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Marriage of the Di Daughter Chapter 125 Part 2: Furious
Being an official was the same as being a merchant, both needed to pay attention to the ways of the world. However, it’s more difficult being an official than doing business. Leaving aside how many truly good officials could not get promoted, in the officialdom, if you want to climb up, you have to flatter and maintain a good relationship with the superiors. What those people do, you must follow along. If you did not follow, you would be firmly left out of your own faction.
Over time, Ye Shijie became a person with no faction because he refused to go with the flow and could only forever look on without an end in sight. Don’t tell him that he would only be an official in the Ministry of Revenue throughout his life? However, if he wanted to go a step further, he had to go against what he believed in.
Ye Shijie was very worried.
Jiang Li patted his shoulder. As if she could hear what’s in his heart, she said, “Elder cousin doesn’t have to be worried. If you are not willing to go against your heart to obtain some things, then stick to your own thing. There will come a day when someone will see you, just like when you came first in the imperial examination, what you needed is just a chance. If you did not have any opportunity, then we will create an opportunity.”
Ye Shijie was stunned and could not help but look at Jiang Li. A smile was hanging on Jiang Li’s lips, just like before, but Ye Shijie felt there’s something different. After returning from Xiangyang, Jiang Li seemed to have let something go and had a vigor. And the mask on her face seemed to have been lightly peeled away and she looked less anxious.
She had even less resemblance to the previous “Jiang second miss”, and also different from the gentle and magnanimous Jiang Li. She started to show a bit of sharpness.
What has changed her?
As he was pondering, Jiang Li pointed to the front and said, “Wehave arrived.”
Tong’er and Bai Xue went first to notify.
Soon, Ye Ming Yu’s loud voice sounded from inside, “Ah Li, Shijie, you came so early!”
Jiang Li and Ye Shijie entered Ye Ming Yu’s courtyard.
Once inside, they saw Ye Ming Yu was in the middle of wiping Xue Huaiyuan’s mouth. Two bodyguards were holding Xue Huaiyuan as he struggled forcefully. Even Ye Ming Yu was fl.u.s.tered.
Jiang Li walked forward and said, “Let me.” Taking the handkerchief, she told the two bodyguards to relax their hands and slowly placated Xue Huaiyuan.
Xue Huaiyuan looked at her, gradually stopped struggling, and sat obediently. Jiang Li wiped his mouth with the handkerchief attentively.
Ye Ming Yu let out a big breath and said, “It’s still Ah Li that has a way, I’m really tired.”
Ye Shijie was dumbfounded and asked, “This is…..”
“This was the former county deputy of Tongxiang, Xue Huaiyuan. He is crazy now and Ah Li is afraid that someone outside will silence him, so she brought him back to the residence.”
Ye Shijie turned his head to look at Jiang Li again, slightly in a daze.
Jiang Li liked smiling, a gentle smile was always on her lips. But in the end, whether that smile was from the bottom of her heart could not be guessed by others. Sometimes, Ye Shijie felt that he could not see through Jiang Li. She had her own reason in whatever she did, but he did not seem to understand when he looked at them as a whole.
However, Ye Shijie could be sure that the smile Jiang Li revealed in front of Xue Huaiyuan was sincere. Only by looking at the sincere Jiang Li could he understand how fake Jiang Li’s smile was before. As she was meticulously wiping the corner of Xue Huaiyuan’s mouth with the handkerchief, the sunlight in the winter days climbed up at the side of her face, showing an innocence and beauty that never appeared before.
“Boy,” Ye Ming Yu;s voice suddenly sounded in his ear, making Ye Shijie jump in fright. Ye Ming Yu whispered slyly at him, “why, the younger cousin looks good? Are you mesmerized? Do you want to take her as a wife?”
“Third uncle!” Ye Shijie’s face turned red and he called sternly. He had known that this third uncle would shoot his mouth off and the one who was most not on the line, but he still did not expect that he still dared to make this kind of joke.
“Okay, okay, okay, I won’t say anymore.” Although Ye Ming Yu said so, there’s a knowing smile on his face, making Ye Shijie feel even more fl.u.s.tered.
After Jiang Li finished taking care of Xue Huaiyuan, she let Tong’er and Bai Xue accompany Xue Huaiyuan playing before walking over. She said, “What are you talking about?”
“Nothing.” Ye Shijie said hurriedly.
“I was saying, I haven’t seen my nephew, Shijie, for a long time, and he has grown so tall.” Ye Ming Yu stroked his chin and opened his mouth in earnest, “Seeing him now, also a talented person, still young, and became an official through his own ability. He is a hard to find person in the world. It’s time to give him a good wife, which family’s young miss will be so blessed to get my nephew Shijie? Right, Ah Li?”
Ye Shijie angrily said, “Third uncle!”
“That’s right.” Jiang Li also smiled, “if I meet a suitable girl, I will definitely take note for older cousin Ye.”
Ye Shijie and Ye Ming Yu were both stunned. Ye Ming Yu glanced at Ye Shijie and abruptly burst into laughter. He scratched his head and said, “It’s not urgent, settle down after his work is settled, not urgent, not urgent, take your time, take your time.”
Ye Shijie did not speak.
“Uncle Ming Yu, there’s no problem in the guest house last night?” asked Jiang Li. She was worried someone would act on the people from Tongxiang. The common people definitely would not make trouble where the struggle was as it would undoubtedly be revealing what one intended to hide. However, Princess Yongning was different from ordinary people. She was domineering and reckless, always thinking that there were Liu taifei and Cheng w.a.n.g protecting her and that she was absolutely safe. It was uncertain what could happen.
“There’s nothing, the person who came to inform said that there were some movements last night, but when they checked, there was nothing. I think you are thinking too much, Ah Li. This is the foot of the emperor, who would dare to kill under the foot of the emperor? And with so many people, there would be so many movements, don’t they want their lives?”
Jiang Li said, “It’s good, then.” However, she pondered in her heart. It was probably Ji Heng’s people that helped in dealing with them, that’s why there were some movements. Jiang Li was a.s.sured with Ji Heng’s men. Although dealing with Ji Heng was like negotiating with a tiger for its pelt, being able to exploit his power could be considered as getting an advantage.
Ye Shijie said, “The emperor already instructed the Ministry of Justice to hold a trial, to speak the truth. Striking the drum for injustice can achieve this, making the emperor overseeing personally, truly has really exceeded my expectation.”
“What does that count as,” Ye Ming Yu said carelessly, “Shijie, you did not see how miserable those people from Tongxiang are. Feng Yu Tang, that d.a.m.n man, is really not a thing. The emperor is doing things for the people, we have paid the price 50 whiplashes for striking the drum and the emperor has heard. Naturally he has to come out for the people, right?”
“Third uncle, your thought is too simple.” Ye Shijie said deeply. “Many things cannot be done just through logic alone. A careless step in handling this case would even cause the emperor to lose the reputation of the people, it’s very tricky. I think, it’s not because of the case, rather, because of the person on the case. Am I right? He looked at Jiang Li.
Jiang Li smiled. Ye Shijie matured very quickly. From the beginning, she felt that this young man was not a person without talent. Now, in just a short time of being an official, he had understood some rules in bureaucracy.
She said, “Yes.”
“What’s actually written inside the sealed memorandum?” asked Ye Shijie. “You said there’s a mastermind behind the Xue family’s case. This person….. Certainly the key that made the emperor personally supervise the case. Who is this person exactly?”
The memorandum given to the emperor was not written by Ye Shijie, but by Jiang Li, and presented through Ye Shijie. Ye Shijie did not look at the memorandum at all, and did not know which people were involved in the Xue family’s case. But he could feel that the key point of this case lay in this person.
“That’s right, Ah Li,” with Ye Shijie expressing his thought, Ye Ming Yu also recalled. “Previously, didn’t you tell me that there’s someone powerful and influential behind the Xue family’s case, who is the mastermind. You said that I will know when we arrive in Yanjing. Now can you tell me who this person is? I want to see which powerful and influential person is so shameless, who has such a deep hatred with the Xue family and insisted on giving him a hard time.”
Jiang Li looked at the two of them, sighed softly, then spat out a name.
“Princess Yongning.”
……
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