Jiang Suizhou initially wanted to ask Huo Wujiu why he was angry, but
when the words reached his mouth, he couldn't utter them.
After all, Huo Wujiu was poker-faced every day. In real terms, no one could
tell whether he was happy or angry. What if he wasn't angry at all when
Jiang Suizhou asked? Wouldn't that be too embarrassing?
Thus, Jiang Suizhou gave him a couple of glances, but swallowed the words
that wanted to escape from his lips.
After eating breakfast and changing clothes, he went straight to Gu
Changyun's courtyard.
Like every time before, Gu Changyun and Xu Du were waiting in the room
together.
They were about to get up and salute him when they saw Jiang Suizhou
waving his hand and sitting down at the main seat.
"Sit," he ordered lightly.
The two looked at each other and sat down on the chairs beside him.
"Yesterday, Lord Ji was arrested for embezzlement. You both should have
known about this, right?" Jiang Suizhou said.
The two nodded.
Next to him, Gu Changyun said with a smile, "Your Highness, there is no
need to worry. This Lord Ji has never stood on our side, and we have persuaded him several times to no avail. Now that Pang Shao has disposed
of him, there is no damage to us, so you don't need to take it to heart."
Jiang Suizhou looked at him and said bluntly, "I want to save him."
Gu Changyun was stunned.
Then, he smiled and said, "I'm naturally happy that Your Highness is kind-
hearted. It's just that…"
"Xu Du," Jiang Suizhou abruptly interrupted him.
Xu Du answered, "Your Highness."
Jiang Suizhou looked at Xu Du: "Did you still not tell him anything?"
Xu Du was taken aback, and then understood what Jiang Suizhou was
talking about. Xu Du gently smiled and said, "Without Your Highness's
order, I don't dare to speak."
Jiang Suizhou hummed and said, "Gu Changyun, now that you are under
my command, your grandmother and younger sister will also be kept in the
mansion, which is safer."
Gu Changyun froze, and the smile on his face also gradually disappeared
into thin air.
"Your Highness?"
Jiang Suizhou raised his eyes and looked at him.
"I, unlike him, have no intention of detaining your family. But since they
are already living in the royal residence, there is no need for them to move
out. From now on, if you want to see them, you can just go to that
courtyard," Jiang Suizhou said.
Gu Changyun went rigid for a moment, and gradually, his eyes turned
reddish.
He had never mentioned it to others, but since his family was threatened
and forced into the royal residence by King Jing, he had not been able to
see his family again until now.
"…Your Highness is kind-hearted and wants to save him, so naturally I will
do my best." A few moments later, Gu Changyun said to Jiang Suizhou with
red eyes and a smile.
Jiang Suizhou nodded.
His two subordinates were smart people. He didn't have to be too direct.
Pointing them to the destination would suffice.
The two had guessed that he wasn't the original owner, and now, Jiang
Suizhou had confessed the bargaining chip that the original owner had used
to blackmail Gu Changyun, which was a way to show the latter his
sincerity: Jiang Suizhou would help him take care of his family, and would
not use them as blackmail.
After all, Gu Changyun had already entered his house and had become tied
to him. At this juncture, there was no turning back for him. Only with this
arrangement could he get the best result for himself.
Seeing that Gu Changyun understood, Jiang Suizhou said bluntly, "It's not
just my kindness."
He looked at the two of them.
"Pang Shao now covers the sky with one hand, and if he wants to deal with
any minister, he can do so without effort," Jiang Suizhou said. "I thought
that if we let him kill Ji You today, he can kill whoever he wants tomorrow.
Today, many ministers are waiting for my protection. If I can't even protect
one person, I'm afraid that the others, too, will become dissidents."
After a pause, he continued.
"Of course, deep inside, I also want to save one and count one. I can't let
Pang Shao keep getting what he wants."
Hearing this from him, Xu Du frowned.
"It is naturally a good thing that Your Highness can think this way," he said,
"However… Does Your Highness have a solution at present?"
Gu Changyun followed suit and nodded.
"Pang Shao's faction has no shortage of people in the Ministry of Rites.
Contriving a fictitious sum of embezzled money and blaming it on Lord Ji
is as easy as a pie. However, if we want to exonerate Lord Ji from it, there
is still nowhere to start."
Jiang Suizhou paused. "It's easy to pin the blame on him, but the
whereabouts of the stolen money…should we also check it?" he asked.
Gu Changyun nodded. "That goes without saying. But according to the
Great Jing's current laws, even if the whereabouts of the embezzled money
cannot be traced, the perpetrator must be convicted when he should be
convicted."
Jiang Suizhou pondered for a moment.
Gu Changyun was right. Throughout the ages, there had been countless
cases of corruption, of which many people had been convicted in careless
search for a lead.
So, what advantage did he have as a latecomer?
Jiang Suizhou fell silent for a long time, and his two subordinates also
looked grave. For a while, no one spoke.
After a long time, Xu Du spoke unhurriedly. "Now that the case has reached
this point, the only way to save Lord Ji is to find a scapegoat," he proposed,
"But…you can no longer frame a good man."
Hearing this, Jiang Suizhou's eyes lit up.
A scapegoat?
He had an epiphany.
Of course the court couldn't trace the whereabouts of the imposed
embezzled money. However, what if he could find the money for the court?
After all, he studied the history of Jing. Although he couldn't recite the
biographies of the officials in the dynasty backward by heart, he was still
clear about what kind of things each of them had done.
He had more or less kept an account in his mind, including those who
played favorites and embezzled.
From these officials, he would find one who was much more greedy and
was in the Ministry of Rites, and then draw the attention of the officials of
the Ministry of Justice to that person. By then, the embezzled goods would
be retrieved and Ji You would escape the jaws of danger.
Jiang Suizhou hastened to speak.
"That's an excellent solution," he said.
Xu Du was taken aback. "Does Your Highness already have a candidate in
mind?"
His question earned a light smile from Jiang Suizhou.
Of course he had. Not only was he a good candidate, but also someone who
hit his muzzle.
Chen Ti.
He curried favor with Pang Shao and indeed dredged up a lot of benefits
from his relationship with him. It just so happened that before Jiang
Suizhou transmigrated, a colleague happened to have written a paper on
corruption at the end of the Jing Dynasty, in which Chen Ti was mentioned.
He could even remember clearly that he had purchased several large
mansions in Lin'an City.
Didn't he also want to invite Huo Wujiu to appreciate the flowers?
Why didn't he also invite the officials of the Ministry of Justice to come
appreciate the mansion he purchased?
——
Jiang Suizhou consulted the two and schemed until the afternoon. After
their plan was fully laid out and they made sure that there was no flaw, the
three took a break and had some food together.
During the meal, Xu Du asked curiously, "How does Your Highness know
so much about Chen Ti's family assets?"
Jiang Suizhou smiled faintly.
"I have my own way," Jiang Suizhou answered indifferently.
He couldn't tell these two that he came from a thousand years later and also
happened to be dedicated to studying them, right?
However, Gu Changyun laughed at his reply.
"Do you still have to ask?" He smiled. "Isn't it all written in the script?
People like His Highness…have more or less different abilities from us.
Even if you wish to know these, you probably wouldn't understand."
Listening to his jest, Jiang Suizhou smiled and knocked his chopsticks on
the back of Gu Changyun's hand.
After the three bantered around for a few minutes, Jiang Suizhou paused
and said, "However, I have another matter."
The two people looked at him.
Jiang Suizhou pondered for a moment, and said, "I want to find a way to
cure Huo Wujiu's legs."
For a time, the two men looked at each other, but neither of them said
anything.
A few moments later, Xu Du asked, "Your Majesty…why so?"
Jiang Suizhou slowly said, "I'm well aware that Pang Shao's roots are deep
and the emperor is absurd and dim-witted. What can really bring them
down completely is not us, but the Northern Liang."
Upon hearing this, the two were silent for a moment.
Gu Changyun said, "Although…that's indeed accurate, have you
considered it for yourself?"
Jiang Suizhou looked at him.
He heard Gu Changyun add, "Pang Shao is our enemy, but the Northern
Liang is also our enemy. How can you conclude that Huo Wujiu will kill
Pang Shao, but not you?"
Hearing his question, Jiang Suizhou was rendered speechless for a moment.
He had been thinking about this matter since this morning. He knew that
after three years, everything in Southern Jing would disappear because of
Huo Wujiu, but he didn't want to really wait these three years in silence and
tangle with Pang Shao for three years.
He wanted to shorten this time.
But, like Gu Changyun said, what guarantee did he have that Huo Wujiu
would not kill him?
In his innermost being, he firmly believed for some reason that he would.
But when he heard Gu Changyun questioning him, he found that the matter
of Huo Wujiu killing him sounded quite absurd.
Was it because Huo Wujiu had been too amiable toward him during this
period?
After a long time, Jiang Suizhou spoke up.
"There's still time," he said. "As long as we can cure him, then I can
guarantee it."
He had never gambled or bet before, but what he said at this time was a real
bet.
His heart even gave birth to a conviction that only a gambler would have at
this moment.
Jiang Suizhou felt that he would not lose.
He quietly surveyed the two people in front of him.
After a long silence, Gu Changyun took the lead and sighed.
"Since Your Highness is so sure, then I'll also believe in you," he said.
Jiang Suizhou nodded slowly.
Gu Changyun continued, "Since we want to cure him, we need to find a
famous doctor. However, there is a need to announce a reason for our search
for a doctor in the world."
Jiang Suizhou agreed.
"I do have a solution," Gu Changyun said.
Jiang Suizhou nodded his head, signaling for him to go on.
Then he heard Gu Changyun say, "Your Highness is already in poor health,
but it can now become an advantage. If word gets out from the mansion,
say that because of the incident at the Ministry of Rites, Your Highness was
worried. You got drenched yesterday, returned to the mansion after a few
hours in the rain, and fell ill. That way, looking for a doctor would be
justified."
This man was indeed quick-witted.
Jiang Suizhou nodded, pondered for a moment, and then frowned. "But, if
we want to say so, I will certainly have to get sick. The emperor and Pang
Shao are keeping a close eye on me. If I am ill, they will certainly be the
first to send people to investigate."
Gu Changyun laughed.
"Did Your Highness forget where I came from?"
Jiang Suizhou was taken aback: "The brothel?"
Gu Changyun nodded.
"I also learned some unorthodox medical prescriptions there. Although they
can't cure people, they can also make people look sick, and ordinary
doctors cannot diagnose them."
Jiang Suizhou was quite amazed.
"Is there such a thing?" He said, "Then if you can do so, ensure that
everything will be safe. When the doctors in the mansion aren't able to cure
me, the mansion can naturally post a notice seeking a doctor. You two can
then sift through them and find the one that can cure Huo Wujiu."
Gu Changyun nodded.
"However, that being the case…" he faltered.
"What?" Jiang Suizhou looked at him.
Gu Changyun smiled ambiguously.
"It takes some time to administer the medicine. Moreover, for external
prescriptions, you need to soak in a bathtub… In this case, you will have to
suffer a bit, Your Highness. You will spend these next two nights in my
room."