bestfiction Chapter 216 Miscellaneous Affairs in the Harem
Chapter 216 Miscellaneous Affairs in the Harem
Jin Zekang's single sentence about being Ye Xiao's nephew left Ye Xiao completely bewildered.
Holding the jade pendant, he didn't know whether to call him Regent or Uncle.
Xiao Yuan glared at him with disdain, "Why did you come here instead of resting in the manor?"
If you've recovered, get back to work as soon as possible. Your dad has been working like a baby lately.
"It makes me uncomfortable to see you, my son, so idle."
Ye Xiao immediately looked aggrieved, "Godfather, why are you like this? Don't you have anything to explain to me?"
Also, why is your speaking style starting to sound more and more like that of a stepmother?
Haha, Jin Zekang was laughing so hard he couldn't live anymore.
"Yes, yes, yes, it's true that you can't have two kinds of people sleeping in the same bed."
I was telling him yesterday that I feel he's becoming more and more like his wife, as if he suddenly went from being a civil official to a military general.
In the past, people would leave half a sentence unsaid and interpret eight layers of meaning from just one word.
Now look at you, sticking straight to the point, one sentence is enough to choke someone to death.
Xiao Yuan poured himself a cup of tea and snorted coldly.
"I think my wife's way of handling things is very good, so that some people who don't understand human language will deliberately misinterpret the meaning."
With everything in disarray and everyone too busy to do anything else, who has the time to practice Tai Chi?
If these incompetent officials continue to dawdle like this, another batch will have to be cut.
"No way, there are still two years until the imperial examination. If you kill them all, who will do the work?"
Jin Zekang stretched and rubbed his shoulders. "There's no need to be so resentful if you're not satisfied!"
It'll be chaotic for a while, but things will be fine once things are sorted out.
We should give the ministers some time to adjust, shouldn't we?
It used to be the Crown Prince's faction, the Second Prince's faction, and the Third Prince's faction. Now that none of them have won their bets, it's already bad enough. Let's be a little more understanding.
Xiao Yuan rolled his eyes at Jin Zekang, "No matter how those guys fight, they've all managed to gather a bunch of capable people under their command. What about you?"
Your cronies are all low-level officials, none of them even hold the rank of fourth grade.
Nowadays, if you want to use someone, you have to check their information first by getting their records from the Eastern Depot.
The work you're doing is what you're supposed to be doing. The work I'm doing now is all the work you found for me!
And your relatives, haha, no wonder only your uncle became the prefect.
What are all those things?
By the way, your uncle-in-law is just so-so. Don't you dare transfer him to the capital and give him a promotion.
He's someone who's more likely to cause trouble than achieve anything.
Jin Zekang helplessly spread his hands, "What can I do? Relatives are inherited from our ancestors, not chosen by me."
Don't worry, even if I know they're useless, I won't put them in the court to cause trouble.
I know better than you how unpresentable they are.
Take my unfortunate uncle, for example. After he found out that I had become the regent, he immediately wanted to give my two cousins to me as my queen and concubines.
Damn it, one is eleven years old and the other is only nine. Anyone who isn't out of their mind wouldn't even think of such a thing.
When I said the age wasn't right, he got all worked up and said that if I thought they were too young, he would let his two cousins enter the palace to become empresses and imperial concubines.
Honestly, I have no idea where he gets such a big face.
He was, after all, my mother's only younger brother. I patiently explained to him that it was inappropriate for the two of them to be so much older than the emperor.
He doesn't understand human language at all, saying that whether it's suitable or not is entirely up to me.
I would say that if the emperor were to marry the young emperor, the emperor would not dare to refuse.
"I'm truly impressed. A mere sixth-rank official with such a big heart, doesn't he fear he'll overreach himself?"
Xiao Yuan felt a little smug upon hearing Jin Zekang's troubles.
"I'm afraid it's not just his family; I suspect your mother's family members are also eyeing the new Empress's Palace."
"That's for sure. Those who have daughters are thinking about it, and those who don't are all planning to have one now."
Jin Zekang rubbed his head in frustration. "My aunt sent someone to tell me not to arrange marriages with my uncle's two cousins. I thought she was afraid of putting me in a difficult position."
Guess what?
She said she's taking fertility medication now and wants me to support her daughter in the future.
They even said that it's not noticeable for a man to be ten years older than a woman, but it's eye-catching if a woman is older. They said that since the two cousins are older than the little emperor, they definitely won't be favored.
When his daughter is born, she will be eight or nine years younger than the young emperor. Being young and beautiful, she will surely capture the young emperor's heart.
If these guys weren't my mother's siblings, I'd curse their ancestors for eight generations.
Ye Xiao hadn't expected the Regent to be so interesting, and his big eyes were wide with gossip.
Xiao Yuan gave him a disdainful tap, then asked Jin Zekang with great interest,
"So how did you resolve this? Did you really want to arrange the engagement with the Emperor right now?"
Jin Zekang spat, "How could that be? My cousin is my biological brother, not my stepbrother."
With their brains, what kind of good children could they possibly produce? I'm afraid they'd lower the average IQ of the royal family.
Everyone's so busy these days, who has time to argue with them?
I was too lazy to be tactful, so I just told them to stop daydreaming.
If they hadn't caused trouble, they could have lived a life of leisure and comfort, and their wealth would have remained undiminished.
If you annoy me, I'll pack you up and dump you in Xuzhou, so why bother with me?
I have to say, it's really fun to occasionally imitate my sister's way of speaking.
Xiao Yuan's expression turned even more disgusted. "What the hell? That's my wife."
They pinch each other as soon as they meet and then try to get close to each other. How can a dignified regent be so shameless? Do you feel uncomfortable when no one criticizes you?
Jin Zekang is certainly not a scoundrel; he treats his banter with Jiang Xinyu as a way to relieve stress.
The higher one's position and the more power one wields, the less casually one can speak, as even a few words spoken casually can be interpreted in different ways.
Occasionally, he would want to retort to officials who spouted nonsense.
I wouldn't dare. I'm afraid that person would be scared to death if he just confronted them and thought their house was going to be raided.
Governing a large country is like cooking a small fish; excessive killing and violence can easily cause instability among the people.
Excessive appeasement has caused this group to lose their sense of awe and engage in constant petty actions.
Therefore, he and Xiao Yuan complement each other; Xiao Yuan uses killing to intimidate him and reason to persuade him.
Actually, he was quite envious of Xiao Yuan's character; the feeling of being decisive and cutting down and replacing disobedient characters was really satisfying.
Unfortunately, the image of Xiao Yanwang is deeply ingrained in people's minds.
Let's set aside whether he'll submit if he uses force to intimidate people.
Speaking of Xiao Yuan alone, who would believe him if he tried to persuade people with reason?
Even the gentlest smile is still sinister, okay?
There was no other way; he had to play this gentle role himself, since he had always presented himself as weak and had a good public image.
Although Jiang Xinyu had already explained to Ye Xiao why Xiao Yuan hadn't told him the truth, the boy still wanted to hear his godfather tell him.
He stared at it expectantly but received no response.
His father seemed to only have the heart to dote on his wife, but not the heart to love his son.
She started chatting with Jin Zekang on her own, without showing any intention of explaining anything to him.
Ye Xiao looked aggrieved and occasionally glanced at his godfather with a resentful look, his expression just like that of a timid wife.
Xiao Yuan wasn't ignoring him on purpose; he just had too many important matters to discuss at once.
The dozen or so young concubines in the palace were all formidable, and Jin Zekang dared not venture into the inner palace, keeping his eyes fixed on the front court.
Now, the harem is managed by Xiao Ling and his several adopted sons, while Xiao Yuan runs around both inside and outside the palace.
Now that I've finally managed to find some time to sit down with Jin Zekang, I naturally have to tell him about the important things that have been happening these past two days.
For example, Jin Zekang was worried about his maternal grandfather's family wanting to send people into the young emperor's harem.
He refused, but the people in the palace didn't stop making trouble.
Consort Wang and Consort Zhao have been chatting with the Empress Dowager quite often these past few days, constantly promoting their nieces and grandnieces.
Their Empress Dowager is a coward; even as Empress Dowager, she's still bullied by two imperial concubines.
Fortunately, a palace maid noticed something was wrong and went to fetch Jiang Xinyu; otherwise, if the two imperial concubines had each grabbed one of their arms, they might have torn the Empress Dowager apart.