amaotonovel Chapter 1269 Shangguan Jiyan
Chapter 1269 Shangguan Jiyan
At 7:45 AM, as dawn broke, the tiny dust particles in the air were made visible by the sunlight.
Fang Xianyue stepped into the main hall of the government office and bowed to report: "My lord, my lord, there is a result regarding the matter outside."
Shen Zheng took a sip of tea, put down the teacup, and asked, "Was Xue Li bullied?"
"No, sir," Fang Xianyue said. "The situation is one-sided; all the women and most of the men have chosen to stand with her."
Shen Zheng smiled slightly: "Not bad."
After a pause, she added, "Give me the list of identities of those who led the riot."
Fang Xianyue was already prepared. Upon hearing this, he stepped forward and presented the item with both hands, saying, "Please take a look, sir."
There were nine identity registers in total, all of similar thickness. Shen Zheng took them and lowered her eyes to read through them one by one.
"Shangguan Jiyan." Her finger lingered on the name for a long while.
"..." Shangguan Jiyan?
She also calls Shen Zheng Jixiang.
After a pause, she asked, "Was this person the ringleader?"
Fang Xianyue immediately answered yes.
Information about the perpetrators of bullying should be examined carefully.
But upon closer inspection, Shen Zheng noticed a problem: "He has no official rank, not even a junior scholar?"
what is this?
—It doesn’t matter if I don’t have official rank, but my dear competitors, you must have official rank and family background. If you don’t, it is a contempt and insult to me.
Having served in the Household Registration Office for many years, Fang Xianyue had long since thoroughly understood the family background, origins, and conduct of these gentry families.
He respectfully replied, "In response to your question, sir, the Shangguan family has always claimed that their ancestors produced high-ranking officials, and even that several generations back, their daughters served as imperial concubines. Therefore, the Shangguan family has always considered themselves to be descendants of a prestigious family and has suppressed many smaller families in the prefecture."
"...Did your ancestors produce high-ranking officials?"
Shen Zheng utterly disagreed with this statement.
There's a saying that goes something like this.
—Everyone living in this world, if you go back several generations, every family has been rich and glorious at some point, otherwise they would not have been able to continue their bloodline to this day.
"The girl in your family even served as a concubine in the palace?" Yu Shizhang's eyes lit up, clearly unable to resist such casual conversation. "Which emperor's concubine? It couldn't have been the late emperor, could it?"
He had barely finished speaking when he shook his head in denial: "No, there were no concubines with the surname Shangguan in the late emperor's harem. Speaking of which... there was a concubine with the compound surname Ouyang. When the late emperor was alive, she was very cold to him, but after he passed away, she actually followed him to the afterlife. Alas, so people's hearts and feelings are... very unpredictable."
After a moment of reflection, Shen Zheng and Xu Yunyan turned to look at him, while Fang Xianyue quietly perked up his ears.
He was slightly taken aback when he saw this: "What? You want to dig deeper and hear more details? I can't say too much about things in the palace."
Shen Zheng's lips twitched violently.
Goodness, so those previous few sentences weren't even considered details, or going into too much detail?
To prevent him from revealing more palace secrets, Shen Zheng quickly handed over the identity register and changed the subject, saying, "Could you help me see how to deal with these unruly people?"
Yu Shizhang took the booklet, casually flipped through a few pages, and said nonchalantly, "For business people, check their taxes; for students, check their character; and for those with minor connections within their clans, check their backers. These unscrupulous fellows... neither they themselves nor their families can withstand scrutiny."
Tax audit?
Checking character?
Checking out your backer?
Shen Zheng's eyes lit up as she listened, and she couldn't help but marvel at the performance.
Old ginger is spicy!
"Did you all hear that?" She turned to Fang Xianyue and said earnestly, "The government's expenses this year are quite high, and there will be many more places to spend money next year. With the end of the year approaching, you, the Revenue Department, must be careful with the tax revenue. Not a single copper coin should be short of what is due to our government, understand?"
Fang Xianyue immediately bowed: "This subordinate understands, please rest assured, sir!"
He knew very well that if it weren't for Lord Shen's appreciation, he would still be an unknown minor official.
Lord Shen took a liking to him and promoted him to the position of Deputy Clerk of the Household Department. He had to live up to Lord Shen's kindness and do every task assigned by Lord Shen well.
This year... let's use the tax revenue from several Shangguan families to show his loyalty.
......
Chenshi.
As dawn broke, the crowd at the government office gate split into two groups.
The left-wing camp, led by Xue Li and Yan Qiao, had a large number of members.
The right-hand side was led by Shangguan Jiyan, and consisted of only a few scattered individuals.
Shangguan Jiyan glared at Xue Li and the others standing in the sunlight, gritting his teeth: "So what if there are many of you? You're nothing but a rabble! Don't forget, today's assessment is about real skills, not about winning by sheer numbers!"
"Pah!" Xue Li shouted, pointing at Shangguan Jiyan's nose like a firecracker, "You lot are the real rabble! Didn't you bully and insult me because you outnumbered me, and even try to make me withdraw from the assessment? In my opinion, it's you who should be the ones to withdraw from the assessment!"
"You're dreaming!" Shangguan Jiyan retorted angrily, "I'll show you what the difference between heaven and earth really is!"
"What is the difference between heaven and earth?" Suddenly, a voice came from inside the government office, and everyone turned to look.
Shen Zheng and Yu Shizhang stepped over the threshold together, and after standing still, they looked down at Shangguan Jiyan and said, "Tell me, what is cloud and what is mud?"
Shangguan Jiyan froze, his anger instantly vanishing, replaced by trepidation: "Lord Shen, that's not what I meant..."
"Student?" Shen Zheng interrupted him with a light laugh: "I remember that you, Shangguan Jiyan, do not hold any official rank."
"Huh?" The girl in purple standing next to Xue Li reacted before Shangguan Jiyan: "Shangguan, you don't even have an official title, what were you pretending to be all high and mighty for?!"
This guy acts all high and mighty, I thought he was at least a scholar!
result......
"Pah!" The girl in purple spat, secretly tugging at Xue Li's sleeve. "Miss Xue, why aren't you saying anything? Come on, let's curse him a few times to vent our anger!"
Xue Li twisted her fingers around the hem of her dress, looking down shyly, "I don't know how to swear. Thank you for standing by my side. I'm sorry for the trouble..."
The girl in purple: "?"
You don't know how to swear?
Who was the one who was shouting the loudest and most enthusiastically before?
"Don't look at me..." Xue Li's lips moved slightly, her voice barely audible: "Lord Shen is watching us from up there, we have to leave a good impression on him."
The girl in purple suddenly realized what was happening and turned around to act reserved.
On the stone steps, Fang Xianyue approached Shen Zheng with a stack of booklets. After receiving a nod from Shen Zheng, he solemnly called out the names of nine people: "Shangguan Jiyan, Feng Shicai, Jiang Gen, Zhu Wenliang..."