, he was even more well-off than Situ Yaohua. As long as emperor Jinghui doesn’t die, he would always be Jiu Qiansui; In terms of wealth, what did he not have that he wants. With just a movement of his eyes, countless of people would be willingly hand over and deliver the things he wanted; in terms of sex…generally, no one would take this into consideration.
Therefore, sometimes when people wanted to bring Lin Qing down, they truly had a feeling of having nowhere to start. At court, they couldn’t bring him down. Wanting to use another method, but they couldn’t find his weakness.
So, Lin Qing’s political opponents were very anxious because, if everything was going well with Lin Qing meant that they wouldn’t live well. Therefore, no one would let go of the opportunity to give him a blow.
Now, the woman that appeared beside Lin Qing seemed to be able to be exploited. Therefore, not only did Situ Yaohua secretly investigated Zhao Zimu’s background, he also deliberately sent people to approach Zhao Chengxian, wanting to open a loophole from him.
However, his intention was only to let someone raise the issue to Zhao Chengxian, luring him to pay attention to the daughter he had sent to Qiansui’s residence. He wanted to see how he would react and also wanted to test whether that woman could be exploited by him.
But, he didn’t expect Zhao Chengxian to be so stupid. Not only did he fail to do anything. Instead, he let Lin Qing run into him and angered Lin Qing. In the end, it alerted the enemy inadvertently.
After he thought about it, Lin Qing presumably also knew what was going on. A few people outside of Lin Qing’s residence knew about his relationship with Zhao Zimu and those who wanted to use this against him were only a few.
The one who would’ve gotten this idea first would be Situ Wenrui, but after that guy got Lin Qing’s help he was flushed with success and was thinking about suppressing Situ Yaohua everywhere at court. So, he wouldn’t have acted on this idea yet.
Although Situ Yuanxiao had seen him and Zhao Zimu being intimate with each other, but with the haughtiness of Situ Yuanxiao, he wouldn’t use this method. He might prefer assassination more.
Then, only Situ Yaohua was left. Situ Yaohua was a deep schemer with brilliant strategies and was many times better than his brothers. If that hadn’t been the case, he wouldn’t be able to sit firmly in the Eastern Palace for so long.
This time, he quietly made trap for Lin Qing. Although, Lin Qing was very annoyed, but he had no meaning to deal with him for the time being because Qiansui was very busy at the moment.
Emperor Jinghui always thought that Lin Qing was a loyal subject and was very loyal to him (J). No matter what he wanted to do, Lin Qing would be the first person to support him. No matter what he wanted, Lin Qing would do everything possible to get it for him. Lin Qing had never let him down.
During these days that he was wounded, he didn’t put down the affairs of the palace and as soon as his wound had improved, he immediately returned to the palace. Looking at Lin Qing’s diligence, working day and night and working hard to solve his problems, emperor Jinghui was very pleased.
How could such loyal subject be rewarded? Hence, emperor Jinghui gave Lin Qing many rewards again, but Lin Qing insisted on not accepting them and expressed that he would strive to the utmost till death for the emperor. Then, he presented the emperor with a few Taoist masters who were specialized in developing elixirs. Emperor Jinghui was very moved. So, the weight that Lin Qing had in emperor Jinghui’s heart became greater. Afterwards, he was of course scolded again by the other officials.
However, within a few days, emperor Jinghui heard that Lin Qing’s wound had worsened and that when he was dealing with the documents he fainted. Emperor Jinghui was alarmed and even went to visit him personally. He also issued an order for Lin Qing to take a good rest. Seeing that the new year was approaching, he gave Lin Qing a month off.
Naturally, Lin Qing “refused” countless of times but under emperor Jinghui’s firm gaze, he could only accept “very terrified”. Emperor Jinghui only felt that Lin Qing was even more to his liking now. Look, the whole court accused Lin Qing of being a treacherous subject, but he let Lin Qing take a month’s leave to keep him away from the center of the power, didn’t he still accept with gratitude? So, those people were just looking for trouble and hated Lin Qing. Lin Qing is a very loyal subject!
—
At the Department of Supervision, Wang Yue said to Lin Qing with a wry smile, “Qiansui, what kind of cards are you playing? The end of the year is arriving. The letters from all parts of the country asking for advice on punishment on all the cases throughout the year flew in like snowflakes. The Department of Supervision had more things to deal with. You, you threw this mess to us…”
Wang Yue felt very aggrieved. It was said that they, the eunuchs, only knew how to bootlick, fawn and curry favor, but that was a false accusation! Who knew that not only did they need to serve His Majesty, but they also had to take care of many things at the Department of Supervision? Working around nobles, if they didn’t handle the matter well, they could lose their heads. Those guys only knew how to be jealous of the love His Majesty had for them and ignored all their contributions. Truly hateful! Their fate was truly that of a hard worker!
Wang Yue looked pitifully at Lin Qing. The moment Lin Qing leave, all the affairs of the Department of Supervision would fall on him. Lin Qing coughed once awkwardly, “Eunuch Wang, I have something to do. You bear with it for a moment. The new year is approaching. I think that the two hundred hectares agricultural land at the south of the city walls is very good. Take it as my new year gift to you.”
Joy revealed on Wang Yue’s face. He pretended to be reserved and said, “Qiansui doesn’t have to be so polite. Aren’t you overwhelming me with more than I deserve? It should be me who should give you a gift.”
Lin Qing just smiled and said to Wang Yue, “Then, I have to trouble eunuch Wang.”
“Don’t be so polite. Dealing with these affairs is my duty.”
After Wang Yue got the land, he naturally didn’t dare to shirk in his responsibilities. The eunuchs of the palace love money. Since they have no children, they could only rely on the money they had accumulated to support themselves when they are old.
Ancient people stressed the importance of agriculture and cheapened merchants. Therefore, agriculture land was the most important indicator about whether a person was rich.
Judging whether someone was rich was not based on how many houses he owned or how much money he had, instead, it was looking at how many acres of land he has. Regardless of the dynasty, land had always been a symbol of wealth and status. Anyone with a bit of a status must’ve owned plenty of fertile land. If he didn’t have a dozen acres of land, then he could really be called an upright official.
Like this, Lin Qing easily got the time to go to Qingyu Mountain with Zhao Zimu. Before leaving, he seized an -unpleasant to the eye- guy’s house and also gifted the agriculture land of that guy to Wang Yue…
On this day, a magnificent carriage drove out of Liang capital’s gate, followed by more than a dozen entourage. With one glance, one would know that the one inside must be very noble. However, no one could’ve imagined that the one inside was Jiu Qiansui.
Lin Qing lay unhappily on the spacious couch of the carriage and looked with tilted head at Zhao Zimu. He said, “Why did you bring that girl with you?”
Right, why bring her? Wasn’t it just the two of them going? Why bring that girl who chatted all day long?
Zhao Zimu made a helpless expression. Then, she stuffed a dense jujube in his dissatisfied mouth and licked his sugar-stained lips. She said, “Ling Er has followed me many years. She doesn’t have family nor friends. I’m not at peace leaving her for so long at Qiansui’s residence.”
Was it not at peace or couldn’t bear? Lin Qing bit the jujube in his mouth very dissatisfied. He was pondering whether he should find a good husband for that girl as soon as possible lest she stuck herself on her miss the whole day, which was not good.
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