Li Zhengda didn’t know whether the earlier claims were true or not, but if what 011 said was real, then the wife Sun Minghao later married was his own daughter and he was going to hear exactly what had happened!
The other officials, including Emperor Wu’an seated on the dragon throne, couldn’t help leaning toward Shen Shixu, wanting to hear more clearly.
Hearing this, Shen Shixu urged 011 to hurry up and continue. 【Xiao Yi, go on. Tell us more.】
011 gathered its words and continued: 【The wife Sun Minghao later married was one he schemed painstakingly to obtain. Her father was Vice Minister of Revenue, who helped him a great deal in his official career.
When Sun Minghao first arrived in the capital, he couldn’t find a place to live and had no choice but to lodge at Guangci Temple on the city’s outskirts.
Vice Minister Li’s mother, the Old Madam Li, was devoted to worshipping Buddha and donating incense money, and she often went to the temple to burn incense. Her granddaughter, Miss Li Shiyu, being a filial granddaughter, always accompanied her. It was during one of these incense-burning visits that Sun Minghao first saw her.
Noticing that Miss Li was attended by servants and attendants, he guessed her family must be wealthy, so he began making inquiries.
The Old Madam Li’s fondness for burning incense was no secret in the capital, many people knew of it, so Sun Minghao easily found out all about her.
Once he learned she was the Vice Minister’s daughter, he began hatching his scheme.
He bribed a young novice monk at Guangci Temple to find out the days when the Vice Minister’s mother would come to burn incense. Once he knew, he would secretly follow behind whenever the Old Madam Li came to worship.
Say what you will about this scoundrel’s character, his luck was actually quite good. He really did manage to seize an opportunity to make an impression.
That day, the Old Madam Li had brought along her great-grandson, who was only four years old. Being a lively child, he saw how bustling it was outside the temple and insisted on staying to watch.
Li Shiyu, doting on her little nephew, volunteered to stay behind and look after him. But who could have guessed the mischievous boy would break free from her and run off on his own?
Seeing this, Sun Minghao hurried after him and coaxed and frightened the child into coming back with him. By the time they returned, Li Shiyu had already been frightened to tears. The Old Madam Li, while comforting her guilt-ridden granddaughter, had sent people out to search.
When Sun Minghao returned the child, she thanked him profusely, and it was at that moment that Li Shiyu first took notice of Sun Minghao.】
At this, Li Zhengda nearly collapsed into his seat, and only a colleague behind him kept him from falling. Seeing his look of utter shock, everyone understood that everything the system said was true.
Li Zhengda hadn’t believed what 011 said before, but the incident of his little grandson nearly going missing was known only to his own family not even close friends knew of it.
Let alone Shen Shixu, who had only just arrived in the capital for the first time. Since all this was true, then the earlier claims, that Sun Minghao had abandoned his wife and children and cast off his own mother must be true as well!
Li Zhengda felt a surge of fury rise in his chest. He wanted to rush home at once and make his daughter divorce Sun Minghao. A man so heartless as to abandon his wife and children and repay the mother who raised him with such ingratitude, how could he possibly treat his daughter well?
Emotionally, he wanted to cast Sun Minghao aside immediately, but reason told him they were still at court, and he also wanted to hear what else Sun Minghao had done.
【From then on, Sun Minghao made an impression on the Li family. Though his character was poor, his learning was decent, and the exam questions three years ago happened to favor him, they were on the people’s livelihood, a subject a poor scholar like him naturally understood well. By sheer coincidence, he won first place as zhuangyuan.
During the champion’s parade through the streets, Li Shiyu was watching the procession with her close friend when she was momentarily stunned to see that the top scholar was none other than the young gentleman who had once saved her little nephew.
Around that time, Vice Minister Li’s wife was helping Li Shiyu look for a suitable match. As Vice Minister Li’s only daughter, he cared not only about family background and character, but also about whether Li Shiyu herself liked the man.
Li Shiyu felt quite favorably toward the man who had saved her little nephew, and since Sun Minghao had now become the top scholar, his future looked promising. So she hinted to Vice Minister Li that her heart belonged to Sun Minghao.
Sun Minghao was very good at putting on a facade. When Vice Minister Li sent his son to deliver thanks, Sun Minghao returned the gift outright, saying he had merely done a small favor within his power and could not accept such a valuable present.
This left an excellent impression on Vice Minister Li, who felt Sun Minghao was not the sort to leverage a favor for gain. So when Li Shiyu expressed her fondness for him, he readily went along and agreed.
Little did he know he was inviting a wolf into his home. After his daughter married Sun Minghao, Vice Minister Li had consistently helped him in his official career, making his path to advancement remarkably smooth.
But Sun Minghao was not satisfied and wanted to climb even higher, so he secretly made contact with Vice Minister Li’s rival. The Minister of Revenue was planning to retire and return home, and was evaluating his two vice ministers. Vice Minister Liu wanted to frame Vice Minister Li for corruption and bribery, so he handed over the money he had embezzled along with forged account books, promising Sun Minghao a position as a registrar in the Ministry of Revenue, and had him plant the items in Vice Minister Li’s household storeroom. This would ruin Vice Minister Li’s reputation, allowing Vice Minister Liu to ascend to the position of Minister of Revenue.
And the day Sun Minghao was to plant the bribe money and account books seemed to be today!】
After listening to 011’s account, Li Zhengda shot an furious glare at Liu Fen on his left. He never imagined this colleague, who had always kept such a low profile, harbored such a vicious scheme.
Liu Fen had been enjoying watching Li Zhengda’s misfortune, never expecting that the system would expose his own deeds as well. He didn’t dare lift his head to look at Emperor Wu’an’s expression, his whole body trembling like a leaf in the wind. Now everyone knew about his embezzlement and his framing of an innocent man. He opened his mouth to defend himself, but Li Zhengda clamped a hand over it.
Emperor Wu’an had thought he was just enjoying some gossip about his officials, but it turned out that eating melons could also help him rid the court of a parasite. He now looked at Shen Shixu as if gazing at a treasure trove.
The other civil and military officials, however, looked at Shen Shixu with complicated feelings. They envied his ability to eat melons with his system, and were happy to join in the melon-eating.
The only problem was that one day, a melon might be eaten about one of them. Every single one of them had secrets, more or less and once a melon about them was eaten, the entire court would know.
An unknown quirk or two would be one thing, just a round of mockery. But if something as serious as Liu Fen’s were exposed, their careers would be over, and their entire families’ lives might not be spared.
Before the ministers could finish weighing their thoughts, Emperor Wu’an shot a glance at his trusted head eunuch, Quan Xi. Quan Xi had grown up alongside Emperor Wu’an, had even followed him onto the battlefield, and had once saved the emperor’s life there, he was one of the people Emperor Wu’an trusted most.
“If anyone has matters to report, speak now. Otherwise, court is dismissed.”
The ministers understood this was the emperor’s way of dismissing them, so they bowed toward Emperor Wu’an’s departing figure before withdrawing.
Once court was adjourned, Li Zhengda immediately hurried home. The other ministers knew exactly what he was rushing off for, and most of them followed along, eager to see the excitement for themselves.
Watching the ministers’ hurried, scurrying backs as they left, Shen Shixu couldn’t help but sigh inwardly, 【Tsk, no matter the era or the kind of people, everyone’s happy the moment it’s time to get off work!】