Chapter 573
Just One Step Away
The figure in red official robes strode out of the Ministry of Personnel and headed straight for the gate of the Imperial Guard Commandery.
At first, the officials from the Six Ministries, who were whispering and pointing outside the gate, were unaware of what was happening. They all had their backs to the Ministry of Personnel and were quietly marveling at how many righteous people were in this group of纨绔 (spoiled young masters) soldiers.
However, as the steady footsteps approached, the nearest official from the Ministry of Revenue was the first to sense something amiss, turning his head in confusion. The next moment, he instinctively stumbled to the side, making way for where he had been standing.
This small movement was like a pebble thrown into a still lake, causing ripples to spread in an instant.
The second, the third... more and more officials turned around, and when they saw the bright red official robe of the second rank, embroidered with a peacock in gold thread, all the discussions, whispers, and even breathing were instantly cut off.
There were no orders, no shouts.
The crowd, like a tide parted by a giant hand, retreated silently to both sides with awe.
In just a few breaths, a clean road suddenly appeared. On both sides of the road, a dark mass of officials in blue and green robes stood, heads bowed and holding their breath.
As the Minister of Personnel in charge of the capital's official examinations, Zhang Zhuo was now the most feared cabinet minister by all the ministries. Everyone was afraid that if they were too slow to leave, they would be targeted by Zhang Zhuo.
At this moment, Zhang Zhuo came to Chen Ji, looked down at the pile of Buddhist coins and silver at his feet, and looked up at Wang Daosheng: "How much silver do you, as the teacher, give to your personal disciple?"
Wang Daosheng calmly replied, "One hundred taels."
Zhang Zhuo sarcastically remarked, "How could I, Zhang Zhuo, have such a poor and stingy friend? A dignified Minister of War, only giving his personal disciple one hundred taels?"
Wang Daosheng glanced at him sideways: "I only have one hundred taels in total, so I'll give you one hundred taels. How much do you have, and how much are you planning to give?"
Zhang Zhuo was taken aback, and actually circled around Wang Daosheng, saying with great interest, "Wow, Wang Daosheng, you're using military tactics on me for the sake of your disciple? If I gave him all my wealth, I'm afraid he wouldn't dare to accept it."
He turned to Chen Ji, took out two strings of Buddhist coins from his pocket, and put them on Chen Ji's left and right wrists respectively: "I heard from A Xia that you pawned the Gu Fu Lou. That was the family fortune your aunt had painstakingly saved for you. Now that your aunt is gone, keeping the Gu Fu Lou is a way to remember her. We'll go redeem it later. Each string of Buddhist coins is worth 200,000 taels of silver, for a total of 400,000 taels."
Four hundred thousand taels.
It can buy 500,000 shi of rice.
It can buy 26,700 mu of fertile land.
Two thousand residences within the inner city of the capital could be purchased.
It could support a border army for several years.
To fight a battle that requires the mobilization of tens of thousands of troops.
Just moments ago, the area outside the gate was somewhat noisy due to the Imperial Guards raising funds, but now it was so quiet that one could hear the autumn wind rustling the banners fluttering past Chengtian Gate.
The first official from the Ministry of Revenue to make way dug his fingers into his palm. He was in charge of money and grain, and he knew better than anyone what 400,000 taels of silver meant. It was half a year's revenue for a single department of the Ministry of Revenue, or half a year's land tax for a southern province.
According to the salary of officials in the capital, he would have to work diligently since the founding of the Ning Dynasty to accumulate this amount, no, he might not even be able to accumulate it.
Chen Ji looked at Zhang Zhuo and said, "Lord Zhang, this amount of money is too much. If you take it out in public, I'm afraid you will be impeached by many people."
Zhang Zhuo smiled and grabbed his wrist: "Never mind anything else, go redeem Gu Fu Lou first. Some things may not be that important, but keeping them is just for the sake of having something to remember you by. You are a sentimental person, so you must redeem them. Don't worry, I'll take care of everything."
Chen Ji remained silent for a moment, then cupped his hands and said, "Thank you, Lord Zhang."
Zhang Zhuo looked at the silver coins on the ground and said to the Imperial Guards with a smile, "Alright, take all of these back. Those who stole and sold things from their homes should also hurry up and redeem them, lest their parents find out and break their legs."
Li Guang was the first to take his silver back, and said with a forced smile, "With Lord Zhang here, I suppose this silver is of no use to me. I'd better save it for getting married."
Wang Peng also took back the silver he had borrowed from the prostitute: "I still have to pay back the money I owed her for redeeming her."
Qi Zhenzhu laughed and scolded, "You two are only good for this. Wang Peng, why don't you just marry that courtesan? Anyway, your parents are all gone, and no one is stopping you. How much money do you need to redeem that girl? The brothers who have extra money can help you out. Consider it a gift to you."
Wang Peng shamelessly said, "You said it yourself, there's still a shortfall of 1,200 taels."
Li Cen tossed his silver coins to him, laughing and scolding, "I was just being polite, how dare you ask for it?"
Wang Peng didn't care at all: "I can borrow money from prostitutes, what's there to be embarrassed about... I'll invite you to my wedding next month."
The Imperial Guards started cursing and swearing, and those with extra money simply threw silver at Wang Peng.
After everyone had retrieved their silver, Chen Ji looked at Li Xuan and said, "Go and redeem the Flying White Sword."
But Li Xuan showed no joy on his face and tore the pawn ticket in half on the spot: "I won't redeem it, I don't need it anyway."
Chen Ji sighed inwardly.
Zhang Zhuo looked at him and helped him lower his sleeve to cover the Buddhist coin on his wrist: "Go, keep the silver safe, it will be very useful tomorrow."
Chen Ji nodded, turned and walked through the crowd toward Li's Pawnshop.
When he arrived at the pawnshop, the old clerk behind the counter was surprised that he had actually come to redeem the house and land deeds. He immediately felt sorry for him: "Sir, why did you just pawn it yesterday and come to redeem it today? Do you know that the interest for just one day is one hundred and twenty taels of silver..."
The majority of a pawnshop's profits come from the compounding interest on unredeemed and reusable pawns. This kind of business, where you pawn yesterday and redeem today, is practically a waste of time. What's more, the shop at Tianbao Pavilion was a piece of lucrative property he had his eye on yesterday. He had originally planned how to acquire it in six months. Now that the cooked duck was about to fly away, how could he be willing to accept it?
Chen Ji was prepared and placed the string of Buddhist coins given to him by Zhang Zhuo on the counter: "Tianbao Pavilion's daily net profit is not even worth 120 taels. This string of Buddhist coins contains 200,000 taels. Redeem it."
The old pawnbroker picked up a glass mirror on the counter to examine the micro-carving on the Buddhist coin. It took him half an hour just to examine the coin, and it was indeed worth two hundred thousand taels. After examining it, he said with difficulty, "Sir, my Li's Pawnshop doesn't have that much cash to give you right now. It will take at least half a day."
Chen Ji frowned: "What, is Li's Pawnshop trying to renege on its debt? They even dared to swallow the land deeds of the eunuch faction. They must not know their place. I'll wait here. If the land deeds are not found before sunset, I'll confiscate your Li's Pawnshop."
Having exhausted all other options, the old magistrate had no choice but to call out to the servants in the backyard: "Quickly, ask the boss to withdraw some silver from the No. 1 treasury for emergency use."
The waiter hesitated, "These past few days..."
The old magistrate frowned and urged, "The silver won't be lost. After redeeming this customer's pawned item, we'll send it to the master."
Chen Ji drank tea in the main hall for three hours, and it wasn't until noon that the waiter returned.
The old clerk personally carried a sandalwood tray around the counter. On the tray were the wooden box that Chen Ji had brought yesterday, four strings of Buddhist coins, and three ingots of silver: "Please check them."
Chen Ji stuffed the Buddhist coins and cash into the wooden box, then turned and left the pawnshop.
……
……
Seventh day.
On the last day, Chen Ji didn't go anywhere.
He sat on the stone bench, his robe adorned with the insignia of a qilin, every button fastened securely. As the morning light intensified, the qilin robe he wore appeared to burn a deep red.
Chen Ji held the blade firmly with his left hand and a piece of fine linen cloth in his right. Starting from the almost transparent tip of the whale blade, he wiped it inch by inch toward the edge, wiping it again and again.
Now that he has more than 500,000 taels of silver in his hands, if the Qi family wants to outbid him in buying the white carp and the Qi family's face, they will have to pay an even greater price.
If you want to spend less money, it's simple: just kill him.
Chen Ji was waiting for Qi Jia to take the risk and eliminate him ahead of time, but he waited all day and Qi Jia's official did not appear.
The Qi family has given up?
He wasn't sure.
At Shenshi (3-5 PM), Xiaoman glanced at the sky and whispered to Chen Ji, "Young Master, it's time. The Jiaofangsi (Imperial Music Bureau) will start selling prisoners after Shenshi. You should go to the Jiaofangsi."
Chen Ji's motion of wiping the whale knife stopped at the last inch of the blade.
The next moment, he flicked his wrist, and the gleaming blade traced a brief arc in the air before accurately sheathing itself. He stood up, picked up the whale-shaped blade, and walked out: "Let's go."
Shaojiu Hutong is not far from Yanle Hutong. Just cross two streets and turn north at one intersection.
On Jixian Street outside the Jiaofangsi (Imperial Music Bureau), a bustling crowd had already gathered, even more lively than on Tianqiao (Overpass). Officials, commoners, and vendors all had gathered there.
Suddenly, someone whispered, "They're here!"
The crowd looked south and saw Chen Ji approaching with a knife, followed by Xiao Man carrying Wu Yun and the little monk carrying a wooden box.
Chen Ji did not walk under the eaves of the houses along the street, but walked in the very center of the bluestone road.
Pedestrians quickly made way for him, and some people looked Chen Ji up and down, whispering, "Isn't he supposed to be a member of the eunuch faction? But he looks so upright, he doesn't seem like one."
"It doesn't seem like it at all. It feels more like a powerful minister who is about to purge the emperor's inner circle."
"Who would wear the eunuch party on their face? The eunuch party is the eunuch party."
Chen Ji seemed oblivious to this, walking straight through the crowd. However, just as he was about to enter Yanle Hu, he heard a voice behind him: "Viscount Wu Xiang, please wait."
He turned around and saw that it was Wang Zhao, the commander of the Jiefan Guard whom he had seen before, who was leading twelve Jiefan Guards in a procession.
Xiaoman whispered, "Young master, their intentions are not good... Why did they have to pick this time of day!"
Chen Ji said calmly, "What business does Lord Wang have with me?"
Wang Zhao produced a travel document: "Viscount Wu Xiang, someone has impeached Lord Zhang Zhuo before the Emperor for selling official positions and enriching himself. This matter is also related to you. I have been ordered to take you to Renshou Palace for questioning."
Chen Ji didn't answer, but looked towards the Grand Music Hall of the Imperial Music Bureau deep in Yanle Hutong. It seemed to be just one step away, just one more step forward...
But what's meant to happen will happen eventually.
Chen Ji handed the whale knife to Xiao Man: "Don't worry, wait for me here."
Wang Zhao pointed to the wooden box in the little monk's arms: "This must also be brought into the palace."
Chen Ji was silent for a moment: "Okay."
Wang Zhao opened the box and glanced inside. Seeing that both the silver and Buddhist coins were there, he immediately felt relieved: "Let's go. I suppose Lord Chen doesn't need us to escort him anymore."
"No need." (End of Chapter)