Transmigration: The Evil Mother-In-Law Is Actually Innocent!

Chapter 862: Chapter 862 The Competent Are Busy

Three days later, Mr. Qiu from the Ministry of Revenue set off with his team and the main battalion to Jianghuai, while the imperial edict to confiscate properties had already left ahead by fast horse.

After Mr. Qiu left, Zhou Shuren finally realized that he hadn’t had much rest and would have to start attending court again soon, and before Mr. Qiu returned, he would have no days of rest.

Moreover, with Qiu Yan gone, the tasks he was responsible for had to be taken over by Zhou, which meant his workload had doubled without any overtime pay!

Zhulan massaged Zhou Shuren’s head, ”Today’s just the first day since Mr. Qiu left, and you’re already unable to come home on time for dinner. In the coming days, won’t you be staying at the Ministry of Revenue?”

Zhou Shuren responded listlessly, ”Almost, my workload was already not small, Qiu Yan left so suddenly, now all the tasks have been pushed onto me. Just look, it’s only been one day and I feel like I’ve gained quite a few white hairs.”

Zhulan, ”Your hair has been turning white even faster since we came to the capital.”

”It’s all the worries, the Ministry of Revenue is a terribly exhausting place.”

At court, everywhere one goes, they cannot do without the Ministry of Revenue, or to be precise, they cannot do without silver. Being busy with accounting is a minor matter, but there’s also the need to play all sorts of political games, facing old foxes at every turn, each sentence a trap—it’s a real test of patience.

Zhulan took a wooden comb, ”Lie down properly, I’ll comb your hair for you.”

Zhou Shuren didn’t move; his greatest pleasure now was to have his wife massage him when he got home. Today, a bit flustered, his scalp relaxed quite a lot, and he drifted off to sleep.

Zhulan’s legs had gone numb. Since winter began, her weight had shot up straight. This is a sad story. Even though she controlled her portion sizes at night, it did nothing to stop the trend of getting fatter. She looked down at Zhou Shuren, who was sleeping with his head on her leg, carefully lifted her husband’s head onto the pillow, and then massaged her own legs, which felt especially fleshy!

The next day, before dawn, Zhou Shuren was feeling quite miserable; once again, he had to get up early for court. Munching on dried meat, he walked slowly. Today, the officials attending court were particularly quiet, even the Minister of War was incredibly silent.

And no wonder, the Jianghuai case involved silver amounting to over ten million taels, although this was accumulated over several years. Currently, the Prince had only traced the sum involved in the past five years, and any earlier clues had become untraceable.

This substantial amount of silver had yet to be touched by the Prince. Even though Jianghuai had been turned upside down, not much silver had been found. The large number of officials involved was like a huge net enveloping Jianghuai. The Emperor was truly in a low mood.

Zhou Shuren did not even dare to rest his eyes today; he too was scared. He stood solemnly and earnestly, lifting his eyes to look at the Emperor seated on the Dragon Throne. The Emperor’s face was expressionless. Already advanced in age, especially in these recent years, he had aged rapidly. Those deep eyes watched you, filling you with apprehension.

The Emperor scanned the ministers in the court; how many among them were still his hidden chess pieces? Whose residences had the more than ten million taels of silver ended up in?

Whenever the Emperor thought of the state treasury scraping the bottom of the barrel day after day, he was livid with rage. Aside from a few trusted individuals, he was suspicious of everyone. His gaze fell upon Zhou Shuren. Ah, the Jianghuai problem had initially been discovered by Zhou. ”Zhou, your beloved official, step forward.”

Zhou Shuren was stunned; he had been very well-behaved today, so why the summons? He saw that everyone was stealthily glancing at him, feeling a bit of stiffness at the corners of his mouth. Nonetheless, he stepped forward earnestly, ”Your servant pays respects to the Emperor.”

The Emperor forced a smile, ”Your beloved official, rise. With the Jianghuai case concluded, your contributions cannot go unrecognized. Where there’s merit, there must be reward.”

Zhou Shuren didn’t know what the Emperor was implying, but he wasn’t one to turn down a favor, ugh, to refuse a benefit would go against his own interests, especially now was not the time to contradict the Emperor. Yet he modestly declined, ”Your servant dares not claim any merit.”

The Emperor raised his hand, ”If it had not been for your beloved official uncovering the problem, who knows how much tax revenue would have been embezzled? As you enjoy collecting books, and Jianghuai aristocratic families have a long heritage, in this confiscation of their properties brought back to the capital, I will gift you two chests of books and paintings.”

The Emperor paused for a moment, ”These are the genuine articles.”

The implication was that they were neither handwritten copies nor imitations.

Zhou Shuren’s heart leapt with joy. Books were heritage—this was exactly what the Zhou family lacked. Before, he had managed to acquire a few, but after entering the capital, such opportunities had become scarce. ”Your servant humbly thanks Your Majesty’s grace.”

The Emperor looked at Zhou Shuren with satisfaction, ”Rise!”

Zhou Shuren didn’t care about the jealous glances or whether it would bring him hatred; after all, he had incidentally thwarted the dark forces several times, and they already wanted to chop him into mince, so a bit more hatred didn’t matter to him.

Today’s early court meeting was still very thrilling, with the Minister of Justice, Mr. Sun, and others staying behind. When Zhou Shuren left, he could feel Mr. Sun’s knife-like gaze drilling into him.

Zhou Shuren felt somewhat innocent; Mr. Sun wanted to transfer him safely away, but unfortunately, there were constant problems—okay, these did have a little to do with him.

At Zhang Jinghong’s residence, Yao Xin clenched a handkerchief, ”Now it coincides with the case from Jianghuai, when will your matter be concluded?”

Although her husband had disclosed some information to her, waiting was still the hardest part.

Zhang Jinghong, on the other hand, was not in a hurry, ”There will definitely be a conclusion before the end of the year. Don’t be anxious, being confined here with me is actually good; at least I can rest and recover.”

Yao Xin bit her lip, ”But now, the doctors at the medical hall are unwilling to come to our residence to take your pulse, and when I go to buy medicinal herbs, no one will sell them to me.”

This was what she was most worried about: her husband needed to recuperate and strengthen his body with medicinal herbs, but if they couldn’t obtain the herbs, how could he recover?

Zhang Jinghong was silent; he had only thought about taking more silver and belongings with him, never considering medicinal herbs, let alone mentioning his wife’s dowry. To begin with, there wasn’t much in her dowry, and when he hadn’t been taking care of his wife, she had already spent a lot of it, including the medicinal herbs.

Yao Xin stood up, ”I, I...”

In the end, she slumped back into the chair, deflated. Her husband’s background had already spread throughout the capital. Now they weren’t just being denied medicinal herbs; even their daily food and necessities had merely been brought over when they moved.

Now the only people left in the house were one maid by her side, a coarse servant woman, a kitchen maid, and three young servants trusted by her husband. Though there were not many of them, their daily consumption was quite large, and their food stock wouldn’t last long.

Zhang Jinghong held his wife’s hand. Only the Second Prince had been somewhat good to him among several princes, but now, he wouldn’t bother with him; he wasn’t his real brother, and the Crown Prince, even less so.

Zhang Jinghong thought about whom he could ask for help. Alas, there was no one; and even if there were, they wouldn’t dare get involved because of his past.

At noon, Zhou Shuren was called over by Grand Master Xiao and met the Crown Prince, ”Your humble servant pays his respects to Your Highness, the Crown Prince.”

The Crown Prince said, ”Minister Zhou, please dispense with the formalities.”

Xiao Qing continued, ”His Highness has come here regarding the Fifth Prince.”

Zhou Shuren, ”...”

A bad premonition!

The Crown Prince cleared his throat, ”Recently, Xiao Wu has been performing well, and the Emperor wants him to gain more experience. After some consideration, the Ministry of Revenue is in need of people, and Xiao Wu is good at calculations, so starting from tomorrow, Xiao Wu will report to the Ministry of Revenue.”

Zhou Shuren maintained a smile, though internally he wanted to curse. He knew it—the Emperor’s favor was not easily received. It must have been the stingy Emperor who, after the court session, felt he had lost out. The Emperor had already rewarded him once and then rewarded him again, effectively throwing the problem into the lap of the Ministry of Revenue.

Zhou Shuren continued to smile, ”Grand Master of Writing, I caught a bit of a chill yesterday, and my head hurts a bit. Mr. Qiu left in a hurry, and there are still many matters that haven’t been sorted out.”