Putting on the vermilion official uniform and official hat, Kou Ji gained some power, a power unique to the important officials in the court.
Kou Zhong looked at Kou Ji, who was wearing a vermilion official uniform, and praised: "The young master looks so energetic when he puts on this suit... The old servant remembers that when the master put on this suit, he was almost thirty..."
Kou Ji also nodded with satisfaction and said, "It looks a bit like an official now. It's much better than that toad robe."
When Kou Zhong heard this, he couldn't laugh or cry.
The toad robe that Kou Ji said he disliked could not be worn by others if they wanted to.
After Kou Ji was dressed neatly, he put on the imperial hut, got on the official sedan and walked to Donghua Gate.
He did not accompany Kou Zhun to court. The more powerful Kou Zhun is now, the better his treatment.
Every day when it was time to go to court, eunuchs from the palace would personally rush to Kou's house and carry him into the palace.
The same will be true after the next court.
It is said that a side hall was set aside for Kou Zhun to live in the palace, which was not far from Zhao Zhen's palace.
When Kou Ji arrived at Donghua Gate, as soon as he got off the sedan chair, some low-ranking officials came up to him. They all hugged Kou Ji and said some compliments.
They had previously denounced Kou Ji in court, but now they never mentioned Kou Ji's murder in Baozhou, and just kept saying good things.
Kou Ji said a few words casually, and then chatted with Xiang Minzhong, Wang Zeng, and Li Di.
When the officials saw that Kou Ji had entered a circle that was out of reach for them, they did not dare to appear in front of him again.
The four of them chatted for a while, but Xiang Minzhong brought the topic to the wooden frog.
The old man asked Kou Ji in a strange tone, "Boy, I heard that you gave me a small gift for my second granddaughter?"
"Yeah! A wood-carved frog, made with some little traps, so it can move..."
"You didn't give it to my eldest granddaughter?"
The old man Xiang's tone became increasingly weird.
Kou Ji blinked and said seriously: "Sent it away?"
He coughed to the old man and said quietly: "Why didn't I see it?"
"Maybe she hid it from you."
"Ahem..."
The old man Xiang coughed again and said in a deep voice: "Boy, I remember that when you wrote a letter to my eldest granddaughter, you wrote a story about a prince and a frog."
Kou Ji was a little confused.
The old man Xiang stared at him and said seriously: "My second granddaughter was married last year. Don't have any bad intentions..."
Kou Ji was even more confused. When he saw Wang Zeng and Li Di, they looked at him with strange expressions. Kou Ji knew that these two old men were also thinking wrongly.
Just as he was about to open his mouth to explain, he heard Wang Zeng's faint voice: "Boy, you can't be too greedy..."
Li Di hummed and said: "Sisters take it all, be careful of breaking your teeth."
After saying that, Li Di looked at Kou Jiyi and Er, and said with a look of disgust: "I thought you were a gentleman, but I didn't expect that you are also a good-looking guy with a lot of bad things on his face."
Kou Ji quickly explained: "I just gave him a wooden frog. I didn't do anything."
Xiang Minzhong hummed: "What else do you want to do?"
Li Di, Wang Zeng looked at Kou Ji with the same meaning in his eyes.
Kou Ji said angrily: "I didn't just send one wooden frog, I made several and sent them all together."
Li Di said disdainfully: "You want to hide it...why don't you send wooden frogs to my house?"
Wang Zeng said calmly: "I also have grandchildren."
Seeing that he couldn't explain clearly, Kou Jicheng gritted his teeth and said: "Send, send, send, I will send a car to each of you later."
Li Di and Wang Zeng nodded with satisfaction, "That's pretty much it..."
Xiang Minzhong stretched out two fingers and said calmly: "Two cars?"
"What about blackmail?"
"I have many concubines..."
After the three old men passed the Jinshui Bridge leisurely, Kou Ji realized that he seemed to have been deceived by the three old men.
It must be that the second sister of the Xiang family got a wooden frog and took it out to show off.
When the junior members of Wang and Li's houses met, they each clambered over the two old men to ask for it.
The two old men couldn't bear to beg something from a junior like Kou Ji, so they set up a trap for him.
"These old guys are just idle..."
Kou Ji complained and followed them across the Jinshui Bridge to Chui Gong Hall.
Zhao Zhen sat high on the dragon chair, Kou Zhun sat below him, and Chen Lin waited on him carefully.
All the officials entered the Chui Gong Hall and after paying their usual courtesy, the morning court began.
One of the censors grabbed Zhao Zhen and made some nonsense remarks about his absence from court one day before.
Then Kou Zhun said that the matter had been brought to light and there was no need to mention it again, and he shut up.
Then began to recommend candidates for political office.
There were few twists and turns in the selection of candidates to participate in political affairs, and the final selections were Li Di and Wang Zeng.
In the end, Kou Zhun made the decision, and the position of participating in political affairs fell on Wang Zeng.
After the candidates for political affairs were finalized, the officials retreated for a while to discuss the dismantling of the Xiang Army.
Then, amid Kou Zhun's impatient scolding, the officials left Chui Gong Hall and went back to their respective yamen to handle government affairs.
Kou Ji rushed to the official office for the first time to go to work.
When I walked to the official office, I saw the gatekeeper taking a nap.
Kou Ji did not meet with them regularly and quietly entered the official office.
Then I saw officials of all sizes gathered together, drinking tea and having fun.
From time to time, someone would get up and recite a poem or compose a poem.
The group of people had a great time, and they didn't even see Kou Ji when he arrived.
It wasn't until Kou Ji arrived at their side that they noticed Kou Ji's arrival.
They all knew Kou Ji, so after seeing Kou Ji, they hurriedly stood up and said, "Xiaguan and others have met Kou Shilang."
Kou Ji looked around them and asked, "Who are you, and what are your official positions?"
They didn't hide anything, and each of them began to announce their family status.
In addition to the general name, he will also mention which Jinshi list he is in, what his rank is, etc.
Some people who have a certain status in the literary world will also secretly reveal their famous works and other things.
After they finished introducing themselves, Kou Ji nodded and asked, "Don't you have to do anything?"
They were stunned when they heard this, but they did not panic. Each one of them spoke frankly, saying that the officials had nothing to do.
When Kou Ji heard this, he really wanted to give them a thumbs up and praise them one by one.
The official department of a country, which controls the promotion and scheduling of hundreds of thousands of officials within a country, is actually left with nothing to do?
amazing!
Although the officials had no power before and had nothing to do.
But since the disintegration of the Punishment Department, the civil service department has more or less seized some power, so how come there is nothing to do?
Kou Ji was so angry with this group of salted fishes that he had nothing to say, and he was too lazy to waste time on them anymore.
"Where is Wang Shangshu?"
"After court, you should go to the courtyard of the public house to enjoy the cool weather, right?"
When Kou Ji heard this, he turned around and went to find Wang Qinruo.
Kou Ji searched around the Xingbu Yamen and finally found Wang Qinruo in a remote public house.
Wang Qinruo was holding a wine bottle, lying on the bed, covered with a blanket, and sleeping soundly.
Waves of cool breeze blew from the vent next to the public room, which was very refreshing.
Seeing this, Kou Ji frowned.
He didn't know that Wang Qinruo was like this on weekdays, but he knew that he was coming today and gave him a warning.
He stood in front of Wang Qinruo's bed, cupped his hands and said, "I have met Wang Shangshu, Kou Ji."
Kou Ji called three times in a row, but there was no movement from Wang Qinruo.
The corner of his mouth twitched, he squatted down slightly, found a rivet on the bed, poked it with a hairpin, quietly pulled it out, and stuffed it into his sleeve.
Then he quietly exited the office and walked to the place where the officials gathered.
Hiding in the corner, he shouted, "Wang Shangshu has fallen..."
Upon hearing this, a group of officials from the Ministry of Civil Affairs shouted loudly and rushed outside the public house where Wang Qinruo was.
A group of them rushed over, shouting and shouting, which naturally woke up Wang Qinruo who was sleeping.
As soon as Wang Qinruo opened his eyes, he saw a group of officials crowded in front of his bed.
"What are you doing in front of my bed? Don't you have to do something?"
"Shang Shu, we don't have to do anything, have you forgotten?"
"Oh! I forgot, our officials don't have much power... Why did you all come to my bed?"
"Returning to Shangshu, someone said that you rolled off the bed."
When Wang Qinruo heard this, he cursed: "That's nonsense. Isn't this a good thing?"
"Get out of here! By the way, go and find out for me who the hell is cursing me? I'm going to eat him alive!"
When the officials saw that Wang Qinruo was indeed fine, they all yelled at Wang Qinruo and fled the place.
Wang Qinruo sat on the bed and said sadly: "Don't let me catch you, otherwise your life will be worse than death."
Wang Qinruo slowly sat up.
"Gaba..."
A soft sound reached his ears.
He sat up straight and listened for a while, but did not hear any more sounds.
He continued to stand up and was about to step off the bed with one foot.
"Boom..."
The bed collapsed.
Wang Qinruo collapsed to the ground along with Hu Bed, rolled twice, and stopped after hitting a corner.
Stars appeared in his eyes, his eyes turned black, and he collapsed on the ground, unable to get up.
"Help...save me..."
Wang Qinruo kept calling for help on the ground, but no one paid any attention to him.
It wasn't until a long time ago that a clerk came in to report something to him, only to see him lying on the ground in disgrace and trembling.
"Wang Shangshu has fallen!"
The clerk shouted loudly.
When the officials heard this, they were a little doubtful.
An official sent a junior officer to the public house to take a look, and then he realized that this time it was true.
As a result, officials from the Ministry of Civil Affairs once again rushed to the public house where Wang Qinruo was staying.
By the time they arrived, Wang Qinruo had already fainted.
They hurriedly asked people to protect Wang Qinruo, and then sent someone to ask for the imperial doctor.
After the imperial doctor arrived, he diagnosed and treated Wang Qinruo and then prescribed a prescription for Wang Qinruo.
He also told the officials who were nervously standing aside: "Wang Shangshu is not seriously ill. It's just that he is old. He suddenly fell down and his body was a little overwhelmed. He will be fine after resting in bed for a while."
Wang Qinruo woke up faintly at this moment. When he heard the imperial doctor's words, he shouted anxiously: "I didn't fall down suddenly, someone wanted to harm me!"
When the imperial doctor heard this, he said a few nice words with a smile on his face. After turning around and leaving the public room, he immediately lowered his face.
I scolded my mother secretly.
Everyone who is a high official has a heart! It’s just an ordinary fall, it has to be related to the assassination!
If someone really wants to assassinate you, they won't choose to work in the official office.
In a place like the Libu Yamen, it is a serious crime to assassinate an official of the imperial court.
Not only the imperial doctors thought so, but also the officials in the Ministry of Civil Affairs thought so.
They followed Wang Qinruo's wishes and made Wang Qinruo happy. They immediately sent people to the palace to find Wang Qinruo's descendants and took Wang Qinruo back to the palace to recuperate.
As for Wang Qinruo's instructions to find out who was behind the plot, no one cared at all.
In their view, Wang Qinruo's collapse was purely because he was old and his legs and feet were inoperable, and it had nothing to do with anyone else.
After all, during the period when Wang Qinruo collapsed, he was the only one in the public house and no one else.
Could others still be able to assassinate him from afar?
No one connected this matter with Kou Ji.
Because the officials of the Ministry of Personnel watched Kou Ji leave, after Kou Ji left, they rushed to Wang Qinruo's public house and saw that Wang Qinruo was still well.
So they naturally thought that this matter had nothing to do with Kou Ji.
Kou Ji didn't know about Wang Qinruo's fall.
He dug a hole, and he was not entirely sure whether Wang Qinruo could fall into the hole he dug.
Today he walked around the Libu Yamen. He was extremely disappointed with the Libu Yamen and was also disappointed with the inaction of the officials.
When I arrived at the public house and saw Wang Qinruo, who was even more salty than salted fish, I was naturally a little angry.
He called several times, but Wang Qinruo ignored him, which made him have bad thoughts.
After leaving the official office, Kou Ji rushed all the way back to the Kou Mansion.
I went to the yard where the craftsmen were, and asked them to make some different patterns of the wooden frogs I sat on yesterday, and send them to Xiang, Wang, and Li Sanfu.
Then he changed into casual clothes and went to the Orchid Garden outside the city to meet Xiang Yan.
I didn't return home until evening.
As soon as he returned home, he was called over by Kou Zhun.
Kou Zhun asked the kitchen to cook a table of rice, and asked Kou Ji to sit down and eat some with him.
After he was full of wine and food, he asked: "How did you feel when you went to the Ministry of Civil Affairs to order Mao today?"
Kou Ji pondered for a moment, looked at Kou Zhun, and asked, "Are you telling the truth?"
"Um!"
"It sucks! It sucks! A group of people who are in charge of the promotion and promotion of hundreds of thousands of officials in the world are like a bunch of idlers.
There are all kinds of people eating, drinking and having fun, reciting poems and writing poems, drinking and sleeping soundly, but no one is doing anything serious.
If they are like this, how can the officials under their control do better?
Every year, they do not review the performance and style reviews of officials from various places that are sent to the imperial court.
Don’t others see this as a huge loophole to exploit?
If I were to serve outside, I wouldn't need to do anything. I just need to make enough money, give it to the superior officer, and ask him to help me say more good things to the court, and I can still get promoted."
When Kou Zhun heard what Kou Ji said, he nodded slowly and said, "So you were angry and secretly harmed Wang Qinruo?"