Chapter 532: Admiration
Editor: Atlas Studios
Although Mu Yangling didn’t go out, she still learned from the servants how much trouble there was outside. Not to mention that the citizens of Lin’an City were gathered at the entrance of the government office or by the main road to request for the eradication of traitorous officials, even the citizens of the nearby cities and counties came to petition. It was said that the citizens of other places also expressed to their local government office their intention to get rid of the traitors by the Emperor’s side. Some even ran to the temples to burn incense and pray to Buddha.
As the matter escalated, Mu Yangling and Li Jinghua felt that something was amiss. It was as if there was a hand pushing this matter from behind.
“At first, people only clamored to get rid of the traitorous ministers by the Emperor’s side, claiming that Minister Qin did not do anything in West Xia. Later, people started digging up old scores from Minister Qin’s past. Now, it’s said that he’s the one who ordered the massacre in West Xia.” Li Jinghua frowned and said worriedly, “Lin’an City is quite famous. I wonder if someone will instigate trouble and cause it to fall into chaos.”
In the past, no matter what happened outside, Lin’an City was always safe. But now, things had turned quite serious because of Minister Qin.
Mu Yangling was also a little worried. When she heard this, she said, “I’ve already gotten someone to make preparations. Sister-in-law, put away the important things just in case.”
Li Jinghua nodded to show that she understood. She lowered her voice and said, “I’m afraid Minister Qin won’t survive, right?”
“In any case, he’ll be back soon. We’ll know when the time comes.” Although Mu Yangling said that, she was already certain that Minister Qin would most likely not survive.
With the Emperor’s personality, he was already wary of Minister Qin, so how could he not take this opportunity to get rid of him?
As Minister Qin was the person Qi Haoran hated the most, Mu Yangling knew him rather well.
When Qi Haoran was still a young teen, he already knew that Minister Qin was a treacherous official and General Yuan was a hero. It could be seen how bad Minister Qin’s reputation was. Moreover, he was as well-known as General Yuan.
However, Mu Yangling had always felt that still, it was very impressive for a bad person to be so successful. Hence, when Qi Haoran occasionally scolded Minister Qin, she asked two questions. “Since Minister Qin is so wicked, why does the Emperor still like him so much? Does one only need to please the Jin Kingdom and West Xia to be a good Prime Minister?”
If anyone else heard this, they would most likely think that Mu Yangling was mocking him, but Qi Haoran knew that Mu Yangling was seriously asking a question.
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Qi Haoran had always put up a strong front before Mu Yangling, so he kept the question in his heart and ran back to ask his big brother. The reason why he didn’t ask Fan Zijin was because he was certain that he definitely didn’t know either. Like Qi Haoran, he would just call Minister Qin a treacherous official.
Qi Xiuyuan was also a little surprised by his brother’s question, but he still gave him an answer after thinking for a long time.
Of course, the Emperor knew that Minister Qin was not a good person, but Minister Qin did not need to be a good person. He only needed to be useful to the Emperor and be loyal to him.
At that time, Qi Xiuyuan had no intention of rebelling, so analyzing the Emperor in front of his younger brother still somewhat challenged his loyalty to the Emperor. However, compared to the Emperor, his own younger brother was naturally more important.
It was time for his younger brother to get involved in these political matters. The bureaucracy was dangerous, but he was still like a child in his teens. Qi Xiuyuan did not wait for him to comprehend it on his own and began to teach him in detail. He also pulled Fan Zijin over.
Qi Xiuyuan and Rong Xuan analyzed Minister Qin’s life for the two of them, focusing on the part where Minister Qin escaped his captivity and returned to persuade the Emperor to make peace.
It could be said that Minister Qin’s goal was extremely clear. At first, it might be to survive, but later on, it was for power.
However, this person was very talented. It was undeniable that it was a great ability to be able to coax the unpredictable Emperor. Moreover, Minister Qin’s ability in handling government affairs was not weak.
He was the Prime Minister and the Minister of Revenue. When he was most favored, he was even the Minister of Justice. Despite having so many government affairs piled on him, he could handle all of them in an orderly manner. He could even review the memorials that the Emperor was too lazy to look at. From this, one could see his talent.
In Qi Xiuyuan’s words, Minister Qin’s talent was not inferior to his mentor, Grand Tutor Yan. It was just that his thoughts were not upright. Although Grand Tutor Yan was not considered a good person either, he had a clear bottom line. However, Minister Qin was a person who had no bottom line, willing to do anything for the sake of promotion and power.
Therefore, Qi Xiuyuan’s first lesson for the cousins was to have a bottom line, be it in officialdom or in their personal lives!
Qi Xiuyuan wasn’t worried about Qi Haoran, for he knew his younger brother well. He looked fierce, but he was kind-hearted and had plenty of tricks up his sleeve. Although he was a little stupid, not achieving great things also meant that he wouldn’t be at great risk.
Fan Zijin, on the other hand, was different. This child was very smart, but unfortunately he wasn’t born to the right family. It was probably due to the grievances that he suffered when he was young that caused him to grow up crooked. When Fan Zijin came to Xingzhou Prefecture, Qi Xiuyuan realized that his personality had already been fixed, and it was very difficult to change it.
Qi Xiuyuan could only slowly reform him.
Back to the main topic, after Qi Xiuyuan taught Qi Haoran, the latter went to show off to Mu Yangling. As a result, Mu Yangling now knew a lot about Minister Qin. Although Qi Xiuyuan was young and relatively inexperienced, he had always been sharp. Not only did Qi Haoran believe him, but Mu Yangling also believed him very much.
Hence, based on Minister Qin’s character and image according to Qi Xiuyuan’s words, he definitely would not sit back and wait for death.
How could such a person, who set his life and power as his highest goal, be willing to come back and die?
Even small fries like them knew that the Emperor might abandon him. Minister Qin understood the Emperor’s thoughts so well, so how could he not know?
Therefore, Mu Yangling did not understand why Minister Qin would come back. Logically speaking, shouldn’t he be fleeing at the earliest instance to be at ease?
After returning to Lin’an City, it would be much more difficult to escape.
“It’s probably for his family.” Li Jinghua said with a smile, “Minister Qin’s family is still in Lin’an City.”
Mu Yangling frowned and pondered for a moment, before shaking her head and saying, “If it was someone else, I would still believe it. Minister Qin likely isn’t someone who would risk his life for his family. It’s too dangerous for him to come back.”
There would be heartache from losing his family, but Minister Qin would most likely be resentful and avenge them. However, it was unlikely for him to risk his life for them.
Thinking of this, Mu Yangling could not help but tense up. Minister Qin was not an ordinary person. Although his reputation was extremely bad, in Qi Xiuyuan’s words, this person’s IQ and EQ were far above Grand Tutor Yan’s. He was also ruthless to boot, and was someone who could single-handedly negotiate peace with two countries. Mu Yangling did not think that he would just cause a small commotion.
Thinking of the secret letter she had received from Qi Xiuyuan two days ago, Mu Yangling began to prepare in private.
Minister Qin was escorted to the capital two days later. Although there were constant requests from various places, he was still the Prime Minister. Since the Emperor had not questioned him about his sins, he still enjoyed the privileges of a Prime Minister.
Minister Qin entered the palace directly after arriving in the capital, but he did not come out after entering the palace. For two consecutive days, no matter how much trouble there was outside and how the officials tried to sound him out, the Emperor did not let Minister Qin appear.
On the fifth day, there was still no reaction from the palace. Seeing that the reaction of the commoners was getting more and more intense, Mu Yangling could not help but praise Minister Qin’s ability to turn the situation around at a time like this. Just as her heart was put to ease, Fan Zijin knocked on the Qi Residence’s side door at night.