After the Disabled God of War Became My Concubine Chapter 72
However, Jiang Suizhou’s joy didn’t last for long.
After Chen Ti was convicted, because Qi Min refused to let him off, he repeatedly submitted written statements to the top, taking great pains to provoke Hou Zhu. Soon after, several members related to Chen Ti in the Ministry of Rites were convicted. Although the charges were not as serious as Chen Ti’s, they were more or less demoted.
But Jiang Suizhou did not expect for Ji You to also be among those ranks.
This case originally stopped at this point, and in no way was it related to him, but after two days of him being released from prison, he was demoted under the jurisdiction of lax charges, and was transferred to Huizhou.
Huizhou wasn’t very far, nor was it as remote as Lingnan, but at Ji You’s age, being demoted to outside the capital was equivalent to ending his career as an official.
Ji You didn’t have a criminal charge, yet Pang Shao still tried every means to make things difficult for him, thus thinking of this idea. When he thought about it, Jiang Suizhou knew Pang Shao was using Ji You to fight with himself, to give him a warning.
Pang Shao was telling him, while under Pang Shao’s leadership, even if the rescue of someone was successful, it wouldn’t come to a good end.
Jiang Suizhou felt his breath stuck in his chest.
For two consecutive days, he didn’t look for Huo Wujiu. In his study, he found some of the original owner’s hidden rare books, along with some silver notes for travel, and had Meng Qianshan deliver them to Ji You’s residence.
Meng Qianshan soon returned.
Ji You accepted those books, but returned the silver notes.
Meng Qianshan gave the silver notes back to Jiang Suizhou, saying, “Your Highness, Ji-daren said his traveling expenses are sufficient, so you have no need to spend.”
With this said, he fished out a thin letter from his arms and handed it to Jiang Suizhou. “Ji-daren also wrote a few words, and asked this humble slave to pass it on to Your Highness.”
Jiang Suizhou opened the letter and saw eloquent, unrestrained writing on the paper.
“Thank you for your Highness’ rescue, and I ask Your Highness not to blame yourself.
“Huizhou has lovely scenery, the plum blossoms are especially lavish, I have yearned to see it for a long time. If you think about it, if I leave a bit earlier, I can catch up before I wizen, and see Huizhou’s green plums for myself. Wouldn’t it be wonderful?”
Jiang Suizhou read until this point, and the corner of his mouth relaxed, before finally forming a very shallow curve.
In life, each one has their own preferences and pursuits. But Pang Shao imposed his preferences on others, thinking that career and wealth were the things everyone liked, which made him think that ruining Ji You’s future prospects was the most appropriate punishment.
But he didn’t know, his so-called punishment was nothing to Ji You. To Jiang Suizhou, this was luck in misfortune.
But…
Jiang Suizhou studied the letter for a moment, and put it away like it was a precious thing.
Although this demotion only tickled Ji You, and instead gave him the chance to enjoy the scenery to his heart’s content, Pang Shao’s animosity would never be forgotten by Jiang Suizhou.
He also must make it clear to Pang Shao.
But today, Pang Shao hoodwinked the court, and most of all, the Ministry of Personnel that was in charge of transferring and promoting officials, was practically grasped in Pang Shao’s hands.
Even if he wanted to oppose Pang Shao, the fact was, it would be extremely difficult.
For two consecutive days, Huo Wujiu did not see Jiang Suizhou at all.
Every day, after taking his medicine, he could only wait in the room. Sometimes, he could see people going in and out of the courtyard from the window, but he couldn’t go out.
He only felt, after taking the medicine these two days, the pain in his legs was a bit severe, so much so that his mood was poor. No matter how many times he thought of solutions to forget the pain, it did not work.
To him, these two days felt a little longer than usual.
Until the third day.
Just like the previous days, Li Changning gave him acupuncture and moxibustion. When he reached half of the pincushion, he suddenly heard Huo Wujiu ask, “Did the medicine change these two days?”
Li Changning was stunned. “It didn’t!”
He raised his eyes to look at Huo Wujiu, and saw Huo Wujiu sitting there with a frown. Hearing his answer, Huo Wujiu raised his hand to rub the space between his brows and hmmed.
Li Changning hurriedly asked, “General, these two days, did you feel especially different?”
Huo Wujiu paused. “No, just asking.”
Li Changning gave a response, and continued pricking his needle.
Wei Kai turned his head to see Huo Wujiu with this expression, and knew something was wrong. He hurriedly moved to the bed and asked Huo Wujiu, “General, what happened?”
Huo Wujiu was silent for a moment. “These two days, what’s unusual happening in Jingwang Manor?”
Wei Kai pondered. “This subordinate has not heard any rumors, but this morning, when this subordinate followed Doctor Li to come here, that eunuch who’s always beside Jingwang told this subordinate to be a little careful.”
Huo Wujiu paused, and lifted his eyes to look at him. “What did he say?”
Wei Kai was dazed for a while. He felt that when the General heard this, he would speak a little faster.
He hastily said, “He didn’t say anything, he just said Jingwang is not very happy these two days, and asked this subordinate to not invite bad luck.”
Huo Wujiu withdrew his gaze.
So something did happen.
He didn’t ask again. The two men also gave a meaningful glance and went to do their work. Only until both finished adding the needles, giving him all the medicine, and withdrawing, did Huo Wujiu lift his eyes to look outside the window, the space between his brows furrowed very tightly.
He was perfectly fine two days ago, what happened that made him so upset?
Huo Wujiu’s heart was in turmoil, and he came up with a guess.
Could something have happened in the court? But these two days he didn’t see Jingwang go out, let alone see anyone from the palace visiting Jingwang Manor.
Huo Wujiu’s brows didn’t loosen the whole day.
Luckily, when nightfall came, Jiang Suizhou showed up.
By now, Huo Wujiu had had his dinner and was sitting on the bed, randomly flipping a book distractedly. Jiang Suizhou sat down beside his bed and asked, “Are you well these two days?”
Huo Wujiu put down the book. He didn’t answer his question, and instead said, “What happened?”
Jiang Suizhou couldn’t help but freeze for a moment.
He didn’t expect this matter would reach Huo Wujiu’s ears, and also didn’t expect he would ask so naturally and as a matter of course.
Jiang Suizhou looked at him, somewhat stunned and speechless for a while. Qi Min showed him no mercy, and after a glance at him, he flicked his sleeve and said, “How can Your Highness give away the efforts of your colleagues in the Ministry of Rites for the sake of your dignity?!”
After saying that, he stalked off without a backward glance.
Jiang Suizhou returned to his senses.
…He did not expect that the speculation he deduced in the courtroom just now was actually true.
Although Jiang Suizhou seemed to be just an idle prince, those silent ministers in the court imperceptibly regarded him as their backbone. Qi Min’s rebuke totally confirmed his suspicions.
Seeing that Qi Min was about to walk away, Jiang Suizhou took two steps to catch up with him and hurriedly spoke.
“Does the Minister of Ceremonies think that I only did that for my own dignity?” he countered solemnly.
Having confirmed this, Jiang Suizhou knew that at this moment, he definitely couldn’t stay silent or do nothing.
All ministers who joined factions had purposes. They secretly gathered under his command, and even got Qi Min involved in the muddy water. Eight out of ten, their goal was to fight against Pang Shao.
Jiang Suizhou still had three years to spend with these people. If he didn’t pacify them, he would die in the court battle before Huo Wujiu could chop his head off.
So…
What he had to do now was to fool them.
Take this Qi Min for example. Although he was a three-dynasty veteran minister and the respected Minister of Ceremonies, in the end, he was only an official in charge of the rituals of the ancestral temples. This kind of high-ranking official, though high in position, had no real power. If he conducted himself upright, he should not have engaged in any power struggle to secure personal gain.
People like him were quite scary.
Sure enough, Qi Min paused when he heard Jiang Suizhou’s words and slowed down.
Seeing this, Jiang Suizhou sneered and put on an unfathomable tone.
“The Grand Minister over the Masses openly manipulated His Majesty in the court today to compete with me. Do you think he isn’t capable of doing other tricks in the future?” He said, “The construction of the ancestral hall concerns the clan ancestors. If something happens here, this is not something you and I can afford.”
As expected, Qi Min did not make another sound.
Jiang Suizhou gave a faint smile, quickened his pace, and brushed past him. “Minister, my plan isn’t to save my dignity,” Jiang Suizhou said. “Rather, it’s to protect all your lives.”
——
He left such a meaningful sentence and walked away without looking back.
After all, leaving the rest unsaid and giving him room to ponder and speculate would bring out the best effect.
Not to mention he was still a conservative old man.
When Jiang Suizhou got on the carriage waiting outside Kaiyang Gate, he secretly peeked back and saw Qi Min standing in front of the Zhengyang Gate, looking solemn and pensive.
…He truly fooled him.
Jiang Suizhou couldn’t help but smile a little.
Although he was now at a dead end with wolves in front and tigers behind, he found pleasure in this adversity…It was pretty exhilarating.
For example, he bluffed to the famous loyal minister and let the old man go. The minister probably wouldn’t eat well for several days because of Jiang Suizhou’s ambiguous words.
This feeling was quite marvelous.
Although he originally chose to stay in school just to try to be an idler disguised as a high intellectual, studying history was his hobby.
After all, his family had been chaotic since he was a child. His father relied on what little money he had to change wives more frequently than changing cars. There were not only many children in the family, but each also had their own mothers. Those children had cherished their childhood, but Jiang Suizhou was rather miserable. He was too quiet and uncommunicative.
Whenever his father’s other children played court schemes at home, Jiang Suizhou hid in his room alone to read books.
But when all was said and done, books were books and were nothing more than words. Now, he could see those characters in history books thousands of years ago, walking to and fro in front of him. It seemed… quite intriguing.
Jiang Suizhou has always been very good at finding the silver lining in things.
So he put the curtain down in high spirits and sat back.
As the carriage set off, he looked at the scenery outside through the floating brocade curtain while devising plans deep within.
He must not neglect the main ministers of the dynasty, but above all, there was still Huo Wujiu in his manor. He has traveled from the future and had read enough ‘spoilers’ to know that no matter how much they fought against it, the dynasty would still perish, and the country would be destroyed after three years.
Since this was the case, there was no point in fighting Pang Shao to death. Therefore, Jiang Suizhou just needed to appease and fool them enough to get through these three years.
The carriage rocked as it wandered through the wide streets of Lin’an, turned around Qinghe Square and finally stopped in front of Jingwang Manor.
Jiang Suizhou got off the carriage and headed to Anyin Hall where he was staying.
He was an idle official, and he also didn’t have to go to the government office to work today after attending the Grand Court Assembly. He wanted to rush to Jingwang’s study to go through the letters and folders in his room to get a better understanding of everything.
But at the entrance of Anyin Hall, a sobbing maid stopped him.
“…Your Highness!” The maid looked exquisitely dressed and must have been someone’s personal maid.
“Madam Gu was wronged this morning and is crying at this moment. Please be the judge, Your Highness!”
Jiang Suizhou was stunned.
…Who’s Madam Gu?!
He frowned and asked solemnly, “…What happened?”
The maid answered, “This morning, the new Concubine Huo moved courtyards and happened to run into My Lady. My Lady just casually chatted with him, but he raised his hand against her. He injured My Lady!”
Jiang Suizhou’s relaxed expression stiffened little by little with the maid’s report.
…He did not expect that the original owner had other concubines in the harem in addition to marrying Huo Wujiu.
It was even more beyond his imagination that a man would fight a woman in his manor.
