Chapter 1024 - Chapter 1024: Chapter 1022: How is Sijin?
Chapter 1024: Chapter 1022: How is Sijin?
“Emperor, there are only so few matters in the Imperial Academy, and this humble official has finished seven days’ worth of public affairs in a single day, which has indeed put me in a difficult position.”
“In that case, I shall reward you with a spanking, and you can rest for six days before returning to work at the Imperial Academy.”
“No, Emperor! As an ever-enlightened sovereign, punishing a minor seventh-rank official for no reason would tarnish your dignity. Besides, early this morning, I saw Miss Su Yingxue from the Marquis’s Manor and her eldest sister heading to the Thousand-Jiao Pavilion. If you go to the Marquis’s Manor now, at most you’d only meet Old General Su. Why not grace me with your presence for tea? By the time we have finished our tea, Miss Su should have returned.”
Zhuo Junli had calculated everything with his words.
Chu Yihan had come to see Su Yingxue, but she was not at home.
Zhuo Junli felt that, compared to meeting Old General Su, Chu Yihan would prefer to see him.
After all, they had been good friends for many years, and he could also help him solve some tricky political issues!
Chu Yihan snorted coldly, his eyes full of disdain, yet he still followed Zhuo Junli to the restaurant.
The fellow had selected the best private room, facing north with good lighting and ventilation. There was no place for assassins to settle, ensuring their conversation wouldn’t be overheard.
Seeing him so full of sincerity, Chu Yihan did not hold back and presented a host of recent problems that he had found difficult to weigh to Zhuo Junli.
Zhuo Junli pondered and took notes, and by the end of half an hour, he had written a thick volume of solutions for him.
As Chu Yihan read through it, he nodded in approval, “This is more like it.”
“More like it? My lord, you have exhausted an entire year’s worth of my wits, you truly know how to squeeze people dry!” Zhuo Junli shook his head as he rubbed his sore head.
His brain was seldom so taxed. The seven days’ worth of public affairs of the Imperial Academy were resolved by him in just an hour or two. The important issues Chu Yihan had taken to him today genuinely gave him a headache!
But Chu Yihan did not feel the least bit sorry for him, “You should have been in one of the six ministries long ago, yet you have always been hiding in the Imperial Academy, shirking. With such a nimble mind, you let it rust; I have already been merciful for not twisting your head off.”
“Merciful? Emperor, I was just kindly inviting you to have a cup of tea. Saying such things, does your conscience not hurt?” Zhuo Junli felt embarrassed for Chu Yihan’s thick skin.
Chu Yihan responded as light as a breeze and serene as a cloud, “No, it doesn’t.”
He now felt that even if he directly bestowed a third-rank official title on Zhuo Junli, it would still seem like Zhuo Junli owed him!
His strategies for governing the country were no less than his father, Old Prime Minister Leng Yi’s.
Yet this man stubbornly refused promotion, refusing to leave the “nest” of the Imperial Academy, looking so listless.
It had already begun to irritate him a few years ago.
“How long do you plan to nest in the Imperial Academy?”
After sorting out the memorials, Chu Yihan finally began to drink his tea and casually chat with him.
Waving his folding fan in a debonair manner, Zhuo Junli replied, “Naturally for a lifetime. If the Emperor doesn’t mind, even my corpse can be placed in the Imperial Academy to serve you.”
This answer was expected by Chu Yihan; he had long run out of patience with Zhuo Junli.
However, he remembered to ask him, “Sijin, is everything well with her now?”
Zhuo Junli’s face, which had been smiling, stiffened, and his teeth chattered. The teacup in his hand was shattered with a burst of his inner strength.
“Crack!”
The fragments fell to the ground, his hands soaking wet with tea.
Regret flashed in Chu Yihan’s eyes.
The situation with Yun Sijin was probably not good.