Chapter 462: Plan
Editor: Atlas Studios
Because the secret guards sent by the Emperor restrained themselves due to the Qi family guards in the farmstead, they were a little far away. However, they still heard Qi Haoran’s first roar.
After that, his voice lowered. They thought that they could only hear this sentence, but who knew that the couple would quarrel later? Although it was a little immoral to eavesdrop on the couple’s quarrel, in order to beef up their secret letter to the Emperor, the secret guards still pricked up their ears.
Hence, the Emperor quickly found out that Qi Haoran and his wife had quarreled over having a child.
The Emperor pursed his lips and said disdainfully, “What’s there to argue about? Could it be that Madam Mu can drink contraceptives? Madam Mu is strange, too. Who doesn’t look forward to giving birth to her husband’s child as soon as possible to gain a foothold in the family? She’s different from others. No wonder Qi Haoran is angry.”
‘Aren’t you even stranger?’
‘You’re even stricter with a fourth-grade general than you are with Minister Qin, getting your secret guards to monitor Qi Haoran 24 hours a day. Those who don’t know better would think that you have other thoughts.’
The secret guard complained in his heart.
The Emperor threw the secret letter down and waved his hand. “Alright, just get someone to watch from afar. Don’t let the Qi family discover it. If they accidentally discover it, deal with it as usual.” The Emperor tilted his head and said, “Lead it to Minister Qin.”
The secret guard agreed.
When the Emperor saw that he was the only one left in the palace, he spread his arms and leaned back on the dragon throne. He sighed, feeling that Qi Haoran was still the best. Following him would always result in the discovery of unexpected information, unlike keeping an eye on Minister Qin and not getting anything useful. It wasn’t that he hadn’t suspected it in the past, but seeing that Minister Qin was always anxious about what the Emperor was anxious about, he’d thought that the other party was really devoted to him. Thus, up till then, he hadn’t minded Minister Qin partaking in some corruption and bribery.
After all, the other party only loved money, unlike General Yuan, who controlled an army of hundreds of thousands and was constantly threatening his status.
However, from the looks of it, it was not Minister Qin who was clean, but his performance was too clean.
This was what the Emperor was most afraid of. If it weren’t for the fact that he was keeping an eye on the Zhang and Shu families this time, he probably wouldn’t have known that half of his Imperial Court was in Minister Qin’s hands.
In comparison, Qi Haoran, who always made small mistakes and had yet to properly understand the dangers of the bureaucracy, was much more lovable. The Emperor already had a plan in his heart, planning to use this rookie to expose the rules and hidden paths in the bureaucracy that he did not know.
Since that was the case, he could not let Qi Haoran stay idle anymore.
In a short period of time, the Emperor had already thought of many things. Lin’an City was already like this under his nose. According to the secret guard who monitored Zhang Cheng, many people gave him gifts every year during the debriefing period, and most of the things would enter Minister Qin’s residence through Zhang Cheng.
In the past, he had sent people to monitor Minister Qin’s residence and only saw a small number of officials who came to the capital with gifts. He did not take it to heart because he did not care about that little bit of stuff.
However, from the list that Zhang Cheng had obtained, what Minister Qin received was equivalent to almost half of the national treasury.
The Emperor controlled the entire world. If his world had 10,000 taels of silver, he would not even bat an eyelid if Minister Qin took 10 taels of silver from within.
However, not only did Minister Qin take away 5,000 taels in one go, but he surely also obtained more from other places that the Emperor could not see. That 10,000 taels merely passed Emperor’s hands briefly before it entered this country’s treasury, leaving less than 1% of it behind. However, the money solidly entered Minister Qin’s pockets without ever leaving. After accumulating for a long time, one could imagine just how fabulously wealthy he was. Just thinking about this made the Emperor very unhappy.
Coupled with the fact that Minister Qin controlled half of the officials in the Imperial Court, it made him wonder just who was the true Emperor.
The remaining half of the officials were always at odds with him, the Emperor. Such a feeling intensified when he compared their circumstances.
Most of the money was contributed from local sources. Compared to the situation in Lin’an City, the Emperor had already realized that this country was no longer completely under his control. Other than military power, the Imperial Court and local political power were also gradually slipping from his hands.
Although General Yuan, Qi Xiuyuan, and the others were disobedient, it was just with regards to external affairs. When it came to internal affairs, they still carried out his orders very thoroughly. In comparison, Minister Qin, who had always been compliant on the surface but secretly disobeyed, was much more terrifying.
The Emperor desperately wanted to know the local situation. So he wondered if he sent the stupid Qi Haoran, who had a backer and the favor of the Emperor, to the local area, what information would he obtain?
With this thought in mind, the Emperor could not wait to send Qi Haoran somewhere to take up a post.
Apart from Jiangnan, which was a place that specialized in producing fish and rice, another strategic location was the Jinghu area. It was also a large food production base and had good economic development. The Emperor wanted to know if Minister Qin’s influence had reached the Jinghu area, which he had always felt was like an arm.
The Emperor was already prepared, and was just secretly waiting for an opportunity to send Qi Haoran out. A vacancy in that area was not something readily available. Even if he was the Emperor, he could not dictate that.
Anyway, since Qi Haoran wanted to try for a child now, he would give the couple more time.
The Emperor felt that he was really a good Emperor to have even considered such a thing for his subordinate.
How could Qi Haoran know what the Emperor was thinking? He still felt that he would definitely be sent back to the West Camp. Even if he was not sent to Big Brother’s West Camp, he would most likely go to his two uncles or General Yuan. Before coming, Big Brother had already discussed with him about choosing these three places.
In order to get Mu Yangling pregnant before he left, Qi Haoran worked hard to make babies every night. If not for the fact that there were many people in the farmstead, Qi Haoran would not have wanted to get up during the day.
At this moment, Qi Haoran truly desired to spend time alone with Mu Yangling. His sister-in-law and nephew were really too inconsiderate.
After fooling around with him for half a month, Mu Yangling suddenly came back to her senses and stopped him. “That’s not right. We have to calculate the day to sleep together. I can’t get pregnant if we keep fooling around like this.”
Mu Yangling knew that there was a safe period and an ovulation period. She didn’t know how to calculate the ovulation period, but she roughly knew how to calculate the safe period. Then, minus the safe period and the few days before and after her period, wouldn’t the remaining be her ovulation period?
Pleased with her own wit, Mu Yangling took the pen and was about to calculate the date when Qi Haoran tugged at her pen and said, “There’s no need to go through so much trouble. I can just work hard every day, right?”
Mu Yangling kicked him and said, “What do you know? Calculating the date is the most scientific. I heard that it’s best to rest two days before we sleep together.”
Qi Haoran pursed his lips in disdain. “That only applies to other people. Do I need to rest?”
Looking at the arrogant Qi Haoran, Mu Yangling was speechless. However, she had already decided that she would not let Qi Haoran have his way tonight.
When Qi Haoran went out, he was a little angry. He felt that the maidservants in the residence must have led Mu Yangling astray. Otherwise, how would she know about such things?
When they returned for dinner that night, Qi Haoran took out a jar of sweet fruit wine, making Mu Yangling drool. Qi Haoran said smugly, “This was given to me by a tenant farmer when I went to the farmstead to race on a horse today. He said that it was brewed by him. Do you want to drink it?”
“Yes.”
Smiling, Madam Li said, “I want to drink it too, but the doctor instructed me not to touch alcohol, so you guys can enjoy it yourselves.”