Liu Heng was very concerned about the matter that Kou Ji entrusted to Liu Heng. After leaving Kou's house, he rushed to Wanxiang Pawn Shop.
Facts have proved that Kou Ji's method is very effective.
An hour later.
Kou Li returned to Kou Mansion in a thief manner. He did not dare to go to Kou Zhun's bedroom for fear that Kou Zhun would find out the clues and punish him.
Instead, he hid in a wing room and asked the servants to help him call Kou Ji.
When Kou Ji rushed to the wing, he saw Kou Li looking like a child who had done something wrong. He was walking around in the wing with his head lowered and rubbing his hands.
"father……"
Kou Ji cupped his hands in front of Kou Li and shouted.
Kou Li was very excited when he saw Kou Ji.
He raised his head, looked at Kou Ji, and opened his mouth excitedly, but said nothing.
Kou Ji looked at Kou Li carefully and found that Kou Li had become much better after not seeing him for a long time. It could be seen that he had been eating well these days.
It's just that the face is missing a touch of red and looks a little pale.
Kou Ji twitched his lips. He estimated that the reason why Kou Li's face was so pale must have something to do with Liu Heng.
Liu Heng probably did a lot to scare him.
"Ji'er..."
Kou Li finally opened his mouth, his voice trembling.
Kou Ji asked: "Dad, what are your orders?"
Kou Li's eyes lingered on Kou Ji for a long time before he opened his mouth and asked: "Um... my father heard that you are involved in Wanxiang Pawn Shop?"
Kou Ji was stunned when he heard this and thought about it in his mind.
Kou Li was deceiving him.
Immediately, he nodded seriously and said: "There are some members, but not many. Dad, why do you ask this?"
When Kou Li heard this, his face turned pale.
On the way back home, he felt a little hope in his heart, hoping that what Liu Heng said at the Wanxiang Pawn Shop was a lie to him.
But now that he heard Kou Ji's words, it was confirmed that Liu Heng was not lying, and the little hope in his heart was gone.
A debt of two thousand guan is not a small sum for Kou Li.
He didn't have Kou Ji's ability to turn stone into gold, and he didn't dare to go to Kou's house to withdraw a large sum of money. He could only find a way to pay it back slowly.
He is still a student at the Imperial Academy, has no official status, and does not have a fixed income. All his monthly expenses come from the accountant of the Kou Mansion.
With his little monthly money, how many years and months will he have to save to pay off the debt of 2,000 guan?
For a moment, Kou Li felt that life was full of gloom.
I also secretly regretted my extravagance in the brothel.
Seeing Kou Li's pale face, Kou Ji secretly chuckled in his heart, but asked with worry: "Dad, what's wrong with you? Why are you so pale?"
Kou Li forced a smile on his face, waved his hands, and said vaguely: "It's nothing..."
Kou Li did not tell Kou Ji about the Wanxiang Pawn Shop, nor did he ask Kou Ji to help pay back the money, which made Kou Ji feel a little surprised.
Judging from what he meant, he was probably embarrassed to tell the matter and wanted to repay these two thousand gu debts on his own.
Kou Ji knew that Kou Li must be unhappy now, so he didn't pursue it to get to the bottom of it.
He persuaded softly: "Father, my grandfather has fainted. You are not staying at home, but are waiting on my grandfather's bed. Some people have already started gossiping. If you get a reputation of being unfilial because of this, you will not be able to stay in Bianjing City in the future."
Go with your child and stay by your grandfather's bedside. Maybe your grandfather will see your filial piety and get an increase in your monthly salary."
Kou Ji's words touched Kou Li's heart. What he lacked now was money.
Although he was afraid of meeting Kou Zhun, in order to repay the huge debt, he could only bite the bullet and said: "Let's go... go to your grandfather's bedroom..."
Kou Ji smiled silently, and was pulled out of the room by Kou Li, rushing to Kou Zhun's bedroom.
The father and son walked a few steps, and Kou Li suddenly stopped, turned his head and said, "Recently...that Liu Heng didn't come to see you at home, right?"
Kou Ji was stunned for a moment, then thought about it carefully, guessed Kou Li's intention in asking this question, and shook his head.
Seeing this, Kou Li seemed to relax a lot. He told Kou Ji seriously: "Ji'er, there are a lot of fish and snakes in Bianjing. You have to be careful. Especially that kid Liu Heng. My father heard that that kid
He is a well-known dandy in Bianjing City. He is very bad. You should avoid interacting with him.
He wants to come to the house to find you, so you'd better not see him."
Kou Ji was stunned again and again, feeling dumbfounded.
He didn't expect that Kou Li stayed at Wanxiang Pawn Shop for a month and didn't figure out the close relationship between him and Liu Heng.
Kou Ji originally thought that Kou Li was going to ask about his relationship with Liu Heng, so he specially prepared a set of words to explain to him that relationships are relationships and money is money and cannot be confused.
Now it seems that Bai is ready.
"My child has remembered..."
Kou Ji suppressed a smile in his heart, responded casually, and followed Kou Li to Kou Zhun's bedroom.
When the father and son arrived at Kou Zhun's bedroom, the officials had already left.
Kou Zhun didn't know what the hell Kou Li had done, so when he saw Kou Li, he didn't blame him, he just casually said, "You're back?"
Kou Li hurriedly came forward and saluted: "Dad, my son is back..."
"Um……"
"Your condition..."
"It's okay..."
"But you..."
"..."
Kou Li inquired eagerly about Kou Zhun's condition, but Kou Zhun just responded casually without saying a word.
When Kou Ji saw this scene, he shook his head and exited the bedroom.
Judging from Kou Zhun's behavior towards Kou Li, it seems that Kou Zhun has been disappointed with Kou Li and does not intend to care about him.
Kou Li has not yet been sent back to his hometown in Huazhou by Kou Zhun, probably because of Kou Ji.
…
The next few days.
Kou Li always stayed by Kou Zhun's bed and took care of Kou Zhun.
Kou Ji had nothing to do.
The memorial begging for bones submitted by Kou Zhun was quickly approved.
It was Zhao Heng who specially approved it when he was sober.
As Kou Ji said, it is absolutely impossible for Zhao Heng to ask Kou Zhun to beg for bones at this time.
The approval he gave Kou Zhun only had two words.
Not allowed!
Not only that, he also granted Kou Zhun a special long leave, allowing Kou Zhun to recuperate at home in the name of Zaizhi.
In addition, a large number of precious medicinal materials and supplements were specially given.
Liu E and Ding Wei were two people. For this reason, they often slandered Zhao Heng's ears, but Zhao Heng's heart was as hard as iron as if he had eaten a weight.
After Kou Zhun received the memorial approved by Zhao Heng and the reward given by Zhao Heng, he laughed three times, then wrote a memorial to thank him and threw it into the palace.
Kou Zhun was given a memorial to beg for his body, but instead of being dismissed from office, his position was consolidated.
This shocked the crowd who were waiting to see his downfall.
Liu E and Ding Wei had been planning for a long time, waiting for Kou Zhun to be greedy for power, so they could take the opportunity to organize impeachment and expel Kou Zhun from Bianjing City in one fell swoop.
But they didn't expect that Kou Zhun's simple memorial would put their plan in vain.
The two men scolded Kou Zhun in Zishitang, but there was nothing they could do about Kou Zhun.
In the end, I could only focus on others.
They were afraid that Kou Zhun would suddenly recover from illness and all their plans would be in vain, so they began to race against time to seize power.
First, Wang Zeng, the third minister, was dismissed.
Immediately afterwards, Zhang Zhibai was also transferred out of Bianjing City.
Wang Shu's position in the official department was also in jeopardy.
Some people have already begun to impeach him. Anyone with a discerning eye knows that after Wang Zeng and Zhang Zhibai, the next person to be dismissed from office is Wang Shu.
Wang Shu, Wang Zeng, and Zhang Zhibai also struggled.
In order to stabilize their position, they united a group of people to write letters to speak for them, but it had no effect at all.
Kou Zhun also went to three memorials one after another to speak for the three of them. Without exception, all of them were detained by the inner court without any approval.
After Kou Zhun fell, Liu E returned to power.
She and Ding Wei joined forces to occupy the right to speak in the inner court.
Although Li Di also has the right to speak in the inner court, he has no chance of winning against two people by himself.
Although Kou Zhun still retains the right to speak in the inner court, he cannot appear in the inner court. All his ideas can only be submitted to the inner court in the form of memorials.
However, the right to approve the memorial was in Liu E's hands.
Liu E ignored Kou Zhun's memorial.
She expected that Kou Zhun would not show up at Zishi Hall, so she ignored Kou Zhun's memorial, and Kou Zhun had nothing to do with her.
For this reason, Kou Zhun was so angry that he cursed loudly in the house.
He scolded Liu E, scolded Ding Wei, and also scolded himself.
When you scold yourself, most of the time you blame yourself for not living up to expectations.
Wang Shu struggled several times, and there were more and more memorials to impeach him. Seeing that he could no longer keep his official position, he hurried to the Kou Mansion to discuss countermeasures with Kou Zhun.
Kou Ji also wanted to listen, but unexpectedly Kou Zhong suddenly came to report that Liu Heng was visiting.
Kou Ji could only go to see Liu Heng first.
When Kou Ji arrived at the side hall, Liu Heng had already been waiting for him inside for a stick of incense.
When he saw Kou Ji, Liu Heng hurriedly came over and said to Kou Ji: "Fourth brother, the execution officer has decided."
Kou Ji raised his eyebrows, "Who?"
Liu Heng said solemnly: "The person you are most worried about."
Kou Ji frowned and said, "Xia Song?"
Liu Heng nodded and said in a deep voice: "My aunt and Ding Xiang made the decision to let Xia Song concurrently serve as deputy privy envoy and to be promoted to the official position of criminal officer."
Kou Ji secretly clenched his fists and muttered: "It seems that Xia Song has taken refuge with your aunt..."
Liu Heng nodded and said, "It's not just Xia Song..."
Kou Ji was stunned, "Who else?"
Liu Heng said in a deep voice: "There is also Lu Yijian, the magistrate of Kaifeng Prefecture."
Kou Ji's face darkened, and he said in a serious tone: "This is a real person... Two generations of the Lu family have been working in the court for many years and have many old friends. His turning to your aunt means that a large number of officials have turned to your aunt.
"
Kou Ji glanced at Liu Heng and asked: "Logically speaking, he should be quiet and calm when he seeks refuge with your aunt. How did you know?"
Liu Heng smiled bitterly and said: "Speaking of which, I know that this matter has something to do with you."
"Is it related to me?"
Kou Ji was a little stunned.
Liu Heng nodded heavily and explained: "The fact that you are not welcome in the Kou Mansion has been spread to the palace. This morning, my aunt sent a message to invite me.
When I entered the palace, I met Chen Lin, who reminded me in a subtle way."
"That old poison?"
When Liu Heng mentioned Chen Lin, Kou Ji was slightly absent-minded.
He didn't expect that Chen Lin would remind him at this critical moment.
After a while, Kou Ji slowly came back to his senses and asked, "Why did your aunt recruit you into the palace?"
Liu Heng looked at Kou Ji with a complicated expression and said, "My aunt knows that you are not welcome in Kou's mansion, so she asked me to come here as a lobbyist."
Hearing this, Kou Ji frowned slightly.
The so-called unpopularity must be related to the scene between Wang Kou and Wang Yuan in Kou Zhun's bedroom.
The only outsider present at the time was an imperial physician.
Now it seems that the imperial doctor must be Liu E's person.
You have to be more careful in the future.
Kou Ji was alert in his heart and asked: "She wants to recruit me?"
Liu Heng nodded and said, "I also made a big bet."
Kou Ji clicked his lips and said with a smile: "Isn't it a bit childish to recruit me at this time?"
"Child's play?"
"It's child's play..."
Liu Heng frowned and fell into deep thought.
It was okay if Kou Ji didn't mention it, but when Kou Ji mentioned it, he felt something was wrong.
Kou Ji narrowed his eyes slightly and asked, "What big bet did she make?"
Liu Heng came back to his senses and said seriously: "My aunt asked me to reveal to you in a subtle way that if you are willing to leave the Kou Mansion and seek refuge with her, she can ensure that you enter the inner court at the age of knowing your fate."
Kou Ji raised his eyebrows, clicked his lips, and said with emotion: "I thought she really wanted to recruit me, but I didn't expect that she was asking for directions. She thought I was just a child and made a casual move! If I really agreed, she would
You will treat me like a fool."
Liu Heng asked doubtfully: "What's the secret here?"
Kou Ji said quietly: "I am a civil servant, not a military commander. If I dare to leave the Kou government, I will not be able to escape the reputation of being unfilial. Civil servants not only pay attention to political achievements, but also pay attention to reputation. Once there are two unfilial words in my file
By the time the time comes, let alone entering the inner court, it’s hard to say whether I can be an official or not.”
Kou Ji shook his head and sighed: "Your aunt is trying to recruit me here and there, she is clearly trying to harm me."
Kou Ji thought for a moment and then said: "While she is hurting me, she also wants me to help pave a way for her."
"What way?"
"The way to destroy my grandfather's confidants... If I betrayed my grandfather, my grandfather's confidants would be much easier to recruit."
"So cruel?"
Liu Heng's eyes widened with disbelief on his face.
Kou Ji shook his head and said calmly: "This is nothing..."
Liu Heng opened his mouth wide and said in shock: "Isn't this nothing?"
Kou Ji glanced at Liu Heng and smiled lightly, "I have a way to deal with it."
Liu Heng stared at Kou Ji for a long time and said in shock: "You want to go back for revenge?"
Kou Ji curled his lips and said, "How dare I? Your aunt is the queen..."
"Then what can you do to deal with it?"
Liu Heng curled his lips, feeling that Kou Ji was playing tricks on him.
Kou Ji grinned and said, "I'm just ready to agree to her solicitation."
Liu Heng was stunned.
"Knowing that my aunt wants to harm you, you still agree to her solicitation?"
Kou Ji smiled and nodded, "There's nothing I can't agree to, as long as she can agree to my conditions."
"What conditions?"
"As long as she promises to let me enter the palace again and accompany the prince to study, I don't mind being recruited by her."
When Liu Heng heard this, he opened his mouth wide and stood there stunned for a long time, unable to say a word.
Liu Heng could guess what Kou Ji's intention was in raising this condition.
Liu E wanted to use Kou Ji to destroy Kou Zhun's party members.
Kou Ji planned to use Zhao Zhen to break up their mother and son.
"You are more ruthless than my aunt..."
After Liu Heng was stunned for a long time, he came to his senses and sighed.