RPAGF Chapter 1049 I understand
Chapter 1049 I understand
"Did the Qian family send someone to my door yesterday?"
Cui Ling repeated the sentence, then smiled, relaxed, and leaned back, her voice laced with sarcasm: "The Qian family is such a prestigious clan, why would they need to come to me for an audience? I guess, just like you said, it's about the wooden figure found in Consort Qian's bedchamber!"
"Because you're not home, you've gone out on business, and they know that, so I only had the housekeeper give you a vague answer, not making it definitive. So now, do you mean... you won't see me?"
“I’m already upset, so I don’t have time to see them. Besides, if they really are pleading for Qian Fei, I can’t just refuse them outright. That would put me in a passive position. So I might as well not see them. If they come again, I’ll just say I’m not feeling well and it’s not good for me to see guests, and send them away,” Cui Ling said.
After saying that, he added two more words of advice: "You don't have to see them, but be polite to them and don't let them find anything to talk about. It wouldn't be good to make things too ugly in public."
"Understood!" Madam Cui understood; after so many years of marriage, they had this much tacit understanding.
Seeing that his parents had finished discussing important matters, Cui He brought up his own affairs, "Father, my sister flatly refused my request to change jobs. Why don't you wait until you're better and go to the palace to talk to her yourself, or you could just ask His Majesty for help? After all, you're a favorite of His Majesty, so why do you have to rely on my sister to ask him for everything? It makes me feel like I owe her a huge favor, and I lose face in front of her."
Upon hearing this, Cui Ling's mood, which had just improved, immediately sombered again. He couldn't help but cover his wound and sigh heavily: "He'er, you're seventeen or eighteen years old now, not a child anymore. How can you still act like a child who doesn't understand anything? You don't understand the situation in the court at all. And you're saying such things at a time like this. Is this the time to worry about your duties?"
"Dad, what did I say? It was just a small matter, but you've made it so complicated," Cui He complained, feeling wronged.
"Do you know why your father named you 'He'? It was because I hoped that you would grow up to be a famous and successful person, and bring glory to the Cui family. Now it seems that I made a mistake in choosing this name. I don't expect you to be very successful, but at least don't cause trouble for your father!"
"I botched this job, and I don't even know how His Majesty will punish me. You want me to go to His Majesty now and ask him to change my assignment? Wouldn't that just make him even angrier? Don't you have any brains at all?"
"Father!" Cui He hadn't yet realized the seriousness of the situation.
Seeing this, Madam Cui quickly tried to smooth things over, scolding her son with a stern face: "Alright, He'er, don't mention it anymore. Let's talk about this later. The most important thing right now is your father's injury. We'll talk about it after he recovers. The day after tomorrow is your sister's coronation ceremony. Your father was right earlier. No matter how much we have a grudge against her, we are still family. We should go to the palace to visit her so as not to hurt her feelings."
With both parents having the same attitude, Cui He, no matter how spoiled he was, dared not say anything more. He could only sullenly reply "Yes," and then the mother and son left the room so that Cui Ling could rest properly.
Not far from the door, Madam Cui couldn't help but tap her son's head, exasperated: "You, you! Your father and I are both shrewd people, how did we end up with such a blockhead like you? You're not even half as good as your sister. You two were born the wrong genders. Your father was so angry just now, and you were still bringing up your job. You have no sense of propriety at all."
"Mother~", Cui He said, clinging to Madam Cui's arm affectionately.
"I only act this way in front of you. I don't act this way in front of others. Besides, Father is His Majesty's favorite. His Majesty entrusts many tasks to Father. It's normal for him to mess things up once. Does His Majesty really think he would severely punish Father? I don't believe it!"
"You're lucky to be the eldest son, with me protecting you. Things are fine now, but who knows what will happen in the future? It seems I should get you married off as soon as possible and have more sons to raise early," Madam Cui said, looking at her son with a hint of helpless doting.
The mother and son walked away chatting and laughing.
Cui Ling had just woken up and couldn't fall back asleep anytime soon. She leaned against the bed with her eyes closed, trying to rest and thinking about things in a jumbled way.
He thought of the Qian family's visit, and then suddenly remembered how the leader of that group on the road looked very familiar. Combining the two thoughts, in a flash, he suddenly remembered where he had seen that person before!
That was when the late emperor had just passed away, and he had just rushed over to save the emperor. While investigating the movements of the civil and military officials in the court, he had seen this man once at the Qian residence.
Even though he wasn't someone with a photographic memory, he was still deeply impressed by the person's eyes.
Yes! There's no mistake, this person is from the Qian family!!
Then it's somewhat understandable why these people would have tens of millions of taels of silver notes on them.
Given the Qian family's wealth accumulated over generations, it's reasonable that they could come up with this amount of money.
After all, no official is immune to corruption. Besides, no matter what, the hundreds of thousands of acres of tax-exempt fertile land under the names of each member of the Qian clan alone would generate a considerable amount of income every year.
But... why are these people suddenly bringing so much silver into the capital? This is rather unusual!
Generally, large families keep their silver in banks under the names of their own family members, or in their own silver vaults, or in their private treasuries. Why would they allow their subordinates to carry huge sums of silver notes to the capital at will?
Thinking of this, Cui Ling felt that this matter was unusual. Those people came from the Hebei direction, not from Lin'an by waterway. The Qian clan was in Hebei, and the first person who came to his mind was Qian Yu.
But upon further reflection, it still didn't make sense. Qian Yu wasn't in a position of absolute power in Hebei. How could he have amassed tens of millions of taels of silver in just a few years? That's no small sum. Even accumulating wealth takes time, and Hebei is only so big; he had to appease both superiors and subordinates.
With such a massive amount of embezzlement, it's likely enough to scrape away more than three layers of land in Hebei. There's no way he wouldn't have heard a thing.
In other words, the deduction of this route was incorrect.
After much thought, Cui Ling still couldn't figure it out until a casual remark from his son, Cui He, at dinner time enlightened him.
"Father, this question has stumped you all afternoon. Do you think it's really that serious? You just said that if someone doesn't steal or cheat, how can they accumulate tens of millions of taels of silver in three or four years? Unless it's a pie falling from the sky or they've stumbled upon a treasure trove, there's no other possibility!" Cui He said casually while drinking his soup.
"A treasure vault?" Upon hearing this, Cui Ling suddenly slapped his thigh, as if a lightbulb had gone off in his head. "I know!"
"What do you know?" Cui He was a little confused, not understanding the sudden excitement in his father's eyes.