You have no other intentions? Gao Zeyu gave a cold laugh that would not stop. Maybe so, you may really have no other intentions. But there has already been talk outside that you were originally the top scholar, yet the emperor remembered your father’s old grudge and demoted you to third place. Do you think the emperor is deaf and cannot hear these rumours?
A grand third place in the palace examination with a bright future ahead, yet who would have thought that after only two or three days in office you would throw away your official hat and resign. How could this be? If you truly have no interest in an official career, then why did you even take the examinations? Do you think outsiders will believe your words or believe the outside rumours? Do you think the emperor will believe what you say, or believe what has already happened?
If you were just an ordinary candidate, resigning would be fine and no one would take it seriously. But you are the famous four subject full marks huiyuan, the new third place scholar caught in the whirlpool of rumours. The greater your fame, the greater the impact of this resignation. How will the people of the world view the emperor?
Because of your own selfish reasons, you have made the emperor a laughing stock. Especially by causing this trouble right at the time of the six hundred year grand celebration of the Jin Kingdom. How can the emperor endure this? You are so good at picking the time, deliberately choosing this period, and you still dare to say you are not seeking revenge or venting personal anger?
As soon as these words came out, the faces of everyone present changed dramatically. They all realised this was a matter of life and death.
Yu Qing, who had just obtained thirty thousand taels of silver and was in a rather good mood, was now stunned.
He had not taken Pei Qingcheng’s words too seriously before. He thought what could come of his resignation and assumed Pei Qingcheng was simply trying to stop him. Only now did he truly understand what Pei Qingcheng meant by people creating momentum and digging a pit against him.
Only now did he truly understand how those previous rumours could be called a campaign. He had had no concept of this before.
Yu Qing had not expected that the resignation he had discussed properly with his little martial uncle could cause such a big matter. He said hesitantly, Should I rush back to the Censorate now and withdraw my resignation letter?
Gao Zeyu rapped his palm. Your resignation letter has already fallen into the hands of those with ulterior motives. That is ironclad evidence in black and white. As far as I know, someone has already taken your resignation letter into the palace to report you to the emperor. Do you think the emperor can avoid being furious after learning of it, or let you go?
Yu Qing frowned, his heart pounding with fear.
Zhong Su stared at him, not knowing what to say. How could such a talented great scholar act so recklessly like a child?
Although he was angry, he still kept his composure at this critical moment and asked back, High official Gao has come in person. Do you have any advice?
Gao Zeyu said, Advice is too much to say. Let us speak plainly. You have sent me quite a few things usually. If you are implicated and fall into the court’s hands, and you bite me out by chance, would I not be wronged? I happened to learn of this matter, so naturally I hurried over urgently to resolve it.
Zhong Su cupped his hands. How to resolve it? I am willing to hear the details.
Gao Zeyu looked towards Yu Qing. Cut ties. Draw a clear line with him. Make the matter his alone. When the court investigates, you will say you know nothing and try your best to dissociate yourselves to protect yourselves.
Zhong Su pondered.
Du Fei and housekeeper Li looked at each other. Du Fei pointed at Yu Qing and asked, Then what about him?
Gao Zeyu said in a deep voice, What else do you want to do? Naturally one person does the deed and one person bears it. If he does not want to die then he runs. He will carry all the responsibility himself.
Housekeeper Li cupped his hands and said anxiously, High official Gao, is there really no other way?
Gao Zeyu said, If he wants to survive, whether there is a way or not he must hide first. Only by preserving the person can we think of ways to solve this. Otherwise, under the emperor’s great anger, no one can protect him.
Yu Qing suddenly nodded and said, Listen to high official Gao. One person does the deed and one person bears it. I do not wish to implicate the Zhong family. You push all the matters onto me. I will go.
Zhong Su, Du Fei and housekeeper Li all looked at him at once, wanting to speak but stopping.
Yu Qing nodded at the three again to confirm. I will go.
He did not want to stay and be caught for interrogation. Once caught, the family assets he had worked so hard to accumulate might be gone.
What made him lament inwardly was whether the feng shui of Linglong Temple was bad. His three senior brothers were court fugitives, and now he himself was about to become a fugitive too?
Gao Zeyu said, To prevent searches on the way, for the sake of squire Zhong I can assist you in leaving. There is a group of my yamen runners outside. I will pick a suitable yamen runner uniform for you to change into and personally escort you out of the city. His gaze swept over Zhong Su and the others again. What do you think?
Du Fei and housekeeper Li both nodded in approval.
Zhong Su thought it over and said to Yu Qing, The situation is unclear now. It may not be a bad idea to go out first and avoid things for some buffer.
Yu Qing made a sound of agreement.
Zhong Su immediately said to Gao Zeyu, High official Gao, then I will trouble you. Could you allow me to give him a few private instructions?
This was to make him withdraw for a moment. Gao Zeyu was tactful. Very well. I will go and have someone pick a suitable yamen runner uniform. You should be as quick as possible. Delay may bring changes.
Zhong Su cupped his hands in thanks, then tilted his head to indicate that Du Fei and housekeeper Li should see him off, which also meant for the two to withdraw as well.
Only the two of them remained in the room. Zhong Su suddenly sighed. I really want to scold you harshly, but things have already come to this. No matter how harsh the scolding, it is useless. A Shihuang, you are not a fool. I really do not know why you did this, but I hope this time it can be passed smoothly. Otherwise you will ruin my daughter’s life.
Yu Qing also wanted to speak but stopped. However after thinking, the truth about his resignation that he had wanted to tell was swallowed back.
Just before Zhong Su entered the door, he had still wanted to find Zhong Su to confess.
But now it really was one moment to the next. If he implicated the Zhong family and the Zhong family were caught, they might not be able to keep the secret of the real and fake A Shihuang. If the court investigated, Linglong Temple would certainly be implicated.
After hesitating, he decided to see if this hurdle could be passed.
If it could not be passed, there was no need to implicate Linglong Temple and A Shihuang.
If it could be passed, then informing later would not be too late. Anyway things had already become like this.
Uncle Zhong, I am sorry. If there is a chance in the future, I will give you an explanation. Yu Qing said with shame.
Zhong Su sighed. Let us hope there will be that day. The reason I spoke privately with you is to tell you that I do not believe a word of what those officials say, just like your father, who would rather hide for many years without contact. Shihuang, the most trustworthy people are ourselves. To protect ourselves, we still have to rely on ourselves and cannot place all hope on others.
Yu Qing was startled. Uncle Zhong has a better way?
Zhong Su said, In the current situation, the only person in the entire capital who can guarantee our safety is one woman. If she takes action, those who want to put you to death will not dare to make things difficult for you anymore. If the opinions of the two factions in the court are unified, the emperor will be isolated and can only drop the matter.
Who?
The head of the Sinan Mansion, the Earth Mother.
Ah, if there are factions, she should be on the side of those who want to kill me. How could she help us?
Have you forgotten that treasure map?
Treasure map? Yu Qing was startled again and asked doubtfully, Where does the treasure map come from?
This time it was Zhong Su who was startled. Did your father not tell you the origin of that half map?
Yu Qing suddenly realised and was also alarmed. He asked hurriedly, The half map I gave to you, Uncle Zhong, is a treasure map?
Zhong Su was speechless for a moment and could not help scratching his beard. What exactly is the matter with your father? How could he not even tell you about such an important thing? What does he really want to do? Does he want you to stay out of it? That is not right. If he wants you to stay out of it, why did he let you come to the capital for the imperial examinations?
After thinking for a while without understanding, he waved his hand. There was no time. He spoke briefly and explained the origin of the treasure map that had been split into two in a few hurried words.
Yu Qing listened with his eyes blinking nonstop. In his heart he was cursing A Shihuang for being mad. With such a great treasure, why come to the capital for imperial examinations? With endless money, is it not easy to help the common people? He could just be a great philanthropist.
He was simply speechless.
But he also understood Zhong Su’s meaning and tried asking, You want to offer the treasure map to the Earth Mother?
Zhong Su said, This is the thing that can truly move her.
No. Yu Qing felt a bit tangled and sorted out his words. Uncle, why do we not all run away together? Look, with the treasure map, as long as we find the immortal blessed land, we can abandon the Zhong family’s small property. Then you will not have to worry about ruining your daughter, right?
His idea was that as long as they took the treasure map and ran together, the Zhong family would have no way back. Then revealing the truth about the real and fake A Shihuang would allow the eldest daughter of the Zhong family and A Shihuang to marry smoothly.
Zhong Su was shocked by his words and felt it was simply astonishing.
He suddenly understood a bit why A Jiezhan had not told his son the truth about the treasure map. This was a rebellious son.
It was completely contrary to the ideals that A Jiezhan had upheld all his life.
He also suddenly realised the answer to why A Jiezhan had not entrusted the behind the scenes connections to this son.
No wonder he could do such an unreliable thing. Zhong Su muttered inwardly. It turns out this lad does not want to practise A Jiezhan’s ideals at all.
But on the contrary he felt relieved. Before he had still worried it would be hard to persuade this fellow to hand the treasure map to the Sinan Mansion, because this was something A Jiezhan firmly opposed.
He immediately rejected Yu Qing’s idea and rebuked, Nonsense. Do you want to risk your life for a treasure map whose purpose is unknown? How can we run with the whole family? None of us in the family can run fast.
After he said this, Yu Qing understood his meaning.
If the Zhong mansion offered the treasure, they would inevitably face the question of why they were offering it only now. It might lead to suspicion that Zhong Su had participated in that ancient tomb matter back then.
If so, then it would not be offering the treasure, but conspiring with A Jiezhan to steal the treasure.
Therefore when Zhong Su offered the treasure he must say he did not know before. He must say that Yu Qing had only told him before fleeing, and had given it to him because he felt sorry for the Zhong family and wanted the Zhong family to use it for self protection. If Yu Qing were caught later, he must also insist on taking all responsibility onto himself.
The Zhong family using the merit of offering the treasure to protect themselves would certainly be no problem. This was something the Sinan Mansion encouraged.
They would also help plead with the Sinan Mansion to spare Yu Qing on account of the merit of offering the treasure. As for whether the Sinan Mansion would agree, that was unknown. If they agreed then fine, otherwise Yu Qing would be a wanted criminal for life.
In the end, the matter was caused by Yu Qing. At the moment of great disaster, he still had to bear all the responsibility himself.
At least one side could still be preserved.
Of course, this was only advance preparation. They would not do this unless absolutely necessary and would not hand over such a great treasure lightly.
Yu Qing did not want to hand over the treasure map, but after thinking it over, at this time Zhong Su could not possibly give the treasure map to him. The key was there was no time for him to make trouble now.
Left with no choice, he had to agree.
When Gao Zeyu came, Yu Qing changed into the runner’s clothes and quietly followed Gao Zeyu out through the back door like this.
Zhong Su did not go to see him off. He only let Du Fei and housekeeper Li, who remembered their old master’s kindness, go.
He stood alone at the entrance to the east courtyard and watched for a moment. After the figure disappeared, he murmured to himself, If that surnamed Gao has no good intentions, and the people from your father’s faction cannot protect your life, then do not blame me.